HaShem commands us to appoint judges in all the cities of Israel. Judges must be fair and impartial and should never accept any bribe.

Idolatry, in all its forms, is prohibited and must be penalized with capital punishment. Sacrifices offered to God must be free from blemishes.

Jews are required to follow the decisions of the Sanhedrin, which is the Jewish Supreme Court. Rebelling against this rabbinical court is considered a capital offense.

The Tora provides instructions about the laws of the Jewish king. The overarching principle for the Jewish king is that he should act with the knowledge that God is the true King of Israel. The human king has limitations to ensure he remains mindful of his true role. He should not accumulate an excess of horses, have an abundance of women, or amass vast personal wealth. The king is obligated to write his own scroll of Tora – the constitution of the Jewish people – and carry that copy with him at all times (as if, in today’s context, the American president were required to carry a copy of the American Constitution permanently in his pocket). This ensures that the monarch remains humble and is constantly reminded that his primary duty is observing the Tora and enforcing God’s Law in his domain.

God chooses the Cohanim to serve Him in His Sanctuary. “God is their inheritance,” meaning that the Bet haMiqdash will be “their territory” (akin to their second home). Thus, their tribe, the Levites, will not receive a specific territory in the Land of Israel like the other tribes. So, how will the Cohanim and the Levites sustain themselves? The Priests and the descendants of the tribe of Levi will benefit from a series of taxes and tithes (in Hebrew: “priestly gifts”) that the people offer them: certain portions of the meat from specific sacrifices, the tithes of the harvest, fruits of the land, a share of the shearing, etc.

The Tora strictly forbids divination, occult practices, and future’s predictions. Maimonides contends that all these practices are illusory, simply tricks and deception, as paranormal phenomena are fictitious and often manipulated by charlatans to deceive and exploit the common people. In earlier times, these practices were deeply ingrained in idolatry and pagan culture. The Tora instructs us that we should place our faith and trust in the Creator rather than attempting to decipher the future.

We Jews are privileged to be guided by the Tora, and we’re also blessed that God sends His prophets to convey His words to us, as Moshe did. The prophets that God dispatches come with the mission to caution the people when they stray from the path of Tora. Naturally, their words must be heeded. However, the Tora also warns about those who falsely profess to speak in God’s name. These false prophets did not caution the people of their wrongdoings. Instead, much like skilled demagogues, they reassured them and criticized the genuine prophets, accusing them of being alarmist and pessimistic. One can recognize a false prophet when he advocates for suspending or altering any Tora commandment.

The Tora underscores the obligation to establish cities of refuge for unintentional manslaughter (a modern-day equivalent might be if someone inadvertently kills another in a car accident). Moses mandates the designation of six sanctuary cities.

For a civil or criminal trial to lead to a conviction, testimony from at least two witnesses is necessary. Those who bear false witness shall receive the very punishment they sought for the accused.

Toward the end of this Parasha, the Tora outlines some of the laws of warfare and military campaign protocols. For instance, who is exempted from military service? As soldiers approach the battlefield, one of the Cohanim must address them, assuring them not to fear the enemy since God supports the Israeli army in their conflicts. This Cohen also lists individuals who are to return home: someone recently engaged and about to marry; someone who has built a new home and hasn’t occupied it yet; or someone who has planted a vineyard and hasn’t yet enjoyed its fruits. The Cohen further advises anyone suffering from anxiety or panic to depart the battlefield to prevent demoralizing other soldiers. Before engaging the enemy, a peace proposal must be extended. Only if the enemy declines this overture does the conflict ensue. However, in wars against the Canaanite nations, these populations are to be entirely eradicated to prevent assimilation into pagan cultures.

This Parasha concludes with a description of the legal procedure to be executed when a body is found in a non-urban setting, and the perpetrator remains unidentified.

This Parasha continues with Moshe Rabbenu’s long speech before separating from the people of Israel, since God will not allow him to enter the land of Israel with the rest of the people. Moshe speaks of the blessings that God will bring to Israel for keeping the Tora. And these blessings, in turn, will allow the people to fulfill the Tora in peace and without suffering material poverty. Moshe reminds them that HaShem is the one who will protect them and help them to conquer the land and to displace the enemies. He also warns them of the danger of forgetting God, when we think that we are strong and powerful. Or when we have a full stomach and we feel that we do not need Divine assistance. One of the ways to remember God is the recitation of Birkat Hamazon, the Mitsva of thanking God after eating a full meal.

