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Beit Midrash
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- Chassidish Stories and Great Rabbis
The Jewish approach is opposite and optimistic. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook writes an idea that can be called the "Law of Preservation of the Spirit": despite dwindling of spiritual giants ("the decline of the generations"), their "spiritual energy" is transferred to the general public, which simultaneously is increasingly improving ("the rise of the generations"). Today we do not have figures like Maimonides, but the average person possesses an intelligence and spiritual potential immeasurably greater than Maimonides' neighbor, who could barely read or write. In contrast, we do not currently have leaders of stature such as Ben Gurion, but the bottom line is that the situation of the State of Israel is infinitely better than in 1948. The rise in the quality level of the public is also the reason why social regimes in today's world are democratic and not royalist.
Just as decades ago, the great rabbis of Israel, such as Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, left the world, and the leadership passed on to Rabbi Druckman's contemporaries; this is also the case now – there is still hope – the leadership will pass on to the next generation. Naturally, there will be some decline, but the bottom line is that the broader reality will progress. Quantity will generate quality: strengths that until now have been less expressed will now take the stage. Religious Zionism is not falling apart nor disappearing; on the contrary, it has never been greater and more diverse; and it is precisely the quantity and diversity that grow the leadership of different righteous people who complement each other. Our Sages expressed this in the words: "the sun rises and the sun sets" – " the Creator does not let the sun of a righteous person set, until He already lets the sun of another righteous person rise."
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
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.
