As my first post since my Jewish birthday on 1 Iyar, I want to focus today on the number of my present year of life in this world - 45.
First, aside from how the number 45 is spelled in Hebrew as the letters Mem-Hei, it also spells the word that reads Mah. Typically, this word is translated as meaning "what", but at times, depending on the context in the Tanach (Jewish Bible), is means "how" - not necessarily as a question, but rather as an exclamation of praise, such as "HOW goodly are your tents, O Jacob; your living quarters, O Israel" (Numbers 24:5) and "Oh HOW do I love Your Torah, it is my conversation all day long" (Psalms 119:97).
More on this later, but first, I want to write about Adam, the father ancestor of all mankind, since his name is the Gematria of 45, and today is Friday, or the sixth day of the week, the first one in my 45th year, noting that Adam was created on the sixth day of the week. Indeed, I have started a new beginning, so to speak, with the commencement of my 45th year. Thank G-d, I am already a parent of both a girl and a boy.
While Adam is called Adam HaRishon, the first, this is not referring to him as being the first of creation, but rather, the first of all mankind. However, Adam can rightfully be called the HEAD of all creation, since of the four categories of vitality in creation - speaker, living, sprout, and inanimate - it is mankind who is called speaker, since it is only mankind of all creations that are able to speak as coming from the soul (Note: While we see animals, birds, etc. using their mouths in communication, this is not on the same level as it comes for human beings). The ultimate proof of this, aside from the fact that we know that it is mankind of all creatures that is expected to serve Hashem, is that mankind was created last of all creations. You see, it is just as it is in a gathering that is together to meet the king, president, or some other important personage. As it always happens, everyone else is together, and it is they who are waiting for the last one to show up - the important person that they are waiting for. After all, this important person's time is very valuable, and neither does he have the time nor is it respectful to expect him to have him wait for everyone else to show up. Similarly, Hashem created everything else first, so that by the time Adam and Eve would be created on the sixth day following the first five days, including the animals who were created on the sixth day, everything would be ready for them rather than them having to wait for Hashem to create other things that would be of service to them.
With this said, when it comes to the various parts of the body, it is the head that is both literally the head, or the top of the body, and also the leader of the body, because this is where the brain resides, without which, there is no way that the body could survive, and as we know, the various limbs of the body move according to the thinking and will of the brain. Moreover, we usually communicate with each other by seeing each other's faces that are part of the head and speaking to each other with our mouths. And so in essence, mankind is the brainpower of all creation; for after all, what other creature in this universe, for example, is able to create the various modern technologies that mankind has invented, which happen not only because mankind has far more flexibility in moving their limbs than animalistic creatures, but ultimately, it is their brains that are far superior to that of all other creatures. And finally, an injury to the head is far worse than to other parts of the body; for if a part of the body is injured, it is usually just that limb that is affected, but an injury to the head affects not only the head, but quite oftentimes, the rest of the body as well, as is most evident when one is in a coma.
In any case, it is true that the word Rishon (first) is actually based on the word Rosh (head), for indeed, it is the head that is the first to know of something happening, and it is only afterwards that other parts of the body react accordingly. And speaking of the head of creation, the word for creation in Hebrew is Beriah, the Gematria of 218, and this is my 218th post.
Now, I personally believe that if Adam and Eve would not have sinned with the forbidden tree, then Hashem would have picked a different couple who would have sinned. To make this clear, Hashem knew beforehand that Adam and Eve were going to sin; though in fact, they had a choice not to sin, so it isn't like they were forced with eating food that they weren't supposed to eat. However, if Hashem would not have wanted a world with suffering physically or spiritually, he wouldn't have had a couple as the first couple that were going to sin. After all, the very reason why Hashem put us all in this world to begin with was in order for us to earn reward, rather than receiving it par bono, which would make us always feel bad that we are receiving something for nothing. And so, if this world would have been without suffering or temptations, it would defeat the whole purpose of Hashem taking us from a high spiritual place to a rather very low one. And so, even as Adam and Eve were righteous people, Hashem already knew that they were going to sin, and hence, since everyone descended from them who were stricken with punishment, we are all stuck with the same deal, whether it is men working with the sweat of the brow or women dealing with the pains and all of menstration and pregnancy. Hence, since Adam and Eve, as the heads or ancestors of mankind were affected as a result of their sin, we as their descendants are all affected accordingly.
In a similar vein, we Jews started off good with Hashem giving us the Torah and in fact, the impurity that attached to everyone else beginning with Adam and Eve as a result of the original sin, hence causing death, was removed at first from the Jewish people, but was returned followed the sin of the Golden Calf. However, as bad as this was, aside from the much shorter life now that the impurity returned to the Jewish people, it was the crying of the Jews at the evil report of the Spies on the night of the date of Tisha B'Av (9th of Av) that made a major spiritual decline, first delaying them from coming to Israel for nearly 40 years, and this resulted with Moses not being able to come with them to Israel when the time come, for as our Sages say, had Moses entered the Land with the Jewish people, the Temple would have never been destroyed. However, not only one Temple, but two Temples were destroyed - both on this very date of Tisha B'Av, along with a multitude of other major sufferings that happened to the Jewish people on this date.
In any case, we see that the date of Tisha B'Ab is the NINTH day of the FIFTH month (counting from Nissan, the month of the Exodus and birth of the Jewish people). The reason that I write this is becuase the number 45, which is the Gematria of Adam's name, is a multiple of NINE and FIVE. Now, we see that following the sin of the forbidden tree, Hashem confronts Adam, and the very first word that Hashem says to him is Ayeka (Genesis 3:9), which can be translated as "Where have you been", meaning, asking Adam as to how he could have allowed himself to be brought down spiritually from committing this sin. In any case, we see that the word in the text as Ayeka is the very same word, except with different Hebrew vowels, as the word Eicha, the word that begins the book in Tanach that is called Eicha (Lamentations) that is read on Tisha B'Av.
And having said this, it is nothing short of Hashgacha Peratit (Divine Providence) that this word Ayeka is found in Chapter 3, Verse 9 of Genesis - for two reasons. First, the letter with the numerical value of three is Gimel and the letter with the numerical value of nine is Teit, and these two letters when spelled together as this, is the word Get, the name of the document that the husband gives to his wife in divorcing her, and in essence, Adam and Eve were divorced from Hashem's Presence "He (Hashem) chased away mankind" (Genesis 3:24), this word "chasing away" or Vayegaresh in Hebrew, whose root word is used in Tanach in reference of divorcing one's wife. Second, these two numbers together - three and nine - when put together, spells the number 39, and as the Zohar notes (Tikkun 48), there were a total of 39 curses as a result of this sin - 10 for the snake, 10 for Adam (men), 10 for Eve (women), and 9 for the earth (the source of the forbidden tree). This is also related to the 39 types of work which are forbidden to be performed on Shabbat, as these types of work are related to the curse of working that Hashem placed on mankind which are forbidden to be performed on Shabbat, the source of blessing. And by the way, the story of the destruction of the second Temple can be found in the midst of the fifth chapter of Tractate Gittin, the tractate that is all about Jewish divorces, of the Babylonian Talmud.
Now, in a more positive sense, the 45th day from Rosh Hashana (1 Tishrei), the date of the creation of Adam whose name is the Gematria of 45, is the Yahrzeit of Matisyahu (my second Hebrew name that I adopted six years ago) of the Chanuka story - 15 Cheshvan. And it is Matisyahu, who led the rebellion that led to the victory of the Jews over the Syrian Greeks that allowed them to reenter the Temple after an absence of time due to the foreign oppression to attempting to prevent the Jews from observing the Torah, who was responsible for the holiday of Chanuka, marked by lighting the lights of the Menorah for eight nights, and is the 620th and last of the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah and seven Mitzvot instituted by the Rabbis, and the word Keter (crown) consists of the letters that spell the Hebrew number 620. The reason that I write this is because the first days of the year beginning with Rosh Hashana and culminating with Yom Kippur correspond to the total of 10 Sephirot (Keter, Chachma, Bina, Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut) as mentioned in the writings of the Ramak (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero); and hence, Rosh Hashana corresponds to the Sephira of Keter. With this said, the name of Matisyahu who was responsible for the 620th Mitzva is the same Gematria as the name of the holiday Rosh Hashana - 861, of which the first day (which is really only one day according to the Torah, but due to technical reasons related to the timing of seeing the new moon, eventually became two days) corresponds to the Sephira Keter whose name is the Gematria of 620. Moreover, as in this 45th year of mine, Matisyahu's Yahrzeit of 15 Cheshvan falls out on Shabbat on which Parshat Vayeira is read, the latter half of this Parsha is read during the two days of Rosh Hashana.
ABOUT THE NUMBER FIVE
Yesterday, on my birthdate beginning my 45th year, I learned Tikkun 45 of the Zohar. This is the very place in the entire Tikkunei Zohar, going in order of explanation on Parshat Bereishit, that it writes about the FIFTH day of Creation. Amazingly, my 45th year began on the FIFTH day of the week, just as I was born on the FIFTH day of the week (as well as the day that I turned Bar Mitzva and the day that I became a full legal man according to the Torah at the age of 20).
With this said, let us see how some of the greatest Tzadikim (righteous people) bearing my namesake Shimon are especially related to the number five. First, there is Shimon HaTzadik, one of the few righteous Cohanim Gedolim (High Priests) of the second Temple, whose Yarhzeit is 29 Tishrei, which is the first day of the FIFTH week from Rosh Hashana. And then, there is Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi), author of the teachings of the Zohar, whose Yahrzeit is observed on Lag Ba'Omer, which is the FIFTH day of the FIFTH week of Sephirat HaOmer, and whose Sephira combination is Hod She'B'Hod, noting that the word Hod is a multiple of FIVE (as the Gematria of 15 or 5*3). And as related to Rashbi, there was a Rabbi Shimon Lavie who composed the most famous song pertaining to Rashbi who passed away on Day 15=Hod of the FIFTH month (this is a special date known as Tu B'Av), noting that the Tribe of Shimon is the corresponding Tribe of the month of Av. And as pertaining especially to the number 45, the song that this Rabbi Shimon Lavie composed includes the repeat stanza - Bar Yochai Nimshachta Ashreicha Shemen Sasson MeiChaveirecha "Son of Yochai, fortunate are you that you have been anointed with the oil of gladness from among your peers", these last three words Shemen Sasson MeiChaveirecha coming straight from Tehillim Chapter 45 (Psalms 45:8), noting that some have a custom to recite the Psalm Chapter daily corresponding to the present age year that they are in, which means that Psalm 45 is my corresponding psalm as I am presently in my 45th year. With this said, in this same song, there is a stanza that states Na'aseh Adam Ne'emar Ba'avurecha "Let us make mankind (Genesis 1:26)" was said for your sake", noting that the word Adam, which is the Gematria of 45, is used here, as this was the 10th and final Statement that Hashem made in creating the world, creating Adam (and Eve) as the last creation.
In fact, we see in the Torah that the leader of the Tribe of Shimon brought special offerings on behalf of his tribe, in the midst of the leaders of the other tribes doing so, on the FIFTH day, which actually has three meanings - the fifth day from the dedication of the Tabernacle, the fifth day of Nissan, and...the FIFTH DAY OF THE WEEK! And of course, the name Shimon consists of FIVE letters.
ABOUT TODAY'S SEPHIRA
Today is the 17th day of the Omer, and the Sephira combination of this day is Tiferet She'B'Tiferet (Beauty with Beauty). With this, I am reminded of the verse that I mentioned in the beginning of this post Mah Tovu Ohalecha Ya'akov "How goodly are your tents, O Jacob..." This verse begins with the word Mah which is the Gematria of 45. To note, this is one of six places in the Torah that the Sofer (Torah scribe) is supposed to write at the beginning of a column, the FIRST word of this column being the word Mah, which is the same Gematria as the name of the FIRST human being called Adam. Now, the very next word is Tovu (good in plural) which is the Gematria of 17, just as the day of today's Sephira, falling out on the first Friday, or sixth day, of my 45th year, being the same day of the week as Adam was created. And then we see that the name Jacob, the name of the third of the Patriarchs, is mentioned here (though in this context, it refers to the Jewish people).
I am reminded of what it states in the Talmud (Bava Batra 58a) "The BEAUTY of Jacob (the Patriarch) is a reflection of the BEAUTY of Adam". Now, whether this is supposed to be referring to spiritual or physical beauty, it is obvious that the creation of Hashem has to be perfect in the way that He wanted it to be created, since after all, Adam was to be the ancestor of all mankind. In any case, we do see a similarity between Adam and Jacob; Adam being the ancestor of all mankind, and Jacob being the ancestor, or father, of the 12 Tribes of Israel, showing that the Jewish people, despite differences are in essence one, having the potential to maintain unity among each other, which is in fact, an aspect of beauty, because it is precisely with an array of colors that are together that show how different colors are next to each other, side by side. (Note: The word for beauty in this context of the Talmud is a different word being that it is Aramaic rather than Hebrew.)
To note, the Sephira of Tiferet, of the seven active Sephirot (beginning with Chesed), corresponds to Jacob of the Seven Shepherds. And so, this day being the Sephira of Tiferet She'B'Tiferet (Beauty within Beauty) falling out this year on the sixth day of the week, the day of the week on which Adam was created, is an amazing connection between Adam and Jacob in itself. But if this was not enough, this date falls out this year (unlike last year when it also fell out on the sixth day of the week, or in other leap years when we read the previous Parsha) as the sixth day of the week of Parshat Emor, and the sixth Aliyah of this Parsha is all about the Mitzvot of the holiday of Succot, the third of the Shalosh Regalim (Three Pilgrimage Festivals) that corresponds to Jacob of the three Avot (Patriarchs). This is highlighted by a verse that shows a special connection between Jacob and the concept of Succot "Jacob travelled to Succot (name of a city) and while there, he built a home and he made Succot (booths) for his cattle; therefore, he named the place Succot" (Genesis 33:17).
And noting that the above verse is Verse 17 where the word Succot is mentioned THREE times, we see that this number 17 is unique to Jacob in quite a few ways:
1)The Sephira combination of Tiferet She'B'Tiferet, the THIRD Sephira within the THIRD Sephira, which falls out on the 17th day of the Omer, is most connected to Jacob.
2)As the seven days of Succot correspond to the Ushpizin or the Seven Shepherds (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, David), the third day of Succot, which is the 17th of Tishrei, the THIRD day of Succot, corresponds to Jacob.
3)As is mentioned at the very beginning of Parshat Vayechi, Jacob's last 17 years of his life were spent in Egypt, the beginning of the 210 years that the Jews were in Egypt "Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for 17 years" (Genesis 47:28), noting that this Parsha is always read in the month of Tevet, and the name of the constellation for this month is Gedi, the Gematria of 17.
4)The Mitzva of Gid HaNashe, the prohibition of eating the sinew vein of the thigh, is the THIRD Mitzva of the Torah (and the very first of 365 prohibition Mitzvot), which is a result of Jacob being injured at his thigh as a result of having a fight with an angel who looked to wrestle with Jacob. The first word of this phrase GID Hanashe is the Gematria of 17.
5)In the phrase Mah Tovu Ohalecha Ya'akov "How goodly are your tents O Jacob", which we recite at the very beginning of our morning prayers following putting on the Tallit (prayer shawl) and Tefillin (phylacteries), the word Tovu, in reference to the name Jacob, is the Gematria of 17. In the original context of the Torah, this is the THIRD verse of a poetry of blessings for the Jewish people that the evil Bila'am stated that Hashem made him speak instead of his original intended curses in his THIRD attempt of doing so.
Exactly one year ago on this date of 2 Iyar, the 17th day of the Omer, which is Tiferet She'B'Tiferet, Rabbi Ya'akov Yoseph ZT'L, a Rosh Yeshiva in Jerusalem who gave numerous Torah lectures in various places each week, son of the famed Rabbi Ovadia Yosef who served as the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and headed the Shas party of the Knesset, passed away. I already wrote about him last year since his passing, especially as he was a champion to the rights of not giving any parts of Israel away despite being surrounded by others who weren't in agreement of his views, following in the ways of his namesake Ya'akov Avinu (Jacob our Forefather) who was especially attuned to the trait of Emet (truth) - Titein Emet L'Ya'akov "Give truth to Jacob", but one thing of significant interest, as it relates to Tiferet, as that on the day of his passing, unlike many others who are also very sick and aren't conscious in the last so many days of their lives, Rabbi Ya'akov Yosef was fully alert, having recited the morning prayers with his Tallit and Tefillin, noting that the Tefillin is especially related to the concept of Tiferet. Of this rabbi, it can truly be said M'Ya'akov Ad Ya'akov Lo Kam K'Ya'akov "From Ya'akov (the Patriarch) until (Rabbi) Ya'akov (Yosef), there was none who rose like Ya'akov".
As per the above verse "How goodly are your tents, O Jacob", we see that right from the getgo that Jacob was the epitome of Torah learning, because of which is dubbed "The chosen of the Patriarchs", even more than his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham, as the verse writes of him in his youth V'Ya'akov Ish Tam Yoshev Ohalim "Jacob was a man of simplicity, a dweller of tents" (Genesis 25:27), referring to the tents of Torah learning, as in a Yeshiva setting, as this is referring to the tents of Shem and Ever, two of his ancestors who established the very first Yeshiva in the world. And as Jacob is the THIRD of the Avot (Patriarchs), we see in the Talmudic tractate of Shabbat that the Torah is called the "THREEFOLD Torah" (which can be either Torah-Nevi'im-Ketuvim the Tanach or Tanach-Mishna-Gemara).
