Very interesting, and hopefully the scenario playing out. But not to put aside what Rav Richter brought to us from Torah Prophecy. Somehow they must coalesce.
PLEASE USE A NAME WHEN COMMENTING
30 November 2023
Rabbi YY Rubinstein
The Brightest Stars
“They sparkle and they twinkle. Some are enormous and others are relatively small. We call that one the Sun and if it suddenly disappeared, all life on earth would stop after 8 minutes 11 seconds to 8 minutes 27 seconds, depending on where on earth was in its orbit when it happened.”
“Another astonishing fact about stars is supplied by the Rambam in Yesodei HaTorah, chapter 3, halacha 9. It is so startling and surprising, I think I’d better translate it word for word.
“All the stars and the planets are living, intelligent, thinking beings. He who spoke and brought the universe into existence. Each one, relative to its greatness, praises its Creator just like the angels.
“As they recognize each other, as well as the angels who are superior to them. The level of understanding of the planets are inferior to the angels, but it is superior to that of human beings.”
Leah From Itamar – Vayishlach
The terrain and setting in which we live affects us for the good and the bad depending on how we internalize, sift and make sense of the intervention in it and of it. Bustling avenues or quiet tree lined streets are just one dimensional description of a place. Sure, it creates a mood, the setting, but there is more to it than meets the eye.
Still, the wider known vision of a place contains opposing rules and values such as darkness and light, right and left, and on a deeper level a moral sphere- good and evil that exists there. Dualism is in everything- our task: to make harmony, sift out the bad and encourage the good.
The juxtapose of a place creates energetic flows – like where I live and am writing to you from: facing the mountains of the Blessing and the Curse. My window faces the animation of what appears as a complex paradox, and now it is affecting the entire world. I’ll explain.
It was here “in my neighborhood” that we learn of the first nightmare that happens to Israel; the kidnapping and bitter rape of Dina. The Torah teaches that Dina, a little girl of just eight years old “went out to see…” while all the time Dina was actually being watched.
There was more than meets the eye; things more difficult to understand at first glance. Not far from here Yosef was “sold” and taken down the path to Egypt where he spent many years in a dark prison cell. Riddled with worry and anguish Yisrael never thought he would see his son again.
These difficult painful things reawaken acts of barbarism much like the horrors of knowing our hostages today are not nearly all out now. The wicked still have power, the inferno does not leave us for a second. This is the first time I really understand Parshat Vayishlach. None of us have been the same since October 7. We were being watched as we thought looking at them was enough.
Our “little sister Dina” is still not with us as the families of the kidnapped, many of them children, live in doubt and worry along with all of Am Yisrael. The bereaved families can have no solace.
The sheer evil of the event of October 7 has caused us to dismay, dread and disgust. The families of soldiers fighting are holding their breaths that they can finish the job, praying for their safe return. Jews worldwide feel the pain as well as all lovers of Zion wherever they may be. We are one nefesh.
Things were percolating for some time. Now they have boiled over. This is the final foundational clarification that draws the light out of the darkness, the way each of us is involved some way in this nightmare. This is time to choose good over evil.
From the leaning tower of Pisa, to the Eiffel Tower, to the streets of London, the gates of the White House and the Manhattan Bridge; the statue of Benjamin Franklin, all were defaced, the mob chanted “From the river to the sea” but we know the deeper level: The Jordan to the sea Israel will forever be.
The conduit for choosing good over evil comes out from this place, my vista. The narrative has another side as well. It’s not all horror stories. It is here that the tribes come together as one nation, as now, to declare allegiance to Hashem and to the Torah, this is the instruction, this is the modus operandi. The heart of Israel is the focal point here in this story. You can’t rebrand a land as you cannot rebrand a people. You can’t rebrand our sacred heritage sites and call them “Area A” or “territories” or “West whatever”.
The narrative of the old nostalgic stories are here to reinforce important lessons in policy. They are deeply rooted into our psyche and into our souls. Now the subconscious has been made conscious. No excuses. Nostalgia forces us to act.
