Gematriot - Revealing Torah Secrets

#130 - Mazel Tov: My Righteous Palm Tree Baby!

2012-01-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

Today, on the birthdate of the Biblical figure Shimon, son of Jacob & Leah, my namesake, I'm beginning to write about the birth of my first child Tamar Tzadika. I had intended to write about this a little sooner, but as virtually all parents know, it is very hectic with timing, especially in the beginning weeks of a child's birth, including shopping for all kinds of items, and being awake at all times of the night at one point or another when the baby is crying for food or to have its diapers changed.

But before I continue writing about my daughter, I wish to write a bit about the significance of the number 130, the number of this post, as related to the theme of birth. Reading the first Parsha of the Torah - Bereishit, we see that Seth, son of Adam and Eve, was born when his parents were 130 years old (Note: It was at the same age of 130 that Yocheved gave birth to Baby Moses, as mentioned in last week's Parshat Shemot!). But perhaps what is most striking, something that we do not see with the birth of anyone else in the entire Tanach/Bible, in describing Seth's birth, the verse states "he was born in his (Adam's) form, like his (Adam's) image" (Genesis 5:3). While one may begin to say that Seth was the first generation that was born to parents unlike his own parents who were created directly from Hashem, Seth was not the first one to be born. A chapter earlier, the births of Kain & Abel, the first children to be born from a womb, are mentioned, but doesn't say anything there about forms and images, so why is this mentioned specifically about Seth?

Although usually, Rashi comes to the rescue for logical questions, for whatever reason in this case, Rashi makes no comment on this, or if he ever wrote anything on this, we have no copy of it. However, several reasons are given for this, starting from the Talmud to relatively recent commentators on the Torah. While I am not here to mention every reason, there is one reason, one of the ones mentioned by the Ohr HaChayim commentary, that is very relevant. He states that it was through Seth that the world became established, and indeed, we see that the Torah mentions the continuing generations from Seth until Noah, as it was only Noah, his wife and their children who survived from the whole world later on (though Rashi mentions Noah's wife Na'amah as a descendant of Kain, but the Torah mentioning specifically Seth as having Adam's form and image, rather than Eve's or both of his parents', has to do with paternal generations, and as evidenced today, the family name that is passed down throughout generations comes specifically from the father's side). I should mention another reason given by the Ohr HaChaim, especially as it relates to me since I am a Levite, is that Seth was the third son born to Adam & Eve, just as Levi was the third son born to Jacob & Leah, who was sanctified with serving Hashem in the form of Kehuna/Priesthood. (Note: Today, as some learn the seven Aliyot of the Parsha on their corresponding day of the week, many learn the second Aliyah of Parshat Va'era, which is all about the the generations of the first three sons of Jacob - Reuven the firstborn, Shimon, and Levi, focusing especially on the generations of Levi, with the ultimate focus on Moses and Aaron the first official Cohen Gadol/High Priest of the Jewish people).

OK, so with no further ado, I want to tell you about the amazing "coincidences" that surrounded the birth of my baby daughter and her most special name.

To begin with, my baby was born a little premature, with the original expectation of the due date of over a month later. In fact, she was born in the midst of my wife's ninth month of pregnancy. (A friend once told me not to let anyone tell me differently, but the doctors count 300 days from when the wife thinks that she became pregnant. I learned on my own that the "countdown" begins from the day that the woman had her last period, since in the non-religious Jewish world, having a period doesn't necessarily stop couples from having relations. But what bothers me is that in Israel, where Judaism is supposed to be most practiced, that this is the same standard being used, regardless of the religiosity of the couple). In any case, we expected our baby to be born clearly after Chanuka, not before Chanuka.

So, as it turned out, our baby was born on our wedding month of Kislev - nearly two years after our wedding day. No doubt that the month of Kislev will always be a special month in our family.

And the Hebrew date of our baby's birth - 15 Kislev. Now, I can tell you that she was born at 4:37PM (or 16:37 Israeli time). But, this in itself won't tell you much, and believe it or not, I have nothing to comment on the significant of the numbers of the timing. However, if I were to tell you that she was born at 4:37PM in Jerusalem, this is of major significance. Oh sure, she was born in the holiest city in the world. And in fact, on my side of the family, my daughter is the first one to be born in Israel in nearly 2,000 years since the destruction of the Second Temple when around that time, a good percentage of the Jewish population was exiled to Babylonia, Rome, and various other countries. Few Jews left Israel from the not so big Jewish population that remained in Israel since then.

In any case, the great significance of the timing of my baby's birth in Jerusalem is that it was only two or three minutes before sunset which was at 4:40PM in Jerusalem on that day. Had she be born just five minutes later, it would clearly have been a question as to which Jewish date my baby would have been born on, since the period of sunset until nightfall is a question of whether it is still considered daytime or already nighttime, which is why we observe the laws of Shabbat and Jewish holidays on both Friday and Saturday during the period of sunset, so there won't be any chances of violating the holy day being that we do not know exactly when the night begins.

But this is not the whole story. In other parts of Israel, such as in the area of Tel Aviv/Bnei Brak - it was already sunset like a minute earlier at 4:36PM, and in Haifa - at 4:34PM. This is to say that if everything else would have remained the same pertaining to my daughter's birth, except that it would have taken place in Tel Aviv or Haifa, it already would have been sunset. But being born in the holiest city of the world, there was still a little time remaining of the day to know what Jewish date she was born on. Amazing Hashgacha Peratit (Divine Providence)!

If this Hebrew date of 15 Kislev had no special significance, the above would remain true. But although it may not be a holiday like Passover, Succot, Tu B'Shevat, or Tu B'Av, which all fall out on the 15th of their respective months, this is a day that marks the Yahrzeit of one of the most illustrious rabbis in history - known either as Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi/Rabbi Judah the Prince, Rabbeinu HaKadosh (our holy rabbi) or simply as Rebbe. He is the one who compiled the first official Jewish book outside of the Tanach called the Mishna, a composite of the Jewish Laws in 6 volumes/63 tractates/523 chapters/4,176 Mishnayot (Mishna paragraphs). In fact, up to that point in time, it was forbidden by the Torah to write down what is known as Torah She'B'Al Peh/Oral Law as was orally transmitted from Hashem to Moshe, as was passed down from generation to generation likewise. However, since the situation of the Jewish people going through hard time with the evil dominion of the Roman empire, exile, massacres, etc., there was great fear that the laws of the Torah would be largely forgotten, and so to preserve the Torah, Rebbe wrote down the Mishna.

I will get back to this subject about the Mishna a little later on here, but first, let me tell you about the name that I gave her - Tamar Tzadika. I did not know until the night before the birth when my wife was already in the hospital that this is the name that I was going to give her. You see, I named my baby Tamar after the righteous woman Tamar in Parshat Vayeishev, the Parsha of that week; and in fact, this the sole Parsha of the Chumash/Penteteuch in which this righteous woman is mentioned. Now, I don't know what impression that Christians have from Genesis Chapter 38 of the events between Judah and Tamar of their one night stand (or one day stand), but as we know from our rabbis, this union was meant to be because it was from this union that Moshiach is supposed to be descended. People can deny what the rabbis say if they so wish, but as we learn from Midrashic sources, Judah had an especially strong desire to sleep with Tamar, although for all that he knew despite his own righteousness that Tamar was a prostitute. Tamar's part in all this is that since Judah was hesitant in giving his son Sheilah to her as a husband following the deaths of his first two sons to whom Tamar was married, she in her divine inspiration (since Moshiach is destined to be descended from this union) wished to be intimate with Judah, and so she veiled herself as such so that Judah would not recognize her.

Well, even if Tamar would have been an outright prostitute, our rabbis show a good side to her. You see, for all that Judah knew since his one time stand, she was a prostitute presently pregnant, and not knowing that it was her that he was intimate with, had her sentenced to death for being a prostitute. Now, of course Tamar wanted to prove that it was none other than he himself who impregnated her. However, not wishing to outright embarrass him, she hinted to him without making obvious to others that he was the one responsible for the unborn baby (which turned out to be unborn twin babies). When Judah heard from the messenger that she sent of the items that he deposited with her for her "services", he then realized that he was the father of her unborn one(s) and declared Tzadka Mimeni (Genesis 38:26). Now, those who are more like professors than rabbis translate this as "more righteous than me", but this clearly contradicts the Torah truth of Rashi's interpreation which notes that Judah stated "SHE IS RIGHT with her words that it is FROM ME that she is pregnant". Now, Tamar's righteousness in all this is that she took a chance of being burned at the stake rather than embarrass him on the chance that Judah would not admit the truth. It is from this that the Talmud (Bava Metzia 59a) notes that better for a person that he should fall into a burning furnace rather than embarrass someone in public (as one who does embarrass another Jew does not have a share in the world to come). Now mind you, the story of Tamar took place before the Torah was given to the Jewish people, so the commandments of the Torah outside of the seven commandments of the Noahides which does not include the prohibition of embarrassing someone were not necessarily obligatory, especially if it would have involved a situation of life and death.

And so, a perfect name companion for the name Tamar in this case is the name or word Tzadika - righteous one (the feminine form of Tzadik), which I based it on the statement that Judah made in his confession - Tzadka Mimeni. But aside from this, Tamar was indeed a righteous woman, so much to the extent that she risked her life not to embarrass the one who not only sentenced her to die, but was the very one responsible for her being pregnant to begin with. And the fact that it was from this union that Moshiach came out of also shows that Tamar had to have been worthy of being an ancestor to such a spiritual human being, as well as the Davidic dynasty that was started by King David.

And so, as you can see, the timing of my daughter Tamar's birth was both on 15 Kislev - the Yahrzeit of Judah the Prince, and in the week of Parshat Vayeishev which includes the story of Judah & Tamar. Hence, the timing here has a connection to TWO people who names were Yehudah. Now, I will mention more about this later, but my daughter's birth happened in virtually the very middle of the 515th month from my birth. And as I mentioned here about the special connection of the birth timing to the name of Yehudah, the word Tehillim, the name of the composition of King David, a parental descendant of Yehudah son of Jacob and ancestor of Yehudah HaNasi, is the Gematria of 485, and adding 30 to this, being that the name Yehudah is the Gematria of 30, the sum of these two numbers is 515. Based on this, noting Tehillim/Psalms Chapter 30, this is the chapter that is especially recited during the eights days of Chanuka that begins in the month of Kislev, the month of my daughter's birth.

Now mind you, the Yahrzeit of Rebbe of 15 Kislev does not necessarily fall out every year during the week of Parshat Veyeishev. In fact, we have a tradition that it was on an Erev Shabbat/Friday afternoon that Rebbe passed away, and on our calendar, we see that when 15 Kislev falls out on Erev Shabbat, it is during the week of Parshat Vayishlach, the Parsha before Vayeishev, and so the fact that the connection of the name Judah as it relates to Parshat Vayeishev and 15 Kislev is not necessarily a connection that is noted every year.

Getting back to my daughter's two Hebrew names, there is a very direct and strong connection between these two names, not all people give two Hebrew names have a relationship between each other, or at least not for the obvious reasons. For example, some are named after two different people, who in turn may have never met or even known who the other was. But as you can see here, both of my daughter's names are very related to one another as they are both based on the same story.

But this is not all. You see, the name Tamar itself means date as the fruit date or palm tree. And in Perek Shira, a composite of the verses that the various parts of creation recite in praise of Hashem, it is the Tamar - palm tree that declares: Tzadik KaTamar Yifrach K'Erez B'Levanon Yisgeh- "The righteous are like a date palm which sprouts..." (Psalms 92:13). And as the Talmud (Ta'anit 25a) notes on this verse, just as the date palm produce fruit, so do the righteous. Now, noting that Tzadika is the feminine form of the first word of this verse - Tzadik, both the name Tzadika and this verse begins with the letter Tzadi and ends with the letter Hei. Moreover, the verse beginning with the letter Tzadi begins the word Tzadik, and as related to the name Tamar, the name Tamar is mentioned in this verse and is the very verse that the Tamar tree recites in praise of Hashem.

As I have mentioned in past posts, there is a custom for one to recite the verse(s) that begin and end with the same letters as one's name(s) at the end of the main prayer of Shemoneh Esrei. Hence, this verse fits my daughter's second name Tzadika just like a sliding glove on one's hand.

And what about a verse for the first name Tamar? Well, there are exactly six verses in the entire Tanach/Bible that begin with the letter Tav and end with the letter Reish as the name Tamar. And of these six, there is one that stands out as especially significant - the first verse of Chapter 90 of Psalms that begins with Tefilla L'Moshe... "A prayer of Moses, man of G-d, O L-rd, You have been a shelter for us from generation to generation."

A little background is needed here. The Book of Psalms, while under the general editorship of King David, was not entirely composed by him. In fact, there are a total of ten authors involved, and it was none other than Moses himself who composed 11 psalms from Psalm 90 through Psalm 100. Hence, both verses that I have chosen for my Tamar Tzadika come from these psalms - the one for my daughter's FIRST name Tamar coming from the very FIRST verse of Moses' composition of Psalms. Moreover, there is a Midrash that notes that Moses composed these 11 Psalms corresponding to one or another of the 12 Tribes except for the Tribe of Shimon, just as Moses in the last Parsha of the Torah blessed all the Tribes except for Shimon. In fact, the first verse (Psalms 90:1) is a bit of a parallel of two parts of this last Parsha of Moses' blessings - "This is the blessing that MOSES, MAN OF G-D blessed the Jewish people before his death (Deutronomy 33:1). And then, the VERY FIRST WORD that begins the Aliyah read for the Chatan Torah "Bridegroom of the Torah", the one honored with the final Aliyah of the Torah on Simchat Torah, is Meonah - "Shelter..." (which refers to Hashem) - (Deutronomy 33:27), the feminine of the word Meon "Shelter" of the verse in Psalms. And mentioning Chatan/Bridegroom, my Chatunah/wedding as a Chatan, which obviously led to the birth of my daughter, took place in the 490th month from my birth. And as connected to my daughter Tamar Tzadika, the first letters of her name - Tav, Tzadi - spell the Hebrew number of 490. Coincidence?

And speaking of the amount of months that I have lived, the FIRST word of this verse is Psalms 90:1 is Tefilla/Prayer, which is the Gematria of 515, another hint for me being my daughter was born in the midst of the 515th month from my birth.

Anyways, the reason why I had in mind to begin with to mention about these Psalms corresponding to the Tribes of Israel is because the verse pertaining to the date palm is located in Psalm 92, which according to this Midrash, corresponds to the Tribe of Judah. So, though while there is a another connection here between the name of Tamar and the word for righteousness, where the word Tamar is NOT referring to anyone whose name is Tamar in this context but to the date palm tree; there is ALSO another connection between Judah and (the name) Tamar! And as the name of Judah is also the name of Judah the Prince, who was the SEVENTH parental generation from Hillel, the patriarch of many generations of the top leaders of the Jewish people; so too, this psalm in which the above verse is mentioned was the Shir Shel Yom/Daily Song that the Levites sang on Shabbat - the SEVENTH day - in the Beit HaMikdash/Holy Temple, and as especially indicated in the first verse of this psalm - it is a "psalm song for the day of Shabbat".

Now, as another connection to my birth, the verse for the name Tamar BEGINS the group of psalms that many customarily recite for the FIFTH day of the week, and as Tehillim is divided into five sub-books, this verse is the BEGINNING of the FOURTH sub-book of Tehillim. Correspondingly, as both verses for my daughter's name are found in the group of psalms for the fifth day of the week, I was born on the FIFTH day of the week (Thursday). But what is most striking is that my Hebrew birthdate of
1 Iyar is mentioned twice in the very BEGINNING of the FOURTH BOOK of the Chumash - Sefer Bamidbar/Numbers - "on the first day of the second month." So, while Moses wasn't too happy with the Tribe of Shimon, my namesake, it seems that there are major connections here between the concepts related between my birth and my daughter's birth, though not necessarily related to my name per se.

But actually, there is a connection here to my name, but for this, we will need to turn to Psalms 18:24-25. The end of verse 24 reads VaEshtameir MeiAvoni "I will watch myself from what is a sin for me". Looking in the Hebrew word VaEshtameir, we see that putting vowels aside, the last three letters of this word spells Tamar. Now, taking these letters out, and placing the next word MeiAvoni to this first word without the letters Tamar, you see that again ignoring the vowels, the letters beginning with the letter Shin spells my name! Hence, my daughter's first name is spelled within my first name in a figurative sense. But this is not all! The immediate next verse begins with Vayashev Hashem Li Ch'Tzidki "The L-rd returned to me (payment) according to my righteousness..." As you can see, the word Tzidki "my righteousness" is cognate with my daughter's second name Tzadika, this following the spelling of her first name Tamar in the immediate previous verse. Moreover, the first word Vayashev "He returned", aside from the vowels, is the VERY SPELLING of the word Vayeishev, the name of the Parsha of the week in which my daughter Tamar was born, and in which the story of Tamar is mentioned. Amazing!

And speaking of Parshat Vayeishev, in the list of Psalms corresponding to the Parshiyot of the Torah, it is Psalm 112 for Parshat Vayeishev, which in turn which consists of 112 verses! But aside from the significance of 112 as related to this Parsha on two accounts, Psalm 112 mentions Tzikato "his righteousness" twice and Tzadik "righteous one" twice, a total of FOUR mentions of the cognate of this word in merely 10 verses! And this is of course bearing in mind, why I gave the name Tzadika as the second name for my daughter to begin with, is because in this Parsha, Judah states TZADKA Mimeni! It seems that Judah loved this concept of righteousness, because at the end of Parshat Mikeitz when Joseph confronts his brothers about the "stolen" goblet, Judah is the spokesman for his brothers who declares "What shall we say to my master, what shall we speak and how can we JUSTIFY ourselves (Nitztadak)..., and it is on this Hebrew word in the parenthesis, based on the word Tzedek/justice, that Rashi concludes his commentary on Parshat Mikeitz.

Now, aside from the connection of Tamar with the name Yehudah, which includes the name of the one who compiled the Mishna, on whose Yahrzeit my daughter Tamar was born, though my reason for naming her Tamar was specifically from Parshat Vayeishev, the Parsha of that week, there is another strong connection between this name Tamar and the Mishna.

For this, we need to turn to the psalms for the third time (I think), but you won't have to turn two many pages for this one. In fact, my next factoid comes from the following psalm - Psalm 19. But more than just a mere factoid, there is a major significance here between a few verses in this Psalm and the Shisha Sidrei Mishna/Six Volumes of the Mishna. The lucky verses are verses 8-10. In fact, let us write these verses out in full, though this will be in English:

The Torah of Hashem is perfect, it restores the soul;
the testimony of Hashem is faithful, it makes the foolish wise.
The precepts of Hashem are straight, they make the heart happy;
the commandments of Hashem are clear, they brighten the eyes.
The fear of Hashem are pure, standing for everlasting;
the judgements of Hashem are true, they are all righteous.

While there are three verses here, there are six phrases here, all using Hashem's name. It is mentioned that these six phrases correspond to the six volumes of the Mishna. With this said, let us take the first letters of these six phrases, and see what the total Gematria of these letters add up to. Torat- Tav (400), Eidut- Ayin (70), Pikudei- Pei (80), Mitzvat- Mem (40), Yirat- Yud (10), Mishpetei- Mem (40). So, adding these six numbers together yields the total of...640, which is the Gematria of my daughter's first name Tamar! And by the way, the total cost of the bill of my very first shopping for my newborn daughter came out to...640 Shekel (and 20 Agurot)!

And in connection with the Gematria of Rebbe's name Yehuda=30, these three verses/six phrases corresponding to the six orders of the Mishna have a total of 30 words. And the tractate with the most chapters - Tractate Keilim (literally means utensils, the first tractate of the sixth order Taharot) consists of 30 chapters. So you see, for someone so special as Rebbe, it only makes sense that these type of Gematriot will appear in reference to Rebbe's name.

Now, there is one part of these verses/phrases that I want to zero in on. In the last phrase, we have the word Tzadku "they are righteous", again, another cognate for my daughter's second name Tzadika. Now, this particular phrase corresponds to Seder Nezikin, the fourth volume of the Mishna that deals with the laws of damages, court rulings and proceedings, oaths, and idolatry. There are two Masectot/tractates that are related especially to my name - Bava Metzia & Makkot.

Tractate Bava Metzia, which deals with claims of ownership, lost items, and workers rights, begins with the word Shnayim (two), the word being the same Gematria as my wife's name Yael Miriam (400). And just as my first name Shimon begins with the letter Shin and ends with the letter Noon, so does this tractate begin with the letter Shin, and ends with the letter Noon - both in the Mishna where the last word is Tachton (below), and in the Babylonian Talmud where the last word is Shimon (referring to Rabbi Shimon who gives a statement mentioned in the very end of this last Mishna), the ONLY Babylonian Talmudic tractate where the last word is Shimon!

The name for Tractate Makkot, which deals with false witnesses, exile for accidental killers, and lashes, is the same Gematria as my name Shimon (466). Moreover, just as the two middle letters of the name of this tractate Makkot are Kaf and Vav; so too, this tractate begins with the letter Kaf (in the word Keitzad - How) and ends in the Babylonian Talmud for this tractate with the letter Vav (in the word Nechamtanu - You have comforted us). But the connection in my case aside from the name of this tractate being the Gematria of my name in this tractate is also related to my marriage, as the date of my wedding was Kaf Vav Kislev (26 Kislev), and is the ONLY date in the entire Jewish calendar where the date of the month AND the first and last letters of the month are the same - being that the first letter of the month of Kislev is a Kaf and the last letter is a Vav! Hence, as related to BOTH Tractate Makkot AND the date of my wedding, the letters Kaf Vav are mentioned TWICE! To mention, of all the tractates of the Mishna/Talmud, this is the tractate that I study the most, as my Masechet that I am working on memorizing to be labeled my tractate in the world to come (more on this in a future post, G-d willing).

So as you can see here, my name, birthdate, and wedding date are all related to my daughter and her names in one way or another.

But I am not quite finished yet. You see, I want to focus now on the Gematria of my daughter's full Hebrew name - Tamar Tzadika. This carries the same Gematria as the phrase Motzoei Shabbat (849), which literally means "the going out of the Sabbath", for while Shabbat is over, we treat this period of time in our weekly goodbye to the Shabbat. According to Jewish law, first mentioned in the Talmud, we set our dining table after Shabbat even if only to eat a minimal about of bread upon which we recite Bircat HaMazon/Grace of Meals (see Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim Siman 300). Now, the question raised is - how long is this period called Motzoei Shabbat?

There are in fact various views, which affects the time period that we eat the meal of Melave Malka, which literally means "escorting the queen (Queen of Shabbat, an actual spiritual being)" as to how long this time period lasts - one hour, a few hours, until midnight, all night, and even a view that states that the entire first day of the week is termed Motzoei Shabbat. In fact, there are stories in the past of Hasidic Rebbes who hosted their official Melaveh Malka meal during the daytime of Sunday!

As it turned out in my daughter's birth, it was only on Motzoei Shabbat that my wife first realized that she needed to go to the hospital, and while I was with her in the hospital that evening is when I came up with my daughter's Hebrew name, not knowing at the moment that it is the same Gematria as the timing that I thought of it - Motzoei Shabbat! And considering the closeness of the conclusion of the Hebrew date, she was born within the last two or three minutes before sunset of the first day of the week!

Now, there is a custom among many Jews on Motzoei Shabbat to recite various verses of blessings that are scattered throughout the Tanach. Spelling the Hebrew number for the Gematria of my daughter's name - 849 as consecutive letters - Tav, Tav, Mem, Teit, there is one such mention of this number in the entire Chumash, within the midst of one of these verses- "Hashem will open up for you his good treasure house, TO GIVE RAIN to your land in its time, and to bless all the work of your hands..." (Deutronomy 28:12). The Hebrew words in which spells the number 849 is LaTeit Metar "to give rain." I sure hope that the birth of my daughter is a good sign for future good livelihood!

Aside from the regular use of Gematria, there is another popular method of Gematria used known as Atbash, which I wrote about in my previous post #129. So, going through the letters of my daughter's name Tamar Tzadika, I will list here between the commas - the first letter being the actual part of the name and the second letter being the corresponding letter in the Atbash system with the numerical value of the second letter in parenthesis: Tav-Aleph (1), Mem-Yud (10), Reish-Gimel (3), Tzadi-Hei (5), Dalet-Koof (100), Yud-Mem (40), Koof-Dalet (4), Hei-Tzadi (90). The total sum of these numbers is 253, for which the Hebrew number is spelled as Reish, Noon, Gimel. Now, rearranging these letters, this can be spelled as Neir (candle) Gimel (the letter); meaning, the third candle, which can be used in reference to Chanuka. You see, the first night of our marriage was indeed the third night of Chanuka. And it is the normally at nighttime when couples are intimate. So while my wife did not become pregnant for over a year since our wedding, everything has its origins in one way or another. And in another sense, on the third day of Chanuka, we read in the Torah of the offerings that the leader of the Tribe of Zevulun brought. And as we know, it was the Tribe of Zevulun who gave financial support to its brotherly Tribe of Yissachar.
Of course, this comes hand-in-hand with what I mentioned a little earlier about the concept of livelihood as demonstrated through the Gematria of my daughter's name. And as connected with my mother, she was born on 3 Nissan, the actual date that the leader of the Tribe of Zevulun offered his sacrifices.

Now, taking the Atbash method forward one step - applying the Atbash method to the resultant Atbash letters here, applying the formula the same way that I used it in the previous paragraph: Reish-Gimel (3), Noon-Teit (9), Gimel-Reish (200), the total sum of these numbers is 212, the Gematria of the word Rebbe, one of the titles of Rabbi Judah the Prince whose Yahrzeit is my daughter's birthdate! Now, we will apply the Atbash method once more - to the letters of the word Rebbe, like this: Reish-Gimel (3), Beit-Shin (300), Yud-Mem (40). The total sum of these numbers is 343. And the special significance of this number is that this is seven times seven times seven (7*7*7), and bearing in mind of my daughter's birth in this Hebrew year 5772, which is spelled with the letters Hei, Tav, Shin, Ayin, Beit - when the Hei which is used here to represent the unit of thousands making its numerical value as 5000 rather than its regular value of the number five; when we add up the Gematria of these letters considering the letter Hei as its regular numerical value of five, the total Gematria (Hei-5, Tav-400, Shin-300, Ayin-70, Beit-2) is 777! Now, referring to Tikun 48 of the Tikkunei Zohar, it mentions the word Shevi'i (Seventh) three times, quoting from the paragraph about Shabbat that we recite at the Kiddush on Friday night in which this word is mentioned three times, and then shortly after this, this Zohar mentions the words Tzadik Shevi'i, which literally means "righteous one - seventh", which is explained here as meaning that the Sephira (spiritual emanation) Yesod/foundation which is represented by the concept of Tzadik is the seventh Sephira from Bina/understanding. In turn, the word Bina has the same Gematria as the word for number seven - Zayin (67). And getting back to Rebbe, he was the SEVENTH in parental line from Hillel who began the dynasty of Jewish leadership in Israel which lasted for hundreds of years over a period of many generations. Also, the word Shevi'i is related to Seviah/satisfaction as is related to having sufficient financial means, and as we know from the Talmud, Rebbe was both rich in Torah and worldly possessions. Moreover, the word Geshem/rain which consists of the same letters spelling the number 343 in Hebrew that leads to the number seven/satisfaction concept is a synonym of the word Matar which was part of the phrase spelling the numerical value number of my daughter's name. In any case, as we know, when something is mentioned three times, it signifies a strength of the concept, and as we have seen so far in Israel, there has been more rain in this year represented by the triple seven than there has been in the last several years since Hashem became angry with the Israeli government back in 2004 which started making plans to throw the Jews out of Gush Katif.

Now, as I mentioned earlier in this post of the connection of Tamar with the verses of Tehillim corresponding to her names, which are part of the series of psalms composed by Moshe Rabbeinu, the word Tamar of which its corresponding verse mentions Moshe's name, the letters of Tamar's name can begin the words as the phrase Tefillat/Tefillot Moshe Rabbeinu (Prayer(s) of Moses our Teacher) or Torat Moshe Rabbeinu (Teachings of Moses our Teacher), for indeed, it was Moshe to whom Hashem gave the unique privilege of being the one to whom Hashem transmitted the entire Torah to teach the Jewish people. On my end, my father's name is Moshe, and my second name Matisyahu that I added a few years ago is the same Gematria as the combined names of Moshe Rabbeinu's two sons Gershom and Eliezer (861).

As I had mentioned in a previous post, the Chatam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Sofer) notes about the Gemara that mentions the hint of Moshe Rabbeinu in the Torah as the word B'Shagam, that the hint is particularly the Gematria of the letters of this word without the Beit - 343 (rather than 345 which is the Gematria of Moshe's name), as this relates to the sun to which Moshe is compared which in the future will be 343 times stronger in heat than it is now, learning it from the word in Tanach in the verse about the sun's future strength as Shivatayim, a wording of seven which suggests a multiple use of this number, which means not just seven times seven, but taking this a step further as seven times seven times seven. In any case, these same letters which hint to Moshe Rabbeinu are the very Atbash letters for the title of Rabbi Judah the Prince - Rebbe!

So, this leads us to Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers where the beginning word of its first chapter is Moshe, where it states Moshe Kibel Torah M'Sinai "Moses received the Torah from Mt. Sinai" and the beginning word of its second chapter is Rebbe, the compiler of the Mishna! It's indeed interesting to mention Pirkei Avot in reference to the birth of my daughter, because as we know, females do not have the Mitzva of learning Torah like males do being that they are exempt from many Mitzvot/commandments of the Torah in order that they can raise our Jewish children properly without hindrances. However, women still need to learn the parts of the Torah that will teach them the laws that they need to observe - which includes all the laws of Shabbat, keeping Kosher, and family purity. For this, they do not need to learn Mishna or Gemara like men do, as this part of the Torah involves the process of how we arrive at the laws, but the women just need to learn what the actual Halacha/Jewish law is. Additionally, especially nowadays with the Beis Yaakov movement when Jewish girls learn in Yeshiva as well, howbeit with a different schedule of Torah learning than it is for meaning, many if not most of them learn Pirkei Avot - the one tractate in the Mishna which is full of Jewish ethics (Mussar) rather than the halachic parts or issues that comprise the rest of the Mishnayot. And so, while my child may not be a male who would be obligated to learn the whole Torah, which most definitely includes the Mishnayot, there is no doubt a special connection between females and Pirkei Avot, especially my daughter who was born on the Yahrzeit of Rebbe who not only was the compiler of the Mishnayot, but has special mention in Pirkei Avot, beginning the second chapter.

Now, I want to devote my following post to the Mishna from Pirkei Avot that I am about to quote from a bit. But for Gematria purposes as related to this post, I will quote the beginning of what Rebbe says here. This chapter begins "Rabbi says: What is the STRAIGHT way that a person should choose for oneself?" Now, the Hebrew word for straight is Yeshara. And indeed, the Gematria of Yeshara is 515, just as my daughter was born in the midst of the 515th month from my birth! And then in the very next Mishna, there is a quote from Rebbe's son Rabban Gamliel, starting off like this "Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince says "Beautiful is the study of Torah with a livelihood." Now, the phrase used for livelihood in this instance is Derech Eretz, which literally means "way of the earth." And indeed, this phrase Derech Eretz is also the Gematia of 515!

Another part of the Mishna which is important to mention is that the last Mishna of Tractate Megilla mentions Tamar as referring to Tamar of the Chumash (there is more than one Tamar in the Tanach), where it mentions that "we read and translate the story of Tamar." But, this will also be part of my next post, which will be sort of a continuation of this post, but in this post, I wanted to focus on things that are related in Gematria to my daughter's birth and name.

Nearly in conclusion, I want to note that the Parsha of the week in which my daughter was born - Parshat Vayeishev, is the NINTH Parsha of the Torah, which is always read in the NINTH month (Kislev) of the Jewish calendar in which we begin counting them months from Nissan. And this is in this Hebrew year 5772 using the letters Hei, Tav, Shin, Ayin, Beit. When rearranged, these letters spell the word B'Tisha "with NINE" or B'HaTeisha "with the NINE." Noting my daugher's name Tamar Tzadika, its Gematria (849) ends with the number NINE. And counting the Sefirot starting from the first Sephira Keter/Crown, Yesod/foundation as connected to the concept of Tzadik is the NINTH Sephira. And as related to myself, the corresponding Tribe and Letter for the month of Av is the Tribe of Shimon and the letter Teit (=NINE). Not all so surprising - my daughter, unlike the average baby, was born in the NINTH month of my wife's pregnancy.

And in connection with the Mishna compiled by Rebbe whose Yahrzeit is my daughter's birthdate, its first tractate Berachot (Blessings) consists of NINE chapters. And it is at the very end of this tractate that quotes the verse Eit La'asot L'Hashem Hefeiru Torateicha "It's a time to act for Hashem, they annulled your Torah" (Psalms 119:126), the very verse from which Rebbe learned that it was time to write down the Mishna due to the increasing troubles of the Jewish people, which was not permitted to be done until this point in time. As can be seen in Gematria, the first word of the verse is Eit (time) which is the same Gematria as the word Tanach/Bible (470). The next word in this verse is La'asot (to act) which is the Gematria of the word Mishnayot (806). The word after this is L'Hashem, showing that just as the Tanach was previously written down in accordance with what Hashem wanted, the Mishnayot was henceforth permitted to be written down, for the same purpose of learning Hashem's Torah via what would be written.

The Vilna Gaon states that the Books of the Chumash correspond to the 6,000 years of the world's slated existance. Now, the question can be asked - there are only five books of the Chumash, so where is the accountability of one of the milleniums? But the Vilna Gaon tells us that the story of Creation (Genesis 1:1-2:3) is considered in a way as one Book, so in essence, the first book of Bereishit/Genesis corresponds to the first two milleniums. Also as we know, each of the six milleniums correspond to another one of the days of the week. With this said, my daughter was born at the very end of the first day of the week which corresponds to the first millenium, corresponding to which is the story of Creation. And the LAST word of the story of Creation is La'asot, which as we just mentioned in the previous paragraph, has the same Gematria as Mishnayot (806)!

And indeed, my daughter born at the end of this first day of the week was born at virtually the end of the date of the Yahrzeit of Rebbe - 15 Kislev, the compiler of the Mishnayot. And in today's calendar, this date can fall out on any of the six workday weeks - except for Shabbat. And Kabbalistically, the six volumes of the Mishna correspond to the six days of the week. With this said, Seder Zeraim (seeds), the first of the six volumes, corresponds to the first day of the week, and so per the timing of my daughter's birth, the corresponding Mishna is the last one of this volume, the conclusion of its final tractate Bikkurim (first fruits). And as we know, the first fruits were the Shiva HaMinim/Seven Species of Israel which includes the Tamar/date(s), my daughter's first name, and she was born as our FIRST born! And traditionally, the Bikkurim were first were able to be offered to the Cohen in the Beit HaMikdash on Shavuot, which is Zman Matan Torateinu "the time of the Giving of the Torah", and the word Matan in this phrase is the same Gematria as the initials of my daughter's name - Tav, Tzadi (490)!

In conclusion, noting the time of this post - 6:13AM, aside from the fact that there are Taryag Mitzvot/613 Commandments of the Torah, which is first mentioned in the Talmudic tractate Makkot, whose name is the Gematria of my name Shimon (466), the writing of Torah which includes the Oral Torah nowadays, which begin with writing down of the Mishna, is related to the 613th and FINAL Mitzva of the Torah - the writing of a Sefer Torah. And indeed, Moshe Rabbeinu - whose title of Moshe Rabbeinu is the Gematria of 613 - wrote 13 Torah Scrolls on the day of his passing (a major miraculous feat). Also, there is a tradition that before Rashi writing his commentary on the Chumash, he fasted 613 times in preparation for this most important work since the days of the Talmud being written down.

In another connection to myself regarding the 613 Mitzvot, there were exactly 613 days from the marriage of my parents until (but not including) the day of my birth, and then I had seven days of living until the day of my Brit Mila/circumcision on my eighth day. And as we know, there are what are called the Sheva Mitzvot D'Rabbanan, the seven "commandments" of the rabbis. Indeed, our rabbis tell us that the reason that the baby boy needs a week waiting period until the Brit is in order that he will absorb the holiness of one Shabbat as preparation for the Brit. In a similar vain, so to speak, I had 613 days of preparation for my birth corresponding to the Taryag Mitzvot, and seven days of living since birth corresponding to the seven Mitzvot D'Rabbanan. And connecting the birthdate of my daughter to the Mishna as per the above, our rabbis tell us in the Talmud (Berachot 5a) that when the verse states that Hashem tells Moshe that "I will give you the Tablets of Stone, the Torah, the Mitzva", Mitzva refers to the Mishna. And so, my daughter, just like me, is also very related to the number 613.
But in my daughter's case, there is one more special connection to the number 613. You see, she was born at the end of Yom Rishon - first day, meaning the first day of the week, and the phrase Yom Rishon is the Gematria of 613. And as per the 613rd and final Mitzva of the Torah, which is writing a Sefer Torah (see my previous post #129 where I mentioned that nowadays, this Mitzva can be fulfilled by buying the Tanach, Mishna, Gemara, and learning them), the very end of the day of its 1440 minutes (if we start the count from sunset at the end of Shabbat) which was at least two minutes and so many seconds, can be said to correspond to this final Mitzva of the Torah, reminding us of the Mishna, the first piece of the part of the Torah previously forbidden to be written down, which was written by Rebbe.

See you soon in my next post...

21 Tevet 5772, Birthdate of Shimon son of Jacob & Leah

#129 - Tractate Chanuka

2011-12-25T14:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Chanuka!

Yes, my favorite time of the year is back, this year celebrating my second wedding anniversary on the second day of Chanuka.

But before I continue on with the theme of Chanuka, I have to announce that great news happened a couple of weeks ago on my wedding month of Kislev - my wife Yael gave birth to our baby girl, who is named Tamar Tzadika. We expected this to happen more like after Chanuka, rather than before Chanuka. Anyways, I have amazing information pertaining to my daughter's birth, her name, her date and time of birth, about which I will devote my following post, which will (of course) include Gematriot, so stay tuned shortly for a most unique post.

While I think that there must be like a hundred Torah based Gematriot about Chanuka, I am about to show you something that I doubt you will ever read anywhere else but at one place of course - www.gematriot.blogspot.com.

Well, this has to do with Daf Yomi, the study of the double sided page of the Babylonian Talmud that began almost 90 years ago. To be exact, this worldwide study began on the beginning of the Hebrew year 5684, having commenced on Rosh Hashana. Hence, we are presently in the midst of the 89th year from when this study of this most important Jewish learning began.

As some may have guessed, the Gematria of the name of this holiday Chanuka is 89. Now unlike the title of this post, there is in fact no tractate of the Mishna/Talmud that is called Chanuka. In the Mishna, you will be hard pressed to find eight mentions of the name of this holiday. In the Talmud/Gemara, there are like three and a half Dafim (double sided pages) in Tractate Sabbath (21a-24b) devoted to the history, laws, and discussion of Chanuka, but no mention is made of it in the Mishna on which this piece of Gemara is based on.

While it is true that unlike the holiday of Purim, Chanuka is not mentioned in the Tanach/Bible, since the story of Chanuka took place since the last events of the Tanach took place, this is not the reason, or at least not the only reason, why there is no tractate in the Mishna that is devoted to Chanuka. You see, it seems that since Rabbi Judah the Prince, also known as Rabbeinu HaKadosh or Rebbe, the compiler of the Mishna was a descendant of King David, while the Hasmoneans/Maccabbees, the ones who introduced Chanuka to the Jewish people, were from the tribe of Levi, in the due course of time, they ruled in Israel as kings, this upset Rabbi Judah as we see in the Tanach that the Jewish kingdom was permenantly granted to the royal line of King David. Hence, save for only so many times of the mention of Chanuka in the Mishna in the way of passing, not even one Mishna is devoted exclusively to Chanuka, in sharp contrast to the Rambam/Maimonides and the Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish Law who devoted whole chapters or a whole section to Chanuka as they do for Purim.

Whether Rabbi Judah's grudge was justified or not according to the Torah, Hashem has his ways of making it up to those good boys who were left out in the cold. You see, it has been pointed out that there are 36 tractates of the Babylonian Talmud (Note: Tractate Tamid of the Mishna also includes Gemara, but only on three of its seven chapters unlike the other tractates of the Talmud which have Gemara on the entire tractate), corresponding to the mandatory 36 lights of Chanuka that we light during the course of the eight-day holiday (Note: This does not include the Shamash candle that is lit as an accessory candle on each of the eight nights). On a more esoteric level, the lights of Chanuka represents the light of Torah that guides the Jew in the right path, preventing him from steering towards the darkness of the spiritual exile. In fact, it is a bit ironic that the main body of Torah learning is named after Babylonia, though it was compiled in Babylonia in contrast to the less studied and harder to learn Jerusalem Talmud that was composed in Israel. But the fact that this is called the Babylonian Talmud shows that it is the light of the Torah, the light of the Talmud, that has saved the Jews from spiritual extinction, even in the darkness of exile, which included Babylonia from the era of the destruction of the First Temple when mass amounts of Jews were exiled there by King Nebuchadnezzar.

With this said, let us imagine that we are presently in the Hebrew year 5684, when the learning of Daf Yomi began. The first tractate Berachot, consisting of 63 Dafim, has ended on 4 Kislev, and Tractate Sabbath has begun on 5 Kislev. (Note: In both years 5684 & 5772, Cheshvan consists of 29 days, unlike in some other years when it consists of 30 days). As those who have learned some Babylonian Talmud know, the Talmud page of any given tractate begins on Daf 2. As the Talmud on Chanuka in Tractate Sabbath is found on Dafim 21-24, Daf 21 has been learnt on 24 Kislev - Erev Chanuka, and the following three Dafim on the first three days of Chanuka.

Coincidence? Mentioning earlier of the special connection between the number of Talmudic tractates to the number of Chanuka lights, the fact that the learning of these pages of the Talmud on Chanuka coincided with the timing of this holiday IN THE VERY FIRST YEAR OF THE DAF YOMI STUDY is hardly coincidental when the concept of Hashgacha Peratit/Divine Providence exists. And especially as related to Chanuka, this holiday was the result of the independent spiritual freedom that took place following an era of the Syrian-Greeks attempting to do away with our Jewish practices and beliefs, treating our Tanach as another book of wisdom that they called Biblos, attacking particularly the teachings of the Talmud that is not seemingly included in the Bible except for the fact that the Talmud is also G-d given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and the rabbis through many centuries learned what the Halacha/Jewish Law is based on the rules of the Torah as to how we apply the learning of the verses of the Torah that teach us the Halacha.

Back to Year 5772, this is the 89th year from when the Daf Yomi started, and we are presently in the midst of Chanuka whose name is the Gematria of 89. And so, in honor of this special timing, I would like to mention a piece on the importance of Torah study as related to Chanuka from Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam, the Sanz-Klausenburger Rebbe, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, which he related on the eighth night of Chanuka, 5742. While much is to be mentioned about this special rabbi's life, this post would not be complete without mentioning that he founded a program called Mifal HaShas in which thousands have become Torah scholars from learning 30 pages of Talmud a month on which they get tested and are helped financially being rewarded for doing well on the Talmud tests.

The Rebbe made a very interesting point on the reason for why, according to Halacha, we don't need to relight the Chanuka light that we are supposed to allow to burn for a minimum of half an hour, if it gets extinguished unexpectedly. The idea is that once one lights the Menorah, one can get back to learning Torah without interruption. Similarly, the rabbis who enacted the observance of lighting the Menorah on Chanuka did not institute this holiday as "days of feasting and happiness" as Purim is designated, in order that the focus of the eight day holiday will be on Torah learning.

"For it is only in the merit of the Torah, in the merit of Matisyahu and his sons the holy Cohanim and in the merit of their Torah that Hashem saved us from the Greeks, for the Torah is our protection. This explains the mention in the Al HaNisim prayer of the miracle happening "in the days of Matisyahu Ben Yochanan Cohen Gadol, Chashmonai and his sons" for the Cohanim are the teachers of the Jewish people, as the Torah writes (Deutronomy 17:9): "You shall come to the Cohanim...and they will instruct you of the word of judgment (Halacha)", teaching us that the Chanuka miracle happened ONLY in the merit of the Cohanim who learn Torah"."

"Indeed, the days of Chanuka were NOT set aside as a time to celebrate the miracle of the victory of the war against the Greeks, but solely as a remembrance of the miracle of the Menorah, for this matter which "for the Jews was light" (Book of Esther)", and as our rabbis tell us, light is Torah, which is more important to us than even saving Jews from dying in war, as mentioned in the Talmud (Megilla 16b), Talmud Torah is greater than saving lives."

The Rebbe gives a fascinating explanation for why the last day of Chanuka is dubbed Zot Chanuka. It is true that this phrase comes from the reading of the last day of Chanuka, and hence is used as a nickname for this final day. But the Rebbe has a unique take on this as related to Torah. As on every day of Chanuka, we read from the portion of the Torah regarding the Korbanot/offerings of the leaders of the tribes following the dedication of the Mishkan/Tabernacle. On the seventh day of Chanuka, we read the offerings of the leader of the tribe of Ephraim; and on the eighth day of Chanuka, we begin the Torah reading with the offerings of the tribe of Menashe. As we know from Talmudic literature about these two sons of Joseph, Ephraim was the Torah scholar par excellence, while Menashe was the overseer of his father Joseph's life saving activities in the famished Egypt in which Jacob's family lived for some of those famine years. Hence, the eighth day of Chanuka, on which we read of the offerings of the tribe of Menashe who is related to life saving activities, is dubbed with the name Zot Chanuka "This is Chanuka", to remind us that this eighth day of Chanuka is part of the holiday that represents Torah via the miracle of the Menorah rather than the victory of the war against the Greeks.

On a personal note, I received a special Aliya to the Torah on the fifth day of Chanuka of this year. As we know, the special Torah reading for Chanuka is mostly about the offerings of the leaders of the Tribes of Israel who offered them on the altar in the Mishkan/Tabernacle. Accordingly, on the fifth day of Chanuka, we read the section about the offerings of the leader of the Tribe of Shimon (my namesake). Now, the way that the daily three Aliyot of this Torah reading is divided, the Cohen is called up for the first three verses that mention both the name of the Tribe and its leader, the Levi is called up for the last three verses that mention the name of the leader of its Tribe, and the final person is called up for the whole section that was read for the Cohen and Levi (in Israel where the miracle of Chanuka took place; outside of Israel, its the whole next section that is read for the third person).