Moshe warns the people about the dangers of prosperity, and how wealth can lead them to forget God and practice idolatry. Idolatry has always been associated with superstition. Sometimes, a person that possesses wealth and does not know how to credit God for his good fortune, and how to thank Him for His generosity, tends to look for “magical methods to protect his fortune”. Magic is directly or indirectly associated with idolatry, since it invokes powers unrelated to God. This addiction to superstitions will end up alienating this individual from God. We Jews must be humble, especially in times of economic and military prosperity and remember that it is God, and not our own power, who allows us success and well-being.

The people are about to enter the land of Israel, which they will have to conquer militarily. From Moshe’s words, it can be seen that the people were afraid of not being worthy of Divine assistance in the difficult battles that awaits them, because of the sins of their fathers. Moshe explains to them that after the sin of the golden calf, the Jewish people indeed lost part of their merit, especially the merit of inheriting the promised land, but he assures them that this should not demoralize them, since HaShem will still grant them an outstanding victory and with His help they will defeat the inhabitants of Canaan. Moshe tells them that the inhabitants of that land deserve to be expelled from the holy land for their own evil deeds, such as idolatry, murder, and promiscuity.  Moshe presents them with other factors that will also contribute to Israel’s future victory, despite not being worthy of it: first, that God promised Abraham, Yitzchaq, and Jacob that their descendants would inherit the land. And second, that if God does not grant them victory, God’s name will be profaned among the nations, as these nations would question God’s power to protect His own nation and fulfill His promise to them.

Moses presents the famous question: “What does God want from us?” And his answer is that God wants us to follow his paths of righteousness and justice, for our own good. Much of this Parasha is devoted to describing the beautiful characteristics of the land of Israel. And it is also explained, in what we know today as the second paragraph of the Shema Israel, that the land of Israel, which is directly supervised by God, will “react” by Divine instruction to our behavior: on the one hand, the land will reward our loyalty to God us with abundant rains and prosperity. On the other hand, the heavens will close, there will be no rain, and our life on God’s  land will be impossible if we betray our covenant with Him. As a consequence of poverty, we will have to leave the promised land and escape into exile.

The people of Israel will obtain victory over their enemies, and will be able to conquer the promised land and live in it forever if they listen to the Divine commandments and follow the ways of HaShem.

MOSHE’S SUPPLICATION AND GOD’S RESPONSE

Moshe Rabbenu tells us, in the first person, that he begged HaShem to allow him to enter the land of Israel. But God did not accept his request. God commanded Moshe to go up to a mountain from where he could see the Promised Land, but he would not enter it. Moshe instructs the Jewish people to follow the laws of God, without adding or subtracting anything to the Divine ordained precepts. Moshe also mentions what happened to Pinehas in Baal Pe’or to show the people that those who are faithful to God were protected from the epidemic and survived.

THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING THE CHOSEN PEOPLE

Moshe asks the people to take carefully observe the Tora, and appreciate the wisdom of its precepts and commandments. The Tora  brings us closer to God and allows us to know what He wants from us. Moshe also exhorts the people not to forget the day that God made a covenant with us on Mount Sinai. He asks them to recount this event to their children and grandchildren: God did not appear in a visual image or form. We only perceived His voice. Making or worshiping images that represent God is a very serious sin, which can lead the Jewish people to lose their right to the land of Israel and go to exile. But Moshe anticipates that even when the people are exiled, God will not abandon them. The people will eventually repent and return to God. The nation of Israel is the only one that has been freed from slavery directly by God, and it is the only people that God has chosen to reveal His commandments. Moses designates three cities of refuge on the east side of the Jordan River. These cities provided refuge for an individual who unintentionally murdered another person.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

The Tora reiterates the Ten Commandments, recalling that the Mount Sinai covenant is not limited to those who were physically present at Mount Sinai, but to their descendants as well. Moshe reminds the people that when they experienced God’s revelation, the voice of God, at Sinai they were frightened, and the leaders of Israel asked Moses that God not speak to them directly, because they felt as if they would die. It was an out of this world experience that they could not physically or mentally tolerate. They asked Moshe to act as an intermediary and  convey God’s words to them.

