Due to Blogger Format Changes

Due to Blogger Format Changes, Posts Will Be Shortened With LINKS to ORIGINAL NO MORE ANONYMOUS COMMENTS: they will be deleted. YOU MUST USE A NAME OR MONIKER!

28 February 2022

NO WORLD WAR III ……..

Yet!

. . . ONLY *the “Sounds" in the “Sixth" and of "War in the Seventh"

After all this, the news reports, videos, and on-sight reports, it turns out
This was a special ops tactical maneuver against the entrenched DS that was controlling Ukraine
They, Russia and Ukraine, are now making plans for a Peace Agreement
Putin does NOT want to stay in Ukraine
But does WANT the neo-nazis and bioweapons labs to be removed
And the government of Ukraine to be controlled by the Ukrainians only

footnote:
Pres Zelenzky did not ever leave Ukraine during the shelling, he supported his citizens all through this event. 
As of a recent report he was hospitalized with a virus, but we expect to see him soon at his  “podium” giving us an update.

In his message to Zelensky, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites of Israel, reminded Zelensky of his recent visit to the Western Wall.  “Your honor, the President of Ukraine, we are here at the Western Wall, the place where all prayers ascend to the Gates of Heaven.  You have been here, you have prayed here, and now we are praying for your recovery and your health… We invite you to come to the Western Wall to thank the Holy One for his miracles and for your health, that with God’s help, will soon be strong and unfailing.”


Zelensky’s visit to the Western Wall earlier this year caused a great deal of controversy when he chose to visit the holy site instead of attending a memorial service at Yad Vashem with other world leaders.  Zelensky explained at the time that he chose not to attend the ceremony so that more Holocaust survivors could participate.

I bless the president and pray that he will get out of his sickbed and return to lead his country,” said Rabbi Yosef.  “Judaism teaches ‘beloved is man who is created in His image.’ Every person is beloved and should be respected – no matter who he is – because he is a person who needs to be cared for. The president who sanctifies God’s name in practice, in grace and mercy in Ukraine, therefore deserves to rise from his sickbed. May his days and years continue in good health.”


PS. The smear postings against Ukraine and Zelensky were vicious and came from the opposition. We cannot judge a man without looking in the mirror. We look forward to a clarification and the truth soon.

PSS  Russia has an alternative to the SWIFT  currency exchange, which was created several years ago. Not so sure they will suffer much financial distress. However, there may be Jews that will be affected by this.



NOTE:
Because the DS has suffered a crushing blow, like a cornered rat it will strike out to kill. One can only guess in what way they will react. Vicious and anti-God and anti–humanity, and anti anything of virtue, we need only wait a little to see their retaliation. While the above was not WWIII, the ‘cornered rat’ may take the world into truly unknown territory. HaShem have mercy on Your People and all good people, save us from annihilation.

*correction

27 February 2022

Can Europe Be Dragged Into War Before...or After This Flyby?

 Let’s not forget: 

 
(Amazing captures of "The Orb”) 

 This was the day (on or) before the EU NATO (nazi) countries entered (by sending weapons to Ukraine): 

Excerpt from "Laughing Gas” (Dave’s book): ...he on the other hand had somehow inherited this odd tortured state that he was constantly having to fight off with the only weapon he knew how to use - an attempt to understand why all this toxic warring mayhem was really happening in the world and find out if there was any way to prevent the terrible vision that he’d seen on that fateful blast of laughing gas. He was allowing his mind to go to a very worrying space and quite possibly pushing her the the limits of herself at the same time and he was open to that as being a real possibility. There was no blame on his side of things. To her, he’d hit a brick wall. To him, it was as if all Humanity had hit a brick wall at the same time. Either way, they weren’t able to give each other the same level of support they had when things were good. They’d known such happy times together, like when he’d lived with her and her two children in his truck. Their whole relationship had all been summer wine, right up to the point he’d started saying that all the banks were about to go pop and this crazy thing was all about to go down, beginning with the big boys up top beating the drum for an all-out war he knew could never be won. A terrible war, if started, he believed, in her hour of need, Britain would be deserted by her allies because they would know what was being done was morally wrong and indefensible. That Britain was being used as a Trojan Horse by the Federal Government to cripple Europe, or what really threatened the US dollar: The Euro. Why he had to sit and witness the whole thing play out in a few moments, at Reading Rock on a blast of nitrous seems equally insane and yet he is completely entangled in the vectors of its emotional mass that has his mind - or perhaps his heart - trapped in this obscure web or notion. She didn’t want to hear it, whilst he couldn’t stop thinking about it. They’d run into an invisible wall that was somehow forcing them through a life changing process.

