Rabbi Kahana: Ki Tisa – Favoritism & Tikun Olam

BS”D Parashat Ki Tisa 5784
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Feb 29, 2024

Favoritism & Tikun Olam

 

Part One: Favoritism

A short lesson in Hebrew (Ivrit):

What is the Hebrew word for “bias” and “favoritism” and “privilege”?

Answer: אפליה, pronounced aflaya.

Our parasha records the pivotal moment regarding the Creator’s interaction with humanity before our parasha and after, and its implications for all future generations of Jews and gentiles.

Four Shabbatot ago, in parashat Yitro, HaShem presented the two tablets of the Ten Commandments to Moshe to be given to the Jewish nation. Moshe was a bit late in coming down from Mount Sinai, causing the rabble to feel justified in making a golden calf and proposing that it be the new deity of Yisrael. When Moshe descended the mountain and saw what the people had done, he shattered the tablets and ordered the rebels to be put to death.

HaShem revealed to Moshe that He could no longer tolerate the disloyal Jewish people and His intention to obliterate them. In their place He would establish a new generation of Jews from the offspring of Moshe. Moshe pleaded that he felt that his destiny was intertwined with this Jewish people, so if they die, he requested that his name be erased from the Torah. Here began an incredible dialogue between the ultimate Creator and the greatest mortal ever born.

Moshe brought about a reconciliation between HaShem and the Jewish nation no matter the severity of the sin. Moshe realized that if he and the nation had found favor with HaShem, enough to forgive this intolerable sin, then this was the opportune moment to submit another giant request (Shemot 33,16-17):

ובמה יודע אפוא כי מצאתי חן בעיניך אני ועמך הלוא בלכתך עמנו ונפלינו אני ועמך מכל העם אשר על פני האדמה
ויאמר ה’ אל משה גם את הדבר הזה אשר דברת אעשה כי מצאת חן בעיני ואדעך בשם

How will it be known that You are pleased with me and with your people unless You go with us (to Eretz Yisrael?) and show favoritism [bias] towards your Nation!

And HaShem said to Moshe: I will do the very thing you have asked [be forever biased towards the Jewish nation], because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name.

Moshe’s request was that the Shechina be present only within the Jewish people and not in any other nation or religion. HaShem agreed to Moshe’s request that He relate to humanity according to APARTHEID, where the Jews would be treated forever in a privileged manner.

Let’s see how it played out in history:

What is the oldest monotheistic religion still practiced to this day?

Judaism.

How long did the Tabernacles (Mishkanot) and Holy Temples stand in Jerusalem?

They all stood for a total of over 1200 years: 

• The Tabernacles for approximately 400 years
• King Shlomo’s Holy Temple for 410 years
• The second HolyTemple (including the Temple of Hordus) for 420 years

Did we survive two millennia in the galut under the cruelty of Christianity and Islam?

Indeed yes.

Did we return to our ancestral homeland in Eretz Yisrael?

Yes.

Were we miraculously victorious in all the wars we fought here?

Yes.

Was Jerusalem restored to Jewish sovereignty on the second day of the Six Day War after 2000 years of praying?

Yes.

Is there another example of a people uprooted from their land and who returned to it after 2000 years?

No.

Is there any other ancient world empire in existence today?

No.

Is the Hebrew language that our F-35 pilots communicate with while flying identical to the Hebrew spoken by King David 3000 years ago?

Yes.

Are the Jews in Eretz Yisrael today drawing closer to traditional Judaism?

Yes.

Where are the Nazis and the Communists who were so committed to destroying our nation?

In the ash heap of history.

Is the innate spiritual and intellectual Jewish genius still functioning?

Yes.

Is this not DIVINE APARTHEID?

HaShem, Creator of all things – including logic and reason, compassion, and punishment – need not justify His actions. The dissolution of the idea – beginning with the Tower of Bavel – that all people are equal was negated the moment HaShem accepted Moshe’s request that He show favoritism to us forever, just as a parent to a child.

This is the central platform upon which Torah Judaism stands – a nation commanded and committed to be close to the Creator through the 613 commandments, as apart from all gentiles who were created to live their lives according to the 7 Noachide commandments.

