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31 January 2021

What is going on here?

Infant, two months old, dies of coronavirus at Jerusalem hospital

Two-month-old infant dies of coronavirus after spending three weeks unconscious and on a ventilator. There must be a transparent investigation about the deaths of babies and toddlers, whether their mothers were vaccinated with the pfizer or moderna vaccine? Examination of whether there were any conflicting medical issues of either the baby or the mother that could have passed on? Placing a baby on a ventilator (which most adults do not survive) at such a young age could be a cause!

Were these babies subjected to the hepB vaccine upon birth? Or were they given any other vaccines during their very young immune system developing life. Conflicts between vaccines, virus, and blood disorder. 

A complete list of any and all deaths arising after vaccinations, regardless of whatever is determined to have caused or was involved, should be made public and not shoved into a Covid-19 category file. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/295887

Nurse aide dies after receiving work-mandated coronavirus vaccine shot

Janet Moore, a nurse aide at Admiral’s Pointe Nursing and Rehabilitation in Huron, Ohio, died within 48 hours of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine that her employer reportedly required. Moore had no known comorbidities and was found unresponsive in her car outside her apartment complex on Dec. 31.

Her brother, Jacob Gregory, told LifeSiteNews that Moore was driving home from work that day. “[As] soon as she drove into her parking lot she passed away,” he said. https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-01-29-nurse-aide-died-after-getting-vaccinated.html


Dr Simone G: The Stand | The Truth About the COVID-19 Vaccine
Please visit to view the video: https://www.americasfrontlinedoctors.com/the-stand-the-truth-about-the-covid-19-vaccine.html 
THIS IS WHAT IS GOING ON:

Shoftim 5:2 - 31: Miracles of the Jews – From Entering the Land, Leading to Hints of MASHIACH


Shoftim 5:2-31 – Commentary by Rebbetzin Tziporah (Heller) Gottlieb:

"Describing not only those miracles, but the miracles that had taken place from when the Jews had entered the Land until the present, with hints of the miracles that would take place in the future leading us into Mashiachs coming.” Parshas Beshallach Haftorah


5:2 Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.

5:3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.

5:4 LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

5:5 The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel.

5:6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.

5:7 The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

5:8 They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? 5:9 My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD.

5:10 Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.

5:11 They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.

5:12 Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.

5:13 Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.

5:14 Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.

5:15 And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.

5:16 Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

5:17 Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.

5:18 Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.

5:19 The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.

5:20 They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

5:21 The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.

5:22 Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones.

5:23 Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

5:24 Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

5:25 He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

5:26 She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

5:27 At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

5:28 The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? 5:29 Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, 5:30 Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil? 

5:31 So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.


Sources: Portions copyright © 1997 by Benyamin Pilant, All Rights Reserved
JPS Electronic Edition Copyright © 1998 by Larry Nelson, All Rights Reserved
Jewish Bible


30 January 2021

What to Expect After Getting the “Jab”

What does it look like; what will happen.

Beginning with anaphylaxis (severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction) in the first week.  Therefore, these vaccines shouldn’t be given in the 2nd dose. 

Then the real adverse events will happen, against whatever is the real mRNA in the vaccines, and when the person vaccinated comes across (this coronavirus) sometime later …. what happened in the animal studies, 20% or 50% or 100% of the animals died!

Among people over 80, maybe about 2.5% will experience severe side effects, adverse events where people cannot work or live life normally.

Then with the 2nd vaccination it could be 1 in 10 or ten percent.  For the over 80-year-olds, I would think that 80% of them would have life-limiting reactions or die when they come across the messenger RNA again.

For others (not elderly) it could be half of the people who could be severely harmed.

What it does is… this gene therapy or medical device is setting up an autoimmune disease chronically.  It’s like injecting people who have nut allergies with peanuts.

It’s anaphylaxis in the first wave.  It’s anaphylaxis +allergic reaction the 2ndwave.  But the 3rd reaction occurs when you come across whatever the messenger RNA is against (virus, bacterium, etc.), and now you have stimulated your immune system to have a low-grade autoimmune disease, not immunity to yourself per se because the mRNA is expressing a viral protein.

Now you made yourself a genetically modified organism, and so the immune system that is meant to push the viruses or bacteria out… now the autoimmune reaction is attacking your body low grade.

