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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bamidbar
- Chukat
There will be sad consequences for Moshe from this incident, but apparently the people are not subject to punishment for their demands to Moshe that he provide them with water, which precipitated the entire matter. In fact, the people will break into song and poetry over this new well of blessed water. Yet, we find that when the people requested meat, the meat miraculously arrived, but the people were severely punished for their request. It seems that requesting and even demanding water, a necessity of life for human existence, is permissible. However, demanding meat, which is a luxury food is inappropriate. There is a great lesson for all of us in this matter. Demanding and even praying for more than we really need and are entitled to carries with it the seeds of subsequent problems and even disaster.
Chassidic legend and tradition records a discussion between Rav Yitzchak Vorker and Rav Menachem Mendel Morgenstern, the Kotzker Rebbe, regarding why the Jewish people escaped immediate punishment for the sin of the Golden Calf, while for the sin of the Spies and their rejection of entering the land of Israel, the punishment was immediate and harsh.
The Vorker Rebbe explained that when the Jewish people repented after the sin of the Golden Calf they were yet unaware that repentance could nullify decrees and punishment. Nevertheless, they repented sincerely without expectations of forgiveness, and their repentance was accepted. After the sin of the spies, they already knew that repentance could bring about forgiveness, so their repentance was insufficiently sincere.
The Kotzker Rebbe thought otherwise. He said that the sin of the Golden Calf had in it the seeds of searching for and serving a higher power. They went about it incorrectly, but there was a spark of holiness in their quest for divinity. However, the sin of the spies was of a different nature. Its motivation was that they wished for an easy life of luxuries, without the challenges that a nation-state automatically inflicts on its inhabitants. Such a base motive was unacceptable to Heaven. We pray for health and prosperity to be able to serve God with more sincerity and more effectively. If we pray only out of selfish motives, then we have missed the mark with our prayers. This week’s Torah reading is a powerful reminder of this truth,
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Berel Wein
Chukat Jewish Art – The Positive and Halachic Care
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: #158 – part II
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.
