We all want Hashem to be kind and merciful to us, even if we are not deserving of this. After all, praying for kindness & mercy is part of our obligatory prayers. The Hebrew words for kindness & mercy are Chesed VeRachamim. If you combine these two words together, you will notice an absolutely amazing phenomenon. You will notice that the word Siddur/Prayer Book is spelled within this combination!
Small wonder then that there is in fact a very special piece about Kindness & Mercy that we pray for in a biblical formula known as the Yud Gimel Midot HaRachamim/13 Divine Attributes of Mercy. Hashem revealed this to Moshe upon his 3rd ascent to Mt. Sinai following Moshe's 40 days of intense prayer following the sin of the Golden Calf. Hashem promised Moshe that whenever Jews pray this in public that Hashem will listen to them (assuming that they are sincere in their prayers). This is recited during the Selichot prayers, many of which are recited during the High Holidays. This is also recited (except for Nusach Ashkenaz) in the midst of the Tachanun/Supplicatory Prayers in the morning and afternoon prayers following the Shemonei Esrei.
According to Rabbi Isaac Luria, or known as the Arizal, famed Kabbalist of the 1500s, the first of these 13 attributes is the word E-l, one of the seven names of Hashem that is forbidden to be erased, and represents Kindness. E-l is the Gematria of 31, and this number is a common theme in Parshat Beha'alotcha, which was just read this past Shabbat in Israel, and will be read this coming Shabbat outside of Israel. I will be talking more about this attribute a little later on here, and how it relates to one of the Tribes of Israel. This comes in good timing with this blog piece, as this is my 31th Post.
FIGHTING THE 31 KINGS
In the midst of this Parsha, you will notice in most Chumashim where there are two verses that are preceded and followed by inverted Nuns. It's interesting to note that these two verses consist of exactly 85 letters, and in one sense is considered a seperate Book in the Torah, making the Book of Numbers into three books so to speak, and which would theoretically make it the shortest Book in the Bible. And in a more global sense when we say that there are 24 Books in the Jewish Bible, the Book of Ruth which is the shortest Book, consists of exactly 85 verses. Anyways, these two verses are the very verses that are first recited when the Sefer Torah is brought out of the Holy Ark in the synagogue and when returned, respectively. The very first word of this section is Vayehi which is the Gemtria of 31. The Ba'al HaTurim which brings Gematriot and comparison of similar phrases in the Bible, points out that the first two letters of this word is Vie - which means "woe", that is, woe to the nations when the Jews traveled with the Holy Ark and upon entry to Israel, Joshua who was divinely commanded to conquer the nations who were living in Israel as the time, knocked down a total of 31 kings, which subsequently allowed the Jews to inherit the Land, which was part of Hashem's great kindess to us as he first promised their ancestor Abraham, the epitome of kindness who brought many people to believe and serve Hashem through his hospitality, to whom Hashem promised that he would give the land of Israel to his future descendants.
AFTER 30 DAYS...
In the following section in this Parsha, we see that some Jews complained about the daily manna that Hashem provided them, and demanded meat. In response, Hashem said that he would send quail meat to them on a daily basis for 30 days until it would "come out of their noses". Many of them in fact died from this. But my point is that following this, only then would the remaining Jews realize that Hashem is in fact the one who provides the ultimate kindness, and only He knows what is best for them. Thus, it was on the 31st day that the Jews no longer suffered the results of overabundance, but were able to continue and appreciate the daily kindness that Hashem provided them with the daily manna.
"PLEASE G-D..."
When Miriam was stricken with Tzara'at (a spiritual disease that is similar to leprosy) as punishment for her critique of her brother Moshe's marital status as a result of his exalted relationship with Hashem which meant that He could receive prophecy at any time, Moshe prayed to Hashem a prayer which is the shortest prayer recorded in Bible history, and perhaps in world history: "Please G-d, heal her now" - without even using his sister's name within the prayer, which is common in our prayers today when he pray for particular sick people to be healed. The Hebrew words for Moshe's prayer is "E-l Nah Rephah Nah Lah". As we see, Moshe - to whom Hashem already revealed the 13 Divine Attributes of Mercy, began his prayer with the word E-l, the first of these Divine Attributes.
According to the Chasidic book Bnei Yissaschar, the Yud Gimel Midot HaRachamim have a correlationship with the Yud Gimel Midot HaTorah, the 13 ways that the Torah can be interpreted within the confines of the Torah She'be'al Peh/Oral Law. Corresponding to the Divine Attribute of E-l, the first of the 13 ways of Torah interpretation is called Kal VaChomer, which literally means "Easy & Strict", that is, from an easy scenario to a strict scenario. Without explaining this in a 100 words, let me illustrate this with an example which is followed as a response to Moshe's prayer.
Hashem replied to Moshe, "If Miriam's father would have spat at her, she would have hidden out of shame for seven days (easy scenario); then certainly, Miriam with her Tzara'at which is visible to everyone should be quaranteed from the environs (though the real reason that one with Tzara'at is quaranteed is because he/she has impurity that can contaminate others, and serves as a punishment to better his/her ways) of the Jewish Nation for seven days" (strict scenario) The Talmud in a particular context wants to attempt to prove that really Miriam should have quaranteed for two weeks or 14 days, a much more visible and shameful thing than being spat at; but as the Talmud puts it "It's enough that the applied case - Miriam's Tzara'at - should be like the precedent - the hypothetical case of Miriam's father spitting at her, and thus she was quaranteed only for seven days." But there is a question that remains, how does the Talmud assume that Hashem really wanted to quarantee Miraim for 14 days if the Torah if in fact Hashem never mentions this in the Torah?!
The above book Bnei Yissaschar quotes Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezritch, who took over the mantle of leadership of the Chasidic movement following the passing of Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov, founder of the movement, who points out that Hashem's response to Moshe's prayer was in fact Midah Knegged Midah/measure for measure. Hashem responded to Moshe's request calling out to Him asking Hashem for kindness to Miriam using the word E-l, which denotes kindness. Hashem in turn responded to him to the Torah way of interpretation that corresponds to this as saying that if Miriam would have hid a week for being spat at, then Hashem can't do anything less than put away Miriam for a week. But the question begs to be asked, where is Hashem's response of kindness here?
But this is the point. The Talmud that is largely comprised of the 13 ways of Torah interpretation understood well what Hashem was really telling Moshe. To show that Miriam's present scenario was a far worse case than Miriam's father spitting at her which in fact never happened, that by the strict rules of justice, Hashem would need to show that nothing less than two weeks, twice the amount of time would prove that this is really what the Torah required (This was in fact the exception in Miriam's case. But in general, once a person was confirmed to have Tzara'at - not simply if there was a question about it - he/she was quaranteed until such time that the Tzara'at disappeared and only then could atonement be attained in the Temple)But in Hashem's great mercy, He showed kindness in providing only one week of Miriam being quaranteed, as this is part of Hashem's Torah also. Indeed, quite often, the Talmud refers to the Torah when making a point as saying Rachmana - "Merciful One" refering to the Torah, Hashem's wisdom as such, since the Torah in fact wants to be merciful, though it has to be within certain confines of Jewish Law so the Torah won't be taken lightly, which would otherwise would lead people to do what they want without being disciplined by the Torah. We do see that in fact that the Torah in the week of creating the word uses only the name of Elo-him (G-d), denoting Hashem's strict justice; but as Rashi points out, the world would not have been able to be tolerant with only justice, since after all, if everytime a person sinned he would die, there would be no human existance left, so Hashem had to add mercy to the equation, as demonstrated after the account of the days of creation when Hashem's name is written as YKVK (Hashem) Elo-him, the name YKVK denoting mercy; and eventually, this name alone is mentioned quite often in the Bible.
Among the many reasons listed for the Temple being destroyed, the Talmud mentions that Jews followed the Halacha. So nu, isn't this what a Jew is supposed to be doing; halevei - if only all Jews would follow the basic Jewish Law, so what does the Talmud mean? It's very simple - everyone insisted on what they were entitled to according to Jewish Law, being very strict about for example what someone else owed them. Yes, the Torah will not lie as to what the law is; but sometimes, a Jew is expected to have sensitivity, and has to be willing at times to be understanding of other peoples' situation. There are times that a poor person who could barely feed himself will owe money to a rich person for doing accidental damage to him. But, if we put ourselves in someone else's shoes, how would WE would like to be treated, despite what the law would be? Indeed, if we want Hashem to treat us with kindness and mercy, it makes only sense to treat others in like kind. The book Tomer Devorah written by Rabbi Moshe Cordovero of the 1500s is based on the 13 Divine Attributes of Mercy demonstrating by each one of these how we could apply it in our daily lives in treating others. In fact, not only has this been translated into English, but is now even apportioned for monthly study (divided into 30 sections) which will be a definite help in receiving Divine assistance.
JUDAH THE SON OF JACOB
Today - 15 Sivan - is a very special birthday, the birthday of one of the most distinguished of the tribes (following the tribe of Levi from last post) - Judah. This may remind some of Judah the Maccabbe, but Judah the son of Jacob & Leah who had the original name also showed leadership qualities. He didn't always make the right decisions such as when he decided to sell Joseph rather than return him to their father, but at least he was a man enough to admit when he made mistakes such as in the incident of Tamar with whom he had an intimate relationship with, and put his spiritual future on the line when he promised his father Jacob to come back with Benjamin after the tribes' second visit to Egypt to get food, saying that he will be in eternal excommunication if this were not to happen. At the end of Jacob's life, he blessed Judah with a number of blessings, including being the ancestor of the dynasty of King David & the Messiah.
Judah's descendant King David showed exceptional kindness. When he judged a case and ruled for one person to give money to another, he gave money from his own pocket to the one who owed money to the other person whose case he just tried. This is certainly an example that everyone can think about when it comes to dealing to people, especially as it pertains to financial issues.
So now that we have learned a lesson about being a better Jew - especially to another Jew - we can note a correlationship between the months and the tribes and divine attributes of mercy. Don't remember the original source for this, but there is in fact a correlationship between the 13 Divine Attributes of Mercy and the months. Yes, there are usually 12 months in the Jewish calendar, but in a Jewish leap year - there are 13 months. Indeed, in Hashem introducing the divine attributes to Moshe, it says "Hashem passed in front of him (Moshe) and He called out:
E-l..." - Vaya'avor Hashem... The word Vaya'avor (He passed) has the same letters as Ibbur, which literally means pregnant, and is the root word used to describe the leap month of a second Adar, or the leap year. And according to the Bnei Yissaschar, the Tribes of Israel correspond to the months according to the order of the leaders of the Tribes bringing Korbanot/sacrifices on behalf of their tribes following the dedication of the Tabernacle. Thus, Judah corresponds to the first Jewish month of Nissan (though Tishrei begins the Jewish New Year, the months are counted the 1st month, the 2nd month from Nissan, the month of the Exodus, the birth of the Jewish Nation). It was in this month that Hashem showed His great kindness to us despite the Jew's low spiritual standing in the impurity of Egypt and had yet to receive the Torah, thus displaying the Divine Attribute of E-l, which denotes kindness.
In Psalm 30 that is recited during Chanuka when we read about the sacrifices that the leaders of the tribes brought in the Torah, it ends off with "I will thank you", the last word in Hebrew is Odeka. This is the Gematria of 31, the same as that of the attribute of E-l denoting the Sephira of Chesed/kindness. That is, thanking Hashem for His great kindness, as King David, Judah's descendant thanked Hashem. And indeed, Judah's very name is based on the word Thanksgiving (don't worry, we have several months for that in the States if it will still stay in one piece by then), as Leah thanked Hashem for granting her with a 4th son, which was more than her equal share of 12 sons of Jacob as she prophetically knew as Jacob had four wives; and as the Talmud states, Leah was the first person to thank Hashem. And yes, Yehuda/Judah is the Gematria of 30, as it relates to Psalm 30.
The number 31 is also related to the other end of the active Sephirot - Malchut/Kingship, for when the first 31 numbers - 1 through 31 - are added, they equal 496, which is the Gematria of Malchut, and it is the Malchut Beit David/the Davidic dynasty, which will last forever - echoing the ending of Psalm 30 that was composed by King David for the occasion of the dedication of the Temple "forever will I thank You" - which is descended by parental line from Judah.
Judah's birthday is on the 15th of this month. It is this time of the month when the moon is full. And as I mentioned in my last post, King Solomon being the 15 generation from Abraham was the one king in whose reign that peace and completeness was reached as his name Shlomo implies, corresponding to the full month of the 15th of the month, very appropo to the fact that King Solomon is a descendant of Judah. Speaking of kingdoms in the Davidic dynasty, we know that King David was born and passed away on Shavuot. Before the established Jewish calendar of today, Shavuot could have fallen on the 5th, 6th or 7th of Sivan. In any case, that year Shavuot fell out on a Shabbat; and while there are certain law as far as taking care of the dead that are permissible on a holiday, it is clearly forbidden to remove a deceased on Shabbat, and King David was no exception, so his funeral could not be held until the next day, when only at that time could King Solomon assume the full mantle of the kingdom (he was in fact anointed while still in his father King David's lifetime, but this was done to stop his older brother Adoniya from attempting to be king). Now according to the custom of the majority of Jews, the prayers of Kiddush Levana, thanking Hashem for the moon, are recited during the 2nd quarter of the month, starting usually from the night of the 8th until the night of the 15th of the month.
So, the fact that King Solomon began his full reign from around the 2nd quarter of the month when we mention among the "moon" prayers "David, King of Israel, lives and exists" was to serve as a reminder to him that only if he would follow in the footsteps of his father King David could he hope for an everlasting reign of peace and completeness; not being satisfied with status quo, but fulfill the dictates of Psalm 72 (Chesed/Kindness is the Gematria of 72), King David's final psalm that he composed for King Solomon instructing him on how to be a good Jewish king which includes serving justice to the people and the poor; and then and only then could he hope to be in par with the complete moon which is compared to the Jewish people as signified by the birth of Judah, his ancestor, at the heighlight of the month of Sivan in which King Solomon took over the reigns of kingship, and Judah's name as Yehuda became adopted in time as one of the official names of Jews - especially as Yehudi in singular or Yehudim in plural. And as per Psalm 30 which was composed for King David for the future dedication of the Temple, it would be his son King Solomon who would be the actual king presiding over the Temple dedication.
Getting back for a moment to Moshe's prayer on behalf of Miriam - he starts with "E-l Nah" E-l equals 31, and Nah equals 51. Indeed, the Levites began their physical work in the Tabernacle/Temple after 30 years of age, beginning their 31st year, and ended after 50 years, which began their 51st year. Though Moshe of the Levite family was far above the working age, he never forgot even in a moment of personal distress - even as he was forgiving of Miriam's critique of Moshe, but rather remembered how Miriam waited by the Nile when Moshe, as Baby Moses, was placed in a little boat on that river - that he was nothing more than a servant of Hashem as his fellow tribe, the Levites were in serving Hashem, and thus didn't expect anything more from Hashem than anyone else just because of how great he was himself. He knew that nothing short of relying on Hashem's mercies would be the key to having his prayers answered. Along these lines, the 13th month of the Jewish leap year - the 2nd month of Adar - corresponds to Shevet Levi/Tribe of Levi, according to some.
Thus, the Divine Attributes start off with the special qualities of the Tribe of Judah, and ends off with the special qualities of the Tribe of Levi. Regardless of Jewish leadership - whether a king from the Tribe of Judah, or a Cohen or Levite from the Tribe of Levi, ALL were to remember that the ONLY reason they were priviledged to be in their special position is because this is what Hashem wanted - NOT because they were necessarily anymore worthy than anyone else - and thus outside of serving Hashem in their special position, each Jew is considered equal; and if anything, one of Jewish leadership or scholarship is expected to go beyond the letter of the law in treating other Jews with kindness and mercy.
Accordingly, Moshe narrates to the Jewish people in the Book of Deutronomy that the Jews were coming to Israel not because they were necessarily greater than the other nations because in fact some Jews sinned also, but because of Hashem's great kindness to them and he swore to their ancestors that He would bring them to Israel, and it was only because of this that in fact they were given Divine assistance to conquer the nations living there at the time. Even when they were fed the manna, there were some who complained that they didn't get enough meat; so after a whole 30 days of meat, they were so sick of it that it was only through this that their appreciation level of what Hashem provided for them was able to come back to normal. And so too with Miriam's situation, she felt as a prophetess that Moshe had overstepped his boundaries in leaving his wife in justification for being close with Hashem.
But what Miriam didn't realize is what Moshe did was only because this was what Hashem wanted or agreed to, and if she wasn't on that level, that was because this is how Hashem wanted it. After all, if we all work for the same boss; even if the boss doesn't give the exact same directions or priviledges to everyone, it is because this is what the boss wants, not because any employees decide that things should be different or better for some of their own; and thus, there is no room for jealousy here; but if anything, there should be a mutual respect of love and respect for each other if they want the same treatment from their boss.
Though the word for "No" in Hebrew is Lo - Lamed Alef, also equaling 31, we should realize that sometime a "No" as an answer to our prayers can also be part of Hashem's kindness even though we don't realize how this is possible. And if we are truly worthy enough, especially if we show kindness to one another, perhaps we can change the "No" to a "Yes" - through the Divine Attribute & Name E-l denoting kindness, and then indeed we will have plenty of kindnesses to thank Hashem for.
The names Judah - refering also to Jews in general as Yehudi - and Jerusalem are often together in the Bible and in our prayers. As the seven Sefirot from Chesed/Kindness to Malchut/Kingship correspond to the seven days of the week, so too, there are seven years to the Sabbatical cycle. I didn't mention this in my previous post about Jerusalem Day, but both the year of the events of Jerusalem Day in 1967 and in this year which was the beginning of the 43rd year since the holiest area in the world became available to Jews were the first year of the Sabbatical cycle corresponding to the attribute of Kindness, and that day of the Sefira - the 43rd day - is that of Chesed She'be'Malchut/Kindness within Kingdom. And in this year following Jerusalem Day, Judah's birthday falls out on the first day of the week, the same day of the week in which the Nachshon, the leader of the Tribe of Judah brought his sacrifices on behalf of his tribe - on a Sunday - the only leader of the leaders of the other tribes that brought his sacrifices on the very day of the dedication of the Tabernacle, which was the start of the official service in the Tabernacle by Aaron (his brother-in-law) and his sons from the tribe of Levi.
Judah was Leah's 4th son, and was the 4th generation from Abraham from whom was descended King David - whose name begins & ends with Dalet, which is the numerical value of four - and the Messiah. As the theme of this posting is about kindness & mercy, it's interesting to note that the each of the letters of the Alef Beit are related to one or another of the Sefirot, which besides the ones that we had mentioned in terms of the Sefira period, it also includes Keter/Crown, Chachma/Wisdom & Bina/Understanding. Anyways, it is the letter Dalet that is related especially to the Sefira of Chesed/Kindness. Additionally, for the Shir Shel Yom, "Song of the Day" that the Levites sang in the Temple and that we recite daily, Psalm 94 is recited for the 4th day of the week (Wednesday) which begins with the word E-l, denoting Hashem's lovingkindness. And finally on the subject of the number four for this post, according to Halacha/Jewish Law, there are four types of situations of being saved from danger for which one is obligated to give public thanks to Hashem, and thanking Hashem is the root meaning of the name Yehuda - 1) Recovery from illness, 2) Returning from a sea voyage, 3) Leaving prison, 4) Leaving the desert.
Next week, G-d willing, I will be writing about a Mitzva that also relates to two aspects of number four. You know of more than one such Mitzva? You are right, but we will be focusing on one Mitzva particularly. Stay tuned.
15 Sivan 5769 - Birthday of Judah son of Jacob
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
#30 - TRUE Freedom
In life, we all have our ups and downs - our moods, family life, friendships, finances, health, etc. Well, spiritually, it is the same thing. Sometimes we feel like praying today, and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we feel like listening to the rabbi's lecture; while othertimes, we feel like playing ball. While certainly we need some sort of recreation or relaxation once in a while to recharge our spiritual batteries, the general mode that Hashem expects us to be is to improve ourselves bit by bit - not too quickly or we will loose it all, but working on ourselves with our relationship between ourselves & Hashem, between ourselves & others, and allowing ourselves time to others to think how we behaved until now, repenting for our past misdeeds, and moving forward without giving up hope no matter how many times we have fallen.
According to Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, even if one fell down spiritually thousands of times, even the beginning attempt of doing the right thing is precious to Hashem. Most significantly, the theme of repentence - which begins with admitting to our wrongs - is one of several themes in Parshat Naso, read this past Shabbat in Israel, and will be read this coming Shabbat outside of Israel (as Shabbat of last week outside of Israel coincided with the second day of Shavuot as celebrated there, so the regular reading of the Parsha was postponed until this coming Shabbat).
And so, right from the start in Parshat Naso, continuing from the end of the previous Parshat Bamidbar, are the details of the work that the three major Levite families were to perform in the Mishkan/Tabernacle - from ages 30-50. The Torah considers this age range to be the prime of their physical life to be able to perform duties in the Tabernacle quite proficiently without being too slow or not having enough strength to perform their tasks. Indeed, it is from here that Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers at the end of Chapter Five listing the stages of the ages of a person's life, learns out that 30 is the age marking Ko-ach/Strength.
But before moving on to other places in the Bible showing the significance of the number 30 (and 50), as the timing of this coincides with my 30th Post, I would like to translate the meanings of the names of the three Levitical families - which were the names of the three sons of Levi, the son of Jacob. While I am a Levite, I do not know which one of the three Levite families that I am descended from; as there are others not coming from the Tribe of Levi who do not even know what tribe they are from (especially as it pertains to the parental line especially in terms of inheritance in the land of Israel as it was thousands of years ago). However, the meanings of the names of the three Levitical families have a common theme.
