Friday, Tammuz 11, 5786 / June 26, 2026
B"H
Friday, Tammuz 11, 5786 / June 26, 2026
In this week’s Parsha, Balak, which is one of the Parshiot read this Shabbat, the Torah tells how Balak, King of Moab, after seeing that the Jewish people were victorious against the two mighty kings, Sichon & Og, feared the Jewish people. He hired Bila’am to come and curse the Jewish nation. He thought that this way he may win in battle against them and get rid of them.
Bila’am, who, as told in the Parsha, was blind on one eye, had special spiritual powers. He was happy to go and curse the Jews. However, he knew that he needed G-d’s permission to do it. When G-d appeared to him in a dream, he told G-d his plan. In the beginning, G-d wouldn’t allow him to go. Later, G-d gave him permission but warned him to say only what He will tell him to say.
On the way, an angel blocked the road three times and the donkey he was riding on, who saw the angel, stopped each time. Bila’am who didn’t see the angel, hit the donkey each time. After hitting the donkey the third time, G-d opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Bila’am: “What have I done to you that you hit me these three times?” The angel told Bila’am, “Go with these men, but you may only speak the words which I will tell you to say.” No matter how much Bilaam tried to curse them, only blessings came out of his mouth. Many of his passages are about the coming of Moshiach.
Q.Why does the Torah tell us that Bila’am was blind on one eye?
A.Tommorow, the twelfth of Tammuz, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, of blessed memory, was liberated from Russian prison. He was imprisoned for spreading the teachings of Torah. As a result, he was sentenced to death. Then, his death sentence was miraculously exchanged to his being expelled from Russia instead.
As a child, he asked his father, “Why did G-d create us with two eyes? I see even with one eye."
His father replied, “A person needs two eyes so that with the left eye, which represents judgment, he should look at himself in order to find his own faults and correct them. At another person, however, one should always look with the right eye - with compassion and kindness." The Torah tells us that Bila’am had no vision in one eye - he lacked seeing the good in the Jewish people.
In one of the concentration camps, there was a German Nazi commander. He was extremely cruel to the Jews in his camp. He had only one eye seeing, his left eye was made of glass. It was made so perfect that one couldn’t distinguish it. One evening he called one of the Jews and said to him, “If you can recognize which is my false eye, I will give you a decent meal. But if not, I will shoot you. The Jew looked at him and said, “It’s your left eye.”
“You’re correct,” said the Nazi. “I will give you the meal I promised. But how did you know?”
The Jew answered, “I saw that only your left eye looked at me with sympathy and compassion…”
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SHABBAT SHALOM
Montreal Shabbat candle lighting time: 8:29 / Shabbat ends: 9:45
Wednesday, Tammuz 9, 5786 / June 24, 2026
B"H
Wednesday, Tammuz 9, 5786 / June 24, 2026
As mentioned yesterday, this Shabbat in the Diaspora we will read the two Parshiot of Chukat & Balak. In Parshat Chukat, we read about the passing of two of the greatest Jewish leaders: Moshe’s sister Miriam, and her brother Aaron, the High Priest.
Miriam, Aaron and Moshe passed away in the same year - the 40thyear after the Exodus. Miriam passed away on the 10th of Nissan; Aaron passed away close to five months later, on Rosh Chodesh Av. Moshe passed away less than a year after Miriam, on the 7th of Adar. Moshe’s passing is recorded at the very end of the Torah.
As leaders of the people of Israel, Miriam, Aaron and Moshe contributed not only to the spiritual welfare of the Jewish people, but also to their physical welfare.
Throughout the 40 years in which the Jewish people were in the desert, a wellwas embedded in a rock, which traveled with them and supplied the Jewish camp withall the water they needed. When Miriam died, the well became dry. In Aaron’s merit, Jews were surrounded with “clouds of glory,” which protected them from the elements and from enemy danger. With Aaron’s death the clouds were gone. In Moshe’s merit they had their daily manna from heaven for forty years.
Q. From where did they get their water supply after Miriam passed away?
A. After Miriam’s passing the Jewish people complained that they had no water. G-d told Moshe to take his staff and together with Aaron speak to the rock and it will give water. However, instead of speaking to the stone, Moshe hit the rock twice. The rock began flowing water again, but not obeying G-d’s commandment precisely by hitting the rock, it was considered a sin and as a result, Moshe and Aaron were punished and barred entry into the Promised Land.
Q. Why was the water supply for the Jewish people given in the merit of Miriam?
A. G-d rewards measure for measure.When Moshe’s mother placed him in a basket at the river’s edge, 120 years earlier, due to Pharaoh’s decree to drown all Jewish males, Miriam stood by the river to watch over her brother. Miriam made sure that Moshe was protected. Because of her dedication to Moshe at the river, she was rewarded that the water came in her merit.
Also,Miriam had a special feeling and sensitivity for the young. While still in Egypt, under the threat of grave punishment, she devoted herself to taking care of and saving Jewish babies who were born under Pharaoh's death decree. Although Miriam was a prophetess and attained a very high spiritual level yet she "lowered" herself and was devoted to bringing happiness and life to the "small" children. Thus, in her merit, G-d gave "water", which, just like Miriam, has the nature and quality of descending from high to the lowest levels.
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HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY, BLESSED & SUCCESSFUL DAY
Tuesday, Tammuz 8, 5786 / June 23, 2026
B"H
Tuesday, Tammuz 8, 5786 / June 23, 2026
This Shabbat in the Diaspora we will read the two Parshiot of Chukat & Balak. In Israel, which is one Parsha ahead of the Diaspora, they will read only Parshat Balak. Thus, from this Shabbat on, Israel and the Diaspora will be reading the same Torah Portions.
