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25 chapters · by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

Light from the Future: Parshas Matos-Masei

Published by the Jewish Discovery Center. Every chapter is free to read below.

  1. Matos-Masei – A Journey Without an End When the Torah lists the 42 journeys from Egypt, they are all characterized as journeys from Mitzraim. Each and every journey that took then further…
  2. Matos-Masei – Aaron’s Passing Ahavas Chinam is loving someone not because they are endowed with great spiritual, intellectual or physical talents. This love is not even engendered…
  3. Matos-Masei – An Arm or a Leg We have two choices how to cope with the harsh nature of the earth that will determine the outcome of our struggle: The poorer choice is to wait until…
  4. Matos-Masei – Annul Your Vows When we realize that our true desire is to be close to G-d by observing His commandments, we free ourselves from the compulsion to compromise. The…
  5. Matos-Masei – Be There! No Jew can rest until all of his or her brothers in sisters anywhere in the world, particularly in Israel, are at peace. Moreover, we should realize…
  6. Matos-Masei – Be Vindicated! In the present pre-Final Redemption era the virtues and flaws that are deeply embedded in our soul are surfacing. Some people whom we thought of as…
  7. Matos-Masei – Cities of Sensitivity Collectively, the Jewish people have been subjected to the paradoxical phenomenon of being hounded by the other nations who threaten to exterminate…
  8. Matos-Masei – How Sacred Is Your Word? When a person feels incapable of dealing with temptation the Torah provided a vow. The vow is not just a psychological boost to buttress one’s inner…
  9. Matos-Masei – Innocent When Proven Guilty Every Jew possesses some measure of good. There are differences, as to the degree to which this good is covered up and concealed. When the judges find…
  10. Matos-Masei – Journeys There are many challenges along the way in our journeys. The first rule is that we must know our destination. Reaching the destination, the Messianic…
  11. Matos-Masei – Long Live the King Rabbi Mendel of Kotzk: The nation Moab was needed to give the Jewish people the concept of kingship. The entire concept of people empowered to…
  12. Matos-Masei – Murder! The Cities of Refuge afforded the person who had displayed callous disregard for another human life — when his or her negligence caused the untimely…
  13. Matos-Masei – Paradox of Judaism: Rigidity and Flexibility When it comes to exercising leadership, one must have rigid standards. One cannot bend because the people are asking for changes. One cannot follow…
  14. Matos-Masei – Peaceful Zealotry, or a Zealous Peace? A time will come when Pinchas will shed his zealous— albeit, for the sake of peace—veneer, and assume the role of the peacemaker Elijah, and will…
  15. Matos-Masei – Perpetual War Even when we resoundingly defeat our internal enemy, we must be poised to fight yet another battle with evil. The battle against one’s internal evil…
  16. Matos-Masei – Provisions for the Journey In our generation it is the Lubavitcher Rebbe who has led and continues to lead the Jewish people in the effort to hasten the Redemption. This, we can…
  17. Matos-Masei – Purged by Fire and Water Life is a constant struggle. We are always fighting a war against one obstacle or another. In the process of fighting against our enemy we may…
  18. Matos-Masei – Purging Our Utensils Moses’ devotion to his people was so great that he was willing to sacrifice his own spiritual standing, by virtue of his anger, to teach them…
  19. Matos-Masei – Synchronization While we are standing on the threshold of the Final Redemption we are not yet living in a perfect world. Frequently the spiritual and physical realms…
  20. Matos-Masei – The Four Exiles The designation of the Jewish people as Israel was based on their transcendence of nature. The name Israel was given to the Patriarch Jacob because he…
  21. Matos-Masei – The Great Equalizer The daughters of Tzelaphechad were intellectually different but on the level of piety they were the same. That sameness transcended their differences.
  22. Matos-Masei – The Smell of Justice As we approach the final journey into the Messianic Age, we must orient ourselves towards a greater understanding of the needs of others. We should be…
  23. Matos-Masei – The Wandering Jew The soul cannot be content with intermittent spurts of energy. The soul, however, wants truth and consistency and will stop at nothing until it has…
  24. Matos-Masei – Turning Shadows Into Light Life is a vacuous cycle that gets us nowhere unless we connect it with a Mitzvah G-d’s will. G-d does not exist for something else, so too a Mitzvah,…
  25. Matos-Masei – Vows and Tongs in the Twilight Zone During the twilight period which bridges the gap between the weekdays and Shabbos, G-d empowers us to make the transition from the “repair the world”…

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