Anyways, when I was in synagogue on the morning of the fifth day of Chanuka; for some reason, the Torah reader read the whole section for the Cohen. Did he do this accidentally or purposely? But what was even more strange is that no one signaled him to stop the Torah reading at the usual place for the Cohen. Next, as I am a Levi, and I don't think there was another Levi at that Minyan, I was called up for the Levi Aliyah, and the Torah reader read the same exact thing. This means that unlike usually where the Levi Aliyah does not consist mention of the name of the Tribe but only the name of its leader who brought the offerings, this Aliyah that I was called up for was the entire section of the offerings of the Tribe of Shimon, mentioning Shimon's name. Good music to my ears! And as for the last few years, my full Hebrew name is Shimon Matisyahu, this Aliyah was most significant to me this Chanuka, which I hope is a good sign from Hashem for good things to continue happening for me.

Just as the mention of Chanuka is included within the midst of the tractates of the Mishna without being its own section; in a similar vein, the cities of the inheritance of the Tribe of Shimon in the Land of Israel was not its own section of land, but rather included within the territory of the Tribe of Judah. This is due to what Jacob decreed for his sons Shimon and Levi for their trait of anger that they had in their wiping out the city of Shechem and their treatment of Joseph that lead to him being sold, and hence, neither did the Tribe of Levi have its own inheritance. And then later on, following the sin of the idolatry and immorality of the Tribe of Shimon at the site of the idol Ba'al Peor, Moses refused to bless this Tribe individually, though hinting to his name within the blessing of Judah. And so, while Chanuka does not have its own Tractate, ALL OF THE TRACTATES OF THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD CORRESPOND TO THE LIGHTS OF CHANUKA; similarly, while Shimon was castigated or ignored between Jacob and Moses - and hence, was only able to take part within the land belonging to the Tribe of Judah, Hashem made it up to Shimon as He did for Chanuka. You see, some of our greatest rabbis/Torah teachers of all time was named Shimon - including Shimon HaTzadik and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

And so, while I am on the topic about my name Shimon, I would like to mention a bit what the Midrash Rabba has to say about the inner meaning of the offerings that the leader of the tribe of Shimon brought. Now, bearing in mind that all the 12 tribal leaders had a specific theme in mind based on which they brought their offerings, what was unique as related to Shimon is that the offerings for this tribe was based on the theme of the Mishkan, as all of the tribal offerings were brought celebrating the dedication of the Mishkan, was were spaced out in a period of 12 days.

Anyways, as we know, the Menorah was one of the major features of the Mishkan. This is hinted where it states about some of the offerings "filled with flour mixed with OIL for a meal-offering", for it was the oil that caused the Menorah to be lit. Hence, there is a direct hint to Chanuka in the mention of the offerings for the tribe of Shimon. This is not so surprising; for you see, the word Shemen/oil is spelled in order within the name of Shimon, both words beginning with the letter Shin and ending with the letter Noon. Also, both the name Shimon and the word Shabbat begin with the word Shin. This is bearing in mind that Shimon is the only one of the tribes who name begins with Shin.

Now, you may ask, why did I mention about Shabbat at this point as related to Shimon, as though there is a special connection here just because both of these words begin with a Shin? Actually, there are a couple reasons here. The first involves an irony which involves the Jewish calendar. You see, the way that our present calendar is set up, all the days of Chanuka can fall out on Shabbat on one year or another except for...the fifth day of Chanuaka, on which we read of the offerings for the Tribe of Shimon. Perhaps this is related to what I wrote earlier here about the exclusion of Shimon from the blessings of Moses on his dying day.

Now, for the second reason, there is something fascinating that I will mention here that you probably never came across before. Going back to the Midrash Rabba about the offerings for the Tribe of Shimon, the mention of Asara Zahav "ten (shekel weight) of gold" hints to the ten Torah sections of the construction of the Mishkan. Now, aside from the 12 mentions of this phrase Asara Zahav of the offerings for the 12 Tribes, the only other mention of this phrase in the entire Tanach/Bible is in the story of Eliezer traveling on behalf of Abraham to find a marriage match for his son Isaac, and upon discovering Rebecca, Eliezer gives her two bracelets worth ten shekel weight of gold (Genesis 24:22). Rashi notes on this that this hinted to the Aseret HaDibrot/Ten Commandments.

With this said, of the ten Torah sections about the construction of the Mishkan, the section about the Menorah is the fourth of these ten sections. Hence, corresponding to this, the fourth of the Ten Commandments is about Shabbat. And as we know, one of the essential commandments that the Syrian Greeks attempted to prevent the Jews from performing was Shabbat, and the Menorah is the ultimate object that represents Chanuka that celebrates our freedom to learn Torah and practice its commandments. Moreover, as mentioned earlier in this post, the section in the Gemara about Chanuka is mentioned specifically in the second chapter of Tractate Shabbat which deals about what type of materials can or cannot be used for lighting Shabbat candles. And so, while the fact that the section of the offerings for the Tribe of Shimon is the only one of the 12 tribes which is never read on Shabbat Chanuka; in a deeper meaning focusing on the positive side, the Menorah in itself represents Shabbat, and hence, there is no special need of mentioning about it on Shabbat, when aside from lighting the Menorah in the Temple, lighting a fire is forbidden on Shabbat, and hence, we light our home Menorahs before Shabbat, allowing enough time for it to be lit a minimum of half an hour after Shabbat begins in order to fulfill the Mitzva of Chanuka lighting for Shabbat.

Now, the beginning of the section about the Menorah within the construction of the Mishkan reads V'Asita Menorat Zahav Tahor "You shall make a Menorah of pure gold" (Exodus 25:31). Note that the word Tahor/pure is used here. And as we know, the sixth and last volume of the Mishnayot is called Teharot, plural for pure. The largest of the six orders of the Mishna, it contains 1,003 Mishnayot. And having mentioned Tahor in relationship to the Menorah, the words Menorah=301 and Shabbat=702 add up to the Gematria of 1,003! Moreover, as the leader of the Tribe of Shimon was the fifth in line of the 12 tribes to bring his offerings, the fifth of the 12 tractates of Seder Teharot is also called Teharot! It would be quite hard to dismiss all of this as mere coincidence!

And while we are at it, as the 12 months of the Jewish calendar have their corresponding tribe and their corresponding letter of the Alef Beit, the month of Av corresponds with the Tribe of Shimon and the letter Teit, the letter the begins the word Teharot. Accordingly, both the name of the letter Teit & the word Teharot, begin with a Teit & end with a Sav/Tav! Now, looking at the remaining letters of the word Teharot, they are the same letters as the word Torah! And as we know, a baby learns the whole Torah during its NINE month sojourning in the mother's womb. Perhaps this is hinted where it mentions in the Torah about a woman being pregnant VaTahar "she was pregnant", this Hebrew word having the same letters as the word Torah.

On a personal note, I must mention that Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Shlita, Chief Rabbi of Safed, son of the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, for the Parsha sheet for Shabbat Parshat Vayeishev, #611 (Note: The number 611 is the Gematria of the word Torah!), writes all about Chanuka. But what is most significant here is that instead of beginning writing about the Maccabees or Matisyahu whose courageous acts lead to the holiday of Chanuka, Rabbi Eliyahu devotes more than one of the four pages of this theme to Shimon HaTzadik, whose righeousness shielded his generation from the evils of the Syrian Greeks, as noted in the Talmud (Megilla 11a), where his name and immediately his grandson Matisyahu's name (just as my name is Shimon Matisyahu!) is mentioned side by side (Note: In the Gemara text, Matisyahu's name is spelled without a Vav at the end of the name, though in reality, his name did have a Vav at the end, and also in the English text of Artscroll on the Talmud, they write Matisyahu's name in Hebrew with a Vav at the end). While I am not going to start quoting from what the Parsha sheet mentions about Shimon HaTzadik, one of the key points mentioned is that Shimon HaTzadik, Shimon the Righteous who was the Cohen Gadol/High Priest of the Jewish people for 40 years in the time of the Second Temple, lived what he preached in the second Mishna of the first chapter of Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers "the world stands on three things: Torah, Avodah (prayer service or Temple offerings), and Gemilut Chasadim (acts of lovingkindness)".

MORE TORAH GOODIES

Having just mentioned words that have the same letters as the word Torah, let us take a fascinating look at words of related themes.

As we know, there are Taryag Mitzvot- 613 Commandments. Taking the Hebrew number for 613 which we pronounce as Taryag, consisting of the letters Tav, Reish, Yud, Gimel, let us use a form of Gematria called Atbash, in which a letter is exchanged so to speak with its opposite side of the 22 Hebrew letters. As hinted with the word or acronym Atbash, the first letter Aleph corresponds with the last letter Tav, the second letter Beit corresponds with the next to the last letter Shin, and so on. Hence, when substituting the four letters for the number 613, the corresponding exchanged letters are Aleph, Gimel, Mem, Reish. Well, it won't take long to figure out that these four letters ARE THE SAME LETTERS THAT SPELL THE WORD GEMARA! Yes, it is the Gemara, the meat of Torah learning that develops Torah scholars, that is the explanation of the Mishna. As the Talmud (Berachot 5a) notes on the verse on what Hashem says that He will give Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 24:12), HaMitzva "The Commandment" refers to the Mishna. Hence, we see very clearly that the Gemara is the detailed explanation of the 613 Mitzvot (though there are some tractates of the Mishna that do not have Gemara explanation, there are quotes of Mishna strewn throughout the Gemara/Talmud), hinted via the Atbash Gematria of Taryag/Gemara! And while we are at it, the final word of the mentioned verse here is LeHorotam "to instruct them" which the Talmud says refers to the Gemara. Now, the middle four letters of the word LeHorotam are the same letters as the word Torah. Thus, we see from here how crucial Gemara learning is.

But wait, I am not quite finished! As I have mentioned in the past, the 420th Mitzva of the Taryag Mitzvot is learning and teaching Torah (Talmud Torah). But what I didn't mention before is that this is the 174th Mitzvat Asei, the 174th Positive/Active Mitzva of the Torah. You see, I didn't have a reason to mention this earlier, but now I do because today, we will use the same Atbash method for the four letters of the word Torah - Tav, Vav, Reish, Hei. The corresponding Atbash letters are Aleph, Pei, Gimel, Tzadi. These four letters add up to the Gematria of 174. Yes, there is indeed no coincidence that the Mitzva of Talmud Torah is the 174th Mitzvat Asei listed in the Torah!

Speaking of the 613 Mitzvot, let's focus for a moment on the 613rd Mitzvah, which is the writing of a Sefer Torah/Torah Scroll for oneself. While today, this is done by relatively few people, as first of all, it is quite expensive to buy a Sefer Torah, even if writing a Sefer Torah which is quite time consuming and every one of its 304,805 letters has to be written correctly or the whole Sefer Torah is invalid to be read in public, can be performed by hiring a Sofer/Torah Scribe.
Also, today's books come in the form of paper rather than the old fashioned scrolled parchment. This is where the Chofetz Chaim quotes the Rosh pertaining to this Mitzvah, that nowadays, this Mitzvah is basically fulfilled by purchasing the basic books of the Tanach and Talmud (includes Mishnah and Gemara) and learning them, since after all, the whole idea of this final Mitzvah of the Torah is to learn the Torah that we write and/or purchase, though of course, the Mitzvah can also be performed literally.

Perhaps it is of no coincidence that the final Mitzvah of the Torah, at least in its literal sense, is the most expensive Mitzvah. It is of no surprise that the holiest object that exists is also the most expensive Mitzvah, for as we know, the physical is a reflection of the spiritual. But in any case, as I just mentioned here about how the number 613 in Hebrew makes up the letters that spell the word Gemara via the Gematria method of Atbash, we learn from here that indeed, the ultimate purpose of this last Mitzvah of the Torah is to be well versed in the Torah which is most represented by the learning of Gemara. For in fact, the Gemara is part of the Oral Torah which was originally forbidden to be written down unlike the Tanach which is called the Written Torah. However, since the rabbis of some 1,500 years ago saw that with the increasing troubles that were happening to the Jewish people that included exile and foreign rule, they were afraid that the details of the Torah which is the basic makeup of the Gemara would be forgotten, and hence, they ruled that for the sake of preserving the Torah, the basic contents of the Oral Torah had to be written down.

Imagine what Torah learning would be like today if we had no Gemara text to learn from, and no Daf Yomi - which would not be possible without a printed text and learning schedule. For even if Torah scholars would be able to learn as much without the written text of the Gemara, how much or how well would laymen or people who are no longer learning in Yeshiva and busy making a living would be able to commit to so much Gemara learning without a basic text of the Gemara in front of them (hearing a Shiur/Torah lesson on Gemara only makes sense if one is already familiar with the Gemara being discussed; otherwise, there won't be a fluent cohesiveness of understanding of the subject being discussed, especially when give and take discussions and arguments are a good part of Gemara learning).

Speaking of the Atbash method of Gematria, we see this being used in Chapter 428 of the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim. Now mind you, the Shulchan Aruch is a basic text of Halacha/Jewish Law, and NOT a Torah book full of interesting Gematriot. Occasionally, a Gematria is mentioned in reference to why a Halacha or Minhag/custom is observed. But for the most part, this is not the norm in the Shulchan Aruch. However, in this particular chapter, the final chapter of Hilchot Rosh Chodesh/Laws of the New Moon (by the way, I was born on Rosh Chodesh), there are various codes of letters/numbers that are mentioned to remember different aspects of the Jewish calendar. On this note, this chapter mentions how the first six days of Pesach/Passover correspond to the various Jewish holidays based on falling on the same day of the week in the same year being hinted in the Gematria method of Atbash. However, the one holiday that is not mentioned in reference to all this is Chanuka (Note: The truth is that Succot isn't mentioned either, though Simchat Torah, the final day of holidays beginning with Succot, though its own holiday is mentioned. Also, the first day of Succot falls out on the same day as the first day of Rosh Hashanah which is mentioned in the Atbash equation). It is true that there is a technicality regarding Chanuka because there are two months of the Jewish calendar that aren't always the same number of days in the month as in some years, they are 29 days and in other years, they can be 30 days - which is Cheshvan, the month before Chanuka, and Kislev whose ending falls out after the beginning of Chanuka.

Perhaps this is not a coincidence. You see, Chanuka represents the concept of what is beyond time, unlike most of the months of our present Jewish calendar which are always either 29 or 30 days - except for the months that surround Chanuka. For as we know, the Tanach - the Written Torah, is a fixed text. However, even though the Mishna and Gemara are also technically fixed texts today, these latter texts that are basically mentions of Halachic disputes throughout these texts shows that there is no necessarily "one right way". True, only one opinion can be followed as far as following what Halacha we hold by.
However, there is also the concept that Eilu V'Eilu Divrei Elokim Chaim "Both opinions are the words of the Living G-d", and so why physically, only one way can be followed; in the spiritual world, both opinions can be true, even as both rabbis who are arguing with each other base their opinion on how they read the verse in the Torah.

One who has learned the spiritual significance of Chanuka will know that this holiday represents the ultimate spiritual light that Hashem hid for the righteous in the future. It is through this light that one can see past and future the same way, which the infant in the womb has a taste of. This spiritual light goes beyond the physical limitations of this world. Similarly, Chanuka is the only holiday that is not mentioned in the Tanach, as demonstrated in not being mentioned in the Atbash formula of the holidays corresponding to the first six days of Pesach. For as the first six days of Pesach correspond to the six days of the work week in the materialistic world, Chanuka is all spiritual, not limited by the amount of days in the Jewish calendar beginning with Rosh Hashanah, and not necessarily ending on the same Jewish date every year. Chanuka is ultimately represented by the Oral Torah which hints to the whole concept of not sticking to the same words, but allowing for varied interpretations of the Torah that ultimately translate what the Halacha should be; however, Halacha in its spiritual sense is not bound by limitations except for how we observe it in this physical world. This is bearing in mind that the word Halacha is the Gematria of 60, the numerical value of the letter Samech, which is shaped virtually like a circle, just as this finite world which is round, but following the 6,000 years of this world's existance, the seventh millenium will be the display of pure spirituality when we will be beyond the physical limitations of this present world in which we are bound by Halacha without openly showing how both views of which only one view can be followed in the form of Halacha, can be true.

Now, while the number eight is what represents the concept of what is beyond nature as related to this finite world, just as the light that Hashem created at the beginning of time which will be use of use for the righteous in the future is what is beyond time, not differentiating between past, present or future. In fact, we see that the phrase Beit HaMikdash/Temple is the same Gematria as the name Matisyahu (861) whose heroic actions led to the eight day holiday of Chanuka. Also, the Rambam/Maimonides laws about the Beit HaMikdash which he calls Beit HaBechira (House of Choosing) consists of eight chapters.
However, unlike outside of the Beit HaMikdash where we light up to eight lights on Chanuka; in this holiest place in the world, only seven lights were lit. The difference is that in the Beit HaMikdash which is a reflection of the Beit Hamikdash in the spiritual world, it is very much related to the concept of the number eight, and as we see mentioned in the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers, there were 10 miracles related to the Beit HaMikdash. Hence, only seven lights were needed to relate to what is beyond the finite world of six work days and of six thousand years, since it is true that in the seventh millenium, it will be time of total spirituality without the physical restraints of this world. However, outside of this holiest abode on earth, where even the number seven is still within the realm of nature being that while we observe the seventh day as Shabbat, we start once again after Shabbat into the six day work week so we need something more tangible that is related to the concept of what is beyond nature, of what is beyond time, and it is only this concept as related specifically to the number eight that helps us reach this goal, and it is the eight day holiday of Chanuka that accomplishes this.

Noting above about the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah, we also have what are called the seven Mitzvot of the Rabbis. While the Torah forbids us to add to the Mitzvot of the Torah, what are called the Mitzvot of the Rabbis weren't invented as all "new" concepts but are already related somehow to other Mitzvot of the Torah. Without getting into a whole discussion about this, these Mitzvot of the rabbis include the Megilla reading of Purim and the lighting of the Menorah of Chanuka. However, there is a fundamental difference between Purim and Chanuka. Even as Purim is a Mitzva of the rabbis, it is a holiday that is mentioned in the Tanach, in fact, the Book of Esther which is devoted exclusively to this holiday, though it is not a holiday mentioned in the Sefer Torah. However, Chanuka has NO DIRECT CONNECTION WITH THE BIBLE OR WRITTEN LAW.

With this said, adding the seven Mitzvot of the Rabbis with the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah, the total is 620 Mitzvot. And it is Chanuka which is the LAST of these Mitzvot. In fact, while the last of the 613 Mitzvot is the very Mitzva of WRITING Torah, the last of the seven Mitzvot of the Torah especially relates to the concept of the ORAL TORAH, for lighting the Chanuka Menorah is not mentioned in ANY of the 24 Books of the Tanach, unlike Purim. Now, mentioning earlier of the connection of the word Teharot, the name of the sixth and FINAL volume of the Mishnayot as related to Chanuka, this word is the Gematria of 620, and as I just mentioned, lighting the Menorah on Chanuka is the 620th and FINAL Mitzva to be enacted. And as I mentioned earlier about the letters Teit and the remaining letters that spell the word Torah within the word Teharot, the letter Teit represents the concept of darkness as we see that the ninth plague of Egypt was darkness and it is the letter Teit that represents the month of Av, the month that includes the darkest period of the Jewish calendar in which on the ninth day of this month (Tisha B'Av), both Holy Temples got destroyed. Hence, the concept of Chanuka as related to Torah is learning Torah even in the darkest of times, as this is the light that lights up the spiritual darkness. Indeed, Chanuka falls out during the winter when the nights, the time of physical darkness, are longer; and as our rabbis tell us, the nights were created for Torah learning. In fact, the Talmud learns out about the amount of oil used for the kindling of the Menorah in the Temple from the amount that was needed for the longest of nights which are typically during the month of Tevet, on which the last few days of Chanuka occur. Moreover, the first letter of the month of Tevet is a Teit=9, further representing this concept of spiritual light in the long periods of spiritual darkness in exile.

And as for the month of Kislev on which Chanuka begins, let's dissect the letters of the name of this month. The first letter of Kislev is a Kaf, and as we know, this is also the first letter of the word Cohen. Now, the next letter is a Samech
which in itself is the letter that represents the month of Kislev. Also, the letter Samech as related to Cohanim reminds us of the Bircat Cohanim (blessing of the Cohanim) which consists of 60 letters. And then, the final two letters Lamed & Vav are the first two letters of the word Levi from whom the Cohanim are descended. Moreover, these two letters spell the number 36 in Hebrew, and as we know, we light a total of 36 lights on Chanuka (aside from the Shamash candle).

And in connection with the number of this Post, the number 129 can be read in two parts - one (1) and twenty-nine (29). The letter Aleph=1 begins the word Ohr/Light, and the first letters of the months (Kislev & Tevet) during which Chanuka occurs spell the number 29. And as I have mentioned in the past, the number 29 is connected with the name Shimon, my namesake, in more than one way - first, as mentioned here, the 29th of Kislev is the fifth day of Chanuka on which we read the offerings of the leader of the tribe of Shimon that he brought on the fifth day from the dedication of the Mishkan. And as pertaining to Shimon HaTzadik as I mentioned earlier in this post as related to Chanuka, he passed away on the 29th of Tishrei.

Think this post is long enough. Stay tuned shortly for my next special post about the birth of my baby daughter.

Sixth Day of Chanuka/First Day of Rosh Chodesh Tevet/30 Kislev, 5772

#128 - Our Reaction to G-d Given Talents

2011-12-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

As we know, pride in the form of haughtiness is virtually the worst characteristic trait that the Torah condemns. This has caused the downfall of many with good spiritual qualities. And on the other side, humility is considered the greatest characteristic trait that one can possess. The Torah makes it very clear about Moses, who despite his great love for his people and was even willing to give up his spiritual benefits to save the Jews from perishing following their sin of worshipping the Golden Calf, is ultimately praised in the Torah for his humility "The man Moses was very humble, more than anyone living on earth" (Numbers 12:3). Hence, it was to Moses of all people that Hashem wished to transmit the Torah to, earning him the title of Rabbeinu "our teacher", for it wasn't only the Torah that Moses taught the Jewish people which he didn't actually learn all on his own, but all taught to him in the course of 40 days by Hashem; but it was his own example of being someone who was so worthy of being the one to teach the Torah to the entire nation that is part of why he is called Rabbeinu. Additionally, he wasn't the teacher of just his immediate generation, but the teacher of all future generation of Jews, partly in due to his desirable character traits that everyone could learn from.

There is one tractate of all the 63 tractates of the Mishnayot that does not deal with Halacha/Jewish Law per se. It is called Avot ("fathers") or Pirkei Avot/Ethics
of the Fathers. What distinguishes this ethical work from all other ethical works of the non-Jewish world is that the teachings about ethics in Avot, just as Halacha, are all part of the Torah that Hashem transmitted to Moshe; as indeed, the very first word of this tractate is Moshe's name, mentioning that Moshe received the Torah from Mt. Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua...

The question can be asked - Isn't there ever a time that you need a little pride or haughtiness to accomplish something good, just like for example, anger or hatred is needed at times to protest evil that is used to hurt good people? Otherwise, people with no sense of self worth will at the very least be taken advantage of, and will feel useless at the end, not wishing to contribute to society.

Before I answer this question, while a person who is humble is far more liked in society in the long run than someone who is haughty, regardless of their accomplishemnts, a person does have to have a balance that won't throw him off base of being taken advantage of. While it may not always be obvious where to draw the line, it can be agreed upon for the most part that self-worth and haughtiness are in essence two different creatures.

Actually, it is the Talmud (Sota 5a) that answers this question: "Rav Chiya Bar Ashi said in the name of Rav: A Torah scholar needs to have within himself an eighth of an eighth of haughtiness" The reason for this is so that he can maintain his respect as a Torah scholar by not being made fun out of and having his teachings accepted. This is of course assuming that beyond this, he will not let haughtiness get to his head.
Even at this, not all the rabbis agree with this. "Rav Nachman Bar Yitzchak said: No part of it whatsoever, as the verse states: "All haughty of heart is an abomination of Hashem" (Proverbs 16:5)."

Regardless of whose opinion we follow, the obvious question here is - What is the particular significance of an eighth of an eighth? The Vilna Gaon comes to the rescue and points out to us the eighth Pasuk/verse of the eighth Parsha of the Torah - which is this week's Parshat Vayishlach. The verse reads "I have been made small of all the kindnesses and truth that You have done for Your servant..." (Genesis 32:11) which what was Jacob was saying to Hashem in his request to be saved from his evil brother Esau. The lesson that we can learn from this is that although we feel humble from all the things that Hashem has given us as truly we are not really worthy of all the goodies that we receive in life, especially as virtually all of us have sins due to which not only are we not really worthy of anything good, but according to the strict measure of justice, we are worthy of death. However, the fact that Hashem does provide us with various measures of good means that we are worthy to some extent, however small it may be; and hence, rather than feeling so proud and haughty about it, we should rather be most grateful to Hashem, in fact recognizing that Hashem found favor in us to grant us the good that He showered on us. It is only based on this type of way of thinking that we will not loose focus on our purpose in life is.

Of course, the lesson that we learn from the EIGHTH verse of the EIGHTH Parsha is ultimately the most important thing here. However, perhaps the fact that the number eight, or more particularly, an eighth of an eighth, has something to do with permitted haughtiness, must mean that this number or fraction of a number has some significance here, more than just the fact of the position of what number verse of what number Parsha sounds kind of catchy.

The secret here is the number 64, or more specifically, a sixty-fourth piece of the pride pie. With this said, making the connection between this number or fraction number with the concept of humbleness/haughtiness, I saw two different Torah factoids on this.

One involves the time when the Torah was going to be given to the Jewish people as to which mountain on which it was going to be delivered. Various mountains argued to be THE mountain to be the one to have the Torah given on (yes, inanimate objects also have a life force, which is of course given to them by Hashem). However, Hashem chose the lowly looking mountain Mt. Sinai for this unique honor. Anyways, one of the high mountains is Mt. Tabor. The Talmud (Bava Batra 73) mentions this mountain as four Parsaot or 16 Mil tall. Now, the maximum amount that a person is allowed to walk outside of town on Shabbat is one Mil, or 2,000 Amot/cubits; hence 16 times 2,000 Amot yields the total of 32,000 Amot, the total amount of Amot of Mt. Tabor.

Now, bear in mind that Mt. Sinai where the Torah was given was not located in the Holy Land of Israel. And so, while the Torah was given on Mt. Sinai, it could not be
selected as the mountain on which the Beit HaMikdash/Holy Temple would be built on. The lucky mountain chosen for the Beit HaMikdash was Mt. Moriah, or known as the Har HaBayit/Temple Mount, bearing in mind that the Great Sanhedrin's headquarters was located in a room of the Beit HaMikdash, who taught the Halachot of the Torah that was originally given on Mt. Sinai. With this said, the Har HaBayit, as we see in Mishna Midot (2:1), is 500 Amot tall. And as 500 times 64 is 32,000, the Har HaBayit is one sixty-fourth of Mt. Tabor.

Another connection of the 64 number is what the Maharsha mentions that the Gematria of the Hebrew word Gas/arrogance, is 63. Hence, only if we have 1/64th of arrogance, and not 1/63rd of arrogance, can we hope to maintain our healthy spiritual balance in the humbleness/arrogance scale.

GAMES WITH NUMBERS

The Pool Game

As Jews who believe in Hashgacha Peratit/Divine Providence and that there is no such as coincidences, as even the Hebrew word for coincidence or happening - Mikreh, spelled with the letters Mem, Koof, Reish, Hei - when its letters are rearranged, reads as Rak Mei'H' (Hei (H) spells short for Hashem) - Only from Hashem. In fact, the word Mikreh itself is the same Gematria as the name/word Hashem (which literally means the Name which we say in lieu of pronouncing Hashem's real name except in prayers and in full verses from the Torah) - 345!

With this said, let's turn a moment to the game of pool. No, not swimming pools, but the game pool in which balls are hit with large sticks in order for them to enter the hall. Now, in a game of 15 balls, the ball that is used to hit other balls is the EIGHT ball. Perhaps the reason this number ball was chosen among the others is because eight is the middle number of the first 15 numbers, or because the way that the number eight is shaped, it is a never ending number (just like the number zero which isn't the number of one of the 15 balls) that can be continously written without interrupting the flow of the pen as it is with the other numbers. In any case, the bottom line is that it is the ball with the number eight that is always used to hit the other balls.

While I don't know all the varied forms of ball games on the pool table, from what I do know is that as long as there isn't a winner of the game yet based on the amount of total balls that were knocked down into the hole, the game is not over. However, if a player, in his attempt to knock another ball down the hole, pushes the EIGHT ball which itself falls down into the hole, the game is over, which means that the other player wins.

With what I wrote about pertaining to the number eight, perhaps what we can learn from here is that as long as we know how to utilize our position of self worth in accomplishing what we need to in life without letting pride/haughtiness/arrogance get into our way, we can hope with G-d's help to be successful in life, since it is G-d' wish after all that we use our G-d given talents to benefit the world - and this is applicable both for Jews and non-Jews, just as we constantly use the EIGHT ball to hit the other balls in our goal to win the game without letting the EIGHT ball itself go down the drain. On the other hand, when we forget that our talents are nothing less than G-d given talents and instead associate these talents as OUR talents as the verse describes "my strength and the power of my hands have accomplished these things", this is hitting the EIGHT ball right down into the hole, loosing the game. For that matter, if Hashem wants something accomplished, He can find numerous ways of doing this. However, it is His will for whatever reason that a certain person or people are the one(s) picked by Him to be in essence His messenger(s) to accomplish certain things with the G-d given talents given to him/them.

Imagine that an earthly king appoints certain people to be in charge of certain things on his behalf. While certainly, the ones that the kings appoints feel most privileged to be in the positions that the king placed them at, and would be more than happy to do what the king says to do even for no financial recompensation feeling lucky to be able to do something for the king, it is almost certain that they won't feel such pride to the extent that they are better than anyone else, for first of all, they realize that they themselves are hardly considered in worth in sharp contrast to the king. Also, they realize that with privileges, they also come with immense responsiblities, and that any deviation from what the king orders them to do will result from being fired, to being thrown into prison, to being executed. And so, bearing this in mind, the uppermost thought in the minds of these people hand picked by the king is that while they may be luckier than some other people, they hardly have any reason to be any more proud than anyone else because ultimately, it is about servicing the king, and NOT servicing themselves.

This is exactly how we have to view ourselves in our observance of Judaism. Of course we feel most privileged to be Jews as a small percentage of this world population. However, the purpose of the talents that Hashem has provided us is not in order to service ourselves, to make ourselves look important in front of other people, but ONLY to service Hashem. Of course down the road, people will respect us for our good service to Hashem, for our knowledge in the Torah, for our fine characteristic traits. In fact, one of the 613 Mitzvot/Commandments in the Torah is to fear/respect Torah scholars, and another one of the Mitzvot is attaching ourselves to Hashem by following in the footpaths of Torah scholars. However, this is not a reason for a Torah scholar to grow haughty. What a Torah scholar must remember is that he is supposed to be example of a servant of the King of Kings, a soldier of the Top General in His army, in order that other Jews will emulate his example so they too can follow in Hashem's ways the proper way following Halacha. Yes, a Torah scholar has to use his EIGHTH of an EIGHTH of haughtiness (and not all rabbis agree with this by the way) in order to maintain his basic dignity so he won't loose respect, but not because he feels that he is better than anyone else to the point that he uses his position to G-d forbid step on other people towards his own benefit, for ultimately, all the benefits belong to Hashem, and if one is entitled to any benefits, it's only because Hashem chooses this as such, but not because one "deserves" it per se.

Chess

There is hardly an adult in a normal civilized society that does not know that a chess board consists of 64 boxes, which when measured by the number of boxes on any given side, is eight by eight. But perhaps what is striking here is that the word chess is very similar to the name of the Hebrew letter Cheis (or Cheit as pronounced the Sephardic way) which is the numerical value of eight. In similar fashion, the popular Japanese food called Sushi is called by this name, as the meaning of this word which means six, was called as such because the original sushi consisted of six pieces, noting that the Hebrew word for six is Shishi, similar to the name Sushi.

The popular story that goes about the person who invented chess about what he requested as his reward from the king, whether is actually happened or not as such, perhaps describes the depth and breadth of what seems to be the countless amount of different game positions that exist with this most mental sports game, which echoes the Torah which is limitless, as it is Hashem's wisdom.

In recent times, chess has become a professional sport, and no doubt has changed the lives of many who made a living out of being professional chess players. With this said, some consider Bobby Fischer, a Jewish American, to be the greatest chess player of all time. However, he is not the only Jewish chess player to have played as a champion. Chess history would certainly be incomplete without the mentions of Samuel Herman (Shmuel Chaim) Reshevsky, who was an observant Jew throughout his life until his passing at the age of 80 in 1992, and Daniel Abraham ("Abe") Yanofsky (who passed away at the age of 74 in 2000, and has a street named after him in Jerusalem). In fact, the only one who ever beat Bobby Fischer after becoming a chess champion was the observant Jew Reshevsky, as in one game, Fischer walked out on Reshevsky not wishing to take a chance loosing a game, making Reshevsky the winner.

As with anything else, chess brings out the best or worst out of everybody. You see,
there are major differences between Fischer and these other two Jewish chess champions. First, Fischer was a professional player, as he never worked as any other profession or job, as he quit school at the age of 16, the end of his formal education. The other two Jewish champions, however, while they certainly had great talents for being professional players, didn't let chess be the overriding factor in their lives, who both went to college and became professionals in other fields of study while still playing chess on the side, both having accomplished things in their lives other than what related to the chess world.

Secondly, while Fischer didn't have a stable life when it came to having a family, and even after his death, it took a while for the courts to figure out who was to inherit him, only at the end to award his Japanese wife his estate; both Reshevsky and Yanofsky were married (both to Jews) and had children, showing that family was an important factor in their lives.

But perhaps most importantly here, we see the end results of these chess players. While Reshevsky and Yanofsky didn't at least seemingly become haughty from being master chess players, Fischer clearly showed plenty of his haughtiness - both in playing chess and his general outlook in life. To him, chess was the end of a means.
Few other things mattered to him if he couldn't be the top chess player in the world, and he showed how much it bothered him if he thought that there was even a possibility that someone could beat him on the 64-boxed game.

In time, he became anti-American, anti-Jew i.e. anti-Semitic, and a Christian as a Seventh Day Adventist. It's interesting to note that two Jewish players would not play chess professionally on the Sabbath/Saturday - Reshevsky because he always kept Shabbat, and Fischer because he was a Seventh Day Adventist. But on a more universal level, while I don't blame Fischer for being anti-American to an extent, as it is true that he was once arrested for something that he may not even have been guilty of, and then he fled the States, what is true is that if he would have been around in Hitler's time in Europe, Hitler probably would have hired him to be his mouthpiece instead of sending him to the concentration camps, as virtually no one spoke against Jews the way that Fischer did it.

While there may be questions as to what motivated Fischer following stopping his playing chess for a while to become the monster that he became, which included him praising the terrorist actions of 9/11 only hours after it happened, there is no doubt that this is related to the haughtiness that he developed as the chess professional that he became. While he may never have been aware of what the Torah says about the "eighth of an eighth" or "one out of sixty-four parts" of haughtiness concept, the chess game of 64 parts eventually became an evil force for Fischer, who used haughtiness in the most evil way instead of feeling humbled about having had the great privilege of the G-d given talent that he attained. Perhaps Fischer had a mental illness, but it wasn't something that he always had, or at least wasn't developed in his system until much later in life. Certainly in his case, the mental illness mostly developed as a result of his actions and warped thinking processes earlier in his life, rather than the other way around.

WHAT ELSE IS IN THIS WEEK'S PARSHAT VAYISHLACH?

Anti-Semitism from Jewish Origins

Having mentioned the self hating Jew Bobby Fischer, who spoke such anti-Semitic statements that would have blown off Adolf Hitler's mustache, it is actually hardly of much surprise after reading Parshat Vayishlach. You see, it is in this Parsha that mentions the birth of Amalek, the name of the nation who was the first to attack the Jews shortly after the Exodus, when the rest of the world was too frightened to take up arms against the Jews following the Egyptians drowning in the Reed Sea. You see, baby Amalek's grandfather was Esau, who was born and raised in the most holy and righteous family in the world at the time - with parents Isaac & Rebecca and brother Jacob.

We see that pertaining to the seven Canaanite nations, Hashem is clear when He tells us "Do not let a soul of them remain, utterly destroy them" which was what the Jews were supposed to do upon entry to Israel being led by Joshua. However, we see that Joshua gave these nations a menu of choices - 1)Run away, 2)Agree to servitude and taxes, 3)Fight it out. In fact, the Girgashites, one of the seven Canaanite nations, took up the first offer, and picked up their tents for pastures outside of Israel, while the other Canaanite tribes decided to fight it out. However, when it comes to Amalek, there are three Mitzvot about getting rid of this evil nation - 1)Remember what they did to you, 2)Erase the memory of Amalek, 3)Don't forget what they did to you.

Now, the question can be asked. As we know from our Sages, one who causes others to sin is worse than a murderer who only takes away a physical life, for one who makes other sin murders one's soul, one's spiritual life. Hence, the Caanaite nations, about whom Hashem makes very clear that they have a terrible spiritual influence with their idols and immmorality, were actually given a chance by Joshua to stay alive; while with Amalek, who merely wanted to kill the Jews without attempting them to change their religion, is eternally hated by Hashem, and not given any chance to repent or move elsewhere. Isn't this a cotradiction to what the Sages said?

True, the Canaanites had a terrible spiritual influence, and in fact, we see this to be the case later on when the Jews worshipped idols, as the Canaanites weren't all wiped out. However, they didn't necessarily go out of their way to entice Jews to another religion. They didn't hate the Jews per se, so long as they could also live in the land and do as they pleased. However, Amalek with pure hatred for the Jews, went out of its way to reach the Jews in the desert to fight them, and didn't even maintain the fear of the Jews as the other nations had at that time. While there is discussion among the Sages about the Amalekites mocking the Jewish religion, and attempted to "cool off" the Jews' enthusiasm for the Torah, the bottom line is that whatever the Amalekites did in relationship to the Jews was pure hatred and was determined to get rid of the Jew. Period.

So, why did Amalek hate the Jews so much, even before the Torah was given which in itself was a reason for the world to hate us after we were the ones chosen to receive the Torah? Well, we know that Amalek is directly descended from both Abraham & Isaac (unlike the Arab descendants of Ishmael who are only descended from Abraham) and as such, knowing that the Jews had unique spiritual status, was most jealous of the Jews carrying bitter hatred, just as their ancestor Esau had for Jacob following the latter's receiving the blessing from their father Isaac instead of Esau. And so, bearing this in mind, nothing would stop Amalek from advancing their hatred towards the Jews. It is for this reason that Hashem made it clear that for Amalek, there would be no exceptions made, not even with the deal that Joshua made for the Canaanites.

From Eight to Eight in the Eighth Parsha

Well, we already established that Parshat Vayishlach is the eighth Parsha in the Torah, as well as the significance of the eighth verse of this eighth Parsha. Now, turning to the end of this eighth Parsha, we see that there were a total of eight kings of the nation of Edom before there were kings of the Jewish people, which began with King Saul.

We see something amazing here. The Torah is not speaking of current events or what the Torah wants us to do in the future. The Chumash is relating something that would occur in the future, writing exactly what would happen not in the times of the Chumash itself, but hundreds of years later after Moses' death mentioned at the end of the Chumash.

We see another thing here. While it mentions at the end of this Parsha about the death of the first seven kings, it doesn't mention the death of the last king named Hadar. What made this eighth king of Edom so special that the Torah doesn't mention his death even though he eventually died just like the first seven kings?

As the Maharal of Prague mentions in his writings, the number eight is the number that represents what is above nature. For while the number seven represents the concept of Shabbat as the Seventh Day, the Shabbat of today is within the natural order of things in this world, and it will only be in the future that the number seven will be associated with eternity (see the end of Tractate Tamid of the Mishna).
However, the number eight to begin with is goes beyond the natural order of this physical world to begin with. And as such, a Torah scholar who lives a righteous life, relating basically to spirituality, knowing his purpose in life, can afford to have an "eighth of an eighth" of haughtiness, for he knows that the little haughtiness that he needs to use is in order to maintain the other 63 parts of humility. He knows that the Hadar - name of the eighth Edomite king - which means splendor or glory, the results of one's accomplishments if merely a prototype of the orginal Hadar - splendor/glory of Hashem. We are merely messengers of Hashem who do our best to replicate in our own way the amazing tapestry of Hashem's wisdom through the G-d given talents that He gave us. Then and only then can a Torah scholar be able to show himself as a Torah scholar that will attract honor, as ultimately, it is the honor of Hashem that is the focus, that will bring other Jews to the splendor and glory of the Torah.

Intersting to note, we always read Parshat Vayishlach, the eighth Parsha of the Torah, in the month of Kislev that we begin celebrating Chanuka, the eight day holiday that celebrates our freedom of practicing Judaism from the vicious attempts from the anti-Semitic Syrian-Greeks who attempted to prevent us from observing the Torah. Moreover, we begin the holiday with lighting one light/candle on the first night of Chanuka, concluding with the eighth night lighting eight lights. To come to think of it, there were also Hellenistic Jews who betrayed the Jewish faith and attempted to stop other Jews from observing the Torah. But thanks to the Maccabbees, we won at the end. However, the main emphasis of the observance of Chanuka came about not due to our physical victory of winning the war against the Syrian-Greeks, but our spiritual victory, for at the end, victory belongs to Hashem, and we are only soldiers in Hashem's army, who are doing our job not because it makes us look better, but because
this is Hashem's will, and we are only worthy of being Hashem's Chosen Nation when we behave as the Chosen Nation, not just because we have the title of Jews who have brains and win international championships in the fields of science and sports, for ultimately, even the secular accomplishements are based on the talents that Hashem gave us, but they only mean something if we use these talents in serving Hashem and setting an good example for the rest of the world to have everyone want to emulate the Jews when we behave as good Jews.

IN CONCLUSION

Regarding the number of this post - 128, it is the EIGHTH generation of numbers when added to themselves. Hence, one added to another one is two, two when added to itself equals four, etc. The following demonstrates this:
1+1=2+2=4+4=8+8=16+16+32+32+64+64=128. So, as you can see, the eight numbers in this equation are: 1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128.

Regarding the SEVENTH generation of these numbers - the number 64, this is the amount of boxes on the chess board. And as per the number seven, I had mentioned earlier that both Sherevsky and Fischer would not play chess on the Seventh Day - though for diametrically spiritually opposite reasons. Coincidence? This surely resembles the opposite spiritual lifestyles of the twins Esau and Jacob.

And at a close examination of this number 128, we see that it consists of two numbers: one (1) and twenty-eight (28). As we know about the Alef-Beit, there are 22 basic letters, and five of these letters take on a little different looking shape that are used exclusively at the end of a word; hence making a total of 27 different shapes in the Hebrew alphabet. And as used in Gematria sometimes, these five letters that are used as the end of a word have the respective numerical values (in order of the letters) of 500, 600, 700, 800, 900. Following this, the "28th letter" is the letter Alef once again, but instead of having the numerical value of one, it now has the numerical value of 1,000 - demonstrated by the fact that the word for the letter ALEF, can also be read as ELEF - which means one-thousand - using different vowels.

Parallel to this, we see in the chess game that the chess pieces represent people of various ranks from the plain soldiers - the pawns, to the king and queen. However, unlike the ones with positions inbetween the soldiers-pawns and the royal couple, the pawns, if they advance all the way to the other side of the board, then can become queens themselves. Of course, this is another example of chess that is based on a concept in the Torah. You see, the angels are very spiritual beings who are very close to G-d, while human beings are very material and physical people. However, if people overcome their physical temptations, urges, and addictions while looking to be spiritually close to G-d, they can potentially be even on a higher spiritual level than the angels. The difference reflected between these two groups are represented by the name of two Parshiyot that are read just around the time of the Jewish New Year, and in some years, they are read together on one Shabbat rather than on two separate Shabbatot: Nitzavim - which means standing as the angels are in the same spiritual position without moving ahead or backwards, and Vayeilech - which is related to the word Halicha/walking, for people have the freedom of choice to walk closer to G-d or G-d forbid away from G-d, but as the pawns in the chess game, people have the chance of reaching the highest spiritual heights possible, even higher than the level of the angels who may be compared to the other pieces of the chess game between the pawns and the king/queen.

Looking forward to writing my next post around Chanuka time which will of course be about one of my favorite Jewish holidays...

Week of the EIGHTH Parsha Vayishlach/EIGHTH of Kislev, 5772

#127 - The Woman's Number

2011-11-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

"Sara's life was one hundred years, and twenty years, and seven years, the years of Sara's life." (Genesis 23:1)

"It was in the days of Achashveirosh. He was Achashveirosh who reigned from Hodu to Cush - seven and twenty and one hundred countries." (Esther 1:1)

It won't take long to figure that there a few things in common between these two verses. They are both the first verse of their respective places in the Tanach/Bible. The former verse is the FIRST verse of the FIFTH Parsha of the Torah - Chayei Sara, and the latter verse is the FIRST verse of the FIFTH of the five Megillot. Both of these verses mention the number 127 (which is the number of this post), howbeit in two very different ways of mentioning this number. And finally, both of these verses have something to do with righteous women - Sara & Esther respectively.

In case anyone thought that these two verses that mention the same number 127 don't have any concrete connection between these two, we have to turn to the Midrash for this one. In the Yalkut Shimoni (Remez 102) on Parshat Chayei Sara, the story goes that students of Rabbi Akiva were falling asleep in the midst of his lecture. In order to arouse them, he asked: "What did Esther (Achashveirosh's wife) see that she should reign over 127 countries? But let Esther, the descendant of Sara who lived 127 years come, and reign over 127 countries."

Now, from this alone, some may come to the conclusion that Rabbi Akiva merely was attempting to find a way to keep his students awake mentioning riddles of Torah, but not necessarily because there is a connection of the number 127 between Sara & Esther. Perhaps if it would be a Bible professor giving this kind of lecture, one may indeed come to this conclusion. However, as our Rabbis tell us, even the mundane talk of Torah scholars need study, for a true G-d fearing Torah scholar doesn't just talk words for no reason to shoot the breeze, or tell over a nice catchy story. In other words, if such a Torah scholar mentions something, it is for a reason. Hence, there has to be some type of connection here between Sara and Esther here as per the number 127.

