Parashat Vaetchanan 5782

by Rabbi Margie Cella

This week’s parashah contains a wealth of important passages: the second account of the experience at Horeb (Sinai) when we received the Ten Commandments (5:5-18), as well as the first paragraph of the Shema prayer that we are commanded to recite twice daily (6:4-9). 

Moses recounts how he pleaded with God in vain to cross over into the promised land, only to be told to go to the top of the mountain, to have the best view of the land that he himself would never be able to enter (3:23-27). 

Moses reminds us repeatedly to keep the commandments, not forsaking our covenant with God by worshipping graven images. 

This is Shabbat Nachamu, the first of seven Shabbatot of Consolation following the observance of Tisha B’Av and leading up to Rosh Hashanah. 

The parashah ends on an encouraging note: Moses reminds us that no other nation was chosen by God or heard the voice of God, or had God perform wonders for them (4:33-35); God chose Israel not because of our size (we were the smallest of all people); God chose us because God loved us (7:6-8).  

We draw strength (חִיזוּק) from Moses’ final message: God is faithful, keeping the covenant and mercy with those who love God to a thousand generations (7:9). In these sometimes turbulent times, this promise of God’s faithfulness is perhaps more relevant today than it has ever been before. Chazak v’Ematz.