Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat VaetchananRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Vaetchanan · ואתחנן · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:06Parashat Va'etchanan. This week's parasha has 118 pesukim, and it's always the parasha that we read right after Tisha0:14B'Av, and therefore the name is Shabbat Nachamu. This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Nachamu,0:19and mainly because the parasha has a haftarah which begins, Nachamu, nachamu ami.0:25In fact, from now until Rosh Hashanah, we have exactly seven weeks, or seven Shabbatot,0:30where we will read seven haftarot that deal with0:34nechamah, and it's called the seven weeks of nechamah. The seven weeks where the haftarot are all speaking about the0:39nechamah. Now we get to the topics, I have to give an introduction which I haven't done till now.0:43We have a system usually of how to organize a parasha,0:46and this week's parasha I found it very, very difficult to stick to the system0:50because, as we're going to learn in the parasha, a lot of things seem to be repeating itself0:55or coming back and forth, and it was hard to really organize it.0:59But I hope we did well; bezrat Hashem, as we'll see soon.1:02If you look in this week's parasha, you'll see constant warning by Moshe Rabbeinu.1:07I counted at least 16 times when Moshe warns the Jewish people to make sure that they keep the Torah.1:13So let's divide it up. We divide it up into six parts, and they begin like this.1:19First part: Moshe prays to get into Eretz Yisrael.1:23The second part of this week's parasha, Moshe warns the Jewish people to remember1:28Ma'amad Har Sinai, the whole experience by Har Sinai when receiving the Torah.1:31Number three: Moshe warns the Jewish people against exile, that they should keep Torah lest they go into exile.1:37Number four: the Torah tells us about the Aseret HaDibrot, it repeats what was said in Parashat Yitro.1:43Number five: the Torah warns to ensure that the Torah is kept. And not only by us, but by the future generations.1:53Number six, finally, last part of this week's parasha, Moshe warns that we as Jews should differentiate ourselves between us and the2:03non-Jews. Twelve mitzvot in this week's parasha, eight mitzvot aseh and four mitzvot2:09lo ta'aseh. And they number in Sefer HaChinuch between mitzvah number 416 to 427.2:16Let's get to the parasha in depth a little bit more.2:19First part of the parasha is actually a continuation of last week's parasha.2:21We mentioned in last week's parasha that the whole parasha, in short, discusses the Jewish people's journey from leaving Mitzrayim and entering Eretz and going to Eretz Yisrael.2:32Now they're standing by the border.2:33So Moshe continues and he explains that he also wanted to get into Eretz Yisrael.2:36In fact, the Midrash tells us how badly Moshe wanted to get into Eretz Yisrael.2:41He was willing to go in even as a bird, not as a human being, just to get into Eretz Yisrael.2:46And Moshe prays 515 prayers, the gematria of Va'etchanan, to get into Eretz Yisrael.2:53If you look in Midrash and Chumash, you see a sample of some of the heartfelt tefilot that Moshe begged Hashem to get into Eretz Yisrael3:00until Hashem tells him, Rablach, enough. Don't pray anymore.3:04It's a gezeirah from me, and you're not allowed to enter Eretz Yisrael.3:07And we move on from there to the second part of this week's parasha.3:11So now Moshe explains that, listen, I'm not getting into Eretz Yisrael, so I have to warn you about all the things that you need to know.3:17Number one is, and that's the first and foremost, you have to remember Ma'amad Har Sinai.3:24And this part of the parasha, the second part of this week's parasha, is so fundamental in our faith.3:30Every single one of us has to read just the simple words of this week's parasha.3:35If you don't know Hebrew, then read it, just a simple translation in Artscroll in English.3:40It's so important for every Jew to know this week's parasha, and especially... This part and another part later on is we're going to explain.3:47The first thing Hashem, Moshe warns the Jewish people: do not add or subtract from the mitzvot of the Torah,3:55because the Torah has to be pure and authentic. It came from Hashem.3:58Once a person starts adding, then why can't you subtract?4:01Once you could change, you could change anything you want, and then the Torah will be completely forgotten.4:05So that's the first thing Moshe tells us.4:07Then he explains the importance of this Torah,4:11because we're going to be a nation that's different from all the other goyim,4:16and the goyim may have an effect on us, like we saw in our Jewish history.4:20Therefore, Moshe warns us: if you want to