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By Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik,
Kol Shearith Israel Congregation, Panama

Translated by Inés Baum - Proofreading by Ellen Zindler

Va-yelech, the third from last parashah of the Torah, consists of only 30 verses – the entire chapter 31 of Sefer Devarim (Deuteronomy) – being thus the shortest portion in the entire Torah. Furthermore, it is usually read along Parashat Nitzavim, which contains the powerful idea of the covenant renovation and therefore is the focus of most commentaries.

And if this weren’t enough, when Parashat Va-yelech is read by itself, as is the case this year, it always falls on Shabbat Shuva, the Sabbath between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, where the words of the prophet Hosea (14:2), “Return (Shuva), O Israel, unto the Lord thy God…”, give name to the Shabbat, and his message becomes dominant in the spirit of the Aseret Yemen Teshuvah, the ten days of repentance.

Thus, it would seem that Parashat Va-yelech is bound to live a little removed from our attention. However, we could think that, in an attempt to compensate this alleged “neglect”, our parashah has the privilege of containing the last of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah: the precept to write a Sefer Torah.

Based on the verse wherein God commands Moses and his disciple Joshua to write the final poem of farewell, “Now therefore write ye this song for you (Kitvuh Lachem), and teach thou it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths…” (31:19), the Talmudic sages (Sanhedrin 21b) established the obligation for each one of us to write for him/herself a Sefer Torah, even if they had inherited one from their parents.

And thus is codified by Rambam (Maimonides, Spain, 12th century), affirming that the mitzvah consists of writing a Sefer Torah; he even maintains that It is a positive command on every Jewish man to write a Sefer Torah for himself. As is said: “if he wrote it in his own hand it is as if he received it from Sinai. And if he doesn’t know how to write, others write it for him” (Hilchot Sefer Torah 7:1).

What is the meaning of this commandment? Sefer Ha-Chinnuch (Rabbi Aharon HaLevi from Barcelona, 13th century) interprets it as a way of having constant access to the Torah text: “God commanded each and every Jew to possess a Torah scroll so that they could read from it constantly, so they would not have to go searching for it to a friend’s house…” (Mitzvah 613).

Based on this assertion, the question that would follow is why it is not enough to have an inherited Sefer Torah but rather you have to write your own. Again, we find the answer on Sefer Ha-Chinnuch: “Every Jew must make the effort to write one even if they inherited one from their parents, so as to have many scrolls and be able to give one to those who cannot pay for it.” (Idem)

A few years later, one of the great codifiers of Jewish law, Asher ben Yechiel, known as the Rosh (Germany and Spain, 13th century), makes a refreshing interpretation of the mitzvah: “nowadays, when a Sefer Torah is written and kept at the synagogue to read in public, it is a mitzvah… to order the writing of Chumashim (Torah for study), Mishnayot, Gemarot (oral Torah), and commentaries to study them with your children” (beginning of Hilchot Sefer Torah). In other words, the Rosh propounds that the worthy fulfillment of the mitzvah consists of arming yourself with a Jewish library from which to read and study.

Transferred to our times, the last of the 613 mitzvot poses a paradox. On the one hand, arming yourself with a good library on Jewish subjects is meaningfully easier and more economical than what it was for any of our ancestors. The cost of books and their distribution allows access to every subject and is not a trifling matter. On the other hand, how many of our contemporaries devote time to reading and study?

Says the Torah: Kitvuh Lachem, “Write for you”. While his ancestors (and many scholars later on) placed the emphasis on the verb, the Rosh stressed the addressee of the action: “For you to study with your children.” Copying the text is not enough. It is necessary to internalize it and own it, and that is only achieved through reading and studying.

Additionally, our example will be what marks the course to our children, as was very well expressed by one of the great Chasidic scholars, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (Poland, 19th century):

If you really want your children to study Torah, study it yourself in their presence. They will follow your example. Otherwise, they will not study Torah themselves but simply tell their children to study it.

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Forwarded by Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik, from Kol Shearith Israel Congregation, Panama.
Translated by Inés Baum and proofread by Ellen Zindler, from B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica.

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