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Beit Midrash
- Jewish Laws and Thoughts
- Serving Hashem, Mitzvot and Repentance
Jewish history is a history of uncertainty. The entire experience of exile and being "the other" is the supreme example of living with uncertainty. Jews for the last two thousand years always lived at the changing whim of monarchs, governments and societies. Even though Jews and their communities made long range plans and built magnificent structures, physical and spiritual, in their locations, all of these structures eventually proved to be only temporary in nature. The maskilim - the "enlightened" ones in the nineteenth century derided Jews as being "luftmesnchen" - Jews who live in the air, who have no base and no certainty. They sought to somehow remedy that situation either through secularism, socialism, communism or Zionism. But their certainty that the Jewish situation of uncertainty could be changed to certainty with the adoption of such ideologies and programs proved to be illusory and false. Europe, apparently stable and mostly peaceful for the nineteenth century in the post-Napoleonic period, exploded in two unbelievably ruinous wars in the twentieth century, destroying empires, changing borders, establishing and dismembering nations and destroying the Jewish population in Europe. How is that for uncertainty compounded? And the ironic and fearsome point of this is that practically no one saw these events as coming. We are always blindsided by life itself. It interferes with all of our best-laid plans and aspirations. At the end of the day, we are left alone to deal with the realities of life and never with what we imagined to be its certainties.
Among the certainties that Zionism advanced was that anti-Semitism would disappear and that Jewish security would be achieved through the establishment of our national state. Well, miraculously and against all odds and with great personal sacrifice and loss, the state was established, strengthened and exists in all of its glory and achievements. Yet none of the promised certainties that the state was to achieve have really come into being. Anti-Semitism is a thriving industry everywhere in the world. The State of Israel, through no fault of its own, has to a certain degree even exacerbated this problem for the non-Jewish world (and tragically enough, even sections of the Jewish world) have the luxury of being anti-Israel while piously professing that their statements and policies are not all associated with anti-Semitism. The Lord has blessed us that over five and a half million Jews are now concentrated in the state of Israel, an area of land far smaller than was the eastern European Diaspora. Our enemies speak only of our destruction so that our security is uncertain though we believe that the Lord together with our own arms and resources will help protect us somehow. All of us now realize that we face an uncertain future. But not fooling ourselves with imagined certainties is a step in the right direction of being able to live and prosper in a very uncertain world.
Serving Hashem, Mitzvot and Repentance "Of All God's Miracles Large & Small..."
Both Nature & Super-Natural Are Necessary
P'ninat Mishpat Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Rabbis in Midrash
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Shoftim TESHUVA IN COURT OF LAW?
Parshat Shoftim-Chodesh Elul
Why does parshat Shoftim always come out during Elul? This innovative and central explanation is an eye-opener regarding many aspects of Judaism.
The Month of Elul TESHUVA IS THE ANSWER
The month of Elul serves as a vital time for self-reflection and personal accountability to prepare for true repentance.
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Realtor’s Fee on Large Commercial Building – part I
(based on ruling 85031 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 85031 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
P'ninat Mishpat Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: The Goal of an Agricultural Yeshiva – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 263 (address at the laying of the cornerstone of the Yeshiva Chakla’it in Kfar Haroeh)
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 263 (address at the laying of the cornerstone of the Yeshiva Chakla’it in Kfar Haroeh)
Chemdat Yamim The Goal of an Agricultural Yeshiva – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 263 (address at the cornerstone laying for the Yeshiva Chakla’it in Kfar Haroeh – 1938)
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 263 (address at the cornerstone laying for the Yeshiva Chakla’it in Kfar Haroeh – 1938)
Re'e NEVER EXTREME EXCEPT ISRAEL
Parshat Re'eh
Judaism is against extremism, so how can we understand the seemingly extreme statements found in our sages in favor of living in the Land of Israel and against living in Chutz laAretz? The article deals with the seeming contradiction between the strength of Free-Will and the strength of being influenced by our surroundings.
Ekev DANCE FOR ISRAEL- FOR YOUR BENEFIT
Parshat Eikev
Description: The 7 Haftarot we read after Tisha B'Av ("Shiva D'Nichemta") surely get us excited that they're coming TRUE, and awaken us to yearn, dance & join the return to Zion! The short article also deals with the problems and solutions facing the American Jewish community as discussed at a recent panel, as well as the question why Jews come from America to Israel to help when we face problems, but Israelis don't come to aid Jews in America when they face anti-Semitism.
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
