#39 - Teaching Hashem's Children How 2 Behave

In Parshat Re'eh that we just read this past Shabbat, the beginning of the 4th Aliyah reads: Banim Atem LaHashem Elokeichem - "You are children to Hashem, your G-d..." (Deutronomy 14:1). If you count the number of verses in Parshat Re'eh, you will see that this is the 58th verse of this Parsha. In Hebrew, the number 58 is is spelled Noon Cheit, which also spells the name Noach/Noah, the ancestor of all mankind like Adam was, since only Noah and his immediate family survived the world flood.

While the generation of the flood did all types of sins, our Rabbis tell us that it was particularly the sin of stealing that sealed their fate. Following the year that Noah's family and the lucky surviving creatures were living in Noah's Ark, Hashem spoke to Noah about various things that mankind is supposed to be careful about, which are known as the Seven Commandments of the Children of Noah (Sheva Mitzvot B'nei Noach). Since they are only seven, it is worthwhile to mention what they are:
1) Prohibition of eating a limb severed from a live animal.
2) Prohibiton of what is known as Bircat Hashem "Blessing Hashem" used as a euphamism for the opposite as we do not want to associate cursing in reference to Hashem.
3) Prohibition of stealing.
4) Establishing a justice system to enforce the Seven Commandments of Noah.
5) Prohibition of murdering.
6) Prohibition of idolatry.
7) Prohibition of sexual immorality, which includes adultery, homosexuality, and incest.
(I put this in this specific order only because there is a memory trick in Hebrew using the first seven letters of the Alef Beit to remember the list in this order)

Anyways, it's interesting to note that the beginning letters of the 58th verse in Parshat Re'eh begins with the letters Beit, Noon, Yud spelling the word B'nei and 58 is the number and Gematria of Noach. Thus, although the verse in its literal meaning is addressing specifically the Jewish people, this verse seems to also hint to the Sons of Noah or Noahides, which is a nice terminology to call non-Jews. While non-Jews do not have the holiness that Jews have, they also have Neshamot/souls, something that animals do not possess who have only a spirit that keeps them alive only in this world. Non-Jews, as Jews, are in fact, according to our Rabbis, also assured a share in the world to come if they but keep the above commandments that Hashem commanded to all mankind; it's just that the Jews as Hashem's Chosen Nation have the potential to be shining examples to the rest of mankind.

Indeed in recent times, there has been a movement among non-Jews not looking to convert to Judaism who want to live as Noahides who observe the "Seven Commandments". While all other religions encourage converting other people to their specific religion, and oftentimes using threats, tourture and murder, while claiming that those who don't convert will go to hell; Judaism is the ONLY religion that does not seek to convert people from outside its religion, and leave room for the possibility of people outside of Judaism to have reward in Heaven. In fact, a non-Jew who wants to convert to Judaism is initially discouraged and refused for a total of three times, thus qualifying only those non-Jews who are sincere in joining the Jewish religion. The reason this is so crucial is because once a non-Jew becomes Jewish, there is no way ever to get rid of this Jewishness, since he/she henceforth remains with the holiness of a Jew, and has an immense responsibility to keep the Torah/Mitzvot/Halacha the way that Hashem wants us to keep them, and not observe them merely as a nice Jewish "lifestyle" to pick and choose as one pleases. This may be fine in other religions as long as one believes in Jesus or Mohammed, may their names and memories be erased; but as members of Judaism, we treat Hashem as our Father and King who gives us orders and we have to follow them regardless of the challenges involved, and it is not enough to merely say that we believe in Hashem, while not following what Hashem tells us to do.

Speaking of following orders, there are consequences that happens when one does not follow orders. On the lighter side, for certain Aveirot/sins, the Beit Din/Jewish court until almost 2,000 years ago used to administer lashes. The minimal amount of lashes administered at any one time pending one's health and body condition to be predetermined (which may then be less than the typical amount of lashes) is 39 lashes (and this is my 39th post). It is interesting to note that the Torah mentions 40 lashes and that "one should not add" to this amount for any one sin. However, our Rabbis tell us that it is indeed only 39 lashes. However the Rabbis learn this out or if they decided to make the amount one less than what the Torah says may not be clear. However, there must be a connection between the concept of the punishment for lashes and the number forty or its Gematria as the letter Mem, which I discuss later on in this post. In any case, three different verses denoting Hashem's mercies, atonement for sin, and observance of Hashem's Mitzvot, each consisting of 13 words, were recited during the lashes administration, to match one word per lash, thus showing that the lashes were not administered simply as punishment, but as a way of learning a lesson for doing a sin and to be an atonement for that sin.