Tehillim 147,19-20:

מַגִּיד דְּבָרָיו (כתיב דְּבָרָו) לְיַֽעֲקֹב חֻקָּיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל

לֹא עָשָׂה כֵן ׀ לְכָל־גּוֹי וּמִשְׁפָּטִים בַּל־יְדָעוּם הַֽלְלוּיָֽהּ

 

He tells His words to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel.

He did not do so to any nation, and they did not know the judgments. Hallelukah!

 

Part Two: Tikun Olam

A major principle in Kabala is that the world we live in now, following the distortion and corruption caused by Adam and Chava by their failed behavior in Gan Eden, is called Tikun Olam. Its meaning is to repair, amend and correct the defects, deficiencies, and deviations that the first human beings brought upon the billions of their future offspring.

In practical terms, Tikun Olam is achieved by making right the evils that exist in society, by restoring mankind to the holy principles of right and wrong, and by clinging to the ways of HaShem.

I am a fervent student of Jewish history. I began with the Tanach and then general history, which I studied at Brooklyn College night school in the years when it  had a very high national scholastic rating because of the large number of its yeshiva students. I was introduced to the evil realities created by humanity, whose ways negated and denied the ideals of Tikun Olam.

For some strange reason, I was affected by the inhumanity shown to the indigenous Indians of the continent by the church-going Europeans who murdered millions of them in order to take their lands (perhaps I was influenced by the westerns that I watched on television).

By every standard, the indigenous Indian population to this day is inferior to the national norm in every standard such as health, education, life expectancy, and cultural freedom.

If you are interested in more details, search Google to get an idea of what the founding fathers of the US did to advance “Manifest Destiny” (the destiny of the white civilized Christian Europeans to extend their land grabs from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, at the expense of millions of dead “redskins”).

At this point, some of you impatient readers may be asking yourselves why the issue regarding the American Indians is being discussed by a rabbi in Eretz Yisrael.

Answer: The United States and a number of Arab countries are finalizing a perilous and perfidious “peace plan” to be shoved down the throats of Israel. The unilateral plan (in total disregard to what Israel says) is to establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and its boundaries between the river and the sea.

We all know that, without HaShem’s intervention, a parallel state of millions of Hamas Arabs adjoining Petach Tikva, Yerushalayim and Tel Aviv will be our demise in less than a decade.  There will be only one state between the river and the sea whose motto is “itbach al yehud” (death to the Jews).

Let’s get back to the Apache, Sioux, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Blackfeet, Arapaho, and Navajos.

In the name of Tikun Olam, the world must right the wrongs that have been done to the millions of Indians (who today number 326 reservations and 573 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages in over 25 states) whose standard of living is deplorable. Morality dictates that Israel as the oldest moral religion, together with a number of Arab countries, finalize a plan to establish the “Indigenous Indian Nation” comprising 25 states in today’s United States along with membership in the UN.

That’s “fair play” as taught in the U.S. – “Redskins” get 25 states and ‘White Man” 25 states, both with their capitals in Washington DC (divide and conquer ). ”

The chances of a national state of Indians in the heartland of America are more probable than a “Palestinian” state bordering on Israel. Never!

Shabbat Shalom through victory,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5784/2024 Nachman Kahana

Mayim Achronim: Ki Sisa – The Mysterious (& Psychoactive) Ingredients of Ketoret

The Mysterious (and Psychoactive) Ingredients of Ketoret

In this week’s parasha, Ki Tisa, G–D commands Moses to make the special incense mixture of Ketoret. This was the highest and holiest service performed in the Temple. Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the kohen gadol would take three handfuls of this incense into the Holy of Holies. 

When the room filled with the incense smoke, the kohen would see a vision of G–D and thereafter procure atonement for Israel. Later in the Book of Numbers we see how the incense prevented a plague and saved countless lives following Korach’s rebellion. 

Based on this, the Zohar (II, 218b) teaches that in lieu of the Temple Ketoret, one can read the verses that describe the incense and this itself can ward off illness. This is why the Ketoret passage is found at the start of every siddur, and customarily recited before the daily morning and afternoon prayers.