NUMBER 30 IN THE CHUMASH/FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES
Parshat Naso begins with the details of work for the B'nei Gershon - descendants of Gershon. The name Gershon has a connotation of being chased away, or divorced. Next are the B'nei Merari. Merari is in fact similar to the word Maror/BITTER herbs that are eaten alongside with the Matza on the Seder night, thus signifying the concept of bitterness. And as the end of the previous Parsha mentions, the B'nei Kehat. Kehat has a connotation of bashing, as phrased in the Tnach/Bible as bashing teeth. So you wonder, how come the names of the heads of the Levitical families have such negative connotations?
I believe that the Torah wants to teach a crucial lesson here. You see, Bnei Gershon can signify the children of divorced parents. In whatever way their situation is bandaged - parents remarrying, having a chance to see both of their parents, etc., no doubt they are affected by their parents being divorced - for some, it may not be so traumatic, but it is not something that the children are always comfortable talking about to their friends. In any case, many may not feel the same level of confidence of being something in life like their other friends. Then you have the B'nei Merari - children coming from bitter homes, and while their parents may be married, they are certainly not in a very happy atmosphere to say the least and unless are physicologically helped or given a brake in life, no doubt they will carry on a bitter legacy that they will not be happy with. And then there are the B'nei Kehat - children from violent homes that includes physically and/or verbally being beat up.
My point is that while individually, we may not exactly come from the best of circumstances, we all - particularly Jews as descendants from our Avot &
Imahot/Jewish patriarchs & matriarchs as mentioned in the Book of Genesis have tremendous potential. True that we may have setbacks, unpleasant memories, and some of us may not want to talk much about our childhood days, but if Hashem allowed us to be Jews, and especially knowing that we have a Torah that transmits to us what Hashem wants us to do, that we have a mission to do. There will be certain things in the Torah that will indeed be more challenging for some than others - but our mission is to eventually overcome these challenges and perhaps rise even greater than most others who have been challenged far less.
It is the tribe of Levi who was eventually chosen to be Hashem's servants in His holiest place in the world. While then, the Levites had a pretty good background in terms of family and serving Hashem, as they were never enslaved in Egypt, and the entire tribe was very faithful to Hashem without serving idols, at least through Joshua's period of leadership; today, Jews have been dispersed throughout the world and come from virtually every type of background possible. Even so, there are many if not most Jews from non-observant homes who know if they are in fact Cohanim or Levi'im/Levites. Being a member of this tribe was such a privilege, that it seems that most who are from this tribe know this to be a fact until this day, despite the challenges of the exile that were imposed on Jews throughout the centuries, while so many other Jews until this day - regardless of religious background - do not even know what tribe they come from. Thus, we see how lively the Torah is until this day keeping the awareness of the privilege of being Hashem's special servants, even after almost 2,000 years since the Levite tribe have not been able to serve Hashem in the Holy Temple.
NUMBER 30 IN THE NEVI'IM/PROPHETS
On Shavuot (first day outside of Israel), for the Haftara/readings from the Prophets following the Parsha, we read from the beginning of the Book of Ezekiel. It is this very Haftara that talks about concepts that are discussed in Kabbalah. The beginning words are "It was in the thirtieth year...and I (Exekiel) was among the exiles..." Rashi, the number one commentary on the Bible & Talmud, begins commenting that the prophet sealed/hid his words without explaining the meaning of this, that is, what he means by the 30th year as from what event or period in time. At this point, Rashi in fact does not explain what this 30th year is. It is only on the wording of the second verse, mentioning the period of time as the fifth year from the exile of Joyachin, one of the last kings in Judea before the destruction of the First Temple, does Rashi explain what the 30th year means - the 30th year following the last Jubilee, which was the 50th year following seven Sabbatical cycles of not working the land. But the question begs to be asked - how come Rashi didn't IMMEDIATELY explain what it means when it says the 30th year, or at least say that he will explain this a little further on when more details are mentioned about this period in time?
Much earlier on in history when Jacob with his family - children & grandchildren, came to live in Egypt in the midst of a world famine where they would be amply supported by Joseph, the Torah ends off Parshat Vayigash with saying that they were living in Egypt with a stronghold in the land. Then, in the beginning of Parshat Vayechi, it starts off mentioning how long Jacob lived for. Rashi on the beginning of this Parsha points out that in the Sefer Torah, you do not have the usual spacing that you see at the end of a Parsha before proceeding to the next one, but only as the usual spacing between sentences. He explains using the same terminology as he used in the beginning of the Book of Ezekiel, "Why is this Parsha SEALED? Because since Jacob's passing, the eyes & hearts of the Jews were HIDDEN from the troubles of the slavery, that they were begun to be enslaved. Another reason: Jacob wished to reveal the date of arrival of the Messiah, but this was HIDDEN from him".
There is something to be asked on this. What does it mean that the Jew's eyes & hearts were hidden from the "troubles of slavery" while saying at the same time that they enslavery began?
Does this mean that they kept themselves shut from the reality that was happening to them? It's true that Jacob passed away already, but we know for a fact that the slavery didn't actually begin until after all of Jacob's sons passed away, and Joseph, Jacob's son, as second in power to Pharoh, was still in power for over 60 years?
There seems to be a common theme here between the context of the life of Jacob's family in Egypt and the time period of Ezekiel when he among many other Jews were in exile. First of all, in terms of Jacob's family, especially with their physical & spiritual patriarch Jacob, not knowing when redemption would come at hand, were in spiritual limbo. And while they may still have had the comforts of Egyptian life as they were well provided for by Joseph, the reality of an upcoming period of slavery was already starting to take root. The realities of being an exile didn't quite hit home unfortunately, and so it lead to the reality of their children and grandchildren being enslaved in Egypt down the road. The Jews in this inbetween stage - the time period between living in Israel and being slaves were indeed living in a very dark period in Jewish history, because their eyes and hearts were shut from a reality that they should have envisioned but let the comforts of exile make them forget that Egypt was just a temporary place.
The only difference between the Jews in those days and now is that at least then, they really didn't have anyone to learn from and hadn't even received the Torah yet, but today's Jews have much to learn from, and if not from the Torah per se if they haven't learned quite much about what Judaism is about, then at least they have what to learn from in Jewish history.
And so it was the case in Ezekiel's days. It was close to the period prior to the destruction of the Temple, but the exile in fact already began when Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who ordered the Temple's destruction, exiled a segment of the Jewish population in Judea. Yes, another dark period in Jewish history, even though there was still a fair sizable Jewish population with the Temple still standing. But very unfortunately, the Jews kept their eyes & hearts shut from what was really happening, and since they refused to repent as the prophets kept warning them to do, it was just a matter of time before the Temple would be destroyed and most of the rest of the Jews would be murdered, die from starvation, or exiled.
And so it was the 30th year since the last Jubilee, a year in which inherited land returns to its original owners and Hebrew servants return homes from serving their master; and the next generation of Jews didn't know of how Jewish life was supposed to be lived, and that it is only "freedom for the land", as the Jubilee year dictates, when Jews follow the law of the land, the Torah of the Land of Israel, not their way of how they view Judaism to be or be under the guise of a Jewish or Israeli government that quite often spits on Jewish Law. And so, indeed as Rashi points out at the beginning of the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet sealed/hid his words and didn't immediately explain the details as Rashi himself didn't immediately do, because this signifies that the fact that the Jews hid themselves from the reality they were presently living in compared to how it was some 30 years ago was a true dark period, because it wasn't what was happening itself or what was going to happen that was so terrible, it was the fact that the Jews didn't repent from their evil ways and lived quite comfortably without worrying about what Hashem wanted that made it a dark time. It was just that Ezekiel recognized the reality - and so Hashem wanted to give him a vision of the REAL REALITY - what goes on in Heaven - how the angels look like and their method of operation. This is the part of Tnach that forms the basis of the concepts of Kabbalah, and is read publicly on the day that the Torah was given on Shavuot.
And the reason that Kabbalah is considered a "hidden" subject, understood properly by very few, is because it is these very few that truly know what reality is. This world is indeed one big exile -not so much because it can be spiritually degrading - but because the world is viewed as the real reality with all its comforts, making people forget the purpose of our life in this world. It didn't just appear from the "Big Bang", and we don't descend from monkeys or apes, which would otherwise excuse our animalistic behaviors. Thus, even if we don't understand the details of the Haftara with its kabbalistic vision, it should put us in a frame of mind that makes us think of our purpose in life which is dictated by the Torah that Hashem officially gave us on this day, commencing with the Ten Commandments, paralleling the Ten Statements through which Hashem created this world for the purpose of us Jews serving Hashem.
NUMBER 30 IN THE WRITINGS/KETUVIM
On Shavuot (outside of Israel, it's the 2nd day), we read the Book of Ruth, the shortest of the 24 books of the Tnach, which consists of 85 verses. The star of this book is Ruth, princess of a Moabite king who converted to Judaism, and after living a period of poverty and humbleness in Israel, married Boaz, the Jewish leader at the time, and from whom was descendant the royal line of King David from whom the Messiah will be a descendant. We read this especially on Shavuot because the events that took place in the Book of Ruth happened around this time of year, and King David was born and passed away on Shavuot.
Without going into all kinds of details, Ruth, daughter-in-law of Naomi whose husband was a relative of Boaz, was instructed by Boaz to marry him to keep Naomi's ancestral land as inherited from her deceased husband to stay in the family as Noami had no living descendants. Ruth came to Boaz in the midst of the night telling him of the situation. Boaz replied to Ruth - Lini HaLayla - "Stay here overnight" (Ruth 3:13)- and then Boaz would see would be as there was a relative of his that was closer to him by blood relationship who would be the "land redeemer". As it turns out, this relative appeared from the blues, and at first agreed to do as Boaz requested, but then reneged, so Ruth wound up marrying Boaz and the rest is history.
As I have mentioned before, there are certain letters in the Bible that are unusually large or small. In this word LINI - "stay here", there are actually two different versions as to what the large letter is. Some have it as the letter Lamed, others have it as the letter Nun. Interestingly, these letters have the Gematria -numerical values of 30 & 50 respectively which we will discuss a little later on with the connection of the Levitical families serving in the Tabernacle from ages 30-50. But first, there are in fact explanations for BOTH of these letters being large even though in any given text, only one of these will be big.
One common theme among the explanations between the two big letters is about generations. LAMED - It was in the 30th generation from Abraham, as King Tzikiyahu, as the last king of Israel and 30th generation in parental line from Abraham, that the Temple was destroyed. These 30 generations are compared to the cycle of the moon, which represents the Jewish people. It is significant to note that King David was the 14th generation from Abraham, as his name David is the Gematria of 14. And then it was his son King Solomon as the 15 generation when it was the highlight of Israel's history with everything in place living in peace and completeness, as the meaning of King Solomon's name Shlomo, which corresponds to the 15th day/night of the Jewish month that the moon appears whole. But then, the generations of Jews were in a spritual downslide partly in thanks to some of the future kings who sinned that led to the end of their life as it was then in Israel. Corresponding to the waning of the moon as it disappears from sight at the 30th & last day of the month, King Tzidkiyahu's eyes were blinded by Babylonain king Nebuchadnezzar.
NUN - It was the 50th generation from Adam (& Eve) that the Jews were exiled to Babylonia. And indeed, in the word LINI, the letter LAMED can be read to mean "for" Yud (10), Nun (50), Yud (10), adding up to 70, meaning that the Jews were exiled in Babylonia for 70 years. This is followed by the word Haleila - "the night", as exile is compared to night.
Now, something doesn't quite seem to add up. We know for a fact that Abraham was the 20th generation from Adam. And we said above that it was the 30th generation from Abraham that was exiled. So, it seems that in fact that it was 49th generation - NOT the 50th generation that was exiled. So, while 49 is next to the number 50, it is not the number 50. What's the deal here?
For one thing, it was Abraham that made the bridge from the past to the future. There were in fact two periods in his life - the period before he knew Hashem, and the period afterwards. In a more universal way, our Rabbis tell us that is was in the Year 2000 after after the world was created (See my 3rd blog "What happened in the Year 2000?) that Abraham spread the believe of one G-d in this world, as the first 2,000 years signify a period of chaos without much significant sprituality being accomplished in this world, besides a select few who didn't worship idols, and then the second period of 2,000 years until the Mishna was written down was the period of Torah, even as the Torah would not be given to the Jewish people for almost another 450 years. And so, whether you look at it in a personal or universal way, Abraham represents two different generations - two different periods of time that reflected the difference between spiritual exile & "freedom for all".
And so indeed, while in fact, King Tzidkiyahu, as the last king of Israel/Judea, was the 49th generation from Adam; and indeed, the Sefira - spiritual count of the last of the 49 days of the Sefira is Malchut She'bi'Malchus - Kingdom within Kingdom; King Tzidkiyahu's generation is considered to be the 50th generation, as signified by the fact that Shavuot, the holiday of the giving of the Torah, is called the "50th day" from the Sefira count of the Omer, but we don't officially count this day - it is only the Torah that counts this. Siginificantly, we think sometimes that the Torah has to be according to the way that WE want it to be to fit our lifestyles - when we forget that it is our lifestyles that have to fit the way the Torah wants it to be. And so we see historically, the Babylonian exile happened in the "50th generation" to remind us that it is Hashem through his Torah who calls the shots, and that we can only have freedom - as opposed to exile - if we follow in the Torah's footsteps.
In connection with the Book of Ruth which ends with King David's name as its last word, and interestingly, the Talmud in Tractate Berachot states that Ruth was so named because her name is a terminology of the word saturation, as King David saturated Hashem, so to speak, with his praises in his Book of Psalms, so along these lines, I would like to point out Psalms Chapter 30. The opening verse tells us that this psalm was especially dedicted to the upcoming dedication of the First Temple, of which the preparations were begun by King David, hence called HaBayit LeDavid - The House of David. This is the very psalm recited on Chanuka when we read about the Korbanot/sacrifices that the leaders of the tribes brought during the first 12 days from the dedication of the Tabernacle, which makes up the second half of the above discussed Parshat Naso, the name of the Parsha literally meaning "lift up". Interestingly, the first word of the second verse of Psalm 30 following the introductory sentence is Aromeemcha - "I will exalt You", the terminology of the word which literally means raising up. Thus, through serving Hashem, we are raised up spiritually; and indeed the name of the next Parsha is called Beha'alotcha, which literally means "when you will go up", referring to lighting the Menorah.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
We see that the number 30 has a common theme through the Bible - it represents the choices that we make in life. The Levites after living 30 years are most ready to serve in Hashem's Holy Place. It was in the 30th year following the Sabbatical/Jubilee cycle that Ezekiel received a most divine prophetic vision to remind the Jewish people of their mission in life before they would be totally swept by their spiritual & physical exile. And that indeed was the 30th generation from Abraham, who started the process of spreading the Torah way of life in the world, and indeed in the verse immediately following the Days of Creation - it says "These are the accounts of the heaven and earth WHEN HE (Hashem) CREATED THEM" (Genesis 2:4). The Hebrew word for the words in big letters here is B'Hibaram - rearranged to spell the word B'Avraham - "through Abraham", meaning that it was Abraham who gave meaning for the world's existance, and indeed, the Torah begins with a big Beit, signifying the Year 2000 (the TRUE Y2K) when Abraham started the world's true mission. However, unfortunately, the 30th generation in the "30th year" from the Jubilee, spiritual freedom, forget what their ancestor Abraham's mission was, and so without spiritual continuity not matching with their physical continuity, were doomed to exile. They acted more like being the 50th generation from Adam who failed in his mission as he ate from the tree that Hashem ordered him not to eat from. Thus, the number 30 signifies the potential of doing their mission, thus the Levites began their holy work with 30 years of spiritual background based on Abraham's spiritual mission; and the number 50 signifies the end of the accomplishment that was done or was supposed to be done, but the waning period following the 50 years corresponds to Adam's failed mission. It was just that with the Levites after turning 50 years old, that they resumed their singing duties so long as they still had a voice, as music represents a very spiritual thing, it was just the physical labor, representing the hardships of life in this world as challenges in the midst of serving Hashem that they stopped doing, and the Levites could still serve Hashem focusing more on the spiritual aspect while being able to look back on their spiritual accomplishments performed while in their harder years of their life.
Pirkei Avot, in speaking about the verse that says that the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were "engraved" - Charut, says that don't read it in interpreting the verse as "engraved" - Charut, but freedom - Cheirut, as "there is no freedom but Torah". Today, we don't have to be blind to see what happens in the non-Jewish world of drugs, alchohol, uninhibited sex, and all else that the comfortable American life has to offer that is clearly waning with its flag of 50 stars is hanging. Whatever people want to criticize about the Hasidic lifestyle, in sharp contrast, VERY FEW in comparison or in contrast in the Hasidic world and other religious Jewish sectors get caught up with the temporary frenzies that wind up enslaving them.
Before concluding, there are a few tidbits from other sources about the number 30 that I want to relate:
NUMBER 30 IN THE MISHNA
The 30th Tractate in the Mishnayot is called Kiddushin - the tractate that is all about the laws of marriage. It was indeed on Shavuot when the spiritual marriage of the Jewish people to Hashem took place. Very interesting, this tractate concludes with a whole long segment on the importance of learning Torah, the theme of the holiday of Shavuot.
NUMBER 30 IN THE GEMARA/TALMUD
Among the various topics of the above mentioned Parshat Naso is a whole section on the Nazirite, one who vows not to drink wine, which also comes with a package deal forbidding him to contaminate himself with the dead or to cut his hair. The minimum amont of time for his Nazirite vow is 30 days. The Talmud in Tractate Nazir teaches us through the verse - Kadosh YIHYEH - "He (the Nazirite) shall be holy" where the word Yihyeh has the Gematria of 30 - hinting to the minimum 30 day time period of a Nazirite vow.
NUMBER 30 IN KABBALAH
In the Tikunei Zohar about the spiritual significance of the Alef Beit/Hebrew alphabet, it mentions about the verse that states about the dream that Jacob had at the future site of the Temple that the "angels were going up and down (the ladder)". The Zohar on this comments that the angles go up with the letter LAMED which equals 30, and come down with the letter NUN, which equals 50. How fascinating! The Levitical tribe - including the Levites - serving in the Tabernacle/Temple resembles the angels of above who serve Hashem, go up the Temple ladder so to speak beginning their physical service from 30 years of age until after 50 years of age when they come down this ladder, as mentioned in the above Parshat Naso, and indeed angels are mentioned in the Haftara for (the first day of) Shavuot.
Next week with G-d's help, I will be mentioning about Judah, Jacob's son. Indeed, in terms of generations from Abraham, Judah - the ancestor of King David and the Messiah, was the 4th generation from Abraham, and was the 4th son of Leah. And indeed Yehuda/Judah is the Gematria of 30, the number of this Post.
11 Sivan 5769, 40th Day of my 40th Year
According to Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, even if one fell down spiritually thousands of times, even the beginning attempt of doing the right thing is precious to Hashem. Most significantly, the theme of repentence - which begins with admitting to our wrongs - is one of several themes in Parshat Naso, read this past Shabbat in Israel, and will be read this coming Shabbat outside of Israel (as Shabbat of last week outside of Israel coincided with the second day of Shavuot as celebrated there, so the regular reading of the Parsha was postponed until this coming Shabbat).
And so, right from the start in Parshat Naso, continuing from the end of the previous Parshat Bamidbar, are the details of the work that the three major Levite families were to perform in the Mishkan/Tabernacle - from ages 30-50. The Torah considers this age range to be the prime of their physical life to be able to perform duties in the Tabernacle quite proficiently without being too slow or not having enough strength to perform their tasks. Indeed, it is from here that Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers at the end of Chapter Five listing the stages of the ages of a person's life, learns out that 30 is the age marking Ko-ach/Strength.
But before moving on to other places in the Bible showing the significance of the number 30 (and 50), as the timing of this coincides with my 30th Post, I would like to translate the meanings of the names of the three Levitical families - which were the names of the three sons of Levi, the son of Jacob. While I am a Levite, I do not know which one of the three Levite families that I am descended from; as there are others not coming from the Tribe of Levi who do not even know what tribe they are from (especially as it pertains to the parental line especially in terms of inheritance in the land of Israel as it was thousands of years ago). However, the meanings of the names of the three Levitical families have a common theme.
NUMBER 30 IN THE CHUMASH/FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES
Parshat Naso begins with the details of work for the B'nei Gershon - descendants of Gershon. The name Gershon has a connotation of being chased away, or divorced. Next are the B'nei Merari. Merari is in fact similar to the word Maror/BITTER herbs that are eaten alongside with the Matza on the Seder night, thus signifying the concept of bitterness. And as the end of the previous Parsha mentions, the B'nei Kehat. Kehat has a connotation of bashing, as phrased in the Tnach/Bible as bashing teeth. So you wonder, how come the names of the heads of the Levitical families have such negative connotations?
I believe that the Torah wants to teach a crucial lesson here. You see, Bnei Gershon can signify the children of divorced parents. In whatever way their situation is bandaged - parents remarrying, having a chance to see both of their parents, etc., no doubt they are affected by their parents being divorced - for some, it may not be so traumatic, but it is not something that the children are always comfortable talking about to their friends. In any case, many may not feel the same level of confidence of being something in life like their other friends. Then you have the B'nei Merari - children coming from bitter homes, and while their parents may be married, they are certainly not in a very happy atmosphere to say the least and unless are physicologically helped or given a brake in life, no doubt they will carry on a bitter legacy that they will not be happy with. And then there are the B'nei Kehat - children from violent homes that includes physically and/or verbally being beat up.
My point is that while individually, we may not exactly come from the best of circumstances, we all - particularly Jews as descendants from our Avot &
Imahot/Jewish patriarchs & matriarchs as mentioned in the Book of Genesis have tremendous potential. True that we may have setbacks, unpleasant memories, and some of us may not want to talk much about our childhood days, but if Hashem allowed us to be Jews, and especially knowing that we have a Torah that transmits to us what Hashem wants us to do, that we have a mission to do. There will be certain things in the Torah that will indeed be more challenging for some than others - but our mission is to eventually overcome these challenges and perhaps rise even greater than most others who have been challenged far less.