Comments to Video


I was just looking at ALL the things that have happened in history on 2.27 and now i learn of this flyby.  It was on 2.27 that Hitler resurrected the party; Socialism was born in Vienna; The Jews were ousted from Austria; The Jews were deported from France to Nazi Germany; Mao gave his famous speech; The first Federal Vaccine Mandate; and from 1958 through 1974 on 5 separate occasions Russia, the U.S. and France all tested Nuclear bombs.    I think the last one pertains to what you are illustrating.  2.27 and 5 separate nuclear tests......that is just freaky.


We are witnessing a DIMENSIONAL shift in our TimeLine.


EXCLUSIVE: On-the-ground Report from Ukraine - Update

 

EXCLUSIVE: . . .Community Spent Shabbos on the run, Ultimately Making it to Safety Shabbos Day


Hundreds of evacuees from the thriving Kehillas Beis Aaron of Karlin Stolin in Kiev are recuperating in these hours, after reaching the safety of Belarus, following a harrowing escape over Shabbos—on top of weeks already on the run. 

We spoke exclusively with askonim from the communities 

Kehillas Beis Aaron was a thriving community in Kiev, founded and guided by the Stoliner Rebbe, shlit”a, drawing in neshomos from throughout Ukraine—where their Yiddishkeit had been so brutally robbed from them over the seventy years of the Communist regime. 

With the imminent outbreak of the war, they were instructed to leave the city—bringing the holy work, and the growth of the hundreds of members of the kehillah in Kiev, a relatively modern metropolis with many comforts of a big city, to a grounding halt. The saga of the ensuing ten days was likewise with the step-by-step instructions of Gedolei Yisroel who guide this community. 

With Kiev being the most dangerous target, the community left the city on buses last Wednesday (ten days ago) with the destination of the hamlet of Medzibuz, spending Shabbos in the glow of the holy Ba’al Shem Tov, davening for safety of them and their families, and all the Yidden of Ukraine. 

Following Shabbos, as war was looming, askonim worked with the stranded community to find a more permanent safe haven. Offers came in from a number of small towns in more rural areas, and in cities across borders. But none of them came to fruition. 

It took until Thursday night to settle upon the sister community of Pinsk, Belarus, where the legendary Yad Yisroel institutions of Karlin Stolin operate numerous institutions.

But the bus driver had disappeared, and it was impossible to get a new bus—as the community was frantically seeking to escape. When he reappeared on Tuesday night, he was drunk… and needed to sleep it off. Then, the bus company called, refusing to allow their bus to head toward a border where tens of thousands of Russian troops were amassing. Now, Shabbos was approaching, and war had broken out. Following the psak of great rabbonim who ruled that they continue their journey throughout Shabbos, they set out on Friday afternoon, northward, toward the Belarusian border. 

“About 3:04 in the morning,” relates Pinsk’s Reb Moshe Fhima, a tireless askan and leader of the community, “I received the call that the busses made it to Ovruch, about 50 km from the border of Belarus. But the road was blocked off, and although the bribed Ukrainian soldiers were willing to let them through, they reported shooting on the other end of the road, making their approach to the border impossible.

“But Google Maps was working,” he tells us. “And we were able to guide the busses to the border through dirt roads all the way to the border, where our buses were waiting for them,” says Reb Moshe, who spent the entire Shabbos guiding them, and negotiating with authorities for their safety. 

Shabbos afternoon, the community made it to Mazyr, Belarus, and from there they will be proceeding to Pinsk, where they will be absorbed into the institutions, and continue their spiritual journey. 

“But the work is not finished,” says Reb Moshe. “We are fielding calls from many others who are trying to cross… but that road is no longer passable. Of course, we will continue to do everything in our power until every last Yid is brought to safety.” 

