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Beit Midrash
- Shabbat and Holidays
- The Tenth of Tevet
- Yom Hakaddish Haklali
One of the great difficulties of modern Jewry is how to commemorate the enormous events that have occurred to us in the last century. How is the establishment of the State of Israel to be commemorated? How is the memory of the victims of the Holocaust to be sanctified? In Jewish tradition all great events were commemorated within a religious context. However, in our time, when a great section of the Jewish people and its substantial leadership no longer saw themselves bound by traditional religious norms, the questions of commemoration mentioned above have produced very controversial results. Religious Jewry has attempted to install a religious tone into these otherwise secular commemorations. The success of doing so has been only partial and therefore a great deal of ambivalence regarding these commemorations remains. The universal Kadish recital of the tenth of Tevet is the religious attempt to have a unified memorial service in a manner that is dignified, traditional and acceptable to all Jews. My personal impression is that this commemoration has gained some momentum over the past few years. Whether it will ever be able to gain the universal acceptance that the rabbinate hoped that it would achieve remains yet to be seen. As the generation of the Holocaust falls to the attrition of time the difficulty of commemorating the Holocaust in a meaningful fashion to new generations of Jews increases. A universal Kadish day, such as on the tenth day of Tevet, is dependent on some sort of Jewish feeling and emotion. To create such a feeling or emotion without recourse to Jewish tradition, faith and ritual becomes a very difficult task. And thus the tenth of Tevet and its universal Kadish day message reveals the deep problem of Jewish identity and the place of tradition and some sort of religious ritual in our society and lives.
The Jewish world in its historical memory forgets little if anything. Thus the commemoration of events, both tragic and triumphant, in Jewish history remains somehow embedded in Jewish life. The form that remembrance of the events of Jewish history takes may vary from time to time and generation to generation. But we can be certain that Jewish memory and eternity will prevail. Therefore the universal Kadish day on the tenth of Tevet takes on greater importance than just being a day of fasting and commemoration. It is a day of national rededication to the values, history and mission of the Jewish people.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Israel and the Nations A Few Minutes & Many Innovative Ideas on Antisemitism & What to do About It
As we approach the High Holidays, this short lecture (18 minutes) deals with the unfortunate situation of how Israel and the Jewish People stand against antisemitism, analyzing its cause according to Rav Kook, and how to deal with the issue pragmatically & via our prayers.
Ha'azinu PURSUIT is PERFECTION
p. Ha'azinu, Shabbat Shuva
Rav Kook deals with the question of the seemingly hopeless nature of Tshuva. For G-d Himself knows that He created us with free will, which inevitably means we will sometimes make mistakes and choose wrong. This can easily be frustrating, freezing us into inaction and ye'ush (loss of hope). If one sins even once, does he chalila have no choice but suicide?! Moreover, our Godly conscience demands justice, righteousness and perfection, but we all know this is impossible, so what's the solution? Rav Kook's innovative thinking, strongly based on chazal (our sages), offers an inciteful and important aspect to this topic, especially this time of year!
Sukkot Bug-Free Sukkah: Essential Halachic and Practical Schach Guide
How to inspect, clean, and store bamboo mats and palm branches to protect your mitzvah and holiday meals.
