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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Vayikra
- Vayikra
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- The Four Parshiyot
- Hachodesh
in a special Parshat HaChodesh reading. This would seem to indicate that a whole lot is new!
The message we project via the portions read in three Sifrei Torah this Shabbat - a rare event, indeed – is that life can always begin anew. No matter where you may be holding, no matter how dark or dangerous the road ahead may seem, there’s always room for hope & optimism.
This concept is made starkly visible to us through the medium of the Moon. It has its period of decline, to be sure, but it always will return in ascendance, symbolizing our rise as a nation from tragedy to triumph. That is why our calendar is based on the chodesh (as in chadash-new), as opposed to the solar calendar, which is based on the year, or shana, connected to shayna, old.
And the same is true of the Torah. It is not a finite, fossilized document, but a Torat Chayim, a miraculous, living, wellspring of wisdom that continually brings forth chiddushim, new ideas & viewpoints, in every generation.
Perhaps this is why Pesach, alone among the holidays, has a phenomenon called Pesach Sheni. If you miss the first Pesach (for certain reasons) you can make it up a month later & bring the Korban Pesach in Iyar. Again, second chances, the ability to renew yourself & make things right. Never despair or give up, individually or as a nation, for all is never, ever lost.
We Jews, more than any other people, have the unique ability to re-create ourselves, to shed the skin of yesterday’s disappointments & create a bright new day. Like the spring season in which Pesach must occur, we know that hopes & dreams, like flowers, may lie dormant for a time. But ultimately, they will burst into bloom.
Remember that famous story of the scientists who told the world that in just 3 days, the Earth would be engulfed by a massive, global flood? What to do? How should one spend these last 72 hours? Some said they would intensify their relationship with their families, others said they would indulge in every conceivable pleasure. But the Jews had a very different approach: "We have just three days," they declared," to learn how to live underwater!"
We are an old - yet eternally young - People. So if someone asks you, "What’s new?" Just answer: "We are!"
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
D'varim Judaism’s Social Vision
Re’eh
Giving is more than an act of generosity—it is an essential part of human dignity that belongs to everyone, rich and poor alike. The ultimate goal of help is to empower others to stand on their own.
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.
