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The first time we met – even before Rav Ronen began his almost decade-long tenure at Ohel Ari – we cried. He had come to meet Susie & I, & to learn about the fallen soldier for whom his shul was named. After we spoke about Ari HY"D for a long time, he cried. And we cried, too. I knew then what a genuine person he was, for tears are real, they’re genuine, & they can speak louder than words.
We became close friends & great admirers of his. He was a dynamo of activity, filled with an unquenchable desire to accomplish something special & important every day. An idealist, with a passion to change the Jewish world; he didn’t just talk the talk, he walked the walk. IDF's prestigious Shayetet unit, Tzohar, Beit Hillel, Ohel Ari, V’Ahavta – he was a man of action as well as words. I was zoche to review his landmark book, "The Halachic Bridge," a remarkable achievement, and we spent wonderful hours discussing it.
He was, above all, a giver - someone who sought to contribute, to share all of his many talents with whoever was prepared to receive them.
I keep thinking about the number 50; Rav Ronen's age when he was taken by Hashem. In our current period of S'firat Ha-Omer, as we make the spiritual climb from slavery to Sinai, our Sedra commands us to count 50 days: "U's'fartem lachem chamishim yom." But we never actually do that - we stop the count at 49. What happened to that elusive 50th day?! The answer is that we never actually reach the 50th level, for it is the level beyond. It is always just out of our reach, calling to us to keep going, to never stop, to try each and every day to add more Kedusha to our lives & attain an even higher level than yesterday. For if we stop, if we were to somehow reach the highest possible point, we would cease to exist.
I believe that while Rav Ronen zt"l had so much more to reveal to the world, he had the z'chut to come within reach of that ultimate 50th plateau. It’s therefore so fitting that his shloshim this week comes shortly before the parsha of B’Har; for he climbed that mountain & he made it to the top.
And so Rav Ronen zt"l is a model to all of us; an inspiration encouraging us to fill each day with positive achievement, to accomplish something every moment of our lives. If we do that, there can be no greater kavod that we can give him to honor his memory. Y'hi zichro baruch.
Rabbis in Midrash
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
