#85 - Wholesome Body (The Jewish 10-10-10)

Noticing today's secular date 10-10-10, I couldn't help but think of what underlying message that the number 10 represents. As the number 10 represents completeness, as for example, a minimum of 10 adult males that make up a Minyan - a quorum for public prayer, I was looking for a word that not only denotes completeness, but also an adjective that represents the inner aspect of completeness, besides just the physical count of a number or what simply seems to be complete from the outside.

In English, the word wholesome is what I believe the ultimate word that represents this concept. Looking at various definitions of this word, they are something like this: 1. Conducive to or suggestive of good health and physical well-being.
2. Conducive to or promoting moral well-being. 3. promoting health or well-being of mind or spirit. 4. promoting health of body. 5. a. sound in body, mind, or morals, b. having the simple health or vigor.

In Hebrew, the word that most aptly describes this is Tahmim. In fact, the Living Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan of blessed memory suggestes several definitions or synonyms for this word: whole, unblemished, perfect, innocent, pious, or honest,
and is used both in last week's Parshat Noach describing Noah as Tahmim, and in this week's Parshat Lech Lecha where Hashem tells Abraham to "Walk in front of me and be Tahmim".

In fact, at the P.S. note of my 10th Post (Nov. '08) that became posted at 10:10 AM,
I noted that the number 10 is a number of completeness, mentioning examples of this number at it relates to Jews, beginning with the word Yid which is most similar to the letter Yud which equals 10. But what makes up the Minyan of Jews is what happened both physically and spiritually, representing Hashem's wholesomeness, from the 10 statements that Hashem used to create the world - the last one being "Let us make mankind" to the 10 Commandments which are the basis of the Mitzvot, the details of which form the basis of Halacha/Jewish Law that represent TRUE Jewish living for a Jew.

And while yesterday, we read all about Noah (whose Gematria is 58, the reverse number of 85 - the number of this Post), the 10th generation from Adam & Eve in Parshat Noach, we begin this week reading about Abraham, the 20th generation, and as we know, the word for the letter Yud, consisting of the letters - Yud, Vav, Dalet - is the Gematria of 20.

Writing for a minute as it relates to Noah, or particularly, good non-Jews called Bnei Noah, who follow the seven Noachide laws that assure them Heavenly reward, there is a standard of living that keeps good people in place, who want to fulfill basic goals in life - family, career, savings, etc. Of course, these goals among spiritual goals are also something that good Jews want. While my Gematriot site is basically a Torah site, I could not help today but do a little research on 10-10-10.
I thought I would find something interesting related to this other than today's secular date.

As it turns out, I bumped into information that I never knew about before. I think that such information many years ago would have helped me with a little better course in life, including career choosing, marriage partner choosing, etc. As you will see on www.suzywelch101010.com, there is a sense of figuring out one's sense of charter of direction between 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years. Check this website
out for further details.

Anyways, before continuing on the subject of the number 10, let us fastforward to near the end of this week's Parshat Lech Lecha. It is right after Hashem tells Abraham to be Tahmim, that he tells him about doing the Mitzvah of Bris Milah/circumcision. On this note, the word Milah, the word for the sexual organ in a male, is the Gematria of 85, and this is my 85th Post.

But this is not the only part of the body whose word is the Gematria of 85. The word Peh/mouth is also the Gematria of 85. In fact, another definition for the word Milah is the very word "word". No doubt then, there seems to be some unique connection between the spiritual aspect of the sexual organ and the mouth.

First quoting from Tikkunei Zohar (17a), the Sephirah/Divine Emanation of Yesod/Foundation is the "end" of the body - the sign of the holy covenant (refering to the sexual organ of a male), and the Sephirah of Malchut/Kingship is the mouth, which is called Torah She'B'Al Peh/Oral Torah.

In fact, the word HaYesod/THE foundation is ALSO the Gematria of 85, being the same as the word Milah, the part of the body corresponding to which is the Sephira of Yesod. So undoubtedly, there is a strong connection between these last two Sephirot of Yesod & Malchut, corresponding to which is the Milah & Peh, respectively.

In the Torah, the number 85 is a most significant number as a minimum number. First, in two verses (Numbers 10:35-36) in the Sefer Torah, surrounded by upside down letter Noons, there are 85 letters. In one sense, though there are five Books to the Chumash/Penteteuch, this separation by the inverted Noons makes this section like a separate Book in the Torah, thus, treating the Chumash as having SEVEN books -hence, this smallest "Book" consisting of 85 letters. And then in the 24 books of the Tanach/Bible, the Book with the least verses is Megillat Rut/Book of Ruth consisting of 85 verses. The star of this book is of course Ruth, a Moabite princess who converted to Judaism, and in time, became the great-grandmother of King David, the ancestor of Malchut Beit David/the Davidic dynasty, whose name is the last word of this Book. And Malchut/Kingship is the SEVENTH and last of the active Sephirot, and King David is also the SEVENTH and last of the Shiva Ro'im/Seven Shepherds, synonymous with Ushpizin, the Heavenly Guests of the Succah.


