Rabbi Claude's Scribbles

Numbers 25:14 : The name of the slain Israelite man, the one who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, leader of the ancestral House of Shimon and the name of the Midiantish slain woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur ( who was one of the five kings of Midian). The final portion of last week's Parasha described the catastrophic events initiated by the evil prophet Bilaam, when he saw that he was unable to curse the people as per Balak's requests.   If you recall, he sent harlots into the camp of the Bnei Yisrael who caused the men to commit idol worship (and all the immorality that this entailed).   Pinchas, the grandson of Aharon, saw an Israelite and a Midianite having relations and killed them, which stopped the plague that had taken the lives of 24,000 people.   This week's Parasha provides more details as to whom this licentious couple were. We have come across Zimri previously in Sefer Bamidbar.   The Gemara in Sanhedrin (82b) identifies

  3rd July Three people were shot dead in a shopping mall in Copenhagen, Denmark. 4th July Seven people were shot dead in Highland Park, Chicago.   A two-year-old became an orphan as a result. 8th July Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese Prime Minister was assassinated in Nara, Japan. In the United States alone, there have been over 300 mass shootings since the start of 2022.   A mass shooting is where at least four or more people are killed or injured in a single attack. Three hundred attacks in six-and-a-half-months and that is just in the USA. There is an old saying that, “Guns don't kill people.   People kill people.” On the face of it, this seems like a trite comment that is particularly favoured by those Americans who hold the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) so dear to their hearts.   The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such

  Pirkei Avot 5:17 Any dispute for the sake of Heaven, will have enduring value, but any dispute not for the sake of Heaven, will not have enduring value.   Which is an example of a dispute for the sake of Heaven?   The dispute between Hillel and Shammai.   What is an example of one not for the sake of Heaven?   The dispute of Korach and all his company. Who was Korach?   To appreciate his grievance and that of his followers, we need to understand the various family structures that brought about this situation. Levi, the son of Yaakov had three sons, Gershon, Kehat and Merari along with a daughter, Yocheved (who was also Moshe's mother).   Kehat had four sons which included Amram (Moshe's father and therefore Yocheved’s first cousin) and Yizhar who was Korach's father.   Korach was therefore a first-born son. Who were Korach's followers?   Two-hundred and fifty men, mostly from the tribe of Reuven, Yaakov's firstborn son.   They were led by Datan and Avi