This week’s parasha, Ki Teitzei, continues the long summary of laws and regulations that Moses sets out for the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land.

We reject many of these rules, and have for centuries - for example, we don’t bring rebellious children before the local authorities to have them stoned for rowdy behavior.

Nonetheless, most of these guidelines offer us relevant teachings today, like the strong insistence on fair weights and measures in Deuteronomy 25:13-16, where committing corruption is declared an abomination.

We have thoroughly standardized weights so that purchases in our markets are fair and equal, and yet still unfair influence tends to persist throughout our society. We can take heart from the improvements we have made to our conduct of business while still taking note of how much progress we need to make so that money and connections don’t outweigh fairness in our everyday dealings.

Full Torah portion here