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Beit Midrash
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How to mark such a birthday is always debatable. Many humans mark their birthdays with cakes and parties and merriment. Others prefer to ignore the passage of time in their lives. Still others wait for a magical number of years to pass in order to commemorate a birthday. The State of Israel has a ritualized form of commemoration of its birthday. But like all officially ordained modes of celebration, spontaneity and enthusiasm associated with such a celebration is often lacking. Perhaps simply recognizing and internalizing the existence of this milestone in the life story of the Jewish people is in itself a sufficient commemoration of the event. If the individual Jew alone does not feel the specialness of the occasion within one’s own consciousness then no official commemoration will fill that void. Basically put, Hillel stated this truth when he said: "If I am not for me then who or what will ever be for me!" If the existence and success of the State of Israel is not felt on an emotional and spiritual level but merely on a visceral and objective level then in my opinion the whole point of the enterprise is missed. It is this short-sightedness more than anything else that fuels the attitudes and behavior of the anti-Israel Jewish Left. And no public ceremonies or ritualized commemorations can influence such wrongful convictions.
The prophet Yechezkel warned the Jewish people twenty-five hundred years ago against thinking themselves to being somehow like all other nations and peoples. Israel Independence Day is not the same as Bastille Day or Dominion Day or the Fourth of July. Once it is relegated to that exact status then it loses all emotional and spiritual meaning. And with it, the very existence of the State of Israel also becomes a "mistake," a wrong turn, an ill conceived decision. People have short memories and sixty-three years is a long time for most of us. The inability to teach the lessons of the past that created the State of Israel and saved the Jewish world from incurable depression after the Holocaust is one of the great failings of our society and its educational systems. And again, no public commemoration no matter how impressive in presentation and extravagant in cost will help ameliorate this woeful situation. Somehow education that can reach the Jewish heart and soul and not just the mind and eyes is necessary. For millennia such education was present and transmitted from generation to generation. It needs to be revived in our current world and society. On Israel Independence Day Israel prizes are distributed to people accomplished in the arts and sciences, public welfare and communal leadership. However I believe that the true Israel Prize is to be given to the one who experiences Israel in one’s heart and spirit all of the days of the year.
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
Chukat "HOW ENTEBBE STOLE THE BICENTENNIAL
The Difference Between Historic & Eternal"
As we approach America's 250th birthday, it's worth remembering her 200th Bicentennial birthday, on Jul. 4th 1976, when Israel "stole the show" by shocking the world & miraculously saving 101 hostages in a foreign continent. As Pres. As Pres. Trump decides which countries get priority in his new Middle-East, it's worth reminding him of the difference between historic events and eternally historic ones. This obviously connects with this week's parsha, as well!
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 6 - The Parable of the King of India
The advantages of testimony over circumstantial evidence or philosophical speculation.
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.
