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Beit Midrash
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- Igrot Hare’aya
Recipient : Rabbi Shmuel Alexandrov. Alexandrov was a yeshiva-trained scholar, who was an autodidact in languages, philosophy, and science. He was a very independent thinker who at times angered the Maskilim and at times angered traditional rabbis. He was a member of the Mizrachi movement and tried, over the years, to recruit Rav Kook to take a leadership role within that movement. This is one of many correspondences between the two on matters of Jewish philosophy.
Body : I am not sure if I will succeed in clarifying the concepts that separate us to the point that we will be able to safely move from topic to topic without getting bogged down in unending polemics in one topic. Still, I am compelled to speak to the extent I can about a certain matter with which so many before the two of us have already dealt.
You treat as an important idea the matter of mitzvot being inactive in the ideal future (le’atid lavo), and you imply that I dispute this principle because I am more inclined to accept the opinion that mitzvot will remain intact le’atid lavo (see Nidda 61b). This is not so, my friend, and this falls within the rule that "These and those are the words of the living G-d."
We should all be able to recognize that this period of time called le’atid lavo is so broad that it is not possible to find a narrow area in which to say that there is a dispute on the applicability of mitzvot at that particular time. There is a time during le’atid lavo in which mitzvot will apply, and there is a time during le’atid lavo in which they will not apply. Those who desire to investigate the Talmudic treatment of matters of belief, with the appropriate purity, loftiness, and breadth, must clearly limit the parameters of the question and determine when these two periods of le’atid lavo are. They must understand, with a developed and settled mind, how matters apply to each sub-period according to its value. On this matter, I do not think that there is necessarily a significant difference of opinion between different thinkers.
The thing that I feel compelled to stress in my letter to you is that at times, it seems that you are trying to artificially move up this more distant period of le’atid lavo, in which the mitzvot will not apply, and claim that this time has already come. [This cannot be because] our time is full of despair and collapse, and it is a time that requires real building and strengthening through positive physical activity. The approach of saying we are already in the period in which mitzvot do not apply is one I dispute. I believe that everyone with a straight heart should distance himself from such thinking, which we have seen in other historical periods.
Igrot Hare’aya (200)
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
111 - Remarks on a Yom Kippur Machzor
112 - When Should Mitzvot Cease to Apply?
113 - When Should Mitzvot Cease to Apply?
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Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
P'ninat Mishpat Payment for Not Clearing Warehouse On Time – part II
based on ruling 75076 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat Payments after a Gradual End of Employment
(Based on ruling 82024 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat A Commercial Rental for a Closed Business – part II
based on ruling 80047 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Igrot Hare’aya Keeping Shemitta Partially – #272
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook; Date and Place: 2 Adar I 5670 (1910), Yafo
Igrot Hare’aya Public Response to Zealous Defense of Rav Kook – #308
Date and Place: 15 Sivan 5670 (1910), Yafo
Igrot Hare’aya Maintaining a Friendship of the Spirit – #266 – part I
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: Date and Place: 11 Shevat 5670, Yafo
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
