The book of Vayikra careens to a close with the chilling section of the Tochecha. These graphic prophecies of doom describe, in frightening detail, the misfortunes that can be our fate if we forsake Hashem and His Torah.



Drought, famine, starvation, plague, war - scary stuff, all this. And we saw it all come to pass in the Shoah. But the Torah couldn't end this sefer, which emphasizes the spiritual greatness of Am Yisrael - a Mamlechet Kohanim, kingdom of Kohanim - without first giving us a message of hope.



Therefore, the final section of the sedra, curiously, deals with arachin, value. That is, a person may pledge not only a monetary gift to the Bet HaMikdash, he may also pledge whatever he or she is worth. The Torah then assigns a value to each person (30-50 silver shekels).



The message: Every person has value. We may be degraded, humbled, crushed or conquered. And yet, we retain our intrinsic value.



I suggest there is a clear link between arachin - value - and arachim - values. Our value as human beings is in direct proportion to the values, the principles and the morals we espouse. As long as we retain a moral excellence, we can never be worthless; we shall always be precious.



We in Israel have suffered so much during the past few years. We have been through debilitating times. And yet, our principles remain intact. Despite the inane ravings of a few crazed conductors or self-hating sculptors, the Jewish People, the IDF and Israeli society in general, are models of chesed, compassion and upright behavior. We have our faults, for sure, but compared to the world at large - not to mention the depraved, animalistic Palestinians - we are head and shoulders above the crowd.



Before a large open grave the Nazis had forced them to dig, a long line of naked Jews stood silently, waiting for death. One by one, they would be shot by the "civilized" Germans. A father, standing with his young son, asked the Nazi guard if he might say a final prayer before he was killed. The Nazi nodded his head in approval. The father covered his and the boy's head with his hands and said loudly, in the German's face, "Baruch ata Hashem... shelo asani goy." - "Blessed is G-d... who did not make me a heathen." Then he died al kidush Hashem.



Our values - second to none - are what give us value.