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Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Igrot Hare’aya
Recipient: Rabbi Douber Hakohen Kook, Rav Kook’s younger brother. After serving as a rabbi in Russia, he made aliya in 1925, became the rabbi of Afula, and the founder of the Harry Fischel Institute.
Body: [This letter’s background is the wave of pogroms in Russia, where Rav Kook’s brother still lived and the community in Eretz Yisrael’s flourishing during the Second Aliya.]
Igrot Hare’aya (200)
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
1 - False Accusation of Non-Kosher Soap – #333
2 - Asking Restraint from Insulted New Yishuv – #334
3 - Worse on the Outside, Better on the Inside – #332
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We have reason for increasing hope that our nation will find salvation from the oppression it is experiencing. Good, pleasant signs of life are sprouting up before us in the beloved, pleasant Holy Land, the love of flesh, spirit, and soul. The voice of our Beloved is knocking (Shir Hashirim 5:2). A spirit of life is hovering. May Hashem open the hearts of the distant.
With a second version, and with greater vigor, depth, and sanctity, we are close to renewing all of the spirituality of the beginnings of Chibat Tzion (the late 19th century aliya movement). Then it lived in the hearts of the holy men who cultivated it, e.g., Rav Zvi Kalisher, Rav Eliyahu Griditz and their followers before their "vessels broke and their light fell in the depths of evil." Like the hidden spiritual elements of the creation of heaven and earth, we must retrieve them from the depths and return all the sparks of spirituality (a central kabbalistic idea) that fell, were lost, and became material that was defiled by unclean hands (irreligious Zionism) and return them to sanctity and blessing.
These matters will be heard with greater feeling when spoken properly. The thunder storms (hardship) have "straightened a lot of the curvature of the heart." It is now a necessity, based on both the physical and spiritual situation of the broad nation, to return to the Holy Land any way we can, as individuals or groups. We must reestablish the ruins of our once desolate Land with buildings, commerce, population, material and spirit – whatever gives it more activity and life. It all builds toward the future and creates hope. Everything paves the road toward the ultimate redemption, which can come with a "sudden jump" in Hashem’s historical plans – "The one we have been requesting will come to his palace suddenly" (Malachi 3:1).
Let me know … if the great rabbis are dealing with ideas to reinvigorate our nation and the Torah in the Diaspora. We must elevate ourselves in truth and sanctity at least as much as the secular community has increased its energy. They are (spiritually) like a clump of material waiting for a living soul. Just as they are damaging and defiling when on their own, they can purify and sanctify, bring light and life when the light of the world (Torah) will become their soul. We have to be vociferous and bold, using vitality and belief to grasp the Torah’s soul. Nothing can prevent Hashem from saving with His great grace. We can be liberated and rise from the dirt. Hashem will have mercy and give the Torah scholars the desire and strength to deal with the inner teachings of the Torah and explain it clearly (to the uninspired) with every possible literary tool, to make the light of Israel’s holiness shine clearly.
Certainly the first efforts should be on the physical/emotional side, which has been very neglected by Torah scholars, based on misconceptions in the realm of inner wisdom. "Springtime has come"! We are able to hasten the redemption and time of goodwill if we truly want it.
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
P'ninat Mishpat A Commercial Rental for a Closed Business – part II
based on ruling 80047 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat Profits from Formerly Joint Swimming Pool – part
(based on ruling 81110 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
P'ninat Mishpat Limits of Interest Rate for Loan with Heter Iska – part II
based on ruling 80033 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Igrot Hare’aya Informing a Friend he Is Not Insulted – #320
Date and Place: 5 Menachem Av 5670 (1910), Rechovot (probably)
Igrot Hare’aya Maintaining a Friendship of the Spirit – #266 – part I
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: Date and Place: 11 Shevat 5670, Yafo
Igrot Hare’aya Shemitta Work at Israel National Fund Land – #
Date and Place: 3 Sivan 5670 (1910), Yafo
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.
