Integral Torah Perspectives

From: some shmo Hi shlemiel, The question is: The Rebbe explains that according to the Alter Rebbe in Tanya, the nature of Teshuva is  that the person must repent to the extent that he (not only deicde not to do *that particular sin* that he violated; but) decide that he will not vilate any one of the Mitzvot that Hashem commanded. The question was: According to this opinion what IF the person did not reach that far, and he only decided that he will not commit that particular sin, is it considered as if he did NO teshuva whatsoever, or we say that although he did not reach *Complete* teshuva he nonletheless is no longer a RASHA ( as ALter Rebbe states: that if a person committed a sin he is a rasha until he does teshuva). This is the question in the abstract form.  (There may be various practial "nafkah minahs" practical ramifications that result from this question. Rabbi Piekarsky offered one, which i feel has no practical bearing). Kol tuv, Some other shmo ~~~~ Fro...

ב''ה Is it surprising that, for a place where we have a Jewish tradition of a flame regularly coming down from heaven to rest on the alter, we would see one? There are three Torah opinions as to where the Mikdash was on the temple mount. 1)The dome of the rock is the holy of holies. 2)The dome of the rock is where the main alter used to be. 3)The holy of holies was directly behind the western wall, and the temple was not connected to the dome of the rock.

ב''ה The explanation of לרוקע הארץ על המים is that there is a large whole at the north of the globe where much of the water that covered the earth descended into  in order to reveal the dry land. This large hole in the middle of the north pole is referred to as נוקבה דתהומה רבה. This also might be the פרושׁ of יהי רקיע בתוך המים, the רקיע refers to the earth that is in between the waters.  ויהי מבדיל בין מים למים may refer to the water of the oceans on top of the land and the water of the דתהומה רבה underneath the earth.  This is also the meaning of the מאמר רז''ל that עלום לאכסדה הוא דומה, שלא גמר רוח צפונית, שהוא פתוח. Saying, if there is a god that has power in him, let him come and finish the job. The ר''ת of אלילים is אין יכולים לעשות מחיצה. When דוד המלך dug the שיתין he reached all the way to the תהומה רבה where שם מ''ב that comes out from ב דבראשית עד ב דבהו that stops the water from coming up from there and flooding the Earth. שם מ''ב he...

ב''ה The צמח צדק writes in שרש מצות התפילה that we say שמע sitting down and not standing up since we can not be מעורר יחוד או''א in אצי' only in בריאה. Like it says ממושבתיכם תביאו לחם תנופה. I finally realized that the one possible explanation is the custom that is brought in שו''ע הרב to wave your head in all directions while saying שמע, corresponding with the ח (the 7 heavens) and ד (the 4 directions.) This is like a תנופה, מוליך ומביא, מעלה ומוריד.

In his efforts to explain how Torah views are absolute truth were as philosopy and science is only in the realm of the possible the כוזרי שני bring four opinions as to how lighting forms. As I was reading the theories I figured I would do a quick look up on wikipedia to see if the issue was resolved yet. I was surprised to find that it had not! As a nice coinsidence, there were also four theories mentioned in the wikipedia article. I thought I would share with you the four from כוזרי שני as well as the 4 mentioned in Wikipedia. Short hand from כוזרי שני: 1)Aristotle:Warm, thick steam rises from the earth very quickly and pushes the cloud from all sides. They try to escape from inside the cloud since the cloud is cold and wet while the steam is hot and dry. Because when it finaly escapes, it flames up, ripping through the cloud. This is when you see the lightning and hear the thunder. 2)Katisiv (descartes):The lightning is made out of steam from nitro(glycerin) and sulfur that...

ב''ה If קדב''ה is משתמש במאנין תבירין (the holy one blessed be he uses broken vessels - for example, a person with a broken heart, a pauper whom you give tzedaka to etc) why does it say that a broken vessel refers to the klipa by the hagada when we pour out the wine "סוד הקליפה הנקראת ארור?" Perhaps, if you look at the big picture, the shviras ha'kelim itself, that created the klipos, are the broken vessels that the holy one blessed be uses. One the one hand it is a source of G-dly "wrath" to pour wine into, while on the other, a dear dear thing to G-d that fulfills the purpose of creation, like giving charity to a pauper.Or, one could say that the unfair difficulties a person finds oneself in are the poured "wrath," while the humble state it causes is to be pitied and/or serve as a positive exemplar. Think, a young orphan whose parents were sentenced to death for murder. The wrath was poured out on the parents while the child remains...

ב''ה It came to pass after Alexander the son of Pilipos the Macedonian, who came from the land of Kitim, conquered Daryavesh the king of Persia and Madai and become king in his place, ruling from Greece. He fought many wars and conquered fortified cities and slaughtered the kings of the earth. He reached to the edges of the earth and took the bounty of many nations. The earth was silent before him and became exalted and haughty. He gathered a very mighty army,  he ruled over the lands of nations and princes and they paid tribute to him. After all this, he fell ill and knew that he would die. He called to his distinguished servants that grew up together with him since childhood and he split amongst them his kingdom while he was still alive. Alexander ruled 12 years and then died. His servants each ruled their own realm. They all placed crowns of kingship on their heads after he died and passed on to their sons after them for many years. They multiplied the evil on the earth. ...