Parashah Vaetchanan “And I Implored"

Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comforting

Shabbat Nachamu is the Shabbat after Tisha B’Av, the day when we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple. It is called the Shabbat of Comforting because the comforting words of the prophet Isaiah:

“’Comfort you, comfort you my people,’ says your God. Speak comfortably to Yerushalayim; and cry to her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yehovah's hand double for all her sins. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of Yehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain: and the Glory of Yehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yehovah has spoken it.’“ Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 40:1-6

The prophet Isaiah not only is telling us that God’s people, the Jews, received a punishment - double - more than any other nation for their iniquities because of the high standards God set for them to be a Holy Nation and a light to the Gentiles - ”to whoever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked” (Luke 12:48) - but also he shows us how will the coming of Moshiah be recognized: someone will call from the wilderness for the nation of Israel to repent preparing for the Glory of Yehovah to be revealed. And indeed, the Brit Chadashah tells us that John, Yochanan of the tevilah, was that voice and that the Glory of God was revealed in Yeshua the Messiah who came to forgive the iniquity of anyone who would believe in Him.

Comforting words indeed.

Also, on the heels of Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av, comes Tu B’Av, the Fifteenth of Av. According to the Talmud, Tu B'Av was a joyous holiday in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, marking the beginning of the grape harvest. Yom Kippur marked the end of the grape harvest. On both dates the unmarried girls of Jerusalem dressed in white garments and went out to dance in the vineyards. “R. Simeon B. Gamaliel said: There never were in Israel greater days of joy than the Fifteenth of Av and the Day of Atonement. I can understand the Day of Atonement because it is a day of forgiveness and pardon and on it the second Tables of the Law were given, but what happened on the Fifteenth of Av? — Rab Judah said in the name of Samuel: It is the day on which permission was granted to the tribes to inter-marry.” Talmud - Mas. Ta’anith 30b A puzzling permission since nowhere in the Bible is there a prohibition on “intermarriage” among the 12 tribes of Israel, never-the-less, it was a joyous day for matchmaking. In modern times, it has become a romantic Jewish holiday, a great day for weddings, commitment ceremonies, renewal of vows, or proposing.

Tanakh - the Firm Root of our Faith

In this Parashah Moshe continues his teachings, repeating the Ten Utterances, giving new instructions and pleading (imploring) with the people not to forsake Yehovah. He lays out the foundation for religious life in the Land, not as a wandering Nation but as a Nation with established roots.

“Now, therefore, give heed, O Israel, to the decree and to the ordinance, which I teach you, to do them, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yehovah the God of your fathers gives you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish nothing from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yehovah your God which I command you... When you are in distress, and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, if you turn to Yehovah your God, and shall be obedient to His voice; for Yehovah your God is a merciful God; He will not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them... Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or has God ventured to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by a stretched out arm and by great terrors, according to all that Yehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that Yehovah is God; there is no other beside Him... Hear, O Israel; Yehovah our God, Yehovah is One; and you shall love Yehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

First, Moshe starts with the foremost instruction,

“You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it.” Devarim 4:2

This is a timeless instruction about the Scriptures. Do not add words of your own imagination and do not pick and choose from God’s words with the implication that God’s word is lacking.

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever" writes the prophet in Isaiah 40:8.

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