True, the stories about our Patriarchs and Matriarchs take place in Sefer Bereishit (Genesis), which we concluded reading in the Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll) four months ago, but for those who read/learn the weekly Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) that is customarily recited on Shabbat morning/afternoon (depending if you are Sephardic or Ashkenazic) between Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentacost) (which is the Sephardic custom, Ashkenazic Jews continue weekly until Rosh Hashana), Abraham was well and alive yesterday. In fact, why don't I just list the things that are mentioned about him in the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avot that we recited yesterday:
"There were 10 generations from Noah to Abraham to indicate how patient Hashem was, for all these generations continuously angered Him, until Abraham came along and received the reward of them all."
"Abraham our father was tested 10 times (by Hashem), and he passed all of the tests, to indicate how beloved Abraham our father was to Hashem."
"Ten things were created right before Shabbat began (in the week of creation)...some say also...the ram of Abraham our father (which he sacrificed in lieu of his son Isaac)..."
"Whoever has the following three traits are among the disciples of Abraham our father...a good eye, low in spirit, and a humbled soul...What is the difference between the disciples of Abraham our father (and the disciples of Bilaam the wicked one)? The disciples of Abraham our father enjoy in this world and inherit the world to come, as it says "My loved ones will inherit substance, and I will fill up their treasures"..."
Wow, Abraham's name is mentioned seven times in this chapter, even more than Moses! Now, if this was not enough, in the sixth and final chapter of Pirkei Avot that we will be reading this coming Shabbat (though technically, this chapter is not part of the Mishna that Rabbi Judah the Prince composed, but rather a set of teachings established later as Baraita), where Abraham of all individuals in listed as one of the five "possessions" of the Holy One Blessed Be He.
But sticking with the fifth chapter, we see that it begins with the words - Ba'Asarah Ma'amarot Nivra Ha'Olam "With ten Divine statements was the world created". Now, if you take a careful look, the latter part of this first word Ba'Asara (with ten) is pronounced as the name of Sara, Abraham's wife! And if you think that this is mere coincidence, if you recall my 172nd post from last month (Apr. '13), I mentioned that the fourth and final chapter of the Mishnaic tractate Kiddushin which ends off about Abraham, the very first word of this chapter is Asara (ten) which again the latter majority part of the word spells the name of Abraham's wife Sara! Indeed, the years of the world's first Jewish couple were TEN years apart, and the first Hebrew letter of the name of their son Yitzchak (Isaac) is a Yud, which is the numerical value of TEN! In fact, Sara's original name was Sarai, in which her name ended with a Yud=10 rather than a Hei, but Hashem changed it to Sara at the time that He gave the Mitzva (commandment) of Brit Mila (circumcision) to Abraham, and made it up to the letter Yud centuries later by placing it in front of Joshua's name, as his name was original Hosea.
Now, noting that this chapter begins with the letter Beit, which is the numerical value of TWO, and the Torah which begins with the account of the week of creation also begins with the letter Beit=2, it is in the SECOND chapter of Genesis, following the account of Hashem resting on Shabbat, that it states - Eileh Toldot HaShamayim V'Ha'aretz B'HIBARAM "The following is he accounts (literally means generations) of the heavens and earth WHEN HE CREATED THEM" Now, as the Ba'al HaTurim commentary states, the letters of the word B'Hibaram can be rearranged to spell the word B'Avraham, "with Abraham", for it was in his merit that the heavens and earth were created, spelling out Abraham as a partner in creation so to speak. Moreover, this verse begins with the letter Aleph in the word Eileh, and ends with the letter Mem Sophit in the word V'Shamayim (and heaven), just as Abraham's name begins with the letter Aleph and ends with the letter Mem Sophit. Coincidence?
Perhaps at this point, a question can be asked. True, Abraham was the first Jew. True, he exemplified being the ultimate Jew as one who brings others to Judaism via kindness such as hospitality. But as we know, it was Moses, the "humblest of all mankind", who was the greatest Tzadik (righteous person) who ever lived, and it was him who learned the entire Torah from Hashem Himself and then transmitted it to the entire Jewish people. So, if it true that the "Tzadik is the foundation of the world", then it stands to reason that really, it was due to Moses that the world was created, because the only reason why Hashem created this world was for us Jews to serve Him, and Moses was the greatest example of this.
Yes, it is true that due to Moses' humbleness, it was he more than anyone else in the universe merited to be the one to be the Lawgiver. In fact, if it wasn't for this factor, it would have actually been Jacob, the father of the Twelve Tribes, who would have been the one to receive the Torah from Hashem on behalf of our nation, as actually, it was Jacob of the three Patriarchs who most excelled in Torah learning, as while we are supposed to observe all the commandments of the Torah, including deeds of kindness, the greatest Mitzva of all is Torah study, and it is for this reason that Jacob is in fact called the "Chosen one of the Patriarchs".
In fact, all of these Tzadikim (righteous people) had all these good traits; except that each one excelled in one particular area; and as we see even with Moses, while he was the Lawgiver, the Torah was in fact given to Him as a gift from Hashem following learning together for 40 days, while Jacob on his own sweated it through for many years to be the great Torah scholar that he became. However, there is one factor here, in terms of the creation of the world, in whose merit this happened, that matters - who was the FIRST one to cause this.
It was Abraham who was the FIRST one in the universe to openly declare monotheism, the Oness of Hashem, in the universe. He was the FIRST one to walk the walk and talk the talk. And as we see when counting the words of the Torah from the beginning, the word B'Hibaram that hints to Abraham is the 474th word of the Torah. And the word Da'at (Knowledge), one of the three Sephirot that relates to the mind, is the Gematria of 474. And indeed, we see that the wording of Da'at is used particularly in the Torah to indicate about the existance and Oness of Hashem - Ata Hareita L'DA'AT "You are instructed to KNOW that Hashem is G-d, there is none besides Him". V'YaDATA "You shall KNOW today and let it lie on your heart, that Hashem is G-d in heaven above and on earth below, there is none other". L'Ma'an DA'AT "In order that all the nations of the world will KNOW that Hashem is G-d, there is none other". And so, since it was Abraham the FIRST Jew who promoted the KNOWLEDGE of Hashem who is the FIRST "I am the FIRST and I am the last, and besides Me, there is no god", it was in his merit of what he was going to do that Hashem created the world. Hence, it is most fitting that in the chapter of Pirkei Avot that begins with mentioning that Hashem created the world with ten statements, that Abraham's name of all other Biblical characters should be mentioned several times - a total of seven times, perhaps to parallel the seven days of creation.
To note, today's date is the 25th of Iyar. Now, there are quite a few acronyms given for the letters of this Hebrew month Iyar. One of them are the names of the Patriarchs and the Matriarch Rachel, as this: Aleph-Avraham, Yud-Yitzchak, Yud-Ya'akov, Reish-Rachel. Perhaps another time, we will explain the special connection that Rachel, of the four Matriarchs (Sara, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel) has with this month. But for now, we see that the name of this month BEGINS with the same FIRST letter ALEPH of the Aleph-Beit that BEGINS the name of Abraham, and this fifth chapter of Pirkei Avot is ALWAYS customarily learned during the month of Iyar. And as for the number of the date of this month - 25, the 25th word of the Torah is the FIRST mention of the word Ohr (light), which also BEGINS with the letter ALEPH, and the name of this month Iyar is related to the word Ohr (It has been noted that the fact that the word Ohr is the 25th word of the Torah hints to the 25th day of Kislev, the FIRST day of Chanuka, which is called Chag HaUrim "Holiday of Lights). And as we see Kabbalistically, the concept of Ohr is especially related to Chesed (kindness), the main characteristic of Abraham our father.
And speaking of this 175th post, Abraham's 175 years, as spelled out in the Torah, can be divided into SEVEN parts of 25 years each. We see that there in fact a few resemblances of these divided sections of his life as paralleling the seven days of creation.
Now, for a moment, let's note that today - the 25th of Iyar - is the first day of the week of Parshat Bimidbar, which begins the fourth book of the Torah that is also called Bimidbar (Numbers). And as I already related today's date and month to Abraham, the name of this week's Parsha and the fourth book of the Torah has the same Gematria as Abraham's name - 248. And as we all already know, this number marks the amount of Positive/Active Mitzvot and the amount of limbs in a male's body (the atheist scientists will tell you 206, but see Mishna Ohalot 1:8 for a breakdown of the 248 limbs). Significantly, it was Abraham the first Jew who fulfilled all the commandments of the Torah, especially in the world which in his time was Bimidbar, in the spiritual wasteland, and actively with his body went around to spread the belief in Hashem, the real spiritual light (in sharp contrast to what the world calls spiritual light, such as a Higher Power, outside of the realm of religion, which actually stems from the powers of impurity), as well as his actions of hospitality which gave both physical and spiritual benefit to his guests at his buffet branch in the middle of the wilderness, whether in Hebron or Be'er Sheba. Moreover, the beginning of this Sefer/Parshat Bamidbar begins the scenario mentioning the date of the FIRST of the SECOND month, which is the 1st of Iyar (which by the way is my Jewish/Hebrew birthday, the only birthday that counts), showing a further connection between Abraham the FIRST Jew and this month of Iyar where both names begins with the letter Aleph. A little later on, I will mention another connection between the subject theme of the beginning of Sefer/Parshat Bimidbar and Abraham.
THE BREAKDOWN OF ABRHAM'S LIFE
With this, let's take a like at some of the highlights of Abraham's life with his corresponding age:
25 Years Old - Married Sara (according to Midrashic sources)
75 Years Old - Moves to Israel
100 Years Old - His son Isaac is born
Now, noting that Abraham's lifespan can be divided into seven parts of 25 years each, we will see how each event is related to the specific part of his life in terms of the seven days of creation or in numbers.
His marriage in the beginning of the second period of his life corresponds to the second day of creation. To note, on the first day of creation, there were no creatures other than Hashem, and this implied, as Rashi notes from the Midrash (Bereishit Rabba 3:8), when it states at the end of the first day of creation - Yom Echad "one day" (Genesis 1:5), rather than Yom Rishon "first day, the way that it is written with the following days of the creation "second day", "third day", to imply that Hashem was Yachid "single" on that first day, and the angels, even though not mentioned as part of creation in the Torah, were created on the second day. Similarly, Abraham was single during the first seventh of his life, and it was particularly in the beginning of his second period of life that he got married. Moreover, the word for the letter Beit, which is the second letter of the Aleph-Beit and the numerical value of two, can also be read as Bayit (house) using different vowels, as we see in the Talmud (Shabbat 118b) that Rabbi Yosi called his wife "my house".
Speaking of the second day of creation, we notice that unlike the other days of creation, the phrase "for it was good" referring to the completion of an aspect of creation is not mentioned. The reason for this is because there was strife between the upper and lower waters, and accordingly, Hashem didn't finish their arrangement making peace between them until the following day.
Perhaps we can learn something from this as per the early part of Abraham's marriage in the second period of his life. While we all seem to get excited about being with our girlfriend, getting engaged, and then getting married, and then everyone seems to be our best friends at our wedding, showering us with good wishes, gifts, and all; the ultimate test of our marriage begins when all that celebration and excitement is over, and now it's time to live together as a married couple. Now, if one thinks that somehow, everything will be fine and dandy, especially if one or both are making a good living, this is exactly how the troubles begin, because in this mode, one is not working on the marriage to make sure that things will go smoothly, and assumes that because they love each other, are intimate with each other, etc., that there is no way that they will ever get divorced for sure, and before long, they already have had their first fight. This is exactly why when Hashem determines that He will provide Adam with a wife, he states E'eseh Lo Eizer K'neggo, which literally means, "I will make for him a helpmate - against him". As Rashi notes from the Talmud (Yevamot 63a), "If he merits, she will be his helpmate. If he doesn't merit, she will be against him, to fight him".
Sure, almost every husband who gets divorced will paint his ex-wife as the witch of town, and at times, he may be right as to her real character when he used to see her interaction not only with him, but with others as well, and knows that other women are far better in terms of good characteristics. True, there are some wiper snappers that get married when young, didn't look out for the warning signs, and then find themselves in an obviously bad marriage; these things do happen at times. But for the most part, especially if one has had much experience with dating, love, and all; there are times that even if the guy is a true sweetheart and knows how to treat a woman that the one she marries is not exactly that same type of good person. You see, he got a little too blinded with her outer beauty, or other factors that he thought were good because they were similar to his. In other words, he didn't marry her for the right reasons such as her being a good person or other traits that marks someone as one who knows how to deal with responsibilities; and hence, he indeed did not merit that he should merit to marry a good woman. Or, since he himself is not one of desired characteristics that Hashem wants one to have, he gets exactly what he deserves, and then he wonders how the marriage could go so wrong when in fact, he married the same type of selfish or haughty person that he himself is. In the long run, one is supposed to look for a mate not just in terms of physique, but most importantly, for the spiritual aspect; and especially for observant Jews, for a woman who is G-d fearing, and cares to serve Hashem as well as behaving good to other people. Then, and only then, along with one's working on the marriage, realizing that there will be challenges during the course of their marriage - the same way that the period of Abraham's life in his early marriage corresponded to the second day of creation in which there was disagreement - can he be assured that things will go "fine and dandy", long after they are left to fend for themselves when everyone else are also involved in their own families.
Next, in the beginning of Abraham's fourth period in his life, he moves to Israel. Significantly, just as on the fourth day of creation, the sun, moon and stars were created as related to the heavens - what is above or higher, in contrast to the earth which is below or lower; so too, as our rabbis tell us "The land of Israel is higher than all the other lands". To be sure, this is referring specifically to the spiritual aspect of Israel, which indeed is holier than all the other lands, even though they too are creations of Hashem. We also see that when it mentions at times in Genesis when someone is traveling to Israel, it states that "they went up", referring to this same concept.
Another direct relationship of this period of Abraham's life with the planetary system outside of Planet Earth is in the conversation that Hashem had with him, assuring him that he will have children "He brought him outside and said, "Look now at the skies and count the stars. See if you can count them. This is how many your descendants will be" (Genesis 15:5). We know that this took place in Abraham's fourth period between the age of 75 and 100, because this followed his participation in the war in which he had his nephew Lot freed from being a war captive of the king of Sodom since he lived there following his disagreement with Abraham after moving to Israel, and Hashem then came to assure Abraham that he did nothing wrong in killing whom he did in that war, and that if anything, his reward was great.
As a side note, but must be mentioned, as per Abraham's age when he moved to Israel, this took place in the 76th year of his life. And as Rabbi Meir Kahane, may Hashem avenge his blood, is no stranger in my blog, I should mention that his family name Kahane is the Gematria of 76. He was among the few in his generation who made it clear to Jews that it is a Mitzva to live in Israel, as he writes about in the midst of his magnum opus Ohr HaRayon "The Jewish Idea". In fact, he is not the only one in the Kahane clan to have lived in Israel. When he was young, his parents lived in Israel for a while; and in fact, his younger brother Rabbi Nachman Kahane in the beginning of his marriage, moved to Israel ten years before Rabbi Meir Kahane did, who also had talked and written about the Mitzva of living in Israel.
Now, let us look at this period of Abraham's life from another angle. You see, after the first three periods of his life, he moved to Israel in the beginning of his fourth period. With this said, the name Gad, the name of one of the tribes of Israel, consists of the letters Gimel=3 and Dalet=4. Very nice, but what does this have to do specifically with Gad, who was only out of Abraham's many great grand children? If you recall in Parshat Matot (Numbers 32), the tribes of Gad and Reuben approached Moses with their request to remain in Transjordan instead of moving to Israel proper due to their numerous livestock. We know that it was the Tribe of Gad who came first to Moses, because in the context, following mentioning that the tribes of Reuben and Gad had numerous livestock, it then mentions Gad before Reuben with approaching Moses. After Moses told them off for what he perceived as their lack of faith in Hashem, recounting to them the story of the Spies which delayed the Jewish people in the desert for nearly 40 years, they then promised him that they would go along with their brethren to Israel proper and fight their enemies before themselves settling in Transjordan, a deal which Moses accepted. In any case, we see that reference to Israel in the blessings of the tribes from both Jacob and Moses is mentioned specifically for Gad and not Reuben, for it was especially the tribe of Gad who had some of the fiercest warriors, which was an open sign of these tribes fulfilling their promise in helping to fight the enemies along with their brethren.
Next, in the beginning of Abraham's fifth period of his life, his son Isaac was born. Now mind you, his son Yishmael was born many years earlier; and at the age of 140, he remarried following Sara's passing, and had several more children. However, Abraham's only spiritual son was Isaac, and this is what counts eternally. With this said, we see in the fifth day of creation that the fish were created, and among other creatures, were blessed that they should be fruitful and multiply. Moreover, we see in Parshat Vayechi, where Jacob blesses Joseph's children, that he states "...they should be called by my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and they should multiply like fish in the midst of the earth" (Genesis 48:16).
THE LETTER BEIT
I have already mentioned a bit about the significance of this letter in relationship to Abraham. But if one noticed what we read this past Shabbat and counted the Omer, one would have noticed a very common theme.
Yesterday, we read two Parshiyot in the Sefer Torah - Behar & Bechukotai. You see a similarity between these two names? Of course, they both start with the letter Beit. And then at Mincha (afternoon prayers) when the Sefer Torah was read again from the beginning of the next Parsha, called Bimidbar, this name also starts with a Beit! In fact, there are quite a few other Parshiyot whose names begin with the letter Beit, and there are several consecutive Parshiyot whose names begin with the letter Vav, which is common for Biblical verbs. But the fact that the names of three Parshiyot in a row begin with letter Beit can hardly be dismissed as mere coincidence.
There is in fact a theme in each of these three Parshiyot whose word begins with a Beit. In Parshat Behar, it mentions laws in relationship to houses or land being sold and redeemed, and the Hebrew word for house is Bayit. In Parshat Bechukotai, it begins with verses of Berachot (blessings) for us if we keep Hashem's commandments. And in Parshat Bamidbar, one of the subjects is about redeeming the Bechor, the firstborn son who doesn't have a Cohanite or Levite parent with five Shekalim.
But that's not all. The fifth chapter in Pirkei Avot that we learned during this past Shabbat begins with the letter Beit. Hardly coincidental, because as we see it begins with B'Asara Ma'amarot "With ten Divine statements was the world created", just as the beginning of the Torah which begins with the account of Creation starts with the letter Beit in Bereishit. (It's interesting to note that the Midrash on the entire Tanach that is named Yalkut Shimoni begins with this very Mishna!) In fact, according to some views, the first of these ten Divine statements is the word Bereishit, even though it's not an outright command from Hashem like in the other statement where He gave clear cut instructions.
Actually, before all this, on Shabbat night when we counted the Omer (39 days), there was another connection to the letter Beit. You see, one of the prayers that we recite following the counting of the Omer is Psalm 67, which besides the introductory verse, consists of 49 words, and the middle verse (verse 5) consists of 49 letters. And since one of these 49 letters are matched with the 49 days of the Omer as noted in virtually all Siddurim (prayer books), the letter for the 39th day of the Omer which was this past Shabbat is a Beit, beginning the word BaAretz "in the land".
Now getting back to Abraham, the SECOND letter in his name is a Beit. As connected to Bereishit, the first
two words of the Torah's first verse begin with the letter Beit - Bereishit Bara. Moreover, the first three letters in these two words have the same three letters as the first three letters of Abraham's name. Indeed, this confirms what I wrote earlier in this post about the word B'Hibaram "when He created them" having the same letters as B'Avraham. And in terms of Israel, the very first Rashi on the Torah explains why the Torah begins with the account of creation rather than the Mitzvot which are the main thing in the Torah as they are the very reason of the world's existence, because if we Jews were not to observe Hashem's Commandments, then there wouldn't be a reason for this world to continue to exist. The account of creation comes to show that Hashem is the Ba'al HaBAYIT, the "owner of the house", the world, and it is He who decides who owns what land. And so, there was a time that the Cana'anites were living in Israel, but when it was the time for the Jews to come to Israel, then we took it over as per Hashem's wishes.
And as related to Abraham, Hashem told him to move to Israel and promised him that He would give it to his descendants, though at the moment, the Cana'anites were living there, and towards that, Abraham made sure that his animals would not graze in others' fields, since though the land was eventually going to be given to his descendants, the land at the time did belong to the Cana'anites, and that is why the Torah continously calls it Eretz Cana'an, because as long as the Jews didn't take it over yet, it belongs to these people which was also part of Hashem's wishes. And as we know in Jewish law, it is forbidden to steal from a non-Jew as well; in fact, in a way it's worse to steal from a non-Jew, because it is also a Chilul Hashem, a desecration of Hashem's name being that non-Jews will then say that the Torah doesn't care about stealing from other people, especially if they aren't part of the clan of Jews. True, the world was created solely because of us, but we have to set the example and make a good impression on other people, regardless of religion, race, creed, color, country, or whatever else you can think of. For in fact, we Jews are supposed to be a light to the world, the same way that Abraham was at a time that the whole world, save for a few, worshiped idols. For when Abraham was at the scene, it wasn't time for him yet to conquer the land for him and his future descendants, since he had other work to do, and attempt to get as many people as possible to stop worshiping the false gods, and turn to the One and Only G-d, and this takes much love to accomplish, rather than fighting. It was only after the Jews became a nation, and after Hashem offered the Torah to all the other nations as well so they wouldn't have an excuse later to say that they were never offered the Torah, but after all is said and one, no one but the Jews accepted it, it was then and only then that the Jews were going to take over the Land of Israel, and only if the non-Jews living there already would accept the standards placed on them by us would they be allowed to continue living there; otherwise, they were subject to being killed in war.
And in terms of Abraham owning a piece of land in Israel when he purchased the Cave of Machpela, he was the SECOND one of the SECOND couple of a total of four couples who are buried at this site - Adam and Eve, Sara and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, Leah and Jacob.
Remember earlier when I mentioned about the final chapter of the Mishnaic tractate Kiddushin? This chapter begins with the ten levels of Jewish pedigree and ends off about Abraham. This is surely no coincidence that this chapter was arranged this way, for all of us Jews can relate to Abraham. Either we are descendants of his, or a convert relates himself/herself to him, as since a convert can't be called to the Torah as the son of his father's name as most Jews do since he is considered as a newborn upon becoming Jewish even if his biological father is Jewish. Instead, he is referred to as the "son of Abraham (our father)", just as Abraham himself so to speak converted to belief in Hashem, and in time learned and observed the whole Torah. Now, in the beginning of Sefer Bimidbar that we read this past Shabbat afternoon, it begins off saying that the Jews should be counted for a census. However, in order for Jews to be included in the census, they had to have proof of pedigree. In fact, the English name for the fourth book of the Torah that begins with Parshat Bimidbar is Numbers, named after this very event, the first event taking place in this book. And as I mentioned earlier, the name Bimidbar has the name Gematria as Abraham's name - 248.
Don't worry, I'm almost done. But since I mentioned in relationship to the number of this post that Abraham lived for 175 years, there is a fabulous connection between this and the Talmud. Have you ever wondered, what is the longest tractate in the Talmud? Well, at least those who learn Daf Yomi, the daily folio of the Babylonian Talmud should know the answer to this one - Bava Batra "Last Gate", consisting of 175 double sided pages, and ten chapters.
To come to think of it, it is mentioned in the rabbinic writings that Abraham's 175 years correspond to the 175 Parshiyot of the Torah/Chumash. You see, at one time, the Torah wasn't all read in one year, but more like in three years, or some say, three and a half years. There are divergent views about the exact amount of Parshiyot that there were at one time, even as I mentioned in the past of the view of 154 Parshiyot.
I have already mentioned the connection between Abraham and the beginning of the Chumash, so I will leave it at that. But in a way, it is even more significant showing the connection between Abraham and the Talmud, because as we see in the Torah about describing Abraham following Hashem's commandments "Because Abraham headed My voice, and he observed...My Torahs" (Genesis 26:5), Rashi notes based on the Talmud and Midrash that the plural form of the word Torah being used here includes the Torah She'B'Al Peh (Oral Torah), the laws given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Now eventually, with the troubles that were occurring to the Jewish people by the Roman Empire and all, the Mishna and Talmud were written down so these teachings should not be forgotten.
With this said, we see that the LONGEST tractate in the Babylonian Talmud has the SAME AMOUNT OF DAFIM as the years of Abraham's life. Coincidence? But that's not all. First, the word Bavli (Babylonian)'s first TWO letters are both a BEIT/Veit, aside from the fact that all tractates in the Babylonian Talmud begins with Daf BEIT (unlike the Jerusalem Talmud which begins with Daf Aleph) and the TWO words of the name of this longest tractate Bava Batra both begin with a Beit (the first two letters of the first word Bava is a BEIT/Veit). Moreover, the Gematria of this name - Bava Batra - has the same Gemaria as the name of Abraham's father Terach, which is also the Hebrew number (Tav, Reish, Cheit) - 608.
Wait a minute! True, Terach was Abraham's father, but not only was he an idol worshipper, but he owned an idol store, and he himself reported on his son Abraham to King Nimrod following his smashing the idols in his store. But it is true that Terach in fact repented in the latter part of his life, for after all, he saw how his son Abraham miraculously emerged unscathed from the burning furnace set up by the king. In fact, Rashi asks this same basic question on the words that Hashem spoke to Abraham "You will come to your father in peace, and be buried at a good old age" (Genesis 15:15), noting from the Midrash (Bereishit Rabba 38:12) that Terach in fact repented.
This is all very nice, but is there in fact a connection between the theme of this tractate and Abraham as well as his father Terach?
Believe it or not, there couldn't be a better tractate to show these connections. The first thing to note about this tractate is that it is all about the laws of property rights and transactions. This includes the concept of Kinyan ownership or possession, just as we see in the sixth chapter of Pirkei Avot that Abraham is among the five "possessions" of the Holy One Blessed Be He, which is called a Kinyan.
