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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Noach
Having decided to re-boot Creation (again beginning with water!), G-d tells Noach, "Asey l’cha" - build for yourself an Ark. I’m intrigued by the superfluous expression, "L’cha" - for yourself. G-d could simply have said, "Build an Ark." What is being added by this tiny word "L’cha?"
Rashi explains that Hashem wanted the local populace to focus on Noach, a well-known figure in his community, & seeing him building this massive boat, they would inquire about it. Hopefully, they would then be motivated to pursue a higher moral level when told that they were standing, literally, on the Eve of Destruction.
Others explain the l’cha as an indictment of Noach: YOU failed to influence your neighbors, allowing them to continue their animalistic behavior; now YOU will forced to keep the company of real beasts & animals in the ark!
But there is a more positive view of the "you." Note that Noach is connected & compared to his successor Avraham, as well as to his future descendant Moshe (he also survives in a Tayva, an ark!) by the word L’Cha: Hashem tells Avraham, Lech-L’cha; YOU go to Israel; & He tells Moshe, P’sal L’Cha; YOU hew stone tablets (for the Luchot of the 10 Commandments). But what exactly is the connection between them and the word "you?"
These 3 heroic figures were loners. Avraham is called Ha-Ivri, he who lives on the other side. This is not just a geographical note (he lived across the Euphrates). It’s also philosophical: Avraham was prepared to uphold his belief in One G-d even if he was the only one in the entire world who believed it, even if he was on one side of the divide & everyone else on the other.
Moshe also was a solitary figure. "Am I an Egyptian, or a Hebrew?" he asks himself as he question his identity. He cries to G-d: How can I bear this People alone?! Clearly, he stood apart. Noach, too, is very much left on his own. A decent man in a corrupted, perverse world, he cannot convert a single person in the course of 120 years. But you know what? Sometimes, a hero must davka stand apart from the masses, blazing new trails rather than simply going along with the crowd.
Tennyson said it best: "Nothing is better than this, when known; that every hard thing is done alone."
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.
