"From the Desert to the Ends of the Earth"

6 Nisan 5785

Erev Shabbat Kodesh

Parashat Vayikra 

(Reposted excerpt by Daniel Pinner)

Having completed the building of the Mishkan at the end of the Book of Exodus, the Book of Leviticus continues very naturally with the functioning of the Mishkan: “When He called to Moshe, Hashem spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting…” (Leviticus 1:1).

The Midrash (Sifra, Vayikra 1) notes the sequence here: God first “called to Moshe”, and then “He spoke to him”. And then the Sifra goes on to note that this is the third of three occasions when God first called to Moshe and then spoke to him.

The first time was about two years earlier at the Burning Bush, when Moshe was still exiled from his nation, a humble shepherd tending the flocks of his father-in-law Yitro (Jethro). When God saw that Moshe had turned aside to behold the wonder, “God called to him from the midst of the bush, and He said, Moshe, Moshe” (Exodus 3:4).

The second time was at Mount Sinai, immediately before the Giving of the Torah: “Hashem called Moshe to the peak of the Mountain, and Moshe ascended; and Hashem said to Moshe: Go down, warn the nation lest they break through to Hashem to gaze” (Exodus 19:20-21).

The obvious question that arises from here is: what do these three events (the Burning Bush, the Giving of the Torah, and the beginning of the Mishkan’s functioning) have in common?

The simplest and most obvious answer is that all of these were events which were intimately connected with Israel’s redemption. The process of redemption from Egypt began when God revealed Himself to Moshe at the Burning Bush; the purpose of redemption was the Giving of the Torah (1); and the building of the Mishkan was the pinnacle of the redemption (2).

It is significant that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochay, one of the greatest of first-generation (mid-3rd century) Tannaim in the Land of Israel, cited these three occasions as examples of when God bestowed His glory on the Elders of Israel: “We have learned in a few places that God gave honour to the Elders. At the Burning Bush, as it is written ‘God said to Moshe…, Go and assemble the Elders of Israel’ (Exodus 3:15-16); at Sinai, as it is written ‘To Moshe He said, Go up to Hashem, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the Elders of Israel’ (Exodus 24:1); and at the Tent of Meeting, as it is written ‘It happened on the eighth day [of the Inauguration of the Mishkan] that Moshe called Aaron and his sons and the Elders of Israel’ (Leviticus 9:1)” (Shemot Rabbah 5:12).

So on the three separate occasions which were the three milestones on the road from Egyptian slavery to redemption, God first called to Moshe and then spoke to him. And on those same three occasions He gave honour to the Elders of Israel.

The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 5:12) continues: “And in the future time to come, it will be the same, as it says ‘When Hashem, Lord of Legions, will reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, there will be glory for His elders’ (Isaiah 24:23). Rabbi Avin said: In the future God will seat the Elders as on a threshing-floor, with Himself sitting as the head of them all as the President of the Court, and they will judge the idolaters, as it says ‘Hashem will enter into judgment with the elders of His nation and its princes’ (Isaiah 3:14). It does not say [that He will enter into judgment] 'against the elders of His nation’ but rather ‘with the elders of His nation’: He will sit with them and judge the idolaters”.

We pause here to explain the somewhat cryptic reference to the Elders sitting “as on a threshing-floor”. The Mishnah records that “the Sanhedrin would sit in the shape of a semicircular threshing-floor so that they could see one another” (Sanhedrin 4:3).

This refers specifically to the Great Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Israel, which would sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone in the Holy Temple. (Every town and city with more than 120 adult men would have its own Minor Sanhedrin of 23 judges, and every village with fewer than 120 adult men would have a court of three judges.)

Of the 71 Judges on the Great Sanhedrin, 69 would sit in three concentric semicircles of 23 each. Facing them were the Nasi (the President of the Court), and to his right the Av Beit Din (Father of the Court). The Nasi was the leader; the Av Beit Din was the second in charge (Rambam, Laws of the Sanhedrin 1:3).

So the Midrash looks back on three landmark events in the first redemption, the redemption from Egypt, when God called to Moshe and then spoke to him, which were the three times when He gave honour to the Elders of Israel.

