The Shma is the central statement of the Jews. We recite twice daily. It is to remind us that our mission is to be a holy nation through our actions, whether with God or our fellow man.

The Torah states that we have to remember and keep the Sabbath day. This is to teach that if we don’t remember why the Sabbath day is about, we will forget it and if we don’t keep it, we will not keep it. It will be another day of the week.

While the Torah demands we treat our fellow man with dignity it also maintains that our fellow man must also behave correctly. When they commit murder, rape, etc. then we have to deal with them in the appropriate manner.

Moses pleads one last time to enter the Land. God denies this request but gives him the opportunity to see all the Land in its entirety as well as the future of the Jewish people.

Today is the 9th of Av. It is a sad day in the Jewish year. It is not only the anniversary of the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem but also of many disasters that befell the Jewish people. On this day we think about averting new disasters by improving ourselves morally, ethically, and nationally

It is no accident that the portion of the Torah known as Devarim is read the Shabbat before the 9th of Av. The 9th of Av teaches us what happens when our leaders do not lead, when we engage in baseless hatred and when we lose trust in God.

One of the messages of the Torah is that we have to be humble. Humility does not mean that we may never stand up for ourselves. It means that we have to acknowledge that God is running the world and wants us to be moral and ethical.

Justice should be blind to the monetary and/or social status of the people who come before the court. Otherwise, society would break down into anarchy.

True leadership means that there be transparency. That a leader remember that he is a servant of the people, not the other way around.

Moses recounts the sin of the scouts. The problem was two-fold: they were afraid that they would lose their status as leaders of the people, and they couldn’t understand that the purpose was to work the while keeping the Torah