Now (months later) when you come across the virus that stimulates the immune system to get rid of the virus and when it (the immune system) sees that you have viral proteins in your own cells and organs, then about a week later (the adaptive immune system kicks in, the mechanism that makes specific long-term memory antibodies against a pathogen) and you go into organ failure.  Because your immune system is killing your own organs.  Those patients will present as septic


Presented by:

Professor Dolores Cahill, speaking about RNA vaccines

I suppose there are potentially three adverse reactions (from messenger RNA vaccines—MODERNA, PFIZER).

PROFESSOR DOLORES CAHILL, PROFESSOR of TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH (FORSCHUNG) AND MOLECULAR GENETICS, School of Medicine, University College Dublin, chairperson Irish Freedom Party, speaking at RENSE.com, predicts impending mass death from RNA vaccines (paraphrased).

We are seeing this happen already.



WAR??

Israelis Say They Will Attack Iran If Biden Returns US To Nuclear Deal

by Tyler Durden on January 27, 2021 at 11:10 am 

Israelis Say They Will Attack Iran If Biden Returns US To Nuclear Deal Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, Israeli officials have made their opposition to the Biden administration returning to the Iran nuclear deal known. Some have even threatened a military strike on Iran if President Biden revives the deal, known as the JCPOA. An Israeli source affirmed this to Breaking Defense in an article published on Monday. "Israel needs to know — and fast — whether Washington plans to stop Iran’s race to the bomb or take some action to do this," the source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Israeli F-15 fighter jet, via Reuters The source said that Israeli intelligence is monitoring Iran’s nuclear facilities closely. Israeli airstrikes on Syria were also mentioned, which have ramped up in recent months. "This pressure will continue and grow, as a preparation for a direct attack on targets in Iran," the source said of airstrikes in Syria. Israel […]

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israelis-say-they-will-attack-iran-if-biden-returns-us-nuclear-deal


Growing Israeli resentment toward ultra-Orthodox reflected in polls


Meanwhile governments around the world are afraid of their own citizens because the people want to remain FREE, and are no longer tolerant of lockdowns. They are rising up.
And in America the paranoid self-installed regime is afraid of the over 80 Mil Trump Voters, and plan to go after them, that’s a large portion of the country.

29 January 2021

Reb Neuberger: Parshas Beshalach – PANIC

P A N I C

by Roy Neuberger

Talk about panic.

“Egypt pursued … and overtook them, encamped by the sea …. The Children of Israel raised their eyes and behold! Egypt was journeying after them and they were very frightened. The Children of Israel cried out to Hashem. They said to Moshe …. ‘What is this that you have done to us to take us out of Egypt?’ (Shemos 14:9)

 

Our ancestors were caught between the Egyptian army and the sea. Yes, they had just been released from slavery by unprecedented miracles, but … do we always recognize a miracle? Do we recognize miracles today?

 

I saw in the writings of Rabbi Yaakov Galinsky zt”l a remarkable perspective. It’s a little hard for us to grasp this, but, when they left Egypt, the Children of Israel had “no mitzvos to their merit to deserve being redeemed!” (Parshas Bo, page 211)

 

Rabbi Galinsky explains that, in order to confer merit, Hashem gave our ancestors two mitzvos just before the last Plague, Bris Milah and Korban Pesach. They were saved literally “in the blood” of these mitzvos. As the Torah says, “I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood and I said to you, ‘By your blood you shall live!’ and I said to you, ‘By your blood shall you live.’” (Yechezkel 16:6)

 

To this very day, we repeat these words at every bris milah.

 

Each of these mitzvos involves blood: the blood of the sacrifice and the blood of the circumcision. Rabbi Galinsky stresses that our ancestors in Ancient Egypt had reached the forty-ninth level of impurity and were actually worshipping idols. As a result of their spiritual decline, they were incapable of assimilating the words of Moshe and Aharon. Tragically, most of the Children of Israel never left the land of Egypt at all, but died there in the Plague of Darkness!

 

This is the Black Hole of exile. We have to understand its implications for our own days!

 

But Hashem is merciful!

 

Despite their descent into Egyptian idolatry, nevertheless, the mitzvos of Bris Milah and Korban Pesach were sufficiently powerful in Hashem’s eyes to confer upon our ancestors merit to leave the Land of Egypt. Years later, in the Bais Hamikdosh, the Kohanim echoed this redemption. They literally walked in the blood of the sacrifices performed there. Every day they would flush out the floor of the Bais Hamikdosh with pure water to remove the blood. 