Now for some Real faces in Ukraine!
(it takes a war to bring Yidden Home)
















UPDATE:  Just read that there might be 400,000 Jewish Ukrainians still to be rescued. (not verified)

Rabbi Weissman — Announcement

 Root and Branch Medical War Crimes #28 - Trucking Along + New Class

Last night's program is available at https://rumble.com/vvo1nc-r-and-b-medical-war-crimes-28-trucking-along.html.  I discussed why the truckers failed in their mission, the need to rethink strategies to the situation, and practical suggestions.

Starting next week I will be giving a weekly Torah class on Thursdays at 7 PM Israel time.  Each class will be approximately an hour long, and will be divided into three parts: 

1. Selections from Tanach
2. Jewish philosophy (beginning with Rabbi Avraham the son of the Rambam on bitachon, from his sefer Hamaspik L'Ovdei Hashem)
3. Chafetz Chaim on the laws of lashon hara (slander).   


These recordings will be uploaded to my Rumble channel as well.

Chananya

__________________________

chananyaweissman.com/

rumble.com/c/c-782463

If you received this from someone else and want to receive future articles directly, please send a request to endthemadness@gmail.com.


25 February 2022

Reb Neuberger: Vayakhel – SOUNDS OF WAR

 SOUNDS OF WAR

 

The Gemorah says that in the sixth year there will be “sounds” and in the seventh year “wars…. [and then] in the aftermath of the seventh [year] the son of David will come.” (Sanhedrin 97a) The Gemora seems to equate the seven years before Moshiach comes with the Shmittah cycle.

 

We are now in the seventh year.

 

As the Gemora points out, there have been many other seven-year cycles when Moshiach did not come. But, clearly, unusual things are happening in the world.

 

Years ago, I heard from Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon Shlita’h the following words of the Chofetz Chaim: there will be three wars before the coming of Moshiach. World War One was the first. The Second World War and its accompanying catastrophe were predicted by the Chofetz Chaim. And then, he said, there would be – unless we do teshuva first! – a third war, directly before the coming of Moshiach.

 

Sounds of war are filling the world right now.

 

People are asking: “What is Putin thinking?”

 

You don’t have to ask because there is no answer. There is no benefit in asking what Putin is thinking. But I will tell you one thing: Putin is challenging the United States more than Ukraine; that is the war right now. The United States has weakened itself, and those who perceive themselves as strong are probing its weakness. A ben Torah said recently that he would not be surprised if China attacks Formosa now when Putin is threatening Ukraine. This is the same basic phenomenon. The real target of these probes is the United States.

 

The United States is perceived as the face of the modern world. But the face is aging and sagging. The term “Modern World” refers to the world of Edom, and the world of Edom is losing strength. It will not endure in the Era of Moshiach ben Dovid.

 

Returning to the words of Rabbi Salomon, the Chofetz Chaim said that the third war will be different from the first two wars. In the first two wars the Angel of Death was given freedom to harm tzaddikim as well as evil people; we are all aware of the all-out assault unleashed against the holiest of the holy! But not in the third war. The Chofetz Chaim is reported to have said that in the war directly before the coming of Moshiach, the Angel of Death will not have power to harm those who cling with all their strength to Hashem and His Torah, rejecting the culture of the surrounding nations. Those who stick like glue to Hashem and His Torah will survive and go on to live in the Days of Moshiach!

 

My friends, I don’t think we should take these words lightly.

 

In Europe, most people did not take Hitler – ymak shemo – seriously until it was too late. In Mitzraim they did not take the situation seriously until they were swallowed up in darkness. And in the days of Achashverosh they did not take the danger seriously until they were on the brink of doom.

 

“The destruction of Edom will come only through the destruction of this world [as we know it]. Ha Kadosh Baruch Hu will cause the very foundations of life on earth to collapse. Tranquility will be disrupted, personal lives will be filled with worry, fear and yissurim and the entire world will cower in dread of destruction and devastation. Only then will the light of Moshiach be revealed ‘and the saviors shall go up to Mount Tzion to judge the mountain of Esav.’ (Michtav m’Eliahu, as quoted in Redemption Unfolding)

 

Whatever stage exactly we are in this process is hard to discern, but it does not really matter. The point is that we have to know that the culture and society which we are used to is at this moment shaking and tottering. Nothing in the world of Edom is stable at this moment. Nothing!