Galbanum flowers

What exactly were the ingredients of this enigmatic mixture? The Torah seems to suggest that Ketoret had four spices: “G–D said to Moses: take for yourself spices, nataf and shechelet and galbanum; spices, and pure frankincense—an equal part each.” (Exodus 30:34) 

The Sages famously derive from this verse that Ketoret actually had eleven ingredients (Keritot 6a-b): first G–D said “spices”, implying two spices, then He listed three more (nataf, shechelet, galbanum), bringing the total to five altogether, and then the Torah strangely says “spices” again, implying that one should double the existing five, making ten, before adding “frankincense” for a total of eleven. These eleven ingredients were:

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: פִּיטּוּם הַקְּטֹרֶת: הַצֳּרִי, וְהַצִּיפּוֹרֶן, וְהַחֶלְבְּנָה, וְהַלְּבוֹנָה – מִשְׁקַל שִׁבְעִים שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים מָנָה. מוֹר, וּקְצִיעָה, שִׁיבּוֹלֶת נֵרְדְּ, וְכַרְכּוֹם – מִשְׁקָל שִׁשָּׁה עָשָׂר שֶׁל שִׁשָּׁה עָשָׂר מָנֶה. הַקּוֹשְׁטְ – שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר, קִילּוּפָה – שְׁלֹשָׁה, וְקִנָּמוֹן – תִּשְׁעָה. בּוֹרִית כַּרְשִׁינָה – תִּשְׁעָה קַבִּין, יֵין קַפְרִיסִין – סְאִין תְּלָתָא קַבִּין תְּלָתָא. אִם אֵין לוֹ יֵין קַפְרִיסִין מֵבִיא חֲמַר חִיוַּרְיָין עַתִּיק. מֶלַח סְדוֹמִית – רוֹבַע. מַעֲלֵה עָשָׁן – כׇּל שֶׁהוּא. רַבִּי נָתָן אוֹמֵר: אַף כִּיפַּת הַיַּרְדֵּן כׇּל שֶׁהוּא.

Our Sages taught: The blending of the incense: balm [tzori], and onycha [tzipporen], and galbanum, and frankincense, seventy maneh by mass. Myrrh, and cassia, and spikenard, and saffron [kharkom], sixteen maneh by mass. Costus, twelve maneh; aromatic bark [kilufah] three maneh; and nine maneh of cinnamon. Lye of Carshinah, a volume of nine kabin; Cyprus wine of the volume of three se’ah and three more kabin. 

If one does not have Cyprus wine, he brings old white wine. Sodomite salt, a quarter-kav. A minimal amount of the “smoke-raiser” [ma’aleh ‘ashan]. Rabbi Natan says: Also a minimal amount of Jordan amber.

We have 11 spices and herbs, plus another five ingredients to strengthen and perfect the mixture. The first one is nataf, literally “drops”, which is the first in the Torah’s list in this week’s parasha. Rashi comments that this is a certain type of “gum” resin. It is a balm that exudes from trees, possibly from myrrh. 

Some identify it with the “Balm of Gilead” (which has also been identified with the afarsamon of the anointing oil). It may be the Commiphora opobalsamum species of myrrh which is found growing around the Red Sea. Nataf is also translated as “stacte”.

The second in the Torah’s list is shechelet, and when our Sages first translated the Torah into Greek (the Septuagint) they used the Greek word onycha, literally a “fingernail”. This is why shechelet is called tzipporen (“fingernail”) in the Talmud. It was compared to nails probably because it was made from crushed sea snails and sea shells, including those of the Murex genus. 

This is significant because we know that the blue tekhelet dye—derived from Murex shells—was used extensively in ancient times (and to this day in dying tzitzit, as the Torah instructs). It makes perfect sense that the Israelites would extract the dye, and then use the shells for the incense. 

A further clue comes from the Talmud above, which goes on to say that “lye of Carshinah” (a strong chemical base containing sodium hydroxide) was used to “soften” the tzipporen, while Cyprus wine was used to help extract its fragrance. This seems to confirm that tzipporen comes from hard snail shells. However, others dispute this notion because the snails are not kosher animals.

The Talmud (Keritot 6b) suggests that onycha does grow from the ground, though it is not a tree. In fact, the Talmud asks why the Torah didn’t just list all 11 ingredients itself, and only mentioned four types? 

The answer is that G–D gave us the main categories of spices and herbs that may be used: nataf comes from trees, onycha comes from the ground (but is not a tree), and galbanum has a foul smell, while frankincense has an odour that diffuses but doesn’t produce smoke that rises up. 

