Lubavitcher Rebbe (Adaptations)

On whose initiative were the spies sent? The way the story is told in Numbers 13, it was by divine command. But when Moses recounts these events 40 years later, he tells the people of Israel that it was their idea. The contradiction describes a watershed ...

The Book of Deuteronomy, the fifth and final book of the Torah, is devoted chiefly to Moses’ farewell addresses, which he delivered to the Jewish people shortly before his death and their entry into the Land of Israel. The first section of the book record...

This week’s Torah reading describes the journeys of the Jewish people through the desert as they approached Eretz Yisrael. Rather than have them enter the Holy Land directly, G‑d commanded them to take an extensive detour and avoid the lands of Edom, Moab...

This Torah portion is always read on the Shabbat preceding Tishah B’Av, the fast marking the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Hoping for Transformation Chassidim would often tell the following story: The followers of the Rebbe, Rabbi Yisroel o...

After Napoleon conquered the city of Acre in northern Israel, he walked through the streets of the ancient seaport. Suddenly, his attention was caught by a group of people wailing bitterly. Incensed at the thought that perhaps they were mourning because o...

Chapter 1 1 He did not mention their sins explicitly: In referring to the Jewish peoples’ sins obliquely, Moses was also alluding to the mitigating circumstances that softened the severity of their sins: The Desert: The desert through which they traveled ...

Preparing to Enter the Promised Land 1:1 Sensing that he would soon die, Moses understood that the time had now come for him to admonish the Israelites for their misdeeds, in order that they repent and be ready to begin the next stage of their national li...

The Book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell address to the Jewish people. The historical necessity for the creation of the Jewish people was laid out in the Book of Genesis; the story of how this people came to be was told in the Book of Exodus; the nature...

Why were the tribes of Re'uvain and Gad told to go ahead of the other Jewish people into battle? (v. 18)