At the Fiftieth Gate - By Default or by G-d's Design?

10 Sivan 5776

We're using this picture to demonstrate how Ya'aqov is above, Esav below. Credit

Well. According to Reb Dov Bear, we have arrived at the Sh’ar Nun, the Fiftieth (50^th) Gate, and the stage is set for the Final Redemption, as he says there was made evident over Shavuoth, the Feast of Weeks for the Jewish People. The event, he says, was the massacre of 49 homosexuals in a “gay” bar by an ISIS jihadist, himself equally evil, and his death at the hands of police, making 50 dead. (There were also over 50 wounded; we’ll have to leave the understanding of the 3 left over for later, if ever.)

The murderer’s name, Omar Mateen, is interesting (to me, at least) from the principle that we Jews derive significance from people’s names in Hebrew: It could be said (this is a quick translation/interpretation on my part) that this name could be rendered “I will declare it suitable (omar mateem אומר מתאים).” This isn’t as far-fetched as it looks: Aramaic does the same thing as Arabic with the nun sofit (ן) — n sound — which corresponds to our mem sofit (ם) —m sound. In this case the word is singular and happens to appear to be plural (to the non-initiate). I wonder whether this means anything! A commenter on Reb Dov’s blog who wished to remain anonymous suggests that the Sefirath haOmer (Omar = Omer; 49 dead besides him = days of the sefirah) is tied into this as well. I wish I had thought of that. And according to Zero Hedge, supported by videos (h/t to DS of Israel Truth Times), there was more than one shooter. We would have to take all the shooters' names into account, if we ever learn them, for the full message.

This — my observation, so far — is obviously not a compliment. HaShem seems to be saying that all of us, collected together, are, so to speak, just a hair above the non-Jewish world. It is enough for this moment (which for me will probably last as long as this post has its day in the sun). After we catch our breath, when we —the righteous Jews and Gentiles and may I be counted among them — realize that we are permanently separated from the rest of the world by virtue of the latter getting to the bottom of the barrel first, we’d better do as my mother, may she live and be well, puts it, “get on the stick.” That is, pay attention and do what we're supposed to do.

Just a few thoughts on that:

1. It may have been suitable for HaShem to signal to us via this mass murder that we were through the gate because, a few days ago, Tel Aviv had a gay pride parade: the same sort of people were involved on both sides. Fortunately we have the Land of Israel as our inheritance and heritage because she (has a personality – I’m sure another blog explains that better) protects those who strive to follow HaShem’s direction (Torah) from harm. Not so outside the Land. However, it is still necessary for us to begin rectification by stopping all public celebrations of sexuality, no matter what kind it is. How many have noticed that there is not one Jewish holiday that does this? No, not one.
2. Both secular and religious Jews must realize that they themselves have fallen short: The seculars have fully recognized neither HaShem nor Torah sufficiently (and in some cases, not at all), while the religious have not fully recognized the Land’s equal status with the Torah. Just because we were able to survive the loss of the Land through clinging to the Torah, nowadays many feel that we don’t need the Land at all, especially when run by Jews who do not live by the Torah. This cannot be so! Since no human on earth has lived more than 969 years (Metushalah/Methuselah) and certainly no one for many generations now, I believe it would have been impossible for Jews to survive the loss of the Land at all without the Torah, if we had been long-lived to that extent normally. Both are described in the written Torah as morasha, heritage/inheritance, and the Eim haBanim Semeicha¹ writes “Torah and Eretz Yisrael were said in a single utterance; they are two inseparable companions” ², putting them on the same level. Yes, I know that when we sing Dayenu on Pesach, we sing “If He had given us the Torah and had not brought us into the land of Israel — Dayenu!” — and not the other way around (and wrong time of the year to boot! Didn’t we just do this about…50-odd days ago from this writing?). But, would we have a home to come to if Eretz Yisrael had no importance at all? And do you really think that the same Torah that says, “This is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances that the Lord, your God, commanded to teach you, to perform in the land into which you are about to pass, to possess it…” would protect us forever while we live Outside That Very Land? Does not our G-d mean what He says??? Yes, I’m being harder on the religious, especially those who were born that way! They should know better. I think those of us “geula bloggers” in Israel hope that the opportunity afforded by recent events will not be lost on religious Jews, whether they were that way from birth or made teshuvah. Even if they are either of these and are rabbis.
3. I believe there will likely be (or seem like) a medium-length-to-long transition period to when geula will be obvious to everyone (including the goyim who make it — really, they’ll be Noahides or people open to this basic path); and I don’t think I’m alone in this belief, due to the Jewish people’s low average level of spiritual fitness (not to mention low average morale) at the time of passage through Sh’ar haNun (the 50^th Gate). Soon enough everyone will know who Mashiach is, after all the pretenders have been eliminated; but the real one will have to be watched closely to be sure he is the “real deal.” This is essentially Hezkath Mashiach, in simple terms: The presumptive candidate will go through a period of testing and will pass it in the end, the only one who will make it. (If you have an even better definition, please let me know!)