And noting that today is the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Ya'akov Yosef, which is the first Friday of my 45th year, the SIXTH day of the week on which Adam was created, and having mentioned above about the connection between Adam and Ya'akov Avinu in terms of Tiferet (beauty), there is one chapter in the entire Mishnayot that begins with the word Adam (referring to a human being), the SIXTH chapter of Tractate Ahalot (Tents), this tractate which discusses the spiritual impurity that one can attain as a result of being under the same roof as a corpse, which is originally mentioned in Numbers Chapter 19, in which Verse 14 states - Zot HaTorah Adam Ki Yamut B'Ohel... "This is the law of a person who dies in a tent, whoever comes to the tent or whatever is in the tent will be impure for seven days". Now, aside from the fact that both the Chumash (Penteteuch) and the Mishna chooses the word Adam, rather than one of the other three synonyms in Hebrew for a person, highlights the concept of death that began with Adam following his spiritual downfall. In a homiletic sense, our rabbis tell us "From where do we see that Torah is attained by one who "kills" himself for it? As it says "This is the Torah (law) of a person who dies in a tent"" (Talmud Berachot 63b). Indeed, it takes much Mesirut Nefesh (giving up of oneself) to be a Torah scholar, as we know of numerous examples of rabbis of yesteryear who spent endless hours in their youth, with little sleep, and oftentimes with little food when there was hardly any, learning Torah, especially in the areas of the Talmud and Halacha (Jewish Law), as what Rabbi Ya'akov Yosef specialized in.
And to end off on a GOOD note - noting that the Hebrew word for good is Tov, the Gematria of 17, the number of today's Sephira - as is common in finishing off a piece of Torah, it states Ein Tov Elah Torah "There is no good but Torah" (Talmud Avoda Zara 19b)
2 Iyar, 5774 - 17th day of Sephirat HaOmer
Friday, May 2, 2014
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
#217 - End of the BLOOD Year
At this time, I am literally hours away from my Jewish birthday, ending my 44th year of life in this world. It has been significant that I mentioned the number 44 in my previous two posts, as at this time, both the four red moons as related to the number 44, the Gematria of the word Dam (blood/bloodshed) are taking place, and this, within the middle of the second term of the 44th U.S. President Obama. As for Obama's two presidental terms, multiplying the number 44 by two equals 88, the number that represents the symbol HH, as H is the eighth letter, that stands for Heil Hitler. And there is another word related to this that also begins with the letter H, of course - Holocaust. It was only in 1945 that the Holocaust ended with the ending of World War II, a great travesty that occured with the silence of the world, including and especially the United States, our so called ally of Israel, which then was under the leadership of the anti-Semitic U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, during which time a boatload of Jews came to the States escaping the Holocaust, only to be turned back and perish in the flames of Jew hatred. It was only thanks to Mr. Roosevelt croaking in the midst of his FOURTH term that things changed, with Harry S. Truman taking over the reigns, who even acknowledged Israel as the State of Israel in 1948 shortly after this historical event took place.
In any event, having mentioned before that Obama is Gog (U'Magog), this phrase Gog U'Magog is the Gematria of 70, and next year, the predicted time that Obama will be pressing the red button on Israel, it will be just about 70 years since the end of the Holocaust. Also, this will be happening around the end of 48 years since the liberation of Jerusalem which occurred in 5727 (1967). You see, the number 48 is the sum of the numbers FOUR and FORTY-FOUR, and it is particularly on Jerusalem, as foretold in the Tanach, that Gog U'Magog and Co. will be fighting against, which is basically negating the belief of Jerusalem as our capitol as far as they are concerned, attempting to vindicate the claims of the Arabs that the Temple Mount area in their East Jerusalem is theirs, while fighting us in West Jerusalem where most of the Jews in Jerusalem reside, since after all, both the Arabs and the other nations not only don't want us in East Jerusalem, but neither in any part of Jerusalem - or anywhere else in Israel for that matter, but their fight against us will at least begin in Jerusalem, because after all, if we are not entitled to even live in Jerusalem the capitol, then what right do we have to live anywhere else in Israel. This will especially be the case should Moshiach come soon enough, because then, the nations will make one last attempt to get rid of us, knowing that if indeed we have the true Moshiach that we have been waiting for, the more Jews dead, G-d forbid, the better for them from their perspective, as they will viciously attempt to prevent us from having the long awaited Redemption.
There is something that I had mentioned once before in connection with the number 44, aside from Torah study, that could very well help the Jewish people from this bloodshed predicament. You see, in the 70 Tikunim of the Tikunei Zohar, the holiest part of the Zohar, Tikkun 44 focuses on the Mitzva of Tzedaka (charity). Indeed, the final verse of the Haftara for Parshat Devarim, the 44th Parsha, that we read on the Shabbat before Tisha B'Av, reads "Zion will be redeemed with justice, and those who return to her with Tzedaka" (Isaiah 1:27). And amazingly, as the Tikkunei Zohar at one point explains the verses in Parshat Bereishit in order of the verses, it is Tikkun 44 that explains particularly the section of the Torah of the FOURTH day of Creation. By the way, this final day of my 44th year falls out on the FOURTH day of the week. And not to forget, my son Shevach Tzion Yisrael was born on Wednesday, the FOURTH day of the week, of the last day of Week 16 (4*4!) of my 44th year (along with his circumcison one week later on the FOURTH day of the week), whose first two names were given based on my Pasuk (verse) that I recite corresponding to my name Shimon that begins with the letter Shin and ends with the letter Noon (Sophit), the verse beginning with the word Shabechi and ending with Tzion (Zion), noting that the names Shevach Tzion is the same Gematria as my name Shimon - 466! Moreover, I was born on Day 16 (4*4) of the Sephirat HaOmer.
And moving along on the Sephira calendar in posting, we are currently up to Hod She'B'Netzach, the 26th Sephira combination. As it turns out for today's very date - the 15th day of the Omer, which is actually the Sephira combination of Chesed She'B'Tiferet - the name of the Sephira of Hod is the Gematria of 15, and the corresponding Sephira for the FOURTH day of the week is Netzach. And the Shir Shel Yom, the psalm for Wednesday, the FOURTH day of the week, is Psalm 94 along with the first three verses of Psalm 95, which is a total of 26 verses. And speaking of 26, it is the Gematria of the main name of Hashem written in English as YKVK (where K substitutes H out of respect of Hashem's holy name), which is represented by the Sephira of Tiferet, the combination of Chesed (strict kindness) and Gevurah (strict justice), blending the perfect combination for Hashem to rule this world in order for it to continue existing without getting carried too far away with sins. Moreover, this Psalm 94 begins with the word E-l, which is the name of Hashem that corresponds with the Sephira of Chesed, even as the opening verse speaks of vengence, except that this vengence against the nations who mistreated us with their anti-Semitism, thus showing Hashem's kindness towards us, just as a father would want to show his beloved son that injustice against him in not tolerable. Hence, today - this FOURTH day of the week of all weeks of the year, the Psalm of this day represents the very Sephira combination of today's Sephirat HaOmer.
The truth is, the Talmud near the end of Tractate Shabbat mentions, where there are a list of predictions for those born on any particular day of the week or under a particular hour that is under the influence of one of the planets, states "There is no Mazel (constellation signs) for the Jews". For even if what there is supposed to be a bad sign for us, G-d forbid, it can be changed over for the good, if we just but repent, just as a true Ba'al Teshuva (repentant) can change his sins into merits. The proof for this is what Pharaoh (and is strongly believed that President Obama is a reincarnate of the Pharaoh of the Exodus) told Moses, that he sees Ra'ah (literally means evil) coming to meet the Jews. In this instance, Pharaoh was actually referring to a star named Ra'ah that indicated bloodshed, attempting to scare Moses from wanting to lead the Jews out of Egypt, so they could remain his slaves. In any event, we see that this was an actual predicament; but however, it was changed for the good of the Jews in the merit of TWO BLOODS - the blood of Brit Mila (circumcision) and the blood of the Korban Pesach (Pascal lamb) that the Jews smeared on the doorposts which would prevent the Jewish firstborn from being struck when the Egyptian firstborn would be struck. In retrospect, we see that in essence, the Jews were prevented from a Holocaust at that time, since we see that a DOUBLE BLOOD merit was needed to avert the predicament of this Ra'ah sign, as twice the number 44 is the same number representing Hitler.
As we are coming close to entering this 70th year, being mindful of the 70 Tikkunim of the Zohar, let us do what it takes to avert this coming evil decree, G-d forbid, which includes learning the Zohar - though it must be emphasized that it shouldn't be learned for the sake of learning "the secrets" in using Kabbala, for it is in fact forbidden to use Kabbala for our own means, but simply for the sake of Torah study, as the Vilna Gaon writes that it will be in the merit of the inner parts of the Torah (which includes the Zohar) that we will be redeemed. And as related to the number of this post, the word HaZohar (the Zohar) is the Gematria of 217.
And in conclusion, we see that there 70 people of Jacob's family that are mentioned by name coming to Egypt. Actually, the total amount of names are 69, but the 70th was Yocheved, the mother of Moses, who was born just as the Jewish family clan was entering the walls of Egypt. It seems that her name isn't mentioned in this context, because...she hints to the future Redemption, and we sure hope that by the time that Passover of this coming Hebrew Year 5775, nearing the end of the 70th year, comes around, that we will be able to see good things happening to the Jewish people, despite the upcoming war of Gog U'Magog, leading to our long awaited Redemption.
30 Nissan, 5774
In any event, having mentioned before that Obama is Gog (U'Magog), this phrase Gog U'Magog is the Gematria of 70, and next year, the predicted time that Obama will be pressing the red button on Israel, it will be just about 70 years since the end of the Holocaust. Also, this will be happening around the end of 48 years since the liberation of Jerusalem which occurred in 5727 (1967). You see, the number 48 is the sum of the numbers FOUR and FORTY-FOUR, and it is particularly on Jerusalem, as foretold in the Tanach, that Gog U'Magog and Co. will be fighting against, which is basically negating the belief of Jerusalem as our capitol as far as they are concerned, attempting to vindicate the claims of the Arabs that the Temple Mount area in their East Jerusalem is theirs, while fighting us in West Jerusalem where most of the Jews in Jerusalem reside, since after all, both the Arabs and the other nations not only don't want us in East Jerusalem, but neither in any part of Jerusalem - or anywhere else in Israel for that matter, but their fight against us will at least begin in Jerusalem, because after all, if we are not entitled to even live in Jerusalem the capitol, then what right do we have to live anywhere else in Israel. This will especially be the case should Moshiach come soon enough, because then, the nations will make one last attempt to get rid of us, knowing that if indeed we have the true Moshiach that we have been waiting for, the more Jews dead, G-d forbid, the better for them from their perspective, as they will viciously attempt to prevent us from having the long awaited Redemption.
There is something that I had mentioned once before in connection with the number 44, aside from Torah study, that could very well help the Jewish people from this bloodshed predicament. You see, in the 70 Tikunim of the Tikunei Zohar, the holiest part of the Zohar, Tikkun 44 focuses on the Mitzva of Tzedaka (charity). Indeed, the final verse of the Haftara for Parshat Devarim, the 44th Parsha, that we read on the Shabbat before Tisha B'Av, reads "Zion will be redeemed with justice, and those who return to her with Tzedaka" (Isaiah 1:27). And amazingly, as the Tikkunei Zohar at one point explains the verses in Parshat Bereishit in order of the verses, it is Tikkun 44 that explains particularly the section of the Torah of the FOURTH day of Creation. By the way, this final day of my 44th year falls out on the FOURTH day of the week. And not to forget, my son Shevach Tzion Yisrael was born on Wednesday, the FOURTH day of the week, of the last day of Week 16 (4*4!) of my 44th year (along with his circumcison one week later on the FOURTH day of the week), whose first two names were given based on my Pasuk (verse) that I recite corresponding to my name Shimon that begins with the letter Shin and ends with the letter Noon (Sophit), the verse beginning with the word Shabechi and ending with Tzion (Zion), noting that the names Shevach Tzion is the same Gematria as my name Shimon - 466! Moreover, I was born on Day 16 (4*4) of the Sephirat HaOmer.
And moving along on the Sephira calendar in posting, we are currently up to Hod She'B'Netzach, the 26th Sephira combination. As it turns out for today's very date - the 15th day of the Omer, which is actually the Sephira combination of Chesed She'B'Tiferet - the name of the Sephira of Hod is the Gematria of 15, and the corresponding Sephira for the FOURTH day of the week is Netzach. And the Shir Shel Yom, the psalm for Wednesday, the FOURTH day of the week, is Psalm 94 along with the first three verses of Psalm 95, which is a total of 26 verses. And speaking of 26, it is the Gematria of the main name of Hashem written in English as YKVK (where K substitutes H out of respect of Hashem's holy name), which is represented by the Sephira of Tiferet, the combination of Chesed (strict kindness) and Gevurah (strict justice), blending the perfect combination for Hashem to rule this world in order for it to continue existing without getting carried too far away with sins. Moreover, this Psalm 94 begins with the word E-l, which is the name of Hashem that corresponds with the Sephira of Chesed, even as the opening verse speaks of vengence, except that this vengence against the nations who mistreated us with their anti-Semitism, thus showing Hashem's kindness towards us, just as a father would want to show his beloved son that injustice against him in not tolerable. Hence, today - this FOURTH day of the week of all weeks of the year, the Psalm of this day represents the very Sephira combination of today's Sephirat HaOmer.
The truth is, the Talmud near the end of Tractate Shabbat mentions, where there are a list of predictions for those born on any particular day of the week or under a particular hour that is under the influence of one of the planets, states "There is no Mazel (constellation signs) for the Jews". For even if what there is supposed to be a bad sign for us, G-d forbid, it can be changed over for the good, if we just but repent, just as a true Ba'al Teshuva (repentant) can change his sins into merits. The proof for this is what Pharaoh (and is strongly believed that President Obama is a reincarnate of the Pharaoh of the Exodus) told Moses, that he sees Ra'ah (literally means evil) coming to meet the Jews. In this instance, Pharaoh was actually referring to a star named Ra'ah that indicated bloodshed, attempting to scare Moses from wanting to lead the Jews out of Egypt, so they could remain his slaves. In any event, we see that this was an actual predicament; but however, it was changed for the good of the Jews in the merit of TWO BLOODS - the blood of Brit Mila (circumcision) and the blood of the Korban Pesach (Pascal lamb) that the Jews smeared on the doorposts which would prevent the Jewish firstborn from being struck when the Egyptian firstborn would be struck. In retrospect, we see that in essence, the Jews were prevented from a Holocaust at that time, since we see that a DOUBLE BLOOD merit was needed to avert the predicament of this Ra'ah sign, as twice the number 44 is the same number representing Hitler.
As we are coming close to entering this 70th year, being mindful of the 70 Tikkunim of the Zohar, let us do what it takes to avert this coming evil decree, G-d forbid, which includes learning the Zohar - though it must be emphasized that it shouldn't be learned for the sake of learning "the secrets" in using Kabbala, for it is in fact forbidden to use Kabbala for our own means, but simply for the sake of Torah study, as the Vilna Gaon writes that it will be in the merit of the inner parts of the Torah (which includes the Zohar) that we will be redeemed. And as related to the number of this post, the word HaZohar (the Zohar) is the Gematria of 217.
And in conclusion, we see that there 70 people of Jacob's family that are mentioned by name coming to Egypt. Actually, the total amount of names are 69, but the 70th was Yocheved, the mother of Moses, who was born just as the Jewish family clan was entering the walls of Egypt. It seems that her name isn't mentioned in this context, because...she hints to the future Redemption, and we sure hope that by the time that Passover of this coming Hebrew Year 5775, nearing the end of the 70th year, comes around, that we will be able to see good things happening to the Jewish people, despite the upcoming war of Gog U'Magog, leading to our long awaited Redemption.
30 Nissan, 5774
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
#216 - Going from STRENGTH 2 STRENGTH
A few days ago, something that went virtually unnoticed took place. Shortly after Passover, on 23 Nissan, the 8th worldwide cycle of the Daf Yomi of the Jerusalem Talmud ended, and on the following day - 24 Nissan - the 9th worldwide cycle of the Daf Yomi of the Jerusalem Talmud began. To be honest, I found absolutely nothing in the internet about this, as it far pales in stark comtrast to the Daf Yomi of the Babylonian Talmud. The reason for this is quite simple - relatively few people study the Jerusalem Talmud, except for seasoned scholars and some Gerrer Chasidim, as the fifth Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter ZT'L is the one who proposed this idea of learning Daf Yomi of the Jerusalem Talmud, which began on Tu B'Shevat (15 Shevat) 5740 (1980).
In this instance, the significance of the timing of the conclusion of the 8th cycle of this Daf Yomi and the commencement of the 9th cycle of this Daf Yomi is strikingly amazing in terms of this Sephirat HaOmer (counting of the days from the day after the first day of Passover at which an Omer offering was brought in the Temple until the holiday of Shavuot), for the conclusion of the 8th cycle took place on the 8th day of the Sephira, and so the commencement of the 9th cycle took place on the 9th day of the Sephira. And if this was not enough, the date of this commencement took place on 24 Nissan, the birthdate of the founder of the learning of this Daf Yomi of the Jerusalem Talmud - Grand Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter of the Gerrer Hasidic dynasty!
