Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Igrot Hare’aya
Body : We have to try our hardest so that eventually the "Shabbat of the Land" will appear in its fullest form. In addition to it being beloved like any other mitzva of the Torah, punishment for not keeping it is found explicitly in the Torah, from which we can extrapolate its reward – it determines exile vs. inhabiting the Land. The Torah says: "All the days [the Land] is desolate, it will rest corresponding to the time it did not rest when you were living on it" (Vayikra 26:35). The Rabbis wrote explicitly that exile comes to the world because of improper observance of Shemitta. However, it requires study to know how to reach the holy goal.
I believe that we need to reach our destination specifically by progressing gradually. This is in line with the way in which Israel’s salvation is to progress, step by step (Yerushalmi, Berachot 1:1).
The way we rule must be in line with how someone saves property from a fire. Whatever is most expensive and holiest has priority, and then we try to save more. The more beloved comes first, and that which is found in the Written Torah comes before that which is derived based on the Oral Law (see Sefer Chassidim 856, cited by Magen Avraham 334:15). Regarding the need to keep at least the Torah-level prohibitions, this is a major factor, considering that the punishment of exile is involved. It is worthwhile to point out the argument of the Sha’agat Aryeh (24). He proves that the mitzva to recite a beracha before learning Torah must be of Torah law from the fact that the gemara (Nedarim 81a) attributes the destruction of the Temple to the lack of fulfillment of that mitzva. In another words, if they had violated only a Rabbinic law, the stakes would not have been so high. Therefore, by keeping the Torah prohibitions, we are doing a big thing, as we are trying, through settling the Land, to take steps toward ingathering the exiles, and we would not want to be guilty of something whose punishment is exile. Therefore, we must be careful about the matter to our fullest ability.
Whatever is done by a non-Jew will not include a Torah-level prohibition, as is the cases regarding every prohibition of the Torah. Although the Torah writes in terms of the Land resting, the actual prohibition goes on the person who does the work, so that if a Jew has a non-Jew do the work, there is no Torah-level prohibition. This is especially so considering that according to most, Shemitta in our days is Rabbinic, and it is a stringency to try to treat it as if Shemitta is required by Torah law at this time. Furthermore, we also have the sale of the land to rely on, which is a valid leniency. Therefore, there are multiple levels of leniency to rely upon, at least regarding the most problematic actions.
Igrot Hare’aya (200)
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
193 - Concern for Communal Kashrut Standards – #288, 290
194 - Excerpts of Letter on Shemitta – #289 – part I
195 - Excerpts of Letter on Shemitta – #289 – part II
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Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
Igrot Hare’aya Connecting Disciplines in Torah Study
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook #103 – part II
P'ninat Mishpat Limits of Interest Rate for Loan with Heter Iska – part II
based on ruling 80033 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Igrot Hare’aya Raffle of Property in Eretz Yisrael for Tzedaka
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: – #220
Igrot Hare’aya Worse on the Outside, Better on the Inside – #332
Date and Place: 26 Elul 5670 (1910), Yafo
Igrot Hare’aya Refuting Criticism by the Ridbaz – #311 – part II
Date and Place: 19 Sivan 5670 (1910), Yafo
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
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)
