YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Ein Ayah
Gemara: What is bein hashemashot (halachic twilight)? From the time the sun sets, as long as the east side of the sky has redness. When the bottom side has darkened and the top has not, this is still bein hashemashot. When the top part darkens and is the same color as the bottom, this is night. The preceding is the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda.
Ein Ayah: The phenomenon of day and night and the transition and relationship between them reminds us of the approach to historical periods in the annals of the Jewish people that can be compared to day and night. Day represents times of liberation and glory, and night represents times of deterioration.
The fundamental difference between these periods is that in the time of greatness, matters relating to the collective have the greatest prominence, and all individuals find happiness and pride in the success of the collective. A situation of "daylight" means that the actions of society are so great that they swallow up the tendency toward individualism.
When the nation declines, destruction sets in. The people are scattered, their centers are destroyed, and the spirit of the collective is lost. "The sun sets, and night falls." Elements of national life disappeared when our Glorious House was destroyed and our unifying capital city lost its centrality. One needs to define the extent to which the national spirit declined in order to set new boundaries between public and private life and calibrate their interaction.
This is important because even after the kingdom ceased, the Temple was destroyed, and the nation was scattered, Hashem still preserved for us a situation in which there were rays of light and the "eastern sky had a rosy glow." The nation still remembered well its glory, and its connection to their collective successes lived powerfully in its heart.
In the first stage after destruction, the individual felt the loss, even in his personal life in regard to his material state, so that this part of his life could not be complete and full of light. However, in the element of his spirit, there was still a connection to the days of glory, and there was still a connection to the era of liberation.
As time moved on, any connection to the time of independence and national success disappeared, and the last vestige of connection to the national era was lost in the lower realm. However, as long as the individual still felt the spirit of strength and felt a connection to the spiritual grandeur that existed in the upper realm, it was still bein hashemashot. There was a mixture of exile and liberation interplaying within the person.
Once even the upper, spiritual realm only had a connection to the individual, not the collective, this already signaled the era of night, of exile. All of these matters are a function of time. As more time goes by from the previous period to the one in which people are now living, the connection lessens. Over time, the dominion of the collective is darkened, as this element of life is lost, and the life of the individual, with its focus on matters of little significance, takes its place. Then darkness of full night becomes fully palpable.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
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.
