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Beit Midrash
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- The Life of Tzaddikim
- Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu
One morning, Shmuel heard someone shouting in the area where the visitors would sit as they waited to be called. When he went to investigate, he saw a woman arguing with Rabbi Yehudah Mutzafi, Rabbi Eliyahu's assistant. Rabbi Mutzafi was telling her that Rabbi Eliyahu had to leave and that she should come back the following day. But she was insistent, explaining that her question was concerning a matter of life and death.
Rabbi Mordechai heard the shouting and came out of his room, telling the woman she could enter. She went in and consulted with Rabbi Eliyahu for some ten minutes — a considerable delay when he had already planned to leave. When she finally left the room, Rabbi Eliyahu called after her, "If that doesn't work, come back to me."
After she had gone, Rabbi Mutzafi asked Rabbi Eliyahu if it had really been a matter of life and death.
"Not exactly," Rabbi Eliyahu said. "But it was a very important question."
Rabbi Mutzafi asked what the very important question was, to which Rabbi Eliyahu responded, "The woman has a cat that hasn't eaten for several days. She's worried that it's going to die and she came to ask me what to do."
Shmuel couldn’t help but smirk as he asked his father, "What did you answer her?"
"I suggested that she change the cat's food and take it outside. I gave her a few suggestions, and I told her she should come back if none of them work."
"And that was the question that was so urgent that the rabbi had to miss his breakfast and will go hungry to the bet din?" Rabbi Mutzafi asked.
Rabbi Eliyahu nodded. "That was actually the most significant question asked to me this entire morning. The cat is the center of that woman's life. She was so distressed by her cat not eating. If it would die, she would be in tremendous anguish. We need to help each person in his or her place, wherever he or she is holding in life."
Years later, Rabbi Shmuel reflected on this story, saying, "At that time, this story confused me. But it has accompanied me through the years, and I preserve the memory of it as an important reminder to conduct myself with sensitivity, even to those who are so different from me."
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
