Summary of the Parasha

“I pleaded (Va’etchanan) with Hashem”: Moses recounts his prayer to enter the land of Israel. The Midrash counts 515 prayers, the numerical value of the word. God refuses: “Enough! Speak to Me no more of this”, but allows him to see the land from the top of Pisgah, and asks him to strengthen Joshua.

Moses exhorts the people: do not add to or subtract from the mitzvot; remember Baal Peor; “you who cling to Hashem your God are all alive today” (a verse said before the Torah reading). He recalls the revelation at Sinai: “You saw no image, only a voice”, hence the prohibition of any representation of God. He foretells exile if the people become corrupt, but also return: “From there you will seek Hashem your God, and you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart”. “Know this day… there is no other” (Aleinu). Moses then designates the three cities of refuge east of the Jordan.

He then repeats the Ten Commandments, with a few differences: “Keep (shamor) the Shabbat day” instead of “Remember” (zachor), said as one utterance according to our Sages; the reason for Shabbat becomes the memory of slavery in Egypt. The people, afraid of the divine voice, had asked Moses to be their intermediary.

Then comes the heart of Jewish faith, the Shema Yisrael: “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One. You shall love Hashem your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might”, with the mitzvot of study (“teach them to your children”), tefillin and mezuzah. Moses warns against forgetting in prosperity: “houses full of all good things that you did not fill”. “When your son asks you: What are these testimonies, statutes and laws?”, the question of the wise son in the Haggadah, you will answer him: “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt”. Finally, the command not to ally with the seven nations of Canaan, and the reason for Israel’s election: “Not because you are more numerous… but because Hashem loves you.”

Summary of the Haftara

“Nachamu Nachamu Ami” (“Comfort, comfort My people”)
Text in Isaiah 40:1–26

After the 9th of Av begin the seven haftarot of consolation. “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem”. A voice calls out: “In the desert, clear the way of Hashem”. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.” Jerusalem is called to climb a high mountain and announce to the cities of Judah: “Here is your God”. Like a shepherd, He gathers the lambs in His arms. “Who measured the waters in the hollow of His hand?” The nations are like a drop in a bucket before Him. “Lift up your eyes and see who created these.”

Parasha-Haftara Connection

This Shabbat always follows the 9th of Av: it is Shabbat Nachamu. The parasha proclaims faith in a unique, incomparable God; the haftara answers: “To whom will you compare Me?” And Moses’ promise, “from there you will seek Hashem and you will find Him”, becomes Isaiah’s consolation: exile has an end. Tu B’Av, a day of joy, often falls this week.