EXOD249 The Talmud Sukkah 21a informs us that the struggle against the evil impulse takes place every day of a person's life, as we saw earlier with the manna, [this verse] and that God desired the test to be a daily one. In order to succeed in each of our daily moral choices, Maimonides Hilchot Teshuvah 3:4 suggests that a person view his or her past record as fifty-fifty. Then, the next act will be the one that determines if the person will be judged as a righteous person or as an evil person. Thus, each action will be given proper reflection and importance. It is also important that in deciding to commit a moral or an immoral act, a person be decisive like the people with Elijah the prophet, 1 Kings 18:21 where he urged them to "get off the fence" and decide whether to worship the idol Baal or God.

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EXOD308 According to the Mishnah Avot 1:18, one of the three foundations of the universe itself is peace. And when two of those foundations of the universe, truth and peace, are in conflict, peace wins out Bereshit Rabbah 11:7, implying that peace may indeed be the highest value in the universe. The Talmud Yevamot 65b explicitly points out that when truth comes into conflict with peace, that is, telling the truth would destroy the peace, one may lie in order to preserve the peace (under certain conditions). According to the Midrash, the entire creation, everything on earth, is equal in value to peace Bamidbar Rabbah 11:7, as it says in the Siddur that God created peace and He created everything (else) (beginning of the first blessing before the Shema in the weekday service). There is only one place mentioned in the Torah where the entire Jewish people were united in peace as one, implied by the use of the singular form "he camped" rather than the expected plural form "they camped." [This verse]. Only then, at Mount Sinai, when they were at peace, without division among themselves, as a singular unit, could God give the Jewish people the Torah. Vayikra Rabbah 9:9. All the ways of the Torah itself are peace Gittin 59b as it says in the verse in proverbs Proverbs 3:17. God openly tells the people in the Torah Leviticus 26:3-6 that their reward for keeping all the commandments will be peace (in the land as the Midrash Sifra Bechukotai 1:8 explains in greater depth.

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EXOD309 The Midrash Mechilta Yitro 9 tells us that before God could give the Torah at Mount Sinai, He first healed all the physically and mentally disabled. Therefore, in order for the people to unite and receive the Torah, (see Rashi commentary on this verse explaining the sudden shift in the verse from plural to singular) the entire community, including the developmentally disabled, had to be included in receiving the Torah. Excluding them would have excluded the Divine Image and prevented the Torah from being given. Therefore, based on the past Sinai experience, we can infer that only when the entire Jewish community unites once again and is sensitive to the needs of all its segments will the Jewish people be merited once again with the Divine Image and messianic times.

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EXOD311 Rabbi Soloveitchik, Oral address to students in May 1981, in describing the war with Amalek prior to the giving of the Torah, says that this war was necessary before the Jewish people could receive the Torah. Only after a near defeat did the people realize they were vulnerable and needed God and the Torah to overcome life's difficulties. This is alluded to in [this verse] that connects the battle with Amalek at Refidim with the coming to Mount Sinai (see Rashi on this verse). Rabbi Soloveitchik expanded on this concept and said each person has his own Refidim, the challenge in life that seems to defeat him. He used the specific example of old age, showing that some people let it defeat and beat them down, while others, understanding that they no longer do some of the things they had done previously, are able to cope and make the most out of their new situation. Understanding Torah and its values can help you cope with old age.

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EXOD323 There is a misconception among many Jews and non-Jews that because Jewish people are a "chosen people," this implies that Jews must be superior to non-Jews and that non-Jews are inferior. The sources will reveal that nothing could be further from the truth. What, then, does the word "chosenness" mean? It implies that the Jewish people have a role in the world that is different from that of every other nation. While the Jews have 613 commandments to observe Makkot 23b non-Jews were given only seven Commandments to observe Sanhedrin 56b. The Seven Commandments of Noah are prohibitions against murder, adultery, stealing, eating a limb from a live animal, cursing God, idol worship, and the obligation to establish a system of laws and courts. A non-Jew who observes these, according to Jewish law and philosophy, is given a complete share in the world to come and is called by Maimonides a "righteous Gentile." Hilchot Melachim 8:11 There is no other organized religion besides Judaism that grants complete "salvation" to people who do not believe and do not practice that religion.

