A question regarding best conditions for the upcoming redemption...

28 Nisan 5780 | 13th Day of the Omer

King David's harp, in stone (source)

Included in the Ashkenazi reading of haftarat Shemini (last week's portion from the prophets) was II Samuel 7 from the beginning until verse 17. (Linked document is in both Hebrew and English.)

Samuel, as you may recall, is the navi (prophet) who anointed David to be the monarch of Israel. In this chapter, haShem assures Nathan the prophet that He will never withdraw His favor from David or his family line, although they will be punished for sins by means we are all familiar with.

He also mentions two things that He did for David before assuring him of the continuing kingship through his family:

1. The king was already settled in his palace.
2. HQB"H had given him safety from all his surrounding enemies.

Of course, #1 won't necessarily apply to David's descendant, Mashiah ben David, may G-d prepare him and send him quickly. In other words, he will not have assumed the throne of his ancestor before he is recognized.

But I have a question: Will #2 apply to him (and to us)? How will we know when we have safety from all our surrounding enemies, or must we fight for it? It seems that even the coronavirus isn't sufficient to keep our nearby enemies from coming after us and our land. And even our "best friends" among the nations have not sufficiently considered our needs — let alone our rights — to the land, its holy places and the decision of who will be allowed to dwell on it. We are thereby informed of our lack of simple sovereignty, never mind the absolute right to reign here that H' offered us and never took back.

You could say that haShem took us out of our land because we sinned against Him, but He never gave it to anyone else either; and now that He has brought us back, those who have tried to take it over cannot have the right to stay here unless they are willing to be ruled by us. What was promised to David is also promised to us through his descendant.

But, as David said in verse 2,

Here I am, dwelling in a house of cedar, while the Ark of the LORD abides in a tent!

 Do we need to say, "Here I am, dwelling in Eretz Yisrael in an apartment (or a house), while the LORD is homeless among us?"

Look at what happened after King David stated his concern! We need at least to be aware of it in our day — in spite of the nations' objections and the actions taken against us since we spurned haShem's gift to us of a large part of our land and Har haBayit in 1967/5727.

Maybe someone has better words than I do to express this...

***
Have we been thinking about the water sitting in our closed buildings for the last two months (office buildings, schools, shops, etc.) and how we're going to restore water safety to pipes and sinks when they open again? Lots of stuff is precipitating into the water they're holding, including potentially harmful organisms and chemicals from the pipes. Have we noticed whether there has been any harm done? Here is a discussion from The Conversation.

***

I've been watching the rise of Lake Kinneret (otherwise known as the Sea of Galilee) all winter. Now that winter is officially over according to both the solar and the Jewish calendars, and the rain has stopped for the most part, we nevertheless observe the rise continuing. (I don't know whether the snowmelt from Mt. Hermon has stopped yet. It receives both winter and spring snow.) As of this morning's post, it has 13 more centimeters (5.1 inches) to go before it overflows into the neighboring towns (or our water authority uses the canal it dug to send the excess water down the Jordan River — hopefully they will do so before that happens.). Despite our being hit with corona along with the rest of the world, we see this as a positive sign (a wink from Shamayim, if you will) that we have a future in the eyes of haShem.

I consider the impending overflow of the Kinneret a real harbinger of the upcoming redemption! This hasn't happened in many years, along with an abundance of rain over the rest of the country.

If you want to watch with me in two languages:

In English: Jerusalem Weather Station
From the top horizontal navigation bar, click the "What's now?" menu
Click on the bottom option, "Kinneret Lake" (in Hebrew, מפלס הכינרת). You will see a page in Hebrew pop up within the site.
Scroll down a little to a graphic of the lake on the right column of the page with the upper red line (קו אדום עליון kav adóm elyón) marked on the right side of the graphic, with its level (this portion of the page has 2 columns). On the graphic itself there is a line of waves and the height of the water in the lake.
The result is just to the bottom left of the lake graphic, the second line, in the same column.

