Chukat, חֻקַּת

Chukat, חֻקַּת
Statute
19:1-22:1

ESSAY: On Moshe’s Mistake and Being People of Growth (Parashat Chukat-Balak)

Moshe may have given up on us, but God never does. God knows that we are in our essence people of growth. (Click image to read more)

ESSAY: On Moshe’s Mistake and Being People of Growth (Parashat Chukat-Balak) Read More »

MEDITATION: On Moshe’s Mistake and Being People of Growth (Parashat Chukat-Balak)

In the incident of the rock, Moshe says to the people, before he hits the rock, Shimu na hamorim, “listen up, you rebels” (Numbers 20:10). In this meditation, we explore the ways that such harsh words and negative assessments, both internal and external, hurt us, and we consider the possibility of substituting for such harshness

MEDITATION: On Moshe’s Mistake and Being People of Growth (Parashat Chukat-Balak) Read More »

QUICK THOUGHT: How To Pray — The Snake Story (Parashat Chukat)

Here is how you pray: you have to take whatever is bothering you — the snake of the matter — and put it up on a pole and turn your heart towards heaven with reference to this specific thing, turn this specific thing over to God. (Click image to read more)

QUICK THOUGHT: How To Pray — The Snake Story (Parashat Chukat) Read More »

QUICK THOUGHT: Not Forcing (Parashat Chukat)

I feel drawn once again to the idea of not forcing, to the power and the effectiveness and the fundamental truth of not forcing. To hit the rock as Moshe did, not once, but twice (Numbers 20:11), in order to obtain water, is to use force, aggression, to assert one’s will, to coerce the rock

QUICK THOUGHT: Not Forcing (Parashat Chukat) Read More »

MEDITATION: How to Pray — The Snake Story (Parashat Chukat)

In this meditation, we look at the story of the snake bites and Moshe’s placement of a snake on a pole for the people to look at in order to be healed. We explore what this story teaches us about how to pray for physical and emotional healing — the need to see very clearly

MEDITATION: How to Pray — The Snake Story (Parashat Chukat) Read More »

SHORT ESSAY: Going with the Flow (Parashat Chukat)

Venatan meimav.  The rock will give its waters.   This is how God instructs Moshe to get water for the thirsty people, how He wants things to work in His world: The rock will give its waters. You just have to ask for them, to speak gently to the rock, and the rock will unlock

SHORT ESSAY: Going with the Flow (Parashat Chukat) Read More »

Guest Blog by Medad Lytton: Parshat Chukat-Balak

Before I begin, I would like to thank my mother for graciously allowing me to write a guest blog on her blog this week and for her Torah which constantly inspires me. I would also like to to thank all my teachers at Yeshivat Maale Gilboa where I studied this year. Particularly, I am grateful

Guest Blog by Medad Lytton: Parshat Chukat-Balak Read More »