Now first, in terms of the conclusion of this EIGHTH cycle, it ended off with Tractate Nidah, which is about the woman who had a period who needs a period of non-physical contact with her husband which includes first a period of usually 5-6 days until no more blood appears, followed by seven "clean" days on which no blood has been seen, following which the woman goes to a Mikva (ritualarium), then rendering her pure to resume physical contact with her husband. In any case, we see that it is only following these seven clean days that on the night of the EIGHTH that she becomes spiritually pure once again.
To note, in the Jerusalem Talmud, there are 13 Dafim on this tractate, which includes material only on the first four out of ten chapters of this tractate. And as we see, there are approximately 13 days from the beginning of a woman's period until she is ready for the Mikva. (Technically, it could happen as early as 12 days, but oftentimes, since we count the period of time as to when day begins which is nighttime, rather than hours; and so, it often happens that at least six days, including the day that blood was first seen, are counted before no more blood is seen, and is only at that point that the seven clean days begin). Corresponding, we see an amazing thing with the Shlosh Esrei Middot HaRachamim (the Thirteen Divine Attributes of Mercy), in which the final one of these 13 is V'Nakeh "and will be clean (from sin)", which in the context of when the woman goes to the Mikva, it could happen at times on the 13th day from when the period began, or this 13th day could be the conclusion of the seven clean days.
And now, in terms of the commencement of this NINTH cycle, it begins with Tractate Berachot, which consists of NINE chapters. And as we know, various conduct in how we say the main Shemoneh Esrei prayer is based on the conduct of Chana, mother of Shmuel HaNavi (Samuel the Prophet) when she prayed, as we see in the beginning of Sefer Shmuel that we read on the first day of Rosh Hashana, following which, we pray the Mussaf Shemoneh Esrei which consists of NINE blessings, the ONLY day(s, being that we now observe two days of Rosh Hashana) of the year that the Shemoneh Esrei consists of particularly nine blessings. And as related to a birthday, the birthday of a person is technically his Rosh Hashana, for indeed, it is the beginning, or as literally translated, the head of one's year, just as Adam and Eve, the ancestors of all mankind, were created on Rosh Hashana, which was also their personal Rosh Hashana. And as we see pertaining to the Gematria of Adam's name - 45, the Mispar Katan (small Gematria) is NINE (4+5).
And as for the new cycle of the Daf Yomi of the Jerusalem Talmud beginning on the birthday of the one who proposed this idea, his birth took place 116 years ago in 5658 (1898). And as we know, there were 116 years of slavery of the Jews in Egypt until their freedom with Yetziat Mitzrayim (Exodus), and one's birth is in essence, leaving the Meitzarim (straights) of the womb, being freed from the womb and let out into the world at large. And though ironically, we are speaking of 116 years since the birth of Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter, the ultimate freedom of a Jew is Torah, as we see in the sixth chapter of Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers). In any case, the first chapter of the Mishna/Talmud is very connected with the concept of the Exodus, for the subject matter of this chapter is about the Shema, which concludes with the verse that mentions the Exodus, and as the last Mishna of the chapter deals with as to how we know that the third paragraph of the Shema, which includes mention of the Exodus, is recited even at night (even though the first topic which is about the Mitzva of Tzitzit is technically a daytime Mitzva), which is quoted in the Haggada.
Now, for more emphasis on the concept of nine, as especially related to the concept of the Sephira of this date (24 Nissan) as Gevurah She'B'Gevurah (Strength within Strength), which has to do with strict justice, the number nine is especially related to the concept of darkness, such as darkness being the ninth plague that struck the Egyptians, and in terms of us - it is the ninth of Av, the month that is represented by the letter Teit, the ninth of the Aleph Beit with a numerical value of nine, which is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, commemorating the destruction of both Temples, along with other numerous unfortunate events for Jews that took place on this date. In fact, the phrase of "in darkness, you have placed me", which is mentioned in the Talmudic tractates of Sanhedrin and Avoda Zara as referring to the Babylonian Talmud, the product of the learning that took place in the exile of Babylonia, the country which destroyed our first Temple, comes from the book of Eicha (Lamentations) that is read specifically on Tisha B'Av. And so, it is quite ironic that it is the NINTH cycle of the Daf Yomi of the corresponding Jerusalem Talmud that commenced on the NINTH day of the Sephira that represents the ultimate harshness and darkness.
On this note, it must be remembered that we just passed the first of four red moons, which I wrote about in my previous post. Technically, the sign of a red moon is, G-d forbid, a bad sign for Jews. True, we are soon going to usher into the Messianic era; however, this will not occur without a major challenge to the Jewish people. However, one of the main ways, though not the only way, that will help us as a nation pass through these rough times, is the study of Torah, which has been recently challenged by the Knesset in which some viciously attempted to pass rules which will, G-d forbid, punish the very group of Jews who learn Torah the most.
This vicious effort was superheaded in part by the evil Naftali Bennett, whose last name in Hebrew, which is spelled as Beit-Noon-Teit, reads the word Satan (letters Sin-Teit-Noon) in the Gematria form of Atbash (the first Aleph being substituted with the last letter Tav, the second letter Beit being substituted with the next to the last letter Shin, and so on), using the pretext that this was part of a serious of bills being in benefit of the Hareidi (Ultra-Orthodox) to give work incentives for them, as though he couldn't pass this work incentive bill alone. Indeed, this is the very way how Satan operates, for an observant Jew doesn't necessarily think of sinning by itself, but is sometimes fooled by the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination), which is Satan, to think that one could be doing a Mitzva, when in fact, it is an Aveira (sin), or leads to an Aveira, which in this case, is "defending" the State of Israel. Moreover, this last name can be read as B'Noon-Teit (with Noon-Teit), for the letters Noon and Teit begin the names of Nebuchadnezzar and Titus, the respective heads of the Temple destruction operations of the Babylonian and Roman empires. And while in Bennett's video of him talking in English, he spoke about his ancestors in Europe not having had the chance to defend themselves; there would be NO NEED to defend ourselves in our country if we would only do what Hashem wants. In fact, quite contrary, it is due in part, in fact, a large part, of Jews learning Torah especially in Israel, that helps so many miracles of Jews not being attacked, as especially evident with the amount of missiles that our Arab enemies throw at us these days. And so, for an observant Jew who is devoted to learning Torah to be thrown in a non-friendly observant environment of the army is not going to help matters in the long run; aside from the fact that this is an army that is basically trained to be "moral" and not be so quick to attack our enemies, and unless openly attacked first, to at most shoot in the air, something that is not done in ANY other army in the world.
And as I am writing this post which is based on the study of the Daf Yomi of the Jerusalem Talmud, it was in Jerusalem that the gathering and protest of the Hereidi community took place a couple of months ago, in response to the Knesset attempt to get Jews learning Torah in Yeshivot to learn a little less by "defending" our country. Perhaps for others, such as in the Zionist or Dati Leumi (National Religious) camp, and for anyone else who wants on his own to serve in the army, it is a Mitzva for them to be in the army, if their sole intent is truly to defend our country, rather than follow orders that could be detrimental to the safety of Israel. However, for those who are truly intent in learning Torah, so long as this army is dictated by the policies of an anti-Torah/religious government, there is NO Mitzva to serve in the army, since as it states in the Talmudic tractate of Megilla, learning Torah is GREATER than saving lives. Yes, you read correctly, though of course, if G-d forbid, a situation occurs where there is no else or there is insufficient manpower to save lives, then we need to stop our Torah learning to tend to the emergency situation, since after all, "learning Torah leads to action", and that is why we have Taryag Mitzvot (613 Commandments).
However, in our situation, since the Israeli army is an army that is based on mandatory recruitment of its citizens, rather than voluntary enrollment such as in the United States; numbers is not an issue. And as seen in the history of Israel's wars in the last 65 some years, Hashem has done all kinds of miracles to save us from our Arab enemies. However, it was particularly when Israel practiced restraint to fulfill the wishes of the United States not to attack the Arabs first, that caused THOUSANDS of Jews to be killed in war, which could and would have been avoided for the most part had Israel attacked first. And so, before Jews who hate our Torah tell followers of the Torah what to do, let them at least first get their own act in order and show the type of true strength needed in fighting our enemies as every other sane country does in fighting its enemies, in lieu of releasing terrorists - who deserve execution - from prison; and then perhaps, the evil Bennett, whose beanie on his head is just a Jewish uniform in disguise, can start lecturing Torah Jews on the benefits of "defending" our country.
And so indeed, even in Israel, we are living in a period of darkness, just as in the period of the Syrian Greeks who attempted to get the Jews to stop observing the Torah, which is hinted to by the Torah with the mention of the word Choshech (darkness), in which even some in the guise of observant Jews, including some Zionist rabbis, tell truly observant Jews who are devoted to the Torah, that they are sinners by not wishing to "fulfill" what the Torah says, to be part of army that "fights" our enemies, as we see in numerous stories in the Tanach (Jewish Bible). However, the difference is that at least in those days, there was virtually no political interest controlling how we fought our enemies, and quite often, they had no choice but to fight to the bitter end, and were indeed in the midst of getting rid of our enemies, as the Torah mandates. However, with all the talks and concessions happening from the Israeli government, not only is its interest is NOT in annihilating our enemies, but it even causes further attacks from our neighboring Arabs, proving statistically in an increase in terror when "peace" concessions are taking place, along with of course, releasing thousands of Arab terrorists from Israeli prisons. And so, a larger army is definitely NOT the answer to the present crisis that is happening in Israel. The ONLY answer to our present crisis is if anything, to beef up our Torah observance, and then, in the merit of these good Jews, Hashem will continue performing miracles on our behalf.
With this said, if the Israeli government is truly worried about upcoming wars, it should start worrying about the upcoming Gog U'Magog war, which will be headed by none other than its "ally" country, the good U.S. of A., which is still keeping Jewish and American hero Jonathan Pollard in prison to rot away, even as he is presently in poor health. And with his recent refusal to attend the parole board in the midst of the United States to be pressured to release him with conditional further releases of terrorists in Israel, it just comes to show who is the hero and villians here. Of course we didn't see any fuss in press releases in the States of how Jonathan Pollard could be such a fool to take a chance of not being released after being stuck in prison for nearly three decades, because this would make him look real good, the LAST thing that the United States as headed by the evil Obama wants; and so, life goes on as though it is Israel who didn't want the "peace" concessions to continue, still being blamed by the evil John Kerry when he knows damn well it is the Arabs who have been cry babies for the longest time, having the Chutzpa to do so when Israel, on his demands, already released scores of terrorists.
MIDDLE SEPHIRA-MIDDLE DAY-MIDDLE TRACTATE
The truth is that the focus of this post is on Torah learning. With this said, moving along the Sephira calendar as this year's posts is following, the 25th or the MIDDLE of the 49 Kabbalistic Sephirot is Netzach She'B'Netzach, and as related to our post, I will translate as Victory within Victory, for indeed, it is the learning of Torah that will be the ultimate cause of our victory over our enemies.
Lo and behold, the MIDDLE day of this Hebrew Year 5774, having the maximum of 385 days as allowed in our present Jewish calendar, is 14 Adar II, the date of Purim! And as we see from the Vilna Gaon pertaining to the relationship of the various holidays with the Sephirot, it is the holiday of Purim that corresponds to the Sephira of Netzach! For as clearly shown in the Megilla that we read on Purim, it was following our VICTORY over our enemies that we celebrated.
The truth is that it is a little funny here, because the number of this post - 216, is the Gematria of the Sephira that is called Gevurah (Strength), but in a way, there is a connection here, because it is with strength that an army has VICTORY in war. Actually, the title of this post is actually based on a verse in Psalm 84, where it states "they will go from strength to strength", though the actual Hebrew word used for strength in this instance is not Gevurah but Chayil, which in at least modern Hebrew, is based on the wording that means soldier. And in the Talmudic sense, the context refers to one who has completed a course of Torah study or has done a Mitzva, and is wished continued strength in learning more Torah or doing Mitzvot.
And amazingly, the Gematria of the name of the MIDDLE tractate of the Mishnayot - Bava Metzia - is 216, which in this year, in the NINTH cycle of the study of one chapter of Mishnayot a day, was learnt in the MIDDLE 10 days of the month of Nissan, the month of miracles, as it consists of 10 chapters. And the MIDDLE two days of Nissan - the 15th and 16th - are both especially related to miracles, as the 15th is the miracle of the Exodus, and the 16th marks the date of hanging Haman, the villian in the Purim story who attempted to have all the Jews murdered on one day. The miracle in this instance is that one day, Haman was second to King Achashveirosh, and then the next thing we know, King Achashveirosh orders his execution, leading to the war of the Jews fighting victoriously over our enemies.
Aside from this reason, noting that in this Hebrew leap year, there were two months of Adar, the Talmud in Tractate Megilla discusses as to which of these months is appropriate to have the holiday of Purim. The conclusion is that Purim should be celebrated in the second month of Adar, as it is appropriate to have a holiday of miracles in the month closest to the month in which we have another holiday of Passover celebrating miracles.
With this said, the name of Sephira called Netzach, the FOURTH and MIDDLE of the seven Sephirot, is the Gematria of the name of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov - greatgrandson of the Ba'al Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement - who was born on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, who was especially connected with the number FOUR. And noting that both his name and the name of the month of Nissan both start and end with the letter NOON (as well as the name of Nachshon Ben-Aminadav, leader of the Tribe of Judah the FOURTH son of Jacob and Leah, who brought special offerings in the Tabernacle on behalf of his tribe on Rosh Chodesh Nissan), it is precisely in this year that the study of the first three tractates of the FOURTH of the six volumes of the Mishnayot, called Nezikin (Damages) was learnt in this program of one chapter of Mishna a day, noting that the name Nezikin also begins and ends with the letter NOON! This is also to note that at one time, these three tractates - Bava Kama (First Gate), Bava Metzia (Middle Gate), and Bava Basra (Last Gate) - was at one time one large tractate also called Nezikin. but in time, was divided into three separate tractates. To note, Bava Metzia is called the Middle Gate because it is the middle of these three tractates in Nezikin, but it is ALSO the MIDDLE of the 63 tractates of the Mishnayot. In any case, the very first chapter of Nezikin, the first chapter of Bava Kama, which was learnt on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, starts off stating Arba'ah Avot Nezikin... "There are FOUR classifications of damages - the ox, the pit, the tooth, and the fire", noting the number FOUR beginning the FOURTH volume of the Mishnayot.
And having written in this post about Jewish armies and fighting, it was Yehoshua Bin-NOON (Joshua son of Noon) who led the Jews people to Israel and faught various nations for seven years before dividing the land for the various tribes. And in this year, aside from the learning of the first chapter of Nezikin/Bava Kama that starts off with mentioning the word Avot, it is the very name of the tractate that we learn on Shabbat starting from the Shabbat after Passover (until Shavuot or Rosh Hashana depending on custom) which fell out this year on 26 Nissan, the Yahrzeit of Yehoshua, beginning with stating "Moses received the Torah from Mt. Sinai, and handed it over to Joshua, Joshua to the prophets...". In fact, some of Joshua's main accomplishments took place in this very month of Nissan, including on the 10th of Nissan in which he led the Jews to Israel, and his first victory mission that took place in Jericho on the 28th of Nissan. Indeed, it is hardly surprising that we mention Joshua on the first day of Passover, both in the Haggada and the Haftara, for it was Joshua, as Moses' successor, who followed in his footsteps in TRUE Jewish leadership and fighting our enemies, realizing that ultimately, if we do our part, then Hashem will do His part and help us with His miracles, a point that was made clear to Joshua when an angel appeared to him early on to reprimand him for not learning Torah one day in the midst of a fighting expidition, keeping him in track of what is the ultimate weapon in the midst of fighting our enemies, not using a lack of time as an excuse for not learning Torah, an event that is mentioned in the Haftara for the first day of Passover (Note: Though this is not clear from the text of the Tanach/Haftara, this is how our rabbis in the Talmud interpret this story).
And as our rabbis tell us "The face of Joshua resembles the moon" (Talmud Bava Batra 75a), and as per my previous post on the four red moons phenomenon, two of the four times occur in the middle of the month of Nissan at the full moon point. And having mentioned the concept of damages here and that the red moon is, G-d forbid, a bad sign for Jews, it is the number four, that is most associated with the concept of damages, is also the number that is most associated to the concept of the moon, as I go into detail about in my previous post.
There is one more thing here that I want to mention pertaining to the concept of MIDDLE that relates especially to this Hebrew year. As we know, there is what is called Shirat Ha'azinu, the Song that is mentioned in the first 43 verses of Parshat Ha'azinu, in which Moses exhorts us to follow in Hashem's ways, or G-d forbid, bad things will happen. Now, while this was not the first time that he spoke on this issue, this was the very last time in his life that he did so. But also significantly, this is marked in the Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll) by how this is written - not as regular reading text, but written in poetry form, leaving more space between phrases, rather than just between verses, to make the design that it looks, just as it is written for Shirat HaYam (Song of the Sea) that is read on the seventh day of Passover. Anyways, the 5774th verse of the Torah, corresponding to this Hebrew Year 5774, is the MIDDLE verse of Shirat Ha'azinu!
Now, let us take a look at this verse "For fire burned in My nostrils, and blazed until the lowest depths, it shall consume the land and its produce, and set aflame what is founded on mountains" (Deutronomy 32:22). Now, to quote Rashi, "the land" refers to Israel and "founded on mountains" refers to Jerusalem, quoting a verse from Tehilim (Psalms 125:2) where it states that Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains.
