#95 - HaMan or Haman?

There is a custom among many Jews every year on the third day of the week of Parshat Beshalach to read the section in this Parsha about the manna (Exodus 16:4-36), the heavenly food that the Jews received for 40 years in the desert, reading each verse twice followed by its Targum, the Aramaic translation. This custom claims its origins to a Chasidic Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov.

While we don't dare knock down Jewish customs that don't contradict Jewish law, there have been questions as to if and what this Chasidic Rebbe actually said in terms of declaring this a custom. It is true that he wrote extensively on this portion of the Torah and the general topic of receiving Parnassa, substance from Hashem. There are those who question if he said to follow this custom particularly in the week of Parshat Beshalach, or if he had just mentioned about reciting this part of the Torah which comes from Parshat Beshalach - on Tuesdays - but not that it is recited particularly only in the week that this is read in the Torah. And then of course the question is asked as to why we would read this particularly on a Tuesday, and among other reasons given, this is the day of the week that Hashem brought forth vegetation which is a main healthy staple of people's food intake.

The truth is that it is mentioned in the very first chapter of the Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish law about reciting this section about the manna every day as an expression in one's faith in Hashem who provides sustenance, based on the statement in the Jerusalem Talmud that one should recite this every day to ensure that one's sustenance doesn't get decreased. Though not per se mandatory as other parts of our daily prayers, it doesn't mention anything in the Talmud or Halacha/Jewish Law about reciting this as twice the verse and then once the Aramaic translation. Also, it is not what is called a magic formula for becoming rich. Regardless of one's custom, the main thing is that we have to always remember that while we are supposed to do our part in making a living, it is ultimately Hashem Who runs the show, and it is the section in the Torah about the manna that reminds us of this.

With this being said, it is worthwhile to write about this part in the Torah about a food that was existance for only 40 years, wondering if we will have a chance to have this same food in the future during the Messianic Era. The Talmud in Tractate Ta'anit notes that the manna rained down on the Jewish people in the merit of Moses. In spiritual terms, it was Moses who transmitted to us the ultimate Jewish food - the Torah, and its counterpart in physical terms was this manna.

When did the manna actually begin raining down on a daily basis, except for the Sabbath and Jewish holidays? It was one month after leaving Egypt when the supply of Matzah ran out for the Jews in the desert. Following the Jews' complaint of being left with no food left, Hashem responded that he would start giving them their daily dose of heavenly food.

Perhaps in spiritual terms, it can be said that the manna replaced the Matzot. What I mean by that is that in Hebrew, the plural for Matzah is Matzot, which essentially spells the same letters of the word as Mitzvot - Commandments. In fact, on a play of words, the rabbis learn out a lesson about doing Mitzvot, is that when a Mitzvah comes your way, do not let it ferment, using the same basic Hebrew word for ferment using the word Chametz/leavened food as a verb. While this is a most important lesson about doing Mitzvot, not to delay doing them when the time comes for their performance, what is the special connection of Matzot, about which one of the 613 Mitzvot in the Torah to eat Matzot on the first night of Passover, with the general concept of Mitzvot, just because the two words can be spelled the same way?

While Hashem already commanded the Jews to eat Matzot on that last fateful night for them in Egypt, even naming a whole week of Passover as Chag HaMatzot, the festival of Matzot, the reason for this only became evident during that final night following the death of the Egyptian firstborn when the Egyptians rushed the Jews to leave the country following being enslaved by them for 116 years. As it turned out, the Jews didn't have the luxury time to wait until their baked product would turn into bread, but were finished being baked in a form that didn't allow the yeast to rise.

It is in this spirit that the rabbis want to remind us - based on a play of words - that this whole concept of the Jews eating Matzah on Passover which turned out to be a historical reminder of what happened, that in a similar vein, we are supposed to feel rushed, and not delay doing G-d's commandments. It is true that when actually fulfilling Mitzvot, that we don't rush doing them to get them out of the way as if to fulfill some obligation, and then when finished, to sit at the tube as though nothing happened. This certainly would defeat the whole purpose of doing a Mitzvah. The idea here is to JUST GET STARTED. Hashem, our King, has ordered us to do so many Mitzvot, and whenever they are applicable, not to first of all forget about them, and ultimately, that they should be performed with great joy and dedication to doing Hashem's will.

And so, while the replacement food of the manna was a most heavenly food, about which their body didn't need to get rid of bodily waste as done for other food, Hashem made it clear right from the start that this would test the Jews if they would follow Hashem's Torah or not. There were quite a few things pertaining to this that would separate the men from the boys, if you will. For example, the Jews were not to leave any of it over for the next day, but trust that Hashem would provide them with manna each and every day. On Friday morning, they beheld a double portion of manna, one of the portions to be saved for the next day of the Sabbath, during which it is forbidden to walk beyond a certain distance or carry things outside of the private domain. As it turned out, there were Jews who proved their lack of faith in Hashem in both of these matters.

During the course of this section of the Torah, the Jews did not know what to call this special food, about which the Torah gives it its name - Man(na), based on the fact that the Jews asked one another Man Hu "What is it"? for they didn't what it was.

Now, let's fast forward to the last couple of verses of this Torah section. It states that the Jews ate HaMan "THE MANNA" for 40 years, they ate HaMan "THE MANNA" until they became settled in Israel. And the Omer - the measure of manna per person daily - is one tenth of an Epha.

So for the first time, it is mentioned not once, but twice, calling the manna as THE manna, and in a very unusual deviation in the Torah, it devotes an entire verse, concluding the section about the manna, with a definition for what an Omer is, not including it earlier in mentioning the measure of manna that the Jews received. Is there a connection between these last two verses?

To answer this, we need to know a couple of dates here. Based on tradition, the manna first came down on the 16th of Iyar, the day after the 61 meals of Matzah that the Jews ate from Passover night became finished. And while in fact according to the Rabbis, the last day that the manna actually came down was on 7 Adar in their final year in the desert, the day on which Moses passed away; miraculously, their manna supply would last for over a month, the last day being the first day of Passover that the Jews were celebrating in Israel already. It was on the morning of the second day of Passover - 16 Nissan - that the Jews woke up to the reality that there would be no more manna, but instead, eating of the crops of the land.

Now my friends, as we know, the special barley offering, of which an Omer measure of it was brought in the Temple, was cut in the field on the night of the 16th of Nissan, and then that barley amount, along with animal offerings to mark this Mitzvah
of offering the barley offering, were brought on the following day during the daytime of the 16th of Nissan. Based on this, there is another Mitzvah of what is called counting Sephirah, counting 49 days from the date of 16 Nissan until the holiday of Shavuot. For this Mitzvah, we conclude the blessing "for counting the Omer", and then we state that today is so many days to the Omer.

This is all very nice, but the question that begs to be asked is, why name this Mitzvah, and making part of the Mitzvah, of counting the amount of days using the particular term of Omer, rather than the mention of the barley offering? An Omer is just a name of a measure of something after all, not an actual substance? And then of course another question can be asked, are we really counting the 49 days because we are supposed to remember this particular offering (some say that though there is a Mitzvah in the Torah to count the Sephira, we do it today only as a rabbinical Mitzvah since we presently do not have the Temple where we can bring the offerings), or is it really for the spiritual reason of preparing ourselves for the Torah, which seems to be the real reason because the Jews after leaving Egypt also counted 49 days until they would receive the Torah, showing their preparation for that most unique day in world history in which the world waited nearly 2,450 years for the Torah to be accepted by the Jews?

The answer to all this seems to have surfaced in the times of Mordechai & Esther when the holiday of Purim began. As a result of the Jews enjoying themselves stuffing their face at the feast of the non-Jewish anti-Semitic King Achashverosh, the fate was sealed against them to be destroyed, whose fate seemed to have been sealed thanks to Haman's suggestion to the king, who agreed with him wholeheartedly. In Megillat Esther/Book of Esther, this took place on the 13th of Nissan. Wasting no time, Esther declared a three day fast, which took place from the 14th to the 16th of Nissan. Now as we know, even in the absence of the Temple, anyone who has some sort of Jewish pride has a Passover Seder at least on the night of the 15th of Nissan, when it is in fact a Mitzvah among other Mitzvot of that night to eat Matzot. However, because of the severity of the situation, the first day of Passover was included in this three day fast.

Meanwhile, Haman wasted no time setting up gallows in the luscious garden of his own home with the intention of hanging Mordechai, the big Jew whom he loved to hate. As it turned out, on the night of the 16th of Nissan, which would mark the date that he himself would be hung on his own gallows the following day, he came to King Achashverosh during the middle of the night (how did he know that the king would be awake at that hour?!) with the intention of getting the king's green light to allow Mordechai to be hung. Instead, Haman received orders from the king to honor Mordechai for a past favor that Mordechai did for the king.

Meanwhile, Haman set out to find Mordechai. What you will not find in the Megilla, but from what our Rabbis tell us, is that when Haman arrived to where Mordechai was, he was in the midst of teaching his students, who were children, about the Mitzvah of the Omer offering that was brought on this very date of the 16th of Nissan. For all they knew, this was their end. Mordechai even told the children to escape; however, so strong was their devotion and dedication to the Torah, they refused to leave him, regardless of what Haman could have immediately done to them. Now it must be remembered, Haman knew more about Jewish history than unfortunately so many assimilated Jews in the United States who don't even know that the National Spelling in 1983 ended with the name Purim, let alone know the significance of this most special joyous day for Jews, who wish instead to view Judaism as a religion of only fearful days as the High Holidays and of sad occasions such as the Holocaust. In any case, Haman understood enough of Mordechai's lecture to ask him questions about the Omer. Upon Mordechai's reply, Haman declared that Mordechai's small Omer offering - which wasn't even offered then as the First Temple had been destroyed not long earlier, but it was the learning about it - overpowered his own 10,000 Shekels that he offered the king to destroy the Jews.

In this Gematria post, I didn't mention anything about Gematriot until now, but instead, I threw a few Jewish dates. Now, you will see that everything will come into play here.

The Torah, only at the end of the section about the manna, calls it THE Manna. In Hebrew, it is HaMan. In a play of words, just as I mentioned earlier about the Matzot-Mitzvot wording, so too here, the word HaMan can literally spell the name of this most evil person - the notorious Haman. To note, HaMan or Haman is in fact the Gematria of 95, and this is my 95th Post.

In any case, Haman and HaMelech/the king, referring in Megillat Esther to King Achashverosh about whom the Rabbis note in the Talmud of Tractate Megilla that he was the same rotten individual from beginning to end, who just did good things for the Jews at the end because of his Jewish wife Esther, but refused to allow the Temple to be rebuilt which had been started years earlier by a different king, but was stopped thanks to "good" Samaritans (the real ones), each have the same Gematria. In a spiritual sense, the mention of HaMelech in the Megilla refers to Hashem, who performed the miracles of Purim in a hidden way.

