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Beit Midrash
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- Purim & The Month of Adar
A good laugh is the ability to see things beyond the law, beyond the visible reality. In other words: perspective and proportion. Superficial people look at the here and now; at the current law that seems suffocating and threatening. "The woman of valor", on the other hand, "laugh to the final day" – she laughs at death in its face because she knows that there is a greater eternity that will also prevail over the law of death. The first Jewish child in the world – born against all the laws of nature – was named Isaac [will laugh]; Jewish humor has maintained the Jewish people in difficult times; this is the "reversal" of Purim; this is the hope that it will be good.
It is possible to keep perspective even in the face of the current difficulty. The thought that there will be a civil war in the State of Israel is laughable. Not only from the perspective of the "unity of the soul of Israel", but also from a simple civic understanding: the Jewish society in the State of Israel is small and mixed with blood ties and neighbors that do not allow for civil war. We do not live in distant geographical autonomies like the North and South during the US Civil War, or different ethnic groups like in Syria. Those who threaten to "use weapons" or "the security forces will have a problem deciding whom to listen to" are dreaming. Do you think that a soldier in the Givati Brigade who opposes the reform will shoot at his cousin in the Kfir Brigade who supports it? (And I am not going to relate to the Golani and paratroopers...).
Even those who threaten to "take their money and leave the country" ridicule themselves, forgive my saying so. Those who invest money in the State of Israel today do not do so because of Herzl's beautiful eyes, but simply because this is a flourishing and prosperous country. Where will you go? To Russia? To a crumbling Europe? Or do you think a house is waiting for you in Beverly Hills in the USA?
No one is underestimating the difficulty that lies ahead of us. It is clear that there already are damages – and there will be – from the current tension, but put it in proportion. The State of Israel is strong and has gone through greater crises than these. In the meantime, let’s laugh a bit; Happy Purim!
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Realtor Fee Despite the Buyer’s Refusal?
based on ruling 83117 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.]