The story of the taking and violating of Dina also has a tactical lesson that we learn out from Shimon and Levi. Erasing the enemy, the strong spirit of DIN TZEDEK (true justice). We here in Israel wait in apprehension to finish the beastly adversary completely. We need to return to the original well planned, prudent clever and calculated approach. Erase the desecration of G-d’s name from this earth.
Shabbat Shalom, Leah
Rabbi Weissman – Intelligence agents and Kahanists should not be guiding us
What surprising merit did Eisav have that terrified Yaacov?
Intelligence agents and Kahanists should not be guiding us
__________________________
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HaShem Created Our Minds Capable Of Many Things
New Technology Installed Beneath Detroit Street Can Charge Electric Vehicles as They Drive. https://vinnews.com/2023/11/29/new-technology-installed-beneath-detroit-street-can-charge-electric-vehicles-as-they-drive/
When I was a teenager, I had a vision of cars being able to drive ownerless, being charged automatically from tech within the main Highways. I created in my mind how it could be done. Of course at that age, and being a female, and penniless, there was not much I could do. Now, in today’s technology minded, they are developing this in various ways. Soon it will be like I envisioned, mainly on the super hiways, not the off-ramp local streets.
Rabbi Kahana: Vayishlach – We Have Returned
BS”D Parashat Vayishlach 5784
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Nov 28, 2023
We Have Returned
Jews often wonder, “Even now, after returning to our G–D-given homeland following 2000 years of repression and degradation, why must we still fight for our survival? Ribono Shel Olam – isn’t enough enough?”
The answer is an emphatic NO!
I will explain:
In parashat Vayishlach, Shimon and Levi annihilate the residents of Shechem for failing to bring Shechem ben Chamor to justice for what he did to their sister Dina. What was behind this seemingly excessive and disproportionate reaction by two nice Jewish boys?
Answer:
Avraham Aveinu, having arrived in Eretz Yisrael more than 100 years prior to the Shechem incident, was met by the pagan and tribal descendants of Cham, son of Noach – the Canaani, Chieti, Emori, etc.
Despite the religious and cultural opposition of these pagans, Avraham made impressive advances in the teachings of monotheism. He even established a yeshiva-hotel where many gathered to hear the word of G–D.
This was anathema to the religious and political establishment. Avraham was undermining the core beliefs of society by introducing G–D and morality into matters such as family, law, treatment of slaves and ethics in business.
By the time of parashat Vayishlach, the charismatic Avraham and his wife Sarah were long gone. Yitzchak was old and disabled. Ya’akov, the ben Torah, had not been seen in Eretz Yisrael for over twenty years. The only relevant descendant of Avraham was Aisav, with whom the idolators got along fabulously. They considered him as one of their own.
For all intents and purposes, Judaism was no longer a threat to the religious and social fabric of the land. The idolatrous natives could happily return to their old ways, uninterrupted by pangs of conscience caused by those “holier-than-thou” Jews.
Suddenly, Ya’akov the Jew and his family reappear in Eretz Yisrael. His arrival could have been restrained and muted like that of our Zionist chalutzim (pioneers) at the beginning of the last century, when they bought “a dunam (a quarter of an acre) here and a dunam there,” built a house here and a house there, planted orange trees and drained swamp land, with no impressive message signaling their presence.
However, HaShem “speaks” to people in the language that they understand. To Am Yisrael, HaShem speaks in the language of a father teaching Torah. To the gentiles, HaShem speaks in the language of strength, aggression, and violence.
Ya’akov returned. The evil inhabitants of Shechem were felled by the swords of Shimon and Levi in the name of common decency and justice. It took less than a day for the electrifying news of Shechem’s destruction at the hands of Ya’akov to reach all the land and beyond. From then on, the Canaanite occupiers of Eretz Yisrael would have to learn that life in the Holy Land would no longer be the same.
HaShem, the ultimate playwright, brings about Ya’akov’s return to the stage of history in an explosive manner. The reappearance of the Jewish people and their zealous conduct in the name of good over evil creates the desired impression upon the descendants of Cham. It is the language the gentile understands – the language of strength.