Thus, we are given the general categories of ingredients: those derived from trees, those that are herbs, foul-smelling ones, and “essential oils” that diffuse but don’t smoke.

Galbanum has a bitter, “musky”, and turpentine odour. Rashi says (on Exodus 30:34) that we include it to remember the sinners of Israel, and that we shouldn’t lose hope and abandon them. 

The Ketoret represents all of Israel, and atones for all types of Jews. In fact, the Arizal taught that 11 is a number that symbolizes kelipah, the “husks” that cover up and conceal the sparks of holiness. 

Ten is a number that stands for wholeness and completion, just as we have Ten Sefirot, Ten Commandments, Ten Utterances of Creation, and so on. Eleven is one more than ten, like a covering over top, a husk to conceal the wholeness. The Ketoret thus neutralizes the kelipot, and rectifies all Ten Sefirot.

Each member of the Jewish people is spiritually rooted in one of the Sefirot, so the Ketoret is able to purify us all. At the same time, the entire people of Israel as a whole are rooted in the Sefirah of Tiferet. 

This Sefirah is associated with the sun, and the Zohar and Arizal teach that there are 365 lights which emerge out of Tiferet. These fittingly correspond to the 365 days of the solar year. 

And this is why the Ketoret was specifically prepared in a “solar” manner, with a total of 368 portions: the first four spices with 70 portions (making 280 total), the next four with 16 portions (making 64 total), then 12, 3, and 9 portions for the remaining ingredients, making 368 portions altogether. 

Of these, our Sages say “365 handfuls correspond to the days of the solar year, and the remaining three that the kohen gadol would bring into [the Holy of Holies] on Yom Kippur.” (Keritot 6a)

Psychoactive and Psychedelic Compounds

The fourth ingredient in the Torah and Talmud’s list is classic frankincense, also known as olibanum, from the Boswellia genus of trees. It has been used in healing and religious rituals for millennia, and still used today (often as an essential oil, like the Talmud states above). 

Recent scientific studies have confirmed that frankincense is both antimicrobial and neuroprotective. Similarly, the next ingredient myrrh has historically been used as an antiseptic and as a pain-killer. Recent studies show that chemicals in myrrh can affect the brain’s opioid pathway.

Interestingly, myrrh is featured prominently in the Purim story, both with Esther being bathed in myrrh (Esther 2:12), and with Mordechai’s name being derived from mira or mara dachya, “pure myrrh” (Chullin 139b). 

The latter is based on the Aramaic translation of Exodus 30:23 in this week’s parasha, which describes the production of the special anointing oil used in the Temple, for priests, and for kings. The recipe for this oil was simpler than the Ketoret, with three ingredients: 500 parts mor dror, literally “myrrh of freedom” (though translated as “pure myrrh” or “solidified myrrh”), then 250 parts cinnamon, and 250 parts of a mysterious kneh bosem, “aromatic cane”. Multiple commentators suggest that the myrrh here is actually musk derived from animals, but others reject this and maintain that it is regular myrrh from trees.

  

A hemp field in France

The last of the ingredients, kneh bosem, sounds very similar to cannabis, and scholars have proposed that the unknown etymology of “cannabis” is actually the Torah’s kneh bosem (and the Sumerian kunibu). Cannabis has many known therapeutic properties, along with its hallucinogenic ones, so it wouldn’t be odd that it was used in the Temple’s spiritual services. 

Indeed, archaeologists have found chemical traces of CBD and THC (the active compounds in cannabis) on ancient Judean altars dating back to at least 2700 BCE. Cannabis is also the origin of the word canvas, for the same hemp plant was historically widely used to make clothing, mesh, and sacs. 

The Mishnah even mentions it in a discussion of kilayim, and whether one is permitted to mix together pishtan v’hakanebos, “wool and cannabis” (Kilayim 9:1).

Next there’s cassia, which is really just a type of cinnamon, the last ingredient in the list. Cinnamon is known to have some antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and a recent study found that cinnamon might act like a “brain booster”, improving the use of glucose by neurons (and making rodents just a little bit smarter).

