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Beit Midrash
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- The Life of Tzaddikim
- Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu
The man asked Reb Asaf to approach Rabbi Eliyahu on his behalf. Rabbi Eliyahu, in turn, instructed Reb Asaf to ask this man about his mezuzot and see if he had checked them in recent times. The man replied that all the mezuzot in his home were new, good ones, but he said that since Rabbi Eliyahu told him to check them, he would.
The man took the mezuzot to be checked, and the scribe told him that they were kosher to the highest standard. He came back to Reb Aharoni with the answer and asked what he should do next. Reb Aharoni turned to Rabbi Eliyahu, only to hear him repeat that there was a problem with the mezuzot.
When Rabbi Eliyahu would check mezuzot himself, sometimes he would say, "This was written by a G-d-fearing scribe," and sometimes he wouldn’t say anything at all. When questioned as to how he knew who was G-d-fearing and who wasn’t, he replied, "I hold the parchment and I can feel it."
Yet, these mezuzot were being checked by someone else, so Reb Aharoni thought that perhaps the first scribe hadn't been enough of an expert. He sent the man to a scribe he knew and trusted, and the man paid to have his mezuzot checked for the second time.
The second scribe attested that the mezuzot were kosher to the highest standard. He also investigated who had written the mezuzot and found that the scribe from whom the man had purchased the mezuzot was a G-d-fearing Jew.
When the man came back to Reb Aharoni, he was understandably upset. He had now paid twice to have his mezuzot checked and each time he heard that they were fine. He felt that he had been fooled by those who called Rabbi Eliyahu a kabbalist. The man wasn't someone who was accustomed to going to rabbis for advice, and had only come to Rabbi Eliyahu because he had a number of problems. He then launched into a diatribe against rabbis…
Reb Aharoni began to worry that this whole incident could lead to a desecration of G-d's Name. He approached Rabbi Eliyahu to discuss it with him again.
Rabbi Eliyahu smiled. "Is it my fault that he hangs his mezuzot upside down?"
Reb Aharoni returned to the man and asked him to describe how he had hung the mezuzot. From his description, it immediately became clear that the man was indeed inserting them in their cases upside down, just as Rabbi Eliyahu had said.
Reb Aharoni explained how to properly hang the mezuzot, and the man thanked him profusely. But before he hung up, he inquired how Reb Aharoni had known he was hanging the mezuzot upside down. He answered that Rabbi Eliyahu had told him so.
The man was astonished. "How on earth did he know that my mezuzot were upside down?" he asked.
Reb Aharoni had no answer.
Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu The Path of the Righteous is as the Light of Dawn
From the book The Father of Israel
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.
