YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Jewish Laws and Thoughts
- Serving Hashem, Mitzvot and Repentance
- Mesilat Yesharim
- Jewish Laws and Thoughts
- Rav Kook books
- Ein Aya
Ein Ayah: One of the foundations of the Torah is to improve and embellish the natural emotion for good and justice that flows from the divine light in a person’s soul. Because man has limited intellectual vision, he cannot span the many actions that are necessary to be done or avoided in order to actualize true good in the world. Therefore, he needs divine guidance, as Hashem is intimately aware of everything that exists in the world, from its beginning to its end, and is aware of what needs to be done to achieve full depth and breadth.
It is entrenched in the heart of the wise that the goal of the Torah should be justice and straightness. These are concepts that a person recognizes generally with his intellect and natural emotions. People, therefore, sometimes mistakenly think that just as one intuits the significance of the general principles, he should also be able to sense their connection to the specific laws of the Torah. Actually, the general principles are "planted" in the very nature of the soul, whereas the details are connected to the depth of Torah, which requires a great deal of study. Even after great efforts, the latter cannot be fully grasped because of its linkage to the full, great light of Hashem’s mind.
Intellect and emotion are man’s two legs in the spiritual realm, enabling him to pass through the land of life and perceive good and truth. The non-Jew who came before Shammai to convert was attracted to goodness and profundity by the influence of Greek thought. He wanted to appreciate the entire Torah with all its details just on the basis of emotion, which is what he meant by learning everything while standing on one leg.
Shammai’s choice of pushing him away with an amat habinyan has symbolic significance. In comparing emotion to many detailed good actions, we can use, as a simile, a measuring stick and a blueprint. Even though the measuring stick is of use when one builds a building, it is not one of the instruments that one uses to actually build it. One just uses it to determine how big the plot is and determine the dimensions of the building when it will be complete. This is different from specific actions and instruments that actually build the building.
Similarly, while emotion helps determine the general picture of what and where our spiritual building will be, there is a tremendous amount of crucial detailed action that has to be taken to bring it to fruition. The emotions can only determine the bottom level of the edifice of the Torah one is to internalize.
Only after the fulfillment and in-depth study of Torah will one’s emotions reach the level that he can start to appreciate the connection between the specific mitzvot and the overarching principles of the Torah. Even so, the amat habinyan is designed only to measure that which is going to be done in the future or that which was already done. It is not an instrument that carries out the building. In Torah, we must internalize that only belief in Hashem and love of Torah and mitzvot, which are the path that Hashem set out for us, are the instruments of the fulfillment of Torah. Emotion can only capture the general element of the matter, but a greater level exists.
When Shammai saw that this conversion candidate came with a weak, emotional interest, which was not fit for a life of building a Torah lifestyle, he pushed him with the amat habinyan. This showed that the person was trying to build a great building with nothing more than a measuring stick.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
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.