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EXOD329 What is it that a Jew may not do on Shabbat? The Torah simply says that melachah is prohibited. This word is often mistranslated to mean work. It cannot be the intention that work, manual labor, is prohibited since the Hebrew word for manual labor or work is avodah and not melachah. What, then, is melachah that is prohibited and what does it symbolize? The word melachah is found in the Torah in only two contexts besides Shabbat. One is at the end of the creation story. Genesis 2:1-3 God finished all the melachah and rested from His melachah. This, it is clear that melachah is that activity that God did during the first six days of the world, that is, creation or creative activity. This, then, is what is prohibited on Shabbat, and not work. ... The only other Torah reference to melachah is the building of the Tabernacle. Exodus 31:3-4. This, too, is related to creative and purposeful activity, and the building of the Tabernacle has been compared to a microcosm of the original creation itself. Thus, the thirty-nine categories of forbidden creative activity are derived from those activities performed in building and maintaining the Tabernacle. Shabbat 49b

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EXOD395 Unlike most religions, which demand holiness only from their leaders, Judaism demands holiness from each and every person. One of the goals of Judaism is to have an entire nation of holy people [this verse], as was stated by God immediately prior to giving the Torah. There is a specific biblical commandment for each person to be holy. Leviticus 19:2 This was only one of two commandments in the entire Torah specifically given to the entire people.

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EXOD429 Respecting one's parents is a bedrock of Judaism. Not only is it one of the Ten Commandments, [this verse], but, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, Pe'ah 3b it is even more important than respecting the Almighty Himself. This is demonstrated from the verse Proverbs 3:9 that commands of man to respect God "from your substance," which means from what one owns. Thus, when it comes to God, one need honor Him only if one has possessions, but if one has no possessions, he need not honor God (through donations to charity, buying ritual objects, and so forth). However in regard to honoring parents, the demand by [this verse] for honor is unconditional and unqualified. The Midrash Tanchuma, Kedoshim 15 also demonstrates how important and unique this particular mitzvah is. In regard to the observance of all other commitments, God will sometimes deny reward for a mitzvah to a wicked person if his overall conduct is unworthy. However, a very wicked person who honors his parents will always receive his reward. Thus Esau, who, despite his wickedness, dutifully honored his father Isaac, was generously rewarded.

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EXOD430 The classic text defining the specific requirements to fulfill "Honor your father and your mother" and "You shall fear your mother and your father" Leviticus 19:3 can be found in the Talmud Kiddushin 31b. "Fear" is defined as not sitting or standing in the parent's designated place not contradicting a parent, while "honor" is defined as feeding parents, clothing parents, and helping them come in and out. On the face of it, it does not seem that a person is being honored by making sure they are fed or clothed. These are acts of charity usually reserved for homeless or poor people. How can this be called honor? The Hebrew word in the Torah in the verse regarding parents, kavod, does not really mean honor, which is a poor English translation. In another talmudic statement, Berachot 19b, this same word is used to say that human dignity is extremely important. Therefore, that the true meaning of the word kavod is dignity. Thus, the mitzvah is to dignify one's father and mother, to keep their dignity. We can now understand the specifics mentioned in the Talmud. Keeping parents closed and fed when they can no longer do so for themselves indeed retains their dignity. Similarly, helping them in and out of the house preserves their dignity. Thus, the first mitzvah is to preserve a parent's dignity at all costs. The other term, morah, does not really mean fear or awe as usually translated, but this is the real word for honor and respect. We show respect and honor by not interrupting or by not sitting in someone's seat. The idea of keeping a parent's dignity as the essence of the mitzvah is borne out by passage in the Jerusalem Talmud Pe'ah 3b which says that it is possible to feed one's parent succulent hens and still inherit hell, while a person can make his parent work on a grindstone and still inherit paradise.

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EXOD535 The obligation of the husband to provide physical pleasure for his wife through the act of sexual union is one part of the general obligations of every Jewish husband to his wife, to procreate and have children. Therefore, refusal to have sexual relations with his wife makes the man into a sinner, according to the Talmud, Yevamot 62b and it is grounds for divorce if either the man Maimonides, Hilchot Ishut 14:5 or the woman 14:8 refuses to have sex on a regular basis. This obligation exists even if the couple has already fulfilled the obligation to procreate, thus demonstrating that the sexual act, in and of itself, has positive value in Judaism.

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