Female LessonParashat HashavuaSeries'LibraryPiskei Din (Hebrew)Test YourselfOur Sedra discusses the canceling of debts in the upcoming Shmita (7th) year. Mishna Shevi'it states that when Hillel the Elder (circa 100 CE) saw that wealthy people were refraining from loaning money to the needy during the Shemita year (a Torah prohibition), he enacted the "Prozbul," a device designed so that debts would not be cancelled & people would once again agree to loan money to one another. In essence, debts are transferred to a Bet Din, which is allowed to collect them even during Shmita. "Prozbul" comprises the Aramaic words: "Pruz buli ubuti," which translates as "an advantage to the rich & the poor." The prozbul benefited the rich by securing their loans & helped the poor by enabling them to borrow money even with a Shmita year approaching. Two valid witnesses sign the Prozbul, which is usually administered by the Rav of the Bet Knesset. The Prozbul can only be utilized when Shmita is rabbinic; when the majority of Jews live in Israel (very soon!) and Shmita is a Biblical law it may not be used.
DO WE DESERVE REDEMPTION? “Blood, Covenant, and Return”- Parshat VaEra
Are we today so much greater than say the Rambam's generation? Why is G-d returning us to Israel & doing so many salvations and victories over Hamas, Hizballah, Syria and Iran in recent years, even if we haven't done Teshuva & seemingly don't deserve it?
The class deals with how to cleave and strengthen the G-dly trait of "Truth", the need to pray for Teshuva, the importance of returning that which was wrongly taken before saying Viduy, and other aspects of Teshuva.
Rav Kook explains why that which is learned on Shabbat is considered so much greater than that studied during the week, and why creativity is that much greater on Shabbat, for better or for worse!
The class deals with not "resting on one's laurels", and that not a few people who lived their entire lives idealistically, "lost it" upon getting older. Similarly the importance of not focusing on luxuries but on the necessities of life.
Seemingly 'Strange' Rabbinical Decrees- Not What You Thought!
Rav Kook suggests a very innovative and important "eye-opening" way to understand some of the rabbinical decrees which are particularly difficult to understand!