#200 - The New HEAD

Writing my 200th post, I look back from since I had started www.gematriot.blogspot.com over five years ago, and I must say that there is a big difference between writing my first 100 posts and my second set of 100 posts.  You see, when I wrote my 100th post nearly three years ago, while I was already married, I had yet to have my first child.  It would be during the course of the next 100 posts that I would became the father of two children, having more challenges with time over time to write posts in a timely manner.  However, determination usually wins, and the blog posting goes on.

And so, let us begin here, especially in honor of my 200th post, with a couple of verses from the Tanach (Jewish Bible) that mentions something significant with the number 200.


THE 200 HEADS

The first verse that I will quote is taken from the context mentioning the various Tribes of Israel who came to coronate King David as king of Israel. Among these verses reads "Of the sons of Issaschar who had knowledge of the understanding of the times, to know what Israel should do, having TWO HUNDRED heads, and all of their brethren following their advice (literally means "their mouth")" (I Chronicles 12:33). Now, a literal interpretation of this verse would fail in this case to help understand the simple meaning here. But what it does mean is that this tribes consisted of 200 heads of Jewish courts who determined the declaring of new months and intercalation of leap years.

In connection to King David, he represented the concept of the moon that waxes and wanes.  Noting that he was the 14th generation in the parental line from Abraham the first Jew, and that King David's name is the Gematria of 14, his son King Solomon was the 15th generation whose kingdom enjoyed the highlight of utopian living in the history of the Jewish people who were living in a time of peace during King Solomon's rulership of not only the Jewish people, but of the entire world, since all the nations turned to him especially for his gift of wisdom.  After he passed way, the kingship of the House of David gradually went down in terms of influence, starting from King Solomon's not so smart son Rechavam who chose to tax the people even worse than his father did, and so most of the tribes aside from Judah, Benjamin, and Levi coronated Yeroboam as king instead.  Finally, the last king of the Judean empire before the destruction of the first Temple, Tzidkiah, was the 30th generation from Abraham, who was blinded by Nebuchadnezzar and was then exiled to Babylonia in chains.

So as we can see here, King David and King Solomon, as the 14th-15th generations from Abraham, represented the highlight of the moon being what we see as a FULL MOON, which occurs during the 14th-15th day(s) of any given Jewish month, after which it wanes until there is no visible moon left at the end of the month, which was signified by King Tzidkiyahu, the 30th generation, who was blinded and exiled.  Ironically, the Gematria of his name is the same as the name/word Zorach (215), the conotation of the word shining, for had Tzidkiyahu listened to Jeremiah the prophet who told him not to attempt to rebel against Nebuchadnezer, king of Babylonia due to the sins of his generation, the Temple would not have been destroyed - or at least not at that point in time; but since Tzidkiyahu thought he knew better, it resulted in the Temple being destroyed, Jews being murdered and exiled, and he himself was blinded, ending the era of the moon shining.

Anyways, we see here about the concept of 200 heads as related to the Tribe of Yissaschar in reference to the coronation of King David.  Now, the Hebrew word for head - Rosh - begins with the letter Reish, which is the numerical value of 200.  And in relationship to King David who is most connected to the number 14, the letter with the highest numerical number in the name of the 14th Parsha of the Torah - Vaera (we are presently in the midst of the week of Parshat Vaera) is Reish, which is also the case with the first word of this Parsha - Vayedaber.  Similarly, it is also the case with the first word of the 14th Tractate of the Mishna, Pesachim - the word Ohr.  And finally, the first section of laws in the 14th and last volume of the Rambam's Mishne Torah which is also called Yad Chazaka (Yad, meaning hand, also spells the Hebrew number 14) are called Hilchot Sanhedrin (Laws of the Jewish Court), and the letter with the highest numerical number is also a Reish.  And in our prayers - in the midst of the middle blessings of the weekday Shemoneh Esrei, there is one blessing in which we request that the Sanhedrin will be returned to us (Note: There is a group that formed as a Sanhedrin nine years ago in Israel.  Whether this is the beginning of the fulfillment of our request in this blessing or not, we still pray for the time for the state of the Sanhedrin is that it will have full power, and not prevented from executing its powers because of our present dictatorship Israeli government), in which the first letter of the blessing is Hei=5 in the word Hashiva "RETURN our judges as it was at one time" and the last letter of the blessing is Teit=9 in the word U'Mishpat "The King Who loves justice AND JUDGEMENT", and the total numerical value of these letters is 14!  Later in this post, I will mention the concept of Sanhedrin in relationship to another number theme).

As for the whole word Rosh (head), which is the Gematria of 501, we see a phenomenal thing in relationship to the number of years that King David reigned.  Now, most who know some Biblical history will say that King David was king for 40 years.  Actually, make that 40 and a half years, for he was king in Hebron for seven and a half years, and in Jerusalem for 33 years.  With this said, let us count the number of Hebrew months in this 40 and a half years time.  As we see in our present Jewish calendar, there are 235 months in a 19 year cycle.  Twice this amount are 470 months in 38 years time.  Adding two and a half more years for the total, this consists of 30 months.  Hence, it would seem that King David ruled for a total of 500 months and passed away in the 501st month; or, if there was an additional leap month in the remaining two and a half years, this would make 501 complete months of King David's kingship.  This would be most significant, because King David was the ROSH=501 of the Davidic monarchy which includes the soon to be Moshiach. And as we see in Kabbala, in terms of which Biblical character corresponds to which holiday, King David corresponds to Rosh Chodesh (New Moon), which is the beginning of any given Jewish month.  This phrase can also be read as "New Head", contrasting him to King Saul who was in fact the very first official king of the Jewish people, but because he messed up, the kingship dynasty was transferred to King David, who became the Rosh Chadash "New Head".

And as for Yissaschar himself, the letter Reish is the last of his name as well as the last letter of other words of concepts that relate to him.  You see, the month of Iyar's corresponding tribe is Yissaschar, and the Mazel (constellation) of this month is Shor (Taurus).  Amazingly, all of these three words - Iyar, Yissaschar, and Shor - end with the letter Reish.  Perhaps the fact that the letter Reish - whose name means the beginning of and etymologically related to the word Rosh, is particularly at the end of these words (the main connection here is with Yissaschar's name) hints to King David, who until he was first annointed as king by Samuel the prophet, was treated as a lowlife by everyone, including and especially his family, which even included his righteous father Jesse (the reason for this is beyond the scope of this post); in fact, so much to this extent that when the prophet Samuel came to their home to annoint one of Jesse's son upon Hashem's command, Samuel checked out all of Jesse's seven sons, one by one, but saw no luck.  It was only after Samuel insisted that Jesse tell him about having any more sons did Jesse at that point admit that his son David was outside tending the flock.  And so, Jesse had no choice but fetch for David to come, and the rest is history.  In fact, there is a verse in King David's Tehillim (also part of the Hallel prayer) which reads "The stone that the builders rejected, became the HEAD of the corner (cornerstone)" (Psalms 118:22) which our rabbis say, refers to himself in this incident.

Now to note, the Chasidic Sefer entitled Bnei Yissaschar, which consists of fascinating explanations, including Gematriot, pertaining to Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, the Jewish months and holidays, derives its title from this very verse, though the phrase Bnei Yissaschar "Sons of Yissaschar" is found in several places during the course of the Tanach where the other tribes are mentioned as well.  However, it is the phrase in this verse that points out the function of this tribe, especially among its judges who were in charge, at least during the time of King David, of determining the time in terms of establishing the Jewish months and leap years; as this tribe learned Torah all the time, while his brother/tribe Zevulun supported him.

The author of this Sefer, Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, named the Sefer as such using the name Yissaschar, because his Rebbe, the Chozeh of Lublin, told him that he was descended from this tribe.  And as for his own name - Tzvi Elimelech, which is the Gematria of 233, we see a corelationship to this from our verse which mentions the number 200, and it is the 33rd verse of Chapter 12, the chapter that mentions the tribes, meaning, the 12 Tribes of Israel who unquivocally agreed that King David should be king after it was obvious to all that the kingdom was lost from the family of King Saul' which happened as a result of him not listening to the prophet Samuel about totally eradicating the memory of Amalek.  Moreover, each of the three Pilgrimage Festivals - Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot - are called by the name Regel ("Festival"), having the same letters as the Hebrew number 233, as it was for these three holidays that the entire Jewish (adult male) population during Temple times traveled to the Temple to celebrate these holidays at this site, as Regel literally means foot, for traveling is performed primarily with the feet, whether by walking or riding (in those days, at least until the auto era, it was the horse or whatever other animal that did the walking in place of the person), and the exact dates of these holidays were determined by the decision of the Jewish court as to when Rosh Chodesh ("New Moon") was supposed to begin.

And since I have mentioned about his Sefer which pertains to the various times of the year, I should note that the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech was this past Shabbat Parshat Shemot, about which I have seen hints to the timing of his passing in Parshat Shemot.  As it was on the second day of the week of Parshat Shemot when he passed away, we can take a look at the corresponding second Aliyah of this Parsha which is about the birth of Baby Moses.  Now, in case one thinks that it is ironic for the passing of a righteous person is hinted where it speaks of a birth, the truth is that the righteous are considered alive even after their passing (Talmud Berachot 18), for after all, the true life is the life in the world to come.  In fact, the Torah normally doesn't dwell on details of the birth of a person, because after all, who knows what one will become in life as to whether it would have been worth it for him to have lived depending on whether he will die having been righteous or otherwise.  However, with Moses, it was different, because he  lived to be the greatest righteous person to walk the planet, and his spiritual aura was felt even when he was a baby by both his immediate family and Batya, Pharaoh's daughter who converted to Judaism, the one who found him on the Nile River after his family dropped him off, so the Egyptian authorities wouldn't find him at home to kill him as per Pharaoh's decree of drowning all male babies as per the astrologers were saying that a (male) redeemer would been born to eventually take the Jews out of Egypt.

