Refusing Anti-Torah Military Orders

War and the Seventh Year Reminder

"If Haredim Should Serve in the IDF, So Should You"

IDF Service for Young Jewish Men from America

In short, Israel today is preoccupied with the urgency of drafting many thousands of lacking combat soldiers into the IDF, especially after so many of our best boys have recently fallen or been wounded. Many point the finger at Haredim in this context, especially those who are not really learning Torah full-time, where there is no halachic justification for them whatsoever, not to observe this great mitzvah. On the other hand, it's about time that someone point out that this obligation of Milchemet Mitzvah applies equally to all of the healthy Jewish boys living in America, as well, especially those working or studying in universities. This extremely "readable" yet scholarly article suggests much food for thought, and can potentially be a game-changer for many readers, regarding many issues in this period of Achdut, anti-Semitism and sincere soul-searching & reassessment in the Jewish religious & Haredi communities both abroad and in Israel. Please forward it to as many people as possible!

The Beautiful Land of Israel

A Nation of 'Wrestlers' and Super-Stars

A Nation of 'Wrestlers' and Super-Stars

October 7th is not Holocaust Remembrance Day!

Do I Deserve It?

Remember to Look at the Big Picture

Decisive Sentences

Angels in gaza

The Community vs the Individual

"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.

Even Over The Trees And Under The Stones

Yaakov plans to return to Eretz Yisrael

Question #1: This Land is My Land! How do we take possession of Eretz Yisrael? Question #2: This Land is Your Land How do you make Eretz Yisrael into “your” land? Question #3: From California How far west does Eretz Yisrael extend? The answers to these questions are addressed in the attached article.

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.

COPING WITH TERROR AND TRAGEDY

On a spiritual level, two theological questions cry out to us: Is there justice in the world? And what is the nature of a God of love and mercy in a world filled with evil? When we witness the brutal murder of both soldiers and civilians, the young and the old, we are numbed and bewildered, at a loss as to making religious sense of it all. We feel helpless at even beginning to comprehend the ways of God.

Why Were the 7 Nations Not Driven Out of Israel

Only Jews Who Acknowledge Israel Can Belong To It

...The fact that Moshe wasn't buried in the Holy Land is not a punishment ... but is rather the straight-out reality! That is, whoever does not acknowledge that the Land is his, no matter what the reasons for this might be, simply does not belong to it; the Land does not want him...

Going to and from an Aliya

Can you explain the details of how one should walk to an aliya and how and when he should return?