Shlomo's Thoughts On The Torah

Rebecca gives birth to twins. They quickly develop into twodistinct people. Jacob is a man of learning, who believes in delayed satisfaction while Esau lives for the moment.

In this week's parsha we have the deaths of both Sarah and Abraham. But we also have Isaac and Rebecca taking the mantle of leadership. That is the way that Abraham and Sarah's legacy will continue.

Abraham buys the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. He could have taken if for free since he was promised the land of Israel by God, but he wanted that there would be no question of ownership of the land.

While the Parsha is called The Life of Sarah, it discusses her death. That is because if we follow in her footsteps and practice what she stood for then she is not dead but alive through our actions.

The most important thing that we learn from this week's Parsha is that God hates evil. He destroys Sodom and Gomorrah because of the evil they do. But Lot is blinded by his wealth and refuses to leave. He is forced out. And then has a sad end,

The fact that Noah was either unable or unwilling to get the people of his generation to repent shows a failure on his part.

God took Hanuch after 365 years at a time when people livedfor about 900 years. God was afraid that Hanuch would fall into sin so he tookhim early.

The mistake of many people is that they refuse to admit their guilt when they do something wrong. It is interesting to note that the first person in the Bible who admits their mistake is Abraham. And that is why he became the great leader.

The Bible reminds us that we are created in the image of God. That also means that we are responsible for our actions. And that even murderers are in the image of God and must be treated accordingly.

The first commentary of Rashi on the Torah states that the nations of the world will accuse the Jewish people of stealing the land of Israel. He points out that God gave the land to the people of Israel. This was written over 1,000 years ago.