Wednesday, March 06, 2024

One Final Tekiah Gedolah For those Who Deny that the First Two Have Already Occurred.

 This will be a post where I need to write in shorthand because frankly, Time is short.  If we look at Musaph Rosh HaShanah davening, we notice several things about the Order of prayers called Malkhuyot (Verses of Kingship), Zikhronot (Verses of Remembrance), and Shofarot (Verses of Blasts from the Ram's Horn).  Each set has three verses from the Torah, three verses from the Holy Writings (usually from the Book of Psalms), and then three verses from the Prophets (Nevua) followed by another final verse from the Torah.  One can say that the entire essence of the Day of Judgement (1st of Tishrei, the 7th month) is wrapped up in those three themes.  We have a once a year Coronation ceremony for HaShem Elokim as King of the Universe, actually twice per year since we repeat the Coronation on the 2nd of Tishrei because of doubt if the New Moon for Tishrei was actually seen.  So that part is Malkhuyot.  We also ask HaShem Elokim to remember the righteousness of the spiritual Giants who were our forbearers, Zikhronot, taking "advantage" of G-d's stated Holy attribute that while He recalls the sins of the ancestors for three or four generations in Judgement for the non-penitent, He remembers with Kindness the righteousness of one's ancestors for 1000 or thousands of generations.  Since Sinai if we count each generation as about 30 years between one Dor and the next, we have only passed the torch of Torah 112 times.  So we are well within our 1000 generation limit.  If we go back to Abraham, there are only an additional 6 generations between Abraham and Moses for a total of 118 generations, again well within our 1000 generation limit.  By recalling the merit of our ancestors on Rosh HaShanah, we definitely add "weight" to our balance of merit vs debts owed on our personal Scale of Justice, for which Tishrei is known amongst the Mazalot (signs of the Tzedeq of G-d aka the Zodiac).  By the way, I am using the Name HaShem Elokim here because this refers to the Name of G-d on the Throne of Judgement in the 5th Heaven as opposed to the Name of HaShem alone on His Throne of Mercy in the 7th Heaven.  Also when Adam and Chava were thrown out of Gan Eden on Rosh HaShanah 5783 years ago, it is precisely by that Name that He is known in the Torah on that First Day of Judgement in the Year 1.  (Only on a deeper level was there are Year 0.)

This brings us to Shofarot, the blasts of the Ram's Horn, for which this Day is known in the Written Torah as Yom Teruah (Numbers 29:1) or Yom Zikhron Teruah (Lev 23:24).  On Rosh HaShanah, according to the Torah, we are obligated to hear three sets of three (Tekiah, Teruah, Tekiah) for a sum total of 9 Shofar blasts!  Yet, because there is a Saffek D'Oraita (doubt about the nature of a Torah commandment) on what is a Teruah, we need to hear three possible combinations of what a Teruah might be as the middle blast in each set of three.  9 short blasts is called a Teruah by our Machzorim, and 3 mid-range blasts is called Shevarim.  And then the possibility that a Teruah is 3 mid-range blasts followed by 9 short blasts also must be taken into account.  Since we call Shevarim- Teruah two separate blasts even though the one who calls for the blasts mentions them both at the same time, taking into account the potential doubt of what a Teruah might actually be, we need to hear 30 blasts of the Shofar on Rosh HaShanah.  

3 x (Tekiah, Shevarim- Teruah, Tekiah) = total of 9 or 12 blasts.  Each Tekiah is simply one long blast of the Shofar.  The Teruah is the broken blast.

3 x (Tekiah, Shevarim, Tekiah) = total of 9 blasts

3 x (Tekiah, Teruah, Tekiah) = total of 9 blasts for a final total of 27 or 30 blasts.  Probably we should count Shevarim- Teruah as one blast because that combination might be the ancient Teruah after all.  So in reality there are 27 total blasts.  What is important to remember though is that IF we knew precisely what a Teruah was supposed to sound like, we would only be obligated in hearing 9 blasts of the Shofar on both days of Rosh HaShanah!  So why nine blasts?

Our sages give many reasons for these 3 sets of 3 blasts of the Shofar on Rosh HaShanah.  One of these reasons is that we need to chop up The Satan's accusations with the instrument that sounds most like a wailing man crying bitter tears.  So the custom is to blow the Shofar on the right side of one's mouth because The Heavenly Accuser/Prosecutor stands to the right of the Accused which is to the Left of G-d's Heavenly Throne during which the 3 mid-range or 9 short blasts of Teruah cut The Satan's accusations into pieces on the very day of our yearly trial before the King of the Universe.  Why do we need three Teruot?  Because The Satan has three roles in the world:

1. To enhance our existing Yetzer HaRa when we are being tested to see if we can overcome our Evil Inclination.  The Satan enhances this Yetzer HaRa when we are being tested to, according to G-d's standards, have a 50/50 chance of passing a test.  In many cases doing the right thing might be very easy, but if the Satan is involved in making the test more difficult, other extenuating factors will be added to make the test on honest exam.  Only in this way can we have true moral free will to pass or fail the test.  What is interesting is that the only day of the year where The Satan does not enhance our Yetzer HaRa is on Purim (14th and 15th of Adar).  In a year with 2 Adars, I do not know if this applies to Purim Qatan in Adar Rishon.  So if a person has subdued his/her Yetzer HaRa by Purim, they will not sin on that day...... even if he/she is drunk, for The Satan will not push a righteous drunk person into the situation of being tested on that day.

2. As the Heavenly Prosecutor from which he gets the name HaSatan:  The Satan is active the entire year, but just like he takes one day off from his role as the Enhancer of our Yetzer HaRa, he takes another day off from his role as the Heavenly Prosecutor.  That day is Yom Kippur.  We see this in his name itself, השטן, The Gematriah of which is 364.  So for 364 days in a solar year he is active in Heaven, but on Yom Kippur, he is absent from that role (if we heard the Shofar 8 and 9 days earlier on Rosh HaShanah and if we are fasting like angels to merit being before the Throne of Mercy in the 7th Heaven on the 10th of Tishrei.)  So there are stipulations to not being prosecuted by the Satan on Yom Kippur.

3. As the Angel of Death or the Malakh HaMavet.  Once again he is active in this role all year long, but there is one day a year where part of his role as the Angel of Death is taken away from him.  That day is Hoshana Rabbah (the 7th Day of Sukkot, 21st of Tishrei) when only G-d Himself slays the very wicked and sits in Judgement of the final status of where the various nations of the world will be one year later in terms of their physical existence and their well being.  Spiritual judgements are written and sealed before the Full Moon of Tishrei, but one's physical judgement descends through the 7 Heavens over the 7 days of Sukkot starting with the Full Moon for that month.  This applies especially to nations because unlike Israel, most nations as nations do not have a world to come.  Human beings as individuals have a World to Come, but Nations (except for Israel) do not.  So Hoshana Rabbah is a unique day where the Angel of Death, in part, takes a rest.

For those who keep the custom, it is customary on all three of these days to eat a three cornered pastry in honor of The Satan's reduced prowess on these three days.  Every one knows about HamanTaschen (Haman's three cornered ears on Purim), but the custom also extends to Erev Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabbah (in the Sukkah) where many eat kreplach in the Ashkenazic world which is a three cornered meat or potato pastry.  

So getting back to the main plot, we have specifically three sets of three blasts of the Shofar because, for one, the three Teruot need to chop up the three various roles of the Satan on that day.  And that must be done with the horn of preferably a Ram, because a Ram more than any other Qorban "accentuates our positive commandments and our positive midot" to contrast with the Satan's accusations, something that can be discussed at another time, and it sounds most like the wailing tears of a human being (9 short blasts or 3 mid-sized blasts or the combination of the two described above).  Notice, the Satan is fully active on Rosh HaShanah in all three capacities mentioned above.  So all three roles must be chopped into pieces by an instrument that most represents our tears.

Alas, we get to the part where one must ask, "Ok, I get the need for the three Teru'ot on Rosh HaShanah, but why must we add a Tekiah before and after each Teruah like bookends?"  What is the purpose of a Tekiah before and after each Teruah to give us a Tekiah Teruah Tekiah sandwich?   Well according to the Sages of our Ages (Chaza"l), the Torah in Parshat Yithro mentions that at Matan Torah we heard three blasts of the Shofar.  There are only three references to Kol Shofar or Kol HaShofar in chapter 19 and 20 of Shemot (Exodus) when the first two of the Ten Statements were given directly by G-d and where the remaining eight were given by G-d through Moshe as an intermediary.  (The people were frightened that they might die if they heard all Ten Statements directly from HaQodesh Barukh Hu.)  What is fascinating is that one can even see this in the text of the first two Commandments compared to the last eight commandments.  The first two refer to G-d in the 1st Person(אנוכי הי אלקיך in the first Commandment and לֹא-יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, עַל-פָּנָי or וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד, לַאֲלָפִים--לְאֹהֲבַי, וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מִצְוֺתָי in the 2nd Commandment.)  I am HaShem you G-d, You will not have other (false) gods in MY presence, and I the L-rd your G-d.......who does lovingkindness to the 1000th generation for those who love Me and for those who observe MY Commandments.  While in the Third Commandment we already see G-d being referred to in the Third person:  כִּי לֹא יְנַקֶּה יְהוָה, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-יִשָּׂא אֶת-שְׁמוֹ לַשָּׁוְא.  For HaShem will not clean up the damage of those who carry HIS Name in vain.  From here we can clearly see that starting with the Third Commandment, Moshe gave over the Statements as an intermediary because Klal Yisrael had complained of the overwhelming power of hearing G-d's voice, directly, in the first two Commandments that they might die.  But with regards to these Shofar blasts we know that they were Tekiot and not Teruot from the second blast where it says in Chapter 19: verse 19:  

יט  וַיְהִי קוֹל הַשֹּׁפָר, הוֹלֵךְ וְחָזֵק מְאֹד; מֹשֶׁה יְדַבֵּר, וְהָאֱלֹהִים יַעֲנֶנּוּ בְקוֹל. 19 And when the voice of the ram's horn waxed louder and louder (or waxed continuously louder), Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.

The "waxing louder and louder" or "waxing continuously louder" reference can only refer to a longer single blast of the Shofar and NOT a broken blast.  So if all three Kol Shofar references are to be equivalent in their essence, then all three of them were a Teki'ah.  We learn the same from verse 13 where we see that the blast of the Shofar, which is blown when the Divine Presence is on the Mountain, will be elongated, that is a Single blast called here a Yovel.  This instruction in verse 13 was actually given on the 3rd of Siwan, three days before the events of the 6th (or 7th) of Siwan.  So this statement about the elongated blast was a preparation for the fateful day of Matan Torah itself:

יג  לֹא-תִגַּע בּוֹ יָד, כִּי-סָקוֹל יִסָּקֵל אוֹ-יָרֹה יִיָּרֶה--אִם-בְּהֵמָה אִם-אִישׁ, לֹא יִחְיֶה; בִּמְשֹׁךְ, הַיֹּבֵל, הֵמָּה, יַעֲלוּ בָהָר. 13 no hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live; when the ram's horn soundeth long (sound is elongated), they shall come up to the mount (when the blast concludes). 

There seems to be a debate about whether we were supposed to ascend the Mountain to see G-d Face to face during the Tekiah blast, or whether we were correct to wait until the end of the blast when the Shekhinah had departed before ascending the Mountain.  This matter is discussed here in detail.   Had we been ready to meet G-d Face to face while the Shofar blast was occurring, we likely would have never sinned at the Cheit HaEigel according to this drashah from the Har Etzion Yeshivah.