בעברית:  ירושמיים

משורת התפריטים האופקי למלאה, לחץ על מה עוד קורה עכשיו

לחץ על האפשרות התחתונה, מפלס הכינרת

גלול למטה מעט למטה לגרפיקת הכינרת, מימין למסך

אני חושבת שיכולים להבין את זה מכאן. להגיד לי אם לא 

The updates seem to occur at approximately 9AM/09:00 Israel time (usually 7 hours ahead of US Eastern time).

The site is only in Hebrew and English. Keep in mind that the whole area we're talking about is well below sea level! So, the calculation is the opposite of what you'd think it would be: the height-of-water number looks higher than the upper-red-line number, with a minus sign on both numbers.

I also apologize for any difficulty navigating this part. I almost didn't try to explain it at all. Please let me know whether it works for you or not.

Brachot uv'riut | ברכות ובריאות | Blessings and health - to all who read, think and heed

Will Animal Sacrifices be Restored When Moshiach Comes??

20 Nisan 5780 | Erev Shvi'i shel Pessah

by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher

Sefer Vayikra is taken up with sacrificial laws and rituals. For many people, it is easier to relate to narrative portions of the Torah or Mitzvot that apply in our day than to those dealing with Mishkan sacrifices. The last sacrifices were offered in 68 C.E., before the Second Temple was destroyed. Many people would find it hard to conceive how the sacrificial system could actually be restored in the Messianic Era.

 

Yet the Rambam tells us in Hilchot Melachim 11 that Moshiach will build the Third Temple and reestablish the entire Sacrificial System. The question is, what is the purpose of the sacrifices? According to Kabbalah, the Temple Altar is a metaphor for our body and our table at which we eat, containing lessons about how we should go about satisfying our vital, natural function.

 

The "daily diet" of animal, wheat, oil and wine offerings on the Temple Altar corresponds to our daily diet of animal and grain products, fruits and vegetables that go on our table and into our mouth. The reason why some feel uncomfortable about the sacrificial ritual is because it presents our existential situation so boldly in the form of animal blood, fat and other offerings on the Altar.

 

It is a fundamental law of creation that higher life forms consume lower forms of life in order to exist. When a lower life form is eaten and ingested by a higher life form, the lower life form is "elevated" by its turning into the body and nourishing the activities of the higher life form. As humans, our blood and fat are made up of material, derived from other lower levels of existence, mineral, vegetable and animal. Our physical life functions come to nourish and serve a higher life form – the soul.

 

Kabbalah explains that the Temple Altar and the Korbanot guide us to elevate our own blood, fat and energy to fuel the fire of G-d's Service on the Altar of our own bodies. The Altar fire is a metaphor for the human soul as the verse in Mishlei says, "The candle of G‑d is the soul of a human being." Our bodies "burn up" the various nutrients we take in, just as the Altar burns the sacrifices.

 

Our body requires tending in order to serve as an "Altar" for G-d's Service just as the Temple Altar had to be tended. The opening Mitzvah of the day in the Temple – removal of the ashes of the consumed sacrifices may be compared to what is the first physical functioning of a person's day, the elimination of wastes to cleanse the body for G-d's service. Keeping the Altar fire stoked was the daily task of the Kohanim.

 

So too each one of us has the task of keeping the "Altar" of the body properly maintained with the right nutrients in the right quantities. As Kohanim of our own bodies, our aim must be to keep the soul fire burning brightly every day.

 

The fact that the Kohen must eat from a sin or guilt offering and thereby accomplish atonement for the sinner is a wonder. Having the correct intention is a recurrent theme in all Sacrifices. The Kohen has to have the correct intention at every stage in the sacrificial ritual.

 

The Sacrificial System teaches us to eat with the intention of maintaining our body, our personal "Altar of G-d" with nutrients that we can elevate to His service. In this way we will be able to utilize our energy to do more Mitzvot. The blessings we make before and after eating serve as a focus that all eating can be a Service of G‑d.

 

May we be worthy of bringing the Thanksgiving offering in the rebuilt Third Temple very soon in our day.

***

 

Free Jonathan and Esther Pollard, free ourselves for geula!

18 Nisan 5780 | Hol haMoed Pessah | Day 3 of the Omer


HaShem lives and is beyond life as we have understood it until now, because He created it and is the One who gives it and takes it away. He has command of many, many messengers, including non-human ones.