impress the non-Jews, you want to impress the whole world,4:25don't think it's by competing in their world, by trying to be like them, trying to be better sports players or better businessmen.4:31That's not what makes you stand out. That's not what's going to impress the goyim.4:35This Torah is your wisdom. This Torah is how you will impress the goyim,4:39by keeping this4:40Torah. And then Moshe warns them not to forget Har Sinai and to make sure to pass it down to their children.4:47And Moshe reminds the Jewish people that what you experienced by Har Sinai was4:53firsthand. It was not something that I'm telling you or somebody else is telling you.4:57You saw with your own eyes and you heard with your own ears how Hashem spoke to you.5:02And Moshe warns now that the Torah should not be diluted or be messed up.5:11Moshe warns, don't make any images,5:12because when you make any images, you've now limited the whole spiritual realm, the whole spiritual experience, to something physical,5:22and now it becomes something limited.5:25And therefore you're warned not to make any physical images, even if it's there to remind you of Har Sinai.5:30And then we move on to the third part of this week's parasha, where Moshe warns against the exile.5:36And here we begin with a part that we just read recently in5:40Tisha B'Av, the parasha of Ki Tolid Banim.5:42And the Chachamim already explained over there, pasuk says,5:44Ki tolid banim u'vnei banim,5:47v'noshantem ba'aretz, if you shall have children and grandchildren in Eretz Yisrael, means you become a prosperous in Eretz Yisrael.5:51But be careful, noshantem literally means that you will become settled and old, kind of like yashan.5:58However, Chachamim explain that there is a remez over here,6:02that the numerical value of v'noshantem is exactly the amount of years that Bnei Yisrael would have stayed in Eretz Yisrael until they got exiled.6:13And over there, mefarshim explain, and that's why we read it specifically on6:17Tisha B'Av. And here Moshe warns against exile, and he tells us, make sure you keep the Torah,6:20because if you don't keep the Torah, you may be6:23exiled. If you do avodah zarah, if you make images, even if it starts positively, eventually,6:28Moshe tells us, it will turn into idolatry against the Torah,6:32and you'll be exiled till the end of the world, where there you'll see, you'll be confronted with real avodah zarah over6:38there. However, Moshe tells them, do not despair.6:41Even if you're in exile, even if you're not in Eretz Yisrael, you don't have the Beit HaMikdash,6:46Moshe tells them, don't worry. You could come back to Hashem.6:50You could find even Hashem in galut, even galut.6:53If you look for Hashem, you'll find Him,6:55and if you do teshuvah, Hashem will bring you back to Eretz Yisrael.6:58And it seems to be that something difficult for the Jewish people at that time7:03to comprehend, to take in, that we got exiled and we should be able to come back,7:07we should be able to do7:09teshuvah. Moshe tells them, and if you want to see proof, go ask around the whole world.7:13Go study human history and see, has there been any nation in the world that claims such an experience like you've explained,7:24where every single one of you heard God speak by Har Sinai and giving you the Torah?7:30Never such an experience. We are the only ones that experienced such a thing.7:33And therefore, again, Moshe repeats the warning to make sure to keep the Torah,7:37because that will protect us from exile.7:39And then the Torah tells us that Moshe himself prepares the three of the six cities of7:45arei miklat that are mentioned in7:48Sefer Bamidbar. We mentioned in Parashat Mas'ei that Moshe was told to prepare six cities, and they were known as7:55arei miklat, three in Eretz Yisrael and three on the east of the Jordan River.8:00The land of Reuven, Gad, and half of Shevet Menashe.8:04In this week's parasha, the Torah tells us that Moshe prepared the three cities.8:07And the connection is obvious. These three cities are cities of exile amongst the Jewish people,8:13and since Moshe was warning about the Jewish people, so the Torah tells us how he also prepared the three cities.8:18And the three cities, going from south to the north, are Betzer, which is in the area of8:25Reuven, and then, going a little bit north, Ramot in Gad's territory, and finally the third city was Golan in Menashe's territory.8:34Those are the three cities that Moshe prepared,8:37even though they didn't take effect yet until they entered Eretz, but still Moshe said,8:41If I have a chance right now to do something, let me partake of it, and he prepared these three cities.8:46And then we move on to the fourth part of this week's8:50parasha, the Aseret HaDibrot, some