We see that in chapter THREE, which is called Chezkat HaBatim "Acquisition of Houses" after the beginning words of this chapter, that generally, for one to have possession of the property, he has to show that he uses the property the same way that a regular owner uses it over a period of THREE CONSECUTIVE years. This concept is called a Chazaka. Interestingly, we see another three in connection with the letter Beit - there are THREE CONSECUTIVE Parshiyot whose names all begin with the letter Beit - Behar, Bechukotai, Bamidbar - which could be nicknamed Chezkat HaBeitim, the Chazaka of the (three) letter Beit. In fact, at the conclusion of Sefer Vayikra (Leviticus) whose last two Parshiyot are Behar and Bechukotai, as done for the other four books of the Sefer Torah, we exclaim Chazak Chazak V'Nitzchazeik "Be strong, be strong, and be strengthened", for as we see the concept of Chazaka is very related to the number three, for when something is performed three times, it is assumed that it will continue, for it is strong being that it already has momentum and being performed on a regular basis. In fact, the concept of the Torah staying in the family once the father, son, and grandson are Torah scholars are based on the three Patriarchs beginning with Abraham, then his son Isaac, and grandson Jacob.
Moving forward, we see that the eight chapter of this tractate is about the laws of inheritance, in the midst of which discusses the division of the land of Israel among the tribes. So as you can see here, since this tractate, especially this chapter deals with inheritance as handed down from father to son, the first choice of who inherits, it is hardly surprising that the name of this tractate should have the same Gematria as Abraham's father, when it is most connected to Abraham.
Having made the comparison between the 175 years of Abraham's life and the Talmudic tractate Bava Batra consisting of 175 Dafim, let me mention here information about Abraham in this Talmudic tracate:
Genesis 12:1 - "Behold, now I know that you are a beautiful looking woman", as Abraham told Sara in the midst of traveling to Egypt, and hence was afraid that as a result of her beauty, the Egyptians would snatch her away. The Gemara notes on the word "now" that until now, Abraham was unaware of her beauty. (16a)
Genesis 13:17 - Satan himself, impressed with Abraham's great faith in Hashem, praised about him to Hashem exclaiming that he went through the entire world, and didn't find anyone as faithful to Hashem as Abraham, as the verse states "Get up, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I have given it to you", as Hashem promised Abraham; yet, he wasn't able to find a place to bury his wife Sara until he paid out 400 Shekels of silver for the Mearat HaMachpeila, but he still didn't question Hashem's ways. (15b/16a)
Much later on in the Gemara, there is a difference of opinion as to legal status of Abraham walking the Land of Israel as mentioned in this verse. Rav Elazar says that Abraham acquired the land by waking on it, while the rabbis say that it was due to Hashem's love for Abraham that he told him this, for while it didn't help himself acquire the land, it made it easier for his descendants, his heirs, later to conquer it, as Satan then wouldn't be able to complain that they were stealing the land (100a)
Genesis 24:1 - "Hashem blessed Abraham with everything" What does "with everything" mean?
1)He was blessed that he didn't have a daughter (who would have otherwise had a hard time finding a marriage partner since just about the whole world were idolworshipers) - Rabbi Meir
2)He was blessed with a daughter - Rabbi Yehuda
3)He was so versed in astrology that all the kings came over to consult him - Rabbi Elazar HaModai
4)He had a precious stone hanging from his neck, and any sick person looking at it got cured instantly - Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai
5)His grandson Esau didn't rebel against the Torah during his lifetime
6)His son Yishmael repented of his evil ways during his lifetime
(Bava Batra 16b)
Three people had a taste of the world to come in this world - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
Three people had no power of the evil inclination over them - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
Six people had no power of the angel of death over them - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Miriam
Seven people had no power of worms or maggots over them - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Benjamin
(Bava Batra 16b-17a)
IN CONCLUSION
Abraham's original name was Abram, but Hashem renamed him Abraham to have the connotation of Av Hamon Goyim "father of a multitude of nations". And as Hashem told him - Koh Yihyeh Zarecha "So shall your seed be", which Hashem told him when he showed his the stars to tell him how many descendants he would have. Anyways, the word Koh (so) is the Hebrew number for 25, noting the date of this post as the 25th of Iyar, which is also the 40th day of the Omer, and the Hebrew word for 40 - Arba'im, begins with the letter Aleph and ends with the letter Mem Sophit, as does Abraham's name, as well as the fact that the last letter of these words - Mem, is the numerical value of Mem, as well as the word for the letter Mem itself. But most importantly, the number 40 is most related to the Torah, for Moshe Rabbeinu learned the Torah from Hashem in 40 days, and Rav Ashi, the redactor of the Babylonian Talmud, was the 40th generation from Moshe Rabbeinu to have received the Torah from teacher to student in an unbroken chain from Moshe to Rav Ashi (we see that just as Avraham's name is associated with the word Breishit, so too the letters of "Rav Ashi" make up the first five letters of the word Bereishit) And as the longest Talmudic Tractate Bava Batra, which consists of 10 chapters, includes the laws of inheritance, so we see that Abraham, so to speak, "inherited" the reward of the past 10 generations that they would have had, had they been good boys, as noted in the chapter of Pirkei Avot that begins with "with TEN statements was the world created".
While indeed, Abraham was the biological father of a multitude of nations, we are lucky to be not only biological descendants of his, but his spiritual descendants as well. And of course, let us learn from Abraham to use our time wisely, especially with the greatest Mitzva of Torah learning, the highlight of which is the study of the Talmud, which is a detailed explanation of the commandments of Hashem that we are supposed to perform, the very reason of this world's existance. For as the rabbis tell us, of the 6,000 years of the world's existence, the first 2000 years were the years of chaos, the middle 2000 years were the years of Torah, and the last 2000 years were/are the years of Moshiach. And it was Abraham, the first Jew, who began the 2,000 years of Torah, reaching out to others beginning with teaching them of the existence of Hashem. And just as Hashem is the Ba'al HaBAYIT of the world and provides for all His guests, so too, in our lives having families and homes, we are the Ba'al HaBAYIT of our homes in which we invite guests, emulating Hashem and Abraham, the first human Ba'al HaBAYIT who invited guests for not only their physical needs as Noah and his family did for the survivors of the world, but provided spiritually for them as well, teaching them the ways of Hashem.
25 Iyar, 5773
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
#174 - Will the Real Aharon Please Stand Up?
Actually, the original title of this 174th Post, had I been writing more months ago around Purim time, would have been more like "The Torah at Opposite Ends" "The Torah in Reverse" or "The Double Edged Torah". As this post progresses, you will see why the title of this post is what it is.
Well first, let us get down right to it - the Torah. In this case, specifically the word Torah. The magic word of what determines the quantity and quality of eternal spiritual life. The magic word that defines the difference between us Jews and all other nations. No my friends, the Bible itself simply doesn't cut it for us alone. At least if we mention this word in terms of Jews, it should be called the Jewish Bible, which excludes the New Testament, and the words Old Testament shouldn't even be part of our vocabulary in everyday usage. And at that, the Jewish Bible that should be called the Tanach, is only the first part of our vast Torah. It simply wouldn't be complete without the Mishna, Talmud, Halacha, Midrash, Kabbala, etc.
Oh yes, the word Torah. It consists of four Hebrew letters: Tav=400, Vav=6, Reish=200, Hei=5. Now, this is called regular Gematria, where the first letter Aleph equals the number one, and the last letter Tav equals 400.
Now tell me my friends, what other language than the Holy Tongue (Hebrew) has this advantage? Oh sure, there are numerologists out there who get paid by naive people to say what they like to hear in the way of money, relationships, etc. that will correlate the letters of the English alphabet to numbers. Perhaps in this case, the letter A is 1 and the letter Z is 26. However, one thing is for sure is that Gematriot are part of the Torah, even in relationship to Halacha (Jewish Law). In fact, this is one out of many aspects of the Oral Torah that Moses received from Hashem on Mt. Sinai.
Oh yes, there is one more thing that is worthy of notable mention of what Moses learned from Hashem Himself - the Taryag Mitzvot (613 Commandments) (Talmud Makkot 23a). And at this, they are divided into 248 Mitzvot Asei (Positive/Active Commandments), and 365 Mitzvot Lo-Ta'asei (Negative/Non-Active Commandments).
With the above said, there are in fact various form of Gematria. One of many such forms is what is called the Atbash method (see Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim - Siman 428), in which the first letter Aleph is substituted for the last letter Tav, the second letter Beit is substituted for the next to the last letter Shin, etc. Hence, looking at the letters of the word Torah, let us substitute them accordingly, Tav-Aleph (1), Vav-Pei (80), Reish-Gimel (3), Hei-Tzadi (90). The Atbash total here is 174, the number of this post. Great, but what does this number 174 have especially to do to the Torah other than some Gematria-Atbash game?
You see, the Mitzva of learning/teaching Torah is among the 248 Mitzvot Asei. And if you can figure it out by now, this is the 174th Mitzvat Asei of the Torah!
Now my friends, this is REAL Purim Torah, not just some made up Gematria thing by someone who is excessively drinking on Purim thinking that getting drunk to the point of barfing is fulfilling the dictum of the Sages that one should drink until one doesn't know the difference between "Cursed is Haman" and "Blessed is Mordechai". And it is true that unlike at the time of the holiday of Shavuot (Pentacost), when the Jews received the Torah, they didn't all willingly accept it except by force. However, as our Sages tell us, when it came to the time of the miracles of Purim, the Jews - in a state of happiness, willingly accepted the Torah.
Additionally, Purim is marked by the concept of what is written in the Megilla (Book of Esther) - V'Nahafoch; meaning, that the state of affairs were REVERSED for the Jews, for instead of their enemies murdering them in honoring the original letters that King Achashveirosh sent out upon Haman's request to murder all the Jews on one day, the Jews were allowed free reign to fight their enemies on that fateful day; and not loosing a single Jew, they took down 75,000 people.
So as you can see, the concept of Atbash, REVERSE Gematria, can at times reveal why a certain number when the Atbash method is used is connected to the concept of the given word that it was used for.
ON THE REVERSE SIDE
Have you ever heard of the phrase "Good Samaritan"? Just please do the Jewish people a favor, don't ever use this phrase, unless it is done in a sarcastic way. You see, it was the early Christians who not only vilified the good Jews, but praised non-Jews who hated Jews. Other such examples includes calling some of their "righteous" heroes with the title Saint - for one reason: their particular mark of Anti-Semitism. After all, especially in the Dark Ages, virtually the only ones who were literate among the non-Jews were the clergy. So, when these "saints" wanted to charge against the Jews, all they had to do was to give a heated sermon about these "drinkers of Christian blood" Jews, especially around Passover time, the "Holiday of Matzot", and the illiterate mob then went out to finish the job, via blood libels, massacres, crusades, crucifications, inquisitions, etc.
Yes, there is a story about this "good Samaritan" in the New Testament. But wait a minute - let's rewind the tape; oh, I mean the Bible - O.K., I'll use the term Old Testament in this context, in case any Christians may happen to be reading this. Let's turn to II Kings Chapter 17. The wicked king Sancheriv, who was on a quest to conquer the world, exiled various nations as part of his campaign. With this said, replacing the Ten Tribes in Israel whom he exiled, he brought a group of people called Cuthites to the Holy Land where he settled them in Samaria. Before long, some of them became lunch for the local lions, and these Cuthites were in a quandary as to what to do. It seems that this happened as a result of their continued idol worship, and the Holy Land had enough of it with the former Jews who were now exiled. Anyways, Torah scholars were sent to teach Torah to these people, and they then went through the conversion process. To be sure, their conversion was not out of love of Judaism to say the least, and eventually, re-introduced their pagan worship, except this time in their official temple on Mt. Gerizim, the same mountain on which there was an official ceremony when the Jews first came to Israel under the leadership of Joshua, in which the elders, Cohanim and Levites gave blessings to the Jews pending fulfillment of the Torah. In any case, these group of people were called "Lion's Converts", for it was due to their fear of the lions who used to enjoy good lunches from their group that they converted.
Now, let us fast forward to the news of two weeks ago. "Aharon the High Priest died". As it turns out, the Samaritans have their set of "Cohanim" and "Cohanim Gedolim". In fact, if one were to believe them, these Cohanim are directly descended via parental line to the first Cohen Gadol (High Priest), Aharon - Moshe's brother. In fact, the last Samaritan Cohen Gadol from Aharon's son Itamar died nearly 400 years ago, and since then, the Cohen Gadol position is from Aharon's son Elazar. In fact, they even refer to each Cohen Gadol by their Hebrew name, their father's name, and their grandfather's name; and at time, even up to more generations back up on the father's side.
The problem with this is that this is just like the claim of some blacks in the States who call themselves the "Lost Hebrews". In reality, there is no verifiable proof of their claim, though they themselves might never even hurt a flee. In fact, there is this black clergyman in Chicago who even has his own temple who is called a rabbi, where the women are singing from Artscroll prayer books on Saturday morning. However, this does not make them any more Jewish than other non-Jews, except that one has to give credit to them for no longer believing in Christianity.
Mind you, these Samaritans are no fools. They knew long ago that if they going to look credible as "Jews" and "Cohanim", then they had to designate certain families as "Cohanim", going so far as to label one family as "descended" from Aharon's son Elazar, and the other familly as "descended" from Aharon's son Itamar.
Now, let us do the math here. The first real Jewish Cohen Gadol - Aharon - became High Priest in the Hebrew Year 2449. It is now 3,324 years since that time. And as for the Samaritans in Israel, they have been around for some 2,700 years, and with the death of "Aharon the High Priest" two weeks ago, they claim that he was the 132th Cohen Gadol. Now, in the last 400 years, they have had 21 "High Priests". Assuming the average amount of time per High Priest as 19 years (19.047619 to be exact), multiplying 132 with 19 point something, the total comes out to a little more than 2514(.2857), which is nearly 200 less than the amount of years they spent on our Holy Land. So clearly, their whole clan of High Priests DID NOT begin with Aharon the Cohen Gadol, Moshe's brother; but since they first settled in Israel. And at that, whoever or whatever they worship today, there was clearly a time that they idol worshiped even after their insincere conversion.
Of course, the Samaritans' whole claim of High Priests as descending from the original Aharon the High Priest is clearly fabricated to begin with, because at best, they would only be Jews because of conversion, and hence, aren't descended from any of the Tribes of Israel. This is besides the trouble making that they made in the past between ratting on the Jews to the Persian government which led to halting the construction of the Second Temple and their claims of the Jews rebelling against Alexander the Great; but when Alexander the Great saw their claims as bogus thanks to meeting with Shimon HaTzadik the Cohen Gadol, the Jews then dragged these ungrateful Samaritans, tying them to the tail of horses, and driving them like that to Mt. Gerizim. And while there are certain areas in Jewish Law in which the Sages admitted that in whatever Judaic practice they are in to, they are very strict with it, even more than authentic Jews; in the long run, the general consensus among the Sages is that they are not considered Jews, since after all, they never truly converted sincerely, and historically, didn't show signs of them wanting to be part of the Jewish people as brethren to say the least, showing their ungratefulness after we saved them from being more free lunches for the lions. Nay, today's Samaritans themselves don't want to be identified as Israeli Jews, but rather, as a class of their own. So much for their High Priests!
Of course, this doesn't end the story. One of their former High Priests many years back asked for freedom of religious practices from the Israeli government. You see, the highlight of their religious celebrations is the Pascal sacrifice, which typically takes place a month after Passover, due to their judgment as to how the Jewish months are set up, as they refuse to accept the Jewish calendar being that this comes from rabbinic sources, rather than from their Bible. But no need to worry; every year, they openly sacrifice the Pascal animal on Mt. Gerizim for all to watch, including even Ultra-Orthodox Jews, some of whom are more thrilled about how these Samaritans go about this ceremony than being disgusted about how we are prevented from bringing the REAL Pascal sacrifice on the Temple Mount, which has been legalized by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2007. However, when it comes to Jewish rights, especially when in involves Arab/Moslem issues, the Jewish Israeli police think that it is O.K. to violate the law, since after all, no one will tell them boo.
And so for the last few years, individual Jews attempting to fulfill a Mitzva of the Torah that hasn't been observed for nearly 2,000 years are arrested by police who are especially waiting near the Temple Mount in their great eager to pacify the Wakf. Of course, what is expected from secular Jewish police who loathe Judaism? However, there are policemen who work and live in Jerusalem who do observe at least the basics of Judaism; and hence, they have EVERY RESPONSIBILITY TO UPHOLD THE LAW! That is, not only the secular law, as we can call it, coming from the Israeli Supreme Court allowing for the Pascal sacrifice to be brought, but most importantly, the Torah Law. It's just that now there is NO EXCUSE not to enforce this most important Mitzva, of which the violation, or non-performance thereof, if one was able to do so and didn't, incurs the penalty of Karet (spiritual extinction), which is basically, being cut off from the eternal bliss in the world to come. And so, ANY AND EVERY observant Jewish policeman who works and lives in Jerusalem (and they can't say that the live too far away since they have to be with their families for Passover) who fails to enforce the law, from speaking with their fellow irreligious fellow policeman to enforce the law to
coming to the Temple Mount to allow the Jews to bring their sacrifices will bear the eternal sin of preventing the ENTIRE Jewish people from offering this sacrifice, and will bear the punishment of Karet.
So as you can see, the State of religious affairs in Israel are in the exact REVERSE of what they should be. You see, it doesn't bother the Torah hating Israeli government or the Arab Moslems to see several hundred Samaritans publicly offering a sacrifice once a year, and are quite tolerated, since after all, the government and the Arabs deep down know that these Samaritans aren't the real Jews and aren't doing the real thing, so they don't feel threatened by who they are or what they do, aside from the fact that there are only several hundred of them. However, when it comes to what is really Torah, what Hashem really wants to be done, well, that's another story. The same Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination), which is a real angel by the way that attempts to get people to sin and then will be their accusing angel in the next world, that convinces this Israeli government to do the most irrational things, including giving land away for the sake of "peace", which is not only giving away such priceless property for a mere PIECE of paper with its vain promises of peace, but also endangers our whole country when the Arabs are then able to be so much closer to attack us; is the same Yetzer Hara that gets this government to disrespect the most holiest site in the world, the one place of the world that praying Jews wherever they are in this world turn to directionwise when speaking to Hashem, and not only forbid Jews - who aren't the tourists who will trample on every part of the Temple Mount even in violation of Jewish law that forbids a Jew with corpse impurity to step on - from daring to even move their lips that look like they are praying when visiting the Halachicly permissible parts of the Temple Mount, but give free reign to the Moslem Arabs to do what they want on this area, including playing soccer and vandalizing archeological proofs of Jewish/Holy Temple existence.
The truth is that in the Six Day War in 1967, when we won back this most holy area in the world "The Temple Mount is in our Hands", which we will be celebrating during this coming week on 28 Iyar as Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), this was the time that rabbis, the least the ones who permit going on certain parts of the Temple Mount, should have begun the process of having Jews bringing certain sacrifices, such as the Pascal sacrifice, which does not require a Temple standing to offer it. However, since this was not done, realized, or whatever other way you want to word it, as Hashem's gift was not shown to be appreciated, He allowed what is called Ma'asei Satan (works of Satan) to reign, and the unhero, blinded physical and spiritual eyed Moshe Dayan, undid whatever good he did in fighting in the Six Day War, and as the ultimate traitor to the Jewish people, handed over the key of the holiest area in the world to the Wakf, not long after we Jews won the most significant victory in the last 2,100 years since the Chanuka story.
Indeed, Jews especially in Israel should be absolutely appalled by the apparent double standards that take place in our Holy Land - both in terms between the way that Jews and Arabs are treated by our enemy pleasing Israeli government, as well as unlaw enforcement such as police and brainwashed solders who are supposed to be protecting us instead of hurting us, picking and choosing what court laws to enforce or not, depending on whether or not if it involves religious or nationalistic Jews who are sometimes arrested due do the "holy word of G-d", so to speak, of Arabs claiming that some Jews attacked them, when usually only the reverse is true. And so, unless the Supreme Court in Israel actually takes steps to enforce the law, and somehow find a way to prevent the police from violating the law allowing Jews to offer the Pascal sacrifice. And certainly, instead of being thrilled by watching the Samaritans offer their unPascal sacrifice as entertainment, Jews should be taking to the streets and attempt to take over the Temple Mount just at that time to protest the government and police doing the REVERSE of what is supposed to be happening.
Of course, this is most aggravating, and it is about time that observant ("Orthodox") rabbis from the various segments of Jews, from Hasidic to "black hat" to nationalistic, to get together in unison once and for all, put aside their "religious" differences, and discuss how at the very least, police won't be allowed to prevent Jews from offering the Pascal sacrifice if nothing else, to observe a clear cut Commandment in the Torah.
But no need to worry. Back in the "heimishe velt" in "heilige" Boro Park, which many, though they will not admit it, think is holier than Israel, because it is terribly saturated with Jews who have more than enough in their pockets to pack their bags and move to the Biblical Holy Land, replete with references from the Talmud about the commandment of living "there" that many of them learn on a daily basis, there was recently another form of "Jewish" entertainment, a Sheva Berachot (part of the traditional week long wedding celebration of a Jewish couple) at which a "black hat" host of such a celebration at a fancy shmancy Glatt Kosher eatery presented...President Obama! O.K., it wasn't the REAL Obama, but a famous impersonator of him, who entertained the very religious crowd, including the "sheitlich" women who wear the wigs that may make them look very religious, but have been forbidden by virtually all the major halachic deciding rabbis in Israel. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Afro-American people who are doing their job in life, and I wish this impersonator well as he works hard for his money, but imagine the thousands of dollars that were spent to host this guy for a mere 15 minutes of entertainment which wasn't even at a wedding, but at a Sheva Berachot which is supposed to be rather spiritual in nature. Yes, thousands of dollars that could have been spent instead supporting poor Jews in Israel; and quite the REVERSE of what took place, the Sheva Berachot could have been a springboard to use this same money both to support charity in Israel, AND get others to do the same. At the very least then, there perhaps would be a purpose of Jews living in Brooklyn making a good living if they would be supporting good Jews or Torah learning in Israel, just as businessmen spending time with business supporting Torah scholars as a Yissachar-Zevulun relationship that I have written about in past blogs. Apparently, some of them quickly forgot about a major philanthropist from the Flatbush section of Brooklyn who passed away a year ago, Reb Shlomo Yehuda Gross, of blessed memory, who just became an Artscroll book on his life, who lived rather modestly below his means, but instead used much of his money to support various poor people and Torah learning centers in Israel, and was well loved by the good Jews who live in Jerusalem.
Sorry to those who live in Boro Park who feel offended by what I have written here. Yes, it may be easy for me to write such things, being that I was born and raised in the Big Orange instead of the Big Apple, and was far from raised with a golden spoon in my mouth. Actually, I don't apologize for what I write here, for in fact, I write the truth, and I thank Hashem that I wasn't born or raised in the "holy" Brooklyn area, though perhaps, I would have had a better shot of finding a Shidduch, though it could have been a lady who would have been raised in a family, who while pretending to be so religious, being insistent on everything being just right, being "heimishe". As it turns out, I was brought up in sunny South Florida, which according to weather standards is paradise in stark contrast to most of the United States that is freezing during the winter. But at least in the greater Miami area, though it has a reasonable sized Jewish and Israeli community, I knew that I was living in spiritual exile. I wasn't fooled by whatever religious standards that exist in this town to make me think that it was holier than Israel. Quite the contrary, between observing the Israeli community and various functions reminding us about Israel, including an event to help supported manufactured Israeli products, one could not help but think about the importance of Israel as our homeland even in sunny side up Florida. And especially in my case, though I was raised in a religious environment, I was not fortunate like just about all of my classmates to live in a Jewish neighborhood filled with synagogues, and I had to walk for some 40 minutes to the nearest one on Shabbat morning. In stark contrast, today in Israel, I live in a neighborhood of virtually only Jews (except for some non-Jewish Russians posing as Jews who receive far more than a few free lunches from the Israeli government, including one who called me responding to a baby-sitting flyer that I put on a bulletin, introducing herself as Chris Tina), in which I am within a few walking minutes away from several synagogues. Oh, and by the way, I have the fortune of being the father of the first "Sabra" Israeli born baby on my side of the family in 2,000 years.
Now, I am not saying that Jews should not have fun or entertainment once in a while; but, it depends on the context. For example, for a religious family from the States who move to Israel, and for fun with the kids, take them to the Golan Heights one day where they spend their time at a cowboy ranch riding horses with cowboy hats, I think that it is a wonderful experience to present to their children who are being raised in a very different environment than they are used to, to feel that Israel can be fun despite the challenges. Yes, they indeed deserve to have fun once in a while, because at least the parents went through much sacrifice to restart their lives in the land that Hashem commands us to live in, and they have their priorities straight, with spiritualism in front of materialism. For more on this, including videos, check this link http://jewcer.com/project/joy-of-israel-with-jamie-geller.
So, getting back to the "Aharon the High Priest", the first Samaritan High Priest in at least 400 years to bear the name Aharon, the name of the first authentic Jewish High Priest, who died two weeks ago after living a few too many years, this should be a stark reminder to us Jews that we have yet to have total religious freedom in Israel, which is far less than it is, or rather was, in the States (don't worry, the concentration camps in the States will be in full force shortly, so Jews need to start packing their bags and leave), and Jewish life is NOT complete without our Temple or animal/bird/meal offering sacrifices, despite our access to the Western Wall, while Arabs, Moslems, and others who look or claim to be Jewish but aren't receive far more than a lion's share of all types of free benefits from the government presently headed by Prime Monster Bibi Netanyahu who just forbade Moshe Feiglin of his own Likud party from ascending the Temple Mount, after the latter went there to show that Jews have every right to be on it. Not that I voted for Likud or Moshe Feiglin, but at least he has the guts, like he had at one time when he founded the organization Zu Artzeinu "This is Our Land" getting many Jewish citizens to block the streets from traffic in the days that former Prime Monster Rabin, the murderer of some 18 Jews on the Altalena ship who came with weapons to help us fight our Arab enemies, continued his evil, this time making phony peace treaties with Arabs.