I mentioned the low levels because, after all this time away from closeness to haShem and true Jewish living, everyone is missing something; hopefully each of us will find what we’re missing soon.

An interesting development is already going on in Yerushalayim’s Old City, where the Israeli government, for once, has found that Arabs who have been stealing land and property from Jews are being kicked out of said land and property and is allowing Jews to enter and live there. I wonder what’s next in haShem’s plan to restore to our people what belongs to us, and I pray that it comes quickly. As the saying goes: When Esav goes down, Ya’aqov comes up. May we soon see how natural a law that is.

     4. Reb Dov Bear wrote the following provocative statement in the comments: B'itah [in its time, basically at the last minute], it is time to ditch the Erev Rav [people who follow the path of the original mixed multitude. See here.]. One of the advantages of the Qedushah of Yovel [holiness of the Jubilee], is that it provides an opportunity for HaShem to punish the wicked in Olam HaZeh's [this world's] inter-connective framework without causing the righteous to suffer. May we soon see how that is accomplished. Amen. I asked him the following question: So, how is ditching the Erev Rav done? Does it mean that our protests will be more effective? Voting would actually be counted correctly without corruption? Until now, every time we wanted a certain good to occur, double bad would happen.

And he came up with the following answer: Hopefully HaShem will fight that war. A derech hateva [natural] Civil War would be horribly bloody with too many good people dying. I am in agreement with my friend Dovid that as Edom and its world control and economy disintegrates, the Erev Rav will either flee, die, or go into hiding. In case they hide, Mashiach will have them executed for treason and other capital offenses. So the key to The Erev Rav's dismantlement of its power structure lies in the collapse of Western Civilization.

I would accept any help from HaShem on our behalf on this matter; He knows who should replace the ones who at first fought for our survival and ended up divesting themselves of any interest in a Jewish nation — thus encouraging Jews outside the Land as well as aiding and abetting the nations to boycott and sanction (in the sense of penalize or punish) us.

It occurs to me that the meanings of the word sanction oppose each other. I have been wondering why the BDS movement uses this word, since it also signifies authoritative permission or approval; support for a condition. Perhaps if we look hard enough, we can see HaShem winking at us, for now it is time for Him to sanction us according to its positive denotation.

Something else: Perhaps it was not meant for us to be at such a high level, so that HaShem would be able to be merciful to more people. I cannot say why, but perhaps a clue can be found thinking about why He gave us more land as we were able to handle it.

Other thoughts have been flitting about and refuse to present themselves long enough for me to write them down. Maybe more later, be"H, b"n (with G-d's help, no vows or promises!).

¹Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal (1885-1945), whose last act was standing up for a fellow Jew on a train on the way to a death camp toward the end of WWII. He was murdered by the Nazis for that act. I am still reading the introductions and have not yet started the body of this work!

²Eim haBanim Semeicha, Foreword, p. 60. The verses referred to as the single utterance are Devarim (Deuteronomy) 33:4 and Shemoth (Exodus) 6:8. The text to this book used to be online, but it is no longer to be found there except for PDF copies.