Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • YU Center for the Jewish Future THE BENJAMIN AND ROSE BERGER TORAH TO-GO® Established by Rabbi Hyman z"l and Ann Arbesfeld APRIL 2020 • YOM HAATZMAUT 5780 Torah For The Times Of The Redemption Dedicated in memory of Cantor Jerome L. Simons We thank the following synagogues which have pledged to be Pillars of the Torah To-Go® project Beth David Synagogue Cong. Ohr HaTorah Young Israel of West Hartford, CT Atlanta, GA Lawrence-Cedarhurst Cedarhurst, NY Beth Jacob Congregation Cong. Shaarei Tefillah Beverly Hills, CA Newton Centre, MA Young Israel of New Hyde Park Beth Jacob Congregation Green Road Synagogue New Hyde Park, NY Oakland, CA Beachwood, OH Young Israel of Bnai Israel – Ohev Zedek The Jewish Center Philadelphia, PA New York, NY New Rochelle New Rochelle, NY Boca Raton Synagogue Jewish Center of Young Israel of Boca Raton, FL Brighton Beach Brooklyn, NY Scarsdale Cong. Ahavas Achim Scarsdale, NY Highland Park, NJ Koenig Family Young Israel of Foundation Cong. Ahavath Torah Brooklyn, NY West Hartford Englewood, NJ West Hartford, CT Yeshivat Reishit Cong. Beth Sholom Beit Shemesh/Jerusalem Young Israel of Lawrence, NY Israel West Hempstead Cong. Beth Sholom West Hempstead, NY Young Israel of Providence, RI Century City Young Israel of Cong. Bnai Yeshurun Los Angeles, CA Woodmere Teaneck, NJ Woodmere, NY Young Israel of Cong. Ohab Zedek Hollywood Ft Lauderdale New York, NY Hollywood, FL Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President, Yeshiva University Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, David Mitzner Dean, Center for the Jewish Future Rabbi Menachem Penner, Max and Marion Grill Dean, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary Rabbi Robert Shur, Series Editor Rabbi Joshua Flug, General Editor Rabbi Michael Dubitsky, Content Editor Andrea Kahn, Copy Editor Copyright © 2020 All rights reserved by Yeshiva University Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future 500 West 185th Street, Suite 419, New York, NY 10033 • [email protected] • 212.960.0074 This publication contains words of Torah. Please treat it with appropriate respect. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Rabbi Russ Shulkes at [email protected] 2 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5780 Table of Contents Yom Haatzmaut 5780 Dedicated in memory of Cantor Jerome L. Simons 6 Eli Weinstein: The Torah of Redemption 10 Chaim Goldberg: Will Demographics Change Halacha? 12 Tzvi Goldstein: Contemporary Korbanos: Issues and Opportunities 16 Jacob Lazaros: Stories of Return 20 Eitan Rozenberg: Gishmei Bracha 23 Isaac Selter: Actualizing Prophecy: Man’s Obligation or God’s? 29 Effie Wagner: The Powers of a Jewish King 3 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5780 KATZ SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH MS IN CYBERSECURITY Ehud Eliyahu Former Member of the Israeli Defense Forces Student, MS in Cybersecurity SECURE YOUR FUTURE AT YU Master innovative methods pioneered by Israel’s elite cybersecurity and intelligence units. 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Learn more at www.yu.edu/cybersecurity Learn More at: yu.edu/syms/real-estate BUILDING TOMORROW, TO DAY BUILDING TOMORROW, TO DAY Yeshiva University 5 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5780 TORAH FOR THE TIMES Eli Weinstein OF THE REDEMPTION Kollel Fellow, RIETS Israel Kollel THE TORAH OF REDEMPTION s the Jewish people grow and divide them up. The first pillar is the Rav Kook explains: מתי הוא טוב ללמוד סתרי תורה, כשהתשוקה evolve throughout history, increased focus on the hidden side of הפנימית של קרבת ד' היא חזקה, מתעלה .the Torah follows a similar Torah, known as penimiyus Hatorah pattern.A Just as new attributes of our The main feature ofpenimiyus Hatorah ומתגברת, עד שלא תתן מנוח לנפש, ואינה משביעה את חפצה בשום תכן רוחני וקדוש .national character are realized and is its fixation on Hashem’s presence שבעולם, כי אם עם ההגיון הפנימי המדבר developed over time, so too Torah Instead of speaking about the halacha ברזי עולם. study grows, and new facets of Torah itself for example, it focuses on are revealed with each day. And so, Hashem’s divine wisdom that went When is it good to learn the secrets of alongside the dramatic changes