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Beit Midrash
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The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
Amram son of Sultana
At his father’s behest, Yosef goes looking for his brothers in Shechem. He knows it’s a dangerous assignment, and when he sees his brothers aren’t there, he could have returned home and told his father he couldn’t find them. Instead, he persists until he finds "the man," an angel, who directs him to Dotan. (Rashbam)
Reuven beseeches his brothers not to kill Yosef, proposing that they throw him into a pit instead. The Torah tells us that his intention was to come back later and rescue him and Rashi says that his motive was to evade blame (since he was the first-born). The Maharshal asks, Why doesn’t Rashi give Reuven the benefit of the doubt? Maybe he really wanted to save his brother?
Answer: If Reuven’s intentions had been so lofty he, and not Yehuda, would have received the most favorable blessing from Ya’acov.
When the brothers show their father Yosef’s bloody cloak, Ya’acov concludes that Yosef has been killed and begins a period of mourning that lasts 22 years. Rashi says that Ya’acov’s 22 years of mourning were a consequence of the 22 years he spent with Lavan, when he did not honor his parents. But wasn’t he fulfilling his parents’ request that he go find a wife?
Rabbenu Bechaye answers: If his motive had been solely to find a wife, he would have taken Leah and returned home immediately. In staying longer to acquire Rachel, he showed that his real intention was not meeting his parents’ demands, but his own needs.
Whether the mitzvah is respecting our parents or yishuv Eretz Yisrael it is critical that we examine our motives and make sure that they are not excuses for not doing what the Torah demands of us.
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
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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!
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The advantages of testimony over circumstantial evidence or philosophical speculation.
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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.
