In Memory of those Killed in the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva

After a brutal terrorist attack on the holy students of Merkaz HaRav, many of us are asking ourselves: What can we possibly do?

Rav Kook, the founder of the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva had given the answer long ago:
"-The purely righteous do not complain about evil, rather they add justice.
-They do not complain about heresy, rather they add faith.
-They do not complain about ignorance, rather they add wisdom. "
Arpilei Tohar p. 39

Every time a person dies, we say kaddish for him. The Kaddish expressed the greatness of God. Why should such a prayer be recited when a person dies?
Because the Jewish response to tragedy is to build on the destruction, the fill the void with holiness.

We have seen evil around us today, and we will respond with hope.

I want this post to be more than just a post you just read. Soon I will come up with a fundraiser or a practical project that we can all participate in order to respond to this evil with a strong message of hope. I'm open to suggestions so please send me messages with your suggestions
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To All Bloggers! Make some Money reviewing a Jewish Blog!

Thanks to a partnership with PayPerPost, Tzipiyah.com is offering an amazing opportunity for bloggers to make some money!

All you need to do is click on a "Get Paid to Review This post" link at Tzipiyah.com, sign up for PayPerPost and then you'll get the opportunity to get paid 7,50$ for reviewing a post on Tzipiyah.com. The money is sent through paypal!

There are lots of programs where you can get paid to post some blog posts but here, you are getting paid to post something relevant for your readers since you are reviewing a post with a Jewish Topic!

Go to http://www.tzipiyah.com and click on the "Get PAid To Review This Post" Link under any of the posts!

This is an amazing opportunity for all bloggers!
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Does G-d Care?

As promised, I will now use this blog to share interesting articles I find online. My full time blogging will be at http://www.tzipiyah.com . This blog will still be very interesting and often provide things not shared on Tzipiyah.com

Rabbi Yosef Benarroch

In his code of Jewish law Maimonides explains that belief in G-d is a fundamental part of Judaism and is considered one of the 613 commandments. The source of the command, explains Maimonides, is the opening statement of the Ten Commandments "I am the Lord your G-d" which can be found in this week's Torah portion of "Yitro".

When explaining the obligation to believe in G-d Maimonides states the following, "The foundation of our faith and wisdom is to know that there is a first cause (G-d) who created everything. This is a positive commandment as it is written 'I am the Lord your G-d" (Yesodeh Hatorah 1:1-6).

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It's Cold!!! Get a heater!

Yes, its freezing cold outside! I think right now this is true in most of America, definitely here in Montreal! Even in my heated house the cold still comes in because my heater is not strong enough. I was surfing online and found a website with heating available. They sell gas space heaters . I don’t know much about heating but their prices were good and their heaters also looked good, not some ugly things which you wouldn’t want to bring into your house. They also have ways to get you discounts which is obviously very cool! Of course, it would be better if we would all live somewhere in the Negev right now and go outside to tan, but until then, this is website will provide for a good solution!
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Tu Bishvat and the Process of Redemption

Why do we celebrate Tu Bishvat? This isn’t quite clear. The holiday of Tu Bishvat does not appear in the Torah. It does not appear in the Mishna. It does not appear in the Gemara. I does not even appear in Geonim or Rishonim. The first time the holiday of Tu Bishvat was celebrated was with the students of the GRA and other mekubalim, who then instituted a minhag of eating fruits on that day. Before that, this day was simply a technical halachic day for the calculation of years. Yet, these mekubalim started a new minhag of eating fruits on that day. Why is the meaning of this minhag and why on this day?

In the gemara, we are told that the day of Tu Bishvat was used to calculate a technical halachic year. Again, there was no mention of it being a holiday. Yet, we are told that the reason why we are to use this day in our calculations is because it is the day in which fruits start to ripen. They are still not eatable but they start the process of ripening which eventually will lead them to become eatable. Our previous question now becomes stronger! Why did the mekubalim institute a minhag of eating fruits, of celebrating fruits, on the day in which the fruits are not even eatable? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have this holiday on the date in which most fruits are eatable?


