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Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Ein Ayah
Ein Ayah: Practical life, with all its passion in the individual’s heart and the framework of the community, is full of power and "heat." This status is not uniform. At times, life progresses in tranquility. At other times, certain events will shake life up and cause the heat to increase. One part of the group can light a fire that will start to consume another part until there is a general situation of fire throughout.
Usually, when the "level of heat" spikes in society, it releases all the filth within people’s potential: murder, promiscuity, drunkenness, and all their related abuses. This causes disappearance of the "good odor" of the divinely given spirit, which smells like the pleasant aroma of divine origin, emanating from wisdom and justice. It is replaced by a stench of coarse desires without elevated light or a life of truth. The greater the nation is in quantity, the greater the polluted powers will be, as more people will cause "fire" that will release bad odors that dry up that which ennobles the pure spirit within man. This is because the powers that bring the members of the society together are negative ones. The masses are motivated by wild desires and only a small minority, who stand above the group, raise themselves to the level of "pleasant aromas" that fit their godly spirits. When matters in the society heat up to the point that it begins to "burn," then a stench of animalistic tendencies develops, which chokes the special people in their periphery and limits their ability to function.
The above is true of groups who do not enjoy the life of a true nation that contains the internal light of life emanating from Hashem. In contrast, Israel has internal light that finds expression specifically when people join together, as their focus on centrality uncovers the most beautiful and pure divine light. In this regard, then, the more animated they become and the more their "heat" will increase, the greater the good aroma with a scent of Gan Eden they give off in the world.
The "heat" and awakening of the spirit will come from something that stores an inner substance. We can refer to the bark of a tree (from which cinnamon comes), which preserves moisture and freshness, although the aroma is one of the "field that Hashem blessed" (see Bereishit 27:27).
Indeed, the trees of Yerushalayim were trees that contained cinnamon. When they were burnt, i.e., when the flame of communal life emerges, when it is appropriate for its pure element to be agitated to a "level of heat" at which its inside is freed into the air, the entire Land was elevated as a result. The origins of these elevated matters are the source of beauty and divine pleasure that dwells in the flesh, senses, and spirit of the members of the nation. They are capable of performing actions that give off the most gentle and pure light. When they would burn the cinnamon wood in the most central place of Judaism, where all the spirits join together and are inspired together, the wonderful impact spread throughout the Land. This is like nutrition for the body that spreads from the heart to the various limbs, bringing along with it, purity and intense sanctity that emanates from the center of the community. "In the congregations bless Hashem; do so from the source of Israel" (Tehillim 68:27).
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
