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Parsha of the Week

        This week’s Parsha is Parshas Balak. The question arised, what did Balak do to deserve a whole Parsha to be named after him? In the whole Torah there is no Parsha named after Moshe Rebbeinu, and we all know how much Moshe accomplished for Jewish people.  

        The reason Balak was given the honor that this week’s Parsha was named after him, was because of the merit of the sacrifices he sincerely brought to G-d, although his intention was to curse the Jews. Another big merit was that important descendents came out of his family, such as Ruth the Moabite and eventually King David. Either or these merits served him well.

        Balak realized that one has to fight the Jews spiritually by cursing them and the other nations just fought the Jews with weapons, wars, and force.

        Balak saw the fear of his people and their distrust of their kings, and he felt he had to act. So he took advice from the elders of Midian, who had known Moses in his youth. "His power is in his mouth," (meaning spirituality) they informed him. Balak proclaimed: "In that case we must fight fire with fire and find someone spiritual to do battle with him."

        Bilaam had become famous in a previous war between Moab and giant King Sichon, in which the "curse of Bilaam" had won the war for Sichon. Upon learning of this, Balak sent Bilaam a message: "I know that whom you bless is blessed and whom you curse is cursed. Please curse this nation (the Jews) and get them to leave the Mideast region." (Sound familiar?)



Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!

How to Make The Red-Heifer (Cow) Ashes

        Today we will talk about details and the procedure for making the Parah Adumah, The Red-Heifer.

1) Take a Red Heifer which has not had a calf, the cow has Three Requirements:

A. The cow has to be completely red and the cow cannot even have two or more non-red hairs.
B. The cow can’t have any blemishes that would cause it not to be accepted as a Korban.
C. The animal never did any work which includes having a baby.

2) Lead it Out of Camp – there is not one specific person assigned to do this task, any man can do this.

3) The Cohen Gadol observes, as A Jew Slaughters It – again, any Jew can slaughter it

4) The Cohen Gadol dips his finger in the blood and sprinkles it 7 times
towards the Temple – standing on the East side of Jerusalem.

5) The Cow is Burnt Completely – they don’t take out its guts and
clean its insides as they normally would. On its fire they also burn
with it…
a. Hyssop (a low bush), Cedar (a tall tree) & Silk (from a worm)
b. Thread (dyed) Red
6) The Ashes are Gathered and Brought to the Temple – by any man

7) The One Who Slaughtered It Must Wash His Garments, Take a
Mikvah and Only Becomes Pure at Night – even though he was pure
when he started out!

8) The Cohen Gadol Must Wash His Garments, Take a Mikvah and Only
Becomes Pure at Night – even though he was pure when he started
out!

9) The One Who Gathers the Ashes Must Wash His Garments, Take a
Mikvah and Only Becomes Pure at Night – even though he was pure
when he started out!

(Tell the story of Dama Ben Nesina, who merited having a parah
adumah born in his flock because he didn’t wake his father up.)

Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!

      This week’s Parsha is Parshas Korach. It talks about the argument between Korach’s company of 250 people and Moshe. The disagreement caused Korach & Korach’s company to get swallowed up by a pit, including their homes and their possessions. Immediately after that the pit closed to a point were not one can recognize were the pit was.

        This particular pit was created during sixth day of creation to swallow Korach and  Korach’s company. Rabbi Bechaye said that children of Korach were not killed. The children felt in the pit, but Hashem placed a very high mountain in the pit, so the children were able to climb up and leave, and they did not fall into the opposite if heaven.

Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!


 

Moshe sent out one spy from tribe, there was a total of twelve spy's altogether who went to the land of Kanaan. The Spies were supposed to find out if there was a good land and sufficient water sources, if the cities were walled, and if the people were strong enough and worthy to remain in the land.

When the spies returned, they brought back with them giant fruits, including one huge cluster of grapes and said, that the land is full of strong and big people, just like their fruits. The land swallows up its people, they are always dying, and they are giants. After people heard these reports, they wanted to return to Mitzrayim, because they thought it was safer than Kanaan, and they tried to stone Yehoshua and Kaleb.

This sad event happened on the 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av. We consider it a terrible day, because the Jewish people became hesitant and fearful. The Jewish people doubted Hashem's strength as the Almighty and lost their basic Faith in Hashem. It was because of this loss of faith that the Jewish people had suffered many more tragedies later on in history.

Moshe changed Yehoshua's name by adding the Hebrew letter "Yud". His original name was Hoshea, and by adding the "Yud" it became Yehoshua. "Yud" is Hashem's name, and this represents that Hashem should protect Yehoshua and save Yehoshua from the other spies's ideas.


 

Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!