RELATING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN YESOD & MALCHUT

Making the connection of Malchut to Yesod - corresponding to the Holy Covenant of the Milah; King David, while having strong sexual desires, and even paid a price for falling to temptation as a result of it, faught his evil inclination through fasting until he totally conquered it.

But a question can be asked here. Yesod as related to the sexual organ part of the body, corresponds to Joseph, who also conquered his evil inclination when confronted with the temptation of Potiphar's wife. So, why is it that it is particularly Joseph
- and not King David, who also went through a spiritual battle to fight his sexual tempations - that corresponds most with this concept?

There seems to be a very practical difference here. Joseph seems to have had the greater temptation here. You see, at least with King David, not only did he know what sex was, he had many wives to his disposal, and in fact, the temptation of his attraction to Bath Sheba was in fact an unusual display of sexual temptation given to
him as a result of a challenge that he asked of Hashem. While of course he had work to do on his natural temptations, in normal daily living, it wasn't something that he was driven after on a daily basis.

With Joseph however, while he himself had a great fear of Hashem, he was without any family or friends around who might shame him if he were to fool around. He had the innate curiosity of wanting to know what sex is with temptations all around him with his teenage hormones at a all time high. And it wasn't a sudden thing the way it was with King David when he saw Bath Sheba from a distance as opposed to her facing him daring him to be with her. Potiphar's wife, on a daily basis, did virtually every trick in the book to get Joseph to be with her in bed, first spending a year with lucrative tricks, followed by implementation of punishment following Joseph's being sentenced to prison. In contrast, while King David was born with strong sexual tempations, he was not wanted by society in his youth, and so his choice was either sticking to the faith that he was surrounded by, or being a total rebel in society which would have included being with women.

And so, it makes sense. Joseph was in fact rewarded with royalty, being only second in command to King Pharaoh, part of his reward in this world for fighting sexual tempation, including avoiding looking at the young women throwing jewelry at him at the ceremony honoring him for his rise in power. The first king of the 10 Tribes of Israel in Samaria was Yerovam Ben Nevat, descended from him. And in the near future,
we will G-d willing merit to have Moshiach Ben Yosef, in addition to the main Moshiach Ben David. (Note: Joseph's avoidance of sin with Potiphar's wife is mentioned in Parshat Vayeishev - the 9th Parsha of the Torah, as Yesod is the 9th of the Sephirot. Accordingly, Joseph's rise to power as viceroy to King Pharaoh is in Parshat Mikeitz, the 10th Parsha of the Torah, as Malchut/Kingship is the 10th of the Sephirot.)

However, just like King David had a special connection with the concept of Yesod though the main connection was with Joseph; so too, while Joseph had a special connection with the concept of Malchut, the main connection is with King David. He indeed could have chosen to be a rebel in society after being rejected by his own family, especially by his own father who thought of him to be a Mamzer/bastard (I won't get into the details of this in this Post), as King David himself attests "for my father and mother deserted me" (Psalms 27:10); yet, he chose to study to be a Torah scholar while shepherding the sheep, being the target of those who falsely accused him of stealing, and was in fact judged in Beit Din/Jewish court to pay for things that he never stole. And so it was most fitting for someone who could have chosen to show "who is boss" but kept himself in recluse until the moment of being annointed as king by Shmuel HaNovi/Samuel the Prophet to the surprise of his own family, to have earned this for himself and his descendants, including the main Messiah - Melech HaMoshiach/the King Messiah - forever.

As another connection between Joseph & King David, the name of the letter Yud as the letters Yud-Vav-Dalet, spell the first letters of these two. Yud-Vav spells the first two letters of Yosef's name, and Dalet spells the first (and last) letter(s) of King David's name. Also, the letters of the name Yud can begin their names as Yud-Yosef, Vav- the letter beginning the word/prefix, and Dalet-David. This is bearing in mind that the letter Yud itself is the Gematria of 10. Also, as I mentioned in my 71th Post about the seven extra blessings that were recited at one time within Shemoneh Esrei during communcal fasts, where the sixth blessing is about Hashem answering Yonah, and the seventh blessing is about Hashem answering King David. Besides the reason for the Biblical figures in reverse of history as mentioned in the Talmud, we see that in a similar vein, the name Yonah, like Yosef, also begins with Yud & Vav; and hence, the name Yud works the same way for this.

