Secrets of the Cave of the Patriarchs Exposed

 

Israel Hayom via JNS by Nadav Shragai

Noam Arnon’s comprehensive doctoral dissertation proves that there is much more to the ancient site than meets the eye.

On Aug. 25, 1859, Italian archaeologist and engineer Ermette Pierotti tried to sneak into the sanctuary at the Cave of the Patriarchs with the assistance of some Muslim friends. But before they had even made it down five steps, they were caught by the guards who dragged them back out.

“The beatings I received and the curses I was subjected to in no way diminished the satisfaction that I felt,” Pierotti wrote in his diary, “I can say that I managed to see something of the cave—ossuaries of white stone … a wall of rock separating the lower and upper caves. When the day comes that someone is able to enter this dark place, they will see that my description was accurate.”

Pierotti and Meinertzhagen, who visited the underground caverns below the above-ground (Herodian) structure—Muslims today prevent any access to them—are not the only ones to have succeeded in peeking into the depths of the earth to try and unlock the site’s secrets. All of them sought to confirm whether it is indeed the biblical Cave of the Patriarchs in the field that Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite.

A 600-page doctoral thesis, composed over the past eight years by Dr. Noam Arnon, reveals and explores the details of these visits, and much more. Arnon’s research covers a period of 2,500 years in the history of the site, and, like his previous works on the Cave of the Patriarchs, deals with a broad complex of geographical, geological, archaeological and Jewish and historical sources that were not all available to those researching the cave in the past.

Up to the seventh step

Over the generations, the Cave of the Patriarchs has had a place of honor in heritage, tradition and legend, but it was in religious faith and mysticism where it stood out. Arnon’s work (completed at the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University) now compiles for the first time a scientific database about the cave and its secrets. Its advantage lies in Arnon’s intimate knowledge of the site, which he has lived, breathed and researched for almost five decades.

Reminder: Over the course of 700 years, ever since the conquest of the land of Israel by the Mamluks in 1267, access to the site has been denied to Jews and other non-Muslims. Jews were only allowed as far as the “Seventh Step” on the stairway leading down to the structure, and this became synonymous with the discrimination against Jews at the site.

Researchers exploring the site, such as British archaeologist Ernest Mckay, French scholar Father Louis-Hugues Vincent or the British delegation led by Claude Reignier Conder in 1882, dealt in detail with the famous 2,000-year-old above-ground structure, but had great difficulty in gaining access—if at all—to the underground caverns below it.

Arnon, a resident of Beit Hadassah in Hebron, who is better known to the wider public as the spokesman of the Hebron Jewish Community, touches on this issue, as well. A fascinating part of his research deals with the secret visits made by him and others to the caves underneath the main building, as well as visits that took place openly with permission.

One of the earliest visits to the Cave of the Patriarchs (in the second century C.E.) is documented in the Talmud, which tells of Rabbi Bana’ah, who would mark out burial caves so that people would not suffer ritual contamination. A thousand years later, in the 12th century, these caverns were entered by monks from the canonical order, who located in the depths of the earth several rooms of different shapes and sizes that contained urns full of bones. The site was also visited in the 12th century by Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, Rabbi Petachiah of Regensburg and Rabbi Yaakov ben Netanel HaCohen.

Pierotti and Meinertzhagen reached the depth of the cave only centuries later, and the next documented visit was that of a young British Jew, Jack Seklan, in 1933.

A secret kept for 80 years

Arnon found out about Seklan through his daughter, Yehudit, who lives in Ofra, after her father decided it was time to reveal the secret that he had been keeping for almost 80 years. They met in 2012, when Seklan was already 97, but still sound of mind and with a fantastic memory. He described in detail to Arnon how, accompanied by the British officer in charge of the site, he descended three flights of stairs into the subterranean hall, deep underground, where they found another door.

“From that door,” recalls Arnon, “they descended another few steps and reached a barred window overlooking an underground hall. Seklan told me that the hall was quite large and built out of natural rock or stone. In the dim light, he managed to make out tombstones similar to those on the upper floor that is now open to the public. But, unlike the upper tombstones that are covered with a magnificent parochet, the tombstones below ground were bare. The Muslim guide explained to them that these were the graves of the forefathers themselves and Seklan prayed kaddish.”

Arnon recalls how he was stunned by what he was hearing from Seklan: “We arranged to meet again the following Sunday so that I could show him drawings and photos and try to locate with him the caverns that he had described. On the Saturday night before our second meeting, I received a phone call from his daughter informing me that he had been run over and killed by a jeep as he left Shabbat prayers at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. I just held my head in my hands. I was sorry for the man, who was truly a man of deeds, and also for the missed opportunity. I was glad at least that on the eve of his death he had revealed his secret.”

Arnon received a similar account from Arieh Ariel, the grandfather of Tamar Ariel, Israel’s first religious female pilot, who was killed in an avalanche in Nepal in 2014. Arnon met Ariel eight years ago at his home on Moshav Massuot Yitzhak near Ashkelon. He told Arnon how, as a nine-year-old, he accompanied his father on one of his visits to Hebron after the 1929 massacre. Together they joined British archaeologists who were visiting the caverns underneath the above-ground structure.

“We went down the stairs and I remember that they said: ‘these are the graves of the forefathers,'” Ariel told him.

About a month after the Six-Day War, Arieh Golan, a sergeant in the Paratrooper Corps reconnaissance unit, Sayeret Tzanchanim, entered the caves at the head of a force searching for terrorists and weapons. He, too, provided Arnon with a detailed description.

