#106 - Jerusalem Above Blood

Yes, today is the 44th anniversary of Yom Yerushalayim/Jerusalem Day, the special date in Jewish history commemorating the return of the holiest area in the world to the Jewish people. This past year, especially in terms of Israel, had its set of challenges, but if there is any vestige of authentic Jewish pride among secular Jewish soldiers in Israel, it's about Jerusalem.

While it may be unfortunate that in listings of events in Jewish history as printed by some Ultra-Orthodox groups, there is no mention of Jerusalem Day, not wishing to give recognition to the Jewish army in Israel, some of whom were secular, when they finally conquered East Jerusalem from the Arabs, many if not most of the Ultra-Orthodox camp at the very least feel grateful that they have full access to the Western Wall - 24/7, and there are some who don't fall for those political rabbis who claim that it is forbidden to ascend the Temple Mount, though there are areas on the Temple Mount that are forbidden to be trodden upon because of impurity of the dead, which all of us have today, and can only be removed by the ashes of the Red Heifer, as noted in Numbers Chapter 19.

While there is something especially significant about the 45, as today begins the 45th year from the liberation of Jerusalem, today I will focus on the number 44 being that this is the 44th anniversary of Jerusalem Day, along with recent developments as related to this number. While of course I do have Obama, the evil 44th president of the United States, in mind; there is much more to it than just meets the eye.

As I have mentioned in the past, the number 44 in Hebrew are the same letters as the word Dam/blood. In last year's post #69 (May '10) about Jerusalem Day, I went into detail pertaining to this concept. You may recall that I had, let's say, kind of predicted that this past year would be the year that Obama President #44 would wage war with Jerusalem in its 44th year. While thank G-d, there was no direct bloodshed or war on Obama's part, it's interesting to note how that just within the last couple of weeks of the end of this 44th year, he was at it again with Baby Bibi to pressure him as usual to make concessions for "peace". And even if let's say Obama isn't pressuring to give parts of Jerusalem away in contrast to other parts of Israel; ultimately, he is in fact fighting Jerusalem no less.

Now before I continue about Obama, many in the political world in Israel - which includes both secular and "religious" Jews - have used Jerusalem as a front to pretend that they are right-wing, when at the same time, they lacked the faith in Hashem when it came to other parts of Israel. Perhaps this is how Olmert, former mayor of Jerusalem, got elected as Prime Monster of Israel, and Bibi - who already showed how dangerous he is to Israel by handing over sovereignty to the Arabs over Hebron, the first Jewish city in Israel - to be re-elected as Prime Monster, who was very unfortunately re-elected by some "religious" or "right-wing" Jews who all of a sudden "forgot" Bibi's track record.

Among the "religious" politics, you have one famed rabbi who claimed in the name of Jewish Law that parts of Israel should be handed over to the Arabs because of "endangerment of life", when time proved just the opposite, and finally after many years, did he change his mind, at least outwardly. By the way, he is one of those political rabbis who claim that it is forbidden to go up the Temple Mount because "the Divine Presence hovers over it", but I guess that according to him, there was no Divine Presence over it when Maimonides of several hundred years ago ascended the Holy Mount, who even celebrated the date that he ascended it as an annual date of celebration; however, this same rabbi isn't too bothered by the fact that the Moslem Arabs are constantly making a desecration of G-d's name by even their mere presence there, while observant Jews are only sometimes allowed on the Mount, but G-d forbid that they should move their lips even looking like they're praying, or they will be dully arrested by the Israeli police, while non-observant Jews who are tourists are freely allowed on the Mount to walk even on the places that are forbidden to Jews to walk on until we are purified by the ashes of the Red Heifer. And for the political party that he planted in the Knesset, this party uses Jerusalem as a front and cover up for their suicidal decisions pertaining to other parts of Israel, so long as they receive their tainted money from the corrupt Israeli government/politicians to support their own network of Jewish synagogues, schools and institutions.

The truth is that this whole mess about giving land for peace actually started with - believe it or not - with the Temple Mount itself, when the one-eyed Moshe Dayan could also not see with two spiritual eyes when he handed over control of the holiest area in the world to the wakf, not long after the big victory. It was since then that the Arabs smelled weakness among Israel; and Sadat who less than six years earlier, fought us Jews in the Yom Kippur War, convinced Menachem Begin, who was at one time a strong willed person, to give in to giving land to Egypt in exchange for "peace".

With this being said, the opposite of peace, or what equals "peace", is war. Mind you, war doesn't have to necessarily be about bloodshed, but actitivites opposing someone else, which at times do cause bloodshed. Hence, Obama in fact has set the foundation for causing untold bloodshed, G-d forbid.