When Ya’akov and his 69 relatives left the Holy Land to join Yosef in Egypt, the land was once again devoid of Jews and Judaism. It was not until 250 years later, under the leadership of Moshe and Yehoshua, that the two superpowers of Og King of Bashan and Sichon King of Emori were annihilated, and 31 idolatrous city states destroyed.
The news reverberated throughout the Middle East and beyond. The world was in shock! The Jews have returned! “Moral conscience has returned to haunt us. Where have we gone wrong?” was the pitiful wailing of the sons and daughters of Cham.
Once again, the chosen of HaShem reentered the land, not by “dunam here and dunam there,” but in the language of strength that the gentiles understood.
For the last 2000 years, the main body of the Jewish nation was in exile, with only a small remnant remaining in the land.
With the Holocaust, our enemies were certain that it was only a matter of time before the world would be “free” of the “conscience-arousing” teachings of Judaism. The “Wandering Jew” would soon become the “Vanished Jew”.
Then in 1948, the Jewish nation in Eretz Yisrael again leaped onto the platform of history with an explosion that caught the attention of the world. On the day following our declaration of statehood, the nascent Jewish State was invaded by seven Arab armies in the “War of Independence”.
The world was certain that 600,000 people with only a ragtag army, no air force and no mechanized machines would not be able to withstand the ferocious Arab onslaught. Notwithstanding an arms boycott on Israel enforced by the United States and European countries, Israel trounced the Arab forces, doubling the land area of the State. The world stood in awe – Ya’akov had returned home!
In 1967, we were again in existential danger. The combined forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and others had sworn to erase Israel from the map. It took two hours on the morning of June 6, 1967 to demonstrate to the world what Kind David wrote (Tehillim 20,8-9):
Those come with chariots and those with horses. And we come in the name of the LORD, our G–D.
They have bowed down and fallen, and we have risen and stood upright.
News of the Medina’s miraculous military victories and its development at the cutting edge of almost every scientific and intellectual field has reached the far corners of the world.
The War of Independence, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the blowing up of the Atomic Reactor in Iraq, the present destruction of the Islamic, psychotic Chamas (Hamas), and more. This is the language that the nations of the world understand. We long to establish here a society of Torah, of justice, uprightness, and peace. Yet our enemies understand only the language of force. In order to prepare for the next phases of our people’s history – the Temple, the Davidic Dynasty, the Messiah and more – the nations of the world must undergo several more learning experiences.
A short relevant story:
An Arab entered a bank in Yerushalayim, just as the automatic mechanism closed the safe until the following morning. In reply to his demand to receive cash, the teller told him that the safe was locked and could not be opened until eight o’clock the following morning. The Arab became very nasty and vocal, threatening the life of the teller. At this point, the bank manager approached the Arab, picked him up and threw him out.
While the Arab was nursing his wounds, the bank teller approached him saying: “Didn’t I tell you that the safe is closed until tomorrow morning?” The Arab turned to the teller and said: “Yes. You told me, but he explained it”.
There is no rhyme and reason to tell our anti-Jewish enemies of the folly of their ways. They will understand only when it is explained to them, in the spirit of “Fear of the Jews was upon them.”
We will exterminate the evil, sadistic Chamas Nazis. Will the “enlightened” nations of the world join us in eradicating international Chamas that draws its inspiration from the Koran? Probably not! So, each country that hosts Moslems will have to undergo the experience of Chamas and repent for not learning the lessons of Gaza.
For two thousand years the land of Israel was in suspension, as a wife impatiently awaits the return of her beloved husband who was called away.
Nations and religions came and went after failing to plant roots in the holy land. But from the time we returned, the land re-awoke to life and turned its deserts into paradises.
We are now at a juncture in history. Close to half the number of world Jewry have already returned home and with the unrequested help of the anti-Semites the other half will come home or will have to pay for their folly.
Today, the G–D of Yisrael is again shocking the world as Medinat Yisrael destroys all those who seek to uproot the Jewish people from our G–D-given homeland.
In time, Medinat Yisrael will become HaShem’s medium to bring His message of Torah to us, and the Noahide laws and hope to a fractured, dissonant gentile world.
At the present our contemporary Maccabees -Tzahal are fighting in the tribal area of Shimon. However, we might shortly find ourselves fighting on five fronts: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Shomron-Yehuda and Yemen. And in the wings ready to come out swinging are Iran, Jordan, Iraq, possibly Russia and China all preparing to swat the “nuisance mosquito” aka the “State of Israel”.
It is a scenario that will encourage many “fair weather” citizens to leave the country for greener and more serene pastures, leaving here us; the authentic Jews who bear a passionate love for HaShem’s holy land.
Welcome home, Ya’akov. Baruchim Haba’im, the holy people of Am Yisrael.
אנחנו ננצח We will win!
Shabbat Shalom
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5784/2023 Nachman Kahana
29 November 2023
As We Pull Back The Curtain, We Catch More ...
Scenes From the Ongoing ‘Eisav–Yishmael' Theatrical Stage Play:
[…] “Now you have an added population of hundreds of thousands more in the south that you didn’t have before (the Israelis) moved into Gaza City.”
“And so it’s even all that more of an added burden on Israel to make sure that as they start to plan for operations in the south, whatever that looks like, that they have properly accounted for…the extra innocent life that is now in south Gaza.”
Blinken Heads Again to the Middle East - Seeks a New Extension of the Gaza Cease-Fire with his “Thou Shalt Not….. Orders”
AUDIENCE OBSERVATION: [from a fellow blogger]
"The Pentagon has deployed two naval groups, around the USS Gerald Ford and the USS Eisenhower, and a cruise missile submarine, the USS Florida. Haaretz even mentioned a third aircraft carrier. America’s allies (Saudi Arabia, Canada, Spain, France, Italy) have installed fighter-bombers in the region. These forces are not installed to threaten Turkey, Qatar or Iran, which the Western press accuses of being involved in the Hamas attack, but off the coast of Israel, in Beirut and Hamat.
If ‘the story’ is that Hamas is financed by Iran, Qatar and Turkey, with some help from Russia – why are all these warships off our coast, threatening us? (h/t R)
MK Smotrich: “TWO" “MILLION" “NAZIS"
Content from JewishPress.com News Desk was used in this report.
Salt Ship Drowns on Way to Turkey
Cargo ship loaded with salt sinks off Greek island
A Comoros-flagged cargo ship called the Raptor, with 14 crew onboard off the Greek island of Lesbos has sunk after it faced gale-force winds, the Greek coast guard said Sunday prompting a major rescue operation. A navy helicopter had picked up one crew member.
Five other cargo ships, three coast guard vessels, Greece’s air force and navy helicopters were part of the rescue effort. The state-run Athens News Agency (ANA) reported that the cargo ship had 14 crew members and was loaded with salt. The ANA said that it went down 4.5 nautical miles (8.3 kilometres) southwest of Lesbos early Sunday. The ship had sailed from Dekheila, Egypt, heading for Istanbul.
The crew members includes two Syrians, four Indians and eight Egyptians. Ships stayed in dock on Saturday with winds reaching 9-10, a strong gale to storm force, on the Beaufort scale. The Hellenic National Meteorological Service (EMY) had been upgraded on Saturday from “worsening weather” to “dangerous weather phenomena”, as the Storm Oliver moved from across from the Adriatic Sea toward Greece.
Makes us wonder about the nature of global trade and shipping. Turkey both imports and exports salt.
https://www.greenprophet.com/2023/11/cargo-ship-loaded-with-salt-sinks-off-greek-island/
27 November 2023
Yaakov Avinu Fathered the Twelve Tribes.......
.......and here are two descendants of those 12 Tribes
Lipa Shmeltzer: May we all see peace and love already.
CHILLING: Lipa’s ‘chance encounter’ with pilot linked to wounded soldier uplifted by him
(VINnews) — Legendary singer and entertainer Lipa Schmeltzer has made headlines recently, after performing for wounded soldiers and other Israelis on the front lines. Lipa posted an uplifting video Sunday, of himself meeting an airline pilot as he heads back to Israel. That encounter turned out to have a deeper significance.
On the video, Lipa explained that he was going to pose for a picture with the (non-Chassidishe) Jewish pilot named Chaim, in a display of achdus — to show unity with those Jews who come from a different background.
Lipa recounted how the pilot affirmed the idea of achdus, because his friend’s son was wounded, and he was visited by Jews of all backgrounds, in a display of Jewish unity.
When looking at the pictures of the wounded son, Lipa discovered that he himself had visited the young man. In other words, the achdus was contributed to by Lipa himself, as the wounded man was uplifted by the fact that a Chassidic singer who did not know him came to visit.
Lips took this as hashgacga pratis, a message from Hashem that he should continue to perform for all Jews, regardless of background.
AND PRIOR TO THIS
Lipa Schmeltzer Faces Cancellations In The US After Entertaining IDF Soldiers
Charedi Singer Lipa Schmeltzer has suffered cancellations from several communities in the US which did not approve of his entertaining the IDF soldiers deployed near Gaza.
In a viral clip released last week, Schmeltzer can be seen dancing for the troops in his inimicable manner, and the soldiers responding and dancing with him. Yet apparently for some communities who distance themselves from Israel and from Zionist ideology, this was too much to swallow and they decided to cancel their contracts with the popular singer.
IS THIS WHAT WE WANT TO LEARN FROM OUR CHASSIDIM IN NY??
One of the events was due to take place last Thursday in the Satmar community in New York. In an attempt to mollify his critics, Schmeltzer went to the tomb of Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe, and said that “The Jews in Eretz Yisrael have suffered greatly recently, I know that there are different opinions in Judaism, but I have my mission, I went to Eretz Yisrael to make Jews happy, I saw people without hands, without feet from the war, my mission is to make people’s hearts rejoice.
“Yesterday I was supposed to sing at an event and it was cancelled because I made Jews happy in Eretz Yisrael. I will continue to cheer brokenhearted Jews and to bring them closer. If this is my sacrifice that I lose Parnasah from it, when I come upstairs I will see that it is only a profit and not a real loss.”
I was canceled for a job by a right winged Mosed for singing for Israeli wounded soldiers. Here I pray by the grave of Satmar Rebbe Ztz”l that he should help me succeed singing for all without conflict. And I also say here that I undertake loving all regardless if it damages me somewhat financially. May we all see peace and love already.
Footnote:
Did this occur as a result of the negativity (midda kneged midda) against Lipa bc of his act of caring and Shalom in visiting Israeli Soldiers? All Jews are children of HaShem!
Do We Need Another Tragedy to Secure Our Shuls?
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26 November 2023
MAGNIFICENT…. ON TARGET ….. Rabbi Richter …...How close is Mashiach? – Daniel's prophecy decoded!
What he tells us is amazing and sounds like the Emes. Why was it Rav Yehuda that found these startling sources?
Only HaShem knows.
But what it does say is that we still have a way to go chv”s and it might not be a gentle waking up. He also told us that the argument betw those sages ends with “it is not neces for every Jew to do Teshuva, but a large segment in order to bring the final Geula.
The way things look now, the “rebels” are still at their demonstrations, but with another cause, still against the govt. These demonstrators are unrelenting and cannot see that G-D is speaking to THEM! What comes next I can’t imagine. Maybe the rest of Am Yisrael will rise up to shut them down and get rid of the evil ones in the govt, and maybe put someone in charge that understands what HaShem wants!
Some thoughts......
I am watching the hostage release faces of Israelis and what comes to mind, after this last group that includes several children (to pull at the heartstrings), is that the Hamas beasts are going to PUSH for a “permanent truce and cease fire” with Blinky and JB COERCING Israel chv”s in this direction.
That’s why he’s coming AGAIN.
With each visit it gets worse for Israel!
And chv”s if Israel does not agree, it may be not good at all for the remaining Israeli neshamos .