Technically, this verse was already fulfilled with not one, but two destructions of the Temple. In today's terms, we know that it is just a matter of time until Gog U'Magog sets afoot in Israel, particularly in Jerusalem, which even the Israeli government which bows to our enemies, for the most, insists on being our eternal capitol of Israel, but soon, even this will not be agreeable to the United States government. In fact, the United States never actually acknowledged that Jerusalem is the capitol of Jerusalem, maintaining its main embassy rather in Tel Aviv, and in natural citizenship documentation, a child of an American parent born in Jerusalem is listed as born in Jerusalem WITHOUT THE MENTION OF THE NAME ISRAEL. As far as the government of the United States is concerned, Jerusalem - as long as East Jerusalem is inhabitated by the Arabs - is part of the "West Bank", regardless of what the Bible has to say on the subject. In fact, as far as President Obama, who is Moslem, is concerned, he is more worried about what he calls the "holy Koran" has to say on the subject, since in fact, Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran, in stark contrast to the 669 times that the name Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible.
In my previous post, I mentioned how the four red moons hints to Dam (bloodshed), this word being the Gematria of 44, all taking place literally within the MIDDLE part of the 44th U.S. President Obama's second term. But one more thing that I want to add today is that being that the number 44 is a composite of 4*11, the number 11 also is related to the concept of damages. For first, the name of the 11th of the 14 volumes of the main work of the Rambam (Maimondies) called Mishne Torah, which encompasses all the laws of the Torah, is called Nezikin. Moreover, the 44th Parsha of the Torah is called Devarim, whose word begins with the letter Dalet, the FOURTH letter and is the numerical value of FOUR, and is the first Parsha of 11 Parshiyot in the fifth and final book of the Chumash (Penteteuch), and is always read on the Shabbat before Tisha B'Av, or in some years, on the date of the 9th of Av itself, except that we fast the day after since we don't fast on Shabbat (the only exception being Yom Kippur). And as especially related to Tisha B'Av, he was politically born on Tisha B'Av in the year Two Thousand and FOUR, first becoming a public figure when he spoke endorsing then the anti-Semitic Democratic candidate John Kerry when he spoke on this very day (this fact coming from the ones who are behind the website www.redemption5768.com).
And just like Hashem showed His strength when it came to the Exodus, so may Hashem show His strength shortly in sanctification of His name, showing that it is only when we follow in Hashem's ways that we will achieve the ultimate victory, including in Jerusalem being ablaze with the Torah learning of the ones who put themselves on the line despite the threats of the Erev Rav, which includes most members of the Knesset, who will soon vanish into eternal damnation, as the verse promises, "Not with infantry, nor with power, but with My spirit, says the L-rd o Hosts". May this be fulfilled speedily in our days. Amen!
End of Nissan, 5774
In this instance, the significance of the timing of the conclusion of the 8th cycle of this Daf Yomi and the commencement of the 9th cycle of this Daf Yomi is strikingly amazing in terms of this Sephirat HaOmer (counting of the days from the day after the first day of Passover at which an Omer offering was brought in the Temple until the holiday of Shavuot), for the conclusion of the 8th cycle took place on the 8th day of the Sephira, and so the commencement of the 9th cycle took place on the 9th day of the Sephira. And if this was not enough, the date of this commencement took place on 24 Nissan, the birthdate of the founder of the learning of this Daf Yomi of the Jerusalem Talmud - Grand Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter of the Gerrer Hasidic dynasty!
Now first, in terms of the conclusion of this EIGHTH cycle, it ended off with Tractate Nidah, which is about the woman who had a period who needs a period of non-physical contact with her husband which includes first a period of usually 5-6 days until no more blood appears, followed by seven "clean" days on which no blood has been seen, following which the woman goes to a Mikva (ritualarium), then rendering her pure to resume physical contact with her husband. In any case, we see that it is only following these seven clean days that on the night of the EIGHTH that she becomes spiritually pure once again.
To note, in the Jerusalem Talmud, there are 13 Dafim on this tractate, which includes material only on the first four out of ten chapters of this tractate. And as we see, there are approximately 13 days from the beginning of a woman's period until she is ready for the Mikva. (Technically, it could happen as early as 12 days, but oftentimes, since we count the period of time as to when day begins which is nighttime, rather than hours; and so, it often happens that at least six days, including the day that blood was first seen, are counted before no more blood is seen, and is only at that point that the seven clean days begin). Corresponding, we see an amazing thing with the Shlosh Esrei Middot HaRachamim (the Thirteen Divine Attributes of Mercy), in which the final one of these 13 is V'Nakeh "and will be clean (from sin)", which in the context of when the woman goes to the Mikva, it could happen at times on the 13th day from when the period began, or this 13th day could be the conclusion of the seven clean days.
And now, in terms of the commencement of this NINTH cycle, it begins with Tractate Berachot, which consists of NINE chapters. And as we know, various conduct in how we say the main Shemoneh Esrei prayer is based on the conduct of Chana, mother of Shmuel HaNavi (Samuel the Prophet) when she prayed, as we see in the beginning of Sefer Shmuel that we read on the first day of Rosh Hashana, following which, we pray the Mussaf Shemoneh Esrei which consists of NINE blessings, the ONLY day(s, being that we now observe two days of Rosh Hashana) of the year that the Shemoneh Esrei consists of particularly nine blessings. And as related to a birthday, the birthday of a person is technically his Rosh Hashana, for indeed, it is the beginning, or as literally translated, the head of one's year, just as Adam and Eve, the ancestors of all mankind, were created on Rosh Hashana, which was also their personal Rosh Hashana. And as we see pertaining to the Gematria of Adam's name - 45, the Mispar Katan (small Gematria) is NINE (4+5).
And as for the new cycle of the Daf Yomi of the Jerusalem Talmud beginning on the birthday of the one who proposed this idea, his birth took place 116 years ago in 5658 (1898). And as we know, there were 116 years of slavery of the Jews in Egypt until their freedom with Yetziat Mitzrayim (Exodus), and one's birth is in essence, leaving the Meitzarim (straights) of the womb, being freed from the womb and let out into the world at large. And though ironically, we are speaking of 116 years since the birth of Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter, the ultimate freedom of a Jew is Torah, as we see in the sixth chapter of Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers). In any case, the first chapter of the Mishna/Talmud is very connected with the concept of the Exodus, for the subject matter of this chapter is about the Shema, which concludes with the verse that mentions the Exodus, and as the last Mishna of the chapter deals with as to how we know that the third paragraph of the Shema, which includes mention of the Exodus, is recited even at night (even though the first topic which is about the Mitzva of Tzitzit is technically a daytime Mitzva), which is quoted in the Haggada.
Now, for more emphasis on the concept of nine, as especially related to the concept of the Sephira of this date (24 Nissan) as Gevurah She'B'Gevurah (Strength within Strength), which has to do with strict justice, the number nine is especially related to the concept of darkness, such as darkness being the ninth plague that struck the Egyptians, and in terms of us - it is the ninth of Av, the month that is represented by the letter Teit, the ninth of the Aleph Beit with a numerical value of nine, which is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, commemorating the destruction of both Temples, along with other numerous unfortunate events for Jews that took place on this date. In fact, the phrase of "in darkness, you have placed me", which is mentioned in the Talmudic tractates of Sanhedrin and Avoda Zara as referring to the Babylonian Talmud, the product of the learning that took place in the exile of Babylonia, the country which destroyed our first Temple, comes from the book of Eicha (Lamentations) that is read specifically on Tisha B'Av. And so, it is quite ironic that it is the NINTH cycle of the Daf Yomi of the corresponding Jerusalem Talmud that commenced on the NINTH day of the Sephira that represents the ultimate harshness and darkness.
On this note, it must be remembered that we just passed the first of four red moons, which I wrote about in my previous post. Technically, the sign of a red moon is, G-d forbid, a bad sign for Jews. True, we are soon going to usher into the Messianic era; however, this will not occur without a major challenge to the Jewish people. However, one of the main ways, though not the only way, that will help us as a nation pass through these rough times, is the study of Torah, which has been recently challenged by the Knesset in which some viciously attempted to pass rules which will, G-d forbid, punish the very group of Jews who learn Torah the most.
This vicious effort was superheaded in part by the evil Naftali Bennett, whose last name in Hebrew, which is spelled as Beit-Noon-Teit, reads the word Satan (letters Sin-Teit-Noon) in the Gematria form of Atbash (the first Aleph being substituted with the last letter Tav, the second letter Beit being substituted with the next to the last letter Shin, and so on), using the pretext that this was part of a serious of bills being in benefit of the Hareidi (Ultra-Orthodox) to give work incentives for them, as though he couldn't pass this work incentive bill alone. Indeed, this is the very way how Satan operates, for an observant Jew doesn't necessarily think of sinning by itself, but is sometimes fooled by the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination), which is Satan, to think that one could be doing a Mitzva, when in fact, it is an Aveira (sin), or leads to an Aveira, which in this case, is "defending" the State of Israel. Moreover, this last name can be read as B'Noon-Teit (with Noon-Teit), for the letters Noon and Teit begin the names of Nebuchadnezzar and Titus, the respective heads of the Temple destruction operations of the Babylonian and Roman empires. And while in Bennett's video of him talking in English, he spoke about his ancestors in Europe not having had the chance to defend themselves; there would be NO NEED to defend ourselves in our country if we would only do what Hashem wants. In fact, quite contrary, it is due in part, in fact, a large part, of Jews learning Torah especially in Israel, that helps so many miracles of Jews not being attacked, as especially evident with the amount of missiles that our Arab enemies throw at us these days. And so, for an observant Jew who is devoted to learning Torah to be thrown in a non-friendly observant environment of the army is not going to help matters in the long run; aside from the fact that this is an army that is basically trained to be "moral" and not be so quick to attack our enemies, and unless openly attacked first, to at most shoot in the air, something that is not done in ANY other army in the world.
And as I am writing this post which is based on the study of the Daf Yomi of the Jerusalem Talmud, it was in Jerusalem that the gathering and protest of the Hereidi community took place a couple of months ago, in response to the Knesset attempt to get Jews learning Torah in Yeshivot to learn a little less by "defending" our country. Perhaps for others, such as in the Zionist or Dati Leumi (National Religious) camp, and for anyone else who wants on his own to serve in the army, it is a Mitzva for them to be in the army, if their sole intent is truly to defend our country, rather than follow orders that could be detrimental to the safety of Israel. However, for those who are truly intent in learning Torah, so long as this army is dictated by the policies of an anti-Torah/religious government, there is NO Mitzva to serve in the army, since as it states in the Talmudic tractate of Megilla, learning Torah is GREATER than saving lives. Yes, you read correctly, though of course, if G-d forbid, a situation occurs where there is no else or there is insufficient manpower to save lives, then we need to stop our Torah learning to tend to the emergency situation, since after all, "learning Torah leads to action", and that is why we have Taryag Mitzvot (613 Commandments).
However, in our situation, since the Israeli army is an army that is based on mandatory recruitment of its citizens, rather than voluntary enrollment such as in the United States; numbers is not an issue. And as seen in the history of Israel's wars in the last 65 some years, Hashem has done all kinds of miracles to save us from our Arab enemies. However, it was particularly when Israel practiced restraint to fulfill the wishes of the United States not to attack the Arabs first, that caused THOUSANDS of Jews to be killed in war, which could and would have been avoided for the most part had Israel attacked first. And so, before Jews who hate our Torah tell followers of the Torah what to do, let them at least first get their own act in order and show the type of true strength needed in fighting our enemies as every other sane country does in fighting its enemies, in lieu of releasing terrorists - who deserve execution - from prison; and then perhaps, the evil Bennett, whose beanie on his head is just a Jewish uniform in disguise, can start lecturing Torah Jews on the benefits of "defending" our country.
And so indeed, even in Israel, we are living in a period of darkness, just as in the period of the Syrian Greeks who attempted to get the Jews to stop observing the Torah, which is hinted to by the Torah with the mention of the word Choshech (darkness), in which even some in the guise of observant Jews, including some Zionist rabbis, tell truly observant Jews who are devoted to the Torah, that they are sinners by not wishing to "fulfill" what the Torah says, to be part of army that "fights" our enemies, as we see in numerous stories in the Tanach (Jewish Bible). However, the difference is that at least in those days, there was virtually no political interest controlling how we fought our enemies, and quite often, they had no choice but to fight to the bitter end, and were indeed in the midst of getting rid of our enemies, as the Torah mandates. However, with all the talks and concessions happening from the Israeli government, not only is its interest is NOT in annihilating our enemies, but it even causes further attacks from our neighboring Arabs, proving statistically in an increase in terror when "peace" concessions are taking place, along with of course, releasing thousands of Arab terrorists from Israeli prisons. And so, a larger army is definitely NOT the answer to the present crisis that is happening in Israel. The ONLY answer to our present crisis is if anything, to beef up our Torah observance, and then, in the merit of these good Jews, Hashem will continue performing miracles on our behalf.
With this said, if the Israeli government is truly worried about upcoming wars, it should start worrying about the upcoming Gog U'Magog war, which will be headed by none other than its "ally" country, the good U.S. of A., which is still keeping Jewish and American hero Jonathan Pollard in prison to rot away, even as he is presently in poor health. And with his recent refusal to attend the parole board in the midst of the United States to be pressured to release him with conditional further releases of terrorists in Israel, it just comes to show who is the hero and villians here. Of course we didn't see any fuss in press releases in the States of how Jonathan Pollard could be such a fool to take a chance of not being released after being stuck in prison for nearly three decades, because this would make him look real good, the LAST thing that the United States as headed by the evil Obama wants; and so, life goes on as though it is Israel who didn't want the "peace" concessions to continue, still being blamed by the evil John Kerry when he knows damn well it is the Arabs who have been cry babies for the longest time, having the Chutzpa to do so when Israel, on his demands, already released scores of terrorists.
MIDDLE SEPHIRA-MIDDLE DAY-MIDDLE TRACTATE
The truth is that the focus of this post is on Torah learning. With this said, moving along the Sephira calendar as this year's posts is following, the 25th or the MIDDLE of the 49 Kabbalistic Sephirot is Netzach She'B'Netzach, and as related to our post, I will translate as Victory within Victory, for indeed, it is the learning of Torah that will be the ultimate cause of our victory over our enemies.
Lo and behold, the MIDDLE day of this Hebrew Year 5774, having the maximum of 385 days as allowed in our present Jewish calendar, is 14 Adar II, the date of Purim! And as we see from the Vilna Gaon pertaining to the relationship of the various holidays with the Sephirot, it is the holiday of Purim that corresponds to the Sephira of Netzach! For as clearly shown in the Megilla that we read on Purim, it was following our VICTORY over our enemies that we celebrated.
The truth is that it is a little funny here, because the number of this post - 216, is the Gematria of the Sephira that is called Gevurah (Strength), but in a way, there is a connection here, because it is with strength that an army has VICTORY in war. Actually, the title of this post is actually based on a verse in Psalm 84, where it states "they will go from strength to strength", though the actual Hebrew word used for strength in this instance is not Gevurah but Chayil, which in at least modern Hebrew, is based on the wording that means soldier. And in the Talmudic sense, the context refers to one who has completed a course of Torah study or has done a Mitzva, and is wished continued strength in learning more Torah or doing Mitzvot.
And amazingly, the Gematria of the name of the MIDDLE tractate of the Mishnayot - Bava Metzia - is 216, which in this year, in the NINTH cycle of the study of one chapter of Mishnayot a day, was learnt in the MIDDLE 10 days of the month of Nissan, the month of miracles, as it consists of 10 chapters. And the MIDDLE two days of Nissan - the 15th and 16th - are both especially related to miracles, as the 15th is the miracle of the Exodus, and the 16th marks the date of hanging Haman, the villian in the Purim story who attempted to have all the Jews murdered on one day. The miracle in this instance is that one day, Haman was second to King Achashveirosh, and then the next thing we know, King Achashveirosh orders his execution, leading to the war of the Jews fighting victoriously over our enemies.
Aside from this reason, noting that in this Hebrew leap year, there were two months of Adar, the Talmud in Tractate Megilla discusses as to which of these months is appropriate to have the holiday of Purim. The conclusion is that Purim should be celebrated in the second month of Adar, as it is appropriate to have a holiday of miracles in the month closest to the month in which we have another holiday of Passover celebrating miracles.
With this said, the name of Sephira called Netzach, the FOURTH and MIDDLE of the seven Sephirot, is the Gematria of the name of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov - greatgrandson of the Ba'al Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement - who was born on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, who was especially connected with the number FOUR. And noting that both his name and the name of the month of Nissan both start and end with the letter NOON (as well as the name of Nachshon Ben-Aminadav, leader of the Tribe of Judah the FOURTH son of Jacob and Leah, who brought special offerings in the Tabernacle on behalf of his tribe on Rosh Chodesh Nissan), it is precisely in this year that the study of the first three tractates of the FOURTH of the six volumes of the Mishnayot, called Nezikin (Damages) was learnt in this program of one chapter of Mishna a day, noting that the name Nezikin also begins and ends with the letter NOON! This is also to note that at one time, these three tractates - Bava Kama (First Gate), Bava Metzia (Middle Gate), and Bava Basra (Last Gate) - was at one time one large tractate also called Nezikin. but in time, was divided into three separate tractates. To note, Bava Metzia is called the Middle Gate because it is the middle of these three tractates in Nezikin, but it is ALSO the MIDDLE of the 63 tractates of the Mishnayot. In any case, the very first chapter of Nezikin, the first chapter of Bava Kama, which was learnt on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, starts off stating Arba'ah Avot Nezikin... "There are FOUR classifications of damages - the ox, the pit, the tooth, and the fire", noting the number FOUR beginning the FOURTH volume of the Mishnayot.
