This week we began saying “LeDovid” twice daily. One of the famous Pesukim in this perek of Tehilim is אַחַת, שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵאֵת-יְהוָה-- אוֹתָהּ אֲבַקֵּשׁ: שִׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית-יְהוָה, כָּל-יְמֵי חַיַּי; לַחֲזוֹת בְּנֹעַם-יְהוָה, וּלְבַקֵּר בְּהֵיכָלוֹ. At first glance the pasuk seems redundant: “One question I have of Hashem, that’s what I am asking…” I once heard peshat that [...]

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz points out that the Mishna in Avos encourages us to be “Like a talmid of Aharon: Love peace and pursue it, love everyone and bring them close to torah. If these are the defining character traits of Aharon, and indeed what we would expect the behavior of all Kohanim to reflect, how [...]

In this week’s parsha, Korach argues that “all of Klal Yisroel is Kadosh” and it is incorrect for anyone to claim special work, privileges, or status. Many prominent members of Bnei Yisroel agreed with this logic and joined Korach. Putting aside the personal motivations chazal tell us about Korach and the members of his Eidah, [...]

Sefer Bamidbar is called "the book of countings" or "Numbers" because of the few times Hashem counted Bnei Yisroel in it. Sefer Bamidbar is so action packed and contains so many pivotal episodes, its strange that chazal see the census as the most crucial events in the sefer. The concept of the national census in [...]