About Beith David
An initiative to share this key for our generation: to rekindle the wisdom of Jerusalem and to recall the deeper meaning of Israel.
"If I forget you, O Jerusalem…"
The return to the land now calls for the return of a word.
Beith David is an initiative born in Jerusalem to make heard a voice of Torah, justice and peace, able to illuminate Israel and to speak to the nations. It is rooted notably in the study of the sources of the Torah, the wisdom of Jerusalem and the heritage of the Great Sanhedrin, as a model of shared wisdom for our generation.
Who carries Beith David?
Beith David is carried from Jerusalem by David Raphaël, a 46-year-old Franco-Israeli, married and father of four children. After more than ten years lived in Israel, his path brought him face to face with the fractures, tensions and challenges of Israeli society.
From a very young age he was profoundly marked by the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on the Geulah and the collective responsibility of Israel, notably the call of 28 Nissan, in which the Rebbe explained that he had done everything in his power to bring the Geulah and exhorted each person to take their part in the spiritual restoration of Israel.
This search accompanied him for years, from Paris to Jerusalem, Aix-les-Bains, New York, through the encounters and the many rabbis met along the way, until the providential encounter with Shmouel, that miraculously graced child. (Learn more)
From this encounter arose a profound awakening: the understanding of the central role of the Sanhedrin as a key to unity, peace and the restoration of Israel. A collective wisdom inherited from the tradition of Israel, capable of restoring a common direction to the people in the face of the challenges of our generation.
The Torah is not only a study. It is destined to illuminate concretely life, justice, human relations and society itself.
The aim is not to make everyone religious, but to allow Israel to rediscover, from Jerusalem, a shared meaning and a word capable of drawing closer together despite the diversity of sensibilities within the people of Israel.
Beith David is, simply, an initiative of transmission, faithful to the deep vocation of Jerusalem and of Israel.
A shared responsibility
Beith David carries this voice with faith and responsibility. But this vision does not belong to one man alone, nor to a closed circle.
It belongs to all those who love Israel, Jerusalem, the Torah, justice and peace.
The restoration of Israel also depends on the emunah, the commitment and the faithfulness of each person. A word can be carried from Jerusalem; but only an awakened people can give it living reality.
"Zion shall be redeemed with justice."
Certain words cross a generation only when they find men and women ready to give them a place in their life, their study and their faithfulness.
The inner origin: Shmouel
At the inner origin of Beith David lies the encounter with Shmouel, a child deprived of ordinary speech, whose messages on Israel, the Torah, the Geulah and Malkhut Israel profoundly marked David Raphaël.
This story is told on a dedicated page. It is shared with humility, as a founding memory at the origin of a responsibility assumed.
"The fire of the origin must not become a claim, but a light."
An encouragement received from Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh
During the year 2014, the year of Shmouel's departure from the specialised institution where he had lived since his birth, several telephone conversations took place and blessings were exchanged between him and Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh.
At the close of this year of immersion alongside Shmouel, during which the latter transmitted a great many messages, David Raphaël devoted nearly an additional year to internalising them, deepening them, and seeking how to transmit their essence in a manner understandable and useful to the greatest number.
He then addressed a letter to the Rav presenting certain striking elements of this experience as well as a document entitled "Malkhut Israel," proposing a vision of an Israel restored in truth, justice and its spiritual vocation.
He later discovered profound convergences between this vision and the teachings of Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh, which he only truly encountered after the writing of these works.
In response, Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh transmitted the following blessing.
"May you have great success in spreading the teachings of the Torah and the tidings of the Geulah (Redemption) and the kingship of Israel to every Jewish soul throughout the world."
Who is Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh?
Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh is an important figure of contemporary Hassidic thought. His teachings connect Torah, Kabbalah, Hassidut, psychology and the vocation of Israel. Author of many books and teaching for decades, he is followed by students from varied backgrounds within the world of Torah.
This encouragement accompanies the work of study and transmission of Beith David.
What Beith David is developing today
Vision and public awakening
Addresses, orientations and proposals to rekindle in the general public the consciousness of a collective wisdom able to illuminate Israel.
Sources and Sanhedrin
A work of clarification around the sources of the Torah, of Halakha, of the history of Israel and of attempts at restoring the Sanhedrin, with faithfulness to the sources, rigor and respect for the sages.
Teachings and content
Texts, audio, videos and teachings on Malkhut Israel, Davidic wisdom, justice, society and the vocation of Israel.
Outreach and participation
A multilingual, accessible outreach, so that each one can understand, share, support and bring their stone to the spiritual restoration of Israel.
A responsible approach
Because the matters addressed are elevated, Beith David clearly states its place.
Beith David does not claim
- To be a political party.
- To replace existing rabbinical authorities.
- To restore the Sanhedrin on its own.
- To claim a new institutional authority.
Beith David seeks to
- To study the model of collective wisdom transmitted by the Torah, notably through the memory of the Sanhedrin.
- To rekindle a consciousness of justice, peace and responsibility.
- To recall the spiritual vocation of Israel.
- To make heard a voice rooted in the Torah from Jerusalem.
- To serve a faithful transmission, useful to the Jewish people and open to the nations.
Why now?
The events connected to Shmouel go back more than twelve years.
Throughout that time, Beith David remained deliberately discreet. Several versions of the site existed over the years without real public outreach. This reserve reflected a choice of maturation, reflection and responsibility.
Certain words require time before being shared more widely.
This approach was built progressively, over a long arc of time, through study, encounters, life in Israel and a deep reflection on the spiritual, social and moral challenges of our generation.
If this vision is now beginning to be made more widely public, it is with the conviction that our era, after so many upheavals, conflicts, challenges and troubles, now calls for a word of wisdom capable of repairing, drawing closer together, illuminating and uniting despite the fractures of the modern world.