call the Ten Commandments, even though there's a little bit more.8:53But anyway, the Aseret HaDibrot in this week's parasha are repeated from the time that we had them the first time,8:59Parashat Yitro. And Moshe, as an introduction, explains that he tells us,9:05We, Anachnu, we made a brit, we made a deal with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and he reminds us again that we spoke to Hashem face to face.9:14This was not something that was a tradition that was passed down.9:17These are the children of the people who came out of Mitzrayim, and these children themselves saw God speak to them9:24at Har Sinai. And the Torah goes and lists the Aseret HaDibrot again.9:29However, there are 23 differences in Parashat9:34Va'etchanan, the ten Aseret HaDibrot are found in Parashat Va'etchanan to Parashat9:38Yitro. 23 differences. I'm not going to go through all 23, but we'll just bring out three examples, major differences.9:44A lot of the differences are an extra vav or a missing vav.9:49However, the major differences are by three9:53mitzvot. Number one is by Shabbat.9:55The Torah tells us in Parashat Yitro that the reason why Hashem gave us a Shabbat is because Hashem created the world in six days.10:01In Parashat Va'etchanan, Hashem tells us that the reason of Shabbat is because Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim,10:06and He took us out of slavery.10:08To remember Shabbat reminds us of yetziat Mitzrayim.10:11The second major change is by the mitzvah of kibud10:15av va'em. In Parashat Yitro, the Torah commands about kibud10:19av va'em, and over here the Torah says the same reward that also talks about having long life.10:24However, the Torah adds,10:27u'lema'an yitav lach. Also, you'll have good.10:29And the Gemara already points out in Masechet Bava Kama that in the first luchot there was no letter tet.10:35Excuse me, in Parashat Yitro there was no mention of the letter tet.10:38Here, Torah mentions the letter tet10:41because in word yitav lach. In fact, the letter tet is mentioned more than once in this week's Aseret10:47HaDibrot. And finally, lo tachmod, the last of the Aseret10:51HaDibrot. In Parashat Yitro, we don't have a part that we have in this week's10:54parasha. Torah adds,10:57v'lo tit'aveh. Besides chamud, which means desire, lo tit'aveh is a different form of desire.11:01The Torah adds that in this week's11:03parasha. And then the Torah tells us that when the Jewish people heard Hashem speak at Har Sinai,11:07they came to Moshe and they asked him,11:09Please, Moshe, we ask you, we beg of you.11:11You know, we heard Hashem say the first two commandments11:14and our neshamot left us.11:16We beg of you that you should continue speaking.11:18We don't know if we could continue this11:20week, if we could handle dying and coming back11:24in techiyat hameitim. And therefore Moshe takes over,11:27and then Hashem again, Moshe warns them another warning to make sure to keep the Torah.11:31Why? Because this is the source of our blessing.11:34By keeping the Torah, we will have true blessing for the rest of our lives.11:39And then we go on to the fifth part of this week's11:42parasha, where Moshe warns that the Torah should be kept11:45and that it should be passed down to the future generations.11:47And it begins, the first part of this section11:50begins with the famous Shema, the first paragraph of Shema11:53that we all say, from Shema11:58until u'khtavtam mezuzot beitcha u'vish'arecha. Over here, we categorize it over here12:00by passing down to the children because it says,12:02veshinantam levanecha. Even though the Gemara says12:05veshinantam levanecha is referring to the students, but still, on the simple sense,12:10ein mikra yotzei midei peshuto, we have to teach this Torah and pass it down to our children,12:14and that's the first part of this section.12:17The second part, Moshe warns that we shouldn't forget Hashem12:22after prospering in Eretz Yisrael.12:24If we enter Eretz Yisrael and we have a lot of blessings,12:27and our children are sitting down and they're all comfortable,12:29you could have a time when Jews could sin,12:32when people could sin out of comfort.12:35And Moshe again warns in this week's12:37parasha, be careful not to leave Hashem,12:38maybe because you get too comfortable.12:40And there, at the same time, Moshe mentions12:42not to test Hashem.12:44There's a mitzvah that we're not allowed to test Hashem.12:45You can't test Hashem with something12:47when He promised you reward or a punishment.12:49You can't say, No, let me try12:51it. Let me see if God is going to punish me12:52or He's going to reward me.12:53That's an issur, and that's mentioned in this week's12:56parasha. And finally, in this section,12:59the Torah