  

Turmeric flower

The Talmud’s kharkom is translated by the Rambam (Hilkhot Klei haMikdash 2:4) as saffron, made from the Crocus sativus flower. That said, there may be a better identification for it. Kharkom sounds a lot like curcumin from the Curcuma longa plant (better known as turmeric). 

Archaeologists have found curcumin in Israel going all the way back to the end of the second millennium BCE, so it would have definitely been known to the ancient Israelites. Curcumin, too, is well-known for its medicinal properties, and studies show that it even has powerful antidepressant effects (by inhibiting the enzyme MAO, monoamine oxidase, as many antidepressant drugs do). 

Substances in turmeric appear to be involved in the body’s cannabinoid system as well. In fact, cassia, cinnamon, and saffron all have traces of alpha-curcumene, one of the key active ingredients in turmeric. (Both saffron and curcumin have been used to make an orange dye; the saffron dye is the similar-sounding crocin).

  

Agarwood

The oils of spikenard were historically used for healing, especially as sedatives. (Spikenard is related to the better-known valerian family of plants.) Costus, too, was used extensively in ancient medicines to help treat everything from cancer to leprosy. The last ingredient of Ketoret is the mysterious kilufa, some kind of aromatic “bark” or “peel”. Rashi seems to say it is also a type of cinnamon. 

Rambam identifies it with the Arabic oud, which is agarwood or aloeswood. It may be the same as the ohalim trees mentioned in Tanakh (such as in Numbers 24:6 and Psalm 45:9). Agarwood and oud oils are highly prized for their aromas, and are therapeutic and psychoactive. 

Today, agarwood is considered the most expensive tree in the world, with pure agarwood going for as much as $100,000 per kilogram!

The Talmud then lists five more ingredients which were used to enhance the Ketoret mixture. We already noted that the Carshina lye and the Cyprus wine were used to soften and extract the compounds from the hard tzipporen onycha. 

Why did the latter specifically have to be Cyprus wine? Intriguingly, archaeologists have found multiple jugs of Cyprus wine in Israel, and what’s unique about them is that their remains contain traces of opium! Perhaps Cyprus wine was particularly prized and imported from across the sea because of its opium-enhanced psychedelic effects.

Similar to Carshina lye, we know that salt helps to extract the flavours and juices out of foods, hence the addition of melach sdomit, “Sodomite salt”. As explored at length in Secrets of the Last Waters, our Sages called it “Sodomite” salt specifically because it would atone for the grave sins and negative qualities of Sodom, which sadly doom many societies and communities.

The most mysterious ingredient of all was the ma’aleh ‘ashan, some kind of plant that made the smoke of the Ketoret rise in a vertical column. In Second Temple times, only one family of kohanim knew how to properly prepare the Ketoret mixture, the House of Avtinas. 

However, they refused to divulge the secrets of the incense, so the Sages sent for Greek scientists from Alexandria to come and figure out the exact composition! (Yoma 38a) The Alexandrians were able to determine all of the ingredients, except ma’aleh ‘ashan. 

The Sages gave up on it, and the secrets of the Ketoret were lost with the destruction of the Temple and the end of the Avtinas family line. Rabbi Steinsaltz suggested that ma’aleh ‘ashan is the Indian khimp plant of the Leptadenia pyrotechnica species. 

This herb is known to be highly flammable and can give off sparks when burned (hence the name pyrotechnica), while also being used extensively in ancient times for its medicinal properties (especially as an antifungal and anti-worming agent).  

Ambergris

Kipat hayarden, “Jordan amber”, is another mystery. Rashi says it’s a plant that grows along the banks of the Jordan River. Rambam identifies it in Arabic as inbar, which is ambergris. Ambergris, “grey amber” is a fragrant waxy secretion from the sperm whale that would wash up on shorelines. The main active compound, ambroxide, is still used in many perfumes today.

Finally, the coals used for burning the incense, and much of the wood used in the Mishkan, was ‘atzei shittim, acacia wood. Today we know that acacia wood is high in DMT. This is a hallucinogenic substance naturally produced by the pineal glands in our brains. 

The pineal gland regulates our circadian rhythm and produces melatonin to put us to sleep. Thus, there is good evidence that DMT (molecularly similar to melatonin, and made from the same animo acid) is involved in dreaming. It is also thought to play a role in prophetic visions, and much research has been done on this in recent decades. (We explored its connection to tefillin and wearing a kippah here.)