The most famous incident in which Jews entered the caves occurred a few months after the Six-Day War. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan was worried that the fact that Jews had set up a synagogue at the Cave of the Patriarchs could lead to inter-racial violence between Muslims and Jews. Dayan turned to Yehuda Arbel, the head of the Jerusalem District of the Shin Bet, and asked him to try and find a solution to separate the sides.

Dayan, who knew a thing or two about archaeology, noted that the Cave of the Patriarchs itself was located below the floor of the mosque at a lower level. “If we find an exterior entrance to the caves,” Dayan told Arbel, “then we will have solved the problem—the Muslims will pray above and the Jews below.”

Arbel waited for the right opportunity, which arrived just 10 days later, when a grenade was thrown at Jewish visitors, resulting in the town being placed under curfew and the mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs being closed. Arbel lost no time; he lowered his 13-year-old daughter, Michal, down via rope through the “candle shaft” on the floor of the Hall of Isaac,so that she could document the underground passages. First of all, however, Arbel spent weeks training Michal how to draw and document built spaces.

Michal, who today is Dr. Michal Arbel, a lecturer in Hebrew literature, was lowered down via an opening just 28 centimeters (11 inches) wide on Oct. 10 of that year. She was equipped with matches and candles in order to make sure there was enough oxygen to breathe and, in addition, with a camera, paper and pencils.

The operation lasted for three-and-a-half hours. Michal identified three tombstones on the western wall, two of them smooth and one bearing an inscription. She also found an opening on the eastern side that led into a passageway. Michal drew every detail she managed to see, and her father passed the drawings on to Defense Minister Dayan. The young girl was lowered into the structure another two times, once on Oct. 18 of that year, and again in November. However, she never reached the double chamber itself.

First Temple-era pottery

Another secret operation at the site was carried out by the army in Feb. 1973. Titled “Operation Adar,” it was initiated for research purposes by the head of the IDF central command, Rehavam Zeevi. Lt. Avner Tzadok was chosen for the mission due to his small frame. Wearing just swimming trunks, his body was covered in grease to help him squeeze through the narrow opening. The photographs taken by Tzadok along with other items discovered during the operation remain, to Arnon’s disappointment, classified to this day.

The cave itself was exposed only in 1981, during an operation organized one night during slichot, the prayers for forgiveness during the High Holidays. The chants of the worshipers, who sang the prayers with great fervor and particularly loudly, provided cover for Arnon and a team of volunteers to chisel their way through the stone on the floor of the Hall of Isaac. Cloaked in excitement, they found themselves descending a steep stairway at the end of which was a long, dark and narrow tunnel that they crawled through until they reached a large underground hall.

“We started looking for an entrance to the original cave, the one we knew from historical descriptions,” recalls Arnon. “We found various stones in the corners and on the walls. Some of them had Latin and Arabic inscriptions. Suddenly, we felt a gust of wind coming up from the floor at the entrance to the room. With great effort, we lifted the stones from the floor, and in front of our eyes, we saw the entrance to a cave carved out of the stone.”

Arnon and his friends went deep into the cave. “It transpired that we were indeed in the Cave of the Patriarchs, which consists of two caves, one in front of the other, in the style of the shaft tombs that were characteristic of the period of the forefathers. The first cave was larger and full of earth, almost up to its ceiling, but a passageway from that cave led to a second, much smaller cave. On the floor of the smaller cave, also full of earth, between fragments of ancient pottery, we found ourselves crawling among remains of human skeletons.”

The double cave was dated back to the middle Bronze Age, the time of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The group removed four earthenware pieces from the cave, which were examined by the chief archaeology officer for Judea and Samaria, Dr. Zeev Yavin, who found them to be from the First Temple period.

It was only recently, some 40 years after that adventure, that a scientific analysis was conducted by Prof. David Ben Shlomo, head of the Land of Israel Studies and Archeology Department at Ariel University, and Prof. Hans Mommsen of the University of Bonn, a leading expert on identifying pottery through compositional analysis.

The analysis found that the items of pottery that were brought to the cave from various sites around Israel—the Hebron Hills, Jerusalem and the Judean foothills—by people who lived in these areas and had gone to the cave. This shows us that most likely the cave was a pilgrimage site during First Temple times.

Yavin, together with Doron Chen (a lecturer in archaeology) entered the cave a few months later with a delegation led by the then-commander of the region, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. The two conducted an independent review and a few years later published a scientific study.

Yavin, too, reached the conclusion that the caves were a Bronze Age burial site from the time of the forefathers. The bones in the cave were left there and were not analyzed. Yavin summarized his findings, writing: “An ancient tradition saw one of these caves [there are others in the area] as the burial site of the forefathers and therefore the monument was built above it.”

He also found a clear affiliation between the upper tombstone chamber and the caves below it.

“Abraham is buried here”

But that wasn’t enough for Arnon, and in 2014, the Midreshet Hebron college ordered a ground-penetrating radar analysis from the Geotech company. Interpretation of the results found that just as in the southern part of the Temple Mount (in the area around Solomon’s Stables) vaults had been built at the Cave of the Patriarchs and the floor of the upper structure was built on top of them.

Q: Who really built the upper structure?

Arnon: “Herod. The walls of the cave are double walls, and between them, there is a layer of concrete and stones. We climbed up there and removed some material. We found charcoal grains there and sent samples to the Weizmann Institute of Science, which dated them back to the first century BCE. It could be Hasmonean- or Herodian-era. But to me, given the historical circumstances, the style of building, and comparison with other buildings, it is clear that it was Herodian.”

