Vayelech
Reflection by Or HaLev teacher Ori Levy
"We read this week’s parsha in the midst of the Days of Awe, the days of self reflection and questioning and observation. These are days in which we are invited to take responsibility for our actions, to remember where we came from, to look ahead to where we are going, and to see that our present moment aligns with that path, a path that reminds us that the choice is in our hands.
Rosh Hashanah is called yom zichron teruah, the day of remembering the shofar blast. It is that blast that our tradition teaches can open up our hearts and allow for this process of reflection to begin, and can renew our relationship with God.
In one of the poetic verses in our parsha, it says
‘ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת ולמדה את בני ישראל שימה בפיהם למען תהיה לי השירה הזאת לעד בבני ישראל,'
or 'therefore, write down this song and teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths, in order that this song may be My witness to the people of Israel' (Deut 31:19). Just as the sound of the shofar is the symbol of the memory of the act of the creation of the world, so the songs that God puts in our mouths are the symbols of the divine connection that exists within us. Indeed, the word for our people, בני ישראל, the Children of Israel, can be re-read as בני שיר-אל, the Children who sing to God. May we be privileged this Shabbat before Yom Kippur to be messengers of songs of love and peace.“