The mekubalim have an approach to things that we can learn a lot from. For example: There are many different opinions as to when the day comes. Some people will only recognize the day when it is sunny outside, at noon. Others say it is day when the sun rises. Others say it is day when the first glimpse of light comes out. The Mekubalim do something amazing: In the middle of the night, at hatzot, (where the middle of the night is also the start of the end of the night, since the night is not starting to end), the mekubalim wake up and say tikkun hatzot. They already wake up, already start feeling that the day is coming.

This is what is happening with the fruit. The fruit is just starting the ripening process, but the mekubalim decide that this is already a time to start celebrating what the process will lead to. As the fruits start ripening, we already start eating fully ripened fruits.

This is a lesson we can apply in many aspects of our lives. On a very individual, personal level, we all often go through times which are not always the easiest. During these times, the traditional Jewish saying is: “Hakol Letova”! Everything is “for the good”. No, we’re not blind, we’re not naïve, we know there are some things which are bad… But we also have faith in God that ultimately, this is all part of a greater process which is for the good, and therefore, even if right now, the fruits of this process are not ripened, we can still celebrate the ripened fruit and say, everything is for the good. Eventually, we will understand that it is for the best.

On a national level, this teaching takes such an incredible meaning in our generation! Some people will only recognize that the redemption has come once the beit hamikdash has been rebuilt and we have a king once again. The mekubalim teach us to look deeper and to try and feel the coming of the mashiach from its first steps. In our generation, we are smack in the middle of this amazing process of the coming of the redemption! Once, someone told Rav Tzvi Yehuda: “If Rav Kook called the start of the settlements in Israel atchalta digueoula, a lot of time has already passed since, when will the redemption actually come?” Rav Tzvi Yehuda answered in a very short answer, with so much meaning, like he is accustomed to: “Kvar Ktzat Ba – It has already come a bit”. We are in the middle of the process! We might not have malchut yet, but jewish sovereignty has returned to Am Israel! We might not have a beit hamikdash, but Jerusalem is being rebuilt! There might be people left in chutz Laaretz, but there are over 5 million Jews living in Israel today, more then anywhere else in the world! The process is really picking up and moving forward!
During this process, however, we have a lot of hardships. Just recently, I had a very good friend of mine that mamash broke my heart when he told me he’s turning his back to the State of Israel because of the disengagement. He said he looks around Israel today and he doesn’t see the Zionism he used to support. This is not a reason to pack your bags and leave this amazing process! Even though the fruits are not ripened yet, we can already start blessing on them because we know they will ripen! We need to be patient. Human nature is always want to skip processes but sometimes they are necessary in order to get to an incredible goal and trying to skip them can bring disaster.

In the gemara, it states the following: “Ulah stated: “Let the Messiah come as long as I will not see him.” Raba also stated: “Let the Messiah come as long as I will not see him.” However, the rabbi which we all follow said something completely different. Rav Yossef said: “Let the Messiah come even when I will have to sit in the shadow of his donkey’s dung”. The donkey symbolizes the material world. In Hebrew, the word donkey comes from the world “material”. Rav Yossef knew there would be a time where Zionism would loose its idealism and would become a materialistic movement often engaged in things which do not follow the torah. Yet, he said: we know there will be tough times, we know it will not be simple, but we keep moving forward, we don’t pack our bags until the fruits have ripened. If I have to sit on the shadow of the dung of the donkey, I will, because I know that once the fruit ripens, this whole process will have been worth it.
As Am Israel continues the slow step by step process towards redemption, it is no surprise that Tu Bishvat suddenly became one of the most popular holidays in the Jewish World. A holiday which did not exist 1000 years ago is now celebrated by absolutely every community. I don't know of one Jew in the world who says tachanunim on that day. The message of Tu bishvat is needed for our generation to, each of us in our own way, help this process of redemption move forward, and keep blessing and Thanking god every day for each step of this process even if the redemption is not complete yet. As we bless the fruits this Tu Bishvat, lets all also bless our unfolding redemption and and each take practical steps of how to ensure our part is done to ripen the fruits of our redemption!
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Tzipiyah.com

http://www.tzipiyah.com

Tzipiyah.com is now officially open!