that into commanding the law. Whereas the Torah? When the inner desire for our people undergo as we return the halachic side of Torah may closeness to Hashem is strong, ascending to our homeland, the Torah, too, is focus on practical behaviors in the and increasing until it does not give evolving with us. The flowering of the workplace, focuses penimiyus Hatorah rest to the soul and does not satiate its Torah in the time of redemption is on looking deeper and seeing Hashem desire except through the most spiritual termed “ ,” and it has a in every business deal. In the past, Toras hageula and holiest content in the world, except unique character that is directly tied such study was limited to only a few through the inner logic that speaks of the to the times during which it is being unique people, but the soil of Eretz secrets of the world.2 revealed. In the upcoming essay, we Yisrael is rich with the right nutrients Oros Hatorah 10:1 will both attempt to defineToras to foster its spread to the masses. The hageulah as well as understand some Land of Israel is the land of prophecy, The return to the land of prophecy has of its impact on klal Yisrael. the land of interaction with Hashem, sparked this desire in our people to be and that is what makes it spiritually close to Hashem,3 and thus not only Toras hageulah can be described with ripe for Torah study that is entirely is the soil ripe for penimiyus Hatorah, three main pillars, and though they all the people, too, are primed to engage flow from the same source, it helps to focused on seeing and interacting with Him.1 in it in a real and broad way.4 [The 6 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5780 unity of the people is also a major in all places, Hashem can be accessed throughout the exilic distance. Toras theme in penimiyus Hatorah, and klal and appreciated in what was once off hageulah speaks to the Jewish heart Yisrael is seen as one body, with each limits because it was deemed unholy. and enhances that relationship with individual acting as a unique cell The third pillar is the expansion of Hashem. with a unique purpose. In this way, avoda shebilev, the service of the The evolution of Torah study in the klal Yisrael acts as single chariot for heart. Tefila has extended beyond times of redemption is just getting off materializing Hashem’s presence in the borders of the synagogue and has the ground. Already, its impact has this world.] become a mode of existence. Tefila dramatically affected the experience The second pillar ofToras hageulah does not occur only in three specific of Jews in the Land of Israel and it flows directly from the first, and that meetings of the day, but rather is a is beginning to spread its influence is the expansiveness of the Torah. yearning for connection with Hashem in the Diaspora. The outcome of Toras hageulah is not limited to any that is constant. As Rav Dov Singer these developments include greater sphere, and in fact covers all bases of terms man the “homo mispalelus” connection to Hashem, greater life. Whereas in the past, the enemy (Tikon Tefilati, intro), we are naturally connection to each other, and a of the Jewish people may have been pray-ers and tefila is our frame of tangible march toward the days of the Greeks, and their evil activities life. Thus tefila has grown to more of prophecy. Toras hageulah is deep and included influencing the Jewish exhilarating, and is worth engaging people to be involved in sports, art with on a deeper level no matter and music (the Yefes of the universe), where it is studied. The moreToras in the days of geulah, those activities The return to the hageulah spreads to the Diaspora, the play a big part in avodas Hashem. Exile more those in the Diaspora will realize has forced our people to put up walls Land of Israel the importance of returning home — from the beauty of the material world provides an the place where these ideas are most and separate from it in the safety of relevant and most potent — and the batei medrash and shuls, but on the opportunity to more unified our people will be. soil of Eretz Yisrael, the mundane can heal pain that we be holy and need not be shunned. Art, Endnotes music and athletics all have a place in have experienced the Torah, and there can be healthy throughout the 1.