And having written in this post about Jewish armies and fighting, it was Yehoshua Bin-NOON (Joshua son of Noon) who led the Jews people to Israel and faught various nations for seven years before dividing the land for the various tribes. And in this year, aside from the learning of the first chapter of Nezikin/Bava Kama that starts off with mentioning the word Avot, it is the very name of the tractate that we learn on Shabbat starting from the Shabbat after Passover (until Shavuot or Rosh Hashana depending on custom) which fell out this year on 26 Nissan, the Yahrzeit of Yehoshua, beginning with stating "Moses received the Torah from Mt. Sinai, and handed it over to Joshua, Joshua to the prophets...". In fact, some of Joshua's main accomplishments took place in this very month of Nissan, including on the 10th of Nissan in which he led the Jews to Israel, and his first victory mission that took place in Jericho on the 28th of Nissan. Indeed, it is hardly surprising that we mention Joshua on the first day of Passover, both in the Haggada and the Haftara, for it was Joshua, as Moses' successor, who followed in his footsteps in TRUE Jewish leadership and fighting our enemies, realizing that ultimately, if we do our part, then Hashem will do His part and help us with His miracles, a point that was made clear to Joshua when an angel appeared to him early on to reprimand him for not learning Torah one day in the midst of a fighting expidition, keeping him in track of what is the ultimate weapon in the midst of fighting our enemies, not using a lack of time as an excuse for not learning Torah, an event that is mentioned in the Haftara for the first day of Passover (Note: Though this is not clear from the text of the Tanach/Haftara, this is how our rabbis in the Talmud interpret this story).
And as our rabbis tell us "The face of Joshua resembles the moon" (Talmud Bava Batra 75a), and as per my previous post on the four red moons phenomenon, two of the four times occur in the middle of the month of Nissan at the full moon point. And having mentioned the concept of damages here and that the red moon is, G-d forbid, a bad sign for Jews, it is the number four, that is most associated with the concept of damages, is also the number that is most associated to the concept of the moon, as I go into detail about in my previous post.
There is one more thing here that I want to mention pertaining to the concept of MIDDLE that relates especially to this Hebrew year. As we know, there is what is called Shirat Ha'azinu, the Song that is mentioned in the first 43 verses of Parshat Ha'azinu, in which Moses exhorts us to follow in Hashem's ways, or G-d forbid, bad things will happen. Now, while this was not the first time that he spoke on this issue, this was the very last time in his life that he did so. But also significantly, this is marked in the Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll) by how this is written - not as regular reading text, but written in poetry form, leaving more space between phrases, rather than just between verses, to make the design that it looks, just as it is written for Shirat HaYam (Song of the Sea) that is read on the seventh day of Passover. Anyways, the 5774th verse of the Torah, corresponding to this Hebrew Year 5774, is the MIDDLE verse of Shirat Ha'azinu!
Now, let us take a look at this verse "For fire burned in My nostrils, and blazed until the lowest depths, it shall consume the land and its produce, and set aflame what is founded on mountains" (Deutronomy 32:22). Now, to quote Rashi, "the land" refers to Israel and "founded on mountains" refers to Jerusalem, quoting a verse from Tehilim (Psalms 125:2) where it states that Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains.
Technically, this verse was already fulfilled with not one, but two destructions of the Temple. In today's terms, we know that it is just a matter of time until Gog U'Magog sets afoot in Israel, particularly in Jerusalem, which even the Israeli government which bows to our enemies, for the most, insists on being our eternal capitol of Israel, but soon, even this will not be agreeable to the United States government. In fact, the United States never actually acknowledged that Jerusalem is the capitol of Jerusalem, maintaining its main embassy rather in Tel Aviv, and in natural citizenship documentation, a child of an American parent born in Jerusalem is listed as born in Jerusalem WITHOUT THE MENTION OF THE NAME ISRAEL. As far as the government of the United States is concerned, Jerusalem - as long as East Jerusalem is inhabitated by the Arabs - is part of the "West Bank", regardless of what the Bible has to say on the subject. In fact, as far as President Obama, who is Moslem, is concerned, he is more worried about what he calls the "holy Koran" has to say on the subject, since in fact, Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran, in stark contrast to the 669 times that the name Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible.
In my previous post, I mentioned how the four red moons hints to Dam (bloodshed), this word being the Gematria of 44, all taking place literally within the MIDDLE part of the 44th U.S. President Obama's second term. But one more thing that I want to add today is that being that the number 44 is a composite of 4*11, the number 11 also is related to the concept of damages. For first, the name of the 11th of the 14 volumes of the main work of the Rambam (Maimondies) called Mishne Torah, which encompasses all the laws of the Torah, is called Nezikin. Moreover, the 44th Parsha of the Torah is called Devarim, whose word begins with the letter Dalet, the FOURTH letter and is the numerical value of FOUR, and is the first Parsha of 11 Parshiyot in the fifth and final book of the Chumash (Penteteuch), and is always read on the Shabbat before Tisha B'Av, or in some years, on the date of the 9th of Av itself, except that we fast the day after since we don't fast on Shabbat (the only exception being Yom Kippur). And as especially related to Tisha B'Av, he was politically born on Tisha B'Av in the year Two Thousand and FOUR, first becoming a public figure when he spoke endorsing then the anti-Semitic Democratic candidate John Kerry when he spoke on this very day (this fact coming from the ones who are behind the website www.redemption5768.com).
And just like Hashem showed His strength when it came to the Exodus, so may Hashem show His strength shortly in sanctification of His name, showing that it is only when we follow in Hashem's ways that we will achieve the ultimate victory, including in Jerusalem being ablaze with the Torah learning of the ones who put themselves on the line despite the threats of the Erev Rav, which includes most members of the Knesset, who will soon vanish into eternal damnation, as the verse promises, "Not with infantry, nor with power, but with My spirit, says the L-rd o Hosts". May this be fulfilled speedily in our days. Amen!
End of Nissan, 5774
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
#215 - Moon SHINING Red
Indeed, a sign of the times.
I was delayed for a while since Purim from writing new posts, especially as a father of two helping to prepare our place for Passover. As it turns out, since I had a delay, I now have information to reveal about this four red moons phenomenon when it comes to Gematria.
This post will be short and sweet to the point. As just about everyone knows by now, unless you have been living in a shell, there is supposed to be a total of four red moons in intervals of six months apart. As it especially relates to Jews, these four have or will occur around the beginning of Passover and Succot when there is a full moon both in this secular year and the next secular year.
To those who have been following the news as of late as per the prophecies of the Messianic times, as well as what autistic children/adults from observant Jewish homes are telling us, and of course, the Hidden Codes of the Torah, regardless of when Moshiach will actually come, there is no doubt that a major war on Israel is on its way, and it's only a matter of time - perhaps no more than a year - but definitely before the end of the next Hebrew year 5775, with the major part of the war continuing into 5776. One of the places where this is hinted is in a matrix that includes the verse that mentions the Shalosh Regalim (three Pilgrimage festivals) - Pesach, Shavuot, and Succot, which was part of the Torah reading for the last day of Passover yesterday outside of Israel (where eight days of Passover are observed, rather than the seven days from the Torah in Israel). At the mention of Pesach, there is a code that states that "a Goy (non-Jewish nation in this context) will arise in 5775", and the name of Obama is spelled out by the mention of Sukkot. In fact, it has been long since known as shown in a matrix in the Book of Ezekiel in the section of the war of Gog U'Magog (Chapters 38 and 39) which again shows Obama's name mentioned very clearly in reference to being Gog and Magog (which in this instance, is Obama and the United States, respectively). In fact, this is the very Haftara for Shabbat Chol HaMoed of Succot, which we will be reading in both years (At times, there is no Shabbat Chol HaMoed on Pesach or Succot).
In the last 520 years, including this time, that there have been four consecutive new moons between Pesach and Succot. The first was in 1493 and 1494 following the year 1492 (Hebrew Year 5252) when the Jews were expelled from Spain, as well as Christopher Columbus's discovery of the area in the world which led people to moving to America/United States. Then, in rather recent times, this happened again in 1949 and 1950, following the year 1948 (Hebrew Year 5708) when massive amounts of Jews emigrated to Israel as well as the war in Israel in that year that prevented access to the holiest area in the world, which included the Western Wall. And then, this happened in 1967 and 1968 when in 1967 (Hebrew Year 5727), we had the Six Day War which led to reconquering major areas in Israel, including the holiest area in the world (until the evil Moshe Dayan handed the keys of the Temple Mount to the Wakf). And finally, this is happening in this year and the next year.
In case one is confused as to whether this moon sign is a good sign or a bad sign (G-d forbid) for Jews, as the moon represents the Jewish people, while the sun represents the nations, we do see that the color red is associated with war or bloodshed, and as mentioned in Joel 3:4, "The sun will turn to darkness, and the moon will turn to blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of Hashem" (this latter phrase being also mentioned at the end of Malachi in which Eliyahu HaNavi (Elijah the Prophet), who will herald the arrival of Moshiach, is mentioned. As for the sun turning to darkness, which is a total solar eclipse, this is going to happen in the following year around Rosh Chodesh Nissan, two weeks before Passover, thus hinting as a good sign for the Jewish people, as it is the sun, representing the nations, will be striked or eclipsed In any case, this red moon phenomenon will not happen again for the rest of the secular century. More details on this while subject can be found on the Hebrew site sod1820.co.il, or for those who aren't familiar with Hebrew, can find this same basic information at other sites.
But one thing is for sure. As in the previous three times, where Jews were faced with challenges between being tortured and kicked out of a country, or wars fighting the Arabs in which many Jews lost their lives, this occasion is more reason to be concerned than ever. In fact, in this round of war, Hashem will pick out the Jews worthy of remaining alive, while unfortunately, there will be others who will not be spared and will be eternally damned. Another key difference here is that while in past wars, a Jew who was murdered by a non-Jew (whether in war or other occasions), went straight to Heaven for being a martyr; on this occasion, it will instead be Hashem's filtering process of allowing only good Jews, including those who seriously repent, to survive the war of Gog U'Magog.
And while it will particularly be Israel that will be attacked, one should not think that automatically he will be safe in other countries, for as we see now already, there has been increased anti-Semitism, including in the United States, which is happening in due part to the concesssions of the Israeli dictatorship government that is desperately attempting to bring to the table to give more land away. And so, especially after seeing Obama's track record of pushing Israel to stop building of "settlements" and pressuring Israel with the peace talks when ironically, it is the Arabs who aren't happy with giving "peace" a chance. as well as Obama's alliance with various Arab nations, it is just a matter of time before Obama is going to press the red button on Israel, whether or not he will physically travel overseas to fight us Jews in our Holy Land or just send American soldiers to fight us. For ultimately, it is those who look to follow Hashem who will survive, which will include some Jews outside of Israel who have pressing circumstances of why they aren't living in Israel or are involved in Hashem's holy work of bringing Jews closer to Judaism, whose hearts are with Hashem; but in the long run, it will be a little easier in Israel, despite the location of this World War III that will involve numerious nations coming to fight us, as dictated by the United Nations, as mentioned by the autistics who have spoken as of late as to what will be happening in the very near future.
With the above said, we see a frequent occurance of the number four in relationship to the moon. For these last FOUR periods of history, as especially hinting to the Jewish nation, each consists of FOUR red moons. This is hardly surprising of the connection of the moon to the number four, for we see that it was on the FOURTH day of Creation when Hashem set up the solar system, and the FOURTH Mitzva of the Torah is the sanctification of the New Moon, as was done for close to 2,000 years until Hillel II, leader of the Jewish people, propogated in Beit Din (Jewish court) for a fixed calendar, as Jews were being increasingly scattered and endured various troubles from the nations. Moreover, we see that it is King David who is especially associated with the moon, and as mentioned in the Zohar, of the Seven Shepherds (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, David) corresponding to the various holidays, it is King David who corresponds to Rosh Chodesh (New Moon). And as we see in his name, it begins and ends with the letter Dalet, the FOURTH letter with the niumerical value of FOUR. Also, as we see in Kabbala, in certain contexts, the man is the giver while the woman is the receiver, the latter being the concept of the moon receiving its light from the sun, and as we know, there are FOUR Imahot (Matriarchs) which are Sara, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. In fact, it is mentioned that it was Rachel who composed the Rosh Chodesh prayer that we recite in the weekday Rosh Chodesh prayer of Shemoneh Esrei, and as hinted as the beginning letters of the first three words, it spells her name Rachel in Hebrew as Roshei Chodoshim L'Amcha "The New Moons to Your people (that You gave)". And if this was not enough, the first letters of the beginning FOUR words of Tractate Ketubot - Betula Niseit L'Yom Ha'Revi'i "A virgin is married on the FOURTH day" as was customary in ancient times - make up the word Levana (moon) - consisting of the letters Lamed, Beit/Veit, Noon, Hei!
And as mentioned, the red sign of the moon represents bloodshed, which in Hebrew is the word Dam, the Gematria of 44 - a double four number, in units of singles and units of tens; or in another way of looking at this, a multiple of FOUR, which is 4*11. And as we already mentioned that Obama is Gog (U'Magog), it should be mentioned here that he is the 44th U.S. President, and that in fact, ALL FOUR RED MOONS ARE TAKING PLACE IN THE MIDDLE OF OBAMA'S SECOND TERM AS THE 44TH U.S. PRESIDENT! For as we know, he was resworn as president on Jan 20, '13, and his term will be over on Jan 20, '16; and as we see the timing of the four red moons on the calendar, from the first to the fourth, we can see that this time period is virtually parallel in terms of being THE MIDDLE part of Obama's second term! More on the concept of the MIDDLE, especially as it relates to the end of our exile will be discussed in this coming post.
And now, more in terms of the number four in connection with the timing of the four red moon phenomenon, let us take a close look at the Hebrew years 5708 and 5727 of the second and third times, respectively. For the year 5708, there are 292 years following this year until the end of the sixth millenium, marking the end of this world's existance, and the word Revi'i, this word which is first used in the Torah as Yom Revi'i "Day FOUR", is the Gematria of 292. And for the year 5727, there are 273 years following this year until the end of the sixth millenium, and the word Arba - FOUR - is the Gematria of 273, and the highlight of the Six Day War in 5727 was the liberation of Jerusalem which included the holiest area in the world which was on 28 Iyar, on a Wednesday, the FOURTH day of the week. Noting that these years 5708 and 5727 have special significance in terms of Israel, we say in our prayers "Bring us to peace from the FOUR corners of the earth...and walk us upright speedily to OUR LAND", "Gather us together from the FOUR corners of the earth to OUR LAND". And let us not forget that we Jews had/have a total of FOUR exiles, culminating with eternal freedom in our land which will happen speedily in our days.
Now, in case one is wondering why the number FOUR should be especially significant in terms of Israel, we see that it is in Parshat Shelach, the FOURTH Parsha in the FOURTH book of the Torah called Sefer Bamidbar (Numbers), in which 12 spies were sent to check out Israel before the Jews would enter, but most unfortunately, ended with at least virtually all the male Jews between ages 20-60, except for the Tribe of Levi, who cried their faces off believing 10 of the 12 spies who gave an evil report about Israel, which was the night of the 9th of Av, thi date that eventually became the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, which included the destruction of both Temples followed with the murder and exile of most of the Jewish population in Israel, as well as the official date of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. In short, the Jews were delayed in the desert from entering Israel for nearly 39 years.
And presently, we are in the midst of the 207th 28-year-cycle of the sun which began, being marked with the blessing for the sun, on the 14th of Nissan, 5769 ('09), which in this cycle (which presently occurs on April 8 of the secular calendar), it began on the day before Passover, and is in fact hinted to in the beginning of Tractate Pesachim in the Mishna where it states "On the "light" night of the 14th (of Nissan), we search for Chametz (leavened food or particles) by the light of the candle", as the very first word Ohr (light) is the Gematria of 207! And so, no doubt that we are in a most special time in history. Also, this phrase which mentions the FOURTEENTH of the month begins the FOURTEENTH tractate, and the Gematria of King David's name, as related to the moon part of the solar system, is the Gematria of FOURTEEN. And as seen in the verses of Creation, the first verse for the fourth day which mentions "lights" is the FOURTEENTH verse of the Torah which consists of 16 words, and the square root of 16 is FOUR.
And now, for the connection of Gematria to the number of this post - 215, which is the Gematria of the word Zarach, which means shines. This word begins a verse in Tehillim. though in the English translation, it is translated a little differently, "A light shines in darkness for the upright; He is gracious, merciful and righteous" (Psalms 112:4). This verse tells us that Hashem reveals His spiritual light to those who walk on the straight path to serve Hashem, and don't look for shortcuts or politics to do things differently. For as we see, especially in these times most unfortunately, there are even many rabbis who clearly say things against the Torah, including some of the Zionist rabbis who were outright against the Ultra-Orthodox having a demonstration and prayer services nearly two months ago, protesting and praying for averting the evil decree of the Israeli government which plans down the road to punish the Ultra-Orthodox if they will not join the self defeating army that caters to its enemies that is not very religious friendly for the most part instead of them learning Torah without unnnecessary interruptions. Imagine, all throughout Jewish history, when Jews are in trouble, they openly prayed to be spared. Yet, in this instance, even though this gathering included praying for the right to be able to learn Torah, which is the greatest Mitzva of the Torah, there were some Zionist rabbis not part of their camp who criticized such a gathering, which is what true Torah Jews took part in. Indeed, one who truly wants to walk on the straight path in serving Hashem, will be helped from Above accordingly, and will not come to say or do things against the Torah.
The Zohar speaks of the Erev Rav, which is a term used originally to refer to people of other nations who joined the Jews in the Exodus, but were not sincere in keeping the Torah, and wound up creating the Golden Calf for the Jews to worship. Anyways, the Erev Rav in the Zohar refers to those who go against the Torah.
This includes, yes my friends, even some rabbis who don't serve with their heart, but are persuaded with money, power, and politics, who will be destroyed around the time of the coming of Moshiach. However, for those who keep the Torah on the straight path, they will live to the time of the prophecy as mentioned in Isaiah Chapter 60, which begins with a verse that ends with the word Zarach, which is also the beginning of the Haftara for Parshat Ki Tavo "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of Hashem will shine on you" which we hope to see the fulfillment of this speedily in our days. Amen!
23 Nissan, 5774
I was delayed for a while since Purim from writing new posts, especially as a father of two helping to prepare our place for Passover. As it turns out, since I had a delay, I now have information to reveal about this four red moons phenomenon when it comes to Gematria.
This post will be short and sweet to the point. As just about everyone knows by now, unless you have been living in a shell, there is supposed to be a total of four red moons in intervals of six months apart. As it especially relates to Jews, these four have or will occur around the beginning of Passover and Succot when there is a full moon both in this secular year and the next secular year.
To those who have been following the news as of late as per the prophecies of the Messianic times, as well as what autistic children/adults from observant Jewish homes are telling us, and of course, the Hidden Codes of the Torah, regardless of when Moshiach will actually come, there is no doubt that a major war on Israel is on its way, and it's only a matter of time - perhaps no more than a year - but definitely before the end of the next Hebrew year 5775, with the major part of the war continuing into 5776. One of the places where this is hinted is in a matrix that includes the verse that mentions the Shalosh Regalim (three Pilgrimage festivals) - Pesach, Shavuot, and Succot, which was part of the Torah reading for the last day of Passover yesterday outside of Israel (where eight days of Passover are observed, rather than the seven days from the Torah in Israel). At the mention of Pesach, there is a code that states that "a Goy (non-Jewish nation in this context) will arise in 5775", and the name of Obama is spelled out by the mention of Sukkot. In fact, it has been long since known as shown in a matrix in the Book of Ezekiel in the section of the war of Gog U'Magog (Chapters 38 and 39) which again shows Obama's name mentioned very clearly in reference to being Gog and Magog (which in this instance, is Obama and the United States, respectively). In fact, this is the very Haftara for Shabbat Chol HaMoed of Succot, which we will be reading in both years (At times, there is no Shabbat Chol HaMoed on Pesach or Succot).
In the last 520 years, including this time, that there have been four consecutive new moons between Pesach and Succot. The first was in 1493 and 1494 following the year 1492 (Hebrew Year 5252) when the Jews were expelled from Spain, as well as Christopher Columbus's discovery of the area in the world which led people to moving to America/United States. Then, in rather recent times, this happened again in 1949 and 1950, following the year 1948 (Hebrew Year 5708) when massive amounts of Jews emigrated to Israel as well as the war in Israel in that year that prevented access to the holiest area in the world, which included the Western Wall. And then, this happened in 1967 and 1968 when in 1967 (Hebrew Year 5727), we had the Six Day War which led to reconquering major areas in Israel, including the holiest area in the world (until the evil Moshe Dayan handed the keys of the Temple Mount to the Wakf). And finally, this is happening in this year and the next year.
In case one is confused as to whether this moon sign is a good sign or a bad sign (G-d forbid) for Jews, as the moon represents the Jewish people, while the sun represents the nations, we do see that the color red is associated with war or bloodshed, and as mentioned in Joel 3:4, "The sun will turn to darkness, and the moon will turn to blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of Hashem" (this latter phrase being also mentioned at the end of Malachi in which Eliyahu HaNavi (Elijah the Prophet), who will herald the arrival of Moshiach, is mentioned. As for the sun turning to darkness, which is a total solar eclipse, this is going to happen in the following year around Rosh Chodesh Nissan, two weeks before Passover, thus hinting as a good sign for the Jewish people, as it is the sun, representing the nations, will be striked or eclipsed In any case, this red moon phenomenon will not happen again for the rest of the secular century. More details on this while subject can be found on the Hebrew site sod1820.co.il, or for those who aren't familiar with Hebrew, can find this same basic information at other sites.
But one thing is for sure. As in the previous three times, where Jews were faced with challenges between being tortured and kicked out of a country, or wars fighting the Arabs in which many Jews lost their lives, this occasion is more reason to be concerned than ever. In fact, in this round of war, Hashem will pick out the Jews worthy of remaining alive, while unfortunately, there will be others who will not be spared and will be eternally damned. Another key difference here is that while in past wars, a Jew who was murdered by a non-Jew (whether in war or other occasions), went straight to Heaven for being a martyr; on this occasion, it will instead be Hashem's filtering process of allowing only good Jews, including those who seriously repent, to survive the war of Gog U'Magog.
And while it will particularly be Israel that will be attacked, one should not think that automatically he will be safe in other countries, for as we see now already, there has been increased anti-Semitism, including in the United States, which is happening in due part to the concesssions of the Israeli dictatorship government that is desperately attempting to bring to the table to give more land away. And so, especially after seeing Obama's track record of pushing Israel to stop building of "settlements" and pressuring Israel with the peace talks when ironically, it is the Arabs who aren't happy with giving "peace" a chance. as well as Obama's alliance with various Arab nations, it is just a matter of time before Obama is going to press the red button on Israel, whether or not he will physically travel overseas to fight us Jews in our Holy Land or just send American soldiers to fight us. For ultimately, it is those who look to follow Hashem who will survive, which will include some Jews outside of Israel who have pressing circumstances of why they aren't living in Israel or are involved in Hashem's holy work of bringing Jews closer to Judaism, whose hearts are with Hashem; but in the long run, it will be a little easier in Israel, despite the location of this World War III that will involve numerious nations coming to fight us, as dictated by the United Nations, as mentioned by the autistics who have spoken as of late as to what will be happening in the very near future.
With the above said, we see a frequent occurance of the number four in relationship to the moon. For these last FOUR periods of history, as especially hinting to the Jewish nation, each consists of FOUR red moons. This is hardly surprising of the connection of the moon to the number four, for we see that it was on the FOURTH day of Creation when Hashem set up the solar system, and the FOURTH Mitzva of the Torah is the sanctification of the New Moon, as was done for close to 2,000 years until Hillel II, leader of the Jewish people, propogated in Beit Din (Jewish court) for a fixed calendar, as Jews were being increasingly scattered and endured various troubles from the nations. Moreover, we see that it is King David who is especially associated with the moon, and as mentioned in the Zohar, of the Seven Shepherds (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, David) corresponding to the various holidays, it is King David who corresponds to Rosh Chodesh (New Moon). And as we see in his name, it begins and ends with the letter Dalet, the FOURTH letter with the niumerical value of FOUR. Also, as we see in Kabbala, in certain contexts, the man is the giver while the woman is the receiver, the latter being the concept of the moon receiving its light from the sun, and as we know, there are FOUR Imahot (Matriarchs) which are Sara, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. In fact, it is mentioned that it was Rachel who composed the Rosh Chodesh prayer that we recite in the weekday Rosh Chodesh prayer of Shemoneh Esrei, and as hinted as the beginning letters of the first three words, it spells her name Rachel in Hebrew as Roshei Chodoshim L'Amcha "The New Moons to Your people (that You gave)". And if this was not enough, the first letters of the beginning FOUR words of Tractate Ketubot - Betula Niseit L'Yom Ha'Revi'i "A virgin is married on the FOURTH day" as was customary in ancient times - make up the word Levana (moon) - consisting of the letters Lamed, Beit/Veit, Noon, Hei!
And as mentioned, the red sign of the moon represents bloodshed, which in Hebrew is the word Dam, the Gematria of 44 - a double four number, in units of singles and units of tens; or in another way of looking at this, a multiple of FOUR, which is 4*11. And as we already mentioned that Obama is Gog (U'Magog), it should be mentioned here that he is the 44th U.S. President, and that in fact, ALL FOUR RED MOONS ARE TAKING PLACE IN THE MIDDLE OF OBAMA'S SECOND TERM AS THE 44TH U.S. PRESIDENT! For as we know, he was resworn as president on Jan 20, '13, and his term will be over on Jan 20, '16; and as we see the timing of the four red moons on the calendar, from the first to the fourth, we can see that this time period is virtually parallel in terms of being THE MIDDLE part of Obama's second term! More on the concept of the MIDDLE, especially as it relates to the end of our exile will be discussed in this coming post.
And now, more in terms of the number four in connection with the timing of the four red moon phenomenon, let us take a close look at the Hebrew years 5708 and 5727 of the second and third times, respectively. For the year 5708, there are 292 years following this year until the end of the sixth millenium, marking the end of this world's existance, and the word Revi'i, this word which is first used in the Torah as Yom Revi'i "Day FOUR", is the Gematria of 292. And for the year 5727, there are 273 years following this year until the end of the sixth millenium, and the word Arba - FOUR - is the Gematria of 273, and the highlight of the Six Day War in 5727 was the liberation of Jerusalem which included the holiest area in the world which was on 28 Iyar, on a Wednesday, the FOURTH day of the week. Noting that these years 5708 and 5727 have special significance in terms of Israel, we say in our prayers "Bring us to peace from the FOUR corners of the earth...and walk us upright speedily to OUR LAND", "Gather us together from the FOUR corners of the earth to OUR LAND". And let us not forget that we Jews had/have a total of FOUR exiles, culminating with eternal freedom in our land which will happen speedily in our days.
Now, in case one is wondering why the number FOUR should be especially significant in terms of Israel, we see that it is in Parshat Shelach, the FOURTH Parsha in the FOURTH book of the Torah called Sefer Bamidbar (Numbers), in which 12 spies were sent to check out Israel before the Jews would enter, but most unfortunately, ended with at least virtually all the male Jews between ages 20-60, except for the Tribe of Levi, who cried their faces off believing 10 of the 12 spies who gave an evil report about Israel, which was the night of the 9th of Av, thi date that eventually became the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, which included the destruction of both Temples followed with the murder and exile of most of the Jewish population in Israel, as well as the official date of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. In short, the Jews were delayed in the desert from entering Israel for nearly 39 years.
And presently, we are in the midst of the 207th 28-year-cycle of the sun which began, being marked with the blessing for the sun, on the 14th of Nissan, 5769 ('09), which in this cycle (which presently occurs on April 8 of the secular calendar), it began on the day before Passover, and is in fact hinted to in the beginning of Tractate Pesachim in the Mishna where it states "On the "light" night of the 14th (of Nissan), we search for Chametz (leavened food or particles) by the light of the candle", as the very first word Ohr (light) is the Gematria of 207! And so, no doubt that we are in a most special time in history. Also, this phrase which mentions the FOURTEENTH of the month begins the FOURTEENTH tractate, and the Gematria of King David's name, as related to the moon part of the solar system, is the Gematria of FOURTEEN. And as seen in the verses of Creation, the first verse for the fourth day which mentions "lights" is the FOURTEENTH verse of the Torah which consists of 16 words, and the square root of 16 is FOUR.
And now, for the connection of Gematria to the number of this post - 215, which is the Gematria of the word Zarach, which means shines. This word begins a verse in Tehillim. though in the English translation, it is translated a little differently, "A light shines in darkness for the upright; He is gracious, merciful and righteous" (Psalms 112:4). This verse tells us that Hashem reveals His spiritual light to those who walk on the straight path to serve Hashem, and don't look for shortcuts or politics to do things differently. For as we see, especially in these times most unfortunately, there are even many rabbis who clearly say things against the Torah, including some of the Zionist rabbis who were outright against the Ultra-Orthodox having a demonstration and prayer services nearly two months ago, protesting and praying for averting the evil decree of the Israeli government which plans down the road to punish the Ultra-Orthodox if they will not join the self defeating army that caters to its enemies that is not very religious friendly for the most part instead of them learning Torah without unnnecessary interruptions. Imagine, all throughout Jewish history, when Jews are in trouble, they openly prayed to be spared. Yet, in this instance, even though this gathering included praying for the right to be able to learn Torah, which is the greatest Mitzva of the Torah, there were some Zionist rabbis not part of their camp who criticized such a gathering, which is what true Torah Jews took part in. Indeed, one who truly wants to walk on the straight path in serving Hashem, will be helped from Above accordingly, and will not come to say or do things against the Torah.
The Zohar speaks of the Erev Rav, which is a term used originally to refer to people of other nations who joined the Jews in the Exodus, but were not sincere in keeping the Torah, and wound up creating the Golden Calf for the Jews to worship. Anyways, the Erev Rav in the Zohar refers to those who go against the Torah.
This includes, yes my friends, even some rabbis who don't serve with their heart, but are persuaded with money, power, and politics, who will be destroyed around the time of the coming of Moshiach. However, for those who keep the Torah on the straight path, they will live to the time of the prophecy as mentioned in Isaiah Chapter 60, which begins with a verse that ends with the word Zarach, which is also the beginning of the Haftara for Parshat Ki Tavo "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of Hashem will shine on you" which we hope to see the fulfillment of this speedily in our days. Amen!
23 Nissan, 5774
Sunday, March 9, 2014
#214 - Bringing DOWN the Torah
To Hashem, no location in the heavenly spheres or the planetary system is limited. Regardless of the type of spiritual or physical life in any given place, Hashem is equally there. The only practical difference is regarding to us - whether we will feel spirtuality. You see, in the spiritual world, both the righteous and the wicked know very well that it is the world of truth where they feel Hashem's presence - the only variable being to what degree and through which medium. But in this physical world, the Shechina (Divine Presence) isn't just felt anywhere, but mainly either in Israel or in a place of Torah learning/prayer. Chances are is that one who lives a holy life will feel Hashem's presence far more than one who doesn't live such a life. But even without this, one who lives a holy life will nonetheless feel Hashem's presence to some degree, via love and fear of Him.
Based on this, the number one person who walked on this planet to have this type of feeling was Moses, whose birthday/Yahrzeit is today - 7 Adar. Unlike all the other prophets who had to make spiritual preparations but even at this were not guaranteed to receive prophecy, Moses was called by Hashem without prior preparations, as he was already spiritually ready for this.
Regardless, this did not prevent Moses from interacting with this physical, mundane world. For although Moses had his times when he was virtually only spiritual, such as the three times of 40 day periods when he spent time in the heavens, and as attested to in the Torah, he didn't eat or drink during this time, he was able to demonstrate his greatness specifically by being the leader of the Jewish people, of whom, not all of them were always appreciative of Moses, and hence, Moses had to spend some time dealing with their materialistic issues.
Indeed, following the sin of the Jews at the Golden Calf, which was at the end of the first period of 40 days for Moses in the heavens, Hashem tells him - Lech Reid "Go down..." (Exodus 32:7), and as Rashi explains, Hashem was telling Moses that he should lower himself from his position as the leader since the only reason that he was leader to begin with was because of the Jewish people; however, now that they have sinned, he wouldn't be of service anymore (with the original assumption that Hashem was going to kill the nation until Moses begged for mercy).
Now wait a minute. You may have noticed a contradiction here. First I implied here that by Moses interacting with the people as per their materialistic issues, he was in essence lowering himself, since after all, here he was a tremendous Torah scholar who knows that the Torah is the most valuable thing, but he had to deal with some for whom Torah obviously didn't mean the most precious thing to them to say the least. But then, I quote from the context of Hashem telling Moses to "go down from his position", which implies that beforehand, he was in a high spiritual state in the leadership position that he was in.
Let us turn to the Talmud (Megilla 13a) which quotes a verse in Divrei HaYomim: "Yehudiya gave birth to Yered the father of Gedor, Chever the father of Socho, and Yekutiel the father of Zanoach, and these are the sons of Bithya the daughter of Pharaoh" (I Chronicles 4:18). From the literal meaning of this verse, you would think that there are two or more families involved here; but believe it or not, there are only two people here - Bithya, the Egyptian princess who converted to Judaism, and Moses, whom Bithya discovered as Baby Moses in a reed basket on the Nile River, who was left by his family due to fears of the Egyptians finding and drowning him due to a prediction of astrologers who were saying that the redeemer of Israel would be born around that time. As it turns out, the basis of their prediction in the stars was referring to none other than Moses himself.
As the Talmud notes, Yehudiya, which literally means Jewess, refers to Bithya because she converted to Judaism, and the other names inbetween are in fact all names of Moses; for as our rabbis tell us, he was given a total of 10 names as everyone gave him a different name. However, the ONLY name that the Chumash, which is known in English as the Five Books of Moses, even mentions is Moshe, named by Bithya herself, based on the phrase Ki Min HaMayim MESHITIHU "For I DREW him out of the water". And being that Bithya both rescued Moses and raised him in her father's palace, she is given credit as if she actually gave birth to him.
As the Talmud continues, she is named here Yehudiya because she negated idol worship, as the verse states, "She went down to bathe by the river". And in case anyone thought it was because it was a nice or hot summer day to do so (and it was in fact the beginning of the summer because our rabbis tell us that this incident occured on the future holiday of Shavuot that occurs in this time of the year), Rabbi Yochanan has news for us "She went down to bathe herself from the idolatry of her father's house", the same way that one who converts to Judaism does so by using the Mikva (ritualarium) as part of the conversion process.
