In this week’s Torah portion, it’s written that God desires that the people of Israel whom He had redeemed from slavery in Egypt to freedom, would be His slaves. Likewise, it’s written that they were to remove all the idols from among them. In the same way, God has redeemed us from slavery to sin to freedom in the Messiah, and now we must serve Him. He alone is the Lord of our lives, and we are not to hide “idols” among us, that in fact would only return us to slavery. The Torah teaches us of God’s righteousness and holiness. Through it we understand that we are sinners in need of atonement, so that we can return and be in a personal relationship with God. The Torah teaches how good it is to obey and submit to God. God blesses those who obey Him. On the other hand, those who do not obey Him, those who return to the way of sin from which the Lord redeemed them – will experience a lack of blessing. The apostle Paul (Sha’ul) writes that we have been called to liberty from the burden of sin, and now we must serve God by serving our neighbor in love (Gal. 5:13-14). Let’s teach our children to be faithful servants of God.