Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Shmot
- Tetzave
Why was there a need for another acceptance? What was missing before? Chazal answer that the earlier acceptance of Torah was coerced - "kafa aleihem har ke-gigit," G-d held the mountain over their heads and said that if they don't accept the Torah they will be buried under the mountain. Since their acceptance of the Torah at Sinai was forced upon them, they had to accept it once again of their own free will.
What did the acceptance of Torah on Purim add to our religious experience? It added the element of joy. We perform mitzvot and study Torah not only because we have to do so. We engage in Torah because it is a pleasure, because it is a joy, because it uplifts our lives and elevates our souls. Because being near to God is pure good. And when one accepts Torah out of joy and gladness one will keep Torah even when the mountain is not over our heads.
What is true regarding Torah is also true about Eretz Israel. One can come to Eretz Israel beacuse one is compelled to leave galut. One can, however, come to live in this beautiful and wonderful land beacuse of the sheer joy of contributing to the rebuilding of our people and our land. This kind of redefinition of the Zionist agenda can help us overcome these difficult days and inject true joy in our decision to come and live here.
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)