Now, the Yahrzeit date of Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech is Yud-Cheit (18) Tevet, in which the number can be read, when the letters are reversed, as Chai (life), and the name of the month Tevet is based on the word Tov (good).  And we see pertaining to the birth of Moses "she (Yocheved his mother) saw him that he was good" (Exodus 2:2), and as Rashi explains, when he was born, the house was full of (spiritual) light".  Now, the word in the text for "she saw" is Vateire, which consists of the Hebrew letters Vav-Tav-Reish-Aleph.  This is very similar to the Hebrew year in which this rabbi passed away - 5601, the only difference being that the Hebrew letters making up the number of the year begins with a Hei instead of a Vav.  In this instance, the Vav=6 can signify the sixth millenium in which we are presently living in, and this rabbi passed away 173 years ago.  And, since after all, one's passing is the END of his life in this world, let us turn to the END of this Parsha, in the last Pasuk (verse), where after Moses complained to Hashem that since He sent him to speak to Pharaoh to let the Jews go, Pharaoh made things even worse for the Jews, Hashem tells him "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh" (Exodus 6:1).  The Hebrew for "You will see" is Tir'eh, which consists of the very Hebrew letters as the Hebrew number of the year of this rabbi's passing!  Speaking of which, as I quoted here from the last verse of the Parsha, typically, it is the last few verses of the Parsha that is designated as Maftir, the reading for the one who is called up to the Torah who will read the Haftara, a section from the Prophets part of the Tanach that has some theme that relates to the Parsha.  Now, the word Maftir is similar to the word Niftar, the noun or verb pertaining either to the one who passed away or that he passed away, respectively.


200 FOR THE GOOD ONES

In Shir HaShirim, one of the three books of the Tanach that King Solomon composed, it is written (I will be translating this literally, though it has many meanings to it) "The thousand is yours, O Solomon; and TWO HUNDRED for those who guard its fruit" (Song of Songs 8:12).  When reading this verse literally, some may be thinking of King Solomon's 1,000 women.  In a way, they may be right.  To put things in perspective, King Solomon was a very righteous person, having been raised by his very righteous father King David. After all, he merited to be the one to oversee the construction of the first Temple.  However, it seems that he had a week point about himself, and aside from marrying more than the permitted 18 women for a king, he thought that the reason that the Torah gives for a king not being allowed more wives that they won't sway his heart from the right path wasn't applicable to him due to his high spiritual level.  And while his idolatrous wives (all of his women who weren't born went through the proper Jewish conversion but didn't necessarily all stay being observant) didn't get him to actually worship idols, they no doubt ultimately put a damper on the spiritual standing of the Jewish people, which continued with his successor son Rechoboam who worshipped idols for most of the years that he was king.  In any case, I don't have an immediate explanation of the following phrase in the verse about the "two hundred" in relationship with this.

My take on these numbers here is to make equal portions of 200 of  "The thousand".  Hence, there are five portions of 200 within the 1,000, and then there are "two hundred for those who guard its fruit".  Now, in relationship to the six work days of the week, we have the corresponding six Sephirot of Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod.  Hence, the sixth day of the week corresponds to Yesod, which corresponds to the part of the body which is the place of the Brit (literally means covenant, word used for male organ). Hence, the sixth 200 is mentioned as a phrase by itself  "Two hundred for those who guard its fruit", referring to the concept of Shmirat HaBrit "GUARDING the covenant", the place of the body that is supposed to be used only for the sake of procreation, and not for other self pleasure purposes or having fun with other women other than one's wife for the sake of having a fun time (Note: There is no prohibition for a couple to be intimate even if they are pass the child bearing age, so long as they are married according to Jewish Law and the woman is not in a menstrous state).  In fact, the very first Mitzva (Commandment) of the Torah, which is found in the account of Creation on the SIXTH DAY, states "Be FRUITFUL and multiply".  And looking at the Hebrew text of this - Pru Urvu - in both of these words, the letters with the highest numerical value is the Reish=200.


THE 200 IN THE WAY

In King Solomon's book called Kohelet, he states "He who loves money, will not be satisfied with money" (Ecclesiastes 5:1).  The Midrash on this phrase tells us "One who has 100, wants 200; one who has 200, wants 400".  Now, a question can be asked here, "If one is really greedy for money, is it just that he wants twice the amount that he has?  More likely, one who makes a five digit income on his own success is thinking of making a six digit figure income; and one who makes a six digit figure income is thinking of making a seven digit income..."

I think that the Midrash here is making a very distinct point.  It is not necessarily the amount per se that one wants to make that is the big trouble maker here.  Rather, it is the person himself who doesn't have a true grasp on his limits to making the money.  You see, when it comes to gambling with so much money, one can pick a small amount of money to put down on the table without feeling any major loss; but on the other hand, the winnings won't be so great.  The ultimate foolish gambler who will have nothing left afterwards will put down everything, not thinking of the possibility of loss, but rather, he will so to speak "double his odds" and then have more money - to gamble with of course.  You see, there is hardly a gambler who after makes so much money, will walk out of the place saying enough is enough, even for the night.  The gambling addiction tells one that at the end, one will eventually make much more money, though the chance of loosing some money is expected.  However, the other problem other than one being addicted to the gambling set of mind is that there is a chance - in fact a good chance - that especially with this way of thinking, one will loose it all.

Now, the proof to this, as we see in the comment of the Midrash, it is the number 200 that is being used both ways - what one wants and what one gets.  And closely related to the name of the letter Reish is the word Rahsh - consisting of the letters Reish and Shin - one of the synonyms for one who is destitute.  The difference though between a pauper who never knew of money and the gambler is that the pauper may simply have never had the good luck or never received the education to begin with to help make a better living.  However, the gambler has much more to regret, because he actually had the big money at one time, but in his self-illusion of thinking that he could make even more - and at the expense of others - he is the one who looses his fortune that he knew he had, making himself feel ever so worse, and one whom few people will pity because as they say to themselves, why should they give some of their hard earned money to someone who didn't show respect for it when he didn't have to loose it.  For that matter, it has been said that most people who win the lottery in their respective country or state - in five years time, are either dead or dead broke.  I have also learned in the course of learning about business is that if the wealth were taken from the rich people and given to the poor people; in five years time, the wealth would be back in the same hands. For while many rich people are workaholics, at least they know the formula to making more money, which part of it includes hard, honest work, believe it or not.


SANHEDRIN AND THE NUMBER FOUR

Having mentioned earlier about the Sanhedrin, the large Jewish court consisting of either the bigger amount of 71 (Sanhedrei Gedola) or the smaller amount of 23 (Sanhedrei Ketana), it relates very well with the letter Dalet, the 4th letter of the Aleph-Beit with the numerical value of four.  First, in the word Sanhedrin, the letter Dalet is 1)The FOURTH letter, 2)The middle letter, and 3)The letter with the least numerical value. Second,
the FOURTH tractate of the FOURTH volume of the Mishna called Nezikin (Damages) is the tractate Sanhedrin, which begins with Dinei Mamonot B'Shelosha "The laws of monetary matter may be tried by a court of three (judges)", in which the first letter of the tractate is a Dalet.  Moreover, of the five chapters of Mishnayot that begin with the letter Dalet, the one tractate that includes more than one such chapter is Tractate Sanhedrin, in which the third chapter also begins with Dalet - Dinei Mamonot.  As for other interesting factoids connecting the letter Dalet with this tractate, of the six Mishnayot of its first chapter, the only other Mishna than the first one that begins with a Dalet is the FOURTH Mishna - Dinei Nefashot B'Esrim U'Shelosha "The laws of capital offenses may be tried by a court of 23 judges".  And then for its FOURTH chapter, it begins with Echad Dinei Mamonot V'Echad Dinei Nefashot B'Drisha U'VaChakira "Both monetary and capital cases are tried by questioning and examining".  Now to note, the literal meaning of the word Echad is "one", though in this context, I have translated both of uses of the word Echad simply as "both".  The reason that I say this is that the FOURTH letter of the FOURTH word of the FOURTH chapter of the FOURTH tractate of the FOURTH volume of the Mishna is the letter Dalet=4!  And the magic word in question is - V'Echad, which literally means "and one" in the context of explaining the similarity between the two types of court cases, following which, the Mishna goes into long detail of the differences between these two.

Perhaps we can learn from here that to begin with, we need to see the similarities between each other - Echad...V'Echad "One...and one", which becomes both.  True, there may be differences between various factions of Jews, in fact, there are at times many differences, especially culturally (Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Edut HaMizrach, Teimani, etc.); however, at least as far as we are concerned, one is no less of a Jew, or to be considered a less important Jew, just because he or she belongs to a different, which will some say "so to speak" faction of Jews - whether Litvish, Hasidic, Reform, Conservative, etc.  However, the practical difference between the various groups that we Jews became over the period of time, especially in our long exile, is related primarily to laws and customs.  True, at least how Halacha (Jewish law) is presented in the Conservative or Reform movements, it is a great distortion of traditional Judaism which is based primarily on Torah She'B'Al Peh (Oral Law), which these latter movements basically leave outside the door, ready to be trashed, being left only with the literal meaning of the Tanach which can be misread or mislearned if not learned with Rashi, the Mishna and the Gemara to say the least.  And it is at this point that the various differences have to be outlined crystal clear for all to hear, so no one will be misled as to what Judaism is about.

With this said, we must not let ourselves loose sight of our first point pertaining to the similarities between us Jews.  One who isn't so observant isn't supposed to be treated as less of a Jew because of it; for if anything, this is the perfect opportunity for one who wishes to bring Jews closer to the Torah, which will work far better by inviting one to his Shabbat meal than screaming "Shabbes" (the Yiddish pronounciation of the Hebrew word Shabbos or Shabbat) at drivers in Israel, some of whom could have already become observant Jews had more Jews who consider themselves so religious - instead of waiting in the street to scream at the drivers during Shabbat - would wait in the streeet to meet Jews who clearly need direction and guidance as to why Hashem put us in this world.

And speaking of unity, the closet unity in terms of family is the husband-wife relationship.  Indeed, the first letters of the first three words of this chapter - Echad Dinei Mamonot - spell in order the name of the first human being - Adam (Aleph-Dalet-Mem).  And then the next word V'Echad is the Gematria of the name of Adam's wife Chava=19.  The next two words are Dinei Nefashot of which the first letters of these words spell the word Dan "He judged", for in fact, Hashem judged them both following their eating of the forbidden fruit of which He warned that doing so would warrant one to die on the same day.  Hence, this was the first Dinei Nefashot - capital offense case, tried in this world, in which Hashem first gave each of them a chance to speak in their defense.  As it turned out, Hashem didn't have them die that same die, but rather fulfilled His
statement of the consequence of performing that sin in a more favorable way in that since each day is considered like 1,000 years in Hashem's eyes, they passed away within 1,000 years (instead of not dying at all had they not sinned), and we know that Adam lived for 930 years, while as the Midrash tells us, he gave 70 years from his alloted 1,000 years to King David who was originally destined to live for only three hours.  In fact, it has been said that the letters of Adam's name spell the first letters of the names/words - Adam (Aleph), David (Dalet), and Moshiach (Mem).

