Shlomo's Thoughts On The Torah

It was no accident that the founding fathers chose a verse from this week's portion to be laced on the Liberty Bell. It sent the message that in America we are not bound by our previous economic status. We can overcome our past.

The Book of Leviticus ends with a reminder that all the work that we do in the Tabernacle is irrelevant if our society does not reflect our moral and ethical values.

The Torah is concerned what type of society do we want. That is why it lays down laws concerning the behavior of the Priests, that we celebrate time, that we take care of the poor properly and with respect, and that we keep our speech within due bounds.

The Torah is concerned with the dignity of all members of society, even the poor. That is the reason that the poor have to glean the wheat so that they can say that they had a hand in making it into bread.

We learn that we have to be careful in what we say. There are those who will take our words and use them to justify evil acts. One who speaks like that is as guilty as the one who pulled the trigger.

The priests in the Tabernacle had to be physically perfect. They could not have a blemish. The reason is that they were the spiritual representatives of the people to God and God's representatives to the people.

The theme of the Torah is that without structure then spirituality will fail. We need structure so that our society will attain the spirituality we crave.

The Haftorah for this week comes from Amos where he points out that piety is not enough. We were chosen to build a just society. That it is not a one way street. God gives the land but if we do not build a just society then we will lose the land.

The Torah is clear, the reason for the offerings in the Tabernacle was so that we would create a better society based on God's laws.

Today is Israel Independence Day. The story of the liberation of our land from foreign intruders is nothing less than miraculous. We celebrate the independence and security of the State of Israel.

The reason that Acherei Mot comes before Kedoshim is to teach us that our rituals are what make our good actions possible.

During the month of Iyar we go from the sadness of loss to the happiness of success. We mourn the soldiers who fell in defending our people and land to a celebration of our independence in that land.

Creating life is holy if done properly. There is a problem in Israel in that the sperm of a fallen soldier can be used in invitro fertilization so that the memory of the soldier can live on. This is a major issue with Jewish legal ramifications.

We don't realize the damage we do when we gossip about others. We should strive to talk about issues and philosophical ideas, not gossip.

One of the mistakes that we make is that we think we can reason with anti-Semites. Their hatred is so great that it defies reason. As was told to me many years ago, you simply cannot reason with a rabid dog. You have to realize that its either you or the rabid dog.

The Parsha deals with a spiritual disease caused by lashon hara, gossiping. Lashon hara is true but negative. It is bad for everyone involved.

There is a spiritual and physical connection between the laws of kosher animals. It reminds us that as humans we are both spiritual and physical beings.

Passover is the holiday of Jewish freedom, yet we have very strict limitations on what we can eat. This is to teach us that freedom has limitations.

We are encouraged to ask questions at the Seder. The reason is that this is a sign of being a free people.

When we look at the 4 sons as 4 generations, we get a deeper understanding what the Hagadah is point out. How the wise son leads to the wicked, who leads to the simple who then leads to the one who doesn't know how to ask.

The questions asked by the four sons reflect how we handle them. The wise son needs to be reminded that the Seder is to be experienced. The wicked son needs to be exposed as a disrupter.

We rely on God's protection, but we have to remember that first we have to prepare for the worse. Without God's protection, we would have been destroyed long ago.

We call the 1st of Tishri the "Jewish New Year". This is wrong. The 1st of Tishri is when man was created. It is the beginning of the world. The Jewish New Year is the 1st of Nisan, when the Jews became a nation.

The Torah says that when a leader sin. It assumes that the leader will make a mistake. It is the nature of the position. He then has to bring a sin offering to atone for his mistake.

Moses was the humblest of men. This might sound strange but if you asked him, he would have said that he did what had to be done. That he just happened to be in place at the time.