The Torah commands us to treat people as adults. That, as adults, we are responsible for our actions. We treat children as children until they reach adulthood.

In this week's portion Moses gives his last speech to the Jews. This is the last day of his life and he wants to stress that their fate is in their hands. That we are not fated by our birth or status. We can overcome our difficulties through keeping the commandments.

God wants us to serve Him with joy. That we can show the world what true service to God is. That we serve God, not only in prayer but in how we treat each other and that we treat each other morally and ethically with joy.

Being grateful to God is one of the hardest things to do when we are successful. That is why there is a special commandment in the Torah to remind us of this.

We are admonished not to punish the fathers for the sins of the sons and not to punish the sons for the sins of the father. This is a fundamental principal in the Torah. God gave us fee will but free will means that we are responsible for our actions.

When we marry for the wrong reasons the end result is anger. Physical beauty will disappear, but their inner beauty will last.

We start to blow the shofar on Rosh Chodesh Elul. This is to awaken Within us that we will be judged on Rosh Hashana. We should start doing a personal accounting for our action of the preceding year.

The operative verse in this week's portion stresses the words "to you". This is to teach that the most important judge we have is ourselves. Then the family unit. All society if based on these.

The cities of refuge were set up so that someone who committed an accidental killing would be safe. He was being punished for the death of another but it was not murder.

The Torah admonishes judges to judge the facts before them. It is known that in many countries where the courts are perceived to be biased fall apart for that very reason.