Vayelech, Vayeilech, VaYelech, Va-yelech, Vayelekh, Va-yelekh, or Vayeleh (וַיֵּלֶךְ — Hebrew for "then he went out", the first word in the parshah) is the 52nd weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes Deuteronomy 31:1–30. Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in September or early October. With just 30 verses, it is the shortest parshah.
The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between 50 in common years and 54 or 55 in leap years. In some leap years (for example, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019), parshah Vayelech is read separately. In common years (for example, 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2017), parshah Vayelech is combined with the previous parshah, Nitzavim, to help achieve the number of weekly readings needed, and the combined portion is then read on the Sabbath immediately before Rosh Hashanah. The two Torah portions are combined except when two Sabbaths fall between Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot and neither Sabbath coincides with a Holy Day. (W. Gunther Plaut. The Torah: A Modern Commentary, 1553. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1981. ISBN 0-8074-0055-6.)
In the parshah, Moses tells the Israelites to be strong and courageous, as God and Joshua would soon lead them into the Promised Land. Moses commanded the Israelites to read the law to all the people every seven years. God told Moses that his death was approaching, that the people would break the covenant, and that God would thus hide God’s face from them, so Moses should therefore write a song to serve as a witness for God against the Israelites.
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Moses told the Israelites that he was 120 years old that day, could no longer go out and come in, and God had told him that he was not to go over the Jordan River. (Deuteronomy 31:1–2.) God would go over before them and destroy the nations ahead of them as God had destroyed Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, Joshua would go over before them, and the Israelites would dispossess those nations according to the commandments that Moses had commanded them. (Deuteronomy 31:3–5.) Moses exhorted the Israelites to be strong and courageous, for God would go with them and would not forsake them. (Deuteronomy 31:6.) And in the sight of the people, Moses told Joshua to be strong and courageous, for he would go with the people into the land that God had sworn to their fathers and cause them to inherit it, and God would go before him, be with him, and not forsake him. (Deuteronomy 31:7–8.)
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, commanding them to read it before all Israel at the end of every seven years during Sukkot, when all Israel was to appear in the place that God would choose. (Deuteronomy 31:9–11.) 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. (Deuteronomy 31:12–13.)
God told Moses that as the day of his death was approaching, he should call Joshua, and they should present themselves in the tent of meeting so that God might bless Joshua. (Deuteronomy 31:14.) God appeared in a pillar of cloud over the door of the Tent and told Moses that he was about to die, the people would rise up and break the covenant, God’s anger would be kindled against them, God would forsake them and hide God’s face from them, and many evils would come upon them. (Deuteronomy 31:15–18.) God directed Moses therefore to write a song and teach it to the Israelites so that the song might serve as a witness for God against the Israelites. (Deuteronomy 31:19.) For when God will have brought the Israelites into the land flowing with milk and honey, they will have eaten their fill, grown fat, turned to other gods, and broken the covenant, then when many evils will have come upon them, this song would testify before them as a witness. (Deuteronomy 31:20–21.)
So Moses wrote the song that day and taught it to the Israelites. (Deuteronomy 31:22.) And God charged Joshua to be strong and courageous, for he would bring the Israelites into the land that God had sworn to them, and God would be with him. (Deuteronomy 31:23.) And when Moses had finished writing the law in a book, Moses commanded the Levites who bore the Ark of the Covenant to take the book and put it by the side of the Ark so that it might serves as a witness against the people. (Deuteronomy 31:24–26.) For Moses said that he knew that even that day, the people had been rebelling against God, so how much more would they after his death? (Deuteronomy 31:27.)
Moses called the elders and officers to assemble, so that he might call heaven and earth to witness against them. (Deuteronomy 31:28.) For Moses said that he knew that after his death, the Israelites would deal corruptly and turn away from the commandments, and evil would befall them because they would do that which was evil in the sight of God. (Deuteronomy 31:29.) And Moses spoke to all the assembly of Israel the words of the song. (Deuteronomy 31:30.)
Words used frequently in the parshah include:
Moses calls heaven and earth to serve as witnesses against Israel in Deuteronomy 4:26, 30:19, 31:28, and 32:1. 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!” Psalm 50:6 continues: “Then the heavens proclaimed His righteousness, for He is a God who judges.”