The production of melatonin and DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) from the amino acid tryptophan. 

Aside from their unique flavours, we find that the common denominator among many of these herbs and spices is that they are therapeutic, psychoactive, sedative, antidepressant, and maybe even hallucinogenic. 

With this in mind, it isn’t difficult to understand how the kohen gadol would get a profound spiritual vision when he entered the small Holy of Holies chamber and filled it with the smoke of the Ketoret. 

After all, many of the ingredients in the incense, as well as the anointing oil used to purify all the equipment (and the kohen himself), and even the wood of the Tabernacle and the wood on the altar, contained brain-stimulating and mind-altering compounds.

It’s worth remembering that the kohen gadol would only have this experience once a year, on Yom Kippur, after properly purifying himself, going to the mikveh multiple times, and on an empty stomach during a fast, after much prayer and meditation, and with great concentration and kavanah. 

Such substances should not be consumed frequently or lightly, nor should they ever be consumed simply for recreational purposes or as an “escape”. These are therapeutic and powerful “plant medicines”, ultimately meant for assisting in spiritual growth, healing, and enlightenment.

 

דמעות גאווה בכותל: ליאור שאביה הגיבור נהרג בקרבות בשבת שמחה תורה, חוגגת בת מצוה …PLUS

 

Amputee Civilians and Soldiers Offering Prayers of Gratitude

Rabbi Winston: Ki Sisa – Until Moshiach Comes

IT IS OFTEN called a necessary evil. When is evil ever necessary, you may ask. But the answer is, until Moshiach comes. We’re here to use free will, and that is what necessitates the existence of evil. 

But that seems like a no-brainer. Choose evil over good? That’s crazy. Yes, it is, which is why the gemora says that a person has to be insane to sin (Sotah 3a). If so, then who is the Torah later telling to choose life? It’s not like you can have a logical discussion with mentally unwell people.

The answer of course is that the Torah is talking to people who are mentally well, but intellectually out of touch. They are not trying to do evil per se and even think that they’re doing okay by God. They’re wrong, but since no one or nothing is pushing them to see through their rationalizations and admit the truth, they don’t. 

Because they don’t, they do not realize how far gone they have become. When I traveled a lot I used to see all kinds of people in the airports. Most of the time, nothing and no one really stood out, but there was always someone who would catch my attention in amazement and make me ask myself, “Doesn’t this person see how they look to others?”

On speaking trips, I also met a lot of people. At first, everyone seemed similar, but after a conversation or two, it would begin to become clear how differently people think from one another. It would also become clear how my idea of weird could be someone else’s normal, and as I smiled and politely listened I would think to myself, “Are you kidding me?”

Of course, others could and would say that about me. Everyone has their own set of rationalizations that they allow to influence their way of thinking. We’re all fighting the same battle, just on different levels. It’s only a question of who is winning and who is losing, and how badly. 

So when the Torah later admonishes, “Choose life that you may live” (Devarim 30:19), it is talking to all of us who rationalize to make the truth what is most convenient for us, not necessarily what it is. It’s trying to inspire us to wake ourselves up before Divine Providence and history are forced to, as they have so many disruptive times in the past.

Ultimately, it is about not becoming part of the Erev Rav—Mixed Multitude. They’re first mentioned back in Parashas Bo on the way out of Egypt, but they rise to prominence in this week’s parsha with the episode of the golden calf. It is a warning to all generations to come. It is no coincidence, as the GR”A pointed out, that Erev Rav equals da’as—knowledge—in gematria. 

DA’AS USUALLY HAS a positive connotation: “If you want it as you do silver, and search after it like buried treasures, then you will understand fear of God, [and] Da’as Elokim you will find (Mishlei 2:4). But we need only to go back to the Garden of Eden to recall that the Aitz HaDa’as was an Aitz HaDa’as Tov V’RA, a tree of knowledge of good AND evil. 

We need only to look at the world to see just how true a reality that it is. Thanks to technology, the world has never been filled with more da’as. But thanks to all that da’as, the world has also probably not ever been more evil, or able to act on it. The hatred of Jews of the Chmielnicki Massacres in 1648-49 was on par with the Nazis’s hatred of Jews. They just lacked the technology to act it out. 

