פָּרָשַׁת וָאֶתְחַנַּן

Parshat Vaetchanan opens with Moshe Rabbeinu's plea to Hashem to be permitted to cross the Yarden (the Jordan River) and see the good land (of Israel). Hashem lets him see it only from the top of the Pisgah, and tells him to strengthen Yehoshua. Moshe calls on Bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) to keep the chukim (statutes) and mishpatim (laws) without adding or taking away, for they are their wisdom in the eyes of the nations. At Chorev (Har Sinai) they heard Hashem's voice from the fire but saw no form, so they are never to make an image. If they turn to idols they will be scattered among the nations, and from there they will seek Hashem and find Him (4:25–40 is the Torah reading on Tisha B'Av morning), for "Hashem is G-d in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is no other." Moshe sets apart three arei miklat (cities of refuge for accidental killers) east of the Yarden.

Perek 5 repeats the covenant at Chorev and the Aseret HaDibrot (the Ten Commandments), with Shabbat kept in memory of the slavery in Mitzrayim (Egypt). Perek 6 holds the Shema. Hashem is One, and Bnei Yisrael are to love Him with all their heart, soul and might, teach these words to their children, bind them on their hand and between their eyes, and write them on their doorposts (the first paragraph of Kriyat Shema, and the source of tefillin and mezuzah). Moshe warns them not to forget Hashem when they are satisfied in a land they did not build, and gives the answer to the son who asks about the mitzvot: "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Mitzrayim, and Hashem brought us out." Perek 7 commands them to destroy the idolatry of the seven nations of Kenaan and not to marry them, for Bnei Yisrael are Hashem's am segulah (treasured people), chosen not because they are many — they are the fewest of all peoples — but because Hashem loves them.