Articles in Parsha Insights
Matot: The Joys of Ice-Cream
Can You Have Your Cake And Eat It Too?
When we see a religious leader living the good life, fancy cars, extravagant expense accounts and private jets, we are naturally skeptical about their piety. When we think of the devout we conjure up images of the impoverished and downtrodden whose faith, …
Pinchas: A People of Three-Thousand Years
Broken Telephone
Have you ever played broken telephone? This game consists of passing a message to one person, who in turn passes it to another. The object is to see how many transmissions the message can undergo before it is altered. In most cases five transmissions is considered a high number.
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Balak: It’s All About Priorities
A Continuing Offense
A man went into confession to divulge that he had rescued a young Jewish boy from the Nazis. Why that sounds like a good deed, came the sonorous response from behind the curtain, why do you bring it up in confession? Because, explained the man, I have put …
Chukat: Love Your Children
What Actually Happened?
Something happened on that fateful day that resulted in the severe decree barring Moses and Aaron from entering the promised land. Here is the story in short: The people were parched from their long journey and demanded that Moses provide water. G-d instructed Moses to produce water from …
Korach: Look, I’m Humble
Now Really!
After the passing of Rabbi Yehudah, the third century sage who edited the Mishnah, his colleagues proclaimed that the age of humility had come to an end. Several centuries later the Babylonian sage Rabbi Yosef offered a correction. Don’t say humility has died, he asserted, because there is I. …
Shlach: What I Learned From A Tree
The Holy Tree
Oh, the tales trees could tell if only trees could tell tales.There is a large tree in my backyard under whose branches many little dramas have played out. Many a toddler has crawled under its branches, many a back has leaned against its trunk, over the years the …
Naso: The Recovering Addict
The Dilemma of the Blanket
Have you ever laid yourself to sleep with a short blanket? You cover your toes, but your shoulders are cold. You pull up the blanket to cover your shoulders, but now your toes are exposed. Your sleep is restless and fitful, what do you do? Finally …
Bamidbar: To Count Or Not To Count?
Are you Still Counting?
A newly minted millionaire sought entry into an exclusive society club. When the secretary asked for his net value he proudly replied, $13,403, 374. The crisp response was not long in coming. “If you’re still counting”, said the secretary, “you need not bother with our club.”
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