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Yaakov Ben Behora
The Rabbi says, "A saintly person is one who is concerned with his country. He provides all of its citizens with their every provision and need. He leads them justly, does not oppress any one of them, and does not give to any one of them more than his rightful share. Thus, in his time of need they will come to his aid, and will rush to answer him when he calls out to them. He can command them, and they will fulfill his command; he can admonish them, and they will accept his admonishment."
The Khazar king says, "I asked you about a saintly person, not a leader."
Foundations of Faith (51)
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
44 - 44. The Servant of God
45 - 45. The “Hassid” (Saintly Person)
46 - 47. The “Hassid” - The Ideal Jew
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"He muzzles his physical desires and prevents them from intensifying by feeding them their due and providing them enough to satisfy their needs. He also muzzles those aggressive tendencies which seek to vanquish other people. He feeds his senses their due in a productive fashion by defeating others in scholarly and philosophical debates and by rebuking evil people when necessary.
"Similarly, he uses his hands, legs, and mouth when necessary and when for productive objectives, and he does the same with his hearing and vision and the portion of his intellect which processes sensory information. He then continues by controlling his imagination, perception, discretion, and recollection, and finally his decision-making faculty. He does not allow any of the aforementioned faculties within himself to get stronger than it should, because that would diminish the other faculties. He causes all of his faculties to function properly and in perfect harmony.
"Once he provides the needs of all his faculties, provides his natural faculties their necessary rest and sleep, and provides his faculties of animation their necessary waking hours and integration with the active world, he can then call upon his 'community' like a highly regarded ruler who calls upon his obedient legion to come to his aid. He can call upon these faculties to attain a level which is higher than his current level, namely, the Divine level, which is higher than the intellectual level. He will be able to organize and rectify his 'community,' similar to the way that Moses organized his community around Mount Sinai.
"He will command his decision-making faculty to accept and observe everything he commands, and to do so in a timely fashion. This faculty will then utilize his limbs and other resources as it was commanded without rebelling. He will also command this faculty not be led astray by his imagination - not to accept or believe its council without first consulting his intellect.
"Only if the intellect endorses what these thoughts suggest will he accept them; otherwise, he will rebel against them. And if the intellect endorses them, he will command his imagination to project only images of the highest quality which are stored in his soul, such as the image of Mount Sinai during the giving of the Torah, or the image of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah during the binding of Isaac. In this manner he uses all of his inner resources in order to serve God."
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Much of the text in the above article is taken from or based upon Rabbi N. Daniel Korobkin's translation of The Kuzari (Jason Aronson Inc.).
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
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.