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Beit Midrash
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- Ein Ayah
Someone who sees a place where miracles happened to Israel recites: "Blessed is He who did miracles for our forefathers in this place."
Ein Ayah: It is proper to view the unity between miracles and nature, as all of Hashem’s actions are one. Whatever nature is unable to maintain in the world’s proper function is provided by miracles. Therefore, miracles are not a totally different apparatus but are connected to nature. This "partnership" is also reflected in Chazal’s statement: "Hashem made a condition with the creations of genesis ...," as the miracle finds its place in cooperation with nature. Therefore, the question of how Hashem can change His mind [and do miracles] is not a question because the role of miracles is part of the apparatus that Hashem created.
The foundation of nature is place, because place encompasses all limited things, in quality and in quantity. When Chazal wanted to tell us that something is beyond nature, they said that it is beyond space, like the fact that the dimensions of the ark and cherubim did not take up space. (Yoma 21a). In our context, therefore, to demonstrate that miracles are connected to nature, and the two are connected to Divine Providence, we make the blessing, "Blessed is He who did miracles for our forefathers in this place."
A related message that we learn from the idea of miracles is that there is no chance in the world. Rather everything is a product of the providence that comes from the ultimate wisdom. If there were only nature, then we would say that although nature was created with great wisdom, there are individual occurrences, which have no purpose and happen only because of the rules of nature. However since miracles exist, which work outside the rules of nature, it turns out that nothing must be because of nature and if something happened as it did, it must have a specific reason. If something has a specific, divinely ethical purpose, then even its seemingly unimportant details have ethical significance. The place where a miracle occurs is a perfect example. While noting the miracle and realizing that there was a reason for it, we hint that there must be a reason why the miracle happened in the place it did. We do not say that the place makes no difference, even if we do not know what the reason is.
While miracles deserve a blessing, so too nature deserves blessings, as it is a manifestation of great divine grandeur and kindness. However, we must distinguish between thought and speech. Thought naturally extends to matters that will come only in the end of days, which are loftier to think about than matters of the present. In contrast, speech is related to those things that a person sees in the present. Nature runs in such a way that its connection to ethics will be seen only at the end of the days, for in the meantime it often seems that forces of evil have much success. Therefore, regarding natural phenomena, our thanks are reserved primarily for creation in general terms, as we feel that "Hashem’s kindness fills the land" (Tehillim 33:5). However, regarding specific events, we can see the good only with a broad eternal look, which is beyond words.
Miracles, on the other hand, are always done for a purpose that supports righteousness. Therefore, it is fitting to make the blessing with one’s mouth. Someone who wants to see the righteousness within the acts of nature is being unreasonable because such a wonderful, complex system cannot be fully appreciated by man. Therefore, one who recites Hallel every day is a blasphemer (Shabbat 118b). That would make Hashem’s running of the world look simplistic and compartmentalized, when actually, "How great are Your actions, Hashem? How deep are Your thoughts?" (Tehillim 92:6).
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
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
