How much of Israel’s success comes from our own courage and effort, and how much comes from God? Parashat Eikev teaches that faith does not replace action—God gives us the strength, but it is up to us to use it.
On Tisha B'Av, Ari Fuld challenges us to look beyond mourning the tragedies of the past and recognize the extraordinary moment in Jewish history in which we are living. The question is no longer only what God will do for us, but whether we have the clarity and courage to take the next step toward redemption.
Those of us living in Israel are constantly asking ourselves: How do we succeed here? How do we gain the world’s respect? How do we achieve peace? How do we stop the killing of Jews and others in this country?
This week’s parsha gives us the answers.
When is unity a source of strength, and when can it become destructive? Why must Yehoshua be strong and courageous if God has already promised to fight for him—and how can human strength and faith in God work together?
Why does Moshe accuse the two and a half tribes of repeating the spies' mistake, when their request to settle east of the Jordan seems like the opposite of the spies refusing to enter the land at all? How are we supposed to deal with terrorism? Who were the first IDF officers?
What is the lesson of Pinchas? What did he actually do — and why was he given the brit shalom, the covenant of peace, for an act of killing? And what does that teach us about the definition of peace today, when we give away the Temple Mount, sign treaties with terrorists, and call it moral?
Why is this Parsha named after an antisemite? Why did God have a donkey talk to Bilaam? Am K'Lavi Yakum... why did Bilaam switch from a lioness to a lion?
When it comes to following God's laws, is it really about me — about my own understanding? And if morality is just "the way I was brought up," what is it actually based on? Why does the red heifer's law make one person pure and another impure? What is God really teaching us through a law we're not meant to understand?
