Balak, Numbers 22:2-25:9 Our portion is named after Balak, king of Moab, who sought to put a curse upon the Children of Israel in the hope of frustrating their forward march to the Promised Land. Yet the central character in this portion’s extraordinary narrative is undoubtedly Bilaam – considered...

Nearly twenty-four hundred years ago the prophet Zephaniah foresaw that in the end of days God will “turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of God, to serve Him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9). Can we today see any signs of a pathway of devotion that has...

What’s in a name?   Everyone talks about God, but when we use that word, are we all talking about the same thing?   The Noahides aspire to unite all humanity in acceptance of the Seven Universal Laws, of which the first – not to commit blasphemy – includes acknowledging the presence of God,...

Truth and the need to win   “A person who always wants to win the argument is very intolerant of truth. The truth may be staring him in the face, but because he is determined to win at all costs, he ignores it completely. If you want to find the real truth, you must rid yourself of the urge to...

Rabbi Nachman’s lesson about the “good points” was the first piece I ever learned from his master work, Likutey Moharan. This was over thirty years ago in the summer 1977, when I was just embarking on my Torah pathway – a 27 year-old secular intellectual working as a BBC radio commentator...