Parsha: Balak - Some Men Are From Mars (5781)
06/27/23 • 43 min
Our parsha contains an attempted genocide. Bilaam, the prophet of the idolaters, a man of prodigious ability an skill, dedicates himself with tenacity and persistence to curse and destroy the people. Although his three attempts at cursing the nation backfire when he is compelled by God to bless the nation instead, the parsha ends with the implementation of his advice to get the nation to sin and indeed a large contingency of the people fall prey to his plan. In this podcast, we propose a novel understanding of Bilaam's character and demonstrate a way that things could have gone very differently.
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Our parsha contains an attempted genocide. Bilaam, the prophet of the idolaters, a man of prodigious ability an skill, dedicates himself with tenacity and persistence to curse and destroy the people. Although his three attempts at cursing the nation backfire when he is compelled by God to bless the nation instead, the parsha ends with the implementation of his advice to get the nation to sin and indeed a large contingency of the people fall prey to his plan. In this podcast, we propose a novel understanding of Bilaam's character and demonstrate a way that things could have gone very differently.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: [email protected]
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts
★ Support this podcast ★
Previous Episode
Parsha: Chukas - Inglorious Origins (5781)
The red cow is the Torah's most mysterious mitzvah. We are told to take a completely red cow and slaughter it, and burn it's body together with a concoction of other ingredients, the ashes of which become the potion to purify people who have come into contact with dead people. If that doesn't make sense to you, I can hereby comfort you that you are not alone. Aside from Moshe, no human in history has ever fully grasped this mitzvah. Although we are precluded from fully understanding this mitzvah, the Midrash reveals to us the mechanism at play in this process. What is reveals it quite stunning and very broadly applicable to us.
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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!
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Parsha: Chukas & Balak - Methods of Transformation
In the first of this week's double parsha, we read about the death of two giants: Miriam and Aaron, Moshe's older sister and brother, pass away. Our sages tell us that the death of the righteous serves as an atonement in a way similar to sacrifices. Just as sacrifices atone, so too does the death of the righteous. But why does the death of the righteous provide atonement? Why is the sacrifice used to convey this principle specifically the red heifer, the most unusual of sacrifices? In this delectable Parsha podcast, we discover critical elements, growth, change, and transformation.
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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!
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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: [email protected]
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