Torah Thoughts, Stories, and Inspiration on the weekly Parsha
In this week’s Parsha, the Torah recounts the journeys and encampments of the Jewish people. The Jewish people made many stops along their journey in the desert. It was an arduous trek filled with many tribulations and challenges that helped strengthen and fortify Hashem’s nation. I would like to share with you an incredible idea…
This week’s Parsha is very special because it contains some of the Yomim Tovim, the festivals. However, this week’s Parsha also coincides with a very sad time in Jewish history – the three weeks of mourning in which we mourn over the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. Why would the Parsha of the joyous festivals…
Every morning, we recite the prayer of Ma Tovu. It’s the first prayer that we recite upon entering the synagogue. It’s a beautiful prayer… However, the fact that we say this is very strange. This prayer emanates from a very contaminated and wicked source. This prayer comes from Bilam, an evil man, who wasn’t even…
This week’s Parsha begins Zois Chukas HaTorah – This is the statute, the law of the Torah. This pasuk is referring to the peculiar and strange law of the Parah Adumah – the red heifer. When a person was impure, the Kohen would sprinkle ashes of the Parah Adumah upon him, which would then purify…
In this week’s Parsha, the Torah starts, “Va’ikach Korach ben Yitzhar ben Kehas ben Levi – Korach, the son of Yitzhar, the son of Kehas, the son of Levi took.” There is a question here – what did Korach take? The Torah doesn’t specify that Korach took anything! The Meforshim say, Lukach es atzmo –…
Read More “Parshas Korach: How to Have Successful Relationships” »
In this week’s Parsha, we learn about the mission of the spies. They were charged to spy out the land of Eretz Yisroel. Despite being great individuals, the spies failed miserably. They gave a false and negative report of the land. How did they make such a mistake? They were such great people! I heard…
In this week’s Parsha, Aharon, the Kohen Godel was charged to light the Menorah, The Torah says, “V’yas k’ein Aharon – Aharon did so.” Rashi says that this means that when Aharon lit the menorah, he didn’t deviate from Hashem’s command even one iota. Isn’t this obvious? Aharon got instructions from Hashem. Of course, Aharon wouldn’t change…
Read More “Parshas Behaaloscha: Are You a Religious Robot?” »
In this week’s Parsha, a census is taken of Klal Yisroel. The shevatim (tribes) are all counted. Each time a shevet is counted, the resulting number is rounded off to hundreds. For example, shevet Reuven has 46,500 people, shevet Shimon has 59,300 people, and shevet Yehudah has 74,600 people. However, there is one exception: There’s…
The Midianites caused the Jews in the desert to sin and act immorally. Hashem commanded Moshe to punish the Midianites for their terrible behavior. Hashem commands Moshe “Nakom Nikmas Bnei Yisrael” – to avenge the glory of the Jewish nation against Midyan (31:2). Yet when Moshe conveys the charge to the Bnei Yisrael he says “Nikmas Hashem” –…
The total population of the tribe of Binyamin was forty-five thousand six hundred. The tribe of Dan’s population was sixty-four thousand four hundred. Rav Zelig Plisken shlita writes: The Chofetz Chaim explains why those numbers are so remarkable: Binyamin had ten sons, while his brother Dan had only one son, named Chushim. Chushim was handicapped;…
