This week's parsha

Unless otherwise noted, "This week's Parsha" comprises articles taken from contributors to the Chabad.org website. We show the original author's name here, so that proper attribution is given. For the sake of brevity, footnotes cited in the original author's writings are omitted from this website. If you need to see the citations, please refer to the original articles on the Chabad.org website.

Goals

Published: 20 July 2015 | Written by Tali Loewenthal

A person can live from day to day, or he or she can have a clear goal in life. For such a person, every major decision is made in terms of that goal. Some people are so strongly and pure-heartedly focused on their goal that even apparently minor decisions and ordinary, everyday activities are firmly directed towards their aim and hope in life.

The same can apply to an entire people. Throughout their history, the Jewish people have had a series of goals which interconnect with each other. This Shabbat we find two of the central goals linking together. The first concerns the weekly Torah reading.

Peace by Choice

Published: 13 July 2015 | Written by Lazer Gurkow

Disaster is the parent of opportunity. When the normal and routine are shattered, when calm and confidence are shaken, the patterns of life are altered and new opportunities are born.

It remains to us to convert these opportunities into reality. It remains to us to grasp that, if we permit it, even dark clouds can bear a sliver lining.

In May of 1967 the worldwide Jewish community joined in unprecedented unity to face the grave danger that threatened the land of Israel. Long-standing fissures that had splintered our community were, for the moment, dismissed. The enemy did not discriminate; he threatened us all, and this brought us together.

The Daughters of Tselafchad

Published: 06 July 2015 | Written by Yitschak Meir Kagan

The Torah relates at length in the Parshah of Pinchas how the five daughters of Tselafchad (an Israelite who had died in the desert) saw that they would not receive a portion of the Holy Land according to the way the Torah-law then stood. In distress, they entreated Moses for an inheritance in Israel. Unable to answer them, Moses presented their case to G-d, and the Almighty then gave the law enabling the sisters to receive their rightful share of the Land.

Why did G-d wait for complaints to arise before teaching the law in this case? The law of inheritance affecting Tselafchad's daughters could have been taught to Moses on Mount Sinai together with the rest of the Torah.