25 November 2023
Daniel Pipes Interview
L'Informale: Please comment on the Israel-Hamas hostage deal.
L'Informale: Will the deal prevent Israel from achieving victory in Gaza?
DP: I expect so, yes. The government issued a statement insisting it "will continue the war to ... complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that there will be no new threat to the State of Israel from Gaza," but I believe those to be hollow words. In addition to the hostage deal, Israel has resumed providing water, fuel, and food to Gaza. It feels like a return to Oct. 7, just with with greater destruction in Gaza.
L'Informale: Alex Nachumson writes that "freeing the Israelis hostages, brutally ripped from their homes, should be a paramount goal of the operations. But ... the hostages are more likely to be released when Hamas feel their time is running out, when they feel the Israeli boot on their neck." Do you agree?
DP: Yes. But more fundamentally, one cannot fight a war if the families of hostages sit in the war room and have a large role in determining strategy.
L'Informale: Qatar has had a major role in brokering the deal as financier of Islamism and also as mediator between terrorists and democracies. Your opinion?
DP: Hafiz al-Asad, the dictator of Syria, in the 1980s played a game of arsonist and firefighter; he supported the groups that captured American and other hostages, then ceremoniously released them, to wide acclaim. Qatar's Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has now reprised this role, with no less skill.
L'Informale: The U.S. government has seemingly attempted to steer Israel's response almost from Oct. 7. Is that in fact the case?
DP: Very much so. In retrospect, Joe Biden's strong support for Israel looks like both a true emotional response and also an effort to gain influence over the government.
L'Informale: How much is Israel's foreign policy influenced by Washington's wishes?
DP: Washington's influence fluctuates. As a rule, it increases in times of good relations and decreases in times of bad ones. That's why I prefer not-so-good relations. That way, Israel makes fewer mistakes under American pressure.
Danny Ginsbourg – Jacob's ladder is Jacob himself!
Jacob's ladder is Jacob himself!
It is the will of Hashem, that a Jew be engaged in this physical world, and, in it, find a way to remain sanctified to Hashem.
Rav Elya Lopian comments:’The explanation of this is: man needs to know that he is like ‘a ladder set earthward with its top reaching heavenward’, because he is comprised of body and soul together, as it says:(27)’And G-d formed man of dust from the ground; and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living soul.’
From the portion of his soul, he reaches heavenward, and is a ‘heavenly creature’, but from his body portion, he is ‘a ladder set earthward’; and, as with any ladder, the feet which stand on the earth, get dirty from the soil, and impure things happen to it there.
‘So too, is man in his physical portion - but his head reaches heavenward, and heavenly angels ascend and descend on it, on the man who is this ladder.
‘Our Sages ( Avot 4:11) say:’Whoever does one mitzvah, acquires for himself one advocate’ -an angel; from every mitzvah, and these are the ‘angels of G-d..ascending and descending..
‘Thus, by our good deeds, they ascend from the earth upwards, and then they return from Above, and descend on it, from Above, and bring with them blessings back to earth.
But so, too, in the opposite manner: ‘They ‘descend upon it’ - as our Sages say there: ‘whoever transgresses one transgression, acquires for himself an accuser’: meaning: that by the transgression he committed, an accusing angel is created, who testifies against him Above.’
The Malbim elucidates:’The Torah here relates, that Yaakov Avinu revealed his fear of Esav, in that he left the land of Israel to escape his wrath, and also showed his fear in the manner in which he arrayed the stones around his head, as protection from animals, at night.
‘Against this fear, he was shown in his dream, that he himself was the ladder connecting the worlds, his feet set earthward, from his physical portion, whilst his head reached heavenward, from his soul. He was further shown, in his dream, that he was the chariot of the shechina, and that the divine providence was by the angels who were dependent on him - according to his deeds and activities, these angels ascended and descended.
‘According to his deeds - that ascend upwards - is the awakening and descent of blessings from above; thus, first the angels of his Torah and mizvot ascend, and afterwards, the angels of blessings and bounty descend to earth.
