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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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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.