In the Mishna of Tractate Sanhedrin (1:2), there is a difference of opinion as to how many judges were to make the decision of administering lashes to a sinner. One opinion says that there were three judges, while Rabbi Yishmael says that there were 23 judges. Indeed, Tractate Makkot of the Babylonian Talmud, (Makkot literally means hittings, and this tractate discusses the lashes administrating in its 3rd chapter) consists of three chapters, and has a total of 23 Dafim/pages!
On a personal note, the word Makkot is the same Gematria as my name Shimon (466), but no lashes please!

Speaking of the above, I want to address a most unfortunate event that occured a few weeks ago on the morning of July 23/2 Av. The FBI arrested 44 people in connection with a major operation of money laundering. It is most significant to note that 44 people were arrested that Thursday morning during the week of Parshat Devarim, which is the 44th Parsha of the Torah, in the first year of the presidency of Obama, the 44th President of the United States. And this happened on the 2nd day of the month of Av that corresponds to the Tribe of Shimon, whose name is the same Gematria as Makkot. Among the arrested were five rabbis. Whether these rabbis were aware of the details of their involvement is not something that I wish to discuss here, because I do not have all the facts, and if we are to start judging them, we have to ask ourselves what we would have done if we were in their position, besides the sin of Loshon Hora/evil talk if we are going to judge them as doing something wrong whether they did or not.

There are three parts to this whole thing that happened here that I want to discuss: 1) Stealing 2) Informing on others 3)Anti-Semitism.


STEALING

As I mentioned a little earlier, stealing is a universal sin that is a prohibition to both Jews and non-Jews, and was the final cause of the deathly fate of the generation of Noah. Stealing comes in many different forms, and in the world of politics, there are a significant percentage of politicians who use their power to make money as if they are above the law. And a Jew who lives in a country outside of Israel is bidden by Halacha/Jewish Law to pay income taxes according to the rules of that country as one who lives in someone else's territory is bound by the rules of its owner as the conditions to be allowed to live on it; otherwise, one is stealing from that owner. (This is NOT applicable to today's modern "State of Israel" which is run by a government that goes against the Torah, it's just that people pay taxes to avoid going to prison, and hopefully, some of that money will be used to the betterment of the Jews living in Israel). Thus, a Jew hiding from revealing the money that he made to avoid paying taxes or misappropriating money is not only stealing which is forbidden even from non-Jews, but also creates a Chillul Hashem, a desecration of Hashem's name about which non-Jews will G-d forbid say that Jews love money, and will even steal, even though our Torah forbids us to steal from anyone. Anti Semites have already used the word Jew as a verb to describe someone stealing money from someone else as "Jewing" someone.


INFORMING ON OTHERS

How did the FBI have information on the rabbis whom they arrested? Very unfortunately, and this is not the first such case, an "observant" Jew - particularly one whose father is a rabbi of a synagogue who denounced his son's actions - to avoid some punishment as a result of money laundering of his own - acted on behalf of the FBI to trap these rabbis into a money laundering scam. It's not that these rabbis were already involved in something non-kosher, but it was this creep that initiated the whole thing to get them in trouble with the law to begin with. Our Rabbis make it clear that one who informs on other Jews resulting in them being killed, imprisoned, or their money taken away, loses his share in the world to come. Certainly this is applicable in this case, where this lowlife did the whole nine yards, and not merely snooping on what some rabbis were already doing, thus assuring himself a "prize" in the "informers' hall of fame". The only reason why I will not mention this guy's name is not because there is a problem of mentioning this evil man's name because according to the laws of the prohibition of Loshon Hora, it is in fact permitted if not a Mitzva to mention who this informer is, but because I am not looking for a lawsuit or a price on my head. My only intention of even mentioning this part about the informer is to put things in perspective here, and to teach others what is permitted or forbidden according to Jewish Law.


