Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal

The danger of a false prophet is that though what he says seems to be true it is not and will therefore lead people astray. This will cause idolatry and then the courts will have to take action against people committing idolatry.

The Torah is against us treating slaves as property. The slave has rights that the master cannot violate. This means that the Torah was against the institution of slavery. The anti-slavery movement of the 18th & 19th centuries was based on the Torah.

The Torah states that we should no do what is right in our own eyes but what the Torah says is right. The problem of doing what is right in our eyes is that we will justify the evil that we do. The Nazis and Communists felt that they were moral even though they committed horrible acts.

The commandment to destroy all vestiges of idolatry in the Land of Israel is to teach the Jews not to follow the ways of the idolators. That we should be a light unto the nations by the Torah’s vision of morality, ethics and justice.

We are commanded to follow the commandments but are admonished that if we do not follow them with joy then we are making the commandments into a form of idolatry.

The Torah stresses that we have to be deserving of the Land. It is not enough that it was promised us but that we have to show, through our actions that we deserve being there.

We are not only required to remember but keep in mind why we remember. We are constantly reminded that God did not take us out of Egypt to be a “normal” people. We have a mission to fulfill.

The Torah states that God will drive the inhabitants of the land out so why did the Jews have to prepare. Just wait for God to do what He said he would? The answer is that God wants to see if we are willing to make an effort.

If you do not teach your children your values then they will be filled with values that you will not agree with. This is the reason why so many young Jews today are marrying non-Jews. They do not value being Jewish.

The second paragraph of the Shma makes if very clear that we are in a partnership with God. If we do our part then God will do His. If we don’t then we will be punished.