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Beit Midrash
- Sections
- The Life of Tzaddikim
- Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu
The rise of Ayatollah Khomeini to power caused a huge wave of anti-Semitism against Israel and against Jews in general. Many Jews in Iran, mostly wealthy ones, were tried in in the kangaroo courts of the revolution, where they were sentenced to death by hanging and their property confiscated and given to Khomeini’s people.
In such an atmosphere of anarchy the lives of the Jews there were turned upside down. In particular, the Jewish women suffered. When they had to go to the mikveh, the non-Jews would harass and bother them, turning their lives into a nightmare.
The situation came to the ears of Rabbi Eliyahu, who turned directly to Ayatollah Khomeini by way of a formal letter from the State of Israel. The Rav wrote to the Ayatollah that he was sure he wouldn’t do anything against a person’s faith or against the word of God. He was sure that Khomeini would agree that it wasn’t right or fair that a woman should be harassed on her way to immerse in a mikveh, and he was sure that such things had been done without his authority, as he was an honest, decent man, etc….
Khomeini’s people were rather suspicious of the letter, but the Ayatollah wanted to see what Rav Eliyahu had written.
He read about the problems that the Muslims were causing the Jewish women and immediately ordered a new mikveh to be built for them, and in addition, he even placed guards on site so as to prevent the Muslim men bothering them.
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.