Continuing on in the context of this Mishna, both types of court cases were tried with Derisha (questioning) and Chakira (examining).  So as we see here, the word Derisha begins with the letter Dalet.  Now, it is at this point that I will turn to discussing the name of King David who is mentioned in the second chapter of Tractate Sanhedrin, whose name both begin and end with the letter Dalet, aside from the fact that his name is a palindrome.  But perhaps most significantly, he himself was a Dayan (one of the Hebrew words that means a judge), noting that the word Dayan begins with the letter Dalet, and as the Talmud tells us, King David learned more Torah in one night than an accomplished Torah scholar learns in a lifetime, and mind you, this was said in times of the Talmud some 1,500 years ago, let alone today.  Anyways, there is one verse in the entire Tehillim, authored by King David, which begins and ends with a Dalet - Dirshu Hashem V'Uzo Bakshu Phanav Tamid  "Search out Hashem and His might, seek His presence always" (Psalms 105:4).  Amazingly, as parallel King David's name - which consist of the letters Dalet=4, Vav=6, Dalet=4; this is the FOURTH verse of Chapter 105, there are SIX words in this verse, and each of these words contain FOUR letters!

Now, let us look at the first and last word of this verse, which begin and end with the letter Dalet, respectively, as King David's name.  The word Dirshu (search), which is etymologically related to the word Derisha (questioning) which was one of the methods used to investigate witnesses in a Jewish court case, is the Gematria of the name of the letter Reish - 510, noting that the letter Reish itself is the numerical value of 200, which is the number of the heads of the Sanhedrin that came from the Tribe of Yissaschar who came to coronate King David as king.  And the last word of this verse - Tamid - is the same Gematria as the names of the letters Yud - 20 and Dalet - 434, bearing the total of 454, noting that the letters Yud and Dalet is the Gematria of King David's name!  Moreover, the Gematria of David HaMelech (King David) is 109, just as the sum total of the chapter number - 105, and the verse number - 4.  And finally, in Divrei Hayomim (Chronicles), the 24th and last book of the Tanach, his name is spelled with a Yud, as Dalet-Vav-Yud-Dalet, making his name in this book to be the Gematria of 24, there are 24 letters in this verse that begins and ends with a Dalet, as it is with his name.

Now, connecting some dots here, let us take a look at the word Dan (he judged), which by the way, is the name of the Tribe Dan, whose corresponding month is our present month of Tevet.  Next, noting the two letters of this words - Noon=50, which is the 14th letter of the Aleph-Beit, and Dalet=4, the total of the multiplication of these two numbers yields 200, as related to the Bnei Yissaschar, which is the name of the Sefer authored by Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, who passed away in this month of Tevet.

And of course, how can we forget the ultimate Jewish book of laws - the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law)?  As the Talmud (Berachot 8a) tells us, since the day that the Temple was destroyed, Hashem has nothing in this world except for the FOUR cubits of Halacha.  Perhaps this is the reason why the Tur (the predecessor of the Shulchan Aruch) and the Shulchan Aruch is divided up into FOUR parts.  In any case, the FOURTH of these volumes is called Choshen Mishpat "Breastplate of Judgement", named after one of the eight garment pieces that the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) wore, which consisted of  Arba'ah Turim, four rows of stones which consisted of a total of 12 stones corresponding to the 12 Tribes, and it is based on this that the Halachic work was called the Tur (row), authored by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher, who is popular known by the masses as the Ba'al HaTurim (author of the Turim (rows)), whose commentary on the Chumash (Penteteuch), which includes Gematriot for the large part, is printed in various editions of the Chumash.

Having said this, the first of many sections of this Choshen Mishpat section of the Shulchan Aruch is called Hilchot Dayanim (Laws of Judges), noting that the first letter of the word Dayanim is Dalet=4.  And looking at the first chapter of this, it consists of six laws, of which it is the FOURTH law that begins with the letter Dalet, and I will quote this law right here - Dinei D'Geramei V'Chein Din HaMoser, Danin Oto Dayanim She'ainam Semuchim B'Eretz Yisrael "The laws of causes (of damages) and so too the law of one who tells on another Jew to the non-Jewish authorities - are judged (even) by judges who do not have their ordination from Israel (but rather, they were ordained outside of Israel, which is not as effective in other types of court cases as ordination in Israel)".  Anyways, we see in the first eight words of this law, the letter Dalet begins five of these eight words  And then in the FOURTH chapter, it begins with Yachol Adam La'asot Din L'Atzmo "A person can make judgement for himself", where the FOURTH word is Din (judgement) which begins with Dalet=4.

For additional information relating to the Sanhedrin, you can check out Post 71 (Jun '10).


AND THE SEPHIRA IS...

Continuing on with the Sephirot combinations, the ninth such Sephira is Gevurah She'B'Gevurah "Strength within Strength".  Now particularly in the context of judgment, as Gevurah is sometimes synonymous with Din (judgement), another way of phrasing this Sephira is "Strict judgement within strict judgement".  

And continuing on in the Jewish calendar, the corresponding week to this Sephira is approximately 28 Cheshvan-4 Kislev, which includes Rosh Chodesh Kislev.  Now Kabbalistically, Kislev's corresponding letter is Samech.  And the reason that I mention this here is because now, I want to point out to the Gematria of Din - 64, which also means law, a synonym for the word Halacha, which is the Gematria of 60, just as the numerical value of Samech.  It seems that sometimes, the words Halacha and Din are used interchangeably. And while I am not here to discuss the practical diffrence between these synonyms, what I do want to point out is that the Gematria number of the word Din is FOUR more than the Gematria number of the word Halacha, aside from the fact that it is the letter Dalet=4 that begins the word Din.  For after all, as I mentioned a little earlier about the "FOUR cubits of Halacha".

Now, I will mention something as pertains to my previous post, where I dissected the word Dinar, one of the names of the types of coins in Mishnaic times, into two words - Din Reish - "Law of 200 (the letter Reish)" hinting to the fact that one who has 200 Zuzim was forbidden to take from Tzedaka, noting that the word Tzedaka is 199.  However, if one has "200 Zuzim MINUS one DINAR", which means that one has SLIGHTLY LESS than 200 Zuzim, then one is permitted to receive even 1,000 Zuzim at one time as Tzedaka.  For until one has COMPLETELY 200 Zuzim, even the slightest less missing one Dinar's worth qualified him for Tzedaka.  Hence, in this instance, it is a blessing for him to be missing one Dinar's worth of money, for he is without the Din Reish, which can also be interpreted as THE JUDGEMENT of 200, which would otherwise disqualify him from taking any Tzedaka, even though he would have far less than others who don't even feel the need to take Tzedaka who aren't affected by this law or judgement since they can well afford to take care of themselves.

Now, as I mentioned earlier in this post, the name of the letter Reish - whose letter is the numerical value of 200 - is etymologically related to the word Rahsh (destitute).  And the difference here is that Reish with a Yud signifies the concept of Ma'aser, tithing one tenth of one's crops or money to give to Tzedaka, to give to others who signify one number less - 199 instead of 200.  And then, even if one feels that one doesn't have enough for himself, barely getting by with 200, but gives to someone who is less fortunate than he is, then in the end, he will be paid tenfold by Hashem, as hinted in the phrase Aser T'Aser, the Torah using the double Hebrew wording for tithing, the words here or the word Ma'aser (tithe as the noun) being based on the word Eser (ten).  For in essence, he is giving the Ma'aser or Tzedaka to one who D'LEIT Leih M'Garmei Klum, a play on the name of the letter Dalet, which means "WHO DOESN'T HAVE anything for himself".  And having mentioned the word Tzedaka, it is actually based on the word Tzedek (justice), noting that the letter Dalet of these two words is the letter with the least Gematria value, just as in the words Sanhedrin and Din.

Having said this, the harshest of all the Sephirot combinations is Gevurah She'B'Gevurah, for it is strict justice mixed with strict justice.  This attribute is especially applicable in terms of Hashem punishing the nations for their sins, including their mistreatment of Jews, as mentioned in the writings of the Kedushas Levi, authored by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichov.  In any case, having mentioned that this is the ninth Sephira combination, the number nine is most related to the concept of darkness, as I have mentioned in a number of posts, the most obvious connection being that the NINTH of the 10 plagues that smote the Egyptians was DARKNESS, which was the last of the plagues to smite the Egyptians displaying the Sephira of Gevurah She'B'Gevurah before the final plague that involved a direct involvement of Chesed (kindness), for it was this final plague that convinced the Egyptians, and especially Pharaoh, to let the Jews leave Egypt (Note: Of course Hashem could have brought the Jews out of Egypt anytime that He wanted to.  However, He wanted it to be due to the will of the Egyptians as part of Hashem's displaying of His signs and wonders which were most displayed in the plagues that He visited upon them).

On the other side of the coin, the number nine displayed the ultimate level of Gevurah She'B'Gevurah with the destruction of both Temples on the NINTH of the month of Av, which is Kabbalistically represented by the letter Teit, which is the NINTH letter with a numerical value of NINE.  And at the very end of our long nearly 2,000 year exile, there will be (or has already started) the Chevlei Moshiach "Birth pangs of Moshiach", for the birth pangs or labor pains of a woman occur at the end of NINE months of pregnancy right before the newcomer into the world.
.
And as related to Yissaschar, he is the NINTH birth mentioned of the 12 sons of Jacob (Note: It doesn't necessarily mean that he was actually the ninth of the 12 sons to be born, but that his birth is the ninth mentioned, as Jacob had four women from whom he had his sons).  And according to one tradition, he was born on 10 Av, the date on which most of the burning of the Temple actually took place, for it was only at the end of the 9th of Av (Tisha B'Av) that the burning started; and it is only because the beginning of a tragedy is considered the worst part of the tragedy that we fast on the 9th of Av, rather than on the 10th of Av; unless the 9th of Av falls out on Shabbat, in which case, the fasting and mourning of this fast day takes place on the 10th of Av.  Moreover, the Gematria of Yissaschar's name - 830, is the sum total of the years of the existance of both Temples - 410 years for the first, and 420 years for the second.