It is the tribe of Levi who was eventually chosen to be Hashem's servants in His holiest place in the world. While then, the Levites had a pretty good background in terms of family and serving Hashem, as they were never enslaved in Egypt, and the entire tribe was very faithful to Hashem without serving idols, at least through Joshua's period of leadership; today, Jews have been dispersed throughout the world and come from virtually every type of background possible. Even so, there are many if not most Jews from non-observant homes who know if they are in fact Cohanim or Levi'im/Levites. Being a member of this tribe was such a privilege, that it seems that most who are from this tribe know this to be a fact until this day, despite the challenges of the exile that were imposed on Jews throughout the centuries, while so many other Jews until this day - regardless of religious background - do not even know what tribe they come from. Thus, we see how lively the Torah is until this day keeping the awareness of the privilege of being Hashem's special servants, even after almost 2,000 years since the Levite tribe have not been able to serve Hashem in the Holy Temple.
NUMBER 30 IN THE NEVI'IM/PROPHETS
On Shavuot (first day outside of Israel), for the Haftara/readings from the Prophets following the Parsha, we read from the beginning of the Book of Ezekiel. It is this very Haftara that talks about concepts that are discussed in Kabbalah. The beginning words are "It was in the thirtieth year...and I (Exekiel) was among the exiles..." Rashi, the number one commentary on the Bible & Talmud, begins commenting that the prophet sealed/hid his words without explaining the meaning of this, that is, what he means by the 30th year as from what event or period in time. At this point, Rashi in fact does not explain what this 30th year is. It is only on the wording of the second verse, mentioning the period of time as the fifth year from the exile of Joyachin, one of the last kings in Judea before the destruction of the First Temple, does Rashi explain what the 30th year means - the 30th year following the last Jubilee, which was the 50th year following seven Sabbatical cycles of not working the land. But the question begs to be asked - how come Rashi didn't IMMEDIATELY explain what it means when it says the 30th year, or at least say that he will explain this a little further on when more details are mentioned about this period in time?
Much earlier on in history when Jacob with his family - children & grandchildren, came to live in Egypt in the midst of a world famine where they would be amply supported by Joseph, the Torah ends off Parshat Vayigash with saying that they were living in Egypt with a stronghold in the land. Then, in the beginning of Parshat Vayechi, it starts off mentioning how long Jacob lived for. Rashi on the beginning of this Parsha points out that in the Sefer Torah, you do not have the usual spacing that you see at the end of a Parsha before proceeding to the next one, but only as the usual spacing between sentences. He explains using the same terminology as he used in the beginning of the Book of Ezekiel, "Why is this Parsha SEALED? Because since Jacob's passing, the eyes & hearts of the Jews were HIDDEN from the troubles of the slavery, that they were begun to be enslaved. Another reason: Jacob wished to reveal the date of arrival of the Messiah, but this was HIDDEN from him".
There is something to be asked on this. What does it mean that the Jew's eyes & hearts were hidden from the "troubles of slavery" while saying at the same time that they enslavery began?
Does this mean that they kept themselves shut from the reality that was happening to them? It's true that Jacob passed away already, but we know for a fact that the slavery didn't actually begin until after all of Jacob's sons passed away, and Joseph, Jacob's son, as second in power to Pharoh, was still in power for over 60 years?
There seems to be a common theme here between the context of the life of Jacob's family in Egypt and the time period of Ezekiel when he among many other Jews were in exile. First of all, in terms of Jacob's family, especially with their physical & spiritual patriarch Jacob, not knowing when redemption would come at hand, were in spiritual limbo. And while they may still have had the comforts of Egyptian life as they were well provided for by Joseph, the reality of an upcoming period of slavery was already starting to take root. The realities of being an exile didn't quite hit home unfortunately, and so it lead to the reality of their children and grandchildren being enslaved in Egypt down the road. The Jews in this inbetween stage - the time period between living in Israel and being slaves were indeed living in a very dark period in Jewish history, because their eyes and hearts were shut from a reality that they should have envisioned but let the comforts of exile make them forget that Egypt was just a temporary place.
The only difference between the Jews in those days and now is that at least then, they really didn't have anyone to learn from and hadn't even received the Torah yet, but today's Jews have much to learn from, and if not from the Torah per se if they haven't learned quite much about what Judaism is about, then at least they have what to learn from in Jewish history.
And so it was the case in Ezekiel's days. It was close to the period prior to the destruction of the Temple, but the exile in fact already began when Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who ordered the Temple's destruction, exiled a segment of the Jewish population in Judea. Yes, another dark period in Jewish history, even though there was still a fair sizable Jewish population with the Temple still standing. But very unfortunately, the Jews kept their eyes & hearts shut from what was really happening, and since they refused to repent as the prophets kept warning them to do, it was just a matter of time before the Temple would be destroyed and most of the rest of the Jews would be murdered, die from starvation, or exiled.
And so it was the 30th year since the last Jubilee, a year in which inherited land returns to its original owners and Hebrew servants return homes from serving their master; and the next generation of Jews didn't know of how Jewish life was supposed to be lived, and that it is only "freedom for the land", as the Jubilee year dictates, when Jews follow the law of the land, the Torah of the Land of Israel, not their way of how they view Judaism to be or be under the guise of a Jewish or Israeli government that quite often spits on Jewish Law. And so, indeed as Rashi points out at the beginning of the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet sealed/hid his words and didn't immediately explain the details as Rashi himself didn't immediately do, because this signifies that the fact that the Jews hid themselves from the reality they were presently living in compared to how it was some 30 years ago was a true dark period, because it wasn't what was happening itself or what was going to happen that was so terrible, it was the fact that the Jews didn't repent from their evil ways and lived quite comfortably without worrying about what Hashem wanted that made it a dark time. It was just that Ezekiel recognized the reality - and so Hashem wanted to give him a vision of the REAL REALITY - what goes on in Heaven - how the angels look like and their method of operation. This is the part of Tnach that forms the basis of the concepts of Kabbalah, and is read publicly on the day that the Torah was given on Shavuot.
And the reason that Kabbalah is considered a "hidden" subject, understood properly by very few, is because it is these very few that truly know what reality is. This world is indeed one big exile -not so much because it can be spiritually degrading - but because the world is viewed as the real reality with all its comforts, making people forget the purpose of our life in this world. It didn't just appear from the "Big Bang", and we don't descend from monkeys or apes, which would otherwise excuse our animalistic behaviors. Thus, even if we don't understand the details of the Haftara with its kabbalistic vision, it should put us in a frame of mind that makes us think of our purpose in life which is dictated by the Torah that Hashem officially gave us on this day, commencing with the Ten Commandments, paralleling the Ten Statements through which Hashem created this world for the purpose of us Jews serving Hashem.
NUMBER 30 IN THE WRITINGS/KETUVIM
On Shavuot (outside of Israel, it's the 2nd day), we read the Book of Ruth, the shortest of the 24 books of the Tnach, which consists of 85 verses. The star of this book is Ruth, princess of a Moabite king who converted to Judaism, and after living a period of poverty and humbleness in Israel, married Boaz, the Jewish leader at the time, and from whom was descendant the royal line of King David from whom the Messiah will be a descendant. We read this especially on Shavuot because the events that took place in the Book of Ruth happened around this time of year, and King David was born and passed away on Shavuot.
Without going into all kinds of details, Ruth, daughter-in-law of Naomi whose husband was a relative of Boaz, was instructed by Boaz to marry him to keep Naomi's ancestral land as inherited from her deceased husband to stay in the family as Noami had no living descendants. Ruth came to Boaz in the midst of the night telling him of the situation. Boaz replied to Ruth - Lini HaLayla - "Stay here overnight" (Ruth 3:13)- and then Boaz would see would be as there was a relative of his that was closer to him by blood relationship who would be the "land redeemer". As it turns out, this relative appeared from the blues, and at first agreed to do as Boaz requested, but then reneged, so Ruth wound up marrying Boaz and the rest is history.
As I have mentioned before, there are certain letters in the Bible that are unusually large or small. In this word LINI - "stay here", there are actually two different versions as to what the large letter is. Some have it as the letter Lamed, others have it as the letter Nun. Interestingly, these letters have the Gematria -numerical values of 30 & 50 respectively which we will discuss a little later on with the connection of the Levitical families serving in the Tabernacle from ages 30-50. But first, there are in fact explanations for BOTH of these letters being large even though in any given text, only one of these will be big.
One common theme among the explanations between the two big letters is about generations. LAMED - It was in the 30th generation from Abraham, as King Tzikiyahu, as the last king of Israel and 30th generation in parental line from Abraham, that the Temple was destroyed. These 30 generations are compared to the cycle of the moon, which represents the Jewish people. It is significant to note that King David was the 14th generation from Abraham, as his name David is the Gematria of 14. And then it was his son King Solomon as the 15 generation when it was the highlight of Israel's history with everything in place living in peace and completeness, as the meaning of King Solomon's name Shlomo, which corresponds to the 15th day/night of the Jewish month that the moon appears whole. But then, the generations of Jews were in a spritual downslide partly in thanks to some of the future kings who sinned that led to the end of their life as it was then in Israel. Corresponding to the waning of the moon as it disappears from sight at the 30th & last day of the month, King Tzidkiyahu's eyes were blinded by Babylonain king Nebuchadnezzar.
NUN - It was the 50th generation from Adam (& Eve) that the Jews were exiled to Babylonia. And indeed, in the word LINI, the letter LAMED can be read to mean "for" Yud (10), Nun (50), Yud (10), adding up to 70, meaning that the Jews were exiled in Babylonia for 70 years. This is followed by the word Haleila - "the night", as exile is compared to night.
Now, something doesn't quite seem to add up. We know for a fact that Abraham was the 20th generation from Adam. And we said above that it was the 30th generation from Abraham that was exiled. So, it seems that in fact that it was 49th generation - NOT the 50th generation that was exiled. So, while 49 is next to the number 50, it is not the number 50. What's the deal here?
For one thing, it was Abraham that made the bridge from the past to the future. There were in fact two periods in his life - the period before he knew Hashem, and the period afterwards. In a more universal way, our Rabbis tell us that is was in the Year 2000 after after the world was created (See my 3rd blog "What happened in the Year 2000?) that Abraham spread the believe of one G-d in this world, as the first 2,000 years signify a period of chaos without much significant sprituality being accomplished in this world, besides a select few who didn't worship idols, and then the second period of 2,000 years until the Mishna was written down was the period of Torah, even as the Torah would not be given to the Jewish people for almost another 450 years. And so, whether you look at it in a personal or universal way, Abraham represents two different generations - two different periods of time that reflected the difference between spiritual exile & "freedom for all".
And so indeed, while in fact, King Tzidkiyahu, as the last king of Israel/Judea, was the 49th generation from Adam; and indeed, the Sefira - spiritual count of the last of the 49 days of the Sefira is Malchut She'bi'Malchus - Kingdom within Kingdom; King Tzidkiyahu's generation is considered to be the 50th generation, as signified by the fact that Shavuot, the holiday of the giving of the Torah, is called the "50th day" from the Sefira count of the Omer, but we don't officially count this day - it is only the Torah that counts this. Siginificantly, we think sometimes that the Torah has to be according to the way that WE want it to be to fit our lifestyles - when we forget that it is our lifestyles that have to fit the way the Torah wants it to be. And so we see historically, the Babylonian exile happened in the "50th generation" to remind us that it is Hashem through his Torah who calls the shots, and that we can only have freedom - as opposed to exile - if we follow in the Torah's footsteps.
In connection with the Book of Ruth which ends with King David's name as its last word, and interestingly, the Talmud in Tractate Berachot states that Ruth was so named because her name is a terminology of the word saturation, as King David saturated Hashem, so to speak, with his praises in his Book of Psalms, so along these lines, I would like to point out Psalms Chapter 30. The opening verse tells us that this psalm was especially dedicted to the upcoming dedication of the First Temple, of which the preparations were begun by King David, hence called HaBayit LeDavid - The House of David. This is the very psalm recited on Chanuka when we read about the Korbanot/sacrifices that the leaders of the tribes brought during the first 12 days from the dedication of the Tabernacle, which makes up the second half of the above discussed Parshat Naso, the name of the Parsha literally meaning "lift up". Interestingly, the first word of the second verse of Psalm 30 following the introductory sentence is Aromeemcha - "I will exalt You", the terminology of the word which literally means raising up. Thus, through serving Hashem, we are raised up spiritually; and indeed the name of the next Parsha is called Beha'alotcha, which literally means "when you will go up", referring to lighting the Menorah.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
We see that the number 30 has a common theme through the Bible - it represents the choices that we make in life. The Levites after living 30 years are most ready to serve in Hashem's Holy Place. It was in the 30th year following the Sabbatical/Jubilee cycle that Ezekiel received a most divine prophetic vision to remind the Jewish people of their mission in life before they would be totally swept by their spiritual & physical exile. And that indeed was the 30th generation from Abraham, who started the process of spreading the Torah way of life in the world, and indeed in the verse immediately following the Days of Creation - it says "These are the accounts of the heaven and earth WHEN HE (Hashem) CREATED THEM" (Genesis 2:4). The Hebrew word for the words in big letters here is B'Hibaram - rearranged to spell the word B'Avraham - "through Abraham", meaning that it was Abraham who gave meaning for the world's existance, and indeed, the Torah begins with a big Beit, signifying the Year 2000 (the TRUE Y2K) when Abraham started the world's true mission. However, unfortunately, the 30th generation in the "30th year" from the Jubilee, spiritual freedom, forget what their ancestor Abraham's mission was, and so without spiritual continuity not matching with their physical continuity, were doomed to exile. They acted more like being the 50th generation from Adam who failed in his mission as he ate from the tree that Hashem ordered him not to eat from. Thus, the number 30 signifies the potential of doing their mission, thus the Levites began their holy work with 30 years of spiritual background based on Abraham's spiritual mission; and the number 50 signifies the end of the accomplishment that was done or was supposed to be done, but the waning period following the 50 years corresponds to Adam's failed mission. It was just that with the Levites after turning 50 years old, that they resumed their singing duties so long as they still had a voice, as music represents a very spiritual thing, it was just the physical labor, representing the hardships of life in this world as challenges in the midst of serving Hashem that they stopped doing, and the Levites could still serve Hashem focusing more on the spiritual aspect while being able to look back on their spiritual accomplishments performed while in their harder years of their life.
Pirkei Avot, in speaking about the verse that says that the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were "engraved" - Charut, says that don't read it in interpreting the verse as "engraved" - Charut, but freedom - Cheirut, as "there is no freedom but Torah". Today, we don't have to be blind to see what happens in the non-Jewish world of drugs, alchohol, uninhibited sex, and all else that the comfortable American life has to offer that is clearly waning with its flag of 50 stars is hanging. Whatever people want to criticize about the Hasidic lifestyle, in sharp contrast, VERY FEW in comparison or in contrast in the Hasidic world and other religious Jewish sectors get caught up with the temporary frenzies that wind up enslaving them.
Before concluding, there are a few tidbits from other sources about the number 30 that I want to relate:
NUMBER 30 IN THE MISHNA
The 30th Tractate in the Mishnayot is called Kiddushin - the tractate that is all about the laws of marriage. It was indeed on Shavuot when the spiritual marriage of the Jewish people to Hashem took place. Very interesting, this tractate concludes with a whole long segment on the importance of learning Torah, the theme of the holiday of Shavuot.
NUMBER 30 IN THE GEMARA/TALMUD
Among the various topics of the above mentioned Parshat Naso is a whole section on the Nazirite, one who vows not to drink wine, which also comes with a package deal forbidding him to contaminate himself with the dead or to cut his hair. The minimum amont of time for his Nazirite vow is 30 days. The Talmud in Tractate Nazir teaches us through the verse - Kadosh YIHYEH - "He (the Nazirite) shall be holy" where the word Yihyeh has the Gematria of 30 - hinting to the minimum 30 day time period of a Nazirite vow.
NUMBER 30 IN KABBALAH
In the Tikunei Zohar about the spiritual significance of the Alef Beit/Hebrew alphabet, it mentions about the verse that states about the dream that Jacob had at the future site of the Temple that the "angels were going up and down (the ladder)". The Zohar on this comments that the angles go up with the letter LAMED which equals 30, and come down with the letter NUN, which equals 50. How fascinating! The Levitical tribe - including the Levites - serving in the Tabernacle/Temple resembles the angels of above who serve Hashem, go up the Temple ladder so to speak beginning their physical service from 30 years of age until after 50 years of age when they come down this ladder, as mentioned in the above Parshat Naso, and indeed angels are mentioned in the Haftara for (the first day of) Shavuot.
Next week with G-d's help, I will be mentioning about Judah, Jacob's son. Indeed, in terms of generations from Abraham, Judah - the ancestor of King David and the Messiah, was the 4th generation from Abraham, and was the 4th son of Leah. And indeed Yehuda/Judah is the Gematria of 30, the number of this Post.
11 Sivan 5769, 40th Day of my 40th Year
Thursday, May 21, 2009
#29 - JERUSALEM: The END of Our Journey
We have finally arrived at our destination - Jerusalem. Though we have yet to experience the redemption with the coming of the Messiah and witness the rebuilt Temple, a tremendous miracle happened to us despite all odds. For all that everyone knew, it was just a matter of time before Israel as a place for Jews lived would be a thing of the past. It was 42 years ago when in the Six Day War, some 31 million Arabs were attempting to wipe us Jews off of the map in Israel. However, while we Jews, consisting of no more than a few million, incurred some losses; with the help of Hashem, we defeated the Arabs to such an extent, that we regained key parts of the land - including the holiest area in the world, which includes the Western Wall and the Temple Mount. In celebration of this, the day that Israel regained control of this area became know as Yom Yerushalayim - Jerusalem Day, which occured on 28 Iyar - which was the 43rd day of the Omer.
What makes this year's Jerusalem Day so special is because as the 43rd day of the Omer, it begins its 43rd year from that historical moment in time. As hinted to in my last post, the number 28, as Jerusalem Day is the 28th of Iyar, is the Gematria of Ko-ach/Strength which was Hashem's doing of giving us the Land of Israel, which we wrestled from the nations that were living in it at the time we first came to the land as a nation which was led by Joshua. As Jerusalem is called "The City of Peace", as in my previous blog, the last of the 28 "times" as mentioned in the Book of Ecclesiastes/Kohelet is the time of PEACE. In any case, what is the connection - if there is any - to the fact that it Jerusalem Day is the 43rd day of the Omer?
Perhaps the bridge that will shed insight to this is the 43rd Parsha of the Torah - Parshat Mas'ai.
While many other Parshiyot either talk about our ancestors living in Israel, or Hashem's promise to us that we would soon enter the land of Israel, this Parsha is a most unique Parsha. It begins listing the 42 places that the Jews traveled to from Egypt, following which we would travel to Israel. It then tells us that we need to get rid of the evil inhabitants of the land or they will be "snares in our eyes". This is followed by a detailed description of the borders of Israel.
There is in fact to parts to this year's Jerusalem Day celebration - celebrating 42 years since that most momentous day, and beginning its 43rd year since we had victory.
FORTY TWO YEARS
As we just mentioned, the Jews traveled to 42 destinations before their final destination of Israel. To note - the very first place they traveled to leaving Egypt was called Sukkot, the very name of our holiday on the opposite side of the year from Passover - the day that the Jews traveled to a place named Sukkot. More on the significance of this name as connected to Jerusalem Day later on.
The number 42 is most unique. You see, it technically refers to two different Mitzvot. The first is Talmud Torah - learning & teaching Torah, the greatest Mitzva about which each word of Torah is equal to all other Mitzvot in terms of eternal reward. As the verse says - "You shall teach them thoroughly to your children and you shall speak of them..." (Deutronomy 6:7). The first part of this phrase is the actual source of this Mitzva, and it is the next part of the phrase that is describing the first part - "You shall speak OF THEM" - the Hebrew word given for the capitalized words here is BAM - which is the Gematria of 42. Significantly, the two letters of this word hints to the beginning words of the Written Torah & and the Oral Torah respectively - the Beit for Bereishit - the beginning word of the Bible, and the Mem (Sofit) for Mei'ei'matai - the beginning word of the Mishnayot.
Now, this phrase including this word as its own independent part in the verse also refers to the Mitzva of Kriat Shma - reciting three paragraphs of the Toraht that we begins with the words Shma Yisrael- "Hear O Israel"- and includes the paragraph that includes this phrase of "You shall speak of them". This is a most special Mitzva, because unlike most other Mitzvot, the Shma paragraphs is also saying words of Torah. In any case, the very last verse of the Shma paragraphs is "I am Hashem your G-d who took you out of the land of Egypt to be a G-d for you - I am Hashem your G-d" (Numbers 15:41). Thus, there is an intrinsic connection between the number 42 as the Gematria of BAM referring to the Mitzva of Shma, and the content of its final verse mentioning the Exodus which was a process of 42 places that the Jews traveled to between Egypt & Israel.
Later on in the above mentioned Parsha of Mas'ai, it speaks of the cities of refuge that someone who killed another accidentally can run to. There were six main cities and 42 other cities in this regard. Without getting into details about the difference between the 6 & 42 cities, we see an amazing parallel to the first paragraph of the Shma as written in the Torah that includes mentioning the verse that tells us to fulfull the Mitzva of saying the Shma (The inbetween sentence of Barach Shem... "Blessed is the name..." is in fact not in the Scriptures at all). The verse of Shma Yisrael has six words, and the remaining part of the paragraph has 42 words.
BEGINNING OF THE FORTY THIRD YEAR
I could speak so to speak volumes on this as there is much significance to the number 43 as related to Israel & Jerusalem. Let's take this step by step.