He made the Golden Rule, "do to others as you would have them do to you." Or, as Jewish people learn it from our sage Hillel, "Whatever is hateful and distasteful to you, do not do to your fellow man. This is the entire Torah, the rest is commentary. Go learn."

The vast majority of the world's nations are now infected with the coronavirus, making the plague a truly worldwide phenomenon. Along with all the things most informed people are doing to guard against it, it is good to take stock spiritually as well.

As my colleague Devash asked,

"Tell me, is the novelty of being home from work beginning to wear off, your patience with the constraints beginning to wear thin, and the restrictions of movement starting to chafe?  There is a holy, righteous Jew who sacrificed his entire life  - his family, his marriage, his career, his health and his freedom for Klal Yisrael's benefit, and he is all but forgotten.  That Jew is Yehonatan (Jonathan) Pollard, the man Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, ztz"l said is "the Yosef HaTzadik of our generation." 

I admit to following her on this topic. Freeing prisoners, especially Jewish ones who have been treated especially harshly (to say the least in this case) because they're Jews, is a great mitzvah, one that every Jew should want to be part of, any way we can.

Therefore, don't think we're separating Jonathan Pollard from other Prisoners of Zion. R' Mordechai Eliyahu, zz"l, declared that freeing Jonathan is the key to freeing all of them — and thus, all of us.

See, we don't have to make it harder on ourselves than it has to be. If to free the one is to free them all, then let's focus on the one. The one most hated by the world, and the most beloved by us, especially those among us who owe their very lives to him because of what he did that put him in the position he's in now. It's merely derekh eretz for him to be freed to come home to Israel now.

We've heard all the objections from the Gentiles and their Jewish supporters, and dismiss them all. Many others have been spies against America (which Jonathan wasn't. He was for Israel. That, it seems, is the major crime he was punished for...) and spent far less time in jail; furthermore, their parole, if any, wasn't as harsh as it is currently for Jonathan. I'm not going to bother going over all that again, as if we still have to prove the case. It is well proven, and we are more than well-acquainted with the antisemitism — and the aim at every single Jew in the world through Jonathan and other Prisoners of Zion — that is the source of this demand for constant proof.

To those of you who are against: Study the case or shut up. Or maybe you prefer to be constantly under lockdown, quarantine or on a hospital respirator before freeing a Jew who is being way overpunished?

(And, oh, I thought you would want to be rid of Jews who are loyal to Israel. Now's your chance to hide your nefarious methods behind corona!)

Or, maybe ALL OTHER SPIES AND TRAITORS ARE ALLOWED TO BE FREE IN AMERICA. ONLY THE JEWS MUST PAY NOT ONLY FULL PRICE, BUT THE PRICE THE OTHERS WOULD HAVE PAID IF THEY'D PAID IN FULL. Sounds familiar...


And I'll add an answer to another, more recent objection that I haven't read yet: Jonathan and his wife Esther have been under far worse than the lockdown we are in now, on a continual basis since Jonathan was released from jail in 2015. Where are they suffering this? In New York City, one of the most infected cities in the USA as I write. Effectively, they're still in jail, considering their age, health conditions and the prevalence of corona where they live.

Back to us: Putting them on a plane to Israel with as many possessions as it can hold, and finding them a place to live, should be no problem for Israel, if corona is the obstacle. They are not as likely to be infected as others in their neighborhood.
 
I imagine that they'll need to be quarantined under the same rules we are, not so much for our protection, but for theirs.

I hope they have a great view and plenty of room to live in. And no ankle bracelet!

Bibi, are you listening?

Mr. Trump, can America afford to hold on to the Pollards under these conditions? She didn't have the decency to make it possible for Jonathan to have a job and support himself while on extreme parole; so the cost is not his fault.

While I'm on this thought train, I'd like to address how we deal with the Jewish media, meaning any public forum, whether newspaper, television program, social media or the like.

I commented to Devash:

...I think we need a long-range strategy, G-d help us. Tactics aren't enough, and we can't wait for normalcy to return -- if it ever will. Which I doubt. I'd rather have geula.

