Pinchas
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
We’ve just entered a period of time known as the “Three Weeks,” when we mourn the destruction of our Holy Temples, our nation’s dispersion, and the suffering that has been our lot for much of the past 2,000 years.
In Hebrew this time is called Bein Hametzarim, which means “Between the Straits.” Visualize yourself squeezed between two cliffs, and you understand the name. As a nation, more often than not, we’ve been between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
But there is a positive message here as well. Sure, it takes effort to extract yourself from a pinch, but when you do, you’re likely to catapult forward, going farther and faster than if you’d not been pinched in the first place.
Yes, we are squeezed, and it sure isn’t comfortable, but we’re looking forward to the final push, when all our suffering and wandering will propel us to the greatest spiritual heights. May it happen soon.
The Chabad.org Editorial Team
P.S.: Have you ever felt squeezed by life circumstances, only to to transform the negative into a positive and come out stronger, healthier and happier than before? Please share your experience in the comments section. We’d love to be inspired by you.
Despite the obvious rawness of the environment, I could not help but think about the potential this apartment had.
Talk about Jewish guilt. It is said that if we don’t witness the rebuilding of the Holy Temple in our lifetime, it’s as if we witness its destruction. If that’s not difficult enough, the key to rebuilding is simple to articulate but challenging to do: to love another Jew for no reason whatsoever.
So, you have been invited to join a family for a Shabbat meal. What do you need to know?
Despite the lack of hard evidence supporting his guilt, he was stripped of his military rank, sentenced to deportation, and caused to suffer tremendously—just because he was Jewish.
Although Moses is not completely reconciled to his death in the desert (as we will see later in the Parshah of Va’etchanan), he can not leave the world in peace without knowing that his people will be in good hands.
The story of Pinchas has repeated itself like a broken record throughout our difficult but glorious history. Our nation would not exist today if not for the many heroic, odds-defying acts performed by courageous individuals and groups.
Is it that simple to know everything going on in someone else’s head? Are you always that accurate with what’s happening in your own head?
A condensation of the weekly Torah portion alongside select commentaries culled from the Midrash, Talmud, Chassidic masters, and the broad corpus of Jewish scholarship.
On Shabbat we abstain from 39 general categories of creative work. In this class we discuss the prohibition of cooking on Shabbat. Learn what constitutes the biblical ‘melachah’ (prohibited work) of cooking on Shabbat (called bishul), and its underlying principles and practical application. This includes defining the level of heat that’s capable of cooking (for solids and for liquids), and the different levels of ‘vessels’ (keli rishon, keli sheni etc.).
This class will address the halachic and spiritual dynamics of the expanded Land of Israel in the messianic era with respect to the tribal allotments. (Likutei Sichos, vol. 38, sichah 1)
There are days when my brain is so fired up with worries of what-ifs and how-coulds that my fight-or-flight instincts take center stage, resulting in mental paralysis, emotional hyperactivity, and the never-ending feeling of swimming upstream while weighted down.
The silence is broken by the ringing of my phone. The screen proclaims “BLOCKED CALL.” I know what this means. It is a phone call from Chaim Boruch’s classroom.
Chabad couple offers education, classes, programs and services for adults and kids.
"Roving Rabbis" help local emissaries spread a message of faith and hope in a beleaguered nation.
They are busier than ever helping others.
Working to assist multiple childcare programs in improving their curricula.
Torah is the interface between the Infinite and creation. On the outside, it speaks the language of humankind. On the inside, it is depth without end.
Grasp either end and you have nothing. Grasp both and you have G‑d Himself.
