Weekly Reading Insights:

Va'etchanan

5784

Overview of the Torah Reading

To be read on Shabbat Va'etchanan - 13 Menachem Av 5784 /August 17

Shabbat Nachamu*

Torah: Deut. 3:23-7:11
Haftorah: Isaiah 40:1-26 (1st of the Seven Haftorahs of Consolation)
Pirkei Avot:  Chapter 4

Va'etchanan is the 2nd Reading out of 11 in Deuteronomy and it contains 7343 letters, in 1878 words, in 122 verses

Va’etchanan opens with G-d’s refusal to allow Moshe to enter the Land. Next, Moshe reminds the Jews how they were taken out of Egypt, given the 10 Commandments, taught Torah, and should not stray from G-d and His laws. Moshe invokes heaven and earth as witnesses in warning the Jews of the consequences of erred ways. Then, Moshe designates 3 of the locations of the cities of refuge for the unintentional murderer. Following this is the review of the giving of the 10 Commandments and the famous verses of “Shma” and “Ve’ahavta”. The Jews are again reminded to keep G-d’s mitzvos and avoid the consequences of sin, particularly idolatry and assimilation.

*So called because this haftorah begins with the word "Nachamu" (Be comforted) and is the first of seven Haftarot of Consolation.The prophet comforts the people with the description of the era of Mashiach and the revalation of G-d's glory.

An essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, director of Ascent

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This week's Torah portion, Va'etchanan, contains the commandment to put on tefilin (phylacteries) "And you should tie them for a sign on your arm and for totafot [also a sign] between your eyes" (Devarim/Deuteronomy 6:8). [See chabad.org for more about how to fulfill the commandment].

While usually tefilin is considered a man's mitzvah (precept), according to the Talmud (Kidushin 35a), the whole of the Torah (meaning all of its teachings and commandments) is compared to the commandment of tefilin. There are two reasons for this. First, because the words of the verses that are written in the tefilin's parchments which are about each Jewish person's connection to G-d and the miracles He did for us. And second, since we put them on our head and arm (across from our heart) they are also about each person's submission of our intellect, emotions and actions to G-d. From this we learn that tefilin is a mitzvah clalit, meaning a general or universal commandment, and there are important lessons that everyone, men and women alike, must learn from it.

The Talmud (Menachot 36a) teaches that you must initially put on the hand tefilin and only after this, the head tefilin. "When you put them on, put on the hand and after the head. And when you unwrap them, first remove the head and after the arm".

When we wrap the tefilin on our arm, it is close to our heart, and so the hand tefilin represent the emotional aspects of serving G-d, of fearing Him and loving Him, that come from the heart. The head tefilin which is worn on the place of the brain, represents our service to G-d that uses intellect and understanding and, in particular, studying ideas from the Torah.

The Torah requires us to first wrap the arm and then the head. Emotions, i.e. being G-d fearing, careful to always do what G-d wants no matter what influences the world has on us, must precede a person's wisdom, the free-ranging perspectives and priorities of our brain, even studying Torah.

Initially, we are supposed to arouse our natural fear of Heaven that is hidden in each person's heart but has to be revealed. Not to rebel against the King of Kings, the Holy One Blessed Be He. Only when this is our foundation can we open up the service of our brains, our intellectual connection to G-d through understanding, integrating and knowing what the Torah teaches.

Not only is yirat shamayim (awe of Heaven) the prelude to studying the Torah, it is supposed to escort us at all times and in all situations. This is hinted at in Jewish law where we are taught not to put on the head tefilin alone! When a person puts on his head tefilin, he should already have wrapped the tefillin on his arm. On a spiritual level this means that even when a person is studying Torah, using his intellect, still his awe of Heaven should be present in his heart. This will ensure that our true wisdom is established and will last.

A person might think that once he has aroused the fear of Heaven in his heart, he can then invest in Torah study and completely focus his intellect and wisdom in the Torah. Torah law is telling us, even when you are totally intellectually immersed in Torah it is forbidden to disconnect, even for an instant, from being G-d fearing and from the feeling that we are studying G-d's Torah. Otherwise a person could take the Torah anywhere and risk turning it into something far from holy. Wherever we go, we take the Torah with us as our lead.

In a famous Talmudic teaching (Brachot 6a), we learn that in a divine way, G-d also puts on tefilin. On this the Ba'al Shem Tov taught that G-d's hand tefilin are like Jews without extensive Torah knowledge; simple Jews whose divine service is for the most part with action. G-d's head tefilin are those people who connect to G-d through Torah study, who serve through their intellect and understanding of Torah. This is akin to the difference between a workman and a manager, or a soldier and his officer.

Even in this analogy, the hand tefilin precede the head tefilin. The divine service of the simple Jews who serve G-d first by accepting the yoke of Heaven i.e. with total submission to G-d's will, are before and greater than those who serve G-d with the intellect. It is specifically as we have described with the commandment of tefilin, that what is needed is the hand and head together, the work of the "simple Jews" with the work of the "intellect Jews" that will create unity in the Jewish people. Not just with different people joining together, but how each person relates to G-d in themselves - submission as a prelude to intellect.

This is the level that the Torah is talking about in the verse, "Who is like Your nation Israel, one people in the land" (Divrei HaYamim 1, 17:21). The verse can be read two ways, "…one people in the land", or "the nation that 'makes one', that makes unity, in the land, a place of disunity.
[Adapted from Shulchan Shabbat]

FROM THE SAGES OF KABBALAH ON KabbalaOnline.org

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Holy Zohar, Holy Ari, Mystic Classics, Chasidic Masters, Contemporary Kabbalists, and more,
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Mystical Classics

Moses and the Leap Year

From Shenei Luchot HaBrit by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz
Moses had not consulted G-d regarding the acceptance of the Mixed Multitude. Alas, not only did Moses fail to truly convert them but they also infected the Israelites proper with their lack of faith during the episode of the Golden Calf.

Moses was forced to insert an extra year (the Jubilee year) after every 49 years to serve as a warning that Israel must not again err by accepting converts wholesale and being misled by them.

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