With 15 unique writers offering unique perspectives within the religious zionist community, Tzipiyah.com will be providing you with a range of posts - from divrei torah to personal stories. This will surely be an extremely interesting project and your participation in the comments is essential to enhance the website!

We already have a few posts up. The bloggers will be posting new posts on a regular basis so make sure to come back often to read all the latest posts!

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ITS COMMING!!!!

This tuesday, we will announce the unveiling of a new blog with 15 religious zionist writers! 15, thats right! This huge blog is sure to be absolutely interesting and might help revolutionize the jewish internet and through it help bring the light of torah and religious zionism to the world.

Check back on Tuesday and we will be unveiling the address of this new blog.

This blog will then be used in order to show some very interesting bookmarks from around the internet that relate to religious zionism. Trust me, it will still be very interesting because you will get access to a lot of interesting articles, but it will be different. My regular blogging will move to the new site.

This is very exciting and I am sure you will all be happy with the new blog. IT WILL BE AMAZING!
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ITS COMMING!!!!

This tuesday, we will announce the unveiling of a new blog with 15 religious zionist writers! 15, thats right! This huge blog is sure to be absolutely interesting and might help revolutionize the jewish internet and through it help bring the light of torah and religious zionism to the world.

Check back on Tuesday and we will be unveiling the address of this new blog.

This blog will then be used in order to show some very interesting bookmarks from around the internet that relate to religious zionism. Trust me, it will still be very interesting because you will get access to a lot of interesting articles, but it will be different. My regular blogging will move to the new site.

This is very exciting and I am sure you will all be happy with the new blog. IT WILL BE AMAZING!
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Shipping Service

We speak a lot about the great ideals of moving to Israel. However, those ideals would be incomplete if they did not come hand in hand with some really practical ways to get it done. I found this website which can help you ship your stuff either interstate (if you are still waiting to move to Israel) or overseas, straight to Israel! This can be a really great help to anyone who needs to move. The website is very easy to use, just fill out a few forms and they’ll help you out! I truly hope many of you will take advantage of this in order because that would mean two things: 1. you are finally coming home lol and 2. you took advantage of a great opportunity. I hope to see you soon in Jerusalem. Here is the link: interstate moving companies
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Aish.com great Article

This is an incredible article from Aish.com. Showing how people look at settlement. I think it adequately pinpoints the primary reason why so many israelis are ready to let them go.

My Cab Ride to Beirut
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Rav Kook on Channukah

(Amazing Article from the Bat Ayin Website. I would have reworded it from my perspective but I am in the middle of exams in Law School. Enjoy!)

In an article entitled "The Chanukah Candle" (printed first in 1935 and later in a collection of his essays) , Rav Kook uses a specific aspect of the laws of Chanukah as a metaphor for the way Am Yisrael should relate to its mission in the world.

As is well known the Talmud (Shabbat 21b) says that Chanukah candles should be lit at the door of the home facing the outside. However, in a time of danger it is sufficient to place the Chanukiah on the table inside the house. This limitation was for a long time the usual mode of candle lighting in Ashkenazi communities. This is reflected in the glosses of the Rema (R. Moshe Isserles) on the Shulchan Aruch which were written in the 16th century. The Rema assumes that everyone lights inside the house. Therefore the law of the Talmud that a home with two entrances to the public domain requires two lightings is no longer valid because there is no need to take into consideration that people outside might think that a person has not lit (O.H. 571:8). In addition, there is no need to make sure to light while there are still people on the street (O.H. 572: 2). Though today we are not afraid to light in our doors or windows there is an opinion supported by at least one contemporary posek that the original halacha requiring us to light outside is no longer authoritative and has been nullified (see the discussion in Mitzvat Ner Ish Ubeito by Rabbi E. Shlezinger of Gilo).

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