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The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
Yaakov Ben Behora
"You have come at just the right time," exclaimed the rebbe, "We are in a quandary." Take the child. I am certain that you will be able to return him to me in a healthy state."
Yissachar Ber was perplexed. Never in his life had he healed anybody, neither had he ever felt as if he possessed any such powers. However, he heeded the words of his rebbe and took the baby. He returned him to the cradle and began to rock it. Rocking the cradle, he began to pour out his soul before God. In about an hour the baby had improved to the point where it was no longer in danger.
Chassidish Stories (17)
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
5 - The Charm of Jerusalem
6 - Descending from the Hilltop
7 - The Lugubrious Bed
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The student, hearing these sounds, hurries confusedly down the hill. He is still unaware that something inside of him has changed, that he has been instilled with unique faculties - faculties which place him on the hilltop. The student does not yet know that he is capable of saving the life of the child. He descends the hill to the house of his rebbe. He is contrite, diffident before his rebbe.
The rebbe is distraught, crying. A person who is immersed in pain and suffering is not capable of helping himself. The student approaches from without. He is capable of gathering his energies and uttering a fitting prayer. Sensing this, the rebbe charges his young student with the responsibility of offering supplication on behalf of his son. What we have here is a kind of ordination wherein the aging rebbe "explains" to his young disciple that the time has come for him to take on a position of authority. It has come time for Yissachar to pray on behalf of others.
The student's descent from the hill bears deep Chassidic significance. When, in the wilderness, the Children of Israel committed the Sin of the Golden Calf, God turned to Moses, saying, "Go down, for your people have sinned." Chassidut has always called upon its pious to "go down to the people," to be sensitive to their tribulations, and to address even their smallest problems - problems which, from the top of the hill, sometimes seem insignificant.
In our story, the student declines the hill; his teacher, R' Yaakov Yitzchak, says, "You have come at just the right time." Indeed, the time has arrived for you to reveal yourself. The time has come for you to effect salvation through your prayers, to perceptively and understandingly aid others.
It is here that R' Yissachar Ber performs the act which inaugurates him as a righteous person who effects miraculous salvation. He prays and the child becomes healthy. We would do well to consider the manner in which this prayer is conceived: R' Yissachar Ber does not know what his teacher expects of him. He never imagined that he had the power to heal the sick. Yet, the rebbe has given his order to save the child.
From this point onward he behaves in the most simple and natural manner: He places the boy in his crib, rocks him, and pours out his prayers before God. R' Yissachar descends. He feels the pain of the child. He feels the pain of the entire family, of his rebbe, R' Yaakov Yitzchak. With these simple and pure intentions he pours out his prayers before the Creator.
Prayer does not necessarily have to be pronounced with calculated focus. Prayer which gushes forth as a result of a true feeling of pain can also achieve salvation. The "inauguration ceremony," wherein R' Yissachar Ber is made aware of his unique capacity to aid others, has come to an end.
The impression left from this event accompanied the young Yissachar Ber wherever he went. R' Yissachar Ber from Radoshitz indeed became known as a worker of wonders who was ever sensitive to the hardships of the Jewish people, and, accordingly, effected miraculous salvation on their behalf.
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