ANTI-SEMITISM

Today, I am not talking about Anti-Semitism from Arabs, Neo-Nazis, or Obama, even though plenty of this disease is abound in these three groups of people. However, I am talking about the FBI. Now first of all, I want to mention up front that in all fairness, there are, in fact, Jews who work in the FBI, so when I mention the FBI in relationship to Anti-Semitism, I am not refering to Jews who work in this so called law enforcement agency if they themselves are not working in a position that is specifically targeting Jews to get them in trouble. On the other hand, I do not have the slightest fear of what the FBI will want to do to me if they catch hold of this blog, because first of all, I no longer live in the United States as I made Aliyah a number of years ago, and I am not suggesting to do any kind of harm to the FBI. I am simply mentioning facts about the FBI of their double standards that they have displayed against Jews more than once in recent history.

Questions need to be asked here. First of all, how come did the FBI wait 10 years until it was able to arrest 44 people, instead of arresting some of the same people years earlier? I won't forget how one of the FBI members who spoke to the United States nation (and the rest of the world - as watched on the internet), having an Oriental look, outlining the group of people that the FBI arrested, and then he proceeded on by saying, "and, OF COURSE (emphasis is mine) there are the five rabbis..." So, Anti-Semitic FBI agent, let me understand what you are saying here. Are you saying that OF COURSE Jews, and most certainly rabbis, are bound to steal? Or are you saying that you waited so many years until you were able to find an informer to get some rabbis in trouble, which means that OF COURSE the FBI were not going to end this money laundering operation until some rabbis would be part of this also? And what also bothers me is that the FBI allowed more people over time to steal instead of nipping this sin in the bud. OF COURSE the FBI will claim that they needed "sufficient evidence" before they could make their big move. But as far as I am concerned, the only difference between the FBI and the criminals in prison is that the FBI is not in prison. After all, if people didn't commit crimes, I guess the policemen wouldn't have too much left to do in terms of making a living.

Now, let's backtrack to quite a few years earlier, when Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel of the JDL were arrested by the FBI for supposedly planning on planting a bomb in a mosque. After a year in prison, Irv Rubin was dead, and the FBI claimed that he committed suicide. The problem with this report is that the story that the FBI delivered didn't quite add up. For all we know, the FBI itself could have arranged for his death, and then had it committed by criminals locked up in the system in return for earlier release. And then the following year, Earl Krugel was dead for no explained logical reason; though this time, the FBI was a little smart not to claim the same phoney excuse that it was a suicide like they used the first time.

And then there was the incident in the El Al airport of Los Angeles, where an Egyptian guy shot dead a few Jews until he was gunned down by others. This included a woman who worked for the airline, and an observant Jewish passenger who had a wife and seven children. Leaving it to the media, not everyone was thrilled to say that it was an Arab that did this most henious crime. In fact, the day after, the Miami Herald claimed that maybe this was done by a Hispanic guy, when there were those who knew immediately about the nationality of the terrorist. But if you thought that at least a law enforcement agency would behave better, think again. The FBI refused to ever consider this a terrorist act, despite pleadings from the Jewish community!

Thus, it comes with no surprise that the FBI can present itself as a law enforcement agency while actively helping others to commit crimes just so that it can be "doing its job" when its job is in fact is supposed to prevent further crimes from occuring, and not just catching people after committing a crime. And as that Anti-Semitic Oriental looking guy in the FBI claimed in his speech, "What these people did is not about religion or politics, it's about crime". What this Anti-Semite did not mention is that the FBI is also a practitioner of crime who didn't follow the "Seven Commandments of the Sons of Noah", who are supposed to IMMEDIATELY arrest anyone whom they know is performing a crime, and don't need 10 years waiting for this to be able to prove that SOME of the 44 people whom they arrested one morning did something wrong. While the FBI is not a court, ALL non-Jews who have the physical strength as adults have the choice of doing the right thing, and do their part in bringing someone who is in violation of the Seven Commmandments of the Sons of Noah to the court, and unlike today in the United States who only execute a handful of convicted murderers on Death Row (as well as the Rosenberg couple in 1953 for espionage even though they didn't commit murder, but only OF COURSE because they were Jews), ALL crimes that a non-Jew is forbidden to commit are punishable by IMMEDIATE death upon evidence that the crime was committed, and is supposed to be executed specifically by the SWORD. Executions done in any other way is in violation of how a criminal is supposed to be executed, and those in charge of the executions performed in ways other than the sword are no less guilty of the death penalty for non-Jews according to the Torah. (NOTE: Believe it or not, the Arabs in some countries such as in Saudi Arabia may very well be rewarded with great wealth from Hashem for following the laws for non-Jews much more precisely according to what Hashem commands to non-Jews when executing criminals by the sword, and I know that executions take place in Saudi Arabia as someone who once worked there told me of such an execution that he personally witnessed).


