The Sedra Chukat 5780

This week’s Sedra, Parshat Chukat, is incredibly meaningful to me, especially as I look out from my study at the very mountains where these ancient battles were fought. We read of the wars against Sichon and Og, the King of Bashan. Interestingly, Moshe Rabbeinu felt a unique fear before engaging Og. Rashi explains that Moshe was concerned about the merit Og might have acquired centuries earlier when he informed Avraham that Lot had been captured. While his intentions were far from noble, he still performed a service for our forefather. God reassured Moshe that this merit would not protect a man who sought our destruction. In a masterful stroke of Divine justice, Og was forced to live for hundreds of years, watching Avraham’s descendants thrive before finally falling at their hands. Today, as we see the Jewish people succeeding in our land, that same message of endurance resonates. Shabbat Shalom.