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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
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- Ekev
Rashi focuses on the unusual word, "Ekev" – which can also mean "heel" - & comments that one should be very scrupulous in observing the "light" Mitzvot that people tend to trample upon with their heel.
Perhaps Rashi was moved to say this because in the previous Sedra we read the grandest of all the many Mitzvot in the Torah: The 10 Commandments & the Shma. Perhaps he felt people might feel a kind of "letdown" after such weighty & profound principles. So he wants to emphasize that the "little things" also count for a lot.
How right Rashi is! It is davka the seemingly insignificant things that we do in life, & in Judaism, that often mean the most. Consider the following:
- Each day, we say the Amida & then the Chazan repeats it. We can sit back, relax & simply answer, "Amen" to each bracha of his. Except, that is, for the "Modim;" that we must rise from our slumber & recite individually, because it says, "Thank you." And the act of saying those two words (just one word in Hebrew!) cannot be overestimated.
- The Gemara records that the sage Rav Yehoshua ben Levi was once walking in the market & spotted Eliyahu HaNavi. He asked him, "Who in this crowd will merit a high place in Olam Haba?" Eliyahu pointed to a particular man; Rav Yehoshua ben Levi then asked the prophet what made that man so special. "He makes other people laugh!" said Eliyahu.
- The Rabbis bid us to be friends, not enemies, with our fellow Jews. They define an "enemy" as someone you have not said "Shalom" to for three days!
- Yakov’s bracha of royalty given to Yehuda ends with the strange statement, "Milk will be between your teeth." Gemara Kedushin explains this to mean that people will see the white of his teeth – when he smiles! As king, he must be sure to smile to all his subjects & brighten their day.
In the course of our daily lives, we have innumerable opportunities to positively affect other people’s lives with the tiniest of gestures; a hello, a thank you, a joke or smile. Not much effort expended, but an awful lot of benefit.
Life itself may be no small thing, but it is made up of lots & lots of small things. So rather than be a heel, why not take that extra second & connect to another sole/soul?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