So if this summary of Matan Torah is correct, though, there were three Tekiot at Har Sinai, but looking closer at the Verses, only one of them was the Kol HaShofar.  One was the Voice of G-d.  A second was the Thunder from the Intensely Dark Cloud that gathered to conceal the Shekhinah's descent upon Mt. Sinai, and the Third was the long continuous Blast (Tekiah) of the Shofar itself.  I do not mean to skip over the depth of this, but the final subject of this Essay is the End of Days, not the Day of the Revelation at Sinai.  So we will leave this matter by mentioning that the Torah itself refers to this long Tekiah Shofar blast three times as Kol HaShofar.  This becomes more evidential when at the end of the 3 psukim from Torah, then for some reason 4 psukim from Psalms, and 3 more from the Prophets, the last pasuk from the Torah is not a Tekiah on the Shofar at all!  It is on the pair of Silver Trumpets that Moshe was commanded to fashion in Parshat BeHa'alotkha!  In the entire Torah there are only three Teki'ot of the Ram's horn (or one long tekiah or voice from the Noise of the thick, dark cloud on the mountain, one long tekiah from the ram's horn, and the Voice of G-d Himself) , the three Voices mentioned at the Revelation at Sinai.  All the other Tekiot mentioned are on the Silver Trumpets made by Moshe Rabbeinu for gathering the nation at the Tent of Meeting or for gathering the Princes of the tribes or for blowing the trumpets over elevation offerings and Peace offerings for Shabbatot, Festivals, and New Moons.  The Talmud DOES derive that when Trumpets were sounded on Shabbatot and Moadim, so were Shofarot, but this derivation is not in the Written Torah.

Now let us look at the pasukim (verses) for the Nevi'im, The Prophets.  During the Order of Malkhuyot (Kingship), all the p'sukim of course deal with the Crowning of G-d as King of the Universe.  Two of them are prophetic for the End of Days, but only one of them gives us specific information about a specific event, when Saviors will ascend Mt. Tzion to judge Mt. Esav (Vesuvius), and the Kingdom will belong to HaShem.  The intent of these three p'sukim though is not to provide the Roadmap for Redemption at the End of Days.  The intent to instill Reverence for G-d.  Then we come to the Three verses from the Prophets in Zikhronot (Remembrances).  This time the prophets are focusing on the Greatness of our Ancestors or the Spiritual bond that HaShem had with one particular ancestor, Ephraim the son of Yosef and Osnat.  So the Prophetic verses here reflect on our past, not on our future.  Remember the purpose of these verses is to add credit or weight the Scale of Justice in Heaven in Our favor by recounting the Righteousness of our ancestors or the Joy that they gave to HaShem.  The third verse here though is significant because of the final role of Mashiach ben Ephraim (Yehonatan Pollard?) in the month of Adar Sheini (The 2nd month of the Fish) of the Final Redemption, mentioning it here (Yirm 31:19)  

יט  הֲבֵן יַקִּיר לִי אֶפְרַיִם, אִם יֶלֶד שַׁעֲשֻׁעִים--כִּי-מִדֵּי דַבְּרִי בּוֹ, זָכֹר אֶזְכְּרֶנּוּ עוֹד; עַל-כֵּן, הָמוּ מֵעַי לוֹ--רַחֵם אֲרַחֲמֶנּוּ, נְאֻם-יְהוָה.

19 Is Ephraim a darling son unto Me? Is he a child that is dandled? For as often as I speak of him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart yearneth for him, I will surely have compassion upon him, saith the LORD.

Finally, we get to the three verses from the Prophets on the End of Days Shofar blasts, and I can verily promise that the first two Shofar blasts are NOT prophesies for the distant future.  They are Tekiot that have already occurred.  In all three cases, these are blasts commemorating specific events which are duteously described in the verses themselves.  And even if the first two blasts are inverted according to Nusach Ashkenaz and Nusach Eidot HaMizrach (Sephardic and Babylonian and Persian Jews), their themes are in chronological order.  According to Nusach Ashkenaz:

Isaiah (Yishayahu) 18:3 כָּל-יֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל, וְשֹׁכְנֵי אָרֶץ, כִּנְשֹׂא-נֵס הָרִים תִּרְאוּ, וְכִתְקֹעַ שׁוֹפָר תִּשְׁמָעוּ.  {ס} 3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and ye dwellers on the earth, as an ensign (flag) is lifted up on the mountains, you will see it; and as the ram's horn is blown (like the blowing of a ram's horn), you will hear it.

This is a prophesy about the Founding of the State of Israel.  The flag raised in the Mountains was the establishment of (West) Yerushalayim as the capital of the new state.  Yet, because the State was established by International Socialists and some Communists, the State was founded by the Erev Rav as a husk to protect what was within it.  So what was heard throughout the world was "like" the blast of a Shofar.  It has accomplished four goals necessary as a foundation for the Messianic Era, with the process of Mashiach ben Yosef working within its midst.

1. The Ingathering of at least 6 million Jews since the State was founded by just over 600,000 Jews

2. The building of the physical infrastructure that will be used in the Messianic Era

3. The establishment of Torah institutions by those who wanted to establish them often with financial help from the State itself

4. The uncovering of Archeology of our distant past from the Altar of Yehoshua bin Nun on Mt. Eibal through the Bar Kokhba Revolt attaching our distant past to our brighter future

One can safely say that that particular Shofar blast that was Like the Tekiah of a Shofar was on the 5th of Iyar 5708.  The rest of the sound and light show associated with the founding of the State will soon be transformed into the earthly Footstool for the Heavenly Throne.

Years ago during August of 1989, Rav Motti Berger of Aish HaTorah came to speak at the Jewish Federation of S. Louis in what was a main Auditorium in the Jewish Federation Bldg.  What he had to say that August was shocking in every respect of that word.  He gave over a Dvar Torah of the Vilna Gaon that the Ingathering of the exiles expressed in the next verse would occur 3/4 through the 6th Millennium (either in 5750 or in 5751) because high noon on the 6th day is 3/4 of the way through Yom Shishi, and at that moment Shofar blowers would ascend hills and mountains in Eretz Yisrael to blow a Tekiah to call Israel in from her fields to prepare for Shabbat.  Until High noon on Friday, one could do mundane work and labor as one did the other days of the week (Sunday - Thursday), but at high noon, only work which was necessary to prepare for Shabbat could be done.  The reason for the possible discrepancy between 5750 and 5751 as to whether the ingathering would begin in which of those two years is because the Gaon was not 100% sure on whether the 6000 years of Olam HaZeh would end at the end of the year 5999 or at the end of the year 6000.  If Olam HaZeh ends at the end of the year 5999, then the 3/4 mark was in the year 5750.  If it ended at the end of the year 6000, then the 3/4 mark was in the year 5751.  I remember this was an issue when years ago we were discussing the beginning of Mincha Gedolah of the 6th Millennium or 12:30pm on Yom Shishi after which Mashiach could only come b'itah since all the Achishena dates had passed.  So doing the calculation, that date was either Rosh Chodesh Av 5770 or Rosh Chodesh Av 5771, once again depending on the same criterion whether the 6th Millennium ended at the end of 5999 or at the end of the year 6000.  So here is the 2nd verse of Nevua in Shofarot Musaph Rosh HaShanah according to Nusach Ashkenaz/ Sephard Chassidim:  Isaiah 27:13

 וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, יִתָּקַע בְּשׁוֹפָר גָּדוֹל, וּבָאוּ הָאֹבְדִים בְּאֶרֶץ אַשּׁוּר, וְהַנִּדָּחִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם; וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַיהוָה בְּהַר הַקֹּדֶשׁ, בִּירוּשָׁלִָם.  {פ} 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great ram's horn shall be blown; and they shall come that were lost in the land of Assyria, and they that were dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they shall worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Notice the uptick from the previous Shofar blast.  This blast is a REAL Shofar blast, but the blowing of the Tekiah is in the passive voice.  So we do not know which Angelic being in Shamayim blew the Shofar in 5750/51.

Now I realize that the Temple has not yet been rebuilt.  So the last part of this verse has yet to occur, but it is noteworthy what the Gaon said next.  According to Rav Berger, the Gaon juxtaposed this verse about a Shofar blast being blown in Isaiah 27 with the ingathering of the exiles described in Yirmiyahu 31, specifically this verse 31:7:

  הִנְנִי מֵבִיא אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ צָפוֹן, וְקִבַּצְתִּים מִיַּרְכְּתֵי-אָרֶץ--בָּם עִוֵּר וּפִסֵּחַ, הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת יַחְדָּו:  קָהָל גָּדוֹל, יָשׁוּבוּ הֵנָּה. 7 Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north (of Eretz Yisrael), and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together; a great company shall they return hither.

From here we see that this Shofar blast would be heard and would be FIRST manifest in the world with a massive ingathering of all the Jews north of Israel.  The Vilna Gaon seems to be referring here to all the Jews of Russia or Eastern Europe which was due north of Eretz Yisrael.  Now perhaps this might also refer to Turkey, but since 1948 (5708) a Jew in Turkey could make Aliyah under his own auspices.  He did not need a Shofar blast to bring Turkish Jews on Aliyah.  Taking a Turkish Airline Aliyah flight to Israel in 1990 or 1991 was not a big deal, and it certainly did not require a Shofar blast.  But from Eastern Europe, behind the Iron Curtain?  A miracle would be needed.  Now this is where the Vilna Gaon seems to require one to use his/her head to see when that Shofar blast might occur.  Just 7 verses later, we see in whose merit this great ingathering would take place!  Yirm 31:14-16

 כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה, קוֹל בְּרָמָה נִשְׁמָע נְהִי בְּכִי תַמְרוּרִים--רָחֵל, מְבַכָּה עַל-בָּנֶיהָ; מֵאֲנָה לְהִנָּחֵם עַל-בָּנֶיהָ, כִּי אֵינֶנּוּ.  {ס} 14 Thus saith the LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not. {S}

טו  כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה, מִנְעִי קוֹלֵךְ מִבֶּכִי, וְעֵינַיִךְ, מִדִּמְעָה:  כִּי יֵשׁ שָׂכָר לִפְעֻלָּתֵךְ נְאֻם-יְהוָה, וְשָׁבוּ מֵאֶרֶץ אוֹיֵב. 15 Thus saith the LORD: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

טז  וְיֵשׁ-תִּקְוָה לְאַחֲרִיתֵךְ, נְאֻם-יְהוָה; וְשָׁבוּ בָנִים, לִגְבוּלָם.  {ס} 16 And there is hope for thy future, saith the LORD; and thy children shall return to their own border.

Lo and behold, the puzzle is unlocked.  The Great Shofar blast of the 6th Millennium (Isaiah 27:13) which would FIRST bring in the Jews from the North of Eretz Yisrael would occur in the merit of Rachel our Matriarch, most likely on her Jahrzeit, the date of her death, when her merits appear yearly before the Heavenly Court (the 11th of Marcheshvan 5750 or 5751!!)

