Female LessonParashat HashavuaSeries'LibraryPiskei Din (Hebrew)Test YourselfOur Sedra details the last plague, the slaying of Egypt’s first-born. The pasuk seems to make it quite clear that Hashem Himself will administer this plague: "I will go through Egypt on this night; I will strike down the first-born; I will mete out punishment to their gods." And the Hagada stresses: "Not through an angel or a seraph or a messenger, but by HKBH Himself." But then Hashem says, "if you place the blood of the Korban Pesach on your doorposts, I will not let the "mashchit-destroyer" enter your homes & plague you." Who is this "destroyer?!" We said it’s not an angel; & would we refer to Hashem as a "Mashchit?!" Rav Ahron Soloveichik gives a novel answer. He says that "mashchit" is the spirit of rampant destruction that generally results when an oppressed people are set free (e.g. in the French Revolution). Hashem wants us to have a higher moral character, & so we were forbidden to leave our homes that night & wreak havoc on our Egyptian masters.
DO WE DESERVE REDEMPTION? “Blood, Covenant, and Return”- Parshat VaEra
Are we today so much greater than say the Rambam's generation? Why is G-d returning us to Israel & doing so many salvations and victories over Hamas, Hizballah, Syria and Iran in recent years, even if we haven't done Teshuva & seemingly don't deserve it?
The class deals with how to cleave and strengthen the G-dly trait of "Truth", the need to pray for Teshuva, the importance of returning that which was wrongly taken before saying Viduy, and other aspects of Teshuva.
Rav Kook explains why that which is learned on Shabbat is considered so much greater than that studied during the week, and why creativity is that much greater on Shabbat, for better or for worse!
The class deals with not "resting on one's laurels", and that not a few people who lived their entire lives idealistically, "lost it" upon getting older. Similarly the importance of not focusing on luxuries but on the necessities of life.
Seemingly 'Strange' Rabbinical Decrees- Not What You Thought!
Rav Kook suggests a very innovative and important "eye-opening" way to understand some of the rabbinical decrees which are particularly difficult to understand!