THE SHEMA ISRAEL

We also read in this Parasha the Shema Israel. It contains the fundamental principles of our Tora: the existence and oneness of God; the love we should have for God; the obligation to teach our children the Tora; and to remember our duties to God through Tefillin and Mezuza. God promises us a land of blessing and abundance (Israel). And Moses warns the people that when they inherit that abundance, they should not forget the Creator who provided them with this wealth. Parents should also teach their children that they should observe all of God’s commandments. Jews are at God’s service because in Egypt, we were slaves to Pharaoh until God brought us out of Egypt “to serve Him”.  The big difference between serving Pharaoh and serving God is that Pharaoh wanted us to serve him for his own benefit. HaShem however, is like a loving parent that asks us to serve them, that is: to obey His commandments, because His commandments are the recipe for a life of righteousness and happiness.  God asks us to serve Him, for our own benefit.

First Aliyah: Last week’s Parasha concluded with the story of the women of Moab and Midyan approaching young Jewish men to seduce them and induce them to practice idolatry through sexual rites. Pinehas executed one of the Jewish leaders on his own, without trial and a legal sentence. Our Parasha begins with God granting Pinehas a covenant of peace, (like a Presidential Pardon), and rewarding him for his actions granting him and his descendants the priesthood. God then commands the Jews to get ready to fight the Midianites, becuse their  provocation was considered an act of war. God orders Moshe and Elazar the Priest to take a census of all the men who are of age to go to war, that is, older than 20 years.  

Second Aliyah: The  number of all the men of the 12 tribes was 601,730, not counting the tribe of Levi.

Third Aliyah: Apart from serving as a census for enrollment in the Jewish army that will fight against the Midianites, this census also serves to start organizing the division of the lands that will soon be inherited in Israel. The land of Israel was to be divided among all who were counted in this census. And the geographic location of each tribe, the “provinces,” would be determined by lottery. The census of the men of the tribe of Levi, who did not go to war, nor were they going to have their own land, is also taken.  The Levites male were 23,000 counting from one month of life. This Aliyah concludes with the story of Zelofchad’s daughters approaching Moshe and telling him that their father had died, leaving only females , and they requested to receive their father’s portion in the land of Israel. Moses conveys this concern directly to God.

Fourth Aliya: In response to the request of Zelofchad’s daughters, Moshe now formulates by Divine command the laws of inheritance which includes the rights of daughters to inherit the land when there are no male descendants. After this episode, God tells Moses to climb to the top of Mount Abarim from where he will see the Promised Land before he dies, but he will not enter it. Moses asks God to appoint a worthy person to succeed him in leadership. The one chosen by God to replace Moshe is Yehoshua Bin Nun because of his reputation and his leadership abilities.  

Fifth Aliyah: The narration of the succession is interrupted, and the Tora focuses now to detail all the sacrifices that will be offered in the Tabernacle and once in Israel, in the Holy Temple . First, the daily sacrifice  “Tamid” is described, which was to be offered every day of the year, twice a day, including Shabbat, festivals and even Yom Kippur. Additional sacrifices for Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Jewish month, are also specified.

Sixth Aliyah: Describes the sacrifices offered on the festivities: Pesach, Shabuot, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Seventh Aliya: The sacrifices offered on the festivals of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret are described here .

THE PLAN
With Divine consent, Moses sends spies on a reconnaissance mission into the land of Canaan in preparation for the Israelites’ invasion and conquest of the land. One member of each tribe, with the exception of the tribe of Levi, was chosen for this task. Moses instructed the explorers to bring a military report on the nature of the inhabitants of Canaan, and their strengths and weaknesses in order to define a  military strategy. He also ordered them to bring samples of the products of the land.

THE REPORT
The explorers are in the promised land for 40 days and at the end, they return to the camp of Israel with some fruits of Canaan. And also with the intelligence report. “The land flows with milk and honey,” they said, but then they exaggerate the strength of the population, they said that the inhabitants of the land were gigantic and savage. They also said that “the cities were fortified up to the sky and that it was impossible to conquer them.” Only two of the explorers, Caleb and Yehoshua, dissented and said that the land was magnificent and there was no reason to worry about its inhabitants since God was going to bring victory to the Israelites. The Jewish people were convinced by the pessimistic spies and spent the night crying and expressing their desire to return to Egypt rather than be killed in battle by the Canaanites. To make matters worse, the mob wanted to kill Yehoshua and Caleb. God finally intervenes by making his Glory appear on the Tabernacle.