finishes off with the13:03she'eilat hachacham. The Gemara in Pesachim points out13:05that this section over here13:06refers to the question that we have on13:09Leil HaSeder. We know on Leil HaSeder we have four types of children,13:11and each one asks a question13:13or doesn't ask a question.13:14The first child that we know is the13:17chacham. He asks the question,13:18Ma13:20ha'edot vehachukim vehamishpatim asher tzivah Hashem Elokeinu etchem?13:22That's mentioned in this week's13:24parasha, and this is known as the13:26she'eilat hachacham. And then we move on to the final part of this week's13:30parasha, the sixth and final part,13:32where Hashem warns us13:33that we should separate ourselves13:35and differentiate ourselves from the Jewish people, from the non-Jewish people.13:41And Hashem begins by telling us13:42that when we get into Eretz Yisrael,13:43Hashem will take away the seven nations.13:46However, He'll take them away in13:48shamayim. But down here in this world,13:50we have to do the13:51ma'aseh; we have to do the action of removing the goyim.13:54And even if we have removed the goyim,13:57the non-Jews, the seven nations from Eretz Yisrael,13:59whatever they left over,14:01even though it might be silver and gold,14:02the things that we could have used,14:03Hashem says you have to completely destroy them,14:06wipe out all their places of worship14:08or whatever they use for worship.14:09Don't benefit from any of them.14:11And then Hashem gives us a command,14:12not only for that generation,14:13but for all time,14:15that we should remain Jewish people.14:17Hashem warns us,14:18Velo titchaten bam.14:20In14:22issur, it's forbidden to intermarry with the goyim.14:24Why, Hashem tells us,14:25don't think as a punishment.14:26No.14:27Hashem gives us a few reasons14:28in this week's parashah. Towards the end,14:30He says,14:31Ki am kadosh14:31atah. You're a holy nation.14:33You're a designated nation.14:34You're My special nation.14:35By marrying into the goyim,14:38you've lost that specialness.14:40And Hashem also says,14:41Ki me'ahavat Hashem etchem,14:44because out of love for you,14:46Hashem also loves you.14:47And also,14:48He promised your grandparents,14:50Avraham, Yitzchak, and14:52Yaakov, that you'll remain a special nation.14:54You got to help Me out.14:54Don't marry within the goyim.14:56And that's why it says in pasuk,14:57Hotzi Hashem etchem14:58Mitzrayim. Hashem took us out of15:00Mitzrayim. And finally, the Torah ends,15:02like we said,15:03the theme of this week's15:05parashah: another warning,15:06where Moshe gives the final warning15:08in this week's15:09parashah. He tells them,15:11remember that Hashem is reliable in His retribution.15:14He'll pay back.15:15He's reliable.15:15Don't worry about it.15:16And therefore, make sure15:17you keep15:18the mitzvot and you'll be rewarded.15:20Otherwise,15:20it could be the other way.15:22And we get to this week's15:24parashah, the lesson of this week's15:27parashah. Like we said,15:27the parashah is full of warnings.15:29You'll realize15:29over and over again15:31the word15:31u'shmartem, make sure to guard it,15:32and make sure Moshe keeps on warning.15:34What are we to learn from it?15:35Like we mentioned,15:35this week's parashah always falls out15:37after Tisha15:40B'Av. Tisha15:41B'Av, we saw how15:43because we didn't keep the15:45Torah, we got punished.15:47Because in Tisha15:48B'Av, we commemorate15:48not only the destruction15:49of the first two temples,15:51of the two Beit HaMikdash,15:53but we also commemorate15:54all the tragedies15:55that have happened to the Jewish people.15:57And Torah warns us,15:58clearly Moshe warned us15:59in this week's parashah.16:00If you keep the Torah, you'll have a tremendous amount of blessing.16:03If you don't keep the Torah, lo aleinu, it could be a tremendous amount of suffering.16:07We saw from Jewish history on Tisha B'Av, it's really a day in lesson in Jewish history where we saw16:11all the things have befallen us. Why?16:14Because we've sinned, like we mentioned, Megillat Eicha over and over again.16:17Because of our sins, these things have happened.16:19We testify to the truth of Hashem's words.16:22So it comes out that there's a big connection between Tisha B'Av and16:26Yom Tachanan. Pashat Va'etchanan is like the halacha, the laws where Hashem warns.16:31Tisha B'Av was the lemaaseh, was the action.16:33We saw the fulfillment of Hashem's words that have told us in Pashat16:39Va'etchanan. And just like we saw how Hashem showed us the punishments,16:43we will see, be'ezrat Hashem, very soon,16:45like this Shabbat is known, Shabbat16:47Nachamu, how Hashem will console us and show us the reward for keeping His Torah.16:51Like it says, lema'an yitab lach.17:12Shabbat shalom.