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July 13, 2025 – 4:31 pm | Comments Off on Take The Entire Day Off33 views

I was walking with a friend, one Shabbat, and as we reached the crosswalk, he bent to push the button to stop the traffic. I reminded him it was Shabbat, when we don’t use electronics. Instead, I suggested we relax patiently and chat until the light changes. It was Shabbat …

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Articles in Chukat

The Leap of Trust

July 2, 2025 – 7:11 pm | Comments Off on The Leap of Trust87 views
leap-of-trust

We usually talk about a leap of faith. Today, I want to discuss a much harder concept: a leap of trust.
The name of the Parshah we read this week is Chukat. There are three types of commandments: (A) Mishpatim, commandments that make sense to us. We would likely have drawn …

Lift Up, Don’t Put Down

July 6, 2024 – 11:26 pm | Comments Off on Lift Up, Don’t Put Down545 views
lift-up

On occasion, we all need to correct or critique someone. It might be a colleague, employee, sibling, child, or even a spouse. How do you tend to do it? Would you say something like, “You’re doing it all wrong, here watch me,” or “Let me show you a more efficient …

The Whip

July 5, 2022 – 9:35 am | Comments Off on The Whip1,367 views
whip-innerstream.ca

The whip is usually an instrument of punishment, but it can also be a gift. Teachers of old used the whip to administer corporeal punishment. However, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, once wrote about a teacher that was beloved by his students. This teacher never used the …

Chukat: An Available Tool

June 13, 2021 – 11:22 am | Comments Off on Chukat: An Available Tool1,598 views
available-tool

This week we read the Torah portion that delineates the laws of the Red Heifer. Jews who contacted a dead body were deemed ritually impure. The process of purification was lengthy, but one of the steps was for the impure person to be sprinkled with a mixture of water and …

Chukat Balak: The Commandments

June 25, 2020 – 10:15 pm | Comments Off on Chukat Balak: The Commandments1,663 views
heart of religion - innerstream

 
The Torah’s laws about how to purify oneself from ritual contamination can only be prevalent at a time when ritual contamination is possible. Ritual contamination occurs when a Jew comes in contact with a dead body. When the Mashiach comes, the prophetic promise that death will cease and all the …

Chukat: Live or Die

June 20, 2018 – 6:52 pm | Comments Off on Chukat: Live or Die2,615 views
live-innerstream.ca

What do you think Judaism advocates, that we live for G-d or that we die for G-d?
Throughout history there have been two classic Jewish views. One was to place physical survival above spiritual; to live at all costs even the violation of our sacred Torah principles and cherished Jewish traditions. …

Chukat: For Another

June 25, 2017 – 2:31 pm | Comments Off on Chukat: For Another5,738 views
another-innersteram.ca

Only G-d
The best way to reach G-d is to sacrifice everything for another. We learn this from a fascinating detail about the Red Heifer.
When Moses was told that it is possible to be purified even after contact with a dead body, he was surprised. Death, the absence of life, represents …

Chukat: Miracles

July 12, 2016 – 12:58 pm | Comments Off on Chukat: Miracles3,334 views
journey forth - innerstream

Two Wars
Why don’t we see miracles in our time similar to the miracles our ancestors saw in Biblical times? I would think that if G-d were to show his hand today, it would inspire billions to believe in Him. He did this back then, why not again?

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