"FORTY LASHES - YOU SHALL NOT ADD"

So if it was ultimately meant for the Jewish court to administer 39 lashes instead of 40 lashes to a sinner, then why did the Torah mention 40 lashes? Well, if you count the number of letters of Alef Beit that include five shapes that are only at the end of a word, you will have a total of 27 letters. The five letters of the word endings are similar with five of the regular 22 letters of the Alef Beit, and if included next to their receptive letters, it turns out that the letter Mem=40 is the MIDDLE letter of the Alef Beit. With this in mind, we know that Alef is the first letter and Tav is the last letter; thus Alef, Mem, Tav - beginning, middle, end - are the letters that spell the word EMET/Truth. As the middle letter Mem, which begins the word Moreh - teacher or instructor, one is surrounded by Hashem who is the Alef or Aluf/Chief of the world tells us to, and the Torah that begins with the letter Tav which indeed is based on the word Ho'ra'ah - instruction, as the Torah is not just a nice Bible stories book, it is an instruction from which we learn how to serve Hashem. And it is particularly the Oral Torah - the part of the Torah that outlines in detail HOW to observe Hashem's commandments, that begins with the letter Mem, as in Mei'ei'matai - "FROM WHEN do we read the Shema in the evening", the first commandment to be performed in the night, which is the beginning of the day according to Jewish Law, and is indeed the very first commandment that a boy who becomes Bar Mitzvah performs as he enters his 14th year, and Mem as the middle letter of the 27 letters of the Alef Beit is the 14th letter.

On the flipside, the letter Mem can stand for the word Moreid/rebellious, which is in effect just the opposite of an instructor who faithfully transmits over to others the instructions of his own instructor. One who is rebellious goes against the instructions that he/she has been instructed with. "You have been rebellious against Hashem since the day that I have known you" (Deutronomy 9:24), says Moses to the Jewish nation. In this verse, the first word is Mamrim, a biblical form for the word rebellious in plural. Indeed, the first two letters of the word are both a Mem, the concluding letter of this word is a Mem Sofit/Final Mem, thus this word beginning with the same letters as the word for the name Mem, and the final letter of the verse also ends with a Mem Sofit - Etchem/you (in plural). In the very next verse, Moses narrates how he pleaded with Hashem for 40 days and 40 nights not to destroy the Jewish Nation following its sin of the Golden Calf. It is along these lines that the Rokeach and Ba'al HaTurim, commentaries on the Torah, comment that we learn out from the verse of the Jews' rebelliousness beginning and ending with a Mem (40) that they rebelled against Hashem doing the course of their 40 years in the desert. Additionally, you will see in some Chumashim that the Mem as the first letter of this verse is small. Rabbi Abraham Bick explains that this letter is small to signify that though they indeed rebelled all those 40 years, they were considered as Ketanim - like children who are not yet Bar Mitzva to be responsible for the Mitzvot - so Hashem was not so strict with them. According to Rabbi Eliyahu Munk, the reason for its smallness is that in reality, they didn't rebel for all 40 years, but when the rest of the word as read as a word by itself, it can be read as Marim/teachers, as the Jews are teachers for the rest of the nations of the world. So as I mentioned before that the Mem begins word the word Moreh, we Jews have to show an example to the non-Jews as to how one is supposed to live ethically and morally, making a Kiddush Hashem/sanctification of Hashem's name instead of a Chillul Hashem/desecration of Hashem's name, G-d forbid, which means that instead of Anti-Semites saying "OF COURSE...", at least the good non-Jews should be able to say, "Let us follow the COURSE of the Torah/Bible that the Jews observe in treating mankind with ethics and respect".
It's interesting to note that that the word Mem in the above verse as I described is spelled three times. Correspondingly, Moses ascended Mt. Sinai three times to be in Hashem's presence, each time for a period of 40 days and 40 nights. The first period was when Hashem transmitted the Torah to Moses following the momentous occasion of the Ten Commandments, the second period was when Moses prayed to Hashem to spare the Jewish nation from destruction, and the third period was when Moses received the wording of the Ten Commandments from his own carved stone tablets and received Hashem's forgiveness for the Jews following their repentance during the period of the month of Elul and the Ten Days of Repentance concluding with Yom Kippur.