Expressions like "hide My countenance" in Deuteronomy 31:17–18 and 32:20 also appear in Isaiah 8:17, Ezekiel 39:29, Micah 3:4, Psalms 13:2, 27:9, 30:8, 51:11, 69:17, 89:47, 102:3, 104:29, and 143:7, and Job 13:24.
Josephus reports that even slaves attended the public reading of the Torah. (Antiquities 4:8:12.)
The Gemara interpreted Moses’s words “I am a hundred and twenty years old this day” in Deuteronomy 31:2 to signify that Moses spoke on his birthday, and that he thus died on his birthday. Citing the words “the number of your days I will fulfill” in Exodus 23:26, the Gemara concluded that God completes the years of the righteous to the day, concluding their lives on their birthdays. (Babylonian Talmud Rosh Hashanah 11a.)
The Mishnah taught that the Israelites would postpone the great assembly required by Deuteronomy 31:10–12 if observing it conflicted with the Sabbath. (Mishnah Megillah 1:3; Babylonian Talmud Megillah 5a.)
The Gemara noted that the command in Deuteronomy 31:12 for all Israelites to assemble applied to women (as does the command in Exodus 12:18 to eat matzah on the first night of Passover), even though the general rule (stated in Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin 34a) is that women are exempt from time-bound positive commandments. The Gemara cited these exceptions to support Rabbi Johanan’s assertion that one may not draw inferences from general rules, for they often have exceptions. (Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 27a.)
Rabbi Johanan ben Beroka and Rabbi Eleazar Hisma reported that Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah interpreted the words “Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones,” in Deuteronomy 31:12 to teach that the men came to learn, the women came to hear, and the little children came to give a reward to those who brought them. (Babylonian Talmud Chagigah 3a.)
The Gemara deduced from the parallel use of the word “appear” in Exodus 23:14 and Deuteronomy 16:15 (regarding appearance offerings) on the one hand, and in Deuteronomy 31:10–12 (regarding the great assembly) on the other hand, that the criteria for who participated in the great assembly also applied to limit who needed to bring appearance offerings. A Baraita deduced from the words “that they may hear” in Deuteronomy 31:12 that a deaf person was not required to appear at the assembly. And the Baraita deduced from the words “that they may learn” in Deuteronomy 31:12 that a mute person was not required to appear at the assembly. But the Gemara questioned the conclusion that one who cannot talk cannot learn, recounting the story of two mute grandsons (or others say nephews) of Rabbi Johanan ben Gudgada who lived in Rabbi’s neighborhood. Rabbi prayed for them, and they were healed. And it turned out that notwithstanding their speech impediment, they had learned halachah, Sifra, Sifre, and the whole Talmud. 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. Rabbi Tanhum deduced from the words “in their ears” (using the plural for “ears”) at the end of Deuteronomy 31:11 that one who was deaf in one ear was exempt from appearing at the assembly. (Babylonian Talmud Chagigah 3a.)
The Mishnah explained how the Jews of the Second Temple era interpreted the requirement of Deuteronomy 31:10–13 that the king read the Torah to the people. At the conclusion of the first day of Sukkot immediately after the conclusion of the seventh year in the cycle, they erected a wooden dais in the Temple court, upon which the king sat. The synagogue attendant took a Torah scroll and handed it to the synagogue president, who handed it to the High Priest's deputy, who handed it to the High Priest, who handed it to the king. The king stood and received it, and then read sitting. King Agrippa stood and received it and read standing, and the sages praised him for doing so. When Agrippa reached the commandment of Deuteronomy 17:15 that “you may not put a foreigner over you” as king, his eyes ran with tears, but they said to him, “Don’t fear, Agrippa, you are our brother, you are our brother!” The king would read from Deuteronomy 1:1 up through the shema (Deuteronomy 6:4–9), and then Deuteronomy 11:13–21, the portion regarding tithes (Deuteronomy 14:22–29), the portion of the king (Deuteronomy 17:14–20), and the blessings and curses (Deuteronomy 27–28). The king would recite the same blessings as the High Priest, except that the king would substitute a blessing for the festivals instead of one for the forgiveness of sin. (Mishnah Sotah 7:8; Babylonian Talmud Sotah 41a.)
A Baraita deduced from the parallel use of the words “at the end” in Deuteronomy 14:28 (regarding tithes) and 31:10 (regarding the great assembly) that just as the Torah required the great assembly to be done at a festival (Deuteronomy 31:10), the Torah also required tithes to be removed at the time of a festival. (Jerusalem Talmud Maaser Sheni 53a.)
