In this week’s parsha, Parshas Balak, we meet King Balak and Sorcerer Bila’am, an intriguing Torah personality. Balak, king of Moav, fearing the strength of the Israelite nation, hires Bilaam, a Midianite sorcerer and prophet, to curse the Jewish nation. Bilaam initially refuses the invitation,...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Chukas, the forty years of wilderness wandering are winding down, as the nation will soon enter the Holy Land. It is at this juncture that the Torah teaches us of the deaths of two of our great leaders: Aharon and...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Korach, Korach - a first cousin to Moshe and Aharon (see Rashi to Bamidbar 16:1) - spearheads a rebellion against the leadership of Moshe and the kehunah (priesthood) of Aharon. Feeling slighted by a perceived lack of kavod (honor) that Korach...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Shelach, Moshe sends twelve spies to scout out the Land, as the nation prepares, imminently (or so it is believed) to enter into Eretz Yisrael, the Promised Land. Moshe sends the spies with detailed instructions to investigate the cities of the...
In the beginning of this week’s dramatic parsha, Parshas Beha’aloscha, Moshe and the Bnei Yisrael (Children of Israel) continue to prepare for entry into the Promised Land. With final preparations in place (which have been Divinely ordered and discussed in the first three parshios of...
Parshas Bamidbar, erev Shavuos, Zman Matan Tora’sainu - the time of the giving of the Torah. Our preparation for Matan Torah includes a forty-nine day count, which began on the second day of Pesach, and ends the night before Shavuos. As we journey through time, always...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Behar, the Torah commands us regarding the Shemitta year, the seventh Sabbatical year wherein the land of Israel lies fallow, its bounty permitted to man and animal alike. At the culmination of seven Shemitta cycles, with the 49th year a...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Emor, the Torah delineates our Mo’adim - appointed festivals (Vayikra, Chapter 23). Beginning with a general introduction to the Jewish calendar year, the pasuk (verse) says: דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם, מוֹעֲדֵי ה’ אֲשֶׁר-תִּקְרְאוּ אֹתָם מִקְרָאֵי קֹדֶשׁ--אֵלֶּה הֵם, מוֹעֲדָי - And...
In Parshas Kedoshim, the second of this week’s double parshios (Achrei Mos-Kedoshim), we are commanded to be a holy people, for G-d is Holy (Vayikra 19:2). As is well known, many of the commands and directives in the parsha focus on mitzvos bein adam l’chavairo (laws...
Parshas Tazria, the first of this week’s double-parshios (Tazria-Metzora in Chutz la’Aretz) focuses mainly on the identification and diagnosis of the spiritual malady of tzara’as: a spiritual illness with a physical manifestation. Chazal (the Sages, Arachin 16a) lists seven causes of tzara’as, the most well-known...