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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Bereshit
Certainly it’s true about the life of our Biblical heroes. Adam & Chava begin their lives in the most pristine & perfect environment imaginable – so elevated were they in that Paradise that they actually glowed with the light from Above. But then, in a flash, it all came crashing down; they are exiled, put to work & beset by horrendous "family issues." Adam, created just a tad lower than the angels, reverts to what his name implies: Adama, dirt, close to the ground, a "fallen angel."
Noach, the next Torah personality in line, must also undertake the most perilous of journeys. Not only Noach, but the entire world he inhabits, will undergo a "sea change" of massive proportions when the Great Flood destroys all humankind that "misses the boat" by sinning against their fellow man.
And Avraham & Sara, too, embark upon a great adventure when they are told by Hashem to pack up their monotheistic beliefs & set out for "the Land that I will show you" (A.K.A. Israel). As we who live here know all too well, life in EretzYisrael is incomparable – it doesn’t compare to life anywhere else on the planet!
What message is sent by these dramatic, compelling narratives, which our Rabbis call "Mitzvot in story form?"
The message seems clear: It’s all about Starting Over.
We may think we are going to have neat, orderly lives that build slowly but surely, step by step, year after year, in a predictable pattern. But it ‘ain’t necessarily so.
At various points in our life, we experience change. Change that can be sudden and dramatic. We grow up & must leave the nest to face the real world (like Adam). Or a great financial flood comes & washes away our hard-earned savings (Note: both the great crash of 1929 & the stock market fall of 1987 occurred during the week of Parshat Noach!). Or we re-locate, or feel a calling, like Av & Sara, an urge to change the world - or at least ourselves! - & set out on a new path in uncharted territory.
This is the beauty and the blessing of Bereisheit. We praise G-d in our Tefila for "benevolently creating the world anew each day." But guess what? We, too, are called upon to do the exact same thing!
Have you ever wondered why Bereisheit is not the 1st Torah reading of the new year? Shouldn’t it be? But Hashem orchestrated things so that our Sedra is always read immediately after Sukkot. For the dismantling of our Sukka & our move back to a "new" home reminds us that, no matter how old or set in our ways we may be, we are all really "In the Beginning."
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.