To be sure, there are various explanations given for this, including the point Rabbi Akiva was making to his sleeping students with this point that he made so they would have to motivation to stay awake from now on during his lectures. However, taking one look at what this Midrash recounts, I have a question. What does it mean "What did Esther SEE that she should reign...?" If anything, it was Hashem who was pulling the strings, and as a result of Sara living her life to the fullest as implied by the wording of the verse describing Sara's years of life as Rashi notes, Hashem rewarded Sara with having a descendant who would reign over 127 countries, who would be a righteous woman under whose rule Jews would be able to practice their religion freely as Jews without fear of persecution.

As we know, Esther being the most righteous Jewish woman of her time, would never begin to consider marrying a non-Jew for the sake of materialism. The fact that she did in fact marry the non-Jewish anti-Semitic Achashveirosh was not of her own choice
as the king picked her out from all the other women in the harlem to be his wife. While in fact, the sin of a forbidden sexual relationship is one of three things (the other two being idolatry and murder) that one is forbidden to commit under all circumstances should one be threatened to do based on the cost of one's life, Esther did not resist from marrying Achashveirosh because she knew that she was put in this situation for the benefit of the Jews at that time. It must be remembered that the Jews were in the midst of the 70 years of the Babylonian exile, and it was a time of Hashem's hiding His face, so to speak, from the Jewish people, as indeed, Esther's very name denotes this very concept. Hence, the miracles that happened to the Jewish people that led to the holiday of Purim happened in a concealed way that wasn't obvious to the average person that miracles were taking place like what happened in the era of the Exodus.

Thus, Esther SAW, knowing that Achashveirosh was the ruling power of the time, and wasn't merely king over his immediate country of Persia, but of all the existing countries at the time, which were 127 countries. No doubt that Esther realized that there was a unique reason why she was being put in this position to be Achashveirosh's wife, and as queen, she would in effect be ruler of these countries as well. She knew that it was not a mere coincidence that the number of countries were the same amount as the years of Sara's life, and that just as Sara made the best use of her life, despite the challenges that she had, including being taken by two different kings to have sex with them but was saved as the end, so too, Esther realized that after all was said and done, the king asking to marry her was meant to be, and that it was meant for her to have rule over the 127 countries for the benefit of the Jews. (Note: No doubt that if Mordechai would have been against Esther giving in to the king's demands of being his wife, he would have made it crystal clear to her not to do so, but he knew that this was meant to be for the sake of the Jewish people, and this was what is called a Heiter Sha'ah, a permit in Jewish law for the moment, though otherwise, it would be forbidden to marry a non-Jew).

Now, while we notice that the wordings of the number 127 are quite different from each other in the two verses, I am not here to list the explanations for these as they are two totally separate issues. However, there is a major difference between the use of the number 127 in these two verses. In the verse about Sara, the number has to do with the concept of time. In the Book of Esther, the number has to do with the concept of place.

In Kabbala, there are three general categories of the influence on the materialistic world. They are called Olam/world (place), Shana/year (time), Nefesh/living being.
As we see in the two verses above, the number 127 is in fact used in all three concepts. The living beings are Sara & Achashveirosh/Esther, the time as 127 years, and the place as 127 countries.

Just as I mentioned earlier about the number five being connected to both of these verses, we see in the Talmud (Berachot 10a) that there are FIVE connections between Hashem and the Nefesh or Neshama - soul, corresponding to the five times that the word "Bless" is mentioned in Psalms 103 & 104. The following are these five connections:

1)Just as Hashem fills up the entire world, so too does the soul fill up the entire body.
2)Just as Hashem sees but is not seen, so is the same with the soul.
3)Just as Hashem nourishes the entire world, so does the soul nourish the entire body (meaing, that if the soul leaves the body for good, then the body ceases to live).
4)Just as Hashem is pure, so is the soul pure (as long as it doesn't have sins).
5)Just as Hashem resides in rooms within rooms, so is the same with the soul.

As we see here, some of the points here also have to do with the concept of time.

Now, the Talmud here also notes that the five mentions of "Bless" also hints to the fact that King, David, the author of these psalms, lived in five "worlds" and sang song, mentioning the respective "Bless" verses. These five "worlds" are:
1)His mother's womb
2)Air of the world
3)Nursing at his mother's breast
4)Seeing the downfall of the wicked
5)Looking at the day of death

Very interesting, this list are called five "worlds", even though not all of them are technically what you would call places. O.K. - the womb is one place, the physical world is another place, and you can technically call the breast area of the body as a place on the body. But what do the last two things on this list have to do with the concept of place?

The truth is that all of these concepts have to do with this physical world - the place that we are in for the time being. But it is very interesting to note that in fact, the last two on this list - seeing the downfall of the wicked, and looking at the day of death, have their respective counterparts in the two verses related to the number 127.

Well, as for seeing the downfall of the wicked, it is quite obvious that the Book of Esther shows just this with the downfall of Haman, just when he thought that he was going to bring the downfall of Mordechai along with the rest of the Jews, but the tables turned on him.

As for seeing the day of death, it is precisely in the place of the Torah regarding Sara's passing away that it begins mentioning the life of Sara's years, and hence, the concept of place (this world) and time is bound together in this verse, along with the concept of a living being or a soul, and hence, encompasses the trio of Olam, Shana & Nefesh. It is no coincidence that in fact one of the 54 Parshiyot/sections of the Torah is called Chayei Sara "Life of Sara", for although this is the very mention of Sara's passing, we learn from this that we live in this world not as a end of a means by itself, but that in order to be able to live eternally. With this said, the emphasis is not on death, but rather, on the productive life that one has lived, for in fact, whether we like to put it this way, but for someone who lived a good, productive, righteous life, death or the time of one's death is the celebration of that person's life. True, there are mourners for him from close relatives to the many friends, students, etc. that he had, but this is in essence mourning merely the physical loss of that person's presence. However, deep down inside, the mourners feel a bit of happiness and pride knowing that it was well worth being connected to such a wonderful person who made a positive influence on their lives. For anyways, all of us are going to die sooner or later, so when the passing of a loved one occurs, it is just one more reminder for us to think of our purpose in life and bearing the above three concepts in mind, the goal is to live our lives what will most benefit our souls during the brief lifetime that we have been provided in this finite world.

As per the connection of these concepts to the number five, we know that the holiest object on this earth is the Sefer Torah/Torah scroll which while it may be one scroll, it consists of FIVE books, and aside from being called the "Five Books of Moses" in English, the Hebrew word in referring to these five books is Chumash, based on the word for the number five. To note, for a kosher Torah scroll, we use animal hide as its parchment. While this may sound a little far fetched for the most holy object on the face of this planet, the idea here is that we use materialism to be uplifted for holy purposes. In our own lives, we do the same when we do our mundane activities as eating, sleeping, and working in order to serve Hashem and be able to fulfill the Mitzvot/Commandments properly in the best of health.

In a very similar idea in Judaism as also related to the number five, in order for an animal or object to be offered in the Beit HaMikdash/Holy Temple, the item had to first be consecrated, to declare that one is designating the item as a holy object, and hence, even though it may be an animal who has no concept of what holiness is, there is an aspect of holiness that now applies to the animal, and it is forbidden to henceforth be used for mundane purposes. And as connected to the number five, the offerings were one of FIVE categories - 1)Olah/Burnt Offering, 2)Mincha/Meal Offering, 3)Shelamim/Peace Offering, 4)Chatat/Sin Offering, 5)Asham/Guilt Offering. Also, the section in the Mishna about the various offerings is the FIFTH volume of the six orders of the Mishnayot that is called Kodoshim/Holy Things, especially in its first tractate Zevachim/Sacrifices.

Now, the word Yisrael, the last word of the Chumash which is the name of the Jewish people, consists of FIVE letters that begin the words Yeish Shishim Ribo Otiyot L'Torah "There are 60 myriads of letters to the Torah." While in fact, there are 304,805 letters in the Chumash, just a little more than a half of the 600,000 number that is the number of adult male Jews who left Egypt, the point here is that each and every Jew has a share in the Torah, regardless of the spiritual level that one may come from or is presently in. The only question is how connected we wish to be with the Torah. Yes, we all have a share in the Torah, but do we show this to be so? Do we seriously set aside time every day to learn some Torah as the Torah commands us to - and not just a set period of time everyday and then play hookey in our non-working hours, but when we know we can spend more time on it as something that we feel hooked to?

True, there are many distractions in life, but this is precisely why we are here in this world, to combat the distractions and focus on what is important - and if we are not able to learn Torah at any particular time, it is only because we are addressing a basic physical need, and not spending time everyday chatting with friends that gets us nowhere in the long run. We learn from the verse about Sara's years of life from the wording separating each unit of hundreds, tens, and singles with the word years, teaching us that each and every year (Note: The Hebrew word for year is Shana, this word also being the number 355, the maximum amount of days in a non-leap Jewish year) or each day of Sara's life for that matter, was used for a constructive purpose, and not wasted on one's personal pleasures to take a vacation from the daily routine (I'm not saying that it is forbidden from the Torah to take a vacation, but that whatever we do is supposed to ultimately be serving Hashem, but one can discuss this in detail with one's rabbi).

Yes, we live in a world that is full of illusions. Indeed, the word for world in Hebrew is Olam, which is related to the word Helem/hidden, for this world hides spirituality with what takes place in this world. While some may be drawn to spirituality through nature, one would not necessarily come to the same conclusion when one turns on the tube and sees how the Hollywood "world" is so glorified, full of movies that are full of actors just to make money, and then on top of this, some of them win awards for something that they enjoyed doing and making millions on while so many hardworking people who are actually doing something constructive in their jobs who watch these movies when relaxing at home usually don't get types of perks with millions of dollars or awards. And this is just one out of many such examples of how this world, especially today more than ever, are reflective of how this is such a "hidden" world, a world full of falsehood, just as the idols that used to be worshipped and are still worshipped in some places of this world until today.

And in connection with this, there is the book of Esther, which is also a word which denotes the concepts of hiding, implying in this context that is was Hashem Who was doing the hiding in this Biblical book. For indeed, Hashem does not do what we call miracles every day, for otherwise, we would not have free choice, and realize that Hashem is speaking to us. While in fact, the greatest miracles is nature and how our bodies survive, since these are things that happen everyday to us, it is easy to take these things for granted instead of taking time to think how wondrous this world is including the complexities of each subject and object in this universe as shown in science. For a short while, Hashem did miracles for us in the Torah in the times of the Exodus from the Egypt to the entering the Promised Land, and Hashem still continued doing miracles for us from time to time, but this was a gradual weaning process in order for us to get trained to serve Him even without what may be obvious miracles but rather from our own imput of our actions.

Being that the number 127 ends with the number seven, and as the Torah lists the years of Sara's life, ending with saying "seven years," it is significant to note that this Shabbat, the SEVENTH day of the week, is the SEVENTH of Kislev, on which we read the SEVENTH Parsha - Vayeitze. And in this Parsha that we will be reading this Shabbat, we see that Jacob worked for Laban for SEVEN years in order to marry Laban's daughter, Rachel. After the switch of sisters was made on Jacob, and after marrying both Leah and Rachel, he proceeded to work for another SEVEN years on behalf of Rachel. Anyways, we see that these seven years where in Jacob's eyes "as a few days"
in Jacob's great love for Rachel (Genesis 29:20). For while when one may be waiting for something exciting to happen, each second may seem to be eternity; when one truly loves someone or something and prepares oneself for the upcoming occasion, he feels that every moment in preparation for the big day is worth it, and hence, the time period involved doesn't feel boring because it feels just like when one is having fun, time flies. The translation of this is that one's whole being seems to be based on what one is striving for, and so, the time feels that at the end, "it was all worth it."

And this is the same thing that we must feel in our Jewish lives. We must feel that every moment in our lives is worth living, even when materialistically, we have challenges, for we must remember that in fact, we ultimately are working for the Big Boss, and so while we may enjoy some of the frills in life, these are only temporary and fleating, and could at times be detrimental to our eternal, spiritual life if we don't focus on the real reason why we are living to begin with.

And while we are still speaking of the number seven, we see that both Aaron, the head ancestor of the Kehuna/Priesthood and King David, the head ancestor of the Davidic dynasty, married wives whose names ended with the word Sheva/Seven. Aaron's wife was Elisheva/Elizabeth and King David's wife whose son Shlomo/Solomon became the successor king was Batsheva/Bathsheba. And in reference to the above concepts of place, time, and living beings, we Jews observe the Seventh Day of Shabbat since we emulate Hashem who so to speak worked for six days in creating this world, and then rested on the Seventh Day.

Perhaps it is most fitting that the concept of seven is represented specifically by women such as Sara, Esther, Elisheva & Batsheva. For it is the woman who carries the womb, which is a whole world by itself for the nine-month resident who is preparing spiritually and phsyically to live in the next world - which in this case is this physical world. And the beginning growth of the newborn is the drinking of the mother's milk at the breasts. And it is the woman who experiences time from her periods to the pregnancy time of nine months, unlike a man who only experiences time in terms of his body when he begins to loose strength in his older years, realizing only then that it is just a matter of time before he is replaced by the next generation.

Now, let's do a little math trick here. Take number one and add it to another one and it becomes two. Then, two added to itself yields four, etc. Let's demonstrate here in number forms: 1+1=2+2=4+4=8+8=16+16=32+32+64. Now, let's add the seven different numbers involved here: 1+2+4+8+16+32+64=127. As you can see, after the number of the seventh generation is yielded following the first six numbers in the line here being added to themselves, the total sum of the numbers of the first SEVEN generations of this mathematical equation equals 127. Coincidence?

In conclusion, the only woman in the entire Tanach whose age of passing is mentioned is Sara. It is most fitting that it is Sara of all people to have this distinction, for she was the first Jewish woman, and additionally, had the unique privilege of being the mother to bear the first Jewish born child - Yitzchak Avinu. And in her unique situation, this was at the unusual old age of 90 years, after being barren for so many years in her younger years. In any case, she well deserved to be the mother of the first Jewish born child, because along with her husband Abraham, she helped people to be "under the wings of the Divine Presence" exposing them to the truth of one G-d, instead of just staying put at home as the earlier righteous people did until Abraham came out in the open to reach out to other people. Hence, it was only fitting that for such a righteous couple, they would bear the first Jewish born child to be the ancestor of the people for whose sake Hashem created the world.

FIFTH Day of the Week of Parshat Vayeitze/FIFTH of Kislev, 5772

#126 - DREAM of a Lifetime

2011-11-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

Shavua Tov & Chodesh Tov - Wishing you all a good week and a good month.

At this time, I am writing at a time of two firsts - Motzoei Shabbat, beginning the FIRST day of the week that immediately follows the conclusion of Shabbat; and Rosh Chodesh Kislev, which is only one day this year as opposed to some other years where it consists of two days - hence, today's date is the FIRST of Kislev and not the thirtieth of Cheshvan (the way it was one year ago on Motzoei Shabbat).

Both of these occasions - Motzoei Shabbat & Rosh Chodesh - are especially connected to King David. The Melave Malka (literally means escorting the queen, which is referring to the Queen Shabbat, a real spiritual creature like the angels) meal is called Seudat David HaMelech - King David's meal, which is called such for at least two reasons. First - kabbalistically, there are four parts of the Holy Chariot which correspond to the three Patriarchs and King David; and similarly, the three meals of Shabbat correspond to the three Patriarchs, and the fourth meal which is the meal eaten on Saturday night corresponds to King David. Historically, King David was once told by Hashem that he would pass away on a Shabbat. Hoping to avert dying on Shabbat, he figured that if he learned Torah for the entire Shabbat which would prevent the Angel of Death from taking away his soul, then he wouldn't have to die on this happy day of the week. Hence, following the end of every Shabbat, he used to celebrate living through another Shabbat by having a festive meal (after fasting the whole Shabbat!).

Rosh Chodesh is especially connected to King David because the Davidic dynasty is compared to the moon, the same way that the Jewish people are compared to the moon.
Just as the moon has its waxing and weaning periods, so it is with the Jewish people and the Davidic dynasty. To note, King David was the 14th generation on the parental line from Abraham the first Jew, bearing in mind that the Gematria of the name David is 14. Hence, his son King Solomon was the 15th generation from Abraham. Similarly, the moon reaches the status of a full moon at the 14th/15th days of the month. And indeed, in the days of King Solomon whose name Shlomo means complete(ness), it was the heighlight of the utopian state of the Davidic dynasty and the living standards of the Jewish people. And then, even in King Solomon's days already, his kingdom started going downhill beginning with challenges to his kingdom, and when his son Rehoboam became king, most of the Tribes of Israel deserted his kingship for Yeroboam Ben Nevat as the first king of Israel. Finally, Zedekiah of the 30th parental generation from Abraham was the final king of Judea in whose reign the Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were exiled to Babylonia.

Bearing in mind that this is my 126th post, it would be most appropriate to mention Psalm 126 of Tehillim/Book of Psalms that was composed/compiled by King David. This is not just any one of the 150 psalms. This Psalm is recited immediately preceding Bircat HaMazon/Grace After Meals on a day or time that we do not recite Tachanun/supplicatory prayers, which include Saturday night & Rosh Chodesh. One reason given for reciting a psalm before the after meal blessings is because we are supposed to recite words of Torah at a meal, and so even if one did not remember or have a chance to do so, reciting a psalm which is part of the Tanach/Bible will fulfill this requirement.

I will be referring to this Psalm a little later in this post. But first, I want to write a little more about the siginifance of today being Rosh Chodesh Kislev. We see in the first chapter of the Mishnaic Tractate of Ta'anit of the breakdown of the various dates that we mention or request for rain. First, we begin the mention of rain on Shemini Atzeret (22 Tishrei). Then, there is a difference of opinion in the Mishna as to when we begin the request for rain - either 3 Cheshvan or 7 Cheshvan, of which we follow the latter view as the Halacha/Jewish Law.

Now, when we request a basic need for the Jewish people from Hashem but it doesn't get fulfilled on time, there is an obvious reason why it is so. No doubt, it is because we are not behaving right, and so Hashem is in no rush to fulfill our request. Hence, when rain doesn't come sooner rather than later, it means that we have to repent of our evil deeds, and especially in earlier times, fasting was a common occurance when things didn't happen right for the Jewish people.

Along these lines, if the 17th of Cheshvan (the date of the beginning of the Flood in Noah's time) arrived and no rain fell down yet, indiviual pious people would begin fasting. Then, if the beginning of the next month - Rosh Chodesh Kislev - arrived and still no rain in sight, then the community starts fasting. Thank G-d, it already started raining this season, which is thanks to a lot of good Jews doing the right things.

In earlier times, when Jews were expected to be on a much higher spiritual level but didn't behave accordingly, famines were not that uncommon. During one such year when it close to the month of Nissan when the rains in Israel are just about over, when it hadn't rained the winter season up to this point in time, the Jews were desperate and turned to a righteous and learned sage named Choni HaMeagel. He is called HaMeagel which literally means the one who makes circles, because in his prayers in which he pleaded with Hashem to send rain, he made a circle around himself and swore that he would not leave the circle until rain would come. As the story continues as recounted in Mishna Ta'anit 3:8, the rain finally came.

Speaking of circles, the letter of the Alef Beit that corresponds to the month of Kislev is Samech, which is the roundest of the Hebrew letters, and unlike all the other letters (except for the Mem Sophit/Final Mem), it is the only one in which there is a hole that is completely surrounded. We also see that the Mazel/constellation for this month is the Keshet/rainbow, and Hashem's speaking to Noah about His promise that He will never bring a flood for the whole world again which would be demonstrated by having a rainbow appeared took place in the beginning of Kislev which was shortly after everyone left the Ark a mere few days earlier. In any case, the rainbow has a circular appearance, in part resembling the round Samech.

With this said, perhaps there must be some kind of connection between the concept of circles, rain, and the month of Kislev, especially since we see that this month is represented by the circular letter Samech. And if there any connection, what is this supposed to teach us?

For this, we now refer to the Babylonian Talmud on Tractate Ta'anit which mentions another story of Choni Ha'Meagel. It is obvious that the origins of the Rip Van Winkle story comes from this original story, but let us recount the real story that took place.

As I promised, this is where Psalm 126 kicks in. You see, it all started when Choni HaMeagel had a question on the first verse of this Psalm - "A Song of Ascents: When Hashem will return the captives of Zion, we will be like dreamers". He wondered: "Is it possible to sleep for 70 years with one continous dream?" Now, the reason he noted 70 years is because there were 70 years to the Babylonian exile (although this verse/psalm also refers to the future Redemption). While he was thinking about this, he met someone who was planting a carob tree, and when Choni asked him how long it will take to grow, the guy told him that it would take 70 years, and that just like his ancestors planted carob trees for him, so he was also doing for his descendants after he would no longer live. The next thing Choni knows, he wakes up after 70 years of sleep, and then met the grandson of the guy who planted the carob tree 70 years earlier who was picking carobs off the tree at that very moment. Following this, since no one knew who he was or believed his story that he slept for 70 years, he realized that he could not go on living like this, and so he asked Hashem to take away his life and then he passed away.

While Hashem can do anything, some may doubt that the literal meaning of the story took place. After all, not all the Aggadic stories in the Talmud necessarily happened literally, but they can mean some spiritual, figurative meaning for us to learn from. In fact, not all the Biblical stories that we read in the Tanach necessarily happened either, such as where Hashem tells the prophet Ezekiel to revive the dead bones of a group of Jews that attempted to leave Egypt 30 years earlier before the Exodus. Some say that this was only a dream that Ezekiel had. In fact, believe it or not, but the Rambam/Maimonides believes that the story in the beginning of Parshat Vayeira of the encounter of the three angels coming to Abraham for a meal was only a dream that Abraham had, no less of a dream than the dream that the Torah explicitly states that Jacob had at the beginning of this week's Parshat Vayeitzei.

Whether this last story of Choni Hameagel was literally for real or was only a dream that he had, what is true is the Torah lesson that we can learn from this recounting.
The 70 years that Choni called a dream in fact echoes another part of the Psalms (90:10): "The days of our years in them are 70 years...", which is given as the average lifespan of mankind, which was also how long King David, composer of the Book of Psalms, lived. The point that Psalm 90 makes is that our lifespan is very short and that we need to make the best of it, and realize that this world is temporary and full of vanities, and only realizing our purpose in life and following in suit will make our lives worthwhile.

The problem with most people is that they live confused lives and don't realize what the real purpose of life is about, truly living a DREAM life. Perhaps some with religion will have a better answer for this, but it seems that even a good percentage of these people don't follow through with what they learned in the Bible and all. And even when it comes to acquiring materialistic items in life, so many have dreams of "having it all," but don't accomplish having the temporary "American Dream," and even when it seems that they have it all, this is quite often challenged by a change in the economy, losing one's dream job, divorce, loss of health, etc.

It is significant that there were 70 years to the Babylonian exile. You see, the word Bavel/Babylonia comes from the word Mevulbal "mixed up". Very unfortunately, most people are mixed up with what really counts in their average lifespan of 70 years, and for all practical purposes, are dreaming of a reality that does not exist.
They have no concept of why they were created, of why they are living, and if they are not atheists, virtually all of them think that they are going to Heaven for what they supposedly did right, forgetting all the wrong things that they did during their lifetime that they did not make amends for if they even realize or remember what they did wrong.

The Babylonian exile followed a long stretch of Jewish history of Jews living in Israel for 850 years. The reason why they became exiled from the Holy Land to begin with is because they were mixed up and confused of how they were supposed to live as Jews. They took it for granted that everything would be O.K., even as the prophet Jeremiah kept warning them of the doom that would take place if they would not better their deeds. They were truly living a false dream of a life in which they did things the way that they wanted to do them, regardless of how much this went against what Hashem said, even as Hashem explicitly warns us in the Torah time and again that if we don't follow His laws, then consequences, including exile, would take place.

And so, it only made sense that the Babylonian exile would consist of 70 years, to teach us that Babylonia was not our land and living there as Jews was for all practical purposes - a dream that Jews can live there in holiness just like in Israel but in reality could not be true, reminding the Jews that they could not continue behaving in this fashion, and it was only after 70 years that the Jews had a rebuilt Temple once more, showing that they are only living at home when they are both near the environs of the Holy Temple AND following the laws as Jews connecting ourselves to the holiness of the Temple.

It would seem a bit ironic that the main Talmud that Jews learn is called the Talmud Bavli/Babylonian Talmud, which includes this last story of Choni HaMeagel (Ta'anit 23a). It is true that this Talmud was composed in Babylonia, and was hence named as such. In another way of looking at this, perhaps we can read this as "Talmud for the confused", for unless we learn the meat of Torah learning, which is the Gemara/Talmud, we will remain confused about what the Torah teaches us, and even if we know all the laws of the Mishna, Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish Law, without knowing the Talmud, we will be at a loss as to where these laws stem from, or what they are based on. You see, without understanding what a Halacha/Jewish Law is based on, there is no way that someone who is "basically observant" without being knowledgable of the give and take arguments and reasonings of the Talmud will be able to come decide what the Jewish Law is, for the Talmud gives the reasons and sources for these laws.

It is the Talmud, especially the Babylonian Talmud, that gave reason for a Jew's existance in the Shteitel towns of Europe, mostly living in poverty, long after its composition a few hundred years after the Roman exile. It is the Talmud that especially demonstrates that the Torah/Bible was not a man made script, but a Divinely given set of laws which is interpreted by the teachings of the Talmud, the Oral Law, showing how Hashem was precise in His wording to teach a particular lesson or nuance. It is the Talmud which is "our life and the length of our days" both in this world and in the next, realizing that a material lifestyle doesn't quite fit in a Torah way of life except to the extent that is needed to maintain our health and the means to be able to observe the Mitzvot/Commandments.

Related to the letter Samech, there are 60 tractates of the Mishna, the foundation of the Oral Law (actually, we have them divided today as 63 due to technicalities), and Samech has the numerical value of 60. In this physical world, both beans and eggs are round objects, which are eaten by mourners as their first meal following the burial of their close relative. This is learned out from Parshat Toldot that we just read on Shabbat where Jacob served beans to Esau as on that day, their grandfather Abraham passed away, and so the meal of the day in the home of Isaac was beans. The reason for eating their circular types of foods is to remind us that life goes around in a circle - from birth to death, from riches to poverty. The world spins around, it is a new generation, and who was rich or poor in one generation may lead to descendants with the opposite financial circumstances, for life and wealth are not permanent fixtures in this world, and will change hands and families.

Hence, on Rosh Chodesh Kislev, the beginning of the month that is represented by the circular letter Samech, all Jews would fast for the lack of rain. The Hebrew word used for congregation is Tzibur, which is an acronym for the words Tzadikim Beinonim V'Reshaim - righteous, average, and wicked people. ALL SPECTRUM OF JEWS had to be aware that we must start getting together as a nation and do the right thing, and not just like indivuduals, as the individuals who started fasting on the 17th of Cheshvan, represented by the fact that only a few individuals were righteous enough to be spared from the Flood - which was Noah and his family, which begin on this date.

And so, Choni made the circle around himself, as if to say that even if there were wicked people among the Jews, and it is true that they need to repent of their evil deeds, but since part of the Tzibbur also consists of righteous people, he reasoned that it was only right to bring the rain in the merit of these people, for unless everyone would be evil, it would seem to be unfair to continue hurting the righteous ones among the Jewish nation, since the Tzibbur consists of one unit, and so it would not be fair to punish the righteous because of the wicked. It is this circle that marks the totality and completeness of the Jewish people, and instead of claiming that there are only individual righteous people, it would be much more fair to say that there are only individual wicked people, and hence, the circle of life should not be broken because of a few rotten individuals.

At this point, it would be most interesting to point out that both the word Toldot - the name of this last week's Parsha, and Ta'anit - the name of the tractate about rains, both begin and end with the letter Tav/Sav. But more than just this, these sections of the Chumash & Mishna/Talmud respectively have connections with each other.

Let's note the word Ta'anit, which means fast, such as not eating. To note, this word is the Gematria of 930 years, and as we know, Adam lived for 930 years. Originally, he was not supposed to have died had it not been for the sin of the forbidden fruit, so his life was shortened to 1,000 years, from which he gave 70 years of these to King David. As a result of his sin, he both separated from his wife and fasted for 130 years. The three middle letters of the word Ta'anit, which spells the word Ahni/poor person, make up the Gematria of 130, hinting to the fact that Adam considered himself as a poor person without the pleasures of physical life to atone for the sin that he committed.

Now, take the word Toldot, which means generations. Now, all of mankind are generations/descendants of Adam & Eve. The three middle letters of this word spell the word Vlad, which means child or embryo, having the Gematria of 40, and indeed, it takes 40 days for an embryo to be formed. The reason given for why there were specifically 40 days of the Flood is because Hashem so to speak was forced to give life to embryos from illicit unions as they take 40 days to be formed. Moreover, for certain sins, the atonement mentioned for these are 40 days of fasting; perhaps reminiscent of Moses' not eating for 40 days and nights at a time on Mt. Sinai.

In both sources of Parshat Toldot & Masechet Ta'anit, the concept of mourning is mentioned; in Parshat Toldot - as I wrote earlier pertaining to the passing of Abraham, and the fourth chapter of Ta'anit mentions the mourning for the saddest day of the year - Tisha B'Av, the date on which both Temples got destroyed accompanied with Babylonian & Roman exiles. In fact, when Esau requested Jacob to give him the beans, he asked "Dump into me this reddish food...therefore his name was called Edom", meaning, that Esau's family in the future became the Edomite nation. However, the English hardly does justice as for the translation; for in fact, the word Ha'adom "the red" in describing the beans is written twice in a row, indicating a double aspect of red. Now, the beauty of the Hebrew language is that in contrast to English in which some of the letters are vowels themselves, the vowels are separate from letters in Hebrew; hence, words without vowels can be read as different words at times. In this particular instance, one can read this word twice as Ha'Adam - the man or the Adam. It seems that the reason for this repetition of word is to hint to Adam, whose sin caused himself and the world to go into mourning, for now death was decreed upon the world.

We see that following his sin, Hashem appeared to him, and as the verse states "Hashem G-d called to HA'ADAM (the man) and said to him AYEKA" (Genesis 3:9 - Note: In Hebrew, the chapter and verse number here, when put together, reads the word Get/divorce, for in fact, Hashem divorced mankind from the Garden of Eden following the forbidden fruit sin, just as Hashem divorced us out of our land upon the destruction of the Temple). Now, note that I did not immediately translate this last word of the verse. You see, while it may literally means "Where have you been?" this is not a mere physical concept of place, but a spiritual concept of place, indicating that Adam had a major spiritual fall with the sin. In fact, one again, just as the word Ha'adom can be read without vowels to also read Ha'adam, as indeed the exact word in this verse in Genesis, the word Ayeka can also be read as different vowels to read Eicha - "How...", the beginning word of the book in Tanach that is also the name of this book that is read on the night of Tisha B'Av, the national day of mourning, the date marking the destruction of both Temples by Babylonia and Rome - the latter which is called Edom in Scriptures. Hence, there is a parallel connection here between the sin of HA'ADAM & the destruction of the second Temple by HA'ADOM/EDOM, as Edom is a nation descendant from Esau who was born as Admoni/reddish. And it was these reddish beans that were cooked by Jacob in a state of mourning, the death of Abraham being the bridgepoint between the decree of death on mankind and the destruction of the Second Temple by Edom.

The good news here is that King David & his descendant the Messiah are the rectifications for these sins. First to note, the letters of Adam's name are the acronym for Adam, David & Moshiach. By Adam giving 70 years of his original slated 1,000 years of life to King David, this gave him the power to help with Adam's rectification. In fact, King David just like Esau was born with a reddish complexion, resembling the sinful desires of the body. However, the difference is that while Esau did not control his desires, King David did. And even when he had a temporary lapse of this when it came to his strong sexual urges for Bath Sheba, he repented to such a degree that his fasting conquered his evil inclination for sexual temptations.

In time, King David merited to have the Messiah descend from him, and as mentioned by the Rambam/Maimonides, the Messiah is descended from his son King Solomon, which means that he is descended from Bath-Sheba; for in fact, King David's extreme sexual urge for Bath-Sheba became the springboard for his total repentance in the away of sexual temptations. And as based on holy sources, the United States is the Edom of today, and as we see, there are in fact 51 states in the U.S., for Washington D.C. as the capitol is an area of its own that is not included in the "fifty states", and the word Edom is the Gematria of 51. This is aside from the verse about the reddish beans that are described with the repetitive word Ha'Adom which is the Gematria of 50, bearing in mind that generally, the United States is referred to as having fifty states, and as this verse concludes "therefore, his name was called Edom." So indeed, Moshiach will be coming shortly at the end of the exile of Edom which began as Rome and ending as the United States, the current world power as Rome was at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple.

In connection to Jerusalem, the antithesis of Edom, we are currently in the midst of the 45th year from the liberation of Jerusalem - particularly the part of Jerusalem that includes the Holy Temple grounds, and the name Adam is the Gematria of 45, bearing in mind as to what the Midrash notes, Hashem created the head of Adam from the area of the Holy Temple grounds. And as we see the word for red(dish) mentioned in the verse Ha'Adom, without the prefix of the letter Hei, the word Adom being spelled as the same letters as Adam is the Gematria of 45, and as connected with Edom as mentioned at the end of this verse.

Yes, there will come a time that our DREAM OF A LIFETIME - the arrival of the Redemption, rebuilding of the Holy Temple, and Resurrection of the dead - will finally come to fruition. As per the 70 years of the Babylonian exile, we have a verse that also hints to the concept of 70 - "For EYE TO EYE - Ayin B'Ayin - will they see when Hashem returns to Zion", for the letter Ayin is the numerical value of 70. And as for the concept of a circle that in this physical world, denoting change in the sense of changing hands as people do not live forever in this world the way that it is created until the time of the Resurrection, we see that in the future, the concept of a circle will represent Eternity, as the conclusion of the Babylonian Talmud on Tractate Ta'anit states:

"Ulla Bira'ah said in the name of Rabbi Elazar: In the future, the Holy One Blessed Be He will make a circle for the righteous, and He will sit between them in Gan Eden, and every one of the righteous ones will point his finger towards Him, as it says: "He will say on that day: Behold (Note: In Hebrew - the word is Hinei which is the Gematria of 60, perhaps hinting to the concept of a circle which is resembled by the circular letter Samech that has the numerical value of 60) this is our G-d, we had hoped for Him and He has saved us, this is Hashem to Whom we had hoped, let us exalt and rejoice in His salvation." Amen.

Motzoei Shabbat Parshat Toldot/Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5772

#125 - Take Off the MASK!

2011-11-24T12:49:00.000-08:00

It is not everyday that Rashi, whose basic commentary on the Torah basically involves the simple meaning of the verse, and uses various sources to explain what is going onin the text, sometimes bringing two or three explanations on the same words, mentions a Gematria to explain a matter. In fact, Gematria is related to the part of the Torah that is called Remez/hint rather than Pshat/simple meaning. So, when Rashi does mention a Gematria, he has good reason for bringing it; for certainly there are many more Gematriot on the Torah that are mentioned in the Talmud, Midrash and other early rabbinical sources.

While we won't be reading the story of the Golden Calf in the public Torah reading for a nice few months, this is where the basis of this post begins. The Torah describes the first god formed among the Jewish people since they left Egypt and received the Torah as a "molten calf". In Hebrew, this is an Eigel Maseicha. Rashi on the word Maseicha gives two explanations on this. First, he notes that this word is related to the word Mateicha/metal. Makes sense. But here is the punchline. All of a sudden, Rashi points out that this molten calf consisted of 125 Kanterin (a measurement) of gold, which corresponds to the word Maseicha which is the Gematria of 125.

And while this is my 125th post in relationship to what I just wrote, I will soon show the connection between the concept of idols and Parshat Chayei Sara that we read last Shabbat. But meanwhile, the question can be asked: "It's nice that Rashi brings a Gematria here. But unlike other situations where there may seem to be a difference of an opinion or a question on an opinion, and so Rashi brings another explanation, why did he mention a Gematria here after he explained very logically the connection of the word Maseicha in this context? Even if it is true that there happened to be 125 measurements of whatever in gold that they used to formed the idol as related to the Gematria of the description of the idol, what is missing here that we didn't understand about this before Rashi told us this Gematria?"

The truth is that Artscroll (check out www.artscroll.com) quotes the Levush HaOrah asking a similar question. You see, we already know that the idol was made out of gold, so why does the Torah have to mention anything about metal as Rashi points out in his first explanation? But in his second explanation, Rashi is noting the weight of this idol, and this case involves using a Gematria.

After all is said and done, who really cares how much the idol weighed? After all, we already know that it was a golden calf, and in the previous Rashi, he explained the process of how magic was used in making this.

I believe that the answer to this is focused on the mention of 125 "kanterin" of GOLD. The proof to this that the focus is on gold is the very end of the first Pasuk/verse of Sefer Devarim/Deutronomy where the list of places that the Jews journeyed during the course of 40 years in the desert are mentioned. What one finds is that there are a bunch of names of places mentioned that aren't mentioned anywhere else in the Torah. Rashi explains that these names were used to hint to the events that the Jews lived through when not behaving up to par, and so Moses hinted to their behavior by using these names. The last place in this first verse of Deutronomy is called Di Zahav, very similar to Dai Zahav "enough gold", and as Rashi brings a verse to this effect "I provided much silver for her, and gold. They made it for Ba'al (a name of an idol)." In the verse in Deutronomy, Moses rebuked the Jewish nation for the calf that the made due to how much gold that they had.

And my friends, while most us are saying to ourselves, "How stupid could these Jews have been in even thinking about other gods when they just received the Torah amidst the most terrifying Divine experience that they went through a mere 40 days later?", very unfortunately, history has repeated itself up to this generation, and this story of the Golden Calf is more relevant for us to learn than ever. It is quite ironic that there are those Jews who are Sabbath observant who would never dream of lifting a finger to work on Shabbat to make even a little extra money on the side and be present at the Torah reading about the Golden Calf story, who fall into this very trap of Golden Calf worship. Indeed, the United States was at one time referred to as the "Golden Medina". In fact, included in U.S. history is the Gold Rush of 1849. While few made the big gold bucks, Hashem allows things to happen for a reason.

And so, what is this Golden Calf worship of today that I am referring to? You see, one can be raised as an "Orthodox Jew", pray in the synagogue morning and evening, celebrate Shabbat with the family, and even donate money to one's synagogue. However, without focus on what really counts in this world, the practice of this "Orthodox Judaism" is for the most part what is called "lip service" performing the routines as what one is used to from one's youth, but not because one feels truly spiritually uplifted, or have a spiritual desire to really get close to Hashem. As I once heard one professional Modern Orthodox Jew in synagogue tell another "The days of having concentration in my prayers are over".

Well my friends, this last statement literally smacks what Rabbi Nachman of Breslov states about serving Hashem. First, each attempt we make in our service to Hashem is precious, even if we do fail. But most importantly, we are NEVER SUPPOSED TO GIVE UP HOPE. No matter how many times we fail, we are supposed to pick ourselves up and try again, learn from our past mistakes, and consult our spiritual leaders for help in achieving better spiritual results. It's one thing if one has a hard time concentrating on one's prayers. But because one is now a "professional", it is no excuse to prevent onself from even attempting to do the right thing. It's easy to pat onself in the back thinking that because he attends the daily "Minyan", it is O.K. if he doesn't do everything right, since after all, as far as he is concerned, Hashem should be lucky that even a professional takes time to pray in a public quorum.

Indeed, the Jews who sinned with the Golden Calf gave up hope very quickly when they thought that Moses was not returning from Mt. Sinai following a 40 day retreat. They didn't even entertain the possibility that perhaps they were mistaken by one day as per when Moses told them that he would return to them. And so, since they felt spiritually deprived, it led to them to being materialistic, even to the point of tearing off the earlobes of their own wives in their quick pursuit of grabing the earrings to produce the Golden idol, as mentioned in the Midrash.

And so today, many young Jews, though educated with some form of Torah background with a Yeshiva day school education, get quite caught up with the idols of today - such as baseball cards featuring many non-Jews with the exact baseball scores, and while praising them for their accomplishments, these young "Orthodox" Jews forget that they are violating a commandment in the Torah that forbids us to praise non-Jews - Lo Techaneim "Do not show them grace" (some may argue that the verse is referring specifically to non-Jewish idol worshippers, but in fact, the prohibition refers to all non-Jews). Of course, there is the television, movies, and while I would think that most have parental supervision when it comes to the internet, there is no guarantee that kids at whatever age will not have access to the internet as such that it will G-d forbid lead to seeing lewd pictures and all. Aside from the fact that television and movies include many scenes that include seeing immodest dressed women and sex scenes even outside of what is called porn, the Torah makes no differentiation when it comes to the violation of "thou shalt not stray after thine eyes". And of course, when sitting glued to the television set watching the weekly sports game, wasting several hours a week, even if there are no immediate violations of the Torah as mentioned above, the big time violation of the Torah is wasting precious time of Torah learning, for which EACH WORD OF TORAH LEARNED IS WORTH MORE THAN ALL THE OTHER COMMANDMENTS OF THE TORAH COMBINED! And as the Chofetz Chaim once experimented, a person can speak up to 200 words a minute. And so, imagine the tremendous eternal reward that some Modern Orthodox Jews lose out FOREVER as a result of the tens of thousands of hours they waste on watching games that are being played by a bunch of non-Jews and assimilated Jews who are making millions off of tube watchers. At least the ones playing the games are making a living at it, but what is the rational excuse of the ones who are simply watching them?

Yes, there are those Jews who even attend a daily Daf Yomi Shiur, listening to a daily class of a double sided page of Talmud every day in synagogue. But before or after this, how many of them when they are home when not immediately taking care of the children or speaking to the wife will at times even do so much as open a Sefer, a Torah book, to at least be an example for their children to want to do the same? Never mind the fact that some do not give any encouragement for their children to even entertain the possibility of becoming rabbis; but while we are supposed to see to it that our children have some sort of profession or work to sustain themselves and their future families, many Modern Orthodox parents are insistent on their children being particularly doctors, lawyers, or some other major profession along these lines, as though their children will be otherwise "useless". And then of course, aside from the fact that many of their children will not get married at least until their later 20s as a result, and some have problems later finding someone to marry because they put their careers way ahead of starting a family life, even some of the newly professional men will only marry a woman with similar professional backgrounds.
And while it is important that in some respects, there has to be similarities in a couple, focusing on marrying a professional woman when the men themselves can make a fine living is forgetting the role of women whose primary purpose is raising our children. Now, I am not saying that Orthodox Jewish women are forbidden to study a profession, and I do believe that women in general should not be stuck without having some means of making a living should they unfortunately become widowed in life so they can continue supporting their children; what is certain is that when materialism is made into a major importance, it usually comes on the expense of spiritualism, forgetting what our main purpose in life is, even though technically, they should know from the many years of Yeshiva education of 12 or more years that they had before they began college.

Of course, the professional Modern Orthodox parents of three children have the "heimishe" home, two cars, and for many who live in South Florida - a swimming pool. But did they ever even do so much as to think how life could be if only the husband/father had a professional career, and they didn't have such fancy, expensive cars, and who needs to worry about kids drowning in a swimming pool when they can anyways afford to hire someone to give their kids swimming lessons or send them to summer camp where they will have access to swimming grounds?

Yes my friends, all too many who are not living in the Holy Land that Hashem commands us to live, living in the Golden Medinah are worshipping golden idols, except in a different form. Today, this includes some who wear a beany on the head, and will never knowingly eat something that they know is not kosher. Oh yes, some of them can even afford to be in what is called a Kosher for Passover hotel for the whole holiday (P.S. I happen to know that many problems have occurred in these "Kosher for Passover" hotels, and so those who are truly G-d fearing will think twice before spending the Hametz/non-leaven free holiday in such a place), but how much spiritually can be felt at a Seder in a room of hundreds of other materialistic people when the ultimate place of feeling what a truly spiritually meaningful Seder can be felt only at home (or in a synagogue under the direction of a rabbi), as was originally celebrated in Egypt the night before the Exodus. As for the wives/mothers who don't have to worry and knock themselves out cleaning their homes for Passover by spending the holiday in a hotel, with a fraction of the money that they spend on the hotel, they could use to hire a young, Orthodox Jewish lady or a few ladies to clean every last speck of dirt, and the family can even enjoy Passover during the course of the eight day holiday by going to some fun outing, as even very religious Jews in Israel do with their families during this holiday.

I will be honest here. I was far from raised with a golden spoon in my mouth, in sharp contrast to most of my classmates. Most of them, being Modern Orthodox most of whom raised in homes whose parent or parents were professionals, had quite fancy Bar Mitzvas. They read the whole Parsha and Haftara, followed with a big Kiddush in the synagogue, and then there was the Sunday affair at some hotel hall with virtually all of the lavish trimmings that are present with weddings. My Bar Mitzva, on the other hand, was quite simple. It is true that since I was born on a Rosh Chodesh, I was able to celebrate my Bar Mitzva on Rosh Chodesh, even as it fell out during the workweek, so it wasn't just an ordinary Monday or Thursday thing reading the Torah, so it was a little more special because of the uniqueness of the day. However, all I had was an Aliyah to the Torah, and a breakfast in the synagogue which was located across the street from the Yeshiva day school, with mostly my classmates and old people of the synagogue in attendance. And that was it my friends, back to school for me as though nothing happened the hour before. I never even read from the Torah for my Bar Mitzva, though ironically several years later, I would become a professional Ba'al Koreh (reader of the Torah). Didn't have the lavish Shabbat Kiddush. Didn't have the fancy shmancy Bar Mitzva ballroom celebration. And so I will admit, I do feel prejudiced against the fancy lifestyle of some in the Modern Orthodox world who feel that they have to spend lavish sums for their son's Bar Mitzvah. After all, how many of them spent enough time in Israel to come to realize that many Jewish families, of all types of observant or non-observant backgrounds, barely even have enough food to eat, while many organizations in Israel attempting to help these poor familes basically receive their donations from those living in Israel without American funds? Why, there are even those mothers in Israel who dilute the formula for their babies who cry as a result of the lack of nutrition, due to not even having enough money to sufficiently feed the little mouths of their babies, let alone themselves! And so, I feel that I am perfectly justified in protesting this Golden Calf worshipping that many in what is called the observant Jewish world are trapped into.

