YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- The Life of Tzaddikim
- Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu
My brother Mordechai asked that the shoes would be a little too big, so that he could wear them for a long time. He said to our mother that he was then at the stage of rapid growth and so it made sense to buy bigger shoes, and he would stuff them with paper so they wouldn’t be loose on his feet.
After a while the shoemaker notified us that the shoes were ready. Together with Mordechai, my mother went to the shoemaker, paid him half a lira and took the shoes. Mordechai was delighted with them.
Later, Mordechai went out into the street and saw the mother of one of the Yeshiva students crying.
"Why are you crying?" he asked her.
"Because my son doesn’t want to go to Yeshiva! He doesn’t have any decent shoes and he refuses to go in torn shoes," she replied.
"I’ll give him mine," Mordechai offered.
"But he’s bigger than you and your shoes will be too small for him," the mother said.
Mordechai didn’t hesitate and replied, "These shoes are a few sizes too big for me so they should fit your son."
He ran home to get his old shoes, packed up the new shoes and brought them to the student’s mother. Indeed, the shoes fitted him perfectly, and he agreed to go to the Yeshiva to study.
In the evening, my mother noticed Mordechai polishing his old shoes.
"Why are you polishing them?" she asked, and he told her the story.
My mother was very pleased with her son’s good character traits and told him, "You’ll get new shoes anyway!" She took him to the shoemaker and asked him to make him another pair of shoes.
"What happened?" the shoemaker, the father of Rabbi Abba Shaul, asked in surprise. "Just yesterday you got new shoes – where are they?"
My mother explained what had happened, and the shoemaker, who understood what a high level of generosity had been displayed by such a small child, told her that he was prepared to forgo his profit and sell her the shoes for thirty five agurot, the cost of the materials only.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
D'varim Judaism’s Social Vision
Re’eh
Giving is more than an act of generosity—it is an essential part of human dignity that belongs to everyone, rich and poor alike. The ultimate goal of help is to empower others to stand on their own.
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.
