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Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Ein Ayah
Ein Ayah: Berachot cause straight thought to the heart, which in turn brings on straight actions and good characteristics. Also, berachot’s halachic details are based on ideas that lead directly to good attributes and the Torah’s foundations. Love of the Holy Land is the foundation of the Torah, as it brings Hashem’s nation and the whole world to shleimut (completeness). Therefore, precedence for berachot is connected to the food’s proximity to the Torah’s mention of the Land. This shows that whatever is closer to the Land, and whoever loves it more and strives more to settle it, is closer to receiving blessing and shleimut.
The nature of people’s love of the Land differs according to their level. Some love it because of its innate spiritual qualities. They thirst for a connection to its stones and earth in order to fulfill land-dependent mitzvot and due to the impact it has on aiding all to reach their spiritual potential. Others love the Holy Land and strive to inhabit and develop it because they see it as the place to maximize the Jewish People’s physical welfare. While this is a lofty factor, it does not approach the former type, which stems from a deeper understanding of the goal of the love.
That is why the pasuk is broken into two, hinting at two groups of closeness to the Land. The five species, listed after the first "Land," correspond to the higher level of desire of the Land, as the number five relates to Chumash, which is the foundation of the shleimut of the nation and the world. Proximity to "the Land" indicates a higher level. The second set of two fruit hint at the nation’s natural shleimut, originally in the physical realm but thereby extending to the spiritual realm. Indeed, yearning to live in the Holy Land even for national, material benefit is great. The physical needs of the nation turn into spiritual ones, and the highest goals will be realized when Hashem’s nation connects with His Land. Therefore, that which gets closer even to the lower connection to the Land precedes that which is further removed from the higher level because building up the Land is powerful with either intention. That is why Omri merited the throne, as he added a city to Israel, even though his intention was certainly material. While the one who is more connected to the lower level is, personally, on a lower level than the one connected to the higher level, the former’s actions are closer to the highest goals.
The gemara’s final statement about iron legs hints at the following. He requested physical strength to enable him to learn and obtain spiritual strength. The nation’s iron vessels, whether they be chariots, bolts, or bodies that are strong as iron, give the nation the power to follow a path that leads to Torah, love, and peace. The power is not for us to come to Israel by force or to rebel against the gentile nations (a reference to Ketubot 111a). Rather, it develops an inner fire and spiritual discipline, which is the goal, as the pasuk says: "Not with armies and not with power, but with My spirit" (Zecharia 4:6). We will end off with the p’sukim in Tehillim 147: "Jerusalem, praise Hashem … for He has strengthened the bolts of your gates … He places peace in your boundaries … He told His word to Yaakov, His statutes and laws to Israel."
Various Rabbis
Various Rabbis including those of of Yeshivat Bet El, such as Rabbi Chaim Katz, Rabbi Binyamin Bamberger and Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblat and others.
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: A Crown and its Scepter – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 294-5
Ein Ayah Joined Elements that Separated in the Spiritual Fall
condensed from Ein Ayah, Shabbat 9:72-9:73
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