As it turns out, the date of the death of this "Aharon the High Priest" was the 9th of Iyar, which is also the 24th day of the Omer. Now, the first Aharon the High Priest passed away on the first day of the month of Av, the month that marks the destruction of both Temples that took place on the NINTH of the month, the month whose Mazal (constellation) is Aryeh (Leo), which is translated as LION, reminding us that today's Samaritans are nothing but descendants of the "LION Converts". And as related to the 24th day of the Omer, the Cohanim - Aharon and his descendants from father to son - are granted 24 Matnot Kehuna "priestly gifts", various food items both from Temple offerings and outside the Temple, some of which are applicable today, as well as the 24 Mishmarot "watches", who took turns each week serving in the Temple, as listed in Divrei HaYomim (Book of Chronicles), the 24th and final book of the Tanach.
And as per the death of the 132nd "High Priest", I am reminded of the 132nd Psalm in which Hashem promises King David, who wished to build the Temple, that indeed, the Temple would soon be built, in which it states Kohanecha Yilbeshu Tzedek "Your priests will wear righteousness". And then in the next psalm, Psalm 133, it mentions the name Aharon - "the good oil that dripped on the beard of Aharon", which is referring to the anointing oil that Aharon was anointed with upon his consecration as High Priest, some of which dripped onto his beard.
So while Hashem keeps sending us reminders that things aren't exactly the way that they should be in Israel, at the very least, this should motivate us to pray for the day that we will have our Temple, sacrifices, and High Priests once again very soon, which will include Aharon HaCohen, Moshe Rabbeinu's brother, who will officiate as our High Priest once again when the greatest Tzadikim (righteous people) will be resurrected at the time of Moshiach's coming. And since everything parallels one another in this word - good and evil, truth and falsehood - may it be Hashem's will that during the reign of the false 133rd High Priest, that Aharon, whose name is featured in the 133rd Psalm, will shortly stand up from the dead and serve Hashem in the upcoming everlasting Third Temple. Amen!
23 Iyar 5773
Well first, let us get down right to it - the Torah. In this case, specifically the word Torah. The magic word of what determines the quantity and quality of eternal spiritual life. The magic word that defines the difference between us Jews and all other nations. No my friends, the Bible itself simply doesn't cut it for us alone. At least if we mention this word in terms of Jews, it should be called the Jewish Bible, which excludes the New Testament, and the words Old Testament shouldn't even be part of our vocabulary in everyday usage. And at that, the Jewish Bible that should be called the Tanach, is only the first part of our vast Torah. It simply wouldn't be complete without the Mishna, Talmud, Halacha, Midrash, Kabbala, etc.
Oh yes, the word Torah. It consists of four Hebrew letters: Tav=400, Vav=6, Reish=200, Hei=5. Now, this is called regular Gematria, where the first letter Aleph equals the number one, and the last letter Tav equals 400.
Now tell me my friends, what other language than the Holy Tongue (Hebrew) has this advantage? Oh sure, there are numerologists out there who get paid by naive people to say what they like to hear in the way of money, relationships, etc. that will correlate the letters of the English alphabet to numbers. Perhaps in this case, the letter A is 1 and the letter Z is 26. However, one thing is for sure is that Gematriot are part of the Torah, even in relationship to Halacha (Jewish Law). In fact, this is one out of many aspects of the Oral Torah that Moses received from Hashem on Mt. Sinai.
Oh yes, there is one more thing that is worthy of notable mention of what Moses learned from Hashem Himself - the Taryag Mitzvot (613 Commandments) (Talmud Makkot 23a). And at this, they are divided into 248 Mitzvot Asei (Positive/Active Commandments), and 365 Mitzvot Lo-Ta'asei (Negative/Non-Active Commandments).
With the above said, there are in fact various form of Gematria. One of many such forms is what is called the Atbash method (see Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim - Siman 428), in which the first letter Aleph is substituted for the last letter Tav, the second letter Beit is substituted for the next to the last letter Shin, etc. Hence, looking at the letters of the word Torah, let us substitute them accordingly, Tav-Aleph (1), Vav-Pei (80), Reish-Gimel (3), Hei-Tzadi (90). The Atbash total here is 174, the number of this post. Great, but what does this number 174 have especially to do to the Torah other than some Gematria-Atbash game?
You see, the Mitzva of learning/teaching Torah is among the 248 Mitzvot Asei. And if you can figure it out by now, this is the 174th Mitzvat Asei of the Torah!
Now my friends, this is REAL Purim Torah, not just some made up Gematria thing by someone who is excessively drinking on Purim thinking that getting drunk to the point of barfing is fulfilling the dictum of the Sages that one should drink until one doesn't know the difference between "Cursed is Haman" and "Blessed is Mordechai". And it is true that unlike at the time of the holiday of Shavuot (Pentacost), when the Jews received the Torah, they didn't all willingly accept it except by force. However, as our Sages tell us, when it came to the time of the miracles of Purim, the Jews - in a state of happiness, willingly accepted the Torah.
Additionally, Purim is marked by the concept of what is written in the Megilla (Book of Esther) - V'Nahafoch; meaning, that the state of affairs were REVERSED for the Jews, for instead of their enemies murdering them in honoring the original letters that King Achashveirosh sent out upon Haman's request to murder all the Jews on one day, the Jews were allowed free reign to fight their enemies on that fateful day; and not loosing a single Jew, they took down 75,000 people.
So as you can see, the concept of Atbash, REVERSE Gematria, can at times reveal why a certain number when the Atbash method is used is connected to the concept of the given word that it was used for.
ON THE REVERSE SIDE
Have you ever heard of the phrase "Good Samaritan"? Just please do the Jewish people a favor, don't ever use this phrase, unless it is done in a sarcastic way. You see, it was the early Christians who not only vilified the good Jews, but praised non-Jews who hated Jews. Other such examples includes calling some of their "righteous" heroes with the title Saint - for one reason: their particular mark of Anti-Semitism. After all, especially in the Dark Ages, virtually the only ones who were literate among the non-Jews were the clergy. So, when these "saints" wanted to charge against the Jews, all they had to do was to give a heated sermon about these "drinkers of Christian blood" Jews, especially around Passover time, the "Holiday of Matzot", and the illiterate mob then went out to finish the job, via blood libels, massacres, crusades, crucifications, inquisitions, etc.
Yes, there is a story about this "good Samaritan" in the New Testament. But wait a minute - let's rewind the tape; oh, I mean the Bible - O.K., I'll use the term Old Testament in this context, in case any Christians may happen to be reading this. Let's turn to II Kings Chapter 17. The wicked king Sancheriv, who was on a quest to conquer the world, exiled various nations as part of his campaign. With this said, replacing the Ten Tribes in Israel whom he exiled, he brought a group of people called Cuthites to the Holy Land where he settled them in Samaria. Before long, some of them became lunch for the local lions, and these Cuthites were in a quandary as to what to do. It seems that this happened as a result of their continued idol worship, and the Holy Land had enough of it with the former Jews who were now exiled. Anyways, Torah scholars were sent to teach Torah to these people, and they then went through the conversion process. To be sure, their conversion was not out of love of Judaism to say the least, and eventually, re-introduced their pagan worship, except this time in their official temple on Mt. Gerizim, the same mountain on which there was an official ceremony when the Jews first came to Israel under the leadership of Joshua, in which the elders, Cohanim and Levites gave blessings to the Jews pending fulfillment of the Torah. In any case, these group of people were called "Lion's Converts", for it was due to their fear of the lions who used to enjoy good lunches from their group that they converted.
Now, let us fast forward to the news of two weeks ago. "Aharon the High Priest died". As it turns out, the Samaritans have their set of "Cohanim" and "Cohanim Gedolim". In fact, if one were to believe them, these Cohanim are directly descended via parental line to the first Cohen Gadol (High Priest), Aharon - Moshe's brother. In fact, the last Samaritan Cohen Gadol from Aharon's son Itamar died nearly 400 years ago, and since then, the Cohen Gadol position is from Aharon's son Elazar. In fact, they even refer to each Cohen Gadol by their Hebrew name, their father's name, and their grandfather's name; and at time, even up to more generations back up on the father's side.
The problem with this is that this is just like the claim of some blacks in the States who call themselves the "Lost Hebrews". In reality, there is no verifiable proof of their claim, though they themselves might never even hurt a flee. In fact, there is this black clergyman in Chicago who even has his own temple who is called a rabbi, where the women are singing from Artscroll prayer books on Saturday morning. However, this does not make them any more Jewish than other non-Jews, except that one has to give credit to them for no longer believing in Christianity.
Mind you, these Samaritans are no fools. They knew long ago that if they going to look credible as "Jews" and "Cohanim", then they had to designate certain families as "Cohanim", going so far as to label one family as "descended" from Aharon's son Elazar, and the other familly as "descended" from Aharon's son Itamar.
Now, let us do the math here. The first real Jewish Cohen Gadol - Aharon - became High Priest in the Hebrew Year 2449. It is now 3,324 years since that time. And as for the Samaritans in Israel, they have been around for some 2,700 years, and with the death of "Aharon the High Priest" two weeks ago, they claim that he was the 132th Cohen Gadol. Now, in the last 400 years, they have had 21 "High Priests". Assuming the average amount of time per High Priest as 19 years (19.047619 to be exact), multiplying 132 with 19 point something, the total comes out to a little more than 2514(.2857), which is nearly 200 less than the amount of years they spent on our Holy Land. So clearly, their whole clan of High Priests DID NOT begin with Aharon the Cohen Gadol, Moshe's brother; but since they first settled in Israel. And at that, whoever or whatever they worship today, there was clearly a time that they idol worshiped even after their insincere conversion.
Of course, the Samaritans' whole claim of High Priests as descending from the original Aharon the High Priest is clearly fabricated to begin with, because at best, they would only be Jews because of conversion, and hence, aren't descended from any of the Tribes of Israel. This is besides the trouble making that they made in the past between ratting on the Jews to the Persian government which led to halting the construction of the Second Temple and their claims of the Jews rebelling against Alexander the Great; but when Alexander the Great saw their claims as bogus thanks to meeting with Shimon HaTzadik the Cohen Gadol, the Jews then dragged these ungrateful Samaritans, tying them to the tail of horses, and driving them like that to Mt. Gerizim. And while there are certain areas in Jewish Law in which the Sages admitted that in whatever Judaic practice they are in to, they are very strict with it, even more than authentic Jews; in the long run, the general consensus among the Sages is that they are not considered Jews, since after all, they never truly converted sincerely, and historically, didn't show signs of them wanting to be part of the Jewish people as brethren to say the least, showing their ungratefulness after we saved them from being more free lunches for the lions. Nay, today's Samaritans themselves don't want to be identified as Israeli Jews, but rather, as a class of their own. So much for their High Priests!
Of course, this doesn't end the story. One of their former High Priests many years back asked for freedom of religious practices from the Israeli government. You see, the highlight of their religious celebrations is the Pascal sacrifice, which typically takes place a month after Passover, due to their judgment as to how the Jewish months are set up, as they refuse to accept the Jewish calendar being that this comes from rabbinic sources, rather than from their Bible. But no need to worry; every year, they openly sacrifice the Pascal animal on Mt. Gerizim for all to watch, including even Ultra-Orthodox Jews, some of whom are more thrilled about how these Samaritans go about this ceremony than being disgusted about how we are prevented from bringing the REAL Pascal sacrifice on the Temple Mount, which has been legalized by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2007. However, when it comes to Jewish rights, especially when in involves Arab/Moslem issues, the Jewish Israeli police think that it is O.K. to violate the law, since after all, no one will tell them boo.
And so for the last few years, individual Jews attempting to fulfill a Mitzva of the Torah that hasn't been observed for nearly 2,000 years are arrested by police who are especially waiting near the Temple Mount in their great eager to pacify the Wakf. Of course, what is expected from secular Jewish police who loathe Judaism? However, there are policemen who work and live in Jerusalem who do observe at least the basics of Judaism; and hence, they have EVERY RESPONSIBILITY TO UPHOLD THE LAW! That is, not only the secular law, as we can call it, coming from the Israeli Supreme Court allowing for the Pascal sacrifice to be brought, but most importantly, the Torah Law. It's just that now there is NO EXCUSE not to enforce this most important Mitzva, of which the violation, or non-performance thereof, if one was able to do so and didn't, incurs the penalty of Karet (spiritual extinction), which is basically, being cut off from the eternal bliss in the world to come. And so, ANY AND EVERY observant Jewish policeman who works and lives in Jerusalem (and they can't say that the live too far away since they have to be with their families for Passover) who fails to enforce the law, from speaking with their fellow irreligious fellow policeman to enforce the law to
coming to the Temple Mount to allow the Jews to bring their sacrifices will bear the eternal sin of preventing the ENTIRE Jewish people from offering this sacrifice, and will bear the punishment of Karet.
So as you can see, the State of religious affairs in Israel are in the exact REVERSE of what they should be. You see, it doesn't bother the Torah hating Israeli government or the Arab Moslems to see several hundred Samaritans publicly offering a sacrifice once a year, and are quite tolerated, since after all, the government and the Arabs deep down know that these Samaritans aren't the real Jews and aren't doing the real thing, so they don't feel threatened by who they are or what they do, aside from the fact that there are only several hundred of them. However, when it comes to what is really Torah, what Hashem really wants to be done, well, that's another story. The same Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination), which is a real angel by the way that attempts to get people to sin and then will be their accusing angel in the next world, that convinces this Israeli government to do the most irrational things, including giving land away for the sake of "peace", which is not only giving away such priceless property for a mere PIECE of paper with its vain promises of peace, but also endangers our whole country when the Arabs are then able to be so much closer to attack us; is the same Yetzer Hara that gets this government to disrespect the most holiest site in the world, the one place of the world that praying Jews wherever they are in this world turn to directionwise when speaking to Hashem, and not only forbid Jews - who aren't the tourists who will trample on every part of the Temple Mount even in violation of Jewish law that forbids a Jew with corpse impurity to step on - from daring to even move their lips that look like they are praying when visiting the Halachicly permissible parts of the Temple Mount, but give free reign to the Moslem Arabs to do what they want on this area, including playing soccer and vandalizing archeological proofs of Jewish/Holy Temple existence.
The truth is that in the Six Day War in 1967, when we won back this most holy area in the world "The Temple Mount is in our Hands", which we will be celebrating during this coming week on 28 Iyar as Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), this was the time that rabbis, the least the ones who permit going on certain parts of the Temple Mount, should have begun the process of having Jews bringing certain sacrifices, such as the Pascal sacrifice, which does not require a Temple standing to offer it. However, since this was not done, realized, or whatever other way you want to word it, as Hashem's gift was not shown to be appreciated, He allowed what is called Ma'asei Satan (works of Satan) to reign, and the unhero, blinded physical and spiritual eyed Moshe Dayan, undid whatever good he did in fighting in the Six Day War, and as the ultimate traitor to the Jewish people, handed over the key of the holiest area in the world to the Wakf, not long after we Jews won the most significant victory in the last 2,100 years since the Chanuka story.
Indeed, Jews especially in Israel should be absolutely appalled by the apparent double standards that take place in our Holy Land - both in terms between the way that Jews and Arabs are treated by our enemy pleasing Israeli government, as well as unlaw enforcement such as police and brainwashed solders who are supposed to be protecting us instead of hurting us, picking and choosing what court laws to enforce or not, depending on whether or not if it involves religious or nationalistic Jews who are sometimes arrested due do the "holy word of G-d", so to speak, of Arabs claiming that some Jews attacked them, when usually only the reverse is true. And so, unless the Supreme Court in Israel actually takes steps to enforce the law, and somehow find a way to prevent the police from violating the law allowing Jews to offer the Pascal sacrifice. And certainly, instead of being thrilled by watching the Samaritans offer their unPascal sacrifice as entertainment, Jews should be taking to the streets and attempt to take over the Temple Mount just at that time to protest the government and police doing the REVERSE of what is supposed to be happening.
Of course, this is most aggravating, and it is about time that observant ("Orthodox") rabbis from the various segments of Jews, from Hasidic to "black hat" to nationalistic, to get together in unison once and for all, put aside their "religious" differences, and discuss how at the very least, police won't be allowed to prevent Jews from offering the Pascal sacrifice if nothing else, to observe a clear cut Commandment in the Torah.
But no need to worry. Back in the "heimishe velt" in "heilige" Boro Park, which many, though they will not admit it, think is holier than Israel, because it is terribly saturated with Jews who have more than enough in their pockets to pack their bags and move to the Biblical Holy Land, replete with references from the Talmud about the commandment of living "there" that many of them learn on a daily basis, there was recently another form of "Jewish" entertainment, a Sheva Berachot (part of the traditional week long wedding celebration of a Jewish couple) at which a "black hat" host of such a celebration at a fancy shmancy Glatt Kosher eatery presented...President Obama! O.K., it wasn't the REAL Obama, but a famous impersonator of him, who entertained the very religious crowd, including the "sheitlich" women who wear the wigs that may make them look very religious, but have been forbidden by virtually all the major halachic deciding rabbis in Israel. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Afro-American people who are doing their job in life, and I wish this impersonator well as he works hard for his money, but imagine the thousands of dollars that were spent to host this guy for a mere 15 minutes of entertainment which wasn't even at a wedding, but at a Sheva Berachot which is supposed to be rather spiritual in nature. Yes, thousands of dollars that could have been spent instead supporting poor Jews in Israel; and quite the REVERSE of what took place, the Sheva Berachot could have been a springboard to use this same money both to support charity in Israel, AND get others to do the same. At the very least then, there perhaps would be a purpose of Jews living in Brooklyn making a good living if they would be supporting good Jews or Torah learning in Israel, just as businessmen spending time with business supporting Torah scholars as a Yissachar-Zevulun relationship that I have written about in past blogs. Apparently, some of them quickly forgot about a major philanthropist from the Flatbush section of Brooklyn who passed away a year ago, Reb Shlomo Yehuda Gross, of blessed memory, who just became an Artscroll book on his life, who lived rather modestly below his means, but instead used much of his money to support various poor people and Torah learning centers in Israel, and was well loved by the good Jews who live in Jerusalem.
Sorry to those who live in Boro Park who feel offended by what I have written here. Yes, it may be easy for me to write such things, being that I was born and raised in the Big Orange instead of the Big Apple, and was far from raised with a golden spoon in my mouth. Actually, I don't apologize for what I write here, for in fact, I write the truth, and I thank Hashem that I wasn't born or raised in the "holy" Brooklyn area, though perhaps, I would have had a better shot of finding a Shidduch, though it could have been a lady who would have been raised in a family, who while pretending to be so religious, being insistent on everything being just right, being "heimishe". As it turns out, I was brought up in sunny South Florida, which according to weather standards is paradise in stark contrast to most of the United States that is freezing during the winter. But at least in the greater Miami area, though it has a reasonable sized Jewish and Israeli community, I knew that I was living in spiritual exile. I wasn't fooled by whatever religious standards that exist in this town to make me think that it was holier than Israel. Quite the contrary, between observing the Israeli community and various functions reminding us about Israel, including an event to help supported manufactured Israeli products, one could not help but think about the importance of Israel as our homeland even in sunny side up Florida. And especially in my case, though I was raised in a religious environment, I was not fortunate like just about all of my classmates to live in a Jewish neighborhood filled with synagogues, and I had to walk for some 40 minutes to the nearest one on Shabbat morning. In stark contrast, today in Israel, I live in a neighborhood of virtually only Jews (except for some non-Jewish Russians posing as Jews who receive far more than a few free lunches from the Israeli government, including one who called me responding to a baby-sitting flyer that I put on a bulletin, introducing herself as Chris Tina), in which I am within a few walking minutes away from several synagogues. Oh, and by the way, I have the fortune of being the father of the first "Sabra" Israeli born baby on my side of the family in 2,000 years.
Now, I am not saying that Jews should not have fun or entertainment once in a while; but, it depends on the context. For example, for a religious family from the States who move to Israel, and for fun with the kids, take them to the Golan Heights one day where they spend their time at a cowboy ranch riding horses with cowboy hats, I think that it is a wonderful experience to present to their children who are being raised in a very different environment than they are used to, to feel that Israel can be fun despite the challenges. Yes, they indeed deserve to have fun once in a while, because at least the parents went through much sacrifice to restart their lives in the land that Hashem commands us to live in, and they have their priorities straight, with spiritualism in front of materialism. For more on this, including videos, check this link http://jewcer.com/project/joy-of-israel-with-jamie-geller.
So, getting back to the "Aharon the High Priest", the first Samaritan High Priest in at least 400 years to bear the name Aharon, the name of the first authentic Jewish High Priest, who died two weeks ago after living a few too many years, this should be a stark reminder to us Jews that we have yet to have total religious freedom in Israel, which is far less than it is, or rather was, in the States (don't worry, the concentration camps in the States will be in full force shortly, so Jews need to start packing their bags and leave), and Jewish life is NOT complete without our Temple or animal/bird/meal offering sacrifices, despite our access to the Western Wall, while Arabs, Moslems, and others who look or claim to be Jewish but aren't receive far more than a lion's share of all types of free benefits from the government presently headed by Prime Monster Bibi Netanyahu who just forbade Moshe Feiglin of his own Likud party from ascending the Temple Mount, after the latter went there to show that Jews have every right to be on it. Not that I voted for Likud or Moshe Feiglin, but at least he has the guts, like he had at one time when he founded the organization Zu Artzeinu "This is Our Land" getting many Jewish citizens to block the streets from traffic in the days that former Prime Monster Rabin, the murderer of some 18 Jews on the Altalena ship who came with weapons to help us fight our Arab enemies, continued his evil, this time making phony peace treaties with Arabs.
As it turns out, the date of the death of this "Aharon the High Priest" was the 9th of Iyar, which is also the 24th day of the Omer. Now, the first Aharon the High Priest passed away on the first day of the month of Av, the month that marks the destruction of both Temples that took place on the NINTH of the month, the month whose Mazal (constellation) is Aryeh (Leo), which is translated as LION, reminding us that today's Samaritans are nothing but descendants of the "LION Converts". And as related to the 24th day of the Omer, the Cohanim - Aharon and his descendants from father to son - are granted 24 Matnot Kehuna "priestly gifts", various food items both from Temple offerings and outside the Temple, some of which are applicable today, as well as the 24 Mishmarot "watches", who took turns each week serving in the Temple, as listed in Divrei HaYomim (Book of Chronicles), the 24th and final book of the Tanach.
And as per the death of the 132nd "High Priest", I am reminded of the 132nd Psalm in which Hashem promises King David, who wished to build the Temple, that indeed, the Temple would soon be built, in which it states Kohanecha Yilbeshu Tzedek "Your priests will wear righteousness". And then in the next psalm, Psalm 133, it mentions the name Aharon - "the good oil that dripped on the beard of Aharon", which is referring to the anointing oil that Aharon was anointed with upon his consecration as High Priest, some of which dripped onto his beard.
So while Hashem keeps sending us reminders that things aren't exactly the way that they should be in Israel, at the very least, this should motivate us to pray for the day that we will have our Temple, sacrifices, and High Priests once again very soon, which will include Aharon HaCohen, Moshe Rabbeinu's brother, who will officiate as our High Priest once again when the greatest Tzadikim (righteous people) will be resurrected at the time of Moshiach's coming. And since everything parallels one another in this word - good and evil, truth and falsehood - may it be Hashem's will that during the reign of the false 133rd High Priest, that Aharon, whose name is featured in the 133rd Psalm, will shortly stand up from the dead and serve Hashem in the upcoming everlasting Third Temple. Amen!
23 Iyar 5773
Friday, April 26, 2013
#173 - Using the Torah for LOVE
I rarely start posts on Erev Shabbat, shortly before Shabbat begins. But today, I plan on writing rather a short post, but sweet to the point, literally.
Today's date - 16 Iyar - in Biblical news, is the date that the manna that the Jews ate in the wilderness for 40 years began to rain down. While it was food that the Jews ate, it was much more of what is called spiritual food, and not just because it came to them straight from Heaven rather than plucked from the earth, though it came directly from Hashem rather than from manual labor. However, it was spiritual food in the sense, most importantly, that helped them get the Jews to receive the Torah in a few short weeks, and continue with them as they were the generation that both spiritually and physically were at the giving of the Torah. As Rabbi Shimon states in the Midrash, "The Torah was given to those who ate the manna" (Mechilta Beshalach 17).
Aside from the worldwide weekly Torah portion that is read in the synagogue on Shabbat and is studied, as it has been for thousands of years; without question, the number one Torah learning program in the world today is the famous Daf Yomi, the study of a folio of the Babylonian Talmud that takes nearly seven and a half years, or 2,711 days to learn in its entirety. This year, which begins from Rosh Hashana, which is both the New Year and the date that the Daf Yomi began, is the 90th year since this began; and the word Mahn (manna) is the Gematria of 90.
As I have mentioned in the past, there are many parallels between the concepts of Torah=611 and Gemilut Chasadim (providing kindness)=611, as especially shown through Gematria. And as it relates particular to the Gemara (or Talmud), the word Gemara is the Gematria of 244. And in the count of the Taryag Mitzvot (613 Commandments), the 244th Mitzva (not all the Mitzva codifiers have the same exact list, but the version that I am basing this on is the correct one) is a most special Mitzva - V'Ahavta L'Reiacha Kamocha "You shall love your friend as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), known as the Mitzva of Ahavat Yisrael, love of Jews, both as a whole and individually. Now, the Gematria of this famous phrase is 820, which is the same Gematria as the word number for 90 - Tish'im.
As you can the parallel here, Hashem in His great love for us, gave us the Mahn. But the ultimate purpose of doing so was to support us, especially as the first generation of Jews to receive the Torah, so we wouldn't have to spend so much time working. This was especially important, so at least in the beginning, we Jews would start off on the right foot, and learn the Torah at our optimum, especially time-wise, and not just a few Torah scholars who waive comforts and basic needs in order to master the Torah.