[The Cave of the Patriarchs] is the only Herodian structure in Israel that has survived in its entirety and it is much smaller than the Temple Mount; just one 77th the size of the Mount, two dunams versus 144 dunams. Herod’s workers [possibly] conducted a trial run in Hebron for the construction on the Mount, as the upper structure of the Cave of the Patriarchs was built without any foundations on top of the native rock, which in certain parts of the building, under the southern and eastern walls of the structure, can still be seen. It is probably the “edge of the field” that Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite, which is mentioned in the Book of Genesis.

Q: And it is under that structure that the patriarchs and matriarchs are buried?

A: We didn’t find a grave on which it was written “Abraham is buried here,” but when you weigh all the historical and archaeological data, the writings of travelers, biblical sources, topography—all of that together shows us that this is indeed the case.

Q: People will surely ask themselves: “If Arnon reached the conclusion that it isn’t the biblical site of the Cave of the Patriarchs, would he write that?”

A: Yes, he would write that.

Q: You write in your thesis that there is no possibility of conducting “open research” at the site. Was there covert research conducted at the site?

A: I can’t answer that.

Arnon’s thesis also reveals some Greek and Hebrew names from the Byzantine period (the 4th- and 5th-century BCE) that were photographed by the Waqf after it peeled off the plaster from the walls of the structure. The names were those of Jews who had engraved them on the walls, such as “Nachum, Tanchum and Yaakov.”

One of Arnon’s most interesting findings regards the existence of a synagogue on the site for some 600 years on the northern side of the structure, alongside a church that operated on the southern side. This, he says, is an example of Jewish-Christian cooperation that has support from historical sources, and is also supported by other testimonies and findings from the Hebron area.

“This reality,” says Arnon, “softens somewhat the plentiful information about the long rivalry between the two religions across the span of history.”

Caption: A view of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Oct. 21, 2021. 

Photo by Gershon Elinson/Flash90.

Senior Rabbi Lau: The Gift of Tears*****

 

Where were these dignitaries in the war, when Jewish families were being annihilated? 220 boys in an orphanage are on strike. They refuse to acknowledge the benefactors and dignitaries on stage, until a survivor like themselves comes on stage and can't even speak through his tears.

Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau describes the first Americans to enter Buchenwald and the small boy they encountered. His experiences are heart wrenching and makes one wonder, what would I have done to prevent the Holocaust?

"The fragrance of a field which HaShem has blessed!"

 "The fragrance of a field which HaShem has blessed!"

(Genesis 27:27)

Kislev 1, 5782/November 5, 2021

This week's Torah reading, Toldot, relates the well-known story of the birth of the twin boys Yaakov and Esau and their subsequent struggle for ascendancy and dominance. While still in Rivkah's womb they were wrestling with one another, vying to be the first to emerge and earn the title of firstborn and all the hereditary benefits, both material and spiritual which ensued thereof.

Esau won the first battle, emerging first from the womb, "ruddy and hairy."(Genesis 25:25) But his opening victory was not absolute, as his ambitious younger brother, Yaakov, emerged immediately after, with a tight grasp on Esau's heel, (ekev, in Hebrew). From this moment forth, the two brothers, Esauand Yaakov, would be engaged in an eternal struggle for supremacy. Apart from this shared ambition, it seems that the brothers had precious little in common. 

"Esau was a man who understood the hunt, a man of the field, whereas Yaakov was an innocent man, dwelling in tents." (ibid 25:27)

But being an innocent man, (tam, in Hebrew, which also means simple, or pure) didn't preclude being clever, and soon we learn of Yaakov's sale of the red pottage he cooked and sold to Esau in exchange for the privilege of the birthright:

"Now Yaakov cooked a pottage, and Esau came from the field, and he was faint. And Esau said to Yaakov, 'Pour into me some of this red, red pottage, for I am faint'; he was therefore named Edom (red). And Yaakov said, 'Sell me as of this day your birthright.'" (ibid 25:29-31) 

The deal was struck and we then learn that Esau "ate and drank and arose and left, and Esau despised the birthright."(ibid 25:34) But why did Esau despise the birthright? Was he simply too famished to think clearly and therefore made an ill-considered decision? Torah refutes this possibility, as it clearly states that even after Esau ate and drank and presumably was satisfied and revitalized, he nevertheless "despised the birthright."

Entitlement to the birthright was, without doubt, a valuable asset in the struggle for fraternal supremacy, so why did Esau place no value in possessing it? Esau, in fact, states very clearly in his own words why he had no need for the birthright. When Yaakov first said "'Sell me as of this day your birthright,' Esau replied, 'Behold, I am going to die; so why do I need this birthright?'" (ibid 25:31) "Behold, I am going to die!"

True enough, we are all going to die. That is, our mortal bodies will all perish in the goodness of time, however our immortal souls will live on forever. But Esaudidn't see it that way. The hunter, the man of the field, witnessed life and death every day in his pursuit of game. The possession of the birthright would be of no more use to him than it would be to the deer that he pierced with his arrow. We live, we die. We hunt and are hunted. This is the Torah of Esau!

Esau was born hairy and red, and therefore his parents named him Esau. But the name Esau in Hebrew means neither hairy nor red. Esau is from the word asui, a form of the verb la'asot, meaning to make or construct. Asui means 'built and completed.' Esau emerged from the womb a complete physical being, already tanned from the time he will spend in the field and covered with hair. But not only was Esau born physically complete, his physicality would completely describe him. He had no spiritual inner light to guide him. Each day was as good as the game he killed and nothing more. There was no tomorrow for Esau. He would fill his belly to satisfaction and be off, neither thanking G-d for the meal he had eaten, nor saving some for tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. A birthright is only good for some distant future. It has no value in the present, and Esau is "going to die:" he has no future.