 

We are in the Year of Shmittah, a year dedicated to purifying the land of Israel and preparing for Moshiach. We are in an “ibur Yor,” a “leap year” which is pregnant with the impending birth of the Era of Redemption. As I discussed last week, this is a year of thirteen months, which reveals the eternal preeminence of the Children of Israel.

 

Don’t think that the Days of Moshiach are going to look like the Days when Edom ruled the world. The sun will rise and set but the world will be different.

 

There is only one thing which will be stable from now until forever, and that is Torah.

 

We have to desire Moshiach.

 

This Shabbos we welcome the Month of Adar Bais. “For the Jews there was light, gladness joy and honor! So may it be for us! I will raise the cup of salvations and invoke the Name of Hashem!” (Havdallah/Megilas Esther)

 

“Mi shenichnas Adar marbin b’simcha … With the coming of Adar simcha increases.”

 

We have to know that these world cataclysms, which are increasing in intensity, are signs of the advent of Moshiach. May we greet him soon in our days!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         


Kiev, Capital of Ukraine


Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Yaakov Bleich at Babi Yar

 

 

GLOSSARY

Babi Yar: Site of the first mass murder of Jews in the Holocaust, Kiev, Ukraine

Hakadosh Baruch Hu: Hashem, G-d

Shmittah: The seventh year, in which the fields of Eretz Yisroel lie fallow

Yissurim: Troubles

Ymak shemo: “May his name be erased”


Rabbi Winston – Parashas Vayakhel

Rabbi Winston …  Parashas Vayakhel


In loving memory of Tzippa Leiba bat Binyamin v’Esther Malka, z”l. May the learning of this week’s Perceptions be an aliyah Neshamah for her soul. 


WHEN MOSHE RABBEINU asked to see G–D’s glory in last week’s parsha (Shemos 33:18), what was he really asking? The answer is easier if you consider the Hebrew: kevodecha, which means your kavod, or honor. Moshe asked to see G–D’s kavod.


Which means what exactly? Why is the word for honor similar to the word for heavy? Because when a person acts honorable, they gain weight. No, not the kind that shows up on a scale or makes clothing uncomfortably tight. The kind that results from recognizing the seriousness or importance of someone or something. Life is heavy when we feel the seriousness of its consequences. A person has weight in our eyes when we find reason to admire them.


But how does this apply to G–D? Moshe already knew G–D is serious business, and he already admired Him as much as is humanly possible. What else was Moshe looking for?


Well, take a look. So many people in the world do not believe in G–D, either intellectually, emotionally, or both. Why not? Because they can’t see Him? 


The truth is, G–D can be seen everywhere if a person just considers what they are looking at. They don’t do that because they do not feel the reality of G–D. He’s just so abstract and beyond human experience, which is why they built the golden calf. It was a way to make the reality of G–D more tangible, the wrong way to make the reality of G–D more tangible. 


When someone we admire walks into a room, we feel it. Not from the outside, but from the inside. The respect they command triggers something in us that makes their arrival alone an experience. Rock stars and actors can make people faint just by showing up in person. 


The reason for the adulation of the latter may be superficial and even wrong sometimes, but the feeling is real. As much as external stimuli through our five senses plays a role our experience of life, a lot of life experience begins in the mind as well, and maybe even instead. Knowledge has the ability to trigger our brain to send out the necessary chemicals that make us “feel” life.


When it comes to appreciating something that can be taken in with one or more of our physical senses, that it just adds to the experience. When it comes to appreciating something abstract and beyond physical sensation, like G–D of course, it means everything. If a person only feels lucky when something miraculous happens for them, it lifts their spirits. But when a person “sees” that G–D was behind the miracle, they feel loved, cared for, special, more divine, inspired, righteous, and the list just goes on and on. 


