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Beit Midrash
- Jewish Laws and Thoughts
- Jewish Thought
- Having Faith in Hashem
Others pine for a true devoutness to God never feeling that they achieved it. But there are yet others that are convinced that their worship of God is the product of complete devoutness.
Intuitively, one would think that a person should always strive to worship God out of devoutness rather than out of fear of punishment. But is this the true disposition that a person should have?
The Talmud of the Land of Israel advises: "Do out of Love. Do out of fear". On the one hand a person should strive to worship God out of Love, but on the other, one should always worship God with some measure of fear.
If you lapse in your Love for God, your fear of God will act as a fail-safe. This is also true contrarily. In either case you will still observe God’s commandments.
The lesson that the Talmud of the Land of Israel teaches here is that a measure of pragmatism must always be used when dealing with human nature. A person can never be absolutely sure of his true disposition at any given moment. Therefore, only the right combination of love and fear of God can ensure an unfailing observance of God’s commandments!
May we figure out the right combination of Love and Fear of God for ourselves and ensure the performance of God’s commandments!
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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D'varim Judaism’s Social Vision
Re’eh
Giving is more than an act of generosity—it is an essential part of human dignity that belongs to everyone, rich and poor alike. The ultimate goal of help is to empower others to stand on their own.
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.