It seems that the portion about the manna in the Torah in fact hints to what would happen in the future about the date of the 16th of Nissan - the date that the manna was no longer available for the Jews to eat. In a similar vein, Haman would be hung almost a thousand years later on this very date, also disappearing from the Jews on the 16th of Nissan upon his demise on the gallows. And this resulted from...as Haman admitted it himself, in the merit of the Torah learning that Mordechai taught the children, which symbolically was about the Mitzvah of the Omer offering brought on this very day. Yes, it was this very Mitzvah that saved the day, and indeed, HaMan/Haman ceased to exist on this anniversary date of 16 Nissan on which the Jews started eating of the produce of the land of Israel in lieu of the manna. And this explains why the final verse about the manna mentions "THE Omer", for it would be in the merit of this very Mitzvah that Haman would be sent to the gallows, who is hinted to in the immediate preceding verse.

According to Halacha, once the new grain grows, we are forbidden as part of the 613 Mitzvot to eat of the new grain until after the Omer offering is brought on the 16th of Nissan. While the Rabbis extended this to the following day now that we don't have the Temple in existance where we can bring this Omer offering, there have been allowances of eating the new grain beforehand, especially outside of Israel, in European times where and when Jews were relatively poor, and it was hard enough as it was to find basic food supplies to eat (sorry, they didn't stuff their faces with all the "heimishe" food that Boro Parker Jews have plenty of instead of moving to the land of Israel which is a real Mitzvah; at least these poor Jews didn't have a good time suffering under the rule of anti-Semites even if they never made it to Israel).

To note, this Omer offering was a public Mincha offering (offering consisting of flour as opposed to animals or birds). The word Mincha itself means gift, and it has been used as the name for the afternoon Mincha prayers. In any case, it's interesting to note that in mentioning the Omer offering in connection with the manna, the first two letters of the word Mincha spells the word Mahn/manna. And as for the last two letters of this word Mincha - the Cheit & Hei add up to the Gematria of 13. In the Mishna of Tractate Menachot 10:4, in describing how the Omer offering was prepared in the Temple, it mentions that it went through 13 siftings. The fact that this took place on 16 Nissan - the counting of the first day of the Omer is most significant, because we count the first day of the Omer as Hayom Yom Echad L'Omer - "Today is the first day of the Omer" where the word Echad/one is indeed the Gematria of 13! And as a further connection between the manna and the Omer offering, both of these were items were ground up before eating.

In any case, why name this Mitzvah of the Omer offering with this Omer name, and why is the ending of the manna section about the Omer measure of manna as the concluding verse? The Omer, as mentioned by the Torah, is indeed a measure - nothing more, nothing less. The Torah is telling us to measure ourselves. Hashem provided an Omer's worth of daily manna for the Jews. In turn, He expected for them to measure themselves accordingly, and behave as Jews - measure for measure, for the great kindness that Hashem did for them. In fact, the first day of the Sephira, of counting the Omer, corresponds to the Sephira combination of Chesed She'Be'Chesed - Kindness within Kindness. (And Chesed is most associated with Ahavah/love, which in turn is the Gematria of 13, as is the word Echad when we count this first day of the Sephira as Hayom Yom ECHAD LaOmer) Regardless of what food fills us up - the manna or the grain, everything is in fact from Hashem. And it was in Hashem's great kindness and love for the Jewish people as a result of the learning about the Omer offering, which is supposed to remind us not to behave as animals fressing at parties that have no connection to us that distract us from Hashem, which saved the day that sent Haman hanging from the gallows. Bearing all this in mind, we are supposed to immediately waste no time following Hashem's Mitzvot, and remember that we are supposed to demand from ourselves our measure of availability of following the ultimate King of Kings.

To note, the emphasis here was on LEARNING about the Omer offering, NOT bringing the Omer offering itself. Similarly today, when we are not able to bring the offerings in the Temple, learning about them is considered as though we brought them to the Temple. The Chofetz Chaim, based on Talmudic & Midrashic sources, emphasized the special quality of learning this section of the Torah about the offerings in the Temple, as in Seder Kodashim of the Talmud. Presently, the Daf Yomi learning is in the first Tractate of this order of the Talmud - Masechet Zevachim, which is exclusively about the animal (and bird) offerings in the Temple.


MANNA & ZEVULUN - PROVIDERS OF SUSTENANCE FOR THOSE WHO LEARN TORAH

Speaking of spiritual food known as HaMan/manna which is the Gematria of 95, the name of one of the 12 Tribes of Israel is also the Gematria of 95 - Zevulun. It seems hardly a coincidence that both of these words share the same Gematria. You see, it was the manna that sustained the Jewish people for 40 years in the desert so they were able to learn Torah without needing to work. Similarly, it was Zevulun of all the tribes who supported his brother - the Torah scholar Yissachar, so the latter was able to learn/teach Torah all day without the need to interrupt with working. It was since then that the descendants of Zevulun supported their cousins the descendants of Yissachar. In more recent times, this idea spread to others who agreed to this type of arrangement, known as the Yissachar-Zevulun partnership. And consolidating this concept in relationship to Masechet Zevachim; as I had mentioned in a previous post, Shimon Achi Azariah is quoted in the first chapter of Masechet Zevachim. As pointed out by commentators, Shimon "brother of Azariah" was the one who learned Torah, while his brother Azariah (which incidentally means G-d will assist) assisted him with his financial needs.


THE LESSON OF THE MANNA

The word manna is actually related to the word Emunah/faith, as it was the manna that tasted the faith of the Jewish people. As mentioned by the prophet Habakuk, as a summary of the 613 Mitzvot (see Talmud Makkot 24a & Midrash Tanchuma on Parshat Shoftim), V'Tzadik B'Emunato Yichyeh "The righteous person lives by his faith". This is his ultimate spiritual food.

The last word of this phrase is Yichyeh - the Gematria of 33, which is also the number of Pesukim/verses in the section in the Torah about the manna, which is related to Emunah/faith. And being that the 33rd and final verse about the manna is about the Omer measure, this reminds us of the 33rd day of the Omer - Lag B'Omer, the anniversary date of the passing of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi), author of the teachings of the Zohar. In his personal life, he showed that he had total Emunah/faith in Hashem, as we see that he had no hesitation about denouncing the ruling Romans of the day, when other rabbis either were silent about this or were quick to fall for the political correctness of making them sound good. As a result of this, he had to hide 12 years in a cave, learning Torah all during this time, living on carobs and water. As Rashbi's faith in Hashem was complete, it didn't matter so much what he had to eat - Hashem saw to it that what he would eat would be what would sustain him during his trying period of 12 years.

Indeed, only such a person such as Rashbi who displayed such Emunah without fear of what others would say or do, can truly be called a Tzadik/righteous person. Only such a rabbi such as Rashbi was worthy of learning and teaching the holiest, esoteric parts of the Torah, something that most other rabbis of his day, as great as they may have been otherwise in Talmudic learning, were not worthy enough to learn. Only one who doesn't stoop to politics such as Rashbi can receive the great revelations of Torah learning that he received.

And as connected to Purim, the holiday that resulted from Haman's downfall, it was thanks to the Emunah of Mordechai and Esther who realized that the real reason for the threat to the Jews wasn't because of Mordechai's refusal to bow down to Haman, which was the so called reason given by the very Jews who stuffed their faces at King Achachverosh's feast, but because of their very sin, who didn't have the faith that Mordechai and Esther had, but only because of their repentance with fasting at the end as well that averted the evil decree pronounced against them. It's interesting to note that in fact, Lag BaOmer will always fall out on the same day of the week as the past Purim (14 Adar), for in fact, the lesson of Emunah is applicable to both of these situations. (According to the Chasam Sofer, the manna actually began to fall down on 18 Iyar/Lag Ba'Omer, a couple days after the generally suggested date of the manna beginning to rain down).

Another key factor here regarding the connection between the manna & Haman is that as the manna rained down for the Jewish people particularly in the merit of Moses, when Haman was figuring out as to which month would be best to destroy the Jewish people, his decision was the month of Adar, as he knew that this was month of the passing of Moses, the greatest Tzadik who ever lived (another proof as to Haman's extensive knowledge of Jewish history). It seems that he didn't know that Moses was also born on this month, as attested to in the Midrash that recounts this part of the Purim story; however, it is clear from here that his ultimate fight was against the greatest righteous people of the Jewish nation; and that in his particular generation, it was Mordechai who was the Moses of that generation who refused under any circumstances to bow down to Haman.

Indeed, in the Talmud Tractate of Chulin (139), when it mentions a list of people whose names are hinted in the Torah/Chumash, it mentions Mordechai, Esther, Haman, and...Moses (though Moses is the Biblical figure with the most mention in the Chumash, the focus is on the hinting part about Moses if his name would never be mentioned in the Torah for whatever reason which in fact almost happened). Why these four in particular? But as the name of the Megilla for Purim is called Megillat Esther, which literally means revealing the hidden, which is the concept of Purim revealing the hidden miracles that Hashem did for the Jewish people that led to this holiday, the Talmud illustrates this concept with the very people who are associated with the Megilla.

Regarding Moses, it was particularly because of his passing in the month of Adar that Haman chose to use this month to destroy the Jews. And if this would not be enough, as Moses was born on 7 Adar, his Brit Mila/circumcision assuming that it was on his eighth day (especially being the great Tzadik that he would become, it would be highly improbable that Hashem would allow him to be sick and not be able to have his circumcision done on time on the eighth day) was the very day of Purim - 14 Adar! And as our Rabbis tell us that Moses was born circumcised, according to Halacha/Jewish Law, if a baby who was born circumcised is born on Shabbat, the circumcision (which would be just drawing some blood from the member) does not take place on his eighth day - the following Shabbat, but can only be done the day after. Accordingly, if we would be technical about Moses, and say that if he were born on Shabbat, then his circumcision ceremony would have taken place only the following day on Sunday, then that day would be 15 Adar, which is Shushan Purim that is celebrated in the town of Shushan in Iran, as well as in Jerusalem. Hence, the circumcision of Moses, the greatest Tzadik, as an official member of the Jewish nation indeed took place on Purim!

And as a further connection of Haman to this Parshat Beshalach, the last section of this Parsha, consisting of nine verses that is read on Purim, is about Amalek, ancestor of Haman, who started up with the Jews resulting in a war destroying the strong elements of this most evil nation. This section in the Torah follows the story of the Jews complaining that they didn't have water to drink (by the way, Mahn/manna & Mayim/water, the eating and drinking elements respectively, both have the Gematria of 90!) and then being provided with water, where as a result of their lack of faith in Hashem, they got attacked by Amalek, which in turn immediately follows the section in the Torah about the manna, which also involved the concept of Emunah/faith. Yes indeed, Haman is very much hinted in this Parsha (Note: in the Talmud Chulin, there is a different hint in the Torah mentioned about Haman, but it doesn't mean that someone cannot be hinted to in the Torah more than once, especially in Haman's case, as he was the backbone for the cause of the holiday of Purim for the Jewish people coming into being).

Before concluding about a famous "Haman food", it was recently brought to my attention that this section in the Torah about the manna consists of 485 words. While the source didn't mention the following, you will be amazed to know that the word Tehillim/Psalms is the Gematria of 485! Is there a connection here between the manna & Tehillim?