Anyways, beginning the analysis of Moses' various names here, the first one mentioned is Yered, which has the same letters as the Hebrew number for 214 - the number of this post. Incidentally, this is the same name as Yered, the great-great-great grandson of Adam and great-great grandfather of Noah; in short, the sixth generation in parental line from Adam and Eve. The Talmud notes that the reason why he was named as such was to hint to the future time when it would be in his merit that the Jews would receive the manna, for as per the meaning of this word, which has the meaning of coming down, it implies that the manna CAME DOWN for the Jews in his days.
Now, a most astonishing thing is brought by the Artscroll translation and commentary on the Talmud. It brings the Vilna Gaon who says that the correct reading of the text, in lieu of the manna being brought down for the Jews, is "because he (Moses) BROUGHT DOWN THE TORAH to the Jews".
Having said this, it is true that throughout the Mishna, Talmud and Zohar, among other texts, there are variant readings of many words, where usually, the variant reading is a similar word being suggested. The reason that this is so is because in the old days, writing was either not so eligible as it is nowadays, so it could have been misread, or the word could have been mixed up with another similar word when copied over. Other instances of changes happened thanks to censureship, usually due to non-Jews who were printers, and may have not liked certain words or phrases, including in prayers, that either would seem to refer to non-Jews in a bad light, or to the false Christian god for that matter. In fact, there is even a compilation of texts that were part of the original Talmud, but were left out due to Christian censureship.
In any case, we see that this type of alternative reading from the Vilna Gaon to be very unusual. Well first, the text of the Talmud as we have it uses the word Yarad (came down), which is in essence the same word as Moses' earlier name Yered, except for the vowels, while in the Vilna Gaon's reading, it should be Horid (brought down). But the main point that is quite unusual is that a totally different word or subject is offered here - Torah instead of manna, as not even one letter is shared between these two words. So the question begs to be asked - Is the Vilna Gaon suggesting to change the wording of the Talmud, because he prefers to see the reason as related to the most important thing which is the Torah? This is true, but does this justify deciding to change what the rabbis wrote? It can't be just a simple mistake in copying something over, because the only real common denominator in the different phrases is that the name Yisrael, referring to the Jewish nation, is mentioned.
I say that yes, the Vilna Gaon is actually saying that the reason that should be given for the name Yered should be about the Torah, which is the main thing, rather than the manna, though it was a spiritual food, and in fact, the Talmud even tells us in Tractate Yoma that the Torah was given specifically to those who ate the manna. In other words, he is begging to differ, and he seems to actually to be arguing about what the reason should be given, the same way that in numerous occasions, both in Halacha and Aggada, various rabbis each give a different reason for a certain thing. Now in case one will wonder how anyone, since the writing of the Talmud some 1,500 years later, can dare have the Chutzpa to contradict what any rabbi says in the Talmud because he feels that it should be different; the Vilna Gaon, though not among the Talmudic rabbis, with his supreme knowledge of the Torah that far few attained clearly within the last 1,000 years at least, could talk, and ESPECIALLY, when it comes to emphasing what the most important thing is in life, as it was most important in his own life. For while it is true, as the Talmud notes in Tractate Ta'anit, the manna came to the Jews especially in the merit of Moses; Moses brought down from the heavens something so far more important, that everything else pales in significance. And so, even though normally, with what is called the Yerida - the spiritual going DOWN or decline - of the generations, we are on a much lower level of Torah learning, the Vilna Gaon is one of the few who didn't fit this criteria; and so, if it were the Vilna Gaon who would have been among the Talmudic rabbis, no doubt that his opinion about the name of Moses' name Yered would have been mentioned, because after all, what rabbi would disagree about what the most important thing is that that he is supposed to represent?
In fact, the Talmud in Tractate Shabbat records the dialogue between Moses and the angels when he attempted to bring the Torah down to the Jewish people, since after all, as the angels argued, how could Moses, a man of flesh and blood, have the nerve to take down a Torah that is most spiritual from a most spiritual place up above to a coarse, materialistic world. It was only because Moses showed the angels how the Torah was not practical for them, being that they are not human beings who have materialistic needs, that they were convinced that he was right, and they even wound up giving him gifts at the end, including the Angel of Death himself.
Accordingly, we see a direct connection between the going down of Bithia to bathe herself from idolatry and the Torah being brought down. For how it works in this world is that a descent - at least a physical descent, and sometimes a spiritual descent too - in order to have a spiritual elevation. And as for the Torah, though it would now be brought down to a materialistic plane, this is in fact the ultimate purpose of the Torah, for though it is Hashem's Wisdom, part of this wisdom is that the Jews would observe its commandments in this finite world, including many commandments that involve materialistic items that are used in serving Hashem. In fact, the very last Mitzva of the Torah is writing a Torah scroll, and guess what the scroll is made up of - animal hide! Imagine, using an animal, howbeit a kosher one, to be the very medium that makes up the holiest item in Judaism! And as for the first Mitzva of the Torah, this is the commandments to have children, involving using our most pleasurable base desire in order to be able to fulfill this Mitzva. For in fact, parents are partners with Hashem in bringing down a person to this materialistic world, as mentioned in the Talmudic tractate of Nidda.
Now, the reason why Hashem takes an unblemished, untained soul from the heavens and brings it down to this lowly, materialistic world which is full of sin to begin with, is in order to earn its reward, via using the materialism to become spiritual, rather than falling prey to our base desires for the sake of the desires themselves. So while it is in fact a tremendous spiritual downfall for a holy soul to be surrounded by such materialism, one can ultimately become even higher than the angels who are always near the Shechina (Divine Presence) by channeling our G-d given talents in the right direction. And so in essence, the soul of a righteous person (that is, who will become a righteous person for in fact, everyone has free choice) benefits not only himself at the end, but everyone else around him who are willing to follow the correct spiritual path.
Another major example of this concept is illustrated via the next Sephira combination of Gevurah She'B'Netzach, the 23rd one, corresponding to the week in the Jewish calendar from Rosh Hashana which is either in the week of the Torah reading about the various items of the Mishkan (Tabernable) involving all sorts of materialistic items from gold and silver to animal hide, as well as the various materials used for the making of the priestly garments or last week's Parshat Vayikra which is all about offering various sacrifices, which were usually animals. Very interestingly, where the sinner needs to bring an animal to make atonement, it is the animal being slaughtered and all that makes the person who brought it to the Temple to do Teshuva (repentence); and hence, the animal being slaughtered - though it may sound quite barbaric to some in today's world, including non-observant Jews who look at the Torah as an old fashioned man-made book - served its purpose in getting a person, who before sinned but is now looking to rectify the spiritual blemisht that he created - to be a better servant of Hashem and be worthy of eternal reward. Indeed, this very Sephira - Gevurah She'B'Netzach - represents this very concept. For this world is in fact a finite, limited world, which is the concept of Gevurah, judgment and limitation, as opposed to Chesed (kindness) which is open even to those who aren't worthy of it, being granted good sometimes even without the qualification, or limitation, to being a goody-good. And so, it is precisely through the concept of Gevurah in this world, limiting ourselves in materialism only to the extent that is needed to serve Hashem, that one can achieve Netzach (eternity), which is in fact, the very Sephira that corresponds to Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses). And it was Moshe Rabbeinu who used his spiritual strength to be able to bring down the Torah to this world, having achieved Netzach (victory) over the complaints of the angels, which would ulimately benefit the Jewish people to cause them to be worthy of Netzach, the world of eternity.
On a personal note, my Brit Mila (circumcison) took place on the same date as the corresponding Sephira of Gevurah She'B'Netzach (8 Iyar). And as we see with the Brit, a piece of foreskin, which represents our base desires, is cut off. For in effect, Hashem created something - the foreskin, and it is we the Jewish people, as commanded by Hashem, who are supposed to limit the amount of skin that there is with the male member, which by doing so will prevent the soul of the baby boy from being spiritually cut off from, and the act of doing this is compared to bringing a sacrifice in the Temple.
Oh, as for Moses' name Yered which is the same name as the original Biblical Yered, perhaps it isn't so "incidentally". To note, the original Yered was the SIXTH generation in parental line from Adam. Accordingly, the manna that Hashem brought down to the Jews took place only in the SIX days of the week, except for Shabbat, and at that, it was on the SIXTH day that the Jews received a double portion of manna, so the extra portion of manna could be eaten on Shabbat. And as for the Torah, aside from Torah She'B'Al Peh (Oral Torah) whose root is the Mishna which consists of SIX volumes; it is interesting to note another thing from the Vilna Gaon here is that the Chumash in a way consists of SIX books; for each of the books of the Chumash correspond to another millenium of the slated 6,000 years of the world's existance. Now, how it this possible if there are in fact five books of the Chumash? You see, the Vilna Gaon notes that the story of the Creation of the World is considered like a book in itself.
Hence, according to this, being that each Parsha of Deutronomy, which in this context, is considered the sixth book with corresponds with our current sixth millenium, corresponds to 100 years, noting that though there are technically 11 Parshiyot in this book, the Parshiyot of Nitzavim and Vayeilech are often combined, and hence, are considered a total of 10 Parshiyot - the Parsha of this eighth century of the sixth millenium (5701-5800) is the combined Parshiyot of Nitzavim-Vayeilech. And noting that there are a total of 70 verses from Nitzavim-Vayeilech, dividing 70 by 100 yields 0.7; and hence, multiplying 73 (as per last year 5773) by 0.7, which yields 51.1, and 74, as per this current year 5774, by 0.7, which yields 51.8, we can see that this Hebrew year 5774 clearly corresponds to the 52nd verse from the beginning of Parshat Nitzavim that is found in Parshat Vayeilech, which is "Gather the people, the men, women, children, and your convert that is found at your gates, in order that they should listen, learn and fear Hashem your G-d, and observe to do all the words of this Torah" (Deutronomy 31:12). This is the very verse that is the source of the 612nd Mitzva of the Torah, next to the last Mitzva of the Torah, which was for the Jews to gather at the Temple once every seven years on the Succoth holiday following the Shemita (Sabbatical year), and hear portions of Deutronomy, THIS VERY BOOK THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION HERE, being read from the king. This is the Mitzva that is known as Hakhel (gather), for the entire Jewish people, even the women and children who were normally exempt from being at the Temple during the holidays, were obligated to be at this event, being compared to Matan Torah (Giving of the Torah). Moreover, the Hebrew number of this Mitzva - 612, consisting of the letters Tav-Reish-Yud-Beit, has the same letters as the word Brit (covenant) which is used both in referring to the Torah, and even more commonly used, for the Mitzva of Brit Mila, which is the second to the first Mitzva of the Torah.
And on a separate note, there is another Biblical personage with a name that is also the Gematria of 214 - Chur, a nephew of Moses, who was the son of Moses' sister Miriam and Caleb - whose other wife was Bithia. We first see mention of Chur in the end of Parshat Beshalach in the context of the Jews having its first national war with Amalek. In the midst of this, both Moses' brother Aaron and Chur supported his arms as Moses lifted his hands up in prayer to Hashem that the Jews should be victorious. Later on, when Moses was about to leave for Mt. Sinai for his first period of 40 days away, he left the Jewish people under the leadership of Aaron and Chur. However, on the day before Moses returned to the Jewish people, the Jews were confused, miscalculating the day that they thought Moses said as to when he was going to return, (they thought that the 40 day period was supposed to end on 16 Tammuz, the 40th day from when Moses left, but Moses said he was going to be away for 40 days, which were 40 complete days) which led to some of them feeling desperate for an alternate leader, which was the Golden Calf idol. Upon seeing this, Chur protested, and subsequently, was murdered by the idolatrous crowd. Significantly, perhaps it can be said that since they saw that Moses did not "COME DOWN" when they thought he was supposed to, and Chur protested the result of this, they squashed the challenge to their erronous and devious thinking by murdering Chur. You see, just as Chur's name is the Gematria of 214, this number is also the Gematria of the word Yarad (came down); for since they didn't see that Moses was going to "come down", and Chur challenged the result of their thinking this way which was their worship of the Golden Calf, they thought that they can solve the problem of their guilty conscience by silencing the one who was attempting to stop their wrong way of thinking and actions.
Moshe Rabbeinu and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein - 7 Adar
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the greatest decider of Halacha (Jewish Law) of the previous generation and the Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta Tiferet Yerusalayim in Manhattan for nearly half a century - having the same name as Moshe Rabbeinu, and passed away in 5746 (1986), was born on 7 Adar 5655 (1895) - the same birthdate as that of Moshe Rabbeinu - which was also on the first day of the week as it is this year (Note: When there are two months of Adar, unless one was born on the first Adar, the birthday is celebrated on the second Adar). But what I want to point out especially here, is that today marks THE BEGINNING OF THE 120th YEAR from the birth of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. And as we know in the Torah, starting from the midst of Parshat Chukat in Sefer Bamidbar (Numbers), the events beginning from the passing of Moshe Rabbeinu's sister Miriam (on 10 Nissan) until the end of the Chumash took place in the last year of Moshe Rabbeinu's life. Hence, we are currently on a 354 day COUNTDOWN (speaking of the concept of going down in this post) until there will be exactly 120 years from the birth of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein on 7 Adar, 5775 ('15), having the same name and birthdate as Moshe Rabbeinu who passed away on his birthday of 7 Adar when he became 120 years old (2368-2488), as noted already in the beginning of Parshat Vayeilech. In fact, it has been said that the passing of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in 5746 is hinted in the Torah, for the 5746th verse in the Torah - in Parshat Yayeilech - is "It was when Moshe finished writing the words of this Torah until their completion", and as we know, Rabbi Feinstein was a prolific writer, especially noted for the several volumes of the Igrot Moshe, a compilation of his letters of correspondence to those with Halachic queries, as well as Dibrot Moshe, a collection of his words of Torah on various tractates of the Talmud. And since his passing, the Sefer that is entitled Darash Moshe, which consists largely of his words of Torah on the Chumash as well as various sermons that he delivered over the years, has been published (Artscroll has an English translation of this Sefer). Indeed, it will be very interesting to see what this coming year, as we are now nearing the Redemption as we know based on various prophecies, will be like, for as we also know, it was a month and three days following the passing of Moshe Rabbeinu that Joshua, Moshe's successor, led the entire Jewish nation to Israel (on 10 Nissan).
It should be noted that while many other great rabbis didn't want to make a big deal of their birthdays, since after all, one who is born doesn't necessarily have reason to celebrate if he will not accomplish what he is supposed to in his lifetime, for this world at best is a preparatory state for the world of eternity; Rabbi Moshe Feinstein didn't take his birthday for granted, noting that the fact that he had the same name and birthdate as Moshe Rabbeinu had an influence on him to become what he became, and his family members wished each other a happy birthday on their corresponding birthdays. And as we see in the Torah, it states that when Moshe Rabbeinu, who was to become the greatest Tzadik (righteous person) who would walk this planet was born, his mother (Yocheved) saw that it was good, and as Rashi notes, their house was filled with (spiritual) light.
And on a final note, as another connection to the number of this post - 214, as well as the Gematria of Moses' name Yered, the Gematria of the birthday of Moshe Rabbeinu - as Zayin (the letter, which is the numerical value of 7) B'Adar (207) - is 214. (Note: Based on this, today's date Zayin Adar Beit, without the prefix to the month Adar, is also the Gematria of 214, the only difference is the shift of the letter Beit having the meaning of being the second Adar). And without the prefix of the letter Beit as in B'Adar, just as Zayin Adar, it is the Gematria of 212, the Hebrew number that has the same letters as the word Rebbe (Rabbi), for indeed, Moshe Rabbeinu was the first rabbi, ordained by Hashem Himself.
7 Adar II, 5774
P.S. The timing of this post - 5:11 AM, can serve as a way to remember that the 5th and final book of the Chumash (The FIVE Books of MOSES) - Sefer Devarim (Deutronomy), which contains 11 Parshiyot, ends with the passing of Moshe Rabbeinu which took place on today's date - 7 Adar.
Based on this, the number one person who walked on this planet to have this type of feeling was Moses, whose birthday/Yahrzeit is today - 7 Adar. Unlike all the other prophets who had to make spiritual preparations but even at this were not guaranteed to receive prophecy, Moses was called by Hashem without prior preparations, as he was already spiritually ready for this.
Regardless, this did not prevent Moses from interacting with this physical, mundane world. For although Moses had his times when he was virtually only spiritual, such as the three times of 40 day periods when he spent time in the heavens, and as attested to in the Torah, he didn't eat or drink during this time, he was able to demonstrate his greatness specifically by being the leader of the Jewish people, of whom, not all of them were always appreciative of Moses, and hence, Moses had to spend some time dealing with their materialistic issues.
Indeed, following the sin of the Jews at the Golden Calf, which was at the end of the first period of 40 days for Moses in the heavens, Hashem tells him - Lech Reid "Go down..." (Exodus 32:7), and as Rashi explains, Hashem was telling Moses that he should lower himself from his position as the leader since the only reason that he was leader to begin with was because of the Jewish people; however, now that they have sinned, he wouldn't be of service anymore (with the original assumption that Hashem was going to kill the nation until Moses begged for mercy).
Now wait a minute. You may have noticed a contradiction here. First I implied here that by Moses interacting with the people as per their materialistic issues, he was in essence lowering himself, since after all, here he was a tremendous Torah scholar who knows that the Torah is the most valuable thing, but he had to deal with some for whom Torah obviously didn't mean the most precious thing to them to say the least. But then, I quote from the context of Hashem telling Moses to "go down from his position", which implies that beforehand, he was in a high spiritual state in the leadership position that he was in.
