Machshava:

Chanukah 

Collections: Rabbi Weinberger: Oros HaTorah

Description

Yeridas Hadoros (the diminishing of the generations) - from Moshe Rabbeinu, to Yehoshuah, Nevi'im (prophets), Tannaim (early Talmudic sages), etc. On the other hand, in no other generation has there been a wealth of learning and pnimius (innermost) haTorah available in many different languages. Compared to our ancestors, our behaviour, quality of intellect and midos (character traits) have fallen, yet the level of conversation has risen in a most astonishing way. What are the signs that we are actually ascending on a certain level? The true heretics are a thing of the distant past - non-religious are ruled by their desires rather than being enemies of Hashem and His Torah. All that is missing in our genreation is explaining things properly to the non-religious and our own children, with clear intelligence and good and warmth and emotions. Rav Kook's mission statement and justification for reaching out to the masses and non-religious. Our generation is the little pash shemen (jar of oil), the little candle that is left, and from that we can rebuild - this is the dispute between Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel.