Vayelech

Parashat Vayelech is read separately in some years, when two Sabbaths fall between Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot and neither of them coincides with a holy day[3] (for example, 2025).

[12] Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the Ark of the Covenant and to all the elders of Israel.

[15] Moses told them to assemble all the people—men, women, children, and strangers—that they might hear, learn, fear God, and observe the law as long as the Israelites lived in the land that they were going over the Jordan to possess.

Similarly, Psalm 50:4–5 reports that God "summoned the heavens above, and the earth, for the trial of His people," saying "Bring in My devotees, who made a covenant with Me over sacrifice!"

The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these early nonrabbinic sources:[37] Josephus reports that even slaves attended the public reading of the Torah.

The midrash noted that the Rabbis taught that documents of betrothal and marriage are written only with the consent of both parties, and the bridegroom pays the scribe's fee.

Mar Zutra and Rav Ashi read the words "that they may learn" in Deuteronomy 31:12 to mean "that they may teach," and thus to exclude people who could not speak from the obligation to appear at the assembly.

[47] Tractate Sheviit in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Jerusalem Talmud interpreted the laws of the Sabbatical year in Exodus 23:10–11, Leviticus 25:1–34, and Deuteronomy 15:1–18 and 31:10–13.

Rabban Gamaliel noted that God swore to give the land not "to you" (the Israelites whom Moses addressed) but "to them" (the Patriarchs, who had long since died).

Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah replied that both are deduced from Deuteronomy 31:16, "And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold you shall sleep with your fathers, and rise up again; and this people shall go a whoring .

Rava then said that this bore out what Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel taught, that wherever the Rabbis direct their eyes in suspicion, either death or poverty follows.

So when Israel went out of Egypt, the fear of them fell upon all the nations, as Exodus 15:14–16 reported, "The peoples have heard, they tremble; pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.

And Rabbi Akiva deduced from the words "put it in their mouths" immediately following in Deuteronomy 31:19 that the teacher must go on teaching until the student can state the lesson fluently.

And Rabbi Akiva deduced from the words "now these are the ordinances that you shall put before them" in Exodus 21:1 that the teacher must wherever possible explain to the student the reasons behind the commandments.

Rabbi Jacob ben Dostai said that it is about three miles from Lod to Ono, and once he rose up early in the morning and waded all that way up to his ankles in fig honey.

The Gemara reported that Rabbi Joḥanan interpreted Deuteronomy 31:26, "Take this book of the law," to refer to the time after the Torah had been joined together from its several parts.

The Gemara further explained that according to Rabbi Judah's theory, before the Philistine coffer came, the Torah scroll was placed on a ledge projecting from the Ark.

(4) In Numbers 12:14, "the Lord said to Moses: ‘If her (Miriam's) father had but spit in her face,'" surely it would stand to reason, "‘Should she not hide in shame seven days?'"

(10) In Ezekiel 15:5, God came to the prophet saying, "Behold, when it was whole, it was usable for no work," and thus surely it is logical to argue, "How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it is singed?

"[72] The parashah is discussed in these medieval Jewish sources:[73] According to Abraham ibn Ezra, Moses went to each of the tribes separately, as they lay encamped, "to acquaint them that he was about to die, and that they might not be afraid, and to strengthen their hearts.

And so, Baḥya taught, Deuteronomy 31:12 is addressed to everyone: "Gather the people together, men and women, and children, and the stranger that is within your gate, that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God .

Reading Deuteronomy 31:12, "that they may hear, and that they may learn and fear the Lord," Maimonides concluded that this is especially the object of the commandment for people to gather on Sukkot.

For, Maimonides interpreted, when people are deprived of Divine protection, they are exposed to all dangers, and become the victim of circumstance, their fortune dependent on chance—a terrible threat.

[79] The parashah is discussed in these modern sources: Ephraim Speiser wrote that the word "Torah" (תּוֹרָה‎) is based on a verbal stem signifying “to teach, guide,” and the like, and the derived noun can carry a variety of meanings.

The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch forbade one to sell a Torah scroll, but in a case of great need, advised one to consult a competent Rabbi.

[86] The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch said that it is also a commandment for every person to buy other sacred books—such as the Bible, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and codes of law—for learning, to study from them, and to lend them to others.

The expression evoked a general sense of the bounty of the land and suggested an ecological richness exhibited in several ways, not just with milk and honey.

[95] In the Masoretic Text and the Samaritan Pentateuch, Deuteronomy 31:9 reports that Moses simply wrote down the Law, not specifying whether inscribed on tablets, clay, or papyrus.

Martin Abegg Jr., Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich suggested that the verse may have reflected a growing emphasis on books of the Law after the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile.

That haftarah is the seventh and concluding installment in the cycle of seven haftarot of consolation after Tisha B'Av, leading up to Rosh Hashanah.