Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal

When Moses is getting ready to leave the Jewish people, he appoints Joshua to be the new leader, not his sons. The lesson here is that our leaders do not inherit their positions but have to earn it.

One of the commandments is that once every 7 years the king is required to read the Book of Deuteronomy to the people. This is remind the king that he is also under the Torah. Everyone must hear it, even the small children to teach all the importance of the Torah.

Moses prepares Joshua to take the mantle of leadership. This is an important lesson for us. No matter how great a leader is he has to prepare the next generation otherwise all his work will crumble.

God wants us to work hard and acquire wealth, but we always have to remember that what we acquire comes from Him.

The real danger of non-belief in God is not that you will believe in nothing but that you will believe in anything, no matter how absurd it is.

When Moses is speaking to the Jewish people about their responsibilities, he makes it a special point that all are equal, form the great and powerful to the lowest of society.

The IDF does not want a war but when a war is forced on us we go. We do not forget that we are a Jewish army. Today, every morning the shofar is sounded in all units to remind the soldiers of this.

When we read the curses, we realize that they come due to a lack of respect one to the other. Our greatest disasters as a people were due to our mistreating our fellows.

When we follow the Torah then we will be blessed in miraculous ways, if we do not then we will be cursed to be a normal nation that will suffer the fate of other normal nations.

This portion makes clear that God took us out of Egypt to be a light unto the nations. That our purpose is to show the world what a Godly nation is. When we do not do our job then we suffer.