Rabbi Kahana: Shemini – In Mount Zion There Will Be Refuge

BS”D 

Parashat Shmini 5782

by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Mar 25, 2022

A wadi is a dry riverbed found in arid areas and serves as a conduit for flash floods. One who finds himself in a wadi and suddenly hears what sounds like the roar of a speeding rail train approaching had better extricate himself in order not to become a permanent part of the desert landscape.

 

Roaring Wadis

Tehillim 126, 1-4:

א) שיר המעלות בשוב ה’ את שיבת ציון היינו כחלמים

ב) אז ימלא שחוק פינו ולשוננו רנה אז יאמרו בגוים הגדיל ה’ לעשות עם אלה

ג) הגדיל ה’ לעשות עמנו היינו שמחים

ד) שובה ה’ את שבותנו שביתנו כאפיקים בנגב

 

1 When HaShem will restore the exiled of Zion, it will be as a dream.

2 Our mouths will be filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it will be said among the nations, (HaShem) has done great things for them (the Jews).

3 (And we will say) HaShem has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

4 Restore our returnees like the WATERS IN A (NEGEV) WADI

King David envisioned the future redemption of Am Yisrael, likening it to the rushing, swirling waters in a wadi with each drop forging ahead dynamically to reach the end goal.

This is a grand vision of millions of Jews returning home, magnificently dressed, with song and dance, each pressing ahead to step foot on the holy soil of the holy land.

However, the same metaphor can be used for a far different scenario: Jews escaping from the hell of Russian bombs and rockets. Men, women, and children running as waters in a wadi to the borders of Poland and Moldova together with the Ukrainian goyim whose grandparents murdered our own grandparents 80 years ago – with the help of Hitler’s Ukrainian allies.

Our Jewish brothers and sisters in Ukraine are running now, like the roaring Negev wadis, and hating themselves for not listening to rabbis who pleaded with them to return to Eretz Yisrael

One metaphor of the waters in a Negev wadi with two scenarios: Jewish sons and daughters returning to their homeland in song and joy, or refugees escaping from the bombs and taking with them only fond memories of their former lives which will be no more.

 

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal, is an agreement regarding the Iranian nuclear program.  It was signed in Vienna on 14 July 2015, between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States – and Germany and the European Union.

How will we feel when Iran achieves nuclear capability via the distorted logic of the White House, and it becomes apparent that the United States has thrown Israel “under the bus?” There will not be anyone out there to help, except HaShem’s promise, kept faithfully to this day, that He will forever protect His chosen people.

How will we feel when Russia begins using biological, chemical weapons, as well as tactical nuclear artillery, forcing the US Congress to pass the Selective Service Act of 2022 in order to increase their armed services by another 2 million troops? Called up will be men and women, white and black, Jew and gentile, Orthodox Jews and agnostics, yeshiva divinity students and divinity students from Notre Dame!

How will we feel when China sinks the US fleet in the South China Sea?

How will we feel when the US begins limiting the amount of money that an oleh may take out of the country and, as a consequence, virtually closing the door on aliya?

How will we feel when Jews in many parts of the galut will find themselves traveling dusty, dangerous roads leading to the borders?

One might say that these things cannot happen. Dear friends, not only can they happen, but many are now happening, and all will happen!

If the Jews in the US cannot come now, the best advice I can give is to send your children here as soon as possible; because once the draft is mandated, there is no running away.

Is this the beginning of the predicted Gog King of Magog period? I would say no because it already began with World War One.

 

In Mount Zion There Will Be Refuge

We are presently in the midst of Pesach preparations – the holiday of our freedom from human bondage in exchange for our willing acceptance on ourselves of the “Yoke of the Heavenly Kingdom”.  No matter how close we are to HaShem, we cannot know the His intentions.

Has the Creator decided that 8 billion people are too many for this little planet, and that the one billion who admire, and support Am Yisrael are better suited for building a new and better world with Yerushalayim at its core?

Has the time arrived for Amalek to destroy its rival Amalek? Has HaShem decided that the West’s decadence has now rivaled that of Sodom and Amora and the time has come to wipe the table clean?

There are many more fascinating queries. For those who are interested in knowing the answers, stay healthy, do not get Covid 19, and look both ways when crossing the street; but above all, hearken to the words of our prophets:

ובהר ציון תהיה פליטה

In Mount Zion there will be refuge

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5782/2022 Nachman Kahana