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See the table below the player for details about the shiurim in this series.
| Track | Title | Length | Description |
| 1 | How Should We React to an Eis Tzara? (Hilchos Ta’aniyos, Perek 1) | 47:01 | – the modality of tefillah in eis tzara is different, i.e. ze’a’ka – “darkei ha’teshuva” = pathway that leads to teshuva. Crying out leads us to realizing that bad has happened due to our aveiros, which leads to teshuva. – 1:3 – natural and metaphysical cause and effect happen in parallel, but the ultimate cause is metaphysical, i.e. our spiritual shortcomings. “Achzariyus” means he is insensitive / clueless to what he is seeing; also has terrible fallout in sticking to bad behavior. – tzara comes in order to cause us to do teshuva. – nothing happens to us nationally which isn’t providential. – Teshuva 3:11 – poresh midarkei tzibbur. We shouldn’t be lulled into hesech ha’da’as, should figure out how to remain connected in a way that works for each of us and doesn’t exceed our capacity. We should feel a part of the eis tzara and channel it productively, but shouldn’t be unproductively paralyzed either. |
| 2 | Why Did Hashem Let the Massacre Happen? | 19:02 | – Hamas’s savagery exceeds many of the accounts of holocaust one reads. – We can’t expect to understand all that HKB”H does, and just as it would be cruel for parents to limit their parenting to that which their toddler can understand, it is infinitely more true that He does not limit His hashgacha to our feeble understanding. – HKB”H’s existence is sui generis, and He sees in fundamentally different way than we do. It’s ludicrous to think we can understand everything. – there’s a broader context of the endless chassadim HKB”H does for us in which we need to view this. |
| 3 | Perspectives on the Massacre: Kiddush Hashem | 21:05 | – Rambam Hilchos Melachim, Perek 7: what is contested in the war is yichud Hashem, chayal should have kavana for kiddush Hashem – Igeres Teiman: goyim are jealous of us, hatred towards us is a rebellion against HKB”H. – every Jew in Israel is moser nefesh to live there with a target on their back, and if they are killed, they died al kiddush Hashem. But this doesn’t diminish the grief, neither on the human level nor in terms of the terrible chilul Hashem (see Tehillim 79). – in terms of our reaction: we should try to have a heightened sensitivity to making a kiddush Hashem through our behavior, conduct, etc. |
| 4 | Intuitive Natural Morality, the Hypocrisy and Evil of Some Reactions to the Massacre in Israel | 20:35 | – Ramban, Breishis, 6:13: chomos-theft is more egregious because it’s intuitive that it’s wrong, and one can’t plead ignorance or blame its prevalence in society. Hakdama of R’ Nissim Gaon to Shas: all humans are obligated in that which is intuitive. – Rambam, Hilchos Teshuva 5:1: people have free choice and the innate ability to recognize natural good from natural bad. – There is zero excuse for the hypocrisy and evil in the world in the reactions to what happened in Israel. It is nothing less than pure evil. Those who provide verbal cover for Hamas have blood on their hands. – Rav zt”l: when society defies natural morality, the world can’t function. We see empirical evidence of this in today’s world. – Our efforts have to be as sustained as those of the Chayalim etc. |
| 5 | Not Becoming Desensitized to the Eis Tzara | 27:13 | – Eat on R”H not due to lack of eimas hadin, but despite it. Similarly, one can mostly go about his routine while identifying with the eis tzara in Israel, or r”l because he is becoming detached from it. – We must not slip into a mode in which we’ve acclimated to the eis tzara and our sense of it fades. If we feel ourselves becoming desensitized, we have to take concrete steps to reengage. We must sustain our level of concern as long as the eis tzara is ongoing. |
| 6 | Defining the Evil of Chamas and its Supporters | 8:49 | The antisemitic and anti-civilization cabals on college campuses are not interested in truth, but other people in society are, and we should provide them with the truth. |
| 7 | The Shattered One’s Closeness to Hashem | 35:45 | When an individual’s or community’s identity is shattered, they have “nothing left” but HKB”H, and come closer to Him. |
| 8 | Rallying for Israel: The Halachic Perspective | 8:55 | |
| 9 | Our Approach to Civilian Casualties in Gaza | 44:11 | Given on the way to Washington DC Nov. 14 Rally |
| 10 | War & Emunah | 15:30 | Devarim 20:1 – kohein frames things supernaturally, shotrim frame them naturally. Ibid 9 – Torah commands us to act on a natural level, with emunah that HKB”H is poised to perform miracles. |
| 11 | Rallying for Israel, Part Two. | 22:16 | HKB”H put in place a two tiered system of nissim nistarim and natural hishtadlus, as described by the Ramban and Sefer Hachinuch. Can’t circumvent it. |