Let's quote two verses from Tehillim to help answer this question: "You paid heed to the earth and watered it, You enriched it abundantly from G-d's stream filled with water; You prepare their grain,for thus do You prepare it. To abundantly water its ridges, settle its furrows; with showers You soften it, You bless its growth" (Psalms 65:10,11). There are two Hebrew words in a row here - the last word of the first verse and the first word of the second verse - each consisting of the same Gematria of 485. Techineha - "You prepare it" & Telameha - "Its ridges". In fact, the word Telameha has the same letters as the word Tehillim! Anyways, as you can see in the two verses here, Hashem cares for everyone to be sufficiently satisfied from the food and drink that Hashem provides for the world. In a similar fashion, Hashem provided the manna to the Jewish people so they could be satisfied from it, and then be able to learn Torah and keep His commandments. In another way, it can be said that Tehillim is food for the soul.

And bearing in mind that the manna rained down for the Jews in the merit of Moses, it was Moses who composed the Psalms 90-100. The median number of the chapter numbers of these psalms is 95 - the Gematria of HaMan - the manna!

Today, we have on the food market what is called Oznei Haman, in Yiddish - Hamentashen, and translated in English as Haman's ears. There are theories about why they are called as such, but no doubt that this Jewish food in fact mocks Haman, for now, we are enjoying the fruit of Haman's downfall, in the form of pastries. Regardless of the actual origins of the name of this food, what we should remember is that while Hashem's mercies is on "all His creatures", the ultimate purpose of food is in order that we can stay alive in this world to serve Hashem, even as there are Mitzvot that are associated with food. Bearing this in mind, if we do our part of measuring ourselves to the plate, doing Hashem's Mitzvot while having faith in Hashem, as well as doing some sort of making a living without relying on miracles, He certainly won't allow us to be deserted, and He will give us all of our basic needs; the only difference is that some have much more than others, but the ones who will shine the most in the future are the ones who had very little, but nevertheless served Hashem to the best of their ability with happiness, surviving on the handouts of none other than those of Hashem Himself.

7 Shevat, 5771

#94 - Increasing our Numbers

The name of Parshat Bo, the Parsha that we just read this past Shabbat, is one of the words, in terms of Gematria, with the least number value, which equals three. There is no word in Hebrew using two Alephs, so the word in Hebrew with the least number value has to be three using the letters Aleph & Beit, spelling the name of Parshat Bo, the Parsha of Yetziat Mitzrayim - the Exodus, the first redemption of the Jewish people.

Conversely, these same two letters spell the name of the month of Av, the letters in reverse of the name of Parshat Bo, in which both Temples were destroyed by the nations beginning with the letters of the month - Edom & Bavel, which also marked our exiles by these nations, the reverse of redemption. But in the name of the month of Av also lies our redemption, as it is the Gematria of three, and we await our redemption with the rebuilding of the third Temple, may it be rebuilt speedily in our days.

Anyways, a reason given for the Gematria of the name of Parshat Bo is that in this Parsha, the last three plagues of the Egyptians took place, the first seven having happened in the previous Parshat Va'era. While this sounds fine and dandy, but what is the special significance of these Parshiyot being divided up with the plagues in this fashion? Perhaps half & half would have made more sense. Besides, we learn that after the first five plagues, Hashem basically took Pharaoh's free choice of deciding the let the Jews go away from him until after the death of the first born Egyptians, the final plague. So, why divided up with seven & three?

Perhaps an answer can be shed here by examining the inner meaning of the word for the eighth plague visited on the Egyptians, the first in this Parshat Bo - Arbeh/locusts. In fact, one will find in the Tanach/Bible that there are quite a few different names for locusts, including in Parshat Shemini, where is listed a variety of kosher locusts, including the brand name Arbeh (Leviticus 11::22).

In other parts of the Torah, we see that the word Arbeh means "I will increase". This word has been associated with both sides of the coin - curses and blessings. (Speaking of sides, the Hebrew word for side is Tzad, also spelling the number 94 - Tzadi Dalet, and this is my 94th Post). First, we see that as the result of the forbidden fruit, mankind got cursed, we see the curse that was given to women - Harba Arbeh "I will surely increase your anguish and your pregnancy" (Genesis 3:16). Rashi explains that anguish refers to the pain of raising children, and pregnancy as the pain of the pregnancy.

Another reference of Arbeh in terms of curse can be found in one of the Selichot poems that are recited on Tzom Gedaliah, the fast day that marks the murder of Gedalia, governor of Israel immediately following the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians. He was murdered by a wicked Jew named Yishmael Ben Netanya, and in this particular poem composed by the Sa'adya Gaon, this murderer is called an Arbeh/locust, because just as a locust wastes no time in devouring whole crops, so too, it was merely two months after the destruction of the Temple when Yishmael Ben Natanya murdered Gedalia, following which, the few Jews remaining in Israel panicked and left for Egypt for fear of retribution from the Babylonian government who appointed Gedalia to be governor of Israel.

On the converse side, we see that following Abraham passing his final test from Hashem by offering his son Isaac on the altar, that he is blessed "for I will surely bless you, and I will surely increase your descendants" (Genesis 22:17).

The verse is worded Arbeh Et Zar'acha, "I will increase your descendants". The word Arbeh is the Gematria of 208. This is most significant, since the name Yitzchak/Isaac, Abraham's first descendants is also the Gematria of 208. In fact, the name Yitzchak itself comes from a joyous background - Tzechok/laughter. Hence, instead of the word Arbeh being associated with something negative or painful in relationship to children, we see here how the word Arbeh is now being used for something positive, a blessing. And in reference to Gedalia's murderer whose name was Yishmael, the first person with this name was Yitzchak's own half brother, ancestor of the Arabs, whom, according to the Midrash, will be the biggest makers for the Jews right before the upcoming Redemption. (Ironically, the name Yishmael means G-d will listen, and Yitzchak's brother Yishmael was given his name by Hashem Himself. Very unfortunately, his descendants are using this fact for evil to pray for our destruction).

In a similar vein, we see that in fact, the name of the previous Parshat Va'era is also the Gematria of 208, the same Parsha that lists the families of the first three sons of Jacob, and if was from the last of these three - Levi, from whom descended Moses & Aaron, who did their part in paving the way for the first redemption of the Jewish people.

Locusts seem to demonstrate the concept of countless items, just as the stars of the sky and the sand of the beach that the Torah continues to compare Abraham's descendants to, especially in the plague for the Egyptians. Small wonder then that they are given a name that has to do with increasing numbers. As also a kosher species, they demonstrate the good side of things that are increased. However, the blessing for the Jewish people to increase would depend on their future good deeds, the same way that Abraham earned them. Otherwise, not following what Hashem wants will G-d forbid lead to the type of results as what happened to the Egyptians from these locusts "they ate all the herbage of the ground, and all the fruits of the tree..." (Exodus 10:15), serving as a curse just as the curse given to women pertaining to children, who have to be fed on a regular basis and given sufficient drink, especially when they are young.

We see another interesting thing about this particular plague. The Egyptians figured that at the very least, until they would get some produce supplies from some other country, they would have at least some pickled locusts from the massive amount of them who dared attacked their produce. It was a very nice atttempt, but before the Egyptians had a chance to actually eat any of them, a miracle happened, and even the pickled ones somehow escaped from the clutches of the Egyptians, and totally disappeared from them. This was not like virtually the other plagues where there was no benefit anticipated from the punishment that they received.

Yes, things in life can seem to be blessings. However, they can only be blessings if first of all, we are even worthy of them; and secondly, we have to show that we are worthy of them. Children may at first seem to be most taxing, but realizing the true purpose and reason for having them, we can't help but view them as blessings, and after many years, we will feel that though we slaved plenty for them, we well earned our pay, especially when we see how well they are behaved and are following in Hashem's ways. Hence, we don't have to feel that all our vegetation so to speak are being eaten. By training our children right from day one, Hashem will give us the strength and fortitude to continue on, despite what seems to be anything but possible.

This is unlike the Egyptians who wasted their time, thinking that they would accomplish more by enslaving us Jews more. However, we see that the results of their workforce ended in naught since at the end, the Egyptians didn't even have basic food supplies for themselves, as demonstrated by their vain attempt to save a few pickled locusts. It is with this plague of locusts that this Parsha dealing with the final period of the Egygptian exile begins with, showing us Jews that there are two sides to the coin here - multitudes of locusts doing G-d's will of eating the leftover Egyptian produce, while the Egyptians were not able to salvage any good from this.

We are a blessed nation, having started off on the right foot. However, for the next few millenium, Jews messed up time and again, with being a minority nation as a a result of much sinning. According to statistics, at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, there were 12 million Jews and 12 million Chinese. While G-d created the whole world because of us Jews, numbers themselves didn't seem to reflect this, because the Chinese are the largest nation on earth with over a billion people, while we, at least according to statistics, are still only twelve million (though there are believed to be many more millions of Jews living in this world that aren't included in today's statistics). The good news is that in the near future with the upcoming redemption, we will, G-d willing, see a major increase in our numbers once again.

4 Shevat, 5771

#93 - SHIELD of Protection

The name of Va'era "I will appear", the name of last week's Parsha, begins where it says Va'era El Avraham El Yitzchak V'El Ya'akov B'E-l Sha-dai - "I appeared to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob with (the name) G-d Al-mighty..."

Hashem's purpose of telling Moses this was because Moses complained last about how Pharaoh treated the Jews despite Hashem's promise of redeeming the Jews, when the opposite seemed to be happening here. Hashem was quick to remind Moses that in fact, Moses had first to learn from the Patriarchs who were also given promises that weren't fulfilled about Israel's future, and yet, they continued moving on with their lives.

Sometimes, we think that everything has to fit just right. But the truth is that it is Hashem who determines as to how everything will fit just right, not realizing ourselves as to how well fit everything is really set in place, especially when it comes to protection. This is especially applicable to Israel today, where we Jews are surrounded by millions of our Arab enemies who only wish for our annihilation for them to take over our land. Yet in most of the country, we aren't constantly rained by bullets and rockets. Most places of worship have been left safe until now. In recent years, Jerusalem was a potential target for terrorism several times, yet had been nabbed by the IDF time and again, nothing short of a miracle.

Now, let's take a closer look at the verse here. The verse says "I appeared TO Abraham, TO Isaac, and TO Jacob..." Why doesn't the Torah simply say that Hashem appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? The word El/to is the Gematria of 31, and when mentioned three times, is a total of 93, the Gematria of the word Magen/shield (and this is my 93rd Post).

We see that the first blessing of the main prayer Shemoneh Esrei states "G-d of Abraham, G-d of Isaac, and G-d of Jacob", and then the conclusion of this blessing is
Magen Abraham "Shield of Abraham", as we see in the Torah that Hashem tells Abraham - Anochi Magen Lach "I am your shield," following Abraham's battle with several kings. While we actually see the world shield used specifically by Abraham, the ultimate purpose was also for his descendants, of whom Isaac his son and Jacob his grandson would be on the same footing as he was in terms of being the ancestors of the Jewish people. But perhaps the proof that the concept of shield is connected to all three of the Patriarchs is what we recite following the Shemoneh Esrei of the Sabbath night beginning with Magen Avot "Shield of the Fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)..."