Now, keep in mind that Rav Berger came and gave this talk during August of 1989.  Rosh HaShanah 5750 was about one month to five weeks away.  We did not have to wait long for the Jahrzeit of Rachel Immeinu in the year 5750.  So the 11th of MarCheshvan 5750 was the 9th of November 1989.  On that very day the Great Shofar blast was blown, and in came the Bnei Ephraim from the Land of Ashur from the North country.  On that very day, the Berlin Wall came crashing to the Ground!  And into Eretz Yisrael poured about 1 1/2 million Eastern European Jews, just as the Vilna Gaon predicted about 200 years before it happened.  So if you want a definitive date for the Great Shofar Tekiah of the 6th Millennium, it was on the 11th of MarCheshvan 5750.  For every Jew in the world, if you are davening for that Shofar blast on Rosh HaShanah to occur for you, perhaps perhaps you missed the frequency of that blast.  It is history.  It has already occurred, over 34 years ago.

Oh, but we are not finished yet.  There were two ingatherings predicted for that two year period.  Only one of them was the Lost from the Land of Ashur (Assyria).  There would be another group of ancient Northern Kingdom Israelites who would be "Castaway in the Land of Mitzraim (Egypt)" who would also be ingathered during either 5750 and 5751.   For this we need to learn a bit of Oral History from Ethiopian Jews.  In the early 1980s before Operation Moses in 1984- Jan 1985, I spent about 6 months in Arad, Israel.  At that time Begin had been quietly ingathering Ethiopian Jews and bringing them home to Israel.  For whatever reason, the Absorption Centers in Arad were half-filled by Ethiopian immigrants.  The other half were immigrants from the rest of the world.  And I became friendly with a few families, and they told me their history in the Galut of Shwa along the tributary of the Blue Nile in Gondar Province.  Apparently, Shlomo HaMelekh and the Queen of Sheba had a son named Menelik.  He was sent to Shlomo's Kingdom by the Queen to be raised in Shlomo's Palace around the year 995 bce (taking into account Rav Shimon Schwab's tikkun of 165 years).  Upon King Shlomo's death around 965 bce, Menelik returned to Schwa with Shlichim from the Tribe of Dan to convert the entire Royal household to Judaism.  240- 245 years later around the year 722 bce, tragedy strikes the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  Shalmanezer the 5th followed by Sargon II who overthrew Shalmanezer V in a Palace coup sacked Samaria and exiled most of the Northern Kingdom to the eastern most realms of the Assyrian Empire.  Many of the northernmost tribes of Asher, Naftali, and the part of Dan that had conquered SE Lebanon had already been taken prisoner, and they were being used as slave porters for the Assyrian Army in later invasions of Judea, The Sea People's Palestine (Philistia) and later on Egypt around 670 bce by Esserhaddon son of Senncharrib who extended the Assyrian Empire down to Southern Egypt.  (I believe the southernmost city in Esserhaddon's reign was Memphis, Mitzraim (not Tennessee).  Upon doing this, he gave his Israelite porters whom he no longer needed a choice to be exiled to the far-eastern portion of the Assyrian Empire OR to leave his Empire for Sub-Saharan Africa.  Around 670 bce,  almost 300 years after the founding of the Jewish Kingdom of Schwa in Ethiopia, these "Castaway" Israelites departed the Assyrian Empire for Sub-Saharan Africa.  They became the Nidachim b'Eretz Mitzraim in the Isaiah 27 prophesy above and joined the existing Jewish kingdom in Ethiopia around 670 bce.  For over 2650 years they remained there, even when the kings of Ethiopia converted to Xtianity and took on non-Jewish wives.  Those kings were still descendants of King Shlomo, but they were no longer Jewish kings.  

Still the Beita Yisrael of Ethiopia remained there.  They had a legend that their portion of the tributary to the Blue Nile from Lake Tana in Northern Ethiopia roared all week long with rushing waters, but on Shabbat it was calm and placid.  Yet, they could not leave their villages for Eretz Yisrael on Shabbat by crossing the Blue Nile to return to Israel.  So they named that portion of the Blue Nile, the Sanbat River, Amhari or ancient Ge'ez for Shabbat.  (I am not kidding here.  This is their own Oral history.)  When Operation Moses occurred, people had to make a 1000 mile trek to the Sudanese Desert from Gondar Province where Pres Numeri of Sudan was secretly allowing Israeli cargo jets to land and take off with Israelites who had made the trek.  The operation went smoothly for about two months, rescuing about 7000 more Ethiopian Jews above the 7000 Israelites that Begin had been able to rescue earlier in the 1980s.  It was suddenly stopped when the Arab World found out and pressured Numeri to stop the Operation.  About 1000 Ethiopians were trapped in the Sudanese Desert until March when God HW Bush Sr. as Vice-President rescued whoever had not starved to death or died of thirst in the Desert in another operation called Yehoshua.  And there things remained for over 6 years, nuclear families split in two.  Half of some families were in Eretz Yisrael and half were in Ethiopia under the Communist Govt of Mengistu Miriam.  In 1991 during the Civil War in Ethiopia, the Eritrean People's front in encroaching on the capital Addis Ababa.  Suddenly in mid-May 1991 the Communist govt loses control of the Airport.  The Israeli govt realized that they had a 48 hour window to sweep into Addis Ababa and rescue the approximately 16000 to 18000 Ethiopian Jews who are in a compound run by the North American Council or Conference on Ethiopian Jewry that had been operating there as a refuge for over 6 years to reunite all the nuclear families that were split in two after Operation Moses.  It is May 24th and 25th, and guess what?  It is Friday afternoon and Shabbat, Parshat Nasso, and during that 36 hour period, precisely at the time that the Sanbat River became placid for 2650 years, 16,000 to 18,000 Ethiopian Jews were rescued in Operation Shlomo.    But wait a minute!  It was not Parshat Nasso in Eretz Yisrael.  That year Seder night had been on Shabbat, and there was an 8th day of Pesach on Shabbat outside of Israel.  So Eretz Yisrael was on the following week's parshah on the Shabbat of the 24th of May (11th of Siwan 5751).  In Eretz Yisrael when they landed it was Parshat be'Ha'alotcha not Parshat Nasso.  At the very end of Parshat Be'Ha'alotcha Miriam, the sister of Moshe gets tzara'at (leprosy) because she spoke lashon hara about her brother marrying a black woman!  No joke.  This was the Parshah in that miraculous two year period of 5750 and 5751 when HaShem rescued the Nidachim b'Eretz Mitzraim, the Beita Yisrael of Ethiopia.  So if anyone wants to challenge the Vilna Gaon on the veracity of his word that that Second Shofar blast for Geulah has already occurred over 30 years ago, you will need to challenge the established historical facts.  וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, יִתָּקַע בְּשׁוֹפָר גָּדוֹל, וּבָאוּ הָאֹבְדִים בְּאֶרֶץ אַשּׁוּר, וְהַנִּדָּחִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם has already occurred. 

There is only one Shofar blast left, and it is occurring as I write this.  And contrary to what many say, the Shofar blast in Zekharia 9 that brings Mashiach relates to WW3 beginning in Yemen.  The last Shofar blast for Geulah in Shofarot Rosh HaShanah is:

Zekharia 9:14  יד  וַיהוָה עֲלֵיהֶם יֵרָאֶה, וְיָצָא כַבָּרָק חִצּוֹ; וַאדֹנָי יְהוִה בַּשּׁוֹפָר יִתְקָע, וְהָלַךְ בְּסַעֲרוֹת תֵּימָן. 14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and His Arrow (Missile) shall go forth as the lightning (Laser-guided?); and the Lord GOD will blow HIS own personal ram's horn, and will go with Stormwinds of Yemen.

This prophesy above is the Final Shofar blast for Redemption.  Take it to the Judge.  Because of the late hour, I will continue at a later time, hopefully before we might lose Electricity near the beginning of Adar Sheini. 

Monday, July 17, 2023

The Final Rabbinic Regalia

 I would like to make my readers aware of a Dvar Torah that the Sefath Emeth (Sefas Emes, Rav Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter zt"l) said about 130 to 150 yrs ago.   I found it in a very old version of an old Rabbanut Yom HaAtzma'ut Machzor that we still have in our possession.  I found this wort not only amazingly prophetic but a key to unlock how the birth of the State Israel would somehow, someway suddenly one Tisha B'Av in the very near future morph into the vessel for the Messianic Era.  More exactly how would this chaotic mixture of at least 6 million exiles be suddenly made the receptacle for the Coming of Mashiach ben David?  (At this point the Jewish population here is at significantly over 7 million.)  At this time watching the painstaking minuscule Judicial Reforms and the resistance of half the country under the leadership of Armilus (Ehud Olmert אולמרת with a thav or sav), it seems at a cursory glance decades into the future.  As a matter of fact the sheer undignified Chutzpah of leftist pilots to threaten to ground their planes in protest might be the key to encourage Hezbollah to launch a surprise attack when the abandoned airforce jets remain in their hangars.  

Either way, we remain in great need of a spiritually rejuvenating event for those secular Israelis who are not from the irredeemable Qlipot of the Erev Rav.  The Prophecy in question is in Ezekiel 37.  We shall call it Ezekiel's backup prophecy of the Arba Ruchot or his Prophecy of the 4 winds, a prophecy on the tail of the Dry bones, but unlike the dry bones prophecy, the 4 winds complimentary prophecy has not yet occurred!  This is how I came by this.  

The Sefas Emes made two indelible points.  First he notes that the Shalosh Regalim (Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot) are like piercing brilliant sunlight.  They are given in the Torah in several places, particularly in Parshat Emor (Lev 23) and in Parshat Pinchus (Numbers 28-29) and in Parshat Re'eh (Deut 16) amongst other places in the Written Torah.  He then proceeds to make the point that we have two Rabbinic Regalim, festivals of joy or song or both, decreed by Chazal through Ruach HaQodesh either near the time of the end of prophetic inspiration or after the Ages of Prophesy had already terminated.  These Rabbinic festivals, though, are lunar reflections of the Shalosh Regalim!   So where the 3 Regalim from the Torah shine like the Sun, the 2 Rabbinic Regalim reflect the light of the Sun as the Moon does.  He further goes on to hint that at the end of History there will be one more (or two more as we will soon see) Rabbinic festivals to reflect as the Moon does the light of the Torah's three Regalim.

The Sefas Emes then goes on to explain that The 8 days of Chanukah reflected the original dedication of Shlomo HaMelekh's Temple which concluded during the 7 days of Sukkot/ +1 day of Shmini Atzereth.  And then he describes how at Sinai the Written Torah was accepted with love (on Shavuot), but how Klal Yisrael was forced to accept the Oral Torah through coercion by threatening to drop Mt Sinai on their heads.  Only when Queen Esther decreed a 3 day fast to annul in Heaven Haman's extermination decree (during Pesach, by the way), did Klal Yisrael accept the Oral Torah with love during Pesach to alter their original reticence during Shavuot 2448.  The realization of the annulment of the extermination decree was realized the following Purim and Shushan Purim, 11 months later (after the original decree was annulled on the 23rd of Siwan).  To be exact, the Fast of Esther lasted either the 13th, 14th and 15th of Nissan with the first banquet of the King and Haman on the 16th at night and the hanging of Haman on the 17th at night, the 2nd night of Chol HaMoed.  Or the fast was on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of Nissan with the first banquet on the 17th at night and the hanging of Haman on the 18th of Nissan, the third night of Chol HaMoed.  Either way, the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 1st night of Pesach was canceled that year, for the afternoon of the 14th and the 15th at night were central to Teshuvah b'Ahavah for originally rejecting the Oral Torah.

