Our Parshah opens with Moses’ heartfelt plea to G-d to rescind His decree and let him enter the Land of Israel. G-d’s answer is a rather brusque ‘Enough! Don’t speak to me anymore about this matter’. The commentators give various interpretations of the opening phrase of G-d’s reply: rav lach. This literally means ‘enough of you’ or ‘enough for you’. It can also mean more than. Using the latter interpretation Rashi has G-d saying to Moses: ‘more than this (entry into the Land) awaits you’. In other words, a greater reward awaits you beyond the grave. Examining this comment more closely we can glean an important moral lesson. Moses desires to carry on with his life’s work and to lead the Jewish people into the Promised Land. G-d in effect tells him that this is a task he has finished, and that other, and greater, things await him. G-d, according to this interpretation, is in fact telling Moses to let go. This is not easy. Throughout this passage we get a sense of Moses’ bitterness at being denied what he has worked so long to accomplish. It is not easy to give over your life’s work to others. Yet that is precisely what G-d forces Moses to do. He gently, and not so gently, reminds him that all leadership has its end, all projects their finish. No one, could or should, go on forever. Furthermore, this is for his benefit. Greater things await him in the future, in Moses case beyond the grave. The end of one task, no matter how longstanding or important, does not mean the end of everything. Even in facing death, even more so in confronting lesser endings in our lives, we need to know to let go. This, indeed, is also a message for these weeks of comfort. Facing the disaster of Tisha B’av, Jeremiah tells his people to get on with their lives, while at the same time not forgetting the past. We build houses, but leave a stone not plastered; get married but break a glass. And we look to a future that is different than the past. We hope not for the rebuilding of the Second Temple but for the erection of a Third Temple larger and better than the two previous. The words of comfort we read during these weeks tell of a more glorious future; rather than a simple restoration of a lost past. Like Moses we learn to let go, and go forward, with G-d promising us: ‘even greater things await you than what you have lost. ’

 

ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS

Rishon	Moses begs to be allowed to enter the Land but is refused.
Sheni	The warning against following other gods and the punishment: exile and destruction.
Shelishi	Moses sets aside three cities in Trans-Jordan to serve as cities of refuge.
Revi’i	The Revelation at Sinai and The Ten Commandments.
Chamishi	The people’s response to the Revelation.
Shishi	The Shema. Don’t forget G-d from the midst of prosperity.
Shevi’i	The command to destroy idolatry.
Haftorah	Isaiah 40;1-26: G-d comforts Zion

 

Sidra Statistics

Parshat Va’ethanan

·               has 105 verses;

·               is the  2nd  in Deuteronomy,  45th  in the Torah

·               6th longest in Deuteronomy, 

·               33rd  longest  in the Torah  

·                has  8 pos + 4 neg = 12  mitzvot.