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In this week’s parsha, Moses tells Am Israel (the people of Israel) how he begged Hashem to allow him to enter the Land of Israel. Hashem refused to let Moses enter, and instead told him to ascend a mountain and see the Promised Land from there. The reason that Hashem did not let Moses enter the Promised Land was because the well that supplied the people with water had dried up. Hashem had instructed Moses to go up to Mount Horeb and extract water from a rock. Moses did so successfully, but in the course of executing Hashem’s command, he commited a severe error. Instead of talking to the rock for water as Hashem had commanded him, Moses struck it in order to extract the water.

After that, Moses reminds the nation of two major events in our history: the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

Moses then talks about what will happen in the future.  He says that the people will worship idols and be sent away from the Holy Land, causing them to be scattered amongst nations all over the world. After that, the people will seek Hashem, and return to obey His commandments as they did before.

Nowadays, we might sometimes feel lost, not knowing what to do. We might feel scattered among others looking for the right path like Am Israel was so long ago. What we should always keep in mind is that we always have Hashem guiding us and taking care of us. If we follow His commandments, we should never feel lost!

This parsha also includes a repetition of the Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai and the verses of the Shema, which talk about the fact that Hashem is One. Parshat Va’etchanan also mentions various mitzvos, including the mitzvah of putting on tefillin and of attaching a mezuzah on the doorposts of our homes.

So, what can we learn from all of the exchanges that happen in this week’s parsha? One important thing we learn from this week’s parsha is to never give up. Sometimes things may seem so hard that we feel like giving up, but the Torah teaches us that even in those moments, we should hang on.

In this parsha, Moses asked Hashem to let him move into Eretz Israel with the rest of the nation. Hashem had already told him that he wouldn’t be allowed to enter, but Moses didn’t give up. He kept on praying to be able to enter the long awaited Land. Even though he knew the answer, he still persisted and never gave up. This teaches us never to give up even when things look hopeless; we should still try to do what we can, and know that sometimes Hashem can help us at the last moment. The Torah way is to have trust in Hashem and never give up our hope.