"What Happens to Us After We Die?"

"What Really Happens After We Die?" Heaven, Hell, Reincarnation & Revival of Dead Many people are curious but are scared to ask, what does Judaism say happens to us after we die? This class deals with the mainstream of Jewish thought as to what happens in heaven? In hell? Do we believe in reincarnation? Who gets into heaven & who's left out? Who is woken in the Revival of the Dead, and who not? What is the order of things after death? What happens in Y'mot HaMashiach (the Messianic era)? This concentrated class cites the sources to clarify many of these puzzling question. Also, why aren't heaven & hell mentioned more in the Tanach?

Orchot Tzaddikim-part 23-Happiness i

This chapter deals with the need to be careful not to mock other streams of Judaism, especially when it can be understood as a general degrading of the religious. Wine is, like all of God's creation, meant to be used for good and positive things- to help open up and achieve happiness, and surely not to be mis-used. As opposed to many topics which present the free-will between good and bad, wine is a choice between super-good and super-bad.

Orchot Tzaddikim-part 22 Callousness iii

We usually speak about refining ourselves and becoming more thoughtful, kind and giving, but precisely because of that, sometimes, like in our war with Hamas, we have to make a conscious decision to "get tough". Even poor people can and must be kind, and can consider their volunteering as charity.

Orchot Tzaddikim-part 21- Callousness ii

The Torah teaches us to be kind to animals, slaves and this is what brought mankind to eventually see slaves as people, and animals as having feelings. The Creator (who gave us a conscience), the Torah-Giver (who gave us many moral details regarding even slaves and animals), and the God of History (who advances mankind through historical and technological evolution), are all One and the same, where everything starts with Him, and leads towards His Godly ideals and morality. The class details many of the surprising and unknown laws that used to apply to slaves.

How Free is Free-Will

Ayn Aya Masechet Shabbat v, 38

Rav Kook describes the strenth of free will and why death was decreed after the sin in Gan Eden.

You Don't Live in a Vacuum!"

Ayn Aya Shabbat v, 37

One of the disadvantages of western culture's obsession with ourselves, is that often we see people who make their daily life decisions, both small and large, as if they live in a vacuum, forgetting their surroundings, families, communities, Am Yisrael and previous, as well as future, generations. The fact that we don't live alone can sometimes be problematic, that it limits our "free-will" and we suffer from others' decisions & actions, but Rav Kook explains that it's also the solution, and we end up gaining a lot more than we lose by being part of something larger.

Death and the Transition Between Worlds

Rav Kook, Ayn Aya Shabbat v, 39

Death should not be scary but rather like a loving Father transferring his child to his bed. The world to come is full of "freedom and exemptions", but only after we gradually rise, through the challenges and mitzvot of this world.

How to be a Living Torah

Ayn Aya Shabbat 34

R. Kook corresponds here with R. Samson Raphael Hirsch regarding their difference of opinion in understanding the benefit of the mitzvot just through logic or also through the entire "Broad Torah", including Pardes, Hassidut, Kabbala, Philosophy and Mussar, and through "Knowing G-d"- analyzing & emulating His attributes.

"Not Without My Son (or My Father)!"

Why could Christianity think that they can replace Am Yisrael after Israel was sent to exile? Why the national redemption of Israel is necessary for the redemption of mankind, and the higher expression of "Shema Yisrael". Why is the World to Come almost not mentioned at all in the Tanach? What is Tikun Chatzot about? Rav Kook suggests very beautiful & innovative answers explaining why the son (Israel) & the Father (Hashem) need to both play important & active roles.

Mankind is Ready and Searching

The crises of war bring a longing of mankind for a "New World Order" and hope for a better way of running the world, especially in the war against Hamas, where the good fights the evil. Real Jewish nationalism (recently strongly rejuvenated by the war in Israel), through the common denominator of the Tanach is the ideal answer, revered by secular Zionists, Christians and the world in general.

