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Man is able to derive enjoyment more so than animals, and animals derive more enjoyment than plants. This is true even though plants, unlike animals, receive nourishment constantly and without interruption. The reason for this is that the finer one's senses, the greater one's pleasure. A broad cognition enhances pleasure.
Let us say that we were to bring a drunkard the foods that he loves and play for him music that he loves while he was drunk. When he sobers up and is told about this he will be very upset that he was deprived of these pleasures due to his drunken state. When pleasure comes to a person while he is fully conscious, he appreciates it more fully. Preparing oneself for the sensation of pleasure and thinking about the contrasting lack of pleasure before the pleasure arrives heightens the pleasurable experience.
Foundations of Faith (51)
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
48 - 49. True Faith Brings Trust in God
49 - 50. One Hundred Blessings
50 - 51. Beginning the Day
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An example of this is the blessing, "You have kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this point in time." Pronouncing this blessing awakens within a person joy over the life which he has been graced with by God, and for God's having brought him to this joyful occasion. By thanking God for life and understanding that life is a gift from God, it is easier to accept sickness, and even death, when the time comes. One will have already pondered carefully and concluded that he has been receiving gifts all along from God, and that he is really worthy of being deprived of all this goodness because, "you are dust" (Genesis 3:9).
But instead, God has benefited him with life and pleasure, and so he thanks Him. And when God removes life from such a person, he will thank God also. He will say, "God gave and God took away. May the name of God be blessed." In this way, his whole life will be filled with pleasure.
If one does not subscribe to this perspective, his pleasures are base and low, like those of an animal or a drunkard.
Blessings give profound expression to the meaning of things which man comes into relation with. Via blessings, each article and matter receives its specific and magnified value. One must of course be careful that habit and routine do not destroy one's intention and transform the blessing into insignificant and burdensome muttering, like a lifeless body. A body which is empty of life is heavy; a living body carries itself. The same is true of blessings. When they are recited with proper intention, they are "alive" and they support themselves - and the one who blesses. The blessings are not a burden but a pleasure and they bestow goodness, majesty, and gratification.
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Some 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.).
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
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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.
