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Beit Midrash
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People who are released from bondage or any other type of incarceration usually find their adjustment to freedom difficult if not even very problematic. More often than not the look on their newly freed faces is one of bewilderment - of being in a dazed condition - rather than one of pure joy. Past unpleasant and painful experiences are not easily forgotten, or sublimated and assigned purely to one’s subconscious. Thus when the Exodus from Egypt finally occurs in this week’s parsha, the Jewish people leave "with a high hand" but with weakness of spirit. They will despair of their future when Pharaoh continues to pursue them to the shores of the Yam Suf sea and throughout their forty year sojourn in the desert of Sinai they are always on the verge of abandoning their special mission and return somehow to the accustomed bondage and servitude of Egypt. In the past generation of our people, many of the survivors of the Holocaust faced enormous challenges after being liberated from Nazi tyranny. The adjustment of most of them to freedom and to their ability to rebuild their lives is a testimony to the greatness and resilience of the Jewish spirit. But it was not an easy journey back to normalcy in a free society. The Jewish people after leaving Egypt would require forty years and a new generation of Jews before they were ready and able to undertake the task of building a free Jewish society in their own land and under their own rule and sovereignty. As the old paraphrase goes "You can take the Jew out of exile and bondage but it is much more difficult to remove the mentality of exile and bondage from within the Jew."
The Torah seems to indicate to us quite clearly that the Lord has the ability to save us from bondage and destruction. Beginning with the Exodus from Egypt throughout the generations, God has performed this miraculous task for us many times over. But it is also clear from the Torah that once that has been accomplished, the Lord intends for us to take over and finish the task. He will supply us with food and water, physical sustenance and spiritual and temporal leadership but what we do with those blessings is purely up to us. We are taught that "when the Lord returns the captivity of Zion we will be as dreamers." A dreamer is in a dazed state of being. But once being awakened we are bidden to act and build and accomplish - to be bold and courageous and of optimistic heart. The great Rav of Ponivezh, Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Kahaneman told me numerous times that "I am a dreamer but I do not allow myself to sleep." The Exodus from Egypt is not the end of the story of the Jewish people or of Moshe. It is only the beginning, for freedom is a never ending challenge fraught with difficulties, naysayers and doomsday pessimists. The Lord took us out of Egypt forcibly for we would have remained there - so do we say every year in the Hagada of the Pesach Seder. But then it was up to us. That remains the same situation in today’s Jewish world as well.
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 3
The second speaker invited to convince the Khazar King is the Christian, who presents their beliefs. Even before the questions of the King, "between the lines", the author R. Yehuda HaLevi already begins disproving them.
Ein Aya "Intimacy: Love, Life & Giving or Egocentric Taking & Expiration"
Today, many confuse between intimacy in marriage, based on love, giving and life which are diametrically opposed to empty "sex", pornography and prostitution which destroyed the Beit HaMikdash. The practical importance of clarifying this topic in today's western society is obvious, especially for young adults.
