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Beit Midrash
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- Serving Hashem, Mitzvot and Repentance
The Arabs were the majority population in the country and were armed and intransigent. In short, it was not a happy time to be growing up as a small, pudgy Orthodox Jewish boy in Chicago. When a Jewish day school finally opened in Chicago and my parents switched me out of the public school system into that fledgling Jewish school, many well meaning neighbors complained to my parents that they were going to cripple my chances for success in life by that move.
In today’s perfect hindsight, all of these certainties and predictions, the demise of Orthodoxy, the triumph of Communism, the annihilation of the Jewish yishuv in the Land of Israel, the inability for Torah schools in America to create "successful" people – all of these descriptions of the future proved to be woefully inaccurate. Predicting the future is a very inexact science. Just ask your financial planner!
I think that my grandchildren’s generation is therefore a bit more wary about predicting what their future world will look like than was mine. Their world is a better current world than was mine. The existence of the State of Israel and its continued growth and success, the explosion of Torah learning and of a resurgent Orthodoxy in the Jewish world, the enormous advances in technology, medicine and life expectancy, all combine to give this generation a high basic level to begin to build upon.
As usual the words of the rabbis are in order here – "The one who is blessed with miraculous happenings does not recognize that those miracles are occurring to him or her." Today’s generation takes much for granted. They don’t realize that their grandparents never really expected to see a strong Jewish state in the Land of Israel, or yeshivot with student bodies numbering in the thousands, or a generation of Jewish women Torah scholars.
That future, which is currently our present, was unseen by my generation. It was probably not even hoped for in our wildest dreams. Yet, all of the impossibilities occurred and form our present world. The question therefore arises: What future do my grandchildren envision for themselves? And more importantly perhaps, what efforts and sacrifices, talent and material wealth are they willing to expend to achieve that far dreamt future?
I think that these challenging questions may, as of this moment, still not be confronted by the emerging generation. But they will undoubtedly have to confront them in the very near future.
Since the future always remains inscrutable, there is little that the older generation can do to prepare the later generation for those undefined and as yet unrecognizable challenges. We can provide them with education, financial help and, hopefully, role models. But, they alone will have to traverse the treacherous seas and shoals of the future. I am greatly strengthened by the realization of what the hand of God’s destiny, so to speak, has wrought for my generation. My own grandparents would, I am certain, be amazed and awestruck as to what my generation has witnessed and accomplished.
The only constant throughout Jewish history has been the moral compass of the Torah and its study and the guiding hand of the Divine, so to speak. Those two factors will be present for our grandchildren’s generation, as they deal with their world and their future. There are abundant dire predictions regarding the future of the United States, the State of Israel, world Jewry and the declining standards of morality in the Western World. I do not discount these opinions lightly. But my life experience has taught me that the future is too uncertain to be accurately divined. As such, I prefer to be sanguine and optimistic about the future world of my grandchildren. He Who has brought us this far will, in His own grace and mercy, bring us the rest of the way as well.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
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.
