In this week's portion God informs the Jewish people that they should be God a home so that He can dwell among them. To teach us that when we perform the ritual with loving kindness, we are bringing God into the world.

The Tabernacle was built by donations. This teaches us that a spiritual building needs the financial and physical support of the community it serves.

We do not celebrate the death of our enemies. But we are not allowed to tolerate their evil. In the words of President Truman, "When dealing with a beast, treat them like a beast."

To have a just society we have to live a just life. This is why the Torah first covers how we behave individually and then proceeds to society in general.

According to the Torah we are all responsible for our actions. Our social or economic status, rich or poor, famous or not, does not protect us from punishment for committing an offense.

The Torah concept of justice is that the victim has to be made whole by the perpetrator. It is not enough that the perpetrator has to be punished for his misdeed, but he is responsible to his victim.

The Torah is opposed to slavery since a slave cannot perform all the commandments. A free man is responsible for his actions while a slave is not. A slave has no free will, but a free man does.

While showing the importance of ritual laws, the Torah emphasizes that social laws are as important, if not more so. That we can do ritual correctly but if we mistreat one another socially then it does not matter.

The commandment against stealing is against kidnapping. This is a capital offense in Jewish law. It is especially heinous when done is God's name. That is also taking God's name in vain. Two capital offenses in one.

Tu B'shvat reminds us that it is our duty to build the land. The way we claim the land is to build it up and be built by it. Our enemies claim the land but can only destroy. They seem incapable of building. That is the difference.