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Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Ein Ayah
"As the destruction was occurring, Hashem saw and decided to halt the bad (the plague)" (Divrei Hayamim I:21:15). What did He see? Rav said: He saw Yaakov Avinu, as the pasuk says: "Yaakov said when he saw them" (Bereishit 32:3). Shmuel said: He saw the ashes of Yitzchak, as the pasuk says: "Hashem will see for him a sheep" (Bereishit 22:8).
Ein Ayah:The deterioration of the group that comes from the spread of bad ideas cannot fully take hold. It is an important basic characteristic of the Jewish Nation that the ability for them to join together and succeed is a wonderful inheritance that stems back most clearly to Yaakov Avinu. He was the one who first started to prepare a separate nation, by building a house of tribes of the nation that would serve as a testimony. Yaakov said: "This stone that I placed as a monument will be a House of Hashem" (Bereishit 28:22). This is different from Avraham who called that place a mountain and Yitzchak who called it a field (Pesachim 88a), as only that which Yaakov described has walls. This house illustrates the uniqueness of the spirituality of the Jewish Nation in the Land in which Hashem has a particular interest.
Interestingly, specifically about Yaakov we are told that he will have a lot without boundaries. This is because uniqueness that comes from a complete realization is not an over-focusing on individuality even on a national level, but a focusing on influencing and connecting in the best possible way. Therefore, many nations will say, "Let us go up to the mountain of Hashem and the house of the G-d of Yaakov" (Yeshaya 2:3). This is an example of the connecting of two extremes. An individual insulates himself within his own boundaries to create a powerful center for the collective.
For the same reason Yaakov chanced upon the angels of Eretz Yisrael and the angels of outside Eretz Yisrael in one place [which is that which Yaakov saw in the pasuk that the aforementioned gemara cites]. The special place in which Yaakov saw the two sets of angels was fit to receive a name that would make it remembered for all ages – Machanayim (meaning, encampments). Eretz Yisrael, which is the world’s spiritual center, is able to give its power to the areas abroad, and someday the Land will expand and spiritually encompass the whole world.
A nation that has as an inheritance such a profound philosophy can never fully lose the philosophical path that connects these two ideas, of the individual and the collective that is made up by the individuals therein. Therefore, this nation is able to quickly recuperate from the ills of not understanding the need of the individual to preserve righteousness without tolerance for evil. The binding together of the masses will recover and realize how special it is that each individual has complete free choice and is expected to choose life. This choice fits into the promise of a covenant on a collective basis. This covenant is an eternal idea like the existence of the heavens and the earth, which stand before Hashem, as will the offspring of Bnei Yisrael and their name (based on Yeshaya 66:22).
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.
