Weekly Essay
  • Parashat Hayei Sara

    Download
    You need to suggest a tag!
    Your tag suggestion was submited!
    You need to select a tag first!
    The tag was submited!
  • Hayei Sara 5769  —  "Quick, Simple, & Pointed" Series Theme
    Parasha of vast transition from the adolescence of Yisrael, with the assuredness of youth convinced of its infallibility, into a period that was defined in advance of אימה חשיכה גדולה נופלת that begins with the end of the תקבר שבשיבה טובה and the גר יהיה זרעיך, which is felt immediately. This is a transition from קרית ארבע ע"ש ארבע ענקים into קרית ארבע היא חברון which is ע"ש ארבע זוגות איש ואשתו through the transition into אשה-כי יקח-קיחה קיחה-אשת חיל-אבישג השונמית and the נשים צדקניות-רבקה הרמאית-רחל ולאה ודו"דאים-אסתר-יהודית-שלך קשה משל פרעה from אברהם to the ויאהבה of יצחק. This is a transition from עו"ג-אליעזר who is מושל בכ"ל which is the ממשלה of ימשול בך of both אשה ויצר (הוא ימשול בך-ואתה תמשול בו) which was מקולל in the view of Avraham into a period of organic מלכות growing beyond the בג"ד of ממשלה. This becomes the ולא תקראי לי עוד בעלי of הושע…
    Important ‎חידושים‎: (a) Identification of the subtext of ‎עוג‎ throughout, not just the ‎קרית ארבע‎ transition to ‎זוגיות‎ (b) recognizing that following the ‎ואתה תבוא אל אבותיך בשלום תקבר בשיבה ‏טובה‎ we are by definition in the ‎תקופה‎ of ‎אימה חשיכה גדולה נופלת‎ and the ‎יצחק‎ period of ‎גר יהיה זרעך ‏בארץ לא להם‎; (c) The ‎ממשלה‎ on ‎יצר‎ per se and its relationship to ‎עוג‎ is the ‎הוא ימשול בך – ואתה תמשול בו‎ ‎‎(d) The relationship of losing ‎בגד‎ to losing ‎ממשלה (ושאול)‏‎ but gaining the organic self of ‎מלכות‎.‎(e) The explanation of the tragic nature of ‎הספד אברהם‎ as the recognition of what was lost when it was never recognized while available; (f) explanation of why Yitzchak was not mentioned in the הספד (as per the question of רבינו בחיי)
    (BW) This is a parasha of transition from the youthful idealism of K’lal Yisrael’s adolescence towards the uncertain, dark times of galut. Redemption comes from women, who work through history without becoming discouraged by the process – their clarity of purpose arises from a deeper connection to biology, psychology, and a world that seeks to discover itself. The focus on womanhood points to a subtext of the parasha – the transition from Kiryat Arba to Hevron, signifying a changeover from memshalah to malchut. Memshalah – externally imposed control – originated with the primal sin of Gan Eden, but found its extreme in the Rephaim. It achieves its tikkun in bonds between man and woman based on mutuality which build the internal, organic relationships that lead Yisrael towards Malchut.

    Download
    You need to suggest a tag!
    Your tag suggestion was submited!
    You need to select a tag first!
    The tag was submited!
  • Hayei Sara Structure  —  presented in 1987 at Yigal Alon Histadrut Center

    Download
    You need to suggest a tag!
    Your tag suggestion was submited!
    You need to select a tag first!
    The tag was submited!
  • Hayei Sara for Undergraduates Theme
    The discovery of love paradoxically as a result of דין and the resulting תיקון of חסד ודין in the new vision of internal תפילה. Going from קבורה to marriage is going from כי עפר אתה back to the כל שיח השדה that can be achieved only through internal closure and freedom from יצר הרע.

    Download
    You need to suggest a tag!
    Your tag suggestion was submited!
    You need to select a tag first!
    The tag was submited!
  • Hayei Sara -Transitions Theme
    קנין as the first step towards כיבוש: the קנינים of אשה ושדה and זקנה=זה קנה are part of the pattern that allows גר ותושב- אטול בעל כרחכם which until now was unthinkable to אברהם and in fact had led to the פירוד from לוט. Through the connection of דין וחסד which results in אהבה we also have the possibility of true בעלות which is the true meaning of כיבוש rather than the כיבוש which was the sign of ויקחו להם נשים מכל אשר בחרו or the ונדעם of סדום or the דברים אחדים of אור כשדים or the כבשן האש which was מצרים. Only successful integration of the universe is true possession, and this requires באים בימים. This is the relationship to the הפטרה as well, for of דוד we find the same זקן בא בימים and the same usage in terms of אשה and the same way that אשה is central to the future that is created..

    Download
    You need to suggest a tag!
    Your tag suggestion was submited!
    You need to select a tag first!
    The tag was submited!
  • Hayei Sara - Developments Theme
    Accepting the nature of דרך fully, with its demand for זקנה ומיתה as the זקן ושבע, in demanding the fullness of individual specific life, never an attempt to justify the life presented by Creation, but rather to form that life. This demands seeing Creation as the result of Brit/covenant, of חוקות שמים וארץ לא שמתי, and therefore being ready and desirous of passing on the torch.
    This דרך must consist of investment, and of seeing the fullness of Life as expressed in its elements as being its essence, rather than its understanding or simple practice. The relationship with life is the essence of הלכות דעות which is entirely behavior oriented, just as the essence of עבודה itself. The recognition of the absorption of lesser complexity in greater complexity is the essence of קרבן and seeing one’s life as a קרבן. (This is why eating turns out to be so important to יצחק and to עשרת ימי תשובה!)
    These relationships must provide greater and greater explanation of identity as a construct-within-context, and this is the essence of the individual-as-to-Life, which is mortality and old age. Thus we explain Lot in Avraham’s relationship with his sister, Sarah, and his achievement of intimacy through Sarah in קטורה, the very intimacy which is the דעת of הלכות דעות.

    Download
    You need to suggest a tag!
    Your tag suggestion was submited!
    You need to select a tag first!
    The tag was submited!
  • Advanced Hayei Sara  —  "Advanced FrameWorks" Series presented to Kolel Fellows, 1995 Theme
    The עקידה brings about a shift in the relationship with the earth and with women that builds a new future for love and for real קנין בארץ ישראל. It is through a new understanding of the “camel” in גמילות חסדים that the future of מדת הדין is born. (Advanced FrameWorks)

    Download
    You need to suggest a tag!
    Your tag suggestion was submited!
    You need to select a tag first!
    The tag was submited!


  • Outline


  • Texts