In reading the exciting stories at the beginning of the Torah, we can often forget that the Torah is a law book. The Torah exists as a body of directives for how God intends for us to live our lives. Of course, stories are often a subtle and rich way of conveying the values for life. Yet, in this week's Torah portion, we finally have laws; 53 of them in fact.

The first law is a curious one. It regulates slavery within the Torah's system of justice. Slavery is fundamentally unjust, and yet the Torah allows for it. Even stranger is its presence at the head of the list of laws presented at Mount Sinai.

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As I was preparing my e-mail for this week, I learned of the terrorist attack at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva. Seven years ago this month, I danced in that same building during a similar celebration.

The boys you read and hear about - those who were murdered and those who were injured - were celebrating Rosh Chodesh Adar, the new month of Adar. Our tradition tells us that Adar is a time for joy - mishenichnas adar marbim besimcha. Those young men were dancing in celebration.

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President's Day passed just a couple of days ago. (It should be called President's week with the vacation schedule at local schools.) Besides the long weekend and the blowout sales, this time should allow us to reflect upon our country and its leadership (especially during an election year).

As a child, I remember the awe of travel to Washington, D.C. - especially seeing the monuments to our founding fathers and great leaders. It seemed like an amusement park, but instead of rides, there were huge statues and odd docents lecturing on US history. With some study of world religions, I began to appreciate that Washington, D.C. was constructed in a classic style with great temples in the Greek and Roman Style. Yet, instead of gods at the centers of these temples, the new republic had installed statues to its great men.

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Clothes. They keep us warm. They express our style. They are the signals to the world of who we are. Aaron's clothes are not his own choosing. In our Torah portion, Aaron's wardrobe is laid out. The clothes are beautifully crafted from the finest materials. A basic contradiction exists in the symbolic message of these clothes. Like today's tee shirts, Aaron's garments carry corporate endorsements. He carries the names of each of the tribes of Israel on his breastplate. He carries their sponsorship.

Yet, almost like a NASCAR racecar driver, he has more signs affixed to his personage. He wears a gold plate upon his forehead that says kodesh lahashem - holy to God. So the question - which does Aaron truly represent, God or the people. The answer is both.

The priest serves as the bridge reflecting the symbolic language of the temple itself that of a meeting place between mankind's attempt to approach God and God's chosen location for confronting mankind. In the personage of the High Priest, we have this same synthesis in human form.

We speak today of the temples each of us builds in our hearts for God's presence. bilvavi mishkan evneh - in some small way each of us is that high priest who carries the name of our people and the name of God in everything that we do. Let us wear those endorsements proudly and honorably.

Early in our Torah portion, Moshe sits to judge the people. From morning till night the people line up to stand before Moshe and receive instruction. Yisro, Moshe's father-in-law, criticizes Moshe for this policy. Yisro argues that Moshe will wear out himself and the people by attempting to administer justice to them on his own.

This is not the first time that Moshe is critiqued for his style of judgment. As a young man, Moshe intervenes between two Jews who are fighting one another. He said to the one who attacked, ''Why would you strike your fellow?'' To this question and implied judgment, the combatant replies, ''Who appointed you as a dignitary, a ruler, and a judge over us?''

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