Moshe – The Most Humble Man

 17 Sivan 5781 | Erev Shabbat B'ha'alothcha

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moshe – The Most Humble Man



by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher | first posted here

The Torah states in Parshat Behaaloscha “The man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more than any other person on the face of the earth.” (Bamidbar 12:3)   Rashi defines the word ענו as humble, patient, and tolerant. His sister Miriam and his brother Aaron criticized him for separating from his wife and felt that what he did was improper by divorcing Tzipora. But since Miriam was the one who spoke lashon hara about Moshe to her brother Aaron, she was afflicted with Tzaras.   What was Moshe’s reaction to this criticism from his siblings? The answer is silence! Because the true mark of humility is the ability to accept criticism and be a tolerant person, even to those who mistreat and verbally abuse him.   Although Moshe was the greatest navi of Klal Yisrael, and was aware of his uniqueness, he was nonetheless the most humble person who ever lived. Because he realized that his achievements and abilities and level of prophecy were given to him by G‑d, thus he had no right to feel arrogant for doing what he was capable of.   The Rambam in Hilchos Tshuva states that it is the trait of a Baal Tshuva to be humble and tolerant. If he wants to rectify his sins against G‑d and man, he should contemplate his many short comings and character flaws. The Chofetz Chaim says that an arrogant person is seriously deficient in intelligence. Had he made an accounting of his failures and shortcomings, he would come to the conclusion that there was nothing to be haughty and arrogant about. The verse in Tehillim 93 says “Hashem has reigned. He has clothed Himself in grandeur.” When a human being acts in such a manner he is in effect donning the kingly garb of his Creator.   Our father Abraham said about himself “I am but dust and ashes.” (Bereshis 18:27) The greatest teacher and prophet Moshe described himself “For what are we?” King David said about himself in Tehillim 22, “But I am a worm and not a man.” Mashiach is described by the Prophet Zechariah in chapter 9 as a humble person riding on a donkey. If so, how can we act in a conceited and prideful manner?   At Matan Torah, Klal Yisrael experienced the grandeur of Hashem and their own insignificance. As we read this parsha shortly after Shavuot, it is a time to contemplate the vital importance of this trait of humility and tolerance.

Jacob's in trouble now. What to do? Part 3

the light of 15 Sivan 5781 | Full moon

I pray with a siddur just like this one, at home. It helps me keep focused on where I am and why I'm here.

 Part 1: Introduction | Part 2:  Lod On Fire | Part 3: What can we do, and what is best left to HQB"H?

 

I know this might seem counterintuitive, but hear me out: We probably can accomplish a lot more from where we are than from where our authorities are. After all, on the ground, more depends on how well we can work together with our neighbors and friends than on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of the laws of the state, depending on their validity. 

And where do we get our measure of validity? From the Torah: the same source our Prophets got theirs, and that our Writers extolled.

This is one area which the Jewish nation is expected to excel, more than the other nations. And, it is the most attacked by the government. I expect that it feels it has the right to do so because of the money they throw at the religious establishment here, basically to keep them quiet. We know it was done in the beginning because there was such a small population, particularly of haredim, due to the Devastation* after World War II, that the government then didn't think they would thrive. Little did they know.

Am I reading this correctly? If so, I'm sure there's more where that comes from.

Besides that, in addition to the wisdom we get from the air in Eretz Yisrael, the smell of the corruption from the major organs of the state rises like that of rotten eggs, and it is encouraged by the way certain laws are enforced only against Jews, and no one else. If it hasn't become clear in the last few decades, it should be obvious just last week, when the cops and soldiers weren't defending the places where Arabs attacked Jews on the streets less than an hour from Tel Aviv for days on end.

I don't think this is because we don't know what's going on. It's because we, the Jewish people of Israel, feel helpless to do anything about it.

This is how we know that something has been wrong in Jerusalem these last 74 years. Maybe the right thing to do is insist that our government act like Mashiah, then wait for them to admit they can't?

Or, maybe they won't admit that they can't, they'll be proud that they won't?

Do they really want to preside over a living Jewish state, or over its death?