The point that I want to bring up here is that the punishment of lashes that the Beit Din/Jewish court administered was for sinners who committed an act of rebelliousness, who still did the sin as they wished despite being previously warned. Though the Mishnaic word for lashes is Makkot, beginning with a Mem, the general Hebrew word for lashes is Malkut, also beginning with a Mem. The letters of the word Malkut can in fact be rearranged to be read as Mavet Kal/light death - this phrase also beginning with a Mem; that is, the pain of lashes is a substitute for the real punishment for doing a sin, which is death. However, Hashem knowing human nature has great mercy for us, and besides the fact that if every time we did a sin we would die and then there would be no human beings left, Hashem has his ways of reminding us to better ourselves and that really we should have died for sinning, but instead, we are given reminders to this effect. Sometimes, this is accomplished as in the times of the Temple to offer an animal sacrifice with one's money, and seeing the animal being slaughtered reminds one that really he/she should have been the one to die, but instead it is the animal who is being killed here. From this stems the custom of performing what is known as Kaparot on the morning before the start of Yom Kippur, in which a chicken, rooster, hen, etc. is ritually slaughtered. However, before the slaughter, one swings the fowl around one's head saying that this is a Kappara/atonement for oneself, while he/she can remain living. (For those who oppose the custom of Kapparot because of "animal cruelty", and claim to stick to the custom of giving money instead, are missing the whole point of what Kapparot is supposed to represent. We should be thankful to Hashem that we have reminders for us to better our ways, and that Hashem gives us plenty of opportunities to better ourselves instead of killing us with no warning only to be in Hell for eternity).

Anyways, this Kapparot ceremony is performed on the 39th day of the 40 day period of repentance, the very period of time that Moses was in Hashem's presence for the third time. There is in fact also a custom on the day before Yom Kippur starts when there are those who administer lashes to others (though not quite as strong as the lashes that the Beit Din used to administer), happening on this 39th day of the 40 day period. It's significant that I am mentioning this today, because today - 27 Av - is the 39th day of the 2nd period of 40 days that Moses was in Hashem's presence praying for the Jewish nation not to be killed, writing this in my 39th post (which I originally planned to write a few days ago, but things happened beyond my control) that we are talking about this timely issue.

Perhaps then what Hashem is telling us through the Torah that really, we deserve full punishment for any sin that we do - as signified by the Torah saying 40 lashes. You see, when one is rebellious and disobeyes the king, especially in earlier times, his/her punishment was immediate death/Mavet as beginning with a Mem (40) - no questions asked. However, Hashem in His great mercy, stops one step short of killing us, and as represented by the number 39 as our Rabbis tell us, Hashem gives us an EASY way to atone for our sin and for us to learn our lesson not to do it again so we can continue living and get back on the right track.

There is in fact a connection of the number 39 to Parshat Re'eh. The very first verse reads "See that I have given you today, a blessing and a curse", the text going on to say that the blessing or curse depends on whether we follow what Hashem commands us to do or not, respectively. The Midrash tells us that upon the first sin committed by mankind of eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, there were a total of 39 curses or punishments - 10 for the snake who enticed Eve to eat of the fruit, 10 for Eve/women, 10 for Adam/men, and 9 for the ground. The flipside of this is that on Jewish holidays before the Sefer Torah is brought out to be read, we recite three times the 13 Attributes of Mercy, which in effect countereffect punishment as represented by the number 39, as we pray to Hashem to have mercy on us, despite our shortcomings which we admit to. This special prayer was in fact first taught by Hashem to Moses upon meeting with Him for the 3rd time.

