Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Miketz
So too is it with all of us. One of the central issues and questions of life deals with the fulfillment of one's potential and the positive exploitation of the circumstances of life as they are dealt to us. Yosef’s words to the butler/officer of Pharaoh while in prison – "I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews and I have done nothing wrong here and now I find myself imprisoned" – is not to be read as being solely a lament over the circumstances of life that have overtaken him. Rather, it was a statement of fact upon which Yosef now builds his hopes for the future and implores the butler/officer of Pharaoh to remember him to the king and set him free. Yosef sees in this seemingly chance encounter in prison with the butler/officer the opportunity to pursue his goal and rise to greatness. Yosef will not squander that opportunity nor will he wallow in despair or rail against the fate that has treated him so cruelly. He will not allow events and circumstances to deter him from the realization and actualization of his dreams and visions. Rather, he will attempt to use and exploit all of those circumstances and events to make his dreams reality and to achieve the greatness that he believes he is entitled to and has been promised to him. This lesson of human fortitude has guided the Jewish people throughout the long night of our exile and dispersion. We are currently faced with difficult circumstances and troublesome events. We should somehow attempt to turn them to our advantage and realize our age-old dream of Zion and Jerusalem.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
