Weekly Torah Portion Deuteronomy 31

Natalie Turner
Jewish Thought and Practice
Vayelekh
ArtScroll Chumash and Rashi:
Deuteronomy commands the nation of Israel to read Torah before the people of Israel; its men women and children and also the strangers in the land (Deuteronomy 31: 10-30). It is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children Torah. How do they do this? One way is by the words of the Sh’ma in Deuteronomy 6. Sh’ma is said twice a day because God says to talk about the commands when you get up and when you lay down (Deuteronomy 6:7). “In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded You?’ tell him the Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today” (Deuteronomy 6). During the Feast of Pasach, children are prompted to ask questions like, “Why do we eat unleavened bread on this night only while every other night we eat leavened bread?” This simple question allows the head of the household to explain to his child the story of the Exodus when God called his people out of the land of slavery. In the same way Gentiles (strangers) will see the practices of the Jewish People and ask questions regarding certain religious observances. And just like the head of the house hold explains who God is and what He did for His people, God’s people, the Jewish Nation should turn to the strangers in their land and explain to them the importance of Torah; who God is, who the Jew is because of what God did and the instructions God gave His people to be a “lasting ordinance for the generations to come.”