You really have to ask questions like this if you want anything in Israel to make sense, from pleading with Arabs to stay and benefit from the Jewish state in 1948, to more than one eviction of Jews from places in the Land of Israel that they refuse to administer (1982, from the Sinai and 2005 from Gush Qatif and northern Shomron are two that come off the top of my head; and I seem to recall writing about a more recent one as well), to not only refusing to defend Jews under direct fire on the streets of Haifa, Lod and other places near Tel Aviv, but actually arresting individual Jews who were defending themselves, just a week ago. Keeping Israel small, and Jews here and around the world defenseless and confused, doesn't help keep this people viable. It keeps us perpetually on the edge of extinction. 

***only ha qadosh baruch hu keeps us alive and viable ***

In addition, our government has become the bearer of broken promises and has become a glaringly obvious and embarrassing joke. The multi-national hodgepodge of a system we have does not serve the nation, and at this point we should consider abandoning it. We have been patient with it long enough. 

Do we really need all this to get us to return to the Creator of the Universe, to keep His laws, to be unashamed to call ourselves a Malchuth, with a real king, a descendant of Melech David, and not a Medinah? If we do, and we want to live to see the end of this, we have to do it NOW. And not just go to yeshiva or seminar (women's version) and learn the usual things that Jews learn the world over — our learning has to be deeper and encompass the land and the instruments of governance so that ALL of the Torah of Moshe Rabbenu can be kept here when the time comes and Mashiah is revealed. 

...and may it come quickly!

Pride and smirking should not be on the faces of those who, whether openly or secretly, run this country. They've proved that they can't even run a "normal," regular country, let alone the Nation of Israel, whose surviving people came straight from the Devastation* to their homeland. Or at least that's what a lot of people claim. In fact, the process of reestablishing our homeland in its place has been a long one and is still ongoing (and, no thanks to those who are directly involved in delaying us). At some point, we will have to turn our national elections, going on part 5 at this point, into a vote on which system we are going to live under. And the Biblical kingdom model had better be on the ballot.

I think we could be considering next steps, now that clarity has come to a great many of us that the Arabs among us have never intended to live in peace with us. Finally, at last, we get that. But it's not only the Arabs, it's also the Christians who take advantage of poor and struggling Jews to bring their "good news" to them. The Arabs hate us to death physically; the Christians love us to death spiritually. 

There are reasons that G-d, who gave the Jewish people this precious Land, didn't want us to allow idol worshipers and others who live foreign lifestyles to live here permanently; in Hebrew it's called, lo techanem (do not have compassion — from Deuteronomy/Devarim 7:2). We are seeing the results of that now. When are we going to acknowledge reality, even to the point of risking the opposition of the rest of the world?

Why not consider a kingdom, backed up by a Great Assembly of 120 men and a Kohanic system of 24 watches and a House to do their holy work and Levi'im to back them up with song?

But first, we need to make sure HQB"H is really the King in our lives.

When we pray and whatever else we do, particularly those of us who live in Eretz Yisrael, we must keep ourselves oriented to the fact that we are here in our Holy Land, regardless of where and what traditions we come from. 

I have an illustrative picture of the siddur I pray from at home in this post for a reason, and I wanted to write about it many months ago. Perhaps I still will, but at least this is a beginning.

We must not put up with injustices supported by our "justice" system. The Land can't stand it, and neither should we. 

A couple of recent examples:

- "To this day, no one has told me how my father lost his life." - Shai Tzfarti, who lost his father Moshe in Meron. And what about the families of the other 44 qorbanot? Where is the justice???

Also, you can now download the explosive new investigative report that the government doesn’t want you to read:

Meron: Accident or Murder? (PDF)

- We are at war today (cease-fires don't mean the war's over, by the way) because the government evicted every single last Jew — even the dead ones — from Gush Katif in 2005 and gave the land to the Arabs, who destroyed all the things they left for them. They've had a great place to shoot us from and otherwise make war for the last 16 years. And the High/Low Court can't bring itself to decide to resolve the decades-old problem in the Shimon haTzaddik/Sheik Jarrah neighborhood of Yerushalayim, whereby ARABS won't lower themselves pay rent to the mere JEWS who only own the property!!! - giving said Arabs the excuse to continue the war they've been waging, both openly and clandestinely, for the last 74 years.

Don't forget that Yitzhak Avinu lived in the Aza area during his lifetime, and he was commanded never to live outside of Eretz haKodesh because he was a living sacrifice!

When the Arabs quit their jobs or even look at their bosses funny, it should be remembered that Lavan the Wicked started looking at Yaacov Avinu strangely too, before Yaacov realized that he should leave and go home. 

