Balak – Donkey Gait Keeper

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Balak – A Single Point (5782)

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Our nation has no shortage of enemies. This is not new. Even in antiquity, our nation was always a target. Laban, Jacob’s father-in-law, try to smothered the Jewish Nation in its infancy. I’m this week’s Parsha, to fearsome, shadowy figures try to do the same. Balak, king of Moab, commissions Bilaam, master sorcerer and prophet, to curse and decimate the nation. Although their diabolical scheme fails, the lessons that we learn from this parsha are transformative.

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Truth and Peace (6.6.40)

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Truth and peace are often incompatible. A peaceful solution to a problem is often not truthful; unvarnished truth is rarely diplomatic. In way number 40 to acquire wisdom we learn how we must deploy truth and peace in the right manner, in the right fashion, to the right person, at the right time – and how this leads to deepening the integration and assimilation of Torah within ourselves.

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Parshas Balak (Rebroadcast)

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After the Jewish nation trounced the mighty kingdoms of Sichon and Og in last week’s parsha, the comparatively smaller and weaker kingdom of Moab resorted to unconventional warfare to attack the nation by hiring the prophet of the nations, a wily and devious character named Bilaam, to curse the Jews. It did not work out as planned.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Chukas – Mourning Clouds

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Two giants passed away in this week’s Parsha: Moshe two elder siblings, his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron – two of the great leaders and benefactors of the nation – both die in Parshas Chukas. In this special Parsha podcast we share two profound insights relating to the death, mourning, and aftermath of these two deaths. We discuss the extraction of water from a rock and how it differs from the another instance where water was desired and a rock played a very different role. We conclude with a sharp analysis of the difference between the nation’s mourning of Aaron and how the people mourned Moshe. All in all, I highly recommend that you listen to this podcast. It will bring you joy and maybe even some insight.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leilui nishmas Mrs. Ruth Salomon, Yenta Bas Moshe, who passed away yesterday. May her soul be elevated in Heaven.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Chukas – Between a Rock and a Wet Place (5782)

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Parshas Chukas contains some of the most interesting and iconic sections of the Torah. It begins with the mysterious red cow, a blush bovine whose burnt ashes are part of the cleansing cocktail needed to purify the impure. Afterwards, we read about the death of Miriam and its aftermath, including the cessation of the well of Miriam, an event that precipitated the striking of the Rock by Moshe and Aaron. In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we discuss the death of Miriam and Aaron and its associated lessons.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Parshas Chukas (Rebroadcast)

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In this week’s parsha, we read about a highly unusual mitzvah: The Red Heifer, when an entirely red cow is burned together with a motley concoction of ingredients, and the resultant ashes are used to sprinkle on people that came into contact with dead people in order to purify them from their spiritual contamination. We also learn about the passing of Miriam and Aaron, and the multiple battles that the nation participated in on the Eastern bank of the Jordan, and we puzzle over the sin that condemned Moses and Aaron to die before entering the Land.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Judging Favorably (6.6.39)

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Not everyone is a saint. In fact, the verse testifies that there is no righteous person in the land who does only good and never sins. So everyone is a sinner, to one degree or another. How ought we relate to sinners? What do we do when we see people behaving in an inappropriate fashion? In way number 39 we learn about the imperative for judging others favorably and how this can yield wonderful benefits in our pursuit of the Almighty’s holy Torah.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Korach – The Jewish Kryptonite

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We all have weaknesses. Nations, as well, have witnesses. When the Almighty sought to give the Torah to the Jewish people at Sinai, He first offered it to all the nations. When they asked what was included in it, God revealed to them how the Torah disallowed that particular weakness that that particular Nation had. What is the Jewish weakness? What is our kryptonite? When we study the story of Korach we find the answer. Korach launched a rebellion against Moshe and Aaron by specifically trying to exploit the innate Jewish weakness.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Korach – Debating Back to Sinai (5782)

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Debate and disagreement are part of the human condition. We are all unique and we all see the world differently. It should come as no shock, therefore, that disagreements exist between different people. Our nation has made debate into a favorite pastime – just visit any Yeshiva and you will see what I mean. But why must we debate? And what are the pillars of a productive debate? In this week’s podcast, we learn the art of argumentation.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Bearing the Burden (6.6.38)

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Everyone is going through something. Everyone has difficulties in life. That is the human condition. It is also all by design. But we are instructed to empathize with others in whatever challenge they may be undergoing. We are supposed to help them bear their burden. We are supposed to identify with their pain, validate it, and try to do whatever we can to suffer alongside them. This quality is the mark of the giants of our history, and it is also the Attribute of God that we are shown repeatedly. In this Ethics Podcast we learn how it is also a means through which we can acquire that that we cherish more than anything else: a connection with the Almighty and His holy Torah.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Parshas Korach (Rebroadcast)

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In this week’s parsha, Moshe and Aaron’s first cousin, a man named Korach, launches a rebellion claiming that Moshe is guilty of nepotism in appointing his brother as High Priest. What ensued should give one serious pause before engaging in any similar sort of divisive activities.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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