‘The Midrash says: ‘the bottom creations ascend, and the higher ones descend’, and that Hashem is standing over him, over Yaakov - all is conducted according to the ascents and descents of the angels of Yaakov.’
Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl first asks:’What was the reason for Yaakov’s dream? And: is there any connection between the fourteen years of Torah study which Yaakov Avinu had just completed - in the yeshiva of Eber - and that which was revealed to him, in the dream? As best we can understand the prophetic dream, its message to Yaakov would seem to be: first, Hashem shows him, in this dream, that in the world of ascension there are many levels: many steps. True, you, Yaakov, have in these fourteen years in the yeshiva of Eber, indeed ascended greatly - but there is no limit to the number of steps: ‘ascending upon it’, all the time.
‘Second: Hashem shows him, that, as well as ascents, there are also descents: ‘descending upon it’: there is the possibility to also descend, from any level that you may have, by you toil, ascended to - and with greater ease, because, to ascend, requires effort, but to lose that which you have attained, does not require any effort.
‘But much more than this is shown to Yaakov: he is shown that that whole of creation ascends or - רחמנא לצלן - descends, with him; even ‘angels of G-d, ascend and descend, on the ladder that is man, because all of creation revolves around the deeds of man.
‘We therefore find that ‘the angels of G-d ascending and descending‘ are ‘upon’ him: upon Yaakov- all depends on him and his deeds. We find that Yaakov Avinu well understood the message of his dream, as, immediately thereafter, after all the blessings and great tidings promised in his dream, the first thing he does, upon awakening, is not rejoicing in the bounty he has now been promised, but (28:17)’And he became frightened and said: ‘How awesome is this place’, and he offered vows to Hashem.
‘Because the righteous man - always demands more and more from himself, in his avodat Hashem, fearing that he may not be worthy of the promises from Hashem - and he strives to ascend higher on the ladder of the ascension heavenward.’
The Netivot Shalom gives us a ‘broader’ exposition of this, wondrous dream, first bringing the Midrash, that Yaakov saw the world before him, like a wall that he could not penetrate, explaining:’Till he left his home, for Haran, his whole world was that of Torah and sanctity, in the house of the righteous Yitzchak and the yeshiva of Eber; now he has to leave this holy world, and enter this mundane world to build his own household, to raise a family, and to earn a living.
This ‘new’ world was like an impenetrable wall to Yaakov, a world which he could not see how he could enter, a world so alien, one in which he felt that he did not belong, and, most of all, because the place to which he had to go, was filled with impurity, the household of Laban.
‘This is what he was shown in his dream of the ladder whose foot is earthward and whose top is heavenward, that it is the will of Hashem, that a Jew be engaged in this physical world, and, in it, find a way to remain sanctified to Hashem; that even in the periods when, inevitably, there would be ‘descents’, he should still be ‘on this’ connecting ‘ladder’.
This is the underlying message of the Midrash, that the ladder set earthward is an altar, alluding to the role of a Jew in this world, the altar being the place where the Jew serves Hashem with, as it were, with ‘his blood’, and all this being within the frame of the ladder, which he never completely leaves.
Initially his avodah is ‘set earthward, the humble level from which he is to ascend, step by step, till the level of the head reaching heavenward, till the peak of ‘Hashem standing over him’.
‘’And behold, angels of G-d were ascending and descending upon it’, all that he does is to be ‘within’ the frame of this ladder, and he must never step out of this framework, with all the ascents and descents that befall him.
‘Our Sages say, that ‘the ladder’ alludes to Sinai: the power of the Torah that Hashem gave us, through which we are able to remain close to Hashem even whilst being engaged in this physical world, and even reach the lofty level of ‘Hashem standing over him’.
‘This revelation led Yaakov Avinu to now exclaim:(28:16)’ Hashem is present in this place, and I did not know!’ - even in this new ‘place’, in the mundane activities of this world, one can serve Hashem, as long as one remains within the framework of the ladder: of sanctity, of Torah, of avodat Hashem.