Also, of the Biblical women characters who correspond to the Sephirot, it is Devorah who corresponds to Gevurah; and as we see in Hebrew, the only difference of the letters in these two words is in one, it begins with a Gimel, and the other word begins with a Dalet (culled from Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh's lectures). And in addition to Devorah's name beginning with a Dalet=4, the story about her in the Tanach, in Sefer Shoftim (Book of Judges) begins in the FOURTH verse of the FOURTH chapter.  This is especially to note that Devorah is the only judge ever in observant Jewish history to be a female judge, which is normally forbidden being that women have other roles to fill, especially as related to the family, but this was the sole exception. In any case, this highlights the connection of the Sephirah of Gevurah as relating to laws and judgement.

Now, on a more positive side to Gevurah, more than just punishing our enemies, we see in one context in the Tanach how it can displayed as a good thing as more directly related to us.  You see, King David states in Tehillim  "Whoever is going to talk of the STRENGTHS of Hashem (Gevurot Hashem), should let all of His praise be heard" (Psalms 106:2).  Now, one explanation of this is that this refers to saying all of the Tehillim, for as the see, the verse concludes with the word Tehilato (his praise) is etymologically related to the word Tehillim, which in fact includes parts that mentions of Hashem punishing our enemies, which is related especially to the Sephira of Gevurah She'B'Gevurah.


ROSH CHODESH AND THE NUMBER FOUR

As I mentioned earlier, King David corresponds Kabbalistically to the holiday of Rosh Chodesh.  Noting that the first and last letters of his name is a Dalet, and the middle letter of the word Chodesh (month) is Dalet, it is most fascinating to note that the FOURTH Mitzva of the Torah is the sanctification of the New Moon by sight (which was abolished by Hillel II, head of the Sanhedrin, because of the hard times of exile, so he established today's Jewish calendar to be used until the Redemption and we have our Sanhedrin once more).  And as for King David himself, he is the FOURTH of the four parts of the Ma'asei Merkava (Holy Chariot, which is explained at length in Kabbala) following the three Patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Now, getting to Rosh Chodesh Kislev, which is in the midst of the week that corresponds to the NINTH Sephira, the month of Kislev is itself the NINTH month - being that we count the Jewish months from Nissan, the month of our Redemption from Egypt.  And as related to Yissaschar, it was the heads of the Sanhedrin from THIS tribe who were in the forefront of establishing the rules of pronouncing Rosh Chodesh.
And as particularly for the Rosh Chodesh of this month, one of the evil Syrian Greek kings gave orders to the Jews to especially not observe Brit Mila (circumcison), Shabbat, and Chodesh (Rosh Chodesh).  And here, the question can be asked, why didn't the king forbid the Jewish holidays, rather than Rosh Chodesh, which is at best a minor holiday in which we are allowed to work.  However, the king knew all too well that the dates of the holidays was based on when Rosh Chodesh was set.

In time, the holiday of Chanuka came into being, which was a result of such evil decrees which were protested against, and it is Rosh Chodesh Kislev that is the HEAD of the month that includes the beginning of Chanuka marking our freedom from such decrees.  Accordingly, the significance and observance of lighting the Menorah lights on the eight nights of Chanuka helps us maintain our spiritual balance during the coming months of the winter period around the time that the nights are the longest, which represent the concept of NINE, for the ninth night from the beginning of Chanuka doesn't show any special spiritual significance now that Chanuka is over, but the spirituality of the 36 lights of Chanuka is what keeps us spiritually attuned from the ninth night and on, corresponding to the NINTH of Av on which we read the Book of Eicha (Lamentations), whose name Eicha, which is also the first word of this book of the Tanach, is the Gematria of 36 (See my 36th Post in Jul '09).

And finally, the letters of the word Rosh (head), as in the name of the beginning of any given Jewish month - Rosh Chodesh, have the same letters as the name of the Tribe of Asher, which was especially blessed with an abundance of olive oil in their portion of land in Israel.  For bearing in mind of the connection between Rosh Chodesh and Chanuka - aside from the fact that Rosh Chodesh Tevet always falls out during the midst of Chanuka - the prefered way of lighting the Menorah on Chanuka is with olive oil, the way that it was done in the Beit HaMikdash (Temple).  In fact, as related to the name of the month Tevet, the Avoda (Temple service) of cleaning and lighting the Menorah is called HATAVAT HaNeirot.  In fact, its interesting to note that Halachicly, the measure of oil for the Menorah in the Beit HaMikdash was the amount that would last during the long nights of the month of Tevet (half a "log", which was applicable even for the short summer nights).  And as Rashi notes, the Cohanim Gedolim (High Priests) were typically married to women from the Tribe of Asher.  Moreover, the month whose corresponding tribe is the Tribe of Asher is Shevat, the month following Tevet in the midst of the winter whose nights are the longest.   And as related to King David, who reigned for 501 months, corresponding to the Gematria of the word Rosh (Head), was annointed as king with olive oil, which is especially related to the Tribe of Asher, whose name has the same letters as the word Rosh.  And the future NEW HEAD of the Jewish people will soon be our long awaited Moshiach, a descendant of King David.


22 Tevet, 5774

#199 - Quality TZEDAKA

Following my previous Post #198 which focused on Tractate Pesachim, whose name is the Gematria of 198, this post will be focusing on the following Tractate Shekalim, which is about the annual donation of half a Shekel (Note: Not necessarily the same value as today's Israeli Shekel) donated during the month of Adar for sacrificial funding in the coming year beginning with the month of Nissan.

Now, while there is a Mitzva in the Torah to give Tzedaka, which is loosely translated in English as charity, the giving of this half a Shekel was also an aspect of Tzedaka, an aspect of giving a part of one's money towards a worthy cause.  With this said, the Gematria of the word Tzedaka is 199, which is the number of this post.

As for the Gematria of the word Tzedaka, it seems that it is not mere coincidence.  Let us take a look at a Mishna in tractate Peah (8:8): "One who has 200 Zuz should not take Leket, Shichecha, Peah, or Ma'aser Ani (various gifts of grains from the field alloted to the poor).  Should he have 200 (Zuz) minus one Dinar, even if he is given 1,000 (Zuz) at one shot, he can take it..."  So as we can see here, one who has a little less than 200 Zuz, thus having 199 Zuz - even with a little change that is less than Zuz, he is considered to be in the category of needing financial assistance, and can take whatever he is given as having a Halachic status of being a poor person, which is termed Tzedaka, this word being the Gematria of 199.

Now, note what the Mishna says in terms of this person having a little less than 200 Zuz "minus one Dinar". Most interestingly, if we look at this Hebrew word Dinar, we can dissect it into two parts - Din Reish, which literally means "Law of 200 (the number Reish)".  In other words, the Mishna can be read to mean that if one has 200 (Zuz) minus the status of having the law of one who has 200 Zuz which would otherwise disqualify him from receiving Tzedaka; in this case, even though he has a little more than 199 Zuz, but still, LESS THAN 200 Zuz, he qualifies for Tzedaka, for indeed, in accordance with the Gematria of the word Tzedaka, he technically has 199 Zuz, and not 200 Zuz; and hence' the LAW OF 200 Zuz is not applicable to him.

Noting that this Mishnaic statement hinting to the Gematria of the word Tzedaka is in the EIGHTH Mishna of the EIGHTH chapter of Tractate Peah, I should note that tractate Shekalim, which represents among other concepts the Mitzva of Tzedaka, consists of EIGHT chapters.  And if you thought that there were no more connections of the number eight with the Mitzva of Tzedaka, the Rambam (Maimonides) comes along and tells us that there are EIGHT levels of giving Tzedaka (Laws of Gifts of the Poor 10:7-14).  So, without further ado, let's list these here, from best to worst:

1)Offering work to one, which is also fulfillment of the Mitzva of "You shall strengthen him... and he shall live with you"; meaning, helping one be self-supportive, especially in a dignified manner.
2)Giving Tzedaka to one, where neither one knows who the other is.
3)Giving Tzedaka to one, where the one who receives it doesn't know who the giver is.
4)Giving Tzedaka to one, where the one who gives it doesn't know who the receiver is.
5)Giving Tzedaka before being asked for it.
6)Giving Tzedaka after being asked for it.
7)Giving less Tzedaka than one should, but at least done in a cheerful way.
8)Giving Tzedka grudgingly.

Actually, there is another connection of the number eight here, particularly with the word Shekalim (which by the way is the plural for Shekel) which is the Gematria of 480, for 480 divided by EIGHT (480/8) yields an even 60.  And as we see with the shapes of the letters of the Aleph-Beit, the letter that looks closest to a circle is the letter Samech, having the numerical value of 60; and as we know, coins, which in this context are called Shekalim, have a circle shape.

Now, the original source for this Mitzva of Shekalim is the beginning of Parshat Ki Tisa (Exodus 30:11-16), which is also read, besides the regular Parsha reading, on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Adar, or if Shabbat falls out on Rosh Chodesh Adar, on this day itself, for it was on this date that the announcement of the requirement of giving a half a Shekel was made.

There are quite a few interesting factoids pertaining to this section in the Torah about Shekalim consisting of six verses.  This consists of 90 words, and the word Tzedaka begins with the letter Tzadi, which has the numerical value of 90.  This is especially illustrated in the word Machazit of the phrase Machatzit HaShekel "HALF a Shekel", in which the middle letter is a Tzadi which begins the word Tzedaka, for as the Vilna Gaon notes, the letters in the word that are next to the Tzadi are Cheit and Yud, which together spell the word Chai (live), while the outer letters - Mem and Tav - spell the word Meit (dead), for as it is written in Mishlei (Proverbs 10:2): "Tzedaka saves from death".

Now, in the part that states "Each person shall GIVE..." the Hebrew word V'Natnu - consisting of the letters Vav-Noon-Tav-Noon-Vav - can be read forwards and backwards, which in English is called a palindrome. The Ba'al Haturim, in explaining this phenomenon, tells us that we can learn from this that whatever a person gives to Tzedaka comes back to him.   As for who is required to give this Machatzit HaShekel, the Torah states, unlike for most other Mitzvot that are applicable from the age of Bar (or Bat) Mitzva, it is mandated particularly for those (men) who are 20 years old and above.  Moreover, as a further connection to the number 20, we see that in measuring what a Shekel is, the Torah tells us that it is worth the value of 20 Gerah. even though in fact, one gives a half Shekel; and hence, one is really giving a half Shekel that is worth 10 Gerah.  But perhaps, the Torah is hinting to what what would be the current money being used at one time, which in Mishanaic times, was called a Zuz, this word being the Gematria of 20.

