YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bamidbar
- Masei
But I want to focus for a moment on a rather oblique comment about the destruction in Gemara Shabbat: "Rav Yitzchak says: Yerushalayim was destroyed only because people equated the small with the great."
What exactly does Rav Yitzchak mean by this? Who are "the great" and who are "the small?"
This week I went to the Israel Museum in Yerushalayim, one of the premier museums in the world. One of the special exhibitions currently there is quite small, but absolutely amazing. It is the story, & display, of Ilan Ramon z"l’s celebrated notebook.
Ilan was a true hero of Am Yisrael & Medinat Yisrael. An air force colonel, he was the youngest pilot in Operation Opera, the daring & successful mission to destroy Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak. But his defining moment was when he became Israel’s first & only astronaut, joining the crew of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.
Though Ilan may not have considered himself "observant," he had a pure neshama. He was the first astronaut to request kosher food in outer space, & he took along with him a microfiche copy of the Torah, a miniature sefer Torah that had miraculously survived the Shoa, & even a dollar bill from the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Tragically, the Columbia was destroyed upon re-entry, 16 minutes before landing, & the entire crew was killed. Two months later, in a Texas field, 37 pages of Ilan’s notebook were found. It took five years of painstaking effort & advanced infra-red technology to reconstruct the pages. Some of them are on display at the museum, including a copy of the Kiddush, which Ilan proudly brought with him. Said the curator: "There is no rational explanation as to how these pages survived the impact and the fire, & were somehow recovered."
Ilan wrote what a miracle from G-d it is that Man can rise to such awesome heights of accomplishment & can even conquer space, and he marveled that Earth is such a magnificent planet. And he recalled the suffering that his little Shoa Torah represented, & the need for Man to aspire to the good.
As I stared at that other-worldly notebook in the case, I suddenly understood Rav Yitzchak's words. "We Jews have been through so many traumatic times; times when we were brought low & made ‘small,’ " he was saying. "But don’t think that is our eternal fate; don’t doubt for a moment that we can reach the heights & that we can - & will - be great." Ilan rose physically higher than any Jew in history; he affirms that our holy nation, with G-d’s help, will rise above any other.
Rabbi Stewart Weiss
Was ordained at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois, and led congregations in Chicago and Dallas prior to making Aliyah in 1992. He directs the Jewish Outreach Center in Ra'anana, helping to facilitate the spiritual absorption of new olim.
Jewish Laws and Thoughts Shul “etiquette:” can we honor Hashem while respecting our fellow congregants?
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 5- "Proofs of G-d"
This may be the most important class of the entire book, where we finally get to the Jewish proof of the existence of G-d and truth of the Torah. We should follow His own direction where He tells us how to get to Him: through the Nation of Israel: Jewish history, Jewish prophets (and today, prophecies fulfilled), and national reward & punishment towards Am Yisrael.
Ein Aya One Humanity, One Creator, One Jerusalem
Rav Kook innovatively and beautifully explains this aggadeta where our sages say that after Jerusalem was destroyed her cinnamon fragrance is only found locked in a particular kingdom's treasury.
Shlach Lecha "Why So Many Don't Make Aliya?" - Parshat Shlach
This short article deals with the weird phenomena that every single time Am Yisrael is meant to enter the Land of Israel, throughout the Tanach, 2nd Temple and until today, they "chicken out" and look for excuses. What's the problem with this mitzvah that proves so challenging. The article, based on sources, suggests that the difficulties of Eretz Yisrael is precisely her secret and beauty!
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 4
The class deals with Islam and how the Muslim tries convincing the King of the Khazars, and why he was also rejected.
Beha'alotcha JEWISH STATE= GUIDE TO G-DLINESS & SELFLESSNESS
A Jewish State not only is a good idea, but educates us towards selflessness, altruism and G-dliness in our daily lives.
Ein Aya In Zion Even the Smoke of the Bark is Sweet
Just as Jewish nationalism is different from others, so too our capitol of Jerusalem is totally different than other national capitols. Rav Kook beautifully explains the passage in the Talmud that the trees of Yerushalayim were cinnamon trees.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 3
The second speaker invited to convince the Khazar King is the Christian, who presents their beliefs. Even before the questions of the King, "between the lines", the author R. Yehuda HaLevi already begins disproving them.
Ein Aya "Intimacy: Love, Life & Giving or Egocentric Taking & Expiration"
Today, many confuse between intimacy in marriage, based on love, giving and life which are diametrically opposed to empty "sex", pornography and prostitution which destroyed the Beit HaMikdash. The practical importance of clarifying this topic in today's western society is obvious, especially for young adults.