And speaking of war, I purchased a Sefer, a Torah book, some months back listing the chronology of events that happened in the Chumash/Penteteuch. Lo and behold, the war of Amalek, the very first war against the Jews following the Exodus, took place on - 28 Iyar! While it may be said that indeed, there is Hashgacha Peratit/Divine Providence that thousands of years later, this very date of the very first war against Jews became the date of Jerusalem Day, there is an extra dimention here. You see, Rashi points out where it says that Moses' had his hands up in prayer until sunset "for the Amalekites reckoned the hours according to astrology as to which hour they would be victorious, so Moses had the sun stand still and confused the hours" (Exodus 17:12).

Yes, the Amalekites would have won the war against us, but it was thanks to Moses who was one step ahead of them, and daytime did not end, being that Moses who was most righteous had control over nature, and did not allow the sun to continue its natural course of action until the war would be won. This means that 28 Iyar became an elongated day, in order that the Amalekites would not finish us Jews off the next date of 29 Iyar, the 44th day of the Sephira, being that 44 is the Gematria of Dam - bloodshed!

Along these lines, the 43rd day of the Sephira, which is 28 Iyar, is represented by the Hebrew letters, when spelled in reverse, is the word Gam/ALSO. This word signifies something additional. In this case, there were two additional things. First, this day was elongated by Moses to win the battle against Amalek, gaining ADDITIONAL hours. And second, this date in the future history of the Jews nearly 3,300 years later would be a day of winning an ADDITIONAL war - the Jews regaining power over the holiest area in the world that was controlled by the Arabs (Note: The Six Day War was still days from being over, but this part of the war was the highlight victory of the Jewish nation, which would be followed by regaining other parts of Israel, some of which was very unfortunately handed back to the Arabs, partly in thanks to the corrupt politicians who used Jerusalem as a front to convince others to agree to this); and hence, became an ADDITIONAL annual date of celebration for Jews in the Jewish calendar.

And speaking of this day being the 43rd day of the Sefira marking the war of Amalek, in the blessing preceding the Shema recited in the morning, there is a phrase L'Shimcha HaGadol "for Your Great Name". The Magen Abraham in the name of the kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria states that when reciting this, we are supposed to have in mind to remember the evil deed of Amalek attacking the Jews; and it is thanks to Amalek that the Name of Hashem is not complete (G-d forbid we should say that His powers became weakened as a result or anything of this sort, as this is in figurative terms. But what is implied is that as a result of the Chillul Hashem, desecration of Hashem's name that Amalek caused, there is a cover up of the holiness of Hashem's name to mankind that will only be revealed once again when Amalek is finished off once and for all).

Anyways, the word Gadol/great is the Gematria of 43, corresponding to this 43rd day of the Sefirah when Amalek faught Hashem's beloved people. Perhaps what Amalek forgot is that the Hebrew date that it chose to fight us is Kaf Cheit, which is the Hebrew number that spells the word Ko-ach/power! Indeed, the verse which Rashi brings in his commentary on the very first verse of the Torah proving our rights to the Holy Land is Ko-ach Ma'asav Higid L'Amo Latet Lahem Nachalat Goyim "The power of His deeds - He told to His people, to give them the inheritance of nations (Israel)" (Psalms 111:6). Indeed, on 28 Iyar, 5727 (1967), this verse became fulfilled in a major way - the return of the holiest area in the world that is located in Israel!

There is another major resemblance here. Both Amalek and Arabs are among the closest BLOOD related of the nations of the world nations to the Jewish people. It's interesting to note that when people talk about relatives being related to one another, they mention either in terms of blood related, or marriage related. In this case, BOTH of these concepts apply. You see, Amalek was the grandson of Esau, son of Isaac, and brother of Jacob, and Ishmael - ancestor of the Arab race - was the son of Abraham and brother of Isaac. And in terms of marriage, Esau married Ishmael's daughter Machalath.

Now, getting back to the United States (only in conversation, NOT RETURNING to live in this soon-to-be Holocaust zone!), Obama, while claiming ties to the Christian community, is in fact an Arab Muslim from his father's side. And while Obama is president of what is in essence a Christian country (regardless of the claims of separation of church and state), a recent video revealed in various ways as to him being a Moslem - including him keep calling the Koran - "The Holy Koran", and being dressed in the traditional Arab dress, including the head covering! And being that he is the 44th President as is related to the concept of blood, both of these concept of blood and marriage - or union of religions - is applicable here (Note: Amalek is descended of Esau who is associated with Edom, which in time became Rome, which later became the headquarters of Christianity).



THE MAGNUM OPUS OF MAIMONIDES SHOWS THE WORLD TIMELINE

Not only the Rambam/Maimonides, but his magnum opus, the Mishne Torah, a compendium of all the laws of the Torah, are far from strangers at www.gematriot.blogspot.com. But today, I will reveal a shocking revelation from some of the names of the volumes, as well as names of sections of this holy work, that we are indeed just about to face the End of Times which includes the war of Gog U'Magog & the coming of the Messiah. In fact, this became most obvious exactly one month ago, as I will soon explain. Forgetting about the number of the year, or whatever dates that kabbalistic rabbis will claim will be THE YEAR that Moshiach is supposed to come, when we see afterwards that he didn't come, and then they say that he was supposed to come, but we weren't worthy of it, and therefore now, G-d forbid... You will see for yourself today that this is the REAL thing, dates and Gematriot will only be secondary to this. Keep your eyes REAL open on what I'm about to reveal.

