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The Torah Learning Library of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah

Sefer Bamidbar

You and Your Shulkhan Arukh Are Going to Treif Up My Kitchen!

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 13, 2023

Originally published July 2014 A story is told that when Rav Soloveitchik’s wife Tonya, z”l, was hospitalized due to an illness, he and Haym had the run of the house. Following technical laws of kashrut, they ate cold milkhig food on fleishig dishes.…

Pinchas: Zealot-Prelate or Priest of Peace?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 6, 2023

Originally published August 2016 This week’s parsha Pinchas has much to say about zealotry and peace, and the messages remain worthy of examination today. Consider the following: A religious zealot witnesses a person flagrantly violating religious standards. Acting in the name of God, she picks up the nearest available weapon and violently slays the sinner.…

Leadership for Self-Reliance

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on June 29, 2023

Originally Published June 2015 Transitions are hard. As the wandering in the desert begins to draw to a close, Bnei Yisrael encounter many changes and anticipate many more. Their leaders begin to die: Miriam and Aharon this week and Moshe a few months later.…

How to Live a Long Life

by Rabbi Daniel Epstein
Posted on June 29, 2023

Do you want time to go fast or slow? Time flies when you are having fun. Dunbar in Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 decides he wants his life to be as boring as possible so that he will live a very long time.…

Truth AND Peace

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on June 22, 2023

Originally published June 2015 Korach is not just about rebels; it also portrays different models of leadership. Both Moshe and Aharon are attacked. The latter remains markedly silent during the confrontation while Moshe defends both his position and his brother’s. Aharon’s response comes later and in a different form.…

Donkey Stories

by Rabbi Daniel Epstein
Posted on June 22, 2023

A boy was daydreaming during class one day and started wondering. If I am riding on a beam of light and turn on a flashlight will it go past me? What an interesting question. Some might scoff and think it was a worthless inquiry, but not this boy.…

You Gotta Have Faith, Faith, Faith

by Rabbi Daniel Epstein
Posted on June 15, 2023

“I am not afraid, for God is with me. I was born to do this”— Joan of Arc Joan of Arc uttered these immortal words as she was setting out on her journey to battle the English army. This was a woman with bitachon, with faith. …

A Leadership of Faith, Not Fear

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on June 15, 2023

Originally published June 2015 Shlach is as much a story of leaders as people. It is a story of leaders both poor and good. Ten of the twelve spies, poor leaders, saw challenges that confronted them in Canaan and ran: “We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we” (Bamidbar, 13:31).…

Leadership, Humility and Respect

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on June 8, 2023

Originally published June 1998 In Behaalotecha, the Torah begins its narrative of the travels of the Israelites through the wilderness of Sinai. The stories of the Israelites’ sojourns, their sins and their quarrels, give us insight into the character of the people and especially their leaders.…

Don’t Curse the Darkness, Create Light

by Rabbi Daniel Epstein
Posted on June 8, 2023

The purely righteous do not complain of the dark, they increase the light; they do not complain of evil, they increase the good; they do not complain of heresy, but increase faith; they do not complain of ignorance, they increase wisdom.”…

The March of Flags

by Rabbi Josh Pernick
Posted on May 18, 2023

There’s something remarkable about flags. A simple wooden pole, with a designed fabric attached, can immediately inspire within us intense feelings of camaraderie or revulsion. Friend or foe is often decided based on what is depicted in that design. While flags carry such strong associative connections for us today, their connective capabilities were clear even in the times of our ancestors in the wilderness.…

Chuppah and Har Sinai

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on May 18, 2023

Republished from August 2009 When we move from sefer Vayikra to sefer Bamidbar, we are finally moving away from Har Sinai, where Bnei Yisrael have been for almost a year. From the middle of Shemot through the end of Vayikra, they have been encamped at the foot of Har Sinai, having received the Torah, mitzvot and laws, and then all the laws of the Kohanim, through Kedoshim and Behar Bechukotai.…