Our parashah opens with the third of these occasions – when the Mishkan began to function.

And the Midrash then looks forward to the time of the final redemption – may it come speedily! – when God will again give honour to the Elders of Israel. And though then, at the time of the first redemption, the Elders’ honour was manifest only to Israel, in the time to come their honour will suffuse the entire world. After all, only thus will they be able to stand with God Himself, so to speak, to judge all the idolaters in the world.

And this is logical. After all, 3,337 years ago in the desert, God gave honour to the Elders of Israel in the Mishkan, which holy though it was, was but a precursor to the Holy Temple which would only be built 479 years later by King Solomon. The second Holy Temple, the one built by Ezra and Nehemiah, had a lower level of sanctity than that of King Solomon.

But the third Holy Temple, the one destined to stand for all time, the Holy Temple which the prophet Ezekiel depicts so graphically in chapters 40 to 44, will be far grander and more magnificent, and have a far higher level of sanctity, than those which came before.

So it is entirely fitting that in that third Holy Temple, God Himself will stand, so to speak, as the Leader of the Sanhedrin, to administer ultimate justice, not only to Israel, but to the entire world.

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~

"The Natural Order Is Suspended"

5 Nisan 5785

Excerpted from The Book of Our Heritage by Eliyahu Kitov (Vol 2, p. 471 - 472)...   

Even though the laws of nature were given to Israel as well as to the other nations, and they can choose to live naturally as do other nations and can even be more prosperous doing so, nevertheless they were also given a path of miracles and wonders which supersedes the natural order of the world - a path which is meant to be their primary objective and which is to take precedence over the natural path.  This is alluded to in the words  This month shall be the first of the months for you...of the year.  In other words, the path of renewal [the essence of chodesh, month] is to be your objective, rather than the fixed, natural order [the essence of shanah, year].  Israel's strength and virtue, and their survival throughout all the generations has come about not through natural means, but rather through the miracles and wonders by which God revealed His glory to His people.

Thus, when the Holy One blessed is He, revealed Himself on Mount Sinai, He said:  I am the Lord, your God, Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt.  He did not say, "Who has created you and Who has taken you out."  It is as if He mentioned the major point - the redemption from Egypt - and overlooked the minor point.

For you - for your sake.  At the time of the redemption, the Holy One, blessed is He, changed all the fixed rules of nature.  He did this to demonstrate that He is the Creator - that everything that transpires is in accordance with His will, and that the entire world was created for Israel.  When He chose to change the laws of nature and show His great strength, He did so only for the sake of His people, Israel.

God could have redeemed Israel from Egypt through conventional means.  He could also have guided them from the first in a manner that would not have led to their being enslaved in Egypt.  However, the sole purpose of the exile in Egypt was to make it clear to Israel and to the whole world that the entire universal order - with its laws and structure, end every power that there is in the world - is bound by the will of God and exists for the sake of His chosen people.  At His will, natural law is maintained, and at His will, it is suspended or changed for the sake of Israel.  The verse therefore states:  This month shall be...for you - it is for your [Israel's] sake that this new path of miracles and wonders has been introduced, to elevate you and make you exalted, just as My Name is exalted throughout the world.

~ ~ ~

In what way does Israel differ from the other nations?  For their sake, the Holy One, blessed is He, made changes in His world, to redeem them.  Moreover, He instilled within them the ability to transcend the natural order and to utilize this ability constantly.  Does the verse not state:  There is nothing new under the sun (Koheles 1:9)  But God foresaw that Israel would accept the Torah and follow its ways, and the Torah preceded the creation of the world and is above everything that was created.  He granted them this virtue, that they are renewed through miracles and wonders.  Under the sun there is nothing new, but above the sun - for those who follow the path of Torah - there is renewal and change.

And this also explains the verse in Malachi 3.19-20...

For lo, the sun comes, glowing like a furnace, and all the audacious sinners and all the perpetrators of wickedness will be stubble. And the sun that comes shall burn them up so that it will leave them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of Hosts.

And the sun of mercy shall rise with healing in its wings for you who fear My Name.

Beware the Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

4 Nisan 5785 

The Last Bastion Has Been Infiltrated!