It is true that I myself mentioned a prediction - not about the coming of Moshiach, but pertaining to the birthpangs of Moshiach - that is, the year that this will either start, or will accelerate, which was last year 5770, as I saw in the Hidden Codes of the Torah, and particularly during Succot. As it turns out, I was not the only one to say something along these lines, except I had my unique way of finding this out. As it turn out, this was indeed the time - during Succot of 5770 - that Obama, who was not in the Presidency of the United States for even one year, to be elected for a Nobel Peace prize. While this may not seem like such a big deal to some people as far as the after effects are concerned, this was a MAJOR step for him gaining world obedience to him, since as has been predicted by others - based on the Hidden Codes of the Torah, that he is indeed Gog U'Magog, who will be fighting Israel at the End of Days. In fact, this peace prize for him is anything but peace for Jews in the future. We will be speaking more about him as we proceed with the history of the world as shown in the work of the Rambam.

The truth is that one can see that the very beginning of the work of the Rambam speaks of G-d and the details of the Creation of the world, and it ends with how life will be with the coming of Moshiach. So, the question can be asked, is there in fact a timetable here corresponding to the laws of the Rambam?

Actually, there are more pieces of info that immediately meets the eye proving this to be the case. For example, a little later on in the first of the 14 volumes of the Rambam, there is the section about idolatry. The Rambam writes how it all started, which first took place a few hundred years into the history of the world, and how it continued until the time of Abraham when he preached the believe in one G-d.

To make a study of this project for the timetable could perhaps take days to connect many dots together. However, fastforwarding towards close to the second half of the Rambam's 14 volume work, we will see obvious connections between this work and the time period in world history; so stay tight in your seats - everyone!

Actually, this can be explained in more than one plane. Well, we know that there will be 6,000 years of this world's existance as we know it to be. With this being said, we know that the building and dedication of the first Temple took place between the years 2928-2935, which is close to half of the world's slotted 6,000 years. Now, the second half of the Rambam, in terms of the number of volumes, is the volume of Avoda/Temple Service, which begins with Hilchot Beit HaBechira/Laws of the Holy Temple. Mind you, there are exactly 1,000 chapters of the Rambam's work, and while if you were to divide the years of the world by the number of the chapters, which is exactly by six, it would come to hundreds of years earlier (beginning with the 424th chapter), the sum total will be hundreds of years before the Temple era, you will start to see the picture here.

Now, the volume preceding this one is called Zeraim/seeds, which is about the various laws relating to the land of Israel. Now, counting the number of chapters, in contrast to the number of volumes, we see that this volume starts with the 339th chapter; thus, corresponding to the years, this comes out to 2,028 (338*6) which was when Abraham was 80 years old, as it was only five years earlier when Hashem told him to move to Israel! Now, moving forward in this volume, the final section is Hilchot Shemitta V'Yoveil, the Laws of the Sabbatical & Jubilee Years. These are the 411th thru the 423rd chapter. The timeline corresponding to this are the years 2461-2538. During the midst of this time, Joshua led the Jews to Israel in 2488, and the year 2503 began the first year of the Sabbatical/Jubilee cycle of 50 years. Pretty close in timing!

Now, looking at this from another angle, the last eight volumes of the Rambam correspond to the recent history of the Jews, forgetting about the exact amount of volumes or chapters. This is where it starts getting hot in terms of showing how close we are to the End of Days. And there does not have to be a contradiction here - there is more than one way that something can be hinted to in the same words of the Torah. Accordingly, while the Rambam himself may have not realized this, but being that his work was no doubt composed with Divine Assistance, Divine Providence, and Divine Spirit (this is not the post to get into details about these concepts), there are many things hinted in his work that go beyond the basic interpretation of the laws of this work.

OK, so starting with the 7th volume Seder Zeraim, the volume of "Seeds" about the laws of the land of Israel, it was in recent history that Jews moved to Israel in mass numbers. The fact that a significant percentage of them were non-observant Jews; nay, some of them came from observant homes, but rejected their home Judaism to be part of the Zionistic movement, some of whom hated the Jewish religion and observant Jews, which very unfortunately surfaced in the early history of Zionism in Israel along with the creation of the "State of Israel", it can be borne in mind that indeed, many Jews who are children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of these early Zionists later became observant Jews, living both in Israel and abroad; thus, we cannot just brush off this part of Jewish history as something that went against the Torah, as fringe groups such as the Neturei Karta will claim. After all, if it wasn't for some of these early Zionists who cleared away the malaria infested swamps, taking a chance of dying themselves to make the land beneficial for everyone else, not to speak of the soldiers who fought with blood and tears - thousands of whom gave up their lives fighting the blood thirsty British and Arabs, how would living in Israel be today? After all, what percentage of these self sacrificing Jews were observant Jews? Certainly not the percentage that we have in today's Israeli army. Indeed, these early Zionist "planted the SEEDS" to make the land clean, fit, and sanitary for everyone else to live in Israel.

Now, this obviously involved much Avoda/service or WORK, the name of the 8th volume of Rambam, and many of them were Korbanot/SACRIFICES, the name of the 9th volume, many of whom gave up their lives, but in essence, all of them sacrificed of their lives instead of furthering their college education or enjoying their lives. This did include cleaning the land, including the malaria infested swamps - corresponding to the 10th volume Tahara/pure or CLEAN.

Now, looking at it from another perspective in this recent history, the Zionistic movement with Theodore Herzl (though was a non-observant Jew, he certainly was a saint compared to all of today's Israeli crooked politicians!) began in the late 1800s - "SEEDS", which was decades before the Holocaust. Hitler had the Jews work as slaves in the concentration camps - "WORK", and very unfortunately, there were some 6,000,000 Jews who became "Sacrifices". And what was Hitler's intentions behind this - "ethnic cleansing" - "CLEAN" (Note: The one place in the Torah that Hitler's name can be spelled in consecutive letters is at the end of Parshat Tazria, which deals with people or clothing contraction Tza'ra'at, an ailment that is similar to leprosy which was a punishment in Temple times for certain sins - Ohr L'Taharo "skin to make pure (clean)" where the letters spelled backwards - Hei,Teit,Lamed,Reish - spells Hitler! Indeed, Hitler, and his ethnic (related to skin color) cleansing, which by the way also included blacks and gypsies!) As you can see, I brought here three or four different ways of interpreting some of the names of these Rambam volumes in the context of world history.

So, in terms of the last two interpretations between the Holocaust and the revival of Jewish life in Israel with masses of Jews coming to Israel, there was no doubt much physical DAMAGE, corresponding to the 11th volume - Nezikin/damages - Holocaust survivals scarred with lost relatives, emotional, mental and physical damage, Jews by the thousands died fighting for Israel; and there was much spiritual damage - Jewish children from observant homes were thrown into the secular Kibbutzim, Jewish Yemenite babies were kidnapped and thrown into a totally different environment which was totally secular in sharp contrast to how it was in Yemen, many of whom would never know or be able to reunite with their real parents or other relatives, and some observant Jews had a hard time finding work because the secular Israeli government was anti-religious for the most part.

Fortunately, there were brighter moments in Jewish history, when Jews were able to acquire or POSSESS additional parts of the Holy Land following the various war with the Arabs - including the Sinai, Gaza, and of course the Old City of Jerusalem which includes the Temple Mount and Western Wall - corresponding to the 12th volume called Kinyan/possession. And then, things started going downhill. As I mentioned earlier, it really started with the Temple Mount, but in a much larger scale and much more world attention, it began with the evil Egyptian Prime Minister Sadat who convinced the Israeli government to give back the Sinai in exchange for peace - indeed, a major mistake in JUDGEMENT - corresponding to the 13th volume Mishpatim/judgments. This would be the first of several such "judgments" in error, but it started with Mitzrayim/Egypt, beginning with the letter Mem and ending with the letter Mem Sofit, just as the word Mishpatim! How ironic that in Parshat Mishpatim in the Torah, Hashem tells us that I will "set your border from the Reed Sea to the Philistine Sea" (Exodus 23:31), but the majority of the voters in the Knesset about giving Holy Land away closed their Tanach/Bible before voting.

And now comes the major treat - the 14th and final volume of the Rambam, which is Shoftim/Judges. In a major sense, we can say that we are now in the period of history that Hashem is clearly JUDGING the world, with the major tumult going around the world. More on this shortly.

This final volume is divided into five parts:

1)Hilchot Sanhedrin - Laws of Sanhedrein, the largest Jewish judicial body, consisting of 71 judges. On 10 Shevat, 5765 ('05), today's SANHEDRIN was reinstituted. Now mind you, this Sanhedrin has as of yet to have the same powers as the Sanhedrin of 2,000 years ago. This Sanhedrin does not have the power to put people to death for various sins, or flog them, so long as they are controlled by the Israeli government consisting of the Knesset, the unSupreme Court, and the police. In fact, one or more of these Sanhedrin members have since been arrested or detained for questioning. However, this is the beginning of some resemblance of justice, which according to rabbis, is a prerequisite to the coming of Moshiach.

2)Hilchot Eidut - Laws of Testimony. Especially in these last few years, Hashem has shown his Divine wrath on the world - between the amount and magnitude of earthquakes, hurricanes, tzunamis, and as it happened last year on 1 Iyar, 5770, my 40th birthday, a major volcanic eruption that filled the skies in Europe, making it impossible to fly for a bit of time. As the Torah states regarding punishing the Jews, G-d forbid, for misbehavior "I will call on to TESTIFY against them (Jews) - the heavens and the earth" (Deutronomy 31:28). Indeed, Hashem has used both the heavens and the earth as a testimony of Hashem's powers and punishments for evil people; which is also bearing in mind that whatever happens in the world, at least in the way of punishment, is due to the Jews, for sometimes, Hashem makes others scapegoats (who are worthy of punishment away) as scapegoats for us Jews in His mercy for us. I must add here that the various tragedies in Japan in the last few minutes is no doubt in punishment for the idol worshipping Japanese government keeping two Hasidic boys in prison for over three years now for something that they had no knowledge of was wrong, not realizing that they were carrying drugs instead of antiques as was claimed to them by a Hasidic "friend" for "charity" purposes, as was proven in the lie detector tests, but no doubt that the Hasidic boys' cries for help and salvation from all the torture that they have endured have reached Hashem, and He will - MARK MY WORDS - continue pouring Divine wrath on this evil idolatrous country until these Hasidic boys are freed from the Japan torture cells to return to the Holy Land.

3)Hilchot Mamrim - Laws of Rebels. It was just a number of months ago in this year of 5771 that citizens of various Arab countries started REBELLING against the dictator of their respective country. Most notably (aside from Khadafi in Libya about which we have yet to know how this will end), it was Egypt that attracted the most worldwide attention, which would be weeks before President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak would finally resign. And just as I noted earlier the connection of the word Mitzrayim/Egypt with another Hebrew word beginning with a Mem and ending with a Mem Sofit, so does this apply with the word Mamrim/REBELS! To note, it was on 7 Adar I, the birthday/passing of Moses, who led the Jews out of Egypt, when Mubarak stepped down. The announcement of this in Egypt took exactly 49 seconds - corresponding to the 49 levels of impurity that the Jews had upon leaving Egypt, taking them 49 days following the day of the Exodus to shed a level of impurity a day until receiving the Torah. Truly amazing! And now, for the big shock...

4)Hilchot Eivel - Laws of Mourning. Exactly one month ago - on 28 Nissan, came the major news - THE DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN. Before I comment further on this event, this date of 28 Nissan marks the FIRST victory of the Jews fighting their enemies i ISRAEL, beginning with Joshua knocking down the wall of Jericho. This is also bearing in mind of the date of Kaf Cheit, spelling Ko-ach/power, and as mentioned in a verse pertaining to the Jews being given the "inheritance of the nations". Anyways, most of the world, aside from the mourning Hamas in Israel, rejoiced at the death of Osama Bin Laden, knowing how he directed a major terrorist group to fight the world, which included the big tragedy of 9/11. But the MAJOR hint here is that the letters of the word Eivel/mourning spell the inital letters - Alef,Beit(Veit),
Lamed - of Osama Bin Laden's name spelled in Hebrew! While he didn't get to accomplish to murder millions of people such as Hitler and Stalin, his Al-Aqeda terrorist organization, G-d forbid, has the potential to murder so many more people with infinitely much more in quality and quantity in terms of resources, being a worldwide network with today's sophisticated technology, including of course using the internet. The 9/11 tragedy not only caused mourning to the relatives and friends of the few thousand who perished, but in fact caused all of the United States, the world power, to MOURN. By the way, the Hebrew word for mourning, Eivel, is similar to the English word EVIL. While Obama who is a Moslem Arab played a major role in killing another Moslem Arab, stating "Osama Bin Laden killed thousands of Moslems", it has been pointed out that the phrase in the verse following the one that I mentioned in terms of TESTIFYING, "The evil will happen to you in the End of Days" (Deutronomy 31:29) that this refers to Obama (I will not get into this now, but you can refer to www.redemption5768.com for more on this), which leads to the FINAL STAGE IN WORLD HISTORY...

5)Hilchot Melachim U'Milchamoteihem - Laws of Kings and Their Wars. In today's world for the most part, the kings are the presidents or the prime ministers. The United States is still at war after nearly 10 years since 9/11, and Obama defeated Osama (started writing this the opposite way!). Now, in this final section of the Rambam, it writes about the role of Jewish kings and the laws of wars fighting our enemies, concluding with the final two chapters about King Moshiach. Indeed, as we saw how the timetable of just a little over six years is hinted in the first four sections of the final volume of the Rambam, no doubt that accordingly, the final stage of the war of Gog U'Magog consisting of the nations coming to Israel to fight it, being led by Obama who is Gog, IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER, corresponding to the FINAL SECTION OF THE MISHNE TORAH! The truth is that Moshiach can come today; but no doubt that if G-d forbid, Moshiach doesn't come sooner, it will happen at the culmination of this war which will end with the Jews being victorious, as you can read in Ezekiel Chapters 38 & 39.

And now that I have mentioned my say on what will take place in the near future in relationship to the Rambam, there is in fact an event that happened in the Rambam's life that occurred on today's date of 28 Iyar. He discovered a Sefer Torah/Torah Scroll that was written by Ezra the Scribe some 1,500 years ago - on 28 Iyar! Just as the Rambam celebrated annually the dates that he ascended the Temple Mount and his visit to the Me'arat HaMachpeila - the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, where also Adam & Eve is buried (Note: Adam's name is the Gematria of 45, and today marks the beginning of the 45th year of the Liberation of Jerusalem), so too did he annually celebrate the 28th of Iyar of this Sefer Torah discovery. The connection of the two events of the Sefer Torah & Jerusalem are obvious - the Sefer Torah is the holiest object, and Jerusalem is the holiest city in the world, as it includes the Beit HaMidkash/Holy Temple, the holiest building/area in the world. And his own holy work, the Mishne Torah, ends off with the section about the Mitzvot/Commandments pertaining to fighting our enemies, which includes the three Mitzvot pertaining to Amalek - remembering what this nation did to us, not to forget it, and wiping out its memory by eradicating it. And when did this nation begin the FIRST war against the Jews - of which we were victorious at the end - on 28 Iyar. And before I forget, today's date begins the SEVENTH week of the Sephira, and in Hebrew, the word for seven is Zayin, which also means weapon. Weapons can also be a good thing - if we use them in obedience of Hashem's orders to kill our enemies, showing no fear of them or what the world's claims of the Jews performing "genocide". After receiving nearly 2,000 years of Christian "love", we know who are the ones who have performed genocide, not speaking of what Moslem Arabs want to do not just to Jews, but to everyone else whom they also call infidels.

And on a concluding note, just when you thought it was all over, 28 Iyar marks another event in Jewish history, the passing of Shmuel HaNavi/Samuel the Prophet. He was the one who anointed two kings - Saul & David. Samuel the Prophet was given orders by Hashem to tell King Saul to eradicate Amalek once and for all, unlike a few centuries earlier when Hashem didn't allow for all of Amalek, for whatever reason, to be eradicated at that time. Anyways, King Saul thought he was a little smart, and he allowed the Amalekite king to remain alive as a trophy, and allowed some of the Amalekite animals, who were also supposed to be killed, to be allowed to live, so they could be brought as animal sacrifices. King Saul failing his mission, Samuel the Prophet received Hashem's next order to anoint King David for the kingship for after King Saul would die. Anyways, the Gematria of Samuel's name is the same as the word Shiva/seven, and his Yahrzeit falls out at the beginning of the 7th week of the Sephirah. Also, as connected to Jerusalem and the Temple area, it was Samuel & King David, for the brief period that they knew each other personally, who figured out from the Torah as to where the exact location of the future Temple would be. By the way, the Gematria of King David's name is 14, and it is the concluding section of the Mishne Torah, of the 14th and final volume of this work, that is about the laws of Jewish kings, whose ancestor is King David, and from whom Moshiach, the concluding topic of the Mishneh Torah, is a descendant of King David.

One final thing about Samuel the Prophet, it states that when the Jews entered Israel, they were given three national Mitzvot - building the Temple, annointing a king, and eradicating Amalek. Samuel, one of the greatest righteous people and prophets of all times, had a chance to be a part if not be able to literally fulfill all of these three Mitzvot.

My next post will be so to speak a continuation about Jerusalem Day - but from a little different perspective, focusing on being the beginning of the 45th year from Jerusalem's Liberation.


28 Iyar, 5771 - 44th Aniversary of Jerusalem Day

P.S. The time listed for this post is 7:43PM. Today begins the 7th week of the Sephira, and is the 43rd day of the Sephira. Coincidence? I know that Hashem wanted me to write this special post.

#105 - The B'nai B'rith

Today being the date of my Brit Mila/circumcision on my 8th day of life - 8 Iyar (which was also on a Thursday), the words of the 8th verse of Psalm 105 (and this is my 105th Post), repeated in Divrei HaYomim/Book of Chronicles, come to mind "He (Hashem) remembered his Brit/covenant forever - the word that He commanded to the thousandth generation".

In the entire Mishnah, the foundation of the Oral Torah/Law, the word Brit/Brith is mentioned only two times. The first is in the 3rd chapter of Tractate Makkot - and by the way, the word Makkot is the same Gematria as my name Shimon (466) - where it quotes the verse "You shall observe the words of this Brit/covenant (Deutronomy Chapter 29, Verse 8), taken from the final verse of Parshat Ki Tavo, recited in the midst of giving lashes to a sinner in a Beit Din/Jewish court as one of three verses consisting of 13 words each to correspond to the 39 lashes; and additionally, the word Brit is written 13 times in the section of the Torah of Hashem commanding Abraham to perform the commandment of circumcision. The only other time in the Mishnah is in the first chapter of Tractate Bava Kama, where it mentions the phrase B'nai Brit/B'rith as referring to Jews in terms of doing damage to them in contrast to doing damages to non-Jews (certain laws differ, but I do not wish to delve into this in this post).

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the founders of the B'nai B'rith movement, "the oldest continually operating Jewish service organization in the world", coined this very phrase naming this organization, the way it is in Tractate Bava Kama, where it is used to differentiate between Jews and non-Jews. Indeed, this worldwide Jewish community service organization was founded to fight against antisemitism and anti-Israel bias. How much good they actually do today, and how they compare to the original JDL that was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D to do this very thing of defending Jews and anti-Semitic bias, I am not going to discuss here or say anything that could give reason for anyone to want to sue me, but my point is that this phrase B'nai B'rith is a distinguishing title to us to contrast us with non-Jews, since it is only we Jews who have been the commandment to perform Brit Mila which is one of the few distinguishing signs of a Jew (the fact that non-Jews, especially in the United States, have circumcisions does not make them anymore Jewish, as this is done only for health reasons, and they have no intention of doing this as the Covenant of Abraham our Forefather).

As we see in the Torah, the word Brit does not refer exclusively to circumcision. The original meaning of this word is covenant, because whether this refers to circumcision, the Land of Israel, or the Torah, in their respective places in the Tanach/Bible; in essence, Hashem has made a covenant with us as the Jewish nation with these various factors. In fact, as pointed out by my Rav who gave me Semicha/rabbinic ordination - Rabbi Mordechai Friedman, Shlita, the raison d'etre for the commandment of circumcision is in order for us Jews to inherit the Land of Israel. The proof - "I (Hashem) will establish my covenant between Me & you (Abraham) and your descendants...I will give you and your descendants the land of your sojournings, the Land of Canaan (now Israel)...You shall observe my covenant, you and your descendants...This is my covenant that you shall observe between Me and you and your descendants, you shall circumcise every male" (Genesis 17:7-10). You see, Hashem mentions the Land of Israel, as part of the covenant, BEFORE the commandment of circumcision. So, the ultimate purpose of circumcision is IN ORDER TO INHERIT THE LAND OF ISRAEL!

In fact, a couple of chapters earlier, the other source for my Rabbi's explanation on this subject, in the same Parsha of Lech Lecha, it states that Hashem established a Brit/covenant with Abraham that He will grant the Land of Israel to his descendants (see Genesis 15:18-21). Hence, 29 years earlier (as we learn out in the Midrash), this covenant, using the word Brit, was used EXCLUSIVELY to refer to Israel!

To further prove this point, referring back to Psalm 105 or in Chronicles, the verses continue to explain what this "covenant" is, "which He established with Abraham...to give the Land of Cana'an" (verses 9-11). So, there is no question as to where Jews are supposed to live to prove that they are Jews - the Land of Israel being the ultimate physical sign that we are a Jewish nation.

As pointed out in Likutei Halachot, a Hasidic explanation on the Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish law, authored by Rabbi Nathan Steinhartz, main disciple of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, explains that these two concepts of Israel & Brit Mila have something in common. We see that before the Jews took over the conquest of Israel, there were seven (Cana'anite) nations who were living in there, and that we as the 8th nation took it over. In a similar vein, the baby boy passes through seven days, and then is given a Brit Mila on the 8th day. In terms of Gematria, as the word for eighth - Shemimi, is the Gematria of Kadosh or Kodesh - holy, one has to pass through seven units before reaching the sanctified level of the eighth, representing a number that is above nature, revealing open miracles, as seen in the writings of the Maharal of Prague. (The concept of the Holy Sabbath being the 7th day, rather than the 8th day, is that it is a day that within the time frame of nature, being part of the weekly routine of resting on a day that we would otherwise work on, and hence the challenge of the Mitzvah resting on this day, even if miracles don't seem obvious).

Now, in another sense, just as the verse in Deutronomy where the word Brit is mentioned refers to the Torah, so another meaning of this word of the verse in Psalms & Chronicles is also the Torah. As explained in the Midrash, there were previously 974 generations in existance before Hashem created this world. Now, I am not going to get into what is beyond me as to whether this means literally that there used to be (an)other world(s) with other people or some spiritual explanation, but suffice it to say that it was the 26th generation from the time Hashem created this world, counting Moses the Lawgiver as the 26th generation from Adam & Eve, which received the Torah; hence, that generation being the 1,000th generation that Hashem gave the Torah to based on the word of the Midrash "The WORD that He COMMANDED (the Torah consisting of 613 Commandments) to the thousandth generation".

Now getting back to the Bnai Brith organization for a minute, I looked up the Hebrew date that this organization was founded - 19 Tishrei. This is the fifth day of Succot, the day that Aaron the High Priest is the featured spiritual guest(of the seven Ushpizin) in the Succah. His special quality was making peace among Jews,and as Moses his brother, Aaron was also the 26th generation from Adam & Eve.

Why do I mention this? The Bnai Brith was founded as an organization to help defend Jews against anti-Semitism. While everyone is to be commended for making the world a better place, and certainly for Jews, one does need to bear in mind as to why anti-Semitism happens to begin with. You see, it is a disease formed from jealousy which sometimes in fact has no logic to it. Whether it is the black plague in the Middle Ages which occurred because of a lack of hygiene which was the least problem with Jews due to constant hand washing, or the blood libel with the Matzot which are only permitted to consist of flour and water, or that the Jews are controlling the world with their money when the three richest people in the world are not Jews, this makes no difference to people who wish to hate Jews, and it doesn't need to be logical.

The only thing that is logical here is that Hashem allows non-Jews to hate us - especially when we don't remember that we are Jews or when there is fighting and discard among ourselves. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes opposing forces to remind
us of our responsible position in this world and what raw hatred can cause. Certainly, we need to take a role in not allowing ourselves to be defamed in the media with the double standards that are especially used when it comes to the Jews and the poor "Palestinians", even as the democratic for Arabs only government controlling Israel sends humanitarian aid to the blood thirsty Arabs in Gaza in the midst of its war with them, while these biggest enemies of the Jews don't stop a pace sending fatal rockets to Sederot. The world media at large is most cunning in twisting the facts around, in essence, blaming us Jews for being the victims who are doing a "crime" killing Arabs even in war.

What I have found that this bothers non-observant Jews even more than observant Jews. And the reason for this is very simple. Truly, it is not logical not just the fact, but the way that non-Jews hate us. After all, there are Jewish-Christian alliances, and there are those who will even boast of certain places or organizations where there is unity between Jews and Arabs. Of course, not too many of them will remember or care about the Hebron massacre in 1929 when the Arabs, who seems to be friendly with the neighboring Jews one day, attacked them the next day, resulting in the murder of 67 Jews. To this day, Jews only live in 3% of Hebron, surrounded by some 100,000 Arabs in the rest of this first Jewish city in Israel. And this is not to even mention about the double standards of the rights of Moslem Arabs in the Holy Cave of the Patriarchs & Matriarchs in this city over the rights of Jews. Yet, the left-wing media will make us Jews in Hebron look bad any day, even as Germany sends money for Arab construction and interests in Hebron.

Perhaps a good percentage of today's journalistic anti-Semitism is thanks to the self-hating Jews who wish for a Palestine that never existed according to the Bible. The fact that Christians who have read the Bible push for this is not too surprising because their only "love" for us is when we G-d forbid convert, or "you will burn in hell". So in fact, why is it so surprising that the world is turned against the Bnai Brith - "People of the Covenant", since after all, we're accused of killing their "Savior", who was in fact one of our own? And what does the stubborn left-wing Israeli government - pushing for a "peace" plan with Moslem Arabs, unlike Aaron's peace plan which was just for Jews - expect when the Koran does not mention our capitol Jerusalem EVEN ONCE?

You see, to Jews who keep the Covenant, which of course includes living in Israel, but certainly does include keeping the Sabbath, eating kosher, observing the laws of family purity, anti-Semitism isn't so hard to understand. After all, they understand that Hashem is running the show, which includes the Holocaust, 9-11, and the murder of Jews in Israel. We may not know the reason why any one person gets murdered, injured, or maimed for life, but we do know that everything is for a purpose, whether we like it or not. But one thing we do know for sure - this is only a temporary world, while the next world is where we receive our ETERNAL reward for our good Jewish life in this world.

Yes, quite often times, it is very unfortunate that it is the good "who die young", while the ones in the corrupt political government are causing this to happen, accumulating much Jewish bloodshed on their hands, especially Bibi and his cohorts, but one thing we must remember, is that we are the "Sons of the Covenant", which is in fact giving up blood from the membrane which leads to future life, and occasionally, babies have died from this. If only today's Israeli government would remember what their fathers and grandfathers fought for - even if not all of them observed the Covenant all the way - but at least they fought for the rights of Jews living in the Land of the Covenant - and a land of miracles which was shown time and again in the early wars when Jews weren't afraid to fight the Arab enemy - with their blood, tears, sweat, and much fighting, because they knew that they had a purpose for doing this, and it was well worth the sacrifice.

To end off on a good note, the Gematria of Brit Mila is 697, which is the number of chapters in the first section of the Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish Law called Orach Chaim "Path of Life", which is about the laws of daily Jewish living - blessings, prayers, the Sabbath and holidays. Yes, Judaism is not just about a bunch of Jews at parties of the Brit Mila, Bar-Mitzvah, and weddings. It involves long life sacrifice - which includes living one's life according to the Torah way, and included in this is living in the Land of Israel, which may be a land of sacrifice physically and monetarily, but which is certainly today an oasis of the greatest Torah learning and living as the ultimate Jew following the Covenant of the Torah.


8 Iyar, 5771 - The anniversary date that I entered the Covenant of Abraham our Forefather