The Hebrew word for ALSO is GAM. This is the Gematria of 43. Indeed, when it comes to some of the birth of the Tribes of Israel, this word is used specifically in connection with Hashem hearing cries and prayer. When Leah gave birth to her second son Shimon, she says "Hashem HEARD that I am hated, and he gave me ALSO this one", and indeed the name Shimon is based on Hashem's "hearing". When Rachel's maid Bilha gave birth to Dan, Rachel said "G-d judged me and he ALSO HEARD my voice and he gave me a son". In any case, we see a connection between the word GAM/Also and hearing - SHAMA/He Heard, in fact the very same letters as the word for Shma, the name and beginning word of the Mitzva of saying Shma which is done once in the night and the second time in the first quarter of the daytime! Thus, both the numbers 42 & 43 have a connection with this concept of hearing or more specifically to this Mitzva of Shma which ends off with the verse mentioning the Exodus. And in terms of the tribes of Shimon & Dan in relationship to Israel which was divided up according to tribes, the boundries of Israel as described seven times by the books of Judges, Samuel & Kings is "from Dan to Beer Sheba" - that is, from the tribe of Dan's territory to Be'er Sheba, which was a city among others that the tribe of Shimon lived in.
There are quite a few words that begin with the letters of Gimmel & Mem which make up the word GAM having a Gematria of 43:
GEMATRIOT - To begin with, I had mentioned in my previous blog that in the end of Ethics of Fathers Chapter Three, that Gematriot are considered deserts or additions to wisdom. Thus, as GAM means also, as in addition or adding on to something, this Hebrew word consisting of Gimmel & Mem are also the first two letters of the word Gematriot. If this was not enough, though we have the 13 Middot of the Torah/principles of the Torah as we mention in our daily morning prayers, there is in fact another set of such principles. Rabbi Eliezer Ben Rabbi Yosi HaGelili mentions a list 32 Middot of the Torah. And the 29th on the list is Gematriot, which comes in time to mention this in my 29th post here.
We have mentioned before that this word - the name of this website which is the basis of myblogspot - is the Gematria of 669 when without a second Yud between the letters Gimmel & Mem. Indeed, there are exactly 669 mentions of the word Jerusalem in the Bible - and while not mentioned even once in the Chumash/Penteteuch/Five Books of Moses - there are exactly 669 sections or paragraphs of the Chumash, as can be seen in a Sefer Torah. And it is Chapter 669 of the first part of the Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish Law that is about the holiday of Simchat Torah when we conclude and begin anew the reading of the Sefer Torah. Thus, just like the Mitzva of Shma, both the numbers 42 & 43 have a connection with the Mitzva of learning & teaching Torah. Significantly, while the holiday of Simchat Torah is in fact the holiday of Shemini Atzeret when only one day in Israel - it was only in perhaps around the last 1,000-1,500 years that this official conclusion of reading the Sefer Torah took place on this holiday. In fact, in Tractate Megilla Chapter Three, in its list of Torah readings for the holidays, it makes NO MENTION of the reading for Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah! Thus, this is a concept of GAM - also, in addition. Thus, in connection to this, the recent holiday, as you will, of Jerusalem Day, while not celebrated like the Yomim Tovim - Jewish holidays in which we don't do most kinds of work, this day is an ADDED day of celebration for the Jewish people when we regained the holiest area in the world, truly a reason to celebrate! And when did this day fall out on? The 43rd day of the Omer - in relation to which 43 is the Gematria of GAM. This leads to the second part of the Torah - the Oral Torah (in contrast to the Written Torah or the Bible), which is represented by the...
GEMARA - This is another name for the Talmud, the detailed explanation of the Mishnayot. The first two letters of this word are also Gimmel & Mem. There are in fact two parts to the Talmud - the more popular Babylonian Talmud & the Jerusalem Talmud. In fact, it was first the Jerusalem Talmud that was composed. But perhaps what is ironic with the name of this part of the Talmud is that is was not composed in Jerusalem at all, but in Tiberias! Yet, in honor of Jerusalem, it was named as the Jerusalem Talmud, showing the special significance of Jerusalem as the city of the Holy Temple. Anyways, in relationship to the Oral Torah, that is what it really is, the part of the Torah that was orally transmitted to us from generation to generation. Yet, when the Jewish people were going through hard times following the destruction of the Second Temple, and there was fear that the details laws of the Torah would be forgotten, the rabbis decided to transmit these teachings down in writing.
Now, the Oral Torah is called in Hebrew Torah Sheh-be-al Peh. The last word PEH/Mouth is the Gematria of 85. Now, the MIDDLE number between 1 & 85 is 43! Indeed, the Gemara as the detailed explanation of the Mishnayot, was an added - as signified by the word GAM/Also=43 - piece of Torah that was written down to preserve the contents of the Torah for the future generations. On top of this, the Torah says very spefically "You shall SPEAK of THEM". Thus speaking using the mouth is associated with the word BAM referring to Torah, having a Gematria of 42, thus 42+43=85!
Speaking of the MIDDLE number, the Talmud (Berachot 58a) tells us that the word NETZACH, which means eternity or victory, in a certain verse, refers to Jerusalem. Now, of the seven Sefirot/Emanations corresponding to which we have seven weeks of counting the Omer - it is Netzach that is the MIDDLE Sefira. Now, the specific Sefira combination for the 43rd day of the Omer - Jerusalem Day - is Chesed She'bi'Malchut - Kindness in Kingship. Kindness & Kingship are at opposite ends of the Sefirot. Indeed, Hashem did a tremendous Chesed/Kindness in helping us regain the holiest area of the world, displaying Hashem's Kingship. "Hashem gave me ALSO this one" "Hashem ALSO heard my voice" the comments being made upon the births of Shimon & Dan respectively. Giving is the display of the following...
GEMILUT CHASADIM - Granting of Kindnesses, this phrase beginning with the letters Gimmel & Mem. Indeed, this phrase is the very Gematria of the word Torah (611), which we already showed has a connection with the number 43. We had mentioned in a previous post that while the Talmudic Sage Rava who lived to age 40 focused primarily on learning Torah, another Talmudic Sage Abaye who lived to age 60 also spent a considerable amount of time doing kindness. Thus, it was in the merit of this ADDED Mitzva that ADDED years to Abaye's life. (Both of these Sages were from a family that were cursed with dying young and only in the merit of these Mitzvot did they have a chance to live longer). Ultimately, we have to remember that while the greatest Mitzva is indeed learning and teaching Torah, one does not get the corresponding reward without following its Mitzvot, Hashem's commands of what he tells us to do in the Torah. Speaking of which, the Talmud in Tractate Sota tells us that the Torah begins with kindess - Hashem clothing Adam & Eve, and ends with kindness - Hashem burying Moses.
Indeed, it was Abraham, the ancestor of the Jewish people who spread the belief in one G-d in an idol worshipping universe, who brought people close to the teachings of the Torah through his act of Gemilut Chasadim - doing kindness especially through inviting people to his home for a steak lunch in the midst of the Hebron & Beer Sheba deserts. Thus, while teaching Torah to others in itself is in fact the ultimate giving of eternity to other people as its greatest Mitzva, there are times that this can only be accomplished through doing acts of kindness like providing free meals to accomplish this, not strictly as a Yeshiva just giving Torah lessons. Thus, we are using some physical such as food to bring Jews to come to observe Judaism who would not otherwise have done this by seeing an advertisement of a Torah class in the neighborhood synagogue. Speaking of food, there is a type of food that is especially related to Israel which is called...
MIGDANOT - Never heard of this word? Well, this is a word in Parshat Chayei Sara which means delicious fruits, and begins with Mem & Gimmel When Eliezer, Abraham's servant traveled to find a wife for Isaac and discovered Rebecca, he gave these fruits, which Rashi points out as a wording of dainties, were fruits from Israel, to her brother and mother. Now, the question could be asked "O.K. - these fruits were from another country? But what's the big deal of calling these fruits as special treats just because they were grown in Israel?" But that's it, these fruits are something physical coming from a holy environment, a display of Abraham's act of kindness of providing food in an act of spirituality, and no doubt was the cause of Isaac marrying Rebecca who epitomized the behavior of Gemilut Chasadim in her own way by providing water not only to Eliezer who asked for it, but on her own initiative - GAM LiGemalecha Esh'av - "ALSO for your camels will I draw water for". It's interesting to note that the Hebrew word for camels here is Gemalim, a connotation of Gemilut, also beginning with Gimmel and Mem.
MIGDAL EIDER - In the Midrash HaGadol, Jerusalem has 70 names. The 43rd name listed is Migdal Eider, beginning with the letters of Mem & Gimel adding up to 43! It's based on this verse "And you, Migdal Eider - Tower of the Flock - Ophel of the daughter of Zion, they will come back to you; and the original kingdom will arrive, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem" (Micha 4:8)
MAGID - Literally means telling or teller, this is the name of the 5th of the 15 parts to the Passover Seder as laid out in the Haggadah, which is the basic requirement of the Mitzva to tell over or recount the story of the Exodus. In the midst of the text for Magid, we mention another list of 15 items, which are the various favors that Hashem did for us, beginning with the Exodus and culminating with the building of the Beit HaMikdash. In short, the beginning of our spiritual journey as a nation began with the Exodus leaving Egypt, and at least in a physical sense, ended when we finally able to come to the Temple in Jerusalem, the holiest place in the world, in sharp contrast to the 49 levels of impurity that the Jews were steeped in while in Egypt, and had we waited just a little longer, we would have already sunk into the 50th level of impurity which would have made it impossible for us to ever recover from our spiritual impurity, let alone be able to attend the Holy Temple where one is forbidden to be on its holy grounds if one had an impurity which at the very least required going to the Mikvah/ritularium before being permitted to enter the Temple environs.
In terms of Mishnayot...
MEGILLA - There are in fact five Megillot in the Bible, but when we talk about reading the Megilla without specifying the name of it, it refers to the Book of Esther that we read on Purim. Indeed, one of the 63 Tractates of the Mishnayot is called Megilla, also beginning with a Mem & Gimmel. Now, the Vilna Gaon says that it is Purim that corresponds to the Sefira of Netzach. As we mentioned earlier from the Talmud, the word Netzach as written in a particular verse refers to Jerusalem, thus highlightening the connection between Jerusalem & Purim. And as Tractate Megilla begins with "We read the Megilla on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th or 15th (of Adar)". The Megilla is read specifically on the 15th of Adar in Jerusalem having the status of a walled city as Shushan where the Jews were able to rest from fighting on the 15th of Adar. In any case, this holiday of Purim was an holiday ADDED on to the other holidays of the Torah as instituted by the Sages. Now, there are in fact two places where Jerusalem is mentioned in this tractate. The first is at the end of the first chapter where it outlines the halachic differences between the cities of Shilo -where the Tabernacle used to reside, and Jerusalem - where the Temple used to reside. The second mention of Jerusalem in the tractate is the last word of this tractate!
In the first volume of the Mishnayot called Zeraim/Seeds which mostly consists of tractates dealing with the laws of the land of Israel, there is one tractate called Challa - refering NOT to what we eat - today's delicious Challot that Jews immensely enjoy eating especially on Shabbat, but to what we DON'T eat - the portion extracted from dough that is prepared in making bread and was given to a Cohen in Temple times but is burnt today. The word Challa is the Gematria of 43! And guess what - this tractate mentions Jerusalem in its very last Mishna in a couple different scenarios, ending off with this word in this very last Mishna of the Tractate!
In Tractate Avot - Ethics of the Fathers that is learnt on Shabbat afternoons from after Passover until Shavuot or Rosh Hashana - Chapter Five from last Shabbat, the Shabbat before Jerusalem Day, and Chapter Six of this coming Shabbat immediately following Jerusalem Day, make mention of Jerusalem. In Chapter Five - it mentions 10 miracles that occured in the Temple. Among these, it mentions that no snake or scorpion ever injured a person in Jerusalem. The question can be asked is what does this have to do with the Temple, because this was something that was in all of the city of Jerusalem? It seems that it was in the merit of the Temple that was in Jerusalem that no one ever got injured from these creatures in all of the city even if not on the Temple grounds. (It also mentions that no one ever complained from a lack of room while staying as a guest at a home in Jerusalem, but while this is not talking about the Temple per se, but this refers specially to when all Jews came to the Temple three times a year when this could have been an issue but never was the case). In Chapter Six, Rabbi Shimon Ben Yehuda quotes Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai of good qualities that are befitting the righteous and the world, and brings a few verses in support of this. One of these verses is "The moon will be humiliated and the sun will be shamed, for Hashem, Master of Legions, will have reigned in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and there will be honor for His elders."
Now, getting back to the 669 mentions of Jerusalem in the Bible, the very first mention of this word is ironically in reference to an evil person who was the king of Jerusalem at the time that Joshua led the Jewish people to Israel (Joshua 10:1), and started war with the Jews in an attempt to prevent them from conquering Jerusalem. While it would be some 400 years before King David would call this city the capitol of the country, and it was almost another 50 years before the Temple would be in operation, it was a key city that Joshua came to conquer from the start. Then, in the verse of the very last mention of Jerusalem in the Bible (II Chronicles 36:23-last verse in the Bible), Koresh the king of Persia gives permission to the Jews to return to Israel "Hashem has commanded me to build Him a Temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah". Thus, in a very similar vein, we see here the attribute of Chesed She'Bi'Malchut - "Kindness in Kingship" - a kindness being performed by a king in a similar fashion to Hashem as King of the world, doing a kindness for us in reclaiming the holiest part of Jerusalem of the Temple grounds.
Making a connection between concepts we had mentioned earlier, in the beginning of the Book of Judges, the tribe of Judah asks the tribe of Shimon who had portion of land among's Judah's land, to help him fight the nations living in the land, upon which they joined forces. The combined Gematria of the names Shimon (466) & Judah (30) is the same as that of the word Malchut (496), Kingship. Speaking of the Book of Judges, which is the SEVENTH book of the Bible, we have another SEVEN to talk about...
THE SEVENTH & LAST DAY OF THE WEEK
Being that the seven weeks of the Sefira correspond to the seven days of the week, there is a deep connection between the two concepts of time here. This is perhaps most demonstrated by our prayers. You see, the blessing of Hashkiveinu that we recite following the evening recital of the Shma, ends off in one way during the week. However, on Shabbat night (as well as Yom Tov night), it ends off in a very different wording - Ufros Aleinu Sukkat...Hapores Sukkat Shalom...V'Al Yerushalayim. "Spread upon us the protective covering...The One who spreads the protective covering of peace...and on Jerusalem". (Note that Jerusalem is the last word of this blessing) Now mind you, there is NOT ONE word about Shabbat. So, while are we changing the ending part of this blessing just because it is Shabbat?
In fact, Jerusalem has everything to do with Shabbat. As the Sefirot weeks correspond to the days of the week, it thus follows that the last week of the Sefira which begins with the 43rd day of the Omer corresponds to Shabbat. Thus, the 43rd day of the Omer which is Yom Yerushalayim corresponds to the beginning of Shabbat when we recite this prayer ending off with the word Jerusalem, the only time of the week when we say this! I should note that I saw in a Breslov publication, that in the beginning verse of Psalm 92 that the Levites sang as the Song of the Day/Shir Shel Yom for Shabbat in the Temple Mizmor Shir LeYom HaShabbat "A Psalm, a song for the Shabbat Day", the middle two words Shir LeYom "Song for the Day" has the SAME letters as Yerushalayim! (This includes a second Yud though it is written this way only five of the 669 times that Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible) This is the sole mention of Shir LeYom in the entire Bible!
(There are unfortunately "religious" sects among Jews today who ban going to the Western Wall claiming that the victory happened through the "irreligious" Zionists, claiming to be the work of Satan. After 42 years of access to the Western Wall, there have been literally THOUSANDS of Jews who have come closer to Judaism because of this victory, nothing short of Hashem's miraculous intervention of not only regaining land we had no access to for 19 years, as well as other parts of Israel which were newly reconquered, but we Jews were literally saved from a quick annihilation of the kind that Haman planned on doing which resulted in the end in the holiday of Purim. It should be noted that it is specially at the BEGINNING of Shabbat - corresponding to the 43rd day of the Omer - that Jews visiting the Western Wall who are not yet observant of Judaism are invited for a Shabbat meal - the beginning of their spiritual journey that leads them to becoming fully observant Jews!).
Remember when we mentioned that the Jews' very first stop from Egypt was a city called Sukkot? No coincidence. The holiday of Sukkot represents Hashem protecting us in the desert with the Clouds of Glory surrounding us from all sides of dangerous nature. This represents the concept of Chesed She'Bi'Chesed - Kindness within Kindness - Hashem doing kindness for us within the kindness of Hashem taking us out of Egypt, and is the first Sefira combination of the 49 days of the Omer that we count starting from the day after the Exodus from Egypt. Thus, we used the word Sukkat - the very same letters (Samech, Kaf, Sav/Tav) used for the name of the first arrival city of the Jews on their way to the 43rd place - Israel, of which Jerusalem eventually became the capital - in the blessing of Hashkiveinu that ends off with the word Jerusalem.
Now, in terms of the last week of the Sefira having a connection with the last day of the week - Shabbat, the Sefer Yetzira, a kabbalistic book describing how Hashem created the world using the letters of the Alef Beit, notes that there are seven letters - Beit, Gimmel, Dalet, Kaf, Pei, Reish & Tav that correspond to the seven days of the week. Thus, the letter Tav, also the last letter of the Alef Beit, corresponds to Shabbat. Now, if you recall in a previous blog where I wrote about the BIG letter Tav in the word VaTichtov - "Esther wrote" referring to the Megilla that Esther wrote to be read on Purim, you will see an intrinsic connection here of the letter Tav as it relates to both Purim, the holiday corresponding to the Sefira of Netzach according to the Vilna Gaon & Yom Yerushalayim which is Netzach according to the Talmud (In the Kedusha prayer for Shabbat morning, we ask Hashem when He will be "King in Zion...within Jerusalem Your city and for all eternity" - U'leNeitzach Netzachim). Thus, Tav is intrinsically related to the last week of the Sefira (Also, there are 49 letters in a verse in Psalms 67:5) that correspond to the 49 days of the Sefira. The 43rd letter of this verse is a Tav - corresponding to this 43rd day of the Sefira - Jerusalem Day!)
"JERUSALEM DAY"
Technically, this phrase is mentioned not once, but twice in the Bible.
Samuel II 24:8 - Following a census that King David ordered his main general Joab to perform which resulted in a plague among the Jewish people since it is forbidden to count them directly, it says "they (Joab and his entourage) came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days". In Hebrew, it's worded as Tisha Chadashim V'Esrim YOM YERUSHALYIM. Question: Why wasn't it worded as such that it should read "They traveled throughout the land for nine months and twenty days and then they returned home to Jerusalem"? In another words, why focus the period of time as when they returned rather than the amount of time they spent on the road, the usual way of wording the time on a trip?
Pertaining to a regular Jewish year without an extra Adar added making it a leap year - let's count 9 months & 20 days starting with Tisha B'Av, the sadest date in Jewish history marking numerous tragedies, most sadly the destruction of both Temples, and the murder of many Jews, indeed a most sad day for Jerusalem. The date is 9 Av. Count nine months from this until 9 Iyar. Now count 20 days from 9 Iyar, and the last of the 20 days is...28 Iyar - Jerusalem Day! Joab and crew returned home "at the end" of 9 months and 20 days. Mind you, there is one more word that begins with Gimel (3) & Mem (40) - GEMAR - conclusion. Indeed the concluding day of this period falls out on the 43rd day of the Omer.
While the Bible does not specify what time of year the census actually occured, no doubt that this hints to this happy day. You see, while most of the destruction of the Temple took place on 10 Av; since it began on 9 Av, this was the date chosen by the Sages to be the fast of Tisha B'Av. Thus, while we have a sad beginning here, it started to become a very happy time for Jerusalem -though the Temple has yet to be rebuilt- at the END time of our exile starting on 28 Iyar! And as we see that during the plague that claimed the lives of many Jews following the census, King David follows the prophet Gad's orders to build an altar on the future Temple grounds and he brought sacrifices on it following which the plague stopped, the concluding verse of the Book of Samuel.
It should be noted that while Samuel the prophet passed away as recorded in the middle of the Book of Samuel, in contrast to Joshua whose passing is mentioned in the end of the Book of Joshua, the following explains why the history of King David's kingship is recorded in the Book of Samuel following Samuel's passing instead of being included in the book of Kings which basically begins with his son King Solomon's kingship even though King David was the ancestor of the Davidic dynasty. It was the prophet Samuel & King David according to the Talmud who together mapped out exactly where the Temple would be built. And indeed, Samuel's Yahrzeit is on...28 Iyar - Jerusalem Day! Speaking on this note, King David passed away on the holiday of Shavuot, the culmination of the Sefira period, which is exactly one week later than Jerusalem Day. Additionally, it was the prophet Samuel who wrote the Book of Ruth that is read on Shavuot, ending off with the last word David, mentioning his lineage, and he also was the one who anointed David to be king, the ancestor of the Davidic dynasty and the future Messiah! (It's interesting to note in relationship to the word Peh as we mentioned before having a Gematria of 85, there are exactly 85 verses in the Book of Ruth, the shortest of the 24 books of the Bible! And the Zohar equates Peh/the mouth, the part of the body that corresponds to Malchut - kingship, the Sefirah corresponding to Shabbat and the last week of the Sefira count beginning with the date of Yom Yerushalayim!)
Psalms 137:7 - "O Hashem, remember about the Edomites - THE DAY OF JERUSALEM - who said "Raze it, raze it, to its very foundation". Ironically, in this verse, the "Day of Jerusalem" refers none other than to the day of the destruction of the Temple when the Edomites/Romans of the Second Temple, as prophesized by the author of the Psalm, would destroy the Temple. Indeed, as we mentioned Jerusalem Day in refering to a period of time that begins from Tisha B'Av and ends with Yom Yerushalayim, this makes perfect sense!