And just like Abraham was almost burned at the stake for his belief in one G-d, Isaac was almost offered at the altar for all that he knew, and Jacob suffered plenty while exiled from his home, they all showed being examples of keeping the faith and having Hashem's protection. Their ability of being able to stay devoted to Hashem despite major pressure is reflected especially when it says that Hashem appeared TO Abraham, TO Isaac, and TO Jacob, as His personal relationship to them, and since they felt like Hashem was their personal relationship so to speak, nothing else seemed to matter, despite the logic, temptations, and pressures of the time.

Now, the verse continues with the name that Hashem appeared to them as E-l Sha-dai "G-d Al-mighty". The name E-l is the same spelling of letters as El/to. Perhaps it is this name of Hashem's E-l, which denotes Hashem specifically as the G-d of kindness, that is reflected as such, because when adding up three times to equal 93, the Gematria of Magen/shield, this is indeed Hashem's kindness of being a shield to our Patriarchs.

It is well known that the three letters of the name Sha-dai - Shin, Dalet, Yud, - begin with the words Shomer Daltot Yisrael "Guardian of the doors of Israel", referring to Hashem protecting our homes in merit of the Mezuzot, the parchment scroll containing the first two paragraphs of the Shema, on our doorposts.

We see that in the past, Jacob had used this phrase of E-l Sha-dai in his hopeful prayers of his children going to Egypt to buy grain during the famine. Rashi quotes the Midrash Rabbah (Bereishit Rabbah 92:1) "He Who said to the world enough, should say enough to my troubles," as Jacob was addressing the fact that his life was full of troubles, even as he had non known what happened to Joseph for some 22 years. As it turns out, the word Dai/enough is the Gematria of 14, and Parshat Va'era is the 14th Parsha, the Parsha in which Hashem indeed declares Dai "Enough of the troubles happening to My people! Now I will start punishing Pharaoh for refusing to let the Jews go!"

Another Biblical figure who lived throughout life with troubles, though his high status later in life would otherwise fool some, was none other than King David, whose name is also the Gematria of 14. Representing the Jewish people, he composed Sefer Tehillim/Book of Psalms, which represents the prayers and tears of the Jewish people in all kinds of troubles, who also cry out Dai - "Enough of our troubles. Please answer me, Hashem!" Counting the books of the Tanach/Bible, it turns out that it is this Sefer that is the 14th of the 24 Books of the Tanach, hardly a coincidence to be composed by the author whose name has the same Gematria as 14, which echoes the theme of Dai/enough which is also the Gematria of 14.

This then explains the concept of Magen David/Shield of David. While there has been much discussion about the origins of the "Star of David" which has been associated as King David's shield at war, one of the concluding blessings of the Haftara ends with this phrase, which denotes this same basic concept of Hashem being King David's protection despite everything that he went through throughout life.

And now, getting back to Moshe to whom Hashem had been speaking to. While it is to the Patriarchs that Hashem appeared to with the name E-l Sha-dai, Hashem appeared with His main name to Moshe. We do find a little irony here. You see, E-l Sha-dai and the name Moshe both have the same Gematria as 345. Moreover, Moshe and Hashem/"the name" in lieu of saying of saying Hashem's name when not praying or reading a verse from the Torah, can be read forward and backwards. In another words, Hashem used an alternative way to appear to the Patriarchs, the same way that we use the word Hashem in lieu of A-do-noy when not praying or reading a verse.

In another way of looking at this, perhaps Hashem was hinting to the Patriarchs with His promises of redeeming their descendants in the future from Egypt that just like Hashem was their shield of protection in their times of trouble, so perhaps, was he hinting to them with the name E-l Sha-dai that it would be someone with the same Gematria as this name - Moshe - who would be the leader who would lead the Jewish people out of Egypt when the time would come. And Moshe, the 26th generation parental line from Adam & Eve - just as Hashem's name YKVK is the Gematria of 26, and there are exactly 26 verses to Psalm 136 where the ending of each verse is "for his kindness is everlasting", which includes recounting about Hashem taking us out of Egypt - who showed himself from day one how he felt with his brethren the Jews who suffered tremendously, would be most worthy of being the G-d appointed leader to take the Jews out of Egypt.

As the verse in Tehillim states (Psalms 121:4): "Behold, the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps". Yes, Hashem has been quite kind to us, both on the national and personal level. In the long run, Hashem is our SHIELD OF PROTECTION when we feel that we are connected to Him, and follow in the footsteps of our Patriarchs who were able to feel that connection with Hashem.

2 Shevat, 5771

#92 - The Weekly Sabbatical Vacation

Recently, Rebbetzin Tzviyah Eliyahu, wife of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu - may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing - called for a campaign for Jews worldwide to observe two consecutive Sabbaths, coinciding with the non-Jewish holidays occuring on Dec 25 & Jan 1 when most people do not work anyways. In the Jewish calendar, they coincided with the Parshiyot of Shemot & Va'era.

While I have yet to know the statistics on how many people actually took her advice since Jews at least in the United States who are terribly assimilated for example probably never even heard of her late husband, let alone her call to observe the Sabbath, her motive was to bring the Messiah ever closer.

This is based in the Babylonian Talmud - Tractate Sabbath 118: Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai, "If the Jews would just keep two Sabbaths according to Jewish law, they would be redeemed immediately." There is another view which says that only one Sabbath needs to qualify for this purpose. In any case, one question can be asked is why particularly two Sabbaths?

We'll get back to this question a little later on. But first, as this is a Gematriot blogspot, I should note that as this is my 92nd Post, there are a couple of connections of the number 92 to the Sabbath. Before I get to the much more famous one, the first is that there are exactly 92 Dafim (double sided pages) in Tractate Sabbath of the Jerusalem Talmud. And then the famous one as just about everyone who prays and recites psalms know that it was Psalm 92 that was sung by the Levites in the Temple on the Sabbath. In fact, it is the ONLY psalm in the entire Tehillim/Book of Psalms that its introductory verse indicates when the Psalm is meant to be sung: Mizmor Shir L'Yom HaShabbat "A psalm, a song, for the Sabbath day". Yet interestingly, the theme of the Psalm seems in fact to have nothing to do with the Sabbath. What's the deal here?

Rashi points out that in fact, this Psalm is not referring to the life in this world, but to the next world, where we will be able to get a glimpse of the true spiritual Sabbath. But this leads to the next question. If indeed, this Psalm refers to the life of the next world, why mention about evildoers during the midst of this psalm?

While one may be presented about the nice benefits of keeping Shabbat, both in this world and in the next, unless someone is born and raised with it, or gives it a try, the rest may not truly comprehend te significance of this. It is true that one who violated the Sabbath in times of an operating Sanhedrin which was basically during Temple times was given the worse form of punishment by the Jewish court - stoning. In the Torah, Hashem also warns that those who don't keep the Sabbath will be punished.

But this Psalm seems to have an extra dimension here. You see, the Sabbath reminds us to rest up from the rat race of work. To those who don't see it that way, they will continue working every day with no stop until they totally burn out. You see, they don't look at the long term picture. And this is exactly what this Psalm is addressing. For example, it mentions that the wicked & evil-doers sprout like grass and blossom. These people look for the quick gain, but don't realize that Hashem is the one who runs the show, and eventually, they will loose what they have in one way or another, or they will suffer even more in Hell. In fact, our Rabbis tell us that one does not gain even a little more by working on the Sabbath. Sure, in the United States, some business' best day is Saturday, but for one who is Jewish, he will eventually loose the Saturday earnings in one way or another - bills of all sorts, loosing a fortune in the stock market, etc. Since all sources of livelihood in fact comes from Hashem, working on the Sabbath shows one's disbelief in this fact.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, the call for Jews to observe these two Sabbaths coincided with Parshiyot Shemot & Va'era. Indeed, Parshat Shemot - while it does not mention one word about the Sabbath, is very connected with this theme.


SABBATH IN PARSHAT SHEMOT

It is true that both the name of the Parsha Shemot & the name of the day of rest - Shabbat, both start with the letter Shin. Moreover, the word Shemot is an acrostic for the phrase Shnayim Mikra V'Echad Targum "Twice the Biblical text, and once the translation (the Aramaic translation of Onkelos)". The preferred time for this is on Friday before the Sabbath in preparation of the Sabbath and the Torah reading the next day, though if one did not have a chance to do so before the Sabbath can read this also on the Sabbath. One may wonder as to why it is particularly this Parsha that hints to this concept of reviewing the Parsha.

According to the Midrash, earlier on in Moses' life, as he grew up in Pharaoh's palace as his princess Batya's adopted son, he felt very connected with his brethren the Jews, and even looked to ease their slavery by assisting in their work. At one point, he wanted them to be able to have a day of rest as the Sabbath. Tactfully, he approached Pharaoh, and suggested that in order for the Jews not to totally brake down from working all the time, they should have a day's rest every week, and then be refreshed to work the next day. Amazingly, Pharoah agreed, and the Jews not working on the Sabbath spent their time reading scrolls pertaining to Torah (Note: The Torah was not officially given yet, but as Rashi points out, even Noach - who was a non-Jew - learned Torah). While this is not mentioned directly in the Torah, the period of time that this happened were included in the time frame that Parshat Shemot goes through. Indeed, this would seem to be the connection to the hint of the name of this Parsha telling us to review the Parsha in preparation for the reading of the weekly Parsha on the Sabbath morning, just as the Jews used to learn Torah in Sabbath as a day off from their rigorous slavery.

This continued on for several decades until Moses reappeared on the scene following a lengthy absence from Egypt which resulted from Pharoah attempting to behead him. Hashem told Moses that it was about time that the Jews would leave Egypt, but He wanted Pharoah to be the one to do that of his own volition. Anyways, after Moses submitted his request to Pharoah, not only did Pharaoh not agree to this, but as the Midrash recounts, he did away with the weekly Sabbath rest for the Jews. Of course it would be a very short time before the Jews would leave Egypt, but focusing on Pharaoh's motives, he felt that the Jews were starting to be lazy by Moses making his present request. While even Moses himself was skeptical about what Hashem was doing here since he felt that he made things worse by approaching Pharaoh, Hashem assured him that "now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh."


PAIRS OF TWOS

We see that there are several things about the number two that is related to the Sabbath. In the Midrash, the Sabbath once complained to Hashem, "Every day of the week has a partner, Yom Rishon has Yom Sheni, Yom Shelishi has Yom Revi'i, Yom Chamishi has Yom Shishi (NOTE: The definition of these terms means Day 1 through Day 6 of the week. While in English, they are typically translated as Sunday, Monday, etc, this is not truly accurate because in the non-Jewish calendar, these days begin with midnight, but in the Jewish religion, the day begins with the beginning of the night), who do I have as a partner?" Hashem replied "The Jewish people will be your partner."

During the three meals of the Sabbath, we make the blessing on the bread over two whole loaves, reminiscent of the double portion of manna that rained on the Jews in the desert on Friday morning when they received a double portion of what they received the rest of the week, so they would have the manna all ready to be eaten on the Sabbath since the manna did not fall down on the Sabbath. Moreover, the Temple offerings for the Sabbath called for two lambs. And as we noted earlier, when reviewing the Parsha for the Sabbath, one says the Biblical verse two times.

