Q. How should I relate to great rabbis and Torah scholars, and even the generation's leaders, who ruled Halakhically that parts of the Land of Israel may be given over to autonomous gentile rule? For me personally, I find it hard to call them "rabbis" – but who am I in comparison to these great Torah giants?
by Rav Yehuda HaKohen, visionmag.org
How should we understand the difference between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah within the context of Israel's identity and development?
Listen to the audio/read the transcript here (12.5 min)
by Netanel Yosifun, yeshiva.co, translated and adapted by Hillel Fendel
In honor of the Torah's "Ten Commandments" Portion Rav Netanel Yosifun presents the Ultimate Proof of the truth of Torah
by Rav Netanel Yosifun, yeshiva.co, translated by Hillel Fendel
In honor of both this week's Torah portion recounting the falling of the Manna from Heaven, and Tu B'Shvat
by Rav Hillel Mertzbach, yeshiva.co, translated by Hillel Fendel
The Torah portion of this week, Beshalach, can be called the Portion of Faith. It is filled with tests and trials that the Children of Israel must undergo on their way out of Egypt, and each one increases and strengthens its faith – emuna - in G-d in a different way. Let us list them and possibly see how they each teach a different lesson in faith:
by Rav David Chai HaCohen, translated by Hillel Fendel
Israel's Exodus from Egypt served as a preparatory course for the nation's great future, foretold at the very beginning of its creation to its Patriarch Avraham: "I will make you into a great nation… and the other nations will be blessed through you" (B'reshit 12,2-3).
The meaning of the phrase "great nation" in this context is that we will be "close to G-d." As written in Va'et'chanan, "Who is a great nation like Israel, to which G-d is so close." However, to reach closeness to G-d, several steps are required.
by Rav Ari Yitzhak Shvat, translated by Hillel Fendel
This week's Torah portion, Parashat Bo, tells us of Israel's final preparations for the Exodus from Egypt, and also discusses outlines in some detail the laws of Pesach and chametz. Rav Kook, in his commentary on the Haggadah for Passover, highlights the fact that the topic of freedom takes up a very central place in both the principles and laws of the holiday.
It is important to note the historical background of Rav Kook's writings. During his period, the idea of "freedom" was fairly controversial. On the one hand, there were the national and individual freedoms to which the Zionist, socialist and democratic movements aspired. But also very prevalent were, unfortunately, those Jews who called themselves "free thinkers" – the forerunners of today's secular Jews, but even more proactive in throwing off the yoke of the Torah and its commandments.
