Daily Aliya for Chukat, Chamishi (5th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: The Jews arrive at Mount Hor. At G‑d's command, Moshe, Aaron and Aaron's son, Elazar, go up the mountain. Aaron removes his high priest's vestments and Elazar dons them. Aaron then passes away. The entire nation mourns Aaron's death for thirty days. The Amalekites, disguised as Canaanites, attack the Jews. The Jews pray to G‑d and are victorious in battle. The Jews complain about their food, claiming that they are "disgusted" by the manna. G‑d dispatches serpents into the Israelite encampment, and many Jews die. Moshe prays to G‑d on the Jews' behalf. Following G‑d's instructions, Moshe fashions a copper serpent and places it atop a pole. The bitten Jews would look at this snake and be healed.

And why did they Amalekites disguise themselves as Canaanites? The Midrash explains that they figured that the Jews would pray to G-d to help them defeat these enemy Canaanites, and because they weren't really Canaanites, their prayers wouldn't work. Their mistake was that they only disguised their language, not their clothes, so when the Jews saw them, they weren't sure who they were, and simply asked for help in defeating this enemy (general request), and that worked. This definitely puts prayer in a different perspective, a perspective we could probably use more of these days.

Daily Aliya for Chukat, Revii (4th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: Moshe sends messengers to the King of Edom requesting permission to pass through his land (which is south of Canaan) on the way to the Promised Land. Despite Moshe's promises not to cause any harm to the land whilst passing, Edom refuses the Jews passage. The Jews are therefore forced to circumvent the land of Edom, and approach Canaan from the east.

Not only did we ask permission to cross their land, but we offered to pay for whatever we eat or drink (good for the local economy), avoid any fields where our animals might graze, and yet Edom still refused. Not only did they refuse, but they came at us with their entire force, just to make sure we adhere to their orders. Their actions hardly seem logical, unless you consider that they were still bitter over the affairs that happened many years prior, when Esav was "cheated" out of his blessing, and the Jews got it instead. Rather than focusing on the fact that we were cousins, they chose to be guided by their hate, much to their own detriment.

Daily Aliya for Chukat, Shlishi (3rd Aliya)

Aliya Summary: G‑d tells Moshe and Aaron to take a staff and gather the people in front of a certain rock. They should speak to the rock, and it will give forth water. Moshe and Aaron gather everybody, and Moshe strikes the rock and it gives forth water. In the course of this episode they committed a grave error, the conventional explanation being that they struck the rock instead of speaking to it. This caused G‑d to punish Moshe and Aaron, barring them from leading the Jews into Israel.

This is probably the sin that contributed the most to what happened to the Jews. The Egyptian astrologers saw that Moshe will be punished because of something to do with water (this event, where he hit the rock instead of speaking to it), and that's why they decided to throw all Jewish babies into the water, and that's how Moshe was saved, etc. There is so much to learn from what Moshe did wrong, why the punishment fit the crime - this Aliya is dripping with lessons (pun intended).

Daily Aliya for Chukat, Sheni (2nd Aliya)

Aliya Summary: The previously discussed purification process is continued, along with an admonition that the impure individual not enter the Tabernacle or Temple until the purification process is completed. Miriam dies in the fortieth year of the Israelites' sojourn in the desert. With Miriam's death, the waters which flowed from the miraculous "Well of Miriam" dried up. The people complain bitterly about the lack of water.

When Aaron dies the Torah says that he died with a kiss from G-d (as opposed to an angel sent by G-d, and as opposed to a painful death), but when Miriam dies it does not say that. Rashi (and the Medrash) explain that they both died the same exact way, but it wasn't appropriate to describe it that way for a woman. How incredibly sensitive!

Daily Aliya for Chukat, Rishon (1st Aliya)

General Overview: This week's Torah Parsha, Chukat, begins with a discussion regarding the laws of the red heifer. Miriam and Aaron die. When the Jews are in need of water, Moshe strikes a rock – despite being commanded to talk to it. Waters stream forth, but Moshe is banned from entering Israel. Amalek battles the Israelites and is defeated. Edom and Moav refuse the Israelites passageway to Israel. The Israelites battle Sichon and Og, and are victorious.

The most severe of all ritual impurities is tum'at met, the impurity contracted through contact with a human corpse. This Aliya details the purification process for an individual or object which has contracted this form of impurity. A red heifer is slaughtered and is burned together with a few added ingredients. Water from a stream is added to the ashes. On the third and seventh day after contracting tum'at met, this mixture is sprinkled upon the individual or object. After immersion in a mikvah (ritual pool), the person or object is freed of this impurity.

Daily Aliya for Korach, Shvii (7th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: The Levites, too, will not receive a share of the land of Israel. Instead they are entitled to a tenth of all the Israelites' crops--this in return for the Tabernacle and Temple services which they render. Upon receiving this tithe, the Levites must, in turn, separate a tenth of this tithe and give it to the priests.

So the Levites get 10% of everyone's crops, and they must give 10% of that to the priests. This underscores the importance of giving, regardless of how or how much you have. As Rav Dessler explains, giving is what makes us love others, not receiving. The more you "invest" in those around you by giving them love, food, money, attention or respect, the more you grow to appreciate and love them, and the phenomenon grows exponentially from there. But it all starts by giving (this is where I should link you do the Donate page for Lelamed.com, but I won't).

Daily Aliya for Korach, Shishi (6th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: G‑d commands Moshe to return "Aaron's staff" to the Holy of Holies, where it is to remain for perpetuity. The Jews express to Moshe their fear of mistakenly entering a restricted area of the Tabernacle, and dying as a result. In response, G‑d commands the priests and the Levites to carefully guard the Tabernacle, to prevent unauthorized entry by non-priests. The Torah then lists the various gifts to which the priests were entitled. These include the privilege of eating certain sacrifices, as well as select portions of other sacrifices; receiving the five shekels for the redemption of Israelite firstborn sons; a portion of all grain, oil, and wine crops; the "first fruit"; and more. Aaron is informed that his descendents will not receive a portion in the land of Israel--instead, G‑d is their inheritance and portion.

The staff is meant to dissuade those rebellious ones from complaining, but the Passuk says that "their complaints will stop" (utechal telunotam), "complaints" being plural, but "stop" being singular. Why the discrepancy? Is it one complaint that this staff will deter, or many? Rashi analyzes the grammar and determines that the word used to mean "complaints" is actually a collective singular noun, so it makes sense that "stop" is singular. Nonetheless, logic would dictate that this staff should deter more than just one complaint. It could be, however, that complaints all come from the same lack of faith, and rather than focusing on the symptoms, the Torah focuses on the disease. How a staff can help deter someone from complaining is a discussion for another time (maybe next year's Aliya?).