Female LessonParashat HashavuaSeries'LibraryPiskei Din (Hebrew)Test YourselfThe Shulchan Aruch says that though the Omer should really be a happy time, as it was in Biblical days, it is now the practice not to conduct weddings between Pesach & Shavuot until Lag B’Omer, because that is when the students of Rabbi Akiva died (others observe the 33 days between Rosh Chodesh Iyar & 3 days before Shavuot, with the exception of Lag B’Omer). The source for this is the Gemara Yebamot 62 which says that 12,000 pairs of students (chavrutot?) died of askara (croup, or choking) because they did not treat other with respect. The Gemara does not mention the semi-mourning practices, & some (e.g. Aruch HaShulchan) say these practices only began in the time of the Geonim, in response to the bloody Crusades which decimated Jewish communities along the Rhine during this same Pesach-Shavuot time period. Some historians suggest the students may have been part of Rabbi Akiva & Bar Kochba’s ill-fated rebellion against Rome, & this is what led to their deaths.
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!