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Beit Midrash
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"Hashem made man straight, and they looked for many calculations (chishbonot)" (Kohelet 7:29). This implies that calculations represent a deterioration in man’s status. On the other hand, Chazal teach on the words "Come to Cheshbon" that we should make the "calculation of the world" (Bava Batra 78b).
The line leading from man to his Maker is innately straight, as a pure spirit yearns for Hashem, the source of his life and of goodness. However, if the line became crooked, it is necessary to make corresponding crooked lines (i.e., calculations) to get back to the desired place. We lost the knack of connecting directly, so we need to figure out through complex determinations where we are supposed to be.
That’s the reason that for someone like Moshe Rabbeinu, who had an ideal, natural relationship with Hashem, it is indeed simple to fear Hashem. But someone who is missing that relationship has to "learn to fear." The giving of the first Tablets, with the awe-inspiring display of divinity, put the nation on the cusp of being on the level at which fear of Hashem is trivial. It could have turned into something that lasted "all the days …" (Devarim 5:25). However, the sin of the Golden Calf complicated matters greatly, and made it necessary to "quarry for yourself" (ibid. 10:1), with the great effort involved to figure out how to get back "in synch" with Hashem. Even after the quarrying and the toil it symbolized, there was still a need for Hashem to write on the new tablets (see Shemot 34:1).
We can only create an opening to our relationship to Hashem like the crack of a needle, and the rest requires Divine Assistance. The point of Torah study is to fear Hashem, but that fear is not as great as that which is above it, as it says, "The beginning of knowledge is fear of Hashem" (Tehillim 111:10).
We spend so much of the year in mistaken activity, things that distance us from Hashem, almost as if we are again making golden calves and bowing down to them. The month of Elul is a time to make calculations and start bending back in the right direction. We ask Hashem to create a new heart for us (Tehillim 51:12). While we are incapable of creating such a new heart, which requires the ability to create, we are capable of desiring such a pure heart. May we serve Hashem in a manner that demonstrates the yearning to be pure once again.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
Chukat "HOW ENTEBBE STOLE THE BICENTENNIAL
The Difference Between Historic & Eternal"
As we approach America's 250th birthday, it's worth remembering her 200th Bicentennial birthday, on Jul. 4th 1976, when Israel "stole the show" by shocking the world & miraculously saving 101 hostages in a foreign continent. As Pres. As Pres. Trump decides which countries get priority in his new Middle-East, it's worth reminding him of the difference between historic events and eternally historic ones. This obviously connects with this week's parsha, as well!
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 6 - The Parable of the King of India
The advantages of testimony over circumstantial evidence or philosophical speculation.
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.
