Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein
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Avraham - The Man of Spirituality and Worldliness
Rabbi Aharon LichtensteinHistorical Uniqueness and Daily Service
Rabbi Aharon LichtensteinIn order to better understand the nature of Chanuka, let us examine the original “Chanuka” – the dedication of the Mishkan in the desert. The chanukat ha-Mishkan entailed daily sacrifices as well as a public lighting of the menora by Aharon. Through a comparison of this event and the holiday of Chanuka, we emphasize what is special about both events – the significance not only of what we do, but how and why we do it. We learn of the significance of purity of intention, perfection of performance, and integrity of mind and spirit. This message has many other expressions in our world and in Tanakh, but on Chanuka, the focus is sharper. The message of quality is pure and distilled. Consequently, it is not only a historical event to be reenacted or victory to be celebrated, but the occasion for tahara, for kedusha, to raise the level, the performance and expectations of how we understand avodat Hashem.
A Sicha for Parashat Vayigash
Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein | 19 minutesRabbi Aharon Lichtenstein delivers a sicha about Yosef's words to his brothers on their way back to Canaan: "Do not get distressed on the way." The simple meaning of the Hebrew verse seems to connote turmoil, fear, or anxiety - and that Yosef is trying to calm his brothers with a soothing message. Rashi, however, explains the verse as meaning "do not deal with Halakha on the way." What does this mean?
“When You Come into the Land”
Rabbi Aharon Lichtensteinתאריך פרסום: תשס"ח |
When God planted a garden in Eden, this was not just a grove of trees, but rather laying the foundations of the world. We are commanded in the Land of Israel to develop agriculture and plant trees, not only to fulfill mitzvot like orla or neta revai, but also to the build the nation and to ensure its viability. Just as God constructs the entire world on the basis of the planting of trees, we are commanded to plant trees in the Land of Israel, so that there will be a healthy economy and strong society in the Land of Israel.
Based on a Shiur by Harav Aharon Lichtenstein zt"l (Adapted by Lavi Bigman and translated by David Strauss)
Tell His Righteousness to a Born Nation
Based on a sicha by Harav Aharon Lichtenstein (Translated by Yoseif Bloch and Rav Ronnie Ziegler)
Rabbi Aharon Lichtensteinתאריך פרסום: תשס"ט |
The declaration of the State of Israel filled hearts with terror and joy alike. I found myself, like every simple Jew, compelled to recite psalms. My attention was drawn to mizmor 22 "To the Conductor, on the morning star, a psalm of David," a chapter associated by the Sages with times of crisis.
"They will come and tell His righteousness to a born nation as He has made it" (Psalms 22, 32). Over half a century ago, certainly I took our verse to refer, first and foremost, to the present-tense "born," to a nation just now finding itself on its feet, at this moment undergoing the birth process, experiencing the pangs of emerging nationhood, the pangs of history - "a nation being born."
However, it now seems to me that we can speak not only of one understanding, but of three valid interpretations.
Survival and Fulfilment: Thoughts on Yom HaAtzma'ut
Rabbi Aharon LichtensteinAvraham's aliya began in the same way as did Herzl's Zionist movement. His starting point is not the attraction and the vision of the land of Israel, but rather escape from Ur-Kasdim. But while Avraham is in Haran, he is commanded "to do what he had intended to do, to go to the land of Canaan."
The command of "Lekh Lekha" turns the framework of fate into a framework of destiny; it turns the place that was meant to serve as a place of refuge into God's inheritance.
Yom HaAtzma’ut restores for us with full force and depth the consciousness that here, in God's inheritance, we can fulfill visions, but also exist; we can realize dreams but also live.
Adapted by Yair Yaniv and translated by David Strauss
"The Perfection of Beauty:" The Symbolism of Jerusalem and Eretz Yisrael
Rabbi Aharon LichtensteinMaster and Beloved
Rabbi Aharon LichtensteinOn the one hand, the Torah is a book of commandments incumbent upon us, God's servants, to perform. Yet, on the other hand, there exists within this framework of commandments an emotional side, the experiential element in the service of God. Here it is possible to feel closeness to God, not as a master, but as a friend; not as a ruler, but as a groom and a beloved.
Israel stood at a momentous event - thunder and lightning, the blasts of the shofar, the Almighty Himself speaking and commanding. With all this enveloping them, they must have felt uplifted to tremendous spiritual heights.
But the greatness of Israel was that they knew how to be engrossed in the event, 'they would hear the command,' but they did not settle for hearing the voice alone. Israel also 'analyzed it' - using their intellect, they tried to understand and gain wisdom.
It is this dialectic that forms the matrix of the relationship between the Jewish Nation and God, and between Israel and the Torah.
Adapted from a Sicha given on Shavuot 5745 (1985) - summarized by Roni Kleinman, translated by Menachem Weinberg
"Lest You Forget What You Have Seen"
Rabbi Aharon LichtensteinBeyond the power of the experience itself, the receiving of the Torah was also a crucial formative stage for the Jewish people, playing a central role in the very emergence of the Jewish people as a nation. Moshe refers to the day of ma'amad Har Sinai as "Yom ha-kahal, the day of the assembly" (Devarim 9:10, 10:4, 18:16). While this phrase could be taken to mean simply "a day on which the assembly was gathered together," it seems that in this context it means far more than that. It was a day when the Jewish people grew into an assembly.
Based on a sicha by Harav Aharon Lichtenstein (Adapted by Rabbi Dov Karoll)
Accepting the Torah – Then and Now
Rabbi Aharon LichtensteinIn Parashat Yitro, in the preparations for receiving the Torah, we are told that Moshe came to the people and they all said, “All that God has said – we shall do” (19:8). In parashat Mishpatim, as they are about to enter into the covenant of the basins, we are told: “He took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, and all the people said: All that God has spoken – we shall do and we shall obey” (24:7).
We may ask what happened in between, and what brought about such a revolutionary change in such a short time that Bnei Yisrael were able to declare, “Na’aseh ve-nishma," rather than merely promising, “Na’aseh”?
What was added in Mishpatim, and what facilitated the transition from “na’aseh” to “na’aseh ve-nishma,” was threefold: first, the purely religious aspect of the revelation at Sinai, including its experiential and personal dimension; second – and no less important – the involvement in study and the deepening knowledge of Torah; and third, Torah experience and knowledge implemented on both the personal and societal levels.
[Based on a Sicha by Harav Aharon Lichtenstein (summarized by Shaul Barth with Reuven Ziegler and translated by Kaeren Fish)]
Moshe Hid His Face, For He Was Afraid to Look at God
Rabbi Aharon LichtensteinBoth Moshe and Bnei Yisrael recoiled when they encountered God. Was this fear or awe? An examination reveals this question to be pertinent to our lives as well.
Based on a sicha of Harav Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l (adapted by Shaul Barth and translated by Kaeren Fish)