Matot-Massai excerpts

מטות-מסעי

Shabbat Shalom

Sometimes you have to fight. Defend what is right. But we stop. We show pity and we are stuck with a chazan/cantor that can't hit a note. We show care, because he has a family. But yet, we disregard the needs of the congregation and Gd...Pity is the reason why we haven't had a Bar Mitzvah boy that could read the Torah normally. I think I threw candy at the Bar Mitzvah boy last week because he sucked...

31:14-16

Moshe gets mad at the soldiers for not killing the women. 

Moshe is shocked, 'You didn't kill the women?!!!' Moshe expected them to kill the women, as if it was the usual thing to do. As if they should have known to kill the women. As in every war, you kill women....It is the women of Midian who caused the Israelites to sin. That is the reason.

Rashi comments, as he usually does- 'Moshe got mad at the leaders'- why?... The sinning of a generation is dependent on leaders who had the ability to rebuke.

When you have a chance to tell people why they are messed up, do it...You can see many rabbis in Israel who live up to this... And I am going to rebuke you right now. You deserve to hear how annoying of a congregation you are....

Know who you are fighting. Know what you are fighting for. Right now, we are fighting for a normal service, where we don't have to listen to a chazan.... (this is the perfect time for you as a rabbi to rebuke the congregation for talking, for how they waste their money when they shop, how they don't pay dues, to let them know about all their sins and how they are going to gehenom/hell)

As is seen in any home, it is the women who cause the problems. Women should not get special treatment. Women should be treated like men...And that is why women should shave...

Do not show pity. The women cause us to sin every day. Nagging....That is why your son did such a poor Torah reading last week. You let him get lessons from this chazan over here, who can't read himself....Have you ever agreed with the teachers who told you why Chaim is dumb?...