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Yet, despite the king's adamancy in fulfilling the commandments of the Khazarian religion, the heavenly messenger returns to him each night, saying, "Your intentions are desirable, but your actions are not."
All of this causes the king to search and investigate other faiths and philosophies. Eventually he converts to Judaism and with him a large number of his people, the Khazarians.
The question, "What is desirable action?" is a question which every individual asks himself. Each of us harbors good intentions. Each one of us possesses a desire to be upright. The question is, how? How do we realize these good intentions? How do we materialize our great aspirations?
Foundations of Faith (51)
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
2 - 2. Belief in God: Eyewitness Account
3 - 3. Good Intentions, Good Deeds
4 - 4. Faith and Reason
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Good intention alone is not enough! If one does not know how to perform the proper deeds, it is possible, despite all good intentions, to cause great damage. Even in the course pursuing good, it is possible to perform appalling deeds. For example, all idol worship is carried out with pure intention. The intentions are good, but the actions are the opposite of the intentions.
Good intentions, then, are not enough. The deeds must also be desirable. Indeed, one who wishes to perform deeds which will find favor in God's eyes understands that he himself, following his own human intellect and emotion, is not able to discover what the desirable actions are in God's eyes. God's ways are entirely different than our ways, and his thoughts are far above our thoughts. Without divine guidance and direction, one cannot know how to serve God. One cannot hope to know what those actions are that are desirable in His eyes. Therefore, the Khazar king began to search and investigate, with the hope of finding somebody who would be able to show him the deeds that are desirable before God.
Initially he went to a philosopher. He figured that of all people the philosopher must certainly be familiar with what it is that God wants of His creatures. Yet, the philosopher was not able to provide the king with answer to his question. An inner voice - an angel - had told the king to search for the desired action, and the philosopher was not able to aid him in his search. Philosophical speculation is very interesting, yet it does not recognize that there are some actions that are more desirable in the God's eyes than others. The deep inner feeling of the Khazar king told him that the philosopher's intellectual faculty was not strong enough to grasp something beyond reason. It therefore became necessary for him to tun to the bearers of God's word in the world. This, then, will be the focus of our next discussion.
Rabbis in Midrash
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
