Prism of Torah

When Cutting Someone Off Is the Peaceful Thing to Do • Parshas Pinchas • Ep. 441

Why does a violent act earn the title “covenant of peace”? And why, in the Sefer Torah, is the very word Shalom in that covenant written with a broken letter — with a gap in the center? Pinchas stopped a plague that had already killed 24,000 people, and Hashem's reward wasn't subtle — it was peace itself. This week we trace that reward back through a strange detail in Maaseh Bereishis, a story about a businessman who refused to take off his kippah before closing a major deal, and a pasuk that tells us which comes first: truth or peace. The answer reframes what “keeping the peace” actually requires.

The Boxer's Father Who Beat Bilaam • Parshas Balak • Ep. 440

Why does Hashem first forbid Bilam from going with Balak's messengers, then on the second delegation tell him he may go, and why does the detail that Bilam is now being paid and honored change the answer? Rabbi Asaf Aharon Prisman builds this question on the Gaon of Vilna's precise distinction between 'imam' and 'itam' and on a game-changing concept from Rav Shimon Schwab about the spiritual DNA of the world. This week's Prism of Torah reveals that an act done with whole and pure intent carries enormous power, which is exactly why pure intent to curse was too dangerous to permit, while money and honor diluting Bilam's intent made it safe enough to allow. He turns the idea to its bright side with Rav Moshe Feinstein's story of the former boxer's father, who labored more than a year to finish a single daf of Gemara, made his siyum the night Rav Moshe came to speak, and never woke up. Listeners walk away understanding that the same pure fire that made Bilam dangerous becomes, turned toward kedusha, the power to acquire a whole world with a single daf.

Build Your Best Security Net - Chukas

Why does Rashi tell us a completely different reason for Aharon's death — that Bnei Yisrael drew close to Eisav's nation — when the pasuk itself says it was Mei Merivah? Rabbi Prisman opens the Sfas Emes to reveal how divine judgment accounts for every life touched by a person. And there's a bonus: how did Aharon's legendary peacemaking between man and wife actually work — if you knew you were at fault, how could you believe Aharon when he said the other side feels terrible and wants to reconcile? Through the unforgettable story of Mrs. Hershkowitz's "insurance policy," we see why being truly needed by others may be the deepest security a person can build.

When Equality Becomes Chaos- Parshas Korach - Ep. 439

Korach's claim that "everyone is holy" sounds noble, but Rabbi Asaf Aharon Prisman explores why Chazal saw it as spiritually lethal. Drawing from the Tolner Rebbe, he shows how Korach's vision of sameness attacked the very structure of creation itself. This week's Prism of Torah reveals how real unity comes not from erasing differences but from each person fulfilling their precise role, like instruments in a single symphony. Rabbi Prisman closes with a moving true story from the Gaza border about painted bomb shelters - and the power of individuality that saves lives. Listeners walk away seeing Shalom not as sameness, but as perfect harmony in difference.

This One Decision Changes Everything - Ep. 438 | Parshas Shelach

The first spies saw Eretz Yisrael and collapsed into fear, but Yehoshua's spies entered Yericho and came back protected. Why were they sent in the disguise of kli cheres, plain pottery vessels with no real value beyond what they carry? Rabbi Prisman follows the Sfas Emes into a sharp question about mitzvos, motives, and the quiet danger of bringing your own agenda into Hashem's mission. And when a Shayetet 13 candidate stops in the water to put on tefillin, the idea suddenly becomes very real. What protection does a person find when he is willing to become only the vessel?