Parshas Chukas
8 maamarim of the tzaddikim on this week's reading, each in Hebrew and English with a takeaway.
Lehavas David
Rav Dovid Matisyohu Rabinowitz ›Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzA Chok Beyond Reason: Purifying the BodyThe body resists the mitzvos because it wants to understand them first, and that resistance is the serpent's contamination still at work in us. The remedy is to keep every…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzThe Chok of the Torah: Mitzvos Because Hashem CommandedOur mitzvos easily become mixed with our own tastes and interests, and the angels argued that this makes us unfit for the Torah. But Hashem wants exactly this: that people pulled…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzA Chok Within Every Mitzvah: Reward Even HereEven the mitzvos that seem sensible to us rest on a wisdom far beyond ours, and the yetzer hara likes to turn reasons into excuses. When we humbly admit how little we understand…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzLiving Each Day as a Gift: Torah Through Self-SacrificeNo one can come back for even one more day to set right what he left undone, so the day we have now is the gift. If we woke each morning as if Heaven had just granted us one more…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzTrust Measures Effort: Speaking to the RockHow much effort we must pour into our livelihood is not fixed; it shrinks as our trust in Hashem grows. The Baal Shem Tov needed only a knock on a window, while most of us must…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzStriking or Speaking: The Rock Grows Up Through TorahEvery person comes into the world with his blessing already waiting for him, and much of the heavy toil we feel we need comes from weakened faith and trust. Klal Yisrael grew up…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzSanctified Eyes: When a Word Is EnoughHashem wants to send His blessing through the smallest of efforts, but only to those who have become fitting vessels, and that vessel is shaped above all by holy eyes. A person…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzHoly Eyes: Gateway to Torah's HeightsThe Torah's last words, “before the eyes of all Israel,” teach that what we let our eyes see shapes how clearly our minds can grasp the Torah. Holiness of the eyes and holiness of…