The final judgement of Yom Kippur is not given until after Simhat Torah. Why? God is interested in how we behave when we do not have the constraints of Yom Kippur. When we have had a bit to drink. That is when real repentance kicks in.

The Book of Jonah relates that he does not want Nineveh to repent, knowing what the future holds. But God has His own agenda. And Nineveh is saved because of the actions of its inhabitants, not their prayers and promises.

When Joshua is tapped to be the next leader he is afraid that he is not ready. He learns that he is more than ready for the new position. Also, that a leader cannot be his followers friend. Decision have to be made and responsibility has to be taken.

At the end of this week's portion Moses appoints Joshua to be the new leader. Moses had to leave the scene otherwise he would have undermined Joshua's leadership. He had to let Joshua lead.

The message of Ecclesiastes is that the famous are rarely significant and the significant are rare famous. Only the values of the Torah last forever. Everything else doesn't.

We are admonished that we cannot believe that God will forgive sins between man and man. But also social action that are not based on the Bible will lead to disaster.

The murder of Gedalia was the end of Jewish presence in Judeah under the Babylonians. It was caused by Jews who made common cause with the Ammonites, ignoring the fact that the Ammonites were against any Jewish presence in the Land.

The story of the binding of Isaac teaches us that, while God wants allegiance, He does not want blind allegiance. He wants us to use the tools that He gave us to make the right decisions based on the Torah.

The reason that we are allowed to repent is that we are humans and not animals. An animal cannot be held responsible for its actions. It does not know right and wrong. We have the Torah that teaches us morality and ethical behavior.

One of the lessons of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgy is that when one Jew commits a sin then all are responsible. It a society is immoral then immorality will affect all.