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Rabbi Chaim Coffman
Rabbi Coffman has helped people from all across the spectrum to prepare themselves properly for Orthodox Conversion to Judaism. His students admire his vast knowledge and appreciate his warm, personal attention and endearing sense of humor.
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Welcome to Rabbi Chaim Coffman's Blog!

I would like to thank you for visiting my blog, Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism.

The conversion process can be a lengthy and daunting one to say the least and I want you to know that I am here to help you through it.

I have been teaching newcomers to Judaism for over a decade and over the last few years I have seen that conversion candidates really lack the support and knowledge they need to navigate the conversion process and successfully integrate into the Orthodox Jewish community.

I created my mentorship program in order to help make this whole experience as smooth and as painless as possible! (Can't do much about the growing pains, though ;)

Feel free to get to know me a little through the posts on my blog and visit the mentorship and syllabus page if you are interested in possible joining us.

I sincerely wish you all the best in your search for truth and spiritual growth.

Looking forward to meeting you,
Chaim Coffman

My Rebbe, Rav Moshe Sternbuch

In case you were wondering why I have all of these articles written by Rav Moshe Sternbuch, he is my Rebbe, and one of the gedolei hador (greatest Rabbis of our generation).

Rav Sternbuch fully endorses me and supports my mentorship program.

He is the address for all of my halachic or hashkafic (practical and philosophical) questions that I or my students may have.

The articles are based on his weekly talks on the Torah portion that the Rav gives in Jerusalem in his kollel. As a member of the kollel I get first dibbs on the photocopies and I type them up for my blog so you can all benefit from the Rav's erudition and insight.
Thursday, June 18, 2015

Parshas Korach: Dont be Jealous of Others

"And they shall keep the charge and the charge of all the tent..." (Numbers 18:3)

After Korach and the men that sided with him have been destroyed, the Torah tells us that Aharon and his sons will be in charge of the mishkan (tabernacle) later to be the beis hamikdash (Temple). We see from here that G-d has made clear His choice of who will be in charge of His house and who will serve in it.

The reason this is made so clear is that no one will make the mistake and think that they were given favortism from Moshe that they reached this position but rather from G-d Himself. The Torah warns us not to be like Korach and his group and think that Moshe and Aharon were acting on their own and taking power for themselves.

The Torah makes clear that nothing that Moshe and Aharon did was for themselves but rather directed from G-d above. The Rambam in the 13 principles of faith makes this clear that Moshe could not have acted on his own but his authority as law giver and prophet were stamped by G-d Himself! Therefore, anyone who goes against what Moshe wrote or wants to change it or even if they claim to have prophecy and can change the Torah, we label that person as a false prophet!

In essence, you go against Moshe, you are denying G-d! This is the fundamental principle that Korach failed to understand. He understood that Moshe was the law giver and G-d's trusted servant but he felt that he went too far by handing over the priesthood to Aharon when he felt he deserved it. He was angry and wanted what was rightfully his! Can we blame him?

Yes because if he internalized the message from living in Egypt and subsequently going into the desert, he would not have made such a mistake! His ego and desire for honor destroyed him and the people around him. Moshe had gone too far and Korach rallied the troops to defy him.

He paid a serious price but the Torah makes clear that he was wrong, proving once again that G-d runs the world and that nothing done on the behalf of the Jewish people was done for their sake but rather by direct command from G-d. It boggles the mind that after seeing all the miracles in Egypt and in the desert that Korach could think that Moshe was acting on his own!

The truth is that even if we were to witness miracles and we heard about many of them that occurred the previous summer during the war between Israel and Hamas. The question is did it change any of us or did we think about it for a little bit and interalized the message that changed us?

The more G-d does for us in a revealed way the more responsibility we have to act on this and change! If we see things and it doesn''t effect us, G-d will take us to task for wasting the opportunity in seeing His presence and giving thanks for that.

The whole parsha of Korach is difficult to understand. We see how far a person's desire for power and prestige can literally kill a person. May we continue to work on ourselves being satisfied with what we have and never desiring things that won't be good for us.

Shabbat Shalom!



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