Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal

Pesach Sheni is the second chance for those who could not bring an Passover offering during Passover but were unable to. The fact is that one has to do the right thing. Saying I’m sorry is not enough, action is required.

While we Jews believe that Jewish law was given at Mt. Sinai, we recognize that the rabbis are entitled to interpret that law as they understand it.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.