And so, while this is all nice and dandy, but why particular TWO Sabbaths for the redemption to occur according to Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai?

When one first tries something new, like a new job for example, he doesn't know exactly how things are going to be until he is there for the first day. It does happen occasionally that in fact, the guy may not like the job because he didn't expect things to be a certain way, as he had very different expectations. In any case, for most others who are serious about making money and supporting a family, they report to work the next day the same way they reported to work the first day.

There is a practical difference between the first day and the second day. When he walks to work on Day Two, he now knows at least on a minimal level about how things are supposed to be done, unlike the first day when he was just learning the particulars of the business on the job. Hence, the first day in all honesty is really a preparation day, though of course, he earns his pay just the same for his time and effort.

And the same applies to the Sabbath. True that one can be sincere about keeping one Sabbath. And even for a newly observant Jew who is keeping his first Sabbath, and is given exact instructions as to how to observe it - from not doing various types of work to celebrating the day through food, he didn't begin that first Sabbath knowing yet exactly how Sabbath is supposed to be like. It is only when going through the initial experience of keeping one Sabbath that one has a totally new outlook about the Sabbath when observing it the following week. And hence, these two Sabbaths in fact complement one another.

In the Yeshiva world, the system of learning is done through Chavrutot/study partners. Apparently, something is being done right here, because through these Yeshivot, so many Jews became big Torah scholars. It is the complementary learning between two people that will get them to know almost everything between the two of them. Only Hashem is really One. Everything else and everyone else has a duplicity in life, for example, the sun & moon for objects in the sky, and Adam & Eve for humans. It is only through the mating of two people that life can be born. And so, this reminds us that indeed, it is Hashem - the One & Only - Who rules the world, and that everything else who are of a duplicity nature is subservient to Him. And so, even the Sabbath itself, while a unique and very holy entity, also needs a partner - the Jewish people, Indeed, we are called in the Torah and prayers as "one nation on earth," as the Chosen Nation of Hashem, but even we as a nation need a partner, and it is the Sabbath that reminds us that Hashem is the Ultimate Ruler.


27 Tevet 5771

#91 - Amen/Blessings Can Do Everything For Goodness & Happiness

In Parshat Vayechi that we read a couple of weeks back, which includes the period in which Jacob's descendants enjoyed the "fat of the land" while leaving in Egypt before the big slavery storm that they endured that is written up in the midst of the following Parshiyot of Shemot that we just read this past Shabbat & Parshat Va'era that we will be reading this Shabbat, Jacob blesses his children on his deathbed.

Our rabbis inform us what happened "behind the scenes" of the Bible. You see, right before Jacob was ready to bless his children, he felt the absence of the Divine Presence; and hence, thought that perhaps one or more of his children went astray in serving Hashem. Questioning their behavior, they exclaimed - Shema Yisrael..."Hear O Israel (Jacob's name given to him by Hashem) the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is One" (Deutronomy 6:4). Upon this, Jacob exclaimed "Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom forever and forever". In time, these two exclamations formed the first two sentences of the Kriat Shema that we recite twice daily.

The Talmud (Pesachim 56) in mentioning the sentence of "Blessed be..." as coming from Jacob's mouth, notes that this very same exclamation was heard by Moses from the angels when he spent time on Mt. Sinai. As this sentence is not actually part of the Bible like the rest of the Shema, but was an immediate response by Jacob to the first verse of "Hear O Israel...", they debated as to whether this should be mentioned in the Shema. On the one hand, Jacob exclaimed this. On the other hand, the angels exclaim this, and this is something that seems to be private to the angels. At the end, they decided on a compromise, to say it - but in a low tone.

But the mention of this verse doesn't end here. In Temple times, this sentence was also exclaimed - as a response to the end of blessings, which in the Temple was in place of the usual answer of Amen to blessings.

Before I continue, I would like to point out that the word Amen is the Gematria of 91, and this is my 91st Post. Additionally, the Gematria of the word Mal'ach/angel is also 91. Hence, bearing in mind that the sentence of "Blessed is the name..." was said in lieu of Amen=91, this is a sentence that is recited especially by angels.
Similarly, we recite this sentence out loud on Yom Kippur, for it is on this day that we resemble the angels in terms of being pure from sin as the angels are. Also,
it is on this day that only the Cohen Gadol/High Priest entered the Kodesh Kadashim/Holy of Holies, the holiest area in the Temple, which was off limits even to him for the rest of the year.

In another relationship between the response of Amen and the Shema is that when the Shema is said privately outside of congregational prayer, one introduces the Shema with three words - E-l Melech Ne'eman "G-d, the faithful king". The first letters of the words in Hebrew are Aleph-Mem-Noon, spelling the word Amen. Moreover, the last three letters of the last word Ne'eman/faithful also spell the word Amen.


WHERE IS AMEN MENTIONED IN THE TORAH?

The very first time that the word Amen is mentioned in the Torah is in relationship to a married woman who had an adulterous relationship with another man. Her husband in suspicion of this would bring her to the Temple to be tried by drinking bitter waters which would immediately test her if she had been unfaithful by swelling and dying, to be immediately removed from the Temple environs to be left to die elsewhere, not even giving her a chance to suffer being left alone. (It's like someone who has stomach pains who wants to relax in bed, but is forcibly removed
being moved around which doesn't ease his relaxing). Before the drinking of the waters, the Cohen in charge of administering this pronounced a conditional curse on her to which she replied "Amen, Amen" (Numbers 5:22). Of course, the question is why
she repeated this word, to which Rashi addresses, but the answer given is not immediately relevant to the issue at hand.

What is important to note here is that the Torah mentions this word once again - in the chapter about the curses that were to be pronounced in a ceremony on the Jewish people, which would take effect for various sins, which were also answered with the word Amen (Deutronomy 27:15-26).

We see that elsewhere in the Bible following the Chumash that this word was associated with answering blessings. However, in the Chumash which was Hashem's direct communication with us to observe His commandments, the content of the Sefer Torah, the holiest object, the word Amen seems to be used only in reference to curses
rather than to the usual theme of blessings, as we answer Amen numerous times to blessings throughout the day - both in and out of synagogue. Is this mere coincidence?

We know from the Torah that observance of commandments are rewarded, and even though answering Amen is not of the 613 commandments per se, but is a part of blessing Hashem which is included in the Mitzvah of praying to Hashem, not everyone shows that answering Amen is so important. Ever so often, people are talking during services, and either answer Amen after it is too late to do so which happened as a result of finishing one's sentence in a conversion, or don't answer Amen at all. Of course, automatically, at least two people have the sin of either not answering Amen or causing another not to answer it. In fact, numerous sins, loss of eternal reward benefits, and reserved spots for burning in the purgatory fire happens as a result of this, including the various sins related to saying evil speech about another Jew at times (which includes talks of synagogue politics which virtually always mentions names of people who are put in a bad light).

Perhaps this is what the Torah wants to hint to. By not answering Amen to blessings, one is in effect saying Amen to curses. The Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish Law stresses the rewards and punishments for answering or not answering Amen.
Just from ONE WORD - one receives tremendous reward. But, because one wants to have a "juicy" conversation with another Jew in the midst of synagogue services, causing him to sin as well, they both are stupid (assuming that they are supposedly observant Jews who had a Jewish education) to throw away reward they could have received FOREVER!

With this having been said, it seems that there is a direct connection between the mention of the word Amen and the themes of the particular sections in the Torah where
this word is mentioned. First, regarding the Sotah, Rashi notes by the repetition of the word Ish/man or husband (of the adulterous woman) that it actually refers to two - the Man of War from above & her husband from below, that is, she had in fact betrayed both G-d and her husband. While this may seem to be obvious, since committing any sin is in effect betraying Hashem, note the wording that Rashi uses to describe Hashem here "Man of War". Is this woman trying to openly fight Hashem or even her husband, when it is her sexual lusts that got in the way here?

While sinful tempations may sound like a little better excuse for doing a sin than doing a sin out of spite or to anger observant Jews, this is hardly any less of a war, because one who does things for their own selfish desires in fact spites the ones around him or her, putting oneself in front of others to do as he or she pleases. While the non-Jewish world may justify a woman cheating on her husband on the grounds that her husband didn't "treat her right", even as non-Jews too are forbidden to committ adultery, as far as Hashem is concerned, it is NO JUSTIFIABLE EXCUSE. PERIOD! If the woman really wants, she can ask her husband for a divorce, or simply not live with him anymore (non-Jews do not need a legal marriage or divorce
contract according to the Torah, the definition of a husband and wife is if they are living together). Perhaps she thinks she can get away with a sex encounter here and there, without "disrupting" her family life, but in fact, she is ultimately ruining it for herself forever by committing herself to Hell. (NOTE: While a husband cheating on his wife may not be a very moral person, and in the Jewish religion, there are other issues pertaining to this, it is not considered adultery, so long as the woman he sleeps with is not considered a married woman).

Indeed, such a person who does what he/she wants is fighting everyone else because he/she puts oneself in front of others doing what pleases oneself without being considerate to the society around. On another level, we are living in this world constantly battling a spiritual war, and it is Hashem who is the General/Commander. The enemy is Satan or the Evil Inclination, who constantly entices one in the psychic to do what is pleasing, regardless of the long term consequences. Hence, acting on one's base desires and selfish wants is in fact disobeying the orders of the General/Commander. In the army, there are NO EXCUSES. The only question is how the general, commander or whatever high rank person in the army will deal with the disobedient soldier.

In effect, one talking during synagogue services with another person - which results among other negative things is not answering Amen - is in fact also betraying both Hashem by not acknowledging the Beracha/blessing that was just recited when everyone is answering Amen to it, and also betraying his "friend" who may be his "talk buddy" but is in fact being an enemy to him because he is causing him to also have the same sins and punishment that he himself is accruing, committing the additional sin of "do not put a stumbling block in front of the blind" which refers to not only something physical where someone can trip over something left in the way for which one is in fact liable to damages according to Jewish law, but refers no less to spiritual matters in terms of causing another person to sin.

While on the subject about the importance of answering Amen, I feel it to be a most important responsibility to relate the following story:

Some four hundred years ago, Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe, known as the Levush for the 10 volume Jewish work that he gave this name to, traveled to Italy to learn Torah from the Mahari Abuhav. One day, when a child made a Beracha, and Rabbi Yaffe failed to answer Amen, the Mahari Abuhav was very mad at him, and excommunicated him for 30 days. Following this, the Mahari Abuhav explained to Rabbi Yaffe that at the moment that he failed to answer Amen, he was sentenced from Above to die, but by being excommunicated, it helped mitigate the severity of his punishment, but could be totally taken away if in the future he would tell others the importance of answering Amen. Needless to say, Rabbi Yaffe acted accordingly for the rest of his life when once a month, he would talk about the importance of answering Amen.