Accordingly, there is what is called the Yissachar-Zevulun relationship, which wasn't just two brothers from the same two parents - Jacob and Leah; but in this brotherly relationship, Yissachar learned Torah all day, and Zevulun provided for him, which is the standard that they set for their future descendants as tribes. So in a way, Zevulun - though a business person rather than a Torah scholar per se, actually resembles Hashem who in His great love for us, provides us with food and basic needs in order to serve Him. This was especially highlighted as the Mahn=90, and the word-number for 90 is Tish'im=820, the same Gematria as V'Ahavta L'Reiacha Kamocha.
And just as this Mitzva of Ahavat Yisrael is the 244th Mitzva of the Torah, as the word Gemara is the Gematria of this same number - 244; so too, Zevulun has an EQUAL SHARE in the eternal reward of the Torah learning of Yissachar; for without Zevulun's support, Yissachar would not be able to learn as much Torah otherwise, and so, it is only fair that Zevulun has a 50% share in Yissachar's Torah learning.
And speaking of Hashem's love for us, and the Mitzva of loving our fellow Jew, the word Ahava (love) is the Gematria of 13. And presently, we are in the 13th cycle of Daf Yomi.
And speaking of Daf Yomi, we have recently learned in the present Gemara called Eruvin about the subject of the prohibition of walking beyond the Sabbath limits outside the city limits - not more than 12 mil according to the Torah, and instituted by the rabbis to be no more than 2,000 Amot. Anyways, the prohibition of not walking beyond the Sabbath limits - the 24th Mitzva of the Torah - is mentioned in the very portion of the Torah about Hashem providing us with the manna, since the Jews were forbidden to go out to attempt to collect manna; and instead, were provided a double portion of it on Friday, so they would have the second portion to eat on Shabbat.
It is true that on a personal note, this is my first post in my 44th year, and the word Bavli (Babylonian) - as referring to the Babylonian Talmud - is the Gematria of 44, and no doubt, it relates to the word Gemara whose Gematria number ends with 44. And the name of the Talmudic Tractate Makkot - which is the original source of the mention of the Taryag Mitzvot - is the same Gematria as my first name Shimon. And as we know, the Egyptians were visited with 10 Makkot (plagues), and the first one of them was Dam (blood), this word having the Gematria of 44.
In stark contrast, we wish only good things on our fellow Jews. Shabbat Shalom!
16 Iyar, 5773
Today's date - 16 Iyar - in Biblical news, is the date that the manna that the Jews ate in the wilderness for 40 years began to rain down. While it was food that the Jews ate, it was much more of what is called spiritual food, and not just because it came to them straight from Heaven rather than plucked from the earth, though it came directly from Hashem rather than from manual labor. However, it was spiritual food in the sense, most importantly, that helped them get the Jews to receive the Torah in a few short weeks, and continue with them as they were the generation that both spiritually and physically were at the giving of the Torah. As Rabbi Shimon states in the Midrash, "The Torah was given to those who ate the manna" (Mechilta Beshalach 17).
Aside from the worldwide weekly Torah portion that is read in the synagogue on Shabbat and is studied, as it has been for thousands of years; without question, the number one Torah learning program in the world today is the famous Daf Yomi, the study of a folio of the Babylonian Talmud that takes nearly seven and a half years, or 2,711 days to learn in its entirety. This year, which begins from Rosh Hashana, which is both the New Year and the date that the Daf Yomi began, is the 90th year since this began; and the word Mahn (manna) is the Gematria of 90.
As I have mentioned in the past, there are many parallels between the concepts of Torah=611 and Gemilut Chasadim (providing kindness)=611, as especially shown through Gematria. And as it relates particular to the Gemara (or Talmud), the word Gemara is the Gematria of 244. And in the count of the Taryag Mitzvot (613 Commandments), the 244th Mitzva (not all the Mitzva codifiers have the same exact list, but the version that I am basing this on is the correct one) is a most special Mitzva - V'Ahavta L'Reiacha Kamocha "You shall love your friend as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), known as the Mitzva of Ahavat Yisrael, love of Jews, both as a whole and individually. Now, the Gematria of this famous phrase is 820, which is the same Gematria as the word number for 90 - Tish'im.
As you can the parallel here, Hashem in His great love for us, gave us the Mahn. But the ultimate purpose of doing so was to support us, especially as the first generation of Jews to receive the Torah, so we wouldn't have to spend so much time working. This was especially important, so at least in the beginning, we Jews would start off on the right foot, and learn the Torah at our optimum, especially time-wise, and not just a few Torah scholars who waive comforts and basic needs in order to master the Torah.
Accordingly, there is what is called the Yissachar-Zevulun relationship, which wasn't just two brothers from the same two parents - Jacob and Leah; but in this brotherly relationship, Yissachar learned Torah all day, and Zevulun provided for him, which is the standard that they set for their future descendants as tribes. So in a way, Zevulun - though a business person rather than a Torah scholar per se, actually resembles Hashem who in His great love for us, provides us with food and basic needs in order to serve Him. This was especially highlighted as the Mahn=90, and the word-number for 90 is Tish'im=820, the same Gematria as V'Ahavta L'Reiacha Kamocha.
And just as this Mitzva of Ahavat Yisrael is the 244th Mitzva of the Torah, as the word Gemara is the Gematria of this same number - 244; so too, Zevulun has an EQUAL SHARE in the eternal reward of the Torah learning of Yissachar; for without Zevulun's support, Yissachar would not be able to learn as much Torah otherwise, and so, it is only fair that Zevulun has a 50% share in Yissachar's Torah learning.
And speaking of Hashem's love for us, and the Mitzva of loving our fellow Jew, the word Ahava (love) is the Gematria of 13. And presently, we are in the 13th cycle of Daf Yomi.
And speaking of Daf Yomi, we have recently learned in the present Gemara called Eruvin about the subject of the prohibition of walking beyond the Sabbath limits outside the city limits - not more than 12 mil according to the Torah, and instituted by the rabbis to be no more than 2,000 Amot. Anyways, the prohibition of not walking beyond the Sabbath limits - the 24th Mitzva of the Torah - is mentioned in the very portion of the Torah about Hashem providing us with the manna, since the Jews were forbidden to go out to attempt to collect manna; and instead, were provided a double portion of it on Friday, so they would have the second portion to eat on Shabbat.
It is true that on a personal note, this is my first post in my 44th year, and the word Bavli (Babylonian) - as referring to the Babylonian Talmud - is the Gematria of 44, and no doubt, it relates to the word Gemara whose Gematria number ends with 44. And the name of the Talmudic Tractate Makkot - which is the original source of the mention of the Taryag Mitzvot - is the same Gematria as my first name Shimon. And as we know, the Egyptians were visited with 10 Makkot (plagues), and the first one of them was Dam (blood), this word having the Gematria of 44.
In stark contrast, we wish only good things on our fellow Jews. Shabbat Shalom!
16 Iyar, 5773
Monday, April 8, 2013
#172 - How Will The END - End?
In this post, in order to write about "the end", I will need to begin writing about the beginning. The truth is that I meant to write this post like a month ago, but between Passover preparations and needing to spend more time with my little one, along with my regular schedule, I just didn't have a time to write a whole another post. But as it turns it, some of the material that I will be writing here is not something that I would have written a few weeks ago, because it is based on recent news, but does tie in someway to the backbone of this post.
Speaking of the beginning, just as I wrote in my previous post about concluding Sefer Shemot (Exodus) - the SECOND book of the Torah, and Masechet Shabbat (Tractate Sabbath) - the SECOND tractate of the Daf Yomi schedule of the Babylonian Talmud, on the same day; so accordingly, the very next day, it began the week of Parshat Vayikra, the beginning of the third book of the Torah - Sefer Vayikra (Leviticus) and the beginning of Masechet Eruvin (plural for the word Eiruv which means merging, refering to ways that the rabbis instituted to permit carrying or walking in certain circumstances on Shabbat which would otherwise be forbidden - the third Babylonian Talmudic tractate.
And unlike the similarities of the previous book of the Torah and the previous tractate - between the first and letters of their names, and the theme of Shabbat whose five Mitzvot (Commandments) are all mentioned in Sefer Shemot; the topic of Eruvin, the subject of establishing boundaries in terms of Shabbat, doesn't seem to relate in anyway to the various topics of Sefer Vayikra which includes 247 Mitzvot, more Mitzvot than in all the other four books of the Chumash (Penteteuch).
However, noting that a good portion of Sefer Vayikra deals with the various Korbanot (Temple offerings or sacrifices), we do in fact see a connection of the Talmudic Tractate Eruvin with this theme of Sefer Vayikra - at least at the conclusion of this tractate. You see, aside from what the Torah forbids us to perform on Shabbat in terms of work, there are certain things that the rabbis have forbidden us on this holy day, in order that we do not come to perform a Torah forbidden work. However, in the Temple, things that are normally forbidden to do on Shabbat due to rabbinical enactments are (I will use the term "are" rather than "were" because we are supposed to put ourselves in a state of mind as if we are presently living in the times of the Temple, so we don't feel complacent in our "comfort zone") permitted. Anyways, it is Rabbi Shimon who concludes Tractate Eruvin in the Mishna stating "for they (the rabbis) have not permitted you to perform work forbidden by the Torah in the Temple, except that is normally forbidden by the rabbis"
The Talmud in its final piece explains the practicality of Rabbi Shimon's statement. For example, a string in the harp that was played in the Temple during the singing of the Levites - brakes. Now, the show must continue - of course, without violation of the laws of the Torah. But this is how this works. Under normal circumstances, the string needs to be fixed making a knot; but the problem is that making a regular knot is one of the 39 forbidden categories of work forbidden to be performed on Shabbat from the Torah. Hence even in the Temple, this is forbidden (Note: For those who will ask how it was possible to perform the regular work in the Temple on Shabbat such as slaughtering the daily and Shabbat sacrificial animals, burning fires, etc., these things are specifically mentioned in the Torah as Mitzvot to be performed even on Shabbat. However, if it is something that only helps with the Temple service without being a Mitzva per se, it is forbidden to be performed on Shabbat). However, tying a bow, which is not a violation of a Torah categorized work that requires a Chatat (sin-offering) for performing it accidentally (without realizing it), while if intended to be a permanent bow - the same way that making a knot is meant to be permanent - which is forbidden to be performed on Shabbat from what the rabbis enacted, they did allow making such a bow in the Temple in repairing the string of the harp.
Shortly, we will see another connection between Sefer Vayikra and Masechet Eruvin...
THE CONNECTION OF THE NUMBER OF THIS POST - 172
Who hasn't heard of the Ten Commandments? Actually in Hebrew, they are not called Aseret HaMitzvot, which would be the translation for the famous English phrase; but rather Aseret HaDibrot, or in the actual language of the Torah - Aseret HaDevarim, which both mean the Ten Statements. For in fact, if one looks at the list of the 613 Mitzvot, there are precisely 14 Mitzvot in the "Ten Commandments".
Now, it isn't just the Ten Commandments, if you will, that we must observe, but all 613 Mitzvot, though many of these are impossible to fulfill literally, because either they apply only to certain people or groups, or they are not applicable today, or circumstances don't happen as such that they can be fulfilled, but learning about them in these cases is considered as though one fulfilled them. However, the Mitzvot in the Ten Commandments were singled out because in fact, they encompass all the 613 Mitzvot, as the Sa'adya Gaon shows in a work of his, as mentioned by Rashi at the end of Parshat Mishpatim (Exodus 24:12). Moreover, if one counts the amount of letters in the Ten Commandments from the letter Aleph in Anochi through the letter Chaf Sophit in L'Rayecha, there are exactly 620 letters - corresponding to the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah and the seven Mitzvot of the Rabbis (Note: While we are forbidden to add to the Mitzvot of the Torah, for in fact - one of the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah is the prohibition to add to the Mitzvot, these Mitzvot of the Rabbis are basically extensions of other Mitzvot of the Torah, and in fact, were already included in the Torah, but they were meant to be revealed by the Rabbis rather than Hashem Himself doing so).
OK, so the letters of the Ten Commandments have been counted, great. So, it wouldn't hurt to count the amount of words for the same price; in fact, it should be way easier and quicker to count words than letters. And the number of words in the Ten Commandments are - 172. Does this number sound familiar?
In Parshat Toldot, following Abraham's demise, Hashem appears to his son Isaac, and promises him that his descendants will multiply greatly and inherit the Land of Israel. Then, He suddenly states "BECAUSE Abraham listened to My voice, and he observed My safeguards, My commandments, My statues, and my Torahs" (Genesis 26:5). Now, the bridge to the promises that Hashem made to Isaac and the fact that Abraham following everything that Hashem said to do is the word BECAUSE. Now normally in Hebrew, the Hebrew word for this, at least in the Tanach (Jewish Bible) is Ki. However, in this instance, the word is Eikev. Now, even school children in a Jewish day school who are learning the Hebrew words for the different parts of the body will know that this word means "heel". But strangely, this word is used in a totally different sense. But more importantly, the question is why the word for because in this particular instance is Eikev?
Surprisingly, while Rashi would normally be bothered by such exceptions and give some type of explanation for the unusual word, and as we know, he was a master in Dikduk (Hebrew grammar) and at times gives detailed explanations of how certain Hebrew words are used throughout the Tanach; in this instance, he gives zero explanation on this, and as if to spite this word, he explains the entire rest of this verse. In fact, this would have been the perfect opportunity for Rashi to have given the explanation that he did for this word as the very first Rashi on Parshat Eikev, named after this very word, where he states that this refers to the "light" Mitzvot that one tramples with his heels, not paying serious attention to them, in the context of Hashem rewarding us even for these seemingly not so important Mitzvot. Hence, over here where Hashem describes in detail as to the type of Mitzvot that Abraham observed, as Rashi gives examples for each of these, this would have been the perfect opportunity for Rashi to state that Abraham carefully observed even the "light" Mitzvot. So, why didn't he?
True, some Mitzvot weigh more on the spiritual scale than others. Of course we know that the Mitzva of learning/teaching Torah is the greatest of them all in terms of eternal spiritual benefit and reward. However, all the other Mitzvot have price tags too. After all, some Mitzvot are obviously far easier to fulfill than others; and as we know, Hashem rewards according to the effort we put in serving Him; so undoubtedly, there are some Mitzvot that involve far more effort than others, with their respective rewards. The only exception may seem to be the Mitzva of Torah; for in fact, each word of Torah is equal or greater than all the other Mitzvot of the Torah combined; however, part of the Mitzva of learning Torah is applying ourselves diligently in understanding what the Torah says, which involves long hours of hard toil to become one of the great Torah scholars, who just about all of them did with very little sleep to reach the great spiritual accomplishment that they justly earned.
Apparently, Rashi had a very good reason for not explaining a word about why the word Eikev is used here, even though he could have easily explained that Abraham even kept the "light" Mitzvot. As we know, Jewish children who learn Chumash begin from Sefer Bereishit (Genesis), which is not only the first book of the Torah, but is by far the easiest to learn; since after all, this book involves mostly stories, which are far easier for them to learn than a whole bunch of Mitzvot with explanations. Undoubtedly, Rashi must have been afraid that if he were to start explaining to young children whose minds are far from developed about "light" Mitzvot, possibly giving the impression that some Mitzvot aren't so "important" as others, these children could get the wrong impression about Mitzva observance, and think that some of the Mitzvot are nice as a mere Jewish "lifestyle" or for "religious fanatics", which is a spiritual poisonous thinking in watered down Jewish movements - such as Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist.
And what do we see today? Jews who will go to a "Temple" every Friday night will not even keep the most important basics of Judaism observance - Shabbat (not just praying in a place of worship, but not doing one of the 39 Torah categorizations of work), Kosher food, and laws of family purity; and not because they simply haven't learned about them yet, though many if not most are sadly ignorant of these key parts of Judaism, but because these observances are simply not part of their "Jewish lifestyle". They are already fooled to think that they are observing Judaism as far as their "rabbi" is concerned, so even if all of a sudden, they learned how to keep the Torah properly at least in these areas, most would feel that they would look like fanatics, and frankly, aren't ready to give up certain "freedoms". Hence, Rashi waited until Parshat Eikev in Sefer Devarim, the fifth book of the Torah where one who has already learned most of the Chumash will well understand that ALL Mitzvot are important, to explain why this word is used. Perhaps some Mitzvot are worth more in value than others, but clearly, they are ALL Commandments of the King of Kings.
Now, while Rashi at times does mention other explanations than the simple meaning of a word, verse, or context, such as Gematriot; here, Rashi makes no such mention of it for the word Eikev, even though he could have easily had mentioned that the Gematria of this word is the same number as the amount of letters in the Ten Commandments as the reason why this unusual word appears. It seems to me that since Rashi did not mention the simple meaning of this word the way that he explained it at the beginning of Parshat Eikev, that he didn't mention the Gematria either (I'm sure that a Torah scholar on the caliber like Rashi would have known how many words there are in the Ten Commandments), since he typically does so only after mentioning the simple meaning of the word. However, there is a different commentator who mentions this - the Ba'al HaTurim. Along with this, the Ba'al HaTurim mentions that there are ten words in. this verse that corresponds to the Ten Commandments, which in turn has 172 words corresponding to the Gematria of the word Eikev, the first of the ten words in this verse. Now, this is all nice, but what do these factoids have to do with Abraham personally, other than the fact that he observed the Mitzvot? Why tie this with the connection of the Ten Commandments? He never even saw the tablets on which they was written, and were not going to be given to the Jewish nation, his descendants, for another like 400 years?
The Ba'al HaTurim first mentions that during his lifetime, Abraham was tested with ten tests by Hashem, which he passed with flying colors; and since he was the Tzadik (righteous person) of the world), it was him who was the cause of the world to remain in existence which was created by Hashem's ten utterances. Next, he states that Abraham listened to Hashem for 172 years in his 175 years of life, since it was at the age of three when he first recognized his Creator.
Now, there are something from both Rashi's and the Ba'al HaTurim's explanations on this verse that have a connection with Tractate Eruvin. First from Rashi - he mentions that My safeguards refers to decrees instituted by the rabbis to prevent Jews from sinning, mentioning as an example, enactments of certain activities forbidden by the rabbis to be performed on Shabbat. An example of this is riding an animal or climbing a tree, which from the Torah itself are permitted to be performed on Shabbat, were made forbidden by the rabbis lest someone will wind up cutting off a branch from a tree which is forbidden to be done on Shabbat from the Torah. And indeed, we mentioned a little earlier here about this very topic of things forbidden by the rabbis to be performed on Shabbat as mentioned in the very end of Tractate Eruvin in the Mishna.
Now from the Ba'al HaTurim - he notes that the Gematria of the words: Eikev Asher Shama Avraham - "Because Abraham listened..." is the same as Kiyem Af Eiruvei Tavshilin "He also fulfilled the observance of Eiruvei Tavshilin, which involves setting aside two types of food, including something that is already cooked before Yom Tov (Jewish holiday) to be eaten on Shabbat immediately following Yom Tov, in order that it can be permitted to cook on Yom Tov (when it falls out on Thursday night-Friday daytime) in preparation for Shabbat, when otherwise, it is forbidden to make any type of preparations on Yom Tov for Shabbat. This is one of three types of Eiruvin (the other two are Eiruvei Chatzeirot and Eiruvei Techumin, which I will not get into detail in this post).
Now, getting into a little more detail in Abraham's life, he didn't merely keep the Torah to himself, as past ancestors of his did. Yes, Noah, Shem, and Eber, his ancestors whom he all saw, all were righteous people, but they didn't necessarily go out of their way to spread the believe in one G-d where everyone else were worshipping other gods. It is true that Abraham learned how to do kindness for others from Shem, as recounted in a Midrash, since as Shem recounted, he and his family in Noah's Ark, when the whole world perished in the flood, were busy feeding all the creatures around the clock, and in was in that merit that despite whatever else, was what allowed them to remain alive. And so, along with his going out and preaching monotheism to others, he set up a special place where people could stop by in the Be'er Sheba desert, and have a gourmet meal, and be taught to thank Hashem for it afterwards in lieu of payment. The verse that describes Abraham's hospitality and teaching about the existence of Hashem at this spot reads "He planted an Eishel (orchard or inn) in Be'er Sheba, and HE CALLED there in the name of Hashem, G-d of the world" (Genesis 21:33). In any case, the word who meaning is "he called" is Vayikra, the name of the third book of the Torah, beginning with Parshat Vayikra.
So as you can see, there is a special connection of Abraham both to the concept of Vayikra, which is in reference to his activities of bringing others close to belief in Hashem via actions of kindness such as hospitality and Eiruvin, which includes the concept of observing even the rabbinical commandments, which in turn represents the concept of "going out of our way" to make sure that we keep the Mitzvot that we have already been commanded in the Torah, in order that we won't come to violate them even accidentally. In fact, we learn that one's dining table is compared to the altar, especially when we practice hospitality inviting poor people and Torah scholars to eat with us, along with words of Torah. Hence, it is most appropriate that the very word that begins the book of the Torah that focuses on the sacrifices that were offered on the altar - Vayikra, is the same word used in reference to Abraham who exemplified the spiritual use of our dining tables. And in turn, the concept of Eiruvei Tavshilin is preparing food for Shabbat, a time that our eating is on a higher spiritual level than during the rest of the week, even though it is on Yom Tov, since we already began the process of preparing for Shabbat before Yom Tov through the means of Eiruvei Tavshilin.
Hence, we learn that our eating as a Jew is totally different than the eating of a non-Jew, as we use food to bring other Jews to come closer to Judaism, as well as eating on Shabbat to celebrate and feel the holiness of the holiest day of the week; and usually, these two concepts pertaining to our eating go hand-in-hand, as it is usually on Shabbat when we invite others to our dining table, when especially then, non-observant Jews have a prime opportunity to truly enjoy the beauty of Judaism via the means of using something physical to accomplish something spiritual, as Hashem is not only in the synagouge or temple, but right here in our homes, just as in the beginning of Sefer Vayikra, where Hashem CALLS to Moses in the Sanctuary, for in fact, even our homes can become in essence "holy places", as they help us accomplish serving Hashem, CALLING OUT to others to become closer to Hashem; for in fact, the very word Korbon, which is loosely translated as "sacrifice", is based on the word Karov (close), for it is through the act of offering the sanctified animal, which begins with slaughtering it, that brings us closer to Hashem, whether via atoning and helping us repent when bringing a sin-offering, or thanking Him for having saved us from certain danger.
Now, getting back to the number 172, let us dissect this number into two parts: One (1) and Seventy-Two (72). As we know, there are seven active Sephirot (Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut). The FIRST of these is Chesed (kindness), and this word is the Gematria of 72. And it is Abraham who especially corresponds to this Sephira. And looking at the word Eikev, which has the same letters as the Hebrew number for 172, the letters Ayin and Beit add up to 72, and the Koof is 100. But for the Koof, we will focus on words that begin with this letter as it relates to the word Chesed. You see, the word Chesed itself can be divided into two parts. The first letter is Cheit=8 and the last two letters - Samech and Dalet, spell the number 64, whose square root is eight! Now, the word Shemini, which means EIGHTH, has the same Gematria as the word Kadosh or Kodesh (holy) - 410. And as for the number 64, this is the amount of verses of Parshat Kedoshim, the name of this Parsha means holy in plural. So, not only do we see the phenomenon of the number eight tied to the word for holy in singular and that eight times eight, denoting plurality, represents the word for holy in plural; but that it is the letter Koof that begins the Hebrew word for holy.
And in another special connection of Abraham with the letter Koof, it relates espeically to a particular chapter in the Mishnayot. You see, there is a custom among certain Jews that on each of the seven days of Succot, they learn a particular chapter of Mishna that relates to the special Heavenly Guest that represents his corresponding day of Succot. And so, for the first day of Succot, it is Abraham, and the corresponding Mishna chapter is the fourth and final chapter of Kiddushin (Jewish wedding/marriage), because it ends off mentioning about Abraham. In fact, the very end of this chapter, the end of this tractate, and the end of the third Seder (volume) of Mishna that is called Seder Nashim (women) is the very verse of Eikev Asher Shama Avraham...! In any case, the first letter of this tractate is also a Koof, since Kiddushin, based on the word Kedusha (holiness) is just that, marrying a woman and being intimate with her isn't just what is needed in order to have children, but is in fact HOLY acts, if of course done according to Jewish law and one has the right intentions. Moreover, as especially connected to Abraham, his son Isaac, the first Jew to be born as a Jew, and the very first one to have his Brit Mila (circumcision) on the EIGHTH day, was born to him when he was 100 years old. In fact, Rashi points out (Genesis 17:19) that the very letters in Isaac's name - Yud, Tzadi, Cheit, Koof represent the above basic concepts: Yud=10 representing the 10 tests that Abraham had, Tzadi=90 representing Sara's age at his birth, Cheit=8 representing his circumcision on his eighth day, and Koof=100 representing Abraham's age at his birth.
And as for Isaac's birth, this represents the concept of the ultimate kindness - creating a human life and hence, bearing the responsibility of performing all sorts of kindness in raising one's child - feeding, clothing, cleaning, teaching, etc. Hence, as demonstrated especially in Abraham's case, the connection of the letters Ayin and Beit as related to the Gematria of the word Chesed and the letter Koof as related to Abraham's age at Isaaç's birth - in the word Eikev, highlights this concept. And in another dimension, who would be a better teacher of how to perform Chesed for Isaac than his father Abraham who was the icon of Chesed?
And in connection with the word Nashim, the name of the third volume of the six volumes of the Mishna, which ends off with the verse that begins the word Eikev, there were exactly 400 years from Isaac's birth which happened on the first day of Passover until the redemption of the Jews on the first day of Passover, as the word Nashim is the Gematria of 400. And as we see in more than one source or context, Abraham corresponds particularly to the holiday of Passover.
