Absolutely Perfect
When someone makes shalom between rival parties, what does that mean?
Shattered Peace
Going out before the people and going in before them is one type of leadership. It is the leadership of the humble public servant who bends before the needs of his people.
Parshat Pinchas: Between the Spear and the Whisper
Not every gut impulse is a moral directive. When we confuse conscience with certainty, we risk mistaking personal anger for sacred missions.
A Sin-Offering For Hashem
Rabbbeinu Bachye finds it problematic to accept the literal interpretation that Hashem somehow erred, requiring our intercession on His behalf. He explains that the real purpose of this mitzvah of the Chatat on Rosh Chodesh is to give hope to those who have gone astray but wish to return to the faithful service of Hashem.
Apportioning Hishtadlus
Striking the right balance between Torah and one’s livelihood is a tricky business. Especially since making a living is a mitzvah in itself.
Don’t Share
We live such public and exposed lives today, yet in this week’s parsha we are reminded to seek the blessing of privacy.
Parshat Balak: It Was Just Tuesday – Shame, Blessing, and the Voice We Choose to...
In Parshat Balak, Bilaam never saw the people he was meant to curse. He viewed them from a distance; abstractly, impersonally. His words came not from relationship, but rather from obligation, from politics, from agenda. And yet they could have reshaped a people’s destiny.
Allied Enemies
Balak realized that Midyan and Moav, the erstwhile enemies, would have to make a truce and gang up as allies against Israel. But since G-d was on Israel’s side, there was no way he could prevent the Jews from ultimately taking over the land.
Sight and Speech
Balak was evil – he did not want to elevate himself to the level of Am Yisrael, he wanted to reduce Am Yisrael down to his level, or even lower.
Avoiding The Evil Eye
His father told him: You decide which yeshiva you want to go to. Don’t tell me your decision. When the day comes to leave to yeshiva, take your suitcase, go to the yeshiva, and I don’t want to know where you are going.
The Root Of All Idolatry
Idolatry is insidious and it sneaks into the hearts of the unwary by way of small compromises and prohibited acts that appear insignificant at first.
Masters of Deception – Chukat
It is impossible to reach an agreement with Amalek, because the only thing that will satisfy them is our obliteration and…G-d's name in the world can never be complete until Amalek is obliterated.
I Have Tried To Become Wise But It Is Beyond Me
Because if it is corruption we are worried about, there is no greater corruption and source of impurity than the presence of death itself.
Making Your Spouse First
The attitude that one knows that you’ve got my back isn’t born overnight. It’s achieved with a persistent series of small acts and gestures where husband and wife demonstrate that you are first in my book.
A Fascinating Din Torah
When one makes peace in his home, the Torah considers it as if he established peace among the entire Jewish Nation.
From Korach to Chukas
Destruction and death come to those who do not serve G-d out joy but out of fear alone.
A Time for Gratitude
I’m not sure whether people fully grasp the magnitude of the miracle. Just the day before, the floors of the building that was hit had been cleared. Entire departments had been relocated to reinforced areas.
Will You Rage Against The Entire Community?
Someone who understands reality on such a level also begins to see that all of humanity is really bound together as a cohesive whole.
When There Are No Halakhic Responses to the Elimination of the Iranian Threat
The theological questions from October 7 appear to be answering themselves in a way we can more readily understand.
Illegitimate Dispute – Korach
[Democracy] is contingent on both sides respecting each other and not crossing red lines. When that breaks down, democracy ceases to function and it degenerates into illegitimate anarchy.
TORAH SHORTS: Parshat Korach: Polonius vs. Nachmanides
Advice is like snow—the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A Lesson in Humility
A humble person does not take credit for his power, his riches, or his intelligence, because he knows it is all from Hashem.
The Question of Charity – Giving During Davening
I believe that Hashem is sending these unfortunate people to us as a gift to enhance and strengthen our prayers.
A Nation Rising and Roaring Like a Lion
It is no coincidence that Israel courageously attacked Iran in the week the Torah portion tells us: “When you are at war in your land against an aggressor who attacks you, you shall sound short blasts on the trumpets, that you may be remembered before your God and be delivered from your enemies.”
Refusing To Join The Army
The Rogatchover Gaon emphasizes specifically that Eretz Yisrael is only acquired through tribulation (Brachot 5), noting how inappropriate it is for someone to expect to gain the fruits of the labor of another – especially when somebody has to go to war to defend the land and somebody else expects to just sit at home and benefit from this.
A Summer Warning
Many marriages have been ruined by the well-meaning but poor advice of friends.
Pure Emunah
The aveirah of the meraglim was their own lack of faith, and their determination to weaken the faith of the Jewish nation.
The First Step
When the spies returned with a bunch of grapes so big it could only be carried by ten people and one fig which could hardly be carried by one person, instead of praising the land which grew such produce, they became concerned that the price of such opulence was too expensive and that they would not be able to afford to pay for it with mitzvot.
Moonlighting Spies
Think about this for a moment. They were just about to enter Eretz Yisrael and Eldad and Meidad's prophecy revealed that Moshe would die and Yehoshua would lead Bnei Yisrael into the land flowing with milk and honey. Did this phase Moshe? Not in the least.
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