YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Lech Lecha
"Lech Lecha meartzecha... Go forth from your land, your birthplace, your father’s house to the land that I will show you." Thus, spoke Hashem to Avrohom. Pursue my instructions and "I will bless you and you shall be a blessing...and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you."
Avrom Avinu left his native, idol-worshipping land crossing into Eretz Canaan. It wasn’t a short, easy voyage, not then - and not today. Changes at any stage in life are traumatic. Nevertheless, "deeds of the fathers are emblematic to sons." The parasha opens with Hashem’s directive to journey to the land, and ends with the mitzvah, brit mila the covenant, pre-requisite for entrance to Eretz Yisrael.
"Shaal avicha v’yagedcha" ask your father, he will tell you. At the Seder, Succa or Shabbat table, stories of Jews forced to flee, abandoning homes in exile are recounted tearfully, some miraculously... in appreciation. Ask courageous new olim about their complex passage and listen to awesome tales.
Observant Jews seek to strengthen daily mitzvah performance and yet many do not, or cannot, exercise the will to partake in the mitzvah to settle the land. As stated in Lech Lecha, "Arise, walk about the land through it’s length and breadth", a living legacy for the resolute.
May brit milah, first practiced by our exalted ancestor, precede massive Jewish response to the Almighty’s promise to the Patriarch.
Faigie Heiman born and raised in Brooklyn, an accomplished short story and essay writer, lives in Jerusalem with her husband and family. Her articles are featured in newspapers and magazines in Israel and abroad.
Army and War "If Haredim Should Serve in the IDF, So Should You"
IDF Service for Young Jewish Men from America
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
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.
Chukat "HOW ENTEBBE STOLE THE BICENTENNIAL
The Difference Between Historic & Eternal"
As we approach America's 250th birthday, it's worth remembering her 200th Bicentennial birthday, on Jul. 4th 1976, when Israel "stole the show" by shocking the world & miraculously saving 101 hostages in a foreign continent. As Pres. As Pres. Trump decides which countries get priority in his new Middle-East, it's worth reminding him of the difference between historic events and eternally historic ones. This obviously connects with this week's parsha, as well!
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 6 - The Parable of the King of India
The advantages of testimony over circumstantial evidence or philosophical speculation.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 5- "Proofs of G-d"
This may be the most important class of the entire book, where we finally get to the Jewish proof of the existence of G-d and truth of the Torah. We should follow His own direction where He tells us how to get to Him: through the Nation of Israel: Jewish history, Jewish prophets (and today, prophecies fulfilled), and national reward & punishment towards Am Yisrael.
Ein Aya One Humanity, One Creator, One Jerusalem
Rav Kook innovatively and beautifully explains this aggadeta where our sages say that after Jerusalem was destroyed her cinnamon fragrance is only found locked in a particular kingdom's treasury.