The 613 mitzvot of the Torah fall into one of three categories: Eidut, Mishpatim,Chukim. Those in the Eidut and Mishpatim category are logicalmitzvot. One can comprehend the reasons behind these mitzvot.
The mitzvot in the category of Chukim(statutes) are those which have no logical reason. G-d commanded us to observe them, without giving us any logical reason for them. When we perform these mitzvot, we put aside our own logic, and we observe them purelybecause it is G-d’s will.
This week's Torah portion begins with the mitzvah of Para Adumah- "Red Heifer." It is one of the mitzvot in the category of Chukim, as the name of the Parsha, Chukat, indicates.
The Torah tells us that when someone comes in contact with a dead body, they become "Tamei" - "spiritually impure". To become spiritually clean again, the Torah commands to sprinkle on the person water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer. The Torah describes in detail the entire process of preparing the red heifer and how the purification process is performed.
What is special about this mitzvah is that when performing the sprinkling process, the person who was unclean becomes purified, while the Kohen, who purified him becomes impure! According to our sages, this is one reason why the mitzvah of "Para Adumah" is called "Chukah" - a mitzvah with no rational explanation to it.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, whose 32nd yartzeit was Thursday, explains that although we can't comprehend the logic of this mitzvah, as the Torah didn’t give us the reason for it, we can learn a very important lesson from it.
The fact that the Torah commands the Kohen (priest) to personally help this individual, even at the cost of temporarily becoming impure himself and being unable to enter the Holy Temple, teaches us that we have to be ready to make personal sacrifices to help another Jew come closer to G-d. We cannot pass on the responsibility onto others.
This lesson applies to everyone. Each of us usually comes in contact with people on a daily basis. If we can assist them in coming closer to G-d, in their spiritual purification, through Torah and mitzvot, it is ourduty to do so, even when it means sacrificingsome of our time, effort and even our spirituality.
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HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY, BLESSED & SUCCESSFUL DAY
Thursday, Tammuz 3, 5786 / June 17, 2026
B"H
Thursday, Tammuz 3, 5786 / June 17, 2026
Today, Thursday, the third of Tammuz, is the 32nd Yarzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic group. The Rebbe was a leader for all Jews. He cared for every Jew and even non-Jews. Here is a story about the Rebbe and a gentile police officer. The following story is from Chabad.Org.
A woman from the Chabad-Lubavitch Community in Brooklyn was pulled over by a N.Y.C. traffic cop for some traffic violation. Standing outside her open car window and watching her search for her license and registration papers, the police officer caught sight of a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in her open purse. "Excuse me, maam," he asked, "are you one of the followers of this Rabbi?"
"Yes," she replied. "Well, in that case I'm not giving you a ticket." He closed his ticket book and continued, "Do you know why? Because this Rabbi," he pointed to the picture she was now holding in her hand, "did a very big miracle for me."
"The story goes like this: I used to be in the police escort that escorted the Rabbi to the Montefiore Cemetery (where the Rebbe's father-in-law and predecessor, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, is interred). I got to know some of the young men who accompanied the Rebbe, and I learned a lot of things. They are very friendly people, which you probably already know, and we talked a lot while the Rabbi was inside praying.
"One day I saw that all the fellows there were really talking excitedly to each other, so I asked them what happened. They told me that the Rabbi does a lot of miracles for people, but today he did a miracle that was really something. I didn't even ask what was the miracle that they were talking about, I just asked them if the Rabbi helps non-Jews also. “Sure,' they said, 'The Rebbe helps anyone who asks. Why? Do you need something?' I told them, that me and my wife had been married for nine years with no children, and a week ago the doctors told us that we had no chance. We had spent a lot of money on treatments, seen all sorts of big professors, we were running around like crazy for the last six or seven years, and now they told us that they tried everything and there is no chance. You can't imagine how broken we were.
"So, this young man tells me, 'Listen, the next time that you escort the Rebbe to the cemetery stand near the door of his car and when he gets out, ask him for a blessing.' So that is just what I did. The next time I was in the escort I stood by his door and when he got out, I said to him: 'Excuse me, Rabbi, do you only bless Jewish people or non-Jews too?'
"The Rabbi looked at me like a good friend, it was really amazing and said, that he tries to help anyone he can. So, I told him what the doctors said, and he said I should write down on a piece of paper my name and my father's name together with my wife's and her father's names and that he would pray for us. I did so, my hands were shaking so much I almost couldn't write, but I did it and you know what? My wife became pregnant and nine months later she gave birth to a baby boy! The doctors went crazy, they couldn't figure it out, and when I told them that it was all the Rabbi's blessing, they just scratched their heads and — Wow! I felt like the champion of the world!
"But here comes the good part. Do you know what name we gave him? We called him Mendel after the Rabbi. At first my wife didn't like the name because it’s not an American name, but I said, No! We're calling him Mendel! Each time we say his name we'll remember that if it weren't for the Rabbi, this boy would not be here.
"But when our parents heard the name, they really objected. They said, 'With a name like that, all the kids will think he's a Jew or something and they will call him names and be cruel to him. Why make the kid suffer for no reason?' I said to them, 'When he comes home and says that the other kids called him names because he has a Jewish name, I'll tell him that I want him to learn from those other kids how not to behave. They hate the Jews for no reason, but you should love the Jews, you should help the Jews. You just tell them that without that Jewish Rabbi called Mendel you wouldn't be here at all, and then maybe they'll start thinking differently too!'
May the Rebbe’s memory be a blessing to all. May we merit the coming of Moshiach speedily in our days.
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HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY, BLESSED & SUCCESSFUL DAY
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