THE CONSEQUENCES
God informs Moshe of His decision to immediately eliminate the Israelites due to their lack of faith in God. Moses successfully invokes God’s mercy and points out that this punishment would result in a profanation of God’s name. God agreed not to immediately eliminate the Israelites, but determined that that generation would not enter the Land of Israel, and instructed them to change course and return to the desert. The Israelites will have to wander in the desert for forty years. During that time, everyone over the age of twenty, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, would perish. And the next generation would enter the Promised Land.  When the Jews are informed about the Divine decision they are sad and depressed and a group of people decides to go on their own to conquer the Land of Israel, against God’s new instructions. These people were killed in battle by the Amalekites and the Canaanites.

LAWS OF SACRIFICES AND OTHER MITZVOT
Jews are told that upon entering Israel, a person who undertakes to bring a sacrifice must also bring a libation of wine and an offering of flour mixed with olive oil. The text also clarifies the quantities of wine, flour, and oil that must be brought with various species of livestock. The Mitzva of Challah is contained in this section: when one kneads dough, one should take a portion and give it to the priest (Cohen). If the Sanhedrin (rabbinical supreme court) wrongly permits an act of idolatry, and the community acts with this permission, the Sanhedrin must bring a special offering for that sin, detailed in this section. We learn the rules regarding an individual who is guilty of an idolatrous practice, either inadvertently or intentionally. A man is found profaning Shabbat and is executed. The last part of this week’s Parashah deals with the commandment to wear tzitzit (fringes) on four-cornered garments. By looking at the fringes we remember all the commandments and refrain from following the temptations of our hearts.

THE REWARD

In this Parasha, the Tora promises us His blessing of prosperity and peace if we diligently observe the Tora, our pact with God. The Creator promises us rains in their time and that He will protect us from our relentless enemies. The Tora gives us some details of this blessing, guaranteeing peace on the land, eliminating wild animals, and God’s intervention to grant us military success. The epitome of Divine Intervention in this area is manifested when the Tora mentions: “Five of you will pursue (defeat) a hundred (enemies), and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand!” The Tora also promises an abundance of crops and the permanent presence of God among us.

THE PUNISHMENT

But then comes the other side of the coin. What will happen if the people of Israel turn away from God and abandon His pact? If we turn away from God, He will not intervene in our favor, and by our own making, we will be left to the mercy of nature and our enemies. The process, more or less, goes like this. The interruption of the Divine blessing –rain in its time– will bring starvation, and hunger will cause weakness and illnesses to the inhabitants of Israel. Wild animals, which also suffer from hunger when there is no rain, will stalk us in our own cities. Being weak, we won’t have the strength and means to face relentless enemies.  Those Gentiles that are always lurking will identify our weakness (=God is NOT with us), invade our land and take possession of it. And we will be expelled into exile. The non-observance of the sabbatical year – when we forget that the Land of Israel is Divine territory – is pointed out as one of the main reasons why we will lose the merit to continue living in our land. In exile, we will be considered unwelcome foreigners, and we will be completely exposed to their whims, their cruelty, and their hatred. They won’t leave us in peace. They will humiliate and persecute us with the sword. Our lives will become filled with panic and anxiety. However, when we return to God, He will remember the merit of our ancestors and won’t allow the enemy to exterminate us.

MORE MITZVOT

After this long warning about the consequences of abandoning the commandments, the Tora moves on to a completely different and unrelated topic: the voluntary donations to the BetHaMiqdash and how to evaluate them and quantify them. These donations can be land, animals, and other possessions. The Tora also mentions the role of the firstborn animals and indicates how to replace or redeem them. In the end, the tithes of the harvest are briefly mentioned, which must be consumed in Jerusalem, as well as the rules of the tithe of animals.

First, the Tora prescribes the daily removal of ashes from the altar. This was the first commandment of the service in the Temple. The Tora then repeats the laws of offerings described in last week’s reading, adding several important details. It also explains the priestly offering, presented by the High Priest twice daily in the Temple service. Then the text goes to the laws of an offering for an involuntary sin or ‘chatat’ and the sacrifice for deliberate transgression or ‘asham’. Incidentally, the Tora discusses the absorption by a vessel of sacrificial meats cooked in it and the possibility of purifying these vessels from any vestiges that it had absorbed, a concept that is very pertinent in the laws of kashrut. This section concludes with a discussion of the “gifts” to which the priests were entitled to receive from the different sacrifices. The Tora then discusses the offering of gratitude or, in Hebrew, ‘qorban toda’, presented by an individual who survived a dangerous situation. Next, we learn about various reasons for the invalidation of a sacrifice, such as an impurity or distraction or wrong thinking on the part of the priest performing the service. We are then commanded not to consume blood or any of the fats or tallows offered on the altar.  The section concludes with the portions of meat given to the priest in the peace offering or ‘shelamim’.