And, just as shown with the word Dinar, a type of value for coins, how it can be dissected into two words, we will do the same now for the word Zuz, which is also a type of value for coins, for this can be read as Zu Zayin "This is a weapon", for the name of the letter Zayin also means weapon, except that in this instance, it is only the actual letter Zayin that is spelled here and not the full word Zayin.  And while the word Zuz itself isn't mentioned in the Torah, being that it is the Gematria of 20 which is the number of Gerah   for the value of a Shekel as mentioned in this Torah section about Shekalim, the word Zuz can theoretically come into play here.  Additionally, the word Zuz, just like the word VeNatnu "They shall give", is a palindrome, consisting of the letters Zayin-Vav-Zayin.  In any case, one may wonder what weapons have to do with coins here.

For this, we turn to the story of the Megilla - Megillat Esther - that we read on Purim, the holiday that is celebrated in the midst of the month of Adar, the month during which the half Shekel is contributed.  When Haman, who hated the Jews so much that he just wanted to have them murdered without even giving them a chance to convert to a different religion (which is actually even worse, but what Haman wanted to do to us just shows how much he couldn't stand us), played the dice to decide on what month he would murder us, which was Adar, he then appeared to King Achashveirosh with his evil plan, offering the king some 10,000 talents of silver, which the king turned down, but not Haman's offer to murder all the Jews.  Now the Hebrew words for talents of silver are Kikar Kesef, both words starting with the letter Kaf, the numerical value of 20, and in the word Kikar (talent) - the letter Kaf is spelled twice consecutively.  And for additional math, let us divide 10,000 by 20 (10,000/20), and the answer is 500, which is the Gematria of the word Natan "he gave", which is the root word of the palindrome VeNatnu, and is itself a palindrome - consisting of the letters Noon-Tav-Noon.

So, as per the words Natan and Zuz, these refer to the giving of both the Jews and Haman.  As for us Jews, it was the GIVING of the Shekalim, our spiritual WEAPON (Zayin), which is called the Kesef HaKipurim, using the letter Kaf in both words, including the word that includes Kipurim (atonement), the last part of this word that is pronounced the same as the name of the holiday of Purim, that saved us from Haman's offer of Shekalim, which he used as a WEAPON to have us murdered, even though he didn't actually accomplish giving them to the king since the king turned them down, as the king himself was all to happy to get rid of of the Jews in his own bitter hatred of them, which resulted at the end of us having the holiday of Purim.  In any case, it is still considered as though Haman actually give the 10,000 talents of silver, since as our rabbis tell us, the evil thoughts (or plans) of non-Jews, even though they never come into fruition, are considered as though they performed them, and are punished accordingly.

And speaking of HALF, since this portion of the Torah is called Shekalim, we see that half the Gematria of the word Shekalim (480) is 240, which is the Gematria of the name of Amalek, the first nation who dared attack the Jews since the Exodus, from whom Haman was descended who was defeated in the merit of the Jews giving the annual half-Shekel during the month of Adar, the month that Haman planned to murder all the Jews in.  In fact, the exact date that this was planned for was 13 Adar, just as in the dissected word Zuz which can be read as Zu Zayin, Zu is the Gematria of 13 and Zayin means weapon; but instead, the Jews, with their physical weapons as well, defeated their enemies on the 13th of Adar, who came to fight the Jews as a result of the original letter that the king sent out for them to fight the Jews upon Haman's advice. Moreover, Haman's name can be read as Ha-Man "the Mahn" referring to the manna that the Jews ate in the desert for 40 years (I explained the connection between the two in a past post), but the point here is that the letters of Mahn - Mem and Noon - together is the Gematria of 90; hence, "the ninety".  Meaning, in the merit of the half Shekel that the Jews gave that is based on the Torah section consisting of 90 words, Haman - whose name can be read as "the ninety" was defeated.

Another connection here between the concept of Shekalim and the ultimate defeat of Amalek, which will happen soon in our days, G-d willing, is that in the section of the Torah about the half Shekel, the wording of Terumah is mentioned THREE times right next to Hashem's name (Terumah LaHashem or Terumat Hashem), hinting to the three types of donations that the Jews gave pertaining to the Mishkan (tabernacle) or the Korbanot (sacrifices).  Accordingly, there are THREE Mitzvot pertaining to how to deal with Amalek - 1)Remembering what Amalek did to us following the Exodus, 2)Erasing the memory of Amalek - leaving not a trace of this evil nation alive or in existance, 3)Not forgetting what Amalek did to us following the Exodus.

As for symbolisms, the popular baked good called Hamentaschen, named ironically after our arch enemy, which probably is named as such to denote defeating, in the symbolism of eating, our enemies, consists of THREE sides or corners, in contrast to most other baked goods that are either round or sqaure.  Now, this is good for food as per ourselves.  However, we must not forget the poor, not only when it comes time to give the annual Machatzit HaShekel on 13 Adar (or if we didn't have a chance to before, on Purim) in the synagogue, which is today a symbolism rather than the Mitzva - though you still fulfill the Mitzva of Tzedaka (Note: Actually, as of a few years ago, this Mitzva is now in existance once again, thanks to the Temple Institute.  To donate your annual Machatzit HaShekel during the month of Adar, contact the Temple Institute via the contact form at templeinstitute.org or by phone at 972-(0)2-6264545).), but also, when it comes to the Mitzva of Matanot L'Evyonim "Gifts for the poor", one of the four special Mitzvot of Purim, consisting of giving money (equivalent to at least the value of a satisfying meal) to (at least, but the more the better) two poor people, each.  In fact, the section in the Rambam's Mishne Torah about the laws of Tzedaka are included in what is entitled Hilchot Matnot Aniyim "Laws of Gifts of the Poor".

And as for the Mitzva of Machatzit HaShekel in relationship to the list of the Taryag Mitzvot (613 Commandments), it is Mitzva 106.  Now, the name of the letter NOON, consisting of the letters Noon-Van-Noon, is the Gematria of 106, which begins and ends with a NOON, just as the word Natan (wording meaning gave or giving, from the midst of the word VeNatnu which is mentioned in the midst of the section of the Torah about the Machatzit HaShekel, noting that all of these three words - Noon, Natan, and VeNatnu - are palindromes.  And perhaps the biggest surprise here is that the Mitzva of Tzedaka is the 480th Mitzva of the Torah.  That's right, the word Shekalim, which in the Torah context, refers to the Mitzva of Machatzit HaShekel which is also a Mitzva of Tzedaka - Mitzva 480, is the Gematria of 480!  Coincidence?!

Now, getting back to the Talmud as per Tractate Shekalim, the name Shekalim has the same Gematria as a most famous word - TALMUD!  Ironically, of the twelve Mishnaic tractates in the second of the six volumes of the Mishna that is called Moed (Holiday), the only tractate that doesn't come along with the explanation of the Babylonian Talmud is Tractate Shekalim, whose name is the same Gematria as Talmud.  However, it does come along with the explanation of the Jerusalem Talmud, just as the other tractates of the volume of Moed.  While at one time, the Daf Yomi of the learning of the Babylonian Talmud didn't include the learning of this tractate, it was decided at one point to include the learning of the Jerusalem Talmud for Tractate Shekalim; thus, giving a taste of the Jerusalem Talmud to those who are accustomed to the daily learning of the Babylonian Talmud, being that the Jerusalem Talmud way of explaining the Mishna is a little different than the typical way of its counterpart Talmud.  In any case, there is a practical difference in terms of Dafim between the two Talmuds pertaining to Tractate Shekalim.  You see, in the regular Jerusalem Talmud edition, it consists of 33 Dafim; while in the edition as printed in the Babylonian Talmud volumes, it consists of 21 Dafim.  The way to remember the number of Dafim in the Babylonian Talmud is that the section of Shekalim in the Torah is the beginning of the 21st Parsha, Ki Tisa.

Now, having mentioned this concept in quite a few of my past posts, we see here a correlationship here between learning Torah and doing acts of kindness or Tzedaka.  You see, the words/phrases of Torah and Gemilut Chasadim (providing kindnesses) have the same Gematria of 611.  Accordingly, both the words/phrases Talmud and Ahavat Chesed (love of kindness) have the same Gematria of 480, and the 480th Mitzva of the Torah is giving Tzedaka.  And accordingly, the word Gemara is the Gematria of 244, and the 244th Mitzva of the Torah is Ahavat Yisrael (love of Jews).

And getting to the corresponding Sephira as per the Jewish calendar, the EIGHTH Sephira combination is Chesed She'B'Gevurah, the beginning of the second set of the Sephirot combinatons that are under the category of Gevurah (Strength), which represents Hashem's Din (strict justice).  Yet, there is an allowance at times for good points within this strict realm.  With this said, giving Tzedaka is in essence performing a Chesed (Kindness) to those who are affected by Gevurah.  This is not to say that all poor people are punished by Hashem, G-d forbid.  If anything, there are some righteous people who are also very poor.  However, we have to remember that in essence, Hashem is all good, and that is why our rabbis enjoin us in the last chapter of Tractate Berachot in the Mishna that one is obligated to bless Hashem for the bad just as we bless Hashem for the obvious good.  And even if this bad is actually a punishment from Hashem, the good part of it is that it is an atonement for us in this world, so we won't be punished by the far more severe punishment in the next world, aside from allowing us to be worthy of our share in the world to come for our good deeds.  Accordingly, even for those who live in poverty not due to punishment, they are also affected by this Divine trait of Gevurah, so unless the reason why they are poor is because they are too lazy to work, they are in this situation because at least outwardly, it seems to be strict justice for them, though in the long run, it paves the way for them to be ever more worthy of the eternal bliss following this short transitory life.

Accordingly, in the first Aliyah of Parshat Chayei Sara, we see the story of how Abraham transacted a business deal to purchase the Mearat HaMachpeilah in Hebron to bury his wife Sara.  We see that Abraham paid the purchase price of 400 Shekel pieces of silver to Ephron, whose name, when spelled without the letter Vav following the transaction due to his greediness, is the Gematria of 400, as well as the phrase Ayin Ra (evil eye), which Ephron, who boasted of how generous he was to Abraham, was in effect quite the opposite.  In any case, in the various Jewish calendar years, the week of Chayei Sara can begin as early as 16 Cheshvan on the first day of the week, and in other years, can end on 27 Cheshvan on Shabbat.  This means that in all years, the dates of 21 Cheshvan and 22 Cheshvan will always fall out during the week of Parshat Chayei Sara.  And as I mentioned in my previous post, the Daf Yomi learning of Tractate Pesachim in this 13th Daf Yomi cycle ended on 15 Cheshvan, and the beginning of the Daf Yomi learning of Tractate Shekalim, which consists of EIGHT chapters, began on 16 Cheshvan, the first day of the week of Parshat Chayei Sara, which begins with the purchase of the Mearat HaMachpelah, where there are a total of EIGHT people buried (Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah).  And while Abraham's giving of the 400 Shekel was not in the context of Tzedaka which is very related to the number eight; nevertheless, the fact that the words Shekel and Kesef (silver) mentioned here are the same words that are mentioned in the section of the Torah about the Machatzit HaShekel that teaches us things about the concept of Tzedaka brings us to mind of this concept, which was a part of Abraham's life, which was especially focused on Hachnasat Orchim (inviting guests), giving them both physical and spiritual nourishment without expecting any financial returns.