Moreover, within the spelling of the name Yud twice in a row as Yud-Yud, the name David with a Yud in the name as spelled in Divrei HaYomim/Chronicles - the LAST book of the Tanach, can be spelled backwards, as he represents the 10th and LAST Sephirah of Malchut. Moreover, his name with a Yud included is the Gematria of 24 - where it is spelled as such especially in the 24th book of the Tanach - Chronicles, and the Gematria of Yesod (80) & Malchut (496) is 576, whose square root is 24, or 24*24. Coincidence?

Furthering the connection between Yesod and Malchut - as it relates to the number
10, the word Yesod begins the letter Yud=10, and Malchut is the 10th and last of all the Sephirot beginning with Keter/Crown. Bearing this and what is written above about their respective counterparts of Joseph & King David, being that the 10 Days of Repentance correspond to the 10 Sephirot, as mentioned by the Kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, the 9th and 10th of Tishrei - Erev Yom Kippur & Yom Kippur - correspond to Yesod & Malchut, respectively. As the Talmud notes (Yoma 81b), one who eats on the 9th of Tishrei is considered as though he fasted on both days. It is also noted that we learn out that we add on to the time of fasting on Yom Kippur beginning from a bit from the 9th of Tishrei.

We see from here that just like the 9th of Tishrei - the preparatory day of Yom Kippur, is done both through eating and a bit of fasting, so was it with Joseph corresponding to Yesod, the 9th Sephirah from Keter. Both with avoiding the results of physical tempation and dealing with the honors bestowed on him, Joseph served Hashem the same way. There will be all kinds of curve balls thrown at us - some of which are tempting and others which are dishartening, but we must not forget that Hashem wants us to serve Him regardless, and it is up to us to overcome whatever type of obstacles come at our way.

Accordingly, as King David as related to Malchut corresponds to Yom Kippur in this sense, his primary thing was serving Hashem despite the hardships he went through throughout life, even when he was at the highlight of his kingship. For him, it already was natural for him to view himself as a mere reflection of the King of Kings, being the leader of a nation of Jews who themselves were following Hashem, unlike Joseph as viceroy being totally surrounded with Egyptians who were full of idols and sexual lewdness. At the very least, he could have been proud with having power, forgetting the real reason why Hashem put him in that position to begin with, just like with the 9th of Tishrei when the real reason we eat extra is to prepare ourselves both physically - and spiritually - for the holiest day of the year. And while the 9th of Tishrei is indeed also a date of Jewish significance in serving Hashem, the ultimate day is Yom Kippur, when not only do we not eat on this day, being spiritual like the angels who don't eat either, it is a day to remember like no other of our connection of Hashem being His subjects of the King of Kings. And so
it is Malchut, while seeming to be the lowest of the Sephirot, at the othe end of Keter/Crown, just like King David seemed to be the lowlife in society at first, it is precisely when we realize what our purpose in life is, being servants of the King of Kings, is when the ultimate purpose of this world - more than just the physical aspects of our lives which is first sanctified by Brit Milah at the age of eight
days, is realized and ultimately fulfilled.


CREATING LIFE

Just like with the sexual organ, responsible for bringing life for the next generation that will keep the world going, so is the mouth responsible for both maintaining one's health and life by eating and drinking, and calling the shots. After all, no one marries another without some sort of verbal communication - unless one or both of the future couple is handicapped not being able to speak or hear. But generally, the mouth is the communication piece that brings things together - friendships, making a living, education, communication in a relationship - family, friends, and business.

With this in mind, we are commanded to sanctify both parts of our bodies to imbue this physical world with spirituality. The circumcision at the age of eight days is both our way of completing the creation that Hashem began by removing the forskin that one is born with, as well as reminding us to curve our sexual desires to be chanelled only for holy and permitted means. And the mouth serves a dual function - eating/drinking which is supposed to be only things that are permitted as a kosher diet, and speaking (kissing is also done with the mouth, but only when the mouth is closed). Aside from speaking what needs to be done for our every day living and relationships, the greatest Mitzvah of the Torah - learning and teaching Torah - is done specifically with the mouth.

And so, the greatest Mitzvah of the Torah, which is performed by a very small amount of people in this world - is represented by the number 85 as a minimal number - the least amount of letters in what can be considered a book, and representing the smallest Book of the Bible consisting of 85 verses. And it is the Torah She'B'Al Peh - the Oral Torah, that separates the men from the boys, for it is THIS part of the Torah, which was originally taught orally, that makes up the bulk of Torah learning - in both quality and quantity, what determines who is a Torah scholar. It's interesting to note that on Shavuot, the holiday that marks our receiving the Torah which included our mandatory acceptance of the Oral Torah - we read the Book of Ruth consisting of 85 verses, whose last word is King David's name, who in turn was born and passed away on Shavuot, and the two verses considered as a book consisting of 85 letters is always read in the Sefer Torah shortly after Shavuot.

Every time that we learn Torah, perform other Mitzvot, we in fact create life - spiritual life. Among other things, we create an angel from every Mitzvah that we perform; and G-d converse, we also create an angel if we perform an Aveira/sin. Especially when it comes to learning Torah, each word of Torah spoken creates an angel as each word of Torah is greater in its quality and eternal reward than ALL of the other commandments combined! And so, learning and teaching Torah with our mouth is the greatest spiritual food that we can feed this world. As small of an act as it may be, even by a lonely Jew learning and reciting Torah by himself, while a Jew -a Yid, may seem to perform a good deed having in mind to serve Hashem that seems to be small as the smallest letter of the Alef Beit - Yud=10, he is doing far more for the world, the REAL Tikkun Olam - not the "Tikkun Olam" that secular Jews scream about while denouncing Israel for "mistreating" the "poor Palestinians" - than what the greatest scientist is doing to help mankind, though his function is also well needed to help keep the world alive through modern technology and medication that in fact has saved many lives.


MORE ON 10-10-10

Speaking of the letter Yud as having the Gematria of 10, there is the concept of triple 10 in Judaism. To begin with, there is the concept of the THREE sets of verses that we recite specifically in the Mussaf Shemoneh Esrei of Rosh Hashanah, which are called Malchuyot which are related to Kingship, Zichronot which is related to Rememberance, and Shofarot which are related to the Shofar. For each of these concepts, we recite a total of 10 verses, which in total make up the middle three blessings of this Shemoneh Esrei.

As mentioned earlier, the Sephirah of Malchut/Kingship is the 10th and last of the Sephirot. And so, we see that we recite specifically 10 verses in relationship to this concept. And what perhaps highlights the relationship of the number 10 with Kingship, is that though we recite 10 verses each also for the other concepts of Zichronot & Shofarot, when it comes time for the Talmud to ask about the significance of saying 10 verses, it asks this specifically about the verses that are recited in relationship to Malchuyot.

As mentioned there (Rosh Hashanah 32a), there are THREE reasons given for this coming from three different rabbis: Rabbi Levi - Corresponding to the TEN expressions of praise that King David mentions in Tehillim/Book of Psalms. Rav Yosef - Corresponding to the TEN Commandments. Rabbi Yochanan - Corresponding to the TEN Statements through which the world was created. Indeed, Hashem's main name YKVK (Hashem or as we pronounce it in prayers and verses -A-do-noi) begins with a Yud=10, and as we say in our prayers based on THREE different verses - YKVK Melech, YKVK Mohlohch, YKVK Yimloch L'Olam Vaed - "Hashem is King" "Hashem was King" "Hashem will be King forever and ever" (Exodus 15:18), the last phrase/verse being the first of the 10 verses that we recite for Malchuyot.

And then in the THRICE daily Ashrei prayer, which is mostly Psalms 145, the word Malchut is spelled THREE words in a row, the first two words being worded slightly different - Malchuto. Malchutcha Malchut "...the glorious splendor of HIS KINGDOM. YOUR KINGDOM IS A KINGDOM for all eternity..." (Psalms 145:12-13). Hardly a coincidence, while the word Melech/King as above is used in three periods of time - present, past, and future; in this instance, the word Malchut/Kingdom or Kingship is used in the third person, second person, and as an adjective without using a suffix referring to Hashem directly, showing us the various ways of our relationship to Hashem - more formal, more familiar, and more general without getting into specifics, but realizing that Hashem is the King of Kings.

With this in mind, it should be noted that the TENTH of Hashem's Ten Statements in creating this world was "Let us make mankind". For it is mankind who most closely resembles Hashem in this world as Hashem created mankind "in His image" - the king of the earthly part of the universe at large, so long as mankind fulfills its mission of the King of Kings. Mankind's creation took place on Friday, the sixth day of the week, which corresponds to the sixth active Sephirah of Yesod. And it is the Shir Shel Yom/Song of the Day for this day of the week that begins with the words Hashem Malach "Hashem reigned" (Psalms 93:1), for it is with the completion of the makeup of the world with the creation of mankind that Hashem could now show Himself to be the King of the world, as mankind would be the best representatives of Hashem to demonstrate this. Indeed, the name Adam is the Gematria of 45, which is half the Gematria of the word Melech/King which is 90.

Thus, the Sephirah of Yesod, as noted in the verse Tzadik Yesod Olam "the righteous person is the FOUNDATION of the world" (Proverbs 10:25) is very well connected with the final Sephirah of Malchut, as it is the righteous person, the raison d'etre for the world's existance, who demonstrates that Hashem is king. In another demonstration of this, Hashem's main name YKVK beginning with a Yud=10, is spelled as the first letters of the words Yom HaShishi Vayechulu HaShamayim "It was the sixth day. The heavens were completed" (Genesis 1:31-2:1)- what we recite at Kiddush on Shabbat night, where the first two words are the conclusion of the account of the sixth day, while the last two words are the beginning of the account of the seventh day - Shabbat. As the sixth day corresponds to Yesod, and Shabbat corresponds to Malchut, Hashem's name as spelled connecting the sixth and seventh days binds these last two Sephirot ever so closer.

