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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- D'varim
- Vayelech
But the road to this final glorious destination is strewn with pitfalls and detours, mistakes and betrayals. Moshe does not offer up any honey coated formulas for survival. He does not propose instant solutions or original panaceas. He tells the Jewish people how hard and long the road back home, physically and spiritually will be. It is the almost brutal honesty of his description of the problems and situations that Israel will have to overcome that lends veracity and confirmation to his final message of blessing and confident hope. In this season of our asking God to grant us a good and healthy year we should be wary of asking Him for a free lunch. We must offer in return for God’s gifts our own commitments for a strengthened Torah presence within us and our homes, a renewed loyalty to the Jewish people and to Torah values as enunciated to us throughout the ages and a feeling of solidarity with the land and people of Israel. We cannot merely ask God for more without also exhibiting our willingness to contribute in every way that we can to the great goals of Jewish destiny. God’s blessings are assured but only if we are willing to work to achieve them. Nitzavim, Vayelech, Haazinu all precede Zot Habracha. There are no shortcuts to get to the blessings but we will surely arrive there in this coming good year that the Lord bestows upon us.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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D'varim Judaism’s Social Vision
Re’eh
Giving is more than an act of generosity—it is an essential part of human dignity that belongs to everyone, rich and poor alike. The ultimate goal of help is to empower others to stand on their own.
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.