Speaking of Edom, the Edom - the world empire of today - is the United States. It consists of its 50 states and Washington D.C., making it a total of in fact 51 states, corresponding to the name Edom which is the Gematria of 51. Mind you, Alaska & Hawaii became the final states of the United States in 1958 less than 10 years before the Jerusalem Day victory in 1967! At one point since, beginning with peanut farmer, failure United States President Jimmy Carter who shows his ugly Anti-Semitism to this day, who pushed for the Camp David Accords to give away the Sinai part of Israel to the blood thirsty Arabs. Now, Binyamin Netanyahu who really isn't supposed to be Prime Minister of Israel since it was the opposing Kadima party that actually won the Israeli elections by a majority vote, is continuing his agenda of giving away parts of Israel which started with giving the Arabs control of Hebron and voting to give away Gush Katif, made a special trip to the United States to speak to Muslim Arab Obama, illegal president of the United States who was not born in the U.S., to talk about giving away more land in a creation of a "Palestinian State", thus continuously caving into world pressure which is nothing new about Netanyahu, instead of following his own name of BINYAMIN - Ben Yamin "Son of Eretz Yisrael" (according to Rashi's explanation of Binyaimin's name, the only one of the tribes who was born in Israel) NETANYAHU - Hashem has given it - Israel - to the Jewish people. Very unfortunately, many Jews - including Shomer Shabbat Jews - voted for him this time instead of the real "Ben Yamin Netanyahu" party of Ichud Leumi - forgetting about his bad track record of giving Holy Land away to the blood thirsty Muslim Arabs - and only remembering his "bold" statements about the dangers of Iran developing nuclear weapons to attack Israel, G-d forbid, and now he is not even standing good by this, afraid to attack Iran because of what the United States and the rest of the world "might" say and do as a result, instead of practicing our own MIGHT fighting for our Holy Land displaying Hashem's MIGHT of His kindness displaying his Kingship, which He performed through thousands of Israeli soldiers who put their lives on the line winning the battle against 31 million Arabs from countries surrounding Israel.
In terms of Obama himself, I had mentioned in the past that Obama was politically born on Tisha B'Av of 2004 when he gave a speech of endorsing then Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. While Obama himself may have not thought of becoming president of this country at that time, this public political speech of his opened the door to where he is at today - like it or not, legally or not. And it has been pointed out before that the middle letters of Jerusalem are USA as in JerUSAlem. Apparently, there are unfortunately many Jews who think of the United States as their Jerusalem. Well, my message is - either it is the United States or Jerusalem/Israel. Period! Yahudut/Yiddishkeit/Judaism only has true meaning in our Holy Land - NOT in Boro Park, Flatbush, Crown Heights or Williamsburg.
We are at the end of our journey - as symbolized by the 42 stops that the Jews made from Egypt on their to Israel - and after 42 years since the liberation of the holiest area in the world and what is going on in the United States which is already starting to sink financially with Obama's vein attempt to keep that country above water, it is about time that Jews in the United States realize that the comforts of exile are over, and is gradually turning to discomfort, so it is about time to leave for the PROMISED land by Hashem while it is still possible to leave the United States BEFORE marshal law sets in; and its citizens, especially Jews, won't be allowed to escape that country, G-d forbid.
ON A PERSONAL NOTE
Very fortunately, the verse I recite at the end of the Shemoneh Esrai prayer that begins with a Shin and ends with a Nun Sofit like my name Shimon, is the verse of Shabechi Yerushalayim Et Hashem "O residents of Jerusalem, praise Hashem..." This mention of Jerusalem is the 401st such mention in the Bible. The 401st section of the 669 sections of the Torah as can be seen in the Sefer Torah is the section of the sacrifices that the leader of the tribe of Shimon brought on behalf of his tribe. The Midrash Rabba tells us that the leader of this tribe had in mind that the sacrifices that he brought corresponded to different aspects of the Tabernacle, the forerunner of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. May we merit to shortly regain PERMANENT access and control of the Temple Mount which was the initial announcement of Jerusalem Day "The Temple Mount is in our hands" and have the Temple rebuilt and bring sacrifices once more. And in conclusion of my 29th blog, I want to bring here the conclusion of the 29th Psalm in honor of Jerusalem - among its meanings "The City of Peace" - "Hashem will give might to His nation, Hashem will bless His nation with PEACE." Yes, the real peace - which can only be guaranteed NOT by nations who only want our demise and ALL our Holy Land - but guaranteed ONLY by Hashem, King of the world. And indeed, the letters Mem & Gimmel begin two related words - Mashiach & Geula/redemption, which will lead to the REAL New World Order.
NOTE: Check out the beautiful life of Jerusalem at http://www.jerusalicious.blogspot.com/.
And speaking of beautiful Jerusalem, I would like to relate here a short story from the Aish HaTorah website http://www.aish.com/ as posted on http://rabbipauli.blogspot.com/.
The story is told of the great sage of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. One evening he asked his congregation to wait to begin prayers until the street sweeper had arrived. Rabbi Auerbach explained: "This man is totally devoted to beautifying the streets of Jerusalem. I only wish that my own work would be performed with such pure intentions!" So before we look down on another person, let's remember that every human being has an important contribution to make. And in life, the only thing we truly earn is our own good name.
28 Iyar 5769, 43rd day of the Omer - beginning of the 43rd year from the victory of Yom Yerushalyim
P.S. Will post, G-d willing, about Shavuot before Shavuot. Stay tuned.
What makes this year's Jerusalem Day so special is because as the 43rd day of the Omer, it begins its 43rd year from that historical moment in time. As hinted to in my last post, the number 28, as Jerusalem Day is the 28th of Iyar, is the Gematria of Ko-ach/Strength which was Hashem's doing of giving us the Land of Israel, which we wrestled from the nations that were living in it at the time we first came to the land as a nation which was led by Joshua. As Jerusalem is called "The City of Peace", as in my previous blog, the last of the 28 "times" as mentioned in the Book of Ecclesiastes/Kohelet is the time of PEACE. In any case, what is the connection - if there is any - to the fact that it Jerusalem Day is the 43rd day of the Omer?
Perhaps the bridge that will shed insight to this is the 43rd Parsha of the Torah - Parshat Mas'ai.
While many other Parshiyot either talk about our ancestors living in Israel, or Hashem's promise to us that we would soon enter the land of Israel, this Parsha is a most unique Parsha. It begins listing the 42 places that the Jews traveled to from Egypt, following which we would travel to Israel. It then tells us that we need to get rid of the evil inhabitants of the land or they will be "snares in our eyes". This is followed by a detailed description of the borders of Israel.
There is in fact to parts to this year's Jerusalem Day celebration - celebrating 42 years since that most momentous day, and beginning its 43rd year since we had victory.
FORTY TWO YEARS
As we just mentioned, the Jews traveled to 42 destinations before their final destination of Israel. To note - the very first place they traveled to leaving Egypt was called Sukkot, the very name of our holiday on the opposite side of the year from Passover - the day that the Jews traveled to a place named Sukkot. More on the significance of this name as connected to Jerusalem Day later on.
The number 42 is most unique. You see, it technically refers to two different Mitzvot. The first is Talmud Torah - learning & teaching Torah, the greatest Mitzva about which each word of Torah is equal to all other Mitzvot in terms of eternal reward. As the verse says - "You shall teach them thoroughly to your children and you shall speak of them..." (Deutronomy 6:7). The first part of this phrase is the actual source of this Mitzva, and it is the next part of the phrase that is describing the first part - "You shall speak OF THEM" - the Hebrew word given for the capitalized words here is BAM - which is the Gematria of 42. Significantly, the two letters of this word hints to the beginning words of the Written Torah & and the Oral Torah respectively - the Beit for Bereishit - the beginning word of the Bible, and the Mem (Sofit) for Mei'ei'matai - the beginning word of the Mishnayot.
Now, this phrase including this word as its own independent part in the verse also refers to the Mitzva of Kriat Shma - reciting three paragraphs of the Toraht that we begins with the words Shma Yisrael- "Hear O Israel"- and includes the paragraph that includes this phrase of "You shall speak of them". This is a most special Mitzva, because unlike most other Mitzvot, the Shma paragraphs is also saying words of Torah. In any case, the very last verse of the Shma paragraphs is "I am Hashem your G-d who took you out of the land of Egypt to be a G-d for you - I am Hashem your G-d" (Numbers 15:41). Thus, there is an intrinsic connection between the number 42 as the Gematria of BAM referring to the Mitzva of Shma, and the content of its final verse mentioning the Exodus which was a process of 42 places that the Jews traveled to between Egypt & Israel.
Later on in the above mentioned Parsha of Mas'ai, it speaks of the cities of refuge that someone who killed another accidentally can run to. There were six main cities and 42 other cities in this regard. Without getting into details about the difference between the 6 & 42 cities, we see an amazing parallel to the first paragraph of the Shma as written in the Torah that includes mentioning the verse that tells us to fulfull the Mitzva of saying the Shma (The inbetween sentence of Barach Shem... "Blessed is the name..." is in fact not in the Scriptures at all). The verse of Shma Yisrael has six words, and the remaining part of the paragraph has 42 words.
BEGINNING OF THE FORTY THIRD YEAR
I could speak so to speak volumes on this as there is much significance to the number 43 as related to Israel & Jerusalem. Let's take this step by step.
The Hebrew word for ALSO is GAM. This is the Gematria of 43. Indeed, when it comes to some of the birth of the Tribes of Israel, this word is used specifically in connection with Hashem hearing cries and prayer. When Leah gave birth to her second son Shimon, she says "Hashem HEARD that I am hated, and he gave me ALSO this one", and indeed the name Shimon is based on Hashem's "hearing". When Rachel's maid Bilha gave birth to Dan, Rachel said "G-d judged me and he ALSO HEARD my voice and he gave me a son". In any case, we see a connection between the word GAM/Also and hearing - SHAMA/He Heard, in fact the very same letters as the word for Shma, the name and beginning word of the Mitzva of saying Shma which is done once in the night and the second time in the first quarter of the daytime! Thus, both the numbers 42 & 43 have a connection with this concept of hearing or more specifically to this Mitzva of Shma which ends off with the verse mentioning the Exodus. And in terms of the tribes of Shimon & Dan in relationship to Israel which was divided up according to tribes, the boundries of Israel as described seven times by the books of Judges, Samuel & Kings is "from Dan to Beer Sheba" - that is, from the tribe of Dan's territory to Be'er Sheba, which was a city among others that the tribe of Shimon lived in.
There are quite a few words that begin with the letters of Gimmel & Mem which make up the word GAM having a Gematria of 43:
GEMATRIOT - To begin with, I had mentioned in my previous blog that in the end of Ethics of Fathers Chapter Three, that Gematriot are considered deserts or additions to wisdom. Thus, as GAM means also, as in addition or adding on to something, this Hebrew word consisting of Gimmel & Mem are also the first two letters of the word Gematriot. If this was not enough, though we have the 13 Middot of the Torah/principles of the Torah as we mention in our daily morning prayers, there is in fact another set of such principles. Rabbi Eliezer Ben Rabbi Yosi HaGelili mentions a list 32 Middot of the Torah. And the 29th on the list is Gematriot, which comes in time to mention this in my 29th post here.
We have mentioned before that this word - the name of this website which is the basis of myblogspot - is the Gematria of 669 when without a second Yud between the letters Gimmel & Mem. Indeed, there are exactly 669 mentions of the word Jerusalem in the Bible - and while not mentioned even once in the Chumash/Penteteuch/Five Books of Moses - there are exactly 669 sections or paragraphs of the Chumash, as can be seen in a Sefer Torah. And it is Chapter 669 of the first part of the Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish Law that is about the holiday of Simchat Torah when we conclude and begin anew the reading of the Sefer Torah. Thus, just like the Mitzva of Shma, both the numbers 42 & 43 have a connection with the Mitzva of learning & teaching Torah. Significantly, while the holiday of Simchat Torah is in fact the holiday of Shemini Atzeret when only one day in Israel - it was only in perhaps around the last 1,000-1,500 years that this official conclusion of reading the Sefer Torah took place on this holiday. In fact, in Tractate Megilla Chapter Three, in its list of Torah readings for the holidays, it makes NO MENTION of the reading for Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah! Thus, this is a concept of GAM - also, in addition. Thus, in connection to this, the recent holiday, as you will, of Jerusalem Day, while not celebrated like the Yomim Tovim - Jewish holidays in which we don't do most kinds of work, this day is an ADDED day of celebration for the Jewish people when we regained the holiest area in the world, truly a reason to celebrate! And when did this day fall out on? The 43rd day of the Omer - in relation to which 43 is the Gematria of GAM. This leads to the second part of the Torah - the Oral Torah (in contrast to the Written Torah or the Bible), which is represented by the...
GEMARA - This is another name for the Talmud, the detailed explanation of the Mishnayot. The first two letters of this word are also Gimmel & Mem. There are in fact two parts to the Talmud - the more popular Babylonian Talmud & the Jerusalem Talmud. In fact, it was first the Jerusalem Talmud that was composed. But perhaps what is ironic with the name of this part of the Talmud is that is was not composed in Jerusalem at all, but in Tiberias! Yet, in honor of Jerusalem, it was named as the Jerusalem Talmud, showing the special significance of Jerusalem as the city of the Holy Temple. Anyways, in relationship to the Oral Torah, that is what it really is, the part of the Torah that was orally transmitted to us from generation to generation. Yet, when the Jewish people were going through hard times following the destruction of the Second Temple, and there was fear that the details laws of the Torah would be forgotten, the rabbis decided to transmit these teachings down in writing.
Now, the Oral Torah is called in Hebrew Torah Sheh-be-al Peh. The last word PEH/Mouth is the Gematria of 85. Now, the MIDDLE number between 1 & 85 is 43! Indeed, the Gemara as the detailed explanation of the Mishnayot, was an added - as signified by the word GAM/Also=43 - piece of Torah that was written down to preserve the contents of the Torah for the future generations. On top of this, the Torah says very spefically "You shall SPEAK of THEM". Thus speaking using the mouth is associated with the word BAM referring to Torah, having a Gematria of 42, thus 42+43=85!
Speaking of the MIDDLE number, the Talmud (Berachot 58a) tells us that the word NETZACH, which means eternity or victory, in a certain verse, refers to Jerusalem. Now, of the seven Sefirot/Emanations corresponding to which we have seven weeks of counting the Omer - it is Netzach that is the MIDDLE Sefira. Now, the specific Sefira combination for the 43rd day of the Omer - Jerusalem Day - is Chesed She'bi'Malchut - Kindness in Kingship. Kindness & Kingship are at opposite ends of the Sefirot. Indeed, Hashem did a tremendous Chesed/Kindness in helping us regain the holiest area of the world, displaying Hashem's Kingship. "Hashem gave me ALSO this one" "Hashem ALSO heard my voice" the comments being made upon the births of Shimon & Dan respectively. Giving is the display of the following...
GEMILUT CHASADIM - Granting of Kindnesses, this phrase beginning with the letters Gimmel & Mem. Indeed, this phrase is the very Gematria of the word Torah (611), which we already showed has a connection with the number 43. We had mentioned in a previous post that while the Talmudic Sage Rava who lived to age 40 focused primarily on learning Torah, another Talmudic Sage Abaye who lived to age 60 also spent a considerable amount of time doing kindness. Thus, it was in the merit of this ADDED Mitzva that ADDED years to Abaye's life. (Both of these Sages were from a family that were cursed with dying young and only in the merit of these Mitzvot did they have a chance to live longer). Ultimately, we have to remember that while the greatest Mitzva is indeed learning and teaching Torah, one does not get the corresponding reward without following its Mitzvot, Hashem's commands of what he tells us to do in the Torah. Speaking of which, the Talmud in Tractate Sota tells us that the Torah begins with kindess - Hashem clothing Adam & Eve, and ends with kindness - Hashem burying Moses.
Indeed, it was Abraham, the ancestor of the Jewish people who spread the belief in one G-d in an idol worshipping universe, who brought people close to the teachings of the Torah through his act of Gemilut Chasadim - doing kindness especially through inviting people to his home for a steak lunch in the midst of the Hebron & Beer Sheba deserts. Thus, while teaching Torah to others in itself is in fact the ultimate giving of eternity to other people as its greatest Mitzva, there are times that this can only be accomplished through doing acts of kindness like providing free meals to accomplish this, not strictly as a Yeshiva just giving Torah lessons. Thus, we are using some physical such as food to bring Jews to come to observe Judaism who would not otherwise have done this by seeing an advertisement of a Torah class in the neighborhood synagogue. Speaking of food, there is a type of food that is especially related to Israel which is called...
MIGDANOT - Never heard of this word? Well, this is a word in Parshat Chayei Sara which means delicious fruits, and begins with Mem & Gimmel When Eliezer, Abraham's servant traveled to find a wife for Isaac and discovered Rebecca, he gave these fruits, which Rashi points out as a wording of dainties, were fruits from Israel, to her brother and mother. Now, the question could be asked "O.K. - these fruits were from another country? But what's the big deal of calling these fruits as special treats just because they were grown in Israel?" But that's it, these fruits are something physical coming from a holy environment, a display of Abraham's act of kindness of providing food in an act of spirituality, and no doubt was the cause of Isaac marrying Rebecca who epitomized the behavior of Gemilut Chasadim in her own way by providing water not only to Eliezer who asked for it, but on her own initiative - GAM LiGemalecha Esh'av - "ALSO for your camels will I draw water for". It's interesting to note that the Hebrew word for camels here is Gemalim, a connotation of Gemilut, also beginning with Gimmel and Mem.
MIGDAL EIDER - In the Midrash HaGadol, Jerusalem has 70 names. The 43rd name listed is Migdal Eider, beginning with the letters of Mem & Gimel adding up to 43! It's based on this verse "And you, Migdal Eider - Tower of the Flock - Ophel of the daughter of Zion, they will come back to you; and the original kingdom will arrive, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem" (Micha 4:8)
MAGID - Literally means telling or teller, this is the name of the 5th of the 15 parts to the Passover Seder as laid out in the Haggadah, which is the basic requirement of the Mitzva to tell over or recount the story of the Exodus. In the midst of the text for Magid, we mention another list of 15 items, which are the various favors that Hashem did for us, beginning with the Exodus and culminating with the building of the Beit HaMikdash. In short, the beginning of our spiritual journey as a nation began with the Exodus leaving Egypt, and at least in a physical sense, ended when we finally able to come to the Temple in Jerusalem, the holiest place in the world, in sharp contrast to the 49 levels of impurity that the Jews were steeped in while in Egypt, and had we waited just a little longer, we would have already sunk into the 50th level of impurity which would have made it impossible for us to ever recover from our spiritual impurity, let alone be able to attend the Holy Temple where one is forbidden to be on its holy grounds if one had an impurity which at the very least required going to the Mikvah/ritularium before being permitted to enter the Temple environs.
In terms of Mishnayot...
MEGILLA - There are in fact five Megillot in the Bible, but when we talk about reading the Megilla without specifying the name of it, it refers to the Book of Esther that we read on Purim. Indeed, one of the 63 Tractates of the Mishnayot is called Megilla, also beginning with a Mem & Gimmel. Now, the Vilna Gaon says that it is Purim that corresponds to the Sefira of Netzach. As we mentioned earlier from the Talmud, the word Netzach as written in a particular verse refers to Jerusalem, thus highlightening the connection between Jerusalem & Purim. And as Tractate Megilla begins with "We read the Megilla on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th or 15th (of Adar)". The Megilla is read specifically on the 15th of Adar in Jerusalem having the status of a walled city as Shushan where the Jews were able to rest from fighting on the 15th of Adar. In any case, this holiday of Purim was an holiday ADDED on to the other holidays of the Torah as instituted by the Sages. Now, there are in fact two places where Jerusalem is mentioned in this tractate. The first is at the end of the first chapter where it outlines the halachic differences between the cities of Shilo -where the Tabernacle used to reside, and Jerusalem - where the Temple used to reside. The second mention of Jerusalem in the tractate is the last word of this tractate!
In the first volume of the Mishnayot called Zeraim/Seeds which mostly consists of tractates dealing with the laws of the land of Israel, there is one tractate called Challa - refering NOT to what we eat - today's delicious Challot that Jews immensely enjoy eating especially on Shabbat, but to what we DON'T eat - the portion extracted from dough that is prepared in making bread and was given to a Cohen in Temple times but is burnt today. The word Challa is the Gematria of 43! And guess what - this tractate mentions Jerusalem in its very last Mishna in a couple different scenarios, ending off with this word in this very last Mishna of the Tractate!
In Tractate Avot - Ethics of the Fathers that is learnt on Shabbat afternoons from after Passover until Shavuot or Rosh Hashana - Chapter Five from last Shabbat, the Shabbat before Jerusalem Day, and Chapter Six of this coming Shabbat immediately following Jerusalem Day, make mention of Jerusalem. In Chapter Five - it mentions 10 miracles that occured in the Temple. Among these, it mentions that no snake or scorpion ever injured a person in Jerusalem. The question can be asked is what does this have to do with the Temple, because this was something that was in all of the city of Jerusalem? It seems that it was in the merit of the Temple that was in Jerusalem that no one ever got injured from these creatures in all of the city even if not on the Temple grounds. (It also mentions that no one ever complained from a lack of room while staying as a guest at a home in Jerusalem, but while this is not talking about the Temple per se, but this refers specially to when all Jews came to the Temple three times a year when this could have been an issue but never was the case). In Chapter Six, Rabbi Shimon Ben Yehuda quotes Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai of good qualities that are befitting the righteous and the world, and brings a few verses in support of this. One of these verses is "The moon will be humiliated and the sun will be shamed, for Hashem, Master of Legions, will have reigned in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and there will be honor for His elders."
Now, getting back to the 669 mentions of Jerusalem in the Bible, the very first mention of this word is ironically in reference to an evil person who was the king of Jerusalem at the time that Joshua led the Jewish people to Israel (Joshua 10:1), and started war with the Jews in an attempt to prevent them from conquering Jerusalem. While it would be some 400 years before King David would call this city the capitol of the country, and it was almost another 50 years before the Temple would be in operation, it was a key city that Joshua came to conquer from the start. Then, in the verse of the very last mention of Jerusalem in the Bible (II Chronicles 36:23-last verse in the Bible), Koresh the king of Persia gives permission to the Jews to return to Israel "Hashem has commanded me to build Him a Temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah". Thus, in a very similar vein, we see here the attribute of Chesed She'Bi'Malchut - "Kindness in Kingship" - a kindness being performed by a king in a similar fashion to Hashem as King of the world, doing a kindness for us in reclaiming the holiest part of Jerusalem of the Temple grounds.
