Starting this Shabbat we read the Three Haftarot of Calamity that foretell the destruction of Jerusalem. This week we read: Thus said the LORD: I recalled for you the kindness of your youth, your bridal love, your coming after Me in the wilderness, in an unsown land. Who showed kindness to whom? God is reminding

God opened the donkey's mouth, and said to Balaam...Balaam's donkey speaks little of consequence, so why does God open its mouth? Because Balaam wished to curse, he must learn that speech is a gift from God. When God opens the donkey's mouth Balaam should take heed, explains Arnold Ehrlich, that if the mouth of a

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the staff and assemble the community...and you shall speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water." Why did Moses need to take the staff if he was to speak to the rock? Rav Hirsch quotes what he heard from his illustrious teacher and

When Korah and his two hundred-and-fifty followers challenged Moshe, it knocked him over: And Moses heard and fell on his face. Rashi explains it was one incident too many. This was the fourth challenge that Moshe faced: the golden calf, the complainers (mitonenim), the spies, and now Korah and band of dissenters. R. Haggai Preschel