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- Ein Aya
Ein Ayah: On one level, there is a practical advantage of someone refraining from relying on miracles, for Hashem wants the world to operate based on nature. Additionally, there is a spiritual reason, which stems from the fact that man himself was one of the things that Hashem created with wisdom based on the rules of nature that He placed into His world. Therefore, it is proper that man should love nature, as it allows him to be active and not to be the object to which things happen. Even when man is ostensibly acting himself, he is actually acting together with Hashem (see Yeshaya 26:12). This desire to be one who acts is part of a person’s shleimut (completeness). When the desire to act combines with knowledge, then he will know how to act properly, and nature affords him the opportunity to do so.
In contrast, a miracle turns a person into the object upon which forces operate, and this actually takes away from his power, as he cannot do anything in this regard. What are merits if not the wide variety of good actions that a person does? When a person acts according to the path that Hashem sets out for him, his merits increase, and while they increase they certainly do not decrease. But when the miracle is happening to him, and as a recipient, that which occurs to him is a function of the past merits that he has accumulated, the miracle subtracts from the existing past storehouse of merits. After all, Hashem put limits even on the moral powers that He put in the world, and that which has been gained by proper actions that a person has done can go only so far, whether in the physical or the spiritual realm.
As long as a person is acting in the proper way, he can continue to succeed on an ongoing basis, as the pasuk says: "The work of your hands shall you eat, you are fortunate and it is good for you" (Tehillim 128:2). He will experience the full joy and success, and he loses nothing because he is only asking to continue living properly.
Therefore, one should always have an internal love of nature. This can be fully significant only when he knows clearly that miracles exist and that they are great, yet he sees the value of the sustainable situation of living based on healthy, natural actions. Then his actions are connected to complete truth and true freedom.
There are times when a person needs, for a variety of reasons, to become "smaller" by receiving miracles from Hashem. However, the ultimate goal is to grow again. Indeed, Yaakov, while acknowledging the impact of having received, also was told that his life was one of profound actions, as his new name (Yisrael) connoted that he had acted successfully with dominion among angels and with men (Bereishit 32:29).
Various Rabbis
Various Rabbis including those of of Yeshivat Bet El, such as Rabbi Chaim Katz, Rabbi Binyamin Bamberger and Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblat and others.
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: A Crown and its Scepter – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 294-5
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
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.
