Va'etchanan

Va'etchanan (וָאֶתְחַנַּן — Hebrew for "and I pleaded," the first word in the parashah) is the 45th weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the second in the book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11. The parashah is made up of 7,343 Hebrew letters, 1,878 Hebrew words, and 122 verses, and can occupy about 249 lines in a Torah Scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, Sefer Torah).

Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in late July or August. It is always read on the special Sabbath Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath immediately after Tisha B'Av. As the parashah describes how the Israelites would sin and be banished from the Land of Israel, Jews also read part of the parashah, Deuteronomy 4:25–40, as the Torah reading for the morning (Shacharit) prayer service on Tisha B'Av, which commemorates the destruction of both the First Temple and Second Temple in Jerusalem.

The parashah tells how Moses asked to see the Land of Israel, puts forth arguments to obey the law, recounts the setting up of the Cities of Refuge, recites the Ten Commandments and the Shema, and gives instructions for the Israelites' conquest of the Land.