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Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Ein Ayah
When [Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai] was about to die, he said to [his students]: Remove the utensils from here because of impurity and prepare a place for Chizkiya, the king of Judea, who is coming.
Ein Ayah: It is a serious failure for a leader of the community at large to ignore physical needs because his aspirations lie only in the realm of shleimut (completeness) of spirituality. This is because the physical state has an impact on the spiritual state.
However, the above is a shortcoming in the leader only when he is not diligent about physical shleimut because he does not realize its value. This would be a sign of a diminished spirit, for a great spirit will, despite its high spiritual level, be able to "look down" and be careful about little things as well, as they impact on important matters. However, sometimes the leader decides that the nation has to give up on physical matters because of an important cause, in which case, one should respect his decision.
[Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai was the leader at the time of the fall of the Second Beit Hamikdash and Commonwealth, and he was in a special situation where he could ask a major favor of the Roman conquerors (see Gittin 56b).] Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai gave up on the national shleimut in the political realm and only asked that the rabbinical academy in Yavneh be preserved to create a shleimut of Torah in Israel. In this way he was similar to Chizkiya, who pressured the people to dedicate themselves to Torah study at the expense of financial advancement (see Sanhedrin 94b). Chizkiya realized that this was crucial because Bnei Yisrael had gone down several levels and became overly engrossed in physical desires at the time of his father, Achaz, to the extent that they had become estranged from Hashem. Therefore, it was seen that there was a need to take steps that are usually against the prescribed Torah-ordained balance and put an excessive emphasis on spirituality. Chizkiya’s laxness on physical pursuits was not out of a lack of understanding of its value, just that for the needs of the time, he trampled them to make way for great Torah scholarship.
We see from the Torah itself that financial concerns are of great importance. One such case in the Torah is the halacha that before a kohen declares a house to be afflicted with leprosy, he has the house evacuated of its utensils, so that they not need to be discarded (Nega’im 12:5, based on Vayikra 14:36). We find a similar concern for simple utensils regarding Yaakov, who with all his preoccupation with love of Hashem, found time and energy to go back for small vessels left behind as he traveled (Chulin 91:1).
Since great people know the value of material possession, if they give these up to gain other things, we can imagine how great the things that they purse are. This is what Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai was trying to communicate as he died and was entering the world of the holy. Chizkiya was to visit at that time, as the prototype of a leader, like him, who had sacrificed the physical for the needs of the spiritual, by preventing the Torah from falling. He also told his students to remove the utensils so that they not become impure to show that he, like Yaakov, valued even simple utensils, as he had not forsaken the concept of concern for worldly pursuits. It had been because of the crucial importance of preserving Torah leadership that he had appeared to be uninterested in other elements of the nation’s needs.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
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.