Esau is the father of materialism, a take on life that all that we experience is a result of physical exchanges. There is no underlying spiritual power animating our actions, nor is there an accompanying virtue in doing good, nor immorality in doing bad. These concepts of good and bad, of eternal values, of a soul which is a part of a greater eternal Being, are all foreign to Esau and to his followers. Yet to live for the hunt and to die with no tomorrow is a mindset that animates much of our modern society. A coarse materialism, ruddy and hairy, which says "eat, drink, get up and go, neither acknowledging the Creator nor leaving a legacy for others to follow: every man for himself." We are born fully built, our DNA determining the development and eventual denouement of every cell in our being, and, according to Esau, that is all.

But Yaakov, the simple man dwelling in tents, he understood that the birthright is the key to opening our eyes and our hearts to the non-physical, non-materialistic source of truth, of love, of compassion, and of virtue that G-d has given to us to lead our lives by and to teach our children so that they too can possess and pass on the precious birthright. What was for Esau worth no more than a bowl of red porridge was for Yaakov more precious than rubies.

When the adult Yaakov received his father Yitzchak's blessing, Yitzchak "came closer (to Yaakov), and he kissed him, and he smelled the fragrance of his garments, and he blessed him, and he said, 'Behold, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field, which HaShem has blessed!'" (ibid 27:27) 

Yitzchak, who had always seen Esau's mastery of the material world, his keen ability to survive, as attributes worthy of the birthright, now, wittingly or unwittingly, comes closer to Yaakov, describing his fragrance, that is, his spiritual essence, as being "like the fragrance of a field" - not the field of Esau's endless hunt, but the field of Yaakov, a field "which HaShem has blessed!” 

It is not the fragrance of the goat skins Yaakov is wearing that Yitzchak is smelling, but, as our sages opine, the fragrance of the Garden of Eden - the fragrance of man's eternal covenant with HaShem!

From The Temple Institute

Leah From Itamar – Parashat Toldot 2021

 BS”D 

Toldot – the Ultimate Oxymoron

The root was planted with Abraham, a strong foundation with deep yearning to dig in even deeper. Something in Abraham awakened the kernel there that began to grow and sprout. As with every building, this is the foundational base, strong and solid. He passed every test and never wavered when winds of conflict blew. As we climb up the family tree of Israel, the need for the strong base becomes the theme of the nation, the Torah and of Eretz Yisrael. 

The internal pulse morphs from the base stage now, evolving with every Patriarch in seemingly mundane long lives full of struggles and endeavors, yet fundamental issues are portrayed and shed light on current events happening right now. Two nations share the womb of our Matriarch. As with every yin and yang, there is a smidgeon of this in that and that in this. Yitzchak, who the Torah tells us is blind, hasn’t asked outright his sons what their dreams are, what their vision is. 

Rivka takes the show circumventing disaster. Our forefathers worked in pairs. That is how a family works, each parent with their internal ability. This is the family tree. 

There is no greater oxymoron than Esau and Yaakov sharing the same womb. Esau and Yaakov serve as core illustrations that represent the external and material vs. the deep and internal. All through history we have experienced the struggle of Esau vs. Yaakov as Israel is put ultimately out of harm’s way, sometimes immune to the outside forces of Esau who seek to destroy it. I’m not talking about Chamahs or Jihad, I am referring to the Hague Court, to the EU court command to fund the destruction of Israel’s heartland. 

The dominance of the outside forces that always existed in history have a keen appreciation for Israel yet are jealous of her being a chosen nation, chosen not because we’re better but because we have a task to bring the light unto the nations. U.S. Aid that beefs up the enemy of Israel yet does not allow for critical basic infrastructure for growing Jewish populations of the heartland of our forefathers is the epitome of yang vs. yin.

Today is Rosh Chodesh Kislev. Soon we will be celebrating the war of the light over the darkness, of the internal and spiritual over the pagan. The Greeks allowed for our Temple to stand in all its glory, however they desecrated its inner chambers. They lauded beauty and even asked to translate the Torah. But they didn’t understand or have the ability to grasp the meaning of the Hebrew language, of the spiritual significance of every word, of every letter. They were free loving, like today when we see the greatest crumbling of the family structure. 

They were into information, yet like today technology has left society with the greatest disease of loneliness and alienation. The cure? 

We light the candles. We become the light when all other lights go out. We light them and proclaim during this struggle with the Greeks, with Haman, with Hitler, with all the forces of the world that come against our candle that we always prevail. Miraculously. It is the warm home, the ideals, the vision that shields us as we delve into the real world. Israel is a superpower now. 

We’ve turned full circle. The struggle of admiration vs. resentment will be augmented now. Who will say, “Don’t urge me to leave you or turn back from you. Where you go I will go, where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your god my God.” (Ruth 1:16)

It is up to us to choose.

Shabbat Shalom, Chodesh TOV! Leah

Dedicated to my dear Mom, z”l whose yartzeit is today Rosh Chodesh Kislev

Reb Neuberger: Toldos – The Children Struggled

  

THE CHILDREN STRUGGLED

This Parsha is so big! This is our past and present and holds the key to our future. 

