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Beit Midrash
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Sixty years is one of the few dates mentioned in the Talmud as being significant in a person’s lifetime. The Talmud records for us that great rabbis made great celebrations and meals to commemorate their achieving sixty - to be freed from the threat of koret in this world. Statistics indicate that one who reaches sixty has a good chance of living a long life. Sixty is therefore seen as a watershed at least as far as human life is concerned. Perhaps we can see that this number of sixty as being a watershed time in the story of the return of Israel to its ancient homeland. Even though the threats to the existence of Israel are real, they are not really new ones. The players may have new names - Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran - but the threats and animosity are not new. Israel was threatened by nuclear elimination by the Soviet Union decades ago. Real wars have been fought against us. But the State of Israel has outlived the Soviet Union and Saadam Hussein, just to mention two of our great and aggressive foes. Ten years ago the intifadas were much more dangerous than what is happening today, painful and unforgivable as the attacks on Sderot and Ashkelon and the Western Negev are. Most of us in Israel live in personal security, certainly in comparison with many other countries in the world. The polls taken regularly here in Israel indicate that a very high percentage of those of us who live in Israel are very satisfied with our quality of life. People who at sixty are satisfied with their lives are truly fortunate. I think that this is true of our national entity, the State of Israel, as well.
There are many gains that we can count. High-tech, medicine, biotech, agriculture are enormous accomplishments. In the spiritual world, in spite of all of the struggles, divisions, controversies and setbacks suffered by the religious observant section of our population, there is a stronger Jewish people, religiously speaking, existing here today than there was sixty years ago. Torah study abounds in all corners and even in all groupings in Israel. From a sheer sense of numbers, the religious world has arisen from the ashes of the Holocaust that almost destroyed it. The Chasidic courts and the yeshivot have institutions, infrastructure, campuses and numbers that are greater than what they had in Eastern Europe in the 1930’s. There is much yet left to accomplish in all areas of Israeli and Jewish life. But we should ever be mindful of the words of our rabbis in Avot that "one is not obligated to complete all of the tasks that face one, but nor is he free to abstain from the work at the tasks that still face one." That rule is true for individual human beings. It is also true for nations and communities and certainly for the State of Israel as it marks its sixtieth year of existence. Many happy returns!
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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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.
