Parsha

Flattery is such a grievous avairah that Tosafos even discusses whether flattery is permissible in an emergency.

One of the more fruitless political debates in the United States is whether strict restriction of gun permits would add to public safety. One of the reasons it is fruitless is that both sides muster flawed analogies to other societies.

On my watch

Ben-Gurion understood both the strategic and symbolic value of Yerushalayim.

He then called out, “Zechariah, Zechariah, I have killed the best. Do you want me to kill them all?”

"Starting today, every child to us is like one thousand children." These words were said by Rabbi Herzog to the Pope after the Holocaust when he went out on a journey to find Jewish children who were transferred to convents and monasteries to avoid deportation to Nazi concentration camps, and were baptized to Christianity there. Rav Herzog wound up returning many children to their faith, people, and homeland.

Hashem gave us the Torah and we forged a connection with Him. The bond that existed after Har Sinai wasn't temporary, it was tamid, constant.

Moshiach, when he comes, will reveal the deeper reasons for every detail of Torah observance – why it is necessary to perform particular mitzvos in specific ways and what each detail accomplishes in the spiritual realm.

Location, Location, Location

Having a good eye means one is able to view others positively on an intellectual level.

The next time we face a rainy day, let's not feel down.

Higher than the question of our duration is the question of our deserving. Immortality will come to such as are fit for it, and he would be a great soul in future must be a great soul now. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

During the Three Weeks, the Rebbe recommended learning more Torah, giving more tzedakah, and increasing activities of ahavas Yisrael.

R’ Yisroel Salanter noted that some people are very careful to observe rabbinic mitzvos…but do not take seriously a Torah prohibition like lashon hara.

In Judaism, since sin is not a foregone conclusion, we hold ourselves fully accountable for it. Likewise do we hold others accountable – if not to us, then certainly to God. And so the daughters of Tzelophad put this out about their father – and about everyone else.

Hashem doesn’t ask a person, “What did you do?” He asks, “What are you able to do?”

The Rebbe Rayatz, however, refused to leave. He considered it his duty to uphold Torah study and observance even under such trying conditions.

This coming Shabbat will be the 25th Yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The mission and legacy he left for us is more relevant than ever

Bilam describes himself as yode’a da’at ‘Elyon, knows the mind of the most-High. Mockingly, the Gemara says “the mind of his own donkey he does not know, he knows the mind of the most-High?” [A line mori ve-rabi R. Lichtenstein zt”l used to invoke frequently, to warn us against glibly asserting we know why Hashem acts in various ways].

Most of Rashi’s comments derive from the Talmud or Midrash. But he almost always changes the wording or quotes specifically one of several versions.

Parshat Korach reminds us that seeing the good we have, and not coveting the good others have, is more urgent than almost anything else.

She argued that Moshe was fabricating his own laws until Korach finally became convinced…and organized a revolt.

In contrast to the previous generation – and as we will soon see more clearly – this generation was really saying, “Let’s get to our land already.”

We assume we know as well as our leaders less because they have failed to prove themselves or have shown deficiencies than because of our attachment to seeing ourselves a certain way. And, as was true of Korach and his group, we do so to our detriment.

They considered themselves like grasshoppers, and did not believe they had the zechusim to conquer the land.

This week's parshah teaches us that there is almost no such thing as objectivity. We are all subjective. All of us speak from our own world of values.

Chassidus explains that the spies weren’t afraid they couldn’t defeat the Canaanites. They didn’t wish to enter the Land because they knew they would be forced to become involved in the material world as a result.

The Maharsham adds that only when we acknowledge that we are unable to triumph over the enemy will we be able to be unafraid and will Hashem bring about our salvation.

No seeing anything improper is crucial to retaining one's kedushah.

Never to old to be a Bar Mitzvah.