🇺🇸 Better Than Fireworks: Giants, Mountains & Miracles

🕗 July 4th | 7:30 AM Shacharit • Followed by Breakfast & Shiur

This Independence Day, come for breakfast—and stay for a battle that shook the heavens.

A mountain lifted, ants sent by Heaven, and the “worm of Yaakov” that crushed a giant.

Discover how Moshe Rabbeinu defeated Og with nothing but spirit, and how you can too.

Better than fireworks. Bigger than Bashan.

🎙 Obedience Beyond Understanding

Parashat Chukat | Based on Yismach Yisrael, Alexander Rebbe

There’s a profound Midrash:

“תָּבֹוא הָאֵם וּתְקַנֵּחַ צֹאָת בְּנָה” –

“Let the mother come and clean up the mess of her child.”

(Tanchuma, Chukat 8)

The child? Klal Yisrael, who sinned with the Egel HaZahav.

The mother? The Parah Adumah, the red heifer whose ashes bring purity.

But what’s the connection?

The Chet Ha’Egel wasn’t wild rebellion—it was panic wrapped in reason. Moshe was delayed. Maybe gone. They needed a leader. An intermediary. Their intentions were leshem Shamayim. But the Alexandrer Rebbe, the Yismach Yisrael, teaches:

“Sometimes the greatest mistake… is thinking we understand.”

That was their error.

They thought they were doing the right thing. They rationalized. They overreached.

So along comes the Parah Adumah—the antidote. A mitzvah that defies reason. A chok. A decree.

Even Shlomo HaMelekh, wisest of men, said:

“אָמַרְתִּי אֶחְכָּמָה – וְהִיא רְחוֹקָה מִמֶּנִּי” –

“I thought I could understand—but it is far from me.” (Kohelet 7:23)

When a Roman philosopher mocked this mitzvah, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai replied:

“The corpse doesn’t defile, and the ashes don’t purify—it’s a decree of the King.” (Tanchuma Chukat 8)

Sometimes the highest faith is not to ask “why”—but to do.

The Parah teaches us that we serve not because it makes sense,

But because He said so.

That’s the tikkun for the Egel.

That’s Torah.

That’s true avodat Hashem.

He didn’t shame people out of sin. He loved them out of it.
In this class, we climb the mountain with Aharon HaKohen — and uncover the quiet power of peace, truth, and unconditional belief in every soul.
Aharon HaKohen: The Honest Peacemaker. 

Am Yisrael arrives in Kadesh, near the end of their 40-year journey. The final stretch before entering Eretz Yisrael.

וַתָּ֤מׇת שָׁם֙ מִרְיָ֔ם וַתִּקָּבֵ֖ר שָֽׁם׃

“Miryam died there and was buried there.”

(Bemidbar 20:1)

The Torah gives no hesped, no tears, no mourning.

Just a silence.

Then:

וְלֹא־הָיָ֥ה מַ֖יִם לָעֵדָ֑ה

“There was no water for the congregation.”

(20:2)

Chazal make the connection instantly.

📖 Ta’anit 9a teaches:

Three gifts sustained Israel in the midbar — the man, the ananei ha-kavod, and the well — in the merit of Moshe, Aharon, and Miryam.

When she died, the well stopped.

But why did water flow in her merit?

Hashem doesn’t just answer Korach once.

He responds three times, with three miracles:

1. The earth opens its mouth and swallows Korach and his household.

2. Fire from Heaven consumes the 250 men who bring unauthorized incense.

3. Aharon’s staff—a dry stick—miraculously buds, blossoms, and grows almonds.

Why three?

The Maharal explains:

Each punishment addressed a different level of rebellion—

—Against order,

—Against holiness,

—And against truth itself.

The Ari z”l adds something incredible.

He writes in Sha’ar HaGilgulim that Korach is a reincarnation of Kayin.

Just as Kayin couldn’t handle being surpassed by Hevel,

Korach couldn’t handle being surpassed by Aharon.

So this time, the ground doesn’t just swallow blood.

It opens its mouth, and swallows the man himself.

Blessing in the Home: The Role of the Wife

The Gemara in Bava Metzia 59a makes a bold statement:

“A person should always be careful to honor his wife, because blessing is only found in a man’s home on account of his wife.”

This is not mere sentiment—it’s Torah truth. The Gemara cites Avraham in Egypt: “And Avram was enriched… because of her,” referring to Sarah (Bereishit 12:16). From the outset, the Torah teaches that material blessing, like spiritual strength, flows through the woman of the home.

The Zohar (I:49b) goes further: The Shechinah itself rests upon a home only when there is harmony between husband and wife. She is called akeiret habayit—not just the “homemaker” in the modern sense, but the ikar, the essence of the Jewish home. She holds the key to its spiritual DNA.

But just as she can build, she can also destroy. And this week’s parashah, Korach, provides us with both extremes.

 Last April, I was walking down the street in Tel Aviv with my granddaughter Orly Adele. She was three years old at the time. Playful. Curious. Holding my hand. 

Suddenly she stopped and pointed at a corner and said: 'Grandpa, if the siren goes off while we are walking, we can go there… or there… but not there or there.' 

Three years old — and already calculating survival options. 

Cute? Yes. But chilling. 

You see, in Israel, childhood comes wrapped in barbed wire. In bunkers. In red alerts. It’s not just ma’aseh hayom — it’s the air they breathe. 

And now, a year later, the sirens haven’t stopped. If anything, they’ve multiplied. And the missiles? They’re not coming from Gaza anymore. They’re coming from Persia. From Iran.