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The Torah study is dedicatedin honor of
Naama Bat Ora
The emissions of greenhouse gasses are now subjects of control by legislation and administrative fiat. I am not an expert in this field but even to the unlettered it is obvious that climate control bears our attention and interest. The Torah certainly bids us to be careful regarding our stewardship over this planet. We are to develop and exploit its bounties but we are to be careful not to damage and destroy.
Care for the world, both its animate and inanimate components, is one of the basic values of Judaism. The Talmud records that we are to plant and preserve the world's resources - trees and other natural blessings - for the use and benefit of unseen generations yet to come. Care for our physical environment is thus an item that is stressed in Jewish life, at least in theory if not unfortunately yet completely in practice. Greater efforts in this regard should be made by our religious and temporal leaders.
As important as this type of climate control is, I nevertheless wish to discuss another type of climate control. And that is the control of our contents of subject matter that is printed, broadcast and publicly discussed. The Talmud taught us that the Jewish state was commanded to place clear directional road signs to direct a murderer convicted of accidental murder to the city of refuge where he was to remain until the death of the High Priest of Israel.
The later rabbis asked why was there no commandment to place directional signs on the road to Jerusalem for the Jews going up to the Temple to celebrate the festivals of the year. They answered that it was a matter of climate control. The Torah did not want the murderer to stop on the way and ask for directions to the city of refuge. People would then discuss murder and murderers over their breakfast coffee.
Eventually such conversations made murder a common everyday topic and eventually served to remove murder itself from being a horrific event to a common and almost acceptable occurrence in society. Murder became part of Jewish life when in reality it has no place in Jewish society. Jerusalem however was a topic worthy of discussion and interest.
Thus the Torah desired that people would stop and ask directions to Jerusalem, therefore making the Holy City an everyday topic of thought and conversation. This would increase the sense of uniqueness, holiness and mission within the Jewish society. And that would, so to speak, increase the sense of positively controlling the climate of discussion and interest in a society from whom holiness of behavior and attitude is a Torah demand.
The recent sordid incidents and interviews that have dominated the Israeli press over the Katzav-Mazuz matter are to me an illustration of this lack of climate control in our society. Not every explicit detail belongs in the paper. People told me that they did not bring the paper home because they did not want their children to be exposed to its contents.
The public's "right to know" is the excuse for all sorts of unnecessary and prurient contents. The secular press ridicules the Charedi newspapers that do not report on such occurrences in any detail. But in my mind those newspapers have a point. Murder, violence, sexual misconduct, corruption, crime, all are indirectly glorified and made acceptable by the unending publicity they receive.
I am well aware that these things are part of life. But dwelling upon them in morbid fascination only serves to heighten interest and eventually acceptance of such norms in our society. "All the news that is fit to print" was a slogan that was once adhered to. Today the definition of "fit to print" has slipped noticeably.
The Torah demands standards from all of us. What we say and discuss in everyday conversation is what creates the climate of the society that we live in. We should all be in favor of all types of climate control.
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
