As military casualties mount and war escalates in the Middle East, secularism still pervades Israeli society and government. I read of celebrations in Israel after the IDF takes out a bad guy, but I read of no calls for national repentance for child slaughter and other state sanctioned practices antithetical to Torah.

These organizations have built partnerships with many Jewish groups and institutions and now yield tremendous influence over many Jews, young and old. These are the new high priests who 'atone' for Jewish lapses in upside down, inside out, anti-Torah morality and ethics.

This being the last book in the Torah, we ought to know the message by now. Life works only when God leads and we follow happily and faithfully. So simple but so elusive.

This day, I call upon the heaven and the earth as witnesses [that I have warned] you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. You shall choose life, so that you and your offspring will live;

Perhaps Moses means to inspire the people into adherence, perhaps he means to scare them into obedience. Whatever his intentions, our history as chronicled in Tanakh clearly shows a correlation between God centered living and flourishing, as well as a correlation between human secularism and suffering.

Yes, mothers experience heartbreak when they see their babies killed. Human mothers experience heartbreak, too, when they see their babies killed. In an abortion, the mother is right there to feel the demise of her pre-born child. Allowing this to occur goes against Torah for many reasons, including the mandate to be compassionate and merciful. It is not compassionate and merciful to put women through this emotional, psychological, and physical horror.

So far have these deceptions progressed that pre-born babies bear the painful indignity of being blamed, accused and legally tortured to death for society's failures and the shortcomings of their parents. Enabled by most governments, this moral failure invites the loss of national sovereignty.

We take solace in the understanding that God's ways are not our ways, and God's timing is not our timing. As we fill our days with efforts to educate, save, heal and redeem we must leave the results to Heaven, and rest at night in the knowledge that our Heavenly Father will provide a pathway to restoration in His time and in His ways.

Without acknowledging Jewish abortion, American support of the Jewish state and prayers to HaShem for victory in war and Jewish survival lack honesty, spiritual integrity and accountability. Until this serious desecration of life is addressed and resolved, the ongoing existence of the Land of Israel is not guaranteed

Isaiah isn't popular with the establishment. He preaches Torah ethics and morals over progressive politics and religious practice, arousing antipathy in the ruling elite of his day whose power and authority is threaten by the prophet's calls for a return to dependency on God for sustenance and safety.