It is wise to keep in mind when seeking justice what we ultimately want. If it is a peaceful heart and a world that is moving closer to fairness for all, we are on the road to fulfilling the biblical prophet Isaiah's vision of peace.

We need religion that encourages personal questioning and critical thinking. We need less doctrine and more humble acknowledgement of mystery. We need more of what the early Hasidic rabbis of Eastern Europe called mochin d'gadlut -- an open, expansive mind.

Though the now-unfolding Festival of Sukkot is called the "season of our joy," the first morning of the holiday caught me in a foul mood. The early worship with its uplifting songs didn't help much. What did was the Torah reading.

We can occasionally see the goal clearly before us, in both scope and time, even though we know we will never actually be able to go there. And perhaps that is the blessing of the name of our portion.

In order to create a truly vibrant learning community, we must decide to make Torah study a priority in our lives. While rabbis and educators serve a key role as guides in this process, each of us must commit ourselves to take responsibility for our own Jewish education.

The Torah reminds us that we must put down our shovels to prioritize public education. We cannot expect struggling villages and nations to address this challenge alone.

It is hard not to feel, after the two political conventions, that our society believes in total moral obviousness. This happens in spite of the fact that we humans are highly unstable and ambivalent creatures.

Do not sleep in comfort in the presence of another person's need. Don't even close your eyes. And whatever you do, don't disappear.

This week, Jews will read the Torah portion "Judges," which directs the Jewish people to establish a just rabbinic court system. Many people today are reluctant to appear before rabbinic courts, believing them to be unsystematic, disorganized and perhaps even outright corrupt.

Being a mentsch -- like being a tree -- means recognizing, honoring and nurturing our roots. It demands that we consciously set aside the urge to be self-centered and self-absorbed.

Balancing the ideal and the real allows for an adjustment to an original plan, a midcourse correction and a reassessment based on how a "solution" is being implemented. The sabbatical year, with its forgiveness of debts, is an example.

Listen to these laws -- observe them -- and God will keep God's promise: to love, bless and multiply you, your crops and your animals. Do this and no nation will be as great.

The danger here is forgetting -- forgetting where we've come from (our own experience of poverty and oppression) and forgetting that no one person, or one community, creates wealth by themselves.

On the plans of Moab on the first day of the 11th month of the 40th year of wandering, Moses rebukes the Children of Israel for their sins. But only subtly. He lists all the places of their transgression. He doesn't mention what they did wrong.

There is a price to pay when we remake the world over in our image, when everywhere is familiar despite the miles we have travelled. To force the world into a social monoculture both destroys the world's vibrant diversity and alienates us from particularity of place.

To see a Republican lawmaker and a prominent Christian pastor try to outdo each other in their bigotry and murderous hate puts in unpleasant but clear relief the moral health of the organizations they represent.

If this was a regular year, I would stand up here and talk about gratitude and how we are so lucky to have what we have. But this is not a regular year.

How does the Book of Deuteronomy end? In the wilderness, with the Israelites never reaching the Promised Land.