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Beit Midrash
- Shabbat and Holidays
- Jewish Holidays
- Sukkot
Many reasons are given for having Sukkot in Tishrei. One of them is that the Sukka – small & humble as it is, compared to our expansive homes – represents a kind of "exile." So if G-d forbid we got a negative "report card" on Yom Kippur, let this be our penance!
But I prefer to look at Sukkot as being wholly positive & uplifting. In this context, the Sukka reaffirms our desire to get close to Hashem, spending our "honeymoon" in the little "love-nest" we build right in our backyard.
The Arba Minim can also represent a kind of sword (or M-16 or Galil, if you prefer!) that we carry & march with throughout Sukkot, like a proud, confident IDF soldier. We raise it high, like a banner, signaling our loyalty to Hashem & our membership in the army of the Almighty.
Thus, as soon as Yom Kippur ends, we show Hashem that we want to immediately start fulfilling His mitzvot. And Sukkot is jam-packed with many Mitzvot; the primary one being the Sukka, which is one of only 3 Mitzvot in which we completely envelop ourselves. (Eretz Yisrael & Talit being the other two).
Rabbi Yekutiel Halberstam, the founding Rebbe of the Sanz-Klausenberg dynasty, lost his wife & ten children in the flames of the living hell called Auschwitz. In the fall of 1945, after his liberation, the Rebbe moved to the DP camp Fohrenwald. On Yom Kippur, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower visited the camps to assess the state of the Jewish DP's. He heard the Rebbe speak &, tremendously impressed, he asked what he could do for the Jews in the camp.
The Rebbe said, "The war has ended and Yom Kippur is concluded; now we need to go back to doing Mitzvot. If you could secure Lulav & Etrog for us, that would be wonderful."
Eisenhower ordered that Arba Minim from Italy be brought for the survivors. One great general, the supreme Allied military commander, responding to another "general," this one a spiritual giant, who would later bring his wisdom & influence to Israel.
After the Nazi guns were finally silenced, our Lulav - like the Jewish backbone – remained strong & tall. And long after the Palestinians & their terror guns lay on the rust-heap of history, we will still be shaking our Arba Minim, & Israel will still be the prime "movers & shakers" of history.
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IDF Service for Young Jewish Men from America
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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.
