Beit Midrash

What Natural Living Is

On the Book, the Sword, and “Bots”

In the middle parashiyot of Sefer Devarim, telling of the time soon before entering Eretz Yisrael, the topic of war comes to the fore. We will look at one case in our history in which the “sword” was connected to the “book” in an interesting way. There are many elements to waging war. In the battlefield, people use weapons to kill or incapacitate. Today, technology is employed against the enemy, whether operated in the battlefield from afar or by infiltrating their important systems. Psychological warfare is a modern and ancient tool. Last week, we read the Torah’s instructions to soldiers not to be afraid of an intimidating army (Devarim 20:1-3).

The Intersection of the Three Eichas

What’s in a Number – part II

Last time we started discussion of the apparent contradiction between the depictions of the exile in Egypt as 400 or 430 years and the indications that it was only 210 years. This condensed piece finishes our discussion. The Rashbam understands the pasuk (Shemot 12:40) as referring to the inhabitance of Bnei Yisrael in Egypt finishing a period of 430 years that began with Brit Bein Habetarim. It did not mean that the whole period had to do with Egypt. The Alshich arrives at a novel explanation based on the fact that the pasuk refers to Mitzrayim and not Eretz Mitzrayim. He says that Mitzrayim does not refer only to Egypt but to all different types of difficulties, based on the etymological associations of the word. The Malbim picked up on the fact the pasuk refers to the exodus of “all the bands of Hashem” and says that since there were heavenly beings that were with Bnei Yisrael in Egypt and since Bnei Yisrael were worked day and night, the time that they needed to stay in Egypt only needed to be, from a calendar perspective, half of the 430 mentioned by the pasuk.

Kavanah in Keriat Shema

Chapter Fifteen-Part Three

Chapter Fifteen-Part Three

Birkot HaShachar – The Morning Blessings

Chapter nine-part one

Chapter nine-part one

The Proportional Hours and Their Corresponding Laws

Chapter eleven-part three

Chapter eleven-part three

The Final Time to Recite Keriat Shema and the Amidah of Ma’ariv

Chapter Twenty Five-Part Three

Chapter Twenty Five-Part Three

Why This Generation MUST Reject Truth

Let us take a faith-based look at our generation, through the prism of the teachings of the Land of Israel's first modern-day chief rabbi, Rav Kook.

The Messenger And The Message

Shooting the messenger and disregarding the message is the norm here but it is a dangerous and very self-defeating norm.

The Footsteps of Mashiah

Freedom

We, the Nation of Israel, must protect our uniqueness. We must throw off all foreign and coercive influences and become what we really are. What we really are is written in the Torah, which was given to us by the Creator Himself, He Who chose us.