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Beit Midrash
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Over the long exile of the Jewish people and our complete dispersion over the face of the globe we have stopped at many localities. Sometimes the stop was a relatively short one but most times it was for many centuries duration. Babylonia (present day Iraq) was a home for millennia, while Iberia, North Africa, Poland, Germany and many other European countries housed us for eight hundred years. But somehow no matter how long we stayed in a certain place and how productive and secure we may have felt regarding our situation, all of our way stops proved to be temporary and impermanent ones. The journeys of the Jewish people proved to be in a manner of speaking an endless trek. But it always seemingly had a goal. The great Rabbi Nachman of Breslov stated that "every step I take on this earth leads me towards Jerusalem." All of the stops, no matter how long their duration in the Exile of Israel, were eventually nothing more than way stops. Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk summarized it succinctly in his ringing assessment of Jewish exile: "Woe to the ones who imagine that Berlin is Jerusalem." Well, we now all know that Berlin was far from being Jerusalem but there are names of other current cities in the Jewish Diaspora that can easily be substituted for Berlin in his prescient statement. We pray that our travels are finally coming to an end and we strengthen ourselves on this Shabat of chazak in that hope and wish.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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D'varim Judaism’s Social Vision
Re’eh
Giving is more than an act of generosity—it is an essential part of human dignity that belongs to everyone, rich and poor alike. The ultimate goal of help is to empower others to stand on their own.
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.