In our case, we are home, so we should, as more than one business owner did on the "day of rage" that occurred on Isru Hag Shavuot, fire the Arabs who decide not to come to work, and look for Jews to replace them.

This is our last stand. We are home, and we're not going anywhere.

 One last word: 

Don't exaggerate the situation, but don't underestimate it, either...

...לא להגזים במצב, גם לא לזלזל בו

*direct translation of Shoah שואה (the Hebrew word for Holocaust). I am using the term "Devastation" in English because 1) it is one of its original Biblical meanings (see here and here) and 2) the word holocaust means "a sacrifice consumed by fire" (the implication being that the murder of as many Jews as possible was a "holy" project — an offensive description indeed; besides which, most of the murders were either shootings or gassings.) Thankfully, as the proverb says, we got up yet again...and, with G-d's help, we will keep getting up.

 

More reading:

 What about Israeli civilians? |  Covid-19, the Meron Tragedy, Hamas Missile Attacks, Rioting Yishmaelim, the Bleacher Tragedy in Givat Zev—What's the Underlying Message? | Rambam and Aliyah to the Temple Mount |  Israel is Stuck. | What's Next? | Wake Up, Israel! | Sovereign or Satellite? | No Doubt in My Mind | The State of Israel: G-d's Hand or Satan's? Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 |  Intended Consequences | A Letter to our Prime Minister and all 120 Knesset Members |

Jacob's in trouble now. What to do? Part 2

 7 Sivan 5781 | Isru Hag Shavuoth

 

 

Wreckage of a bus and car in Holon, Israel, after a rocket attack, 11 May (Wikipedia)

 Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Lod On Fire | Part 3:  What can we do, and what is best left to HQB"H?

 This article came to me already translated from Russian. If, like me, you happened to get it over WhatsApp first, you, too, appreciated that there was a translation to English AT ALL. I couldn't have done this myself; all I did was try to clarify the message and not make more mistakes in the process. 

The message speaks for itself. Emphases are mine alone. HDG

***

"Lod on Fire: Report from the Front Line"

by Alla Zohar

 My dear friends, every day I receive dozens of calls and messages from you, just to ask how things are in Lod. So I decided to answer everyone at once.

I want to name my post: "Lod on Fire" or "Report from the Front Line."

I think that all of you are more or less aware of what is happening in our country. I don't want to give any political assessments; I'll just tell you about our daily life.

Our mornings begin with questions in local groups: How can we get out of the city? Do doctors work? A child has high fever, how to get to the doctor so that they don't kill us on the way? Where are they shooting today? What's on fire? Where is being smashed? etc...

The rockets, which fall on our heads at the same time, already seem to be just child's play. It is much more terrible when every second you expect the thugs to break into your house and start killing your family. You can hide from missiles in a bomb shelter, but how do you protect yourself from those who break into your door, and it is just you against them? 

On the very first night in Lod, several houses were evacuated, in which Arabs and Jews lived together. When the rioters came, Arab neighbors guided them to Jewish apartments. People in the middle of the night jumped out into the street with children in their arms; they were forced to urgently evacuate. 

Does this remind you of anything?

Our husbands have not been sleeping for several nights, they guard our homes, and next to them are our sons. 

They have no weapons, they are absolutely defenseless in the face of thugs armed to the teeth. 

Settlers from Judea and Samaria come to us and stand next to our men, this is our protection. The police and the magawas (border police [mishmar hag'vul - HDG]) are not managing.

We see our cars and synagogues burning. 

People burst into burning synagogues to save sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls).

All night long automatic gun shooting does not stop. We cannot sleep. All Lod residents inform each other in various media groups what is happening on this or that street, where the crowds of pogromists have moved at the moment. We are afraid for our children, who are with us at home, and for our men, who are now trying to resist the crazed crowd on the street. Now we have again been warned that pogroms are expected after Friday prayers, be prepared (it was written on Thursday).

We live in constant fear, and mind you, all this is not happening somewhere in Syria, or beyond the so-called Green Line. All this is happening in our country, in its very center, a 20-minute drive from Tel Aviv.

Do you hear this on the news?

NO!!!

It all started from our city of Lod. We cried out for help! Nobody heard us. Now pogroms are already taking place in all Israeli cities with a mixed population.

If you have not yet understood, we have a war, a war for survival, and missiles falling from the sky will soon seem to us the lesser of two evils.

