The Weekly eDrash

Most Recent Teachings

 

Parasha: Chukat

Balaam's Evil Plan

Tags:  ambition, covetousness, flesh, greed, idolatry, lust, materialism, power, self-control

While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. (Numbers 25:1) Balaam found he could not put a curse on the children of Israel, so he advised King Balak to pursue a different tactic. Rather than attempt a military solution or rely on occult manipulations, he introduced the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. Instead of going to
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Parasha: Korach

Who Is the Boss?

Tags:  Abiram, arrogance, Dathan, humility, Korach, Moses, rebellion, self-exaltation

Though Dathan and Abiram accused Moses of arrogance, he was actually the most humble man on earth. At the burning bush, he had argued with God against his appointment, and he only reluctantly stepped into the role of prophet and redeemer. He regarded himself as nobody special. It was not that Moses had poor self-esteem; he simply had an accurate assessment of his own worth before God. And they rose
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Parasha: Shelach

A Different Spirit

Tags:  deficiencies, difficulties, failures, faith, miracles, negative, optimist, pessimist, positive, Promised Land, realist

But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it. (Numbers 14:24) The LORD spared the children of Israel, but He punished them by consigning them to forty years of wandering in the wilderness. He declared that they would never see the Promised Land that they had
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Parasha: Beha'alot'cha

Why Wasn't Aaron Punished?

Tags:  Aaron, complaints, envy, evil speech, give an accounting, grumbling, leprosy, Miriam

So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again. (Numbers 12:15) Even Aaron and Miriam were not above the sin of grumbling. Numbers 12:1-2 relates a few details about their complaint against Moses. Apparently they had something against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married. (The Torah does not tell us the details of
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Parasha: Nasso

Nazirism and Messiah

Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, "When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD..." (Numbers 6:2) Numbers 6 relates the laws of the Nazirite. A Nazirite vow is a special vow one might take unto the LORD. The Nazirites were ordinary people who opted, for a period of time, to abstain from the fruit
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Parasha: Shavuot

Redemption and Torah

Then God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." (Exodus 20:1-2) The Festival of Shavuot (Pentecost) is the anniversary of the giving of the Torah and the giving of the Holy Spirit. As part of the commemoration, the Ten Commandments are read publicly in the Assembly on the Feast of Shavuot.
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