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Beit Midrash
- Shabbat and Holidays
- Jewish Holidays
- Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret
In reality the reading of the Torah ends on an apparently sad note for the final part of the reading describes to us poignantly the death of our great teacher Moshe. He will never enter the Land of Israel but only be able to glimpse it from afar. His generation whom he shepherded for forty years has passed away, his sons will not inherit his position or power, and in his great gift of prophecy he is aware of the terrible problems that his beloved people of Israel must yet face and overcome through their long journey of history and destiny. Yet the joy of the presence of Torah within our nation overcomes these feelings of melancholy. As long as the words and ideals of Moshe still live amongst the Jewish people then there is great reason to rejoice for it means that we have not lost our way and that the eternity of Moshe and Israel is guaranteed. The nations of the world resent the fact that somehow we still have a chance to rejoice or attempt to live normal productive lives under terrible duress and distress. Witness Time magazine’s outrageous cover story that Israel is not interested in peace since we are attempting to live life normally and enjoyably. This absurd and malicious idea was echoed in Roger Cohen’s op-ed piece (Cohen is the regular contributing op-ed resident assimilated court Jew in the palace of the New York Times) cluck clucking that raising our children and preserving our sanity and putting bread on the table of our family somehow takes immediate precedence over satisfying Saaeb Erekat and Mohammed Abbas and their irrational demands. Simchat Torah comes to teach us that we should rejoice when we are able to do so and celebrate our existence and accomplishments even if things are not 100 percent as we would wish them to be. Completing the Torah reading is a matter of perseverance and so is all of Jewish life.
The Torah’s description of the death of Moshe is meant to impress us with the fact that Judaism is not the cult of the personality. Even when the greatest of Jews ever, Moshe, as the Torah itself describes him thusly in the final words of its text, dies and leaves us bereft and alone, we are not to overly mourn and certainly not to despair. We may yet continue to rejoice because the eternal Torah still is present within us with great vigor and vitality. As far as we are concerned the game is never over. We suffer and fall but we are never defeated. That is the power that the Torah grants us and therefore it is the source of our great joy in celebrating the completion and simultaneous beginning of the reading of the Torah this year. So be it for all of the years yet to come.
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
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.
