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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Vayera
Let us look for historical cycles based on the life of our nation’s founder, Avraham. When Avraham was 70 years old, Hashem informed him that his descendants would go down to Egypt for 400 years and that they would be redeemed from there, amassing great riches. (There was apparently a dispute between Ephrayim’s and Levi’s descendants as to how to calculate this time period. See the Ramban on Bereishit 15:13 and the Rishonim on Shemot 12:40. Rashi says that is counted from the time of Yitzchak’s birth until the Exodus.)
According to this timeline, there were approximately 480 years from when Avraham recognized his Maker until Bnei Yisrael’s emergence as a free nation. The same number of years passed from the Exodus until the building of the First Temple in Jerusalem (Melachim I, 6:1). 480 is an interesting number, as it is the product of 40 and 12. Throughout Tanach, 40 years is considered a generation (Tehillim 95:10) and an era (see Shoftim 3:1; ibid. 5:31; Shmuel I, 4:18 and more). Certainly, the number 12 is significant in Jewish history, as this is the number of tribes that formed our nation.
Reviewing Jewish history, we see that this time interval is a very significant one; it carves out historical periods. 480 years after the building of the First Temple, the second one was built (the first stood for 410 years and for 70 years there was no Temple - see Arachin 12b and Yirmiyah 29:10). Another 480 years later marks the rebellion of Bar Kochva, upon the heels of whose defeat the settlement of the Second Commonwealth faded away. After an equal amount of time, we come to the end of the Talmudic period and the beginning of that of the Geonim. Another 480 years later, the Rif and Rabbeinu Gershom lived, ushering in the period of the Rishonim in Spain and Germany, respectively. This period also lasted some 480 years until the time of Rav Yosef Karo and Rav Moshe Isserles, who authored the Shulchan Aruch and its glosses, respectively; thus began the period of the Acharonim. This period, where Jewish scholarship and life was centered in and around Europe, came to an end some 480 years later with the Holocaust.
Finally, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, the Jewish people were able to launch a new enterprise in an old/new location: the establishment of the State of Israel in the Land of Israel. Let us pray that we will appreciate the great responsibility our generation bears to help turn this development of atachalta d’geula (the beginning of redemption) into a full redemption.
Rabbis in Midrash
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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.