"Rav Kook on Modern Warfare, Technology & Culture"

Orot HaMilchama part x, ch. 8

Rav Kook's holistic & complex thought praises modern technology and culture in many places, but he warns here in Orot HaMilchama, that modern warfare shows that without a strong base in Torah & the Godly Morality and a Jewish State of Israel as a modern Light for the Nations, mankind can and will misuse these Godly gifts in a destructive way that the world will greatly regret. The class relates to the spiritual "upgrade" referred to in Rav Kook and as seen in Israel following the 6 Day War, the Yom Kippur War, and presently the war after the Hamas Simchat Torah attack, where the religious-Zionists are beginning to lead the way back to nationalism, Tanach and the original & appealing Torat Eretz Yisrael, the effective way to keep the unity & consensus in Israel even after the war.

"The War to be Ourselves"

Rav Kook's Orot HaMilchama- part ix, chapt. 7

Rav Kook writes that an essential part of being happy as an individual and as a nation, is to be one's self, to be free from external pressure and laws which run against our nature. Part of the national renaissance of Israel is to have our own independent Jewish army, society, culture, creativity and spirituality, which help us get in touch with our Godly selves, and which are surely worth fighting for and protecting

War Reveals our Essence - Israel Reveals Mankind

Rav Kook's Orot HaMilchama (part viii)-ch. 6

As all extreme situations, war reveals the essence and personality of the individual & the nation. Similarly Am Yisrael was dispersed in all of the countries of the historical super-powers, and includes, unites and is meant to harmonize all of the aspects of all nations & movements. In this classic paragraph, Rav Kook discusses the need for Israel as an eternal nation. serving as a "control group" for comparison, and eventually, the gathering of the exiles and the "sparks", showing how all the various world cultures are meant to work together in Knesset Yisrael. History has shown that all ideological movements are represented in Am Yisrael and our Torah.

World Peace & the End to Anti-Semitism

Orot Hamilchama part V chapter 4

During our war bitter with Hamas, we must deal with the question, how realistically, can we ever achieve the messianic dream described in the prophets, of world peace? Rav Kook excels at bridging the gap between ideal and reality, and here as well, he pragmatically presents the road to the end of anti-Semitism in rational & historically logical terms. It's very interesting!

Orot HaMilchama part IV- Wars & Selflessness- Part of the Process of Geula

The Tanach teaches us that wars are part of the process of redemption. Rav Kook explains from several different aspects, why this is so, for one may have thought that redemption would just involve peace! This chapter is especially important today as Israel is at war with a cruel enemy, and many innocent and righteous people have been killed, on the other hand, the unity & solidarity we see today in Israel & throughout the Jewish world is staggering.

Orot HaMilchama part II

Rav Kook stresses in various places of his writings many additional philosophic, halachic, & moral reasons why the Biblical Heroes before we went to Galut, were physically strong & military heroes, and how it's time to revive the Ideal Jew and Jewish Pride

Reaping the Benefits of the War on Hamas Without the Mistakes

Ayn Aya Shabbat v, 33

Ayn Aya Shabbat v, 33

Orot Hamilchama Introduction

War is always a big "Shake-Up", and Rav Kook in this series, which is a lot more relevant today than when he wrote it, is a real "eye-opener". Rav Kook relates here to how, with our return to Israel after 2,000 years of exile, we are rediscovering the Original Jew, as found in the Tanach. All of the Biblical heroes had a "healthy soul in a healthy body", and were, in addition to their obvious spirituality, also physically strong & military heroes. Today's commanders in the IDF, & especially the boys from the Hesder Yeshivas and Mechinot are reawakening that type of Ideal Jew who reveal Godliness & morality even during war & in the mundane world, stressing that 1 Creator unites everything.

The Road to Heaven is Paved with Good Intentions

Our sages say that God "counts" good intentions, but doesn't "count" bad intentions. On the other hand, the Talmud Yerushalmi adds that this is only for Jews, not gentiles, where the opposite is true. And the obvious question is: why? If intentions are serious, they should always "count", and if not, they should never be considered! Rav Kook explains that Teshuva is the easiest of all mitzvot, where even a thought is enough to erase decades of mistakes! On the other hand, it's also difficult, and we must analyze the differences.(Ayn Aya Shabbat v, 32)

"Is There a Way to Know When We Will Die?"

Ein Aya Shabbat 5, 30

All people are curious to know when they will die, and Rav Kook offers an innovative and beneficial way of dealing with this issue.