So this is where the Sefas Emeth's dvar Torah on this subject SEEMS to end, but one realizes that he was saying a lot more.  First of all, let us digress into how Isru Chag of all the festivals is actually from the Torah.  Everyone knows that a Qorban Shlamim was a festive offering that could be brought all year round.  One offered it during the day and after allowing for the Kohen to properly pour its blood at the Altar and to partake of his portion of the Qorban and to give to G-d His portion on the altar, the party of people had 2 days and the night in the middle to festively eat the Qorban.  The following night at Sundown, the Qorban was forbidden at which point if one partakes, he/she gets Karet (spiritual excision).  Now in a majority of circumstances, most people would come to the Tabernacle at Shilo and the Temples in Yerushalayim to offer a Peace offering during the 3 Regalim or Pilgrimage festivals and would offer it up during the festival from the first day, during Chol HaMoed or on the last day of Chag Pesach or on Shmini Atzereth.  In this way, if the Peace offering was offered up during the festival the Peace offering was a Chagigah which could be eaten on the day that it was offered + one additional day.  Shavuoth stands out as a one day festival, but our sages made it possible to offer up Qorbanot for 6 additional days so that Israel or later just Judea would not neglect to come for just one day of Shavuot.  Imagine walking for 3 days and turning back around on Isru Chag 2 days later to walk home for 3 days!  I believe these extra 6 days for Shavuot are D'Rabbanan though.  So the only D'Oraita day to turn your Peace offering into a Chagigah was on Shavuot (6th of Siwan or day 50 of Sefirat HaOmer) itself.  But once again as with other Festive offerings (Chagigot), the Qedushah of that Chagigah lasted until the end of Isru Chag, that one day after the holy party seemed to be over.  In this way that one day after had the Qedushah of the days of the festival, at least the Qedushah of Chol haMoed for anyone still partaking of a Qorban Chagigah.  This is the spiritual essence of Isru Chag.

So going back to the words of the Sefas Emes, what did he mean that Purim and Pesach were lunar reflections of 2 of the 3 Shalosh Regalim?  To be the lunar reflection of something, one needs to follow the regularity of the cycles of the Moon!  So just like Pesach is the full moon for the month of Nissan, Purim and Shushan Purim are at the Full moon for the previous month of Adar.  So Purim falls exactly one lunar cycle (30 days) before Pesach begins.  And the way the holy calendar usually works, the full moon for 30 day months like Nissan is the 15th of the month while the Full moon for 29 day months like Adar or Adar Sheini is between the 14th and 15th of Adar or Adar Sheini!  Now THIS is what the Sefas Emes ALSO  meant, for how is Purim a "lunar reflection" of Shavuot simply because it completed the acceptance of the Oral Torah that had begun on Shavuot 2448??  What does accepting the Oral Torah out of Love have to do with the cycles of the Moon?  Why mention the Moon at all?  But here we see that Purim really is a lunar reflection of Pesach!  Now going to the end of Chag Sukkot/Shmini Atzereth 6 months later we recognize that Shmini Atzereth is on the 22nd of Tishrei and Isru Chag is on the 23rd of Tishrei.  From there, the end of Isru Chag, we count forward, not 30 days, but 60 days or 2 lunar cycles.  In every year Tishrei has 30 days, and in most years (not every year) Cheshvan has 29 days.  So 60 days after the end of the day on Isru Chag Sukkot we reach Sundown on the 25th of Kislev, the first night of Chanukah!  Now THIS is what the Sefas Emes was referring to!  Both Purim and Chanukah are lunar reflections of Pesach and Sukkot, one 30 days before and the other 60 days after Isru Chag.  And only at the End of Days would there be a certain prophecy which would come to pass divided in two, part of it 30 days prior to Shavuot and part of it 60 days after the 7th of Siwan, Isru Chag of Shavuot.  So in this way do the words of the Sefas Emes really make sense.  The question then comes down to which prophecy, how can we pin it down, and how do we know that that very prophecy comes in two parts separated by years of doubt or better yet a Nisayon.

To be continued.....

Just to give a preview, the Prophecy in question is the Haftarah of Chol HaMoed Pesach, the first half of Ezekiel 37.  It is the prophecy chosen for Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach for a reason, to be the Acharit HaYamim prophesy for both Pesach, Sefirat HaOmer, until the day of Atzereth (Shavuot) itself.  Exactly 30 days prior to Shavuot is Hey B'Iyar, The Day of the Dry Bones.  It is a oft quoted joke of Chareidi non-Zionists that Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day) is really Yom Atzamot (Day of the Dry Bones).  The really funny thing is that the joke IS the Truth, the physical redemption of Israel without the Ruchniyut Redemption, and G-d in the year 5708, 3 years after Auschwitz, was not laughing.  Exactly 60 days after Isru Chag of Shavuot is Tisha B'Av, the long awaited future event that can be best translated as the Prophecy of the 4 Winds, the future event which has not yet occurred.  It IS a separate prophecy in Ezekiel 37.  First he prophesied on the dry bones, and when he saw that there was no spirit in those ingathered exiles, HaShem told him to prophesy over the 4 winds.  So Ezekiel in that rather short Haftarah for Chol HaMoed Pesach, prophesied twice, once about the physical redemption on Hey b'Iyar, the ingathering of Dry Bones, that everyone remembers and once about the spiritual redemption on Tisha B'Av, the Arba Ruchot, that few even know about.

More than anything I wanted to discuss my thoughts on other matters, but I want this posted by Rosh Chodesh Av.  Chodesh tov.



 

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

And the Dead Do Not Praise the L-rd, Neither any that Go Down to Duma

Please forgive the shorthand brevity of this new post.  I will gladly explain the reason for my brevity in the Comments.

To be honest, I have noticed an uncharacteristic inconsistency in this second to last verse in Psalm 115 for as long as I have been saying Hallel (Psalms 113- 118) as a Baal Teshuvah in the early 1980s.  Every Chag except Purim and every Rosh Chodesh includes this verse whether full Hallel or Half Hallel is recited.  Something about it was unsettling, and early on I put my finger on it:  I am speaking about Psalm 115:17.   Psalm 115 is the third psalm in Hallel, and even when only half-Hallel is said, verse 17 is included.

  לֹא הַמֵּתִים, יְהַלְלוּ-יָהּ;    וְלֹא, כָּל-יֹרְדֵי דוּמָה. 17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence (Duma);

יח  וַאֲנַחְנוּ, נְבָרֵךְ יָהּ--    מֵעַתָּה וְעַד-עוֹלָם:

הַלְלוּ-יָהּ. 18 But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for ever. {N}

Hallelujah.

We are told at the beginning of this verse that the Dead do not praise HaShem.  So If those who go down to Duma are those who need to have their souls cleansed for up to 11 months in Gehinnom after they die, why emphasize that they ALSO do not praise HaShem??  According to this peirush, Duma is the Angel that guards the Gate to the fires of Gehinnom.  Yes, we are talking about an unusual Fire that tries all Ten Sefirot of the Neshamah.  This is no ordinary fire, but if the Psalmist, David, is trying to emphasize the worst possible punishment against the Dead, Gehinnom does not hold a candle to eternal cancellation of the soul or Kaf HaKela, when the Angels fling one's soul across the Universe back and forth for 100 years or 1000 years or Eternity (a form of Angelic Chai ALai) mentioned in Shmuel Aleph 25:29.  Assuredly, those who are in Kaf HaKela do not praise HaShem either.  So we are stuck with the apparent redundant nature that the Dead do not praise Kah including those who do not go down to Gehinnom or those who go to Kaf HaKela or those who go down to She'ol or those who go directly into Gan Eden....  Take your pick.

Usually when the Psalms mention two things in parallel with each other, one sees a comparison between something more kal or light with something more chamur or stronger in order that the addition of the new aspect at the end of the pasuk adds a Chiddush.  For instance, 

ז  צַדִּיק יְהוָה, בְּכָל-דְּרָכָיו;    וְחָסִיד, בְּכָל-מַעֲשָׂיו. 17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways, and a Chassid in all His works.  from Psalm 145

From here we see that in all G-d's ways measured by His Laws, He is Just, but Beyond the Measure of His attribute of Justice, we see His Chessed in His Deeds (not just His Ways).   So we see here that the second half of the verse comes as a Chiddush on the first half of the verse.  There are no wasted words, and the second half of the verse is not a redundant expression of the first half.   This type of parallelism with a Chiddush in the second half is a regular feature in Sefer Tehillim.  The words were given to the Psalmist (for the most part King David) through Ruach HaQodesh (Holy Spirit) channeling sanctity into the words and guaranteeing that none of the words would be either redundant or flippant.  So that leaves us with the APPARENT exception to this rule, Psalm 115:17.  Now I write apparent exception because deep down we know that none of David's words were redundant or flippant.  There has to be a different understanding of this verse than the oft-noted explanation which solves the problem of redundancy and flippancy,  G-d forbid.

The second point about Psalm 115 is something I noticed several years later after I learned of the deep structure of Redemption expressed through the Order of Service in the Pesach Seder.  We notice right away that the the 4 cups of wine are divided neatly two before the Main Meal and two after the main meal (Shulchan Orekh) because the first Redemption was done with the Yud and the first Hey in HaShem's Name while the Final Redemption will be done with the attaching of the Vav and the Final Hey in HaShem's Name to the Yud and the First Hey once Amaleq can be destroyed in the world.  This explains why ALL of the Maggid (Telling) of the Redemption from Mitzraim, followed by the 2nd cup of wine, must be completed BEFORE the HaMotzi and the Torah Mitzvah of Eating Matzah which begins the Meal.  Maggid must come after the Middle Matzah has been split during Yachatz with the Smaller piece of Matzah being the one over which we tell the story of the Exodus while the larger piece of Matzah is the piece of Matzah that symbolizes the Greater and Grander Final Redemption After the Meal.  The meal itself is reminiscent of eating the Qorban Pesach with Maror and Matzah and the Qorban Chagigah for Pesach when there was a Temple and of all of  of Jewish history since the Temple was destroyed when we had neither Qorban  Surviving this larger segment of Jewish history when there was no Temple required this annual spectacle called the Pesach Seder to ensure that we and our descendants would still be around almost 2000 years later.  So the Meal somehow represents the entire span of Jewish History from the Exodus from Egypt until the Simanim of the Arrival of the Era of Mashiach ben Yosef.  We have discussed on this blog how the simanim of Mashiach ben Yosef was the greening of the hills of Eretz Yisrael from the First Agricultural Aliyah of 1882 when 4 agricultural settlements were founded in the same year 1882 (Rosh HaPinah, Petach Tikvah, Rishon LeTzion, and Zikhron Ya'akov).  Two of these settlings were actually repeats.  Rosh HaPinah and Petach Tikvah had previously been established but had been wiped out either by Arab terrorists in Rosh HaPinah and a Malaria epidemic in Petach Tikvah.  Both Rosh HaPinah and Petach Tikvah had been unsuccessfully established in 1878.  Somehow the hidden Matzah is reminiscent of the world falling to the 50th level of Tumah before Mashiach ben Yosef, something that has recently occurred about 6 1/2 years ago.  The Run up from the founding of Zikhron Yaakov (when G-d remembers Ya'akov) until today is just over 140 years.  Alas after the ingathering of exiles and the 6th election of Bibi Netanyahu (the 5th Mashiach ben Yosef) and the Aliyah to Israel of Yehonatan Pollard (the 6th Mashiach ben Yosef), we arrive at the moment of the 3rd cup of wine (The Vav in HaShem's Name).  At this stage because Eliyahu HaNavi lost the mantle to herald the Coming of Mashiach ben Yosef, we arrive at the event of the coming of Eliyahu HaNavi to herald Mashiach ben David (the 4th cup of wine and the Final Hey in HaShem's Name).  So after drinking the 3rd cup of wine, we pour the cup of Eliyahu HaNavi and open the front door and proclaim with a loud voice for HaShem to pour out His Wrath on the Gentiles that do not know Him, specifically against those who have massacred the seed of Ya'akov with bloody pogroms throughout the Ages.  One of the ways that we will know that we have reached that moment in history is if the nation that spilled the most Jewish blood for the last 2000 years is itself having its blood spilled almost indiscriminately.  For that nation will be completely wiped out from being a nation under the Heavens!

If one does a quick study of the various nations of the world where Jews have lived in significant numbers and which nation has shed the most Jewish blood at least in the last thousand years (including the last 3 generations) invariably we will arrive at the Ukraine or Ukraine.  For hundreds of years The Ukraine was The Borderland for at least three empires (Russian, Lithuanian, and Polish and sometimes Polish-Lithuanian).  Until 1648 The Ukraine (The Borderland) was not Ukraine, an independent country.  The year 1648, that very year, that Ukraine finally became an independent country under its leader Bogdan Chielminitzky (whose statue is all over Kiev), Ukraine proceeded to slaughter anywhere between 200,000 and 700,000 Jews!  They did horrible tortures reminiscent of the future Shoah slightly less than 300 years later.  Sadly there was no census that had been done of the Jews that were murdered in the areas that the Ukrainian Cossacks conquered including large parts of Poland, BelaRus, and Galitcia.  So all we have are estimates of the numbers who were murdered.  In most of the estimates up to 1/3 of all Eastern European Jews may have been murdered between 1648 and 1649 on the very birthday of the founding of a the nation that slaughtered them, the Ukrainians.  If there be any place in Europe that might be called the Graveyard for World Jewry, that place would be the blood soaked land of Ukraine.  And it really did not stop.  From Tach veTat to willing accomplices with the Nazis to murder European Jewry almost 300 years later, the Ukraine topped the list in most categories of Blood and Gore.  Is it a wonder that when we say and pray to G-d:  

Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not acknowledge You, and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon Your Name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let the wrath of Your anger overtake them. Pursue them with anger, and destroy them from beneath the heavens of the L‑rd.  

Is there any question that the number one nation that we should have in mind that has done these things in a consistent manner for the last 375 years since its inception as a nation to the descendants of Ya'akov is Ukraine?  Without even one Jew pushing any button, is it a wonder that the G-d's Revenge against the nations of the world that have tortured Jews throughout the centuries begins right there?   And have the Ukrainians EVER apologized for Tach veTat (1648 and 49) or all the massacres of Jews since?  Have they ever taken down their statues of Bogdan in the Kiev public square in shame for what he and their ancestors did?  Have they taught their kids in schools "Tach veTat studies", the same way that all German children today must know about the Holocaust?  No reflection on their wicked past, just crickets and the proclamation that their President is a Jewish comedian who renounced his Judaism by raising his children in the Ukrainian Church years ago cutting his descendants off from any Jewish destiny.  I have no personal animus against Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but if he is the monument to the new Ukrainian Jewry, then Bogdan Chielminitzky succeeded in his mission without slaying any more Jewish babies with his sword.  The point for this essay is we have arrived at this stirring statement in the Haggadah for the End of Days after pouring Eliyahu's cup, and we prepare ourselves for what comes immediately next:  Psalm 115, yes the above Psalm 115, one and the same.  

Let us take a step back.  First notice that in the Pesach Seder, we also say Hallel, albeit without a Brakhah specifically no Brakhah for Hallel.  But the first two psalms in Hallel are said with the Maggid step in the Hagaddah, at the end of Maggid, before the Meal!  This tells us immediately, that the first two prakim of Hallel are for the Redemption from Egypt and not for the Final Redemption!  So we arrive at the inevitable conclusion that since the first two chapters of Hallel are specifically for the Redemption from Egypt, then the last four Prakim (Psalms) of Hallel are for the Final Redemption specifically starting with Psalm 115.  It is why we start with Psalm 115 after praying for revenge against the nations that have murdered us and conclude with Psalm 118 before Hodu LaShem ki Tov and Nishmat Kal Chai followed by the 4th cup of wine.  So in this way, Psalm 115, not Psalm 113, is emblematic of the beginning of the Final Redemption (after the Revenge against those who have murdered us has already begun).  

So now I must return to the Winter and Spring of 2016.  Several young adult "Hilltop youth" had been implicated in an arson case in the Arab town of Duma where an entire Arab family may have been murdered in the Summer of 2015.  The question that has never been answered was Who Dunit?  Was it done by a group of Jewish arsonist extremists or another Arab family in the same village looking for revenge?  Apparently, only G-d knows because to be honest, the Jewish Division of the Shin Bet never proved a d-mn thing.  The leader of the youth who were implicated wrongfully without a body of evidence was the grandson of Rav Meir Kahane zt"l, Meir Ettinger.  That would be Meir Ettinger was the son of Rav Kahane's daughter, Tova Kahane- Ettinger.  Almost a dozen of these youths were put wrongfully in prison for months on end often tortured to extract a confession.  Shaba"k was able to extract one conviction from all this without any evidence to support this conviction.  Amiram ben Ulliel is still in prison for this conviction.  What was fascinating from the conviction from the beginning is that for months on end, these youths did not have regular discussions with a lawyer.  They could be held and potentially tortured inside a Shaba'k dungeon without Habeas Corpus or of what should be required, a Writ of Habeas Corpus.   No regular meeting with a lawyer.  Techniques to extract confessions that may be the equivalent of torture.  I always imagined that Shaba"k had a 500 year old Torqemada torture rack in a dungeon somewhere, and they were using it to extract confessions.  Since there was 0 oversight over what they were doing with these youths for months on end, it could be easily imagined that they tried almost everything.  And since their techniques for extracting confessions were done in complete secrecy, imagining what they were potentially doing is 100% justified.  Down in the dungeon of the Jewish Division of Shaba"k where no one can hear you scream where no one could praise HaShem.  Sometime near the end of Adar 5776 there was a Brit Milah for a boy, the son of Meir Ettinger, who by this time had been held for 7 months?  8 months?  But the Shaba"k authorities would not let Meir out of the dungeon to attend his own son's brit milah!  So thousands of us went.  I even saw Betzalel Smotrich at the event at the Breslov Shul in the Shaarei Chessed neighborhood.  Betzalel was in street clothes.  He was not there in any official capacity for Bayit Yehudi.  Yes, it was a fascinating and moving affair, a brit milah for a boy whose father was being tortured by Shaba'k to extract a confession that he never gave.  Eventually after 10 months in this dungeon he was let free.  What I remember most of all is that there was an organization for the Yordei Duma (those who had gone down into the Shaba"k dungeon to be questioned about the Duma arson case.)  The name of that organization was Choneinu.  And there was a young lawyer who took on the entire case of clients that he could not even talk to pro bono.  He did not expect a shekel for his services.  Perhaps he was paid a measly stipend by Choneinu.  It mattered not.  The Tzaddiq who took this case on was Itamar Ben Gvir, and I knew right then and there that somehow, someway this tzaddiq would be the lightning rod to introduce Mashiach ben David to the entire world, a man that 2/3rds of Mankind (the world's reprobate majority) would learn to hate for being that very tzaddiq!  Almost 7 years have passed since that fateful Brit Milah of Meir Ettinger's son, and Ben Gvir has burst on the scene almost precisely as I expected him to.  The Yordei Duma (those who went down because of Duma), well, they are the parallel construct, the Chiddush on the second half of that second to last verse in Psalm 115 that only makes sense after the fact with 20/20 hindsight  What happens, next, we shall see.

For anyone thinking of censoring, in no way do I approve of Rav Kahane's call to exile all Arabs from this Holy Land.  Every gentile who has the privilege to live here must keep 7 Laws of human decency.  Amongst the 7 are laws against Murder and laws to passionately be revolted of those who do murder to be a witness against murderers in Courts of Law.  A gentile does not have to put his life on the line to uphold the Courts of Justice clause, but if he celebrates in any way the murder of Jews, he has lost his right to be here, for he celebrates murder and would not be a witness against a murder suspect.  Those who take candy in public in the squares of Ramallah to celebrate the success of murder or who attend parties for a shahid suicide bomber, they have forfeited their residency in Eretz Yisrael because of a lack of human decency.  Sadly approximately 70 to 75% of Israel's Arabs with or without citizenship support the murderers who blow up pizza parlors or civilian busses.  So 70 to 75% of Israel's Arabs have forfeited their residency through their lack of human decency according to Noachide Law.  So as we hone in on the final exact figure, Meir Kahane was 70 to 75% correct..

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Wednesday, July 06, 2022

The Three Necessary Ingredients of "In Its Time"

 This will be a short post, and if these three conditions are not met, it may be my last post at least for a while.  (Upon receiving Reader Comments I have decided to slow down my blog to reflect on the situation and not to mothball my blog after all.) I have been writing about the End of Days since the Winter of 2004/ 2005, and deep down I always believed that the End of the Shmittah year 5782 would be the B'itah keitz.  I have discussed in numerous places on this blog why I have thought this from the last few p'sukim in Sefer Daniel to Zekharia 13 with 2/3rds of Mankind in a state of moral degeneracy and reprobation (below Mem Tet Shaarei tumah).  The last several posts on this blog discuss these matters in great detail.  Since the Gog ben Gog Bush Presidency and 9/11, we have had numerous opportunities to bring Mashiach within b'itah, Achishena.  A test of basic human decency was required to be passed (often by observant Jews) in order to hasten the process, and we failed the test.  Now, frankly I believe that our backs our against the Wall at the end of history.  The Majority of humanity no longer thinks that human decency is defined by G-d Above but only in the recesses of their own hearts.  In such a world Israel is at odds with the natural order of things in that the majority of the human race is either hostile or ambivalent to our/Israel's continued national existence.  The Supernatural order of things must openly become more and more expressed to guarantee our survival.  The In G-d We Trust nation/ superpower is basically dead with more than half of all Americans no longer trusting in the G-d whose Name secures the value of their nation's World Reserve Currency status.  In such a world one can no longer simply be preserved through Teva (Nature's G-d) or through wars won in 6 Days.  Literally mountains will need to be split in two, (a supernatural sign of "Don't tread on them!")

Several years ago, a tremendous tzaddiq, whom I had the privilege to know, passed away.  His name was Yaakov Tabak MD zt"l.  We had several discussions about Acharit HaYamim.  He would often find sources for events as they were occurring amongst our classic commentaries.  For instance as the Gush Qatif Evacuation saga was unfolding and as it became more and more likely that the slow moving train wreck would occur (after the Ashkenazi Chareidi Party joined Sharon's govt for the money), he immediately made people aware of the Targum Yonatan ben Uziel's lengthy commentary on Devarim (Deut 34: 2-3) where the Targum translates The City of Date Palms in the following:

ב  וְאֵת, כָּל-נַפְתָּלִי, וְאֶת-אֶרֶץ אֶפְרַיִם, וּמְנַשֶּׁה; וְאֵת כָּל-אֶרֶץ יְהוּדָה, עַד הַיָּם הָאַחֲרוֹן. 2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the last (Most Western) sea;

ג  וְאֶת-הַנֶּגֶב, וְאֶת-הַכִּכָּר בִּקְעַת יְרֵחוֹ עִיר הַתְּמָרִים--עַד-צֹעַר. 3 and the South, and the Plain, the valley of Jericho the city of palm-trees, as far as Tzoar.

as "Qirvat Dekaliya being evacuated and sent into exile of 200,000 soldiers from Klal Yisrael" at the End of Days, in the words of the Targum Yonatan.  Dr. Tabak and the rest of us who knew of this commentary took some solace that b'itah, absent a tremendous turn to revere Heaven at the last minute, the largest Jewish City in Gaza, Newe Dekalim was headed for destruction at the hands of 200,000 Israeli soldiers, 100% as described by the Targum.  It did not HAVE to be, but absent a collective realization of human decency, it was going to occur...., and it did.  And the Targum right there also predicted that Gog of Edom was pulling the puppet, Sharon, by some long distance strings to make sure that it would happen.  After the eventuality of that Churban which DID begin on the Tenth of Av (when it was planned for the 9th), Dr. Tabak and I had some meaningful conversations about what the Tzoar in this prophesy was all about, and we started talking about the very End.  

From my discussions with Dr. Tabak I learned that the last nine months (the travail of the 271 day pregnancy before the Messianic Era) spoken about in Micah 4 and 5 and the Gemorrah in Sanhedrin would take place either in the 6th year or the 7th year of a Shmittah cycle between either the 10th to the 15th of Tevet in a regular year (Or the 10th and 15th of Shevat in a year with two Adars) and its end point being either the 1st day of Sukkot or Hoshana Rabbah.   In actuality, Dr. Tabak spoke about how that the end point of the 9 months either would be on Sukkot or on Hoshana Rabbah while its beginning point would be nine months earlier in either Tevet or Shevat depending on whether there would be one or two Adars.  Through our discussions we came to the conclusion that the nine months would need to be during either the 6th or 7th year of a Shmittah cycle based on the Gemorrah that Voices would be heard in year 6, Wars in year 7, and ben David would come in year 8.  If the Wars in year 7 were the essence of the Redemption, then the pregnancy would begin in "January" of year 6 while if the son of David coming was the essence of the Redemption, then the pregnancy would begin in "January" of year 7.  And the hallmark of those nine months would be a concerted and intense effort by the Nations of the World and the Erev Rav to divide Israel (Yoel 3 and 4) and to divide Yerushalayim specifically (Zekharia 14) between Israel and the Roman (or Edomite) name of an invented Muslim people, Palestine.  So this is the source of the title of my post in June last year about the Last Trimester of the 9 Months.    Since Yehonatan Pollard, the last Mashiach ben Yosef, touched down in Israel on the 15th of Tevet 5781 and since the Suffering of Yosef and the Suffering of Tzion parallel each other, I assumed at least the strong possibility that the 9 months starting in Tevet 5781, a regular year, began with the arrival of Pollard in Israel.  But when Yerushalayim was not split in two during those fateful nine months following the 15th of Tevet, it became obvious that those nine months were pushed off to the Shmittah year 5782.  And at the end of those nine months, we would need to "escape Yerushalayim" for a short time as G-d judges the World during Sukkot.  And we would escape through the split in the Mt of Olives into the Judean Desert or Maaleh Adumim with half of the mountain moving north and the other half moving south.  And the ultimate judgement of fire, meteoric stones, and fiery coals from Rotem trees on the Wicked would be on Hoshana Rabbah of either the 7th or 8th year (Motzei Shmittah) of that fateful Shmittah cycle.  This I also discussed in detail with Dr. Tabak in one of our final conversations before he passed away.  It would also follow at the end of a cycle where Rain became more and more scarce in the first three years of the cycle, but that the Heavens would open on Eretz Yisrael in years 4 and 5 of that cycle, and this DID occur here with record breaking rainfalls in 5779 and 5780 the fourth and fifth years of this present Shmittah cycle.   Look at the Kinneret Levels for 2019 and 2020 right here to see how much it rained in those two years.  Rainfall in 5779 and 5780 was downright dramatic.  So the die was cast even if we had lost the privilege for a major spiritual awakening in the 5th year of this cycle as described in other posts because the spiritual awakening in year 5 was supposed to be lead by the Chareidi world, but in year 4 of the 5762- 5768 cycle in 5765, they were tested to see if they would take the lead in year 5.  But they were found absent from the challenge.  (Not all the Chareidim were absent. Rav Ovadia Yosef  and most Sefaradim were keenly involved in stopping the Disengagement.  So were many Chassidim and their Rebbes.  But in many cases, the Ashkenazim on this issue had their collective heads in Brooklyn, not on doing what was morally correct for Jews in Israel.)  That was the test for proceeding with redemption in the Gog ben Gog Bush Shmittah cycle.  The opportunity was blown.

Into this mix came one more mitigating factor which would reduce the suffering in Eretz Yisrael during these final nine months, and on a few occasions I had the additional privilege of discussing these details with Dr Tabak zt"l before he passed away.   In August of 2013, the Ba'al Kerry (Sec of State John Kerry under Obama) announced his "9 month plan for intense negotiations" to split Eretz Yisrael between Israel and Palestine.  It was during Av at the end of the 5th year of the previous Shmittah cycle which ended in Sept 2015, and those 9 months of the Ba'al Kerry were set to end around Pesach 5774 of the 6th year of that previous Cycle.  Tzippy Livni would lead these negotiations that were being forced on Israel, and the "Witch of Eindor" Livni was so proud of herself as a representative of a pitzy little peace party to be leading Israel towards all kinds of concessions as the Peace contingent of the Netanyahu govt that was being pulled into the fray by Obama and Kerry.  The condition of Israel's participation in this attempt to earn Kerry or Obama a Nobel Peace prize was that we would admit guilt that all those Jews murdered by Arab terrorists for the last 50 years were only murdered (or killed) in an "Act of War" and not in Acts of Terror, and in reality all those terrorists were really freedom fighters.  So Israel would be required to release in four separate releases 26 Arab murderers from our jails every nine to ten weeks, four separate releases x 26 murderers per release being equal to a total of 104 murderous Arabs who deserved their freedom!... according to the warped minds of Obama and the Ba'al Kerry.  And those releases would take place regardless of how those "Piece talks" were going just for the privilege of seeking Peace with the invented people, 75% of whom want us dead in accordance to almost every poll I have ever seen!  This was the condition of Israel having a place at the Pieces table!!  And the Sicko Witch of Eindor was so so happy to participate.  Well any frum Jew with a Mind bigger than a Pea could see what was going on.  HaShem (Yud Key Vav Key) for whom whose Four letters has the Gematriah of 26 was playing out these 9 months on a very deep and elevated, sublime level so that the 9 months would end in the Rachmanut of Pesach.   Well the months passed by with the first three sickening releases of bloodthirsty savages taking place in accordance with the Ba'al Kerry's schedule.  So during those first 30 weeks of the Ba'al Kerry's nine months, 78 Arab murderers were released from Israeli jails.  It was obvious that during all this, the Netanyahu Govt was a puny little slave to the whims of the Ba'al Kerry through Tzippy Livni's pitzy little Pieces of Israel Party, but to give him some credit, Netanyahu used Livni's eagerness to be loved by the world and the Arab's eagerness to want everything on the menu against them by balking at several key points in this Obama/Kerry setup.  And near the end of the negotiations, Bibi decided to throw a monkeywrench into this evil affair by demanding the release of Yehonatan Pollard before Pesach in order for the Releases (the fourth release) and the negotiations to continue.  At this stage Pollard was still rotting in Solitary Confinement.  But Kerry's response was classic Amaleq.  "You want the release of the Mashiach ben Yosef of the End of history?  You need to release an ADDITIONAL 400 MEN from your filthy little prison for freedom fighters if you want to see Yosef (or Yehonatan) before Pesach!"  Just a reminder, according to our sages only Yosef could stare into the eyes {the Ayin Ra or Evil Eye (Gematriah 400) of both Esav (עשו) and Amaleq (עמלק)} of Esav when he was approaching Ya'akov with 400 men in Genesis 33.   From this we see that the Ba'al Kerry was and still is from the seed of Amaleq.   There is no accident that he would immediately come up with the figure of an additional 400 murderers in exchange for Pollard if he did not instinctively know that Yehonatan Pollard was his arch-Foe, Mashiach ben Yosef.  When Bibi heard this response from Kerry, he immediately declined the offer to release 400 more Arab murderers from our jails and immediately declined to follow through with the fourth release of the remaining 26 murderers for the privilege of continuing negotiations with the invented people.  The Evil scheme ended in failure, but only after watching 78 murderers go free.... to likely murder again while we watched the parade of the relatives of the victims of these murderers go through the devastating loss of their murdered loved ones, being forced to relive it once again with the release of the murderers who had shed the blood of their loved ones.   It was a horrible debacle.  Thank G-d it did not end with a Pieces of Israel Treaty which would have simply ended in more horrible bloodshed from and approved by 75% of our bloodthirsty cousins.  

But in spite of the unmitigated horror of the above while it was happening over 8 years ago in real time, I have believed for the last 8 years that this horrible affair was not for nothing.  It seems that about 75% or 3/4 of the pain and duration of these present nine months were mitigated, (ממותק) in Hebrew, by the pain and duration of those 9 months of John Kerry.  In Qabbalah as I have discussed in other posts on this blog there are Four Universes where the Four Letters of the Divine Name are specifically active with a stress on One letter having specific influence on each Universe.  The Yud is specifically prevalent over Atzilut (where G-d has eternally existed even before the Creation of the other Universes).  The Sefirot Keter and Chochmah emanate from the Yud.  the Upper or First Hey is most active in Beri'ah (the Universe of Ex nihilo Creation).  The Sefirah of Binah emanates from this Hey.  The 6 emotional Sefirot (Gedulah, Gevurah, Tifereth, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod) emanate from the Vav in HaShem's Name which is most prevalent in Yetzirah (the Universe of the Actualization or Formation of Creation).  And the Final Hey is most prevalent in the lowest Universe, Asiyah, and this Final Hey emanates the Sefirah of Malkhut (the Kingship of HaShem).  When all four Universes are filled, His Name will be One.  Until then His Name is split in two by Amaleq, the likes of the Ba'al Kerry in the world.  I do not think that I can do this entire subject justice in this one little paragraph.  I have written in a more detailed fashion about the Four Universes here in this link and in other posts like here.  Notice that the Universe of Asiyah is not ultimately filled by the Divine Presence until between the 25th of Elul of the Shmittah year and the 17th of Marcheshvan in hopefully the Coming Motzei (post) Shmittah year.  Here is the Chart from Sefer HaLeshem dealing with the Filling of the Four Universes provided to me by Rav Pinchus Winston many years ago:


Here is a link to a larger more detailed image of the above colorful Chart of the Filling of 4 Universes. 