Making a connection between concepts we had mentioned earlier, in the beginning of the Book of Judges, the tribe of Judah asks the tribe of Shimon who had portion of land among's Judah's land, to help him fight the nations living in the land, upon which they joined forces. The combined Gematria of the names Shimon (466) & Judah (30) is the same as that of the word Malchut (496), Kingship. Speaking of the Book of Judges, which is the SEVENTH book of the Bible, we have another SEVEN to talk about...
THE SEVENTH & LAST DAY OF THE WEEK
Being that the seven weeks of the Sefira correspond to the seven days of the week, there is a deep connection between the two concepts of time here. This is perhaps most demonstrated by our prayers. You see, the blessing of Hashkiveinu that we recite following the evening recital of the Shma, ends off in one way during the week. However, on Shabbat night (as well as Yom Tov night), it ends off in a very different wording - Ufros Aleinu Sukkat...Hapores Sukkat Shalom...V'Al Yerushalayim. "Spread upon us the protective covering...The One who spreads the protective covering of peace...and on Jerusalem". (Note that Jerusalem is the last word of this blessing) Now mind you, there is NOT ONE word about Shabbat. So, while are we changing the ending part of this blessing just because it is Shabbat?
In fact, Jerusalem has everything to do with Shabbat. As the Sefirot weeks correspond to the days of the week, it thus follows that the last week of the Sefira which begins with the 43rd day of the Omer corresponds to Shabbat. Thus, the 43rd day of the Omer which is Yom Yerushalayim corresponds to the beginning of Shabbat when we recite this prayer ending off with the word Jerusalem, the only time of the week when we say this! I should note that I saw in a Breslov publication, that in the beginning verse of Psalm 92 that the Levites sang as the Song of the Day/Shir Shel Yom for Shabbat in the Temple Mizmor Shir LeYom HaShabbat "A Psalm, a song for the Shabbat Day", the middle two words Shir LeYom "Song for the Day" has the SAME letters as Yerushalayim! (This includes a second Yud though it is written this way only five of the 669 times that Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible) This is the sole mention of Shir LeYom in the entire Bible!
(There are unfortunately "religious" sects among Jews today who ban going to the Western Wall claiming that the victory happened through the "irreligious" Zionists, claiming to be the work of Satan. After 42 years of access to the Western Wall, there have been literally THOUSANDS of Jews who have come closer to Judaism because of this victory, nothing short of Hashem's miraculous intervention of not only regaining land we had no access to for 19 years, as well as other parts of Israel which were newly reconquered, but we Jews were literally saved from a quick annihilation of the kind that Haman planned on doing which resulted in the end in the holiday of Purim. It should be noted that it is specially at the BEGINNING of Shabbat - corresponding to the 43rd day of the Omer - that Jews visiting the Western Wall who are not yet observant of Judaism are invited for a Shabbat meal - the beginning of their spiritual journey that leads them to becoming fully observant Jews!).
Remember when we mentioned that the Jews' very first stop from Egypt was a city called Sukkot? No coincidence. The holiday of Sukkot represents Hashem protecting us in the desert with the Clouds of Glory surrounding us from all sides of dangerous nature. This represents the concept of Chesed She'Bi'Chesed - Kindness within Kindness - Hashem doing kindness for us within the kindness of Hashem taking us out of Egypt, and is the first Sefira combination of the 49 days of the Omer that we count starting from the day after the Exodus from Egypt. Thus, we used the word Sukkat - the very same letters (Samech, Kaf, Sav/Tav) used for the name of the first arrival city of the Jews on their way to the 43rd place - Israel, of which Jerusalem eventually became the capital - in the blessing of Hashkiveinu that ends off with the word Jerusalem.
Now, in terms of the last week of the Sefira having a connection with the last day of the week - Shabbat, the Sefer Yetzira, a kabbalistic book describing how Hashem created the world using the letters of the Alef Beit, notes that there are seven letters - Beit, Gimmel, Dalet, Kaf, Pei, Reish & Tav that correspond to the seven days of the week. Thus, the letter Tav, also the last letter of the Alef Beit, corresponds to Shabbat. Now, if you recall in a previous blog where I wrote about the BIG letter Tav in the word VaTichtov - "Esther wrote" referring to the Megilla that Esther wrote to be read on Purim, you will see an intrinsic connection here of the letter Tav as it relates to both Purim, the holiday corresponding to the Sefira of Netzach according to the Vilna Gaon & Yom Yerushalayim which is Netzach according to the Talmud (In the Kedusha prayer for Shabbat morning, we ask Hashem when He will be "King in Zion...within Jerusalem Your city and for all eternity" - U'leNeitzach Netzachim). Thus, Tav is intrinsically related to the last week of the Sefira (Also, there are 49 letters in a verse in Psalms 67:5) that correspond to the 49 days of the Sefira. The 43rd letter of this verse is a Tav - corresponding to this 43rd day of the Sefira - Jerusalem Day!)
"JERUSALEM DAY"
Technically, this phrase is mentioned not once, but twice in the Bible.
Samuel II 24:8 - Following a census that King David ordered his main general Joab to perform which resulted in a plague among the Jewish people since it is forbidden to count them directly, it says "they (Joab and his entourage) came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days". In Hebrew, it's worded as Tisha Chadashim V'Esrim YOM YERUSHALYIM. Question: Why wasn't it worded as such that it should read "They traveled throughout the land for nine months and twenty days and then they returned home to Jerusalem"? In another words, why focus the period of time as when they returned rather than the amount of time they spent on the road, the usual way of wording the time on a trip?
Pertaining to a regular Jewish year without an extra Adar added making it a leap year - let's count 9 months & 20 days starting with Tisha B'Av, the sadest date in Jewish history marking numerous tragedies, most sadly the destruction of both Temples, and the murder of many Jews, indeed a most sad day for Jerusalem. The date is 9 Av. Count nine months from this until 9 Iyar. Now count 20 days from 9 Iyar, and the last of the 20 days is...28 Iyar - Jerusalem Day! Joab and crew returned home "at the end" of 9 months and 20 days. Mind you, there is one more word that begins with Gimel (3) & Mem (40) - GEMAR - conclusion. Indeed the concluding day of this period falls out on the 43rd day of the Omer.
While the Bible does not specify what time of year the census actually occured, no doubt that this hints to this happy day. You see, while most of the destruction of the Temple took place on 10 Av; since it began on 9 Av, this was the date chosen by the Sages to be the fast of Tisha B'Av. Thus, while we have a sad beginning here, it started to become a very happy time for Jerusalem -though the Temple has yet to be rebuilt- at the END time of our exile starting on 28 Iyar! And as we see that during the plague that claimed the lives of many Jews following the census, King David follows the prophet Gad's orders to build an altar on the future Temple grounds and he brought sacrifices on it following which the plague stopped, the concluding verse of the Book of Samuel.
It should be noted that while Samuel the prophet passed away as recorded in the middle of the Book of Samuel, in contrast to Joshua whose passing is mentioned in the end of the Book of Joshua, the following explains why the history of King David's kingship is recorded in the Book of Samuel following Samuel's passing instead of being included in the book of Kings which basically begins with his son King Solomon's kingship even though King David was the ancestor of the Davidic dynasty. It was the prophet Samuel & King David according to the Talmud who together mapped out exactly where the Temple would be built. And indeed, Samuel's Yahrzeit is on...28 Iyar - Jerusalem Day! Speaking on this note, King David passed away on the holiday of Shavuot, the culmination of the Sefira period, which is exactly one week later than Jerusalem Day. Additionally, it was the prophet Samuel who wrote the Book of Ruth that is read on Shavuot, ending off with the last word David, mentioning his lineage, and he also was the one who anointed David to be king, the ancestor of the Davidic dynasty and the future Messiah! (It's interesting to note in relationship to the word Peh as we mentioned before having a Gematria of 85, there are exactly 85 verses in the Book of Ruth, the shortest of the 24 books of the Bible! And the Zohar equates Peh/the mouth, the part of the body that corresponds to Malchut - kingship, the Sefirah corresponding to Shabbat and the last week of the Sefira count beginning with the date of Yom Yerushalayim!)
Psalms 137:7 - "O Hashem, remember about the Edomites - THE DAY OF JERUSALEM - who said "Raze it, raze it, to its very foundation". Ironically, in this verse, the "Day of Jerusalem" refers none other than to the day of the destruction of the Temple when the Edomites/Romans of the Second Temple, as prophesized by the author of the Psalm, would destroy the Temple. Indeed, as we mentioned Jerusalem Day in refering to a period of time that begins from Tisha B'Av and ends with Yom Yerushalayim, this makes perfect sense!
Speaking of Edom, the Edom - the world empire of today - is the United States. It consists of its 50 states and Washington D.C., making it a total of in fact 51 states, corresponding to the name Edom which is the Gematria of 51. Mind you, Alaska & Hawaii became the final states of the United States in 1958 less than 10 years before the Jerusalem Day victory in 1967! At one point since, beginning with peanut farmer, failure United States President Jimmy Carter who shows his ugly Anti-Semitism to this day, who pushed for the Camp David Accords to give away the Sinai part of Israel to the blood thirsty Arabs. Now, Binyamin Netanyahu who really isn't supposed to be Prime Minister of Israel since it was the opposing Kadima party that actually won the Israeli elections by a majority vote, is continuing his agenda of giving away parts of Israel which started with giving the Arabs control of Hebron and voting to give away Gush Katif, made a special trip to the United States to speak to Muslim Arab Obama, illegal president of the United States who was not born in the U.S., to talk about giving away more land in a creation of a "Palestinian State", thus continuously caving into world pressure which is nothing new about Netanyahu, instead of following his own name of BINYAMIN - Ben Yamin "Son of Eretz Yisrael" (according to Rashi's explanation of Binyaimin's name, the only one of the tribes who was born in Israel) NETANYAHU - Hashem has given it - Israel - to the Jewish people. Very unfortunately, many Jews - including Shomer Shabbat Jews - voted for him this time instead of the real "Ben Yamin Netanyahu" party of Ichud Leumi - forgetting about his bad track record of giving Holy Land away to the blood thirsty Muslim Arabs - and only remembering his "bold" statements about the dangers of Iran developing nuclear weapons to attack Israel, G-d forbid, and now he is not even standing good by this, afraid to attack Iran because of what the United States and the rest of the world "might" say and do as a result, instead of practicing our own MIGHT fighting for our Holy Land displaying Hashem's MIGHT of His kindness displaying his Kingship, which He performed through thousands of Israeli soldiers who put their lives on the line winning the battle against 31 million Arabs from countries surrounding Israel.
In terms of Obama himself, I had mentioned in the past that Obama was politically born on Tisha B'Av of 2004 when he gave a speech of endorsing then Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. While Obama himself may have not thought of becoming president of this country at that time, this public political speech of his opened the door to where he is at today - like it or not, legally or not. And it has been pointed out before that the middle letters of Jerusalem are USA as in JerUSAlem. Apparently, there are unfortunately many Jews who think of the United States as their Jerusalem. Well, my message is - either it is the United States or Jerusalem/Israel. Period! Yahudut/Yiddishkeit/Judaism only has true meaning in our Holy Land - NOT in Boro Park, Flatbush, Crown Heights or Williamsburg.
We are at the end of our journey - as symbolized by the 42 stops that the Jews made from Egypt on their to Israel - and after 42 years since the liberation of the holiest area in the world and what is going on in the United States which is already starting to sink financially with Obama's vein attempt to keep that country above water, it is about time that Jews in the United States realize that the comforts of exile are over, and is gradually turning to discomfort, so it is about time to leave for the PROMISED land by Hashem while it is still possible to leave the United States BEFORE marshal law sets in; and its citizens, especially Jews, won't be allowed to escape that country, G-d forbid.
ON A PERSONAL NOTE
Very fortunately, the verse I recite at the end of the Shemoneh Esrai prayer that begins with a Shin and ends with a Nun Sofit like my name Shimon, is the verse of Shabechi Yerushalayim Et Hashem "O residents of Jerusalem, praise Hashem..." This mention of Jerusalem is the 401st such mention in the Bible. The 401st section of the 669 sections of the Torah as can be seen in the Sefer Torah is the section of the sacrifices that the leader of the tribe of Shimon brought on behalf of his tribe. The Midrash Rabba tells us that the leader of this tribe had in mind that the sacrifices that he brought corresponded to different aspects of the Tabernacle, the forerunner of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. May we merit to shortly regain PERMANENT access and control of the Temple Mount which was the initial announcement of Jerusalem Day "The Temple Mount is in our hands" and have the Temple rebuilt and bring sacrifices once more. And in conclusion of my 29th blog, I want to bring here the conclusion of the 29th Psalm in honor of Jerusalem - among its meanings "The City of Peace" - "Hashem will give might to His nation, Hashem will bless His nation with PEACE." Yes, the real peace - which can only be guaranteed NOT by nations who only want our demise and ALL our Holy Land - but guaranteed ONLY by Hashem, King of the world. And indeed, the letters Mem & Gimmel begin two related words - Mashiach & Geula/redemption, which will lead to the REAL New World Order.
NOTE: Check out the beautiful life of Jerusalem at http://www.jerusalicious.blogspot.com/.
And speaking of beautiful Jerusalem, I would like to relate here a short story from the Aish HaTorah website http://www.aish.com/ as posted on http://rabbipauli.blogspot.com/.
The story is told of the great sage of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. One evening he asked his congregation to wait to begin prayers until the street sweeper had arrived. Rabbi Auerbach explained: "This man is totally devoted to beautifying the streets of Jerusalem. I only wish that my own work would be performed with such pure intentions!" So before we look down on another person, let's remember that every human being has an important contribution to make. And in life, the only thing we truly earn is our own good name.
28 Iyar 5769, 43rd day of the Omer - beginning of the 43rd year from the victory of Yom Yerushalyim
P.S. Will post, G-d willing, about Shavuot before Shavuot. Stay tuned.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
#28 - PEACE: The FINAL Frontier
The title may remind you of Star Trek, and one of its goals is maintaining peace. Now, let's get to the real reality here.
The beginning of Kohelet/Ecclesiastes - Chapter 3 - lists 28 times of various actions. Let's list this here:
To every thing there is a season, and time to every purpose under the heaven:A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
There are a total of 28 "times", and the last of these times is the "time of peace". And so for our 28th post - peace will be the key theme here.
The connection of peace to the number 28 is nothing new. Following Pinchas' bravery of killing Zimri, leader of the tribe of Shimon (hopefully, I will be able to place my name in a better light in the future) along with his new lover the Midianite princess, Hashem rewarded him and his descendants with the Kehuna/Priesthood, something that he was not entitled to some 38 years earlier at the time that his father Elazar along with his brothers and their father Aharon were consecrated with the Kehuna which meant that only Elazar's future sons that would be born from him would be entitled to being a Kohen, but Pinchas who was alive at the time was not included. It was only through this brave action of killing a leader of one of the Jewish tribes due to his sinfullness (today, modern Orthodox Rabbis would be banging their fists on their podium denouncing Pinchas' "radical" decision of "murdering" a prominent Jewish leader of the community) that Pinchas merited the REAL peace prize - "Behold" did Hashem inform Moshe, Pinchas' great uncle "I give him My covenant of peace".
So, what does Pinchas or "covenant of peace" have to do with the number 28? As you will recall from Post #26 about Moshe, he was the 26th generation from Adam & Eve. Accordingly, his brother was Aharon, whose son and successor to the High Priesthood was Elazar, and his son and successor to the High Priesthood was Pinchas. Thus, Pinchas was the 28th generation from Adam & Eve. (There are exactly 28 words between Pinchas' name and the word Shalom/Peace in the Torah about rewarding Pinchas for his act of bravery (Numbers 25:11-12))
Now, we see here quite a few connections of peace with the number 28. There must be something going on here that the Torah wants to tell us.
As we had mentioned before, in the very first Rashi, the foremost commentator of the Bible & Talmud, his very first quoted verse as an answer to a question is Ko-ach Ma'asav Higid LeAmo Latet Lahem Nachalat Goyim "The strength of His deeds he declared to His people, to give them the heritage of the nations". This refers to the Land of Israel that was granted to the Jews upon conquering the land following their mass Aliyah with their leader Joshua. And the very first word of this verse - Ko-ach/Strength - spells the number 28 (Kof is 2o & Cheit is 8).
So in case anyone thought that giving pieces of the Land of Israel is the key to peace, we see from here that Shalom/peace that is connected with the number 28 is in fact the Ko-ach/Strength of the Land of Israel that we conquered - from the days of Joshua when the wall of Jericho fell down on 28 Nissan, shortly after the Jews' Aliyah, through the Six Day War when it included regaining our holiest site in the world, most importantly the Temple Mount, when on 28 Iyar 5727 (1967), the announcement was made "Har HaBayit Beyadeinu" - "The Temple Mount is in our Hands". And as Hashem tells us for our reward for following what Hashem wants "And I will put peace in the land" (Leviticus 26:6). Thus, it is HASHEM - not the United States, United Nations, or united nothings who aren't even capable of financing or guaranteeing their own statements - who will bring peace to Israel - if we just trust in Him which includes not giving away any piece of our Holy Land to anyone who is not a member of our faith, and certainly not to those who have more than proven and been outspoken about not recognizing Israel as a Jewish land or state.
So, why is our strength of the Land of Israel threatened? The problem is that Hashem has been virtually been left out of the picture in the 61 years since Israel's "Independence". The problem with this is that it that the Israeli government has not lived up to this "Independence". It has turned to the United States for money, recognition, and hopes that the United States will place Israel on stilts when it is just a farce, because the United States under the leadership of the last few presidents have put much pressure on Israel in giving in to the Arabs for their dreamland of Palestine, when they have 20+ countries to pick from instead of insisting on Israel giving away its land. The ultimate problem is when Kochi V'Etzem Yadi Asah Li Et HaChayil HaZeh - "MY strength and the might of my hand made me all this wealth" (Deutronomy 8:17) - when the Israeli government wants to show what it perceives as its own strength as in Kochi - adding a Yud to the end of the word Ko-ach, which makes it MY strength - instead of Hashem's strength, Whose name begins with a Yud, as it is Hashem Who created the world with 10 Statements, thus placing Hashem so to speak on the back burner. It is so ironic how the Israeli government wants to show "its strength" to the world by giving in to the Arabs for "peace" in the form of a PIECE of paper, when instead it has very unfortunately resulted in many PIECES of body parts as a result of suicide bombings. Indeed, in the double Torah portion of Acharei Mot-Kedoshim that we just read this past Shabbat - both of these portions tell us to behave while living in Israel or "the land will vomit us out, just as it vomited out the nations before us". Thus, if we have to be afraid of anything, it's our sins - not the Arabs or world pressure - about which we have to worry about and improve our ways if we don't want continued pressure of giving away our G-d given land.
The Vilna Gaon notes that the 28 times mentioned in Kohelet can be divided into the 6000 years alloted to this world's existance. Thus, every period would be a total of 214.28 years. Accordingly, we are still in the 27th of the 28 periods of history - and as we see in Kohelet - this is the period of war. World War I & World War II, the names of major world wars is nothing coincidental - Hashem runs this world and names are a way showing His manifestation. And so, the final war of Gog U'Magog, which began on the night of Hoshana Rabba (7th day of Sukkot) in 5762 (2001), shortly after 9/11, as its starting date of Hoshana Rabba, was predicted by the Vilna Gaon. This war not only is its not on its way of ending, contrary to the Democrats' promise of taking the United States out of its war that President Bush of the Republican Party began and continued, but Obama just invested tons of additional money into this war even as the economic crisis of the United States is getting continously worse despite Obama's supposed efforts of "cutting back".
According to one version in the Zohar, Techiyat HaMeitim/Resurrection of the Dead - which will take place some time after the coming of Moshiach - will be 214 years before the end of the 6000 years of the world's existance. Thus, it will only be in this era that the 28th and final period of 214 years that peace will reign, because before this, Moshiach will be fighting the nations who will make one last attempt to wipe us Jews off the map knowing that with Moshiach around, we Jews will reign forever, and so the nations will desperately attempt to stop this. Indeed, as I mentioned in my previous post - the Mishnayot ends with the word B'Shalom - "with peace".
AHAVAT YISRAEL - LOVE OF OUR FELLOW JEW
As Rabbi Akiva comments on VeAhavta LeReiacha Kamocha - "You shall love your fellow as yourself" - one of the main Mitzvot that were included in this past Shabbat's Torah reading, this is the "great principle" of the Torah. Indeed, if we love our fellow Jew as we are supposed to, then we will have the ultimate peace.
Before I proceed, I want to point out that my previous two posts were based on the first Mishna of the weekly learning of Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers. Well, the very last Mishna of this past Shabbat's Ethics of the Fathers concludes with saying that the calendar cycles and Gematriot are Parperaot - can be translated as additions or deserts - to wisdom. While these bodies of wisdom are not what you would say Jewish Law or ethical instruction, they "whet the appetite" or "give the final touch" to learning wisdom, thus keeping one in the loop of Torah learning, which is supposed to be an exciting venture.
Now for a special treat, I will point out a Gematria in a way that I never saw it done in all my years of learning Torah, yet it is fully based on how the Parsha is learned every week - literally. You see, the Code of Jewish Law of the Section of Daily Conduct - Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim - on the laws of Shabbat (Chapter 285) mentions learning the weekly Torah portion learning it as reciting the original text of Hebrew two times, and its Aramaic translation, known as Targum Onkelos one time, which is preferably done on Erev Shabbat or can be begun on Sunday to be concluded before Shabbat. Now for those who aren't used to the Hebrew, and certainly will not understand what it is saying - learning it in English, especially with the Rashi commentary (Artscroll http://www.artscroll.com/ has virtually the best translation of Rashi) is a good start. In any case, using this method, I discovered something absolutely amazing, something that I never tried before. So, the Gematria of V'Ahavta LeReiacha Kamocha/"You shall love your fellow as yourself"- the phrase in the Torah referring to the Mitzva of Ahavat Yisrael/Love for a fellow Jew - is 820. As we read the original text twice, 820x2=1640. Now, the Aramaic translation for this is U'terachem LeChavrach Kevatach which equals 1360. Thus, the total Gematria of this phrase of "You shall love your fellow as yourself" - twice the original Hebrew text and its accompanying Aramaic translation is exactly three thousand (3,000)!