‘We now understand the objective of the dream that Yaakov was shown, of ‘the ladder set earthward..’. We might have thought that its main purpose was for the blessings that Hashem bestowed on him, but then the Torah should have started immediately with ‘Behold Hashem was standing over him …; But, as we have said, this was not the main objective of the dream; it was to teach him the way of service of Hashem, in the form of the ladder with rungs ‘and behold angels were ascending and descending upon it’, that even the inevitable descents should be within the framework of the ladder, connecting earth and heaven, and he was promised therby that always, Hashem will be with him. (28:15).’
A beautiful parting exposition, from Rav Pinchas Friedman, who asks:’What is the objective of the dream that Hashem chose to now reveal to Yaakov, of ‘a ladder set earthward, and its top reaching heavenward’, at this specific time, as Yaakov was running away from the wrath of his brother Esav, after he had taken the brachot from him?
‘We can find the answer in the exposition of the Admo’r Mahari’d of Belz, to explain the sin of the meraglim, who were princes of Israel, yet refused to enter the land. They did so because they felt that it was not possible to learn Torah and to fully serve Hashem anywhere but in the desert, where they were not engaged in any of the mundane affairs of this world; as there all their needs were met miraculously from the hand of Hashem; but, as this would cease when they entered the land; they would then have to be engaged in the pursuit of a living and other mundane matters, and this would inevitably be at the expense of their Torah study and service of Hashem. They therefore sought to prevent the entry of the people into the land.
‘However - expounds the Admo’r - they erred in this, because in fact the will of Hashem is that man be engaged in the matters of this world, and, in this too, seek to serve Hashem. Hashem created man from a combination of earth from this world, and afterwards, infused into him the spirit of life from the upper world, to teach that man’s main task is to be a union of both these worlds, by raising his earthly solely to Hashem.
‘It is for this very purpose that Hashem brought the people into the land, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’, so that they should in it be engaged in the affairs of this world, with the intention of all these endeavors being to serve Hashem.
‘We can now revisit the purpose for which Hashem showed Yaakov, in his dream, ‘a ladder set earthward and its top reached heavenward’.
‘After the long years that Yaakov learned in the yeshiva of Eber - how to serve Hashem in the mundane matters of this lowly world - Eber having retained his righteousness in the generations of pervasive wickedness, he continued towards Haran; but on the way there, Yaakov remembered that he had not yet prayed ar the place of the Bet Hamikdash; and when he decided to return there, he found that miraculously his journey was shortened.
‘To reinforce his new understanding that it was indeed the will of Hashem that he should engage in the mundane affairs of this world, for the sake of heaven, Hashem showed him in his dream, in the place of the Bet Hamikdash, the vision of the ladder and the angels, to teach him that Hashem created the world in the manner of descent from the spiritual heavens to the physical earth, so that we should elevate all the mundane affairs of the earth for the sake of heaven, from the physical to the spiritual.
‘This in the vision of ‘a ladder set earthward and its head heavenward’, signifying that we have to ascend on the ladder, from the physical world, all our mundane activities, for the sake of heaven.
‘’And behold, angels of G-d were ascending and descending upon it’: the angels which were created from the good deeds of the righteous in this world, ascend from below, above, and, in the merit of this, there is an awakening Above, and Hashem sends his spiritual blessings clothed in material form, earthwards, so that the righteous can further elevate these physical blessings to the spiritual realm - these are the angels which ascend from earth heavenward, and then descend from Above, to earth.
‘Hashem emphasizes that this is His will, by telling Yaakov (28:13):’The ground upon which you are lying, to you I will give it and to your descendants’, to totally refute the misguided view of the meraglim, as why would Hashem give Bnei Israel ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’, if His will was that they best serve him in the desert, where they did not need to engage in the mundane affairs of this world?
‘This is conclusive proof that it is Hashem’s will, that we should be engaged in the affairs of this world, and elevate them for the sake of heaven.’
Shalom Pollack: DECEMBER TOURS
Wednesday, December 18 A special "hilltop" visit, plus .. We will begin our day in the Shomron (Benjamin Region) where we will hav...