In any case, the 39th verse of Parshat Re'eh reads "Observe everything that I am commanding you - do not add to it or substract from it". Indeed, it was specifically 39 lashes - and as the Torah tells us, it is forbidden to add to the number of lashes for any one sin, and the amount was not reduced unless the Jewish court determined beforehand that the particular sinner would not be able to live if administered the total 39 lashes.


THIRTY NINE LASHES IN RECENT TIMES

I want to mention of an event that happened back in 1991 pertaining to the Persian Gulf war in relationship to the 39 lashes. Even though it was the United States that was fighting Saddam Hussein, he took of his vengence on Israel as though it had something to do with the war. Indeed, there were exactly 39 scud missiles that he fired towards Israel. In Hashem's great mercy, not a single Jew died or got injured from the attacks (except for one who died for not putting on the gas mask on correctly). However, some of today's rabbis made it clear that 39 scud missiles were fired because of the Jews in Israel who did not keep Shabbat, on which 39 major categories of work is forbidden to be done. One proof of this is that at least two times - there was a Super Farm pharmacy, which was open on Shabbat, was hit. In terms of free choice, there were actually secular Israeli reporters in the papers who claimed that Saddam Hussein was actually prejudiced against Super Farm, rather than admit that at least just MAYBE this happened through Hashem's hands for whatever reason! Yes, some people will just never learn, but typically in times of tragedy -though it should happen because of better times - there are those who shape up their ways and treat other people more kindly or look to follow what Hashem wants at least a little better for a little while.


SPECIAL ADDITION: TIMING OF BIRTHPANGS OF MOSHIACH IN THE HIDDEN CODES!

The following is a special addition to this blog as we are talking about lashes, scuds or whatever else you may want to call them that were directed against Jews. As we know from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, there will be a period of time of suffering that has already begun or will most likely begin right before Moshiach's coming even as other painful things will happen even after Moshiach comes, and the only question is who will survive. The reason why I word this as "has ALREADY begun or will MOST likely begin right before Moshiach's coming" is because the truth is that for all that we know, Moshiach can come at any time, something that we have to all believe in. It's just that the way things are happening, we see that there is a period of time based on this that will be the most painful right before Moshiach's coming. This period of time in our literature is called Chevlei Moshiach - the birthpangs of Messiah. This is just like a woman who feels the most suffering of birthpangs shortly before her baby is born.

With this being said, I discovered a few weeks ago something absolutely phenomenal in the Hidden Codes of the Torah. I spelled in Hebrew this phrase Chevlei Moshiach - Cheit, Beit/Veit, Lamed, Yud, Mem, Shin, Yud, Cheit - and can be spelled only once in the entire Chumash as every 11,427th letter. Now, a couple of words before the word Yaakov which includes the letter Veit as part of the phrase, we see the word Sukkot. In the original context, this was the name of the very LAST place that Yaakov was BEFORE returning to Israel after being away for 36 years. This was also the name of the very FIRST place that the Jews came to immediately following their REDEMPTION of the Exodus. And this is also the name of the holiday of Sukkot, which is exactly six months apart from the holiday of Passover, celebrating the redemption of the Exodus, at opposite ends of the year. Now, above the letter Samech in the word Sukkot, you will see four letters spelled vertically as Hei Tav Shin Ayin, the number of this coming year - 5770! Now, reading backwards of the immediate letters surrounding the word Sukkot, if you take out the word Sukkot, you will read B'Yom Vav - On Day 6 (just the letter Vav, not the word Vav)! Now, look at the vertical letters above the letter Vav of the word Sukkot - but read upwards instead of downwards again is the word B'Yom - On (the) Day. And using the letter Sav/Tav of the word Sukkot, the letter above it is Mem and the letter below it is Yud - reading Ma'tai - When.

