ב"ה
Balak 5767 - June 29, 2007
Chassidic Thought
Why Do We Believe?
I know that there are many logical proofs for the truth of Judaism. But at the end of the day, how do you know that yours is the right way? What makes you so sure?
I know that there are many logical proofs for the truth of Judaism. But at the end of the day, how do you know that yours is the right way? What makes you so sure?
Why Is Expecting Moshiach Integral to Judaism?
Why is the belief in Moshiach and the Redemption so central to Judaism? What makes it one of the “thirteen principles” of the Jewish faith upon which its entire edifice rests?
Why is the belief in Moshiach and the Redemption so central to Judaism? What makes it one of the “thirteen principles” of the Jewish faith upon which its entire edifice rests?
Parshah
The Parshah in a Nutshell
Balak sends Balaam to curse the Jews. His talking donkey tries to stop him, to no avail. Each time he opens his mouth, Balaam ends up blessing the nation instead.
Balak sends Balaam to curse the Jews. His talking donkey tries to stop him, to no avail. Each time he opens his mouth, Balaam ends up blessing the nation instead.
The Showdown
On one side stood Moses, the greatest prophet of all time. On the other side was Balaam, the far-famed soothsayer. At stake was the most critical question in all creation: Does G‑d care about good and evil?
On one side stood Moses, the greatest prophet of all time. On the other side was Balaam, the far-famed soothsayer. At stake was the most critical question in all creation: Does G‑d care about good and evil?
The Fragile Veneer of Evil
On the one hand, he’s declared to be nothing less than the equal of Abraham (in passion) and Moses (in prophecy); on the other, he’s described as the most perverse, greedy and corrupt human being ever to walk the face of the earth!
On the one hand, he’s declared to be nothing less than the equal of Abraham (in passion) and Moses (in prophecy); on the other, he’s described as the most perverse, greedy and corrupt human being ever to walk the face of the earth!
Close Your Blinds
We live in an age of revelation; privacy is passé. All the more reason to recall Balaam's vision of the goodly tents of the Israelite camp...
We live in an age of revelation; privacy is passé. All the more reason to recall Balaam's vision of the goodly tents of the Israelite camp...
Living
Stones and Pebbles
In our busy lives today, there is only one way to make the time for things that are important to us and that is by employing the "Jar Parable"
In our busy lives today, there is only one way to make the time for things that are important to us and that is by employing the "Jar Parable"
The Man Who Changed his Life after Reading his Obituary
It's not very often that a person gets to see, printed in a newspaper, how he will be remembered after his death. One man did, and what he saw horrified him...
It's not very often that a person gets to see, printed in a newspaper, how he will be remembered after his death. One man did, and what he saw horrified him...
This all the nations of the world must know: only our bodies were sent into exile and subjugated to alien rule; our souls were not given over into captivity and foreign rule... In any matter affecting the Jewish religion, the Torah, and its mitzvot and customs, we are not subject to the dictates of any power.
— Rabbi Sholom DovBer of Lubavitche (quoted by his son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, at the Leningrad train station upon being sent to exile by the Soviet regime in 1927)
Print Magazine
In Torah, we mirror on earth that which G‑d performs on every plane of reality.
If so, since the Torah prohibits dislocating even a single stone of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, how could it be that G‑d brought the entire structure to ruins?
For it would certainly be absurd to imagine that the Assyrians or the Romans ha...
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