Most of us have grown up in the culture of the West. Today you can be in the Far East and still live in the culture of the West. This is the culture of Esau, Yaakov’s twin brother. They came from the same parents, but they were not just not-alike; they were opposites. 

“And the children struggled within her. And she said, ‘If so, why am I thus?’ And she went to inquire of Hashem.” (Beraishis 25:22) 

The only way one can understand these fighting twins is to “inquire of Hashem!”

Their struggle is a sign for the ages. “Ma’ase avos siman l’banim … the events the forefathers experienced are signs for the children.” (Ramban to Bereishis 12:6) 

They will struggle until the end of time. And, if you are ever tempted to think that the struggle is over, you are wrong. “Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said: it is [an eternal truism] that Esav hates Jacob….” (Rashi on Bereishis 33:4) 

The classic picture of Esav is the famished hunter pouring food down his gullet, “red, red stew,” red like the blood he sheds. The classic picture of Yaakov, lehavdil, is the “ish tam… wholesome man” studying in the tents of Torah. 

One strives to fill his stomach and the other strives to serve Hashem. 

They are not just different. No, they are opposites. When one is up, the other is down … until the end of time. In a Parshas Vayishlach, Jacob battles the angel of Esav. This battle lasts until Moshiach. As the Torah tells us, “One kingdom will be mightier than the other.” (Beraishis 25:23)

In July 1938, after Kristalnacht, thirty-two Western allied nations convened a conference in Evian, France concerning the German-Jewish “refugee problem.” Despite their pious words, not one country did a thing. The U. S. maintained its immigration restrictions and the British continued to limit immigration to “Palestine.” In the words of the Australian delegate, “We have no racial problem in our country and see no reason why we should import one.” (Rav Breuer: His Life and Legacy, Feldheim, 1998) The entire Western World – all descendants of Esav -- looked on as the gas chambers swallowed our people the way Esav swallowed the “red, red stew.”

But there is another dimension to this tragedy, hinted in the Torah: “the children struggled within her.” This is the inner dimension. This battle between Yaakov and Esav is not only an outside struggle; it is an inside struggle. Yaakov and Esav struggle within each one of us, just as they struggled within our Mother Rivka. 

This monumental external struggle of Yaakov and Esav mirrors the inner struggle between the Yetzer ha Tov and the Yetzer ha Ra, the inclination which desires to follow Hashem and the inclination which desires to live an entirely physical existence. It is so clear, my friends: the world around us, the world of Western Culture is the world of Esav, which lives for the “red, red stew,” while the world of Yaakov lives for the lifegiving words of Torah. 

How do we deal with this existential struggle? 

“First and foremost, we need to know that, in proportion to the increase in the power of the yetzer ha tov, through learning Torah and doing mitzvos, we shrink the power of the yetzer ha ra…. The goal is not to kill [or eradicate] the yetzer ha ra …. That would be impossible. …. In the end, Hashem will remove [the Yetzer ha Ra from the world] but our goal is to subjugate our evil inclination to the good inclination.” (Rabbi Yaakov Galinsky zt”l)

In the words of the possuk, “The one will serve the other.” 

We want the power of the Evil Inclination, the desires of the body, to serve Hashem, just the way it was in the Garden of Eden, before Adam and Chava rebelled against Hashem. 

Let’s remember that the entire Culture of the West is Esav, my friends. We really do not understand this. This culture is in the process of self-destructing right now, but we have to be vigilant that we should not be attached to it when it destroys itself. Its end will almost certainly be catastrophic on a worldwide scale. 

We have to know that our physical and spiritual lives are at stake in this struggle. 

The day will come when Esav will be destroyed, and – for those attached to him – it will be a catastrophe beyond imagining. “For the day of Hashem upon all the nations is close. As [they] have done, so shall be done to [them]…. On Mount Zion there will be refuge and it will be holy and the house of Yaakov will inherit those who had dispossessed them. The House of Jacob will be fire; the House of Yosef a flame and the House of Esav for straw, and they will ignite them and devour them ... for Hashem has spoken.” (Ovadiah 1:15ff)

This monumental battle will end with the eternal victory of the Legions of Hashem. On that day, and it may be very soon, “Hashem will be One and His Name … One.” 

May we be there to see it!

“No racial problem” in Australia

GLOSSARY 

Lehavdil: to be differentiated from 

Rabbi Winston: Toldos – and Special Webinar “The Big Picture"

IT IS VERY insightful that so many different societies believe in Afterlife, and have for so long. In fact, the only part of society that does not is the modern, secular part, and not because they have proved it does not exist, but because they can’t prove that it does. They believe that seeing is believing, even though so often in life you have to first believe to see.

Some would argue that those who do believe only do so as a matter of tradition. They claim that someone got the idea way back when that there is a world-to-come, and got others to buy into as well. Perhaps they pushed the idea as a form of religious coercion, to use the fear of not having an afterlife to keep people obedient in this life. 

Maybe the belief is more of a hope than a reality. Some people have difficulty accepting that this world is it, that we live and die and that there is nothing more. They’d rather believe that this world is just a corridor to another one. Or perhaps an eternal spiritual life is something people intuitively know and do not need verified.

One thing is for sure: they did not get the idea from Tanach since there is not one single mention of Olam HaBa anywhere in Torah, Nevi’im, or Kesuvim. There are discussions as to why this is the case, but at least there are plenty of references to Olam HaBa in the Talmud and countless other commentaries. Clearly the Afterlife is an integral part of Torah tradition.

