Why a *Nation* Is Needed to Fulfill G-d's Plan

By Rav Haggai Londin, yeshiva.co, translated by Hillel Fendel

The Divine Idea reaches full expression only in the form of national Jewish life in the Jewish land – and not simply via individuals, no matter how righteous they may be.

We know that the Book of Genesis (B'reshit) is followed by that of Exodus (Sh'mot) – and there is great significance to this order. B'reshit deals with individuals: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Yosef, etc. – but Sh'mot deals with the beginning of the Jewish presence in history as a nation. As Rav Tzvi Yehuda HaCohen Kook wrote, "From the value of the individual [in B'reshit], we move on [in Sh'mot] to the value of the communal."

Ki Tavo: The Torah is a National Precept

by Yehuda HaKohen, visionmag.org

The performance of our Torah's ritual precepts must be contextualized & experienced within the larger meta-narrative of Israel's story & mission.

The Slave Mentality of Exile

By Rav Moshe Kaplan, https://meirtv.com/en

Rav Moshe Kaplan delves into the concept of slave mentality as it affected the Jews who left Egypt, and also how it affected the Jews of Exile, both in their opinions of Zionism and also their beliefs surrounding the coming of Mashiah.

Ki Tetzei: Finding Our Power - and Channeling It

by Rabbi Netanel Yosifun, yeshiva.co, translated by Hillel Fendel

The scene is an IDF base somewhere in the Negev, featuring the last day of an intensive training course for new artillery cadets, including a hesder yeshiva soldier named Uziyah. The day began with each soldier practicing on his own, one at a time, on "dry" – that is, without real ammunition. For long and tiring hours under the hot sun, the soldiers run, direct their weapons again at the cardboard targets, yell, "Fire! Fire!", fall, jump up again, run, shoot - over and over and over.

Then comes the climax: The exercise is held on "wet." One after the other, the soldiers approach the commander, who guides each one through the exercise as they run and storm ahead and fire real bullets. Uziyah watches as the soldier before him roars battle cries and storms forward with full force towards the cardboard stands. He smiles to himself at his friend's battle-cries and over-enthusiasm.

Ki Tetzei: Returning Lost (Spiritual) Items

by Rabbi Netanel Yosifun, translated by Hillel Fendel

The story is told of a brother and sister who set out to search for spirituality. Each one found something: The brother found and returned to Judaism, while his sister fell under the influence of a guru in India and decided to remain there. 

The brother felt bad about his sister and her decision to forego a life of Torah. He tried to get her to return to Israel and learn about Judaism, but she was happy where she was and refused to entertain his suggestions. Finally, though, after he simply didn't give up, she agreed to return to Israel for just a few days and take part in one, and only one, Torah class. Her brother, of course, prepared feverishly for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and sought the best possible lecturer on the most fascinating Torah topic he could think of.

Q&A: Lessons on forgiveness

Background: The Talmud (Tr. Taanit 20a-b) recounts a story in which R. Elazar ben R. Shimon was returning home from a long period of Torah studies and was quite pleased with himself for having studied so much. He met a man who was very ugly, and talked to him in an insulting manner. The man told R. Elazar, "If you have complaints about my appearance, go tell my Maker how ugly is the utensil He made." R. Elazar realized that he had sinned, and begged for forgiveness. The man refused to forgive. Only after they entered a town together, and the ugly man told the townspeople what the rabbi had done, and they asked him to forgive the rabbi, did he grudgingly agree to do so.

Q. In the story of the ugly man and the rabbi, he ugly man didn't really forgive him, but rather sought to appease the townsmen. The story ends with R. Elazar seemingly criticizing the ugly man for having been stubborn in not forgiving, without any criticism of R. Elazar himself for haughtiness and having treated the man not nicely.

My questions are: Is it truly possible to forgive someone who has insulted you? Can one who truly regrets having made someone feel bad ever really wipe away the pain that the other one felt and still feels? Perhaps we should demand of the one who was hurt to "get out of it already" and forgive and forget? And why is the message of the story that we must be flexible, instead of that we should be careful not to make others feel bad, or that we should not judge people by how they look but rather remember that everyone was created in G-d's image?

Shoftim: Love and Duty

by Rav Yehuda HaKohen, visionmag.org

A Hebrew leader must embody the aspirations of his people to the extent that he becomes a microcosm of the entire nation of Israel and his personal identity is absorbed into that of the national collective.

Elul: The Teshuva of the Treasury Minister

by Rav Netanel Yosifun, translated by Sharona Eshet-Kohen

It happened on a particular Yom Kippur Eve. Rabbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, the great defender of Israel, entered the synagogue all fired up. He screamed, "Look all over! Find them! Look even under the benches and the tables!"

 

Everyone looked around at each other in discomfort. What were they supposed to look for?

 

Re'eh: Giving Our Everything For Israel

by Yehuda HaKohen, visionmag.org

The essence of Ahavat Yisrael is the willingness to take responsibility for Israel’s future. It is being prepared to sacrifice everything for the defense of the Jewish people and liberation of the homeland.