But perhaps what may be most startling is the word Matchil - BEGINS/STARTS - as spelled in this matrix. The five Hebrew letters of this word are Mem, Sav/Tav, Cheit, Yud, Lamed. This is spelled here like this. Going up vertically three letters from the first letter Mem, then the 13th letter from this spells the next letter Sav/Tav, and so on. But a few important points here. The words IMMEDIATELY preceding the Mem is the phrase Goh'ol Yigal Ish, literally means "A man will surely redeem" using a double expression of REDEMPTION (in the original context, it's refering to redeeming tithes), similar to another phrase refering to the redemption from Egypt as the sign that it would be for real Poh'kod Pokadti Etchem "I will surely remember you...", so when Moses told Hashem's message to the Jews, they knew that the message of the upcoming redemption was real, originally transmitted by Joseph to his brothers. As we know, there are seven Heavenly guests that are in the Sukka during the Sukkot holiday corresponding to its seven days, and it is Joseph who corresponds to the 6th day of Sukkot, the date that I had just mentioned! Now, the letter Cheit in the word Matchil is also the LAST LETTER of the phrase Chevlei Moshiach! And finally, the Lamed in the word Matchil appears a few words before the word Sukkot on that same line!

O.K., this is it. WHEN does the Chevlei Moshiach, the birthpangs of Moshiach - the final stage of the exile leading to the REDEMPTION (or the after effects of the REDEMPTION) - BEGIN? During the daytime of the 6th day of Sukkot in the coming year 5770. less than two months from now! Now again, I am not here to predict when Moshiach is actually coming. The truth is that Moshiach may be here by the time you are reading this, but as we know, women who have just given birth still suffer the after effects for at least a little while even after giving birth - some have an easier or harder time than others. And while we have had the Holocaust, constant attacks from the Arabs on Jews in Israel since the inception of the State of Israel, and the Israeli government turning against its own people it is supposed to represent, it seems that the worst is yet to come - G-d spare us - especially from what we hear of threats from the Arab world, and Obama as displayed in the Hidden Codes as being Gog U'Magog who will create the final war. And yes, spread this part about the Hidden Codes of Chevlei Moshiach to everyone you know, because if you do not have a Hidden Codes program or know enough Hebrew to figure this out, chances are is that someone else you know will. And just remember - living outside of Israel rather than inside of Israel will not protect you in the long run, as our best chance of survival is repenting of our past misdeeds and doing what Hashem wants - including living in Israel.

Before concluding, there is a similar word in Hebrew in relationship to the word begin, HATCHALAH - Beginning/Start. Amazingly, this word can be spelled backwards - on the line following the last letter of the phrase Chevlei Moshiach - where the words are HALUCHOT HArishonim - "The first tablets"! In the original context, Hashem tells Moses to carve out new tablets to inscribe the Ten Commandments like the first tablets that Hashem gave him which he destroyed following witnessing the Jews worshipping the Golden Calf. A similar wording in Hebrew of this is without the beginning letter Hei, and thus a few words earlier mentioning the second tablets that Moses was to carve out is spelled backwards TECHILAH of the word HALUCHOT/The Tablets, thus connoting a double wording of beginning/starting as the double wording of the redemption phrases!

Anyways, this event took place at the beginning of the 3rd period of 40 days of Moses being in Hashem's presence, which was Rosh Chodesh Elul, which will come up in a few days, when we begin blowing the Shofar everyday except for Shabbat and Erev Rosh Hashana during the month of Elul, a special time to repent, to CARVE out our bad behavior, and come closer to Hashem before the New Year. Perhaps this signifies that Hashem will weed or CARVE out the bad people - though we don't wish this on any Jews - from the world in BEGINNING of the final preparation for Moshiach's coming or of how the world will operate spiritually in the future through the medium of Chevlei Moshiach, may Hashem protect us. And then, Hashem will treat us as His Chosen Nation like Hashem treated us at the time that the Ten Commandments on the original tablets were given when we received the Torah on Mt. Sinai with the blowing of the Shofar. And it will be the blowing of the Shofar that will herald the arrival of Moshiach.

Coming up in a few days - G-d willing this coming Thursday, we will discuss more about the significance of the number 40 as especially applicable at this time of year.

27 Av 5769

P.S. The time noted for this post is 4:49 PM. The square root of 4 is 2, and the square root of 49 is 7. Add the letters 2 and 7 together to read 27, and presto! As we mentioned, there are 27 letters of the Alef Beit when the five letters especially written at the end of a word are included, and today's date is the 27th of Av.