With this, the Tora concludes the laws of sacrifices.

Then we read about the initiation of the priests or ‘Cohanim’ and the inauguration of the Tabernacle. In the presence of all the Jews, Moses dresses Aaron and his sons in the priestly garments and anoints them, along with the Tabernacle and its utensils, with the sacred anointing oil. The priestly initiation continues with Moses sacrificing a bull and a ram, which are ‘ola, fully consumed offerings. Moses sacrifices a second ram, and its fats are burned on the altar, along with some loaves. Completing the initiation process for the priests, Moses anoints them with the sacred oil and some of the altar’s blood. Moses instructs the priests on consuming the sacrificial meats and tells them that this process will be repeated for six days. During this seven-day inauguration, they are not to leave the confines of the Tabernacle.

ABRAM ARRIVES IN CANAAN

God commands Abram to leave the land of his parents and move to the land that He will show him. God promises to make Abram the patriarch of a great nation. Abram obeys and moves to Canaan (Israel). Abram takes his wife Saray and his nephew Lot. Once Abram arrives in Canaan, God promises He will give that land to his descendants. Abram, at 75 years old, still had no children.

EGYPT
Abram looks for a place to settle, but a great famine caused by drought forces him to move to Egypt, where there is food. In Egypt, and at Abram’s request, Saray pretends to be his sister, fearing that the Egyptians will kill Abram to take Sarai. As Abram suspected, Saray was forcibly brought before Pharaoh because of her extraordinary beauty. But God punished Pharaoh and the members of his palace with plagues, prompting Pharaoh to hastily release Saray and expel her and Abraham from Egypt.  Pharaoh rewarded Abram with lavish riches as dowry for Saray, so Abram returned to Canaan as a rich man.

LOT MOVES TO SODOM
Lot also made his fortune in Egypt, and the Tora tells us that Lot’s shepherds fought with Abram’s shepherds over territory. Abram offers Lot to part ways, and Lot then moves to the city of Sodom, famous for its ruthless inhabitants. God again promises Abram that his descendants will inherit that land and become as numerous as the dust of the earth.

LOT AND THE LOOT
The land of Canaan is invaded by various Middle Eastern kings fighting each other. The kings laid waste to the region of Sodom and took captives, including Lot. Upon finding out, Abram assembles an army of more than 300 men, defeats the contingent carrying the prisoners, frees them, and returns the spoils to the king of Sodom. The king thanks Abram for the captives and offers him the spoils of war as a gift. But Abram does not want any man to say » “I made Abram rich,” and he rejects the offer. Abram desires that his wealth and blessing be attributed solely to God.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PROMISE
God speaks to Abram again and promises He will reward him for his righteousness. Abram then mentions that he has no children for the first time: “Who will inherit me if at my age I still do not have a son? ” God assures Abram that he will have a son and promises that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
God and Abram made a covenant as testimony that his descendants would inherit that land. God also tells Abram that his descendants will be exiled and suffer slavery for a long time, but then they will return and inherit the land of Canaan.

ADOPTING HAGAR’S SON
Seeing that she cannot give a son to Abram, Saray suggests that Abram have a child with her Egyptian servant, Hagar. Hagar conceived and then began to be contemptuous of Sarai, who responded with a heavy hand, causing Hagar to run away. An angel encouraged Hagar to return to Sarai’s house, promising that her son would become a great nation. Hagar obeyed and gave birth to Yishmael.

PROMISES AND COVENANTS
God added the Hebrew letter “HE” ה to Abram’s name, making him “Abraham”, which means: the patriarch of numerous nations. God makes another covenant with Abraham and his descendants: the circumcision of all male children at eight days. Saray’s name is replaced by Sara, which means “The Princess”, or “The Queen”. God promises Abraham that he will have another son, but this time by his own wife, Sara.
At the age of 99, Abraham circumcised himself, his son Yishmael and all the members of his estate.