And as for this verse whose FIRST word is Eikev, it has TEN words to it, ending off the chapter of the Mishna that begins with Asara Yochasin "There are TEN levels of genealogy..." where the FIRST word of this chapter is Asara - TEN.
And before I forget...there is one more connection between Sefer Vayikra and Masechet Eruvin, at least in terms of numbers. Sefer Vayikra consists of TEN Parshiyot, and Masechet Eruvin consists of TEN chapters.
THE NUMBER 70
There are many connections of the letter Ayin=70 in these various concepts. First things first - in terms of Parshat Vayikra that begins the third book of the Torah, the Haftara for this Parsha begins with the letter Ayin in the words Am Zu "This nation (the Jewish people)". And as for Masechet Eruvin - the name of this tractate begins with the letter Ayin. Next, the word Eikev, beginning the verse describing Abraham's Torah and Mitzva performance, begins with the letter Ayin, which included, as especially mentioned by the Ba'al HaTurim, the Mitzva of Eiruv Tavshilin, which begins with the letter Ayin. It is this very verse, consisting of TEN words, that ends the chapter of Mishna that begins with the letter Ayin in the word Asara, which means TEN.
Now, as connected to the beginning of the Haftara for Parshat Vayikra where it makes immediate mention of the Jewish nation, the beginning of the above fourth chapter in Masechet Kiddushin mentions the 10 categories of Jews in terms of who are permittted or forbidden to marry to whom. And in terms of this final chapter of Sefer Nashim, this third volume of the Mishna consists of 71 chapters, just like there are 70 nations of the world, and the 71st nation is the Jewish people, represented by the letter Ayin=70, as if to say that despite what looks like is the main thing in this world with all of its materialism from all the other nations, it is because of the Jewish nation that Hashem created the world to begin with, since it is the Jews who are the Ikarim (main ones), this Hebrew word also beginning with the letter Ayin; as indeed, the 71st and final chapter of Seder Nashim begins with mentioning the 10 classifications of Jews in terms of Halacha. And this is represented by the Gematria of the name of this volume of Mishna - Nashim=400, for it was exactly 400 years from the birth of the first Jew to be born as a Jew, who was born on 15 Nissan until the official birth of the Jewish nation that took place on 15 Nissan. This is most connected to the concept of Nashim (women), for a birth only occurs being born from a woman, and as the Midrash tells us, it was in the merit of the righteous women that the Jewish nation was redeemed from Egypt.
Now, as I noted various words in reference to good things that begin with an Ayin, so do we see that it begins the names of Esav and Amalek, who both had connections to the greatest holiness. You see, Esav was born in the most observant Jewish family in the world at that time, for in fact, it was the ONLY Jewish family, being raised by his most righteous parents Isaac and Rebecca; however, he rejected Jewish tradition to perform evil. Resulting from this, he had a grandson named Amalek, who not only didn't feel some type of connection with the Jewish nation being related as cousins, but was the very first nation to dare attack the Jews, cooling down the fear of the other nations for the Jews, upon which Hashem told us to totally wipe out Amalek's memory.
Next, when Joshua first led the Jewish people to Israel, after winning their first battle at Jericho, they then came to a city named Eye that begins with the letter Ayin, where the Jews suffered a defeat after a small amount of them were sent out to fight. The reason for this was because there was one Jew who stole from the excommunicated booty of the people of Jericho, whose name was Achan whose name begins with an Ayin, and was consequently stoned for his crime, and the place where he was stoned was called Eimek Achor - both of these words beginning with an Ayin.
Then, we see that in the times of the kings of Judah and Israel, there was a prophet named Ido whose name began with the letter Ayin; who though was a good righteous prophet, he messed up when he naively (or not so naively) listened to a false prophet who made it sound like Hashem was now telling him to eat by him, when Hashem came Ido the prophet very strict instructions not to eat over at any place in a particular mission that he had; which resulted in him being killed by a lion along the way as a result of his sinful detour of dining out.
Fast forwarding to the times of the Mishna, there were two great Sages who names began with the letter Ayin - Rabbi Akiva, and Akavya Ben Mahalalel. Rabbi Akiva, who for the first 40 years of his life, who was what we call an Am Ha'aretz, an ignoramous of Torah, to the extent that he actually hated Torah scholars, was brought close to the Torah thanks to his wife Rachel who sacrificed her family's wealth for her newly married husband to learn Torah as her wealthy father disowned her for marrying an ignoramous, which resulted in him becoming among the greatest scholars of all time, but not for her, it could very well have been that he never would have took the initiative to start learning Torah and would have died being a sinner who hated Torah scholars. And as for Akavya, whose name begins the third chapter of Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), he was one rabbi who wasn't swayed by the opinions of others, even to the extent that he turned down an offer to be the vice-president (Av Beit Din) of the Jewish court for not wanting to change his opinion on certain halachic issues. In fact, it was thought by some that he was put in excommunication for violating a halachic ruling, when as it turned out, it was someone else who was actually put in excommunication for being the one for doing so (Eiduyot 5:6). It seems that by the time of the Mishna came around, the letter Ayin beginning one's name may have had a change in the spiritual flow for a person, though was still thought of denoting bad having a name beginning with an Ayin. (Note: Though a name can be of influence on a person, one still has free choice to do good or evil, but may face certain spiritual challenges that others don't have)
In sharp contrast, we see that the last letter of the name of Joshua, Moses' successor, whose Yahrzeit was this past Shabbat (26 Nissan), and today's date of 28 Nissan marks his first conquest in Israel with the fall of Jericho, is an Ayin. The reason that I say this is because when Moses sent out 12 spies to check out Israel before the Jews would arrive there, he already knew that 10 of these spies were up to something up their sleeve, and so, being that Joshua attended to Moses all the time, Moses wanted to make sure that Joshua wouldn't be swept up by the evil plans of the spies, and so, added on the letter Yud to Joshua's original name Hosea at the beginning of the name. Now, it is most interesting to note, that when Joshua led the Jewish people to Israel and won the first battle in the conquest of Jericho, he composed the Aleinu prayer that is recited at the end of every prayer service, which begins with the letter Ayin, symbolizing the fact that he himself was already one who totally conquered his evil inclination, just as he had immediate victory at the conquest of Jericho once the Jews had access to the city following the walls sinking to the ground.
And then, we see with the names of the Parshiyot that will be read this Shabbat - Tazria and Metzora - the two middle Parshiyot of the Torah, that both of the names of these Parshiyot ends with the letter Ayin. In fact, this is the first time that the letter Ayin even appears in the names of the Parshiyot until this point. And of the few more times that the letter Ayin appears in the Parshiyot names, the last one is Parshat Eikev that begins with Ayin.
In any case, these two Parshiyot Tazria-Metzora deal with the various types of afflictions that occur with one's body - from Tzara'at (that is loosely translated as leprosy, but in this case, was a divinely visited skin discoloration) to seminal flows that cause a person to become spiritually impure. To be sure, though it may not be immediately obvious in the literal meaning of the "Bible", these bodily afflictions occur as a result of various sins, from speaking badly about other Jews to thinking lewd thoughts. In fact, both of these Parshiyot names contains the letters that spell the word Rah (evil). However, it doesn't have to be this way if we just focus on the purpose of life. You see, the word Tazria (translated as "conceives" based on the word Zera (seed)) refers to the process of a woman bringing life to a human being, who comes to this world to serve Hashem; and though the Mitzva of Brit Mila (circumcision) has already been mentioned long earlier in the Torah in reference to Abraham and Isaac, it is mentioned here again in reference to a baby boy. And then for the name of the second Parsha - Metzora (one with Tzara'as), though it seems to denote negativity, the Torah begins this Parsha stating "This is the law of the Metzora on the day of his purification", which included shaving his entire body (yes, this includes the beard and side curls that is associated with a very observant Jew), signifying a new slate in his life as a newborn so to speak following his sins being expiated through the various forms of atonement that he has received - from looking unkempt while exiled from his home and community to offering various animal sacrifices from his own pocket. In fact, Sephardic Jews don't even call this Parsha by the name of Metzora, but the name Teharot (literally means pure items), the same name given for the sixth and final volume of the Mishnayot as well as one this volume's tractates, so there shouldn't even be a mention of negativity in relationship to Torah.
And then of course, there is the Mitzva of Kriat Shema (recital of the Shema) which begins with the verse Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad "HEAR O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One" (Deutronomy 6:4), which is a most unique Mitzva, because first, this is the topic of the very beginning of the Mishnayot, and is also the very first Mitzva that one who becomes Bar Mitzva - which occurs when it becomes nightfall, the beginning of the Halachic day (NOT when the boy becomes Bar-Mitzvahed because he reads from the Torah or the rabbi declares it "official") - performs. This word Shema ends with the letter Ayin. But it doesn't end here. You see, in the Sefer Torah, this letter is enlarged, as well as the letter Dalet at the end of the word Echad (one) at the end of this verse. The significance of this? I will address this in the following segment here.
I think that you will see a pattern here. It seems that typically, when the letter Ayin begins certain words, it may have a good connotation, but there is potential that the concept related to the word could turn into something spiritually negative - such as Eisav and Amalek, who though were related to the Jewish people, chose to do the worst sins or be in the forefront of fighting the Jews. On the other hand, other words ending with an Ayin, though the concepts related to these words may have potential for evil, could end up being very good. As per the above illustrating this - Joshua, though was a most righteous individual who served Moses that eventually won win leadership of the Jews, could have fallen astray along with the ten evil spies had it not been for Moses looking out after him, giving power to Joshua's name by adding the letter Yud in front of it, being that his original name was actually Hosea. And the names of the Parshiyot Tazria-Metzora, though the subjects of these Parshiyot deals with spiritually negative issues, there is always hope for a Jew to remind himself of his purpose in life and repent, having the potential of being like a newborn and start over again as with the purity of a Jewish child who has no sin stained on his soul (everything is just practice or preparation until he becomes a "man") until he becomes Bar-Mitzva (or Bat-Mitzva), which would explain why the very first Mitzva that he performs as a Bar-Mitzva man is Kriat Shema, being reminded with the big letter Ayin at the end of the first word of the Shema that all his trial and errors until now were just that - without his soul being stained with sin, and now has the potential to make good of everything he has learned and gone through until now, just as Joshua who withstood the trend of the ten spies who though may have been Torah scholars in their own right as leaders of their respective tribes, failed both themselves and the Jewish people, while Joshua stood steadfast with the unpopular view that Hashem was going to fight the Jews' battles in Israel, which nearly cost him being stoned by the Jews who were most ungrateful for everything Hashem had done for them up to that point in time.
END OF THE END OF DAYS IN EXILE
At least until recently, if you were to ask almost anyone as to which country is mostly likely to attack the United States/Israel: most likely, you would be told something like Iraq, Iran, Syira, Khadaffi (or however you spell the late nut's name). Certainly, such a person answering this question is not living in a shell.
The truth is, such a person may be living more like in a bomb shell. You see, it is really Hashem who runs the world; and just when you least expect it, our salvation, or G-d forbid, some of the biggest tragedies, can come from some of the most unlikely sources.
At least, good Jews who are sincere and serve the good L-rd don't have too much too worry beyond whether they are doing everything right, for in fact, we are all in Hashem's hands, and it is He, and only He, who determines our ultimate fate - both in this world and in the next.
While the subject of Gog U'Magog may still be debatable, or the role of who is Gog may seem to be divided up between U.S. presidents George Bush II and Obama, there are various sources in Talmidic, Midrashic, and Kabbalistic literature that are pointing to these very days in time. In fact, we will soon see here that we don't have to go very far - some details of what will happen in our days is written out straight in the Chumash (Penteteuch).
For this, we need to rewind back to some 18 years ago, when a big Sephardic rabbi, Rabbi Levi Sa'adya Nachmani, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, gave a talk during Chanuka 5755 (December 1994), around 40 days before his passing, about who will be the nation that will (look to) attack us, G-d forbid. As he mentioned, it is not Iran, Iraq, Syira, or Khadaffi, but...Seoul, Korea. It may have not been very obvious at the time that he spoke these prophetic words, but recent events have pointed out that for all that we know, it is just a matter of time before they will be charging at the United States. Now, even if (North) Korea only attacks the United States, and not Israel, one must be in mind that quite a few Jews still live in the declining wealthy country of the world. Certainly, how can we forget that in the events of 9/11, there were some Jews who perished in the fires of terrorism, including even a few observant Jews who saw to it that they came early to work as usual on that fateful morning (as far as I am concerned, working at a job in the United States before 9:00 AM is working early)?
Now, the good rabbi did mention that we can thwart the threats of this Korean nation if we but just do Teshuva (repentance). You see, even when a prophet does give a prophecy of bad things that are going to happen, G-d forbid, when we Jews repent, then these bad things do not happen.
Anyways, here is the punchline as to this rabbi's prophecy. We see that it will be particularly Seoul, Korea who will attack from a particular verse in the Torah in Parshat Ha'azinu - "For fire has been kindled in My wrath, and it will burn until the lowest depths, it will devour the land and its produce, will strike the foundations of mountain (Deutronomy 32:22)." O.K, you will not see the name of the country with the loose translation here, but the Hebrew word for what has been translated as depths is Sheol, as in the phrase here Sheol Tachtit, which in one sense, though not necessarily in the context here, refers to the lowest depths of Gehinnom (Hell or Purgatory). At least in a figurative sense, we are presently at the very end of our exile from which we will soon be redeemed, G-d willing, once and for all, but this time in history can be catastrophic both physically and spiritually. There are already many more things happening around the world both by nature and wars that are killing, injuring, and maiming so many people even without the upcoming World War III. And all this - is because it reflects the spiritual decline of the world, and most especially, what is happening to our Jewish nation, as has never happened to such an extent of not merely choosing to go against the Torah, but the vast ignorance of Judaism that Jews are being raised with.
To be sure, there have been some good developments among the Jewish people in more recent years of Jews coming back to Judaism, returning to our Holy Land, more Yeshivot (Torah learning centers) as never before, along with all types of charity organizations, who have no doubt have had an impact on Jews in Israel for the most part being protected from our surrounding Arab enemies with constant miracles - which involve many more stories of what didn't happen bad to us than what has. However, on the other hand, what has been happening in more recent years especially cannot be ignored - the dictatorship of the Israeli government being headed by Prime Monster Bibi Netanyahu working on every possible edge to give away more Jewish land and/or autonomy to the "Palestinians"; the government desperately finding a way to have Jews who are learning Torah and observing a strict observant lifestyle to be thrown into an army that is dictated by anti-Torah laws; and the wide gap in some places between different levels of Jewish observance between who are loosely called the "Ultra-Orthodox" and the nationalistic or "Modern Orthodox" in Israel such as the latter complaining about the former not wanting to do their "share" of helping the country by joining the army as they themselves have, even though there have been more "Ultra-Orthodox" Jews joining the army than ever, or some of those who label themselves as very observant with the large black hat or skullcap who will hire our Arab enemies for work any day before giving a chance to a nationalistic Jew with the knitted skullcap whom he looks down on as "I'm holier than thou", in stark contrast to what the Torah tell us about the importance of supporting our Jewish brethren, ESPECIALLY when giving a livelihood to almost ANY Jew (there may be exceptions, but I won't discuss it in this post) is the highest of eight levels of charity that can be performed for him.
But you know what the funny thing is - Rabbi Nachmani stated in his same sermon that if the Jews would just do the easy the thing of repenting, there wouldn't be a need of an army in Israel, and certainly not what is called Sheirut Leumi "National Service" which is attended to mostly by young observant Jewish women in the nationalistic camp who are brainwashed by this anti-Torah government that they are helping the country for the next year or two in lieu of being in the army in which women are forbidden to be obliged to serve according to the Torah to begin with, instead of getting married and starting Jewish families no later than the age of 18 as it used to be for most of Jewish history until recently (It's one thing if one wants to first go to college and get a degree or be set with something to make a living from before starting a Jewish family, but not to be coerced or convinced by those who spit on the Torah that they have to make a "contribution" to the State of Israel instead of the real contribution of bringing more Jewish souls who will serve Hashem into the world).
I will get back to the verse that I mentioned earlier momentarily. But first, as typically, the Haftara of any given Parsha reflects on some theme within that Parsha, the Haftara for Parshat Ha'azinu, which is also read on the seventh day of Pesach following our reading in the Torah about the miracle of the Reed Sea, is also like in Parshat Ha'azinu in the form of a song, both in the wording style and the way the lines are written in the scroll. With this said, we see that the first verse of this Hafatra (II Samuel Chapter 22, parallel to Psalm 51 with similar wording) mentions King David singing praise to Hashem for saving him from the hand of all his enemies "and from the hand of Saul".
Now, why did King David specify King Saul as a separate category of enemies as if to give the impression that he was the worse enemy of all? After all, despite King Saul's constant attempts to do away with King David whose dynasty was to replace his after King Saul's failure to listen to Prophet Samuel to totally eradicate the Amalekite nation, which was due to his jealousy of him after King David won some local battles and the women who praising him and contrasting his greater accomplishments than King Saul's, King Saul was the father-in-law of King David; and in fact, King David himself, both in King Saul's lifetime and death, refers to him as "the anointed of Hashem". At least as far as King Saul was concerned, he was in fact inflicted with an evil spirit covered with melancholy that led King Saul, despite his vast knowledge of Torah and past righteousness, that caused him to be going after King David so much. However, most of the other enemies that King David encountered such as Doeg and Achitophel were rotten through and through to begin with.
It is true that despite what King Saul did from when he disobeyed Prophet Samuel, to what he did in his rage against King David following being fed by the High Priest, that he had the High Priest murdered as well as the Cohanim, women and even little babies in the town of Nob, that he did in fact go to Heaven following being killed in battle, as recounted by the Sages in the Talmud. Now, I will tie everything together a little later on here; but first, as we proceed with this Haftara in verse 6, King David recounts - Chevlei Sheol... "The bonds of Sheol surrounded me, the snares of death preceeded me". We see that King Saul's Hebrew name Shaul and the term Sheol (loosely translated as depths) are spelled the same way besides the Hebrew vowels. It seems that the experience that King David had with running away from King Saul and hiding from him most reminded him of what death is like, for after all, he himself experienced a change of lifestyle from his parents' home to being a respected local warrior to needing to flee from King Saul taking a chance finding refuge with other kings or nations who weren't exactly in love with Israel to say the least. And aside from his other challenges with major enemies during the course of his 40 plus years as king, this was the first major experience in his lifetime of needing to deal with a situation of someone opposing him to the extent that he had to run for his life. And so, no matter what happened later on, it wasn't so hard to handle, for he already knew what the experience of escaping danger and death was life. But in stark contrast to what he was used to up to that point in time, it was King Saul who broke King David's sense of security. For despite King David having already began fighting battles, he knew that at least then, he was serving Hashem in fighting enemies of the Jewish people, and is in fact forbidden according to the Torah to be afraid in the midst of such wars. However, by needing to run away from King Saul, it totally disrupted his flow in life to the extent that he felt that he was like one who worships idols since he ran from the Holy Land at one point in the cat and mouse game.
Now, getting back to our verse in the Chumash, there are quite a few interesting facts pertaining to this verse, aside from the direct mention of the word Sheol which Rabbi Nachmani points out is referring to Seoul. This verse is in the midst of what is called the Shirat Ha'azinu "Song of Ha'azinu, which Moses spoke more as a sermon on the day of his passing warning the Jewish nation of what could happen if they rebel against Hashem - literally. You see, there are 43 verses to Shirat Ha'azinu, and this verse - verse 22 - is the MIDDLE verse of this Song!
Now, if we are to count the number of verses in the Chumash, we see that this is the 5,774th verse. There are in fact, many parallels between the number of verse in the Chumash with the corresponding year of the world's existance. And so, corresponding to this Year 5773, we see that the previous verse - the 5773rd verse of the Torah, mentions of a non-nation, which we (not all, and sadly, not all includes some who call themselves religious but believe that we have to still look to appease our Arab enemies, or we are being cruel to them) know as the "Palestinians" today; for in fact, there is no such country as Palestine, a name that was used to refer to Israel by the anti-Semitic British for a period of time before declaration of the State of Israel.
In fact, I wrote about this verse in my 156th post in connection to Joseph. But the point here, is that as we see in the 21st verse of Shirat Ha'azinu, Hashem will bring the "non-nation" as a result of some Jews angering Him with their "acts of vanity", for in vain does Dictator Netanyahu attempt to appease Obama, Abbas, etc. who are all laughing at him, despite him thinking that at least he has made a nice show with his sincere efforts of capitulating to the demands of the non-nation and the United Nations whose sole purpose of existence is to rid Israel once and for all in the guise of making peace between nations.
Now, even though in the merit of the good deeds of the Jews in Israel, we have been saved from our enemies for the most part, it doesn't mean that Jews in other parts of the world don't have to worry about the Arab next door. Quite the contrary, along with the increase of Muslim Arabs or Arab Muslims (which one makes more sense?) in various European countries who are holding their leaders by their throats to do what they want to do in their countries, including harassing, injuring and murdering Jews, things are getting steadily worse for Jews in the rest of the world, including the United States, since the Arabs feel that the Israeli government fears them instead of showing true strength, and they feed very well on this weakness which leads to them going after Jews in other countries. And accordingly, the rest of the world, the media and all, see Israel not as this humanitarian country who provides free sustenance, medications, etc. to Arabs in Gaza even in times of war with the Arabs, or as the first ones who quickly rush to a major center of disaster somewhere in the world to help the survivors; but rather as a weakling who hasn't done enough, in their estimation of being fair to its enemies, if not openly accusing them of terrorizing them or stealing "their" land.
And so, whether directly or indirectly, this will lead to the next step, G-d forbid. The next step being, what takes place in verse 22 after verse 21. Certainly, regardless of who plans to attack Israel or the good ol' U.S. of A., it is Hashem Who has the ultimate say. But, whatever does happen that reflects disaster, is not because Hashem wants something for Himself, but because of the evil actions of others. And even though the anti-Semites blame us Jews for what happens wrong in this world, even though quite often, we at least physically have done the opposite, such as helping any given country financially; the anti-Semites do in fact have a point - though not the way that they interpret it, because our evil actions can cause other nations to suffer as well, and at times, they are the ones who are set as examples for us to repent. However, if G-d forbid, we don't repent, then the tragedies G-d forbid hit closer at home. This is just like the Midrash that tells us that when it comes Hashem punishing a Jew with Tzara'at, it begins with his home, then his clothing, and finally his own body, until he is forced to show everyone what a sinner he is, and only once he is totally shaved of his hair along with the other various atonements does he finally wake up that he needs to make a real change.
And so, wherever North Korea through its capitol Seoul plans on hitting, no doubt that this will be a MAJOR change in world history, especially since this near future event is openly hinted right in front of our eyes in the Chumash! For today, unlike some 100 years ago, we can now visualize the damage that can happen from a major bombing - both the short term of people being killed and the long term effects killing the next generation, as we know from the nuclear point in Chernobyl how it changed so many lives, and Jewish children were being flown over the course of many years to Israel to both remove them from the dangerous airy environment and give them the necessary medical treatments to undo at least some of the damage that their bodies were exposed to.
Now, getting back to the verse in Parshat Ha'azinu hinting to Seoul, let us take a close look on other middles in relationship to this verse. First, let's take a look at a phrase in this verse - Vatikad Ad Sheol Tachtit - "and it will burn until the lowest depths". Now, in the 462 words of Shirat Ha'azinu (Deutronomy 32:1-43), the MIDDLE two words are Vatikad Ad "and it will burn until". The MIDDLE two words of the 14 words of this verse are Sheol Tachtit "the lowest depths". You see, it could have happened that the two middle words of Shirat Ha'azinu would occur in some nearby verse, since not all verses have the same amount of words, but as it turns out, the MIDDLE two words of the 43 verses are also within the MIDDLE verse of these 43 verses, and they are immediately followed by the MIDDLE two words of this MIDDLE verse that mentions the word Sheol.
And now the big winner. Since we have established that the 5774th verse in the Torah is the MIDDLE verse of Shirat Ha'azinu, let us note the makeup of this coming Year 5774. It consists of 385 days, the most amount of days in a year that can occur in the Jewish calendar as it does in a leap year consisting of 13 months. Also, just as there are 55 letters in this verse, so too there are 55 complete weeks in Year 5774; that is, a letter in the 5774th verse corresponding to a week in Year 5774. And guess what is the MIDDLE date of Year 5774? 14 Adar II - the date of Purim! Ironically, it seems that some non-Jews know more about this most joyous Jewish holiday than many assimilated Jews especially in the United States who would rather complain about the Holocaust or how quiet it is in the Reform Temple on the High Holidays where a good percentage of the worshipers are old people. After all, the word Purim was the final word in the United States National Spelling Bee in 1983. And then in 1991, the Persian Gulf War ended on Purim. And speaking of the MIDDLE day, the Kabbalistic Sephira of the MIDDLE day of Sephirat Haomer - the 25th day of the Omer (falls out on 10 Iyar in our present calendar) is Netzach She'B'Netzach (Victory within Victory); and indeed, Purim celebrates our victory over our enemies, which was in fact a double victory, for not only our enemies who originally planned on murdering us did not succeed, but we had our victory over them, just as implied in the double wording of Netzach (Victory) as the Kabbalistic Sephira for the MIDDLE day of the Sephira.
And so, it seems that there is indeed tremendous potential for whatever the Korean government does in the near future will be rather to our advantage, for after all, Purim is the holiday that we celebrate our victory in war over our enemies. However, we must remember to start doing some serious repentance, just as the Jews did that led to their victory over their enemies rather than vice-versa in the Purim story. No doubt, Purim 5774, in this coming year, will be a turning point in the history of the Jewish people (and the world).