It would be nice if someone had gone there and returned to tell us about it. No such mazel. Instead, it’s going to have to be a matter of emunah—faith, which should not be so hard if you already believe in Torah and that you have a soul. Between the two of them, it is difficult not to believe in the World-to-Come.

It says however that just before a righteous person dies, they are shown the portion that awaits them. That must be overwhelming, to say the least.

WHAT WE DO know for sure is that there is no free will in the World-to-Come. Actually, that will end with the beginning of Yemos HaMoshiach, and with it, all earning power to move higher in the World-to-Come. It’s game over, and what you get will be what you earned throughout all of your reincarnations. 

It ends even earlier for someone who dies before the Messianic Era and does not reincarnate. And the way that many people use free will today, they don’t even do much earning while they’re still here in the world. I just finished writing a book about this called: A Matter of Choice: The True Nature of Free Will and How to Make Sure You’re Using It.

There is a workaround though. There is a way to earn merit for the World-to-Come even after death, even after Yemos HaMoshiach has arrived, even while already in the World-to-Come. It’s called children, and their children, and their children’s children, etc. The toldos we give birth to speak up on our behalf, or against us, depending upon the job we did to raise them.

True, as Rashi explained back in Parashas Noach, the main toldos of a person are their good deeds. True, good deeds can work in our favor even generations later because of all the impact they had. But those good deeds would have to have been mighty impactful to match the merit children can bring their parents day after day. 

And for those who want children but have been unsuccessful for reasons beyond their control, there is something important to know. Only G–D knows why He gives children to some and not to others. But in this, G–D takes into account what a person’s children might have been like had they been born to such people, and gives them the merit as if they had been. It all works out, even if we can’t figure out how.

What about if a child does not walk in G–D’s ways, like Eisav in this week’s parsha? If the parents did their part to help the child go the “right” way, they won’t be affected by the outcome of such a child. Everyone has a unique nature, and G–D has His plans for history. 

Avraham fathered Yishmael, and he became the ancestor of the greatest antagonist of the Jewish people today, the Arabs. Yitzchak fathered Eisav, who became the ancestor of the greatest antagonist of the Jewish people for thousands of years before the Arabs, the Christians. We certainly don’t fault Avraham or Yitzchak for either, but everyone born from their descendants who made an effort to do good, whether Jewish or gentile, will continue to benefit them. 

PEOPLE DO NOT usually think of their descendants in these terms. This is why there are so many today who are choosing to end their family line with themselves. Whether it is to avoid their own pain or to avoid causing pain to children born into this unstable period of history, they’re opting out of the toldos thing. They have no idea how they are cutting off their noses to spite their faces, or how many ancestors are looking down screaming, “Don’t do it!” There is a reason why the Talmud compares a childless person to a dead one.

Obviously people who do not know better are not punishable for choosing to not have children. But it doesn’t change the reality of not giving birth to future advocates. And confusion is rarely a complete excuse for missing the point of life. This is especially true today when it is so easy to access the truth if a person wants to, and is honest enough to humble themself to it.

But it always seems to come to the same idea that my Rosh Yeshivah used to point out to people. He would ask them, “What is the opposite of pain?” and they would unfailingly answer back, “Pleasure!” Then the rest of the time he would show them how the opposite of pain is comfort, not pleasure, and that pleasure often comes through pain. Most people are amazed at how they missed that one.

So all these people who reject the idea of having children to avoid pain, either theirs or their potential children, do not realize how much pleasure they are locking out as well. A world that does not believe in Olam HaBa is one that runs from pain and quality of life.

In any case, those children will be born to someone else, because a person’s choice cannot interfere with another soul’s need to return and rectify itself. It’s actually too bad you can’t contact that soul and ask it if it wants to be born, knowing what may lie ahead. I suspect the soul would choose life because of all the good it can experience despite the bad that might accompany it. Really, just the chance to further the cause of personal rectification is justification enough.

But that’s all part of the confusion, isn’t it? People think they are being selfless when in fact they are being selfish. They think they are helping society when in fact they are destroying it. It’s hard to watch, sad to experience, and scary to imagine where it might go. On the other hand, according to the Talmud, it’s right on time…

Webinar

I FIRST PUBLISHED “The Big Picture: Thirty-six Sessions to Intellectual & Spiritual Clarity” in 2000. I had begun to learn the teachings of the Leshem Shevo v’Achlamah, Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, zt”l, (1840-1926), and was compelled to share what I had merited to see with others who would probably never see such knowledge.

Everyone needs to digest food, but few people understand how digestion works and do not eat in ways that help it. This often results in health issues for many people, if not immediately then after years. Therefore, when some people do learn about the digestive system, they often feel compelled to teach others what they now know to benefit them too.

Similarly, the “Leshem,” called this after his seforim, provided so much deep and profound knowledge about how the world works, and why. It’s all kabbalah, and much of it requires many years of learning to understand it. But much of it is also explainable in everyday terms, providing profound insights that everyone can and should benefit from, making better sense of history and its opportunities

Part of the inspiration for “The Big Picture,” as the Introduction to the book explains, was a timely article by Time Magazine back in the 1990s called, “What Does Science Teach Us About G–D.”  The term “big picture” is old, but their application of it was compelling, especially given what I was learning from the Leshem. 

In two short paragraphs the article had unwittingly described the essential difference between the Aitz HaChaim, the Tree of Life, and the Aitz HaDa’as Tov v’Ra, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, in very modern and applicable terms. Their questions became the basis of my answers and guide to writing “The Big Picture.”

Why 36 sessions? 