Now, closing our prayer book and opening our Chumash, there are THREE sets of THREE consecutive verses in the Chumash that begin with the letter Yud. The first set are the very verses that make up the Bircat Cohanim - the Mitzvah of the Cohanim blessing the congregation (Numbers 6:24-26). Additionally, each of these three verses beginning with a word that begins with the letter Yud is followed by Hashem's name YKVK that also begins with a Yud. Then, in Deutronomy 28, there is a section where it mentions various blessings that Hashem will give us if we keep His commandments, in which three verses each begin with the letter Yud, and then a little later in this chapter where the curses are mentioned for failing to fulfill His commandments, where three similar verses - with the opposite connotation - also each begin with the letter Yud.

Associating the letter Yud=10 to blessings, it is mentioned in Halacha that we are obligated to recite a total of 100 Berachot/blessings each day. This was instituted by none other than King David, the representation of Malchut, the 10th Sephirah, as hinted in the verse U'Neum HaGever Hookam Al - "Words of the man who was established on high" (II Samuel 23:1), in which the word Al/high - the letters Ayin & Lamed - is the Gematria of 100. The literal meaning of this verse as pertaining to King David's life was when he was taken from being a mere shepherd to be the king of his people. But perhaps as part of his thanks for this happening, he established for 100blessings to be recited daily, thanking and praising Hashem. And noting the number 100, it is the square root of 10. Hence, the number 100 is a composite of 10*10 - a number of wholesomeness and completeness multiplied by itself to make the daily spiritual nutritious food of 100 blessings a day.

And this comes in perfect timing for this week's Parshat Lech Lecha, for the name of this Parsha is the Gematria of 100. Two explanations are given for the connection here - one is that Abraham who was told by Hashem to "Go out from your country...to the land that I will show you" lived a 100 years in Israel until his passing since he made Aliyah. The other is that he fathered Isaac at the age of 100, as the following verse begins with "I will make you into a great nation". The conclusion of this verse is "You will be a Beracha/blessing." Thus, we see how the number 100 is associated with both the Land of Israel and having children, as both of these are among the greatest blessings that a Jew can attain during his/her lifetime.


A COUPLE OF MINUTES ABOUT MAKING ALIYAH FROM PARSHAT LECH LECHA

And while we are mentioning the THIRD Parsha of the Torah, the question can be asked.
We see that Parshat Lech Lecha begins with Hashem telling Avraham to move to Israel by leaving THREE different domains - "from your country", "from your birthplace",
"from your parents' home". Now, let's say that you are packing at home, ready to leave for another country for a business trip. When the time comes to say goodbye to your family, and you are walking out the door - you are first leaving your house, then as you are traveling to the airport outside of town, you are leaving your hometown, and then as the plane takes off, you are exiting your country. So, how come with Abraham, Hashem told him the sequence of leaving his area in the opposite order of sequence?

You see, this was not just a convenient move for Abraham for a better, comfortable life, like for immigrants from a third world country who come to the United States for a better opportunity, even if this means that they will have to slave for it for a while until they finally get their dream home and set with their finances. In Abraham's case, this was a spiritual journey. In order for him to be spiritually ready for Israel, he had to first overcome the outside negative spiritual influence of the country. Then, as he already was living in his hometown, no doubt that instead of the mere danger of being influenced from others, he was able to be of influence to others - at least in his immediate surroundings. And so, his hometown already did not have such a terribly spiritual environment. And finally, in his immediate family, he already ruined his father's idol store, and his brother Haran got burned at the stake for announcing his allegience to Abraham's monotheistic beliefs, and ultimately, his father in fact repented of his evil past. Hence, the negative spiritual influence at his parents' home was the least of the areas of evil life.

And since Abraham already prepared himself spiritually to the best of his ability, Hashem told him Lech Lecha - where the wording, aside from the vowels, is spelled the same way - the letters Lamed & Chaf. The wording can also be read as Lamed at the beginning of many words which means "to", addressing the person, and in this case, is Abraham who was the 20th generation from Adam & Eve, as the letter Chaf is the Gematria of 20. And so, this was not a message to Abraham to merely live in the "Holy Land". In order for him to be able to get the maximum positive spiritual influence from the holiness of the land, he needed to spiritually prepare himself to live there.

