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Beit Midrash
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Much of the Jewish religious world suffers from an unhealthy attachment to an imagined and inaccurate understanding of its past. Jewish life in Eastern Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries before World War II has been sanitized and romanticized with a thick layer of nostalgia and wishful thinking. All of the sadness and poverty, persecution and hapless secularization of Eastern European Jewry has been glossed over by legends, fanciful stories and hagiographic biographies that dehumanize the subjects about whom they arte written. With all that has happened to us taken into account, I still think that the Jewish people as a whole and the place of Torah and ritual observance within Jewish society is significantly stronger now than it was a century ago. Of course the State of Israel even with all of its imperfections and problems has a great deal to do with this strengthening of the Jewish people. But be this as it may be, looking backward with false vision and erroneous at the past is a serious impediment to necessary improvements, changes and spiritual growth in the fleeting present and the unknown, not-yet-arrived future. Knowing our past is an essential ingredient for our productive present and better future. But the correct perspective and realistic view must be present in order to make that looking back exercise meaningful, accurate and productive.
Europe is one vast Jewish graveyard. The fascination of Jews with graves and graveyards has always been somewhat perplexing to me. The great master of Kabalah, Rabbi Yitzchak Lutia Ashkenazi (The Holy Ari) wrote that one should not visit graves unnecessarily - when there is no commandment to do so - and that graves begat spiritual defilement. In any event, graves are a definite form of looking backward. And usually the visions that graves inspire within us are fuzzy, unfocused and many times wildly inaccurate. The popular visits and tours to Eastern Europe are very heartbreaking to my way of thinking. Instead of seeing the empty Jewish buildings of Eastern Europe why not concentrate on seeing and supporting the great Torah institutions of today in Israel, America and other Jewish places in the world. Nostalgia is never a building block for a strong future. Overindulgence in looking back forces past errors to somehow be repeated and future plans to be based on erroneous readings of the past policies. And the great unknown is what would the great leaders of the past say and do if they lived in the present. No one can be certain of this and therefore projecting past opinions on present circumstances is wildly inappropriate. The fleeting present demands strong nerves and clear vision. These virtues are not likely to be obtained by wallowing in a nostalgic fuzz of wishful memory.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