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. (Mishnah Sheviit 1:1–10:9; Tosefta Sheviit 1:1–8:11; Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 1a–87b.) Rabbi Isaac taught that the words of Psalm 103:20, “mighty in strength that fulfill His word,” speak of those who observe the Sabbatical year (mentioned in Deuteronomy 31:10). Rabbi Isaac said that we often find that a person fulfills a precept for a day, a week, or a month, but it is remarkable to find one who does so for an entire year. Rabbi Isaac asked whether one could find a mightier person than one who sees his field untilled, see his vineyard untilled, and yet pays his taxes and does not complain. And Rabbi Isaac noted that Psalm 103:20 uses the words “that fulfill His word (dabar),” and Deuteronomy 15:2 says regarding observance of the Sabbatical year, “And this is the manner (dabar) of the release,” and argued that “dabar” means the observance of the Sabbatical year in both places. (Leviticus Rabbah 1:1.)
Tractate Beitzah in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws common to all of the festivals in Exodus 12:3–27, 43–49; 13:6–10; 23:16; 34:18–23; Leviticus 16; 23:4–43; Numbers 9:1–14; 28:16–30:1; and Deuteronomy 16:1–17; 31:10–13. (Mishnah Beitzah 1:1–5:7; Tosefta Yom Tov (Beitzah) 1:1–4:11; Jerusalem Talmud Beitzah 1a–49b; Babylonian Talmud Beitzah 2a–40b.)
Rabbi Jannai taught that when Moses learned that he was to die on that day, he wrote 13 scrolls of the law — 12 for the 12 tribes, and one which he placed in the ark — so that if anyone should seek to forge anything in a scroll, they could refer back to the scroll in the ark. Moses thought that he could busy himself with the Torah — the whole of which is life — and then the sun would set and the decree for his death would lapse. God signaled to the sun, but the sun refused to obey God, saying that it would not set and leave Moses alive in the world. (Deuteronomy Rabbah 9:9.)
Interpreting the words "call Joshua" in Deuteronomy 31:14, a midrash taught that Moses asked God to let Joshua take over his office and nonetheless allow Moses continue to live. God consented on the condition that Moses treat Joshua as Joshua had treated Moses. So Moses rose early and went to Joshua's house. Moses called Joshua his teacher, and they set out walking with Moses on Joshua's left, like a disciple. When they entered the tent of meeting, the pillar of cloud came down and separated them. When the pillar of cloud departed, Moses asked Joshua what was revealed to him. Joshua asked Moses whether Joshua ever found out what God said to Moses. At that moment, Moses bitterly exclaimed that it would be better to die a hundred times than to experience envy, even once. (Deuteronomy Rabbah 9:9.)
Rabbi Akiba deduced from the words “and teach it to the children of Israel” in Deuteronomy 31:19 that a teacher must go on teaching a pupil until the pupil has mastered the lesson. And Rabbi Akiba 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 Akiba 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. Rav Hisda cited the words “put it in their mouths” in Deuteronomy 31:19 for the proposition that the Torah can be acquired only with the aid of mnemonic devices, reading “put it” (shimah) as “its [mnemonic] symbol” (simnah). (Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 54b.)
The Gemara reported a number of Rabbis’ reports of how the Land of Israel did indeed flow with “milk and honey,” as described in Exodus 3:8 and 17, 13:5, and 33:3, Leviticus 20:24, Numbers 13:27 and 14:8, and Deuteronomy 6:3, 11:9, 26:9 and 15, 27:3, and 31:20. Once when Rami bar Ezekiel visited Bnei Brak, he saw goats grazing under fig trees while honey was flowing from the figs, and milk dripped from the goats mingling with the fig honey, causing him to remark that it was indeed a land flowing with milk and honey. 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. Resh Lakish said that he saw the flow of the milk and honey of Sepphoris extend over an area of sixteen miles by sixteen miles. Rabbah bar bar Hana said that he saw the flow of the milk and honey in all the Land of Israel and the total area was equal to an area of twenty-two parasangs by six parasangs. (Babylonian Talmud Ketubot 111b–12a.)
The Rabbis cited the prophecy of Deuteronomy 31:20 that “they shall have eaten their fill and grown fat, and turned to other gods” to support the popular saying that filling one’s stomach ranks among evil things. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 32a.)
Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai interpreted the words “it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed” in Deuteronomy 31:21 to teach that Israel will never forget the Torah. (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 138b.)
