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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Noach
Yet the very first pasuk in the Sedra is filled with several superlatives about Noach: He is called an "Ish," (read: Mentsch); Tamim ("Perfect!"); one "who walked with G-d" & above all, a Tzadik. Pretty high praise, if you ask me.
And there is yet another compliment neatly hidden away in this first verse – do you see it? The Parsha begins: "Eyleh toldot Noach, Noach…." Noach’s name is repeated! Say the Rabbis: Anytime a name is doubled in the Torah, it indicates a very exalted, elevated Neshama. Clearly, Noach is in very good company, as we see this same name-doubling by Avraham (BR 22:11), Yakov (46:2), Shmuel (Shmuel I, 3:10), among others.
The idea represented here, by a name being repeated, is that there are actually two of each of us: The person we are, & the person we could be, if we utilize all the strengths & gifts which Hashem gives us. Indeed, says the Zohar, when we die & face the Heavenly Tribunal, we’ll be shown two pictures, or videos: One of the life we lived, & one of the life we could have lived, with all its many accomplishments, if only we had fully realized all our awesome potential. When we view that second video, says the Zohar, our neshama lets out a scream that reverberates across the Heavens.
When a person’s name is doubled in Tanach, it indicates that his actual self reached the level of his potential self, that he reached his very highest level of accomplishment; high praise, indeed. Thus Noach is in very rarified territory.
The story is told about the Netziv (Rav Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin) who confessed one day to his students, in a Musar schmooze, that he was a very difficult child, constantly in trouble at school. One day he overheard his parents saying that they were considering pulling him out of Yeshiva & putting him into carpentry classes, to learn a skill. Crying, he begged for another chance; he then proceeded to mend his ways & became a great student, scholar & author of many great S’forim.
One of the boys listening asked the Netziv: "Rebbe, would it have been so very terrible if you became a carpenter?! After all, the world needs skilled carpenters to make furniture!"
The Netziv replied: "You’re right, of course.; it would not have been no disgrace if I learned a trade But I was afraid that when I reached the next world, the angels would hold up a copy of the Emek Davar & ask me, ‘Naftali, did you ever read this book?’ And I would answer, ‘No, I’ve never even seen that book!" And they would say, ‘That’s because you were supposed to write it! But you became a carpenter instead, & so it never was written and all of Jewish history was deprived of it!"
Hashem & the angels will someday ask each of us, "Did you fulfill your potential? Did you use the power I instilled in you? Which You were You?"
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.