Now, in case anyone reading this thinks that since he/she is far from Abraham's spiritual level, that living in Israel is not applicable for oneself, he/she should know that the Torah does not just write nice stories. The message of the Torah is what the name of this week's Parsha is. Lech Lecha - Hashem in fact is speaking to each and every Jew: Lech - "Go" Lecha - "for yourself" - that is, GO do what is right and the best thing FOR YOURSELF - BOTH from the aspect of spiritually preparing ourselves by ridding ourselves of evil as a prerequisite of receiving maximum spiritual goodness, as the Psalmist notes more than once in Tehillim/Psalms "Turn from evil" and then "and do good", and the physical aspect of leaving our environment in exile and moving to Israel. In other words, we have to follow BOTH the spritual and the physical sense of leaving our not-so-good environment, and strive for the better. In our case, moving to Israel helps us acheive this goal of forsaking the comfortable environments of exile where one is surrounded with the idols of money, well furnished homes, and luxury cars, and moving to Israel where it may be a little more challenging, especially when one comes to have a new start with a seemingly uncertain future. However, one following in Abraham's footsteps that he/she too can hope for the same blessings that Abraham received, for which he worked very hard spiritually to attain.

Perhaps this is why the Torah does not go into hardly any details about Abraham's life, not to even say that he was a righteous person, unlike with Noah about whom the Torah doesn't take long to say such about him. In fact, the Torah does not even mention the story of Abraham's ordeal of being thrown into the fire due to his monotheistic beliefs, unlike future stories about him following his Aliyah. You see, while Abraham had to spiritually prepare himself, being rid of the idol influence that he originally was part of as he himself worshipped the sun and moon in his youth, we don't have the luxury of waiting. For ourselves, moving to Israel IS the way for ourselves to rid ourselves of evil, and moving towards good. And so immediately after the mention of Abrham's birth, marital status, and his previous family moves at the end of the previous Parsha, the Torah begins this week's Parsha with the immediate message to Lech Lecha - the first recorded words of Hashem to Abraham.

BACK TO THE LETTER YUD

Now, getting to the negative connotation of Yud as associated with curses, we see two places in the ENTIRE Chumash where there are three letter Yuds in a row, assuming no spaces between words. The first is where Bilam, hired magician to curse the Jews, suggests a place to Balak as to where to curse them, saying Ulie Yishar "maybe it will be acceptable" to Hashem to curse them from there (Numbers 23:27). As it turned out, where Bilam went, Hashem made his mouth recite blessings for the Jews instead of curses, but what we do see here is the potential of the letter Yud being associated with curses, but it doesn't have to be this way if we choose to follow Hashem's path, and in fact, Hashem can even convert curses to blessings.

The other time in the Chumash that three letter Yuds in a row is written is spelled within the very words Chayei Yishmael - "Years (literally "life") of Yishmael" (Genesis 25:17) noting the 137 years that Yishmael, ancestor of the Arabs, lived. While he himself died being a righteous person having repented of his wicked past, the same would not happen with his children or his descendants who would later look to attack and murder Jews.

In another array of three Yuds in a row - being the last letters of words in a verse,
aside from one such accurance in the sixth chapter of Genesis, the next occurance happens in Chapter 16 - THREE verses in this chapter,in the midst of this week's Parshat Lech Lecha, which is about Yishmael's mother Hagar before giving birth to him:

The first verse (verse 5) is where Sara complains to her husband Abraham about Hagar - Anochi Natati Shifchati "I have given my maidservant to you" who recently had become pregnant through him which resulted in Hagar mocking Sara for not having been pregnant with Abraham despite living together for many years.

The second verse (verse 8) is where Hagar answers an angel who is asking her as to where she is coming from and to where she is going - Mipnei Sarai Gevirti Anochi "From Sarai (Sara's original name) my mistress am I running away". In the original phrase, the letter Yud is in fact spelled consecutively at the end of four words, the first such occurance in the Torah.

The third verse (verse 13) is where following Hagar seeing four different angels, boasts - Raiti Acharei Ro'i "Could I have seen even here after having seen?" saying that she was still alive despite having seen four angels, calling Hashem "the G-d of vision".

One thing can be asked in reading this chapter. In the second of these verses quoted, Hagar's name is mentioned with the title "Sarai's handmaid". If we already know that she was Hagar's handmaid, then why does the Torah have to mention this seeming superflouis phrase?

To begin with, the only reason why Hagar wound up bearing a child with Abraham to begin with (she in fact miscarried this child, it was only afterwards that she became pregnant with Yishmael following returning to Abraham) was in fact due to her choosing to be a mistress in the most holy household in the world, though she was in fact a princess of Pharaoh. True, she recognized true holiness as something being good - HOWEVER, she did not wish to live up to the moral standards needed for this. It was only due to Sara's barreness that she hoped that perhaps through being generous and at least allowing Abraham having the chance to have children that maybe she would later merit to being pregnant herself.

It seems that Hagar coming to this holy household must have had ulterior motives. After all, what did she hope to gain if she left her royal home where virtually every desire as the king's daughter could be obtainable to her at a moment's notice?