The truth is, knowledge itself is neutral. What makes it good or bad is how the person is using it, either for good or for bad. The same technology that surgeons use to perform life-saving operations can be used, in the wrong hands, to hurt innocent people. Even Torah knowledge has at times been used against the Jewish people.

The Erev Rav does this all the time. They’re manipulative. They have a way of taking knowledge and subtly twisting it to ensnare less aware minds in their falsehoods and selfish ambitions. They’re psychological terrorists who prey on the intellectually weak and undermine the intellectually strong. They have a way of making deceit look like the truth.

The scary thing is that when the Zohar, and then later the GR”A, describe the Erev Rav and how they act, it is not so shocking…which is shocking. It means that we’ve become so accustomed to such levels of behavior that we tend to minimize their destructive ability. We’ve come to accept such miscreant activities as unwanted, perhaps, but also as unavoidable. 

It’s like saying, “Well, we need politicians, but politicians tend to be corrupt. Therefore, we must need some corruption.”

But there is a greater danger than just being at the mercy of Erev Rav leaders, as the Zohar and GR”A foretold would be the case in later generations. It is how the evil of the Erev Rav spreads to others who, at one time, would have rejected the Erev Rav out of hand. As the expression goes, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing.”

And when that happens, the GR”A warned, a person de facto becomes one of the Erev Rav, and it would have been better if they had not been born at all.

THIS IS WHY the entire nation was held responsible for the sins of a few thousand people. The golden calf involved very few Jews in the end, just the Erev Rav and a bunch of Jewish “stragglers.” And the rest of the nation? Sitting at home and nervously shaking in their tents while doing nothing to stop the evil. Instead, they just worried about what would happen once Moshe Rabbeinu returned to deal with it. They were “good men” doing nothing in the face of evil. 

It’s the idea of risk that traps us, what putting ourselves out there might cost us. It could be embarrassing or worse, it could cost us our jobs or some kind of benefit. People who stand up for truth have to be ready for attacks against them, their families, and whomever the enemies of truth can access to try and intimidate their opposers. 

It’s the world we live in today and will be until Moshiach comes and gets rid of the yetzer hara. As long as the yetzer hara is allowed to wander around, there will be people willing to take advantage of any system they can to get ahead and stay ahead. They have agendas and often devious means, to further those agendas while making it look as if they are honest and reliable. 

It’s not that there are not a lot of good people left in the world. I believe that they still make up the vast majority of the world’s population today. But they are not the aggressive ones, and certainly not the noisy ones. They are content to work hard for what they want, which is rarely excessive.

But history shows that being only a good person is rarely enough for this world. We need to be more.

THERE ARE THREE (Hebrew) words that have rung out through history. Well, at least they should have. They are, “Mi l’Hashem Elai—Whoever is for God [come] to me.” It was Moshe Rabbeinu’s rallying cry to those still loyal to God in the camp below. The party was over—literally—now that Moshe had returned to the camp and caught the perpetrators worshipping the golden calf. It was time to clean up the mess and restore order once again.

Easier said than done. Killing off the guilty was only the first step. Then Moshe had to return up the mountain for another 40 days, to beg God to forgive the rest of the nation for allowing the incident to occur. Then he had to come back down and carve out two new tablets for God to write on to reboot Torah history. It was a long and drawn-out process that left a lot of people worrying for months about their survival.

And all because “good” people didn’t step up when the situation required it. They let their fears hold them back from going out on a limb for God when they had the chance to. As the Chofetz Chaim told a young Rabbi Shimon Schwab thousands of years later, “Next time the call goes out, make sure you answer it!”

The problem is that the call is not always a recognizable and reliable voice. Many times, the voice does not come from outside the person, but from within them. It is their sense of right and wrong that nudges them and complains, “Shouldn’t we be doing something about this travesty of justice?” 

Of course, if a person does not have such a clear picture of right and wrong, they won’t even care that much about situations that others can’t overlook. They will remain oblivious to problems until they become so big that no one can ignore them. Too late, they will later complain and wonder what they could have done before the problem had gotten out of hand. 

For essays on the current situation, go to www.shaarnunproductions.org. 

Good Shabbos,

Pinchas Winston

Reb Neuberger — WHY DID WE WORSHIP THE GOLDEN CALF?

