Va'etchanan - ואתחנן: "And I besought"
Torah : Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11
Haftarah : Isaiah 40:1-26
Gospel : Acts 3-5

Thought for the Week:

According to tradition, God’s tefillin are marked with the name of Israel just as Israel’s tefillin are marked with the name of God. Rabbi Nachman ben Yitzchak said to Rabbi Chiyya ben Abin, “What is written in the tefillin of the Lord of the Universe? — He replied to him: “And who is like your people Israel, one nation in the earth.” (b.Berachot 6a quoting Deuteronomy 33:29)

Commentary:

“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.” (Deuteronomy 6:8) This statute has been traditionally interpreted as the law of tefillin (phylacteries). Tefillin consist of small, hollow, black leather boxes that contain several parchments of relevant Scripture verses: Exodus 13:1–10; 13:11–16; Deuteronomy 6:4–9; 11:13–21. The small black boxes are bound on the arm and forehead by means of long, black leather straps, thus literally fulfilling the commandment of binding the Torah on the hand and the forehead.

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