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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bamidbar
- Balak
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Parashat Hashavua
We will suggest an additional approach. Balak twice (ibid.: 5, 11) explained to Bilam that he was disturbed that Bnei Yisrael have "covered the eye of the land." The simple explanation is that they were a large nation. However, the S’fat Emet explains that he was afraid that Bnei Yisrael would usurp the concept of connection to the land and physicality in general. This was a departure from the existence in the desert, where Bnei Yisrael dealt only with spirituality, and all physical things (food, water, security, etc.) were a present from heaven. When they would enter the Land of Israel, they would fulfill the pasuk "When you enter the Land and plant fruit trees" (Vayikra 19:23). It would be a country with agriculture, an army, and an economy, as Hashem wanted, under the Divine ideal, which Rav Kook calls "saving everything." The nations of the world are willing to leave us spirituality; it is difficult for them to let us "trespass" their territory, physicality, and sanctify it. That is why Balak asked that Bnei Yisrael be "expelled from the land" (Bamidbar 22:6).
The mitzva of going up to Yerushalayim on holidays stresses this element of sanctifying the physical. What happens in Yerushalayim? "For there tribes go up, the tribes of Hashem (using the two letter name), a witness to Israel, to give thanks to Hashem’s Name" (Tehillim 122:2). Rashi explains that the testimony in Hashem’s Name relates to the verification with His Name that the children born in Egypt had Jewish fathers and were not from the Egyptian oppressors. The letters in His Name were attached to the names mentioned in the Torah from that time (see Bamidbar 26). The midrash says that Hashem created this world with the letter "yud" and the next world with "heh." Thus, this name relates to the connection between the physical and the spiritual.
On the holidays, the main sacrifices are shelamim, which combine benefit for the one who brings it, the altar, and the kohanim. A non-Jew may bring a sacrifice but only an olah, which is entirely consumed by the altar. Bilam and Balak wanted to prevent us from combining the two worlds in the manner of the holidays and their shelamim sacrifices, but Hashem wanted us to connect them.
The Rediscovery of Tekhelet: A Century of Research Tekhelet and Life's Temptaions
The Rediscovery of Tekhelet: A Century of Research
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
Chukat "HOW ENTEBBE STOLE THE BICENTENNIAL
The Difference Between Historic & Eternal"
As we approach America's 250th birthday, it's worth remembering her 200th Bicentennial birthday, on Jul. 4th 1976, when Israel "stole the show" by shocking the world & miraculously saving 101 hostages in a foreign continent. As Pres. As Pres. Trump decides which countries get priority in his new Middle-East, it's worth reminding him of the difference between historic events and eternally historic ones. This obviously connects with this week's parsha, as well!
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 6 - The Parable of the King of India
The advantages of testimony over circumstantial evidence or philosophical speculation.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 5- "Proofs of G-d"
This may be the most important class of the entire book, where we finally get to the Jewish proof of the existence of G-d and truth of the Torah. We should follow His own direction where He tells us how to get to Him: through the Nation of Israel: Jewish history, Jewish prophets (and today, prophecies fulfilled), and national reward & punishment towards Am Yisrael.
Ein Aya One Humanity, One Creator, One Jerusalem
Rav Kook innovatively and beautifully explains this aggadeta where our sages say that after Jerusalem was destroyed her cinnamon fragrance is only found locked in a particular kingdom's treasury.
