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Small But
Impactful
Parshas Vayeilech
Posted on September 29, 2022 (5783) By Rabbi
Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi
Wein | Level: Beginner
The parsha of Vayelech is
the parsha that contains the smallest number of verses – only thirty – of any
other parsha in the Torah. It also is the parsha that usually coincides with
Shabat Shuva, the holy Shabat between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The words of
the parsha are part of the last testament of Moshe uttered on the day of his
passing from this earth.
As is his want, Moshe
minces no words regarding the fate of the Jewish people in its future story.
Thus the shortest parsha of the Torah is also one of the most powerful of all
of the parshiyot of the Torah. In effect Moshe warns his people Israel that the
Lord will hold them accountable to the terms of the covenant of Sinai and that
that covenant is irreversible and unbreakable.
It will take a long time
and much twisting and turning by the Jewish people before they accept that
reality of covenantal responsibility. But Moshe assures them that eventually the
message will set in and that this will be the basis for the Jewish return to G-d
and His Torah. This is the essence of the parsha’s content and the brevity of
the parsha only serves to enhance the power of its message.
There are certain
self-evident truths that need no extra words, explanations, or language. This
parsha especially gains in power and relevance as Jewish history unfolds over
thousands of years. Every deviation from the covenant of Sinai has eventually
brought with it angst and pain, if not even disaster. Just look around at the
Jewish world and its history. Moshe’s words are clearly vindicated by
circumstances and events.
Personal repentance and
return is far easier to achieve than is national repentance and return. The
Jewish people, or at least a significant part of it, has strayed very far away
from the covenant of Sinai. The situation here in Israel is far better than it
is in the Diaspora where intermarriage, ignorance, alienation, and false gods
have eroded Jewish faith, family, self-identity and values. How is it possible
to hope for a national return to the covenant of Sinai under such
circumstances?
Our short parsha seems to
indicate that it will be a process and not a sudden epiphany. The prophet in
the Haftorah indicates that such a process will be incomplete without the
recognition that the false gods and temporarily popular ideals all have led
nowhere. He echoes Moshe’s words in our parsha, that return and repentance
in a national sense can only occur if there is a realization how badly we have
gone astray.
The great challenge, of
the modern culture upon us, is how pervasive it is in every facet of our lives.
The confusion that this engenders in the Jewish people prevents clear thinking,
accurate judgment and honest assessments of true Jewish values versus current
faddish correctness.
Our parsha is short but
our way back is long and rigorous. In this good and blessed year that has just
begun let us start – and continue that journey that leads back to Sinai and
forwards to complete national redemption.
Shabat shalom
Gmar chatima tova,
Rabbi Berel Wein
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