That’s what Moshe Rabbeinu was asking for. He wanted the intellectual key that would unlock the experience of G–D, first for himself and then for the rest of the nation. The golden calf was proof that they wanted such an experience, and needed one as well. It made spirituality more tangible, as all idol worship does. To rout that holy desire in a kosher direction that would not result in golden calves, Moshe asked for something that would give people the sense that G–D really dwelled within them. 


THE RESULT WAS the Mishkan. To us, it just sounds like a religious structure, which it was. But it was made just so, as per divine instruction, just as G–D formed the body of man. But a body is just a body and a Mishkan is just a Mishkan until it gets a soul. It is the infusion of G–D into a thing that changes everything. It is the difference between life and death, accomplishment and meaninglessness, even in a person who doesn’t even believe in G–D. 


We know when G–D put the soul in man. When did He put the soul into the Mishkan? Here:


Moshe and Aharon went into the Tent of Meeting. Then they came out and blessed the people, and the kevod—glory of G–D appeared to all the people. And fire went forth from before G–D and consumed the burnt offering and the fats upon the altar. All the people saw, sang praises, and fell upon their faces. (Vayikra 9:23:24)


They saw the glory of G–D? What does that look like? A fire? A cloud? It’s hard to know exactly, and we tend to just take all of this for granted. We have never really had an experience of this for thousands of years now. But whatever it was, something clicked in their heads, and it made something click in their hearts. And it made them joyous beyond what they were used to, and just as it happened again at the end of last week’s Haftarah


Last week’s Haftarah ended with Eliyahu HaNavi trying to draw the Jewish people back from the worship of Ba’al to the worship of G–D. It’s one of my favorite parts of Tanach, and I can just feel Eliyahu’s playful mocking of the priests of Ba’al. It’s classic.


And then after giving the idol worshipping priests plenty of time to humiliate and exhaust themselves, Eliyahu turned his attention to rebuilding an altar to G–D. And rather than light a fire to burn the offering he put on it, he instead drenched everything in water to maximize the miracle. It was like trying to light a fire with wet twigs in the pouring rain.


Then after a short prayer to G–D, fire came down from the sky and consumed the sacrifice and the water. The dramatic failure of the Ba’al worshippers only amplified the dramatic success of Eliyahu’s demonstration, and once again the people fell on their faces, this time announcing “Hashem is Elokim!” They could feel the kavod of G–D, and it humbled them and gave them an experience of the divine that wasn’t quickly forgotten.


If those words sound familiar, it’s because we end off Yom Kippur with them. We say them seven times just before blowing the shofar to announce the end of the fast. And though many people say them with enthusiasm and sincerity, the question is, what is the source of that? That Yom Kippur is finally over and hopefully we have been forgiven for our sins? Or, because we experienced the divine on a higher level than normal, and we have come to feel the “weight” of G–D?


Time tells all. The success of Yom Kippur is not determined not by what we did on the day itself, but how we live our lives after it is over. What was the long-term impact of the day? Did it carry over into Motzei Yom Kippur…and then Succos…and beyond? On Yom Kippur we go to G–D. The question is, do we take G–D with us after Yom Kippur leaves us? And if we do, how do we maintain that G–D feeling all year round?



WE LEARN THE melachos of Shabbos from what was done in the Mishkan, something that is alluded to in this week’s parsha. The fact that we had to cease work on such a holy project as the Mishkan for such a holy day as Shabbos tell us what cannot be done on Shabbos, and what is prohibited.


But why would the Mishkan be pushed off for Shabbos? Because Shabbos is only pushed off to save a life. Anything less than pikuach Nefesh does not necessitate the breaking of Shabbos, no matter how holy or important it is. 


But why learn the halachos of something as important as Shabbos in such an obscure manner? If the Torah can take such care to describe the construction of the Mishkan, certainly it could have taken the same kind of care to at least the 39 melachos of Shabbos.  


It would suggest strongly that the Torah wished to connect Shabbos and the Mishkan. It was as if to say that whatever the Mishkan was going to become, Shabbos already was. The Mishkan was being built to give people a sense of the kavod of G–D, to have an experience of His Being. Shabbos already did this. Shabbos was, and is, the reality of the Mishkan once every seven days of the week. 


