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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- The Four Parshiyot
- Zachor
who had pretty much everything anyone could ask
for (except maybe a sympathetic wife!) & yet he
just can’t leave well enough alone. He’s got to
develop a whole plot to kill the entire Jewish
nation. And why? Because 1 Jew wouldn’t bow down
to him?! I mean, is that over-reacting, or what?
The Gemara asks: "Haman min haTorah, minayin?
Where in the Torah is Haman mentioned?" Now, of
course, Haman lived long after the Torah was
given, so that sounds like a strange question.
But since the Torah is a living document - Torah
Chayim - & contains all the events in history
both past & present, there must be at least an
allusion to him. So what is it? The answer:
"Ha-min ha-etz asher tziviticha l’vilti echol
mimenu, achalta?" Did you eat from the tree (of
knowing right & wrong) in Gan Eden that I told
you not to?" asks Hashem. (Ha-min has the same
letters as Haman). That’s the source the Gemara
brings. But hang on; there are many words in the
Torah with a hay/mem/nun. Why choose davka this one?
Many personalities in the Torah are compared to
animals: Yehuda is a lion, Yosef is an ox,
Binyamin a wolf, etc. What creature connects to
Haman? The snake! So citing a Biblical story that
includes a snake does makes sense. But it goes a lot deeper than that.
Chava (& Adam) were given free reign of Gan Eden.
They had only one restriction to which they had
to adhere: Do not eat from the etz ha-dat. But
they just couldn’t resist it! It’s like telling a
kid: "You can have everything in the fridge
except that one black & white cookie - that's
off-limits to you." The kid will undoubtedly try
every which way to get to that luscious cookie.
So that slithery snake – a psychologically
sophisticated serpent with an uncanny ability to
know how people think – preyed upon Adam & Eve’s
unsatisfied desire to have that one single thing that was forbidden to them.
There is another significant reference to snakes
in the Torah. In parshat Chukat, the people
complain to Moshe about their "meager"
sustenance. But why should they complain?! They
miraculously get water from the rock, & the
marvelous Mahn tastes like almost anything they
desire. But there must have been 1 tiny problem –
there were indeed a few foods on the "no-no list"
- & that drove them crazy. So what happened as a
response? Snakes came & bit them!
Haman had a problem with one solitary Jew, & it
drove him mad. He ignored all the other compliant
citizens who bowed down to him, & focused only on
stubborn Mr. Mordechai, who would not budge on
his convictions. Haman would not relent & the
end, well, was "bad-noose" for him.
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.