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Beit Midrash
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Perhaps standards should address how things should be. This choice is, in my opinion, what lies at the heart of many of the internal conflicts that continue to divide our society and cause anguish to all concerned. The Jewish people for centuries on end always recognized that the standards, social, personal, religious and national, that they lived by were the standards set in the Torah and in the words and ideas of the Talmud, Midrash and other rabbinic writings. While it is true that the Jewish people as a whole and individual Jews as well, many (if not most) times failed to live up to those standards of morality, piety and inspired behavior, nevertheless the standards themselves were never tampered with.
No one dared to rewrite the Ten Commandments or revise the Torah rules of the sanctity of life, person, family, marriage. The bar may have been set very high for all Jews to reach at all times, but the bar was nevertheless never lowered in order to accommodate those of us who could not reach it. The Torah and its way of life remained as the ultimate challenge in Jewish existence, something always to strive for no matter how weak in flesh and spirit the Jews were.
With the coming of the ideas of the Emancipation, the Enlightenment, Haskala, urbanism, secularism, Marxism and other utopian schemes in the eighteenth century and thereafter, this attitude towards immutable standards began to change. In essence, standards were compromised; the bar was lowered to accommodate the public's behavior. And once that process began it has never been arrested. Under the protective slogans of academic freedom, artistic expression, pluralism, alternate lifestyles and liberalism, the traditional standards for Jewish society and life were lowered and in many cases completely eliminated. The assault on the Jewish home and family that these new standards encouraged has wreaked much havoc in the Jewish world.
The disappearance of millions of Jews from our society because of rampant assimilation over the last decades, when added to the destruction of the Holocaust, has created a demographic problem in the Jewish world of almost unparalleled proportions. Standards once dearly kept and with great personal sacrifice are today merely options and not very popular ones at that. Shabat, family, marriage, tradition, moral behavior and sexual probity have all been sacrificed on the altar of a modernity that no longer maintains any absolute standards and treats every problem evenhandedly and with moral equivalency.
Standards by their very nature oppose the concept of unlimited personal freedom. The entire structure of halacha and Jewish tradition is meant to create a sense of balance between the required personal freedom of an individual and the challenge of standards that order society and enhance personal behavior. High standards can lead to better societies and a life of greater quality. I once had a teacher in college who gave everyone high marks no matter what their performance in class and tests warranted. Having also received a high mark, I nevertheless felt cheated since my high mark in no way reflected my valiant attempt to achieve a goal commensurate to a high and demanding standard.
I think that much of the frustration, stress and dysfunction that so characterize modern Western society can be traced to the inner realization that our so-called achievements are not really being measured against any true standard. We therefore feel cheated because of the very laxity of standards that we craved and created. A study of traditional Jewish standards of education, social behavior and faith would certainly help us all regain a sense of pride in ourselves and in Jewish society as a whole.
Repentance Why Ba'alei T'shuva Davka Shouldn't Become Anti-Zionists!
Rav Kook's Letter on Teshuva to Rav Charlap
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
Shlach Lecha "Why So Many Don't Make Aliya?" - Parshat Shlach
This short article deals with the weird phenomena that every single time Am Yisrael is meant to enter the Land of Israel, throughout the Tanach, 2nd Temple and until today, they "chicken out" and look for excuses. What's the problem with this mitzvah that proves so challenging. The article, based on sources, suggests that the difficulties of Eretz Yisrael is precisely her secret and beauty!
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 4
The class deals with Islam and how the Muslim tries convincing the King of the Khazars, and why he was also rejected.
Beha'alotcha JEWISH STATE= GUIDE TO G-DLINESS & SELFLESSNESS
A Jewish State not only is a good idea, but educates us towards selflessness, altruism and G-dliness in our daily lives.
Ein Aya In Zion Even the Smoke of the Bark is Sweet
Just as Jewish nationalism is different from others, so too our capitol of Jerusalem is totally different than other national capitols. Rav Kook beautifully explains the passage in the Talmud that the trees of Yerushalayim were cinnamon trees.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 3
The second speaker invited to convince the Khazar King is the Christian, who presents their beliefs. Even before the questions of the King, "between the lines", the author R. Yehuda HaLevi already begins disproving them.
Ein Aya "Intimacy: Love, Life & Giving or Egocentric Taking & Expiration"
Today, many confuse between intimacy in marriage, based on love, giving and life which are diametrically opposed to empty "sex", pornography and prostitution which destroyed the Beit HaMikdash. The practical importance of clarifying this topic in today's western society is obvious, especially for young adults.