This means that entering Shabbos is like entering the Mishkan. Being within Shabbos is like being in the Mishkan. And just as we had to build the Mishkan to divine specification so the Shechinah could dwell within it, likewise a person has to “build” Shabbos to divine specification so the Shechinah can “dwell” within it, and the person can have an experience of the awesome and enlivening kavod of G–D. 


This means that Shabbos is about more than taking a day off work. It is about more than getting dressed up in special Shabbos clothes and have special Shabbos meals. It is about more than just getting together with family and friends and sharing Shabbos together.


For one, you only went to the Mishkan in search of G–D. We have to go into Shabbos the same way, in search of G–D. In the Mishkan, that meant reaching the proper level of spiritual purity, and have the correct mindset to enter such a holy place. The same is true of Shabbos, and for some it might mean an overhaul of their entire approach to Shabbos


But it is well worth it, because the experience of G–D that is possible is incredible, even today. This kind of Shabbos does not only restore one’s spiritual energy, it enhances it to make possible continuous spiritual growth even during the rest of the week. It is a whole different level of reality, the one we were originally created to live on, called by the Torah, Gan Aiden


Zoom Series: Redemption to Redemption, Purim and Pesach


No Charge


Sponsored in loving memory of 

Yaakov Azriel ben Aharon David and Sima, z”l.


Mar 1, 2022 07:30 PM (Israel Time)

Mar 8, 2022 07:30 PM

Mar 15, 2022 07:30 PM

Mar 22, 2022 07:30 PM


Meeting ID: 836 1383 3117

Passcode: 327302


Book: It’s About Time

TIME. EVERYONE KNOWS what it is. It’s inescapable, even after death. The soul may ascend and escape it, but not the body, decomposing more and more each day. We try to control it, to master it, but at the end of the day Time always seems to win. 


It is one of the main distinguishing features of man. Time’s continuous flow means that he really has no Present, since the Future is constantly becoming the Past. For G–D, however, Who is ABOVE time, there is no Past or Future, or Present.


This is how science defines Time:


Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. Time is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to compare the duration of events or the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change of quantities in material reality or in the conscious experience. Time is often referred to as a fourth dimension, along with three spatial dimensions. (Wikipedia, Time)


While the secular world grapples with the concept of Time—


Time has long been an important subject of study in religion, philosophy, and science, but defining it in a manner applicable to all fields without circularity has consistently eluded scholars. (Wikipedia, Time)


—Torah teaches how to harness it. Prayer times keep a person in touch with sunrise and sundown. Shabbos observance requires one to bring each week to a definitive end. Holidays make sure that a Jew maintains a handle on the seasons of the year.


Even the Hebrew word for Time itself is instructive: zman, spelled Zayin-Mem-Nun. It is no coincidence that it is the root of words such as “mezuman,” which means “ready,” or “cash,” and “hazmanah,” which means “invitation.” If Time teaches us anything at all, it is the importance of being ready.


Ready for what? 


The answer to this question depends upon one’s understanding of the purpose of life. If a person believes that life simply evolved with no set purpose other than to survive, then Time is just an unfortunate liability of being human. Life is a race to enjoy as much of it as possible before a person’s time runs out.


If life has a purpose, then Time is not the enemy, but an ally. It’s a fundamental element of life, an “overseer” to make sure a person gets the job done, and ON TIME. It is a motivator and acute reminder that this world is only temporal, and to get ready for the next one:


This world is like a corridor before the World-to-Come. Rectify yourself in the corridor in order to be able to enter the banquet hall. (Pirkei Avos 4:16)


Thus, Time is inextricably tied up with the purpose of Creation. It is NOT the enemy. It is an ALLY.



Thirtysix.org Online Bookstore Link: https://thirtysix.org/shop/. To order directly from Amazon just search for books by Pinchas Winston.


 

Rabbi Kahana – Vayakhel: Sanctified Voltage and MUST READ **Russia, Ukraine, Iran

 BS”D Parashat Vayakhel 5782

by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Feb 23, 2022


Part 1: Sanctified Voltage

 

A: Yechezkel 1,4:

וארא והנה רוח סערה באה מן הצפון ענן גדול ואש מתלקחת ונגה לו סביב ומתוכה כעין החשמל מתוך האש

 

I saw a windstorm coming out of the north. An immense cloud with exploding fire and flashing lightning and the center of the fire looked like “chasmal” (modern Hebrew for electricity) glowing metal.