 

My friends, things look bleak in today’s world. Sometimes it seems as if we are drowning in troubles, just like our ancestors. Indeed, Chazal tell us that, “[In] the generation when [Moshiach] will come, [the number of] Torah scholars will decrease. And [as for the rest of the people], their eyes will become worn out through grief and anxiety. Numerous troubles and harsh decrees will be appearing anew. Before the first [trouble] is over, a second one will hasten to appear.” (Sanhedrin 97a)

 

If we feel that we are being swallowed up by troubles, then we should reflect on this week’s Parsha. It looked hopeless.

 

But here we are, thousands of years later. We escaped from Egypt and crossed through the Sea! We heard the words of Moshe Rabbeinu: “Do not fear! Stand fast and see the salvation of Hashem that He will perform for you today …. Hashem shall make war for you and you shall remain silent!” (Shemos 14:9)

 

Jewish history is replete with “impossible” situations. Our entire history is one immense “impossible situation!” But we are still here and we still embrace the Torah which Hashem presented to us in that arid desert thousands of years ago.

 

It is time to remind ourselves of the words of a non-Jew, Mark Twain. “If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way.  Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of.  He is as prominent on the planet as any other people. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and he has done it with hands tied behind him… The Egyptian, the Babylonian and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dreamstuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains.  What is the secret of his immortality?” (Harper’s Magazine, 1897)

 

May we soon see the Geulah Shelemah with the coming of Moshiach ben Dovid!

 

 


The Red Sea at sunrise

 

GLOSSARY

 

Bais Hamikdosh: The Holy Temple in Jerusalem

Bris Milah: Circumcision

Chazal: The Rabbis of the Mishna & Gemora

Geulah Shelemah: The Final Redemption

Kohanim: Priests, descendants of Moshe’s brother Aharon

Korban Pesach: Passover offering brought in the Holy Temple


Rabbi Kahana: Beshalach – The Significance of Ya’akov Grasping Esav’s Heel

BS”D Parashat Be’shalach 5781

Rabbi Nachman Kahana


The Significance of Ya’akov Grasping Esav’s Heel

Bereishiet 25,24-26


כד וימלאו ימיה ללדת והנה תומם בבטנה: כה ויצא הראשון אדמוני כלו כאדרת שער ויקראו שמו עשו: ו ואחרי כן יצא אחיו וידו אחזת בעקב עשו ויקרא שמו יעקב ויצחק בן ששים שנה בלדת אתם:


The time came for her (Rivka) to give birth, and there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so, they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel…


The significance of Ya’akov grasping Esau’s heel at the first moment of entering this world must not be overlooked.

It could be interpreted as an act of defiance at Esau’s audacious, impudent, and presumptuous appearance as the bechor (first born with all its rights and privileges), or a statement of brotherly love that Ya’akov has difficulty parting from his twin brother.


In Parashat Toldot (Bereishiet 27,41-45) Rivka, with Yitzchak’s consent, instructs Ya’akov to flee Esav’s flaming anger.

When Esav’s intentions became known to Rivka, as Esav said, “The days of mourning for my father will be here soon. I will then kill my brother Ya’akov”, she summoned Ya’akov and told him to flee to her brother Lavan in Charan and “remain with him until Esav’s anger has subsided, and then I will send word and summon you home.”


In Parashat Vayishlach Rashi says that Rivka sent her elderly nursemaid Devorah to inform Ya’akov to return home.

This requires an explanation. Esav’s anger had not subsided one iota, so why did Rivka send for Ya’akov to return?

I suggest that Rivka saw that twenty years of separation had contributed nothing to mollifying Esav’s anger and desire for revenge. She understood that peace would never reign between the brothers, nor between their descendants until the end of time.


With this new perception of the unbridgeable gap that existed between the brothers, Rivka informs Ya’akov that he must return and confront Esav with faith in HaShem, and act like a courageous man (as King David charges his young son Shlomo in Melachim 1 chapter 2,2: “I am about to go the way of all the world, so be strong, act like a man”).


Ya’akov, too, understood that the time for flight had passed, and that he must provide future generations with an example of trust in HaShem to be able to confront any enemy whom they might encounter.

It became painfully clear to Ya’akov that the idea that he could grasp the heel of his brother for support and encouragement was never valid. Esav was never brotherly; even from the outset of their birth he was an adversary, antagonist, opponent, and nemesis.