In the midst of the Mahari Abuhav explaining all this to Rabbi Yaffe, he told him a true tragic story about a devout observant Jew who was considered a good friend to a king being that he had very useful advice, and everytime the anti-Semitic king wished to make trouble for the Jews, this Jew was able to convince the king to behave otherwise. Once, while this Jew was in the palace, there was a priest that was ready to give a blessing to the king, and noted beforehand that everyone around must answer Amen for the blessing to be able to take effect. Following the blessing,
it was noticed that this Jew did not answer Amen as he was in the midst of his own prayers, upon which the priest announced "Alas, the blessing will not take effect now because this Jew did not answer Amen to my blessing for the king!" The next thing you know, this Jew was brutually cut into pieces which ended his life. Not long afterwards, he appeared to someone whom he knew in a dream, and revealed to him that despite his own good deeds during his lifetime, he was liable for such a horrible punishment because once, he heard someone reciting a Beracha but didn't answer Amen.

My friends, here are examples of rabbis and devout observant Jews who failed JUST ONCE for not answering Amen, not because they were having a jolly conversation with another in the midst of congregational prayers which involves numerous other sins, but simply didn't pay attention enough to answer just ONE WORD, and look what punishment they were liable to. So certainly, imagine the ultimate punishment for those who brazenly show that they don't have respect for Hashem by talking in His holy place of worship, causing others to have the same sins, and quite often, speaking Lashon Hora - evil speech about other Jews which inself involves numerous sins for EACH WORD! Such a person behaving as such should sure hope if he gets punished in this world, because if not, he will have such a Hell, as perhaps described most aptly by the author of the Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish Law - Rabbi Yosef Karo (Orach Chaim Chapter 127) "his sin will be greater than he can bear" a paraphrase from Kain's desperate exclamation to Hashem following the first murder of mankind of his murdering his brother Abel. This is the ONLY time in the entire Shulchan Aruch that Rabbi Karo writes such a strong punishment for committing a sin.

Now fastforwarding to Deutronomy where the ceremony of pronouncing the curses to which Amen was to be answered, ranging for sins from idolatry to forbidden unions to hurting others in society in various ways, the final thing for which a curse was to be pronounced for was for "not upholding the words of this Torah to do them".

Our Rabbis explain to us about this last no-no here that this does not necessarily refer to one who is not an observant Jew. In fact, it can refer very much to one who is not only an observant Jew, but can even be a Torah scholar with obvious influence. This cursed person is one who does not take action where it is needed. He lets his Jewish community get away with things that blatantly do things that oppose Judaism, without taking the necessary action to put things in order. What's the point with all his Torah learning or even teaching Torah, if Jews are committing sins without him addressing these issues? I once met a Sabbath observant guy from some southern state in the United States which was far both in distance and level of spirituality from the very religious and learned communities of the greater New York areas and all, who had a past marriage in which he never knew about the laws of family purity pertaining to abstaining from marital relations and even from touching from the time that the wife is menstrous until she is purified in a mikvah/ritualarium nearly two weeks later. I don't know how he will deal with this in Heaven upstairs one day, but woe to the rabbi of the synagogue that this guy went to, who never spoke about the subject or laws of family purity in his weekly congregational sermons!

Putting things in a more positive spin, the Shema, about which this post began, addresses these very issues about being faithful to G-d and not turning astray from serving Him. Belief in one G-d, loving Him, learning and teaching His wisdom - the Torah, being geared in the spiritual army clothes of Tefillin/phylacteries & a garment consisting of Tzitzit/fringe strings, our reminder of Hashem in our homes with the Mezuza on the doorpost, all of which focuses our attention to what are the real things in life that will make the difference for us eternally. And whenever we answer Amen to a blessing, we are in fact confirming that Hashem is the Source of Blessing, Who allows all things to be in existance for the sole purpose of being used in His service in one way or another. In effect, we are addressing Hashem every time that we answer Amen. You see, Amen is the Gematria of two of Hashem's names - YKVK=26 as it is written, but we pronounce it as A-do-nay=65, these two names adding up to the Gematria of Amen - 91.

It has been said that the letters of the word Tzadik/righteous person, note his daily quota of his participation in prayers: Tzadi - 90 mentions of Amen, Dalet - 4 Kedushot (when Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh/Holy Holy Holy is recited), Yud - 10 times of Kaddish, Koof - 100 Berachot/blessings a day. It is particularly the first letter of the word Tzadik that denotes the amount of times that Amen is answered daily. We see with this a bond of the consecutive numbers 90 & 91 - the Gematria of "Amen". But this bond goes beyond just numbers.

As I mentioned in my previous 90th post - the Hebrew word for 90 - Tish'im - is the Gematria of the phrase V'Ahavta L'Reiacha Camocha - "You shall love your friend as yourself", the source of the Mitzvah of Ahavat Yisrael - love of Jews. Bearing this in mind, the words for the number 91 is Tish'im V'Echad, the word Echad denoting the similar word Achdus/unity, for it is only with the feeling of unity - feeling as ONE - with other Jews, can this Mitzvah be ultimately fulfilled. For after all, one is only considered a Tzadik/righteous person, if he fulfills BOTH the Mitzvot pertaining to one's relationship with Hashem AND one's relationship with Jews - as the particular phrase in Hebrew used for this is Bein Adam L'Chaveiro, between a person & his FRIEND. While it may take time for some to be friends with other people, we have to remember that in fact, all Jews are in this assumable status of friends, and it is only that we have to be on a high spiritual level enough where we will automatically feel when we meet another Jew for the first time in this corporeal existance, that he or she is in fact our friend.

As for the word Amen itself, it is actually based on the word Emunah - faith. Indeed, when we answer Amen, we are confirming our faith in Hashem, and in His ability to do whatever He wants. And in another connection between the Tzadik & the word Amen is in the phrase from Mishlei/Proverbs - V'Tzadik B'Emunato Yichyeh - "The righteous person lives with his faith". For it is true faith that brings a person to be focused and stay focused on the purpose of his life in this world, knowing that
things that happen to a person - whether good or bad - is the will of Hashem, as it is Hashem who runs the world.

As we know, every time we do a Mitzvah, we create a good angel (and when G-d forbid a sin is performed, a bad angel is created). The word Amen is the easiest way of creating good angels, for each response is one more good angel - bearing in mind that the words Amen & Mal'ach/angel each have the Gematria of 91 - along with all the other blessings that Hashem will shower us with for good obedience to Him and His name.

20 Tevet, 5771

#90 - Learn Torah, Love Torah, Live Torah

The title of this post is taken from the title of a book about the life of Rabbi Mordechai Pinchas Teitz, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, who served the community of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Among his most noted accomplishments was his weekly Gemara/Talmud lesson on radio for 36 years from 1953 through 1988 which was called Daf HaShavua - "Page (double-sided folio) of the week". A revolutionary concept at the time he began this, it brought many Jews closer to Judaism and learning Torah. In time, it led to other Torah classes on the radio, and eventually on tape recordings, on the phone, until today's era of the internet where you have a choice of free lessons on any page of the Talmud that you want at any time without even needing a Talmud book if you don't have one, because you can see it on the screen just the same.

The truth is that it was only in the wee hours of this past night that I read the details about this Daf HaShavua program that Rabbi Teitz founded. It was from this that I came up with the title for this post.

Well, the reason that I am writing this today is because this post is focusing on today's Mitzvah #420 - Learning & Teaching Torah. As I mentioned a few months ago in Post #83 (Sep '10), the concept of learning one Mitzvah a day has been going on for nearly 50 years now. Presently, we are in the 30th cycle - and since in Hebrew, the letter Lamed is the Gematria of 30, and the verbs Lilmod/LeLameid - to learn/to teach - is cognate of the name of the letter Lamed, being that this is the very Mitzvah of learning & teaching Torah, it is most appropriate today to be writing about this most important Mitzvah of the Torah that is equal in the value and reward of all the other Mitzvot/commandments of the Torah combined. Indeed, the letter Lamed is the tallest of all the letters of the Alef Beit, no doubt hinting to this uniqueness about the Mitzvah of Torah learning. Hence, we have a trio here of three 30s - the Mitzvah of Lilmod/to learn (30) & LeLameid/to teach (30) in the 30th cycle of learning a daily Mitzvah. And thus, these three 30s add up to the number 90 - the number of this post.

Really, I wanted to spend my time learning Torah as much as I could today, but then again, I realized that TODAY is the day to write this post, as it is under the category of LeLameid - to teach, which is far greater than just learning by myself. Torah is something that needs to be shared with others - so that others will learn and be inspired to be better Jews - something that Rabbi Teitz realized was badly needed in the spiritual desert of the United States nearly 60 years ago. While today, ignorance of Judaism, assimilation and intermarriages are so ever high among Jews in the land of whatever religious freedom is left, even as there are many outreach programs out there, in those days, there weren't even many Yeshivot - Jewish schools - for children to go to. Hence, a whole generation of Jews grew up in perhaps homes that could have been what you would call "kosher", but the children being raised weren't being raised with kosher knowledge.

With this being said, let's get right to discussing Torah about the Mitzvah of Torah.
According to the count of the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah in order of the Chumash - this Mitzvah is the 420th according to the Rambam/Maimonides, based on which is his magnum opus Mishnah Torah. Unfortunately, there is an alternative order of count offered by the Sefer HaChinuch, whose authorship isn't even known for sure, who lists this as the 419th Mitzvah of the Torah.

This general idea that I just wrote is not the first time that I have mentioned this in posting. However, my attempt regarding this in this post is to prove that indeed,
the Mitzvah of learning & teaching Torah is the 420th Mitzvah, since after all, this is a Gematriot blog, which focuses on the significance of numbers in Torah.

A central belief in the Torah is that the Torah is from Hashem, which means that the Torah is not man made, something that disbelievers would not like us to believe. While the rabbis have the power to enact laws, even this is based on what the Torah says, not what they feel is for their own personal benefit. Hence, the Torah is called Torat Hashem- the Torah of Hashem. In the entire Chumash, this phrase is mentioned just once - Lema'an Tihyeh Torat Hashem B'ficha - "in order that the Torah of Hashem will be in your mouth" (Exodus 13:9). The word Tihyeh - "will be" - is the Gematria of 420, which is immediately followed by the phrase Torat Hashem. That is, the 420th Mitzvah is learning and teaching Torah, which is performed with the mouth.

While the Mitzvah of Torah is performed using the mouth - unless one is thinking about how to apply a concept such as how to interpret what the Torah says such as in one of the 13 principles of Torah interpretation -, the term mouth is used in another aspect of the Torah. You see - there are what are called two Torahs, even though they are all one Torah from Hashem - the Torah She'B'Ketav/Written Torah which is the Tanach/Bible & the Torah She'B'Al'Peh/Oral Torah which includes the Shas - the two letters Shin & Samech - which stand for Shisha Sedarim, the six orders of the Talmud (Mishna & Gemara) & the Halachah/Jewish Law. Indeed, the words Shas=360 & Halachah=60 together add up to the Gematria of 420! For indeed, it is through the thought processes of the Shas & the decision of the Jewish Law that separates us Jews from the rest of the world who at best refer to the Bible, but don't follow it as G-dly mandated, who usually get away with as much fun and sin as possible. As mentioned near the beginning of the Talmudic Tractate Avodah Zarah, in the Messianic Era, Hashem will ask who has His Torah. First, the nations will be quick to show the Bible, i.e. Old Testament (no more New Testaments by then), but Hashem will remain unimpressed. Then, the Jews will be showing the Torah - which will include the Shas & Halacha - since this is what is the "secret" recipe of how the Torah works.

