This Shabbat has a special name: Shabbat Chazon. It always precedes the Fast of the Ninth of Av and the name is based on the first word of the Haftarah which means THE VISION. It contains Isaiah’s prophecy in which he warned Israel about the forthcoming catastrophe that was waiting to happen to the Kingdom […]
The meaning of the name of today’s first Sidra is TRIBES. Its first sentence tells us that Moses addressed this chapter to the heads of the tribes. It may seem surprising that this Sidra starts at verse two in chapter 30 of the book of Numbers. Surely, we might have expected the Sidra to start […]
Pinchas, after whom this Sidra is called, was the son of Ele’azar and the grandson of Aaron. He became famous because he took a heroic action when he assassinated the Prince of the tribe of Shimon, who became involved in a despicable act of idolatrous immorality. He also killed the Midianite woman. His action was […]
The Sidra of Balak, the king of Moab, contains the unique Biblical story about Bilam, (this is how the name is pronounced in Hebrew), who was hired by Balak to curse the Israelites when they came near to his country’s borders. Our ancient Rabbis regarded Bilam as a gentile Prophet and asserted, quite surprisingly, that […]