Israel’s Big Brother

The leaders of the Zionist Movement including the heads of the Yishuv prior to the establishment of the State, and until this present day, espoused the doctrine that the Medina cannot exist or develop without the ongoing support of a super-power “big brother”. In the early years of the Medina the Soviet Union wanted to fill the role of big brother based on the large numbers of former Soviet citizens at the helm and the socialist orientation of the Labor Party governments. But at the end of the day, they decided that their interests lie with the oil rich Arab sheikhs rather than the nascent and imperiled Jewish state. Europe could not be our big brother while their hands were still red with the real blood of our brothers and sisters.


The United States: despite their bad track record during the war when they refused to bomb the tracks leading to the concentration camps, and the arms embargo they placed on Israel during the 1948 War of Independence, we got down on our knees to grab the heel of Esav pleading for the US to be our big brother.


However, today judging by the list of questionable characters who were appointed to sensitive positions in the Biden administration, it is quite evident that, just as Esav’s agenda did not include the welfare of his brother Ya’akov, the US agenda does not include the security of the Jewish state. The US under the Democratic Party is no longer willing or even able to continue their big brother role of recent years.

However, there is a good side to this episode. Just as Rivka taught her son Ya’akov that when all seems bleak, that is the time to stand up and fend for oneself. To be a man. To be an independent nation. To be HaShem’s chosen people. But the lesson is slow in forthcoming. So, this places Israel in the awkward position of having to find another “big brother”.


China? No! China is a huge torso with no neshama.


The EU? No thanks! With friends like these enemies are redundant!


Russia? They are too busy with their own problems to look across their border.


It reminds one of the pathetic story of a couple who entered a travel agency and asked the clerk to recommend a nice place to spend the summer. He said that Spain and Portugal are lovely places. The couple refused because of the bad history of the Inquisition. He then recommended England. They pushed that aside quickly mentioning that the English had expelled the Jews twice in their history, plus closed the gates of Eretz Yisrael during the Shoah. The clerk was losing patience and gave them a globe to search and excusing himself said that he would return shortly. When he returned and asked if they found a suitable place, the man replied, “perhaps you have another globe?”!

So, what does HaShem do for His people in the holy Medina? If they cannot find a “BIG BROTHER”, then HaShem turns us into a “big brother” for others.


One need not be a great political scientist to know that many Arab countries vie for our friendship, not because they endorse the Zionist dream but because they need our great technological weapons; our unique Jewish saychel (wisdom) in many varied fields, and for the connections we have throughout the world.


The dynamic of this historical change is just beginning. The words of the prophet Yeshayahu (chapter 49) ring now loud and clear.

 

13) Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

14) But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me”

15) (and Hashem replies) Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

16) Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.

17) Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.

18) Lift up your eyes and look around; all your children gather and come to you. As surely as I live, declares the Lord, you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.

19) Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away.

20) The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, “This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.”

21) Then you will say in your heart, “who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these where have they come from?”

22) This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Behold, I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

23) Kings will be your foster-fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

 

B careful B healthy B here

JLMM Jewish Lives Matter More

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5781/2021 Nachman Kahana


Rabbi Winston: Parshas Beshalach – Hashgacha Pratis

This week’s Perceptions is dedicated in the merit of Chaya Rivka bat Yocheved Kayla. May she have a complete and speedy recovery, b”H.


CLEARLY G-D had been messing with Pharaoh, big time. First, He gave Pharaoh the impression that the Jewish people were only going to take a three-day leave of absence, when in fact they were leaving for good. Why Pharaoh didn’t expect otherwise after 10 plagues is a mystery, but not one of the bigger ones.


Next, G-D had the Jewish people backtrack to the shore of the sea, to give Pharaoh the impression that they were lost and confused. Pharaoh took the bait and chased after them, setting up the final stage of the downfall of Egypt. All Pharaoh could do was watch in horror as the last of his army drowned in the sea, while the Jewish people again walked to freedom…b’yad ramah, with an “exalted hand.”


There are a couple of reasons for all of this, because clearly it was not merely to free the Jewish people. A single plague that wiped out the Egyptians would have done that, minus all the fanfare and chess moves. Clearly G-D was making a point, to the Jewish people for sure, and the rest of the world as well. 


The main message to the Jewish people, the Leshem explains, is that we are meant to live supernaturally. Everything about the Jewish people, from our origin to our future destiny is supposed to be beyond the realm of the natural…if we merit it. It was only those who separated themselves from Egyptian culture, and made a clean break from Egypt who got that far. Four-fifths of the nation died in the Plague of Darkness, because they wouldn’t make that break.