From the Shacharit (morning) prayers before Shema:

Because, You are the Almighty, Who performs acts of deliverance, and You have chosen us from among all peoples and tongues, and You have brought us near our King to Your great Name, forever in truth; with love, that we may give thanks to You, and proclaim Your Oneness, with love. And love Your Name. Blessed are You HaShem Who chooses His people Israel with love.

 

B: Midrash Mishlei chap. 31

….ישראל על רמח (248) מצות עשה, כנגד רמח איברים שבאדם, כל אבר ואבר אומר לו לאדם, בבקשה ממך עשה בי מצוה זו, ושסה (365) מצות לא תעשה כנגד ימות החמה, וכל יום ויום אומר לאדם אבקש ממך שלא תעשה בי עבירה זו.

 

Am Yisrael was commanded to observe 248 “mitzvot essay” (initiative mitzvot) paralleling the 248 organs in a human body, (and 365  “mitzvot lo ta’ase” – prohibitive mitzvot paralleling the number of ligaments, muscles etc.). Every organ urges the body to perform the “essay” mitzva inherent in that organ, and each of the other 365 body parts urge the Jew not to use it in violation of the sin which it represents.


Rambam writes (Hilchot Melachim) that Moshe Rabbeinu ascended to Mount Sinai as the agent of all humanity. Forty days later he descended from the mount with two revelations: 1) The 613 mitzvot incumbent on the Jewish nation, 2) the 7 Noachide mitzvot for the rest of humanity, consisting of six prohibitive mitzvot, and one initiative mitzva – the enacting of just and moral laws civil laws.

 

C: Connections between the spiritual world and our human bodies

Our eldest son, Efraim, has been and is the project manager of some of Yerushalayim’s most imposing building projects. A project manager is, in short, “give me 200 million dollars, come back in 3-5 years and get the keys to your dream project”, he does it all. His most recent projects are the Waldorf Astoria, Israel’s most prestigious and luxurious hotel; stage two of the Nof Tzion project overlooking the Temple Mount, and the high-end residential project in the Geula neighborhood.


While under construction, Efraim gave me a tour of the Waldorf, including areas a guest never sees; even those who pay thousands of shekels a night. I saw the underground kishkes, including the huge heating and cooling systems, communications center, etc. But what impressed me the most was the electrical system’s main circuit board.


There were countless wires descending from every electrical outlet in the building to the main circuit board. It was an avalanche of multicolored wires, each connecting a part of the grid with the main panel of electric circuits. The direction of electrical power comes from the external power lines to the underground main circuit board, then to every outlet in the building through this maze of wires.


While standing there I recalled the above Midrash regarding the connections between the spiritual world and our material bodies. At Mount Sinai, HaShem gave Am Yisrael 613 mitzvot corresponding to our bodies 248 organs and 365 sinews, tendons, veins, nerves, etc. Our bodies are the grandest “hotel” where unperceived spiritual wires reach from the next world to every part of our material self. The energy (voltage) is initiated here on earth by our observance of mitzvot and flows to our respective outlets in Olam Haba (the next world) via our spiritual wires. There the “mitzva power” is converted into entities applicable to the spiritual world.


While on the subject of electricity, there is more we can conclude from this phenomenon of “nature”. Voltage is the pressure from an electrical circuit’s power source (power station or battery) that pushes electrons through a conducting loop (current), enabling them to do work, such as illuminating a light or running a motor. It is measured in volts; the greater the pressure (voltage) the more work can be accomplished.


The kedusha pressure in the galut can achieve a degree of spirituality and understanding of Torah but cannot compete with the kedusha that envelopes a G-d fearing Jew in the holy land.


Indeed, an oleh (one who ascends) from the galut has an advantage as stated in the Gemara (Ketubot 75a):


מר אביי: וחד מינייהו עדיף כתרי מינן. אמר רבא: וחד מינן כי סליק להתםעדיף כתרי מינייהו, דהא רבי ירמיה דכי הוה הכא, לא הוה ידע מאי קאמרי רבנן, כי סליק להתם, קרי לן בבלאי טפשאי.