Speaking of Modern Orthodox (by the way, the word Orthodox has been greatly misued in terms of observant Judaism, this word being taken from Christians simply to define the difference between halachic Judaism and Conservative/Reform), let's speak of Modern Hebrew. You see, this word Maseicha used in describing the gold/metal idol is used today for the word MASK. Yes, when we live a double lifestyle, professing to the claim as living as "Modern Orthodox" Jews with Sabbath, Kashrut & laws of family purity observance, but doing everything else that promotes materialism on the major expense of learning Torah, we are in essence putting a mask on our faces, something that is literally done only on Purim. You see, while we have the beautiful holiday of Purim today, what indirectly led to this was the Jews benefitting from the feast of King Achashveirosh about which Mordechai warned them not to partake of, even if it would be "Glatt Kosher". And if in case anyone wonders what was such a big sin, it is forbidden according to Halacha to eat at a non-Jewish wedding, even if one is served a Glatt Kosher meat meal at the event by an exclusive waiter. Hashem does not wish us to be socially involved with non-Jews to the point that we will forget our purpose as Jews. True, in the workplace, many if not most of us deal with non-Jews. But, the difference is that we are only permitted to be involved with non-Jews to the extent for what is necessary. However, making merry with them and being entertained with them smacks the purpose of what we are in this world for; and frankly, if we are truly busy serving Hashem, regardless if we are rabbis, professionals, or factory workers, we truly have no time for fun and games, especially with people outside our families.

The name that we call for idol worshipping - Avodah Zara, means "foreign worship," can be applied as well to other sins that also shares the common denominator of doing something different than what Hashem tells us. The fact that one who professes to be basically an observant Jew but gets sidetrackted with other things in life that do not pertain or help with worshipping or servicing Hashem - the King of kings - is in effect performing Avodah Zara, for it is as though one tells a king who wants him to do something for him, "Yes, I recognize that only you are my king; but at the moment, I like to do some extracurricular activity, and then I will get to what you want me to do."

LABAN - UNBELOVED SISTER, UNCLE AND GRANDFATHER

Now, for the recent Parsha events, lets turn to a Biblical character that we spoke of before - our good villian enemy Laban. Oh sure, he was Rebecca's sister, Jacob's uncle, and the grandfather of the Tribes of Israel, but as the Haggada attests, he wanted to do away with his observant family - at least spiritually if not also physically. With this said, his name Laban, or Lavan in Hebrew, means "white." It is quite ironic that he had a name like this, since in our Selichot prayers, we ask Hashem to make our sins like white, giving us a clean state. But as I just described the word Maseicha to describe a double life, Laban represents this very concept. For while everyone else up to Laban's time, even if they were sinners, recognized what was right and wrong, even as they did the wrong anyways; Laban had a way of making sin look like it was O.K., with no shame involved. He was the master tricker, as implied by his title Ha'Arami. While culturally, it means the Aramean, it also means "the tricker."

While the main display of the evil Laban will read in Parshat Vayeitzei of next week,
we see where Rashi pokes at him in last week's Parshat Chayei Sara. First, when Eliezer, Abraham's servant was waiting outside following Rebecca inviting him to come to her parents' home, her brother Laban wasted no time running to greet him. As Rashi notes, when Laban all of a sudden saw his three year old sister wearing a nose ring which looked quite expensive, he figured that Eliezer must be a rich man, and so he hoped to also get a "share of the pie".

In Laban formally inviting Eliezer to the parents' home, he assured him that he "cleared the home", upon which Rashi explains that he cleaned the home from idol worship (meaning, the idol statues were out of the house for that evening).

O.K., get ready for this one. Later on, following Eliezer talking at dinner about how Abraham set him on finding a Shidduch for his son Isaac and what happened with Rebecca, Laban and his father Bethuel's response to the story was "This matter occurred from Hashem..." It is at this point that Rashi immediately states "Laban was a wicked person for jumping up to speak before his father," which is derived from the fact that the verse mentiones Laban's name before his father's name.

Wait a minute. When it come to Laban's greediness for money, and his association with idol worship, Rashi didn't especially blast Laban, he simply states that Laban was eyeballing the money that Eliezer had with him and that he cleared the home of idolatry, which seems to be in fact respectful of Laban being sensitive of the religious needs of Abraham's servant. Now mind you, non-Jews are forbidden to worship idols and being greedy for money shows how unspiritual a person is to say the least. However, for the sudden spur of the moment that Laban was quite impressed with a story that involved Hashgacha Peratit/Divine Providence, actually mentioning Hashem's name with the belief that indeed, Hashem - rather than the other gods - had something to do with Eliezer's story, to the point that he spoke up before his father, Rashi immediately calls him an evil person. And while being disrespectful to one's parents is not exactly being a very righteous person, there is in fact no commandent among the Seven Laws of Noahides to obey one's parents, believe it or not.
So, why is it particularly about this factor - rather than about idolworshipping or being greedy for money, and just at the point that even the idolworshipping Laban is showing that he not only believes in Hashem, but in His Divine Providence, that Rashi, ironically, calls Laban an evil person?

Yes, idol worship is a sin, regardless of whether one believes in Hashem or not. Yes, being greedy for money quite often leads to other major sins such as murdering or stealing. However, even if honoring one's parents is not part of the Noahide Laws that non-Jews are commanded to observe, the fact that Laban had no hesitation in putting himself in front of his parents shows that he did not even had the half decency of being grateful to the ones to whom he should have naturally shown gratefulness to more than anyone else in the world. Someone like this, who is not even grateful to people who brought him to this world, took care of all his needs until being able to be independent, regardless of how kind or mean he is to the rest of the world, does not even have an excuse. You see, people who worship idols as part of a religion or culture perhaps think that this is the right way of living. Loving money as a natural desire for some, not necessarily because they want to hurt others, but simply because they feel that they will attain everything that they want.
However, mistreating the ones that we should feel respectful to is rooted in something far, far worse. Such a person like Laban who behaves like this does not even respect the ones who brought him to be the person who can now acquire whatever money or goods he wants in life. And so as such, it isn't simply someone who is used to bad habits due to the environment or one's natural urges; it is simply pure evil to disparage those who were responsible for his life to begin with. And so, what are the chances that he will even want to live any type of half decent good mannered life even if provided with the truth of religion or enough materialism that will not make him feel the necessity to run over others to aquire it, when he doesn't give a damn to anyone else who are good or evil?

The fact that Laban mentioned Hashem's name specifically when he dishonored his father doesn't even phase Rashi as perhaps being someone who is learning the truth about Hashem. In fact, idol worshipping kings in the Bible also believed in Hashem despite their own idol worshipping practices.

As far as Rashi is concerned, Laban is simply putting on a mask of religiosity to hide his own true self. After his righteous sister Rebecca, who while no doubtedly worshipped the house idols until she learned about Hashem from her husband-to-be Isaac, but had good character traits including performing deeds of kindness, left the evil family's home the next day, Laban never changed his evil ways, and was the same rotten person some 100 years later (people lived a little longer in those days) when his nephew Jacob showed up at the door, who consequently fooled around with which of his daughters that Jacob would marry, tricked the townspeople to provide a lavish wedding for his daughters' weddings with Jacob without paying them back, and messing with properly paying Jacob for his hard back breaking work of 20 years. In fact, Laban admitted to Jacob that it was only after he arrived at the Laban home many years earlier that Laban started having great financial success; but nevertheless, showed Jacob the same treatment of Hakarat HaTov/"recognition of good" that he showed his father Bethuel by speaking before him.

In a very similar vein, we find in this week's Parshat Toldot about Esau, Jacob's brother, who lived more like his uncle Laban, whom ironically he never met unlike his righteous brother Jacob who lived in Laban's home for 20 years, particularly in pretending to be a righteous person while living the lifestyle of a wicked person. Esau went to great lengths in fooling his father Isaac by asking him all sorts of halachic questions to make him think that he had a son who cared about observing the Mitzvot/commandments while he was screwing particularly married women, causing not only himself to sin, but them as well as a violation of the sin of adultery. And after some 25 years of having fun, then Esau decided that he would get married at the same age of 40 as his father Isaac did, at which Rashi compares him to a pig who figuratively shows itself to look like it's a kosher animal by showing its split hooves, which is one of the signs of a kosher animal, while unlike kosher animal, it doesn't chew its cud; and in fact, the pig is the only animal that has split hooves but doesn't chew its cud. Similarly, Esau while committing the greatest of sins outside of the one Jewish home in the world, pretended at home to still be a "good Jew."

STEVE JOBS - A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR MANKIND?

Now, let's take an example of someone very famous who recently died - Steve Jobs. Unlike you live in a shell, you will know at least something about the Apple genius, even if nothing more than his name. O.K., he was not Jewish, and I didn't come across anything that would show suggesting him to be anti-Semitic. Now, in a review of his life, one may be left with more questions than answers. However, a Torah Jew well understands that there are no surprises here.

It is true that Mr. Jobs was adopted, and at one point in his life, took the time to reunite with his birthmother and his sister, while not wishing to do the same up to the time of his death with his birthfather who was still living at the age of 80 because he felt that his father deserted his mother which led to his adoption. If Steve Jobs's parents would have stayed together, then probably, his last name would have been Jandali and would have been a practicing Moslem like his Syrian father. Since this did not happen, Mr. Jobs wound up become a Zen Buddhist at one point in his life.

While in time, Mr. Jobs settled with a wife and had a family from whom he never got divorced from, in the earlier part of his life, he had a girlfriend whom he impregnated following which the relationship ended. Apparently, he must have had grievances against his ex-girlfriend, because he went to such lengths in court to deny that the child that she bore was not his. It is true that later on, after becoming the billionaire that he became, he payed for the Harvard education of the child whom he formally denied being the father of, for after all, he wasn't planning on having the child of his ex-relationship inherit a part of his billionaire estate after leaving this world. And then there was his encounter with Bill Gates who though with many more billions was easily able to tell others with far less, including Steve Jobs, to donate money to charitable causes, Mr. Jobs apparently didn't feel the same way about charity giving the way that Mr. Gates felt.

Yes, some will call Steve Jobs a hyprocate for first denying being the father of a child whom he brought to this world, almost the same way as his own father who deserted his family following impregnating his mother. It is true that he had some difficulties making it financially until he made it financially. It is true that he felt hurt about not having been raised with his biological family. But regardless of whether Steve Jobs can be called a hyprocate based on what I already mentioned, there is one detail here that I want to focus on. He became a Zen Buddhist.

Look, I'm not going to start finding out what the difference is between a Zen Buddhist or other types of Buddhists. O.K., maybe Mr. Jobs believed that some idol is god instead of the real G-d. But my focus about all this is what the Buddhist religion is about, more than who is the god.

Basically, Buddhists are self-centered people. More than just how they may be towards one another, the religion calls for them to be meditators, chanting mantras, etc. In another words, it isn't about reaching out to others, having a positive influence on the world, or making a difference in peoples' lives. It is about perfecting oneself without concern if someone else can be perfected likewise. This reminds me of a scene in a movie where some Oriental was meditating while a robber came in and blindfolded everyone, included this guy. As one could see, all the meditating that the nice guy was doing didn't do a thing in protecting his family or friends.

And so, it is not so surprising that even as Mr. Jobs as his own choice adopted the Buddhist religion, that it did not affect his relationship with other people. No doubt that as time went on that he learned to take more responsibility, especially since he knew all too well that without this trait, he could not become the billionaire that he became. In time, he retracted his formal stance with his child out of wedlock and sent her to the most prestigious college in the United States. However, his good deeds were not necessarily motivated out of a sense of doing them simply because they are the right thing to do as opposed to doing them because they are necessary to get oneself ahead in life. His new found religion apparently had not been able to teach him the importance of treating others with due respect, or putting oneself in other people's shoes as part of spirituality, because it is devoid in itself of these concepts. While Steve Jobs didn't live in the most luxurious home as reflected by his billions according to reports, neither did he take special care to donate a half decent amount to those quite less unfortunate than he was, forgetting that at one time, he himself had only one decent meal a week for which he walked several miles. Perhaps he didn't have such a hard time dealing with that situation, but for others in his shoes in his early days, they would be hanging between life and death.

PUTTING THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE

There is a true story about two Jewish sisters in Israel one of whom became an observant Jewess and invited her sister to come to a Talmud class (though normally, women don't learn the Talmud). In this class, the particular subject was about returning lost articles. While the class seemed interesting, it didn't stop the non-observant sister from travelling to India and spending her time in the ashram as part of a cult. One time, she saw a member of the cult finding a lost article and giving it to the guru. Upon seeing this, she exclaimed, "how come you don't return the article to the one who lost it?" "It's too bad for the one who lost it" the guy replied, "and it now belongs to the guru." It was at this point that she realized that she was in the wrong religion and wasted no time returning to Israel, and became an observant Jewess like her sister.

While non-observant Jews and non-Jews of other religions may accuse Judaism of not treating other people the same good away as treating Hashem, there is nothing further away from the truth. While we see that Jacob was totally devoted to learning Torah up to the point that he came to his uncle Laban, he showed what the Torah is like by working honestly for his uncle Laban, regardless of how much of a crook his uncle was. In fact, the Torah recounts a whole conversation of Jacob with Laban in which Jacob attests to the honesty of his work habits. We see that Jacob didn't attempt to get even with Laban despite the fact that Jacob was the greatest Torah scholar alive who could have easily justified pocketing a little extra to give his wives and children that Laban selfishly refused to help out with. What Jacob did in his attempt for his livestock to increase had no bearing on hurting Laban's wealth, even as Laban changed the work payment terms 10 times (the Midrash notes that this was 100 times!) on Jacob.

There are many Mitzvot and Halachot/laws dealing with the payment of wages, stealing in all types of situations, etc. A non-Jew who reads the Bible, even if he hates Jews, at least has to have the intellectual honesty about how detailed the Bible is about the importance of our relationship with other people, because without observing these laws, we are only putting a mask on our faces, and at the end of the day after people finding out who we really are, we are no better than non-Jews who don't keep the Torah.

Yes, enough of the gold, enough of the blindfold, and enough of being sold to the devil! Even if the only holy book that we Jews would have is the Bible, without the Oral Law, if we were to truly take the Bible seriously, we would be well on our way to living a good moral life without putting materialism in front of spirituality. In one generation, the color may be white, in another generation, the color may be gold, but Hashem never changes, and the Torah never changes. However, while Hashem as He promised in the Torah, will never ex-change us for another nation, we have to make the changes within ourselves without feeling the need to resort to masking ourselves blind to the reality that Hashem reveals to us in the Torah, or the need to turn to something different that will no doubt oppose the Torah.

There is a reason why the first book of the Torah - Sefer Bereishit/Genesis, which we are in the midst of reading in the public Torah reading of Shabbat, is the first book of the Torah, relating history that took place before the Torah was given, which is 26% or more than a quarter of the Five Books of Moses, where Moses the Lawgiver had not been born yet. It is in this First Book of the Torah that we learn how to live a Torah life from our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. As our Sages tell us - Derech Eretz Kadma LaTorah "Manners come before the Torah", for if we will continously learning Torah without applying the concepts of it, especially in our relationships with others, then we are really no better - and in fact worse - than many non-Jews who also read the Bible but don't even follow the few laws that they are supposed to keep. To note, a surname given for the Book of Genesis is Sefer HaYashar - the Book of the Straight, referring to our Biblical ancestors in Genesis. The word Yosher, with the same basic meaning as Yashar, means being straight or honest.

As they say, the truth will set you free. As honesty includes truth, the ultimate motto that we should follow is HONESTY WILL SET YOU FREE.

28 Cheshvan 5772

#124 - The Eternal Song of Hashem

2011-11-12T14:14:00.000-08:00

As it turns out, I am writing this post on the 17th Yahrzeit of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach of blessed memory. While there may be those who will bring up controversial issues pertaining to him, it cannot be denied that he has had a tremendous positive influence in the Jewish world, relating to Jews of all parts of the spectrum. It wasn't just his songs that so many loved; it was his words and the personality that reflected the preciousness of every Jew - regardless of his or her spiritual level. Many can attest to the fact that they are either closer to the Torah or observant of Judaism today thanks to him. And almost unprecedented, he distributed charity to the poor like water; in fact, so much so, that one time, even after he gave some charity to a lowlife beggar who responded to him by spitting in his face, Rabbi Carlebach immediately gave him more charity. So, unless any of us would do the same exact thing as he did - instead of more like giving the beggar a nice tongue lashing to say the least - we probably are not in a position to criticize Rabbi Carlebach anymore than we are in a position of needing to criticize ourselves.

On a personal note, I happened to have met Rabbi Carlebach nearly 22 years ago. My first time was on the first night of Chanuka that fell out on Shabbat. The following evening after Shabbat, he gave a concert at which I was at attendance. Little did I know then that exactly 20 years later, I would have my Ufruf (the Aliyah to the Torah on the Shabbat before getting married) on the first day of Chanuka that again coincided with Shabbat, and that I would get married the next day on the second day of Chanuka.

Though Rabbi Carlebach is not the only Jewish singer who has had the name Shlomo, it is not surprising that he is the ultimate legend of Jewish music today. You see, the very first verse of Shir HaShirim/Song of Songs that was composed by Shlomo HaMelech/King Solomon is Shir HaShirim Asher L'Shlomo "The Song of Songs that is composed by Shlomo." While the inner meaning of this verse points out the name Shlomo to be refering to Hashem as Melech SheHaShalom Shelo "King to whom peace belongs"; no doubt that Shlomo HaMelech also began this holy Sefer/Book with this verse as refering to himself. In fact, noting that there is a custom to recite at the end of every Shemoneh Esrei prayer - a verse from the Tanach/Bible that begins with the same letter and ends with the same letter as one's name. As it turns out, this first verse of Shir HaShirim begins with the letter Shin and ends with the letter Hei, just as the name Shlomo.

While it may be possible that since King Solomon wrote this book with Ruach HaKodesh/Divine Inspiration, that he was hinting to Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, one thing is for sure is that the Shlomo of today most certainly lived up to his name, using songs to bring Jews closer to Judaism. For after all, not all Jews who have been brought closer to Judaism became this way because "the Torah says so." Perhaps to intellectuals, professors or scientists, it was the teachings of Judaism per se that convinced them that Judaism is meant to be practiced, and not merely to be studied just as another course in college. However, to many others, it is what we call the external matters in life that help bring Jews to want to know more or practice more of Judaism. To some, it was the weekly Kiddush at the synagogue that gave them good feelings, while meeting others of similar background, forming good friendships. To others, it may happen as a result of needing to say Kaddish following the passing of a close relative, and then little by little, they get more involved in the synagogue activities, until they do much more that will be a meaningful way of memorializing their departed relative. But one thing is for sure - it is song, a spiritual force, that cannot be denied being a factor for many Jews to come closer to Judaism.

And this takes us to the duties of the Levi'im/Levites in the Holy Temple, which included daily morning singing during the offering of the Korban Tamid, the daily burnt offering sacrifice. In our prayers, we recite the daily song that is called the Shir Shel Yom "Song of the Day" for the respective day of the week, comprised of one or another of the Psalms - 24,48,82,94,81,93,92 for Sunday through Shabbat respectively. While we recite these same psalms throughout the year regardless if they fall out on Jewish holidays; in the Temple during holidays, the Levites recited a different psalm as per the particular holiday.

On a personal note, adding the above number of the psalms of the seven days of the week, they add up to the total amount of 514; and presently, I am in the midst of my 514th month of life, also noting that I am a Levite! You may not believe it, but writing the topic of this post today had nothing to do with this numerical fact, I literally did the calculation not even five minutes ago. This comes to show you that at times, it is clear that there is Hashgacha Peratit/Divine Providence in what I write in my Gematriot blogspot.

Today, on the first day of the week, we recite Psalm 24. Looking at the seven psalms of the Shir Shel Yom, this is the only one that is attributed to King David, the author of the Tehillim, himself. Moreover, while it is not spelled this way in this Psalm, we see that in Divrei Hayomim/Chronicles, his name is spelled with a Yud in the midst of his name, making his name to be the total Gematria of 24. Coincidence?

These Shir Shel Yom psalms aren't just any psalms that are recited for the days of the week; but rather, they each touch on some theme corresponding to the day of the week in which the creation for that day of the week as written in the beginning of the Torah is mentioned. Accordingly, the first verse of the psalm for Sunday mentions that the whole world belongs to Hashem, as when Hashem first created the world on this day, He was the sole Being in existance.

As it turns out, I have a special connection to this very Psalm - as least for the last three and a half years since I added my present second Hebrew name Matisyahu. In my search for a verse in Tanach which would begin and end with the letters corresponding to my new name, I was looking at a total of 98 verses, some having good meaning to them. The winner was the verse in Psalms 24:3 - Mi Ya'aleh V'Har Hashem U'Mi Yakum B'Mekom Kadsho "Who will ascend the Mountain of Hashem (Mt. Moriah which is the Temple Mount) and who will arise in the place of His holiness." As it turned it, it was on a Sunday morning that I had my name Matisyahu added, the day on which we recite the Shir Shel Yom of Psalm 24.

As you can see, this verse poses a challenge, which is something that I liked about it, quite similar to the message that Matisyahu of the Chanuka story, after whom I named myself, posed - Mi LaHashem Eilai - "Whoever is for Hashem, come to me", which began the official war on the Syrian Greeks attempting to prevent the Jews from practicising Judaism, leading to the holiday of Chanuka following the Jews being able to re-enter the Temple which was located on the Temple Mount, and lighting the Menorah with pure olive oil that was not spiritually contaminated by the Syrian Greeks, as this was preserved with the seal of the Cohen Gadol/High Priest.

It's interesting to note at this point that the Yahrzeit of Matisyahu was just yesterday on Shabbat - 15 Cheshvan. In fact, it is significant to note that Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach's Yahrzeit follows on the next day of 16 Cheshvan. You see, another one of Rabbi Carelbach's accomplishments was the founding of the city of Modi'in in Israel, around the same city grounds as Matisyahu and his family were living which was the city of Modi'in! In any case, many of Rabbi Carelbach's song are songs to words that are sung especially on Shabbat. In fact, the first letters of the words of the first verse of the Shir Shel Yom of Shabbat - Psalm 92 - Mizmor Shir L'Yom HaShabbat "A psalm, a song for the day of Shabbat", when rearranged, spells the name Shlomo! So, both the first verse of Shir HaShirim, and the first verse of Psalm 92 each contain four words, both hinting to the name Shlomo in one way or another. Coincidence?

In the writings of the Sages, Rabbi Akiva notes that while all of the books of Ketuvim/Scriptures are holy, Shir HaShirim is the Kodesh Kodoshom/Holy of Holies. And as we know, the Cohen Gadol was permitted to enter the Kodesh Kodoshim room of the Temple, the holiest room in the world, only on Yom Kippur. And we see that the Torah calls Yom Kippur - Shabbat Shabbaton "Sabbath of Sabbaths", even though this holiday does not necessarily fall out on Shabbat every year. So in effect, Shabbat being a time that we are not involved in the mundane affairs of the week is a time that we can devote ourselves to the "Holy of Holies", which is increased Torah learning, praying, and singing Shabbat songs at the table. Additionally, many Jews, including all Sephardic Jews, recite Shir HaShirim at the onset of every Shabbat.

But before we get back about Psalm 24 for Sunday, it is also significant to note that among the many Shabbat songs of Rabbi Carlebach, was the second and third verses of Psalm 92 starting with Tov L'Hodot LaHashem "It is good to give thanks to Hashem..."
And as I mentioned in the beginning of this post, today is the 17th Yahrzeit of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, and the word Tov/good is the Gematria of 17.

Now back to Psalm 24, there is a connection between this Psalm and King Solomon, and not just because it was his father King David who composed it. You see, at the dedication of the Temple that King Solomon built, our Rabbis tell us that King Solomon was addressing the gates of the Holy Temple "Lift up your heads, O gates, the openings of the world shall be lifted, and the King of glory will enter (verse 7)." Now, bearing in mind that ALL of creation have life forces, and most certainly the spiritual ones, the Holy Temple gates were ready to attack King Solomon, because from the words that he used, the gates got the impression that he was refering to himself as king in this verse, asking in demand, as the next verse states "Who is this king of glory?", to which King Solomon replied "Hashem Who is strong, Hashem who is strong in war," making it clear to the Holy Gates that this King was none other than Hashem.
The following two verses in conclusion of this psalm is almost a repeat of these two verses just quoted, in which King Solomon reiterates himself to make it crystal clear that he is refering to Hashem for Whom he is asking the gates to make room for (even though Hashem is everywhere without needing anyone to make "room for Him", it is the sense of spiritual readiness to accept Hashem as King), and instead of refering to Hashem at the end as someone who is a mighty warrior, King Solomon refers to the King of glory as "Hashem of Hosts, the King of glory, Selah."

To note, this psalm has the unique privilege of being recited in our prayers on two other types of occasions. Except for the Torah reading on Shabbat morning, this psalm is recited on every occasion that the Sefer Torah/Torah scroll is returned to the Holy Ark. Also, this psalm is recited on the nights of the High Holidays. To note, this psalm consists of 10 verses. As the Ramak - Rabbi Moshe Cordovero - notes in his Kabbalistic writings, the Aseret Y'Mei Teshuva "Ten Days of Repentance" from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur correspond to the 10 Sephirot/Divine Emanations. The last of these 10 Sephirot is Malchut/Kingship, and it is the 10th and final verse of Psalm 24 that mentions the word Melech/King not once, but twice. In any case, this psalm is recited on any given week at least four times - as the Song of the Day for Sunday, and on Monday morning, Thursday morning, and Shabbat afternoon when the Torah is returned to the Holy Ark following the Torah reading; hence, this psalm is recited over 200 times a year.

It is interesting to note that the word Holy is being repeated in this post in different phrases - Holy of Holies, Holy Temple, Holy Ark, being one of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach's quite often used words, especially in describing Jews and the Sabbath.

The truth is that all time is holy and sacred, as Hashem gives us the time in this world to serve Him, and we are supposed to use even the mundane activities in serving Hashem, working in order to be able to support our families as is our obligation, to make a good impression of Judaism at the work place, and the work in itself to be done in honesty and be of good offering in helping others. As we know, there are 24 hours in a day, and inevitably, some of this time is spent on eating, sleeping, and using the restroom. While some things may seem to be wasted time, this is how Hashem wants us to serve Him in this temporary, physical world; for if it was all about just learning Torah and praying to Him, we could do these same things in the other world where the angels are serving Hashem only in strictly spiritual ways.

In fact, even our time that we need to relieve ourselves in the restroom is serving Hashem, believe it or not, for first of all, this is supposed to humble ourselves and not grow haughty being that we are similar to animals in some respects, and also, we are commanded by the Torah not to disgust ourselves with keeping bodily wastes in our system, and then after we finish in the restroom and wash our hands (by the way, washing our hands with soap, especially after defacating and all is part of cleaniness in keeping with what the Torah says that we are supposed to watch our health), we recite a blessing thanking Hashem for allowing our system to get rid of our wastes, noting the complex body that Hashem created for our system to work correctly or we would die in no time, constantly reminding ourselves of the great kindness that Hashem does for us. In fact, if I am not mistaken, this is the one Beracha/blessing in our prayers that the Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish Law explains in great detail; for after all, aside from the important message of this blessing, this is a blessing that most of us that have our bodily functions working right, recite a number of times every day.

And so, I believe that it is hardly coincidence that the number of the psalm for the Shir Shel Yom for the first day of the week is Number 24, for since we have now concluded the holy day of Shabbat, we are now supposed to be cognizant of the fact that "to Hashem is the world and its fullness", as this Psalm begins, and that everything that we do, even the mundane matters of the week that we are forbidden to perform on Shabbat, has its place in serving Hashem - 24 hours a day.

Noting the number of this post - 124, when we dissect this number in two parts, we have one (1) and twenty-four (24). Indeed, for the FIRST day of the week, we recite Psalm TWENTY FOUR as the Shir Shel Yom. And in the Tanach, there is a strong connection between the FIRST of the books of the Tanach - Sefer Bereishit/Genesis and the TWENTY FOURTH and LAST book of the Tanach - Divrei Hayomim/Chronicles - for both of them mention Adam, who is called Adam HaRishon (literally means Adam the FIRST) at the beginning of their respective books; and in fact, the word/name Adam is the very FIRST word of the TWENTY FOURTH and LAST book of the Tanach.

And as the Midrash tells us, after Adam sinned with the eating of the forbidden fruit, he was condemned to die, since after all, Hashem said straight out "on the day that you will eat of the (forbidden) fruit, you will die." However, the day of Shabbat appeared to Hashem, arguing that it wouldn't be nice to kill Adam just as Shabbat was supposed to begin. As a result, Hashem reinterpreted, so to speak, what He said "on the day..." to mean that since one day is considered in Hashem's eyes like a 1,000 years, He would allow Adam to live 1,000 years, as hinted to the big Alef of the first word Adam of the Book of Chronicles (as it turned out, Adam gave King David 70 years of his life since he saw that King David with was he was supposed to accomplish was meant to live for only three hours). Subsequently, realizing that the Sabbath pleaded on behalf of Adam, and saved his life for 1,000 years, Adam started offering praise to Hashem, with the beginning of Psalm 92.

And as for this psalm, the Shir Shel Yom for Shabbat, the conclusion of Tractate Tamid of the Mishna states on this "A psalm, a song for the day that will be entirely Shabbat and rest for the Eternal Life." Indeed, just like in the early reign of King Solomon, whose name Shlomo make up the initial letters of the first verse of this psalm, it was the utopian state of the Jewish people both spiritually with the building of the First Temple and physically with the prosperity of the times, signified by the name Shlomo that has a connotation of the word Shleima/completeness and Shalom/peaceful; so too, the future state of the Eternal Life will be just the same in terms of completeness and peacefullness with Eternal Bliss. Indeed, the Shir Shel Yom of Shabbat, in view of what it represents, is the Eternal Song - ending with the verse L'Hagid Ki Yashar Hashem Tzuri V'Lo Avlata Bo "To tell that Hashem is straightforward, my Rock Who has no flaw within Him." To note the word Yashar/straightforward has the same letters as the word Shir/Song, as if to read this verse as if to say "To tell that the Song of Hashem Who is my Rock with no flaws" - as Hashem is the ultimate completeness, represented by the words of THE ETERNAL SONG OF HASHEM.

16 Cheshvan 5772

#123 - Momentum Climbing Up

2011-11-06T06:37:00.000-08:00

In the existance of this blogspot, there is something special about today as it relates to Gematriot and numbers. You see, today - 9 Cheshvan - is the 1,111th day from the founding of www.gematriot.blogspot.com. Not with the counting of every day do you see quite often a four digit number that consists of only one of the 10 numbers zero thru nine, for this can occur only nine times; and the number 1,111 is the first of these nine times.

While I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the significance of the number 11, and as you can see, the number 1,111 can be read as two of the number 11, I will be focusing today on the totals that make up the number 1,111; namely 1,000 and 111 - and of course the connection between these two numbers.

In Hebrew, this is not to hard to figure out. To begin with, the Gematria of the first letter of the Alef Beit - Alef is ONE, the Gematria of the name of this first letter is ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN (111), and when this name has its vowels changed to read this as Elef, its meaning means ONE THOUSAND (1,000).

Now, turning to the beginning of Sefer Vayikra/Leviticus, it starts with Vayikra El Moshe "He (Hashem) called to Moses..." This first word Vayikra in the Sefer Torah/Torah Scroll is spelled with a small Alef. The basic reason given for this is that Moses in his great humbleness did not feel so worthy to be the one to whom Hashem called to at any time in sharp contrast to the other prophets, for it was only to Moses that it was a direct communication without any need of prior preparation. As far as he was concerned, the word could have been written as Vayikar "He (Hashem) chanced upon", the same word used for when Hashem appeared to the wicked Bilaam who wished to curse the Jews. So while Moses had to write every letter of the Torah exactly as Hashem dictated it to him (just one more proof that every word of the Torah is from Hashem - NOT man made), he still wrote the letter Alef at the end of this word, but as a smaller Alef than usual. And since as we know from the Sages, when we run from honor, honor runs after us, it turns out that not only Parshat Vayikra is named after this word, but one of the Five Books of Moses is also named after this word - testifying to Moses' great humility!

And in case anyone thinks that the phrase that I used "Five Books of Moses" comes from a non-Jewish source, our Rabbis tell us that after the Torah was given and Satan wanted to know where the Torah went, he asked Moses at last as to where the Torah was. Not wishing to admit that it was himself who gave over the Torah to the Jewish people, he denied knowing of its whereabouts. After Hashem asked him why he lied like this, Moses replied "How can I be worthy of such a valuable item?" Upon this, Hashem replied "For this, you will be rewarded that the Torah will be named after you". As it says Zichru Torat Moshe Avdi "Remember the Torah of Moses My servant..."
(Malachi 3:22). Hence, it is not only one book of the Torah that is named after a word demonstrating Moses' great humility, but the entire Chumash/Penteteuch, or for that matter, the entire Torah, is named after Moses; for in fact, he gave over both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah.

This is all very nice, and indeed, I want to use Gematriot to teach important Torah lessons, especially a most important characteristic trait as humility, but in terms of Gematriot and numbers, it is true that there was a commentator who wrote a Sefer (Torah book) called Megaleh Amukot (literally means reveals deep secrets), the contents of which was 1,000 explanations on the small Alef of this word Vayikra; unfortunately however, it got lost. In another sense, there is a BIG Alef in the Tanach/Bible - the very first letter of Divrei Hayomim/Chronicles, the 24th and final Sefer of the Tanach, just as Vayikra with its small Alef is the 24th Parsha of the Torah. I had mentioned in the past of the significance of a letter being larger than unusual as representing it to be a 1,000 times its worth; hence, it's as though the Alef in Chronicles beginning the word Adam is the Gematria of 1,000 - and indeed, Adam was slated to live 1,000 years following the sin of the forbidden fruit (but gave 70 years of his life for King David who was originally destined to live for only three hours).

Now, as per Parshat Vayikra, there are 111 verses in this Parsha, and the name of the letter Alef is the Gematria of 111. While one may say, "That's nice with the numbers, but what does have to do with Parshat Vayikra?" As we know, this Parsha is all about the various Korbanot/offerings, consisting of either animals, birds, or flour for all types of situations from atonining for sins to thanking Hashem for giving one a new lease on life. Now, the word Korban, which I translate as offering usually, while some others will translate this as sacrifice, actually comes from the word Karov/close, for through the offering that we bring to Hashem, we become closer to Him. For in fact, Hashem does not need our offerings, but these offerings are supposed to make us feel more closer and humble to Hashem. This is especially true when we bring an offering to atone for our sins, and seeing the animal being slaughtered and all should remind us that in fact, we are the ones who deserve this for every time we do a sin, but Hashem in His great mercy allows us a chance to repent and return to Him, and it is the offering that is supposed to make us feel humble and contrite. For that matter, when we bring an offering to Hashem to thank Him for allowing to continue to live despite some danger that we lived through, this is also supposed to bring us to feel humble and contrite that in fact, it is only thanks to Hashem's wishing us to continue serving Him and not necessarily because we did everything right is why we are still in existance. Hence, the humility of Moses being hinted to at the beginning of this Parsha is most apropo to the theme of this Parsha.

While I will being mentioning shortly here about Aaron, Moses' brother, this part wouldn't be complete without adding that Sefer Vayikra is given a surname Torat Cohanim "Torah of the Cohanim", for most of the laws in this Book are related to Cohanim, the priestly descendants of the male line back to Aaron the first Cohen Gadol/High Priest. And while Moses may have been the one chosen by Hashem to be the Lawgiver, and called the most humble of men, Aaron his brother was not far behind him; in fact, he excelled in the trait of peacemaking between Jews, as I have mentioned about him in the past in this blogspot. In fact, Hillel in Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers (1:12) states "Be of the disciples of Aaron, love peace, pursue peace, love human beings, and bring them close to the Torah." The last part of this phrase in Hebrew is Mekarvan L'Torah. As we see, the word Mekarvan "bringing people to the Torah" is related to the word Korban, and it was only the Cohanim who were allowed to perform the Korban, the ritual offering of the animal (aside from the Shechita/slaughtering that was able to be done by a non-Cohen); hence it made only sense for Hashem to award Aaron to be the head of all the Cohanim his descendants. More on this in a moment. But first...

COUNTING TO THREE...1...2...3!

Sounds familiar? To just about anyone who had a parent or teacher who gave him or her a chance to stop fooling around or to do what he or she was told to do. Believe it or not, not all children get it right even after the three number is pronounced. But one thing that is certain is that a humble child will not attempt to assert his or her authority by rebelling, and usually, it will not even lead to a warning like this type.

It is true that I mentioned earlier the number 24, and so when you add the numbers within the number of this post 123 - that is, one (1) and twenty three (23), the total is 24. But, I plan to write more about the number 24 in my next post. Meanwhile, I want to focus on something in the Torah that has something to do with this number 123. You see, Aharon HaCohen (Aaron the Priest), Moses' brother, passed away at the age of 123. In fact, not only is his age mentioned, but even the date of his passing of 1 Av, the sole Yahrzeit that is mentioned in the entire Tanach!

But while in a past post, I discussed while Aaron, unlike anyone else, has the unique privilege of having his Yahrzeit mentioned in the Tanach, today I pose a different question. How come when the Torah records the event of Aaron's passing at the time that it occurred, it doesn't mention any of these details of when or what age in Parshat Chukat, but only at a later Parsha when it mentions the list of places that the Jews traveled to during its sojournings in the desert for 40 years in Parshat Mas'ei, unlike with everyone else practically in the Tanach when it mentions their age of passing when they pass away or at the beginning description of them such as with the kings of Judah and Israel? In fact, we see with Moses' age when he passed away that his age of 120 years is mentioned both when he passed away and even before he passed away "I am today 120 years old...", but with Aaron, his age isn't even mentioned at his passing, but only at a later time?

Perhpas the following story will shed light on answering these questions. Once, there was someone who asked one of the great Roshei Yeshiva (heads of a Yeshiva consisting of college age and older men learning Torah) of yesteryear in Europe if he knew the Yahrzeits of the various rabbis in the Talmud. To this, the Rosh Yeshiva replied, "Yahrzeits? These rabbis are very much alive. I learn their teachings everyday. In fact, what would our Torat Chaim (Torah of Life) be today without these rabbis? I can't live without these rabbis!"

Perhaps this Rosh Yeshiva said this a little differently. But the point here is that if we are in touch with what we are in this world for, there is no question to us as to what is considered real living. True, we are living presently in a very physical and materialistic world. But, as Jews learning Torah, we should know only too well as to what is considered really real and really fake. Oh sure, money for example is very tangible to us when it makes the difference between paying the bills or not at times. Some of us won't even care to be rich if we know that we will be provided sufficiently to go through life, even without a trip around the world. But, then there are other issues that sometimes we get carried away with, and we wind up taking sides with others, which can sometimes lead to some bittle quarrels.

This is where Aaron comes in. He was the one who mastermindedly was able to bring former enemies of each other to become present friends to each other. He knew early on that fighting doesn't get you far in the long term, and after our existance, we are back to Hashem - the only question is how close we will get to Hashem, depending on our deeds of course. Now while there is a special reason while only Aaron's Yahrzeit is mentioned, the fact that not only this is not mentioned at the time of his passing in Parshat Chukat, but even his age isn't mentioned as that time, teaches us that in fact, he should still be considered very alive in our lives.

True, the ages of our Patriarchs, and particularly the ages of the Tribes of Levi & Joseph are mentioned (Levi's age is not mentioned by his passing either, but his individual passing is not mentioned, only as part of the brothers' passing unlike Joseph's whose individual passing is mentioned along with his age) around the time of their passing, but this was before the Torah was given. However, now that the Torah was given, it is now that the Torah wants to teach us, and moreover remind us, that while there may be a physical death for the righteous; however, we have to look beyond that. True, we will not have a chance to see them in this world while we are still living this physical world until the time of Techiyat HaMeitim (Resurrection of the Dead), but their teachings and way of life are the eternal life that we should be pursuing, for they already accomplished their part of serving Hashem. Now, it is up to the rest of us to learn from this, and continue on. For indeed, the Sages tell us that the wicked are called dead even while alive while the righteous are called alive even while dead.

Now with Moses, it is a little different story. It is obvious with Moses, since he is the one who directly taught us the Torah as He heard it from Hashem, that it doesn't really matter if his age of his passing is mentioned. In fact, the Torah even went so far to hint to Moses in the first Parsha of the Torah mentioning 120 years (see my 120th Post - Oct '11). But from here, we learn a different point. You see, even with someone as righteous as Moses, he didn't live forever in this physical world. So certainly, the wicked, especially in the times of the pre Flood of Noah when people lived much longer, they felt that they could do what they want whenever they wanted. Towards changing the evil ways of the world, Hashem gave the world 120 years chance to do it right. The only difference is that then, people didn't have many examples to follow to do it right. Today, especially with the Torah, we have plenty of examples.

Now, getting back to Aaron, the details of his passing are mentioned specifically in the section in the Torah within the list of places that the Jews traveled through in the desert. While the Jews could have been in Israel long earlier had they now played around and then become crybabies when they believed the propraganda and rhetoric of the blues of the Israel news brought to them by the evil Spies. However, there is a kabbalistic significance to the 42 journeys of the Jews in the desert on their way to Israel. What they needed to realize is that journeying in the desert wasn't just because it was convenient to live in a certain place while there, but one step closer to being spiritually ready to enter Israel, getting ready to making "Aliyah". In fact, this very word is also used on a Yahrzeit wishing the Neshama/soul to have an "Aliyah", which ultimately means a spiritual elevation, just as Aaron who sought to elevate Jews by bringing out the best in them making peace with one another, rather than making friends with some of them putting down their enemies, behaving politically as unfortunately some even in the Torah world today get caught up with. In short, one has a choice of either bringing out the best in people, or in bringing out the worst in people.

Speaking of Aaron who was the first Cohen Gadol/High Priest and Aliyah, we just read yesterday in Parshat Lech Lecha about Malki Tzedek, about whom we are told was Shem the son of Noah, who was a Cohen L'E-l Elyon "Priest to the High G-d". The ironic thing here is that Abraham just came back from killing some of the evil descendants of Shem/Malki Tzedek (he lived for 600 years); and yet, Shem came out to greet him and his group to feed them with bread and wine. Shem, as a righteous person in his own right, knew that his descendant Abraham did the right thing of killing some of Shem's other descendants, for in fact, we are all here in this temporary world to serve Hashem, who is the High G-d, the Big Boss, and sooner or later, we are all going to die anyways. When one thinks along these terms, there are NO POLITICS, and certainly not only will there be no fighting (and if there is fighting, it's either fighting who is truly evil or fighting those who are not - there is no inbetween), but there will be only peace. And what do we see, Shem was the "King of Salem". Shalem/Salem means complete(ness), and is related to the world Shalom/peace, for one can only have completeness with peace.

And here is a perfect example of this as pertaining to this name Shalem itself. You see, this was the original name of Jerusalem. The Midrash tells us that Shem called it Shalem, and Abraham called Hashem Yireh (Hashem will appear). In order to make peace between these two, Hashem combined these two names to create the name Yerushalayim, which in time led this city to be nicknamed "The City of Peace".

As we see, after the encounter between the two, Abraham gave to Shem his Ma'aser, tithing of what he had. The word Ma'aser is named as such because it is read as May'Eser "from ten", that is, the Mitzva of Ma'aser as we learn in the Torah is to give one tenth of the produce or crops to the Cohen. Interestingly, we see that this is the very first time that this word Ma'aser is mentioned. We know that Shem lived for 600 years, and the world is slated to exist for 6,000 years. Hence, his own life was a literal fulfillment of this concept of Ma'aser, for he had lived his whole life righteously, living one tenth of the world's existance serving Hashem.

Eventually, this Kehuna/Priesthood that Shem had was handed down to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph, and in time it was the firstborn of the Jews who had this status until the sin of the Golden Calf after which time it was permanently handed over to Aaron and his descendants through parental line. But what did not change is that the one who is most worthy of the Kehuna or being the Cohen Gadol is expected to be one who has the quality of peace. We see that Shem is called Cohen L'E-l Elyon. The word Elyon/High describes the fact that we need to aspire to go up higher spiritually, to get spiritually closer and higher towards Hashem. By the way, the word Cohen itself is based on the word that means serving. So, it is not that we just serve Hashem everyday as robots or the angels who don't get higher spiritually. We are the only beings that have the opportunity to work on ourselves to go HIGHER, to go UP. We have to first of all of course have momentum, and then work on getting up even spiritually higher - learning more Torah, becoming more happy with serving Hashem, bringing other Jews closer to the Torah, etc.

It's like driving a car. When you first start it, you usually don't immediately drive off unless someone is coming after you. Chances are is that you will need a minimum of a few seconds until you know that your car is running fine. Older cars or cars with problems could take longer until they sound like they are running because if you do attempt to start driving immmediately, chances are is that the car will stop running its motor and then you will need to start it again. Now, once it is running, then you can eventually accelerate the motor to drive faster, but then again, you can't immediately expect to drive 55 miles the second after you are driving only 30 miles. You have to accelerate, and gradually, you will get to drive faster.

Of course there are times when serving Hashem when we may fall down, and feel like what we did earlier doesn't mean anything because now we have to start all over again. For this, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches us that every attempt to serve Hashem, even if we fall down afterwards, is precious to Him. Moreover, the steps that we took earlier aren't just isolated steps, but are part of the process of continuously serving Hashem, just as a toddler learning to walk will fall down at one point, so that even though at first the toddler didn't walk steadily at one time but fell down here and there, but all of the early steps were part of the process of eventually being able to walk all on his or her own one day.

So, we have to have in mind two basic processes here. First is the momentum - always having Hashem the One in mind, as illustrated with the number 1,111, one of today's special numbers; and then we have to bring this MOMENTUM CLIMBING UP as illustrated in today's other special number 123, as the individual numbers in this three digit number ascend in amount value. Now, before I conclude, this number 123 reminds me of a verse in NUMBERS - in Chapter 12, Verse 3, get it? You can call this a coincidence, but let me first write the verse "The man Moses was very humble, more than any person on the face of the earth".

Perhaps we will never be as humble as Moses or have the privilege of being the High Priest as Aaron. However, in our own way, in our own set of circumstances, we can learn from the lives of these two most righteous people in the Bible, as well as from the Patriarchs and others how to live a life the way that Hashem wants us to live, not because we are simply following "orders", but because every step that we take in the service of Hashem is going to benefit everyone spiritually in the best way possible, and without feeling haughty as we ascend higher. If one thinks along these terms, then indeed, politics will not even be an issue, as politics is a way of promoting oneself or one's group above the others which sometimes steps on the Torah very unfortunately. Indeed, the righteous are called alive even when are physically dead, because it is especially after their passing, even more than when they were alive, that their teachings and righteous ways of life are more appreciated than ever, as evidenced in the passing of time.

9 Cheshvan 5772

#122 - The Finished Product

2011-11-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

In this week's Parshat Lech Lecha, we see the story of the Brit Bein HaBetarim "Covenant Between the Parts" (Genesis 15). Following Abraham cutting the animals, and falling into a deep sleep, Hashem informs him that his descendants will be slaves in another land for 400 years, promising him at the end that they will afterwards inherit the Land of Israel.

In a previous post #116 - Years of Slavery (Aug '11), I made it clear that in fact, the Jews were slaves in Egypt for only 116 years. The 400 years until the Exodus began with Abraham's first Jewish descendant - his son Isaac. The basic explanation given for why Hashem's statement to Abraham about the 400 years is not contradictory is that since the bad news about the slavery was already given, the period of 400 years of slavery was considered to begin with Abraham's first Jewish descendant Isaac's birth, whose descendants in turn would be slaves. Another explanation given for this is that in fact, the Jews were destined for 400 years of slavery, but since the Egyptians oppressed the Jews far more than what Hashem intended for them, they were released from Egypt in less than a "third of the time" (perhaps this is where the concept of releasing prisoners for sometimes a third of their sentence for "good behavior" comes from).

While in fact, in the chapter of the Exodus, it mentions that the Jews sojourned in Egypt for 430 years, referring to 430 years earlier when Abraham was told the bad news of the slavery; taking the Bible literally, it states that the Jews were to be slaves for 400 years, and that the Jews were already settled in Egypt 30 years earlier. In fact, the Talmud (Sanhedrin 91a) records a debate that took place in front of Alexander the Great in which the Egyptians of his time claimed that the Jews need to return the gold and silver that they borrowed from them. There was a Jew named Geviha Ben Pesisa who pointed out that the Jews worked for the Egyptians for 430 years, and so, the gold and silver was payment for this. The Egpytians of Alexander the Great's day then asked him to give them three days to answer this point. However, the Egyptians not being so familiar with the Torah, had no answer, and fled their country. So while it wasn't true that the Jews were slaves for so long, what was true that had the Jews not "borrowed" the gold and silver that Hashem mentioned to the to do, the Egyptians wouldn't have paid the Jews anything, since after all, the Jews were slaves to Pharaoh, and as such, were not employees who work for pay.

Anyways, we will concentrate today on the 400 years window of time. With this, the question can be asked, why did Hashem assign the Jews specifically 400 years of slavery, even as Hashem knew beforehand that they were not going to be slaves for that long. As it is, Hashem told Abraham how many generations it would be for the Jews to return to Israel. So, why was it even necessary for Hashem to mention a number, unless there is some significance to that number?

And this is where Gematriot come into play. As we know, there are 22 basic letters of the Alef Beit, which concludes with the letter Tav, which is the numerical value of 400. But before getting into details of the Gematria of this letter, let's mention a few points about this letter itself.

To begin with, both near the beginnings of the Zohar and the Midrash Yalkut Shimoni (Note: The names of the authors of the teachings of these two holy books is the name Shimon, my namesake) mention the story of the letters of the Alef Beit wanting to be the first letter of the Torah (yes, the Alef Beit that Hashem created are real spiritual creatures, like the angels). In both sources, the letters waiting in line for the request began from Tav - the last of the letters to the beginning of the letters. However, there is a major difference between the two sources. The Zohar states that the Tav's claim to be the first letter of the Torah is because the letter Tav ends the word Emet/truth, and since Hashem is called Emet, it would only be fitting then for the Torah to begin with this letter. In the Yalkut Shimoni, the Tav's claim is that it begins the word Torah, and "it is through me that Moses will begin teaching the Torah, as mentioned in the verse Torah Tziva Lanu Moshe "The Torah that Moses commanded us..." Indeed, most logical. After all, if the name Torah itself begins with a Tav, it only makes sense to begin the Torah with this very letter.

However, Hashem had different plans. The truth is that He wanted the letter Beit to be the first letter of the Torah; so in fact, what Hashem told the other letters were so to speak "excuses" for not being the letter to start the Torah. However, only Hashem is entitled to give excuses without being a Torah violation of stating a lie. For in fact, Hashem doesn't speak any falsehood, for the reasons that Hashem turned the letters down for the letter position was a good enough of a reason for all those letters not to be qualified. And so, in both sources mentioning this story, Hashem told the Tav that in the future, it would be this letter that would mark the forehead of even the Jews in the time of the destruction of the First Temple who kept the Torah "from Alef to Tav" to be marked for death, as the last letter of Mavet/death is Tav.

The letter Tav, in whatever version it was, for in fact, both accounts of what the Tav said had to have been true, or otherwise, it would be false Torah - had excellent points. For that matter, the word for the letter Beit that began the Torah ends with the letter Tav - Beit, Yud, Tav.

In any case, we do see a parallel of the various concepts as related to the letter Tav. First, it states in the Talmud (Sabbath 55a & Sanhedrin 64a) "The seal of the Holy One Blessed Be He is truth", and as we know, the seal on a letter is the final touch on the letter itself before being mailed out, just as Hashem seals our fate on Yom Kippur. And just as the letter Tav ends the word Emet, so too does it also end the word Mavet, for death concludes the life of a person in this world. And as being a sign on the forehead of those slated for death at the destruction of the First Temple, it was more than just the death of many Jews, but the death - or at least the temporary cessation - of the spiritual glory of the Jews with the destruction of the First Temple. On a positive note, it was built by King Solomon, whose name Shlomo means completeness, not only in the sense that everything was in place for the Jews physically "everyone under his vine and fig tree", but also spiritually, for it was the long awaited Temple for nearly 450 years since the Jews came to Israel was finally built. And even though the Second Temple was built a mere 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple, it was missing five things which meant that the Second Temple was not on a high spiritual level as was the First Temple, and it will be only the Third and Final Temple that we await for its speedily construction that will be the ultimate Temple in spiritually.

It is significant to note that according to the version of the Yalkut Shimoni, the Tav referred to the concept of beginning the word Torah as it relates to the verse Torah Tziva Lanu Moshe which is found in the LAST Parsha of the Torah. And this LAST Parsha of the Torah is read on Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah which occurs on the 22nd day of Tishrei (the way it is according to the Torah, and celebrated as such in Israel; Jews outside of Israel observe two days of this holiday, concluding the Torah on the second day), just as the letter Tav is the 22nd and final letter. And while we never finish learning the Torah, for in fact, we show this by immediately beginning with the reading of the beginning of the Torah (that begins with the letter Beit for the word Bereishit "In the beginning"), there is a special concept of celebrating the conclusion of learning a section of the Torah, both when we conclude reading the final section of the Sefer Torah/Torah scroll on this holiday, and when we conclude a volume of the Mishna or a tractate of the Gemara/Talmud.

In a few weeks from now, we will be reading in Parshat Toldot about Jacob, who is described as Ish Tam "man of simpleness". The Torah describes Jacob in this fashion, to teach us that unlike his brother Esau who used cleverness, craftiness, and cover ups for his evil lifestyle by pretending to be a righteous Torah scholar to his father Isaac, Jacob learned Torah for the right reasons without resorting to money, power, politics, etc. to assert his own position or comforts of life.

Relating to this, the word Tam has another meaning - finished. In fact, you will see a phrase at the end of some holy works - Tam V'Nishlam Shevach L'E-l Borei Olam "Finished and completed. Praise to G-d, the Creater of the world". And as we know, Jacob was the 22nd generation from Adam & Eve.

O.K., it's nice to note that Jacob was the 22nd generation, just as the letter Tav that begins the word Tam in describing Jacob is the 22nd and last letter of the Alef Beit. However, what does this have to do with the concept of finishing? If anything, Jacob - the one who is called the Bechir She'B'Avot "Chosen one of the Forefathers", since he represented the pillar of Torah, the greatest of Mitzvot/Commandments was the one who stared the concept of a Jewish people with the birth of his 12 sons, the Twelve Tribes of Israel?

To answer this, we have to take a step and two back in history. You see, Abraham had several sons, and the only one who fit the role of being the ancestor of the Jews was Isaac. Similarly, Isaac had two sons, and it was Jacob who fit the role of being the ancestor fo the Jews. However, ALL of Jacob's sons were righteous and fitting to have a part of being ancestors of the Jewish people. Hence, it was Jacob who was the one, as the 22nd generation from Adam & Eve, who FINISHED the refinery process of having sons who would ALL be part of the Jewish people.

And this explains why Jacob, after receiving the blessings from Isaac, and was instructed by him to go to his mother's brother's place to start a family, made a detour by learning in the Yeshiva of Shem & Ever for 14 years. True, he learned much Torah already, but as explained by others, in order for him to be prepared for the outside world without being influenced, it would be necessary for him to spend these extra years before beginning the seed of the Jewish people. For while both his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham were very righteous people, there was apparently some kind of spiritual mutation in their genes that led to begotting wicked children.
However, Jacob would have none of this. He realized that despite Abraham bringing so many other people to serve Hashem instead of the idols and Isaac being a "complete sacrifice" when Abraham brought him up to the altar and hence never left the Holy Land of Israel in his entire lifetime of 180 years, these spiritual achievements did not totally filter out bad spiritual genes that led to descendants such as the Arabs, Hindus, Amalekites, Vikings, Germans, etc. And so, Jacob made sure that through the Torah, the ultimate spiritual value, this would not happen through his descendants (Note: The fact that many evil Jews have existed does not take away from this fact because these are/were individuals in sharp contrast to whole nations who inherited the evil characteristics of Ishmael, the sons of Ketura, and Esau.)

An interesting observation to be made of a SIMPLE two letter Hebrew word Tam which means SIMPLE - Tav & Mem; when in reverse, spells the word Meit/dead. For while Jews who seem to be simple and naive without "dreying their cop" with all kinds of "narrashkeit" may seem not to be in sync with reality, the truth is that these good Jews are the very ones who are the cause of the world being in existance with their knowledge and performance of the Torat HaChaim - the Torah of life, for without it, the word Tam spelled in reverse is the spiritual death which is an eternal death, cut off from the eternal reality that is in the next world. And while there are those who boast of the physical and scholarly accomplishments of secular Jews who may have made a difference in the standards of living for the world or for their particular country, these accomplishments of Jews are meaningful to Hashem only if coupled with a life of Torah, knowing what the true purpose of life is. This is why according to Jewish law, while we say a special blessing upon seeing a non-Jewish scientist, we do not make a blessing upon seeing a Jewish scientist. Sorry Albert Einstein, but this also means you. Wait a minute - I don't think he can hear me anyways, for he willed himself to be cremated (mind you, after the Holocaust that he escaped where many Jews were cremated against their will), which means that he is now eternally damned, and as mentioned in Jewish law, not even Kaddish is said on such a person who willed to have his "image of G-d" burnt, since it won't help.

Now, getting back to the story of the Covenant of Between the Parts, Hashem made it clear that it would take 400 years for the Jews to go through the slavery process to refine them at the end. For while unfortunately, there were those Jews who still had the slavery mentality in the wilderness following the Exodus and in fact perished there because of their lack of faith in Hashem Who promised that He would take them to a land "flowing with milk and honey" without worries of being decimated by the giants that the evil Spies scared the Jews with, the ultimate purpose of the slavery was for the Jews to most appreciate wanting to serve Hashem. And so, while the physical slavery lasted only 116 years, it was a 400 year period of time related to this concept that was needed in one form or another to refine the Jews at the END, just as Tav, the numerical value of 400, marks the END of the letters.

Two more examples of the number 400 as related to death can also found in Sefer Bereishit - in the beginnings of Parshat Chayei Sara & Parshat Vayishlach - both of which we will be reading within the next several weeks. In the beginning of Parshat Chayei Sara where Abraham is looking to find a plot of land to bury his wife Sara, he is asked to fork over 400 Shekalim of silver; and then in the beginning of Parshat Vayishlach, we see that Jacob was informed that his jealous brother Esau was on his way with 400 men to kill Jacob.

And now back to the subject of slavery and serving Hashem, we note a double lettering of two words in a row in more than one place of the letters Ayin & Beit. In the beginning of Parshat Mishpatim (Exodus 21), we see that an Eved Ivri "Hebrew servant" was to serve his master no more than six years, using this wording in Hebrew where these consecutive words begin with these two letters. And then we see in Parshat Behar where Hashem states "For the Children of Israel are servants, they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 25:55). Again, we see two consecutive words Avadim Avadai (servants, My servants) beginning with these two letters.

These two letters spell the Hebrew number 72, which is the Gematria of the word Chesed/kindness, for even within the slavery of the Jews in Egypt, Hashem showed His kindness in several ways, including shortening their slavery term, recompensating them with gold and silver, providing for their needs in the wilderness, and of course the ultimate kindness of Hashem giving us the Torah, through which, we are Hashem's servants. For it was Abraham, the first Jew, who represented the pillar of kindness, and served Hashem not only by himself, but actively going out to get others to serve Hashem, including inviting them as guests to his home, providing them both physically and spiritually. And in connection to the Eved Ivri "Hebrew servant", we see that Abraham was called Ivri/Hebrew (Genesis 14:13) in this week's Parsha.

And as related to the number of this Hebrew year which ends with Ayin-Beit (72), we anxiously await Hashem's kindness of redeeming us to end our present bitter exile. Perhaps for some Jews in the United States, it may not feel quite bitter when they seem to enjoy prosperity until this day, but this only means that they are in a most bitter spiritual exile, not feeling it being covered with the fat of the land, who think that the United States is JerUSAlem. However, we must not forget the great kindness that Hashem did for us when we regained the holiest part of the world on 28 Iyar 5727 - Yom Yerushalayim/Jerusalem Day, as was declared "The Temple Mount is in our hands!" Looking at the number of the Hebrew year when this occured - 5727, you reverse the last two numbers, and presto! - we are within the 45th year since this took place, presently in 5772. For it was Adam - whose name is the Gematria of 45 - whose head was created by Hashem from the dust of this very area in the world.

In conclusion of this post - #122, we see that it consists of the numbers one (1) and twenty two (22), just as there are 22 letters of the Alef Beit, from the first letter Alef which is the first letter and Gematria of the number one, to the last letter Tav which is the 22nd letter and the Gematria of 400. And in connection to Jerusalem, let me conclude with the following words from Psalm 122 which describes the eagerness of the Jews who wanted the Temple in the times of King David "Happy was I when they said to me "Let's go to the House of Hashem". Our feet were standing in the gates of Jerusalem. Jerusalem the built city..." May this take place speedily in our days, Amen!

7 Cheshvan 5772

#121 - Age of Responsibility

2011-10-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

While today may have seem to be just another day in my life, there is something today that I thought of in relationship to my Bar Mitzva some 28 and a half years ago. You see, there is a schedule of learning a Mitzva a day that started fifty years ago, called Mitzva Yomi. Anyways, a few months ago, I was curious to know what was the Mitzva of the day for the day of my Bar Mitzva. It didn't take long for me to figure this out, and it turns out that it was Mitzva 121. Now, while not all views hold exactly the same exact 613 Mitzvot, based on what I have written in the past, Mitzva 121 is the positive commandment for the Beit Din/Jewish Court to bring a bull if they made a mistake with a ruling of theirs causing the Jewish people to erroneously commit a sin punishable by spiritual extinction (Karet) if performed willfully and if done by mistake then one normally brings a fixed sin-offering for it. After 17 cycles from the day of my Bar Mitzva, the Mitzva of today - 27 Tishrei - is the same Mitzva.

As it turns out, I am writing about Mitzva 121 in my 121st Post. But more than this, perhaps it is this Mitzva more than just about all the other Mitzvot of the Torah that teaches the concept of responsibility, which is the distinctive factor for a Bar Mitzva boy or a Bat Mitzva girl to reach this stage in his/her life in contrast to before they reached this stage. While some people may think that a child at age 12 or 13 to be considered an adult in terms of being responsible for any and every action that he or she takes performing Mitzvot or Aveirot/sins is a little drastic, especially seeing how society is like today with teenagers being in a "rebellious stage" in their life, this is NOT how the Torah deals with teenagers. The fact that in Western society in the United States and other liberated democratic countries may have plenty of teenagers who do what they feel like it from receiving earings for men, tattoos, premarital sex, drugs etc. does not mean that teenagers are not grown up yet, except for the fact that they were not raised the right way by their parents or are surrounded by the terrible influence of their peers who pick up all the bad things from movies, television, internet, etc.

However, Hashem knows better. It's true that not all children even in what is called a religious environment will be fully trained to do everything right at the Mitzva age. However, Hashem is not going to have the good guys wait until the ones without the proper training grow up. The age at which one is held responsible for all commandments or sins for which one will receive Heaven or Hell pending future behavior begins at age 12 or 13, as there is a song that starts off with "Ready or not, here I come." You see, the truth is that one who is raised the right way will be of sufficient maturity by this time, as was the case of much of the youth in yesteryear in Europe and Middle East countries where Jewish children learned in the Cheder without the goyishe environment to influence them, especially knowing that not too many non-Jews loved Jews. The fact that not all Jewish children, at least outside of the Israel, are in the right environment only means that action needs to be taken to improve their spiritual lot. Of course one has to bear in mind that with the high divorce rate today, even in some observant Jewish circles, it doesn't help matters when children don't feel quite in place and feel that they need some outlet to make up for what they are lacking at home.

As per the above, this is not to speak of how some Bar/Bat Mitzva ceremonies are performed today that are a true mockery of everything that the Torah stands for, especially in Conservative and Reform congregations, which includes just about everyone driving to the temple on Shabbat, the rabbi and Bar/Bat Mitzva adult (not child!) using the microphone on Shabbat, praying in a mixed sitting of men and women while the boys/men are looking at the girls/women most of whom don't dress modestly even for the temple, and this is not to speak of the Bar/Bat Mitzva party where the women are "dressed to kill" - which is really only a euphemism for half not dressed, along with the mixed dancing, and sometimes the food isn't even kosher. So of course, what is so surprising when 5-10 years later between college and employment, the Mazel Tov wishes are for a upcoming mixed marriage to a non-Jew?

While we can't expect all children by the time that they reach Bar/Bat Mitzva to do everything right, for even who are called fully matured, scholarly, righteous people can mess up, as we see that even Moses was prone to mistakes, one of which cost him by not being allowed to come to Israel with the Jewish people whom he led for 40 years, what we can do is to take responsibility and teach others of what responsibility is, and not assume that children aren't old enough to learn so much responsibility. You see, this is the reason why in much of the United States, children do not learn as much as children in other countries in elementary school. If the education system does not think that children are mature enough, then of course the children themselves will feel the same, even if they are never called a bad name to this effect. However, if they are already treated as adults at a much earlier age and are taught to use their minds more productively, then in the due course of time, these children will feel that they have to behave "above their age" rather than "below their age".

And so, as Hashem knows that even people on the spiritual level of Moses can make mistakes, He prepared the remedy before the mistake can happen. Hence, Mitzva 121 teaches us that the Beit Din, which consists of some of the top scholars of the day, bring an animal sacrifice in the Temple to atone for the sin that they caused others to perform due to mistaken decision in their Torah learning. The fact that they meant well to begin with does not justify saying, "Look, even they are human, so what does Hashem expect from them when they did their best thinking that the Torah said to do or not do a certain thing". But the truth is that if they would have lived to their full potential, in whatever area that may be, they would have been granted the Divine Assistance not to err, and certainly, not to cause other Jews to err.

However, the good side to this is that when the Beit Din does bring this atonement sacrifice, it means that they take responsibility for their actions, and admit, "Yes, we screwed up; however, we are not going to blame this on others or walk away from this, but we will take responsibility for our actions to the point that we are bringing a sin offering which shows that we were wrong, especially having caused others to sin, and we hope not to repeat this again."

This point is highlighted when a few verses later after the section in the Torah which contains this commandment, it states Asher Nasi Yecheta "When a ruler sins..." (Leviticus 4:22). Now, while the word Asher (that or when) is a most common word in the Torah, in this instance, it is meant to teach a lesson, since this word is used instead of the word Im/if. As Rashi points out, the word Asher is related to the word Ashrei/fortunate, stating that "Fortunate is the generation whose ruler has in mind to bring an atonement offering for his erronous sin; and certainly that he regrets his intentional sins."

This is all fine and dandy, but why mention the point about the generation of this leader? Wouldn't it be sufficient to make note of the ruler taking responsibility for his actions as a praiseworthy thing? But as we see, the ruler is supposed to take responsibility for his actions, not only because this is the right thing to do, but because he is the role model of the generation. If he were not to do so, G-d forbid, then everyone else will feel the same way, and say that if he doesn't do so, then what does Hashem expect of me? And so, the fact that a ruler, despite his mistakes, takes responsibility for his actions, shows that there is accountability for our actions. Yes, everyone makes mistakes at times, but this is where the responsibility factor comes into play, for without it, society could not last very long, at least without a change in the system.

In Halacha/Jewish Law, we see that at the Kriat HaTorah/Torah Reading for the Bar Mitzva adult, his father makes a declaration "Blessed is He Who has exempted me from the punishment of this one (my son)." Now, while all Jews are responsible for one another, at least as far as the Talmud is concerned, as far as raising one's child seeing to it that he follows the way of Hashem, the punishment for failing to do so and the child performing sins which is the sole responsibility of his father as opposed to the child's is only until the child becomes Bar Mitzva. From henceforth on, the responsiblity of the father for his son is not any greater than for any other Jew who sees another Jew doing wrong.

Before concluding, while the number 121 was not used in any Gematria sense here in this post, or any other number for that matter, it is a significant number in that the makeup of this number is a number multiplied by itself, as 11 times 11 is 121.
And so, we see that the number 11 is an especially strong number in terms of the number 121.

The reason that I mention this is because once, I heard from a guy that people think that when they tell a secret to someone else, that they are only telling it to one person, as one plus one is two. But the truth is that in fact, one person telling this secret is saying this to 10 other people, as is shown with numbers that the number one placed next to another number one is 11, not two. And so before you know it, everyone in town knows the secret.

Coincidence or not, I am reminded of where it states in Parshat Ki Tavo that when the Jews would come to Israel, that they were supposed to stand on two mountains reciting blessings and curses for keeping or not keeping the Torah. Aside from the final verse of curses where it states the general curse of "Cursed is the one who doesn't fulfill all the words of this Torah", there are 11 specific curses. One of these curses is "Cursed is the one who strikes his friend in secret" (Deutronomy 27:24), upon which Rashi points out that this is referring to one who speaks Lashon Hara/evil talk on another Jew behind his back.

Ultimately, one who says bad things about others, or speaks secrets that are supposed to be just that - secrets, is one who is doing more than just another sin, regardless of how great or not such great a sin it may be in itself. It is one's lack of responsiblity, not thinking of the end result of his loose speech, which sometimes includes murder or breakup of family and friends, that is the big problem here. One who lacks a sense of responsiblity does not have moral values to say the least, and certainly does not respect society, or even the ones closest to him whether distancewise or friendshipwise. Such people are the very ones who destroy the fabric of society, because if all they will be is talk machines, not giving a hoot to what their speech can cause, then they are no better than animals, in fact, far worse and evil than animals. For in fact, only human beings have the power of speech, and while animals may make grunting noises with their companions as their source of communication, it doesn't compare to how people speak in great detail. At least animals do not rattle off speech that will hurt their companions as many people do, since Hashem knows that if they had the power of speech, animals wouldn't use it the right way since they don't have the brains that humans do to think before talking, having been created rather to follow their natural instincts, regardless of whether they will hurt others or not.

And while I am writing about the number 11 in relationship to curses and slander, the Chofetz Chaim, who wrote the book with the compilation of all the laws in the Talmudic and Halachic literature related to the prohibition of saying evil speech about others, called Chofetz Chaim, was born on the 11th day of the 11th month (Shevat).

Yes, eleven - NOT one plus one. True, it is another year or two for children to become of Mitzva age, but just as children before their Bar/Bat Mitzva take lessons on reading the Torah and all, so too, they should be taught and trained to learn what true responsibility entails beforehand, not just for their sake, but for our sake too, because as parents, it is OUR responsibility to teach what this word truly means to the next generation. Then, when they reach that big day, they can truly say that they have reached that AGE OF RESPONSIBILITY.

27 Tishrei 5772

#120 - Renewed Strength

2011-10-21T03:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, my friends. This blogpost on www.gematriot.blogspot.com celebrates three years since I began blogging on this site exactly three years ago following Simchat Torah in Israel. While other blogs come and go, I have had much motivation to continue writing despite time challenges at times. Ultimately, it's the feeling knowing that I'm writing Torah which can be used to both educate and teach others how to be better Jews and human beings. My last post for this past year 5771: #119 - "22 Ways to a Peaceful Marriage" is a perfect example of this.

In Judaism, the number three signifies the concept of something this is assured to be an ongoing thing. The rabbis learn from the verse "They (the words of Torah) will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouth of your children, or from the mouth of your children's children, says Hashem, forever", that once there are three generations in a family that are learned in Torah, the Torah will remain in the family, as has in fact happened many times. To begin with, it was the Patriarchs from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob that set the way for the 12 Tribes of Israel to live a Torah way of life, even though the Torah had not yet officially been given to the Jewish people.

In Jewish law, the number three plays quite a significance, as we see about someone who observes a custom or a stringency in Jewish observance for three times that it is considered like a vow which would need to be absolved by a group of three people should the person not wish to continue the particular observance.

And of course when it comes to Gematriot, the first letter of Gematriot is a Gimel which is the numerical value of three.

To note, the number 120, the number of this post, is a very significant number to say the least. It is quite common to wish someone to live Ad Meah V'Esrim Shana "until 120 years", as long as Moses lived, though not many Jews since Moses' time have lived even this long. In fact, Moses himself in Psalm 90 notes that the average lifespan of mankind is 70 years, and if he has strength, then 80 years. Nevertheless, this is one wish that is never disputed by rabbis, unlike when it comes to almost any other issue that is not openly endorsed by Jewish law.

Just yesterday in Israel, and today as I am writing this when outside of Israel, Jews (have) read the final Parsha of V'Zot HaBeracha in the Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll) which ends with mention of Moses' accomplishments following the mention of his passing and his age of 120 years.

There is a word that relates to both the concept of the number three and Moses' age.
Technically, it's two words but carry the same basic meaning, just depending on how the word is used. It is either Chazak "Be strong" or Chazaka "strong" as an adjective. The final verse of the Torah begins with U'lechol HaYad HaChazaka "For all the STRONG hand..." in the midst of describing Moses' accomplishments. The word Chazaka is the Gematria of 120, hardly a coincidence being used in the final verse of the Torah describing Moshe who just passed away on his anniversary of his birthday of 7 Adar making this exactly 120 years. Now, at the very end of the reading of the Torah (which is also done for the first four books of the Chumash/The Five Books of Moses), the congregation exclaims out loud Chazak Chazak V'Nitchazeik "Be strong, be strong, and be strengthened" based on the fact that the word Chazak=115 times three yields the total Gematria of 345, which is the Gematria of Moshe's name. For Moshe himself, he was the third born in his family, and was the lawgiver of the "threefold Torah" as described in the Talmudic Tractate Sabbath. And some say that his lifetime of 120 years can be divided into three parts - his first 40 years were spent in Egypt, his middle 40 years were spent in Midian, and his final 40 years were spent being the leader of the Jewish people.

Speaking of strength as related to the last verse of the Torah, we see that the concept of strength is also related to the first verse of the Torah. However, as related to the first verse of the Torah, it is a synonym of the word strength - Koach, consisting of the letter Kaf & Cheit, which also spells the number 28. Indeed, the first verse of the Torah consists of 28 letters, and Rashi in his very first comment on the Torah in explaining this first verse quotes from Psalms 111:6 (his very first Biblical quote) Koach Ma'asav... "The strength of His actions he told to His nation, to give them the inheritance of nations".

By the way, as this verse describes the land of Israel that Hashem granted to us, it was on 28 Iyar, 5727/1967 that Hashem showed the highlight of His strength in recent times with the recapture of the holiest area in the world in Jerusalem, declaring openly to the nations of the world that Israel, and especially Jerusalem with the grounds of the Temple Mount, belong to the Jews, as evidence by the miracle of the Six Day War when 31 million Arabs of surrounding countries attempted to "wipe Israel off the map", fighting against a total population of a few million Jews; and for all that the world knew, this was going to be the end of Israel for Jews. And in case anyone thought that United States loves Israel, despite the double standards that it displays towards Jonathan Pollard who should not have legally been in prison for more than four years, who is been rotting in prison for virtually 26 years, you should know that the U.S. government to this day refuses to recognize Jerusalem as part of Israel on passports for those born in Jerusalem to U.S. parents, despite a law stating that it should do so. The ultimate root of these problems lies with us when the Israeli government refused to grant asylum to Mr. Pollard and let him be captured by the FBI despite his courageous work on behalf of Israel; when Moshe Dayan, traitor to the Jewish people, sanctioned control of the Temple Mount to the Wakf following Hashem regiving this holiest area in the world to us; and Jews residing in the United States live in the comforts of JerUSAlem in lieu of being bothered of its double standards against Jews and Israel, especially the ones who are more concerned about gay and abortion rights.

Now, speaking of the connection between the last & first verses of the Torah, there is another well known connection between the two - the last letter of the Torah: Lamed, and the first letter of the Torah: Beit. These two letters spell the word Lev/Heart. Indeed, it is the Torah that is the heart or heartbeat of a Jew, for without it, a Jew cannot survive spiritually. And it is on Simchat Torah, the day that we conclude AND begin anew the reading of the Sefer Torah, that we not only feel closest to the Torah in our spiritual heart, but we also relate to it in our physical heart when dancing in celebration of the Torah. And while the Torah calls this day Shemini Atzeret, in time, the rabbis coined this day with the additional name of Simchat Torah (Note: Outside of Israel, where two days of Shemini Atzeret are observed, it is the second day that is called Simchat Torah). And in terms of Gematria between this new name of the holiday and the reading of the Torah, the name Simchat Torah is the Gematria of 1,359. Kriat HaTorah (Reading of the Torah), which is a surname given for this day as noted in Shulchan Orach Orach Chaim (428), is the Gematria of 1327 (Note: This is also the Gematria of my name Shimon Matisyahu), and when you ad the Gematria of the word Lev which is 32, which consists of the last and first letters of the Torah, the total comes out also to 1,359! And since it is the Sefer Torah that comprises of the Chamisha Chumshei Torah - the five Chumashim of the Torah, another phrase that we can coin here is Torat Chamisha "Torah of Five" that we conclude on Simchat Torah, which is also the exact Gematria of 1,359! And to note, this is similar to the phrase Torat Moshe, which excludes the letter Cheit as the first letter of the word Chamisha (five), and in English, the Chumash is called the Five Books of Moses (Moshe) as one of its names. Or another way of looking at this is that we conclude the Torat Moshe on Yom Cheit "Day Eight", on Shemini Atzeret, as it is called Shemini/Eighth being the eighth day from Succot. Hence, this is another application of the same total number of 1,359 being used.

The Zohar, consisting of the teachings of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, points out the special significance of the number 32, being both the number of the pathways of wisdom (Netivot Chachma) and also a composite of the 22 letters of the Alef Beit and the 10 Statements of Hashem, both through which Hashem used in creating this world. To note the 10 statements of Hashem that were used to create this world are mentioned in the first chapter of the Torah, and it is the 22 letters of the Alef Beit that makes up the letters of the Torah. And it is only because of the Jews accepting and learning the Torah that is the cause of the world's continued existance.

Now, in another way of using these numbers, the Zohar notes that when you combine the 32 pathways of wisdom with the 10 Sephirot, this comes out to 42, as there are 42 letter name of Hashem at one level, as hinted in the Ana B'Koach prayer, as well as the 42 mentions of Hashem's YKVK name in the scrolls inserted in the Tefillin - 21 for the arm Tefillin and 21 for the head Tefillin. The Zohar also quotes a verse from Psalms 91:14 in relationship to this - Ki Bi/Vi Chashak "Because for Me, he (the Jew) has yearned..." The first two Hebrew letters of this verse is the Geamtria of 42. Also, it is the Gematria of the word Libi - my heart, as if to say that "My heart has yearned".

In connection to the Torah itself, we don't have to go far. In the first two paragraphs of the Shema - the Mitzva of reciting it being called Kriat Shema "Reading of the Shema" - the commandment of learning/teaching the Torah is mentioned using the word Bam "in them", which is the Gematria of 42. And in terms of beginning the Torah, the letter Beit in this word begins the word Bereishit - the first word of the Chumash which is the foundation of the Written Torah, and the letter Mem begins the word Me'i'matai - the first word of the Mishna which is the foundation of the Oral Torah. Also, the Mitzva of laerning/teaching Torah (as mentioned in the first paragraph of the Shema) is the 420th Mitzva of the Torah - a multiple of 42 & 10. Personally, I am presently in my 42nd year of life which occurred on this Simchat Torah.

Just yesterday, we learned the news that took place on this very day of Simchat Torah in Israel when Qaddafi, ruler of Libya, was killed after nearly 42 years of dictatorship. Now, as a cousin of his who resides in Israel was interviewed, she made is clear that he is in fact Jewish. Whether he was actually Jewish or not, the point is that there is a clear connection here to the number 42, especially on the day that we rejoice with the Torah that is very connected to the number 42. Also, the Hebrew of the name of this country includes the three main letters of the country name - Lamed, Beit, Yud - spelling the word Libi "my heart" in order of these letters!

Now, while one may be wondering about the direct connection between Qaddafi, Libya, and the Torah or Simchat Torah, we have to refer to Moshe about whose passing we read about particularly on this day of Simchat Torah. First, as I noted several months ago following the stepping down of the Egyptian dictator Muhammed Hosni Mubarak, this occurred on 7 Adar (I) of this past year 5771, the annual date of the birthday/passing of Moshe who was born and raised in Egypt. Mubarak had 30 years of dictatorship, and Lamed - the final letter of the Torah - is the numerical value of 30, and is also cognate of the word Limud - learning/teaching as related to the Torah. The announcement of Mubarak's resignation in Egypt took exactly 49 seconds, which forever changed Egypt history.

In an amazing parallel, the Jews when they left Egypt were entrenched in 49 levels of spiritual impurity, and as our Sages tell us, if they would have remained in Egypt just a little longer, they never would have been able to have been freed from their spiritual impurity as they would have been in the 50th level of it, from which it would have been impossible to get out of, which can be symbolized by the fact that the Gematria of Tamei/impure is 50. In relationship to Moses in his final walk of his life, he took one leap from the mountain of Arvot Moav to Mount Nebo (a miraculous feat, not just for a 120 year old, but considering the not so close distance between the two). The word Moav, the final place where Moses was residing before he walked to the place where he would leave this world, is the Gematria of 49. Also, during his lifetime, he was granted 49 levels of understanding, and it was only on his final day that he was granted a glimpse of the 50th level of understanding.

Now, on the day that we actually read of Moses's passing in the Sefer Torah, the killing of Libyan dictator Muammar Qadafi took place. And while indeed, there are similarities between the first names of the leaders Moses, Muhammed, Muammar all beginning with the letter M; the difference between Moses and the other two is more than the difference between day and night, for at least the day and night are connected either with sunrise or sunset. However, the motivations of being in power between Moses and the other two were diametrically opposed.

With dicators such as Mubarak & Qadafi, they thrived on power and strength. And while Mubarak may have been an official president instead of coming into power by force such as Fidel Castro, he behaved in a very dictatorial way, keeping billions for himself and his family while allowing a good percentage of his country to barely live on $100 a month. And of course with power, comes bloodshed of others who are either threats or potential threats to one's power and rulership. So, it is quite obvious that one who behaves in this type of fashion is in power to please oneself as opposed to pleasing the citizens of his country.

In sharp contrast, Moses was the furthest away from wanting power and control. In Hashem's first talk with Moses at the Burning Bush, it took a week for Moses to agree to take on the role as leader of the Jewish people, feeling that others, such as his brother Aaron, would be more qualified or deserving of the position. Subsequently, Moses showed that not only he wasn't looking for self aggrandisement, but put his eternal future on the line in his attempt of procuring Hashem's forgiveness of the Jewish people for their recent sin of worshipping the Golden Calf. He was willing to his name be ommitted from the entire Torah if this would not happen, feeling that if he failed in his mission of a reconcilement between Hashem and the Jews, then there was no point of himself being a leader any further. This is aside from Hashem promising Moses to have a "great nation" be descended from him when Hashem was first angry about what the Jews did and was ready to obliterate them right then and there. However, Moses would not hear of it, and spent 40 days pleading with Hashem to get back in good terms with the Jewish people. And then we see that when his cousin Korach challenged Moses' leadership, exclaiming that he took all the good positions for himself, his brother Aaron, and other close relatives, Moses made it clear that it was Hashem Who decided who would be who. In fact, according to the holy book "Sidduro Shel Shabbat", Moses was telling Korach that it wasn't even a situation where Moses wanted certain positions for himself and close relatives, and that Hashem simply agreed to it, but that it was all from Hashem to begin with. Indeed, the Torah testifies about Moses that he was "the humblest of all people" (Numbers 12:3).

While all this may have been true with Moses, there were many times that some of the Jews were always at it against Moses, blaming him for what went wrong to the point of nearly stoning him, accusing him of various sins, etc. But at the end of his 40 year leadership, we see that just the opposite happened. Rashi notes that the Jews were saying that when Moses was going to leave his nation once and for all in departure of his passing, that they would do what it takes to prevent this from happening. While this did not happen as Hashem saw to it that Moses would pass away when it was time, we see that at the end, what happens in life is a result of one's intentions and actions. Surely, if Moses would have wanted power and declare himself to be above the law as the Egyptian and Libyan dictators behaved, the Jews wouldn't have felt like attempting to prevent him from dying at the very least.

Anyways, continuing on with the number 42, the very first (hypothetical) Molad - the monthly reappearance of the moon - is hinted by the acrostic Baharad - consisting of the letters Beit, Hei, Reish, Dalet - which means that it "appeared" on the 2nd day of the week (Beit), on the 5th hour (Hei) and at 204 parts (out of 1,080 parts) of the hour (Reish, Dalet). This is mentioned by Rabbeinu B'Chayei pointing out that counting every 42nd letter from the letter Beit of the word Bereishit, beginning the Torah, it spells the following letters. This acrostic Baharad is the Gematria of 42, which hints to the 42 letter name of Hashem. (Note: This was the starting point of Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandl with finding Hidden Codes of the Torah several decades before this would begin with computers, whose life and accomplishments in relationship to the Hidden Codes of the Torah has been mentioned before on this Gematriot blogspot #52- Nov '09).

As you can see, Gematriot discoveries sometimes fall right on my lap, especially as has happened with the number 42. Now, let's combine this with the number 41, which is especially associated with the last Parsha of the Torah, as it consists of 41 verses. To note, the word Shemini/Eighth, as the first word of the Biblical name of this holiday Shemini Atzeret, is the Gematria of 410, a multiple of 41 & 10; just as mentioned a little earlier in this post of the number 420 - as the Mitzva of Talmud Torah is the 420th Mitzvah of the Torah - is a multiple of 42 & 10. Moreover, the word Kadosh or Kodesh (holy) is also the Gematria of 410, and Parshat Shemini - the 26th Parsha of the Torah - Shemini - consists of 91 verses, and Seder Kedoshim (which means holy in plural) consists of 91 chapters, and as we know, the number 91 is the combined Gematriot of Hashem's names YKVK=26 and A-do-noy=65, the latter being how we pronounce the former name since it is forbidden to directly pronounce the name YKVK.
Now, 41 & 42 equals 83, which is the Gematria of the name of the letter Gimel, which is turn is the numerical value of three.

And the name of the letter Gimel in connection with this Hebrew year 5772 is very obvious. You see, the final two letters of the Hebrew number for this year - Ayin, Beit (72) - is the same Gematria as the word Chesed. Now, the term in Hebrew for doing acts of kindness is Gemilut Chasadim - the first word being a cognate of the word Gimel. Moreover, the phrase Gemilut Chasadim is the same Gematria of the word Torah - 611! The lesson to be learned from here is that ALL Jews count - the Torah scholars and the ones who constantly perform deeds of kindness. There are some who combine both of these things very well, but virtually all Jews who look to do the right thing have something to offer to the rest of the Jewish nation.

Speaking of the number 72, this is the combined amount of the dictatorship years of Mubarak and Qadafi, leaders of Arabic countries, which was in essence years of Chesed/kindness for themselves and the closest ones to them, the Chesed of the Sitra Achara "Other Side" as associated in Kaballa with the Arabic race as the descendants of Yishmael, whose father Abraham was the epitome of the Chesed as it related to to the side of holiness. And at least when it comes to Egypt, Hashem's 72 word name is hinted in three consecutive verses (Exodus 14:19-21) in the midst of the story of the splitting of the Reed Sea for the Jews to escape the Egyptians who were chasing after them following the Exodus, another major open miracle displaying Hashem's kindness for His newly formed nation.

In relationship to kindness as it relates to non-Jews, the Torah lists a number of non-kosher birds, including one called the Chasida, a word based on the word Chesed, for as the rabbis state in the Talmud of Tractate Chulin 63a, it does kindness with its friends. Knowing that the criteria of what species is kosher or not to eat is based on their characteristic traits, the question is asked is that if this bird does kindness, why is it considered a no-no to be considered non-kosher? The answer is in this very statement "because it does kindness with its friends". In other words, its kindness is limited only to those to whom this bird is considered a friend, but will not do kindness for any birds that the Chasida does not have a connection with. While this may be OK for non-Jews, this is NOT the Jewish way!

Sure, we all have our friends that we will go out of our way for, for after all, if we did the same for everyone, maybe we won't have any time left for our families for whom we have the greatest obligation to take care of. But maybe we should go for the extra mile for "others". At the very least, even if we don't have so much time, money, or other resources, the least we could do is to do SOMETHING for whomever we encounter that truly needs our help. If not money, a kind word. If not a lot of time, to make connections with someone who will spend that time. But the point is that we Jews are not creatures who refuse to help someone else simply because "they are not one of us." Fortunately, there are many who will volunteer time, money, and resources for other Jews whom they never heard of before or probably will never meet.

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY YEARS

The number 120 is a number that comes up quite a few times in the Torah reading during these last two months. In the beginning of Parshat Vayeilech, the last Parsha that was read before Rosh HaShana, Moses states that "I am 120 years old today", amidst his final address to the Jewish nation on the day of his passing.

Meanwhile, we celebrate the holiday of Succot. In the times of the Beit HaMikdash/Holy Temple, during the nights of this holiday, they held wine libation ceremonies. Among the details of this set of festivities, the Mishna in Tractate Succoth (5:2) states that "four teenage Cohanim had pitchers of 120 lugin of oil in their hands." And indeed, of the Seven Heavenly Guests (Ushpizin) corresponding to the seven days of Succot, it is Moses who is the special guest for the middle of these seven days.

Following Succot is the holiday of Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, when we finish reading the final portion of the Sefer Torah, the only day of the year when we read of Moses' actual passing, along with the mention of his age of 120 at the time of his passing. Immediately after we finish reading this last Parsha of the Torah - V'Zot HaBeracha, we read the beginning of the Sefer Torah which is the beginning of Parshat Bereishit.

It follows that on the first Shabbat following the Simchat Torah holiday, we read the first Parsha of the Torah, which will take place tomorrow which is especially called Shabbat Bereishit after the first word of this week's Parshat Bereishit. Near the conclusion of this Parsha, speaking of the depravity of the generation of Noah, in the midst of bemoaning this, Hashem states that he will give them 120 years chance to repent, during which time, Noah built the Ark so people would see that he is building it and then he would tell them why he was doing it to give them a chance to repent knowing that the Flood was going to occur. Anyways, the verse in the mention of these 120 years "Hashem said: "My spirit will not continue to judge mankind forever since he is flesh, and his days (years) will be 120 years" (Genesis 6:3), uses an unusual word Beshagam. Now, the English translation of this "since" hardly does justice in explaining why this word is used. Rashi notes that this is a contraction of the words Bishvil Shegam Zot Bo "BECAUSE THIS, ALSO, IS TRUE OF HIM that he is flesh; but nevertheless, he doesn't humble himself in front of Me. Certainly, if he would have been made up of fire (a much stronger substance), he wouldn't had humbled himself in front of Me."

Anyways, the Talmud in Tractate Chulin 139b notes that the hint to Moshe in the Torah is this very word Beshagam, and as explained by commentators, it is the same Gematria as Moshe's name - 345, and is immediately followed in this verse by the mention of 120 years, the amount of years that Moshe lived. Now, this is all very nice, but what is the connection between giving these evil people a chance to better their ways and Moses' life? In fact, it would be another several hundred years before he would even be born; and certainly, he did not even live yet to be a good example to them?

While it is true that Hashem doesn't expect everyone to be as righteous as Moses, He does expect us to be as righteous as our own potential allows us to be. As the Chasidic Master Reb Zushe of Anipoli put it "In the Heavenly Court, they will not ask me how come I wasn't as great as Moses, but why I wasn't as great as Zushe." In other words, he was saying that if the Heavenly Court were to take him to task for not living up to his potential, it would be up to HIS potential - not anyone else's potential. Hashem gives us all the tools - including so many years time - as a base for using the tools and time to serve Him instead of wasting our potential and time on baseless actitivites.

Perhaps not all of us come from the most righteous or religious backgrounds. However, based on our circumstances, we are expected to make the best of our potential as all of us have something to offer. Not all of us may necessarily be great Torah scholars, but Hashem does expect us to learn the basic laws of Judaism and practice it correctly. He doesn't necessarily expect us to sit down learning for 8-16 hours a day, as many of us have to work and tend to our families, but He does expect us to use some spare time everyday to learn at least a little Torah both because there is a Mitzva to learn Torah and learn what the Jewish law says, so we don't wind up doing Aveirot/sins, such as violations of the Sabbath day by doing work that we will not realize without learning Halacha/Jewish Law that it is a violation. And of course, we are expected to treat our fellow Jews well both by performing various acts of kindness and not hurting their feelings or pockets in any way.

To note, there is actually another Gematria associated with this word Beshagam with a little twist. It is true that Rashi on this word in Tractate Chulin notes the Gematria of this word as 345. Well, it seems that the Chatam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Sofer) has a little difference of opinion here (mentioned in his Sefer Torat Moshe on Exodus 2:10, the verse where Moshe is given his name). You see, he points out a technicality, noting that Moshe was not given his name (though he had other names but this one was given to him by Bathya) until after he was weaned off of breast feeding at the age of two. Hence, he had the name Moshe for only 118, and so the hint here about Moshe according to this is not that Beshagam is the Gematria of 345 as Moshe's name and then as it says afterwards "His days will be 120 years." Rather, dropping the prefix which is the letter Beit=2 of Beshagam, we are left with the Gematria of 343 of the remaining letters, as this hints to the level of the brightness of the sun in Messianic times, as the word used for this in the Tanach/Bible hinting to this is Shivatayim (loosely translated in English as sevenfold) which is seven times seven times seven (7*7*7) yielding the total of 343, and as our Rabbis tell us, Moshe's face was compared to the face of the sun, since it was that light that was born with him, as it states about Moshe's birth "She (Moshe's mother) saw him that he was good"
(Exodus 2:2 - Note: The first mention in the Torah about Moshe is in the SECOND verse of the SECOND chapter of the SECOND book!) upon which our Rabbis tell us that the house was full of light. It is on this Shagam=343 refering to Moshe in relationship to the light of the sun in future times, that it states afterwards that "his days were 120 years." Of course, you can hardly blame the Chatam Sofer, who lived several hundreds of years after Rashi, to differ with him, since after all, his own Hebrew name is also Moshe.

Also interesting to note is that the word Shagam when rearranged can be spelled as Geshem/rain. And indeed, on Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, the day on which we conclude the reading of the Torah that mentions Moshe's age of 120, we begin right afterwards in the Mussaf Shemoneh Esrei to start making mention of rain until Passover with the words Mashiv HaRuach U'Morid HaGeshem "The One who returns the wind and brings down the rain".

Now, there is one more thing in this verse that I would like to comment on. Hashem states that He will not judge mankind FOREVER. In certain contexts, such as in the laws of the Hebrew servant who refused to leave his master, he was allowed to remain "and he shall serve (his master) forever" (Exodus 21:6). This may be the literal translation of the verse, but the rabbis explain that means only until the Jubilee year, the 50th year of the Shemitta cycle, (consisting of seven periods of seven years each in which each seventh year, the farm land of the Land of Israel is forbidden to be worked on, as well as the Jubilee year) the long length of time used in Jewish Law. Now, as we know, the world is slated to be in existance for 6,000 years. Hence, 120 years out of this total is 1/50th of the world's existance. Hence, in effect, Hashem was saying that He would not put up with mankind's evil behavior forever, but only one unit of a 50th of the world's existance symbolizing the Jubilee year which is the 50th year of the Shemitta cycle. In fact, it was in the beginning of the Jubilee year when the Hebrew servants returned to their homes and the ancestral lands that were temporarily sold were returned to their owners. So in effect, Hashem was saying that he would give mankind these 120 years as related to the Jubilee year to give them a chance to RETURN to Hashem, for in fact, the root of the word Teshuva actually means returning (the English word repentance is in fact not a very good translation of this Hebrew word). Hashem wanted mankind to turn back to Him, the owner of the world, and realize the real purpose of living in this world, in this temporary home so that afterwards, they can return to their permanent home - the World to Come, from which their souls came from to begin with in order to serve Hashem in this world.

In history, there have been quite a few other Tzadikim (righteous people) who lived for 120 years, including Shimon (the only one of the 12 sons of Jacob to have lived this exact amount of years), Hillel the Elder, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai (whose full title like this is the same Gematria as my namesake Shimon - 466), and Rabbi Akiva.
In fact, just like with Moses, both Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Akiva have their lives divided up into three periods of 40 years each. In both of these rabbis' cases, the middle part of their life was devoted to learning Torah, and the last part of their life was devoted to teaching Torah. For their first 40 years, Rabban Yochanan was into business, and Rabbi Akiva was an ignorant shepherd who used to hate Torah scholars as he testified of himself. Nevertheless, at one point, they both realized their potential, and the rest became history.

TORAT MOSHE - THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES

Since this is the "Year of Moshe", it would be most appopriate at this first post since Simchat Torah following the conclusion of the reading of the Sefer Torah which is the Five Books of Moses, to point out the following interesting observation. While Moses is not mentioned at all in Sefer Bereishit/Genesis, it is not for naught that all five books of the Chumash are named after him. As we just mentioned, he is hinted to near the end of the first Parsha of Genesis. Then, we see that his birth is mentioned in the first Parsha of Sefer Shemot/Exodus, as well as the sole mention of his name written twice in this Parsha. Now, it is the following three books of the Chumash that shows an amazing parallel here, at the beginning of these books:

Sefer Vayikra (Leviticus) - Vayikra El Moshe "He (Hashem) called out to Moses". His name is the THIRD word of this THIRD book of the Chumash.

Sefer Bamidbar (Numbers) - Vayidaber Hashem El Moshe "Hashem spoke to Moses". His name is the FOURTH word of this FOURTH book of the Chumash.

Sefer Devarim (Deutronomy) - Eileh HaDevarim Asher Diber Moshe "These are the words that Moses spoke". His name is the FIFTH word of this FIFTH book of the Chumash.

As you can see, there is a pattern here. Though it seems quite simple, and perhaps some may dismiss this as "coincidence", we know that the Gematria of his name is 345,
and his name is mentioned as the third, fourth, and fifth words of the respective third, fourth, and fifth books of the Chumash. And bringing this all together, his name is hinted to or spelled out in distinction in each of the first books of the Chumash. Yes indeed, these books are THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES.

OTHER USES OF THE NUMBER 120

Getting back to Noah's generation, it seems that not even one person took Noah seriously, and believing in the idols of their time, continued their base and baseless lives, and so, it was only Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives who survived the Flood in the Ark. Following this, Hashem gave Noah a series of commandments to ensure that mankind would not completely fall apart spiritually. This became known as the Sheva Mitzvot Bnai Noach "Seven Laws of the Children of Noah", referring to mankind who is all descended from Noah, and it is only the Jews who have many more laws to observe. It is of particular interest that mankind in this context is called Bnai Noach, for in fact, this very phrase is the Gematria of 120! Hence, Hashem is hinting to mankind that it has the same chance as the generation of Noah had, except that now, they would have less of an excuse, because now they have who to learn from, as when we don't do the right thing, G-d forbid, there is punishment - both in this world and in the next world. Speaking of which, the Rambam/Maimonides notes that non-Jews who observe the Sheva Mitzvot Bnai Noach as it was handed down from Moses (Note - not all the rabbis agree with this point about Moses) are considered Chasidei Umot HaOlam "the pious of the nations of the world" and are worthy of a share in the world to come.

Vendyl Jones, originally a Christian pastor, noticed anti-Jewish statements of the Gospels that were omitted in ancient manuscripts, based on which, he came to eventually realize the folly of Christianity in his study of the Jewish religion, and not only became a Noahide, but led others to be the same. In the midst of this, he moved with his family to Israel to study Judaism in the Hebrew University, assisted Israel in the Six Day War, and eventually discovered what is believed to be the Anointing Oil & Incense of the Temple. Additionally, two of his five children converted to Judaism and live in Israel today. In this past year, he passed away on the Yahrzeit of Maimonides (20 Tevet) - the one who coined the definition of a Noahide, although the concept of a Yahrzeit is exclusive to Jews. But what we see here that not only Mr. Jones became a Noahide which is something that Hashem expects ALL non-Jewish mankind to be, but he also turned out to be a good friend of the Jewish people, setting a prime example to both non-Jews and Jews. For those wishing to learn about the Seven Laws of the Children of Noah, click on this http://www.bnainoah.net/Noahide/NoahideHome.html.

It is interesting to note that the first verse of the following Parsha - Parshat Noach, begins "These are the accounts of Noah, Noah was a righteous person (Tzadik)..." To note, this is the first time in the Torah that the word Tzadik is used. Adam was also a righteous person, despite his sin of the forbidden fruit, but this is used especially with Noah. The reason that I bring up this point is because in this coming week, we have coming up the Yahrzeit of Shimon HaTzadik on 29 Tishrei.
Every year, either we read Parshat Noach on the Shabbat following this Yahrzeit; or it falls out on Shabbat Bereishit, when on Shabbat afternoon, we begin reading Parshat Noach which begins with the verse telling us that Noah was a Tzadik.

While Shimon HaTzadik may not have necessarily lived 120 years, he has a unique connection to the number 120. He was one of the few righteous Cohanim Gedolim/High Priests serving in the times of the Second Temple (most of the following High Priests were evil, acquiring this position through bribery, and then died in the Holy of Holies of Yom Kippur for being unworthy of the position, showing their disbelief in Hashem despite seeing what happened to past such High Priests), as well as being a member of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah "Men of the Great Assembly" which convened upon the rebuilding of the Second Temple, and instituted many Jewish laws, blessings, and prayers, consisting of 120 members. Shimon HaTzadik was the last surviving member of this group, passing away as the last of the 120 members. To note, the Knesset in Israel today is similar to this original Knesset only in the amount of members, but mocks just about everything that the original Knesset stood for, including the fact that some of the members are Arabs who are Jew haters, who oppose even the secular Zionism of today, wishing all of Israel to be Palestine. As far as I am concerned, the only four members of the Knesset who have a Halachic right to be receiving pay checks as members of the Knesset are the four members of the National Union party, for whom I voted in the last election nearly three years ago, as they stick to the truth of Kahane of non-compromise when it comes to the nationality and safety of the Jewish people in Israel. All the other "religious" parties - if they really wished to make a change in the government for a Torah based country, would all unite instead of maintaining their particular agendas - had their pockets stuffed from the Israeli government to keep silent in the face of the Disengagement of Gush Katif and Gaza.

THE FOURTH YEAR & TRIPLE SEVEN

Noting that I have been writing three years on this Gematriot blogspot, this is now beginning its fourth year. There is a Mitzva in the Torah not to make use of fruits for the first three years of the tree's produce, having the status of Orlah "uncircumcised", and then in the fourth year, they are "holy to Hashem" and can be eaten once they are redeemed by money (Leviticus 19:23-25). It is based on this that there is a custom for Jewish boys not to have their first haircut until they turn three years old, when at such time, they receive their first "upsheren" (haircut), and is followed in some circles to this day of being taken to Cheder (Jewish school) where they learn the Alef-Beit amidst celebrating their birthday on a good start of being indoctrined to the learning of Torah.

As it turns out, when I began this blogspot, it was at virtually the beginning of a new Shemitta cycle; hence, this is now the beginning of the fourth year of this blogspot as this is also the beginning of the fourth year of the Shemitta cycle.

Accordingly, as it relates to the seven Ushpizin/Heavenly Guests of Succot, it is Moshe who is the FOURTH of the seven Ushpizin. And so, there is room to state that this fourth year of the Shemitta cycle corresponds to Moshe.

If anyone has noticed lately, there has been much discussion from bloggers about this year 5772 being the year that Moshiach will come.

Let's begin. According to the Vilna Gaon, the books of the Chumash/Five Books of Moses corresponds to the slated 6,000 years of this world's existance. He notes that the story of Ma'asei Bereishit/Creation of the word corresponds to the first 1,000 years, and the remainder of Sefer Bereishit/Genesis corresponds to the next 1,000 years, Sefer Shemot/Exodus corresponds to the 3rd millenium, etc. So according to this, Sefer Devarim/Deutronomy corresponds to our present and final millenium.

Now, based on the Vilna Gaon's words, each Parsha of Sefer Devarim corresponds to 100 years. For this purpose, the Parshiyot of Nitzovim-Vayeilech, the only Parshiyot of this Sefer that are sometimes combined on Shabbos, count as one Parsha, making a total of 10 Parshiyos for this Sefer. Indeed, this Parsha/Parshiyos corresponds to this century 5701-5800. To note, there are 70 Pesukim in Nitzavim-Vayeilech (40 in Nitzovim & 30 in Vayeilech); and hence, each year corresponds to 0.7th of the Parsha.

With this said, what Posuk corresponds to our year 5772? The 0.7th for this is the 49.8th thru the 50.4th Posuk. In other words, they are the 50th & 51th of the 70th Pesukim. Now, the first of the Pesukim is (Devorim 31:10) - "Moshe commanded them (the Jews) saying: At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the year of Shemitta on the holiday of Succot".

To briefly explain, this is the Mitzva of Hakhel of the Jews gathering in the Beis HaMikdash every seven years immediately following the year of Shemitta on Succot to hear parts of Sefer Devarim being read by the king. Now, in terms of Moshiach coming, the Babylonian Talmud notes that Moshiach will come on Motzoei Shevi'it, the year immediately following the Shemitta year while the Jerusalem Talmud notes that it will be the Shemitta year itself. Both Talmuds mention their respective statements in connection with the reason as to why the Beracha of Re'eh Na B'Anyeinu about redeeming the Jewish people is the seventh of the Berachot of Shemonei Esrei.

This is all very nice, but this year 5772 fits neither of these categories, and is in fact the middle year of the Shemitta cycle, so how can we prove from here of the possibility of Moshiach coming this year? You see, the letters of this Hebrew year are Hei-Tav-Shin-Ayin-Beit. Now, noting the midst of this Posuk where it says Miketz Sheva Shanim "at the end of seven years", first - the word used for "at the end" is Mikeitz, instead of Sof or Acharit, as it is related to the word Keitz which is associated with the Geula, and second - the last three letters of this Hebrew year spells Sheva. I saw it explained that while this year may not be a Shemitta year, it is (or may be considered) a Shemitta year in the spiritual worlds (Note: The way that we observe Shemitta nowadays, it is not an unbroken chain of Shemitta observance due to the past destruction of Bayit Rishon/First Temple. Moreover, unlike in the past, we do not observe Yovel/Jubilee these days, which would otherwise change the year of the Shemitta being observed every 50 years). So, in case anybody thought that they would have a chance to sneak a few Aveirot/sins before Moshiach comes, well, it may not be such a good idea now because if Moshiach comes this year, it will be too late to do Teshuva/repentance when he arrives...

So as we see here, there is a strong corelationship here between the holiday of Succot and Shemitta, especially when it comes to the Torah, and specifically here to the reading of parts of the Five Books of Moses. But just when you thought this was good enough, this Hebrew year bears a most special Gematria. But wait a minute you may ask, do you mean the number 5772? Well, maybe you can come up with something else with this exact Gematria, but let's look at the letters used for the number of this year once more - Hei, Tav, Shin, Ayin, Beit. Now, it is true that the Hei in this context is used as the Gematria of 5,000 being that is used as the beginning of a number to denote this, as opposed to its regualar Gematria of five. But this is where this comes in - the letter in itself in the regular order of the 22 letters of the Alef Beit does have the numerical value of five. Hence, Hei=5, Tav=400, Shin=300, Ayin=2, Beit=2, and presto, the total of these numbers is 777! And as we mentioned earlier, the total of 7*7*7 refers to Moshe; and indeed, was born and passed away on the SEVENTH of Adar, and the SEVENTH generation from Abraham the first Jew in parental lineage.

Now, connecting the dots between the numbers four and seven, we know that while the Jews were yet enslaved in Egypt, Moshe spoke on their behalf to Pharaoh that he should give them a day of rest, to which Pharaoh agreed, which was the day of Shabbat, the SEVENTH day. And as we see in the middle blessing of the Shemonei Esrei for Shabbat morning, it starts off with Yishmach Moshe "Moses rejoiced...and two tablests of stone did he bring down with his hands, and the observance of Shabbat was written in it..." Hence, just as Moses has a connection with both the numbers of four and seven; so too, Shabbat the SEVENTH Day is listed as the FOURTH of the Ten Commandments.

And the connections of four and seven, as mentioned earlier, is also applicable to THIS YEAR OF ALL YEARS, as 5772 is Number 777 in its simple form - seven units of hundred, seven units of tens, and seven units of ones. And the fact that this number is three consecutive sevens also indicates the concept of Hazaka, something that now becomes a regular thing when it occurs for three times as mentioned in the beginning of this post. But this is not all - aside from the letter Hei in the number of this Hebrew year, when rearranging the letters, it reads Shivat, which is a form of the word seven! And while there are many hints given for the possibility of Moshiach coming this year in various blogs, while I am not here to list them all now, aside from what I wrote earlier; however, I will note that the letters of the name of Batsheva, the wife of King David & and the mother of King Solomon - about which the Rambam/Maimonides writes that Moshiach is a descendant of these two kings - when rearranged, can read B'Shivat - in Shivat, or in Shin, Beit/Veit, Ayin, Tav/Sav! Also, the Gematria of King David's name is 14, a multiple of seven, and as connected to the number four, his name begins and ends with a Dalet=4, he is a descendant of Judah, the FOURTH son of Leah & Jacob, in whose name the fourth letter is a Dalet=4, and at times, King David is called Dovid Malka Meshicha - David King Messiah.

(NOTE: We see that in secular subjects such as mathematics, science and history that the numbers four and seven are related to each other more than just a few times. Speaking of years, the year of the Declaration of Independence of the United States,the country that that would later house a good percentage of the Jewish world population in the final period of our long exile, took place was 1776. While it is true that the goyishe year is based on the timing of the birth of the Christian god, the fact that it happened this way may sometimes prove that this is not merely coincidental. In Hebrew, if we were to spell out the letters of this year - Alef, Tav, Shin, Ayin, Vav - and as you can see, the three middle letters are the same as the three middle letters of our present Hebrew year, while Alef as the beginning of a number is used here as the Gematria of 1,000, in its simple form in the order of the letters of the Alef Beit, it equals one. Hence, Alef=1, Tav=400, Shin=300, Ayin=70, Vav=6, and again, we have the exact total of 777! Moreover, the date of this Declaration of Independence was the FOURTH of July, the SEVENTH month of the secular calendar! Indeed, the concept of independence is the very concept used with slaves returning to their homes free of their masters, just as with the concept of Shabbat the SEVENTH day in which we are free from the work of the mad workweek. And as the Rambam notes at the end of his magnum opus the Mishneh Torah, the ultimate wish of the Sages with the coming of the Messiah is that we will be free from the subjectation of the nations in order that we will be free to learn Torah and serve Hashem without distractions. As it seems, what happened in the United States with colonists wishing to brake away from the rulership of Great Britian was a prelude to what we wish for in Messianic times)

THE LAST OF THE 120

Before I conclude this 120th Post, I would like to note, that a considerable section of the Torah are events and announcement of Mitzvot that took place in the LAST of the 120 years of Moses. For this, we turn to Parshat Chukat in the midst of Sefer Bamidbar/Book of Numbers where it mentions the passing of Moses' sister Miriam which took place on 10 Nissan, exactly one year to the date of the Jews entering Israel under the leadership of Joshua following a month's mourning for Moses. So, there are virtually 16 Parshiyot, close to 30 percent of the Torah, and encompassing 213 Mitzvot - more than one third of the 613 Commandments, that have to do with the last year of Moses' life! This is bearing in mind that the contents in close to half of the Parshiyot of the Torah (there are 54 Parshiyot in total) took place in just within THREE YEARS from the appearance of Hashem to Moses at the Burning Bush until after the incident of the Spies that kept the Jews lingering in the desert for close to 40 years. (The only question is when the story of Korach took place).

Making the parallel between the LAST of Moses' 120 years and Shimon HaTzadik who was the LAST of the 120 surviving members of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, the latter who has the unique privilege of having his name begin the second Mishna of Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers, following the first Mishna that begins with Moshe's name,
we see that sometimes, it is not as we think that when someone becomes old, he is no longer so useful. That may be true for those who didn't spend their life wisely to begin with, so all they are really doing is taking up space, stuffing their face, and being a nuisance to others who are helping them in their last period of life, and then the appointed rabbi who is at the funeral chapel to gave his eulogy is basically parroting what the family tells him, not having a whole lot of substance to it to begin with. However, for those who had a fulfilling life serving Hashem and helping others do the same, no doubt that with each passing year, even if not all of these righteous people have the strength to do everything as they used to in their earlier years, serve as an inspiration to others just by being in a room with just their presence, aside from the fact that looking at a righteous person (in sharp contrast to things that are forbidden to be looked or stared at) have a positive spiritual effect on the soul. As Rabbi Meir Kahane once put it, a Jewish Gehinnom/Hell is a life not being spent wisely, wasting it on things that have no bearing on what our purpose in life is supposed to be. And a Jewish Gan Eden/Heaven is a life that was wisely spent on our purpose in life that Hashem sent us in this world for to accomplish.

To note what Shimon HaTzadik stated in Pirkei Avot (though not the first time that I have mentioned this; in fact, I began a blogpost with this very statement): On three things does the world stand, on the Torah, the Avodah, and Gemilut Chasadim.

Earlier in this post, I noted the connection between Torah & Gemilut Chasadim, even as their phrases have the same Gematria. The only question is what is this Avodah - Divine service. For certainly, everything that we do in serving Hashem can be called Avodah. In fact, this is referring to one of two things - Prayers and the Temple service. Moreover, the first of the final set of blessings in the Shemoneh Esrei is called Avodah, for in this blessing, we ask Hashem to return to us the Avodah - the Temple service that we are presently lacking. Today, our prayers are in lieu of the Temple service, in which we pray that we should have the "real thing", though prayers were of course also recited in the Temple. In fact, the Shemoneh Esrei with the particular Berachot/blessings was arranged by the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah which was in operation at the beginning of the Second Temple period. And in terms of Torah learning, learning the laws of the Temple service which includes the sacrifices is considered as though we fulfilled these laws and Mitzvot. The Rambam's Mishneh Torah devotes two of his 14 volumes to these laws, named Avodah & Korbanot. In relationship to this year, the first two letters of this word Avodah - Ayin, Beit, are the last two letters of this Hebrew year.

And as we already mentioned the unique connection of the number 120 to Shimon HaTzadik, the word Omeid (stands) in his statement in Pirkei Avot is the Gematria of 120! Note, there are only 12 words in Shimon HaTzadik's statement. Tell me, what is the mathematical percentage chance that one of these words could have the same Gematria as a number that is unique to the author of the statement? No doubt that there are hundreds of numbers that any given word could be equal to in numerical value. But the ultimate connection here is that this world is standing in place ONLY because we Jews accepted the Torah at Mt. Sinai and have continued following the Torah throughout the generations (even when there were generations when most of the Jews didn't behave right, there are 36 righteous people in any given generation in whose merit, the world continues to exist).

As a side note, we have what is called Daf Yomi, this phrase used most frequently for the daily study of the double sided page of the Babylonian Talmud, and then there is what is called the Amud Yomi - one sided page that is studed daily for those who don't have a whole lot of time to grasp so much material. To note, the word Amud - which means pillar - has the same letters as Omeid. In other contexts, we mention the phrase Amud HaTorah - Pillar of the Torah, a title sometimes used to honor people who financially support Torah institutions, without whose support, these institutions may not be in existance, or at least not be such good quality institutions. The bottom line here is that whether we are able to learn more Torah or less Torah, the main thing is that we apply ourselves accordingly, and stick to our daily learning plan, and make the best use of what we learn. For even if we don't learn so much Torah in one day, the Torah that we do learn can be reviewed in our mind during the daytime, and we can always sneak a few extra minutes here and there to make sure that we understand what we learned earlier in the day (don't forget to take your Gemara or whatever Torah book you learn to your work); for if we don't understand or remember the material well, it won't do us too much good except for the fact that we learned Torah instead of wasting our time, but in fact, the Torah tells us to be careful not to forget what we learn, especially if we have it in our power to remember it.

Indeed, immediately following Simchat Torah is a time of RENEWED STRENGTH, a time to make a recommitment to learn Torah on a regular basis - EVERY DAY, even if on one day it may mean a few minutes, and on another day, it may mean a few hours, for the Torah is the lifeline of a Jew, both in terms of fulfilling the greatest Mitzva of the Torah, and teaching us how to observe the Mitzvot - the Commandments of the King.

23 Tishrei, 5772

P.S. Noting the time of the posting of this blog - 3:48 PM, the first three letters of the word(s) Simchat Torah spells the Hebrew number for 348, bearing in mind that this is the first post written since Simchat Torah.

#119 - 22 Ways To A Peaceful Marriage

2011-09-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

This post will be the last one on www.gematriot.blogspot.com - for this year of 5771. It will be several weeks before I resume posting, G-d willing, immediately after Simchat Torah in Israel. Meanwhile, I hope that the following contents in this post will help enhance everyone's marriages.

This week's Parshat Ki Teitze contains the most Mitzvot/Commandments of all the Parshiyot - 74 Mitzvot, which is more than one tenth of the Taryag/613 Mitzvot. Among the Mitzvot of this Parsha is the Mitzvah of getting married. The ultimate purpose of Jewish marriage is to bear children - the first Mitzvah of the Torah; though if a couple is, G-d forbid, unable to have children, or are already above child bearing age, it doesn't prevent a couple of getting married or staying married. The Jewish marriage is in itself a special spiritual eternal connection and bond between a couple. Should G-d forbid, a marriage does fall apart, then there is another Mitzvah in this Parsha of giving a Get/divorce contract in a certain way.

To begin with, we all hope of course that none of us will ever have to get divorced. But even if divorce is not an option, we could all well benefit from utilizing ways of increasing our Shalom Bayit, which literally means "peace of the home", or translated as marital harmony.

But before I get into more details about this concept, I do want to point out that the numbers of the previous two posts - 117 & 118, have a uniqueness to the Tanach/Bible. Chapter 117 of Psalms is the shortest chapter of the 929 chapters of the Bible, the first and last verses of Chapter 118 of Psalms are the exact same words, and in relationship to this 119th Post...Chapter 119 of Psalms is the LONGEST chapter of the 929 chapters of the Bible - consisting of 176 verses.

Now, if we were to leave it at this, we would fail to note the uniqueness of this psalm, other than the fact of the amount of verses. You see, the first letters of these verses go in order of the 22 letters of the Alef Beit, but unlike other psalms or the final 22 verses of Mishlei/Proverbs where the following verse begins with the following letter, the first eight verses in Psalm 119 each begin with an Alef, the next eight verses begin with a Beit, etc., hence, it is 22 groups of eight verses per letter of the Alef Beit.

There is actually a special name in Aramaic given to this psalm - Temania Apin - eight faces. And so, while all 22 letters of the Alef Beit are being utilized, the emphasis here is on the number EIGHT. And so, the question can be asked - why particularly eight verses for each letter of the Alef Beit - and not seven or nine or whatever other number of verses?

As we know, the most outstanding feature of the number eight in Judaism is that a Brit Mila/circumcision takes place on the eighth day of a Jewish baby boy's life, pending his health. Among the reasons given for why it is particularly on the eighth day of his life is that he has to live through a Shabbat/Sabbath in order to be spiritually prepared for the Brit Mila. And for a baby boy who is born on Shabbat, his Brit takes place on the following Shabbat, even though he may have been born near the end of Shabbat, and the Brit on the following Shabbat takes place in the morning, not living through 24 hours of Shabbat as other baby boys do when born on other days of the week.

And speaking of "eight faces", the repeating stanza of the Lecha Dodi poem that we recite during the Friday evening services is "Come my beloved to meet the bride, we will receive the FACE of Shabbat". And in terms of the first week of a Jewish marriage for the newly wed couple if either husband or wife was married for the first time, they continue the marriage celebration in the form of Sheva Berachot (literally means seven blessings) which are recited at the end of a meal that they eat usually in the home of a friend who invites others to partake of the celebration when there is a Minyan/quorum of men, just as there is for a public prayer service. Part of this celebration, in which the Sheva Berachot can be recited, is that there is at least one new person "face" that wasn't present until now in the celebration of the week celebrated marriage. However, if a Sheva Berachot takes place on Shabbat, it is not necessary to have any new person in order for the special blessings to be recited since it is the "face" of Shabbat that is considered the new guest.

And indeed, the bridegroom is compared to a king and a bride is compared to a queen; and there is in fact a Shabbat queen that is an actual existance. And just as we all wish one another, especially the Sephardic Jews or in Israel - "Shabbat Shalom" - a peaceful Shabbat, so too, we realize that Shalom Bayit, marital harmony, is absolutely crucial for a Jewish marriage.

And since this is Post 119, why not mention something related to this from Page 119a of Tractate Sabbath of the Talmud where it mentions that Rabbi Chanina - whose name is the Gematria of 119 - would wrap himself (in Shabbat clothes) and stands towards Shabbat evening and say "Let's come and go out to greet the Sabbath Queen. Rabbi Yannai - whose name is the Gematria of 71, noting that this Post 119 will be the last one in this year of 5771 that ends with 71 - would don his (Sabbath) clothes towards Shabbat evening, and say "Come O Bride. Come O Bride."

Now getting back to the Bible chapter Psalms 119 with the most verses alongside the Parsha (of this week) with the most Mitzvot which includes the Mitzvah of getting married, we have mentioned the numbers of seven in connection to Shabbat and eight in connection with the Brit Mila.

Now, while the word Brit, which is translated as covenant, is used especially as part of the name for circumcision, this is not the sole Mitzvah that is called a Brit. Both the Shabbat and the Torah are also called Brit. In fact, both the Mitzvot of circumcision (Genesis 17:13) and the Sabbath (Exodus 31:16) are called Brit Olam/everlasting covenant. And regarding the Torah, it states "If not for my covenant - day and night, I would not have set the statues of heaven and earth" (Jeremiah 33:25). In other words, if it wasn't for the Torah being learned day and night, Hashem would not have created the world to begin with.

Now, the word Olam, which is usually translated as world, is also at times translated as everlasting, as in the phrase Brit Olam. In fact, the word Olam is related to the word Hellam/concealed. This tells us that "the world", this finite world which is slated for existance of a total of only 6,000 years, is in fact a world of concealment, because what looks real isn't really so. The only reason why this world and everything in it is even in existence is because Hashem wills this to be, having created this world with the 22 letters of the Alef Beit. However, this is not comparable to when someone creates an object that it continues to be in existence after the object is finished being made. Even as Hashem created this world, it is constantly being remade or renewed so to speak (actually, it is not so to speak because Hashem does constantly recreate this world, it's just that we fail to see it as such), because without Hashem's constant life force that He instills into this world, the world would simply cease to exist. Hence, this world the way that we see it is in fact an illusion that appears to be real, but is painted as such, and creates a situation of free choice where we can either follow the base desires of this world because "it is natural", or follow what Hashem says even if it doesn't make sense or sound logical to us, just as the world to come - though it may be hard to imagine as real - is the REAL world, while this world, which is not only finite, is but a mere physical illusion of what the real spiritual world is like.

However, a question begs to be asked. How can the word Olam have the meaning of both worlds - which includes the finite Olam HaZeh/this world, and the word eternal? But as we know, Hashem created this materialistic, finite world in order for us to utilize this world to serve Hashem that will earn us the rewards of the eternal world of Olam Haba. And along these lines, both the Mitzvot of Shabbat and Brit Mila relate to the concept of Hashem creating this world. Shabbat represents the concept of Hashem creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh; and hence, we do likewise, and as such, we are considered as having a part in the creation of the world. And the concept of Brit Mila is that while Hashem created this world, we are left with something to do ourselves, which is removing the foreskin of the male member, which is really how Hashem wants it to appear. So in both Mitzvot, we see that in one way or another, we partake in the creation, or recreation of the world, as Hashem Himself constantly renews this world.

And getting to Gematriot, the world L'Olam/forever, adding the letter Lamed to the front of the world Olam, is the Gematria of 176, the number of verses in Psalm 119, which is all about the Torah, which is eternal, and as the greatest of the Mitzvot, is the greatest reward earner for us in the world to come. And it is hardly coincidental that it is the letter Lamed of all the letters that is added to the front of the word Olam to indicate this, as the meaning of the word for the letter Lamed is the connotation of both learning and teaching - Lilmod & LeLamed, which are the actions of the greatest Mitzva of Talmud Torah.

In relationship to this, on Friday evening at the Shabbat table, we recite the final 22 verses of Mishlei that begin with each of the 22 letters of the Alef Beit in order called Eishet Chayil/Woman of Valor. This unique part of the Tanach refers to the righteous Jewish wife, the Shabbat, and the Torah (The first word of this set of verses - Eishet, spell the first letters of the words Eisha/woman, Shabbat, and Torah). And as the number 176 is divided by 22 times 8, the number eight refers to the concept of what is above nature, as even the number seven as represented by the Seventh Day of Shabbat is still within the confines of nature as the number seven is a recurring number as a weekly thing, as Hashem created this world as a world of nature, which hides the concept of Hashem's abilities from many, including atheistic scientists. However, when miracles happen, then it becomes evident to many that Hashem, or a "Higher Power", had something to do with what happened beyond what normally happens, even though nature are nothing less than Hashem's daily miracles, except that they are easily able to be taken for granted, since they happen on a constant basis.

The miracles that are what we call above nature, represented by the number eight, is rooted in Olam HaBa, the eternal world, what is above the materialism that Hashem created for a finite period of time, as demonstrated with the word HaBa (literally means coming, as the coming world after our lives in this world) is the Gematria of eight. And indeed, as the Brit Mila ceremony, as soon as the baby boy is brought into the room, the Mohel/circumciser, immediately begins the opening prayers with Baruch HaBa - "Blessed is the one who is coming (the baby)", being called HaBa as being the baby being circumcised at eight days old.

There is another connection between the numbers 8 and 22. The holiday of Shemini Atzeret, which is really a one day holiday according to the Torah as celebrated in Eretz Yisrael/Israel, we read the last Parsha of the Sefer Torah, hence giving this day - the nickname of Simchat Torah/Rejoicing of the Torah (outside of Israel, there are two days of the holiday, and it is the second day that is specifically called Simchat Torah when the Torah is concluded). This holiday falls out on the 22nd of Tishrei, corresponding to the 22nd and LAST letter of the Alef Beit - Tav, which begins the word Torah and the name of the month of Tishrei, and is the EIGHTH day counting from the beginning of the holiday of Succot. And while in fact, Shemini Atzeret is a separate holiday, as we do not perform the Mitzvot of Succah & Lulav that we performed during the seven days of Succot, it is called Shemini/Eighth, as it is the culmination of the spirituality of Succot, in which there were Korbanot/sacrifices that were offered in the Temple during Succot that represented the 70 nations of the world, but it is on Shemini Atzeret that a single animal sacrifice of the same type of animal that was offered representing only the Jewish people, for it is on this final holiday that we are alone with Hashem so to speak, and while the Torah does not tell us to conclude the final part of the Sefer Torah on this day, it is obvious that on the final day of all the holidays beginning with Pesach/Passover, the holiday celebrating the birth of the Jewish nation, that this day of Shemini Atzeret is the FINAL expression of our special relationship to Hashem in time; and accordingly, we reciprocate Hashem's love for us by reading the FINAL section of the Torah - Hashem's holy wisdom, accompanied with celebration, dancing and rejoicing both before and after the reading of the last Parsha of the Sefer Torah, the holiest object in this world.

On this special day of Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, the dancing that we perform is called Hakafot/encirclements, which are performed around the Bima/reading stand on which the Sefer Torah is placed and read. Actually we do this on all of the seven days of Succot, going around once on the first six days of Succot, and seven times on the seventh and final day of Succot that is called Hoshana Raba. However, on this final day of the holidays, we do this both at night and daytime. Though we dance around many times over, there are technically seven Hakafot at night, and seven Hakafot in the daytime.

The word Hakafot is related to the word Tefuka, which means cycle, as in the cycle of the day. Just as a circle goes around and continues on ad infitum, so too with the structure of the year in which an anniversary of an event is celebrated, or a season occurs, and then is repeated annually, being called a cycle.

As related to this, just as this post is the concluding post near the end of the third year since I began www.gematriot.blogspot.com; so too, at the very end of the third chapter of Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers, it states "CYCLES (of the year) and GEMATRIOT are appetizers to wisdom."

With this said, the root of the word Hakafot or Hakafa (in singular) are the letters Hei, Kaf, Pei/Phei, which add up to the Gematria of 185. And indeed, counting the days from from the first day of the first holiday of Pesach marking the birth of the Jewish people through the final holiday of Shemini Atzeret, there are exactly 185 days. Hence, it is on the final eight days of this season, and especially on the final day, the 185th day, that we perform the most Hakafot, representing the climax of the relationship between Hashem and the Jew.

In the "off season" when we do not have Yomim Tovim, holidays in which work is forbidden besides cooking and utilizing a fire that already exists, aside from a leap year, there are either 168, 169 or 170 days. Now, the average is 169 days, as when you add 169 to 185, you have a total of 354 days, the average amount of days of the lunar cycle in twelve months time, being around 11 days less than the solar cycle of 365.2425 days. Thus, considering 169 days, the square root of 169 is 13, or 13*13, and as we know, it is both the Gematria of the words Echad/one and Ahava/one, both words representing the close relationship between a couple. And under the Chupa/bridal canopy, the bride encircles the groom seven times, just as seven Hakafot/encirclements are performed around the Bima on Hoshana Raba and Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, for we are reaching the final preparations of the Chupa under which Hashem and the Jews get married so to speak when the Torah is concluded, symbolized by the Talit that is spread over the congregants at the Bima at this time.
Indeed, the one who is called for the Aliya of the last part of the Torah is called Chatan Torah/Bridegroom of the Torah, and the one who is called for the Aliya of the beginning of the Torah immediately following this is called Chatan Bereishit/Bridegroom of Bereishit, being named after the first word of the Torah. And indeed, this first part of the Torah, which is about the seven days of the week of creation, contains a total of 469 words, and the word Chatuna/wedding is the Gematria of 469.

And as for Psalms Chapter 119 itself which is all about the Torah, the word HaMelamed/the teacher, as at the end of the first Beracha/blessing that we recite for learning Torah in the morning blessings each day where we say HaMelamed Torah L'Amo Yisrael "The One (Hashem) Who teaches Torah to His nation Israel", is the Gematria of 119. And while Hashem commands us to learn Torah, which is the greatest of all the Mitzvot, by reciting blessings for learning Torah each day, we come to appreciate the great value that the Torah represents. In similar fashion, Psalm 119, the longest chapter in verses in the entire Tanach, helps us achieve this appreciation as well. And as this psalm is composed of 22 sections of eight verses each, Shemini Atzeret as it occurs on the 22nd of Tishrei and the eighth day from Succot as the first word of the name of this holiday indicates, is the date that we celebrate our appreciation of the Torah to the maximum level possible with rejoicing and dancing, even more than on Shavuot that celebrates the giving of the Torah when our main service of the day is learning the Torah, but Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah is the holiday that is the ultimate expression of our feelings for the Torah.

Anyways, as for the long term lesson that we can learn from all this is that just as we see with the climax of Shemini Atzeret which marks the Chatuna/wedding of Hashem and the Jews (Note: Shavuot also represents this concept, but the difference between these two holidays and in terms of this concept will, with the help of G-d, be dealt with in another post), that it is followed with a non-holiday period (aside from Chanuka and Purim, which are not Yomim Tovim), mostly ordinary days in the cold of the year; so too, we reflect on our past from when we were born until we met our love and finally got married, this is followed by years of being married, with its various challenges of raising a family, making sufficient money to pay for all necessities, etc.

And so just as with the holidays, we are supposed to carry the holiness, spirituality, strength and encouragement that we received from the special holy days into the coming months when they are mostly ordinary days, sometimes in the freezing winter, busy with making a living which is a challenge on our time to serve Hashem in reciprocation of what Hashem did for us; so too, we have to remember that just because we got married out of love is no guarantee that things will always feel this way. We will indeed encounter our "cold" days, when things seem bleak - and we have to find a way to deal with it, to work together in unity and harmony, not just as Echad being the same Gematria as Ahava, but that the Echad - the ONE feeling, not just being in bed together, but truly feeling that as husband and wife, that we are one person, and so just as one person, unless he/she commits suicide, finds a way to solve problems regardless of the issue, so too, we have to realize as married people that divorce or arguing because we think in our own person that we are right is not an option. We have to look for the common good, because without everyone's opinion and discussing what will work best for everyone, then even a marriage with much love can be disrupted with needless strife at the very least.

Indeed, the final word of the Shisha Sidrei Mishna/Six Orders of the Mishna, is BaShalom/with peace, for it is only through peace that we can truly have order in our lives. Yes, there may be things that will attempt to disrupt our lives, to disrupt or marriages, but we have to bear in mind that these challenges exist for us to overcome them. There is no magic formula, but if we do our best, then certainly, Hashem will give us the assistance and strength to maintain what we have. Regardless of how little money or how much trouble is involved with raising children, the rules of Shalom Bayit has kept the Jewish marriage to stay together for the most part for nearly 4,000 years since the time of Abraham and Sara, which include the laws of Taharat Mishpacha/family purity, in which when a woman becomes a Niddah, receiving her period, husband and wife do not even touch each other until she is able to go to the Mikva/ritualarium nearly two weeks later. Through this, the bond between husband and wife are renewed, not taken for granted, giving them a chance to be best friends during the wife's impure period, giving them the chance to relate each other without needing to show romance, rather then be fizzled out when things don't turn out right, as it happens so often in the non-Jewish world.

Indeed, it has been only recently that divorce has touched the Jewish community big time, first with non-observant Jews (which didn't happen even much with this group two generations ago in the time of my grandparents), and then with Modern Orthodox Jews, and finally divorce has seeped at a much higher rate even in the Hasidic community. It seems that even observance of Taharat HaMishpacha is not much of a guarantee anymore. The reason for this is because most of us are affected to some degree by the non-Jewish world that we are all too exposed with. It wasn't like the times in the Jewish ghetto in Europe, for example, when the Jews were mostly living and working in the close knitted towns, and while most of them lived in poverty, it wasn't looked at as something that could brake up a marriage due to lack of money, but rather being Hashem's will, as most of them had faith and trust in Hashem, and if they had anyone to blame, it was the non-Jews who used to look for ways to make life unbearable for Jews.

Yes, there is an impurity that affects us that could G-d forbid affect our marriages as well, but we have to remember that the word Kiddushin, the act of marriage, is based on the word Kodesh or Kadosh, holy, and that our physical marriages echoes the spiritual marriage between Hashem and the Jews, and not what the Hollow-Wood world, rather than the Holy-Wood world, wants to portray what marriage is like when the actors in real life seem to have a hard time maintaining their romantic marriages, despite how much money or good looks that are propped up by expensive make-up. Indeed, this world is a true make-up of reality, but if we use this world as a spiritual means of getting closer to Hashem, then and only then do we give meaning to the existence of this world.

On a personal note, I am presently in my 512nd month of life, and the Gematria of the names of the letters for Chaf Beit is 512 (Chaf=100, Beit=412). And as I had mentioned the 22 Eishet Chayil stanzas as referring to the wife of valor, this 512nd month of mine is the month of Elul, and one of the phrases whose acronym spells Elul is Ani L'Dodi V'Dodi Li - "I am to my beloved, and my beloved is to me" (Song of Songs 6:3).

THE 22 RULES OF SHALOM BAYIT/MATRIMONIAL HARMONY

The number 119, the number of this post and the number of the chapter hosting
the most verses in the Bible, is composed of the numbers 1 & 19. The number ONE represents Adam, as the first letter of Adam's name is Alef=1, and indeed, he is called Odom HaRishon - Adam the First (of mankind); and his name of his wife Chava/Eve, the First Lady (yes my friends, there is only one First Lady) is the Gematria of 19. And as we mentioned earlier about the significance of the number eight in relationship to the 176 verses of Psalm 119, the first letter of Chava's name is Cheit=8. Moreover, the phrase Ba'al Tov/good husband (Note: This phrase is similar to the title of the founder of the Chasidic movement, the Ba'al Shem Tov) is the Gematria of 119.

With this, I want to conclude this post with 22 concrete ways of improving and maintaining one's marriage. This is a loose translation, or rather, adaptation of the Hebrew of a chapter in a Sefer/book called Shalom Bayit. While the author called these pointers "small ideas"; as we know, one small step sometimes goes a LONG way. Note that each pointer here begins with a capitalized word that begins with the first letter that corresponds to the English equivalent of the corresponding Hebrew letter in order of the 22 letters of the Alef Beit from Alef to Tav, just as there are 22 pointers here. Good luck!

1) ALWAYS maintain a warm and happy ATMOSPHERE in the home and prevent any atmosphere of sadness and depression wherever possible. ACCEPT everything with love, even when, G-d forbid, there is a crisis, and show a laughing and smiling face.

2) BRING a Shabbat atmosphere at the Shabbat table. Don't ever forgo Shabbat songs even if tired or rushed (sing at least one song). Speak words of Torah, and get the family to do the same.

3) GIVE your assistance in times of pressure and tiredness, such as on Fridays and the days on which Yom Tov/holiday begins in the evening, especially on the day on which the Seder night begins that evening. This will prevent pressure and tension in the home.

4) DO honor and praise each other, especially in front of the children, for three reasons: 1)Your worth will be much more meaningful to them. 2)They won't degrade you. 3)This will train them to respect their spouses when G-d willing they get married one day. DO tell your children from time to time, "You merited a good and precious mommy/daddy."

5) HOWEVER better the food or orderliness may be at other homes, do not ever mention this at your home. Likewise, women should not praise other men in front of their husbands, because doing so causes jealousy and hatred (and of course, men should behave the same way towards their wives).

6) VAST amounts of self control help prevent one from criticizing the other. Likewise, don't get involved with your spouse's affairs more than absolutely necessary. Don't undermine your wife's role as the mainstay of the home.

7) Zzzzz - You want to make sure that your wife gets a good night's sleep? Don't give her reason to worry more than absolutely necessary. For example, when you know that you will be arriving home late one evening, let her know beforehand so she won't be upset. For good news, such as improvement in one's health or financial situation, be sure to tell her immediately, so she won't continue being in tension and pain.

8) CHEMISTRY! It's not reserved just for the good ol' dating days, but it is something that you can maintain throughout your marriage. Make every attempt to surprise your wife from time to time with something that will make her happy. This can mean even a simple, cheap gift, but this shows that this gift is fitting for her and that you thought of her. Find good news to tell her from time to time, even if it means, for example, if you are in school and you learned well or did well on a test, or you were successful with a business deal.

9) TIRED of the same ol' thing every day? Not if you remember your spouse's birthday, or your wedding anniversary. Express your thoughts on the happy occasion and buy your spouse a gift.

10) YOU do not want to make a crisis in the home based on imaginary financial worries. Do not go overboard with the home expenses or follow your wife about every small purchase that she made. On the contrary, give her with a wide hand. Whenever possible, give her money that will cover the cost of the home needs, so she can purchase as per her wishes.

11) CALL out in praise of your wife's work - Cooking, Coordination (orderliness), Cleanliness, Clothes making such as sowing, etc. so she can see that her work is all worth it and will also give her the will and motivation to want to always work in this fashion.