As for the rest of the world, the message was different. It said, “If you are thinking about hurting the Jewish people, you might want to reconsider. Certainly don’t assume that your perception of Jewish weakness is your ideal opportunity to implement your plan against them. Maybe G-D is only messing with you too, in order to set up your downfall, if not today, then tomorrow.”

This is what the Haggadah says, that many have risen up against us, only to fall in the end in one manner or another. And many will rise up against us, and they too will fall, one way or another, if not today, then tomorrow. 


One such enemy of the Jewish people was quoted as saying something to this effect: “When I considered the history of this small nation, and considered how they have survived despite the many efforts to destroy them, I can’t help but wonder if Providence indeed does favor them. But in case it is not true, I will try again…” And so Adolf Hitler, ysv”z, did try, and met with the same fate as all of his predecessors…Pharaoh…Nebuchadnetzar…Haman…Antiochus…Titus, etc.


“But,” a person may argue, “though they may have gone down in the end, they did considerable damage to the Jewish people and the world before that happened. What consolation was that for all those people, whom their evil hands did murder or maimed? What assurance is that for any of us wondering about the current rise in anti-Semitism, and what it might lead to, G-D forbid, in our generation?”


RECALL WHAT Yosef told his brothers back in Parashas Vayechi. They had worried that Yosef would take his revenge against them now that their father had died, and so they lied to preempt such action before Yosef had a chance. Then Yosef reminded them: 


“Don't be afraid, for am I instead of G-D?” (Bereishis 50:19)


If I wanted to harm you, would I be able? Did not all of you plan evil against me? The Holy One, Blessed Is He, however, designed it for good. So how can I alone harm you? (Rashi)


No one dies without G-D’s approval, or in a way of which He does not permit. When a person dies may be a mystery to us, and the way in which they die may give rise to questions, but it doesn’t change the rule. Even statements to the contrary, some of which are in the Talmud itself, must in the end fit with this rule. If they don’t, the problem is not the rule, it is our limited understanding of it.

One of the limitations of being human is that we are limited. The term “collateral damage” means that no matter how hard we try to avoid unintended targets, we can’t. As smart as we are, we can’t think of everything, and the more elaborate a plan is, the more likely we are to overlook something. We are not prophets, which means there are future consequences of our current actions we just cannot foresee. There are just too many unknowns in life, and not enough “knowns” to anticipate them.


But, as G-D’s ineffable four-letter Name declares, it is different for Him. “He was, He is, and He will be” all at once. All that exists and all that occurs is a function of His will, and nothing else. And every moment of every day He orchestrates all of it PERFECTLY to the very last detail and minutiae, no matter how imperfect any of it may seem to us. 

He’s the One with the perfect vision, not us


He’s the One with perfect control, not man.


Thus, there is no such thing as “collateral damage” by G-D. If it happens, it was meant to happen. If it doesn’t, it was not meant to be. If a person is affected by something for either good or bad, that was decided by G-D. If they are not affected, then that too was decided by G-D. Everyone else involved and all that occurred was just the part of the means He designed to implement His decisions. This is what Yosef told his brothers, and what the Torah is telling all of us, for the rest of history.

Putting all of the above together, we have the promise from G-D that any enemy of the Jewish people will eventually be stopped, and destroyed. In fact, it will be their own arrogance and anti-Semitic behavior that will, more often than not, lead to their destruction. It’s just a matter of time until it does.


And, we have to know, anyone who suffers because of them until their downfall, is not an unwitting victim. They are not just an innocent bystander, who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As circumstantial as their involvement and suffering may seem to them, and us, it is not. It was planned and orchestrated by G-D, as mysterious as it may seem to be. The evil people were just G-D’s messengers of destruction until their time was up.


WHERE DOES that leave us? What input, if any, do we have into this equation? Where it always leaves us. We have a Torah. We have halachah. We have Gedolei HaDor to decide the halachah in new circumstances never addressed before. It is the one constant in every generation until, G-D forbid, we lose that too, like in the Holocaust, for example.


This is the way a person keeps in G-D’s good books. This is never a guarantee for protection from bad, because our judgments take into account far more than just our current lives. Tikun is for all of our reincarnations until the very last one. But it certainly is much better than being in G-D’s bad books for being careless about the will of G-D and living by it. 