‘Our shared nation is under attack’: A Haredi rabbi explains how to draft the ultra-Orthodox

A new IDF combat platoon lets religious women join the fight while keeping the faith

IDF General Admits: “Army Did Not Meet Its Commitments To Chareidim”

The Jewish Faith is Under Attack! - Rabbi Tovia Singer

In A First, Hagaon HaRav Dov Landau Publicly Issues Clear Guidelines To Bnei Yeshivos

"Hostage Forum Take-Over"

3 Nisan 5785 

Hostage Forum Take-Over
Rabbi Richter

"From Darkness Into Light"

1 Nisan 5785
Rosh Chodesh

Excerpted from The Book of Our Heritage by Eliyahu Kitov (Vol 2, p. 467)... 

One who experiences redemption has emerged from darkness into light.  One who has never suffered the oppression of bondage, will not appreciate redemption.  The very essence of redemption is the freedom which has its source in the bondage itself.  Had Israel not been enslaved, they would never have experienced true freedom.  Once they were enslaved, that very enslavement gave rise to their redemption.  From the midst of that darkness - and from nowhere else - light burst forth.  Our Sages taught:  Israel said to God, "Master of the Universe, when will You redeem us?"  God answered:  "When you descend to the lowest level - at that moment I shall redeem you."

The First Commandment: Sanctify the New Moon!

28 Adar 5785
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Pekudei - HaChodesh

From the Stone Edition Chumash Commentary:

Sforno comments that the Tabernacle and its individual parts were of such awesome holiness that they survived intact through time and wars.  Unlike the two Temples that were sacked and destroyed, Moses' Tabernacle remained intact and was never captured or desecrated.  The four reasons for this are alluded to in the first two verses:  (a) It was the Tabernacle of Testimony, where the Tablets, the symbols of God's communion with Israel, were deposited; (b) it was built at Moses' bidding, thus benefiting from his personal majesty; (c) the service of the Levites [who had proven their greatness by their loyal response to Moses after the catastrophe of the Golden Calf] and all the components of the Tabernacle were under the charge of Issamar, a man of great stature; and (d) those who led the work, as represented by Bezalel, were men of distinguished lineage and outstanding righteousness.  Because of all these factors, Sforno explains, the Tabernacle was impervious to time and enemies.  Solomon's Temple, by contrast, was built [in great measure] by non-Jewish workmen.  Consequently, although the Shechinah rested upon it, its parts became worn with time and required repair and replacement.  The Second Temple was built only thanks to the benevolence of King Cyrus, and it never had the Tablets or the Shechinah.  Both Temples fell into enemy hands, were looted, and destroyed.

He comments further that compared to the gold and silver that were used in the Temples of Solomon and Herod, the amounts listed [in the parashah] are insignificant.  Nevertheless, the Tabernacle surpassed both Temples in holiness....  This proves that God rests His Presence not where there is wealth, but where there is righteousness.

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~
and

~ Chodesh Tov ~

The last of the special haftarot for Adar - HaChodesh - falls on Erev Rosh Chodesh Nisan.  

More from the Stone Edition Chumash Commentary:

...The first day of Nisan was and always remains a historic day for the Jewish nation.  It was the day when the people received their first commandment as a nation: Sanctify the New Moon.  This ritual has a profound spiritual and historic significance.  It is noteworthy that it was one of the three commandments that the Syrian-Greeks, in the time before the Chanukah miracle, attempted to nullify by force.  The other two were Sabbath observance and circumcision.  Clearly, therefore, Israel's enemies understood that the sanctification of the New Moon was basic to the existence of Israel as a nation of Torah.

Rabbi Richter: "Weaponizing The Hostages"

27 Adar 5785

Special Note:  Tonight is recognized in Ramadan as "The Night of Power."  It is described as the holiest night of the year in Islam and commemorates the Quran entering into the world via The Meshuggeneh (per Rambam).  It can be a cause of increased "tensions" between Muslims and the Security Forces on Israel's Temple Mount.

