Shlomo's Thoughts on the Torah

The 9th of Av is the anniversary of the worst disasters of Jewish history. The 15th of Av is the Jewish answer to our enemies. It is a day that we encourage young people to meet, marry and begin to build a family. It is saying, you did not defeat us. We will continue as Jews.

The Shma is the central statement of the Jews. We recite twice daily. It is to remind us that our mission is to be a holy nation through our actions, whether with God or our fellow man.

The Torah states that we have to remember and keep the Sabbath day. This is to teach that if we don't remember why the Sabbath day is about, we will forget it and if we don't keep it, we will not keep it. It will be another day of the week.

While the Torah demands we treat our fellow man with dignity it also maintains that our fellow man must also behave correctly. When they commit murder, rape, etc. then we have to deal with them in the appropriate manner.

Moses pleads one last time to enter the Land. God denies this request but gives him the opportunity to see all the Land in its entirety as well as the future of the Jewish people.

Today is the 9th of Av. It is a sad day in the Jewish year. It is not only the anniversary of the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem but also of many disasters that befell the Jewish people. On this day we think about averting new disasters by improving ourselves morally, ethically, and nationally

It is no accident that the portion of the Torah known as Devarim is read the Shabbat before the 9th of Av. The 9th of Av teaches us what happens when our leaders do not lead, when we engage in baseless hatred and when we lose trust in God.

One of the messages of the Torah is that we have to be humble. Humility does not mean that we may never stand up for ourselves. It means that we have to acknowledge that God is running the world and wants us to be moral and ethical.

Justice should be blind to the monetary and/or social status of the people who come before the court. Otherwise, society would break down into anarchy.

True leadership means that there be transparency. That a leader remember that he is a servant of the people, not the other way around.

Moses recounts the sin of the scouts. The problem was two-fold: they were afraid that they would lose their status as leaders of the people, and they couldn't understand that the purpose was to work the while keeping the Torah

The Book of Deuteronomy is Moses recounting all the events that happened from the leaving of Egypt to them getting ready to enter the land. Why recount this? To remind us that God wants us to be moral and ethical people.

Getting Ready For Our Mission - In this week's portion we are commanded to be a holy, unified and just society. When our society is built on these three pillars, there is nothing that can defeat us.

The cities of refuge were for those who killed accidentally. It was a way of punishing them as well protecting them. They had to stay there until the High Priest dies. The reason for this is that the people's spirituality was expressed though the High Priest. If he did his job correctly then the accident would not have occurred.

The setting of boundaries is important for any society. Without them then we turn into anarchy with no limits on what is permitted and what is not. The Torah gives us boundaries both physical & moral. Both for Jews and non-Jews.

In this week's portion the Jews get the command to destroy Midian. This was not revenge for what they did but a judgement that caused others to sin, which is worse than committing then since yourself.

We learn the importance of keeping your word. In the Torah's view a person's word is their bond. To violate this is a major sin, not just against your fellow man but against God.

Balaam cannot curse the Jewish people because they are under God's protection as long as they are doing what they are commanded to do. That's why they send in temptresses into the camp to compromise them.

Balak could have found a way to work with the Jews to make his own country better. But his hatred of the Jews and their spiritual journey blinded and led him and his nation to disaster.

In Balak's mind life is a zero-sum game. If Israel succeeds, then Moab is finished. Therefore, he has to stop Israel at any cost. This is the story of anti-Semites throughout history. The Torah relates it so show us how wrong they are.

There is a question about whether or not Bilaam was evil or not. For those who believe that he was essentially good the problem was that he was persuaded by the money that Bakak gave him.

In this week's portion we meet Balak and Bilaam. What is interesting is that the action takes place away from the Jews. This teaches us that God is protecting us even when we are totally unaware of the dangers around us.

The Hebrew translation of the United States is "The Lands Of The Agreement." This is different from most other languages. The reason is that Jews recognized the uniqueness of the US and its foundation.

The were commanded not to go to war with Edom and Moab even though they were denied passage through their lands. One of the reasons is you do not go to war when there are valid alternatives.

When Miriam dies the well dries up.  The people were not aware that they had water in her merit.  This teaches us that there are many people who do a job that without their efforts we would not be able to exist but we do not know who they are.