Good evening everyone!
I would like to mention how pleased I am with what we have been learning lately. We have seen different examples of Mitzvot that are "Ani Hashem Elokeichem" and "Ani Hashem" and how we can relate to them morally and religiously. We last finished off in class by talking about how recognizing Hashem and His Mikdash as the center of the world will lead to true morality. This proves that as a Jewish nation, we cannot simply be moral or simply be religious. We need both to function as a Jewish nation. It is sad today that some ultra-religious Jews think that they are soooo "religious" because they follow the Torah and all the Mitzvot, but they cheat in business. And it is also upsetting that many of the non-religious Jews are so far from their Judaism and barely know anything about the Torah, but they might be the most moral people in the world. At this point, I personally think that we can only truly function as a nation when Mashiach comes and we are all completely united and know exactly how we are supposed to act. However, I hope that we can all take what we learned in class and try to apply it to our own lives. No matter what the situation is of our nation, we should strive to be both religious, in whatever way we interpret that, and moral because this is ultimately how we are supposed to live our lives.