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Beit Midrash
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This scenario has been repeated often in Jewish history. Did Spanish Jewry in its "Golden Age" ever imagine that 1492 and expulsion and forced apostasy was awaiting their descendants? Did Polish Jewry, invited into the country in the thirteenth century and given autonomy to practically rule over themselves by the Polish kings of the time ever imagine at the outset the murderous pogrom of 1648 or the anti-Semitism of that country in the years that led to the Second World War? Did German Jewry, which saw itself as being the best Germans possible, think that a Hitler could arise and erase in one decade everything that they had thought they had accomplished over centuries? The answer to all of these questions is certainly "no!" No one could see what was awaiting them just around history’s corner. By 1938 with the issuance of the British White Paper regarding its mandate in then Palestinian who would have imagined that an independent Jewish state would arise and survive successfully barely a decade later? And what shall we say about the future of American Jewry, snug, smug and presently comfortable in the "Golden Country?" I hazard no predictions. In fact, the unpredictability of human events should by now make us all cautious about proclaiming with certainty what the morrow will bring. We still have no magical periscope that will allow us to peer around the corner to identify the coming events of our individual and national lives. The current economic downturn has made a mockery of the long term estate planning of many a so-called expert. Life always mocks our certainties and plans.
Judaism is a faith of optimism and hope. Eventually everything will yet come right though it does not give us the details as to how this will happen. We will leave Egypt, we will recover from Spanish expulsion, Poland and Germany on the surface are our allies, the Jewish state in the Land of Israel is alive and well, the Soviet monster has collapsed of its own weight and cruelty and millions of Soviet Jews are free to be Jews once again. No one foresaw all of these events clearly and in fact few dared to hope that they would ever become reality. But we never know what is waiting for us just around the corner of human events. It may be good or even better than our fondest hopes and wishes. And there also is a chance for other less pleasant things to occur as well. Therefore our understanding of the matter is to deal with the present to the best of our wisdom and abilities. The future has not yet arrived and therefore we should deal with what faces us now and at the same time continue to learn from what has happened to us in the past. Yaakov told his grandsons: "The Lord that has shepherded me from my earliest till now will certainly bless you and you shall be called by name and the name of my forefathers." That blessing remains valid for all of us today as well.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
