Va'etchanan

Likkutei Sichos, Vol. IX, p. 61ff. I. The TurOrach Chayim, ch. 428. See also Shulchan Aruch and Ramah 428:8, Tosafos Megillah 31b, and Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Tefillah 13:19. states that from Parshas Bereishis until the Seventeenth of Tammuz, “the ...

The 9th of Av is the date on which both Temples were destroyed. Each year, on the subsequent Shabbat, we read as our Haftorah the famous passage of consolation from Isaiah “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people.” The Midrash tells us that this is, literally, a...

Vaes’chanan, the first word of our Torah reading, means “I pleaded.” Moses pleaded with G-d, asking Him to allow him to enter the Land of Israel. Why did Moses want to enter the Land of Israel? Did he want to see its sights, or taste its fruits? Our Sages...

Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXII, pgs. 115-117; Vol. XXIV, p. 28ff What is Prayer? The Rambam describes prayer as follows:Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Tefillah 1:2. The obligation [this] commandment entails is to offer supplication and prayer every day; ...

Introduction According to our Sages, See Sifsei Chachamim, Chasam Sofer, Bereishis 37:35, et al. the fact that a person becomes less pained by the loss of a loved one over the course of time is ordained from Above. Otherwise, there would be no way that on...

Introduction Our Rabbis Rashi, Berachos 13b. explain that the words “G‑d is one” in the Shema do not mean only that there is one G‑d, but that G‑d is one throughout all existence, that His unity encompasses the heavens above and all the four directions of...

Introduction The Giving of the Torah was a watershed moment in the world’s spiritual history. With the word Anochi (אנכי) Shmos 20:2; Devarim 5:6. – interpreted by our Sages Shabbos 105a. as an acronym for the Aramaic phrase, אנא נפשי כתבית יהבית, “I wrot...

The second section of the Book of Deuteronomy opens as Moses recalls how he pleaded (Va’etchanan, in Hebrew) with G-d to allow him to enter the Land of Israel. Moses tells the rest of the Jewish people that they will soon enter the land without him. Moses...

In speaking of the “Cities of Refuge” — six cities to which those guilty of manslaughter could flee to find safety from a victim’s avengers — the Torah in the section of Vaes’chanan says:Devarim 4:42. “he shall flee to one of these cities and he shall liv...

The Torah portion Vaes’chanan derives its name from its first word, Vaes’chanan, which according to the MidrashMidrash Rabbah on this verse. is a derivative of both chinun or “supplication,” and chinam or “free” — something done freely and not from any se...