Israel's temperate climate

Hi,

"'Reuven, Shimon, Levi and Yehudah, Yissachar, Zevulun and Binyamin.' (Shemot 1:2-3)

"It mentioned the first six, who are sons of Leah, in the order of their birth, and it should have mentioned Binyamin last of all of the brothers, as the youngest. It mentioned him seventh because the lower world is divided into seven climates, and the seventh climate is the Land of Israel, the middle of the settled world, the point that is more balanced in cold and heat than other lands, because it is the middle, between the extremes. 

"Therefore Binyamin is listed seventh, to hint that the Beit haMikdash, in the seventh climate, is in Binyamin's portion.

"Even though the scholars who have ordered the climates have written in some of their works that the Land of Israel is in the fourth climate, it is all toward the same end. Since the land is the [central] point, with three climates on one side and three climates on the other, it is the fourth for each set of three, the middle, which is the seventh."

(Rabbeinu Bechaye to Shemot 1:2)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

War was unnecessary

Hi,

"Were it not for the sin of the Golden Calf, the inhabitants of the Land of Israel would have been reconciled with the People of Israel, for the name of Gd called upon them would have aroused awe. No war would have been necessary, and the [Divine] influence would have proceeded peacefully as in the Days of Messiah."

(Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Orot mei'Ofel: HaMilchamah 4, Naor translation)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Only in Israel

Hi,

"A Jew cannot be devoted and faithful to his thoughts and ideas and imaginings outside Israel, as he can in Israel. Manifestations of sanctity, on every level, are purest in Israel."

(Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Orot mei'Ofel 4)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Life Goals of Maimonides

Hi,

"One who follows a healthy lifestyle is not following a good path if his goal is only to have his body complete, and his children doing his work and supporting him. Rather, his goal should be to have a complete and strong body so his spirit will be straight, in order to know Gd. One cannot understand and examine wisdoms when he is hungry or ill or one of his limbs aches. And his goal should be that his children might become sages and leaders in Israel…"

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deiot 3:3)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

In praise of silence

Hi,

"One should always practice great silence. He should speak only words of wisdom or words he needs for the sake of his existence. They said that Rav, student of Rabbeinu haKadosh, never spoke empty speech – and this is the speech of most people… Thus the sages instructed (Pirkei Avot 1:17), 'One who increases words introduces sin,' and 'I have found nothing better for a body than silence.'… (Avot d'Rabbi Natan I 22)"

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah Hilchot Deiot 2:4)

Have a good day,

Mordechai

Question Yourself

Hi,

"Do not let your own lips shame you, do not let your own mouth disgrace you, do not let your own lips curse you, do not let your own teeth embarrass you, and do not bow to your own words. As Proverbs 6:2 says, 'You have stumbled in the declarations of your own mouth.'"

(Kallah Rabti 4:17)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Go to a spiritual healer...

Hi,

"Those who are physically ill taste the bitter as sweet and the sweet as bitter. Some ill people desire and long for inedible foods, like dust and charcoal, and despise good foods like bread and meat, all according to the particular illness. So, too, people whose spirits are ill desire and love bad traits, and despise the good path and are too lazy to follow it, and they find it very heavy, due to their illness… 

"They should go to sages who are healers of spirits, and they will heal their illness by teaching them good traits, until they bring them back to the good path…"

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deiot 2:1)

המצפה לישועה,

Mordechai