Ritual is important. The Book of Leviticus deals with the ritual of the Tabernacle and the bringing of sacrifices. But if it is not tied to morality, it is meaningless.
The Commandment of the Red Heifer is one of the hardest to understand. One of the lessons from it is that sometimes there is no good decision. That we have to make a choice between a bad decision and a worse one.
Our enemies do not care if they benefit from their hatred. All they care about is attacking. We, on he other hand care about building and making the world a better place through hard work and keeping God's Commandments.
Esau does not plan for the future. He wants what he wants, and he wants it now. Jacob thinks things through. He plans for the future by working today.
The key word for this week's portion is jealousy. Esau is jealous of Jacob. He felt that he was tricked into giving up his birthright. The truth is that he would not have died if he had waited a little to get food. He blamed Jacob for his bad judgement.
The problem with Esau is that he wants instant gratification. Jacob is into delayed gratification. That is what sets off the entire fight between them. And this is why Esau really loses his birthright.
When Abraham dies, Ishmael and Isaac bury him together. They know that they cannot live together but are not fighting each other. By building boundaries they keep the peace between themselves.
The states that Isaac married Rebecca and then he loved her. What we are being taught that that our love for our spouse grows with time.
The conditions that Abraham lays down in what to look for in a wife for Isaac, he is showing that he is concerned about his grandchildren & their morality.
After burying Sarah Abraham realizes that the urgency of getting Isaac a bride. This shows us that Abraham knew that his time was up and now Isaac was the leader. That the mission was what was important, not him.
The Torah makes the point that Abraham bought the tomb in which Sarah was to be buried to stress that we have the title to the land. That even though God has promised us the land, we can show that we have a deed to it.
In this week's portion we learn about the death of Sarah and the respect that we owe those who have passed away. This is one of the main issues in the Torah. No matter what the reason that a person dies we are required to respect their bodies.
The story of the binding of Isaac is about the trust that we should have in God. That no matter how bad the situation seems to be, we know that we are under God's protection.
One of the most important lessons we can learn from the Torah is that we are not entitled to leadership. It has to be earned through our hard work and diligence.
Lot's daughters thought that the world had been destroyed. They took action to repopulate the world. If they had waited a little, they would have discovered that they were wrong. We forget that humans have seen worse that what we are experiencing.
When the angels came to save Lot, he refused to go with them. He could not believe that Sodom was about to be destroyed. This is an oft repeated story. When faced with the truth of their situation many refuse to believe the obvious.
Abraham does not accept God's judgement concerning the destruction of Sodom. He argues with God. In the end he loses the argument, but an important principal is laid down. God wants us to think about His judgement. He does not want us to accept it on face value.
When Abraham welcomed strangers, it was to teach them about God and what God wants us to do. You have to expose yourself to society to make it better.
The way to fix the world is to work on ourselves. If we become better people, then we will influence the world. It has nothing to do with government.
One of the lessons of this week's portion is that, while we have to have faith in God protection, we should prepare as if it is not coming.