Jewish people throughout history have maintained legendary faith in G-d, no matter how worrisome the future may look. But how? How do we allay fears about the future when we truly don’t know what will be? It’s all about trusting in G-d and relying on His master plan.

It’s the most hotly contested piece of real estate within the most hotly contested land in the world. What’s so special about Jerusalem that evokes so much passion? Walk its cobblestone streets and you will feel that it is the nexus of Heaven and earth.

Modern life is a dizzying abundance of “splintering.” Every day brings so many different places to be, roles to fill, and projects to carry out. World events regularly turn things upside down. How do we maintain our sanity and peace through it all? By centering everything around one thing: serving G-d—in whichever capacity He wishes.

A Talmudic story of a sage laughing at the scene of tremendous destruction teaches us profound truths about the destruction in our lives: it’s not just getting better “some day”; the destruction is the very feature that’s making it better right now.

A remake is always hard. How do you maintain the original authentic theme and flavor while injecting new and relevant language? Two drastically different historic attempts at translating the Torah teach us how to ace this tough task: with creativity and an abundance of caution.

We all go through difficult, dark times—sometimes excruciatingly so. Judaism has long held the view that like the Jews’ original odyssey through the desert, no stop on this journey of life is so dark as to be meaningless. In fact, the more difficult it is, the greater the growth thereafter.

“You got burned trying to go the cheaper route? I told you it wasn’t a good idea!” said every parent to their child. But that’s life: to really appreciate something, we sometimes have to learn it the hard way And so it is with our relationship with G-d: it cannot only be taught; it must be learned and earned.  

Shoving trauma under the rug is never a good idea, but dwelling on it and letting it dictate your life isn’t either. An entire parshah named after a famous villain shows us how to strike a healthy balance between fleeing and facing a traumatic past.

Jewish history and lore is replete with sages and saints, and with matriarchs and patriarchs. But let’s face it: most of us are never going to be any of the above. Where’s our place in Judaism? The quelling of Korach’s revolt surprisingly tells us that it’s actually front and center.

If to think is to question, to discover, and reject when necessary, to accept and obey means to not think. So how do we approach religion: accept without thinking, or question and challenge? The story of the spies provides the answer: both.