~ ~ ~

Weaponizing The Hostages

Sabbatical Cycles of Creation (and Destruction)

26 Adar 5785  

This post goes with the previous one in order to validate the claim of a looming cataclysmic event that Science shows has occurred cyclicly about every 6000 years.

According to Ben Davidson of SpaceWeatherNews (SO)

Those who approach Science without the input of Torah sources are bound to get many of the details wrong, but that doesn't mean they don't get some of it right.  With regard to the concept of cycles of destruction demonstrated by geologic evidence, the following excerpts from the book Immortality, Resurrection, and the Age of the Universe: A Kabbalistic View by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan of blessed memory will be helpful.

The question of the age of the universe has been discussed in Torah circles for more than a century.  The Torah seems to teach that the universe is no more than six thousand years old.  Indeed, many would say that any opinion stating that the world is more than six thousand years old must of necessity contradict the Torah.  However, there appears to be a good deal of observational evidence that the universe is much older than six thousand years.

A number of approaches have been proposed to resolve this problem, some of which were discussed in a book published a few years ago.  Our concern, however, is not merely to resolve the question, but to do so in a manner firmly based on Torah teachings.  That is to say, we seek a solution that is actually found in the classic Torah literature.

The only choice...is to look into our classical Torah literature and determine whether there are any pertinent statements regarding the age of the universe.  Significantly, there is a very important, though not well known, concept that is discussed in the Sefer ha-Temunah, an ancient Kabbalistic work attributed to the first-century tanna, Rabbi Nehunya ben ha-Kanah.  The work discusses the forms of the Hebrew letters and is the source of many of the most frequently cited opinions on this subject in the halakhic literature.  Thus, Sefer ha-Temunah is not an obscure, unimportant work, but one which is relied upon by most halakhic authorities.

The Sefer ha-Temunah speaks about Sabbatical cycles (shemitot).  This is based on the Talmudic teaching that "the world will exist for six thousand years, and in the seven-thousandth year, it will be destroyed."  The Sefer ha-Temunah states that this seven-thousand-year cycle is merely one Sabbatical cycle.  However, since there are seven Sabbatical cycles in a Jubilee, the world is destined to exist for forty-nine thousand years.

There is a question as to which cycle we are in today.  Some authorities maintain that we are currently in the second Sabbatical cycle.  Others maintain that we are currently in the seventh cycle.  According to the second opinion, the universe would have been forty-two thousand years old when Adam was created.  As we shall see, the implications of this are very important.

...According to Sefer ha-Temunah, then, there were other worlds before Adam was created.  These were the worlds of previous Sabbatical cycles.

Significantly, there are a number of allusions to this approach in the Midrash.  Thus, commenting on the verse, "It was evening and it was morning, one day" (Genesis 1:5), the Midrash Rabbah states, "This teaches that there were orders of time before this."

Another well-known Midrashic teaching also appears to support the concept of Sabbatical cycles.  The Midrash states that "God created universes and destroyed them."  One of the important classical Kabbalistic works, Ma'arekhet Elokut, states explicitly that this passage refers to worlds that existed in Sabbatical cycles before Adam was created.  The same source states explicitly that the Midrashic teaching that "there were orders of time before this [creation]" is also speaking of earlier Sabbatical cycles.

A Talmudic passage seems to support this view of Sabbatical cycles.  According to the Talmud, and some Midrashim as well, there were 974 generations before Adam.  ...The Ma'arekhet Elokut states explicitly that these generations existed in the Sabbatical cycles before Adam's creation.

The concept of pre-Adamic cycles was well known among the Rishonim (early authorities), and is cited in such sources as Bahya, Recanati, Ziyyoni, and Sefer ha-Hinnukh.  It is also alluded to in the Kuzari, and in the commentaries of the Ramban and Ibn Ezra. 

The world's elite believe this.  It's why they all have bunkers prepared and why they built a seed vault near the North Pole.  However, if they refuse to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Master of the Universe, HKB"H, nothing they do can help them. 

What's important for the righteous to understand is that while it appears to that the poor and downtrodden will never in any natural way succeed in overthrowing The Powers That Be, HKB"H is going to arise to judge the earth and wipe evil from the world.  They will be as if they never were.  May it truly be soon!