Continuing on, let's now add the numbers 420 being that the Mitzvah of Torah is the 420th in the Torah, and the number 60 as the Gematria of Halachah, and this adds the total of 480, the Gematria of Talmud, for it is the Talmud, as being the main applicant of the Mitzvah of learning Torah, not just saying words verbatim, but applying our minds to the subject at hand to understand what the Torah is telling us, and it is through this that we arrive at the correct Halachah.

Now, noting Mitzvah number 420, not only is it the Mitzvah that has to do with the name of the letter Lamed - not once, but TWICE - being the Gematria of 30 so twice this number is the Gematria of Halachah=60, the number 420 is a multiple of both numbers 30 & 60. So, 420 divided by 30 is 14. And as we know, the Rambam, one of the early codifiers, who was one of the very few in the last 1,000 years to compose a book of Halachot on ALL of the Mitzvot of the Torah - not just on the Mitzvot that we are able to keep today in absence of the Holy Temple - divided his halachic work Mishnah Torah into 14 Sefarmim/Books. Another name for this work is called Yad HaChazaka - "The strong hand" - since the word Yad are the very letters that spell the number 14 in Hebrew. On a note related to this, as 420 divided by 60 is seven, and Halacha is the Gematria of 60, there are seven chapters in the Halachot/Laws of Talmud Torah.

Now, where is this most important Mitzvah actually told to us in the Torah? It is the verse that begins V'Shinantam L'Vaneicha V'DeBarta Bam... "You shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them..." (Deutronomy 6:7) & "You shall teach
them to your children to speak of them..." (Deutronomy 11:19). The word Bam, which literally means in them, refering to the word of the Torah - is the Gematria of 42. And when multiplying this by 10, as there are 10 words in the first verse about this Mitzvah, and being that the Ten Commandments include all of the 613 Mitzvot as stated by the Sa'adiah Gaon, yep, you get the magic number 420.

And then, there is the phrase that we recite every morning as part of the Torah that we first recite following the blessings that we say over learning the Torah - Talmud Torah Knegged Kulam - "The study of Torah equals all of them (the Mitzvot)". As you will note the first Hebrew letters of this phrase, it is Tav-Tav-Kaf-Kaf. As in Hebrew, the number 420 is Tav Kaf, we see a double usage of this very number describing the uniqueness of the Mitzvah of Torah learning! And speaking of DOUBLE, the Jerusalem Talmud (Yevamot 45a) states "The Torah uses double language in its regular way of speech", which means that the Torah will use two consecutive words - usually verbs - that are similar to one another, as its usual jargon. In Hebrew, this is Kefulin Hein HaTorah Dibra K'Darka. Well first, let's take the Tav of the first letter of the word Torah, which equals 400. Now, the word Kefulin "double" begins with the letter Kaf. Also, the last word K'Darka "AS its way" begins with the letter Kaf. As the letter Kaf equals 20, there you have it - the total of 420, used in the context of the Torah speaking in double terminology.

Perhaps we can learn a lesson from this. Yes, Hashem gave us the Torah. But, do we receive it? It is just like when one person sends a piece of mail to someone else. But does that mean that when the latter who is supposed to receive it but the piece of mail never arrived in the mailbox that the sender never sent the piece of mail? Perhaps it was stolen, mixed up with other mail, delivered to the wrong address, etc.
but at least in these circumstances, the one waiting for it did nothing wrong. However, while we claim to be the Chosen Nation since Hashem gave us the Torah, do we live up to our responsibilities? You see, the Torah is a DOUBLE way street - Hashem gives us the Torah, and WE are supposed to give to Him back by reading, learning, teaching, and following his Torah at our end.

You see, this very 420th Mitzvah uses a double wording of a verb, except unlike in most other places or other Mitzvot, these are in fact two DIFFERENT verbs, since while Lilmod & LeLameid are very similar to each other, the first means to learn and the second means to teach. In this format also, you have a DOUBLE action of give & take - the teacher teaching and it is the students who learn on the receiving end, the ultimate fulfillment of the Mitzvah of Talmud Torah in itself, which afterward is supposed to lead us to fulfill the other 612 Mitzvot of the Torah in one way or another (many of which today can only be fulfilled by learning the laws about them, such as the Temple offerings, which have even a higher value in Torah learning than the other parts of the Torah, and is considered as though we brought the very offerings that we learn about in the Torah).

And if this was not enough, the phrase in Hebrew for "all of the Torah" is Kol HaTorah Kulah, where the double usage of Kol/all is being used here as Kula means "all of it," making this phrase to read literally "all of the Torah, all of it." The obvious question here is, why don't we just say "all of the Torah", period?
Well first in terms of Gematria, the words Kol/Kula begin with the letter Kaf=20, so when added to the first letter of the word Torah - Tav=400, again we have the number 420. And it is THIS Mitzvah of which the ultimate fulfillment of it is a DOUBLE action, for learning by oneself only will never get the next generation to do the same. We see that the Torah praises our Patriarch Abraham for "commanding his children and household after him to keep the WAY of Hashem". This goes hand-in-hand with the very wording of the Mitzvah of Talmud Torah - "Teach them (diligently) to your children...when you are on the WAY". "It is the WAY of the Torah to speak in a double wording".

And in the 4th Aliyah of this week's Parshat Vayechi which many learn today being the 4th day of the week, which contains the blessings of Jacob for several of his sons, included is the blessing of Yissaschar, the son that Jacob especially set aside to learn Torah. In fact, the very name of this 420th Mitzvah is Lilmod Torah U'Lelamda "To learn the Torah and to teach it", which is the Gematria of 830, the very Gematria of the name Yissaschar who was the son/tribe especially devoted to this very Mitzvah, as Jacob was himself who was even more connected with this Mitzvah than his father Isaac & his grandfather Abraham. Moreover, both the name Yisrael - Jacob's upgraded name, and the name Yissaschar - of all the tribes - begin with the letters Yud & Sin - the Gematria of 310, and the reward of 310 worlds for the righteous is mentioned in the very last Mishnah, and twice this number is 620 - corresponding to the 620 Mitzvot of the Torah & rabbis.

Today's date - 8 Tevet - marks the day that that King Ptolemy of Egypt ordered 72 rabbis to translate the Chumash for him in Greek. While they all did so independently with the editing of the exact same 15 phrases which would prevent the Torah from being contradictory (this was a big miracle!) as the non-Jews are very good in believing the literal translation of the Bible, and will thus find what seems to be contradictions (except that we have the Oral Torah to explain the discrepancies), this day is considered to be a very sad day in Jewish history. Why? Wasn't it good for the non-Jews to see the beauty of our Torah?

But this was the beginning of the breakdown of our Torah. The Torah was not meant for other nations - this was Hashem's Word ONLY to us. Yes, Hashem knew that in time, the Bible would be the number one printed book in the world, and there are a few non-Jews who behave as good people as a result of it, but the Torah - even if it isn't the Oral Torah - is Hashem's special relationship to us. Now, with the Greek language, the Torah would and was placed in "biblos" status - as just another book on the shelf. The gentiles of the world would not have a comprehension of its HOLINESS. Hence, they would not truly appreciate the Torah for what it is, and expect us to behave the same as they do, even as they also have it on the shelf.

On a better note, we also have a special translation of the Torah - in Aramaic. The reason that I call it special is because this is something that we are supposed to read every week for the upcoming Parsha to be read in the synagogue on the Sabbath. This is called Shnayim Mikra V'Echad Targum - reading each verse of the Parsha twice and then reciting the Aramaic translation once. Of course the question can be asked, why specifically the Biblical verse TWICE? Why not just once, or if repetition is the name of the game - three, four or more times for that matter?

There are indeed reasons given for this, but in line with what I wrote earlier, the Torah "speaks in a DOUBLE languague". Hence, in line of the above regarding the Mitzvah of Talmud Torah, reading/learning the Biblical verses in this fashion emphasizes this point. It is Hashem to us & us to Hashem. And then, we have a translation to confirm that we understand what we just recited. This translation is from a Jew who was born a non-Jew of all people - Onkelos, a nephew of the Roman emperor, and related to Titus, the latter two who were the very ones who destroyed or responsible for destroying our Second Temple.

Perhaps the message we can learn from this is that when we learn Torah the proper way, realizing that it is Hashem Who is speaking to us, then and only then can we make the proper change within ourselves to be the type of people that Hashem want us to people - being infused with the HOLINESS of the Torah, the same way that a non-Jew who converts to being Jewish converts his impure non-Jewish Neshamah/soul to now being a Neshamah of HOLINESS. It is this very holiness that the non-Jews want us to deny, and would prefer that we read our Bibles - but strictly on a philosophical basis without being something that will transform us with Hashem's Mitzvot, for even though the Mitzvah of Torah is the greatest of all Mitzvot, it is considered a Mitzvah - not just intellectual study - ONLY if we observe the other Mitzvot that the Torah commands us to do, even if it means that sometimes, we have to close the holy book to observe these commandments - from daily prayer to holiday rituals, to helping other Jews when the need arises.

You see, while the Mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah is the last Mitzvah of the Torah, the Mitzvah of learning/teaching Torah doesn't make it with an obvious prominent number (until you see how prominent it is on this post) - not as the first Mitzvah either, and in fact, not included in the Ten Commandments. It is Mitzvah 420, seemingly as just another one of the Mitzvot, because there are OTHER Mitzvot that need to be done also. An example that will help illustrate this - if a Jew needs a favor, let's say, lifting up a package that is a bit difficult for him to pick up from the ground, if while one is learning Torah, someone else will right away approach the Jew needing the help to give him the needed assistance, then the one learning Torah should continue. It is only if no one else is around, then the one learning Torah must stop learning until the favor is done for the Jew.

The number one commentary on the Torah/Chumash is Rashi, which many Jews learn on the Parsha on a daily or weekly basis. I think it is safe to say that in ALL observant (Orthodox) Jewish day schools, children are taught Chumash with Rashi. The very first Rashi on the Chumash is a statement from Rabbi Yitzchak. While Rashi starts with Rabbi Yitzchak asking as to why the Torah started particularly with the order of creation rather than from the Mitzvot/commandments, it has been asked as to the significance of why Rashi begins his commentary with a statement particularly from a Rabbi Yitzchak, and the answer given for this was in order to honor his own father whose name was also Yitzchak. In any case, it is fascinating to note that the Gematria of Rabbi Yitzchak is...you guessed it, the magic number 420!

And as far as the one who was the original one to bear the name Yitzchak, the name of the son of Abraham/the father of Jacob, the Torah describes the scenario of the great miracle of Sarah who finally was able to give birth - at the age of 90. Aside from this, her newborn son Yitzchak/Isaac was one of the few in history whose name was coined by Hashem Himself. Additionally, Rashi notes that each of the four letters of Yitzchak's name denotes something significant as to their respective Gematria value: Yud - The 10 Commandments that Yitzchak's future descendants would receive, Tzadi - Sara was 90 years old when she gave birth to Yitzchak, Cheit - Yitzchak was the first one to be given his Brit Mila/circumcision at the age of 8 days old according to Hashem's commandment, Koof - Abraham was 100 years old when his son Yitzchak was born.