12) LOW in cash when your wife asks you for money? Don't get angry at her. Just apologize to her that at the moment, you aren't able to fulfill her request, but at the moment that you have the money, you will give her money with an open hand according to her wishes.

13) MAKE sure to honor your spouse's parents and relatives. Even if you do find yourself in an argument with your spouse, do not ever put your spouse's family members in a bad light. Instead, find positive ways to put an end to conflict.

14) NOW for bonus points, praise your spouse in front of his/her parents that they merited to have such a good child and that you merited to have such a spouse. This will strengthen the peace between both families, and certainly between spouses.

15) SO what do you do after a long, hard day of work? After the children are asleep, from time to time, go out together for a short walk near home so you can talk together calmly about home matters, what needs improvement, education, etc. SPEAK about relevant Torah matters such as Jewish law or ethics that can lead to a discussion. This walk will calm your wife very much and will give her the strength and energy throughout the following day to work rather than be tired, as she waits for these precious moments all day long.

16) ALWAYS looking for improvement? Good. Have a weekly meeting with your children for a few minutes. This will crystallize the family very much. Make sure to speak quietly and calmly about what needs improvement at home and school.

17) PAY close attention to when your wife speaks, even if you come home sometimes being tired from work or school. It's important that your wife sees that you pay close attention to her and that you encourage her wherever possible.

18) TSURIS (Yiddish for trouble, G-d forbid)? Dear wives, you don't need this from your husband. Think of dressing up with something new or attractive matching clothes as making TSIMMES - another Yiddish word for a cultural Jewish dish consisting of various types of foods that you sweeten. I don't mean when you dress to go out, but when you dress to be attractive to your dear husbands. In fact, when you do dress accordingly, you should think to yourself that the only reason that you are doing this is for your husband so he will find your attractive. Make sure to do the same at home and not just outside. If anything, you should look better at home, since your husband finds himself right next to you. Your goal of dressing good needs to be for him.

19) CAN you fulfill your wife's request now, such as clothing or home furniture? Yes? Then do it now. Don't fool your wife telling her that you will do what she wants and then push it off for some other time. Behaving in the wrong fashion in this regard involves not only the violation of the Torah prohibition of stealing someone's mind (fooling someone), but also causes your wife great disappointment when she is waiting for the particular item for nothing. Therefore, if you think that you are not able to fulfill her request at this time, then tell her straight out. Pacify her by saying that at the moment, you aren't able to fulfill her request, but when
G-d willing, you will have much more, you will make your best effort with G-d's help to fulfill her wishes.

20) RIGHT? Wrong when it comes to fighting with your spouse. If you do find yourselves, G-d forbid, fighting with each other, do not ever boast about your parents, saying such as "Do you know who my parents are? My family is very important and educated, etc". You see, if you aren't behaving well yourself, boasting about your family is not going to help you look very good. If anything, if what you are saying is true, this makes it all the more important to improve yourself even more so. Boasting as per your family, especially during a fight, is also your lowering your spouse's parents, family, etc. So, in order to be really right, examine your own behavior, and behave according to the Torah way, and in the ways of Jewish law.

21) SHOULD you hold back from telling your spouse things that you should be telling him/her, you won't be making things better in the long run. Right from the start of the marriage, be frank and open with your spouse. Especially for husbands, don't attempt to hide matters from your wife, especially when it comes to money matters. In a game of hide and seek, there is no hiding without seeking, and certainly not in real life, when hiding crucial issues from your wife will only peek her curiosity more and more, as well as disrespecting her honor and standing.

22) TRUE to your wife at all times? Of course you need to respect her and make her happy. In doing so, it may be tempting when you come home from work or school and you see your wife crying because a neighbor or a relative annoyed her, to hurry and fight with that neighbor or relative due to your love for your wife. However, you must remember to always do things in a calm manner, listen to both sides of the story, and behave according to what the Torah commands.

That's it for this year of 5771. If we conclude this year with making peace with one another, then we will have a very good chance of Hashem granting us the following year with peace, despite what is presently going on in this world as of late. For peaceful marriages, it is a LONG journey in this world, but making it a peaceful marriage will be well worth it, as you will see when you are sitting in your rocking chairs in your old age seeing your grandchildren playing happily.

See you next year right after Simchat Torah in Israel, G-d willing. Have a happy and peaceful new year.

EIGHTH Day of Elul, 5771 - TWENTY-TWO days to the end of Year 5771

#118 - Thanking HASHEM for Being ALIVE

2011-08-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

It was only like an hour ago that good news came my way in time for this post. In Japan, a non-guilty verdict was laid down today for Yoel Goldstein, one of the three Hasidic boys who got arrested for unintentionally carrying drugs into that country thanks to a lowlife who used these boys as suckers due to his own greediness for money. While Mr. Goldstein is not totally out of the red yet, as first of all, prosecutors have up to 14 days to appeal a non-guilty verdict, and then he has to deal with immigration due to his long overexpired 90 day passport permission of stay in that country, it is clear that when we do our part with both prayers AND efforts, that Hashem helps out along the way. Even so, the fate of Yaakov Yosef Greenwald, the other Hasidic boy who has already been sentenced with eight years of prison along with harsh labor, is still heavily relying on others (with his full faith and trust in Hashem as evidenced by letters that he wrote) who are making every effort that he spend his prison time in Israel instead, but this has yet to be seen.

Indeed, as the first and last verse of Psalm 118 (and this is my 118th Post) states - "Give thanks to Hashem for He is good, for his kindness is everlasting". While there are a number of verses in Tehillim/Psalms that is this very verse; if I am not mistaken, Psalm 118 is the only chapter in the entire Tanach/Bible made up of 929 chapters in which the first and last verse consist of the exact same words.

To note, this psalm consists of 29 verses, and today is the 29th day of Av, near the conclusion of the month (the last date of the month, the 30th, only occurs in some months, and is already called the first day of Rosh Chodesh of the coming month). And as this month of Av is the month that the Jewish people mourned for Aaron the High Priest as he passed away on Rosh Chodesh Av, it's noteworthy to mention that in verse 3 of this psalm, it states "Let the House of Aaron now declare: For His kindness is everlasting".

As the 1st and 29th of any given month occur on the same day of the week; in this month, these two days fell out on the second day of the week. And as we see in the Torah about the creation of the world, of the six days of the work week, only for this day of the week is there no mention of the words Ki Tov "And G-d saw THAT IT WAS GOOD". The reason for this is since Hashem didn't finish His project on the waters on this day, and there was discord between the upper and the lower waters, He did not wish to state "that it was good".

The first letters of this phrase Ki Tov - Kaf & Tet - is the Hebrew number for 29. It makes sense, because just as Hashem declared whenever He finished a project "that it was good"; so too, as the month concludes, the number 29 - the concluding date of the month also declares, so to speak - Ki Tov - one more month that had a piece in the history of the world that was created by Hashem to accomplish a little more of what Hashem wants. This is most especially applicable to Jews who are the very reason that Hashem created the universe (a fact that non-observant Jews, as being assimilated in the non-Jewish world, may not want to admit, because they are afraid of showing that they are "racist" against non-Jews). And as we see that when it comes to time, Hashem handed over the power of declaring a new month to the Jewish
people - when it former times, it was dependent on the sighting of the new moon, while today is based on the Jewish calendar that was already determined by the Jewish court when it felt that due to the increasing troubles happening to the Jewish people, that there would a possibility that the sighting of the new moon was cease and so it felt that it needed to produce a Jewish calendar to insure that we would know when to observe the Jewish holidays.

And we see that just as today - the second day of the week which is not marked by the words Ki Tov in the Torah, is the date of Kaf Teit, the initials of Ki Tov; so too, the Hasidic young man Yoel Goldstein, though he seemed to be in not a very good situation as far as the circumstances that could have led to be given a harsh sentence, was given a non-guilty verdict, which will G-d willing be the end of his legal battle, and can continue on with his life in Israel and hopefully be able to marry like many if not most Hasidic people do at the age of 20. As it is, he already got wasted and snatched of over three years of young life in which are some of the greatest formative years in Yeshiva learning, while he had only a fraction of Yeshiva time learning all by himself with no study partner, no Rebbe, and not being in a religious setting of even praying in a synagogue.

THE BRIDGE BETWEEN THE MONTHS OF AV & ELUL

Today, the 29th of the month being Erev Rosh Chodesh, the day preceding the beginning of the new month, is also known as Yom Kippur Kattan "Minor Yom Kippur", as there are those who fast and/or pray special Selichot prayers asking Hashem for forgiveness for sins, the same way that we do it on the annual Yom Kippur, as it is a matter of starting the new month with a fresh slate. This is especially so with this Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul, as the month of Elul itself is a month that we prepare ourselves spiritually, improving ourselves by making sure we do all the Mitzvot/commandments that we are supposed to observe and behaving better in our characteristic traits, before the High Holidays when we are annually judged by Hashem.

Historically, today's date of 29 Av was the day in between Moses' second 40 day period on Mt. Sinai asking Hashem for forgiveness for the Jews' participation in the worship of the Golden Calf and the third 40 day period on Mt. Sinai when Hashem rewrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets that Moses brought up with him, culminating with Yom Kippur when Hashem announced his formal forgiveness for the Jews. Similarly, today is a time to reflect on our past which may include sins and telling Hashem that we are sorry, and thinking of our future working on concrete steps to help prevent spiritual mishaps from reoccurring and finding ways to improve our lives spiritually, showing that while we may have failings here and there, in essence, we really want to do the right thing, making it all much easier for us in our judgement from Hashem on the High Holidays.

THE CONNECTION TO SHIMON

The month is not quite up yet. We still have the 30rd of Av, though it may be called the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, as we have two days of Rosh Chodesh this time. In fact, we will be saying the Hallel prayer tomorrow morning, which concludes with Psalm 118.

As I mentioned in Post 115 this month, this month of Av corresponds to the Tribe of Shimon. Moreover, the consecutive numbers - 115, 116, 117, 118 - add up to the total of 466, the Gematria of the name Shimon. As it turned out, I wrote my 115th through 118th posts in this month of Av corresponding to the Tribe of Shimon.

And as connected to the number 29, the number of today's date, it is on the fifth day of Chanuka, which falls out on the 29th of Kislev, that we read the offerings of that the leader of the Tribe of Shimon brought in the Mishkan/Tabernacle. Also, it was on the 29th of Tishrei that Shimon HaTzadik, the last of the 120 members of the Anshei Knesset HaGedola/Men of the Great Assembly and Cohen Gadol/High Priest for 40 years, that he passed away.

And with this, I have an amazing Gematria ride to offer you. If you have seen what I am about to write here in another source, please let me know, but I have something very original to offer here - exclusive on www.gematriot.blogspot.com.

First, let's take the FIRST word of the Torah - Bereishit.

Next, let's take the SECOND word of the SECOND verse of the SECOND Aliya of the SECOND Parsha (Va'era) of the SECOND Sefer (Shemot/Exodus) - Shimon (6:15).

Next, let's take the THIRD word of the THIRD verse of the THIRD Aliya of the THIRD Parsha (Shemini) of the THIRD Sefer (Vayikra/Leviticus) - M'Lifnei (10:2).

Next, let's take the FOURTH word of the FOURTH verse of the FOURTH Aliya of the FOURTH Parsha (Shelach) of the FOURTH Sefer (Bamidar/Numbers) - Figreichem (14:29).

Finally, let's take the FIFTH word of the FIFTH verse of the FIFTH Aliya of the FIFTH Parsha (Shoftim) of the FIFTH Sefer (Devarim/Deutronomy) - Acheihem (18:18). By the way, bear in mind, we began reading Parshat Shoftim - the FIFTH Parsha of the FIFTH Sefer/Book - at the end of the FIFTH month of the Jewish calendar, as we count the months from Nissan, the month of the Exodus marking the birth of the Jewish people.

Now, let's add up the Gematriot of these five words - Bereishit (913), Shimon (466), M'Lifnei (210), Figreichem (353), Acheihem (64) - and presto, the winning number is 2006.

As we know, we read the weekly Parsha in the synagogue on Shabbat morning between the prayers of Shacharit & Mussaf. Now, in some versions of the Siddur/prayer book, in the middle one of the seven blessings recited in the main prayer of Shemoneh Esrei on Shabbat, near the conclusion of this blessing, there is the word V'Yanuchu (they will rest) followed by one of three words. In the Arvit prayer of Shabbat night, the word is Bah/in it (feminine form), in the Shacharit & Mussaf prayers of Shabbat morning, the word is Bo/in it (masculine form) and in the Mincha prayers of Shabbat afternoon, the word is Bam/in them. Now, the letters that make up the word Bo in the Shacharit & Mussaf prayers of Shabbat morning are Beit and Vav. As a number, as the Beit becomes the numerical value of 2,000 at the beginning of a number, it is the number 2006 - the same exact number as the Gematria of the five above words in their respective number positions corresponding to the number of the book in the Sefer Torah from which the weekly Parsha is read on Shabbat morning! It is the very fact that the sole word that is changed in the ending of the middle blessing of the Shabbat Shemoneh Esrei is this very word of "in" - Bah, Bo, or Bam, that zeroes in on this amazing hint to the fact that part of the celebration of resting on Shabbat is reading the weekly Parsha from the Sefer Torah on Shabbat morning!

Of course, such a Torah thought as the one that I just mentioned here could only come from someone whose name is Shimon, as the name Shimon is one of these five words in the Parshiyot corresponding to their resective numbers. But in all seriousness, there is a lesson to be learned here - Hashem has amazing hints to show us, but we are the ones who have to take the initiative to show the beauty of Torah to others to show them that the Torah is much more than a history or factoid book. Hashem shows us all these hints to tell us that Hashem has a plan, and there is a purpose to what Hashem shows us. If a miracle - the word that we use for something that happens beyond the forces of nature - takes place, it is because wants to show us that the fact that G-d, so to speak, went out of His way for us, means that we have a purpose in life, and that the miracle that took place was in order that we can continue, or have a second chance, in fulfilling that purpose that we were born in this world to fulfill.

Along the above in reference to my name Shimon, speaking of reading the weekly Parsha in the Sefer Torah, the Gematria of Kriat HaTorah/Reading of the Torah, is the same as my full name Shimon Matisyahu (1327). Indeed, I was a Torah reader for many years in the United States - though at the time, I only had the name Shimon.

Until now, I wrote about my name in connection with the foundation of the Torah She'B'Ketav/Written Torah - the Chumash/Penteteuch, the contents of the Sefer Torah.
Now, I will write about my name in connection with the foundation of the Torah She'B'Al Peh/Oral Torah - the Mishna or Mishnayot. Perhaps the most popular worldwide Mishna study is the daily study of two Mishnayot a day, known as the Mishna Yomit. Now, the word Yomit/daily (feminine form) itself is the same Gematria as Shimon (466). The total phrase - Mishna Yomit - is the Gematria of my second name Matisyahu (861)! Along these lines, adding the Gematria of the word Mishna (395) to the Gematria of my first name Shimon (466), it also adds up to the Gematria of my second name Matisyahu.

But I'm not quite finished yet. Learning two Mishnayot a day, it takes a total of 71 months to learn the entire Shisha Sidrei Mishna, all six volumes of the Mishna. In fact, the first name of the founder of the Mishna Yomit program - Rabbi Yonah Stencil - is the Gematria of 71! Now, the Gematria of the word Mishna (395) plus 71 again yields the Gematria of my first name Shimon (466)! And speaking of the number 71, there are exactly 71 chapters of Seder Nashim, the third volume of the Mishna, and the name of this volume - Nashim (women) - has the same Gematria of my wife's full Hebrew name Yael Miriam (400)!

And in connection with the number of this post, the Talmud (Shabbat 31a) quotes a verse from Isaiah 33:6 in which six consecutive words correspond to the six orders of the Mishnayot in order. The word Hosen (strength) in Isaiah corresponds to Seder Nashim, and the Gematria of this word Hosen is 118, the number of this post (in the Talmud text, it is spelled with a Vav which would change the Gematria except for the fact that in the original text of the Tanach/Bible, it is spelled without a Vav). While there are reasons given for the connection between this word and Seder Nashim, it is true that the word Hosen, consisting of the letters Cheit, Samech, Noon Sofit, is similar to the word Hasan/bridegroom, both three letter words beginning with a Cheit and ending with a Noon Sofit; and indeed, the last tractate of Seder Nashim - Kiddushin, deals with the laws of getting married.

Now, the Gematria of the phrase Shem Shimon - the name Shimon - is the same as the word Mishnayot (806). And as per learning two Mishnayot a day, the Gematria of the phrase Beit (equals 2 as the numerical value of the letter Beit) Mishnayot is 808, and the phrase Yom Hei Kodoshim - Day Five (of Parshat) Kedoshim - the date of my birth - when spelled equidistantly in the Chumash which only occurs once - is spelled every 808th letter! In fact, this number has popped up in my life more than once, including the number of the condominium unit in South Florida that my late grandparents (my mother's parents) lived in.

And speaking of my birthdate - which on the monthly calendar, is Rosh Chodesh Iyar (1 Iyar), mentioned twice in the beginning of the 34th Parsha of the Torah - Parshat Bamidbar. Accordingly, as per my name Shimon being the combined Gematria of the word Mishna and the number 71, the 34th Masechta/tractate of the Mishna - Masechet Sanhedrin - consists of 71 Mishnayot, and as I had mentioned in my 71st Post (June '10), this is no coincidence, as there were exactly 71 members of the Sanhedrin, the (real) Jewish Supreme Court, as well as the fact that the 71st Mitzvah of the Torah is the prohibition of cursing the head of the Sanhedrin which consists of 71 members.
And the name of this week's Parsha, which is also the first word of this Parsha, is Shoftim, and the first Pasuk/verse of this Parsha is explained in the first chapter of Masechet Sanhedrin in the Talmud.

SPEAKING OF THE NUMBER 71...

Indeed, as I just saw today at http://lazerbrody.typepad.com, Hurricane Jonah is headed towards North Carolina. And the reason given for this - Jonathan Pollard is being served major injustice by the United States government having him rot in a North Carolina cell. The name Jonah is quite similar to the name Jonathan. Moreover, it was none other than the prophet Jonah who was instructed by Hashem to warn the non-Jews of the big city Nineveh to repent or else they would have its city overturned in 40 days. In no time, the inhabitants of Nineveh did major repentance and so were spared of the potential punishment. Now, Hashem is sending Hurricane Jonah to the very state where the United States is violating its own laws of punishment terms for Jonathan Pollard who committed one count of handing over classified information to an ally country punishable with a 2-4 year maximum prison sentence, and has been wasting away for almost 26 years with no possible hope of Obama's pardon that would immediately free him once and for all. To this, I add that as the Gematria of Yonah/Jonah is 71, this is the number that represents the Sanhedrin consisting of 71 members, the highest Jewish court in power and numbers. And this hurricane taking place - in the week of Parshat Shoftim (judges)!

At our end, the Jewish people are compared to a Yonah/dove, and we are just about to enter the 40 solemn day period from the beginning of Elul until after Yom Kippur. It seems that one of the reasons why we reading the section of Tanach called Jonah on the afternoon of Yom Kippur is because it is at that time that we are close to the finish line of the 40 days, just as the people of Nineveh in Jonah were given 40 days to repent. And the number of this year - 5771, ends off wit the number 71. Indeed, there is no coincidence that Hurricane Jonah - on its way to wreak havoc and destruction around the area where a member of the Jewish nation which is compared to a dove - Jonathan Pollard, has been illegally being detained in prison for so many years, was named as such IN THIS VERY HEBREW YEAR THAT ENDS WITH THE NUMBER 71 - THE GEMATRIA OF THIS VERY NAME YONAH/JONAH! And as the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish Supreme Court, consisted of 71 judges, it is as saying that Hashem is now on the height of judging the United States for how it is treating Jonathan Pollard.

And while we are at the eve of the final month of the Jewish calendar year, let's note the number that is spelled as the reverse of the number of this Jewish year - 1775. In the beginning of the 23rd Parsha - Parshat Pekudei, it mentions that the silver money used to count the Jews at the time of the building of the Mishkan/Tabernacle came out to a total of 100 talents and 1775 Shekalim. Now, for whatever reason, the same word in Hebrew for silver - Kesef, is also the meaning of the word money (or the other way around, depending on what came first). And as we know, the highest priority of a person's physical survival is food and drink.

Accordingly, the 23rd chapter of Tehillim/Psalms, consisting of 57 words, bearing in mind that the word Zahn/sustains or nourishes is the Gematria of 57, is about how Hashem provides for us, and is customarily recited at a meal, especially on Shabbat. And as mentioned in Perek Shira, a list of verses recited by the various forces of creation, it is the Yonah/dove, quoting from the Talmud (Eruvin 18b), who states to Hashem, "Master of the universe, may my food come from Your hands though bitter as an olive leaf rather than through the hands of a creature of flesh and blood though sweet as honey". This was the very message that the dove conveyed to Noah after he sent it to check the world following the flood to see if the world was sufficiently dry to be inhabited once again, and returning with an olive leaf in its beak as an affirmative answer, the dove was saying the same thing to Noah, and shortly afterwards, it left the Ark for good, though Noah still had food for it, because the dove preferred to eat what Hashem would directly prepare for it. Bearing in mind that the Hebrew word for a dove is 71, we have the connection between the two numbers 57 - the number of words in Psalm 23 which is about Hashem's sustenance, and 71 - the Gematria of the word Yonah/dove which prefers sustenance directly from Hashem, and these two numbers put together spells our Hebrew year 5771!

OH YES, THANKING HASHEM FOR BEING ALIVE

While for some people, this may mean being alive in this world; for a good Jew who knows something of what the Torah says, the ultimate being alive is in the world of truth, the eternal world where we will receive our eternal reward. The life in this world is merely a means to reach this ultimate goal; and hence, while one may want to live a long life to enjoy their family, especially what is called "Nachas" or "Yiddishe Nachas", it is only in this world that we are able to do Mitzvot/commandments that will earn us the key to eternal life; and hence, the blessing of Arichut Yomim - long life in this world, takes on a whole another dimension.

While non-Jews may find happiness and find their lives to be fulfilling through certain ways, the ultimate life of a Jew is the Torah; and hence is called Torat Chaim - Torah of life. It is learning the Torah and following its laws that gives true meaning to the life of a Jew. Without out, many Jews, even without learning a word of Torah, feel that despite their materialistic success, feel that they are missing something, though usually, they can't quite pinpoint to the source of their awkward feeling. There are those Jews with these type of feelings who do some searching for something that they haven't come across before or haven't been open to before, and is at times the impetus of finding the Torah way of life, and then everything seems to click afterwards.

Taking the number of this post - 118, you first have the number one which represents Hashem as "The One", and then the number 18 - Chai, the shortened form of the word Chaim/life. In fact, in the long 51 verse chapter of Psalm 18, the 47th verse begins with the words Chai Hashem - "Hashem lives...". In fact, both Psalm 18 and Psalm 118 is about thanking Hashem for the things that He does for us - though in Psalm 18, it is King David who is personally thanking Hashem for the things that He had done for him during his lifetime, and in Psalm 118, it is basically us Jews who are thanking Hashem "Give thanks to Hashem for He is good, for his kindness is everlasting". And even at this, the last nine verses of this Psalm, as the conclusion of Hallel, are each recited twice in reminiscence of what took place leading up to the coronation of King David as the future king by the prophet Samuel when as far as even his own family was concerned, King David was not only expected to be the least candidate from the rest of his seven brothers to be the king, but his family, including his own righteous father Yishai, looked down on him so much that they didn't even think of calling him from the field where he was a shepherd, until Samuel the prophet asked King David's family if there was any other family member, as Hashem told Samuel to come to this family to annoint one of the family members as king, but Samuel knew that it was none of King David's brothers. It is these final nine verses that describe what took place in this story, ending off with the same verse that begins this psalm.

And as per the above about the five words in the Torah that added up the number 2006, it is the word from this week's Parshat Shoftim that is located in the 18th verse of the 18th chapter. While it must be borne in mind that unlike the Aliyot, the apportionment of the numbered chapters and verses were not put together from great rabbis, but from non-Jews, there is no such thing as coincidence. You see, the Torah, as represented by the Sefer Torah is our LIFE (Chai=18), and this week's Parshat Shoftim is always read on Shabbat in the beginning of the month of Elul, the preparatory month immediately preceding the High Holidays when Hashem judges us - which includes judging us for life if we so deserve it. While no doubt that this refers to physical life, as is clearly indicated in the famous U'Netaneh Tokef prayer listing the various ways that Hashem judges us, Hashem also judges us if we are worthy of the spiritual life - the ultimate life that counts, which is based on our weight of Mitzvot & Aveirot, commandments and sins. You see, if it was purely a physical life that Hashem judges us by; certainly, many if not most of the non-observant Jews would have died long ago. However, the biggest fear that we have to have is whether or not Hashem will forgive us for our sins. At the very least, we hope that we will have more in the weight of our Mitzvot than in our Aveirot, so we could be inscribed in the "Book of Life", which determines us to be like the Tzadikim, who are certainly worthy of the eternal reward.

And as we are speaking of the 18th verse of the 18th chapter of the FIFTH book of the Torah, we learn in Kabbalah that there are FIVE parts to the soul - Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechida. In fact, the fourth one Chaya, consists of the letters Chai and the letter Hei=5, for it is the soul that is the true living source of a human being, for unlike all other creatures when they die, they have no spiritual immortality, the living force of a human being is the soul, and so he or she lives on even after the physical death, except that it is at that time that it lives the real life, which is virtually not understood in our physical beings.

Indeed, we have much to thank Hashem for being alive. In my personal life, I had two close calls that happened to me in the coming month of Elul, one on the 3rd of Elul 5754/1994, in the week of Parshat Shoftim, when on my way to work driving on the highway, my car span out of control due to light puddles of rain that most fortunately did not roll over or hit anything, but made an eventual stop facing the side of oncoming traffic but having sufficient time to start my car, turn around and continue on, and the other on Shabbat Parshat Shoftim, the 4th of Elul in 5747/1987 (as it occurs this year) when on my way home from synagogue following Shabbat morning services, I was facing a huge dog out of the blues which was ready to attack me, but following me screaming and running across the street where cars where moving in opposite directions, and then the huge dog chasing after me got stuck between two cars facing opposite directions, I had sufficient time to run fast enough so that by the time the dog got out of its situation, I was too far for it to continue chasing me.

In both of these miracles, not only was my life spared, but aside from being hugely frightened, I was not even injured in the slightest way. While at the time that these events happened, it was hard for me to appreciate the fact that my life and health was spared as I was extremely frightened, Hashem, the Shofeit Kol Ha'Aretz - Judge of the world, clearly spared me of what He may not do at times for others.

Yes, we need to think of our purpose in life. If we think about it long enough, we will realize that with every breath, Hashem give us the chance to repent and better ourselves to earn our eternal reward. Yes indeed, we THANK HASHEM FOR BEING ALIVE.

29 Av, 5771 - Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul

P.S. The time of this post shows 7:17 AM. In Psalm 118, mentioned in this 118th post, the first and last verse which is the exact same words, consists of SEVEN words; and the word Tov/good, the least in Gematria numerical value in this verse, equals SEVENTEEN!

#117 - The Original Lovesong

2011-08-15T05:07:00.000-07:00

Today's date - Tu B'Av (15 Av), means different things to different people. Known as Chag Ha'Ahava "Holiday of Love", bachelors and married people, regardless of being religious or secular in Israel, have no problem celebrating this day. On this date in former times, as recorded in the final Mishna of Tractate Ta'anit as mentioned by Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel, the unmarried women used to have dances in the vineyard in their quest of finding a guy to marry.

For those who are serious about Torah learning, our rabbis tell us to increase our learning at nights beginning with Tu B'Av, as it is around this time that the nights get longer, as mentioned in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish Law (71:1), which was learned a couple days ago by many Jews who learn a few chapters of Halacha/Jewish law a day in the cycle of Halacha Yomit.

More on this later, but first, let's talk about the number of this post - 117. As related to the Tanach/Bible, it is significant in two ways. The first is that the shortest of the 929 chapters of the Tanach is Psalms Chapter 117, consisting of two verses, 16 words, 62 letters. It states "Praise Hashem all you nations, praise Him all you assemblies. For He has strengthened His kindness over us, and the truth of Hashem is forever, Hallelujah!"

The question may be asked, why should the nations praise Hashem for what He had done for the Jews? If anything, the nations want to do away with us, let alone praise Hashem for the good that He does for a different nation?

In fact, a non-Jew once asked a rabbi this very question (at least the first sentence of the previous paragraph). The rabbi responded "If anything, you (non-Jews) are the very ones who know what G-d has done for us, because certainly there have been times that you attempted to plot things against us, but G-d prevented you from doing so. And when you will finally see the truth at the end when G-d will reveal Himself to the whole world, you will stop your anti-Semitism, at which point - all of you will praise G-d for the good that He has done for us".

There is no doubt that deep down inside, the non-Jews are jealous of us being G-d's Chosen People, and will look to blame us - logical or not - for what goes wrong. The fact that the Bible is replete with stories of those who attempted to do away with us didn't seem to help much throughout the ages, even as the Crusaders on the way to Israel stopped by hundreds of Jewish communities in Europe to murder and rape them, and Christians executed millions of Jews for nearly 2,000 years in the name of the Christian god in their attempt to "save our souls". And today's anti-Semitic shtick is to demand of us Jews to help the poor "Palestinians" - who by the way, with their Moslem religion, are for the most part disrespectful to Christians - by giving them a homeland, despite the fact that there is no such country as Palestine mentioned even in the New Testament, and that the boundaries of Israel for the Jews are well laid out in the Old Testament. And of course, we are accused of being the rich bankers of the world, even though the world's richest are not Jewish.

And this leads us to the second thing of the Tanach as related to the number 117, for Shir HaShirim/Song of Songs, a lovesong between G-d and the Jews, consists of 117 verses. It is this book of the Bible that has had much influence on romance, especially in Israeli culture (just ask my Israeli wife). If the Christians, who have a literal translation of the Bible, would have had long ago the translation of Artscroll on this book that is based on Rashi (whose name Shlomo is the same name as the author of Shir HaShirim - Shlomo HaMelech/King Solomon), displaying the great love between G-d and the Jews, no doubt that if G-d would have allowed it, we would have been decimated long ago from the great jealousy they would have had if they really knew what this book was saying.

One of the shortest books of the Tanach consisting of 117 verses, it is what we would call short and sweet, in a similar fashion to the shortest Bible chapter Psalm 117 which describes in 16 Hebrew words what the world will be like in the Messianic Era when even the non-Jews will be praising G-d for what He has done for us Jews. It is on this book that Rabbi Akiva states that the whole world was not worthwhile to be in existence until the day that Shir HaShirim was given to the Jews, for all of Scriptures are holy, while Shir HaShirim is holy of holies (Mishna Yadayim 3:5). While in the context of the Mishna, the Halacha does not follow Rabbi Akiva who mentioned this in asserting his position that the scroll of Shir HaShirim is not prone to spiritual impurity, his praise about this Holy Book was well received, mentioned by Rashi in his very first note on this book.

This book is recited by many on every Friday afternoon in spiritual preparation for the Sabbath, especially by Sephardic congregations, as the theme of this book relates to the Sabbath being a time that we show our love for Hashem as we have more time to devote to spiritual activities. It is also one of the five Megillot that are read by congregations during the course of the year, being recited on the Sabbath morning that falls out during the week long holiday of Passover, as it was a time that Hashem showed His love for us by redeeming us from the land of slavery, even though we were not so spiritually worthy, as we had yet to receive the Torah. And it was only seven weeks later when Hashem gave us the Torah, that Hashem so to speak wed us, as we see in this book that Hashem is compared to the bridegroom and the Jews are compared to the bride.

WHY 117 VERSES?

The Peninim Yekarim states that King Solomon, thinking that with his great Torah wisdom that he was invulnerable, did not observe what the Torah says about not having an excess of women, horses, and money. In general, the Torah doesn't give reasons for every single Mitzva/commandment, because if it would, some people would think that the reason doesn't apply to them and so they don't have to follow the particular commandment. For these three commandments for the king not to have these excesses, the Torah states that this is in order that his heart doesn't turn away from Hashem.
Hence, since for each of these three sins, he deserved a set of 39 lashes, coming out to a total of 117 lashes, he composed Shir HaShirim of 117 verses corresponding to this.

The question can be asked, he wrote three books during his lifetime - Shir HaShirim in his youth, Mishlei/Proverbs in his middle age, and Kohelet/Ecclesiastes in his old age (Talmud Bava Batra 15a). Though in fact, King Solomon lived only for 52 years, it is clear that he didn't get to the highlight of his accumulation of women and wealth when he began being king at the age of 12. So, if he wrote Shir HaShirim in his youth, how would this relate to being any type of atonement or realization of doing something wrong at a young age? If anything, it is the book of Kohelet that shows how King Solomon finally came to realize that everything is vanity of vanities except fear of G-d and observance of G-d's commandments. Shir HaShirim, on the contrast, shows that in the literal sense, you have two lovers who don't think much about the seriousness of life while enjoying their time together.

Some may want to answer that King Solomon prophetically wrote 117 verses of Shir HaShirim without realizing himself the significance of this number. But at a closer look, knowing Rashi's commentary on this book, as well as other Talmudic and Midrashic sources, this book also mentions the times when the Jews were in trouble for their sins; but nevertheless, G-d still was merciful to them. The point being made here is that indeed, the ride for the Jews wasn't always one smooth ride, for they fooled around with worshiping the Golden Calf, cried like babies believing the slanderous report of the spies about Israel for which they perished in the desert, and other no-nos along the way. It is clear even from this book that there is a price to pay for doing sins; and it is precisely as a parent that punishes a child for doing wrong to prevent that child from doing wrong in the future that would otherwise allow him or her to get into real big trouble later in life.

In King Solomon's case, he started off with the great frills of palace life, had the respect of all the world kings of the time who payed homage to him, had business dealings going for him right and left, and no wars to contend with unlike his father King David who lived a life of suffering and fought wars for many years. However, unfortunately, these luxuries paid on a toll on his spiritual life, following which, things did not come out quite rosy for him later on, and was warned by a prophet that his kingdom would not last in the future the way it was early on, and King Solomon refused to listen to this. Even of his 1,000 wives/concubines whom he married following the conversion of the non-Jewish ones to Judaism, many of them said "yes, yes, yes" to receive the Jewish certificate, but afterwards, it was back to idolworshiping; and even as King Solomon himself wrote in Kohelet, he did not find one woman who was right for himself (aside from what was under the sheets).

As it turned out, though he never reached the point of worshiping idols like some future Judean kings did, the Tanach testifies that in fact, he was influenced from his women and wealth. It reached the point that it states point blank that King Solomon built an altar for idolatry. While the rabbis explain (Talmud Shabbat 56b) that it means that he only thought of doing so, but didn't actually do it, the fact that he even thought of doing so, despite his great righteousness up to that point, his great Torah scholarship, and being the very one who had the First Temple constructed and led the Temple dedication ceremony, shows that when we don't follow the Torah like we are supposed to, there will be a breakdown in our level of spirituality.

And this is the ultimate lesson of Shir HaShirim. Yes, Hashem showed much love and mercy for us. Yes, we did accept the Torah with no strings attached. However, did we always keep up with our responsibilities as G-d's Chosen Nation? Can we say that we didn't deserve what bad things happened to us as a result of our shortcomings?

And so, what happened to the Jewish nation for thinking that they were smarter than Hashem happened in similar fashion to King Solomon who also thought that in certain ways, he was smarter than Hashem, smarter than the psychology of what happens to people when they get carried on with lust for women and greediness for money. But what he forgot while starting off with these frills in his younger years is that they would distract him to at least some extent from his purpose in life. While he may have thought while writing Shir HaShirim that perhaps only other Jews may not follow everything that the Torah says because they don't have the great wisdom that he had, it was just as important for him if not more so to understand this as well. He indeed knew what the Torah says and how important it is to observe what the Torah says, but his mistake is that he felt that he didn't need the safeguards that most other Jews need because he thought he had the weapons of wisdom to fight off the evil inclination. However, what he didn't realize early on is that in the heat of passion and blindness of money, people do things that may not be logical, being run over by their emotions, forgetting that despite their chances of being caught, demoted, or thrown in a prison cell, the animalistic part of them takes over, and many times, only after seeing that they will have to suffer the consequences of their foolish actions do they regret not behaving in a better fashion.

Speaking of King Solomon's women, the Talmud tells us (Berachot 8a) that as long as his Torah teacher Shimi was alive, he didn't marry the daughter of the Egyptian king.
It seems that his mind was set on marrying her one day, despite the fact that from the Torah, it is only the third generation of Egyptians and on following conversion to Judaism that a Jew who is not a convert can marry them. However, while he rationalized this, at least he waited until Shimi was no longer alive.

To understand the dynamics of this, Shimi wasn't always someone who loved King Solomon's father King David. Quite the contrary, when King David fled from his own son Absalom who claimed the monarchy; Shimi, who was related to King Saul who lost the kingship to King David as a result of failing to wipe out Amalek as he was told to do by the prophet Samuel, cursed King David while throwing stones at him calling him a bloody murderer. Though those close to King David suggested to do away with Shimi, King David would not hear of it. And when King David returned after his son Absalom was killed, ending the rebellion, Shimi came out to apologize to the king, begging him not to take revenge, upon which King David swore to him that he would not harm him. It seems that since then, King David hired Shimi to be the Torah teacher of his son, the future king.

No doubt that Shimi, despite his original opposition to King David, had to have been a brilliant Torah scholar to be hired by him to teach the son of the king. Indeed, the name of Shimi is the Gematria of 420, and the 420th Mitzvah of the Torah, which we just learned in last week's Parshat V'Etchanan, is learning and teaching Torah!
Nevertheless, on his deathbed, King David told King Solomon not to let Shimi get away with it, and when King Solomon told his own Torah teacher Shimi not to ever leave Jerusalem again and he didn't listen, the king had him put to death.

The point here is that even King Solomon needed a strong Torah environment, because without it, he was hardly less prone to making mistakes, or following what he thought was correct as being "the exception to the rule". But what he forgot is that if anything, as the king of the Jewish people, he had to set even a better example to teach the rest.

Continuing the story, he indeed married the Egyptian princess, who while she converted outwardly to Judaism, didn't wait long to show her true colors. The Talmud (Shabbat 56b) tells us that on the day that he married her, the sandbank that formed the eventual city of Rome, from which place the Romans came from and destroyed the Second Temple, was set in place. Anyways, on the day of the dedication of the Temple, King Solomon was quite late, because his Egyptian princess wife had a tapestry of stars with the darkness of black placed on the ceiling above King Solomon's bed, making him think that it was still nighttime when it was already day, in her vicious attempt to prevent him from leading the Temple dedication ceremony, as she still really believed in her Egyptian idolworshipping religion.

ANOTHER WAY OF DIVIDING THE 117 VERSES

As the word Ahava/love, the description of the relationship between Hashem and the Jews, is the Gematria of 13, multiplying this word by nine also comes out to 117. And as we know, it takes NINE months of pregnancy for a baby to be born, the bridge between the intimate love of husband and wife and the life of a whole new being. Similarly, congregations read this book during the holiday of Passover, which marks the birth of the Jewish people as a nation, compared to a child of under Bar/Bat Mitzva age, except that this time period for the Jews was only seven weeks in contrast to 12 or 13 years for a child, until Matan Torah, giving of the Torah to the Jews, which was in essence, the Bar Mitzva/Bat Mitzva of the Jewish nation.

On a more positive note in relationship to King Solomon, as mentioned in the Zohar, he first recited Shir HaShirim on the day of the dedication of the Temple. And in relationship to the dating event of former times on Tu B'Av, the final Mishna in Tractate Ta'anit that I wrote about earlier in this post mentions the following verse from Shir HaShirim "Go forth and gaze, O daughters of Zion upon the King to Whom peace belongs (literally means upon King Solomon) adorned with the crown that His nation (literally means his mother) made for Him, on the day of his wedding, and on the day of the happiness of his heart" (3:11). The Mishna notes that "on the day of his wedding" refers to Matan Torah, and "on the day of the happiness of his heart" refers to the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash/Holy Temple that will be built speedily in our days, Amen. (It's interesting to note that Rashi does not bring this interpretation for the latter phrase at all, but instead states that this refers to the day of the dedication of the Tabernacle).

Getting back to what I wrote earlier about Rabbi Akiva's description of Shir HaShirim as "holy of holies", the Hebrew word used for the description of what takes place for a Jewish marriage to be valid is called Kiddushin, which is also the name of the Mishnaic tractate which is about this very subject. This word is based on the word Kadosh or Kodesh/holy, for it is not just a marriage ceremony like the non-Jews have to celebrate the happiest day of the couple's lives, but this marks the beginning of living a holy life together as a couple, which will result in bringing Jewish children infused with the holiness of a Jew into the world. And while the intimate act between the couple seems to be very animalistic, if done in the spirit of Halacha and right intentions, it is a most sanctified act, in keeping with the fulfillment of the very first Mitzva of the Torah - Pru Urvu "Be fruitful and multiply". It is in this spirit that Shir HaShirim, representing the romance between G-d and the Jews, was composed, as we use the physical in accomplishing the spiritual. And so, while there are deep meanings to the words of Shir HaShirim, it was written the way that it is written in Hebrew to denote physical acts, though representing the greatest and holiest spiritual concepts; the same way that this physical world is a mask of what reality is, but can be used for the greatest and holiest endeavors, being the means of us Jews gaining eternal reward, by following what Hashem tells us without getting sidetracked.

In a similar vain, whether it was the Tabernacle or Holy Temple - while built using much gold and made to look fancy shancy, it is the concept of using physical materials to create the holiest place on earth, and the holiest room of G-d's abode in this world is called Kodesh Kodoshim/Holy of Holies, THE VERY PHRASE that Rabbi Akiva uses to describe Shir HaShirim! And even at this, our rabbis tell us that in fact, the earthly Temple is a microcosm of the spiritual Temple in Heaven, as everything in this world is a reflection of what it's like in the next world.

And in conclusion about the lovestory of Shir HaShirim, mentioning about the Gematria of the word Ahava, the concluding word of the blessing that the Cohanim recite before the three verse fold blessing (Bircat Cohanim) is B'Ahava/with love, which is the Gematria of 15, following which they recite the Bircat Cohanim which consists of 15 words. And for the author of Shir HaShirim, King Solomon was the 15th generation from Abraham the first Jew by parental line, and it was his kingdom that was complete in every way, denoted by his name Shlomo which can also be read using different vowels as Shleima/complete, just as the moon which looks complete around the 15th of the lunar month, and it is Tu B'Av that combines these concepts of love and completeness.

Also to note, the very first verse of Shir HaShirim - Shir HaShirim Asher L'Shlomo which literally means "Song of Songs which is (authored) by Shlomo", begins with the letter Shin & ends with the letter Hei, just as with the name of Shlomo.

The tractate that concludes with the date of Tu B'Av is called Ta'anit, which means a fast (not eating). The idea of a fast in Judaism is to atone for sin or remembering our troubles which resulted from us sinning by abstaining from the physical. What the final Mishna is here to teach us is that it doesn't have to always be this way. It is true that to begin with, we have Yom Kippur to atone for our sins, and unlike the other fast days, Yom Kippur is in fact considered a day of happiness, as this is the day that our sins are atoned for if we won't repeat them, and it was the only other day of the year besides Tu B'Av that the unmarried women were out dancing to attract the men. The ultimate goal, as the Mishna teaches us, it to use the physical, and not have to need to fast all the time because we fall short of our responsibilities. Mentioning these two dates on the same line, we learn that whatever we accomplish on Yom Kippur through fasting on this date, we can accomplish spiritually no less on Tu B'Av through feasting and happiness, so long as we don't get carried away with the materialism of life and focus on using materialism to serve Hashem in the best way possible.

INCREASED TORAH LEARNING ADDS HOLINESS

Mentioning earlier in this post from the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch to start learning more Torah at nights beginning with Tu B'Av, it is interesting to note that the numbers of chapter (71) and paragraph (1), when put together as 711 and then read backwards, it spells the number of this post - 117!

On a personal note, as there is a custom for some to recite the Psalm of the number that corresponds to their age, as I am in my 42nd year of life, the corresponding psalm is Psalm 42. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch quotes the Gemara (Talmud Avoda Zara 3b) in reference to the above which mentions a verse from Psalm 42. Let's look at this:

"Reish Lakish (whose real name was Shimon, my namesake) said: "Whoever is occupied with learning Torah at night, a thread of kindness is drawn to him during the following daytime, as it says: "In the day, Hashem will command His kindness, and at night - His song is with me" (Psalms 42:9). What is the reason that "in the day, Hashem will command His kindness", BECAUSE "at night - His song (the Torah) is with me"." Others say that this is how Reish Lakish worded this: "Whoever is occupied with learning Torah in this world which is compared to night, the Holy One Blessed is He, will draw on him a thread of kindness in the World to Come which is compared to day, as it says: "In the day, Hashem will command His kindness, and at night - His song is with me""."

It is most fitting that this concept of Torah learning at night is hinted particularly in the 42nd Psalm. You see, the Mitzva of Torah learning comes from the verse - V'Shinantam L'Vaneicha V'Dibarta Bam "You shall elucidate them (the words of Torah) and speak of them..." (Deutronomy 6:7), coming from last week's Parshat V'Etchanan, and is also recited as part of the first paragraph of the Shema. While the Mitzva of Kriat Shema/reciting the Shema, the following Mitzva in the Torah, comes particularly from the words V'Dibarta Bam "You shall speak of them", the Mitzva of learning/teaching Torah starts off from the beginning of the verse, so the continuation of the verse also explains the Mitzva of learning Torah, as the primary part of the Mitzva of Torah study is to pronounce the words with the lips; and hence, includes the Mitzva of saying the words of the Shema which are also words of Torah.

In any case, the word Bam/them (literally "in them") is the Gematria of 42, and it has been said that this particular word consisting of a Beit & Mem (Sofit) are the beginning of the words Bereishit - the first word of the Torah She'B'Ketav/Written Torah or Bible and Mei'ei'Matai - the first word of the Torah She'B'Al Peh/Oral Torah
or Mishna. Additionally, multiplying this number 42 by 10 times, - noting that the Aseret HaDibrot/Ten Commandments (the real translation is Statements), as Rashi quotes the Sa'adya Gaon, are the basis of the 613 Mitzvot - results with the number 420, and the Mitzva of Torah study is the 420th Mitzva of the Torah!

