Shlomo's Thoughts on the Torah

Simon and Levi destroy Schem for their sister's honor. The reason the whole city had to destroyed was that all were complicit in the rape of their sister.

Jacob hides his daughter, Dina, from Esau because he knew that Esau would want her for sex. What he did not realize was that Dina had to power to civilize Esau. If Esau would have married Dina then he would have become a righteous man.

When Jacob and Esau meet, Jacob states that he was able to live in the house of Laban and keep all the mitzvot. Esau is amazed. Mentally he knows that it is possible, but he cannot control his urges while Jacob can.

Rachel steals her father's idols since she does not want to be an idolator. Her intentions were good, but the act of stealing is wrong. This is why she was punished.

Jacob sees that he is becoming like Laban. He realizes that this is dangerous to his spiritual being. His solution is to escape from Laban and return to his parents, who will make sure that his moral compass is pointing true north.

Jacob, Rachel and Leah all have to struggle with their faith. Jacob in his dealings with his unscrupulous father-in-law. Leah with the fact that she is not loved by Jacob and Rachel with being barren. They all overcome their struggles due to their faith in God.

Each of the sons of Jacob are named and each name has a meaning. This is to teach us that each individual bring something to the table that is unique to them.

Jacob was living the life of a Yeshiva student. Suddenly he is thrown into the business world and has to deal with a dishonest businessman, his father-in-law. In the end he succeeds since he knows the tricks but can defeat Leban honestly.

In Jacob's dream he sees angels ascending and descending a ladder. The angels represent the nations of the world and Jacob understands the dream to mean that while many nations will rise and fall, the Jewish people will continue to exist.

Thanksgiving is a unique holiday. While it has a religious background, any person of whatever religious or faith can celebrate. Let's always remember that we live in a free country and that we can all practice whatever faith we are without government interference.

Isaac is blind to Esau's misdeeds. Esau's reaction is to take advantage of this. He never shows gratitude for what he is given. This teaches that when someone feels entitled, they lack gratitude.

The reason that Eisav hates Jacob is that Eisav refuses to take responsibility for his bad decisions. This is a common problem among people. We have to own our own bad decisions and learn from them.

The mistake of Isaac was that he thought that Jacob was too righteous to earn a living. That Esau, while committing sins, would support Jacob. He was wrong on both accounts. Rebecca knew better.

One of the reasons that Eisav and Jacob do not get along is that Eisav is into instant gratification while Jacob is willing to wait. The story teaches us that when you wait the results are much better.

With the Fore-fathers and Fore-mothers, we see a balance. One is extremely kind and the other puts a brake on the kindness. This is to teach us that while loving kindness is a great trait it needs to be harnessed otherwise it will descend into disaster.

The Haftorah this week has to do with David handing the power over to Solomon. The connection to the portion is clear since Abraham is handing leadership over to Isaac. Broth want to make sure that the power will not be abused. Thus their choices.

Lot's daughters took drastic measures because they thought the world was destroyed. Later they found out that they were wrong in their actions. Instead of acknowledging that they were wrong they choose to blame others.

Lot's daughters despaired that they were the only ones left in the world. They got their father drunk to have him sire children with them. After they learned that this was wrong, they blamed Abraham for their misfortune. Not themselves.

When the two angels inform Lot that Sodom will be destroyed and he has to leave, he refuses to go even though he knows that Sodom is an evil place. He is so much into his wealth he does not see the obvious.

Abraham tries to save Sodom & Gomorrah but to no avail. Their society was too evil. The lesson is that when we see an evil society we have to take appropriate action after we tried to reason with them.

The Torah does not discuss what Abraham looks like. It describes his character. This is in keeping with the idea, that for the Torah all that really matters is how we behave and how we treat each other.

Abraham goes to war to save Lot, who was kidnapped. After the war he is offered some of the booty of the war. He declines since the reason he fought was to save his nephew. This is why we fight. We do not fight for land or money but because it is the last option.

Abraham realizes that he and Lot have different agendas. Lot is into himself while Abraham wants to affect the world through his actions. Lot chooses Sodom while Abraham does not. This is to teach us that all our actions will affect society.