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The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
R. Avraham ben-tziyon ben shabtai
Yet there is with what to comfort these weary individuals. The situation is not entirely hopeless. The Talmud informs us that the Almighty "concocted the remedy prior to the illness." The difficulties of our world were long ago anticipated by the Creator. Pirkei Avot , Chapters of the Fathers, teaches us that a number things were created even before the creation of the world, and that amongst them was teshuva, repentance. This, as a matter of fact, is the purpose of creation, and the true task of the Torah- to face difficulties and to overcome them, to accept fearlessly life's struggles, even the most difficult amongst them. To the contrary, the light of Torah is that much more discernable when it appears as a result of struggle with conflicting ideologies. In fact, the more that the darkness around it grows, the more the light of Torah breaks forth and rises with greater clearness and purity.
This concept is contained in the words of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi in the tractate of Shabbat where he relates that when Moses went up to heaven to receive the Torah, the ministering angels said to God: "Master of the Universe, what is this human doing here amongst us?" He replied: "He's come to receive the Torah." They said to Him, "A hidden treasure which has been stored away with You for some nine hundred and seventy four generations before the creation of the world, You now wish to hand over to a man of flesh and blood?" God's ministering angels didn't understand how it was possible to give the Torah to a mere mortal, how it was even thinkable to present a heavenly Torah to an 'only-human' world. The most fitting place for the Torah, they reasoned, is in heaven. Man lacks stability, he contradicts himself and changes his mind from one moment to the next. What's more, man is easily given over to all sorts of influences. What, they contended, does he have in common with God's Holy Torah?
God, though, chose not to respond to the angels. He said to Moses, "You give them an answer!" And how did Moses reply? He explained to the ministering angels that this is precisely the purpose of the Torah: to descend to the human world and to elevate it. To penetrate the complex and confusing material existence, in order to light up the darkness. The task of the Torah is to repair all. To plunge to the depths in order to elevate even the lowest of the low. To confront the most far-out ideologies with the intention of bringing-them-close. To leave no place empty of the light of God.
So, we see that man - with all of his shortcomings - is, in a sense, superior to the angels. Man unites within himself body and soul- a lowly, material body and a lofty soul - and, in this respect, unites the higher and the lower worlds. He is capable of ascending to the loftiest heights and elevating everything else with him. It is the free-choice of man which brings him into the innermost chamber, to a place which even the angels cannot enter. The ministering angels, for all of their greatness, are by nature static. True, they don't descend or fall, but, in the same respect, they don't ascend and are not capable of elevating the world. That is the task of the Jewish People and the Torah: to light up the darkness, and to face life's challenges, aware of the fact that the more the darkness grows, the more the light of Torah breaks forth and rises.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
Shlach Lecha "Why So Many Don't Make Aliya?" - Parshat Shlach
This short article deals with the weird phenomena that every single time Am Yisrael is meant to enter the Land of Israel, throughout the Tanach, 2nd Temple and until today, they "chicken out" and look for excuses. What's the problem with this mitzvah that proves so challenging. The article, based on sources, suggests that the difficulties of Eretz Yisrael is precisely her secret and beauty!
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 4
The class deals with Islam and how the Muslim tries convincing the King of the Khazars, and why he was also rejected.
Beha'alotcha JEWISH STATE= GUIDE TO G-DLINESS & SELFLESSNESS
A Jewish State not only is a good idea, but educates us towards selflessness, altruism and G-dliness in our daily lives.
Ein Aya In Zion Even the Smoke of the Bark is Sweet
Just as Jewish nationalism is different from others, so too our capitol of Jerusalem is totally different than other national capitols. Rav Kook beautifully explains the passage in the Talmud that the trees of Yerushalayim were cinnamon trees.