Now note, this middle verse in Shirat Ha'azinu is the 22nd verse. And near the end of Megillat Esther (Book of Esther), the first word of a verse includes an enlarged Tav in the word VaTichtov "She wrote" (the first Tav in the word), the very verse that mentions that Queen Esther wrote the words that eventually formed the Megilla that we read twice on Purim. One reason given for the enlarged Tav is because just as the Tav is the 22nd and LAST letter of the Aleph-Beit, so was Esther the 22nd and LAST of the righteous women mentioned in the Tanach. Now, this verse is in Chapter 9, Verse 29. Putting these two numbers together, the number is now 929. And in the very LAST verse of the Tanach which consists of 929 chapters, Koresh the Persian king gives permission for the Jews to travel to Israel and rebuild the Temple that was destroyed 52 years earlier. Now, bear in mind that not all the events in Tanach are in chronological order, for this event in the last verse of Tanach took place some 15 years before the Purim story, and then more action took place in Israel since then that is mentioned in Tanach.
The reason that I say this is because of an event that is mentioned in the Megilla. When Esther made a party for King Achashveirosh and Haman, the king asked her "What is your request and it will be granted and performed until HALF of the kingdom" (Esther 5:6). Now, it is true that this verse immediately proceeds the MIDDLE verse of the Megilla "Esther answered replying "My request..." But what did the king mean when he said "until HALF of the kingdom"? Was it just a figurative way of saying that he will give her half of what he owns or reigns over? Apparently, the rabbis took this very literally. You see, the MIDDLE, or HALF WAY POINT of his kingdom of 127 countries was of all places - the area of the Beit HaMikdash (Jewish Temple)! In fact, it was at the very beginning of the Megilla that the king threw a major party that lasted for six months, and our rabbis tell us that he wore the clothes of the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) which were looted along with the Jews who were exiled to Babylonia following the destruction of the Temple.
In fact, we learn that the Temple is the MIDDLE of Jerusalem, Jerusalem is in the MIDDLE of Israel, and Israel is in the MIDDLE of the world. The truth is that if you were to look on a map, it wouldn't exactly look like this is the truth; for to begin with, the equator is in the center of the world, and Israel is definitely above the equator. Hence, this statement in Talmudic literature must be referring to the spiritual middle of the Temple, Jerusalem and Israel. And so, we see here about the king, who was rotten from beginning to end as far as the rabbis in the Talmud are concerned. that more than anything else, didn't want the Jews to be reattached to their spirituality, thus attempting to murder us spiritually, which is even worse than just murdering physically as Haman attempted to do, for one who murders another merely removes him from this temporary world, while one who causes another to sin removes him from the next world forever being bereft of eternal bliss. And in this case of the Temple being in the middle of the 127 countries; Israel as the middle country was the 64th country. And as we know, the square root of 64 is eight, which is the number that represents what is above nature - such as miracles.
And speaking of the number eight, Moses addressed the Jewish people with Shirat Ha'azinu on the LAST day of his life - 7 Adar, his birthdate of 120 years earlier. And it is the 14th of Adar - Purim, that is the EIGHTH day from 7 Adar, which was no doubt the date of Baby Moses' circumcision. And speaking of last, the LAST Mitzva of the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah is writing a Sefer Torah (Torah scroll), which is mentioned in a verse in the previous Parsha (Deutronomy 31:19) where it states "Now write for yourselves this song and teach it to the Children of Israel, place it in their mouths, in order that this song will be for me as a witness against the Chldren of Israel". Now, I will elaborate more on this verse shortly, but the immediate point here is that it seems that the whole Torah is supposed to be written SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS SONG OF HA'AZINU TO BE WRITTEN.
The question can be asked - isn't the Torah supposed to be written down for us to learn all the 613 Mitzvot and their details? Why it especial importance being placed on Moses' final sermon which is about what will happen to the Jewish people based on their performance as though this is the very reason why we have to write a Sefer Torah?
The truth is, if Hashem really wanted to, He could have had the 613 Mitzvot, just like the Ten Commandments, be written on tablets and the like if it was simply a matter of knowing what He wants us to do, accompanied with the oral details of these Mitzvot and the telling of stories what went on with our ancestors that led to us being G-d's nation. However, in terms of appreciating the importance of keeping Hashem's Commandments - this had to be written in a scroll. You see, the scroll is what Jews were used to reading in the past in terms of Torah before the Torah was given. And so, Hashem wanted to make sure that they could relate best to the words of promises and warnings, and that they should be immediately available in the form of a scroll. Also, in sharp contrast to sapphire stone, the scroll coming from animal hide is far cheaper; and so, if every Jew is supposed to own a Sefer Torah, it had to be done in a more cheaper, convenient way possible (Note: As I have mentioned before, the rabbinical authorities have already noted that nowadays, we fulfill this last Mitzva of the Torah by buying and learning holy books; though if one can afford to fulfill this Mitzva in the literal sense, all the better).
In any case, as the verse that mentions the last Mitzva of the Torah makes mention particularly of Shirat Ha'azinu, it has to be a most important part of the Torah. In fact, the Ramban (Nachmanides) notes that everyone is hinted somewhere in these 43 verses of the Torah. But especially as we see it nowadays, these verses correspond to the years in Jewish history that are what we call the "End of Days" marking the end of exile and the beginning of our Redemption, G-d willing very soon.
Now, let us note the word Sheol in the middle Shirat Ha'azinu verse in connection with Purim. For you see, it was Mordechai, the male hero of the Purim story, a descendant of Shaul HaMelech (King Saul), who cleaned up some of the mess that his ancestor made. You see, King Saul failed to obey Shmuel HaNavi (Samuel the Prophet) when the latter told him to totally eradicate the Amalekite nation, including all its animals. However, Saul thought that he was a little smart, and allowed the Amalekite King Agag alive as a trophy and kept some of animals so he could sacrifice them to G-d. The problem with this is that just as he did once before, he allowed himself to be carried away with making sacrifices to G-d instead of worrying more about what he was ordered to do by Him via His prophet. And so, in the one night that King Agag was in Jewish capture, he cried that he was going to die with leaving behind no children or descendants in the world. As a result of King Saul's disobedience, Hashem heard King Agag's cries and he found himself a woman for a one night stand, from whom descended Haman, the villain in the Purim story that Mordechi helped get rid of.
Now, it is true that King Saul, despite his faults, died in battle in atonement for his sins, and as attested to by the rabbis, came straight to heaven. However, the damage was done, and it was only thanks to his righteous descendant Mordechai that he averted some of the damage of Amalek from the Jewish people, resulting in a new Jewish holiday. Indeed, King Saul had a big spiritual fall as well as his royal fall - Sheol Tachtit "lowest depths" hitting rock bottom from being the first king of Israel, loosing his royal line to King David. Yes, what I wrote earlier about King David's reason for specifying King Saul from the rest of his enemies from whom he was saved by Hashem is well applicable. But perhaps, it can be suggested, as in addition to the Book of Samuel, King David wrote very similarly in the Book of Psalms which he wrote relating to the Jewish people throughout the generations, that at the end of time in our exile of being chased by our enemies, that the final nation that we will have to deal with or will attempt to attack us will be the nation whose capitol is Seoul right before the coming of Moshiach, King David's descendant. And as this relates to Purim, we sure hope that Hashem in His mercy will spare us the worst, even as we read the Haftara of Parshat Ha'azinu also on the seventh day of Pesach, the date that we Jews were saved from the Egyptians at the Reed Sea and we sang the first of 10 songs recorded in Tanach.
Now, let us look at the last two letters/numbers of the upcoming Jewish Year 5774 - Ayin, Dalet. Remember earlier what I mentioned about the first verse of the Shema - where the letters Ayin and Dalet as the last letters of the first and last word, respectively are enlarged? This symbolizes the fact that we Jews serve as an Eid (witness), this word also spelling the Hebrew number for 74, that Hashem is our G-d and that He is One. And amazingly, this word is also used in the verse mentioning the last Mitzva of the Torah "in order that this song will be for me as a WITNESS against the Jewish people". Now excuse me for a moment, but is this a way that the verse that spells out the last Mitzva of the Torah to end off on such a negative note? At the very least, the Torah could have spelled out both the positive and negative, as it does in other verses in the Torah.
Perhaps more than just a warning, since we have plenty of warning both in the context of around where this verse is mentioned as well as in the upcoming Parshat Ha'azinu, is that this could very well be a prophecy as to "the evil that will befall you at the end of days" (verse 29), just ten verses later. For indeed, the last two letters of the upcoming Jewish year is Ayin and Dalet. In fact, there are six words in the Sefer Torah that by tradition, have to be written at the beginning of a column, and the LAST of these six words is V'A'Ida "AND I WILL HAVE TESTIFY against them the heavens and the earth" (verse 28), which is based on the word Eid (witness) or Eidut (testimony). Along these lines, we see that in our prayers, the LAST prayer that is recited at the end of every prayer service is the Aleinu prayer. This actually consists of two paragraphs. Both of these paragraphs begin with the letter Ayin and ends with the letter Dalet, though in some versions of the Siddur (prayer book), the second paragraph begins with the letter Vav (and) immediately preceeding the letter Ayin in the word. In any case, we see here a hint to the concept of two witnesses as Eid (V')Eid - for in many if not most cases, two witnesses were required to testify in a Jewish court for their statement to be considered valid, as in this Aleinu prayer, we testify about Hashem being one, just as in the Shema. And then, in the 5774th verse in which the middle two words of Shirat Ha'azinu appear - Vatikad Ad "It will be lit UNTIL", where the word Ad is spelled the same way in its letters as the word Eid, again spelling the number 74, except that it means "until", but it comes to show here the special emphasis on the year 5774 in more than one translation for the Hebrew number 74 as a word. And as related with Puirm, the LAST holiday recorded in Tanach, the Gematria of Mordechi's name is 274, which as you can see, ends with the number 74.
And in terms of the End of Days, there is an Aramaic phrase that refers to this period of time right before the coming of Moshiach - IKveita D'Meshicha "Footsteps of Moshiach", using the word Eikev, and the letters of these two words are Ayin and Dalet. No denying, this number 74 (Ayin-Dalet) will be playing a major role in the final stage leading to the Redeption, as denoted by the fact that the word Ad (until), which also spells the Hebrew number 74, immediately proceeds the word Sheol (Seoul) in the Ha'azinu verse.
We have yet to see what will happen in the upcoming Year 5774, but as related to the MIDDLE verse of Shirat Ha'azinu which is the 5774th verse of the Torah, the Hebrew word for Korea includes the letters of the name of the third and MIDDLE book of the Chumash - Sefer Vayikra (Leviticus), which largely, especially the first Parsha of this book which is called Parshat Vayikra, deals with the various animal sacrifices. Perhaps this hints here to the fact that King Saul, the FIRST king of Israel, whose Hebrew name very much resembles the word Sheol which in turn resembles the name of the capitol of Korea, failed twice to obey the prophet Samuel in his quest of wanting to offer animal sacrifices to Hashem, but which ran contrary to what Hashem really wanted, which resulted in his demotion of loosing the kingdom from his family to King David whose descendant will be Moshiach.
We see that the word Vayikra was put to good use way earlier in the Torah when it was Abraham, the FIRST Jew, who "CALLED OUT there in the name of Hashem" at his hospitality center. In fact, in the Book of Isaiah (41:2), which is also part of the Haftara for Parshat Lech-Lecha, it speaks about Abraham where it states "Who aroused on from the east, GREETED by victory at his footstep...", and has been pointed out, the Hebrew word for "greeted" which is Yikraeihu, has the same letters as the word Korea, which is located in the Far East, and that the first letters of the words located in verse 5 - Ra'oo Iyim V'Yira'oo Ketzot Ha'aretz Yecheradu "The islands saw and they were afraid, the ends of the earth trembled..." which are the letters of the word Korea in Hebrew, apparently hinting to a future time when Korea will threaten or use their weapons in a way that will frighten other countries. And as connected to Abraham, he himself fought in a war (Genesis 14) as recorded in Parshat Lech-Lecha, with his ultimate intention of freeing his nephew Lot who was captured during this war, and as mentioned of Abraham's efforts of fighting "and the night divided for them" (Genesis 14:15) about which, Rashi notes that Hashem picked up the tab from where Abraham left off fighting until midnight, and in the night immediately preceding the Exodus, He struck the firstborn exactly at midnight.
So as you can see, we have a co-relationship here with the first, middle, and last as related to Seoul, Korea. And as for Rabbi Nachmani, his Hebrew name Levi Sa'adya shares the same Gematria as the word HaKeitz (the End) referring to the Messianic Era that he spoke and attempted to prepare the Jewish people for with his admonition for repentance. This is also the same Gematria as the phrase Yimloach HaMelech (The King will reign) (Note: I didn't see this phrase anywhere, but this is something that I thought of), for indeed, as in the verse near the end of Shirat HaYam, the song that the Jews sang following their deliverance at the Yam Suf (Sea of Reeds) recited every morning in the midst of the prayer services - Hashem Yimloch Leolam Vaed "Hashem will reign forever" (Exodus 15:18); for though Hashem has always been King, He wasn't always accepted as such until today by everyone; in the future in the time of the Messianic Era, He will be accepted as King by everyone, as testified as such in the Aleinu prayer. And as for Rabbi Nachmani's family name, we see that the one time that this name is mentioned in Tanach is in a list of Jewish leaders who accompanied Zerubabel to Israel (Nehemia 7:7) where this name is mentioned immediately proceeding the name Mordechai of the Purim story, who also exhorted the Jews in his time to repent, though many of them failed to listen until they knew that they were slated for extermination which caused them to repent.
It is interesting about the timing of Rabbi Nachmani's message. You see, a few years earlier, Rabbi Meir Kahane, may Hashem avenge his blood, was murdered, and during his era of his constant activism since founding the JDL in 1968, he constantly warned the Jewish people of what could happen if G-d forbid, we don't listen to the Torah, especially when it comes with dealing with the Arabs in OUR land, to get rid of every last one of them to THEIR land in one of their 22 Arab countries and live happily forever. Most unfortunately, few cried out when Prime Monster Menachem Begin, though he used to be a good fighter for Israel, gave in to pressure and signed the ill fated Camp David accords that shouted goodbye to the Sinai, falling for the sly words of Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt, who led his country in the sneak attack on Israel on Yom Kippur 1973, who claimed that he wanted peace for Israel, offering only the piece of paper that bore his false words for priceless Israeli territory. However, Kahane was one of the few in the oasis of truth who exposed the truth regarding this whole fiasco, when hundreds, nay, thousands of rabbis should have took to the streets in Israel and the United States to protest this major sacrilege of the Israeli government even daring to offer parts of our Holy Land to our avowed sworn enemies. And so, since there were a few too many Jews who refused to listen to one modern day prophet, Hashem sent another to tell everyone to repent. Anyways, what we do see is the date of 14 Adar, the date of Purim, employing the letters Yud-Dalet Aleph-Dalet-Reish are all within Rabbi Kahane's Hebrew name Meir Dovid.
Now, during the time that Rabbi Nachmani spoke his message in 5755 (1994), Rabbi Kahane's son Binyamin Zev, may Hashem avenge his blood, was continuing his father's legacy, though fewer listened to what he had to say, because some past followers of Kahane the father rejected his son due to politics. And so, it wasn't sufficient for the Jewish people to have Binyamin Zev Kahane warn them, but needed a rabbi from the Sephardic sector to reach out to many more Jews who would at least listen to what he had to say. But as it turns out, Binyamin Zev's name is the same Gematria as the word Eikev - 172! And though it may sound a little secular, as the word Eikev does mean END in some contexts, Rabbi Binyamin Zev Kahane (and his wife) were murdered on the LAST day of the secular year 2000.
This should remind us of a rabbinic statement that of the 6000 years of this world's existance, the first 2000 represents desolation (between the flood and the lack of G-dliness in the world). The second and middle 2000 years was the period of Torah (from Abraham to the Giving of the Torah to the Mishnaic period), and the third and last 2000 years are the "days of Moshiach". As it turns out, the 2nd Temple was destroyed 172 years before the end of the second period of 2,000 years in Year 3828, and is mentioned in the Talmud that Moshiach was born on Tisha B'Av, the date that the (Second) Temple was destroyed; meaning that the potential of Moshiach coming began from even that moment, if the Jews would but repent.
Let us hope that it won't take, G-d forbid, a major tragedy for us to wake up, but that rather, we take the initiative to repent ahead of time, so that by the time the next Purim comes around, we will have one more reason to celebrate this joyous holiday, ushering in the immediate Redemption which we should all merit in the midst of great happiness, as the beginning of Parshat Eikev, the 46th Parsha of the Torah (and the name Levi, the name of the one Tribe of Israel who obeyed Hashem all through the time in Egypt and in the wilderness before the Jews came to Israel, is the Gematria of 46) promises for obeying Hashem "He will love you, bless you, multiply you, and bless the fruit of the womb, your land, your grain, etc." May we see the fulfillment of this very soon in our days. Amen!
28 Nissan, 5773
Speaking of the beginning, just as I wrote in my previous post about concluding Sefer Shemot (Exodus) - the SECOND book of the Torah, and Masechet Shabbat (Tractate Sabbath) - the SECOND tractate of the Daf Yomi schedule of the Babylonian Talmud, on the same day; so accordingly, the very next day, it began the week of Parshat Vayikra, the beginning of the third book of the Torah - Sefer Vayikra (Leviticus) and the beginning of Masechet Eruvin (plural for the word Eiruv which means merging, refering to ways that the rabbis instituted to permit carrying or walking in certain circumstances on Shabbat which would otherwise be forbidden - the third Babylonian Talmudic tractate.
And unlike the similarities of the previous book of the Torah and the previous tractate - between the first and letters of their names, and the theme of Shabbat whose five Mitzvot (Commandments) are all mentioned in Sefer Shemot; the topic of Eruvin, the subject of establishing boundaries in terms of Shabbat, doesn't seem to relate in anyway to the various topics of Sefer Vayikra which includes 247 Mitzvot, more Mitzvot than in all the other four books of the Chumash (Penteteuch).
However, noting that a good portion of Sefer Vayikra deals with the various Korbanot (Temple offerings or sacrifices), we do in fact see a connection of the Talmudic Tractate Eruvin with this theme of Sefer Vayikra - at least at the conclusion of this tractate. You see, aside from what the Torah forbids us to perform on Shabbat in terms of work, there are certain things that the rabbis have forbidden us on this holy day, in order that we do not come to perform a Torah forbidden work. However, in the Temple, things that are normally forbidden to do on Shabbat due to rabbinical enactments are (I will use the term "are" rather than "were" because we are supposed to put ourselves in a state of mind as if we are presently living in the times of the Temple, so we don't feel complacent in our "comfort zone") permitted. Anyways, it is Rabbi Shimon who concludes Tractate Eruvin in the Mishna stating "for they (the rabbis) have not permitted you to perform work forbidden by the Torah in the Temple, except that is normally forbidden by the rabbis"
The Talmud in its final piece explains the practicality of Rabbi Shimon's statement. For example, a string in the harp that was played in the Temple during the singing of the Levites - brakes. Now, the show must continue - of course, without violation of the laws of the Torah. But this is how this works. Under normal circumstances, the string needs to be fixed making a knot; but the problem is that making a regular knot is one of the 39 forbidden categories of work forbidden to be performed on Shabbat from the Torah. Hence even in the Temple, this is forbidden (Note: For those who will ask how it was possible to perform the regular work in the Temple on Shabbat such as slaughtering the daily and Shabbat sacrificial animals, burning fires, etc., these things are specifically mentioned in the Torah as Mitzvot to be performed even on Shabbat. However, if it is something that only helps with the Temple service without being a Mitzva per se, it is forbidden to be performed on Shabbat). However, tying a bow, which is not a violation of a Torah categorized work that requires a Chatat (sin-offering) for performing it accidentally (without realizing it), while if intended to be a permanent bow - the same way that making a knot is meant to be permanent - which is forbidden to be performed on Shabbat from what the rabbis enacted, they did allow making such a bow in the Temple in repairing the string of the harp.
Shortly, we will see another connection between Sefer Vayikra and Masechet Eruvin...
THE CONNECTION OF THE NUMBER OF THIS POST - 172
Who hasn't heard of the Ten Commandments? Actually in Hebrew, they are not called Aseret HaMitzvot, which would be the translation for the famous English phrase; but rather Aseret HaDibrot, or in the actual language of the Torah - Aseret HaDevarim, which both mean the Ten Statements. For in fact, if one looks at the list of the 613 Mitzvot, there are precisely 14 Mitzvot in the "Ten Commandments".
Now, it isn't just the Ten Commandments, if you will, that we must observe, but all 613 Mitzvot, though many of these are impossible to fulfill literally, because either they apply only to certain people or groups, or they are not applicable today, or circumstances don't happen as such that they can be fulfilled, but learning about them in these cases is considered as though one fulfilled them. However, the Mitzvot in the Ten Commandments were singled out because in fact, they encompass all the 613 Mitzvot, as the Sa'adya Gaon shows in a work of his, as mentioned by Rashi at the end of Parshat Mishpatim (Exodus 24:12). Moreover, if one counts the amount of letters in the Ten Commandments from the letter Aleph in Anochi through the letter Chaf Sophit in L'Rayecha, there are exactly 620 letters - corresponding to the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah and the seven Mitzvot of the Rabbis (Note: While we are forbidden to add to the Mitzvot of the Torah, for in fact - one of the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah is the prohibition to add to the Mitzvot, these Mitzvot of the Rabbis are basically extensions of other Mitzvot of the Torah, and in fact, were already included in the Torah, but they were meant to be revealed by the Rabbis rather than Hashem Himself doing so).
OK, so the letters of the Ten Commandments have been counted, great. So, it wouldn't hurt to count the amount of words for the same price; in fact, it should be way easier and quicker to count words than letters. And the number of words in the Ten Commandments are - 172. Does this number sound familiar?
In Parshat Toldot, following Abraham's demise, Hashem appears to his son Isaac, and promises him that his descendants will multiply greatly and inherit the Land of Israel. Then, He suddenly states "BECAUSE Abraham listened to My voice, and he observed My safeguards, My commandments, My statues, and my Torahs" (Genesis 26:5). Now, the bridge to the promises that Hashem made to Isaac and the fact that Abraham following everything that Hashem said to do is the word BECAUSE. Now normally in Hebrew, the Hebrew word for this, at least in the Tanach (Jewish Bible) is Ki. However, in this instance, the word is Eikev. Now, even school children in a Jewish day school who are learning the Hebrew words for the different parts of the body will know that this word means "heel". But strangely, this word is used in a totally different sense. But more importantly, the question is why the word for because in this particular instance is Eikev?
Surprisingly, while Rashi would normally be bothered by such exceptions and give some type of explanation for the unusual word, and as we know, he was a master in Dikduk (Hebrew grammar) and at times gives detailed explanations of how certain Hebrew words are used throughout the Tanach; in this instance, he gives zero explanation on this, and as if to spite this word, he explains the entire rest of this verse. In fact, this would have been the perfect opportunity for Rashi to have given the explanation that he did for this word as the very first Rashi on Parshat Eikev, named after this very word, where he states that this refers to the "light" Mitzvot that one tramples with his heels, not paying serious attention to them, in the context of Hashem rewarding us even for these seemingly not so important Mitzvot. Hence, over here where Hashem describes in detail as to the type of Mitzvot that Abraham observed, as Rashi gives examples for each of these, this would have been the perfect opportunity for Rashi to state that Abraham carefully observed even the "light" Mitzvot. So, why didn't he?
True, some Mitzvot weigh more on the spiritual scale than others. Of course we know that the Mitzva of learning/teaching Torah is the greatest of them all in terms of eternal spiritual benefit and reward. However, all the other Mitzvot have price tags too. After all, some Mitzvot are obviously far easier to fulfill than others; and as we know, Hashem rewards according to the effort we put in serving Him; so undoubtedly, there are some Mitzvot that involve far more effort than others, with their respective rewards. The only exception may seem to be the Mitzva of Torah; for in fact, each word of Torah is equal or greater than all the other Mitzvot of the Torah combined; however, part of the Mitzva of learning Torah is applying ourselves diligently in understanding what the Torah says, which involves long hours of hard toil to become one of the great Torah scholars, who just about all of them did with very little sleep to reach the great spiritual accomplishment that they justly earned.
Apparently, Rashi had a very good reason for not explaining a word about why the word Eikev is used here, even though he could have easily explained that Abraham even kept the "light" Mitzvot. As we know, Jewish children who learn Chumash begin from Sefer Bereishit (Genesis), which is not only the first book of the Torah, but is by far the easiest to learn; since after all, this book involves mostly stories, which are far easier for them to learn than a whole bunch of Mitzvot with explanations. Undoubtedly, Rashi must have been afraid that if he were to start explaining to young children whose minds are far from developed about "light" Mitzvot, possibly giving the impression that some Mitzvot aren't so "important" as others, these children could get the wrong impression about Mitzva observance, and think that some of the Mitzvot are nice as a mere Jewish "lifestyle" or for "religious fanatics", which is a spiritual poisonous thinking in watered down Jewish movements - such as Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist.
And what do we see today? Jews who will go to a "Temple" every Friday night will not even keep the most important basics of Judaism observance - Shabbat (not just praying in a place of worship, but not doing one of the 39 Torah categorizations of work), Kosher food, and laws of family purity; and not because they simply haven't learned about them yet, though many if not most are sadly ignorant of these key parts of Judaism, but because these observances are simply not part of their "Jewish lifestyle". They are already fooled to think that they are observing Judaism as far as their "rabbi" is concerned, so even if all of a sudden, they learned how to keep the Torah properly at least in these areas, most would feel that they would look like fanatics, and frankly, aren't ready to give up certain "freedoms". Hence, Rashi waited until Parshat Eikev in Sefer Devarim, the fifth book of the Torah where one who has already learned most of the Chumash will well understand that ALL Mitzvot are important, to explain why this word is used. Perhaps some Mitzvot are worth more in value than others, but clearly, they are ALL Commandments of the King of Kings.