As this is my 90th Post, I think it is most significant to note that the fact that Sarah was 90 years old when she gave birth to Yitzchak highlights the fact that he was not just another Jewish child who was born. In fact, he was the FIRST in history to be born Jewish, unlike his father Abraham who was not only not born Jewish, but worshipped idols like the rest of his family until he came to his own senses of the belief in one G-d Who is not like the idols that were able to be seen by the human eye. But also, one is born Jewish ONLY because his mother is Jewish - the fact that his father is Jewish makes absolutely no difference - not because of his last "Jewish" name, or because he had his "BAR mitzvah" in a Reform "Jewish" temple sanctioned by its so called rabbi (very unfortunately, many boys and girls born to a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother have had "bar mitzvahs" and "bat mitzvahs" forced on them, for they have no obligations living a Jewish lifestyle as non-Jews). It is strictly the one who gives birth to a new life who makes the significant contribution of bringing a Jewish soul down to this world.

But while the last few letters of Yitzchak's birth signifying something unique about his life, the first - The 10 Commandments, while they do have a connection with Isaac
in terms of being the ancestor of the Jews who would receive the Ten Commandments, how do we see that this relates ESPECIALLY to Yitzchak, as opposed to his father Abraham or his son Jacob?

Well, as we know, part of the greatest Mitzvah of the Torah is to "teach them to your children." Hence, Isaac was the very FIRST child through whom - Abraham was able to fulfill this most important Mitzvah, even though the Torah - including the Ten Commandments, was not going to be officially given to the Jews for the next 400 years. And as Rashi quotes the Sa'adiah Gaon, the Ten Commandments include all of the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah, the basis of Jewish law, as to how we serve Hashem. Thus, the Ten Commandments have a most significant connection particularly with Isaac's birth. And to note, the final letter of the Alef Beit - Tav - has the Gematria value of 400, and is the beginning letter of the word Torah. It would be exactly 400 years from Isaac's birth that his future descendants would receive the Torah. And Yitzchak was the 20th generation to be born from parents (as Adam & Eve were created by G-d himself) - noting the significance that he was the FIRST to be born Jewish - thus, the number 400 signifying the amount of years that it would take for his descendants to become a nation ready to receive the Torah, along with the number 20 signifying his birth, adds up to the number 420 - the number of the 420th Mitzvah of the Torah - learning Torah and teaching it to one's children (and others as well, but the greatest aspect of this Mitzvah is teaching the Torah to own's own children)!

Hence, when adding the word Rebbe, which means teacher when saying "teacher and student" - to the name Yitzchak - these two words add up to the Gematria of 420, the ultimate results of the Mitzvah of Torah teaching that was performed from the pervious generation of Abraham teaching Torah to his son Yitzchak. While the Rebbe Yitzchak whom Rashi quotes is obviously not the same Yitzchak, it seems that it is not a mere coincidence that the phrase Rebbe Yitzchak would add up to such a significant number that relates especially to the Torah. V'Shinantam L'Vaneich V'Dibarta BAM "You shall teach them diligently to your children and speak OF THEM" where the word BAM is the Gematria of 42, and times the number 10 as in the 10 Commandments signified by the first letter of Yitzchak's name, also adds up to 420. As Rashi quotes Rabbi Yitzchak at the very beginning of his commentary on the Torah "It was not necessary for the Torah to begin except from "This month shall be to you"" this phrase referring specifically to the month of Nissan - the month in which the first Yitzchak was born on!


THE MITZVOT SURROUNDING TORAH LEARNING

Since we know that the greatest Mitzvah is Torah learning, perhaps there is a special connection to the Mitzvot that immediately precede and follow this Mitzvah.
Well, the Mitzvah preceding this is Ahavat Hashem/loving Hashem, and the Mitzvah following this is Kriat Shema/reading biblical passages that begin with the verse of Shema Yisrael/Hear O Israel (Deutronomy 6:4). In fact, these Mitzvot are in the midst of the verses immediately following this most recited Chumash verse in the world, and the Mitzvah of Kriat Shema is a continuation of the verse that begins with the Mitzvah of Torah learning. Small wonder then that this Mitzvah of Kriat Shema is the very one that is discussed in the first three chapters of the Mishnah in Tractate Berachot.

In terms of love in Judaism, there is love of Hashem, and then there is love of Jews.
Most interesting, Rabbi Akiva calls this Mitzvah of Ahavat Yisrael - V'Ahavata L'Reiacha Camocha "You shall love your friend (fellow Jew) as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18) - "the great principle of the Torah". In fact, the Gematria of Rabbi Akiva is 395, also the Gematria of the word Mishnah - in which many of Rabbi Akiva's decisions in Halacha are mentioned, and this Mitzvah of Ahavat Yisrael is the 244th Mitzvah of the Torah, and the word Gemara - the explanation of the Mishnah-
is the Gematria of 244. And furthering our amazing connections here, the word Talmud - another name for the Gemara or referring to the Torah She'B'Al'Peh of the Mishnah & Gemara - is the Gematria of Ahavat Chesed/love of kindness. And finally, the word Torah is the Gematria of Gemilut Chasadim/performing deeds of kindness.

The obvious lesson here is that though Torah may be the greatest Mitzvah, a Jew (though we are supposed to treat non-Jews with kindness as well due to the ways of peace), is to be treated with at least as much love as the Torah (perhaps even more than the Torah but I'll leave it up to the Torah scholars to debate this issue), for after all, it is the Jews who are the ones who observe the Torah, for without this, the Torah would hardly serve any meaning. In fact, when Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish people, the angels had a hard time accepting this fact, although the Torah was not meant for angels who don't have the temptations and challenges that people have to be given a Torah that tells them what to do or not do. The very first word Bereishit, as pointed out by Rashi, notes that this word hints to both the Torah & and the Jews - B'shvil Reishit - Hashem created the world "for the sake of Reishit/the beginning" and both the Jews and the Torah are called Reishit, for if not for the Jews and the Torah - and the Jews accepting and observing the Torah - the world not have a further reason to exist. And indeed, the final word of the Torah/Chumash is the word Yisrael - the Jews.

As this is Post #90, the Hebrew word for 90 is Tish'im/ninety. In turn, the word Tishim is the Gematria of 820. And lo and behold, the phrase V'Ahavata L'Reiacha Camocha - the very words in the Torah of the Mitzvah of Ahavat Yisrael - is also the Gematria of 820, the "big principle of the Torah". That's very nice, you may say, but is there an intrinsic connection between this Mitzvah and the number 90?

The name of the letter having the Gematria of ninety is Tzadi. In fact, there are some who call this letter Tzadik, which means a righteous person. Indeed, the Talmud (Shabbat 104) goes into detail about the significance of the Hebrew letters, and the letter Tzadi indeed refers to a Tzadik. In Judaism, a Tzadik is righteous BOTH in the Torah AND in his relationship with Jews.

As I pointed out a little earlier, there is the concept of reviewing the Parsha every week, saying the Biblical verse twice and then the Aramaic translation once, this translation coming from Onkelos, a convert to Judaism. In fact, we call such a person in Hebrew a Ger Tzedek "righteous convert". In fact, there is another Mitzvah in the Torah to love a Ger Tzedek; hence, loving such a Jew - who was not born Jewish - in fact bears observance of TWO commandments - loving him as a Jew like all other Jews and loving him as a convert to Judaism.

While unfortunately, there are prejudices among Jews against converts due to so called "well meaning" reasons, which may include not allowing a family member to marry a Jewish convert, perhaps if they were to be reminded that some of the greatest Jews in history were those who weren't born Jewish, including our ancestor Abraham, the first Jew, maybe some of them would think a little differently, and realize that if anything, one receives MORE eternal reward for loving a Jewish convert.

But the greatest reminder of loving a convert to Judaism should be the weekly reading of the Aramaic translation of the Torah coming from one who was born a non-Jew who climbed the ladder to become Jewish. Even though Aramaic today is not a language that we speak, it is mandated according to Jewish Law until today - see Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim Chapter 285 - to learn the Parsha in this format every week (NOTE: For those who can't read Hebrew well, their mother tongue such as English, can be learned to fulfill this weekly obligation).

In fact, perhaps the weekly reading of the Chumash in the format of Shnayim Mikra V'Echad Targum is a reflection of the thrice letter Lamed, the name of which means learning/teaching. Hence, learning the verse three times - in whatever language - represents the totality of 90 - Tishim - Gematria of V'Ahavata L'Reiacha Camocha - 244th Mitzvah, refering to the Gematria of the word Gemara=244, the meat of Torah learning, from which we derive the Halacha, the basis of how a Jew is supposed to live based on the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah. For it is the Chumash, the source of the 613 Mitzvot, that has to be learned in order to understand how we derive our basis of serving Hashem, for it is this very part of the Torah that Hashem dictated to Moses to be put in writing the first 13 Sifrei Torah/Torah scrolls which he wrote on his last day on earth (it was a most miraculous feat to say the least - a total of 75,985 sentences, 1,039,688 words or 3,962,465 letters in one day!); and indeed, the number 13 is the Gematria of Ahava/love.

There are three ways for something to be accomplished - thought, speech, and action.
And so, the name of this post - Learn Torah, Love Torah, Live Torah - represent these three concepts. Though usually, the order of how something is done begins with thought, the main part of fulfilling the Mitzvah of Torah learning is done by pronouncing the words, though understand what one learns is crucial for the optimum of the Mitzvah. Also, teaching Torah to others is done through speech.

Then, there is love of the Torah, which is based on thought. Though children may be given various ways of encouragement to like learning Torah, one can learn to love Torah on a much more mature level when one learns enough of it to want it to be part of one's life, not just something that one does randomly, or after the rabbi's class, not ever opening a Torah book at home, which not only shows that one doesn't feel all that attached to Torah, but that one's children are not going to get the love of Torah if they don't see an example of it. And so, loving the Torah is not limited to Simchat Torah, the day that all Jews - at least outwardly, show their love of the Torah, but it has to be part of one's daily routine in one format or another which shows that Torah is something that is part of one's life because he indeed loves Torah, and hence loves learning it.

And this leads to LIVING the Torah - action. It should be obvious from one's actions and behavior that it is the Torah that guides such a person - not only when it comes to rituals as to how strict one may be about them, but also the way one behaves towards other Jews. It should be so obvious from his behavior that others will be able to say, "You see, this is why Torah learning is such an important thing. You see that rabbi there, how many other people do you know treat others with such love and kindness the way that this rabbi does?"

Indeed, these three verbs in English - learn, love, live - all begin with the letter l, which corresponds to the Hebrew letter Lamed. And in pronouncing the letter l in English, it sounds just like the name of Hashem: E-l, and it is this particular name of Hashem that represents the aspect of Chesed/kindness, the first of the seven active Sephirot/Divine emanations. This name E-l is also the first of the 13 Divine Attributes of Mercy, and as we had mentioned shortly earlier, the number 13 is the Gematria of Ahava/love.

And so, the THREE key ingredients of Lamed - LEARNING Torah, LOVING Jews, these two leading to LIVING the true L'Chaim - the good life of the world to come - for eternity.

8 Tevet, 5771