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Beit Midrash
- Shabbat and Holidays
- Rosh Hashana
- Shofar Blowing
The tekiah with its long straight sound indicates the serenity in life that is so necessary for productive human and family life. It also indicates discipline and consistency. These are the items that constitute a successful and happy Jewish family and home. Children raised in a home of serenity, peace, discipline and consistency grow up to be people of self-worth and proud Jews. The presence of the Shabat day in our weekly lives introduces us to this supreme trait of serenity in a home. Shabat is one long twenty five hour tekiah. That may also help explain why on Shabat the shofar is not sounded - Shabat itself, so to speak, becomes the shofar, certainly at least the tekiah part of the ceremonial sounding of the shofar. Its serenity and consistency sets the tone for the entire week and thus for all of our lives. It is not for naught that Jewish halacha views the observance of the Shabat as the basic identifying characteristic of a Jew’s relationship to the observance of Judaism and Jewish law and tradition. The laws of halacha regarding the sounding of the shofar also demand that all of the other notes sounded must have a tekiah to proceed it and to succeed it. The tekiah - the serenity and consistency traits of human life - is the bookends of all Jewish life. It comes first and it comes last. Without it the other notes are relatively meaningless.
The shevarim represents the times of trouble, the wails that emanate from us when failure, tragedy and seemingly insurmountable problems loom before us. The wail from the human heart is a sound that is heard in Heaven. Perhaps the reason that there are different customs allowed by halachic practice regarding the shevarim sound is because no two human beings wail alike. Each tear in life is unique to the one who has shed it. The rabbis have taught us that our tears are stored, so to speak, in Heaven and counted by the Almighty. The Jewish people have shed an ocean of tears over our long history but those tears have congealed to become the foundation stone of our personal lives and our national existence. We cannot pass through this life without shevarim. But we can build upon those very sounds of wailing to construct a better future for all of us.
The teruah is a call to action, to accomplishment, ingenuity and industry. It signals that passivity is unacceptable if the Jewish mission is to be realized. The short staccato sounds remind us that progress is often slow, step by step. The rabbis in Avot taught us that it is not for us to complete the work but we are not absolved from attempting to achieve the ultimate goal of holiness and goodness. Redemption and self-improvement are processes and not necessarily a miraculous and sudden epiphany. We sound the shevarim and teruah consecutively in part of the shofar service to indicate that after troubles and even tragedy, resilience and positive action is required. Thus the sounds of the shofar come to point our way towards a serene, disciplined and active year that will be filled only with wails of joy and happiness.
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.