Now, while Rashi at times does mention other explanations than the simple meaning of a word, verse, or context, such as Gematriot; here, Rashi makes no such mention of it for the word Eikev, even though he could have easily had mentioned that the Gematria of this word is the same number as the amount of letters in the Ten Commandments as the reason why this unusual word appears. It seems to me that since Rashi did not mention the simple meaning of this word the way that he explained it at the beginning of Parshat Eikev, that he didn't mention the Gematria either (I'm sure that a Torah scholar on the caliber like Rashi would have known how many words there are in the Ten Commandments), since he typically does so only after mentioning the simple meaning of the word. However, there is a different commentator who mentions this - the Ba'al HaTurim. Along with this, the Ba'al HaTurim mentions that there are ten words in. this verse that corresponds to the Ten Commandments, which in turn has 172 words corresponding to the Gematria of the word Eikev, the first of the ten words in this verse. Now, this is all nice, but what do these factoids have to do with Abraham personally, other than the fact that he observed the Mitzvot? Why tie this with the connection of the Ten Commandments? He never even saw the tablets on which they was written, and were not going to be given to the Jewish nation, his descendants, for another like 400 years?
The Ba'al HaTurim first mentions that during his lifetime, Abraham was tested with ten tests by Hashem, which he passed with flying colors; and since he was the Tzadik (righteous person) of the world), it was him who was the cause of the world to remain in existence which was created by Hashem's ten utterances. Next, he states that Abraham listened to Hashem for 172 years in his 175 years of life, since it was at the age of three when he first recognized his Creator.
Now, there are something from both Rashi's and the Ba'al HaTurim's explanations on this verse that have a connection with Tractate Eruvin. First from Rashi - he mentions that My safeguards refers to decrees instituted by the rabbis to prevent Jews from sinning, mentioning as an example, enactments of certain activities forbidden by the rabbis to be performed on Shabbat. An example of this is riding an animal or climbing a tree, which from the Torah itself are permitted to be performed on Shabbat, were made forbidden by the rabbis lest someone will wind up cutting off a branch from a tree which is forbidden to be done on Shabbat from the Torah. And indeed, we mentioned a little earlier here about this very topic of things forbidden by the rabbis to be performed on Shabbat as mentioned in the very end of Tractate Eruvin in the Mishna.
Now from the Ba'al HaTurim - he notes that the Gematria of the words: Eikev Asher Shama Avraham - "Because Abraham listened..." is the same as Kiyem Af Eiruvei Tavshilin "He also fulfilled the observance of Eiruvei Tavshilin, which involves setting aside two types of food, including something that is already cooked before Yom Tov (Jewish holiday) to be eaten on Shabbat immediately following Yom Tov, in order that it can be permitted to cook on Yom Tov (when it falls out on Thursday night-Friday daytime) in preparation for Shabbat, when otherwise, it is forbidden to make any type of preparations on Yom Tov for Shabbat. This is one of three types of Eiruvin (the other two are Eiruvei Chatzeirot and Eiruvei Techumin, which I will not get into detail in this post).
Now, getting into a little more detail in Abraham's life, he didn't merely keep the Torah to himself, as past ancestors of his did. Yes, Noah, Shem, and Eber, his ancestors whom he all saw, all were righteous people, but they didn't necessarily go out of their way to spread the believe in one G-d where everyone else were worshipping other gods. It is true that Abraham learned how to do kindness for others from Shem, as recounted in a Midrash, since as Shem recounted, he and his family in Noah's Ark, when the whole world perished in the flood, were busy feeding all the creatures around the clock, and in was in that merit that despite whatever else, was what allowed them to remain alive. And so, along with his going out and preaching monotheism to others, he set up a special place where people could stop by in the Be'er Sheba desert, and have a gourmet meal, and be taught to thank Hashem for it afterwards in lieu of payment. The verse that describes Abraham's hospitality and teaching about the existence of Hashem at this spot reads "He planted an Eishel (orchard or inn) in Be'er Sheba, and HE CALLED there in the name of Hashem, G-d of the world" (Genesis 21:33). In any case, the word who meaning is "he called" is Vayikra, the name of the third book of the Torah, beginning with Parshat Vayikra.
So as you can see, there is a special connection of Abraham both to the concept of Vayikra, which is in reference to his activities of bringing others close to belief in Hashem via actions of kindness such as hospitality and Eiruvin, which includes the concept of observing even the rabbinical commandments, which in turn represents the concept of "going out of our way" to make sure that we keep the Mitzvot that we have already been commanded in the Torah, in order that we won't come to violate them even accidentally. In fact, we learn that one's dining table is compared to the altar, especially when we practice hospitality inviting poor people and Torah scholars to eat with us, along with words of Torah. Hence, it is most appropriate that the very word that begins the book of the Torah that focuses on the sacrifices that were offered on the altar - Vayikra, is the same word used in reference to Abraham who exemplified the spiritual use of our dining tables. And in turn, the concept of Eiruvei Tavshilin is preparing food for Shabbat, a time that our eating is on a higher spiritual level than during the rest of the week, even though it is on Yom Tov, since we already began the process of preparing for Shabbat before Yom Tov through the means of Eiruvei Tavshilin.
Hence, we learn that our eating as a Jew is totally different than the eating of a non-Jew, as we use food to bring other Jews to come closer to Judaism, as well as eating on Shabbat to celebrate and feel the holiness of the holiest day of the week; and usually, these two concepts pertaining to our eating go hand-in-hand, as it is usually on Shabbat when we invite others to our dining table, when especially then, non-observant Jews have a prime opportunity to truly enjoy the beauty of Judaism via the means of using something physical to accomplish something spiritual, as Hashem is not only in the synagouge or temple, but right here in our homes, just as in the beginning of Sefer Vayikra, where Hashem CALLS to Moses in the Sanctuary, for in fact, even our homes can become in essence "holy places", as they help us accomplish serving Hashem, CALLING OUT to others to become closer to Hashem; for in fact, the very word Korbon, which is loosely translated as "sacrifice", is based on the word Karov (close), for it is through the act of offering the sanctified animal, which begins with slaughtering it, that brings us closer to Hashem, whether via atoning and helping us repent when bringing a sin-offering, or thanking Him for having saved us from certain danger.
Now, getting back to the number 172, let us dissect this number into two parts: One (1) and Seventy-Two (72). As we know, there are seven active Sephirot (Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut). The FIRST of these is Chesed (kindness), and this word is the Gematria of 72. And it is Abraham who especially corresponds to this Sephira. And looking at the word Eikev, which has the same letters as the Hebrew number for 172, the letters Ayin and Beit add up to 72, and the Koof is 100. But for the Koof, we will focus on words that begin with this letter as it relates to the word Chesed. You see, the word Chesed itself can be divided into two parts. The first letter is Cheit=8 and the last two letters - Samech and Dalet, spell the number 64, whose square root is eight! Now, the word Shemini, which means EIGHTH, has the same Gematria as the word Kadosh or Kodesh (holy) - 410. And as for the number 64, this is the amount of verses of Parshat Kedoshim, the name of this Parsha means holy in plural. So, not only do we see the phenomenon of the number eight tied to the word for holy in singular and that eight times eight, denoting plurality, represents the word for holy in plural; but that it is the letter Koof that begins the Hebrew word for holy.
And in another special connection of Abraham with the letter Koof, it relates espeically to a particular chapter in the Mishnayot. You see, there is a custom among certain Jews that on each of the seven days of Succot, they learn a particular chapter of Mishna that relates to the special Heavenly Guest that represents his corresponding day of Succot. And so, for the first day of Succot, it is Abraham, and the corresponding Mishna chapter is the fourth and final chapter of Kiddushin (Jewish wedding/marriage), because it ends off mentioning about Abraham. In fact, the very end of this chapter, the end of this tractate, and the end of the third Seder (volume) of Mishna that is called Seder Nashim (women) is the very verse of Eikev Asher Shama Avraham...! In any case, the first letter of this tractate is also a Koof, since Kiddushin, based on the word Kedusha (holiness) is just that, marrying a woman and being intimate with her isn't just what is needed in order to have children, but is in fact HOLY acts, if of course done according to Jewish law and one has the right intentions. Moreover, as especially connected to Abraham, his son Isaac, the first Jew to be born as a Jew, and the very first one to have his Brit Mila (circumcision) on the EIGHTH day, was born to him when he was 100 years old. In fact, Rashi points out (Genesis 17:19) that the very letters in Isaac's name - Yud, Tzadi, Cheit, Koof represent the above basic concepts: Yud=10 representing the 10 tests that Abraham had, Tzadi=90 representing Sara's age at his birth, Cheit=8 representing his circumcision on his eighth day, and Koof=100 representing Abraham's age at his birth.
And as for Isaac's birth, this represents the concept of the ultimate kindness - creating a human life and hence, bearing the responsibility of performing all sorts of kindness in raising one's child - feeding, clothing, cleaning, teaching, etc. Hence, as demonstrated especially in Abraham's case, the connection of the letters Ayin and Beit as related to the Gematria of the word Chesed and the letter Koof as related to Abraham's age at Isaaç's birth - in the word Eikev, highlights this concept. And in another dimension, who would be a better teacher of how to perform Chesed for Isaac than his father Abraham who was the icon of Chesed?
And in connection with the word Nashim, the name of the third volume of the six volumes of the Mishna, which ends off with the verse that begins the word Eikev, there were exactly 400 years from Isaac's birth which happened on the first day of Passover until the redemption of the Jews on the first day of Passover, as the word Nashim is the Gematria of 400. And as we see in more than one source or context, Abraham corresponds particularly to the holiday of Passover.
And as for this verse whose FIRST word is Eikev, it has TEN words to it, ending off the chapter of the Mishna that begins with Asara Yochasin "There are TEN levels of genealogy..." where the FIRST word of this chapter is Asara - TEN.
And before I forget...there is one more connection between Sefer Vayikra and Masechet Eruvin, at least in terms of numbers. Sefer Vayikra consists of TEN Parshiyot, and Masechet Eruvin consists of TEN chapters.
THE NUMBER 70
There are many connections of the letter Ayin=70 in these various concepts. First things first - in terms of Parshat Vayikra that begins the third book of the Torah, the Haftara for this Parsha begins with the letter Ayin in the words Am Zu "This nation (the Jewish people)". And as for Masechet Eruvin - the name of this tractate begins with the letter Ayin. Next, the word Eikev, beginning the verse describing Abraham's Torah and Mitzva performance, begins with the letter Ayin, which included, as especially mentioned by the Ba'al HaTurim, the Mitzva of Eiruv Tavshilin, which begins with the letter Ayin. It is this very verse, consisting of TEN words, that ends the chapter of Mishna that begins with the letter Ayin in the word Asara, which means TEN.
Now, as connected to the beginning of the Haftara for Parshat Vayikra where it makes immediate mention of the Jewish nation, the beginning of the above fourth chapter in Masechet Kiddushin mentions the 10 categories of Jews in terms of who are permittted or forbidden to marry to whom. And in terms of this final chapter of Sefer Nashim, this third volume of the Mishna consists of 71 chapters, just like there are 70 nations of the world, and the 71st nation is the Jewish people, represented by the letter Ayin=70, as if to say that despite what looks like is the main thing in this world with all of its materialism from all the other nations, it is because of the Jewish nation that Hashem created the world to begin with, since it is the Jews who are the Ikarim (main ones), this Hebrew word also beginning with the letter Ayin; as indeed, the 71st and final chapter of Seder Nashim begins with mentioning the 10 classifications of Jews in terms of Halacha. And this is represented by the Gematria of the name of this volume of Mishna - Nashim=400, for it was exactly 400 years from the birth of the first Jew to be born as a Jew, who was born on 15 Nissan until the official birth of the Jewish nation that took place on 15 Nissan. This is most connected to the concept of Nashim (women), for a birth only occurs being born from a woman, and as the Midrash tells us, it was in the merit of the righteous women that the Jewish nation was redeemed from Egypt.
Now, as I noted various words in reference to good things that begin with an Ayin, so do we see that it begins the names of Esav and Amalek, who both had connections to the greatest holiness. You see, Esav was born in the most observant Jewish family in the world at that time, for in fact, it was the ONLY Jewish family, being raised by his most righteous parents Isaac and Rebecca; however, he rejected Jewish tradition to perform evil. Resulting from this, he had a grandson named Amalek, who not only didn't feel some type of connection with the Jewish nation being related as cousins, but was the very first nation to dare attack the Jews, cooling down the fear of the other nations for the Jews, upon which Hashem told us to totally wipe out Amalek's memory.
Next, when Joshua first led the Jewish people to Israel, after winning their first battle at Jericho, they then came to a city named Eye that begins with the letter Ayin, where the Jews suffered a defeat after a small amount of them were sent out to fight. The reason for this was because there was one Jew who stole from the excommunicated booty of the people of Jericho, whose name was Achan whose name begins with an Ayin, and was consequently stoned for his crime, and the place where he was stoned was called Eimek Achor - both of these words beginning with an Ayin.
Then, we see that in the times of the kings of Judah and Israel, there was a prophet named Ido whose name began with the letter Ayin; who though was a good righteous prophet, he messed up when he naively (or not so naively) listened to a false prophet who made it sound like Hashem was now telling him to eat by him, when Hashem came Ido the prophet very strict instructions not to eat over at any place in a particular mission that he had; which resulted in him being killed by a lion along the way as a result of his sinful detour of dining out.
Fast forwarding to the times of the Mishna, there were two great Sages who names began with the letter Ayin - Rabbi Akiva, and Akavya Ben Mahalalel. Rabbi Akiva, who for the first 40 years of his life, who was what we call an Am Ha'aretz, an ignoramous of Torah, to the extent that he actually hated Torah scholars, was brought close to the Torah thanks to his wife Rachel who sacrificed her family's wealth for her newly married husband to learn Torah as her wealthy father disowned her for marrying an ignoramous, which resulted in him becoming among the greatest scholars of all time, but not for her, it could very well have been that he never would have took the initiative to start learning Torah and would have died being a sinner who hated Torah scholars. And as for Akavya, whose name begins the third chapter of Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), he was one rabbi who wasn't swayed by the opinions of others, even to the extent that he turned down an offer to be the vice-president (Av Beit Din) of the Jewish court for not wanting to change his opinion on certain halachic issues. In fact, it was thought by some that he was put in excommunication for violating a halachic ruling, when as it turned out, it was someone else who was actually put in excommunication for being the one for doing so (Eiduyot 5:6). It seems that by the time of the Mishna came around, the letter Ayin beginning one's name may have had a change in the spiritual flow for a person, though was still thought of denoting bad having a name beginning with an Ayin. (Note: Though a name can be of influence on a person, one still has free choice to do good or evil, but may face certain spiritual challenges that others don't have)
In sharp contrast, we see that the last letter of the name of Joshua, Moses' successor, whose Yahrzeit was this past Shabbat (26 Nissan), and today's date of 28 Nissan marks his first conquest in Israel with the fall of Jericho, is an Ayin. The reason that I say this is because when Moses sent out 12 spies to check out Israel before the Jews would arrive there, he already knew that 10 of these spies were up to something up their sleeve, and so, being that Joshua attended to Moses all the time, Moses wanted to make sure that Joshua wouldn't be swept up by the evil plans of the spies, and so, added on the letter Yud to Joshua's original name Hosea at the beginning of the name. Now, it is most interesting to note, that when Joshua led the Jewish people to Israel and won the first battle in the conquest of Jericho, he composed the Aleinu prayer that is recited at the end of every prayer service, which begins with the letter Ayin, symbolizing the fact that he himself was already one who totally conquered his evil inclination, just as he had immediate victory at the conquest of Jericho once the Jews had access to the city following the walls sinking to the ground.
And then, we see with the names of the Parshiyot that will be read this Shabbat - Tazria and Metzora - the two middle Parshiyot of the Torah, that both of the names of these Parshiyot ends with the letter Ayin. In fact, this is the first time that the letter Ayin even appears in the names of the Parshiyot until this point. And of the few more times that the letter Ayin appears in the Parshiyot names, the last one is Parshat Eikev that begins with Ayin.
In any case, these two Parshiyot Tazria-Metzora deal with the various types of afflictions that occur with one's body - from Tzara'at (that is loosely translated as leprosy, but in this case, was a divinely visited skin discoloration) to seminal flows that cause a person to become spiritually impure. To be sure, though it may not be immediately obvious in the literal meaning of the "Bible", these bodily afflictions occur as a result of various sins, from speaking badly about other Jews to thinking lewd thoughts. In fact, both of these Parshiyot names contains the letters that spell the word Rah (evil). However, it doesn't have to be this way if we just focus on the purpose of life. You see, the word Tazria (translated as "conceives" based on the word Zera (seed)) refers to the process of a woman bringing life to a human being, who comes to this world to serve Hashem; and though the Mitzva of Brit Mila (circumcision) has already been mentioned long earlier in the Torah in reference to Abraham and Isaac, it is mentioned here again in reference to a baby boy. And then for the name of the second Parsha - Metzora (one with Tzara'as), though it seems to denote negativity, the Torah begins this Parsha stating "This is the law of the Metzora on the day of his purification", which included shaving his entire body (yes, this includes the beard and side curls that is associated with a very observant Jew), signifying a new slate in his life as a newborn so to speak following his sins being expiated through the various forms of atonement that he has received - from looking unkempt while exiled from his home and community to offering various animal sacrifices from his own pocket. In fact, Sephardic Jews don't even call this Parsha by the name of Metzora, but the name Teharot (literally means pure items), the same name given for the sixth and final volume of the Mishnayot as well as one this volume's tractates, so there shouldn't even be a mention of negativity in relationship to Torah.
And then of course, there is the Mitzva of Kriat Shema (recital of the Shema) which begins with the verse Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad "HEAR O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One" (Deutronomy 6:4), which is a most unique Mitzva, because first, this is the topic of the very beginning of the Mishnayot, and is also the very first Mitzva that one who becomes Bar Mitzva - which occurs when it becomes nightfall, the beginning of the Halachic day (NOT when the boy becomes Bar-Mitzvahed because he reads from the Torah or the rabbi declares it "official") - performs. This word Shema ends with the letter Ayin. But it doesn't end here. You see, in the Sefer Torah, this letter is enlarged, as well as the letter Dalet at the end of the word Echad (one) at the end of this verse. The significance of this? I will address this in the following segment here.
I think that you will see a pattern here. It seems that typically, when the letter Ayin begins certain words, it may have a good connotation, but there is potential that the concept related to the word could turn into something spiritually negative - such as Eisav and Amalek, who though were related to the Jewish people, chose to do the worst sins or be in the forefront of fighting the Jews. On the other hand, other words ending with an Ayin, though the concepts related to these words may have potential for evil, could end up being very good. As per the above illustrating this - Joshua, though was a most righteous individual who served Moses that eventually won win leadership of the Jews, could have fallen astray along with the ten evil spies had it not been for Moses looking out after him, giving power to Joshua's name by adding the letter Yud in front of it, being that his original name was actually Hosea. And the names of the Parshiyot Tazria-Metzora, though the subjects of these Parshiyot deals with spiritually negative issues, there is always hope for a Jew to remind himself of his purpose in life and repent, having the potential of being like a newborn and start over again as with the purity of a Jewish child who has no sin stained on his soul (everything is just practice or preparation until he becomes a "man") until he becomes Bar-Mitzva (or Bat-Mitzva), which would explain why the very first Mitzva that he performs as a Bar-Mitzva man is Kriat Shema, being reminded with the big letter Ayin at the end of the first word of the Shema that all his trial and errors until now were just that - without his soul being stained with sin, and now has the potential to make good of everything he has learned and gone through until now, just as Joshua who withstood the trend of the ten spies who though may have been Torah scholars in their own right as leaders of their respective tribes, failed both themselves and the Jewish people, while Joshua stood steadfast with the unpopular view that Hashem was going to fight the Jews' battles in Israel, which nearly cost him being stoned by the Jews who were most ungrateful for everything Hashem had done for them up to that point in time.
END OF THE END OF DAYS IN EXILE
At least until recently, if you were to ask almost anyone as to which country is mostly likely to attack the United States/Israel: most likely, you would be told something like Iraq, Iran, Syira, Khadaffi (or however you spell the late nut's name). Certainly, such a person answering this question is not living in a shell.
The truth is, such a person may be living more like in a bomb shell. You see, it is really Hashem who runs the world; and just when you least expect it, our salvation, or G-d forbid, some of the biggest tragedies, can come from some of the most unlikely sources.
At least, good Jews who are sincere and serve the good L-rd don't have too much too worry beyond whether they are doing everything right, for in fact, we are all in Hashem's hands, and it is He, and only He, who determines our ultimate fate - both in this world and in the next.
While the subject of Gog U'Magog may still be debatable, or the role of who is Gog may seem to be divided up between U.S. presidents George Bush II and Obama, there are various sources in Talmidic, Midrashic, and Kabbalistic literature that are pointing to these very days in time. In fact, we will soon see here that we don't have to go very far - some details of what will happen in our days is written out straight in the Chumash (Penteteuch).
For this, we need to rewind back to some 18 years ago, when a big Sephardic rabbi, Rabbi Levi Sa'adya Nachmani, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, gave a talk during Chanuka 5755 (December 1994), around 40 days before his passing, about who will be the nation that will (look to) attack us, G-d forbid. As he mentioned, it is not Iran, Iraq, Syira, or Khadaffi, but...Seoul, Korea. It may have not been very obvious at the time that he spoke these prophetic words, but recent events have pointed out that for all that we know, it is just a matter of time before they will be charging at the United States. Now, even if (North) Korea only attacks the United States, and not Israel, one must be in mind that quite a few Jews still live in the declining wealthy country of the world. Certainly, how can we forget that in the events of 9/11, there were some Jews who perished in the fires of terrorism, including even a few observant Jews who saw to it that they came early to work as usual on that fateful morning (as far as I am concerned, working at a job in the United States before 9:00 AM is working early)?
Now, the good rabbi did mention that we can thwart the threats of this Korean nation if we but just do Teshuva (repentance). You see, even when a prophet does give a prophecy of bad things that are going to happen, G-d forbid, when we Jews repent, then these bad things do not happen.
Anyways, here is the punchline as to this rabbi's prophecy. We see that it will be particularly Seoul, Korea who will attack from a particular verse in the Torah in Parshat Ha'azinu - "For fire has been kindled in My wrath, and it will burn until the lowest depths, it will devour the land and its produce, will strike the foundations of mountain (Deutronomy 32:22)." O.K, you will not see the name of the country with the loose translation here, but the Hebrew word for what has been translated as depths is Sheol, as in the phrase here Sheol Tachtit, which in one sense, though not necessarily in the context here, refers to the lowest depths of Gehinnom (Hell or Purgatory). At least in a figurative sense, we are presently at the very end of our exile from which we will soon be redeemed, G-d willing, once and for all, but this time in history can be catastrophic both physically and spiritually. There are already many more things happening around the world both by nature and wars that are killing, injuring, and maiming so many people even without the upcoming World War III. And all this - is because it reflects the spiritual decline of the world, and most especially, what is happening to our Jewish nation, as has never happened to such an extent of not merely choosing to go against the Torah, but the vast ignorance of Judaism that Jews are being raised with.
To be sure, there have been some good developments among the Jewish people in more recent years of Jews coming back to Judaism, returning to our Holy Land, more Yeshivot (Torah learning centers) as never before, along with all types of charity organizations, who have no doubt have had an impact on Jews in Israel for the most part being protected from our surrounding Arab enemies with constant miracles - which involve many more stories of what didn't happen bad to us than what has. However, on the other hand, what has been happening in more recent years especially cannot be ignored - the dictatorship of the Israeli government being headed by Prime Monster Bibi Netanyahu working on every possible edge to give away more Jewish land and/or autonomy to the "Palestinians"; the government desperately finding a way to have Jews who are learning Torah and observing a strict observant lifestyle to be thrown into an army that is dictated by anti-Torah laws; and the wide gap in some places between different levels of Jewish observance between who are loosely called the "Ultra-Orthodox" and the nationalistic or "Modern Orthodox" in Israel such as the latter complaining about the former not wanting to do their "share" of helping the country by joining the army as they themselves have, even though there have been more "Ultra-Orthodox" Jews joining the army than ever, or some of those who label themselves as very observant with the large black hat or skullcap who will hire our Arab enemies for work any day before giving a chance to a nationalistic Jew with the knitted skullcap whom he looks down on as "I'm holier than thou", in stark contrast to what the Torah tell us about the importance of supporting our Jewish brethren, ESPECIALLY when giving a livelihood to almost ANY Jew (there may be exceptions, but I won't discuss it in this post) is the highest of eight levels of charity that can be performed for him.
But you know what the funny thing is - Rabbi Nachmani stated in his same sermon that if the Jews would just do the easy the thing of repenting, there wouldn't be a need of an army in Israel, and certainly not what is called Sheirut Leumi "National Service" which is attended to mostly by young observant Jewish women in the nationalistic camp who are brainwashed by this anti-Torah government that they are helping the country for the next year or two in lieu of being in the army in which women are forbidden to be obliged to serve according to the Torah to begin with, instead of getting married and starting Jewish families no later than the age of 18 as it used to be for most of Jewish history until recently (It's one thing if one wants to first go to college and get a degree or be set with something to make a living from before starting a Jewish family, but not to be coerced or convinced by those who spit on the Torah that they have to make a "contribution" to the State of Israel instead of the real contribution of bringing more Jewish souls who will serve Hashem into the world).
I will get back to the verse that I mentioned earlier momentarily. But first, as typically, the Haftara of any given Parsha reflects on some theme within that Parsha, the Haftara for Parshat Ha'azinu, which is also read on the seventh day of Pesach following our reading in the Torah about the miracle of the Reed Sea, is also like in Parshat Ha'azinu in the form of a song, both in the wording style and the way the lines are written in the scroll. With this said, we see that the first verse of this Hafatra (II Samuel Chapter 22, parallel to Psalm 51 with similar wording) mentions King David singing praise to Hashem for saving him from the hand of all his enemies "and from the hand of Saul".
