Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal

  • The Liberty Bell and the Jubilee Year

    The Jubilee year is the great reset of society. The command for it contains the famous phrase, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to the inhabitants thereof.” This means that we have equal opportunity to succeed.

  • It’s A Partnership With God

    Keeping the Sabbatical year is showing that one believes in God by refraining from work on the land for a year. Much like keeping the Sabbath and kosher is showing one believes in God.

  • Our Society Must Be God Based

    The story of the blasphemer seems out of place until we realize that the message that the Torah is sending us is that any society that is not based on the Bible is transitory. Morality and law must be constant.

  • Preparing To Be A Free Nation

    The Torah refers to Passover as the holiday of Matzot. The reason is to teach us that leaving Egypt was the first step to becoming a nation. We had to learn what it means to be free.

  • Actions Determine Leadership

    The laws concerning the priests’ behavior can only be understood in the context that the priest were the spiritual leaders, so their actions mattered.

  • God’s Hand In Creating Israel

    Today is Israel Independence Day. It is in the middle of the Omer, a period of mourning for our loss in the Bar Cochba revolt. This is not accident. It shows God’s hand in our lives.

  • Remembering Why We Fight

    Today is the Memorial Day for the fallen in the Israel Defense Forces. Those who make the outrageous accusations against the IDF and defend Hamas should know that they are defending anti-Semites and racists. It is that simple.

  • Our Leaders Represent US

    The Torah points out that one of the duties of the priests in the Temple was the way they looked. We have to remember that they represent God to the people and the people to God.

  • The Key To A Just Society

    The Torah admonishes judges not to pervert justice and to have accurate weights and measures. The biggest problem in the developing nations is corruption.

  • Obey The Law

    We are commanded to fear our parents but also to keep the Shabbat in the same verse. This is teach us that we have to obey our parents unless they order us to violate Jewish Law.