Unlike Iran deal, Torah’s clear about penalities

With the Ashkenazic community beginning Selichot this Saturday night, with Rosh Hashana around a week and a half away, bringing with it the Day of Judgment, we are left to examine our deeds, our choices and our lives, and look at where we have brought ourselves and where we are headed.

At this particular juncture in history, we are also faced with the stark reality of an economic “peace” deal with a rogue terrorist nation that may become the reality of our world in the near future.

Irrespective of one’s political views and loyalties, it is hard to imagine how an “agreement” with Iran, an avowed enemy of the United States and Israel, will be honored by that enemy, when the leadership of Iran has no track record of being honest in any effort towards fostering peace in the world.

With so much at stake, with Israel being geographically so close to Iran, one wonders what it all means? Is this a test? Could we wake up one morning to see the landscape of the Middle East altered forever? I certainly hope not. Which is why we must do whatever we can to tell our representatives that this will not be good for the U.S. or Israel.

Jeffrey Goldberg wrote an article for the Atlantic, dated Aug. 27, entitled “10 Questions for President Obama About Iran.” The questions are Robert Satloff’s and the fifth question includes this: “You refused to spell out the penalties Iran would suffer for violations of the agreement … [as it might] potentially lessen the deterrent effect … [yet] as a constitutional law professor, you can appreciate that having clarity in terms of penalties for lawbreaking is a basic element of our legal system.”

When one looks at our parsha, one cannot help but be overwhelmed by the penalties declared upon the Jewish people for breaking G-d’s law. History has proven over and over again that G-d’s law is meant to triumph over man’s whim. And it has.

To be fair, the Torah also proclaims the blessings for good behavior and for following the Torah, and it is this focus which gives a positive side to an otherwise depressing Torah portion.