Now, why did King David specify King Saul as a separate category of enemies as if to give the impression that he was the worse enemy of all? After all, despite King Saul's constant attempts to do away with King David whose dynasty was to replace his after King Saul's failure to listen to Prophet Samuel to totally eradicate the Amalekite nation, which was due to his jealousy of him after King David won some local battles and the women who praising him and contrasting his greater accomplishments than King Saul's, King Saul was the father-in-law of King David; and in fact, King David himself, both in King Saul's lifetime and death, refers to him as "the anointed of Hashem". At least as far as King Saul was concerned, he was in fact inflicted with an evil spirit covered with melancholy that led King Saul, despite his vast knowledge of Torah and past righteousness, that caused him to be going after King David so much. However, most of the other enemies that King David encountered such as Doeg and Achitophel were rotten through and through to begin with.
It is true that despite what King Saul did from when he disobeyed Prophet Samuel, to what he did in his rage against King David following being fed by the High Priest, that he had the High Priest murdered as well as the Cohanim, women and even little babies in the town of Nob, that he did in fact go to Heaven following being killed in battle, as recounted by the Sages in the Talmud. Now, I will tie everything together a little later on here; but first, as we proceed with this Haftara in verse 6, King David recounts - Chevlei Sheol... "The bonds of Sheol surrounded me, the snares of death preceeded me". We see that King Saul's Hebrew name Shaul and the term Sheol (loosely translated as depths) are spelled the same way besides the Hebrew vowels. It seems that the experience that King David had with running away from King Saul and hiding from him most reminded him of what death is like, for after all, he himself experienced a change of lifestyle from his parents' home to being a respected local warrior to needing to flee from King Saul taking a chance finding refuge with other kings or nations who weren't exactly in love with Israel to say the least. And aside from his other challenges with major enemies during the course of his 40 plus years as king, this was the first major experience in his lifetime of needing to deal with a situation of someone opposing him to the extent that he had to run for his life. And so, no matter what happened later on, it wasn't so hard to handle, for he already knew what the experience of escaping danger and death was life. But in stark contrast to what he was used to up to that point in time, it was King Saul who broke King David's sense of security. For despite King David having already began fighting battles, he knew that at least then, he was serving Hashem in fighting enemies of the Jewish people, and is in fact forbidden according to the Torah to be afraid in the midst of such wars. However, by needing to run away from King Saul, it totally disrupted his flow in life to the extent that he felt that he was like one who worships idols since he ran from the Holy Land at one point in the cat and mouse game.
Now, getting back to our verse in the Chumash, there are quite a few interesting facts pertaining to this verse, aside from the direct mention of the word Sheol which Rabbi Nachmani points out is referring to Seoul. This verse is in the midst of what is called the Shirat Ha'azinu "Song of Ha'azinu, which Moses spoke more as a sermon on the day of his passing warning the Jewish nation of what could happen if they rebel against Hashem - literally. You see, there are 43 verses to Shirat Ha'azinu, and this verse - verse 22 - is the MIDDLE verse of this Song!
Now, if we are to count the number of verses in the Chumash, we see that this is the 5,774th verse. There are in fact, many parallels between the number of verse in the Chumash with the corresponding year of the world's existance. And so, corresponding to this Year 5773, we see that the previous verse - the 5773rd verse of the Torah, mentions of a non-nation, which we (not all, and sadly, not all includes some who call themselves religious but believe that we have to still look to appease our Arab enemies, or we are being cruel to them) know as the "Palestinians" today; for in fact, there is no such country as Palestine, a name that was used to refer to Israel by the anti-Semitic British for a period of time before declaration of the State of Israel.
In fact, I wrote about this verse in my 156th post in connection to Joseph. But the point here, is that as we see in the 21st verse of Shirat Ha'azinu, Hashem will bring the "non-nation" as a result of some Jews angering Him with their "acts of vanity", for in vain does Dictator Netanyahu attempt to appease Obama, Abbas, etc. who are all laughing at him, despite him thinking that at least he has made a nice show with his sincere efforts of capitulating to the demands of the non-nation and the United Nations whose sole purpose of existence is to rid Israel once and for all in the guise of making peace between nations.
Now, even though in the merit of the good deeds of the Jews in Israel, we have been saved from our enemies for the most part, it doesn't mean that Jews in other parts of the world don't have to worry about the Arab next door. Quite the contrary, along with the increase of Muslim Arabs or Arab Muslims (which one makes more sense?) in various European countries who are holding their leaders by their throats to do what they want to do in their countries, including harassing, injuring and murdering Jews, things are getting steadily worse for Jews in the rest of the world, including the United States, since the Arabs feel that the Israeli government fears them instead of showing true strength, and they feed very well on this weakness which leads to them going after Jews in other countries. And accordingly, the rest of the world, the media and all, see Israel not as this humanitarian country who provides free sustenance, medications, etc. to Arabs in Gaza even in times of war with the Arabs, or as the first ones who quickly rush to a major center of disaster somewhere in the world to help the survivors; but rather as a weakling who hasn't done enough, in their estimation of being fair to its enemies, if not openly accusing them of terrorizing them or stealing "their" land.
And so, whether directly or indirectly, this will lead to the next step, G-d forbid. The next step being, what takes place in verse 22 after verse 21. Certainly, regardless of who plans to attack Israel or the good ol' U.S. of A., it is Hashem Who has the ultimate say. But, whatever does happen that reflects disaster, is not because Hashem wants something for Himself, but because of the evil actions of others. And even though the anti-Semites blame us Jews for what happens wrong in this world, even though quite often, we at least physically have done the opposite, such as helping any given country financially; the anti-Semites do in fact have a point - though not the way that they interpret it, because our evil actions can cause other nations to suffer as well, and at times, they are the ones who are set as examples for us to repent. However, if G-d forbid, we don't repent, then the tragedies G-d forbid hit closer at home. This is just like the Midrash that tells us that when it comes Hashem punishing a Jew with Tzara'at, it begins with his home, then his clothing, and finally his own body, until he is forced to show everyone what a sinner he is, and only once he is totally shaved of his hair along with the other various atonements does he finally wake up that he needs to make a real change.
And so, wherever North Korea through its capitol Seoul plans on hitting, no doubt that this will be a MAJOR change in world history, especially since this near future event is openly hinted right in front of our eyes in the Chumash! For today, unlike some 100 years ago, we can now visualize the damage that can happen from a major bombing - both the short term of people being killed and the long term effects killing the next generation, as we know from the nuclear point in Chernobyl how it changed so many lives, and Jewish children were being flown over the course of many years to Israel to both remove them from the dangerous airy environment and give them the necessary medical treatments to undo at least some of the damage that their bodies were exposed to.
Now, getting back to the verse in Parshat Ha'azinu hinting to Seoul, let us take a close look on other middles in relationship to this verse. First, let's take a look at a phrase in this verse - Vatikad Ad Sheol Tachtit - "and it will burn until the lowest depths". Now, in the 462 words of Shirat Ha'azinu (Deutronomy 32:1-43), the MIDDLE two words are Vatikad Ad "and it will burn until". The MIDDLE two words of the 14 words of this verse are Sheol Tachtit "the lowest depths". You see, it could have happened that the two middle words of Shirat Ha'azinu would occur in some nearby verse, since not all verses have the same amount of words, but as it turns out, the MIDDLE two words of the 43 verses are also within the MIDDLE verse of these 43 verses, and they are immediately followed by the MIDDLE two words of this MIDDLE verse that mentions the word Sheol.
And now the big winner. Since we have established that the 5774th verse in the Torah is the MIDDLE verse of Shirat Ha'azinu, let us note the makeup of this coming Year 5774. It consists of 385 days, the most amount of days in a year that can occur in the Jewish calendar as it does in a leap year consisting of 13 months. Also, just as there are 55 letters in this verse, so too there are 55 complete weeks in Year 5774; that is, a letter in the 5774th verse corresponding to a week in Year 5774. And guess what is the MIDDLE date of Year 5774? 14 Adar II - the date of Purim! Ironically, it seems that some non-Jews know more about this most joyous Jewish holiday than many assimilated Jews especially in the United States who would rather complain about the Holocaust or how quiet it is in the Reform Temple on the High Holidays where a good percentage of the worshipers are old people. After all, the word Purim was the final word in the United States National Spelling Bee in 1983. And then in 1991, the Persian Gulf War ended on Purim. And speaking of the MIDDLE day, the Kabbalistic Sephira of the MIDDLE day of Sephirat Haomer - the 25th day of the Omer (falls out on 10 Iyar in our present calendar) is Netzach She'B'Netzach (Victory within Victory); and indeed, Purim celebrates our victory over our enemies, which was in fact a double victory, for not only our enemies who originally planned on murdering us did not succeed, but we had our victory over them, just as implied in the double wording of Netzach (Victory) as the Kabbalistic Sephira for the MIDDLE day of the Sephira.
And so, it seems that there is indeed tremendous potential for whatever the Korean government does in the near future will be rather to our advantage, for after all, Purim is the holiday that we celebrate our victory in war over our enemies. However, we must remember to start doing some serious repentance, just as the Jews did that led to their victory over their enemies rather than vice-versa in the Purim story. No doubt, Purim 5774, in this coming year, will be a turning point in the history of the Jewish people (and the world).
Now note, this middle verse in Shirat Ha'azinu is the 22nd verse. And near the end of Megillat Esther (Book of Esther), the first word of a verse includes an enlarged Tav in the word VaTichtov "She wrote" (the first Tav in the word), the very verse that mentions that Queen Esther wrote the words that eventually formed the Megilla that we read twice on Purim. One reason given for the enlarged Tav is because just as the Tav is the 22nd and LAST letter of the Aleph-Beit, so was Esther the 22nd and LAST of the righteous women mentioned in the Tanach. Now, this verse is in Chapter 9, Verse 29. Putting these two numbers together, the number is now 929. And in the very LAST verse of the Tanach which consists of 929 chapters, Koresh the Persian king gives permission for the Jews to travel to Israel and rebuild the Temple that was destroyed 52 years earlier. Now, bear in mind that not all the events in Tanach are in chronological order, for this event in the last verse of Tanach took place some 15 years before the Purim story, and then more action took place in Israel since then that is mentioned in Tanach.
The reason that I say this is because of an event that is mentioned in the Megilla. When Esther made a party for King Achashveirosh and Haman, the king asked her "What is your request and it will be granted and performed until HALF of the kingdom" (Esther 5:6). Now, it is true that this verse immediately proceeds the MIDDLE verse of the Megilla "Esther answered replying "My request..." But what did the king mean when he said "until HALF of the kingdom"? Was it just a figurative way of saying that he will give her half of what he owns or reigns over? Apparently, the rabbis took this very literally. You see, the MIDDLE, or HALF WAY POINT of his kingdom of 127 countries was of all places - the area of the Beit HaMikdash (Jewish Temple)! In fact, it was at the very beginning of the Megilla that the king threw a major party that lasted for six months, and our rabbis tell us that he wore the clothes of the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) which were looted along with the Jews who were exiled to Babylonia following the destruction of the Temple.
In fact, we learn that the Temple is the MIDDLE of Jerusalem, Jerusalem is in the MIDDLE of Israel, and Israel is in the MIDDLE of the world. The truth is that if you were to look on a map, it wouldn't exactly look like this is the truth; for to begin with, the equator is in the center of the world, and Israel is definitely above the equator. Hence, this statement in Talmudic literature must be referring to the spiritual middle of the Temple, Jerusalem and Israel. And so, we see here about the king, who was rotten from beginning to end as far as the rabbis in the Talmud are concerned. that more than anything else, didn't want the Jews to be reattached to their spirituality, thus attempting to murder us spiritually, which is even worse than just murdering physically as Haman attempted to do, for one who murders another merely removes him from this temporary world, while one who causes another to sin removes him from the next world forever being bereft of eternal bliss. And in this case of the Temple being in the middle of the 127 countries; Israel as the middle country was the 64th country. And as we know, the square root of 64 is eight, which is the number that represents what is above nature - such as miracles.
And speaking of the number eight, Moses addressed the Jewish people with Shirat Ha'azinu on the LAST day of his life - 7 Adar, his birthdate of 120 years earlier. And it is the 14th of Adar - Purim, that is the EIGHTH day from 7 Adar, which was no doubt the date of Baby Moses' circumcision. And speaking of last, the LAST Mitzva of the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah is writing a Sefer Torah (Torah scroll), which is mentioned in a verse in the previous Parsha (Deutronomy 31:19) where it states "Now write for yourselves this song and teach it to the Children of Israel, place it in their mouths, in order that this song will be for me as a witness against the Chldren of Israel". Now, I will elaborate more on this verse shortly, but the immediate point here is that it seems that the whole Torah is supposed to be written SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS SONG OF HA'AZINU TO BE WRITTEN.
The question can be asked - isn't the Torah supposed to be written down for us to learn all the 613 Mitzvot and their details? Why it especial importance being placed on Moses' final sermon which is about what will happen to the Jewish people based on their performance as though this is the very reason why we have to write a Sefer Torah?
The truth is, if Hashem really wanted to, He could have had the 613 Mitzvot, just like the Ten Commandments, be written on tablets and the like if it was simply a matter of knowing what He wants us to do, accompanied with the oral details of these Mitzvot and the telling of stories what went on with our ancestors that led to us being G-d's nation. However, in terms of appreciating the importance of keeping Hashem's Commandments - this had to be written in a scroll. You see, the scroll is what Jews were used to reading in the past in terms of Torah before the Torah was given. And so, Hashem wanted to make sure that they could relate best to the words of promises and warnings, and that they should be immediately available in the form of a scroll. Also, in sharp contrast to sapphire stone, the scroll coming from animal hide is far cheaper; and so, if every Jew is supposed to own a Sefer Torah, it had to be done in a more cheaper, convenient way possible (Note: As I have mentioned before, the rabbinical authorities have already noted that nowadays, we fulfill this last Mitzva of the Torah by buying and learning holy books; though if one can afford to fulfill this Mitzva in the literal sense, all the better).
In any case, as the verse that mentions the last Mitzva of the Torah makes mention particularly of Shirat Ha'azinu, it has to be a most important part of the Torah. In fact, the Ramban (Nachmanides) notes that everyone is hinted somewhere in these 43 verses of the Torah. But especially as we see it nowadays, these verses correspond to the years in Jewish history that are what we call the "End of Days" marking the end of exile and the beginning of our Redemption, G-d willing very soon.
Now, let us note the word Sheol in the middle Shirat Ha'azinu verse in connection with Purim. For you see, it was Mordechai, the male hero of the Purim story, a descendant of Shaul HaMelech (King Saul), who cleaned up some of the mess that his ancestor made. You see, King Saul failed to obey Shmuel HaNavi (Samuel the Prophet) when the latter told him to totally eradicate the Amalekite nation, including all its animals. However, Saul thought that he was a little smart, and allowed the Amalekite King Agag alive as a trophy and kept some of animals so he could sacrifice them to G-d. The problem with this is that just as he did once before, he allowed himself to be carried away with making sacrifices to G-d instead of worrying more about what he was ordered to do by Him via His prophet. And so, in the one night that King Agag was in Jewish capture, he cried that he was going to die with leaving behind no children or descendants in the world. As a result of King Saul's disobedience, Hashem heard King Agag's cries and he found himself a woman for a one night stand, from whom descended Haman, the villain in the Purim story that Mordechi helped get rid of.
Now, it is true that King Saul, despite his faults, died in battle in atonement for his sins, and as attested to by the rabbis, came straight to heaven. However, the damage was done, and it was only thanks to his righteous descendant Mordechai that he averted some of the damage of Amalek from the Jewish people, resulting in a new Jewish holiday. Indeed, King Saul had a big spiritual fall as well as his royal fall - Sheol Tachtit "lowest depths" hitting rock bottom from being the first king of Israel, loosing his royal line to King David. Yes, what I wrote earlier about King David's reason for specifying King Saul from the rest of his enemies from whom he was saved by Hashem is well applicable. But perhaps, it can be suggested, as in addition to the Book of Samuel, King David wrote very similarly in the Book of Psalms which he wrote relating to the Jewish people throughout the generations, that at the end of time in our exile of being chased by our enemies, that the final nation that we will have to deal with or will attempt to attack us will be the nation whose capitol is Seoul right before the coming of Moshiach, King David's descendant. And as this relates to Purim, we sure hope that Hashem in His mercy will spare us the worst, even as we read the Haftara of Parshat Ha'azinu also on the seventh day of Pesach, the date that we Jews were saved from the Egyptians at the Reed Sea and we sang the first of 10 songs recorded in Tanach.
Now, let us look at the last two letters/numbers of the upcoming Jewish Year 5774 - Ayin, Dalet. Remember earlier what I mentioned about the first verse of the Shema - where the letters Ayin and Dalet as the last letters of the first and last word, respectively are enlarged? This symbolizes the fact that we Jews serve as an Eid (witness), this word also spelling the Hebrew number for 74, that Hashem is our G-d and that He is One. And amazingly, this word is also used in the verse mentioning the last Mitzva of the Torah "in order that this song will be for me as a WITNESS against the Jewish people". Now excuse me for a moment, but is this a way that the verse that spells out the last Mitzva of the Torah to end off on such a negative note? At the very least, the Torah could have spelled out both the positive and negative, as it does in other verses in the Torah.
Perhaps more than just a warning, since we have plenty of warning both in the context of around where this verse is mentioned as well as in the upcoming Parshat Ha'azinu, is that this could very well be a prophecy as to "the evil that will befall you at the end of days" (verse 29), just ten verses later. For indeed, the last two letters of the upcoming Jewish year is Ayin and Dalet. In fact, there are six words in the Sefer Torah that by tradition, have to be written at the beginning of a column, and the LAST of these six words is V'A'Ida "AND I WILL HAVE TESTIFY against them the heavens and the earth" (verse 28), which is based on the word Eid (witness) or Eidut (testimony). Along these lines, we see that in our prayers, the LAST prayer that is recited at the end of every prayer service is the Aleinu prayer. This actually consists of two paragraphs. Both of these paragraphs begin with the letter Ayin and ends with the letter Dalet, though in some versions of the Siddur (prayer book), the second paragraph begins with the letter Vav (and) immediately preceeding the letter Ayin in the word. In any case, we see here a hint to the concept of two witnesses as Eid (V')Eid - for in many if not most cases, two witnesses were required to testify in a Jewish court for their statement to be considered valid, as in this Aleinu prayer, we testify about Hashem being one, just as in the Shema. And then, in the 5774th verse in which the middle two words of Shirat Ha'azinu appear - Vatikad Ad "It will be lit UNTIL", where the word Ad is spelled the same way in its letters as the word Eid, again spelling the number 74, except that it means "until", but it comes to show here the special emphasis on the year 5774 in more than one translation for the Hebrew number 74 as a word. And as related with Puirm, the LAST holiday recorded in Tanach, the Gematria of Mordechi's name is 274, which as you can see, ends with the number 74.
And in terms of the End of Days, there is an Aramaic phrase that refers to this period of time right before the coming of Moshiach - IKveita D'Meshicha "Footsteps of Moshiach", using the word Eikev, and the letters of these two words are Ayin and Dalet. No denying, this number 74 (Ayin-Dalet) will be playing a major role in the final stage leading to the Redeption, as denoted by the fact that the word Ad (until), which also spells the Hebrew number 74, immediately proceeds the word Sheol (Seoul) in the Ha'azinu verse.
We have yet to see what will happen in the upcoming Year 5774, but as related to the MIDDLE verse of Shirat Ha'azinu which is the 5774th verse of the Torah, the Hebrew word for Korea includes the letters of the name of the third and MIDDLE book of the Chumash - Sefer Vayikra (Leviticus), which largely, especially the first Parsha of this book which is called Parshat Vayikra, deals with the various animal sacrifices. Perhaps this hints here to the fact that King Saul, the FIRST king of Israel, whose Hebrew name very much resembles the word Sheol which in turn resembles the name of the capitol of Korea, failed twice to obey the prophet Samuel in his quest of wanting to offer animal sacrifices to Hashem, but which ran contrary to what Hashem really wanted, which resulted in his demotion of loosing the kingdom from his family to King David whose descendant will be Moshiach.
We see that the word Vayikra was put to good use way earlier in the Torah when it was Abraham, the FIRST Jew, who "CALLED OUT there in the name of Hashem" at his hospitality center. In fact, in the Book of Isaiah (41:2), which is also part of the Haftara for Parshat Lech-Lecha, it speaks about Abraham where it states "Who aroused on from the east, GREETED by victory at his footstep...", and has been pointed out, the Hebrew word for "greeted" which is Yikraeihu, has the same letters as the word Korea, which is located in the Far East, and that the first letters of the words located in verse 5 - Ra'oo Iyim V'Yira'oo Ketzot Ha'aretz Yecheradu "The islands saw and they were afraid, the ends of the earth trembled..." which are the letters of the word Korea in Hebrew, apparently hinting to a future time when Korea will threaten or use their weapons in a way that will frighten other countries. And as connected to Abraham, he himself fought in a war (Genesis 14) as recorded in Parshat Lech-Lecha, with his ultimate intention of freeing his nephew Lot who was captured during this war, and as mentioned of Abraham's efforts of fighting "and the night divided for them" (Genesis 14:15) about which, Rashi notes that Hashem picked up the tab from where Abraham left off fighting until midnight, and in the night immediately preceding the Exodus, He struck the firstborn exactly at midnight.
So as you can see, we have a co-relationship here with the first, middle, and last as related to Seoul, Korea. And as for Rabbi Nachmani, his Hebrew name Levi Sa'adya shares the same Gematria as the word HaKeitz (the End) referring to the Messianic Era that he spoke and attempted to prepare the Jewish people for with his admonition for repentance. This is also the same Gematria as the phrase Yimloach HaMelech (The King will reign) (Note: I didn't see this phrase anywhere, but this is something that I thought of), for indeed, as in the verse near the end of Shirat HaYam, the song that the Jews sang following their deliverance at the Yam Suf (Sea of Reeds) recited every morning in the midst of the prayer services - Hashem Yimloch Leolam Vaed "Hashem will reign forever" (Exodus 15:18); for though Hashem has always been King, He wasn't always accepted as such until today by everyone; in the future in the time of the Messianic Era, He will be accepted as King by everyone, as testified as such in the Aleinu prayer. And as for Rabbi Nachmani's family name, we see that the one time that this name is mentioned in Tanach is in a list of Jewish leaders who accompanied Zerubabel to Israel (Nehemia 7:7) where this name is mentioned immediately proceeding the name Mordechai of the Purim story, who also exhorted the Jews in his time to repent, though many of them failed to listen until they knew that they were slated for extermination which caused them to repent.
It is interesting about the timing of Rabbi Nachmani's message. You see, a few years earlier, Rabbi Meir Kahane, may Hashem avenge his blood, was murdered, and during his era of his constant activism since founding the JDL in 1968, he constantly warned the Jewish people of what could happen if G-d forbid, we don't listen to the Torah, especially when it comes with dealing with the Arabs in OUR land, to get rid of every last one of them to THEIR land in one of their 22 Arab countries and live happily forever. Most unfortunately, few cried out when Prime Monster Menachem Begin, though he used to be a good fighter for Israel, gave in to pressure and signed the ill fated Camp David accords that shouted goodbye to the Sinai, falling for the sly words of Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt, who led his country in the sneak attack on Israel on Yom Kippur 1973, who claimed that he wanted peace for Israel, offering only the piece of paper that bore his false words for priceless Israeli territory. However, Kahane was one of the few in the oasis of truth who exposed the truth regarding this whole fiasco, when hundreds, nay, thousands of rabbis should have took to the streets in Israel and the United States to protest this major sacrilege of the Israeli government even daring to offer parts of our Holy Land to our avowed sworn enemies. And so, since there were a few too many Jews who refused to listen to one modern day prophet, Hashem sent another to tell everyone to repent. Anyways, what we do see is the date of 14 Adar, the date of Purim, employing the letters Yud-Dalet Aleph-Dalet-Reish are all within Rabbi Kahane's Hebrew name Meir Dovid.
Now, during the time that Rabbi Nachmani spoke his message in 5755 (1994), Rabbi Kahane's son Binyamin Zev, may Hashem avenge his blood, was continuing his father's legacy, though fewer listened to what he had to say, because some past followers of Kahane the father rejected his son due to politics. And so, it wasn't sufficient for the Jewish people to have Binyamin Zev Kahane warn them, but needed a rabbi from the Sephardic sector to reach out to many more Jews who would at least listen to what he had to say. But as it turns out, Binyamin Zev's name is the same Gematria as the word Eikev - 172! And though it may sound a little secular, as the word Eikev does mean END in some contexts, Rabbi Binyamin Zev Kahane (and his wife) were murdered on the LAST day of the secular year 2000.
This should remind us of a rabbinic statement that of the 6000 years of this world's existance, the first 2000 represents desolation (between the flood and the lack of G-dliness in the world). The second and middle 2000 years was the period of Torah (from Abraham to the Giving of the Torah to the Mishnaic period), and the third and last 2000 years are the "days of Moshiach". As it turns out, the 2nd Temple was destroyed 172 years before the end of the second period of 2,000 years in Year 3828, and is mentioned in the Talmud that Moshiach was born on Tisha B'Av, the date that the (Second) Temple was destroyed; meaning that the potential of Moshiach coming began from even that moment, if the Jews would but repent.
Let us hope that it won't take, G-d forbid, a major tragedy for us to wake up, but that rather, we take the initiative to repent ahead of time, so that by the time the next Purim comes around, we will have one more reason to celebrate this joyous holiday, ushering in the immediate Redemption which we should all merit in the midst of great happiness, as the beginning of Parshat Eikev, the 46th Parsha of the Torah (and the name Levi, the name of the one Tribe of Israel who obeyed Hashem all through the time in Egypt and in the wilderness before the Jews came to Israel, is the Gematria of 46) promises for obeying Hashem "He will love you, bless you, multiply you, and bless the fruit of the womb, your land, your grain, etc." May we see the fulfillment of this very soon in our days. Amen!
28 Nissan, 5773
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