Let us turn to the Talmud (Megilla 13a) which quotes a verse in Divrei HaYomim: "Yehudiya gave birth to Yered the father of Gedor, Chever the father of Socho, and Yekutiel the father of Zanoach, and these are the sons of Bithya the daughter of Pharaoh" (I Chronicles 4:18). From the literal meaning of this verse, you would think that there are two or more families involved here; but believe it or not, there are only two people here - Bithya, the Egyptian princess who converted to Judaism, and Moses, whom Bithya discovered as Baby Moses in a reed basket on the Nile River, who was left by his family due to fears of the Egyptians finding and drowning him due to a prediction of astrologers who were saying that the redeemer of Israel would be born around that time. As it turns out, the basis of their prediction in the stars was referring to none other than Moses himself.
As the Talmud notes, Yehudiya, which literally means Jewess, refers to Bithya because she converted to Judaism, and the other names inbetween are in fact all names of Moses; for as our rabbis tell us, he was given a total of 10 names as everyone gave him a different name. However, the ONLY name that the Chumash, which is known in English as the Five Books of Moses, even mentions is Moshe, named by Bithya herself, based on the phrase Ki Min HaMayim MESHITIHU "For I DREW him out of the water". And being that Bithya both rescued Moses and raised him in her father's palace, she is given credit as if she actually gave birth to him.
As the Talmud continues, she is named here Yehudiya because she negated idol worship, as the verse states, "She went down to bathe by the river". And in case anyone thought it was because it was a nice or hot summer day to do so (and it was in fact the beginning of the summer because our rabbis tell us that this incident occured on the future holiday of Shavuot that occurs in this time of the year), Rabbi Yochanan has news for us "She went down to bathe herself from the idolatry of her father's house", the same way that one who converts to Judaism does so by using the Mikva (ritualarium) as part of the conversion process.
Anyways, beginning the analysis of Moses' various names here, the first one mentioned is Yered, which has the same letters as the Hebrew number for 214 - the number of this post. Incidentally, this is the same name as Yered, the great-great-great grandson of Adam and great-great grandfather of Noah; in short, the sixth generation in parental line from Adam and Eve. The Talmud notes that the reason why he was named as such was to hint to the future time when it would be in his merit that the Jews would receive the manna, for as per the meaning of this word, which has the meaning of coming down, it implies that the manna CAME DOWN for the Jews in his days.
Now, a most astonishing thing is brought by the Artscroll translation and commentary on the Talmud. It brings the Vilna Gaon who says that the correct reading of the text, in lieu of the manna being brought down for the Jews, is "because he (Moses) BROUGHT DOWN THE TORAH to the Jews".
Having said this, it is true that throughout the Mishna, Talmud and Zohar, among other texts, there are variant readings of many words, where usually, the variant reading is a similar word being suggested. The reason that this is so is because in the old days, writing was either not so eligible as it is nowadays, so it could have been misread, or the word could have been mixed up with another similar word when copied over. Other instances of changes happened thanks to censureship, usually due to non-Jews who were printers, and may have not liked certain words or phrases, including in prayers, that either would seem to refer to non-Jews in a bad light, or to the false Christian god for that matter. In fact, there is even a compilation of texts that were part of the original Talmud, but were left out due to Christian censureship.
In any case, we see that this type of alternative reading from the Vilna Gaon to be very unusual. Well first, the text of the Talmud as we have it uses the word Yarad (came down), which is in essence the same word as Moses' earlier name Yered, except for the vowels, while in the Vilna Gaon's reading, it should be Horid (brought down). But the main point that is quite unusual is that a totally different word or subject is offered here - Torah instead of manna, as not even one letter is shared between these two words. So the question begs to be asked - Is the Vilna Gaon suggesting to change the wording of the Talmud, because he prefers to see the reason as related to the most important thing which is the Torah? This is true, but does this justify deciding to change what the rabbis wrote? It can't be just a simple mistake in copying something over, because the only real common denominator in the different phrases is that the name Yisrael, referring to the Jewish nation, is mentioned.
I say that yes, the Vilna Gaon is actually saying that the reason that should be given for the name Yered should be about the Torah, which is the main thing, rather than the manna, though it was a spiritual food, and in fact, the Talmud even tells us in Tractate Yoma that the Torah was given specifically to those who ate the manna. In other words, he is begging to differ, and he seems to actually to be arguing about what the reason should be given, the same way that in numerous occasions, both in Halacha and Aggada, various rabbis each give a different reason for a certain thing. Now in case one will wonder how anyone, since the writing of the Talmud some 1,500 years later, can dare have the Chutzpa to contradict what any rabbi says in the Talmud because he feels that it should be different; the Vilna Gaon, though not among the Talmudic rabbis, with his supreme knowledge of the Torah that far few attained clearly within the last 1,000 years at least, could talk, and ESPECIALLY, when it comes to emphasing what the most important thing is in life, as it was most important in his own life. For while it is true, as the Talmud notes in Tractate Ta'anit, the manna came to the Jews especially in the merit of Moses; Moses brought down from the heavens something so far more important, that everything else pales in significance. And so, even though normally, with what is called the Yerida - the spiritual going DOWN or decline - of the generations, we are on a much lower level of Torah learning, the Vilna Gaon is one of the few who didn't fit this criteria; and so, if it were the Vilna Gaon who would have been among the Talmudic rabbis, no doubt that his opinion about the name of Moses' name Yered would have been mentioned, because after all, what rabbi would disagree about what the most important thing is that that he is supposed to represent?
In fact, the Talmud in Tractate Shabbat records the dialogue between Moses and the angels when he attempted to bring the Torah down to the Jewish people, since after all, as the angels argued, how could Moses, a man of flesh and blood, have the nerve to take down a Torah that is most spiritual from a most spiritual place up above to a coarse, materialistic world. It was only because Moses showed the angels how the Torah was not practical for them, being that they are not human beings who have materialistic needs, that they were convinced that he was right, and they even wound up giving him gifts at the end, including the Angel of Death himself.
Accordingly, we see a direct connection between the going down of Bithia to bathe herself from idolatry and the Torah being brought down. For how it works in this world is that a descent - at least a physical descent, and sometimes a spiritual descent too - in order to have a spiritual elevation. And as for the Torah, though it would now be brought down to a materialistic plane, this is in fact the ultimate purpose of the Torah, for though it is Hashem's Wisdom, part of this wisdom is that the Jews would observe its commandments in this finite world, including many commandments that involve materialistic items that are used in serving Hashem. In fact, the very last Mitzva of the Torah is writing a Torah scroll, and guess what the scroll is made up of - animal hide! Imagine, using an animal, howbeit a kosher one, to be the very medium that makes up the holiest item in Judaism! And as for the first Mitzva of the Torah, this is the commandments to have children, involving using our most pleasurable base desire in order to be able to fulfill this Mitzva. For in fact, parents are partners with Hashem in bringing down a person to this materialistic world, as mentioned in the Talmudic tractate of Nidda.
Now, the reason why Hashem takes an unblemished, untained soul from the heavens and brings it down to this lowly, materialistic world which is full of sin to begin with, is in order to earn its reward, via using the materialism to become spiritual, rather than falling prey to our base desires for the sake of the desires themselves. So while it is in fact a tremendous spiritual downfall for a holy soul to be surrounded by such materialism, one can ultimately become even higher than the angels who are always near the Shechina (Divine Presence) by channeling our G-d given talents in the right direction. And so in essence, the soul of a righteous person (that is, who will become a righteous person for in fact, everyone has free choice) benefits not only himself at the end, but everyone else around him who are willing to follow the correct spiritual path.
Another major example of this concept is illustrated via the next Sephira combination of Gevurah She'B'Netzach, the 23rd one, corresponding to the week in the Jewish calendar from Rosh Hashana which is either in the week of the Torah reading about the various items of the Mishkan (Tabernable) involving all sorts of materialistic items from gold and silver to animal hide, as well as the various materials used for the making of the priestly garments or last week's Parshat Vayikra which is all about offering various sacrifices, which were usually animals. Very interestingly, where the sinner needs to bring an animal to make atonement, it is the animal being slaughtered and all that makes the person who brought it to the Temple to do Teshuva (repentence); and hence, the animal being slaughtered - though it may sound quite barbaric to some in today's world, including non-observant Jews who look at the Torah as an old fashioned man-made book - served its purpose in getting a person, who before sinned but is now looking to rectify the spiritual blemisht that he created - to be a better servant of Hashem and be worthy of eternal reward. Indeed, this very Sephira - Gevurah She'B'Netzach - represents this very concept. For this world is in fact a finite, limited world, which is the concept of Gevurah, judgment and limitation, as opposed to Chesed (kindness) which is open even to those who aren't worthy of it, being granted good sometimes even without the qualification, or limitation, to being a goody-good. And so, it is precisely through the concept of Gevurah in this world, limiting ourselves in materialism only to the extent that is needed to serve Hashem, that one can achieve Netzach (eternity), which is in fact, the very Sephira that corresponds to Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses). And it was Moshe Rabbeinu who used his spiritual strength to be able to bring down the Torah to this world, having achieved Netzach (victory) over the complaints of the angels, which would ulimately benefit the Jewish people to cause them to be worthy of Netzach, the world of eternity.
On a personal note, my Brit Mila (circumcison) took place on the same date as the corresponding Sephira of Gevurah She'B'Netzach (8 Iyar). And as we see with the Brit, a piece of foreskin, which represents our base desires, is cut off. For in effect, Hashem created something - the foreskin, and it is we the Jewish people, as commanded by Hashem, who are supposed to limit the amount of skin that there is with the male member, which by doing so will prevent the soul of the baby boy from being spiritually cut off from, and the act of doing this is compared to bringing a sacrifice in the Temple.
Oh, as for Moses' name Yered which is the same name as the original Biblical Yered, perhaps it isn't so "incidentally". To note, the original Yered was the SIXTH generation in parental line from Adam. Accordingly, the manna that Hashem brought down to the Jews took place only in the SIX days of the week, except for Shabbat, and at that, it was on the SIXTH day that the Jews received a double portion of manna, so the extra portion of manna could be eaten on Shabbat. And as for the Torah, aside from Torah She'B'Al Peh (Oral Torah) whose root is the Mishna which consists of SIX volumes; it is interesting to note another thing from the Vilna Gaon here is that the Chumash in a way consists of SIX books; for each of the books of the Chumash correspond to another millenium of the slated 6,000 years of the world's existance. Now, how it this possible if there are in fact five books of the Chumash? You see, the Vilna Gaon notes that the story of the Creation of the World is considered like a book in itself.
Hence, according to this, being that each Parsha of Deutronomy, which in this context, is considered the sixth book with corresponds with our current sixth millenium, corresponds to 100 years, noting that though there are technically 11 Parshiyot in this book, the Parshiyot of Nitzavim and Vayeilech are often combined, and hence, are considered a total of 10 Parshiyot - the Parsha of this eighth century of the sixth millenium (5701-5800) is the combined Parshiyot of Nitzavim-Vayeilech. And noting that there are a total of 70 verses from Nitzavim-Vayeilech, dividing 70 by 100 yields 0.7; and hence, multiplying 73 (as per last year 5773) by 0.7, which yields 51.1, and 74, as per this current year 5774, by 0.7, which yields 51.8, we can see that this Hebrew year 5774 clearly corresponds to the 52nd verse from the beginning of Parshat Nitzavim that is found in Parshat Vayeilech, which is "Gather the people, the men, women, children, and your convert that is found at your gates, in order that they should listen, learn and fear Hashem your G-d, and observe to do all the words of this Torah" (Deutronomy 31:12). This is the very verse that is the source of the 612nd Mitzva of the Torah, next to the last Mitzva of the Torah, which was for the Jews to gather at the Temple once every seven years on the Succoth holiday following the Shemita (Sabbatical year), and hear portions of Deutronomy, THIS VERY BOOK THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION HERE, being read from the king. This is the Mitzva that is known as Hakhel (gather), for the entire Jewish people, even the women and children who were normally exempt from being at the Temple during the holidays, were obligated to be at this event, being compared to Matan Torah (Giving of the Torah). Moreover, the Hebrew number of this Mitzva - 612, consisting of the letters Tav-Reish-Yud-Beit, has the same letters as the word Brit (covenant) which is used both in referring to the Torah, and even more commonly used, for the Mitzva of Brit Mila, which is the second to the first Mitzva of the Torah.
And on a separate note, there is another Biblical personage with a name that is also the Gematria of 214 - Chur, a nephew of Moses, who was the son of Moses' sister Miriam and Caleb - whose other wife was Bithia. We first see mention of Chur in the end of Parshat Beshalach in the context of the Jews having its first national war with Amalek. In the midst of this, both Moses' brother Aaron and Chur supported his arms as Moses lifted his hands up in prayer to Hashem that the Jews should be victorious. Later on, when Moses was about to leave for Mt. Sinai for his first period of 40 days away, he left the Jewish people under the leadership of Aaron and Chur. However, on the day before Moses returned to the Jewish people, the Jews were confused, miscalculating the day that they thought Moses said as to when he was going to return, (they thought that the 40 day period was supposed to end on 16 Tammuz, the 40th day from when Moses left, but Moses said he was going to be away for 40 days, which were 40 complete days) which led to some of them feeling desperate for an alternate leader, which was the Golden Calf idol. Upon seeing this, Chur protested, and subsequently, was murdered by the idolatrous crowd. Significantly, perhaps it can be said that since they saw that Moses did not "COME DOWN" when they thought he was supposed to, and Chur protested the result of this, they squashed the challenge to their erronous and devious thinking by murdering Chur. You see, just as Chur's name is the Gematria of 214, this number is also the Gematria of the word Yarad (came down); for since they didn't see that Moses was going to "come down", and Chur challenged the result of their thinking this way which was their worship of the Golden Calf, they thought that they can solve the problem of their guilty conscience by silencing the one who was attempting to stop their wrong way of thinking and actions.
Moshe Rabbeinu and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein - 7 Adar
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the greatest decider of Halacha (Jewish Law) of the previous generation and the Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta Tiferet Yerusalayim in Manhattan for nearly half a century - having the same name as Moshe Rabbeinu, and passed away in 5746 (1986), was born on 7 Adar 5655 (1895) - the same birthdate as that of Moshe Rabbeinu - which was also on the first day of the week as it is this year (Note: When there are two months of Adar, unless one was born on the first Adar, the birthday is celebrated on the second Adar). But what I want to point out especially here, is that today marks THE BEGINNING OF THE 120th YEAR from the birth of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. And as we know in the Torah, starting from the midst of Parshat Chukat in Sefer Bamidbar (Numbers), the events beginning from the passing of Moshe Rabbeinu's sister Miriam (on 10 Nissan) until the end of the Chumash took place in the last year of Moshe Rabbeinu's life. Hence, we are currently on a 354 day COUNTDOWN (speaking of the concept of going down in this post) until there will be exactly 120 years from the birth of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein on 7 Adar, 5775 ('15), having the same name and birthdate as Moshe Rabbeinu who passed away on his birthday of 7 Adar when he became 120 years old (2368-2488), as noted already in the beginning of Parshat Vayeilech. In fact, it has been said that the passing of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in 5746 is hinted in the Torah, for the 5746th verse in the Torah - in Parshat Yayeilech - is "It was when Moshe finished writing the words of this Torah until their completion", and as we know, Rabbi Feinstein was a prolific writer, especially noted for the several volumes of the Igrot Moshe, a compilation of his letters of correspondence to those with Halachic queries, as well as Dibrot Moshe, a collection of his words of Torah on various tractates of the Talmud. And since his passing, the Sefer that is entitled Darash Moshe, which consists largely of his words of Torah on the Chumash as well as various sermons that he delivered over the years, has been published (Artscroll has an English translation of this Sefer). Indeed, it will be very interesting to see what this coming year, as we are now nearing the Redemption as we know based on various prophecies, will be like, for as we also know, it was a month and three days following the passing of Moshe Rabbeinu that Joshua, Moshe's successor, led the entire Jewish nation to Israel (on 10 Nissan).
It should be noted that while many other great rabbis didn't want to make a big deal of their birthdays, since after all, one who is born doesn't necessarily have reason to celebrate if he will not accomplish what he is supposed to in his lifetime, for this world at best is a preparatory state for the world of eternity; Rabbi Moshe Feinstein didn't take his birthday for granted, noting that the fact that he had the same name and birthdate as Moshe Rabbeinu had an influence on him to become what he became, and his family members wished each other a happy birthday on their corresponding birthdays. And as we see in the Torah, it states that when Moshe Rabbeinu, who was to become the greatest Tzadik (righteous person) who would walk this planet was born, his mother (Yocheved) saw that it was good, and as Rashi notes, their house was filled with (spiritual) light.
And on a final note, as another connection to the number of this post - 214, as well as the Gematria of Moses' name Yered, the Gematria of the birthday of Moshe Rabbeinu - as Zayin (the letter, which is the numerical value of 7) B'Adar (207) - is 214. (Note: Based on this, today's date Zayin Adar Beit, without the prefix to the month Adar, is also the Gematria of 214, the only difference is the shift of the letter Beit having the meaning of being the second Adar). And without the prefix of the letter Beit as in B'Adar, just as Zayin Adar, it is the Gematria of 212, the Hebrew number that has the same letters as the word Rebbe (Rabbi), for indeed, Moshe Rabbeinu was the first rabbi, ordained by Hashem Himself.
7 Adar II, 5774
P.S. The timing of this post - 5:11 AM, can serve as a way to remember that the 5th and final book of the Chumash (The FIVE Books of MOSES) - Sefer Devarim (Deutronomy), which contains 11 Parshiyot, ends with the passing of Moshe Rabbeinu which took place on today's date - 7 Adar.
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