In any case, the giving of Tzedaka, which is very related to the number EIGHT, represents the EIGHTH Sephirah combination of Chesed She'B'Gevurah; corresponding to which is the third/fourth week of the month of Cheshvan when we read Parshat Chayei Sara which begins with the story of Abraham purchasing a burial plot for Sara with Shekel coins.  For in fact, burying someone is what is called Chesed Shel Emet "Kindness of Truth", for one is doing a kindness for someone who is now deceased, who obviously will not be able to physically return us a favor, hence, this being Tzedaka given to someone who is deceased, which is not a loan to him, as loans are not considered Tzedaka which is giving something to someone without expectation of being paid back.  The only practical difference between giving Tzedaka to someone who is living and one who is deceased is that at the very least, the one who is alive who just received your kind generous donation of money, food, or clothing will most likely show some short of appreciation, which is absent with one who is now deceased, but is in effect relying on the Chevra Kadisha "Holy Society", the group of people who see to it that the deceased is taken care of properly, including being cleaned, washed, dressed in shrouds, and finally placed in the coffin.

And so, the next time that we give Tzedaka, we should ask ourselves - why we are giving it.  Do we do this because we want to show how kind we are, to make ourselves look good, or...because first of all, it is a Mitzva in the Torah, and it is also a fulfillment of the Mitzva of Ahavat Yisrael, not wishing honor or fame for ouirselves, or even to pat ourselves on the back; but rather, that we are giving it strictly as the Mitzva of Tzedaka, knowing that it will make some positive difference in another's life, just as we would wish for ourselves if we were to be in that same situation.  Hence, the next time that we give Tzedaka, bearing in mind the right reasons for doing so, which by the way maximizes our eternal reward for this Mitzva, it should be what we call QUALITY TZEDAKA.


16 Tevet, 5774

#198 - Pesach 1 & Pesach 2

True, it is not Pesach (Passover) at this time of the year, nor is it mentioned in these weekly Torah readings. Actually, there is a hint to this holiday in Parshat Vayera, but I will address this a little later on in this post.

In this context, I am referring to Tractate Pesachim, which is all about the Mitzvot (commandments) and Halachot (laws) of Pesach.  Forgetting about the questions that are asked at the Passover Seder, but there is an obvious question here - why is the name of this tractate in the plural - Pesachim, rather than in the singular - Pesach?

The truth is that there could be a number of reasons for this.  But the most technical reason here is that believe it or not - this tractate used to be two tractates, called Pesach Rishon (First Passover) and Pesach Sheni (Second Passover).  Of the present 10 chapters of Tractate Pesachim, Pesach Rishon consisted of the first four chapters dealing with the prohibition of Chametz (leaven) on Passover and the 10th and last chapter which is all about the Seder, and Pesach Sheni consisted of Chapters 5 through 9 which is all about the Korban Pesach (Pascal Offering).

There are a couple of other things that the name Pesachim can hint to.  Pesach is the only Jewish holiday that consists of two days of Yom Tov (holiday on which most of the types of work that are forbidden on Shabbat are also forbidden on this day) (in Israel, while four days outside of Israel) that are non-consecutive, referring specifically to the first day and the seventh day, while the days inbetween are Chol HaMoed, in which certain works are permitted while others are forbidden.  Now, in case anyone thinks that I forgot about the holiday of Sukkot that seems to work out the same way, the truth is that the final day is technically a different holiday called Shemini Atzeret (which is sometimes referred to as Simchat Torah).  It is true though that if one were to only to study this tractate for one's source about the observance of the Pesach holiday, one would think that there is only one day of Pesach, or at least would not know that there is a seventh day that needs to be treated with the same laws of Yom Tov as the first day.

And finally, there is in fact another Pesach that is, or at least used to be observed by some during Temple times, in a different month - the following month of Iyar, by those who weren't able to arrive on time on Passover eve to offer their Pascal offering or were spiritually impure forbidden them to do so; and hence, they had a chance to make up for it exactly one month later.  In fact, it is the ninth chapter of Pesachim that deals with this makeup second Pesach.  However, in earlier times, this second Pesach was referred to as Pesach Katan (Small Passover), since it was observed by rather a small amount of Jews and only observed one day, aside from slaughtering the Pascal offering on 14 Iyar as most Jews did on 14 Nissan, and then ate it on that same evening of 15 Iyar, without the observance of Yom Tov of the cessation of various types of work.  But in time, this second Passover came to be known as just this - Second Passover, or Pesach Sheni, the very name of what used to be the second tractate about Passover dealing with the various Mitzvot and Halachot related to the Korban Pesach.

In any case, noting the name of Tractate Pesachim, this word Pesachim is the Gematria of 198, and this is my 198th Post.  And while I have nothing here to mention at this time about any other significance of this matter, I will be continuing to discuss about other numbers that I mentioned about - 14 and 15.

In this 13th cycle of the Daf Yomi, the learning of the Gemara Pesachim began on 14 Tammuz, which was on a Shabbat, and concluded on 15 Cheshvan, which was also on a Shabbat.  Accordingly, the tractate begins with the date of 14 Nissan, in the beginning of which we search for Chametz, and the tractate concludes with the chapter that is all about the Seder that begins Pesach at the beginning of 15 Nissan. Another amazing phenomenon here is that the date of 14 Tammuz on which the Talmudic tractate of Pesachim began to be learned fell out on Shabbat, just as the Rambam - as I mentioned in Post 196 which is also about Pesach - was born on 14 Nissan that fell out on Shabbat.

Now, while the month of Tammuz doesn't seem to have much of a connection particularly with the month of Nissan, the month of our first redemption, for in fact, the Bein HaMeitzarim (Three Weeks) period, the saddest period of time in the Jewish calendar year, begins in the midst of Tammuz, we do see here a connection via a Gematria.  You see, the name of the month Tammuz is the same Gematria as Melech HaMoshiach (453).  Moreover, noting the date of 14 Tammuz, the name of Dovid HaMelech (King David) from whom Moshiach is descended, is the Gematria of 14.  In fact, in certain contexts, King David is referred to as Dovid Malka Meshicha, the latter two words being the Aramaic translatioin of Melech HaMoshiach.  Also, we see an amazing resemblance of the word HaMeitzarim being used to refer to the saddest period in our calendar to the word HaMitzrim (the Egyptians), both words being spelled with the exact same letters in order, but just with different Hebrew vowels (which aren't letters which isn't the same as it is in English).  For in fact, we have a tradition that in the future, the communal fast days that we observe today, including the fast days of 17 Tammuz (Shiva Asar B'Tammuz) that begins the Three Week period and Tisha B'Av (9 Av) which ends this period, will be days of feasting.  And as mentioned in one source (can't remember or be able to locate the source at this time), in this Three Week period, 17 Tammuz will become the first day of Yom Tov, Tisha B'Av will be the last day of Yom Tov, and the days inbetween will be Chol HaMoed.  Indeed, this concept most resembles the holiday of Pesach whose first and last day are Yom Tov and the days inbetween are Chol HaMoed.

Having mentioned the Seder in this post, we also see a connection between the numbers 14 and 15.  As we see in the beginning of the Haggada, there is a phrase of words in which, each word (or individual phrase) names a part of the Seder - Kadeish, Urchatz, etc.   So, how many steps are there in the Haggada?  You might answer here 15, being that the word steps may help you recall the 15 steps in the Temple on which the Levites stood while singing, corresponding to the 15 Shir HaMa'alot (Songs of Ascents) that are Psalms 120-134.  But at the Seder this coming Pesach, you may want to ask everyone at the table as to how many steps there are in the Haggada?  Chances are, some will answer you 14, while others will answer you 15. Why?  You see, it seems that when it comes time for the Berachot (blessings) for the Matza that we will be eating for the first time at the Seder, it is introduced as Motzie Matza, these words referring to their respective Berachot for eating the Matza.  Hence, some will automatically read this as one step, just as the phrase Shulchan Orech, the part in the Haggada referring to meal time, may be two words, but are in fact one thing.

It seems that it is how we look at it.  If we are counting actions in terms of mandatory performance, then yeah, both words Motzie Matza are referring to eating the Matza, and we are saying two blessings beforehand, preparing us to perform the Mitzva of eating Matza, and so you can say that there are a total of 14 main steps.  However, in terms of the various significant parts of the Seder, there are 15, since the two blessings of HaMotzie and Matza are prefaced with different actions; for in fact, we hold all of the three Matzot that are in front of us for the HaMotzie blessing, and then afterwards, we let go of the bottom Matza, reciting the Matza blessing while holding the top two Matzot only, from which we will be eating from, unlike the bottom Matza that we will be eating from a little later on.

Now, let's take a close look at this phrase - Motzie Matza.  The word Matza, at least in its plural form as Matzot in Hebrew, can also be read as Mitzvot with different vowels.  However, the singular from Matza is also the meaning of a negative theme - fighting.  And hence, Motzie which literally means "takes out" in this context that I am attempting to imply as that the phrase reads as "takes out fights".  And while it may seem to be a little joking matter, or moot point, as to how many steps there are in the Seder, for some people, anything that doesn't look right can start fighting between them.  However, being that everyone is hungry by this time if they didn't eat too much during the day, they will be far more attuned to eating Matza that seems to be a novelty being that most haven't eaten it all year round, and then afterwards, more food is consumed, and by the time they are done eating, some will feel realistically a little more on the tired side, also considering the lateness of the hour for many.

Speaking of which, the Gematria of the phrase Motzie Matza is the same as the abbreviated name Rambam -282 (the intials letters Reish-Mem-Beit-Mem begins the words Rabbeinu Moshe Ben Maimon - Our Master Moshe the son of Maimon) or known as Maimonides, as well as the fact that both the Rambam's name and his father's name begin with the letter Mem, just as these words Motzie Matza.  Now normally, we don't say the word as Rambam but HaRambam (the Rambam), just like normally, we say the word in the blessing for bread as HaMotzie rather than Motzie.  Moreover, while we may take the wording of our blessings for granted, there was a debate at one time, as mentioned in the Talmudic tractate Berachot, as to whether the correct phrasing is HaMotzie or Motzie.  And speaking of fighting, a different word for fighting is Riv which is quite similar to the word Rav (rabbi or instructor) or Rabbeinu.

