Once on the New Moon of Elul [the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah], the zaddik Rabbi Levi Isaac of Berditchev was standing at his window. A Gentile cobbler passed by and asked him, "And have you nothing to mend?"

At once the zaddik sat himself down on the ground and weeping bitterly cried, "Woe is me, and alas my soul, for the Day of Judgment is almost here, and I have still not mended myself!"

I recently visited a rabbinic colleague who is battling cancer. We had been praying for several months for healing from blood clots, swelling of the extremities, gout, and other conditions that had left him totally immobilized before a chance visit to the emergency room, where an observant physician realized that the real problem was cancer, now in Stage 4. As we visited my friend said, with a touch of sad humor, "For months they were just treating symptoms—the gout, blood clots, swelling of the extremities, they were all caused by the cancer, which they weren't treating at all."

by Kirk Gliebe, Devar Emet Messianic Synagogue, Skokie, IL

Torah: Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17 
HafTorah: Isaiah 54:11-55:5 
Brit Chadasha: John 9:24-41

A recent study involving first-year undergraduate students in the United Kingdom found that 50% of British whites and 53.4% of British Asians were myopic.¹ Myopia, also called short-sightedness, is a common eye condition in which people can see nearby objects clearly, but distant objects appear blurred. Corrective lenses or surgery are needed in order for people to see distant objects clearly. Many of us struggle with the difficulty of physical myopia, but I wonder how many of us honestly admit to our struggle with spiritual myopia, spiritual short-sightedness? From time to time in our Messianic Jewish walk we find ourselves losing our ability to focus on the big picture. The distractions of olam hazeh, this world, leave us spiritually blurry eyed, incapable of picking out the important spiritual details that God desires for us to see so that we might live out our role as his Holy People. What is the solution for this? We must train ourselves to see our world through God's eyes and not our own.

by Rabbi Russ Resnik

Now when Pinchas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. Numbers 25:7-8

The zeal of Pinchas is a troubling thing, especially in the post 9/11 world. We're suspicious of religious zeal, but in this story, God rewards it: "I grant him My covenant of peace. It shall be for him and his descendants after him a covenant of priesthood for all time, because he was zealous for his God, thus making atonement for the Israelites" (Num. 25:12-13).

One of the many exciting stories in the Bible tells of Balaam, the son of Beor, and Balak, son of Zippur, King of Moab (Num. 22:4-10).  But what does it tell us?  What can we learn from it and how can we apply it today?

Balak feared the children of Israel (Num. 22:3). The Israelites who were being led by God to destroy all residents of the Promised Land had easily destroyed the Amorites, causing fear for Balak.  Scripture does not say how many Moabites there were, but does say there were about two million Israelites, outnumbering the Moabites who had no chance of defeating God's chosen.

by Julia Blum

The story of the Bronze Snake is one of the most graphic and expressive stories in the Tanach. Even when viewed against the vibrant background of the whole Word of God, this amazing story still stands out. Let's allow the Lord to speak to our hearts today through these verses.

by Rabbi Russ Resnik

Numbers 16:1-18:32

Blame-shifting. It's a time-tested method of avoiding responsibility and foisting your shortcomings onto someone else. We've seen a good deal of it in the news lately. In the tragic Gaza flotilla incident, Hamas and its sympathizers blame Israel for the blockade, but never discuss why Israel might be a bit paranoid about weapons being smuggled into Gaza in the first place. In the horrific oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP blames its subcontractors for the technical breakdown, the administration blames BP, and the American consumer, who wants as much cheap gas as possible, blames the administration and BP.