Archive for July 2020
The Hidden Meaning Behind Anti-Semitism
Forced to carry out the opposite of his intention to curse and destroy them, Bilam showers blessing upon the Jewish nation in this week’s parsha. These blessings from a non-Jewish enemy are exceedingly unique in their quality and reveal some deeply positive truths of the Jew’s experience wandering alone through a hostile world. In a…
Read MoreThe Message of the Parah Adumah
The Ba’al Shem Tov and his students stressed that the eternality of the Torah mandates the relevance of each and every detail – even the most obscure and inapplicable among them. While many of the mitzvos are bound to specific times or dependent on various factors, each mitzvah contains a lesson with universal application, a…
Read MoreTo Increase Their Yearning
Many of the tzaddikim explain the juxtaposition of the episode of the Meraglim and Korach’s rebellion by offering various reasons the sin of the spies served as the impetus for Korach’s complaint. The following is a particularly beautiful idea taught by R’ Shlomo Carlebach z”l. Although we would all love to reach our spiritual goals…
Read MoreConsumed by The Holy Land
In this week’s parsha, the Meraglim travel into Eretz Yisrael to scout out the land and come back with a negative report. As is usually the case, their negative experience was a result of their perspective – having chosen what they wanted to see, the Meraglim were unable to recognize the tremendous blessings of the…
Read MoreThe Secret of Divine Concealment
In an attempt to illustrate a deep truth regarding the Jew’s journey toward closeness with Hashem, the Baal Shem Tov taught the following, well-known, parable. When a father is teaching his little toddler to walk, he must crouch a few feet away, creating a distance for his son to cross. If the father does not…
Read MoreUniversal Mitzvos, Individual Experience
The seforim teach that our parsha, which begins with the words “Nasso es rosh b’nei Yisrael”, literally, “Lift up the head of b’nei Yisrael” and contains the blessing of Birchas Kohanim, has a special ability to strengthen the Jewish soul and fill our nation with a sense of confidence before the chag of Shavuos. While…
Read MoreShine Your Light!
In this week’s parsha, the verse states “These are the offspring of Ahron and Moshe”. However, the following verse only goes on to list Ahron’s children, not the children of Moshe. This seems strange! If his children were not to be subsequently mentioned, why, then, was Moshe’s name mentioned in the previous verse? From here,…
Read MoreForever Yearning, Forever Walking
The tzaddikim teach that while an angel is referred to as an “Omeid”, a being which stands, man is called “Mehaleich”, his nature is to walk, to move, to proceed. Unlike the angels which are static beings, man alone has the ability to surpass the circumstances of his condition and rise endlessly, to dizzying heights.…
Read MoreWhat’s Mine is Yours and What’s Yours is Yours
While much of our parsha deals with the laws of Yovel and Shemittah, it closes with warnings against ribbis, (interest) ona’ah (monetary deception), and gezel (thievery). In an astounding lesson, the Mei HaShiloach explains the connection between the messages of Yovel and Shemittah and these financial prohibitions in his inimitable, wondrous manner. In Pirkei Avos,…
Read MoreA Line of Zeroes
Our parsha opens with a commandment directed to the Kohanim, warning them to stay far away from any corpse so they do not become impure. This commandment is specific to kohanim; the loftiness of their souls and their bond to the pure life-force of spirituality makes them particularly susceptible to damage by the impurity of…
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