Bemidbar

Explaining why G-d commanded Moshe to take vengeance against the Midianites and not the Moabites - the act of one woman who chose to advance the Jewish People's mission over her own physical and financial comfort.

One of the hardest tasks of any leader – from Prime Ministers to parents – is conflict resolution. Yet it is also the most vital. Where there is leadership, there is long-term cohesiveness within the group, whatever the short-term problems.

Can performing a mitzvah become a liability? What does it mean that I am doing something “bli neder”? “My friend Billy Nader says bli neder on almost everything. Is this being too frum?”

The Sedra of Matot maps the route of Am Yisrael from Egypt to the threshold of Israel. There are 42 encampments along the way. I suggest that, like every other word in the Torah, they have cosmic, eternal significance.

The combination of these two sections of the Torah constitutes the question, as to whether there is a connection between these two Parshiot, or is it just a matter of calendar convenience that unites them is one Torah reading on this coming Sabbath.

At times and as proven by Pinchas, an act of violence or war is justified and necessary, to make peace. If the Allied Forces had not intervened and declared war against Nazi Germany and Japan, can anyone imagine our lives today, if at all we would have survived?

Who can truly console us? Who can truly provide words and deeds of comfort? No mortal can truly comfort us, not even the greatest or wisest of men. Only Hashem our G-d can do so!

Most of the p’sukim in the early sections of Sefer Yirmiyahu, which make up the first two haftarot of the Three Weeks, consist of rebuke and prophecies of doom. Yet, they also contain sections of Nechama.

There are those amongst us who abhor violence at all costs, in all circumstances. Apparently, these murmurings against Pinchas,were so strong that the Lord had to "intervene" to defend Pinchas and highlight the justification and necessity of his act.

The name of this week’s protagonist, Pinchas, is quite fascinating, for it contains within it another well-known name: Noach. What is the connection between the two?