Tag: Pinchos

Responsibility!

In this week’s Parsha, Moshe appoints his devoted student Yehoshua as his successor. Leadership comes with great and awesome responsibilities. Reb Aaron Cohen, the son-in-law of the saintly Chofetz Chaim, applied for the position of Rabbi in a city. When he was turned down, he shared his feeling of rejection with his father-in-law. The Chofetz …

Continue reading

Courtesy!

This past Shabbos, while reviewing the portion of Balak I came across a subtle but striking comment of Rashi that captures a defense mechanism which people use when they wish to disregard G-d or take G-dliness out of the picture. The Torah relates that Balak hired the non-Jewish prophet, Bilaam, to curse the Jews. G-d …

Continue reading

Dan & Gad!

Months before entering into Israel, when the Jews were encamped at the banks of the Jordan River in the Moav region, G-d instructed Moshe and Elozar the High Priest to take a census of the nation. The Torah lists the number of each of the individual tribes and then sums up the total number of …

Continue reading

Tap Into!

There are people in our history who were unwittingly thrust into the limelight and one could have speculated that they would be unlikely to succeed. Some examples: Our leader Moshe had a speech impediment and was personally not interested in leadership, yet he became the greatest leader, teacher and prophet to ever live. In this …

Continue reading

That’s Not Nice!

This week’s Torah portion is titled Pinchos, who was a heroic person. Since the time of Noach, the inhabitants of the world had taken upon themselves a set of moral and ethical rules. These rules are referred to as the Seven Noachide Laws. Included in these laws is the prohibition of adulterous relationships. Until our …

Continue reading

Two Stories!

When our leader Moshe realized that under no circumstances would G-d allow him to enter the Land of Israel, he immediately sought a replacement for himself. G-d then instructed him to appoint his faithful student Yehoshua – Joshua as leader. For the induction – Semicha – ceremony, G-d instructed Moshe to place one hand upon …

Continue reading

Individual Power!

(Torah Portion Pinchos) Individual Power! A terrible plague ran rampant through the Jewish encampment in the desert claiming the lives of 24,000 men. One individual, singlehandedly identified the source of the plague and heroically eliminated it, causing the plague to come to an immediate halt. The person who acted bravely and daringly was Pinchos. The …

Continue reading

Personalities

(Torah Portion Pinchos) Personalities There is something eye-catching in this week’s portion. It incorporates many names of leaders and personalities. We will take a look into some of them and attempt to gain understanding, insight, inspiration and a personal application. The title of this week’s portion is Pinchos, who was a grandson of Aaron the …

Continue reading

Consistency

(Torah Portion Pinchos) Consistency! The Torah details the communal sacrificial offerings that the Kohanim (priests) offered in the Temple. The Tamid – the twice-daily offerings – is listed first. The morning Tamid and evening Tamid were identical. A male year-old sheep was slaughtered and offered as a completely burnt offering along with a grain and …

Continue reading

Love for the Land

(Torah Portion Pinchos) Love for the Land! After the Jews defeated the nations of Sichon and Og and were on the final stretch of their journey to the Land of Israel, Balak, the king of Moav, became anxious about the security of his country. He therefore hired Billam, a non-Jewish prophet, to utilize his powers …

Continue reading