In a recent lecture, Rabbi Hayyim Angel alluded to a remarkable passage in the Talmud (Sotah 13b), which seems to cast some criticism on Moses. When Korah and his associates arose against Moses, they argued that "all the congregation is holy, and why do you lord over the congregation of the Lord?" Although their motives were dubious, there was some justice in their claim. They purported to want a more democratic system that did not concentrate all power in the hands of Moses and Aaron. In rebuffing the critics, Moses said: rav lahem b'nai Levi, i.e. you have enough, children of Levi.

Instead of engaging the critics in conversation, Moses cut them off: Enough!

In reviewing the history of the Israelites since the Exodus, Moses reminded them of the two sets of Tablets of the Law. The first set was given with much fanfare at Mount Sinai. Yet, when Moses found the Israelites worshipping the golden calf, he threw down the stone Tablet and shattered it into pieces. He then ascended the mountain a second time, after which he brought down the second set of Tablets of the Law.

Religion has two faces. One face is that of saintliness, idealism, holiness and selflessness. But the other face is one of hatred, cruelty, selfishness and egotism. Within the world of religion, one can find the most exemplary human beings; but one can also find inquisitors and terrorists. In his play, “The Father,” August Strindberg has one of his characters state: “It is strange that as soon as you begin to talk about God and love, your voice becomes hard and your eyes full of hate.”

It’s not that there are two types of people, pious and wicked. Rather, saintliness and ugliness are intermixed within individuals. The righteous struggle to keep the ugliness out; the wicked strive to promote their own evil agendas. Often, the wicked camouflage themselves in the cloak of piety.

The Torah portion opens with a discussion about going to war. Many of our rabbinic commentators have expanded the meaning of the text to refer not to wars against external enemies, but to wars against our own evil inclinations. These internal wars are battles for self-definition. Either we can win and live meaningfully and happily; or we can lose by succumbing to pressures that lead us to abandon our own values and ideals.

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1. The Koren Pirkei Avot, with commentary by Rabbi Marc D. Angel

"The Mitzvot are the dictates of God, and we are bound to obey them as a servant obeys his master."  This is the topic of a paper assigned to a cousin of mine, who is taking a class in Jewish studies. The class is studying various religious movements within Judaism, and the above statement was meant to characterize the Orthodox view. Obviously, the way the statement is phrased paints a narrow picture of Orthodoxy-- implying that we are compelled to do mitzvot unthinkingly, and we function essentially as  mindless, mechanical slaves.

A criminal justice Professor at the University of Alabama, Dr. Adam Lankford, recently spoke to a group of sociologists. He attempted to understand the all-too frequent mass shootings that take place in the United States. Although the U.S. represents only 5% of the world’s population, it accounts for 31% of public mass shooters. Between 1966 and 2012, 62% of all school and workplace shooters were American.

(Much of this essay is excerpted from my book, Losing the Rat Race, Winning at Life.)

During the course of a lifetime, a person may wear many masks. In order to curry favor with others, one adopts their attitudes, opinions, styles and behavior patterns. Above all, one wants to belong, to play an acceptable role. At the same time, one also has a separate individual identity within, the hard kernel of one’s own being. When one loses sight of his separateness from the masks he wears, he becomes the masks; i.e., a superficial, artificial human being. A person may go through life without examining carefully who he really is. One simply becomes an assortment of ever-changing masks, living life on the surface.

“And the sister of Lotan was Timna” (Bereishith 36:22).

This seemingly irrelevant piece of genealogy has an important underlying message according to the Midrash. Timna had wanted to convert--to become part of the people of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Yet, our forefathers did not accept her into the fold. The rejected Timna then became the concubine of Elifaz, son of Esau, and gave birth to a son: Amalek! The arch-enemy of the people of Israel was the child of a rejected convert! Had Timna been accepted into the Israelite nation, there would have been no Amalek.

This ancient lesson has continuing meaning in our days, when the conversion crisis in the Orthodox world is a burning issue. The following is drawn from an article I wrote, published in Hadassah Magazine, November 2008.