So if the above is correct, and we are at the End of the Nine Months in Year 7, then the following three things need to happen in order to have B'itah Geulah by Sukkot of 5783, the Motzei Shmittah year.  At first glance these three things are downright scary, precisely because they are downright scary.  But what they portend is Final Geulah by Sukkot.  I am at the stage now that if these three things do not happen that I was considering temporarily mothballing this blog until these things occur.  I would do so NOT because that I have ceased to believe that Mashiach is coming, but because for a huge chunk of my life I have verily believed that the B'itah keitz is during Sukkot of 5783, the Motzei Shmittah year of last resort.  And if they do not happen, how can I contribute to the discussion of Endtimes events if I have failed to demarcate the end of these matters?  But as I mentioned above, I will temporarily write less in order to reflect on what is happening without mothballing my blog.  Here are the three things that need to happen by the 25th of Elul to set up Redemption during Tishrei 5783:

I am holding by the 3 things below that MUST happen by the last week in Elul. If they do not develop, I will be temporarily pausing from frequent posts and updates on this blog until things become more relevant. I believe strongly in the b'itah nature of this keitz, so strongly, that if these things do not happen, I would need time to reflect on what I can possibly contribute.

1. Iran (Persia) needs to have nuclear capability to force teshuvah on Klal Yisrael. The nation of Haman must rise with deliverable nukes before Rosh HaShanah 5783 to force teshuvah by Yom Kippur.  In the end, Edom and Persia will destroy each other, and nuclear weapons will not be detonated on the soil of Eretz Yisrael.  Yet, the fear of that happening will force the recalcitrant nation of Israel to repent in a way that G-d sending 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses to the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judea did not accomplish.  Yes, this is frightening, and for good reason this is G-d's last resort to "encourage" repentance.  

2. The entire world will come to recognize Palestine, bringing that recognition to a new level. By doing so, they divide Yerushalayim (Zekharia 14) and the Land of Israel (Yoel 3 and 4). The Redemption from their arrogance will take place during Sukkot of the Motzei Shmittah year 5783.  In the interim, this is their Crime of last Resort.  (Perhaps when Joe Biden and his Leftist puppet-masters arrive just before the 17th of Tamuz, we will see this take shape.)

3. The world's system of fiat currency will continue to undergo systemic collapse and hyper-inflation.  By the very end of the Shmittah year, fiat currency might be close to worthless.

Focus on everything happening in the next 3 months to be part of the process of those 3 things occurring.

4. The 4th thing not mentioned above is the Coming of Eliyahu HaNavi to herald Good tidings, Consolation, and to help us repent before the Yom Gadol and Nora of Hoshana Rabbah, the 7th day of Sukkot. (The Great and Awesome Day of HaShem).

Finally, I am willing to entertain thoughts of longtime readers over alternatives to the direction of this blog IF these things do not occur.  But until then, knowing that these 3 things need to occur b'itah, these three troubling things should occur to IMMEDIATELY precede the Ultimate Good in 5783.  May G-d have Mercy on all of us so that these 3 or 4 things (including the coming of Eliyahu haNavi) happen now and not 7 years from now.  7 yrs from now when the Chinese surveillance state has been fully implemented worldwide.... what a horrible prospect.





Friday, February 25, 2022

The Shadow of the Dung of the Jackass

 Many years ago in the early first year and a half of this blog, I wrote a post quoting the Gemorrah in Sanhedrin 98b in which I discussed The Dung of a Jackass in the light of Rav Ezriel Tauber's sefer Days Are Coming.  In that book Rav Tauber brought down that there will come a moment at the End of Days when the physical stuff of the Universe (or at least our quadrant of the Universe where we were placed to refine) could no longer be refined.  I postulated in that post that one of the reasons for some of the Rabbis in our generation for making the error of joining in with Sharon for IS 290 million shekels was because we had already arrived at the point of peering through the dung of the Jackass, the Chomer (the physical stuff) of history after all the physicality of the world that could be refined has been refined for a G-dly purpose from the moment that Avraham stood in opposition to Nimrod and the 70 nations in the Year 2000 from Adam.  Because it was the Shmittah cycle of Gog ben Gog Bush Jr., it seemed that we had arrived at the point where the physicality of the World that we were meant to perfect, like dung, could no longer be refined.  In reality, we were almost at that point but not quite there.  In the last two Shmittah cycles since the Financial Collapse of 2008, the end of the Gog ben Gog Shmittah cycle, apparently there were still a few drops of physicality to refine, for the simanim of reaching that point given over by the Vilna Gaon (to be discussed below) had not yet occurred.  As has been discussed in recent posts on this blog, the Gog ben Gog Shmittah cycle ended on Hoshana Rabbah 5769 seven and a half years before two thirds of Mankind fell below the 49th level of impurity during the lead up to Shavuot of the potential Jubilee year 5776 where the following condition from Zekharia 13 for B'itah Redemption was reached:

 וְהָיָה בְכָל-הָאָרֶץ, נְאֻם-יְהוָה, פִּי-שְׁנַיִם בָּהּ, יִכָּרְתוּ יִגְוָעוּ; וְהַשְּׁלִשִׁית, יִוָּתֶר בָּהּ. And it shall come to pass, that in all the earth, saith the LORD, two parts (out of three) therein shall be cut off and die; but the (final) third shall be left therein.  I would suggest rereading the recent post where this was discussed in detail especially concentrating on the 98 year (2 Jubilee cycle) Collapse into Reprobate oblivion for 2/3rds of Mankind at the end of which took place the mega-terrorist attack at the Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Florida when and where precisely 49 homosexuals were murdered by a Afghani Muslim terrorist who became the 50th dead body in the bar at Alot HaShachar on Shavuot morning 5776 when the SWAT team burst through the wall of the night club.  It foretold that America had specifically fallen below 49 levels of impurity as a total society and would ultimately disintegrate at -50 being completely done in by its own war against Muslim extremism in Afghanistan.  Further on in the same post, I discussed how B'itah could come in one of two ways:

1. B'itah Achishena: 7 years BEFORE the fateful events in Orlando in 5776

or 2. B'itah: 7 years AFTER the fateful events in Orlando

This is based on a pasuk in the Torah in Shlach Lecha that during the Spying of the Land of Israel, the Meraglim arrived in Chevron where the text extraneously tells us that Chevron was built 7 years before Tzo'an was in Mitzraim from which we learn that the World cannot be out of spiritual balance between Good and Evil, Purity and Impurity, more than 7 years in either direction.  Of course it would have been preferable that we would have reached "Shaar HaNun", the 50th Gate of Purity in 5769, 7 years before 5776, but in order for that to transpire, we would need to pass a "small test" of collective Jewish human decency in the 4th year of that Shmittah cycle 5765 because according to the Gemorrah in Sanhedrin, the Rabbanim of Israel would kick off the Geulah through a tremendous spiritual awakening in the 5th year of that cycle..... Well it was actually a Big Test, and frankly some of us failed very badly by joining Sharon's Govt for the price of a prostitute.  IMMEDIATELY, we seemed to have lost the Golden opportunity that was on our plate for the Gog ben Gog Shmittah cycle that Ben David would come in 5766 or 5769, and now we are left playing catch up in the 7th year AFTER 5775, the previous Shmittah year.  So right now, our backs are against a Wall.  The World has been out of balance with more Evil and more impurity in the World than Goodness and Purity for almost 6 years now.  (Here we are counting the years from that Shavuot night and early morning in 5776 with the terrorist attack in Orlando.)  We have reached the point where righteousness and Goodness must come roaring back.  If the world had to exist even one more year until Shavuot 5783 as it is now, G-d would need to destroy the world that He created because it cannot simply exist out of balance on the side of Reprobate impurity for a full 7 years since that Shavuot night in 5776.  Through this review we have arrived at the question, "What is the signifying feature that we have reached the End because our world cannot remain in the negative column of spirituality for a full seven years?"  Apparently according to the Gemorrah and Rav Tauber, the signifying feature is that the the physical stuff making up our world can no longer be dedicated to a higher purpose.  Whether it be through sanctification through Mitzvot or technological advance through human progress on a physical level, the matter that makes up Creation itself is now resisting being used to improve the lot of Mankind!  It is as if the only goal of physical matter at this crucial time is the accumulation of more and more piles of physicality!   This is what is meant when our Sages in the Talmud said that they would prefer to not live at this time because observing spiritual reality at the very End would be like peering through the Dung of a Jackass.   Except that Rav Yosef makes the observation that it is at that precise moment, one year later in the Motzei Shmittah year, that ALL the physical stuff of the Universe (החומר) that was sanctified to G-d throughout all of human history would that following year become the Chamur (החמור), the donkey, on which Mashiach ben David will come riding into the Holy City.  You see, during the fateful Shmittah year, the world would reach a point where rank physicality for its own sake would try to take over the world, but it too would be destroyed by the end of that year or more accurately by Hoshana Rabbah of the Motzei Shmittah year so that Mashiach ben David would come riding into Yerushalayim on the pefected Chomer (physicality) or Chamur (Donkey) once the physicality with no potential of being perfected, represented by Donkey Dung, was judged and destroyed.  This is the essential characteristic of Redemption B'itah at the last possible moment with no possibility for being delayed.  And this is why Rav Yosef unlike the other Rabbanim in this Gemorrah wanted to be alive at this time.  Now let us discuss the type of Malkhut  that would exist at that time and will be on the verge of taking over the world.  Sadly I must report, for my name is Dov Bear, that the Malkhut of rank physicality for its own sake in Daniel chapter 7 is basically represented by a flesh devouring Bear!

 Daniel 7 is a fascinating chapter of Tana"kh and is most susceptible for mis-interpretation and misuse by those who believe in Oto Ish as their god.   So I will just get to the points as quickly as possible.  The first beast is a Lion with Eagle's wings.  In ancient times it most represented Babylon.  In the modern era Edom has the capacity to be all of the first three beasts, and the Lion with Eagle's wings has historically been represented by Great Britain and the United States.  Its crowning characteristic seems to be that those who roar like lions can fly as high as eagles.  It is those individuals who have that capacity who are the winners in such cultures.  They tend to be very free societies at their root so that the most capable individuals roar like lions and fly like eagles through their own intrinsic talents and hard work.  Those rugged individualists become the winners in such societies and achieve their goals the best through contributing greatly to the societies in which they live and usually accumulating large fortunes (the American Dream) as their earthly reward.  Lest you think that is all negative, it is not.  Part of the proof that the physical stuff of Creation in such societies has been dedicated to a higher purpose is that two of the four faces of the Holy Chayot, the four faced Angels that serve in on the Divine Chariot are a Lion and an Eagle!  Look it up in Yechezkel 1 yourself.  

ה  וּמִתּוֹכָהּ--דְּמוּת, אַרְבַּע חַיּוֹת; וְזֶה, מַרְאֵיהֶן--דְּמוּת אָדָם, לָהֵנָּה. 5 And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.

ו  וְאַרְבָּעָה פָנִים, לְאֶחָת; וְאַרְבַּע כְּנָפַיִם, לְאַחַת לָהֶם. 6 And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

י  וּדְמוּת פְּנֵיהֶם, פְּנֵי אָדָם, וּפְנֵי אַרְיֵה אֶל-הַיָּמִין לְאַרְבַּעְתָּם, וּפְנֵי-שׁוֹר מֵהַשְּׂמֹאול לְאַרְבַּעְתָּן; וּפְנֵי-נֶשֶׁר, לְאַרְבַּעְתָּן. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man (facing south); and they four had the face of a lion on the right side (facing east); and they four had the face of an ox on the left side (facing west); they four had also the face of an eagle (facing north.