I have been fortunate a number of times when my birthday of Rosh Chodesh Iyar (1 Iyar) falls out on Shabbat - that when it falls out on Parshat Kedoshim, which includes this phrase, that I have been able to have this Aliyah for my birthday (it's the 2nd Aliyah of this Parsha when read alone, and the 2nd Aliyah is reserved for the Levite, and I am a Levite). While there are parts of the Torah/Chumash that are read in the Sefer Torah more than once every year, this is read ONLY ONCE A YEAR. Now, there are other years when my birthday when it falls out on Shabbat, that we read the two middle portions of the Torah - Tazria & Metzorah which was the case this year. Except for once, I had Maftir - the reading assigned for the one who will read the Haftara- section of the Prophets as it relates to the Parsha or festive occasion. The Maftir in this case is the section about the Korbanot for Shabbat & Rosh Chodesh, and the Haftara is the final chapter in Isaiah as it specially relates to Rosh Chodesh. For the one time that I didn't have Maftir/Haftara for my Shabbat birthday, I had the regular Levite reading. Why I say this is because there is in fact a letter found in this reading that is of a bigger size, a topic that I have written about before. This is in the first word of Leviticus 13:33 - VehitGalach - "he shall shave himself" where the letter Gimmel of the word is unusually BIG. The original context is referring to a situation where there is an infected spot that is suspected of being Tzara'at - a spiritual malady resembling leprosy, around which the hair is shaven, but not the area of the Tzara'at itself and the one having this is quaranteed for a week and is inspected afterwards for the outcome. Anyways, I have mentioned before, as in the big letter Alef in the very first letter of the Book of Chronicles where the letter in Adam's name is unusually big, referring in Gematria to 1,000 in contrast to the usual Gematria of 1, hinting to the 1,000 years alloted to Adam (he actually lived for 930, because he gave 70 years as a gift to King David). Thus, the BIG Gimmel in this case can be considered to be the Gematria of 3,000.
So, what's the connection here between the BIG Gimmel here and the Gematria of 3,000 as it relates to the phrase "You shall love your fellow as yourself" as the total of twice the original text and once its Aramaic translaton?
The Ba'al HaTurim, a commentary on the Chumash that points out many interesting Gematriot, tells us that this BIG Gimmel hints to three categories of people whose shaving is a Mitzva - the Nazarite, the Metzora (one inflicted with Tzara'at), and the Levites. The Nazarite shaved his hair of his head once his Nazarite vow is completed, the Metzora shaved off all his hair during his purification process after being healed, and the Levites who shaved off all their hair when they were first consecrated on 3 Nissan following Aharon's consecration of being the Kohen Gadol/High Priest.
Now, we have here three types of Jews. The Levites attained their position through being Hashem's devoted servants when Moshe commanded them to kill the Jews whom they knew to have worshipped the Golden Calf, and approximately 3,000 Jews were killed. The Nazarite is one who took on a vow in a quest of feeling more spiritual. Now doubt that if he was doing everything right that he wouldn't have felt a need to take on such a vow, but at least he realized his shortcoming on his own before Hashem would have to punish him to mend his ways. And then we have the Metzora who was punished by Hashem, usually for his lack of good behavior for speaking bad about other Jews, and was thus inflicted with a skin malady that sent him to be quaranteed from the rest of the Jewish people until he realized that he had been punished and resolved to mend his ways. So basically here, you have here the righteous, middle-class, and the wicked. And it is interesting to note that while the middle class of Jews, as represented by the Nazarite, had to shave off only the hair on his head, both the righteous and the wicked had to shave off ALL their hair with a razor - even though normally it is forbidden for a man to shave his beard off with a razor or entirely cut off his Pei'ot - sideburns/sidelocks. What can we learn from here?
It is very easy for some to judge others with a scrutinizing eye at times without knowing all the facts. Let's take a scenario of someone who is a regular worshipper in a synagogue who observes the behavior of various people who attend synagogue services. About a "half-observant" Jew, he says - "Well, this guy at least is nice to others, though he doesn't quite keep Shabbat the right way", and then about the rabbi of the Shul with whom he finds fault with "He didn't seem to talk so nicely this morning. I wish I had a better rabbi that I could turn to". And then commenting on how some young Jewish outlandish looking guy, "What nerve does he have coming to the Shul with a ponytail and an earing, and he didn't even have the decency of wearing a Kipa on his head or asking for one which was right there at the Shul entrance, until someone had to bring one to him. Doesn't he have any respect for a holy place?!" Besides the horrific sin of Lashon Hara for which one was afflicted with Tzara'at, which actually consists of up to 31 sins for EACH WORD spoken, amounting to hundreds if not thousands of sins in any given conversation, the narrator is judging people the way he wants to perceive them, whether right or wrong. O.K., the nice guy who doesn't quite keep Shabbat right is still a nice guy - maybe it will take just a little time until the narrator's fellow congregant will keep Shabbat the right way, which could be accelerated if instead of criticizing the half way observant congregant, he would invite him to a Shabbat meal to encourage him to be a fully observant Jew. And then for the rabbi who didn't seem to talk "so nicely" one morning, could it be that the rabbi was awake all night visiting with a family of a dying member of his congregation in the ICU unit of the hospital? And for the new young visitor to the synagogue, one's attitude can either make or brake this visiting Jew who might very well be a rabbi one day who will one day be into reaching out to other Jews becoming observant in turn, but it can be ruined by a few nasty words or nasty stares instead of making him feel welcome in the synagogue.
Yes, Hashem rewards or punishes according to His judgement, but if we want Hashem to judge us in a favorable light, we have to make an effort to judge others accordingly. If we have to take action against others like the Levites killing the 3,000 Jews who worshipped the Golden Calf, or Pinchas killing a Jewish leader to save the rest of the Jewish people from being killed by a plague, it is only because Hashem wants us to do so, not because we judge others as "not religious as we are". Indeed, it has been said that the word Tzibur/Congregation consists of the letters Tzadi, Beit, Vav, Reish - stands for Tzadikim - Righteous, Beinonim - Middle class, V - and, Reshaim - Wicked. The key here is the Vav - the letter for AND. Yes, AND even the wicked - even they are considered part of a Minyan - the necessary quorum of 10 men needed for certain important prayers in the synagogue, including the Kaddish, which are not recited when you do not have 10 Jewish men. There are times that people have to be reprimanded for their actions, and for which, a Beit Din/Jewish Court even today has power to declare excommunication on certain people who are not on the right track until such time that they improve their ways or agree to abide by the decision of the Beit Din. But otherwise, we have no right to judge as to who makes that Minyan. And yes, even the "wicked" Jews who don't have it quite right when it comes to Judaism, who haven't learned yet to even put on a skull cap when entering a synagouge, are included in the most fundamental Mitzva of "You shall love your fellow as yourself", represented by the BIG Gimmel equalling 3,000.
On a simple level, Gimmel equals the number 3. In fact, this is the number of peace. You see, when two are having an argument; quite often, it is a 3rd person or 3rd party that attempts to resolve the issue, and while Pinchas, who received Hashem's "covenant of peace" was the 28th generation from Adam and Eve, he was the THIRD generation from his grandfather Aharon, who was the epitome of peace, who lied to two parties not talking to each other to make peace between them, and after whom 80,000 Jews were named Aharon after him during his lifetime! Hillel, in the first chapter of Ethics of the Fathers, has this to say "Be of the students of Aharon. Love peace, pursue peace, love mankind and bring people close to the Torah". Indeed, the last of the 13 principles of how the Torah is interpreted, as I mentioned in my previous post, is when there are two verses in the Torah that seem to contradict each other, it is a THIRD verse that will shed light on the subject in question which will resolve the seeming contradiction. Indeed, the word ECHAD which means one, and is the root word for Achdut/Unity, is the Gematria of 13, so it is most fitting that this Torah principle is the 13th and FINAL one of the Torah principles of how the Torah is interpreted, as though it is in fact the NUMBER ONE in importance, but can be fully appreciated ONLY when everything else seems to be in order, but cannot be completed without the aspect of peace, the happy ending of how things our conducted in this world. And indeed, the word Gematriot begins with the letter Gimmel, the leading letter in this word. Perhaps, it is this finishing touch, the desert, that makes one feel that everything was worth it - the proof in the Gematria, the extra tip for a nice job done, the delicious little piece of chocolate or mint at the end of a meal.
Speaking of meals and priesthood, one of the types of sacrifices brought in the Temple was the Shelamim/Peace animal-offerings. Rashi comments on the wording of the name of this type of sacrifice as it places peace on the world, and that there is peace with these sacrifices that parts of it are eaten by the altar (meaning, being burnt as an offering to Hashem), by the Kohanim, and by the owners of the sacrifice. Thus, there are THREE different groups that are involved with consuming this PEACE-offering. This is unlike most other types of sacrifices where the owners did not have a part to eat in their own sacrifice unlike the Kohanim who ate them to atone for the owner's sin.
As I am writing this blog for this day - the 25th day of the Sefira - the count of 49 days from after the first day of Passover until Shavuot/Pentacost, it's most noteworthy to mention a theme that we recite for the very first words of Torah that we recite every morning - the portion of the Mitzva of Bircat Kohanim - the Blessing of the Kohanim, of which the blessing itself consists of THREE verses. Hashem instructs Moshe to speak to his brother Aharon and his sons starting with KO Tevarchu Es Bnei Yisrael - "SO shall you bless the children of Israel." The very first word of Hashem's spoken instructions here - KO, can spell the number 25, as Kof is 20 and Hei is 5. And how does the THREE verse blessing end with? Veyasem Lecha Shalom - "I will place upon you - PEACE".
And being that I just began my 40th year last week on the previous Shabbat on Rosh Chodesh Iyar, there is a direct connection between the number 40 and the Torah command of V'Ahavta L'Reiacha Camocha. You see, if you add the first 40 numbers - 1 through 40 - they add up to 820 - the Gematria of this very phrase V'Ahavata L'Reiacha Camocha.
As I had mentioned in my previous post right after my birthday about my name Shimon being the same Gematria as Makkot, the name of the Mishnaic tractate of which part of it writes about the Beit Din/Jewish court administering lashes to certain sinners,
the Torah itself says to give 40 lashes; though in time, the rabbis somehow interpreted the verse to mean that only 39 lashes are administered. In any case, the Torah that mentions the 40 lashes notes following the lashes punishment session "You shall not add to them, in order that your brother does not become disgraced in front of your eyes". Since it's easy for good people to look down on a sinner, the Torah had to make very clear that it is FORBIDDEN to add to the number of lashes prescribed by the Torah for the sin that he committed, and that the only reason he was given the lashes to begin with was because the Torah said so. After this, the Torah declares that we have no right to disgrace him; but if anything, to treat him afterwards as any other Jew in society that we treat as a brother and friend. In fact, even these 40 lashes is actually a favor for the sinner, whether he will admit it or not, to first of all, help prevent him from sinning again, and also, to shield him from worse punishment, especially from Hell in the world to come.
Thus, it is the number 40 - as used by the Torah - that actually demonstrates this very Mitzva of V'Ahavata L'Reiacha Camocha - even in the face of punishment, that is actually to serve as a beneficial service for the momentary sinner. Indeed, the first 40 numbers adding to the same Gematria as the part of the verse telling us to love Jews - 820, is most exemplified in a Mitzva that is supposed to place a sinner back in the right track, so he can be eligible for eternal reward, as it is doing a spiritual favor for someone causing him to keep Mitzvot that is the biggest favor and love that one can express towards another Jew.
IN MEMORIAM
Seven years ago, the world, especially the Jewish community in South Florida, lost a very special person - Rabbi David Bryn of righteous, blessed memory. As quoted by a friend of his, he lived 120 years in a third of the time. Indeed he made more use of his 40 years than many who would have to live many such lifetimes to reach a fraction of his accomplishments. And it wasn't just that he had such Ahavat Yisrael - love of other Jews that motivated him to reach out to so many people. He lived the second half of his life as a very sickly person which included a heart condition and poor eyesight, who under normal circumstances did not have a whole lot of Ko-ach/Strength. Yet. he went way beyond the extra mile that few others even touch upon in the height of their strength. Knowing him personally along with thousands of others, I felt like he treated me as a most special friend, as hundreds if not thousands others felt the same way. A member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, he was inspired to do outreach work immediately following his rabbinic ordination. While a most beloved rabbi of his congregation that grew virtually completely due to his outreach, not just as a synagogue that people felt that they had to attend as the only one in the immediate vicinity, his pet project was his organization called Chabad Chayil, his own outreach system in which he spent countless of hours visiting others without being able to physically drive a car on his own, relying upon and paying drivers to drive him around; yet, he knew better than most drivers where certain destinations were because this is where lost Jewish souls were waiting for him to be lit.
The date of his passing - 6 Iyar 5762 (2002) - can actually be remembered in another way. As it was this year, he passed away on a Thursday of the week of the Torah portions of Acharei Mot-Kedoshim. The 5th Aliyah of these portions, falling out in the portion of Kedoshim, corresponds to the 5th day/Thursday of the week. And guess what it says in the midst of this portion - you guessed it...V'Ahavta LeReiacha Kamocha - "You shall love your fellow as yourself"! (Many Jews learn the Aliyah of the Torah portion corresponding to the day of the week - so the 5th Aliyah of the Torah portion was learnt on the 5th day of the week - Thursday.)
In an act of Divine Providence, like my story of the previous Shabbat of my birthday at the Kotel, I spent this past Shabbat in the holy city of Tzfat/Safed. Lo and behold, on my way back from eating Shabbat lunch to where I was staying, I saw a flyer about...Rabbi David Bryn! The flyer was about a memorial festive gathering of his 7th Yahrzeit in this learning center established in this rabbi's memory. While I missed the event as I don't live anywhere near Safed in any case, I wanted to talk to the organizer of this. As it turns out, it was someone from my hometown of North Miami Beach, Florida with whom I had met perhaps only a couple of times, but who knew Rabbi Bryn from the time that he was fresh from receiving his rabbinic ordination, and had a very outstanding relationship with him over the years. To make a long story short, I spent two and half hours in this guy's place in Safed on Saturday night talking about Rabbi Bryn's life, this guy's own life, and his learning and prayer center, called the Bayit Tzfat - Kollel HaRav Dovid Bryn. For more information, check out http://www.thebayittzfat.wordpress.com/, and yes, if you know of a Sefer Torah that is available, please contact Daniel Pozner, executive director of this place at the contact information on the website, as this is the only thing that is missing, and Shabbat morning services cannot take place without reading of the Sefer Torah.
There are those who are rabbis of synagogues or head organizations having nice sounding names such as the words Ahavat Yisrael, and seemingly do all kinds of favors for people. It's nothing new, doctors also do all kinds of "favors" for their patients, but a good percentage of them are helping their patients only to the extent of getting well paid; after that, they have no use for them. However, what both of these types of groups forget is around where it says to "love your fellow as yourself", there are basic acts of loving another Jew -not just by doing favors, but by NOT doing what one does not want done to oneself. Such as, not being a talebearer -going around saying bad about others to people, not taking revenge, not being a grudge, etc. Rabbi David Bryn was not only virtually the furthest removed from making trouble for others; but if anything, helped work out other people's problems, and kept plowing through time, not wanting to miss a single Jew whom he thought could come closer to the Torah, coupled with a deep psychological understanding of his or her needs. Indeed, he was the ultimate man of peace as Hillel described Aharon, and how we are supposed to emulate him.
The contrast of these two types of people running Jewish organizations reminds me of the story that took place in the times of the Second Temple when once the High Priest after the conclusion of Yom Kippur was being escorted to his home by the Jewish Nation. In the interim, the leading Sages of the generation who happened to come from a family of converts to Judaism- Shemaya & Avtalyon - appeared. It seems that almost instantly, everyone was turning their eyes to these Sages. Meanwhile, the Sages approached the High Priest and gave him greetings. The High Priest who was not exactly thrilled with the change of honor from the people, replied sarcastically, "Greetings of peace to the sons of converts". Upon this, these Sages replied, "Indeed, may peace be bestowed on the sons of converts who follow in the ways of Aharon, the man of peace. But for one who doesn't follow his ancestor Aharon (the ancestor of all Kohanim/Priests) in the ways of peace, may there not be peace for him."
I will conclude with a couple of stories about Rabbi Bryn, one of which was told to me from a good friend of mine showing Rabbi Bryn's non-judgemental stance. Once, he met a "Messianic" Christian Jewish lady who informed him of her status while passing by the synagogue. Now, how would we react to such a person who is not only not observing Judaism, but is following a religion and way of life that contradicts Judaism? Well, this is how he reacted to such a person. He told her, "Imagine how you can reach even greater spiritual heights if you come to our synagogue!" Not only did he not criticize her for her errant lifestyle, but he phrased himself in such a way to make this lady feel good pertaining to her issue of reaching spiritual heights!
Another story that comes to mind is pertaining to the time that a new attendee to the synagogue, who may not have been quite observant of Judaism as of yet, was talking with Rabbi Bryn when another person commented to the attendee that he must be an Orthodox Jew because he is coming to a synagogue of such a denomination. Upon hearing this, Rabbi Bryn was quick to respond "Maybe I am not an Orthodox Jew". Now, how many rabbis do you know would say such a thing about themselves? In foresight, this rabbi wanted to make sure that this new attendee would not feel being put on the spot and have to perhaps admit that he really wasn't all that observant of Judaism, so the rabbi commented that maybe even he himself, as the rabbi, isn't so much that way himself. Truly, a rabbi who put other people's feelings above his own!
10 Iyar 5769, 25th day of the Sefira - midway point between Passover and Shavuot.
Expect to have my next post, G-d willing, before Yom Yerushalayim/Jerusalem Day that will begin on the evening of May 21.
The beginning of Kohelet/Ecclesiastes - Chapter 3 - lists 28 times of various actions. Let's list this here:
To every thing there is a season, and time to every purpose under the heaven:A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
There are a total of 28 "times", and the last of these times is the "time of peace". And so for our 28th post - peace will be the key theme here.
The connection of peace to the number 28 is nothing new. Following Pinchas' bravery of killing Zimri, leader of the tribe of Shimon (hopefully, I will be able to place my name in a better light in the future) along with his new lover the Midianite princess, Hashem rewarded him and his descendants with the Kehuna/Priesthood, something that he was not entitled to some 38 years earlier at the time that his father Elazar along with his brothers and their father Aharon were consecrated with the Kehuna which meant that only Elazar's future sons that would be born from him would be entitled to being a Kohen, but Pinchas who was alive at the time was not included. It was only through this brave action of killing a leader of one of the Jewish tribes due to his sinfullness (today, modern Orthodox Rabbis would be banging their fists on their podium denouncing Pinchas' "radical" decision of "murdering" a prominent Jewish leader of the community) that Pinchas merited the REAL peace prize - "Behold" did Hashem inform Moshe, Pinchas' great uncle "I give him My covenant of peace".
So, what does Pinchas or "covenant of peace" have to do with the number 28? As you will recall from Post #26 about Moshe, he was the 26th generation from Adam & Eve. Accordingly, his brother was Aharon, whose son and successor to the High Priesthood was Elazar, and his son and successor to the High Priesthood was Pinchas. Thus, Pinchas was the 28th generation from Adam & Eve. (There are exactly 28 words between Pinchas' name and the word Shalom/Peace in the Torah about rewarding Pinchas for his act of bravery (Numbers 25:11-12))
Now, we see here quite a few connections of peace with the number 28. There must be something going on here that the Torah wants to tell us.
As we had mentioned before, in the very first Rashi, the foremost commentator of the Bible & Talmud, his very first quoted verse as an answer to a question is Ko-ach Ma'asav Higid LeAmo Latet Lahem Nachalat Goyim "The strength of His deeds he declared to His people, to give them the heritage of the nations". This refers to the Land of Israel that was granted to the Jews upon conquering the land following their mass Aliyah with their leader Joshua. And the very first word of this verse - Ko-ach/Strength - spells the number 28 (Kof is 2o & Cheit is 8).
So in case anyone thought that giving pieces of the Land of Israel is the key to peace, we see from here that Shalom/peace that is connected with the number 28 is in fact the Ko-ach/Strength of the Land of Israel that we conquered - from the days of Joshua when the wall of Jericho fell down on 28 Nissan, shortly after the Jews' Aliyah, through the Six Day War when it included regaining our holiest site in the world, most importantly the Temple Mount, when on 28 Iyar 5727 (1967), the announcement was made "Har HaBayit Beyadeinu" - "The Temple Mount is in our Hands". And as Hashem tells us for our reward for following what Hashem wants "And I will put peace in the land" (Leviticus 26:6). Thus, it is HASHEM - not the United States, United Nations, or united nothings who aren't even capable of financing or guaranteeing their own statements - who will bring peace to Israel - if we just trust in Him which includes not giving away any piece of our Holy Land to anyone who is not a member of our faith, and certainly not to those who have more than proven and been outspoken about not recognizing Israel as a Jewish land or state.
