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Beit Midrash
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The sending of the spies to discover and report back on the condition of our promised country and its population at the time is a prime example of this type of test. As Rashi points out, the Lord told Moshe: "I am not ordering you to send spies to report on the land of Israel. I have told you that this land is your destiny and that it is a land of spiritual and physical greatness and prosperity. However, if you wish, you have the option of sending spies". Implicit in this choice, given from heaven, is that the option will be of great consequence if it is exercised. It is also a repetition of a test that the Torah has recorded for us many times, when the people ask themselves: "Is the Lord truly within our community or not?" If, after all the miracles that this generation experienced, the people could still bring themselves to ask: "is God within us or not?", it must have been obvious that the people’s relationship with the creator was dysfunctional and that they did not share Hs program for their future.
The commentators have advanced many reasons over the ages as to what directly motivated the leaders of Israel to create such a crisis of faith within their people. However, the basic problem—as recorded repeatedly—is the fact that the people’s trust in God, no matter how many miracles and victories they experienced, was very weak and fragile.
Faith is one of the strongest emotions that a person can have. However, it is also something that can be hard to acquire but quite easy to abandon or lose. When faith wanes, the process of testing God, so to speak, begins anew; for it is in the nature of human beings to learn very little from their previous experiences. There will always be excuses. We can say the previous test went wrong but now, with a test involving the right people on the right issue and with greater clarity, this will somehow help us. In their relationship to the land of Israel, the Jewish people have always had to struggle. It was never easy to see the true purpose of the land of Israel for Jewish life, especially since the Jews could prove to be so successful outside of the land of Israel. Yet the centrality of the land of Israel to Judaism has always been one of the prime beliefs and national messages of the Torah regarding the survival and destiny of the Jewish people. Jews should not again fall into the trap of testing God regarding the land of Israel.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
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.
