#vayeilech

will it rain soon? I can feel every scar where you hurt me

sometimes I hide until you believe you’ll never see me

I’ve known you so long and now I hear your song returning

Be Strong and Resolute! – Vayeilech

Image:  Eight hands join over a map. (Photo: geralt/Pixabay) 

Chapter 31 of Deuteronomy is also known as Parashat Vayeilech. Moses is about to die, and he’s worried about the Israelites. He’s had 40 years of their insubordination and complaining, and while he wants to give them good advice, he’s also not at all certain that they will follow it.

The advice begins with prophecy: “You’re going to…

Welcome back to HawkTorah, so glad you could join us! This week we will be looking at Parshat Vayeilech.

So, Moses is about to die. Moses was literally just told “This is your last day on earth.” Can you imagine? Naturally, Moses wants to hit the snooze button on his expiration date, but death is inevitable.

This is where Joshua comes in. Basically Joshua goes up to Moses and says, “I got you fam.” He is going to essentially take Moses’ place after he dies.

Moses is leaving us with some important lessons to follow...

One thing we learn from this portion is to not give up on people. One of the last things that G-d tells Moses is that after he dies, the Jews are going to break their covenant and will face terrible punishments. But G-d isn’t going to give up on them and is willing to wait for them to atone for their sins. This is a good life lesson. Don’t give up on people. Everybody makes mistakes and everybody deserves a second chance. (but don’t keep toxic people in your lives, they aren’t worth it.)

However, this poses the question, "Why should I decide to teshuvah [atone] when G-d keeps zapping me?" The answer to this lies in a very special part of next week’s portion, so stay tuned! (it’s a big one!)

Another big thing that happens in this portion is that Moses writes the Torah. He then presents it to the Levi tribe. The Levites then put that Torah in a container they call an ark (sound familiar?). Well, this is the start of us Jews putting our Torahs in arks! (We’d just like to point out that Amanda got overly excited when we read this part). However, the other tribes get jealous so Moses then writes a Torah for each of the other tribes.

Do you know what the final mitzvah of the Torah is? It’s to write your own Torah scroll. Sounds simple enough, right? This doesn’t have to be so literal though. How can you write your own Torah without literally writing your own Torah? Let me think…. Hmmm…. That’s a tough one….

Oh! I know! What about a blog talking about the weekly Torah portion and relating it to our modern world? (sound familiar ;) )

You can even write your own Torah by just living a good, Jewish life. This doesn’t mean that you need to be super religious or anything, it just means that you go around treating everyone kindly and justly. That is really what the Torah is about, treating others with love and kindness and compassion!

You can choose what you find most meaningful and roll with it! You don’t need to follow every word literally, as long as you follow your heart and believe in what you are doing.

So, as we continue in this High Holy Day season, reflect (we’ve been doing a lot of that) on what your personal Torah says and how you can improve on it in the coming year.

Shana Tova and Shabbat Shalom,

It’s Shabbat Shuvah – the Shabbat that falls in the midst of the High Holy Days – and this week we read Parashat Vayeilech. It’s a short portion, chapter 31 of Deuteronomy, and Moses gives his final charge to Joshua his successor and to the other leaders of Israel. He introduces the poetry we will read next week in Ha’azinu.

He said to them: I am now one hundred and twenty years old, I can no…