Apparently, she was jealous of Sara, feeling of herself to be only second in place. She apparently hoped that down the road, she would benefit not necessarily so much spiritually, but more physically - whatever it would be in her case. Just as it is with anti-Semites who hate Jews knowing deep down inside themselves that the Jews are in fact G-d's Chosen People, like it or not, Hagar had these same feelings inside
herself, especially as time went on. And so, at the first opportunity that she felt that she was ahead of Sara, this was Hagar's chance as far as she was concerned to take advantage of Sara, and be the Number One wife of Abraham.

Sara would have none of this. Hagar went way out of line forgetting that she originally came there to be a maidservant. And so, the only way that she could get ahead is by following orders of the most righteous couple in the world. In fact, she should have considered herself lucky that she finally was able to have a sexual relationship with somebody, being that she was stuck working for the same couple for the last TEN years. And so, Sara came to complain to her husband Abraham about how Hagar turned into a rotten apple, as she did not have appreciation for the goodness that she received from them until now.

And so, when Hagar fled from Sara who was showing her as to who was the real boss here, the Torah makes it a point to call her Sarai's maidservant. When asked by the first angel as to Hagar's whereabouts, Hagar wanted to cry bloody murder "I'm running away from my mistress. She doesn't treat me right!" And so the next angel in line told her "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her domination". In another words, what the angel was saying was "You apparently forgot your mission. It is your fault for trying to go against why you chose to be a maidservant for Abraham & Sara to begin with. You want the goodness from spirituality? Fine. You have to WORK for it. Don't try to rebel thinking that you are the star when you are nothing but just another worker for the same Boss that all of you have to work for. Abraham and Sara are the top representatives of Hashem, and your mission in serving Hashem is to help them serve Hashem in turn, like it or not. Stop thinking of your selfish desires of wanting to get to the top, because it will simply not work for you".

And then finally, after two more angels tell her about her future son Yishmael, she boasts thinking highly of herself for having the merit of seeing angels and still living. Yes, she did return to Abraham and Sara, but only because she was promised that she would receive something in return for it. However, this did not make her into a better person because she allowed her son Yishmael later to make trouble for Sara's son Isaac. It was only after Abraham chased her and their son Yismael away, and for a while, Hagar returning to the idolatrous worship of her household, that she realized that there was hardly anything to the former lifestyle that she was raised with, and eventually repented, the Torah calling her the name Keturah, who returned to Abraham following Sara's passing, and bore more children with him.

And so, we see a parallel here between "Yishmael's life" where there are three Yuds in a row, and the three verses about his mother about whom there are three verses in which the letter Yud is the last letter of three consecutive words. As ancestors of the Arabs, at least as we see from Yishmael's mother Hagar, we see the values that she originally instilled in her son Yishmael which later came out with their descendants as how they treat us Jews, as demonstrated in the three verses about Hagar that spell the letter Yud at the end of three consecutive verses.

First, the Arabs make trouble for us, giving us a reason to make them want to leave, which is what they should do anyways, since all of Israel belongs to us, and they have no right to live on any part of it without recognizing FULL Jewish sovereignty over it. As it happened in the history of the modern State of Israel, in the War of '48, tons of Arabs were fleeing Israel. However, the stupid, idiotic Israeli government begged the Arabs not to run away. And so apparently, some Arabs stayed.

Next, the children of these Arabs who stayed at the end instead of following their original plans of running away have made all kinds of trouble for us once again, but this time, in a much more aggresive way, blaming US for causing them for being "mistreated" as "poor Palestinians", repeating the Palestine lie for the enth time to claim a separate country of Palestine, when no such country exists. They have a field day, especially when Israeli police arrest good Jews who have been victimized by the Arabs, for the "crime" of being victims due to the word of a few stinking Arab boys claiming that the good Jews did something wrong to them, without any concrete evidence whatsoever, as though it is the "word of G-d" when an Arab speaks - old or young.

And finally, the Arabs boast how Israel is ALL of theirs, including the VERY parts of Israel that our Biblical ancestors paid money for - the Temple Mount area paid for by King David, the Cave of the Patriarchs & Matriarchs in Hebron paid for by Abraham, and Shechem - the area that includes Joseph's tomb paid for by Jacob. The Arabs are very clever - they use their MOUTH to say their lies over and over again to make the world believe that the Arabs have rightful claims, convincing the world that it is the Jews who don't want to make peace and that they are keeping land that supposedly belongs to Arabs, when in fact, the Arabs claim that NONE of Israel is ours, calling it Palestine.

