Parashat Vayeilech

Vayeilech (“He Went”) opens as Moses tells the Israelites that he will not lead them into the Land of Israel, and that Joshua will take over. He instructs the Israelites to gather and read Torah publicly every seven years. At God’s command, Moses writes a poem bearing witness to God’s covenant with the Israelites.

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Moses went and spoke these things to all Israel. He said to them: I am now one hundred and twenty years old, I can no longer be active. Moreover, יהוה has said to me, “You shall not go across yonder Jordan.”

Deuteronomy 31:1-2

וילך משה, he was self-propelled, just as was Amram, Moses’ father who married his aunt Yocheved, daughter of Levi, and almost certainly many years his senior. (Exodus 2,1) Another of many uses of the word וילך meaning that the person described acted of their own initiative is found in Deut. 17,3 where the Jewish idolater described had not been seduced by anyone. After having concluded the matter of the covenant between G’d and this second generation of Israelites many of whom had not been born at the time of the Exodus, Moses now proceeds to comfort the people over his impending death…

Sforno on Deuteronomy 31:1:1-2:1

וילך משה וגו' ... אנכי היום AND MOSES WENT ... I AM [HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS OLD] THIS DAY — Today my days and my years become full: for on this day (the seventh of Adar; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:3) I was born and on this day I must die (Sotah 13b). לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבוא I CAN NO LONGER GO OUT AND COME IN — One might think that this was because his physical strength failed him! Scripture, however, states (Deuteronomy 34:7) “His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated!” What then is the meaning of לא אוכל? It means: “I am not permitted” (cf…

Rashi on Deuteronomy 31:2:1-2

It is indeed your God יהוה who will cross over before you, and who will wipe out those nations from your path; and you shall dispossess them.—Joshua is the one who shall cross before you, as יהוה has spoken.— יהוה will do to them as was done to Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and to their countries, when [God] wiped them out. יהוה will deliver them up to you, and you shall deal with them in full accordance with the Instruction that I have enjoined upon you.

Deuteronomy 31:3-5

Seek GOD while you can,
Call out while [God] is near.

יהוה said to Moses: The time is drawing near for you to die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may instruct him. Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting. יהוה appeared in the Tent, in a pillar of cloud, the pillar of cloud having come to rest at the entrance of the tent.

Deuteronomy 31:14-15

Be strong and resolute, be not in fear or in dread of them; for it is indeed your God יהוה who marches with you: [God] will not fail you or forsake you. Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: “Be strong and resolute, for it is you who shall go with this people into the land that יהוה swore to their fathers to give them, and it is you who shall apportion it to them. And it is indeed יהוה who will go before you. [God] will be with you—and will not fail you or forsake you. Fear not and be not dismayed!”…

Deuteronomy 31:6-13

יהוה said to Moses: You are soon to lie with your ancestors. This people will thereupon go astray after the alien gods in their midst, in the land that they are about to enter; they will forsake Me and break My covenant that I made with them. Then My anger will flare up against them, and I will abandon them and hide My countenance from them. They shall be ready prey; and many evils and troubles shall befall them. And they shall say on that day, “Surely it is because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us.”…

Deuteronomy 31:16-18

Therefore, write down this poem and teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths, in order that this poem may be My witness against the people of Israel. When I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey that I promised on oath to their fathers, and they eat their fill and grow fat and turn to other gods and serve them, spurning Me and breaking My covenant, and the many evils and troubles befall them—then this poem shall confront them as a witness, since it will never be lost from the mouth of their offspring…

Deuteronomy 31:19-30

Ephraim [shall say]:
“What more have I to do with idols?
When I respond and look to [God],
I become like a verdant cypress.”
Your fruit is provided by Me. The wise will consider these words,
The prudent will take note of them…

Return, O Israel, to the ETERNAL your God,
For you have fallen because of your sin. Take words with you
And return to GOD.
Say:
“Forgive all guilt
And accept what is good;
Instead of bulls we will pay
[The…

Well you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we passed through the midst of various other nations; and you have seen the detestable things and the fetishes of wood and stone, silver and gold, that they keep. Perchance there is among you some man or woman, or some clan or tribe, whose heart is even now turning away from our God יהוה to go and worship the gods of those nations—perchance there is among you a stock sprouting poison weed and wormwood. When hearing the words of these sanctions, they may imagine a special immunity, thinking, “I shall be safe…

Deuteronomy 29:15-18

Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites explained the Teaching to the people, while the people stood in their places.

Moses appoints Joshua as his successor, James Tissot, 1896-1902 {PD-US}

Moses appoints Joshua as his successor, James Tissot, 1896-1902 {PD-US}

Readings

September 27, 20255th of Tishrei, 5786

Torah

Deuteronomy 31:1-30

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Haftarah

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Moses' Death and Burial

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