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Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Parashat Hashavua
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Vayikra
- Emor
The Torah writes explicitly: "Do not take revenge or harbor ill feeling" (Vayikra 19:18). This certainly seems to preclude our ability to punish the wicked in response to the harm they cause us. On the other hand, a basic moral principle is to emulate Hashem, and the Torah calls Him a "G-d who is jealous and takes revenge" (Shemot 20:4). So, if revenge is apparently a positive trait, why are we forbidden to use it? Furthermore, when the Torah talks about payment for damages that one causes another person, it says: "As he did, so shall it be done to him" (Vayikra 24:19). Although we interpret this rule to be referring to financial payment, that appears to only be the manner in which the reaction is taken, but conceptually there is an element of retribution.
The key to answering this vexing question may be held in the hands of the Ramban and Seforno on our parasha’s last pasuk. Bnei Yisrael stoned the blasphemer [who was a partial foreigner who fought with a Jew and then cursed Hashem] "as Hashem commanded Moshe." Both commentators stress that they acted without feelings of revenge and hatred but because that is what Hashem asked them to do. There is, thus, a difference between punishment for the sake of Divinely ordained punishment and punishment for the sake of revenge. We do not do to the perpetrator to make it up to the victim but we take the steps that the perpetrator deserves for the injustice he was involved in. The truth is that the guilty should actually be interested in paying the price in order to deserve atonement, even though it is beit din’s job to implement the matter. With such an outlook, there is no room for mercy on the criminal, as the steps ‘against him’ are actually for his benefit.
When carrying out the punishment of the blasphemer, why was it wrong to include the people’s personal feelings if it did not alter the punishment? The answer is that then it would not have been a direct and complete fulfillment of the will of Hashem and as such it would have ruined the purity of the action of punishment. Only for Hashem, who is bereft of any ulterior feelings, is it permitted to act with what we would call vengeance. It is very different for human beings who, even when they are ostensibly acting in the name of Heaven, are actually also looking for an excuse to get back at somebody for past animosity. Therefore, we have to be careful to remove all feelings of revenge from our thought process and act as Hashem tells us through the Torah.
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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.
