“For every thousand soldiers who went out for the Jewish people, another thousand stayed behind in Eretz Yisrael and prayed for…each soldier at the front…
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- בס״ד
“For every thousand soldiers who went out for the Jewish people, another thousand stayed behind in Eretz Yisrael and prayed for…each soldier at the front…
“In this week’s parsha, Hashem commands Moshe to appoint a successor to lead the Jewish people:
G-d know[s] better than any human that no two people on this planet are exactly the same. Every person thinks differently, acts differently and reacts differently than every other person. Therefore [He] appoint[s] a leader who will have patience with and be able to tolerate each person according [to] the needs of that person’s individual personality.
“[Bilam was] a man with great gifts, a genuine prophet, a man whom the Sages compared with Moses himself – yet at the same time a figure of a flawed character that eventually led to his downfall and to his reputation as an evil-doer…
“What is the reason that in the first incident [which occurred 40 years before the second] G-d instructed Moses to strike the rock, while in the second incident He insisted exclusively on verbal communication?….
“When a Jew wears a four-cornered garment, he has a mitzvah, a commandment, to attach four threads to each of its corners. These threads are called tzitzit. One of these threads is the color of tekhelet… which is a reflection of the blue of the sea, and the blue of the sea is a reflection of the blue of the sky, and the blue of the sky is a reflection of a mystical concept called the Kisei HaKavod, a throne on which, so to speak, Hashem sits.
“[The Medrash Rabba states] ‘Nothing in this world is as beloved (chaviv) to HaShem as sheluchei mitzva — people who are sent on a mission to do a mitzva — who give their all in order to accomplish their mission.’
“In the world of darkness in which we live, events seem random and cruel. There seems to be no justice, no connection between cause and effect.
“Each and every one of us contributes to the creation of the environment in which we, our community, and our society live.
“The book of Bamidbar begins with a census of the Israelites… what is the significance of this act of counting?
“Judaism teaches us the primary importance of keeping our word. But it does not lose sight of our human frailties and limitations
