Fw: Do Mitzvot Need To Make Sense?

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Subject: Do Mitzvot Need To Make Sense?

NEW! YUTorah Parsha Roundup for Chukat Balak

To view this email as a web page, click here. Learn more and join now! Download the YUTorah in Print for Parshat Chukat-Balak 5786 10 pages of insights and inspiration from the parsha for your Shabbat enjoyment! Download Now See all previous editions of YUTorah in Print for Parshat Chukat-Balak See all articles on YUTorah for Parshat Chukat-Balak See all shiurim on YUTorah for Parshat Chukat-Balak TOPICS IN PARSHAT CHUKAT-BALAK The Parah Adumah Is there anything we can understand about the process of the red heifer for our lives? Learn more Understanding Chukim What Para Aduma tells us about our understanding of the reasons for other mitzvot. Learn more Moshe's Sin What did he do wrong? Learn more The Hitting of the Rock Get a new perspective on the seminal turning point in Moshe's life. Learn more The Copper Snake How did Moshe know how to craft it? Why did it work? Learn more Bilam the Prophet What does it mean that Bilam was the on the level of Moshe Rabbeinu? Learn more Bilam's Eye What was so unique about Bilam's vision and what he saw? Learn more Bilam's Praise of the Jewish People What's special about us that's worthy of notice? Learn more The Sin with the Women of Moav How did the Jewish people fall to such a low level? Learn more Pinchas's Zealotry Does the Torah advocate vigilante justice? Learn more More Topics in Parshat Chukat An Overview of the Parsha • Parah Adumah and Chet Haegel • Aharon's Death • Miriam's Death • The Atonement of the Death of the Righteous • The Battle with Og • The Song at Arnon • The War with Sichon • Halacha from the Parsha More Topics in Parshat Balak Why was Hashem Angry at Bilam? • Bilaam's Donkey • Bilaam and the Three Regalim • The Haftorah of Balak QUICK INSPIRATION FROM THE PARSHA (10 MINUTES OR LESS) Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Abramovitz: Drinking Before Your Pets Rabbi Assaf Bednarsh: Daily Heroism Rabbi Yonatan Shai Freedman: Understanding Why Balak Tried Again Rabbi Noach Goldstein: Paying For the Snake Rabbi Jeremy Golker: The Antidote to Ayin Hora Rabbi Moshe Poleyeff: The Wellspring of Torah Rabbi Dovid Rosman: Singing Cows and the Power of Torah Rabbi Dani Schreiber: What was so "Good" about our tents? Rabbi Yaacov Thaler: More Than Meets The Eye Rabbi Chaim Yagoda: Circumventing Hashem? Rabbi Jonathan Ziring: Why Moshe Could Not Lead the Jews into Eretz Yisrael QUICK READS FROM THE PARSHA Rabbi Immanuel Bernstein: The Power Source of Prayer Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander: I Sent Miriam Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald: The Sanctity of Human Life Mrs. Michal Horowitz: Cultivating the Proper Path Rabbi Yehuda Mann: The Power of a Pause Rabbi Ari Shvat: The Difference Between Historic & Eternal Rabbi Moshe Taragin: Alone Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner: Tears for Moav? Rabbi Simon Wolf: Strikingly Familiar Daf Yomi |  Mishna Yomi |  Support YUTorah The Marcos and Adina Katz YUTorah Website is a project of Yeshiva University. Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) 515 West 185th St. New York, NY 10033 To continue receiving RIETS emails, please subscribe to the RIETS option in the Manage My Subscription form

Fw: ❦ Eliminating Egocentricity ❦

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Subject: ❦ Eliminating Egocentricity ❦

I S S U E 933 Beha’alotecha Chukas-Balak / June 25, 2026 / 10 Tammuz, 5786 Dear Friend,  We are pleased to share insights by the Rebbe on parshat Chukas-Balak, selected from our Daily Wisdom, edited by Rabbi Moshe Wisnefsky. ❦ Eliminating Egocentricity ❦ Having blessed the Jewish people three times, Balaam prophesied the fate of Balak’s people, as well as that of other nations, in the future. In these prophecies, he also mentioned how the Jewish people’s future king – the Messiah – would bring all humanity to serve G-d. When he saw Amalek, he began to recite his parable, and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations, and his end will be everlasting destruction.” (Num. 24:20) The Torah commanded the Jewish people to displace the seven Canaanite nations that occupied the Land of Israel: the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. Allegorically, these seven nations embodied the misdirected versions of our seven emotions (love, fear, mercy, trust, sincerity, fidelity, and lowliness). The commandment to conquer these seven nations is thus also a commandment to control our emotions, reorienting them toward their intended Divine focus. Although Amalek was not one of these nations, the Torah here refers to them as their progenitor (“the first of the nations”). Amalek embodied egocentricity, which is the root of all the evil emotions. When a person is focused on himself, he loves the wrong things, fears the wrong things, is merciful to the wrong things, and so on. By meditating on Divinity properly, we can neutralize our self-centeredness. This, in turn, will cause our emotions to be properly directed. —From Daily WIsdom Gut Shabbos, Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman Kehot Publication Society Please donate to our current campaigns.

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