Do not be like Balaam, who believed in a God devoid of values. Believe only in a God who demands we behave morally! Parashat Balak centers on two personalities, one a king and the other a mysterious ...

Our guest this week is Rabbi Joey Wolf of the Havurah Shalom congregation in Portland, Oregon. Rabbi Wolf received his BA from Brandeis University in 1973, his MA and ordination from the Jewish ...

The story of the apostasy at Baal Peor, where Israel sinned with women from Moav and Midian, and committed idolatry, the subsequent plague, the reaction of Pinchas and his reward is spread evenly ...

Our guest this week is Rabbi Brett Krichiver, Senior Rabbi of the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation in Indiana. Rabbi Krichiver, an alumnus of UCLA, is a Wexner Fellow and a Bronfman Alum. He is a ...

The Jews are coming and the neighbours are not pleased. After routing Sihon, King of the Amorites, and Og, King of Bashan, the next stop on the route to their homeland is the Land of Moab. Balak, the ...

Fresh off the heels of the beginning of the conquest of the Biblical Land of Israel, this week’s Parshah, Parshat Balak, begins with the Moabite King Balak [hence the name of the Parshah], taking ...

In this week’s Parshah, [Parshas Balak], the King of Moav, [whose name is] Balak, seeks to employ the services of a sorcerer and prophet named Bilaam in order to curse the Jews. Though given several ...

Halacha prohibits causing pain to animals. There is a Talmudic discussion as to whether this prohibition stems from Torah or is Rabbinic in origin. (B.M. 32) The consensus of Poskim is צער בעלי חיים ...

Sometimes what appears to be ideology is nothing more than a means to fulfill base desires. (photo credit: Christian Lue/Unsplash) ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ JUNE 30, 2023 11:57 In the parasha named ...

There is a clear parallel between Balak and events in the Book of Exodus. In both narratives, kings (Pharaoh of Egypt and Balak of Moab), alarmed about the success of the Jewish People, conspire to ...