Va'etchanan is the 45th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the second in the Book of Deuteronomy. It comprises Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11. The parashah tells how Moses asked to see the Land of Israel, made arguments to obey the law, recounted setting up the Cities of Refuge, recited the Ten Commandments and the Shema, and gave instructions for the Israelites' conquest of the Land.
The parashah is made up of 7,343 Hebrew letters, 1,878 Hebrew words, 122 verses, and 249 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in late July or August.
Moses Pleading with Israel (illustration from a Bible card published 1907 by the Providence Lithograph Company)
Moses Receiving the Tablets of the Law (painting by João Zeferino da Costa)
Moses Promulgates the Law (illustration from the 1728 Figures de la Bible)
1768 Decalogue parchment by Jekuthiel Sofer
The term parashah, parasha or parashat formally means a section of a biblical book in the Masoretic Text of the Tanakh. In common usage today the word often refers to the weekly Torah portion. This article deals with the first, formal meaning of the word. In the Masoretic Text, parashah sections are designated by various types of spacing between them, as found in Torah scrolls, scrolls of the books of Nevi'im or Ketuvim, masoretic codices from the Middle Ages and printed editions of the masoretic text.
A page from the Aleppo Codex, Deuteronomy 32:50–33:29. Parashah breaks visible on this page are as follows: {P} 33:1–6 (right column blank line 8th from top) {S} 33:7 (right column indentation line 23) {P} 33:8–11 (right column blank line 2nd from bottom) {S} 33:12 (middle column 1st indentation) {S} 33:13–17 (middle column 2nd indentation) {S} 33:18–19 (left column indentation at top) {S} 33:20–21 (left column space in middle of 6th line) {S} 33:22 (left column 13th line indentation) {S} 33:24–39 (left column 17th line indentation).
Two consecutive pages of the Aleppo Codex from the now-missing part of Deuteronomy were photographed in 1910 by Joseph Segall, containing the Ten Commandments. The image shows Deuteronomy 4:38 (גדלים) to 6:3 (ואשר), including the following parashah breaks: {P} 4:41 אז יבדיל {P} 5:1 ויקרא משה {S} 5:6 אנכי {S} 5:10 לא תשא {S} 5:11 שמור {S} 5:15 כבד {S} 5:16a לא תרצח {S} 5:16b ולא תנאף {S} 5:16c ולא תגנב {S} 5:16d ולא תענה {S} 5:17a ולא תחמד {S} 5:21b ולא תתאוה {S} את הדברים 5:22. These
Image of a modern Torah scroll open to the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1–19) with special layout visible.
A page of the Aleppo Codex was photographed in 1887 by William Wickes, containing Genesis 26:35 (החתי) to 27:30 (ויהי אך). It shows a single closed parashah break {S} at 27:1 (ויהי כי זקן יצחק); that parashah is in bold within the list below for Parashat Toledot.
