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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bamidbar
- Balak
This is indeed a potent plan, by a dangerous pair of villains. Chazal note that if you take the last two letters of Bilaam & the last two letters of Balak, you form the word Amalek, our arch-enemy. What Amalek could not accomplish by strength, they will try to do by slander.
Sound familiar? It should – this is exactly the same evil strategy we face in our own day. The Arabs, prodded by the Palestinians, have B"H failed to dislodge us from our land in war after war. And so, they park their tanks & unleash their tongue, trying mightily to malign us in every possible forum, hoping to sway world opinion against us & thereby advance their cause.
If you ever wondered why Chazal place such a major emphasis on speaking the truth, on employing Lashon Tov rather than Lashon Hara, you just have to tune into any media any day of the week anywhere in the world, to see the influence & power that invisible words can have on the multitudes.
Many commentators ask the obvious question, "If Bilaam was such an effective master of the supernatural, why did he not use his powers to bless Midian, rather than to curse Israel?" The answer to that question is also part of our everyday life here in the Holy Land. Our enemies, it’s often been noted, are not so interested in attaining their own state as they are in preventing us from having ours.
What is the solution to all this? It’s exceedingly difficult to disprove lies that are spoken against us (can you prove you never robbed a bank?!) especially when the other side has already made up their minds as to our guilt. Of course, we have to do our utmost to speak the truth & defend our legitimate rights. But at the end of the day, we have to trust in Hashem to do for us exactly what He did in our Sedra – turn the curses flung at us into blessings.
And so He has. The "curse" that Israel was desolate for millennia enabled us to return to a place that was virtually abandoned. The refusal of most of the world to help arm Israel in our early years led us to become fiercely independent & creative. And the almost complete lack of neighboring countries to visit motivated us to develop amazing hotels & resorts within our very own borders.
Menachem Begin once told Anwar Sadat: "The greatest achievement is to turn an enemy into a friend." May we turn all our enemies into friends & all curses into brachot.
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.