Just one suggestion for now: Perhaps media that calls itself "Jewish" or is thus associated need to be called out for their horrible language regarding their fellow Jews and the tribulations we suffer. The UK Jewish community seems to have succeeded in eliminating two of its "Jewish" media organs, the Jewish Chronicle and the Jewish News (which was going to merge with the Chronicle) because of their obsession with "virtue signaling" to our enemies. Jews there just stopped buying their dirty rags, and Muslims didn't accept them either.

David Singer, in an Arutz 7 article, calls on those who call our goal to restore Jewish sovereignty "West Bank Annexation" to stop this insidious practice. I'd like to see what happens with that. Maybe we can support this call, and more calls for better behavior by our news purveyors.

"Restoring Jewish sovereignty" is not "West Bank annexation"

We consumers of "Jewish" media can name and shame many media centers meant for our consumption, and demand that they portray Jonathan and other Jewish prisoners prominently and sympathetically as well — among the many other issues we have with them. And, even boycott them for good measure when they don't comply.

I really think that our media somehow portray us in general as agreeing with Jonathan's punishment, and this influences the media at large, which in turn influences the politicians and government officials. This, by leaving out the voices of the many of us — perhaps the majority of world Jewry — who disagree.

If Jews in England can cut off media that no longer represent their primary audience, why not we in Israel? Need I say more? 

Here is the latest article posted to Jonathan's web site.


I add my greeting to those in the following video. Have a miraculous Pessah, everyone!

in Hebrew and (some) English!

Title: "To the dear Pollard family"

More translation here in the comments.

Out of the Darkness: Geula and its Relationship to Real Sovereignty

Erev Pessah — Leil haSeder — 14 Nisan 5780

in honor of my mother, Rivka bat Nazira, on her 88th secular birthday. I also posted on her Hebrew birthday and forgot to acknowledge it!


I'll start by noting that I'm not very good at mussar, either giving it or receiving it. I had a lot of criticism thrown at me when I was a child, with hatred laced in, sometimes with open antisemitism. Over time it became hard for me to tell whether it was meant for my good or it was meant to spit in my eye, so to speak.

I'm finding lately that when I hear the person giving the mussar say that it applies to him or her also, I actually feel better about what's being said!

It is getting clearer that true sovereignty and redemption will not take place until we Jews, whether in Israel or not, get our priorities straight. HaShem — HQB"H — G-d — when will we be able to write His real name out??? — must come first. He rules Creation; His laws, both for Jews and for Gentiles, must be learned and followed.

Both the 613 and the 7.

Eretz Yisrael is HIS possession, and no one will get sovereignty here, in relation to other nations in the world, until we acknowledge His kingship (malkhuth) in every aspect.

What about the parts that are assumed by the Torah? For example: Jews living in Eretz Yisrael; parents teaching their children properly so that honoring them follows? These are not necessarily included in codes anywhere (if so, please let me know), and thus may not be taken as seriously as the ones that are coded (as in the Ramba"m's Sefer haHinukh, for example).

Kindly remember that I wasn't raised religious; now that I am more or less (certainty is not my strong suit), I know something about parents who are not teaching their children properly, and what follows...

We are told that Humroth (going beyond the law, even going beyond the fence around the Torah...) are out of the picture for Pessah this year because of the magefah (plague). Our family comes first (the part that lives in the house with you, that is.). We are doing the best we can just to keep things together this year.


Today, before Pessah, be"H, I present a few videos — even though I risk taking down the internet 😉, which has been massively used since people have been confined to their homes due to corona — that I've watched and listened to in the last week. (I've noticed that most of the videos on the right of what I'm currently watching there are a reflection of what I've been watching recently. Some research questions and viewing out of curiosity can be dangerous to your spiritual health when using the internet for your resource.)

I have long believed that, if these media survive cleansing such as what we're going through currently, the good forces will be able to take over the bad ones and eliminate them.

Rav Yosef Mizrahi says that to perform successful mussar it is best to start with the bitter things first, and end with the sweeter ones. I'm presenting one of his more recent videos today.

So here goes...

