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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bamidbar
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What makes a desert a desert is the lack of rain and water. As Israel has proven with its own Negev desert, water irrigation can push back the desert’s grip. However all deserts have particular oases and water holes. These are of immense value simply because there is no other source of water in the desert. An oasis or water hole in a country much rained upon attracts little of any attention or worth. The Torah foresaw that throughout Jewish history Jews would find themselves at times living in a spiritual desert. Immorality, licentiousness and decadence would reign in the general society. The righteous would be mocked and the wicked would be popularized and exalted. The spiritual desert, its emptiness and jadedness cannot slake our inner thirst for immortality and connection to our Creator. And the torah, given and nurtured in the desert would then be recognized as the ultimate oasis of life giving water. The torah is always symbolized as being water in the words of the prophets and in the Talmud. The prophet implores us that "you who are thirsty [for Godliness and spirituality in your lives] go forth to fetch the water [of the Torah.] Perhaps only one who is wandering and suffering in the desert can truly appreciate the oasis and water hole. Our times demand our presence at the oasis that only the Torah provides for us.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part II
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
Parashat Hashavua Happiness for the Right Reasons
[With painful longing, we share these divrei Torah from our co-Rosh Kollel for close to 40 years, Harav Moshe Ehrenreich zt”l.]
