YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Parashat Hashavua
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Vayetze
By looking at other prophecies, we can uncover another condition for the Shechina. Amos tried to convince Hashem not to send the Ten Tribes into exile and destroy the Kingdom of Israel and its capital, Shomron. He succeeded twice (see Amos 7:6 and ibid. 3). However, his third prophecy contains a frightful message: "I will not continue to pass over [the deserved punishment] … the temples of Israel will be destroyed and I will rise up against the House of Yerovam with the sword" (ibid. 8-9).
What caused the Attribute of Strict Judgment to take over? The hint is in the opening pasuk of the prophecy: "So I was shown, Hashem was nitzav on a wall checked with a plumb line and in His Hand was a plumb line." Here nitzav is related to the plumb line and hints at the mathematical meaning of a perpendicular line as well as the hint of the Shechina. The condition for Shechina is rectitude, i.e., honesty, as opposed to the crookedness that prevailed in the Kingdom of Israel. Amos is saturated with criticism of corruption and social dysfunction. Hashem revealed Himself to the forefathers because they were straight in their moral path. This is what made Yaakov fit to receive his prophetic dream. Hashem is found only in a place that is built straight, "with the help of a plumb line."
The political struggles that have been shaking Israeli society in the last few years are accompanied by a lack of rectitude and by complaints directed at rivals from other political parties. Falsifying facts and presenting fabrications have become commonplace. Due to this, the public loses faith in its politicians and in the "horns in the hands of the media," whose job it is to report objectively on the ideas and actions of those who take part in molding the actions of society. The resulting lack of faith, along with incessant incitement against those who are "different," are liable, Heaven forbid, to activate the Attribute of Strict Judgement. Then, the end can be scarily unpredictable.
If we care about our lives, we must unite and increase rectitude
Igrot Hare’aya Improving New Yishuv More Practical than Alternatives
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook #107
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
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)
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part II
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
Parashat Hashavua Happiness for the Right Reasons
[With painful longing, we share these divrei Torah from our co-Rosh Kollel for close to 40 years, Harav Moshe Ehrenreich zt”l.]
