Parashat Vaetchanan - First Aliyah

The aliyah opens with Moshe’s moving prayer, “Va’etchanan el Adonai” (I pleaded with Adonai, Deuteronomy 3:23). Moshe asks permission to cross the Jordan and see with his own eyes the good land, the good mountain, and the Lebanon. The request is not granted. God tells him to go up to the top of Pisgah and look, but he will not cross. Moshe receives the command to strengthen and encourage Yehoshua, for he is the one who will lead the people and give them the land as an inheritance.

Then Moshe turns to the people of Israel and begins the central address of the book of Devarim: “Ve’atah Yisrael shema el hachukim ve’el hamishpatim” (And now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the laws, Deuteronomy 4:1). He sets down a fundamental principle: do not add to God’s commandments and do not take away from them. Moshe reminds them of what happened at Baal Peor, where whoever strayed after idolatry was destroyed, while whoever held fast to God remained alive.

Moshe teaches here two great foundations. The first is accepting limits: even Moshe, the master of the prophets, knew to stop when he heard “rav lach” (enough for you, Deuteronomy 3:26). There are moments in life when wisdom means accepting God’s will, even when the heart longs for something else. The second is devotion: whoever clings to truth and purity, whoever stays faithful to their values even in moments of trial, merits life and blessing, “Ve’atem hadvekim b’Adonai Eloheichem chayim kulchem hayom” (But you who hold fast to Adonai your God are all alive today, Deuteronomy 4:4).