Vayelech

Vayelech, Vayeilech, VaYelech, Va-yelech, Vayelekh, Wayyelekh, Wayyelakh, or Va-yelekh (וַיֵּלֶךְ‎—Hebrew for "then he went out", the first word in the parashah) is the 52nd weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes Deuteronomy 31:1–30. In the parashah, Moses told the Israelites to be strong and courageous, as God and Joshua would soon lead them into the Promised Land. Moses commanded the Israelites to read the law to all the people every seven years. God told Moses that his death was approaching, that the people would break the covenant, and that God would thus hide God's face from them, so Moses should therefore write a song to serve as a witness for God against them.

With just 30 verses, it has the fewest verses of any parashah, although not the fewest words or letters. (Parashat V'Zot HaBerachah has fewer letters and words.)^[1] The parashah is made up of 5,652 Hebrew letters, 1,484 Hebrew words, 30 verses, and 112 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews generally read it in September or early October (or rarely, in late August).^[2] The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains between 50 weeks in common years, and 54 or 55 weeks in leap years. Parashat Vayelech is read separately in some years, when two Sabbaths fall between Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot and neither of them coincides with a holy day^[3] (for example, 2025).^[2] In other years (for example, 2024, 2026, and 2027), Parashat Vayelech is combined with the previous parashah, Nitzavim, to help achieve the number of weekly readings needed, and the combined portion is then read on the Sabbath immediately before Rosh Hashanah.^[4]