If the easy-going residents of Tel Aviv think that this misfortune will bypass them, I am afraid they are deeply mistaken. The situation is already getting out of control, and G-d forbid, the whole country can get set ablaze.

Remember, when people were evicted from Gush Katif? The people there shouted, "Come to your senses! What are you doing? If we are not there, missiles will fly to the center of the country."

That is what we are now witnessing.

People! Do not be silent, tell the whole world what is happening here.  

The world must know the truth! 

I want to end my post with the famous words of Martin Niemoeller:

When the Nazis came for the communists, I was silent, I am not a communist.

Then they came for the Social Democrats. I was silent, I am not a Social Democrat.

Then they came for the trade unionists, I was silent, I am not a union member.

Then they came for the Jews, I was silent, I am not a Jew.

And then they came for me, and there was no one to protest.

***

Part 3 is next.

Jacob's in trouble now. What to do? Part 1

 7 Sivan 5781 | Isru Hag Shavuoth

 

Israeli police forces in Lod, Israel, 11 May 2021 (Wikipedia)

 

Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Lod On Fire | Part 3:  What can we do, and what is best left to HQB"H?

The local WhatsApp group and I got a very disturbing message this morning, from Lod. To understand its importance, I'll have to do some explaining before I bring it here. It would be good to absorb this commentary first, while I type up the message. 

I have to do that because I have a policy not to synchronize my phone with my computer. They are separate entities as far as I'm concerned, and I type pretty fast. So, now to the comments.

***

First of all, I'd like to congratulate our military leadership on the masterful way in which many Gazan terrorists were led to their end in the "Hamas Metro," when the tunnel infrastructure inside Gaza was bombed where many were hiding last Saturday night, when Shabbat had ended (if one can believe this news report), as part of Operation Wall Guardians(1).

We know that the army can carry out effective missions when the leadership wants to.

The times when nuclear reactors and other potential nation-destroying weapons have been destroyed just in the nick of time before they were supposed to go on line are witness to this. The one in Iran was the most recent of them.

I understand that Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to bring these Arabs, both Israeli and from Gaza/the "West Bank" to surrender. I hope it's true, but I'm not counting on him having unimpeded access to that goal. 

Apparently, this was known some time ago. From Arutz-7, in September 2020, Saeb Erekat, ym"sh, claimed that Netanyahu "...does not want peace, but wants the Palestinian surrender..."

The heavy bombardment of fake news in the last half-decade or more makes people suspicious of any news item, even if it is true. So, kindly show us proof. A lot less will on their part to fight, whether from Gaza or on the streets of Israeli cities, would be a good start. 

Innocent civilians shouldn't have to protest constantly for a decent government to keep deadly, war-like violence from affecting ordinary people living ordinary lives, especially when it's their children who are fighting back.

Over time it has become apparent to anyone who has lived in Israel that those times are few and far between; and right now they are even fewer than ever, and the needs are greater. Either the governing apparatus has decided to give the impression that they are bumbling fools and have no overriding priorities in favor of the survival of Israel as a country, OR it has no overriding priorities of that kind, and the survival priorities are rather more personalized, if you will, toward certain groups over others.

If you understand the makeup of the country, you know that non-religious people from Jewish families from the Tel Aviv area tend to rule the important elements (e.g., education, media, laws and statutes) even when the more religious make up the majority, and they can't stand many of the other groups of Jewish people who inhabit this land, especially those who are happy and proud to be Jews and who couldn't care less about people who rule the parts of Eretz Yisrael that we currently hold, but who would just as soon give them up to local (Arabs) and not-so-local (such as the Vatican) non-Jews.

They clearly prioritize political correctness from outside Israel over proper provision of land for all of Israel's Jewish citizens.

But that doesn't explain why reports are coming in that the Blue and White police and border guards are not doing their jobs (or, not able to do their jobs) even in Haifa and Lod — generally among the places where Jews and Arabs live literally side-by-side, or even in the same buildings, and Tel Aviv, which promotes pro-Arab messaging but doesn't seem too concerned that not enough Arabs live there. Why would our government davka not express concern about the situation in the areas of Israel where compliance with the agenda put forth by it is greatest?

That would have to be explained by someone more familiar with these issues than I am. But it would seem to me that people above the Israeli government are either giving orders like these, or making it difficult-to-impossible to enforce proper orders. 

Or, it could be because of an agreement with another country. Here is an interesting-looking article: Litigation: Enforcement of foreign judgments in Israel, that might go some way toward a general explanation of the phenomenon.

