YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Shabbat and Holidays
- Jewish Holidays
- Sukkot
There is a great Chasidic legend about a man who wanted to see a person who was truly wealthy. He went to his rebbe and asked for directions to find such a person. The rebbe sent him to a small village and told him to find a certain Reb Itzik and to stay the night with him. Arriving in the decrepit village the visitor eagerly searched out Reb Itzik. He was ushered into a ramshackle hut containing only straw for mattresses and broken wooden boxes for furniture. "Surely the rebbe must have been mistaken sending me here," he thought to himself. After a very uncomfortable night spent on the straw covered floor and a very meager breakfast of hard bread and tepid water, the visitor in desperation asked his host: "Reb Itzik, I heard you are a very wealthy man. Where is your wealth? How can you live under such circumstances as these?" Reb Itzik replied: "Oh, I have a great mansion with untold wealth located not far away. But pray tell me where and of what type is your home?" The visitor replied: "Oh I live in a sturdy brick house with many comforts. But naturally when I am traveling I make do with whatever accommodations are offered to me." Reb Itzik replied: "My mansion is in Heaven, in immortality, in my generations that are yet to come. Here, I like you, am only a traveler so I also make do with whatever I have at hand. My brother, we are all only travelers." The visitor returned to his rebbe and thanked him for showing him a truly wealthy man.
Sleeping in the succah, outside of my comfortable but only temporary living quarters, gives me a sense of faith that I can build for myself a truly magnificent mansion with untold wealth not far away. Here in the succah I gladly make do with whatever I have in hand. But I am comforted that by living even only for a week in a succah, open to the elements and unpredictability of life and events themselves I can concentrate on my true mansion and wealth - on spirit and family and generations and ancestors and hope and service to God and humans. Our national succah has withstood all of the elements and all of the evil that the world contains and it still stands. It may wobble at times but it still stands. It still stands because of the mansions that we build constantly for us and all of Israel not far from here in the Jerusalem that hovers above our earthly Jerusalem. We are all but travelers but that fact should not cause us discomfort or fear. For we are all truly wealthy and that is the Torah’s great gift to us.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
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.