So, why is our strength of the Land of Israel threatened? The problem is that Hashem has been virtually been left out of the picture in the 61 years since Israel's "Independence". The problem with this is that it that the Israeli government has not lived up to this "Independence". It has turned to the United States for money, recognition, and hopes that the United States will place Israel on stilts when it is just a farce, because the United States under the leadership of the last few presidents have put much pressure on Israel in giving in to the Arabs for their dreamland of Palestine, when they have 20+ countries to pick from instead of insisting on Israel giving away its land. The ultimate problem is when Kochi V'Etzem Yadi Asah Li Et HaChayil HaZeh - "MY strength and the might of my hand made me all this wealth" (Deutronomy 8:17) - when the Israeli government wants to show what it perceives as its own strength as in Kochi - adding a Yud to the end of the word Ko-ach, which makes it MY strength - instead of Hashem's strength, Whose name begins with a Yud, as it is Hashem Who created the world with 10 Statements, thus placing Hashem so to speak on the back burner. It is so ironic how the Israeli government wants to show "its strength" to the world by giving in to the Arabs for "peace" in the form of a PIECE of paper, when instead it has very unfortunately resulted in many PIECES of body parts as a result of suicide bombings. Indeed, in the double Torah portion of Acharei Mot-Kedoshim that we just read this past Shabbat - both of these portions tell us to behave while living in Israel or "the land will vomit us out, just as it vomited out the nations before us". Thus, if we have to be afraid of anything, it's our sins - not the Arabs or world pressure - about which we have to worry about and improve our ways if we don't want continued pressure of giving away our G-d given land.
The Vilna Gaon notes that the 28 times mentioned in Kohelet can be divided into the 6000 years alloted to this world's existance. Thus, every period would be a total of 214.28 years. Accordingly, we are still in the 27th of the 28 periods of history - and as we see in Kohelet - this is the period of war. World War I & World War II, the names of major world wars is nothing coincidental - Hashem runs this world and names are a way showing His manifestation. And so, the final war of Gog U'Magog, which began on the night of Hoshana Rabba (7th day of Sukkot) in 5762 (2001), shortly after 9/11, as its starting date of Hoshana Rabba, was predicted by the Vilna Gaon. This war not only is its not on its way of ending, contrary to the Democrats' promise of taking the United States out of its war that President Bush of the Republican Party began and continued, but Obama just invested tons of additional money into this war even as the economic crisis of the United States is getting continously worse despite Obama's supposed efforts of "cutting back".
According to one version in the Zohar, Techiyat HaMeitim/Resurrection of the Dead - which will take place some time after the coming of Moshiach - will be 214 years before the end of the 6000 years of the world's existance. Thus, it will only be in this era that the 28th and final period of 214 years that peace will reign, because before this, Moshiach will be fighting the nations who will make one last attempt to wipe us Jews off the map knowing that with Moshiach around, we Jews will reign forever, and so the nations will desperately attempt to stop this. Indeed, as I mentioned in my previous post - the Mishnayot ends with the word B'Shalom - "with peace".
AHAVAT YISRAEL - LOVE OF OUR FELLOW JEW
As Rabbi Akiva comments on VeAhavta LeReiacha Kamocha - "You shall love your fellow as yourself" - one of the main Mitzvot that were included in this past Shabbat's Torah reading, this is the "great principle" of the Torah. Indeed, if we love our fellow Jew as we are supposed to, then we will have the ultimate peace.
Before I proceed, I want to point out that my previous two posts were based on the first Mishna of the weekly learning of Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers. Well, the very last Mishna of this past Shabbat's Ethics of the Fathers concludes with saying that the calendar cycles and Gematriot are Parperaot - can be translated as additions or deserts - to wisdom. While these bodies of wisdom are not what you would say Jewish Law or ethical instruction, they "whet the appetite" or "give the final touch" to learning wisdom, thus keeping one in the loop of Torah learning, which is supposed to be an exciting venture.
Now for a special treat, I will point out a Gematria in a way that I never saw it done in all my years of learning Torah, yet it is fully based on how the Parsha is learned every week - literally. You see, the Code of Jewish Law of the Section of Daily Conduct - Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim - on the laws of Shabbat (Chapter 285) mentions learning the weekly Torah portion learning it as reciting the original text of Hebrew two times, and its Aramaic translation, known as Targum Onkelos one time, which is preferably done on Erev Shabbat or can be begun on Sunday to be concluded before Shabbat. Now for those who aren't used to the Hebrew, and certainly will not understand what it is saying - learning it in English, especially with the Rashi commentary (Artscroll http://www.artscroll.com/ has virtually the best translation of Rashi) is a good start. In any case, using this method, I discovered something absolutely amazing, something that I never tried before. So, the Gematria of V'Ahavta LeReiacha Kamocha/"You shall love your fellow as yourself"- the phrase in the Torah referring to the Mitzva of Ahavat Yisrael/Love for a fellow Jew - is 820. As we read the original text twice, 820x2=1640. Now, the Aramaic translation for this is U'terachem LeChavrach Kevatach which equals 1360. Thus, the total Gematria of this phrase of "You shall love your fellow as yourself" - twice the original Hebrew text and its accompanying Aramaic translation is exactly three thousand (3,000)!
I have been fortunate a number of times when my birthday of Rosh Chodesh Iyar (1 Iyar) falls out on Shabbat - that when it falls out on Parshat Kedoshim, which includes this phrase, that I have been able to have this Aliyah for my birthday (it's the 2nd Aliyah of this Parsha when read alone, and the 2nd Aliyah is reserved for the Levite, and I am a Levite). While there are parts of the Torah/Chumash that are read in the Sefer Torah more than once every year, this is read ONLY ONCE A YEAR. Now, there are other years when my birthday when it falls out on Shabbat, that we read the two middle portions of the Torah - Tazria & Metzorah which was the case this year. Except for once, I had Maftir - the reading assigned for the one who will read the Haftara- section of the Prophets as it relates to the Parsha or festive occasion. The Maftir in this case is the section about the Korbanot for Shabbat & Rosh Chodesh, and the Haftara is the final chapter in Isaiah as it specially relates to Rosh Chodesh. For the one time that I didn't have Maftir/Haftara for my Shabbat birthday, I had the regular Levite reading. Why I say this is because there is in fact a letter found in this reading that is of a bigger size, a topic that I have written about before. This is in the first word of Leviticus 13:33 - VehitGalach - "he shall shave himself" where the letter Gimmel of the word is unusually BIG. The original context is referring to a situation where there is an infected spot that is suspected of being Tzara'at - a spiritual malady resembling leprosy, around which the hair is shaven, but not the area of the Tzara'at itself and the one having this is quaranteed for a week and is inspected afterwards for the outcome. Anyways, I have mentioned before, as in the big letter Alef in the very first letter of the Book of Chronicles where the letter in Adam's name is unusually big, referring in Gematria to 1,000 in contrast to the usual Gematria of 1, hinting to the 1,000 years alloted to Adam (he actually lived for 930, because he gave 70 years as a gift to King David). Thus, the BIG Gimmel in this case can be considered to be the Gematria of 3,000.
So, what's the connection here between the BIG Gimmel here and the Gematria of 3,000 as it relates to the phrase "You shall love your fellow as yourself" as the total of twice the original text and once its Aramaic translaton?
The Ba'al HaTurim, a commentary on the Chumash that points out many interesting Gematriot, tells us that this BIG Gimmel hints to three categories of people whose shaving is a Mitzva - the Nazarite, the Metzora (one inflicted with Tzara'at), and the Levites. The Nazarite shaved his hair of his head once his Nazarite vow is completed, the Metzora shaved off all his hair during his purification process after being healed, and the Levites who shaved off all their hair when they were first consecrated on 3 Nissan following Aharon's consecration of being the Kohen Gadol/High Priest.
Now, we have here three types of Jews. The Levites attained their position through being Hashem's devoted servants when Moshe commanded them to kill the Jews whom they knew to have worshipped the Golden Calf, and approximately 3,000 Jews were killed. The Nazarite is one who took on a vow in a quest of feeling more spiritual. Now doubt that if he was doing everything right that he wouldn't have felt a need to take on such a vow, but at least he realized his shortcoming on his own before Hashem would have to punish him to mend his ways. And then we have the Metzora who was punished by Hashem, usually for his lack of good behavior for speaking bad about other Jews, and was thus inflicted with a skin malady that sent him to be quaranteed from the rest of the Jewish people until he realized that he had been punished and resolved to mend his ways. So basically here, you have here the righteous, middle-class, and the wicked. And it is interesting to note that while the middle class of Jews, as represented by the Nazarite, had to shave off only the hair on his head, both the righteous and the wicked had to shave off ALL their hair with a razor - even though normally it is forbidden for a man to shave his beard off with a razor or entirely cut off his Pei'ot - sideburns/sidelocks. What can we learn from here?
It is very easy for some to judge others with a scrutinizing eye at times without knowing all the facts. Let's take a scenario of someone who is a regular worshipper in a synagogue who observes the behavior of various people who attend synagogue services. About a "half-observant" Jew, he says - "Well, this guy at least is nice to others, though he doesn't quite keep Shabbat the right way", and then about the rabbi of the Shul with whom he finds fault with "He didn't seem to talk so nicely this morning. I wish I had a better rabbi that I could turn to". And then commenting on how some young Jewish outlandish looking guy, "What nerve does he have coming to the Shul with a ponytail and an earing, and he didn't even have the decency of wearing a Kipa on his head or asking for one which was right there at the Shul entrance, until someone had to bring one to him. Doesn't he have any respect for a holy place?!" Besides the horrific sin of Lashon Hara for which one was afflicted with Tzara'at, which actually consists of up to 31 sins for EACH WORD spoken, amounting to hundreds if not thousands of sins in any given conversation, the narrator is judging people the way he wants to perceive them, whether right or wrong. O.K., the nice guy who doesn't quite keep Shabbat right is still a nice guy - maybe it will take just a little time until the narrator's fellow congregant will keep Shabbat the right way, which could be accelerated if instead of criticizing the half way observant congregant, he would invite him to a Shabbat meal to encourage him to be a fully observant Jew. And then for the rabbi who didn't seem to talk "so nicely" one morning, could it be that the rabbi was awake all night visiting with a family of a dying member of his congregation in the ICU unit of the hospital? And for the new young visitor to the synagogue, one's attitude can either make or brake this visiting Jew who might very well be a rabbi one day who will one day be into reaching out to other Jews becoming observant in turn, but it can be ruined by a few nasty words or nasty stares instead of making him feel welcome in the synagogue.
Yes, Hashem rewards or punishes according to His judgement, but if we want Hashem to judge us in a favorable light, we have to make an effort to judge others accordingly. If we have to take action against others like the Levites killing the 3,000 Jews who worshipped the Golden Calf, or Pinchas killing a Jewish leader to save the rest of the Jewish people from being killed by a plague, it is only because Hashem wants us to do so, not because we judge others as "not religious as we are". Indeed, it has been said that the word Tzibur/Congregation consists of the letters Tzadi, Beit, Vav, Reish - stands for Tzadikim - Righteous, Beinonim - Middle class, V - and, Reshaim - Wicked. The key here is the Vav - the letter for AND. Yes, AND even the wicked - even they are considered part of a Minyan - the necessary quorum of 10 men needed for certain important prayers in the synagogue, including the Kaddish, which are not recited when you do not have 10 Jewish men. There are times that people have to be reprimanded for their actions, and for which, a Beit Din/Jewish Court even today has power to declare excommunication on certain people who are not on the right track until such time that they improve their ways or agree to abide by the decision of the Beit Din. But otherwise, we have no right to judge as to who makes that Minyan. And yes, even the "wicked" Jews who don't have it quite right when it comes to Judaism, who haven't learned yet to even put on a skull cap when entering a synagouge, are included in the most fundamental Mitzva of "You shall love your fellow as yourself", represented by the BIG Gimmel equalling 3,000.
On a simple level, Gimmel equals the number 3. In fact, this is the number of peace. You see, when two are having an argument; quite often, it is a 3rd person or 3rd party that attempts to resolve the issue, and while Pinchas, who received Hashem's "covenant of peace" was the 28th generation from Adam and Eve, he was the THIRD generation from his grandfather Aharon, who was the epitome of peace, who lied to two parties not talking to each other to make peace between them, and after whom 80,000 Jews were named Aharon after him during his lifetime! Hillel, in the first chapter of Ethics of the Fathers, has this to say "Be of the students of Aharon. Love peace, pursue peace, love mankind and bring people close to the Torah". Indeed, the last of the 13 principles of how the Torah is interpreted, as I mentioned in my previous post, is when there are two verses in the Torah that seem to contradict each other, it is a THIRD verse that will shed light on the subject in question which will resolve the seeming contradiction. Indeed, the word ECHAD which means one, and is the root word for Achdut/Unity, is the Gematria of 13, so it is most fitting that this Torah principle is the 13th and FINAL one of the Torah principles of how the Torah is interpreted, as though it is in fact the NUMBER ONE in importance, but can be fully appreciated ONLY when everything else seems to be in order, but cannot be completed without the aspect of peace, the happy ending of how things our conducted in this world. And indeed, the word Gematriot begins with the letter Gimmel, the leading letter in this word. Perhaps, it is this finishing touch, the desert, that makes one feel that everything was worth it - the proof in the Gematria, the extra tip for a nice job done, the delicious little piece of chocolate or mint at the end of a meal.
Speaking of meals and priesthood, one of the types of sacrifices brought in the Temple was the Shelamim/Peace animal-offerings. Rashi comments on the wording of the name of this type of sacrifice as it places peace on the world, and that there is peace with these sacrifices that parts of it are eaten by the altar (meaning, being burnt as an offering to Hashem), by the Kohanim, and by the owners of the sacrifice. Thus, there are THREE different groups that are involved with consuming this PEACE-offering. This is unlike most other types of sacrifices where the owners did not have a part to eat in their own sacrifice unlike the Kohanim who ate them to atone for the owner's sin.
As I am writing this blog for this day - the 25th day of the Sefira - the count of 49 days from after the first day of Passover until Shavuot/Pentacost, it's most noteworthy to mention a theme that we recite for the very first words of Torah that we recite every morning - the portion of the Mitzva of Bircat Kohanim - the Blessing of the Kohanim, of which the blessing itself consists of THREE verses. Hashem instructs Moshe to speak to his brother Aharon and his sons starting with KO Tevarchu Es Bnei Yisrael - "SO shall you bless the children of Israel." The very first word of Hashem's spoken instructions here - KO, can spell the number 25, as Kof is 20 and Hei is 5. And how does the THREE verse blessing end with? Veyasem Lecha Shalom - "I will place upon you - PEACE".
And being that I just began my 40th year last week on the previous Shabbat on Rosh Chodesh Iyar, there is a direct connection between the number 40 and the Torah command of V'Ahavta L'Reiacha Camocha. You see, if you add the first 40 numbers - 1 through 40 - they add up to 820 - the Gematria of this very phrase V'Ahavata L'Reiacha Camocha.
As I had mentioned in my previous post right after my birthday about my name Shimon being the same Gematria as Makkot, the name of the Mishnaic tractate of which part of it writes about the Beit Din/Jewish court administering lashes to certain sinners,
the Torah itself says to give 40 lashes; though in time, the rabbis somehow interpreted the verse to mean that only 39 lashes are administered. In any case, the Torah that mentions the 40 lashes notes following the lashes punishment session "You shall not add to them, in order that your brother does not become disgraced in front of your eyes". Since it's easy for good people to look down on a sinner, the Torah had to make very clear that it is FORBIDDEN to add to the number of lashes prescribed by the Torah for the sin that he committed, and that the only reason he was given the lashes to begin with was because the Torah said so. After this, the Torah declares that we have no right to disgrace him; but if anything, to treat him afterwards as any other Jew in society that we treat as a brother and friend. In fact, even these 40 lashes is actually a favor for the sinner, whether he will admit it or not, to first of all, help prevent him from sinning again, and also, to shield him from worse punishment, especially from Hell in the world to come.
Thus, it is the number 40 - as used by the Torah - that actually demonstrates this very Mitzva of V'Ahavata L'Reiacha Camocha - even in the face of punishment, that is actually to serve as a beneficial service for the momentary sinner. Indeed, the first 40 numbers adding to the same Gematria as the part of the verse telling us to love Jews - 820, is most exemplified in a Mitzva that is supposed to place a sinner back in the right track, so he can be eligible for eternal reward, as it is doing a spiritual favor for someone causing him to keep Mitzvot that is the biggest favor and love that one can express towards another Jew.
IN MEMORIAM
Seven years ago, the world, especially the Jewish community in South Florida, lost a very special person - Rabbi David Bryn of righteous, blessed memory. As quoted by a friend of his, he lived 120 years in a third of the time. Indeed he made more use of his 40 years than many who would have to live many such lifetimes to reach a fraction of his accomplishments. And it wasn't just that he had such Ahavat Yisrael - love of other Jews that motivated him to reach out to so many people. He lived the second half of his life as a very sickly person which included a heart condition and poor eyesight, who under normal circumstances did not have a whole lot of Ko-ach/Strength. Yet. he went way beyond the extra mile that few others even touch upon in the height of their strength. Knowing him personally along with thousands of others, I felt like he treated me as a most special friend, as hundreds if not thousands others felt the same way. A member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, he was inspired to do outreach work immediately following his rabbinic ordination. While a most beloved rabbi of his congregation that grew virtually completely due to his outreach, not just as a synagogue that people felt that they had to attend as the only one in the immediate vicinity, his pet project was his organization called Chabad Chayil, his own outreach system in which he spent countless of hours visiting others without being able to physically drive a car on his own, relying upon and paying drivers to drive him around; yet, he knew better than most drivers where certain destinations were because this is where lost Jewish souls were waiting for him to be lit.
The date of his passing - 6 Iyar 5762 (2002) - can actually be remembered in another way. As it was this year, he passed away on a Thursday of the week of the Torah portions of Acharei Mot-Kedoshim. The 5th Aliyah of these portions, falling out in the portion of Kedoshim, corresponds to the 5th day/Thursday of the week. And guess what it says in the midst of this portion - you guessed it...V'Ahavta LeReiacha Kamocha - "You shall love your fellow as yourself"! (Many Jews learn the Aliyah of the Torah portion corresponding to the day of the week - so the 5th Aliyah of the Torah portion was learnt on the 5th day of the week - Thursday.)
In an act of Divine Providence, like my story of the previous Shabbat of my birthday at the Kotel, I spent this past Shabbat in the holy city of Tzfat/Safed. Lo and behold, on my way back from eating Shabbat lunch to where I was staying, I saw a flyer about...Rabbi David Bryn! The flyer was about a memorial festive gathering of his 7th Yahrzeit in this learning center established in this rabbi's memory. While I missed the event as I don't live anywhere near Safed in any case, I wanted to talk to the organizer of this. As it turns out, it was someone from my hometown of North Miami Beach, Florida with whom I had met perhaps only a couple of times, but who knew Rabbi Bryn from the time that he was fresh from receiving his rabbinic ordination, and had a very outstanding relationship with him over the years. To make a long story short, I spent two and half hours in this guy's place in Safed on Saturday night talking about Rabbi Bryn's life, this guy's own life, and his learning and prayer center, called the Bayit Tzfat - Kollel HaRav Dovid Bryn. For more information, check out http://www.thebayittzfat.wordpress.com/, and yes, if you know of a Sefer Torah that is available, please contact Daniel Pozner, executive director of this place at the contact information on the website, as this is the only thing that is missing, and Shabbat morning services cannot take place without reading of the Sefer Torah.
There are those who are rabbis of synagogues or head organizations having nice sounding names such as the words Ahavat Yisrael, and seemingly do all kinds of favors for people. It's nothing new, doctors also do all kinds of "favors" for their patients, but a good percentage of them are helping their patients only to the extent of getting well paid; after that, they have no use for them. However, what both of these types of groups forget is around where it says to "love your fellow as yourself", there are basic acts of loving another Jew -not just by doing favors, but by NOT doing what one does not want done to oneself. Such as, not being a talebearer -going around saying bad about others to people, not taking revenge, not being a grudge, etc. Rabbi David Bryn was not only virtually the furthest removed from making trouble for others; but if anything, helped work out other people's problems, and kept plowing through time, not wanting to miss a single Jew whom he thought could come closer to the Torah, coupled with a deep psychological understanding of his or her needs. Indeed, he was the ultimate man of peace as Hillel described Aharon, and how we are supposed to emulate him.
The contrast of these two types of people running Jewish organizations reminds me of the story that took place in the times of the Second Temple when once the High Priest after the conclusion of Yom Kippur was being escorted to his home by the Jewish Nation. In the interim, the leading Sages of the generation who happened to come from a family of converts to Judaism- Shemaya & Avtalyon - appeared. It seems that almost instantly, everyone was turning their eyes to these Sages. Meanwhile, the Sages approached the High Priest and gave him greetings. The High Priest who was not exactly thrilled with the change of honor from the people, replied sarcastically, "Greetings of peace to the sons of converts". Upon this, these Sages replied, "Indeed, may peace be bestowed on the sons of converts who follow in the ways of Aharon, the man of peace. But for one who doesn't follow his ancestor Aharon (the ancestor of all Kohanim/Priests) in the ways of peace, may there not be peace for him."
I will conclude with a couple of stories about Rabbi Bryn, one of which was told to me from a good friend of mine showing Rabbi Bryn's non-judgemental stance. Once, he met a "Messianic" Christian Jewish lady who informed him of her status while passing by the synagogue. Now, how would we react to such a person who is not only not observing Judaism, but is following a religion and way of life that contradicts Judaism? Well, this is how he reacted to such a person. He told her, "Imagine how you can reach even greater spiritual heights if you come to our synagogue!" Not only did he not criticize her for her errant lifestyle, but he phrased himself in such a way to make this lady feel good pertaining to her issue of reaching spiritual heights!
Another story that comes to mind is pertaining to the time that a new attendee to the synagogue, who may not have been quite observant of Judaism as of yet, was talking with Rabbi Bryn when another person commented to the attendee that he must be an Orthodox Jew because he is coming to a synagogue of such a denomination. Upon hearing this, Rabbi Bryn was quick to respond "Maybe I am not an Orthodox Jew". Now, how many rabbis do you know would say such a thing about themselves? In foresight, this rabbi wanted to make sure that this new attendee would not feel being put on the spot and have to perhaps admit that he really wasn't all that observant of Judaism, so the rabbi commented that maybe even he himself, as the rabbi, isn't so much that way himself. Truly, a rabbi who put other people's feelings above his own!
10 Iyar 5769, 25th day of the Sefira - midway point between Passover and Shavuot.
Expect to have my next post, G-d willing, before Yom Yerushalayim/Jerusalem Day that will begin on the evening of May 21.
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