Parshat Korach
Parsha Overview
Korach, Datan and Aviram, and 250 leaders of Israel rebel against the authority of Moshe and Aharon. The rebellion results in their being swallowed by the earth. Many resent their death and blame Moshe.
Then,
Parsha Insights
An Iron Dome of Love
I’m speaking to you from Jerusalem. The Holy City. Everything is quiet now, but last night a rocket slammed into an apartment building in Bat Yam. Police say six people were killed in the city including two children. Seven more are missing and emergency services are searching through the rubble of destroyed buildings.
As the rescuers search through the ruins of those charred buildings, we need to search through our neshamas, our souls. Our neshamas are open now; open in sadness, but also open in hope and trust in Hashem - Who is all love and kindness. Our hearts are open to teshuva, to repentance. To fix, to improve.
On Shabbos night, at 2 in the morning, the sirens began their mournful wail, and we too rushed to our shelter for the second time that night. My three-year-old grandson, Dovid, said to his father, “Daddy, soon their batteries are going to run out from all the sirens and they will all die.”
They asked Rav Dov Landau, Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka, “What should a father say to his children? They are afraid.” Rav Landau answered, “A parent should tell them that Hashem runs the world. Tell the children that Hashem loves us and has mercy on us.”
They asked him if everything would be okay. The Rosh Yeshiva replied, “Of course. Hashem loves us and we will continue doing good things so that He will continue to love us and shower us with kindness.”
When Rav Landau was asked how we should strengthen ourselves in mitzvahs, he replied, “Do only good things, only sweet things.” They asked, “What is meant by ‘sweet things?’”
“That it should be pleasant to hear,” Rav Landau added. “Such as speaking kindly to one another.”
Everything should be sweet and not sharp like a bitter drug. Sweet. Hashem will help. The “battlefield” is not only in Iran, it’s not only in Bat Yam. It is in our hearts and is in our homes.
A kind word shoots down a missile. Letting go of resentment stops the enemy from enriching fissile material. Averting one’s eyes when necessary, causes a terrorist to avert his eyes and miss his target.
Going easy on your children, on your spouse, on the person next to you in shul, creates an Iron Dome of Love that no enemy of the Jewish People can ever even hope to pierce.