Illusions

Parshah: Chukat

Death of the Just
The Torah, A Modern Commentary
W.G. Plaut, Editor
p.1157
Why does the story of Miriam’s death follow directly the chapter of the red cow? To teach us that even as the ashes of the red cow cleanse from transgression, so does the death of the just. [Talmud]

The Peacemaker
The Torah, A Modern Commentary
W.G. Plaut, Editor
p.1157
Of Aaron it says that “all the house of Israel” bewailed him, while of Moses it merely says that “the Israelites” bewailed him. In this way the Torah tells Aaron’s praise as a peacemaker. According to rabbinic legend, Aaron would go from house to house and, whenever he found one who did not know how to recite the Shema, he taught him to recite it. He did not, however, restrict his activities to “establishing peace between God and man,”, but strove to establish peace between man and his fellow. If he discovered that two men had fallen out, he hastened first to the one, then to the other, saying to each: “If you only knew how he with whom you quarreled regrets his action!” Aaron would thus speak to each separately, until both the former enemies would mutually forgive each other, and as soon as they were again face to face greet each other as friends. This kindness of his led many a sinner to reform, who at the moment when he was about to commit a sin thought to himself, “How shall I be able to lift up my eyes to Aaron’s face, I, to whom Aaron was so kind!” [J.H.Hertz]

Og
The Torah, A Modern Commentary
W.G. Plaut, Editor
p.1168
He was a giant, a left-over from the Rephaim of old (Deut. 3:11). In the whole world there was none so difficult to overcome as Og. [Midrash]

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Obstacles
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
All the barriers and obstacles which confront a person have only one purpose: to heighten his yearning for the holy deed which he needs to accomplish. It is part of man’s nature that the greater the barriers standing in the way of a certain goal, the more he desires to achieve it. When a Jew needs to do something whose purpose is to strengthen his very core, especially when it is something upon which his whole being as a Jew depends, to travel to the true Tzaddik, he is given desire from above. The desire is created through the barrier which is sent to him, and the barrier itself causes his yearning to grow. You should understand, therefore, that there is no barrier in the world that you cannot break if you want to. The entire purpose of the barrier is only to increase your desire. When you achieve the necessary desire and yearning for the holy act you need to accomplish, you will surely succeed in transforming the idea which is in your mind into an actual reality. The barrier itself can bring you to succeed by strengthening your desire to do so.