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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
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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.
