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This Year, Rosh Hashana Falls Out On Shabbat & Sunday. Though The Torah Mandates The Blowing Of The Shofar Whenever Rosh Hashana Falls Out, & The Shofar Was Indeed Sounded On Shabbat In Biblical Days When Rosh Hashana Was Only 1 Day, Today We Do Not Blow Shofar 1st Day/shabbat. The Rabbis, Exercising Their Mandate To Make Binding Decisions Crucial To Jewish Survival, Decided To Push Off The Tekiot Until Sunday, Second Day Rosh Hashana, To Safeguard The Sanctity Of Shabbat, Which They Feared Might Be Violated.
With All The Serious Issues This Raises About Rabbinic Responsibility & The Vital Importance Of Shabbat, There Is Another Sentiment Here That Should Not Be Lost On Us. As Crucial As It Is To Hear The Majestic Notes Of The Shofar, Sometimes It Is Equally Important To Take Note Of The Notes Which Are Missing & Which Are Absent; To Ponder Not Only What We Have, But Also That Which Is Lacking In Our Lives.
This Is A Common Theme In Judaism: At The Seder Table, We Customarily Leave A Chair Empty For Eliyahu, For Until Moshiach Comes, We Cannot Completely Celebrate. At Every Chupa We Break A Glass, To Remind Us That However Great Our Joy Is At This Simcha, The Loss & Lack Of The Bet Hamikdash Is Very Much In Our Hearts. And At Each Of The Shalosh R’galim & On Yom Kippur, We Do Not Complete The Festivities Until We Remember Those Who Are Physically No Longer Part Of Our Lives, But Yet Whose Spirit Permeates Everything We Are & Do; For What Is Yomtov Without Yizkor?
And Before The Yamim Noraim, We Are Told To Do 2 Things: Seek Peace & Reconciliation With Neighbors And Family Members - & Visit The Graves Of The Righteous. Those Who Live Among Us, And Those Who Reside Beyond Us.
And So Now We Understand. As Moshe Gathers His Beloved People At His Side, His Own Life Slipping Away, He Reminds Us That We Are Much More Than Just The Reflection We See When We Look In The Mirror. We Are The Product Of Those Who Bore Us, Who Shaped Our Lives, Who Loved Us So Deeply And May Have Moved On To Higher Life; & We Also Bear Responsibility For Those Who Will Descend From Us, Learn From Us, Inherit From Us. We Are Bound Together Not Only With Those Standing Here Today, But Also With Those Who Are Not Here.
All These Lovers And Friends, I Still Can Recall; Some Are Dead & Some Are Living; In My Life, I've Loved Them All.
On This Last Shabbat Of The Year, As We Approach The Coming New Year, May Hashem Remember Us & Our Loved Ones - Past, Present And Future - For Good.
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
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.