And as Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) Chapter Five teaches us, arguments for the same of Heaven, such as those between Hillel and Shammai, who truly wished only to arrive at the correct Halachic decision for this reason in itself, will wind up staying in existance, meaning in this case, that the respective words of these two great Sages, even though at differences with each other, will forever be part of our holy Torah, even though the Halacha can only follow one of them; but arguments that are not for the sake of Heaven, such as from Korach and his group who rebelled against Moses and Aaron, which was in essence rebelling against Hashem, who did so only for his own benefit wishing to be the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) like Aaron, got swallowed up in the world's first earthquake.

For in fact, the content of the Haggada, especially pertaining to the telling of the story of Exodus, may very well spark a little more than the mere reading of the Hagaddah, for in the midst of reading and discusssing it, one may come to have questions that can lead to a debate, similar to how learning takes place between learning partners in Yeshiva dissecting a section of the Talmud.  It is very interesting how the observance of the Seder is done especially in a family setting, representing not only the Jewish family as the individual, but representing the Jewish people as a whole, because Israel, as a newly formed nation, all left together in the Exodus, who literally Motzie Matza - brought out Matza, the one staple that they had time to prepare before leaving, and even at that, was at the rushing of the Egyptians for the Jews to leave following the death of the firstborn Egyptians, and it was then and only then did Egypt truly allow the Jews to leave the country that they lived in for 210 years.  And so, going through the story of the Exodus as told in the Hagaddah, is generally done in a very happy, festive atmostphere, rather than of fighting, and it is the Matza, which we call "poor man's bread" that reminds us to remain humble, instead of the inflated leaven that represents haughtiness, that we are most enjoined to stay away from.  Indeed, the Gematria of the word Ga'ava (pride) is 15, and the antithesis of this in terms of food is Matza.  In fact, one of the names in the Torah given for this holiday of Pesach is Chag HaMatzot (Holiday of the Matzot), which begins with the 15th of Nissan, but as a precautionary measure, the Torah forbids us to eat leaven already beginning while it is the 14th of Nissan from the afternoon (later on, the Sages made the start time for this at one third of the daytime, or after four hours into the day).

Now, continuing on with the Sephira combinations, we are up to the seventh one - Malchut She'B'Chesed (Kingship within Kindness).  For it was the King of kings, showing his strength to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, who brought us out of Egypt in His great kindness, even though we didn't have too much in the way of savings in our spiritual bank account, and towards this end, He gave us various Mitzvot pertaining to Pesach that prepared us spiritually to be worthy at least some minimal level to leave Egypt.

In terms of Kingship, one of the terms that we use to desribe our various exiles among the nations of the world is Malchuyot (kingdoms), the first of four being Egypt, which was the world power at the time of the Exodus, or at least it was until the Ten Plagues devasted the land.  And it will be Melech HaMoshiach, appointed by Hashem, who will take us out of our final exile, our final kingship of exile.

And speaking of exile, especially as it pertains to living outside of Israel (though today, one can truly live a spiritual exile in Israel, especially under the dictatorship of the anti-Torah Israeli government), the day that is represented by the Sephira of Malchut She'B'Chesed - 22 Nissan - is the last day of Pesach as observed outside of Israel, while in Israel, this holiday already concluded at the end of the previous day, but is rather celebrated as Isru Chag.   Those who observe this date as Pesach in the Diaspora read a special Yom Tov reading from the Torah followed by the Haftara, as done on every Shabbat and Yom Tov, the one for this day being the theme of how things will be in the future, including the coming of Moshiach.  Moreover, there was a custom of the Ba'al Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement, to have what is called Moshiach's Seuda (meal of Moshiach) at the end of Pesach.

And the Sephira in terms of the Jewish calendar, it represents the week that includes 15 Cheshvan, or the second week of Cheshvan that ends with this date.  Now, aside from the fact that in this year, the Daf Yomi learning of the Talmudic tractate Pesachim ended on this date of 15 Cheshvan, it is also the Yarhzeit of Matisyahu of the Chanuka story.  Of all the Jewish holidays, Pesach was the first holiday to be observed, and Chanuka was the last holiday.  Moreover, Pesach is based on miracles that happened to the Jews in Egypt, while Chanuka is based on miracles that happened to us in Israel.  But in terms of similarities, the tractate begins with the word Ohr (light), a word that is most associated with Chanuka, being that the main Mitzva of  this holiday is lighting the Menorah.  Moreover, this tractate consists of a total of 89 Mishnayot, and the name of the holiday Chanuka is the Gematria of 89.

Now, the name Matisyahu, though the name of the one who was ulitmately responsible for the holiday of Chanuka, whose story is not mentioned in the Tanach (Jewish Bible), among the 24 Mishmarot (watches) of the Levites in the Temple, the name of the 14th one was called Matisyahu.  It is interesting that we are mentioning the number 14 here, because it was King David, whose name is the Gematria of 14, who set up the order of the watches.  And indeed, the very beginning of tractate Pesachim begins with Ohr L'Arba'ah Asar, "On the night of the FOURTEENTH (of Nissan), we search for Chametz."  And the name of the Sephira represented by the holiday of Chanuka - Hod - is the Gematria of 15, noting the various connections of 15 especially with the Seder that begins the observance of the holiday of Pesach.

And as the 15th of Cheshvan, the day that we concluded learning the Talmudic tractate of Pesachim, fell out on Shabbat Parshat Vayera, the beginning of this Parsha begins with the story of Abraham inviting three angels, in the guise of human beings, to eat in his home, which happened on Pesach, and then when two of these angles came to Abraham's nephew Lot, he gave them Matzot to eat, and as Rashi mentions, it was Pesach, which at that time, only meant that in some future time, the descendants of Abraham as Jews in Egypt were going to leave that country on Pesach.  And later in the Parsha, the birth of Yitzchak (Isaac) took place on Pesach, as mentioned by our Sages.

On a final note, today's date is 8 Tevet, which is marked in Jewish history with the story of King Ptolemy of Egypt, who gathered 72 Jewish elders (Torah scholars) and placed each one of them in a seperate house, ordering each one of them to translate the Torah into Greek.  The amazing miracle here is that each one of them came out with the exact same translation, particularly with a total of 15 changes from how it would otherwise be translated, in order that the king would not find fault with the Torah noticing discrepancies (Megilla 9a-9b).  Among the 15 changes is where in the Torah it states that we were living in Egypt for 430 years, which actually refers to the period of time from when Hashem told Abraham that his descendants the Jews would be enslaved in a land not belonging them.  In order that no discrepancy would be shown, they changed this to "The dwelling of the Children of Israel who lived in Egypt and other lands was 400 years", which in fact began with Isaac, Abraham's first descendant and ancestor of the Jewish people, which was in Israel, but did not belong to the Jews as of yet.  As for living in Egypt, the Jews lived there for only 210 years. and as Rashi notes, when Jacob told his sons to go to Egypt to buy food when famine began, he told them this use with the wording of Redu (go down), being that this word is the Gematria of 210.  And substracting this number 210 from the total of 400, the difference is 190 which is the Gematria of the word Ketz, which means end, referring to the end of exile or the beginning of redemption.  To be clear, the connection of this story with today's date is that the 72 elders completed the Greek translation of the Torah on this date.

To note, while one make think that this was a great day in Jewish history for the Torah, the first part of the Jewish Bible, to be translated for non-Jews who could for the first time see for themselves what the Torah is like, especially considering the miracle of the exact same translations with the 15 changes from each of the 72 elders, our Sages tell us that in fact, this marked a great day of tragedy.  For now, the words of Torah, so to speak, went into exile, as the Torah is the exclusive ownership of the Jewish people who are observing the laws of the Torah.  To non-Jews who have disdain for our religion and people, the Torah is at best just another book of wisdom, and indeed, the Greek word for Bible is biblos, which means book, that is, just one more book.  In fact, in the Chanuka story, the Syrian Greeks who forbade the Jews to perform key Mitzvot had no problem with Jews reading "the Bible", so long as they were learning it just as another book of wisdom, but not with the intention of performing the Mitzvot of the Torah, taking way, so to speak, the holiness of the Torah, G-d forbid.

Nevertheless, in Hashem's love and kindness for the Jewish people, so at least the Jews wouldn't be disrespected at that time, Hashem saw to it that the elders would translate the Torah in such a way that wouldn't look like it had mistakes in it.  True, Hashem had the Torah written a certain way, and for this, we have the Torah She'B'Al Peh (Oral Law) to explain what may not look write, this would be no excuse to tell the anti-Semitic non-Jews who wouldn't have the Oral Law in their hands to explain the Torah.  In any case, in relationship to the Sephira combination of this post - Malchut She'B'Chesed, it was KING Ptolemy who gathered 72 elders, bearing in mind that the name of the Sephira Chesed is 72.  But ultimately, it was the KING of Kings who utilized His KINDNESS to perform damage control at least for the short term by putting in the minds of the 72 elders to make 15 translation changes, which included the change about the amount of time and names of places that the Jews lived in before the Exodus that we recount in the Seder that is most connected with the number 15.  And in the correlationships between the various Jewish holidays and the Sephirot, Pesach corresponds to to Chesed, as indeed, Hashem took us out of Egypt, even though we were hardly worthy of redemption due to the 49th level of impurity that (some of) the Jews were steeped in.

And finally, noting the title of this post, Pesach 1 represents the first Redemption, and Pesach 2 represents our Final Redemption, for "He will save us and redeem us for a SECOND time...Behold I have redeemed you for the last time like the first time" and "Like the days that you left the land of Egypt, I will show wonders".  May this take place very soon in our time, and may we all merit to live to see this day that we have been waiting for in almost 2,000 years.  Amen!


8 Tevet, 5774

#197 - ALWAYS Comes First Or Last?

Continuing on from my previous post when I left off writing about the Korban Tamid (see my previous post before reading this one to understand the background for this post), the word Tamid is used for this type of offering, as the word Tamid literally means always, and these two communal burnt offering were daily offerings with no brake from offering them on any day of the year.  They were also significant because they were the first and last offerings of the day, and no other offering was to be offered before or after these on any given day.  That is, except for one day on which the afternoon offering was not the last offering of the day - the 14th of Nissan, since afterwards, numerous Pascal offerings were offered for the Jews to be prepared in time to eat of their meat on the first night of Passover at the Seder.

