Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal

The Torah commands us to choose life over death. We are not a death cult like our enemies. They have famously stated that the difference between us & them is that we choose life and they choose death.

As we get ready to enter the Land of Israel, the Torah gives us blessings and curses. It is stressing that we are to behave in our society as adults. And adults are responsible for their words & actions.

As we approach Rosh Hashanah, we are taking stock of our actions over the past year and how we can improve ourselves.

When a person commits a crime, he believes that it is acceptable to society. While we should punish the criminal, we should also work to make a better society by making ourselves better people.

The Torah points out that if you want a just and good society you begin with the family. Everything else is based on integrity of the family unit as it is stated in the Book of Genesis. Without a strong family unit society will collapse.

Just because someone disagrees with us does not make them evil. It might make them wrong. Evil people commit evil acts. Mistaken people are wrong.

We have blessings and curses this week. The blessings will come to us if we strive to keep the commandments. The curse is that we will be a normal nation and will be treated as a normal nation. We have to strive for holiness, it does not come naturally.

The fact that we can choose to obey the Torah or not means that we have free will. Something no other creature has. Also, according to Jewish thought, do angels. Only we can choose to do good or evil.

We are commanded to bring the first fruits to the Temple. When we do we have to recite a passage that is a historical review of our history. This is to teach us to remember our history and to learn from it.

We are required to show gratitude to God for His Hand in our success. We need to work for our prosperity but, in the final state, we prosper with divine aid.