 What a parsha!  

How could Am Yisroel break down and worship an idol so soon after they had personally witnessed the greatest miracles since Creation!

 

The tragedy is unbearable, but, lest we look back arrogantly and say, “How could they have brought the eigel after all they had seen,” we have to know that we ourselves are suffering from this very sickness today!

 

Let’s try to get to the basics.

 

In Mitzraim Am Yisroel had seen the most dramatic and clear manifestation of Hashem’s Existence since the Days of Creation. As our Sages say, “[Even] a maidservant saw at the sea what [the prophet] Yechezkel ben Buzi did not see.” (Mechilta Beshallach) The miracles were clear, and yet ….

 

How could we forget so quickly?

 

We all really know why … because it happens today! The same thing!

 

I personally have seen so many miracles. I am not a novi, but, if one looks back on one’s life, it is so clear that Hashem is taking personal care of us constantly. I write about these things. How I met my wife, for example, which I describe in my book, “From Central Park to Sinai: How I Found My Jewish Soul.” It was all impossible … and yet it happened! During my life I have been faced by countless situations that looked impossible, yet Hashem held my hand. Before I even believed that He existed, He was holding my hand.

 

But we forget!

 

This is what happened in the Midbar. We forgot what Hashem did for us.

 

Here, in the year 5784, we are making the same mistake! Hashem has made mountains of miracles for us! Two thousand years ago, our Temple was burned and we were exiled from our beautiful Land, thrown to the lions. There is no logical reason why we should have survived as a distinct Nation, especially a Nation attached to the Torah. We should have disappeared a million times over. And yet, we are today a distinct entity among the nations, so distinct in fact that we are the focus of all the world’s attention!

 

They want to eliminate us, G-d forbid. Hashem’s Name is upon us, and they do not want to acknowledge Hashem’s Existence. They want to continue their lawless lifestyle. Our very presence reminds them of Hashem’s laws and so they hate us.

 

For this reason, Hashem needs to save us every minute. Every Jew who exists today is a walking miracle. That means … every second we should be filled with gratitude to Hashem for saving us.

 

But we forget Him, and that is how we can worship an eigel.

 

The crisis in Gaza began after a year of terrible disunity in Israel. I am going to say something unpleasant, but I believe it needs to be said. It’s not only the liberals who are responsible for disunity; it’s all of us. The so-called “religious” Yid is also responsible. Extreme people on every side have pushed each other.

 

The result is sinas chinom … tragic disunity and discord.

 

For our survival, we need to be one, united.

 

You cannot push your brother around. There is something more important than political policy, and that is called “achdus … unity.” We received the Torah because we were united. At Har Sinai we remembered that we were all the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah, one family. When we remember our fathers and mothers, then we can also remember our Father in Shomayim, Avinu Malkeinu, our Father and King.

 

My friends, our survival is totally at stake. The haters are focusing on us at this very moment. We need to know that only our dependance on Hashem will save us. Dovid Hamelech says, “all the nations surround me … b’shaim Hashem amilam … In the Name of Hashem I cut them down!” (Tehillim 118)

 

There is a beautiful Shabbos song called “Kari bon,” in which we call out to Hashem to “save Your sheep from the mouth of the lions and bring Your people out of exile, the people that You chose from all the nations!”

 

Do you know where this song was written?

 

In Gaza!

 

The Rav of Gaza, Rabbi Moshe ben Yisroel Najara, wrote this song five hundred years ago! Gaza is part of Eretz Yisroel and all of Israel is holy. We will succeed, with Hashem’s help, in restoring kedusha to all of Israel, but we need to be united!

 

When we are One, then Hashem’s Name will be One. “On that day He will be One and His Name One” (Zecharia 14:9; Aleinu) 

 

May we greet the Redeemer soon in our days!

 

 

Looking across the Red Sea at the Sinai Desert

The Children of Israel are compared to sheep

The Lion’s Mouth

GLOSSARY

Am Yisroel: The People of Israel

Dovid Hamelech: King David

Eigel: Golden calf

Midbar: Biblical Sinai Desert

Mitzraim: Ancient Egypt

Novi: Prophet

Shomayim: Heaven

Yechezkel ben Buzi: The Prophet Ezekiel