A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

In this week’s parasha , we read about the reward of Pinchas for his heroic act which stopped a plague and brought peace between the Jewish People and Hashem. Normally, an act of killing would make a person lose his privileges as a Kohen, but in this case it was just the opposite. It elevated Pinchas to become a Kohen, because his intentions were s…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Parashat Pinhas begins with Hashem’s announcement of the rewards that He would be giving to Pinhas, the grandson of Aharon. The background to the story is the sin of Ba’al Pe’or , when Beneh Yisrael became involved with the women of the nation of Moav, and also worshipped the god of Moav. Hashem punished the people by bringing a plague which killed…

Improving in any area of Torah and mitzvot is always beneficial. Sometimes people accept upon themselves to do something they weren't doing yet as a hakarat hatov , to thank Hashem for a blessing that He gave them. Sometimes it's because they have a great need and are hoping that in the zechut of what they accept, they will get what they need. Rega…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Our ability to remember or forget is b'yad Hashem. Like always, we're supposed to do our utmost to try and remember things. But we will only remember if Hashem says we should remember. I read a story that an avrech once told, which took place in his wife's classroom. She taught in one of the Netivot Moshe kiruv schools. She told her students one da…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Someone related that his daughter was having a hard time with shidduchim because of a scar that she has on her face. The man attributed that scar to the fact that she got a deep cut on an American holiday weekend when no good doctors were available to give her the stitches in a way that wouldn't leave a scar. We empathize with him and hope his daug…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

There was once a man who was in extreme debt, and he heard that in another country there was a major philanthropist. Anyone who came to him for help would get everything they needed. The problem was it was extremely difficult to get a meeting with him. Unless you had connections, it was nearly impossible. This man was determined to get a meeting. S…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

In this week's parasha , Balak tried every which way to get Bilaam to curse the Jewish people. But as Bilaam repeatedly told him, “Whatever Hashem wants is going to happen and nobody could do otherwise.” People make all different kinds of efforts to accomplish many different things. We must always keep in mind that only what Hashem wants is going t…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

There are times when we make requests from others, but they deny those requests. We may feel that it would have been so easy for them to do what we were asking, and therefore we become insulted that we were denied. Other times we try to get in touch with people by calling them or emailing them and they don't respond and, once again, we get insulted…

The Hovot Ha’levavot writes that when a person goes out to work in the morning, he should have kavanah (the intention) that he is now performing a mitzvah , fulfilling Hashem’s command that he work to earn a livelihood. A person shouldn’t go to work begrudgingly, wishing he could just stay home and do nothing. Rather, he should think to himself tha…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

The Gemara in Masechet Berachot daf 20 says the earlier generations merited to have miracles done for them because of the great self-sacrifice which they put forth in their service to Hashem. The harder it is to do something, the more valuable it becomes. It says in Tehillim perek 44 כי עליך הורגנו כל היום - which Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid interpreted…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Financial problems can be very difficult to deal with. A person may have tried so many ways to make more money, but nothing has worked. To make matters worse, he finds himself in enormous debt and doesn't see any way of getting out of it. He still needs money to cover his current expenses, but there's nowhere left to turn for help. He has prayed. H…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Our job in this world is to become the best ovdei Hashem we can possibly be. In order to achieve that, our motive has to be concern for Hashem's will, not our will. Sometimes we may be fighting for something spiritual with the mindset that we're doing it for Hashem. But deep down, we're really interested in ourselves. I heard a beautiful idea from …

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Towards the end of this week's parasha, Chukat , there was a tragic incident in which the Jewish People spoke negatively against Hashem and against Moshe. Hashem sent fiery serpents to bite them and a large multitude of the people died. The remainder made teshuva and asked Moshe to pray to Hashem to stop the plague. Hashem then told Moshe to make a…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

We know Hashem is involved in every moment of our lives, but when we see it clearly it gives us a lot of chizuk . Life has its challenges, but when we feel Hashem is with us, then we know we can handle all of them. A man told me, he had an eye surgery scheduled and as the date was coming closer, he was naturally on edge. On the morning of the proce…

Parashat Hukat tells the famous story of Moshe’s hitting the rock. To briefly review – Beneh Yisrael found themselves without water in the desert, and they argued with Moshe, demanding water. Hashem commanded Moshe to assemble the people around a rock, and to speak to the rock, whereupon it would miraculously produce water. Moshe gathered the peopl…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

On our quest to acquire perfect emunah and think correctly, we want to purify our minds with the right hashkafa according to the Torah. The pasuk in parashat Ekev warns, if a person becomes well-to-do, he will forget about Hashem, saying, it is my might and strength that made me this wealth. The Saba from Kelm points out, the Torah does not say, ma…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Part of the process of growing in emunah is to train ourselves to think with pure hashkafa . Our nature is to see things the way they appear to be, but we must be able to see beyond what meets the eye. When a person is sick and goes to the doctor, usually he gets better, and if he doesn't go and neglects his sickness, he usually gets worse. It is o…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily GemaraBy Rabbi Eli J. Mansour