Now, it is true that there is a Mishna (Zevachim 10:1) that tells us that whatever occurs more often than something else takes precedence, noting that the Tamid morning offering are offered before the Mussaf (additional communal holiday) offering(s); and accordingly, the Sabbath Mussaf offering which is offered once a week takes precedence to the New Moon Mussaf offering which was offered once a month (when the Sabbath and New Moon coincide), and so too, the New Moon Mussaf offering takes precedence to the Rosh Hashana Mussaf offering (which was on the New Moon of Tishrei).  Hence, it makes sense automatically that the Tamid afternoon offering should precede the Pascal offerings since after all, the Tamid is brought every day while the Pascal offering is brought once a year.  However, on the other hand, the Tamid afternoon offering is ALWAYS brought especially as the LAST offering of the day; and hence, one would think that perhaps, its usual time of being offered must ALWAYS be respected.

But perhaps, this is the point.  The usual time of the afternoon Tamid offering being brought is not possible on the 14th of Nissan - regardless of whether it is brought before the Pascal offering or afterwards.  You see, the Mishna in Pesachim (5:1) tells us that everyday, it was slaughtered at eight and a half hours of the day and offered at nine and a half hours of the day.  However, on Erev Pesach (14 Nissan), it is slaughtered at seven and half hours and offered at eight and a half hours; and if it falls out on Erev Shabbat (Friday), then it is slaughtered at six and a half hours and offered at seven an a half hours - to allow sufficient time for the Pascal offerings to be brought.  Hence, there would be no way for the Tamid offering to be brought at it usual time if it were to be offered after the Pascal offerings because it would be far later in the day than it is offered on every other day of the year.  Hence, the rule of what takes place for frequent comes first comes into place here, and hence, the afternoon Tamid is offered earlier than usual.  This is bearing in mind that the Pascal offerings were the ONLY holiday offerings of the year (aside from their accompanying Chagiga offerings) that were to be offered specifically in the afternoon in sharp contrast to the other holiday offerings when they are brought in the morning if at all possible.  Hence, the Tamid offering is ALWAYS brought before any given holiday offerings.

It is a little ironic here.  You see, if we dissect the word Tamid, which is also the name of the Mishnaic tractate that focuses on the morning Tamid offering, it can be read at Tam (conclusion or finish) of Yud-Dalet (14), which would make us think that perhaps it is a hint that when it comes to the 14th of Nissan, it should also be brought at the last offering of the day since it seems to hint that even the date of 14 Nissan should end off with this offering.  And in fact, this may be technically be the way that Hashem would Himself decide as how the Halacha (Jewish Law) should be if we were to take a close look in the Torah about when the afternoon Tamid offering is supposed to be brought, and in fact, we see an example in the Talmud (Bava Metzia) in which Hashem admitted "defeat" as to what the Halacha should be.  However, Hashem has given us the Torah and empowered the Torah scholars or Jewish court of the generation to decide matters of Jewish law; and hence, even if Hashem Himself were to tell us what the Halacha should be, we still have to listen to the rabbis who decide since this is what Hashem tells us in the Torah to do.

For that matter, the laws relating to the timing of the afternoon Tamid are mentioned specifically in Tractate Pesachim, and NOT in Tractate Tamid which basically discusses the timing of the morning Tamid.  As we know, Pesach is the holiday of Redemption, and as I mentioned in my previous post, the beginning of Passover corresponds to the first Redeption of the Exodus, while the end of Passover corresponds to our upcoming Final Redemption.  With this said, let's take a close look at the timing of the slaughter of the afternoon Tamid when offered on Erev Pesach when it falls out on Erev Shabbat - " it is slaughtered at six and a half hours".  Now, Kabbalistically, each millenium of the world's existance corresponds to the corresponding day of the week.  Hence, as we are presently in the sixth millenium, it corresponds to the sixth day of the week.  Hence, the first half of this millenium (5000-5500) correspond to the nightime hours of the sixth day, and the second half of this millenium (5500-6000) correspond to the daytime hours of the sixth day (Friday).  Now, halfway of this, beginning with the year 5751, which was 23 years ago, corresponds to the beginning of the afternoon of Friday.  And every 20 years and approximately 10 months correspond to a half hour.

Thus, according to this, we have already reached six and a half hours of the day - which is also the earliest day of the day that the Mincha prayer may be recited - the same timing of the day that the Tamid afternoon offering was slaughtered on 14 Nissan when if fell out ON A FRIDAY.  Thus, it is specifically in the tractate about the holiday of Redemption that the various timings of the AFTERNOON Tamid is mentioned.  For in fact, we have to ALWAYS be in a state of spiritual preparedness, with repentance and good deeds, BEFORE the Redemption comes, because once Moshiach arrives, it will be too late to make amends when the truth will be obvious to everyone in the exalted state that this world will be at when this happens.  According to this, we are technically living on borrowed time, and Hashem is giving us a final chance to do things right before the Galus (exile) show is over, and the only reality is not the way things are preceived like in movies which not only contain scenes that are forbidden to be watched according to the Torah which include forbidden temptations to be looked at as while as wasted time from learning Torah or doing Mitzvot, but also give a very distorted view of what life is about, which brainwashes far too many people; but rather, the reality is what we have to show for ourselves in following the mission that Hashem sent us to this world for, as everything else won't mean anything in the future except for what helps us spiritually afterwards.  And it is specifically to Friday - Erev Shabbat - that this is hinted at, for as our rabbis tell us, whoever prepares on Erev Shabbat, will have what to eat on Shabbat - not only in the sense that since we are forbidden to do many types of work on Shabbat, and hence, we have to prepare our food before Shabbat so as not to transgress the Shabbat accordingly, but this also refers to our spiritual preparation in this world - and especially before Moshiach comes - in order that we will have our eternal reward prepared for us in the next world.

And so in life, we have to make our ALWAYS - what we need to do everyday - as our FIRST things to do in the day, our priority, rather than waiting to do them LAST in the day, before other things come up, or forget about doing the ALWAYS chores.  For as we see when it comes to learning Torah, as much as it is important to learn Torah as much time as possible every day, especially if we are youngsters in Yeshiva or retired from work; the emphasis of the ALWAYS when it comes to Torah is on learning Torah EVERY day, even if on some days, we can't learn that much for whatever reason, but we have to learn something EVERY DAY in order that the Torah is considered the aspect of Tamid - ALWAYS - in our lives.  In that way, every day in our lives will be fused with spiritually, with serving Hashem, the lesson that the Korban Tamid teaches us, being brought twice daily without exception of any day in the year; and hence, the afternoon Tamid had to especially be brought BEFORE the Pascal offering in order not to take any chances of missing out on offering it, especially since if it wouldn't have been brought before the Pascal offerings, it wouldn't have been brought in its usual time, and hence, they could be completely forgotten about, or be without time left in the day to offer them - even though technically, it was supposed to be offered especially as the last offering of the day according to the strict interpretation of the Torah.  Hence, it was better if it was offered even earlier than usual, but that it should be offered without taking chances of missing out on it, despite the fact that the reason for not doing so otherwise would have been because of a most important Mitzva of offering the Pascal sacrifice.

And as we see in the Orach Chaim section of the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) which begins with the laws of the morning in preparing for prayer and ends off with the laws of Purim, particularly in the notes of the Rama (Rabbi Moshe Isserles), the Ashkenazic decisions accompanying the Shulchan Aruch, in the beginning of the Shulchan Aruch, he quotes the verse Shiviti Hashem L'Negdi TAMID  "I have set Hashem in front of me ALWAYS" (Psalms 16:8), and ends the Shulchan Aruch on the final chapter 697 which is about the observance of Purim Katan and Shushan Purim Katan on the 14th and 15th of Adar I (in a leap year that has two months of Adar) on which the Rama notes that we are accustomed to add a little extra to our meal in the spirit of feasting and happiness on 14th of the first Adar as we do in a big way on Purim (which is observed on the 14th of the second Adar), ending off with the verse V'Tov Lev Mishte TAMID  "A good heart feasts ALWAYS".

Anyways, we see here that the concept of Tamid is associated ESPECIALLY WITH THE NUMBER 14, as we see in Tractate Pesachim, as well as the last two letters of the word Tamid spelling the Hebrew number 14.  And counting the Hebrew months from Nissan, the month of our first Redemption, the month of Adar, or in a leap year, Adar I, is the 12th month.  Now, if we count every half month, it winds up that the 14th (and 15th) of Adar, or Adar I, marks like the beginning of the 24th period of a half month.  Accordingly, the year 5751 marked the beginning of the 24th period of 250 years since the creation of the world, and midday of Friday.  This would especially work out if the months of Cheshvan and Kislev each have 30 days, and hence, there already would be a full moon, marking half way in the month, on the night of the 14th of Adar.  Hence, the 15th of Adar (I), which is Shushan Purim (Katan), corresponds to the corresponding time in the year 5771, as well as the six and a half hours point of Friday as per the Korban Tamid on Erev Shabbat - Erev Pesach.  And accordingly, though in fact, the TAMID in the LAST chapter of the Shulchan Aruch significantly corresponds to the afternoon TAMID which was offered as the LAST sacrifice of the day, it is hinted here in terms of the 14th-15th of Adar (I), being that some celebrate Purim particularly on the 15th of Adar (in Jerusalem and in the city of the Biblical Shushan in Iran), and hence, we see the corresponding time hinted here at the six and a half hours of Erev Shabbat - Erev Pesach, even though it was not offered on this particular day as the last offering of the day.

O.K., in the Shulchan Aruch, at least according to the Rama, TAMID - ALWAYS comes first AND last, but particularly in the context of the Shulchan Aruch.  But in terms of Avodat Hashem (serving Hashem), we have to place our spirituality as our priority every day, as the first thing of the day, including morning prayers before tending to our eating needs (however, if one needs the restroom, this comes before prayers because one is forbidden to hold oneself back from using the restroom is one has the slightest need to do so), but even when we can't physically learn Torah or be out doing Mitzvot all day per se because we have to work (which by the way is also a Mitzva in terms of supporting our families as we promise our wives in the Ketuba - marriage contract), we still have to bear Hashem in mind all day long in terms of our thoughts, speech, and action - "I have set Hashem in front of me ALWAYS".


5 Tevet. 5774