 

The illustrious Amora Abayai stated that a talmid chacham of Eretz Yisrael is equal in understanding and sharpness to two scholars in Bavel (galut). And the equally illustrious Amora Rava added that when one of our Babylonian talmidei chachamim ascends to Eretz Yisrael he receives a gift from HaShem of potentially becoming in Torah understanding equal to two talmidei chachamim of Eretz Yisrael.


This, in itself, should be encouragement enough for torah scholars in chutz la’aretz to return to the holy land.


In conclusion: The events of Mount Sinai were a revelation and a revolution. HaShem’s revelation of Torah created a revolution in HaShem’s relationship with lowly man. At that moment, Hashem chose the Jewish nation and presented us with eternal life. He presented His chosen people with clear and direct lines of communication through prayer and Torah study. All the 613 mitzvot flow with super conductivity with no resistors in the way to reduce our spiritual currents. Unfortunately, our sins at the egel hazahav (Golden Calf) blemished the conductivity. Enter the role of the Mishkan which restored the spiritual flow through sacrifices and the entire Kohanic service, continued by the two holy Temples over a period of 830 years (separated by 70 years of the Babylonian exile). Where does this leave the other nations of the world? Spiritually close to a 20-watt light bulb!

 

Part Two: Russia, Ukraine and Iran

Although we know nothing about the thought processes of the Almighty, we know that HaShem is the master of cause and effect.


At this point in time, it is feasible that the entire chaos between Russia and the Ukraine is HaShem’s way of disrupting the asinine agreement between the blind western powers and the evil Shia nation of Iran set to be signed shortly.

Instead of sending two B-52 Stratofortress to their nuclear facilities and finishing the Iranian nuclear threat to humanity in five minutes, the wise men of chelem in Washington and other western capitals are prepared to capitulate to the blackmail demands of the Teheran ayatollahs.


Now that Russia has invaded Ukraine, the western nations will have no time or patience to deal with the Iranians!

Remember in HaShem’s “eyes” JLMM – Jewish Lives Matter Most.

 

*******************************************************

February 24, 2022 Last minute addition to parashat Vayak’hel divrei Torah:


Where are we situated on our father Ya’akov’s ladder to heaven and the promises made by HaShem regarding Am Yisrael?


The Midrash (Beraishiet 42,4) quotes Rabbe Elazar bar Avina:


אם ראית מלכיות מתגרות אלו באלו צפה לרגלו של משיח תדע שכן שהרי בימי אברהם, על ידי שנתגרו המלכיות אלו באלו באה הגאולה לאברהם.

 

If you perceive nations aggressively provoking each other (with war) be prepared for the approach of the Mashiach (salvation), as we learn from Avraham Aveinu who was saved at the time when nations were provoking each other (the four kings against the five of Sedom and Amora etc)


Russia has invaded Ukraine with the intent to annex it back as part of greater Russia.


If it passes over and human lust returns to the stock markets and living in fun, then the Mashiach is still a few kilometers away. However, if many nations succumb to the addiction of power grabbing then the time for doing fast teshuva just prior to the Mashiach has arrived. 


For example:

  • North Korea invades South Korea.
  • Turkey takes over the southern half of Cyprus and begins bombing its Kurdistan enclaves.
  • India and China battle it on the high ridges of the Himalayas.
  • Egypt opens war on Ethiopia over the Nile waters or turns its American-made weapons north-eastward against Israel.
  • The US closes its border with Mexico and fighting ensues.


Now if it turns out that the signs are real, then life will not return to what it was until now. The best insurance policy to prevent the need for an insurance policy is to be here in Eretz YIsrael.


*******************************************************

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5782/2022 Nachman Kahana

PURIM – A VERY HOLY DAY — WE SERVE HASHEM

RABBI DAVID YOSEF: Charedim Should Refrain from Public Purim Celebrations  to Avoid Chillul Hashem https://vinnews.com/2024/03/17/rabbi-davi...