The Talmud in Rosh Hashanah gives some good advice about “guaranteeing” a favorable judgment on Rosh Hashanah, especially if one might be in doubt if it is otherwise forthcoming. It says that one should obligate themself to the community, so that the merit of the community works in their favor. If the person’s personal merits are not enough to “win” another year of life, then the merits of the community they intend to serve after Rosh Hashanah will tip the scales in their favor.


Does a person outsmart the heavenly Bais Din by doing this? No. Rather, it applauds the person. Perhaps they should have to come to do this on their own without the fear of a bad judgment, but it is still a good thing to have done because of the fear of judgment. 

Does a person have to wait until Elul to make such commitments to earn favor from G-D? Certainly not. Nor should they. We see, especially now, how vulnerable we are all year round, how Divine judgment can visit a person at any time. Even the Talmud in Rosh Hashanah says that judgment is going on every hour all year round.


Therefore, it is not enough to simply go about your life oblivious to the judgment going on. In Egypt, when the angel was sent by G-D to kill Egyptians, the Jews had to stay indoors to avoid being included in the decree, even the righteous ones. During times of plague, everyone is at risk, and we have already lost many tzaddikim


No one can be given any guarantees against being affected by what is going on, but there are some things we can do to increase our merits for shemirah—Divine protection. Follow the Talmud’s advice and make yourself less dispensable to history by committing yourself to something important to G-D. 


You’re not pulling the wool over G-D’s eyes. 

You’re just allowing the situation to elevate you to a higher level of Torah commitment, which is exactly what G-D wants from us, at all times.


Melave Malkah


THIS BRINGS us to Amalek, who attacks the Jewish people at the end of the parsha. We begin the parsha by destroying one very deadly enemy, and end it by being attacked by another. What a giant step back from the splitting of the sea and the mann from Heaven!


Yet, as Rashi explains, we were not innocent bystanders. On the contrary, we created Amalek and drew his attack by asking:


Is G-D among us or not? (Shemos 17:7)


This verse happens to be quite kabbalistic, but the bottom line is that the Jewish people expressed doubt in G-D’s Providence. Despite all the incredible miracles G-D had performed for the Jewish people until that time, a temporary lack of water jolted the nation to doubt G-D’s commitment to their well-being. That brought on Amalek, whose very name alludes to such doubt.

This is the most important thing a person can work on in their life, absolute trust in G-D. This basically means two things. The first is the recognition that everything is from the hand of G-D, bar none. Nothing happens, no matter how mysterious or how seemingly diabolical, without G-D. Anything else involved is just the means to carry out His will.


The second thing is that all G-D does He does for the good, also bar none. We don’t like it? We’re afraid of it? It’s the opposite of what we think a “good” G-D would do? Perhaps. But that doesn’t change the rule. We can try to get around it, but that always just backfires in the end in one way or another. We’re dealing with Omnipotent and Omniscient, you know.


All of this becomes easier when we stop trying to have our cake and eat it too, and stop trying to make our lives as materially and emotionally comfortable as they can be. If a person is focused on personal rectification and maximizing their merit for the World-to-Come, then they will live according to Torah to the best of their ability. They will accept whatever Hashgochah Pratis that comes their way as from G-D, and good.

Most of what we go through is to this end anyhow. So, if a person works on this in the quiet and safe moments in life, they won’t need to learn them through the noisy and dangerous ones. May we all merit to reach such levels and be safe from all of our enemies, in whatever form they take. 

Yuval Ovadia – בקו אחרית הימים

עדויות מהשטח על החיסולים -- להפיץ דחוף -- חייבים משיח!!


28 January 2021

Tu B’Shevat – Birthday of the Trees

Tu B’Shevat 




The 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar—celebrated this year on Thursday, January 28, 2021—is the day that marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees. Commonly known as Tu Bishvat, this day marks the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

We mark the 15th of Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. On this day we remember that “man is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19) 

1. The Tree of Knowledge

G‑d created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, where they were free to enjoy all the produce except for that of the Tree of Knowledge, which they were forbidden to eat lest they “become like G‑d” and learn about evil. But the serpent convinced Eve to have some of the fruit and share it with Adam. Innocence lost, their eyes were opened to the possibility of sin, and they recognized that they were naked.1

