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Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Ein Ayah
Ein Ayah: When people join together to develop the world, the goal of the society is that people should be able to live in the land in an orderly, integrated, and normal manner. However, in order for the populace to live normally, it is necessary for some individuals to voluntarily dedicate themselves to efforts for the betterment of the society that far transcend the levels of normalcy.
We find this phenomenon in regard to a country’s soldiers. They sometimes have to go for long sleepless periods, on guard or in ambush for more hours than is healthy and normal. If they are noble people, they accept this burden upon themselves with love. In fact, they are happy with their work, as they know that only when they volunteer to put themselves in an abnormally difficult situation will they succeed in enabling their countrymen to live normal lives
The same is true of those special people to whom Hashem refers to as those who occupy themselves with Torah. They are the "brave soldiers on guard for their nation." They are the nation’s protective wall, protecting the nation as a whole. "I am a wall" – this is Torah; "and my breasts are like towers" – these are Torah scholars (Bava Batra 7b, based on Shir Hashirim 8:10).
If soldiers want to live their lives in normalcy and moderation, the nation is lost and no one will be able to live in tranquility. Then crime will increase and enemies will come to destroy it. For the same reason, Torah scholars need to be like soldiers who volunteer to work unusually hard in order to bring peace to the world and allow the light of Israel and the nation’s true life to continue properly. Therefore, they are to ignore the physical exhaustion that by necessity afflicts the majority of Torah scholars who toil in Torah study. Indeed, their physical body is expected to be smashed, and they are to be deprived of many of the pleasures of life and joys of the free-spirited. They are to push themselves physically, pressing themselves to the limit in order to enable full concentration on the intellectual requirements of scholarship, while pushing away feelings of pleasure that a broad life experience presents.
aIn this way, they can experience the great depth of abstract intellectual inquiry and moral contemplation, calculating how man can straighten his path and elevate himself above the desires that the evil inclination urges him to embrace. They do all of this without regard for that which they are missing in order to be able to teach others the good and straight path. The scholars are to kill the robust desire for enjoyment, which is fitting for the masses, but needs to be distant from the heart of those intellectuals who do the holy service of straightening the path of the nation.
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.