And in this week's Parshat Eikev, we have a very similar phrase V'Limadtem Otam Et Beneichem L'Dabeir Bam "You shall teach them to your children to speak of them..." (Deutronomy 11:19), which is part of the second paragraph of the Shema. In fact, it is on the phrase here of L'Dabeir BAM "to speak of them" that Rashi goes into detail as to how a father gets his young son to start learning Torah. In any case, Tu B'Av - the time when we increase our Torah learning at night - always falls out either during the week of Parshat V'Etchanan or Parshat Eikev, the two Parshiyot that speaks of the Mitzva of Talmud Torah.

One of the phrases used in describing the Torah is the adjective HaKedosha/the holy in the feminine form, as the word Torah is also in feminine form, ending with Kometz (one of the vowels) and the letter Hei, calling the Torah - HaTorah HaKedoshah. To note, the Gematria of this word HaKedoshah is 420, going hand in hand with the 420th Mitzva of Talmud Torah! And as I wrote earlier in this post about the concept of Kiddushin as related to the word in Hebrew that means holy, as a Jewish marriage is one of holiness, the phrase in Shir HaShirim where it says "on the day of his wedding", refers to Matan Torah "Giving of the Torah", for now, the Jewish people would henceforth be sanctified by means of being given the Torah. In a similar vein, Rabbi Akiva described Shir HaShirim, in which this phrase is mentioned, as being Kodesh Kodoshim, and mentioned that the world wasn't worthy of being in existence until the day that it was given to the Jewish people, using the same phraseology of giving; and indeed, the world from its creation was dependent on continuing on only because the Jewish people accepted the Torah right before Matan Torah.

And in the Tefillin, which is also a concept of binding ourselves to Hashem compared to the binding of husband and wife, there are four sections of the Torah on scroll, which includes the first two paragraphs of the Shema, and the last two sections of Parshat Bo where the wording of Torah is mentioned, in an ironic sharp contrast to the paragraph(s) of the Shema where the Mitzva of learning/teaching Torah is derived from, but the word Torah is not mentioned even once!

To note, the name of Parshat Bo consists of the same letters as the name of this month Av, except that the Alef & Beit are in reverse. Also, this is the 15th Parsha of the Torah; hence, it seems that this is a special hint to the date of Tu B'Av as a date of beginning to increase our Torah learning which is usually done at night for people who normally work all day along, especially in the old days when clocks weren't available and find themselves plowing away in the field all day long. Another sign of the hint of the month of Av as related to this Parsha is where in this part of Parshat Bo, it describes the month of Nissan as Chodesh Ha'Aviv/Month of Spring (Exodus 13:4). While of course it literally refers to Nissan, if we dissect the word Ha'Aviv into three parts, we read this phrase as Chodesh Hei - Av "Month 5 - Av"! It seems that the connection between these two months is just like Nissan is the time that the Jewish people became born as a nation, starting off on a fresh start with the Exodus which took place on the 15th of Nissan; so too, with our start of increased Torah learning, we begin this on the 15th of Av.

With this said, let's take a close look on the continuation of this paragraph in Parshat Bo where it states L'Ma'an Tihyeh Torat Hashem B'Phicha "in order that the Torah of Hashem will be in your mouth" (Exodus 13:9). The word Tihyeh/will be is the Gematria of 420, and is immediately followed by the phrase Torat Hashem, the ONLY time in the ENTIRE Chumash where this phrase is mentioned! This is as if to say that the 420th Mitzva of the Torah is reciting the Torah of Hashem with our mouths, for the primary fulfillment of this Mitzvah is reciting the words of Torah, of course accompanied with the understanding of what we are saying. This verse concludes with "for with a strong hand, Hashem has taken you out of Egypt". In Hebrew, the word for "out of Egypt" or "from Egypt" is M'Mitzaryim, which is also the very last word of Parshat Bo, is also the Gematria of 420! Indeed, it was only because we left Egypt that we were able to get spiritually ready to receive the Torah only seven weeks later.

THE SPICE AT THE END

On a personal note, the very last word of Shir HaShirim is Besamim/spices, which consists of the first letters of my wife's and my name and family name, as my name is Shimon Matisyahu (Shin, Mem) & my wife's name is Yael Miriam (Yud, Mem) and the Beit is the first letter of my family name (which I don't reveal in this blogspot). Being in apropo to the Chag Ha'Ahava "holiday of love" of the FIFTEENTH of Av, I will also mention here where my wife's name Yael Miriam can be spelled in the shortest spacing of equidistant letters in the Tanach, spelling out her name in every third letter, in the first part of the FIFTEENTH verse of Psalm 66 - Olot Meichim A'aleh Lach Im Ketoret Eilim "I will offer up to you burnt offerings of fat animals with the smoke of rams...". Now, while the word Ketoret here is used as smoke in reference to an animal being offered as a sacrifice, the usual meaning of Ketoret as used in the Temple refers to the combination of Besamim/spices used as a separate part of the Temple service of being burnt twice a day.

And as the word Korban, referring to the offering of sacrifices in the Temple, comes from the word Karov/close for through serving Hashem, we become close to Him, so too, we do different things in a love relationship to maintain being close to one another. And as for everything in the physical, there is a parallel to the spiritual - though in reality, it is the reverse as it is the physical that parallels the spiritual - we say in reference to making things better between spouses or lovers to "SPICING up one's marriage/relationship", as indeed, the Zohar tells us that the most beloved of sacrifices in the Temple was the offering of the Ketoret! Hence, it is most fitting that the final word of THE ORIGINAL LOVESONG, which is Shir HaShirim, is Besamim, a synonym for Ketoret. And why particularly this word Besamim rather than Ketoret? If you take a look at the word without the vowels, you can also read this word as B'Shamayim "in heaven", for it is only in the world to come that we will feel the ultimate pleasure, intimacy, and closeness with Hashem that cannot even begin to be imaginable in this world; the place where we will have this special feeling for our Torah learning and good deeds for eternity.

Tu B'Av 5771

#116 - Years of Slavery

2011-08-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

Writing now only hours before Tisha B'Av, and while the following contents of this post will be touching on the Jews being slaves or in exile, I may wind up studying certain things in Torah that are not for Torah learning on Tisha B'Av in writing up this post, since according to the Halacha/Jewish Law, except for the parts in the Torah that relate to misfortunes, exiles, the laws of Tisha B'Av or mourning, etc. that are not of a happy nature, we do not learn Torah on Tisha B'Av because it is something that makes us happy, and we need to be focused on this most tragic date in the Jewish calendar on the themes of this day. Hence, I want to write this now, even as I don't have a lot of time before the fast of Tisha B'Av starts.

If one was to take the Bible literally without knowing what the Talmud or even plain history has to say about the Exodus, he or she might would perhaps think that the Hebrew year of the Exodus was 2668 (approximately 1100 B.C.E.). Based on the years of the lives of the first 22 generations from Adam to Jacob as can be figured out from the mention of the ages of these people when they passed away, we know that the Hebrew year of Jacob's descent to Egypt was 2238, as the Bible mentions that he was 130 years old at the time.

Now, let's first turn to what Hashem told Abraham when He informed him of the bad news of the future slavery of the Jews in Egypt "Your descendants will be slaves in a land that is not theirs and they will be enslaved and afflicted for 400 years" (Genesis 15:13).

Next, let's see what the Torah has to say about the amount of time that the Jews spent in Egypt in its recounting of the Exodus "The Children of Israel lived in Egypt for 430 years. It was at the end of 430 years that they left the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:40-41).

OK, so we know that Jacob came to Egypt in Year 2238, and that we lived for another 17 years, as the first verse in Parshat Vayechi states (Genesis 47:28); hence, Jacob's passing took place in Year 2255. Now, noting that taking the literal meaning of the Bible, the Jews lived in Egypt for 430 years, and were slaves for 400 years, which means that according to this thinking, the Jews lived in Egypt for 30 years before becoming slaves, after Jacob's passing.

Now, we do know that Joseph, Jacob's son and viceroy of Egypt, lived for 110 years as the Bible states at the very end of Sefer Bereishit/Genesis (50:26), and then in the beginning of Sefer Shemot/Exodus, it states that Joseph and his brothers died and then it mentions about the slavery beginning.

Although the Talmudic literature makes it clear, as Rashi details in his commentary on the Torah, that Jacob was 63 when he first left his parents' home, with a detour to the Yeshiva of Shem & Ever for 14 years - a fact that is not mentioned at all in the Bible, the Torah makes no mention of his age when he left his parents' home. But what we do know from the Chumash is that shortly after his arrival in Laban's home, he worked for Laban for seven years before marrying his daughters Leah & Rachel. Hence, even his oldest son Reuben at the time of Jacob's passing wouldn't have been older than Jacob's age when Jacob first left his parent's home. And we know that Levi, the third son born, was 137 when he passed away (Exodus 6:16).

For all that we would know from the Chumash alone, Jacob could have been a young man on his way to marry Laban's daughter(s), without ever knowing that he stopped by this Yeshiva for 14 years. So, if we were to take everything literally according to the Chumash's wording, we would think that the Jews were first enslaved in Egypt only 13 years after not only Jacob's passing, and that all of his children passed away within 13 years.

At the best assumption, we would assume based on the above that Levi was 124 at the time of his father Jacob's passing, which would mean that Jacob would have been 23 years old at Levi's birth. We would say that Jacob left his parents' home at the age of 13 right after his Bar Mitzvah, coming straight to Laban working for him for seven years, and then marry at the age of 20 (which by the way is the age that the rabbis of the Talmud expect men to be married by if not sooner), which would mean that his wife Leah would have been pregnant right away with hardly much time between pregnancies by the time that Levi the third son would be born.

These set of circumstances might sound a little more practical these days, but this didn't quite happen with Jacob - at least not at such a young age. As there weren't too many Jews living in those days, Jacob was severely limited as to whom he could marry, because even Laban's daughters, who weren't in the worse spiritually depraved environment, probably worshiped idols until Jacob came along and told them about the belief in one G-d and all, who then accepted what he said, also taking into account that they were related to Jacob via their great uncle and aunt Abraham & Sara. In any case, when Jacob was a young man of 23, Leah and Rachel were not even born, and so Jacob had to wait a long time before even the possible consideration of one of them, and so by the time he married them, they were way younger than him, and unless the Torah or Talmud tells us otherwise, we have to assume that no special miracles happened like it happened to Sara who gave birth to Isaac at the age of 90, and that Jacob's wives were of the normal child bearing age. In fact, Jacob was 84 when he married them; and hence, Levi was not older than 60 years of age at Jacob's passing.

Actually, there is one piece of information that will clearly prove that what I just wrote is the true version, even without any information from the rabbis. You see, when Joseph got hired as viceroy of Egypt, the Torah states that Joseph was 30 years old (Genesis 41:46), following which there were seven years of plenty and then two years of famine before Jacob's family arrived when Jacob was 130 years old. And so, after Jacob's passing 17 years later, Joseph lived for 54 more years before his passing at age 110, and in fact, he passed away before any of his brothers, and even brother Levi who was older than him by a few years, still lived for another 23 years until his passing at the age of 137. As you can see, the Torah doesn't just write peoples' ages as another piece of history, but to prove a point or teach a lesson.

With the above said, the Jews left Egypt in the Year 2448, 210 years after Jacob's family came to Egypt. So, if this is the case, then why did Hashem, so to speak, say an untruth about how long the Jews were to be slaves in Egypt, or how long they lived there?

Taking this literally, we can actually come to the truth - at least part of the way. You see, when Hashem told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a land that is not theirs for 400 years, He meant Abraham's descendants starting with his son Isaac. While in fact, Isaac was never a slave, and moreover, never did he step foot outside of Israel in his entire 180 years of life; since Israel was not technically owned by Abraham or Isaac at the time since there were various nations living there, despite Hashem's promise to Abraham that He would give Israel to his descendants, even Israel was considered "a land that is not theirs". And there were exactly 400 years from Isaac's birth on Passover until the Exodus on Passover.

OK, so we understand the 400 years business. But what is this 430 years of Jews living in Egypt? Well, at the time that Hashem told this bad news about Abraham's descendants being slaves, he was 70 years old, which was 30 years before Isaac was born. Since Hashem told Abraham at that time about the Jews living in "a land that was not theirs", this is where the 430 years from that point in time until the Exodus come into play.

So now, we have a question. How many years were the Jews actually slaves in Egypt?

The answer is - 116 years (and this is my 116th Post). While I don't know offhand the original source for this, bearing in mind that Levi lived for 137 years, let's subtract 116 years from the Exodus year 2448, which is 2332 - the year of Levi's passing according to this. Now, subtracting the year of Jacob's passing - 2255 from Year 2332, you have a 77 year difference. Hence, Levi was 60 years old at the time of Jacob's passing, as 60 plus 77 equals 137, the age of Levi's passing, and was the last of the sons of Jacob who passed away, following which the Egyptians starting enslaving the Jews after the "old men", brothers of Joseph, the late viceroy of Egypt, passed away.

THE CONNECTION OF THE YEARS OF THE EGYPTIAN SLAVERY TO THE FUTURE EXILES

We know that the three week period from the date of the fast of Shiva Asar B'Tammuz (17 Tammuz)- the date that the Babylonians breached the wall of Jerusalem, until Tisha B'Av, is called Bein HaMeitzarim, this phrase first coming from Megillat Eicha/Lamentations(1:3)that we read on Tisha B'Av, which literally means "Between the straights". In fact, the word Meitzarim, taking away the Hebrew vowels, is the same word as Mitzrim/Egyptians or Mitrayim/Egypt. Indeed, we are supposed to feel suffering and mourning during this three week period of the destruction of the Temples, though we are of course suffering most from the results of the destruction of the Second Temple.

While one can say that although Tisha B'Av is the 22nd day from Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, and so it is really a little more than three weeks, but this is rounded off to say three weeks since we all know about Tisha B'Av anyways, I have news for you. In the Midrash and the Zohar, it states very clearly that there are 21 days from Shiva Asar B'Tammuz until Tisha B'Av; hence excluding Tisha B'Av from this count. In fact, there is a comparison made between this and the almond tree that bears almonds in exactly 21 days.

So what is going on here? Why aren't we including Tisha B'Av in the count here? In fact, we know that Megillat Eicha hints to these 22 days ending with Tisha B'Av by the fact that the sections in this Bible book divided into sections of 22 verses each starting with another letter of the 22 letters of the Alef Beit, also hinting to the fact that the Jews violated the Torah that is made up of the 22 Hebrew letters, violating the Torah from Alef to Tav (as we say in English from A to Z).

While Tisha B'Av is in fact the saddest date of the Jewish calendar, we are also told from the Bible and the rabbis that this date, along with the dates of other fast days including Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, will one day in the Messianic Era will be days of feasting and rejoicing.

So now, the question is bigger. If this is the case, then what is the difference between these two fast days by excluding Tisha B'Av from the 21 day count when both of these days will seemingly be on the same footing in the future in becoming days of happiness?

In fact, we see that Tisha B'Av - unlike the other fast days - is called a Moed, as first noted in Megillat Eicha. While this seems to be the case about the other fast days from what we just noted earlier, we see in Halacha/Jewish law that in fact, since Tisha B'Av in particular is called a Moed/holiday, we do not say the usual Tachanun/supplicatory prayers on this date that we recite on a regular weekday. This is nice, but still, why the practical difference between Tisha B'Av and the other fast days?

It is noted in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim Chapter 428 that Tisha B'Av will always fall out on the same day of the week as the past first day of Passover. In fact, there is a custom of eating an egg shortly before the start of the fast of Tisha B'Av
just like the custom of eating an egg on the Seder night which is on the first day of Passover.

As we know, the egg is part of the first meal that a mourner eats upon the burial of his close relative. The reason for this is because the egg, being round, symbolizes the circle of life from birth to death, but the circle never ends just as mankind doesn't end so long as it bears the next generation.

As we know, Passover marks the birth of the Jewish nation, and Tisha B'Av marks the ultimate attempt of the anti-Semitic nations to do away with the Jewish nation. However, as our rabbis tell us, the Messiah was born on Tisha B'Av.

While this has been taken to be literally true in the past, particularly about Shabbetai Tzvi, born on Tisha B'Av, who fooled much of his generation, whose rabbis felt powerless as a result, showing himself to be a con-artist by committing various sins, only to convert to Islam at the end; the meaning of this is that even at the destruction of the Second Temple on Tisha B'Av, the potential for the Messiah began at that moment, for if all the Jews were to repent, the Messiah would have come immediately, and is still applicable until today.

Practically today, it will not exactly happen this way, and there is in fact a time limit until how long we will be in exile until the Messiah shows up. While good deeds can speed his coming, we are assured that he will come eventually no matter what the situation of the Jews are at that time.

So in short, we know that the Jews were slaves in Egypt for 116 years. We also know that the three week period from Shiva Asar B'Tammuz until Tisha B'Av is a 21 day period called Bein HaMeitzarim, which can also be read as Bein HaMitzrim "Between the Egyptians".

The two major exiles that the Jews had since the Exodus, ending with the destruction of the Temple in each case, were the Babylonian exile and the Roman exile. In fact, the letters of the name of the month of Av - Alef & Beit - spell the words Edom (Rome) & Bavel (Babylonia).

As we know, there were 70 years of the Babylonian exile. And for the Roman exile beginning with the destruction of the Second Temple, it happened in the Hebrew year 3328. Up to date, it is exactly 1943 years since this happened on Tisha B'Av.

Now, add up 70 and 1943, and the total is 2013. And as I mentioned earlier of the connection between the Egyptian exile and these two exiles in terms of the "Three Weeks", let us take 21 days from each of the total of 2013 years from both exiles, which comes out to a total of 42,273 days. Now, dividing this number by the amount of days per year, based on a solar-lunar calendar, as every 19 years, the Hebrew calendar and the secular solar calendar coincide with the dating, with 365.2425
average days per year, we come out to this: 42,273/365.2425=115.73954.

My friends, do you see? Counting the 21 days of the saddest period of the Hebrew calendar each year - aside from Tisha B'Av - from the two exiles yields the total of 115.73954, COMES VERY CLOSE TO 116 YEARS, corresponding to the 116 years that the Jews were slaves in Egypt - both physically and spiritually.

Since the start of this count begins from Shiva Asar B'Tammuz in Year 3829, the year after the destruction of the Second Temple in 3828 on Tisha B'Av, and we just finished another period of three weeks in this year of 5771, hence 2013 years including the 70 years of the Babylonian exile, it will take like five more years until the count of 21 days per year add up to the total count of 116 years.

Also, it doesn't have to be exact. Bear in mind that although the slavery of the Jews began 116 years before the Exodus, our rabbis tell us in Tractate Rosh Hashana of the Talmud that the Jews in fact stopped slaving for the Egyptians from Rosh Hashana (1 Tishrei) of Year 2448, in the midst of the plagues visiting the Egyptians which made further construction impossible, a clear six and half months before the Jews left Egypt on 15 Nissan. In any case, if you are following the math here, you will catch on to what I am attempting to note.

This means that according to this, we have at most only a few more years until we yield a total of 116 years of 21 annual days in the two exiles to equal the amount of years of slavery in Egypt, though this count may technically already be over if the Jews stopped a little short of 116 years when they were no longer slaves on Rosh Hashana 2448. Is the exile just about to be over? (NOTE: I am not here to predict exactly when Moshiach is coming, but I am here to show a parallel of an equal amount of years based on the teachings of the Torah, Talmud, Midrash & Zohar). But while I am at it, one of the names in the Tanach given for Moshiach is Yinon, which is also the Gematria of 116, perhaps hinting to this fact about the 116 years as I demonstrated here. This name is mentioned in Psalms 72, which is King David's final composition in the Psalms, addressing his words to his son Shlomo/Solomon who was to succeed him, concluding the Psalm with "Ended are the prayers of David son of Jesse".
And this coming Hebrew year 5772 ends with the number 72.

Along these lines, the final word of the Tanach/Bible is V'Ya'al - "may go up" (Chronicles II 36:23) which is the Gematria of 116. Quoting the words of this verse "So says Koresh king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the world has Hashem, G-d of the heavens, given to me, and Has has commanded me to build a house for Him in Jerusalem which is in Judea. Whoever among you from among his people who wishes - Hashem his G-d is with him - may go up (to Israel)." Indeed, it is hardly coincidental that the very last word of the Tanach in which the king of Persia openly declares allowing the Jews to return to Israel to rebuild the Holy Temple, should have the Gematria of 116, as if to say that now, the Jews were finished with the exile (even though it wasn't the completion of the 70 years of Babylonian exile yet) and could return home and resume the spiritual life that they once had before the Temple was destroyed and being exiled to Babylonia.

But the ultimate punchline is Tisha B'Av. While it may be the saddest day of the year as this is when the actual start of the exiles began; ironically, we do not include this in our count here. You see, it didn't and it doesn't have to be the saddest day anymore. The potential of Moshiach began on this day - but only if we would listen to Hashem, and then our exile would be over. It is only if G-d forbid that we don't listen, that we will have to go through a lot of suffering as the Jews did in Egypt, but just as there was a time limit then, since although the Jews didn't suffer as slaves for 400 years - they were technically in exile for that long and so the Jews were not made to suffer anymore as slaves; so too, there is a time limit to our suffering, which also atones for sins by the way, so our suffering collectively as Jews will not last forever.

And as we compared Tisha B'Av to Passover a little earlier here, and Tisha B'Av is the 22nd day, the climax of the annual sad season, from Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, this date of Tisha B'Av corresponds to the 22nd and last letter of the Alef Beit - Tav, also bearing in mind that the name of this date also begins with a Tav. And as Tav is the numerical value of 400, it was exactly 400 years from Isaac's birth on Passover until the Exodus on Passover, and it was this period of time that Hashem referred to when telling Abraham that "your descendants will live in a land that is not theirs and will be enslaved for 400 years".

Perhaps in another sense, Hashem was hinting to Abraham about the future slavery and exile of the Jews that began on Tisha B'Av that corresponds to the letter Tav=400. Indeed, since our exile from Israel, we have been in virtually every country in the world, but none of these other lands are our lands. We have to remember that as long as we don't live in our own land of Israel, that we are truly in exile in every sense of the word, being enslaved to the temptations of the nations that contradict the Torah way of life. And while even in Israel, one can G-d forbid live a non-spiritual Torah life, a lifestyle that led to the destruction of the First Temple and exile to Babylonia, at least when he or she repents, one starts receiving the reward for living in the land that Hashem told us to live in, even without the presence of the Holy Temple. Indeed, we see clearly here that the "Three Weeks" or "Bein HaMeitzarim" corresponds to the years of Egyptian slavery of the Jews, and Tisha B'Av, as the date representing the future Redemption, corresponds to the Exodus.

Moreover, as the fast of Tisha B'Av is always observed during the week of Parshat V'Etchanan, the words from a verse in this Parsha - Avadim Hayinu "We were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt, and Hashem took us out from Egypt with a strong hand" (Deutronomy 6:21) is the very beginning of the (long!) answer to the "Four Questions" that are asked at the Seder on Passover night.

Additionally, the daily Mitzvah in the 31st cycle of learning a Mitzvah a day for yesterday - the first day of the week of Parshat V'Etchanan and 7 Av, the date that the enemy entered the Temple right before destroying it, is the 42nd Mitzva of the Jewish court judging the case for a Jew to be a servant to pay for his theft. In cases where this Eved Ivri "Jewish servant" if married, was given a Canaanite maidservant to sleep with to bear children to be slaves for the Jewish servant's master, refused to leave after his maximum of six years of work as he had to leave behind his Canaanite woman and children for the master, the Jewish court bores his ear as a sign that he wishes to be a slave to a human master rather than to Hashem who took us out of Egypt to be His servants, and then the Jewish servant continued working for his master until the Jubilee year when he was then released permanently.

In conclusion, the reason why not only these fast days will cease to exist as fast days in the Messianic Era, but they will become feast days, is because we will see in the future that the suffering that we had which the fast days represent will have led to the future rejoicing in the Messianic Era. Then we will see that Tisha B'Av, while today may be the saddest day, representing the worst suffering of the Jews, was the BIGGEST factor in leading to the ultimate rejoicing of the Redemption, just as the verse states in Micha "Just as the days of your leaving Egypt, I will show you wonders (refering to the future Redemption)," for then we will see that the future Redemption as related to Tisha B'Av, more than just the symbol of the egg or falling out on the same day of the week as Passover - the date of the Exodus, will be compared to the rejoicing of the first Redemption - and even more so - that we celebrate on the first night of Passover, on which we recite the Hallel psalms that refer both to the Exodus (Psalms 113-114) and the future Redemption (Psalms 115-118), which we hope for very soon.

8 Av, 5771 - Erev Tisha B'Av

#115 - House of the Father

2011-08-02T04:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday - Rosh Chodesh Av - was the Yahrzeit of Aharon HaCohen/Aaron the High Priest. And while I have written about this Biblical figure in the previous two years pertaining to his Yahrzeit, each time comes with a new dimension pertaining to this very holy figure, not just because he was the first High Priest of the Jews, or was Moses' brother, but because he was the peacemaker par excellence, both for Jews fighting on the street and for spouses fighting at home.

In Hebrew, the phrase used for domestic tranquility describing a peaceful marriage is Shalom Bayit, which literally means "peace of the home". And so being that today's date is Beit Av (2 Av), as Beit and Bayit/home is the same word, just with different vowels, it is very appropriate today to write a little more on this subject of peace, Aaron's superior quality.

As we are find ourselves in the time frame of the Nine Days which concludes with Tisha B'Av, the date that marks the destruction of two Holy Temples, the Talmud (Yoma 9b) notes that while the First Temple was destroyed due to idolatry, adultery, and murder, the Second Temple was destroyed due to Sinat Chinam/baseless hatred for other Jews, which comes to teach us that this one sin is equal to the other three sins.

Sometimes, it's easy for some of us to loose focus of what it is all about. For example, when we fast on a Fast Day, especially like Tisha B'Av when we start the fast from sunset on one day and conclude it at nightfall the following evening, coming out close to 25 hours, just as it is with Yom Kippur, we may tend not to feel in such a good mood that could affect us with our relationship with other people. But perhaps the idea of this fast, besides the fact that we are repenting for the sins that caused us to fast to begin with, is that we should feel what it is like to suffer in some measure; and hence, we will feel for other people and be more understanding of who they are, even if we don't always agree with their viewpoint or if they come from a very different culture than we do.

It happened once back in Europe where a good percentage of Jews used to live that there was this fight going on in a Jewish home that took place on Tisha B'Av of all days. People witnessing this approached Rabbi Rephael of Barshid, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, to help out, "but", they advised the rabbi, "you probably will want to go tomorrow, since today is a fast day". However, the rabbi insisted on going to help out on the spot, as he put it, "The Temple got destroyed due to the sin of Sinat Chinam. Hence, it is most fitting that on this very day of the destruction of the Temple, that we are supposed to be involved with making peace".

Now, getting to the number of this post, and as related to Aaron, it is Psalm 115 that includes the phrase "House of Aaron" not once, but twice. In fact, since we do recite Hallel on Rosh Chodesh, which includes the Yahrzeit of Aaron since he passed away on Rosh Chodesh Av, since psalm is included in Hallel, consisting of Psalms 113-118. Now, it is true that on Rosh Chodesh, unlike with most other holidays, we do not recite Hallel in its entirety, leaving out the first half of both Psalms 115 & 116. Hence, when reciting the Hallel prayer yesterday, we mentioned the phrase Beit Aharon in Psalm 115 only once as the first half of it also mentions this phrase. However, we also mentioned this phrase in Psalm 118 of Hallel, so yesterday, we had the uniqueness of mentioning Aaron's name twice in celebrating Rosh Chodesh, as it so happens that Aaron passed away on a Rosh Chodesh.

But before we get stuck on saying that it "so happens", Aaron's passing away on this date is the furthest thing away from a mere coincidence. As I have mentioned in the past, including my previous post, Aaron's Yahrzeit is the ONLY Yahrzeit mentioned in the ENTIRE BIBLE! Moreover, of all days, he passed away on the beginning of a month. But even this is an understatement, because the phrase Rosh Chodesh literally means - Head of the month, as it isn't merely the beginning of something, or the first of something, but THE HEAD, which includes the rest of the month. In fact, at the recounting of Aaron passing away in Parshat Chukat, it mentions that the Jewish people mourned for him for 30 days. Hence, the Torah makes it clear to us that the ENTIRE MONTH OF AV is related to Aaron, though Rosh Chodesh Av is the date that he passed away on.

So the question can be asked, what does the month of Av in particular have to do with Aaron other than the fact that he passed away on the first day of the month, though it was on Rosh Chodesh Av? Perhaps it should be his birth month, or the month of Nissan, since Aaron began his Priestly duties on Rosh Chodesh Nissan. And also, why is it that only Aaron's Yahrzeit is mentioned in the entire Bible?

First of all, the date that a Tzadik/righteous person passes away marks the day that he completed a lifetime of righteous accomplishments. In the long run, though it may be hard for some to comprehend in this world, there is far more of a reason to celebrate the day of one's passing than one's birth (I have heard more than once from whatever rabbi who was officiating at a funeral saying that everyone has gathered for the celebration of the deceased's life); since after all, who knows how a person is going to behave during his or her lifetime? If a person will not live to contribute something to society, is there a genuine reason to feel happy about someone else's birthday? Perhaps for the person himself or herself, that person wants to annually celebrate it as a reason to party or have a good time with family or friends. But in essence, if a person fails in the mission of serving Hashem, then if anything, the birthday may be a reason to mourn, because if one fails to understand why a person became born in this world, then at the end of one's lifetime, it will be a true reason for mourning, not just in this world, but in the fires of hell for failing his or her mission of what Hashem as the Father or King asked this person to do.

While it is true that Moses, Aaron's brother, is considered the ultimate Tzadik, and so while the rabbis tell us in very clear terms as to what his birthday and Yahrzeit is, which is the same date of 7 Adar, not everyone could necessarily relate to him. You see, when Aaron passed away, the Torah makes it very clear that both men and women mourned him - "the ENTIRE house of Israel cried thirty days for Aaron" (Numbers 20:29), as he clearly was most appreciated for his peace making efforts between husband and wife. However, when Moses passed away, it was basically only the men who cried "The children of Israel cried thirty days for Moses". Of course Moses had nothing against women, but he had a very different role where he didn't directly relate to women as he related to men, unless he was approached as we see with the daughters of Tzelaphchad. However, the point here is that since Aaron was the greatest righteous person that EVERYONE could relate to - it was his Yahrzeit that is publicly displayed in the Bible. More than this, the Torah is not interested in jotting down dates or giving a history or social studies lesson. When the Torah does mention a date, it is obviously for an important reason, but for mentioning when people passed away in the Bible, the Torah found it necessary to mention only Aaron's Yahrzeit to teach us this lesson.

The name of the month of Av, though not the original name for this month as until around the time of the Babylonian exile, the Jewish months were only known by number - the first month, the second month, etc. beginning with Nissan, means "father". It is true that sometimes, this month is called Menachem Av, being that Menachem which means "comforter" is related to the theme of this month since we read Haftaras following Tisha B'Av which relate Hashem's comforting the Jewish people for the troubles that happened to them and that we will be redeemed one day, never to suffer again. But in any case, as Aaron, as the representative of Hashem was the FIRST Cohen Gadol/High Priest, the Av/father in fact refers to Hashem as Av.

And now another question. Why is it specifically the title of Av in describing Hashem, and not as Melech/king or some other title describing His G-dliness, rather than some other theme showing Hashem's mightiness. While it is true that a father is an authority figure that a child is expected to honor and fear, but a father, in contrast to a king who will sometimes have someone killed with no warning due to some infraction, usually loves his child unconditionally, though usually he will take steps for a child who disobeys him.

In fact, we are describing the very conditions of Tisha B'Av. True, Hashem as King made his point clear that the Jews as his servants disobeyed him and hence they were punished in various ways culminating with the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jews. However, if we were to describe Hashem particularly as king, this could denote G-d forbid that since now we disobeyed him, then we have no more rights to be his "Chosen Nation". Maybe some would think that now it is too late, and we will never again have another Temple or permanent homeland. However, despite all our shortcomings, Hashem behaved more like a father, who may punish a child, but will much more likely have it in the best interest of the child than a king would for a subject of his who punishes basically to show who is boss.

At times, a father will punish a child in some way which is in lieu of doing something much worse, not just to teach a lesson or doing it for his child's benefit, but to spare his child the worse. Similarly, Hashem punished the Jewish people with the destruction of the Temple, not just to teach a lesson or do it for our benefit, but to spare us the worse. In fact, Hashem's wrath on the Temple was in lieu of his full force wrath on the Jewish people; and hence, while all the other nations were lost in the due course of time - the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans who enslaved us, we are the only nation that has survived despite every reason according to the rules of nature as to why we should have disappeared long ago due to anti-Semitism.

And so, Aaron, representing Hashem who is the Av HaRachaman, "Father of Mercy" as we say in our prayers in his role of the FIRST Cohen Gadol in the Mishkan/Tabernacle - the forerunner of the Temple, passed away on the Head of this month called Av. Indeed we have a few things here beginning with the letter Alef - the HEAD of the letters. Aaron's name begins with an Alef, the date of his passing is Alef Av, and the name Av begins with an Alef. Accordingly, Hashem is called the Alufo Shel Olam - Chief of the World, as Aluf/Chief is related to the first letter of the Alef Beit. It was indeed most fitting that Aaron served in his capacity as the ultimate peacemaker, who had mercy on his brethren, looking on their good side rather than on their bad side; and hence, had the unique ability to make peace between everyone, even lying to both parties to make this happen.

It's also interesting to note that the word Av consists of the FIRST two letters of the Alef Beit, the same letters that are the name for the Hebrew alphabet. The connection here is that letters are used to put together a word; hence, showing a sense of unity, despite the differences of sound and looks. To note, the Vilna Gaon pointed out that you will never encounter a word in the entire Tanach/Bible where the letters Gimmel & Teit are together, since these two letters spell the word Get/Jewish divorce, as divorce is the opposite of marriage that binds two people together; and accordingly, the fact that these two letters will not be spelled together indicate this fact.

Though in effect, Hashem "divorced" us in the sense that he chased us from our land and destroyed the building that housed our main line of communication with Him, Hashem has promised us many times in the Scriptures that he will take us back once again. At the very least, He is still our Father if nothing else, and at the very least, we can still talk to Him in holy places such as in the synagogue; and as the Talmud (Berachot 3) states, when we answer in the Kaddish - Y'hei Shmei Rabba..."May His great name be blessed...", Hashem proclaims Ashrei HaMelech... "Fortunate is the King Who is praised by His children like this". Mah Lo L'Av... "Woe is to the Father
Who exiled His children between the nations, and woe to the children who were exiled form the table of their Father".

We see clearly here that when it comes to us praising Hashem, He is referred to as King, as we have shown that by serving Him, that we have in mind to Whom we are serving. However, when it comes to what Hashem did to us for not obeying him, He is calling Himself "Father", not once but twice! Hashem doesn't want to punish us as a king who does away with a subject of his when he disobeys orders, but rather as a father who is sometimes in fact hurt when he has to punish a child, but has every intention of continuing to love his child despite the wrongdoing that the little boy or girl has done.

And while Tisha B'Av may be the date that commemorates what happened to us and the Temple, the number Tisha/nine as the date that this happened isn't isn't only connection to the month of Av. In fact, we see kabbalistically, that of all the letters of the Alef Beit, it is the letter Teit=9 that corresponds to this month, for in essence, it is the ENTIRE MONTH OF AV - the very period of time for the Jewish people crying upon Aaron's passing - that is related to this concept of Hashem behaving towards us like a father, combining the actions of Chesed/kindness & Gevurah/strength or severity to yield the result of Rachamim/mercy as the Av HaRachaman/Father of Mercy.

And hence, the ultimate Shalom Bayit between Hashem & the Jewish people, compared to the bridegroom & bride respectively, is when we have peace amongst ourselves, just in a situation when a father wants to bestow goodness on his children, but the full force of this is only possible when there is peace between his children. It is then and only then when we work on peace between each other that we can expect Hashem to once again build the structure called the Third Temple - Beit HaMikdash HaShelishi - that will house our ultimate expressions of love for each other.

And as I mentioned just before, the letters Gimmel=3 and Teit=9 are never together in a word in the Bible, we know that the Third Temple will never be destroyed - connected with the letter Gimmel=3 beginning the words Gemilut Chasadim/bestowing kindnesses, unlike what happened with the first two Temples which are connected to the concept of a Father who shows both kindness AND SEVERITY, demonstrated by the letter Teit=9 or the word Tisha/nine, because unlike in most marriages that end off with divorce which is usually permanent, marked with a Jewish divorce called a Get where the permanence of the Gimmel is combined with the Teit of chasing away, Hashem chased us away only for a limited period of time, and thus has no permanence as connected with the letter Gimmel. And in the future when we finally have the Third Temple, only then will we see the full range of Hashem being the ultimate Merciful Father, as the word Av is the Gematria of THREE, the numerical value of Gimmel.

And relating Aaron further to the concept of the Beit HaMikdash/Temple, the Talmud (Berachot 58a) notes that Hod/splendor corresponds to the Beit HaMikdash, and of the seven active Sephirot, it is the FIFTH Sephira Hod that corresponds to Aaron, the FIFTH of the seven "Shepherds" or Ushpizin/Heavenly Guests of the Succah, bearing in mind that the first letter of Hod is Hei=5. Accordingly, Aaron passed away on the HEAD of the FIFTH month of the Jewish calendar that is most related to the concept of the Beit HaMikdash. And there is a custom among some Jews to learn a particular chapter of Mishna on each of the seven days of Succot as related to these seven Biblical figures; and for Aaron, the corresponding chapter is the FIFTH and final chapter of Middot, the tractate about the various dimensions of the Temple and its rooms and vessels, ending off with the qualifying of those deemed worthy to serve as Cohanim as Aaron's descendants in the Temple. And speaking of the Mishna, Seder Kodoshim, the volume of the Mishnayot that deals with the Korbanot/offerings or animal sacrifices and the Temple relating mostly to Cohanim, Aaron's parental descendants, is the FIFTH of the six volumes of the Mishnayot. And speaking of which, in the section about the Temple offerings and incense that we recite in our daily morning prayers, it is the FIFTH chapter of the first tractate called Zevachim of the FIFTH volume of the Mishnayot that we recite daily.

And just as we describe the Temple as BEIT HaMikdash or BEIT HaBechira - (The Chosen House as the Rambam describes it), so too does Psalms describe the Cohanim as BEIT Aaron; and unlike Moses where it says that it was the B'nei Yisrael - Children of Israel - who mourned him, of Aaron, it was that is the BEIT Yisrael - HOUSE of Israel, which not only hints to the concept of the Temple as related to the month of Aaron's passing, but also denotes a sense of unity, unlike with the phrase B'nei Yisrael which sometimes denotes the individuality, rather than just the totality of everyone, as demonstrated as the beginning of Sefer Shemot/Book of Exodus, where it states that "These are the names of the Children of Israel..." and then lists their individual names. However, a HOUSE or household denotes the entirety of a family, a tribe, a nation. And as I mentioned a little earlier about Hashem's response to us responding the phrase Y'hei Shmei Rabba... in the Kaddish, this response immediately follows the words (following stating that Hashem will reign and bring the Redemption) in our lifetimes and the life of ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL...", the capitalized words being THE VERY WORDS describing who mourned for Aaron! And speaking of a Yahrzeit as related to Aaron, the Kaddish prayer is one of the prime ways that memorialize the passing of a loved one.

On a personal note, Rosh Chodesh Av - the Yahrzeit of Aaron - began my 511th month. You see, the number 511 is the Gematria of a very unique word in our prayers, which is especially related to Tehillim/Book of Psalms - Ashrei/fortunate. It is this very word that begins this most recited book in the history of the world - both as part of the Bible and as prayers. This word also begins the longest chapter in the Bible - Psalm 119, consisting of 176 verses.

And in our daily prayers, we also say a prayer three times a day that begins with the word Ashrei. There is a little irony here, because in fact, as we see in the Talmud (Tractate Berachot), this prayer is actually called Tehilla LeDavid - Psalm 145, but in time, there were two extra verses added to the beginning of this psalm and one verse at the end. Hence, the word Ashrei beginning this prayer actually comes from a different place in Tehillim (Psalms 84:5) - Ashrei Yoshvei Veitecha Od Yehalelucha Selah "Fortunate are the ones who sit in Your House, they will yet praise You forever". In my Kavanat HaLev prayerbook, it translates this as "Fortunate are the Cohanim & Levites in the Beit HaMikdash...". Indeed, I am a Levite, and the 511th month of my life is the month of Av that most relates to the concept of the Beit HaMikdash! And in terms of the Levites who sang in the Temple, the word for song in Aramaic is Shira, spelled with an Alef at the end (unlike the word Shira in regular Hebrew which is spelled with a Hei at the end), which have the same letters as the word Ashrei. By the way, I didn't have time to write this special post yesterday, since instead, I was at the Kotel HaMa'aravi/Western Wall, part of the environs of the Temple. Yes, it was a great way of celebrating Aaron's Yahrzeit yesterday, as well as the personal connection that I have with this month.

Moreover, I have another major connection with this month, since as mentioned in the Chasidic Sefer B'nei Yissaschar which correlates the months with the particular tribes, this FIFTH month of Av corresponds with the Tribe of Shimon, my namesake! In fact, a most worthy descendant of Aaron, the first High Priest was Shimon HaTzadik, one of the early High Priests of the Second Temple, who passed away on 29 Tishrei, which is the FIRST day of the FIFTH week of Tishrei, just like his ancestor Aaron the High Priest who passed away on the FIRST day of the FIFTH month!

We then see that regarding Tu B'Av (15 Av), at the middle of the month, that the Mishna (Ta'anit 4:5) tells us that among the nine dates of the year that there was a wood festival celebrating the times that wood was donated in the beginning of the Second Temple when there wasn't much wood at one time, becoming annual dates of celebration, one of these times was Tu B'Av, when along with the family who celebrated their ancestor's donating the wood on that date, THE COHANIM AND LEVITES also celebrated on this day as their personal Yom Tov. And then at the end of this chapter of the Mishna (4:8), it was none other than Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel, a Rabbi with my namesake, who stated that on this date (as well as Yom Kippur), the unmarried women danced in the vineyards with the hope of attracting men to marry. And the end of this Mishna, which is also the end of this chapter, as well as the conclusion of this Mishnaic tractate, ends off stating that the phrase "on the day of the happiness of his heart" coming from Shir HaShirim/Song of Songs, refers to the building of the Beit HaMikdash "that it will be built speedily in our days, Amen!" And it was on this date of Tu B'Av that Rabbi Shimon Lavie, the one who wrote the most popular song about Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, author of the teachings of the Kabbalistic book called the Zohar (who passed away on the FIFTH day of the FIFTH week of the Sephira - Hod She'B'Hod!) "Bar Yochai", passed away in the year 5348 - Hei Shin Mem Cheit, these letters when rearranged spell both the words Chamisha/FIVE & Simcha/HAPPINESS! (In another few days is the Yahrzeit of the Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal) who opened up the teachings of Kabbalah to the world, who passed away on the FIFTH day of the FIFTH month - 5 Av). Also to note, this date of Tu B'Av - 15 Av is connected to the Sephira of Hod, as this word Hod is the Gematria of 15, the Sephira that corresponds to Aaron who passed away on the beginning of this month and the Beit HaMikdash.

To mention the number of this post - 115 - as related to all this - you can dissect this number into two parts - 1 & 15. Hence, you have the number one which is the numerical value of Alef that begins the words Aaron, Av & Alef; and 15 is the Gematria of Hod as well as representing the date of Tu B'Av. Also, when you add these two numbers together (1+15) yielding 16, and then you multiply this number by itself (16*16), the total is 256, both the Gematria of Aharon's name, as well as the name of this week's Parsha in which Aaron's Yahrzeit falls out on this year - Devarim.

And just when you thought it was over - the four consecutive numbers beginning with the number of this post, which are 115, 116, 117, 118 add up to the total of 466, the Gematria of the name Shimon! In fact, when reciting Hallel in the Seder of Passover night, we split up the Hallel into two parts - Psalms 113 & 114 at the end of Maggid, and then Psalms 115-118 at what is called Hallel near the end of the Seder. The reason for this division of Hallel into two parts at the Seder is that the first two psalms focuses on the redemption from Egypt while these latter four psalms focuses on the future Redemption. Hence, we have the concept of both the concept of the Temple & the Redemption all into one package.

A hint to the month of Av as related to the month of Nissan can be seen in the Torah which describes Nissan as Chodesh Ha'Aviv "Month of the Spring". If you dissect the word Ha'Aviv/the spring into a few parts, what you will see is that this phrase can be read as Chodesh Hei - Av "Month 5 - Av"! In fact, there is a source that states that the reason why this month is called Av/father is that in the future, this month will be the FATHER of the months. This is probably on the assumption that the future Redemption will take place in this month, just like the redemption of the Exodus took place of Nissan, giving it the reason of being the "head of the months".

Anyways, getting back to the Psalms 115-118, the phrase of Beit Aharon is mentioned in both psalms 115 & 118, the first and last of these four psalms, whose numbers add up to the total of the Gematria of Shimon, the name of the Tribe who corresponds to the month of Av that is also especially connected with Aaron. And to mention, the Radak on the first mention of Beit Aharon in Psalm 115 "House of Aaron, trust in Hashem" and the Malbim on the second mention of Beit Aharon in Psalm 115 - "He (Hashem) will bless the House of Aaron" as well as the mention of Beit Aharon in Psalm 118 - "The House of Aaron will now say - for His kindness is everlasting", refer to BOTH the Cohanim & the Levites, the same as referred to by the verse that begins the thrice daily recited Ashrei prayer.

May we merit and be fortunate to see the day that we will be able to see and experience once again what it means being both Beit Yisrael - House of Israel & Beit Av - HOUSE OF THE FATHER.

2 Av, 5771

P.S. A note to all commentors. While I have no objection to non-Jews writing comments on my blogs, this does not include comments talking about or leading to Christian theology. I just noticed today a comment about a link pertaining to Christianity that a guy named Erin sneaked like a month after a post which was also about Aaron that I wrote a year ago, which I deleted of course. In the future, G-d willing, I will be checking the comments periodically to see if there are any unwanted comments. THERE IS ZERO TOLERANCE for comments that are written that attempt to snare Jews away from Judaism or entice them to another religion. Period!