Our Holy Sages have brought down that this is why the Camp of Yehudah east of the Mishkan is under the Face of a Lion and why the Camp of Yosef to the West is under the Face of an Ox or Bull.  And throughout the Torah, Yehudah is compared to a lion while Yosef is compared to an Ox!  Along with this, the Camp of Reuven to the South has the banner of the likeness of a Man.  The Camp of Dan to the North seems to break the mold and seems to be represented by a Snake and not an eagle, but it is accepted that the Face of the Chayot over the Camp of Dan in the North was an Eagle.  From this we learn one salient fact.  A Malkhut represented by lions and eagles has the ability to take Mankind to great heights, albeit for their own benefit in Olam HaZeh and often at the expense of foreign cultures.  Still who can deny the advances brought to the benefit of Mankind by a Culture of rugged individualists has far outweighed their earthly deficits?  So at the very end of history when rank physicality is taking over the world, the Culture of Rugged Individualists represented by a Lion with Eagle's wings will crumble in that fateful Shmittah year on the threshold of Mashiach's coming.  Perhaps, their leader will in that fateful year be a Dementia ridden Reprobate incapable of leading his nation to the next plateau!  But I jest, how could such a man ever be elected in the first place?

At this point we will skip the Bear who devours more and more physicality as he is described in Daniel 7, for we have already discussed him above.  We will simply point out that the ancient Bear of partying and feasting often for 180 days at a time was ancient Persia, and the modern Bear amongst Edom is obviously Russia.  It is precisely this beast that has an advantage over the other beasts to go forth and conquer the World as the other beasts crumble and fail at the end of Olam HaZeh in this fateful Shmittah year.

The 3rd beast in Daniel chapter 7 wants to do more than conquer the world for its own appetites.  It wants to rule the world with Reason and Logic and set up world Govt for the entire globe of the earth, or what used to be called, "the four corners of the earth".   It is for this reason that this beast (a swift leopard) has four heads, for it wants to extend its rule over the entire planet bringing Mankind under one King...... who thinks he or she can rule the world by making up one's own reasonable laws without taking into account the infinite value of every human being.  In such a world, morality is defined by what is best for the smooth running of World Govt, not the rules of human decency defined by an Infinite Creator.  So such a world govt is bound to conflict with His Rules for the benefit of perpetuating World Govt.  Now one might think that such a world govt at war with G-d  cannot elevate Man to higher levels, but the Torah begs to differ with you on this.  When G-d was REALLY angry with Mankind during the Great Flood, the Torah persistently and consistently used the Divine Name Elokim as G-d meted out Justice against a recalcitrant Mankind.  Only when it came to saving Noach and the world's animals on the Ark is the Name of HaShem used.  As it says with regards to destroying the World:

יב  וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְהִנֵּה נִשְׁחָתָה:  כִּי-הִשְׁחִית כָּל-בָּשָׂר אֶת-דַּרְכּוֹ, עַל-הָאָרֶץ.  {ס} 12 And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. {S}

יג  וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים לְנֹחַ, קֵץ כָּל-בָּשָׂר בָּא לְפָנַי--כִּי-מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ חָמָס, מִפְּנֵיהֶם; וְהִנְנִי מַשְׁחִיתָם, אֶת-הָאָרֶץ. 13 And God said unto Noah: 'The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Notice the Name Elokim is regularly used when discussing Judgement upon Mankind in the year 1656 AM.  Yet, a few chapters later or about 340 years later in the year 1996 AM, Nimrod wants to build a Tower to Heaven to war with G-d.  One might think that G-d would be equally angry and upset.  But lo and behold what do we see?  

  וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָבָה נִבְנֶה-לָּנוּ עִיר, וּמִגְדָּל וְרֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם, וְנַעֲשֶׂה-לָּנוּ, שֵׁם:  פֶּן-נָפוּץ, עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ. 4 And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'

ה  וַיֵּרֶד יְהוָה, לִרְאֹת אֶת-הָעִיר וְאֶת-הַמִּגְדָּל, אֲשֶׁר בָּנוּ, בְּנֵי הָאָדָם. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

ו  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, הֵן עַם אֶחָד וְשָׂפָה אַחַת לְכֻלָּם, וְזֶה, הַחִלָּם לַעֲשׂוֹת; וְעַתָּה לֹא-יִבָּצֵר מֵהֶם, כֹּל אֲשֶׁר יָזְמוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת. 6 And the LORD said: 'Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do; and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do.

ז  הָבָה, נֵרְדָה, וְנָבְלָה שָׁם, שְׂפָתָם--אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ, אִישׁ שְׂפַת רֵעֵהוּ. 7 Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.'

ח  וַיָּפֶץ יְהוָה אֹתָם מִשָּׁם, עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ; וַיַּחְדְּלוּ, לִבְנֹת הָעִיר. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city.

ט  עַל-כֵּן קָרָא שְׁמָהּ, בָּבֶל, כִּי-שָׁם בָּלַל יְהוָה, שְׂפַת כָּל-הָאָרֶץ; וּמִשָּׁם הֱפִיצָם יְהוָה, עַל-פְּנֵי כָּל-הָאָרֶץ.  {פ} 9 Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. {P}

Above is the entire story of the building of the Tower of Bavel and HaShem's response.  Five times, the Name HaShem is mentioned in this affair, and not even once is the Name Elokim mentioned in judging Nimrod's act of building world govt and going to war against G-d.  One might think that HaShem would be almost equally upset as He was 340 years earlier when He brought the Flood, but that is simply not the case!  So our first question should be Why?  The answer seems to be that before the Flood it was every Man and Woman for themselves.  Lawlessness filled the earth.  With world Govt there was at least the attempt to bring unity and brotherhood to Mankind, albeit with rules that benefited the Govt and not with G-d's Universal moral code which elevated the sanctity of every human being.  Still it was an attempt in a better direction of Unity and lack of selfishness.  In that way, even world govt in rebellion against G-d is leaps and bounds better than the Law of the Jungle.  So HaShem rather than responding with Divine Wrath against the attempt of the Generation of Nimrod to unify Mankind, He lovingly came down and said No, you can't do that!  So once again, we have the dichotomy.  In ancient times, the Four Headed leopard was the Malkhut of Alexander the Great who upon his death had his Empire divided amongst his four generals.  In the modern era, the equivalent kingdom is the first attempt at a modern world govt through a united Europe, the EU, whose parliament building in Strasbourg is modeled after a Renaissance painting of the Unfinished Tower of Bavel!  And once again, in this Shmittah year, HaShem has descended from Heaven to politely tell them NO!

So in this pre-Messianic Shmittah year as both the United States/ Great Britain and the EU both wither and die, who is it that smells an opportunity to fill a huge vacuum?  'Tis the Bear who arises to absorb and devour more and more unsatisfying physicality.  It is Dubiel or Bear Power (Russia and Persia) who goes forth on World Conquest.  At this stage, I am going to post my most recent Comments on my previous post.  They are in shorthand form, but they fully explain the entire thesis of the Vilna Gaon, as I have come to understand it, on this fateful B'itah year. 

 The Oral Tradition of the Vilna Gaon for 100% b'itah redemption, was for the most part given over to his closest students in the last decade of his life from about 1790 to 1797 before he passed away 225 yrs ago. His insights of course are based on the entire breadth of all of Tana"kh, but from what I was able to piece together from Rav Moshe Sternbuch of the Eidah Chareidit when he gave over some salient information in 2014 after Putin wrested the Crimea from the Ukraine, the Gaon seemed to stress 3 or 4 specific portions of the Tana"kh in his overview of the matter of the keitz, the final impermeable end of Olam HaZeh from which the proverbial can can no longer be kicked down the road to a later date.


1. Daniel 2: specifically the part about the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream where the 2 legs of iron mired with clay stand in the 2 ancient capitals of the of the Roman Empire, Rome and Constantinople. The iron is Edom, Rome, and Xtianity while the clay is Yishmael, his son Nebaiyot the founder of the Nabatean nation, Muhammad who was a Nabatean, and all of Islam. Since Yishmael was Pere Adam or wild jackass of a man, think Pere Adamah (a wild thing of earthenware or clay). So the clay in the vision of Nebuchadnezzar is Yishmael or Islam. In the "eastern" Rome, when the Muslim Turks conquered Constantinople, they changed the name to Istanbul. So the Roman capital where the iron is mired with clay is right there in Istanbul/Constantinople. At this point Sefer Daniel 2 and Yechezkel 38 and 39 point to a meteorite of unhewn Even Elgavish (stone crystallized on high) will destroy something about that city which will cause all of Olam HaZeh to turn to dust. But this would only happen when another Orthodox Xtian leader from Edom would conquer the city. Since the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Byzantine Empire is already in the city when it split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 11th Century, the only other Orthodox Church which considered itself based in the "3rd Rome" was the Russian Orthodox Church headquartered in Moscow.

2. The next part of the mix was Daniel 7 where of the 4 beasts discussed there, only one of those beasts survives to the very end, The Bear. The Vilna Gaon called this beast Dubiel. The other beasts disintegrate at the end because the physical world becomes spiritually bankrupt. It reaches a point where the Chomer of Creation becomes like the dung of a jackass that can no longer be elevated to a higher purpose. The Rugged individualists like Trump and Boris Johnson become powerless as the Lion with Eagle's wings fades into the background. Same with the NWO folks in the EU (the flying four headed leopard) as the drive for world govt simply runs out of steam. The 11th horn on the 4th beast (Barack Obama) is out of office. So at the very end it is Dubiel, the ancient and modern Bear (Persia and Russia) in an alliance with each other to fill in the vacuum created by the other 3 beasts fading into the background because Dubiel, rank physicality, is all that there is left.

3. Then there is Bilaam's last prophesy from BaMidbar. Continued....
Bilaam's last prophesy:
כד וְצִים מִיַּד כִּתִּים, וְעִנּוּ אַשּׁוּר וְעִנּוּ-עֵבֶר; וְגַם-הוּא, עֲדֵי אֹבֵד. 24 But Great ships (a Navy) shall come from the coast of Kittim, and they shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall come to destruction.

Both the Targum Yonatan Ben Uziel and the Vilna Gaon identify the coast of Kittim with Southwest Coast of Turkey and the Bosporus. The amazing thing about the Targum is that he identified the city as Constantine 3 1/2 Centuries before Constantine lived, established Roman Catholicism as the official religion of the Roman Empire, and moved the Roman Capital to a city straddling the Bosporus at the Black Sea named after himself which is connected to the Dardenelles and the Mediterranean by an inland sea called Marmara. How the Targum Yonatan knew the name is beyond amazing. Was it an Oral Torah from Sinai? Did he know it from Qabbalah? At this stage 2000 yrs later we just know that it is in his 1st Century Torah commentary when that very city was yet to be founded over 300 yrs later.

One last thing: Why send the Russian Navy to afflict Ever?  And we could add why afflict Ashur, Nineveh Province in Iraq?

Well here is my best answer.
I do not want to give the Satan any ideas, but the Germans will now be knocking on Israel's door for natural gas from the Leviathan and Tamar gas fields offshore in the Mediterranean, now that they are turning down gas from Russia's NordStream 2 pipeline. They frankly have no other option. Unlike the French, the Germans do not have nuclear power plants. Once Israel starts supplying the Germans with natural gas, Putin will lose part of his leverage. You can guess what Putin might do next.....

I should also point out that both the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields with which Putin might want to strangle Western Europe economically are 50 to 75 miles offshore. If Russia wants to take them militarily, Putin will do so using Russia's Black Sea Navy....through the Bosporus at Istanbul and the Dardenelles from the shores of Kittim........

REJOICE! REJOICE! OH ISRAEL! OUR REDEMPTION IS NIGH!