Have you ever been at a place in your life where you felt like someone was intentionally trying to hurt you, to curse you? Have you ever felt like they were going out of their way to cause you misery? What do we do when we are at a place so low that we just […]

Are you free? Are you sure? People think that because they live in America or aren’t in prison that they’re “free.” So let’s talk about that. Does freedom mean that you can do whatever you want to do? Is a prisoner less free than someone in the “outside world” because he has restrictions placed on […]

The first chapter of this Torah portion (Numbers 19) contains one of the greatest mysteries in all of Judaism: the sacrifice of the Red Heifer. It is unlike any other sacrifice. Even the instructions seem to contradict themselves. But when looked at through the lens of the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit), the mystery is […]

Korah’s Rebellion This is no doubt one of the most famous portions of the entire Torah cycle. Let’s dive into the story and see exactly what lessons we can learn from how Korah, Moses, and the congregation acted under such circumstances.

Now it’s time to move on to chapter 15! Shalach: Send Forth-Numbers 15 Read Numbers 15 as an overview. The beginning of chapter 15 seems to be strangely placed. It’s sandwiched between the Twelve spies incident and Korah’s rebellion and is almost a transition between the two, trying to tell us, in a way, what […]

This chapter deals with the power of human emotion and the mistakes men make when they face their fears, then realize their mistakes, then try to fix it themselves without the “right-hand power of God.” The continuation of the story of the twelve spies not only gives us the biblical historical record but tells us […]

Torah Portion Shalach: He Sent Part 1: Numbers 13 There is so much in the story about the twelve spies it’s almost overwhelming. A small book would have to be written to unpack it all! Let’s take it one chapter at a time.

This week’s Torah portion is called Bamidbar, which means “in the wilderness.” Although much of it deals with the census of each tribe, how they were camped, and the choosing of the Levites, we’re going to focus mainly on the latter of these topics and reveal how they relate to us today and even how […]

This is a good question. In this week’s study, we are going to look into this question and see exactly what we can learn or “unlearn” of what we have been taught about this topic. Some have suggested that the idea of slavery came from the Bible and that the Bible actually supports this. So […]

Almost inevitably when a man tells his friend that he believes in the Torah, that friend responds with something like, “If you’re following Torah then why do you shave? God told the Israelites that they weren’t allowed to cut their beards.” If I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. The passage that […]