 

 


~~~ I hope this helps us clarify ourselves and enjoy a great, happy and kosher Pessah holiday!...

 ...AND...may Mashiah be revealed!!! ~~~

Dealing with FEAR...a pre-Geula meditation

9 Nisan 5780

Sorry, I can't find the source of this magnificent picture of our future Holy Temple, may it be rebuilt soon!

  
Some very appropriate words for us today, and every day, come from R' Itamar Schwartz, the author of Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh (בלבבי משכן אבנה) (Building a Sanctuary in the Heart) in answer to a reader's question:

QUESTION:Is fear ever a good thing? For example, I live in a place in Eretz Yisrael where need to protect our cars from rocks that Arabs sometimes throw at our cars, and sometimes there are life-endangering situations here which cause us to have real fear. Is this a constructive kind of fear to have?

ANSWER: The only thing a person must ever be afraid of is the fact that he fears anything besides Hashem. That is something to be truly afraid of, and it is the only pure fear which exists. Either we fear Hashem Himself, or fear anything that is besides Hashem – which causes us to have the fears. Whenever we experience a fear, like when we feel fear from the Arabs, we should view it as an awakening to remind us that we are not afraid enough of Hashem, and that is why we have become afraid of something. It is an awakening to us that we are not close enough to Hashem; because if we would really feel close with Hashem, there would be no reason to fear anything.

Read the rest...then come back

I need this mussar too. This is every bit as much for me as it is for you, my precious readers.

We've had a lot of reasons thrown at us as to why we're not able to attend our batei knesset (synagogues/shuls) any longer. But we must think about this very important issue:

How much longer will HQB"H have to wait for His house, the Beit haMiqdash? It's His foothold into this world, and He wants to dwell among us here. As long as this issue isn't dealt with, He isn't happy. Think about how we would feel if we didn't have a place to live — and about those who actually have no place to live.

Do we respect our "miqdashim me'atim" more than we do His Holy Dwelling? Or even, as much? Not that we don't respect them at all — we should be grateful for these reminders of what we're missing, but we really shouldn't hold them above haShem's Bayit. At this period in history they've been delaying us from fulfilling His clearly-expressed will. So we can't attend them any more, for the time being.

No dwelling on earth is as important to the well-being of the earth and its inhabitants, both the Hebrew nation and the rest of the nations. No house, no apartment building, no synagogue, no school (beit midrash or yeshiva), and definitely not the Vatican, the United Nations building, or that European Parliament building that looks like a modern version of the Tower of Babel. Yet, we have neglected it since the state of Israel was founded - the only opportunity we've had in the last 2,000 years. How have we squandered this precious time? I hope it's not yet too late...

We need to deal with the people who have been preventing us from doing what needs to be done: 1) our enemies who are currently holding the land it sits on; and 2) our government, that until now discriminates against Jews by arresting only Jews for even appearing to be praying on the Temple Mount. Everyone else can do whatever they please, even desecrating the site with their secular activities. This needs to be stopped.

Or, we might wait until, maybe, G-d will deal with them via the coronavirus? He's already started by putting several government officials and their employees into quarantine, including our Health Minister (who has the virus, ironically) and our Prime Minister. And no one is on Har haBayit either, due to "King Corona."

I know we're the most traumatized people on the face of the earth (Rivka Levy once wrote about that, but I think it was on her now-deleted blog), but are we really that afraid of them that we can't deal with our "leadership," with G-d's help?

If we are, then we need to start thinking about how much we don't fear (not to mention, love!) Him, and how far away we are from Him.

Do we need proof from a Torah verse? The Shema Yisrael, which includes three Torah passages that we recite twice a day, is a good place to start. To begin with, everywhere in the passages that make it up where we see the word kol (כל - all), whether by itself or embedded in another word (as in, בכל, bechol, with all) we should take note of what it refers to, and whether we take them seriously enough.

That's enough for today. Thank you for reading, and engaging your neshama with me here.

Many thanks to Myrtle Rising for linking to R' Schwartz here.

Rav Schwartz's ebooks in English are to be found here. (He writes in Hebrew, so if you read it with understanding, you might want to start on the home page.)

May we all have a good Shabbat haGadol!