And so, while the Arabs are the problem that we have to deal with; ultimately, the ones who are causing the problem are the crooked politicians of the Knesset, the unSupreme High Court, the Arab loving police, and some of the soldiers - including some of the "religious" ones - who are more afraid of spending a little time in prison or loosing their careers in lieu of fearing Hashem Who told them to live in Israel to begin with and eradicate the enemy, whether it means when it comes to making a decision about shooting OR sparing the life of an Arab who uses his wife and children as human shields, or pertaining to throwing Jews out of homes OR letting them remain in their homes, or bulldozing a makeshift booth on a hilltop that belongs only to Jews and not Arabs OR remembering that what the "settler" Jew is doing is no less part of Zionism than the Kibbutz as far as these soldiers are concerned. Meanwhile, the Arabs knowing how Israel is bending backwards for them, laugh.

The Arab race which is Yishmael may claim to be followers of G-d - "G-d will hear", as what this name means, whose name begins with a Yud, but there are three Biblical figures whose whole lives was about following G-d despite hardships and tempations, whose names also begin with the letter Yud - Yitzchak/Isaac, Ya'akov/Jacob & Yosef/Joseph -three generations in a row. In Gematria, each of their names have a multiple of the number 26, which is the Gematria of Hashem's main name YKVK. It is something like this: Yitzchak = 208 = 26*8, Ya'akov = 182 = 26*7, Yosef = 156 = 26*6.

As per the other multiple number that make up the total Gematria of the respective Biblical figure - Yitzchak is connected with the letter eight, since he was the first Jew born with the holiness of a Jew, and hence the first Jew to be circumcized as the age of eight days. Ya'akov was especially meticulous about the seventh day - Shabbat, and hence, as is hinted in Tanach, we Jews will merit the "inheritance of Jacob" as it relates to Shabbat. And Yosef represents the aspect of Yesod, the sixth Sephirah which represents the Holy Covenant which he well protected from impurity, gaining himself the title of HaTzadik, the righteous one.

All of them were promised in blessings of having the bounty of the Land of Israel. In this week's Parshat Lech Lecha, Abraham, their father, grandfather, and greatgrandfather, was originally promised this land as being the land of TEN nations, as also mentioned in this week's Parshat Lech Lecha. And as we see in Mishna Keilim Chapter One, there are TEN levels of holiness as it relates to Israel. And all this, in the merit of circumcision and not falling in to sexual temptations.

And as Moses who blessed the Jewish nation in the beginning of Sefer Devarim/Deutronomy, following telling the nation about Hashem telling them to move forward towards Israel, "May Hashem, the G-d of your fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)
add to you a 1,000 times over, and bless you as he spoke to you". To note, the Hebrew for add in this verse is the word Yosef, though in this case, it is spelled without a Vav as is normally spelled for Joseph's name. And the number 1,000 is a multiple of 10 three times over, that is, 10*10*10. Apparently, this was how Moses expressed his blessing for the Jewish people, in the same type of blessings that are expressed in the Bircat Cohanim consisting of three verses each beginning with the letter Yud=10.

And so, the Arabs can remain with their fairy tales, such as "THOUSAND nights and one night", because that is virtually all what they have to offer to society since Algebra and their high priced oil which is preventing the far better economical way of batteries to operate vehicles. Perhaps they can rename their fairy tales as "Palestinian nights and one day", since they think that "one day" they will reclaim Israel as Palestine once and for all. But they don't have to go far - their Koran is also full of fairy tales, such as the claim that it was Ishmael whom his father Abraham offered on the altar to be a human sacrifice, when it really was Isaac.

Yes, following in Hashem's ways and having full faith in Him assures us of all of Hashem's blessings, despite the statistics, theories, conclusions, and judgments that the professors, scientists, army generals and judges claim that oppose what the Torah says, some of whom unfortunately are supposed "Orthodox" Jews. Whether in the Hebrew year 2000 when Abraham went public with his belief in one G-d, or in the secular year 2000 when Arabs started an Intifada because we Jews didn't make "peace" with them, it is the same Torah that tells us that Israel was, is and will always be ours, despite what pressures that the world wants to apply to us to make us feel guilty that perhaps we really don't belong in our land, even though they claim to believe the Bible which includes the "Old Testament" which is the ONLY testament that is G-d's word before the Oral Torah, states in very clear terms the borders of Israel and that this land belongs ONLY to us Jews.

Yes, TEN more years have passed since then. No Messiah, no new "peace", and no less threatening pressures of terrorism. However, in TEN minutes, we can make the correct decision or decisions that can make a world difference in the next TEN months; and G-d willing, in TEN years - in the Hebrew year 5781 or 2020 (the secular year which will most likely not be refered to anymore in the Messianic Era, as it is associated with the birth of the Christian god "Yoshke"), everything will be in place - the Messiah, the rebuilt Temple, no more enemies performing acts of terrorism on Jews, and the greatest righteous Jews of all times who will be resurrected - from Abraham to Moses to King David.

P.S. G-d willing, will write sometime next week, continuing on the theme about Arabs
- as descendants of Abraham.

2 Cheshvan, 5771