Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Vayishlach
There is a common adage that God helps those that help themselves. To accomplish things in life, both spiritually and materially, effort and planning, devotion and industry must be expended. Once in my yeshiva days long ago I had great difficulty in understanding a difficult concept that was raised by one of the commentators to the Talmud. I asked my teacher whether prayer to Heaven would help me understand that concept. He answered that it would help only if one has truly exhausted one’s own abilities to understand the matter. I then realized that prayer was Yaakov’s second strategy and that he felt it would help only if at first he employed it together with prayer - first the attempt to soothe Eisav’s anger first with gifts. Relying on prayer alone without the expenditure of one’s own talents and resources is a way of getting away cheaply in the matter. The famous rebbe of Sanz, Rabbi Chaim Halberstam stated: "First one must be prepared to tear out one’s own rib before one can expect Heaven to intervene on one’s stead!" Yaakov is prepared to risk all of his hard earned wealth and in fact his life itself when forced to deal with Eisav. Because of this Heaven intervenes and Eisav conciliates with Yaakov. There is a lesson here for all of us.
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