Many other parts of the country are also suffering from lack of law enforcement, while most of us have access to the Pikud haOref  (Home-front Command; in American terms, Homeland Security) in one way or another, and are aware of the attempted or successful bombings of cities within and outside the "Gaza Envelope."(2) Considering the intense law enforcement of the last year due to "corona," this situation makes absolutely no sense. The message from Lod claims that there is NO news about this anywhere.

And neither does the behavior of law enforcement in Meron of recent memory (let us not forget). See what you think of this summary of research and posting of a sampling of evidence that something very different happened to cause the deaths of 45 and the many injuries on La"G laOmer. Here is the post it came from.

The message from Lod gives more specific details on this (but not too specific, I would assume, for safety reasons). (It seems we haven't heard from anyone in French Hill (Givah Tsafartit), a mixed neighborhood in Yerushalayim, and I wonder why.)

What I'm not talking about...

I'm not discussing the Sheikh Jarrah/Shimon haTzaddik housing rental issue in this series, if ever; that's a separate legal matter whose resolution has been put off by this war. 

Jerusalem is closer to the heart of it, but for some reason we seem to have been left alone since Yom Yerushalayim. This has to be some kind of trick. As I noted above, we haven't heard about our own mixed neighborhood.

Please let me know if I've left out something important in the comment section. 

Let me end this part with my translation from Hebrew of a WhatsApp post, again from this morning, that expresses the hopes and prayers of many, written by Kobi Bornshtein in Hebrew and forwarded to us:

Rosh haShana wasn't Rosh haShana
Simchat Torah wasn't Simchat Torah
Meron wasn't Meron
Shavuot wasn't Shavuot
Likewise, with G-d's help, Tis'ha be'Av won't be Tish'a be'Av.

***

😉

 (1) Note to English speakers: Guardian, in the singular, is an incorrect translation. In the original Hebrew term, Shomrei haKirot, both words are plural. Of course, if it refers to G-d, the singular would be correct —  it seems not to be the case here — as Shomer haKirot. I only wish it were so!  

(2) According to the Pikud haOref application, the Gaza Envelope (Otef Aza) extends out to four kilometers (4 km) from the borders of Gaza. A number of smaller communities live within this envelope.

A dose of courage during a time of trouble!

 1 Sivan 5781 | Rosh Hodesh Sivan, Month of the Giving of the Torah!

Two minutes of Menachem Begin's forthright words are better than many "weasel" words from any government leader alive today! We could all use the lesson. 

Thanks to neighborhood friend YAG.

Spoken in Hebrew with English and Hebrew subtitles.

An attack on Jerusalem and a war on the nation

bs"d 

44th Day of the Omer count | motzaei Yom Yerushalayim | 28 Iyyar 5781

Who do they think they are, who dare stop our celebrations, threatening war? Source

Was I living through the days before the 6-Day War again, this afternoon? I was 11 years old then, and living in the United States. Now I've been here in Yerushalayim for over 13 years, and the last time I heard a siren here was in 2014, during Operation Ssouk Eitan ("protective edge"). More here.

"Honey, what is going on?"

    "What do you mean?"

"What is this siren?" I asked.

    "It's...uh..."

"This is Jerusalem Day. Sirens aren't supposed to happen today. I think this is real. You need to come to my office. Now."  

That's the room we use for such emergencies. I have no outside windows there. It's as close to a protective room as we have.

A few seconds later we heard two thumps. This is what rockets sound like from some distance away (not saying where.). But last time I heard them, they didn't seem as close as they did today. I have to admit, I hadn't heard that we'd been warned by our enemies that we were going to be attacked if Jews weren't taken out of the Old City by 6pm (18:00).

Fortunately, no more sirens sounded here. G-d, backed up by our troops, was defending us.

War has been building up against us the whole month of Iyyar (which this year is Ramadan for them). We have one more day to go...

Now is the time for me to say something about what I think is behind the ever-present threat that underlies Jewish Israeli life and that has its effect on the Israeli personality. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have this come to mind. I have thought for years that...

 ...our government has been using the local Arabs to control the Jewish population. Which explains why the so-called "Palestinians" been getting away with murder for years, both of their own and of us.