I chose the name Thirtysix.org because, as the book explains, 36 is the number that indicates a revelation of the Ohr HaGanuz, the Hidden Light of Creation. This light is the basis of the Torah and even our souls, and we are here to reveal it through Torah and mitzvos. This is the purpose of my writing and my organization.

It is also the specific point of this book, to reveal this light on whatever level possible. It just seemed natural to do this in thirty-six sessions, not to mention that it gave me many different chapters to write about various topics. Though I have written many other books since The Big Picture, b”H, it remains a flagship project of thirtysix.org.

Since it was first printed before I published through Amazon, I decided to reformat it to make it available through their store. Once I began reformatting it, I couldn’t help but edit it as well, fixing old mistakes and streamlining the material. At the time, I had no idea how many other books would discuss details of The Big Picture. As a result, I put everything I could into the book, often at the cost of brevity. That’s been fixed now, b”H. There are even some updates because a lot has happened historically since the first printing.

I don’t think there is any other work of this nature, organized as it is and revealing so many fundamental concepts of Creation and history between two covers. To make this point, I am going to be giving over much of the material in an 8-part series of classes, b”H, over Zoom. The series will start Tuesday, November 16, 8:15 pm Israel time, b”H. 

The cost for the series includes a hardcover and PDF version of the book. To register for the webinar or to ask questions, write to pinchasw@thirtysix.org. 

Rabbi Kahana: A: FAREWELL TO OUR HOLY MOTHER SARAH

 

BS”D 

Parashat Chayei Sarah and Toldot 5782

Rabbi Nachman Kahana

WHAT IF….

A: FAREWELL TO OUR HOLY MOTHER SARAH

Last week’s parasha can be characterized as “the changing of the guard”. From the generation of the founders to the generation of the successors. Our father Avraham passes away at the age of 175, and our mother Sarah at 127.

The Parasha Chaya Sarah begins:

ויהיו חיי שרה מאה שנה ועשרים שנה ושבע שנים שני חיי שרה:

And the life of Sarah extended for one hundred and twenty and seven years; the years of the life of Sarah

Rashi explains the closing phrase: “… the years of the life of Sarah comes to equate all of her years which were “good”.

Is this an accurate assessment of Sarah’s life, that they were all good years? Didn’t Sarah suffer the indignity of being abducted twice, once by Paro then by Avimelech the Philistine? Didn’t she suffer years of barrenness, giving birth only at the age of 90? Didn’t she accompany her husband Avraham when they left their regional settings, birthplace and immediate family?

But the point of this phrase is to inform us that Sarah, the little girl born to a family of idol worshippers, with all that it implies, at 127 years old looked back over all her years and understood that every one was essential in contributing to turning the little girl called Sarei (her name before being changed by Hashem to Sarah) into the illustrious matriarch of Am Yisrael.

Today, November 1st, my wife and I are celebrating 62 years of marriage. Two kids, a boy from Brooklyn and a good Jewish girl from the West Side of Manhattan, who one day in 1962 found themselves in a little wooden shack in Moshav Nechalim, a kilometer away from the Jordanian border.

We were the victims of our simplistic, superficial, minimalistic Torah education in New York, where a little Judaism is good but not too much. What did we know about the backgrounds of the Jews we were now living with; the sufferings of the Shoah survivors, and the Jews from the Melachs (ghettos) of Arab lands. What did we know of Golani, paratroopers, basic training, annual reserve duty, Palmach, Shmitta year, etc.? Of going to the local grocer to buy a half loaf of bread because that’s what most of the people on the moshav could afford.

When growing up in a Brooklyn Italian and Irish Catholic neighborhood, I knew that they and the other billion or so Christians hated me. But now suddenly, we have another billion Moslems who consider my wife and me to be the enemy. I recall our first day of aliya in my Aunt Shoshana’s home in Ramat Gan. I turned on the radio to hear some pure Ivrit, but wherever I turned the dial I heard Arabic. It finally dawned upon me how surrounded we were.

From the first moment we alighted from the great eagle that flew us home I realized that I was now a part of the 3500 years of my people’s history; and from now on I would be taking my position “holding up the stretcher” of my people.

In her last day in this world, our mother Sarah reviewed her former life in Ur Kasdim devoid of HaShem and kedusha to her present status as matriarch of HaShem’s chosen people. She closed her eyes and after reciting “Shema Yisrael” uttered one word to HaShem – “TODA”.

When my time will come, I will look back to see from where I came and where HaShem had taken our family. I too will say “Shema Yisrael” and utter one word to my Creator – “TODA”!

 

B: GLOBAL WARMING

The present international conference in Glasgow Scotland (COP26) has been portrayed as “the world’s last best chance to address the climate crisis”.

Indeed, the globe is warming at a dangerous rate with climate disasters occurring more frequently all over the globe.

The conference has been called to seek remedies to prevent the ominous global disaster which would affect every human being.

If I was invited to address this august body of world leaders, I would say the following:

In Tractate Avoda Zara 3a, the Gemara states that in the future the gentile nations will be jealous of the reward that will be given to the Jewish people. HaShem will explain that the Jews earned that reward through their fulfillment of the Torah, even under the most horrific and inhuman conditions. All the same, HaShem will give the nations an opportunity to fulfill an “easy” mitzvah through which they will be tested; the mitzva of succa.

The nations will hasten to build succot on their rooftops. HaShem will then unleash the most intense sun’s rays, and the globe will become very hot. After the nations receive permission to abandon their succot (in accordance with the principle that “one who suffers from residing in a succa is exempt from the mitzva”), they will kick down their succot and flee for their lives from the heat. Am Yisrael too, will leave their succot, but with great pain over their inability to fulfill the mitzvah.