Read: The Story of Adam and Eve


2. The Tree of Life

After Adam and Eve gained knowledge of sin, G‑d said: “Behold, man has become like one of us, having the ability to know good and evil. And now, lest he stretch forth his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever . . .”2 G‑d expelled Adam and Eve from the garden, and stationed the cherubim and the blade of the revolving sword at its entrance to guard the way to the tree which would apparently have provided Adam and Eve with the everlasting life that they had lost by eating from the Tree of Knowledge.3

Read: The Tree of Life in the Bible and Beyond


3. The Post-Flood Olive Tree

Ten generations later, the descendants of Adam and Eve had become so sinful that G‑d flooded the world, saving only Noah and his immediate family. Eager to see if the water had receded, Noah sent out a raven, but the bird did not fly far and merely circled the ark. Next, Noah sent out a dove for a total of three missions. The first time the dove left the ark, it returned without any results. The second time it returned with an olive leaf in its beak, indicating that new growth (namely, an olive tree) had begun to sprout. (The third and final time it did not return, having found rest outside the confines of the ark, indicating that the water had receded enough for Noah and his family to leave as well.)4

Read: The Story of Noah and the Ark


4. The Tree Under Which Abraham Served the Angels

Another 10 generations pass, and we are introduced to Abraham and Sarah, whom G‑d selected to be the progenitors of His chosen people. When Abraham and Sarah were 99 and 89 respectively, G‑d dispatched three angels (disguised as men) to visit them and inform them that they would be blessed with a son, Isaac. This happened just three days after Abraham had circumcised himself, yet as soon as he saw the men approaching, he ran toward them and offered them hospitality. He gave them water to wash their feet, and then seated them under a tree.5 For many generations the residents of Hebron kept a tradition regarding the identity of this tree.

Read: Did Abraham Serve His Guests Non-Kosher?


5. The Tree Under Which Jacob Buried Shechem’s Treasure

Isaac’s son, Jacob, was the father of 12 sons and one daughter, Dinah. After Dinah was raped by Shechem the prince of Shechem, her brothers, Simeon and Levi, exacted revenge against the denizens of the city, who were complicit in her violation. They also helped themselves to the treasures of the city. Jacob commanded his family to remove all idols and their accessories, which he buried under a tree (of a species which bears no fruit) near Shechem. They were then ready to travel to Beth E‑l and sacrifice to G‑d there.6

Read: A Time to Kill


6. Allon Bachuth

Just a few verses later we read, “Deborah, Rebecca’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Beth E‑l, beneath the allon; so he named it ‘Allon Bachuth.’”7 Now, what is an allon? Rashi tells us it is a plain. Others, however, identify it as a tree.

Read: Who Was Deborah the Nurse?


7. The Burning Bush Where G‑d Appeared to Moses

Jacob and his family eventually migrated to Egypt, where they were enslaved by Pharaoh, until G‑d dispatched Moses to redeem them from their suffering and lead them toward the Holy Land. G‑d first appeared to Moses in the form of a bush that was miraculously burning without becoming consumed by the fire.8

Read: Moses and the Burning Bush


8. The Tree that Sweetened Marah

Ten days after Moses led the People of Israel out of Egypt, they ran out of water and had only the bitter waters of Marah (which means “bitter”) to drink. The people complained to Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to G‑d, and G‑d instructed him to cast a piece of wood (the branch of an olive tree) into the water, and the water became sweet.9

Read: The Bitter Waters of Marah


9. The Seventy Palms

From Marah they came to an oasis named Elim, where there were 12 springs of water, one for each tribe, and 70 date palms, corresponding to the 70 elders,10 each of whom sat under another tree to praise G‑d.11 Ibn Ezra12 quotes a tradition that there were actually 70 types of trees.

Read: The Significance of the Number 70


10. Jacob’s Cedars

Although not mentioned directly in Scripture, the story of Jacob’s cedars is fascinating. Months after they had left Egypt and were deep into their desert wanderings, the Israelites constructed a magnificent traveling temple (the Tabernacle) of heavy beams, held together with gold and silver fittings, and covered with tapestries and skins. Where did they get the wood? The sages say that on his way down to Egypt, Jacob had his sons plant cedar trees, which grew and flourished until they were needed.13


Learn More at:  https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3264/jewish/15-Shevat.htm

and

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4640959/jewish/10-Historic-Trees-in-the-Torah.htm


The Burning Bush

The Kabbalah Tree

The Tree of Knowledge

Olive Tree Branch with Olives

Fig Tree Branch with Figs

Rimon Tree Branch

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