Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Igrot Hare’aya
Recipient : Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim and the members of his rabbinical court.
Body : Today your holy letter arrived. Even though my mind is not at ease, because of the distressing news [that Arabs had attempted an attack on Jews in a neighborhood of Yafo] due to our great sins, and we live in fear and worry, may Hashem protect us and give us a feeling of security and be a shield for His nation and His lot. I am unable to organize that which I want to say in a manner that would be fitting for your exalted brilliance. However, I cannot withhold what I have to say about a major matter, in regard to removing a stumbling block from the public domain.
Now let us get to the matter itself, the bringing to Yerushalayim [of produce that did not have ma’asrot (tithes) taken from them]. There is no better way and suggestion than to publicize and warn that nothing that still requires tithing should be sold or accepted. Rather the food should come with a kashrut certificate from the people in charge of kashrut for every moshav (agricultural settlement). I do not find any other idea because there will always be some individuals who are sinners, in our great iniquity, whose actions we cannot control. It never occurred to me that produce should be found in the marketplaces of the Holy City without clear kashrut certification. After all, this was the main point behind the improvements we instituted last year, to appoint kashrut supervisors.
Igrot Hare’aya (200)
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
90 - Letter to a Brother
91 - Hashgacha on Produce Coming to Yerushalayim
92 - Letter to a Brother
Load More
Regarding that which is sent to the Diaspora, I personally will do whatever I can, and I will send letters to warn and remind them. Most of them take the appropriate tithes. I have thought about how to come up with a perfect system, and I have not yet succeeded in arriving at a solution to preclude cases of sending produce that are not tithed. However, it seems to me now that it is proper to prepare a letter, written with rebuke stemming from love, encouraging them to increase strength and diligence. There is a chance that this will make an impression on their hearts, when they see that the exalted geniuses of the city of our strength (Yerushalayim) along with a youngster like me are working together to fix the matter.
If not for the state of my city at this point preventing me from leaving it until some sense of order is made out of the mayhem, I would desire with all my heart to come up to the holiness, to the Holy City, may it be rebuilt soon. Then we could work out wise ideas together, aided by the light of Torah that abounds in the proximity of righteous people, regarding the matter of tithes and other important matters that are being or should be dealt with. However, at this point, this is not a possibility.
In any case, I will repeat myself, that under no circumstances should anything be sold without a clear kashrut certificate. Hashem should give us the strength to establish a society that accepts the yoke of the Torah of truth in the soil of the Holy Land. This would be my reward!
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
P'ninat Mishpat Limits of Interest Rate for Loan with Heter Iska – part I
based on ruling 80033 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Igrot Hare’aya Semi-solicited Advice to Calm Down Petach Tikva
#227 Date and Place: 8 Tishrei 5669, Yafo
P'ninat Mishpat Limits of Interest Rate for Loan with Heter Iska – part II
based on ruling 80033 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Igrot Hare’aya Connecting Disciplines in Torah Study
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook #103 – part II
Igrot Hare’aya Worse on the Outside, Better on the Inside – #332
Date and Place: 26 Elul 5670 (1910), Yafo
Igrot Hare’aya Maintaining a Friendship of the Spirit – #266 – part IV
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook; Date and Place: 11 Shevat 5670, Yafo
Igrot Hare’aya Excitement over a Friend’s New Newspaper – #319
Date and Place: 4 Menachem Av 5670 (1910), Rechovot
Igrot Hare’aya What Requires Protest? – #279
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook Date and Place: 15 Adar I 5670 (1910), Yafo
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