Through this allegory, our sages aptly reveal how the world will look in the future.

At the end of the Second World War, the United Nations was established on the ruins of the “League of Nations”, which had been established after the First World War.

The U.N. is the aforementioned “easy mitzvah”, because a succah is defined as a “temporary home”, and the U.N. delegates from all over the world reside temporarily in New York rather than in their permanent homes.

HaShem’s “unleashing the sun” is a metaphor for the moral dilemmas facing the members of the U.N., first and foremost from the Iranian threat to annihilate the State of Israel, as well as worldwide anti-Semitism. The U.N. has not employed any means of punishing Iran, because when all is said and done, it is only Israel whom Iran threatens. The U.N.’s delegates continue to fail the “easy mitzvah” test, and we can begin the countdown on this evil organization’s demise and the nations which comprise it.

But this is not just a metaphor. It is a prediction of what is awaiting humanity if they continue to renege on their moral responsibility, first and foremost with regard to HaShem’s chosen nation.

Whatever the nations will decide at the conference will not change the dire fate that “nature” is imposing upon humanity. The only salvation for humanity is to renew its obligations and moral commitments of truth and acceptance that we are the Creator’s chosen people.

 

C: WHAT IF….

Let’s play “what if”:

What if Paro would have submitted to Moshe’s demands to permit the Jews three days of prayer plus one day of rest every week (Shabbat). Would the Jews still have insisted on leaving Egypt for the ominous, fierce desert or would they have rejected Moshe’s plan?

What if the Meraglim (scouts) would have returned with a positive report and the Jews would have entered Eretz Yisrael in the second year of the exodus. Who would teach them all the details of the Torah, because HaShem in no way would permit Moshe to enter the land?

What if at the very harsh decision handed down by Shlomo HaMelech to cut the infant whose parentage was in question, the mother would not have urged Shlomo to give the baby to the other woman, would Shlomo have ordered severing of the baby?

Let’s go a little further:

What if Medinat Yisrael would have been established 100 years earlier in 1848, and not 1948, when the greatest rabbis would have led the nation. Would there have been a Shoah?

What if Ben Gurion would not have agreed to the Chazon Ish’s request to exempt all the yeshiva students from army service, where would the yeshiva world be today? But Ben Gurion did agree, so, in fact, the Torah kingdom we have today is the result of a decision taken by a man who was very far from Torah.

What if one or two of the recognized Torah leaders of American Jewry at the time of the establishment of the Medina would have called out to all Jews to make aliya, how would the Medina look today?

What if all the thousands of shelichim of Chabad would have concentrated their efforts on influencing the Jews in Eretz Yisrael rather than being the world’s biggest kosher caterers, how would our life be today?

But since all these “what ifs” did not occur, it is obvious that HaShem who directs all human actions yet retains His invisibility, did not want them to happen.

So, we must struggle on.

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5782/2021 Nachman Kahana

Must See Video

 

Kol Koreh

 

Expert Testimony Before a Beis Din **and** Israeli Nurses Speak Out

 

8 Hours of Expert Testimony Before a Beis Din, Oct 26
(one may want to view the other two videos first and then select who you want to hear testimony from by moving the ‘bar’ according to the list of names)

0:00:00 DVM, PhD Geert Vanden Bossche

0:29:31 Dr. Peter McCullough

0:48:00 Dr. Robert Malone

1:50:47 Attorney Tomas Renz

2:42:06 Dr. Jane Ruby

3:10:00 Dr. Christiane Northrup

3:29:00 Dr. Michael Yeadon

4:34:00 Dr. Janci Lindsay

5:09:45 Dr. Richard Urso

5:40:00 Dr. Jessica Rose

6:07:53 Testimony: Adverse Reactions

Israeli Nurse Testifies

Nurse being “escorted” out of her hospital setting for not being …..

BILL GATES WANTS TO PARTNER WITH ISRAEL TO ‘ADAPT LIVESTOCK’ TO CLIMATE CHANGE

 

[one of the outcomes stated by the ’next in line to be K of E’ is that the people are in the way of saving the world!]

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Bill Gates during the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland. [the viper got to PM NB]

The two agreed to establish cooperation between the Jewish State and the Gates Foundation in the ‘climate change’ innovation space.

“Israel is known as the startup nation, and I think that it’s time we pivot and channel our national energy — which is the energy of the people, the brainpower — to fighting climate change,” Bennett told Gates adding “We’re going to take this as a national mission.”

Bennett suggested that Israel’s hi-tech entrepreneurs can pivot from the cloud space to climate change innovation. But that didn’t seem to be enough for Gates who said that he’d like to see Israel become involved in adaptation including “seed and livestock work.”

“We not only need innovation in climate mitigation to reduce the emissions” Gates claimed. “We also need a lot of innovation and adaptation and that’s another area where a lot of you know and this is in the Gates Foundation we do agriculture including both seed and livestock work.”

Bennett said that Israel is cooperating with many of its neighbors on climate-related challenges, particularly in the area of water security.

Gates told Bennett that his ” big belief is that we can solve climate change if we accelerate innovation.”

“Given the talent that you have and what we’ve seen in the digital space, how do we unleash more of that? So I’d love to take that R&D innovation push and figure out where Israel can partner with us” Gates added.

Gates noted that both himself as well as Bennett — who earned millions in hi-tech  — understood that “innovation was the key.”

[they linked CV to CC = NWO]