Otherwise, we might have had the whole land already, for all I know. We might have had the courage to have all of Judea and Samaria, and even taken back Jordan, which was supposed to be ours before Britain decided, treacherously, to give it to a tribe of Saudi Arabs called the Hashemites. After the Six-Day War, we had courage aplenty because we were backed up by The One Above. But it was the government, here on earth, who destroyed it for us by not backing us up and by giving in easily to foreign governments (almost) each and every time pressure was placed upon them. 

And we wouldn't be in this situation either.

 (The Abraham Accords haven't helped, either. The nations who signed are already turning on us. Dr. Mordechai Kedar explains why.)

You know, when we try to get across that the "Palestinians" start trouble and then involve the news media only when we strike back, very few listen; basically, people who were already our friends. We don't win over people who were against us to begin with. It's a waste of time and energy.

Action speaks louder, and more persuasively, than words, theirs or ours. The US is no longer our friend, and this should not be news any longer. It is a broken reed, upon which we cannot rely. It is an opportunity for us to act with independent thought, backed up by prayer and mitzvoth.

It's time for this "Israeli" system (based on British/Ottoman law — not exactly a direct way to democracy, and even that is lacking...) to implode. 

We need Mashiah, this second, and the Kingdom of Israel! We cannot depend on any other system to be effective for us.

It seemed understandable for the nation to be afraid before June 1967. We have no excuse now. We know that if we turn to HQB"H, that He'll be on our side!

...An hour later, when I was fixing dinner, hubby said to me, 

"We'll be OK."

    "Be'ezrath haShem," I replied. (meaning, "with the help of G-d.")

"Amen." 

It looks like it'll be a rough next few days. But we'll be OK, with G-d's help...

and our courage to follow wherever He leads.

More reading: 

Let's finish this | Sirens wailing, rockets flyin' in the air | In the war zone | Another brick in the wall | If we want to leave Mitzrayim — we must have faith  | Can Israel stop "Palestinian" thieves from stealing its land? | The Jewish right to the land of Israel | What you won't read in western media about the Jerusalem riots | Today's blood libel | Recent events and their Geula basis |

***

UPDATE: a MAJOR breath of fresh air:

Many thanks to Devash for the work she did separating this out from the long, long video it came from.

613 Mitzvot – or 913? --by Rabbi Sprecher

 25 Iyyar 5781



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher | first published here

“But they shall not come and look as the Holy Objects are covered, lest they die.” (Bamidbar 4:20)

 

The Sefer HaChinuch writes that Parshat Bamidbar does not contain any of the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah.

 

The Baal Halachot Gadolot disputes the words of the Sefer HaChinuch and says that Bamidbar does have one Mitzvah, the verse cited above. This verse prohibits the Levi’im from staring at the utensils of the Mishkan as they were being wrapped by the Kohanim in preparation for transport. Once the Holy Objects were properly covered, it was the task of the Levi’im to load them on their shoulders and carry them to the next station in the midbar*.

 

The Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvot says that the count of the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah includes only those that were relevant and applicable forever. Mitzvot that were one time occurrences, or short term for the midbar, were not included. Had they been, there would be almost 300 additional Mitzvot besides the 613 Mitzvot! Thus, Rambam agrees with Sefer HaChinuch that there are no Mitzvot in Parshat Bamidbar because the prohibition of the Levites from staring at the utensils of the Mishkan was only applicable in the midbar therefore making it a temporary Mitzvah.

 

Rambam bases his opinion on the Talmud, Makos 23b, which quotes the pasuk “The Torah that Moshe commanded us is the heritage of the congregation of Yaacov.” (Devarim 33:4)

 

The gematria of the word Torah is 611, the number of Mitzvot that Moshe himself taught Israel after the nation had heard the first two of the Ten Commandments from Hashem Himself, thus making a total of 613.

 

Since the Mitzvot are described as the heritage of the Congregation of Yaacov, it stands to reason that the 613 Mitzvot are not one time events, but permanent ones that apply forever.

 

This would exclude the prohibition cited in the verse above, which was applicable only during the forty years of the generation of the midbar.

 

***

* midbar = desert. Bamidbar, the Hebrew name for the Book of Numbers, means "in the desert."

 

 

More news on the La"G laOmer tragedy, and other topics, can be found on the right hand sidebar. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

UPDATE 20210508: Rivka Levy has a Meron video focusing on the bottom of the stairs and needs help figuring out what's happening there. More HERE.

 

Also a new UPDATE  20210509: Video from 'Area 42' where the crush happened.