Shlomo's Thoughts on the Torah

When we are called the Chosen people, it means that God chose us to show the world how a moral and ethical society behaves. We are not superior to others.

The commandment to keep accurate weights and measures in business comes before the commandment to destroy Amalek. The meaning is simple. Unethical business practices will destroy society from within. That is when Amalek strikes.

The Torah commands us to treat people as adults. That, as adults, we are responsible for our actions. We treat children as children until they reach adulthood.

In this week's portion Moses gives his last speech to the Jews. This is the last day of his life and he wants to stress that their fate is in their hands. That we are not fated by our birth or status. We can overcome our difficulties through keeping the commandments.

God wants us to serve Him with joy. That we can show the world what true service to God is. That we serve God, not only in prayer but in how we treat each other and that we treat each other morally and ethically with joy.

Being grateful to God is one of the hardest things to do when we are successful. That is why there is a special commandment in the Torah to remind us of this.

We are admonished not to punish the fathers for the sins of the sons and not to punish the sons for the sins of the father. This is a fundamental principal in the Torah. God gave us fee will but free will means that we are responsible for our actions.

When we marry for the wrong reasons the end result is anger. Physical beauty will disappear, but their inner beauty will last.

We start to blow the shofar on Rosh Chodesh Elul. This is to awaken Within us that we will be judged on Rosh Hashana. We should start doing a personal accounting for our action of the preceding year.

The operative verse in this week's portion stresses the words "to you". This is to teach that the most important judge we have is ourselves. Then the family unit. All society if based on these.

The cities of refuge were set up so that someone who committed an accidental killing would be safe. He was being punished for the death of another but it was not murder.

The Torah admonishes judges to judge the facts before them. It is known that in many countries where the courts are perceived to be biased fall apart for that very reason.

We are commanded to destroy all forms of idolatry but must keep anything with God's name on it. This is because idolatry is inherently false and will lead people astray, while the Torah is true and will make us better.

The use of the singular verb to begin the Parsha shows that we are all morally responsible for our actions. The use of the plural "to you" shows that as individuals we are a society.

The second paragraph of the Shema emphasizes that we have a communal responsibility to help. It is not enough that we are personally spiritual but that we are communally spiritual.

It is no accident that July 4, 1776 fell on the 17th of Tamuz that year. It shows that the unity of purpose and the unity of the people in instituting a workable government was what saved the Americans, while the division and destruction of Jewish society caused the destruction of the 1st & 2nd Temples.

The Jewish people are a nation based on the Torah, much like the US is a nation based on the Constitution. We might criticize our government, leaders and fellow citizens but we have to do it out of our love of the nation.

We have to remember that, while we value all people, we do not value all ideas. There are some ideas that cannot be justified.

While we should not have baseless hatred towards one another, we should stand up for what is right and hate evil and evil doers.

In this week's portion we get to the division of the Land of Israel among the tribes. That within each tribe they divided the land among the families. The Torah is emphasizing the concept of private property. That your land is yours and that it cannot be taken away by the government.

As we end the Book of Numbers we are preparing to enter the Land of Israel. Up until now God took care of our every need. Now it is time for us to show God that we are able to stand up and take care of ourselves.

The commandment to destroy Midian was not one of revenge. It was to mete out justice for the evil that Midian had meant to commit against the Torah and the Jewish people. That is why it was so harsh.

The Torah places a lot of importance on keeping your word. The reason is that society is based on our word. We have to trust one another in business, in law, in all forms of dealings with each other. Without this society would break down.

When we look at the foundation of the USA we cannot help but see the Biblical influences. Also, we Jews are grateful that the USA was the first country that would treat Jews as equal citizens.

The 17th of Tamuz is the beginning of the three weeks that we mourn the loss of the Temples in Jerusalem. The rabbis point out that both the first and second Temples were destroyed because people did not treat each other with respect.