Where did the Israelites keep the scroll of the law that Deuteronomy 31:9 and 26 reported that Moses wrote? Rabbi Meir taught that the Israelites kept the scroll inside the Ark of the Covenant. Rabbi Meir deduced this from the redundant exclusionary words, “There was nothing in the Ark save,” in 1 Kings 8:9. Rabbi Meir interpreted the double exclusion as a double negative, intimating that something else was included in the Ark, namely, the scroll of the law. But Rabbi Judah interpreted the words, “Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the Ark of the Covenant,” in Deuteronomy 31:26 to teach that the scroll of the law was placed by the side of the Ark. Rabbi Judah taught that the Israelites kept the scroll on top of the chest in which the Philistines sent a present to God (as reported in 1 Samuel 6:8). Rabbi Judah interpreted the redundant exclusionary words, “There was nothing in the Ark save,” in 1 Kings 8:9 to intimate that the fragments of the first broken tablets were also deposited inside the Ark along with the second set of tablets of the law. (Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 14a–b.)
Rabbi Ishmael cited Deuteronomy 31:27as one of ten a fortiori (kal va-chomer) arguments recorded in the Hebrew Bible: (1) In Genesis 44:8, Joseph’s brothers told Joseph, “Behold, the money that we found in our sacks’ mouths we brought back to you,” and they thus reasoned, “how then should we steal?” (2) In Exodus 6:12, Moses told God, “Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened to me,” and reasoned that surely all the more, “How then shall Pharaoh hear me?” (3) In Deuteronomy 31:27, Moses said to the Israelites, “Behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against the Lord,” and reasoned that it would follow, “And how much more after my death?” (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?’” (5) In Jeremiah 12:5, the prophet asked, “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,” is it not logical to conclude, “Then how can you contend with horses?” (6) In 1 Samuel 23:3, David's men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah,” and thus surely it stands to reason, “How much more than if we go to Keilah?” (7) Also in Jeremiah 12:5, the prophet asked, “And if in a land of Peace where you are secure” you are overcome, is it not logical to ask, “How will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?” (8) Proverbs 11:31 reasoned, “Behold, the righteous shall be requited in the earth,” and does it not follow, “How much more the wicked and the sinner?” (9) In Esther 9:12, “The king said to Esther the queen: ‘The Jews have slain and destroyed 500 men in Shushan the castle,’” and it thus stands to reason, “‘What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces?’” (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?” (Genesis Rabbah 92:7.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael counted 10 songs in the Tanakh: (1) the one that the Israelites recited at the first Passover in Egypt, as Isaiah 30:29 says, “You shall have a song as in the night when a feast is hallowed”; (2) the Song of the sea in Exodus 15; (3) the one that the Israelites sang at the well in the wilderness, as Numbers 21:17 reports, “Then sang Israel this song: ‘Spring up, O well’”; (4) the one that Moses spoke in his last days, as Deuteronomy 31:30 reports, “Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song”; (5) the one that Joshua recited, as Joshua 10:12 reports, “Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites”; (6) the one that Deborah and Barak sang, as Judges 5:1 reports, “Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam”; (7) the one that David spoke, as 2 Samuel 22:1 reports, “David spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul”; (8) the one that Solomon recited, as Psalm 30:1 reports, “a song at the Dedication of the House of David”; (9) the one that Jehoshaphat recited, as 2 Chronicles 20:21 reports: “when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing to the Lord, and praise in the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and say, ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures for ever’”; and (10) the song that will be sung in the time to come, as Isaiah 42:10 says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth,” and Psalm 149:1 says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise in the assembly of the saints.” (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Shirata 1:5.)
According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are two positive commandments in the parshah.
(Maimonides. Mishneh Torah, Positive Commandments 16 and 17. Cairo, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 1:23–25. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 5:430–43. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1988. ISBN 0-87306-497-6.)
When parshah Vayelech is read separately, the haftarah for the parshah is Isaiah 55:6–56:8.
When parshah Vayelech coincides with the special Sabbath Shabbat Shuvah (the Sabbath before Yom Kippur, as it does in 2012), the haftarah is Hosea 14:2–10, Micah 7:18–20, and Joel 2:15–27.
When parshah Vayelech is combined with parshah Netzavim (as it is in 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2017), the haftarah is the haftarah for Netzavim, Isaiah 61:10–63:9. 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.
The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:
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