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The Jewish People declared at Sinai "We will do and hear," and they also had the mountain held over their head. There is no contradiction between the two. There are two forces in man – the good part of his nature and the destructive part of his nature. Along with the positive action ("We will do and hear"), they had to accept upon themselves the concept of "Remove oneself from evil" (the weeding of the garden). They must not deny or cover up the problems but accept the holding of the mountain over their heads. Only then will the positive be something that one can really be happy with.
Therefore, in every generation it is necessary to really accept the Torah anew. Actually, in every year, we must accept it anew, and every day it should appear to us as new.
It is the way of man to work on refining his nature. The corrections can bring on the repair of all of the natural world, as all of existence depends on mankind. It goes up and goes down along with him. "If not for My covenant day and night, the rules of the Heavens and the earth I would not have placed" (Yirmiyahu 33:25). If they would not have accepted the Torah, the morally destructive elements would grow stronger until, "… this will be your place of burial"
The mishna (Kiddushin 4:14) says that neither poverty nor wealth are a product of one’s profession, but everything depends on his merit. Tosafot (Kiddushin 82a) asks from the statement of Chazal that livelihood, life, and children depend on mazal (ostensibly, rather than merit). On the other hand, Bnei Yisrael are not governed by mazal (Shabbat 156a).
The explanation is that mazal is not a combination of natural factors. There is a possibility of things that are beyond nature, and this depends on a realization that wealth is not a function of one’s profession. While livelihood, life, and children depend on mazal, merit impacts the mazal. When nature is repaired, so too, mazal, which is a foundation of blind nature in the world, also changes.
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
