5 Adar Bet 5774
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Vayikra: From the desert to the ends of the earth
by Daniel Pinner
Having completed the building of the Mishkan at the end of the Book of Exodus, the Book of Leviticus continues very naturally with the functioning of the Mishkan: “When He called to Moshe, Hashem spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting…” (Leviticus 1:1).
The Midrash (Sifra, Vayikra 1) notes the sequence here: God first “called to Moshe”, and then “He spoke to him”. And then the Sifra goes on to note that this is the third of three occasions when God first called to Moshe and then spoke to him.
The first time was about two years earlier at the Burning Bush, when Moshe was still exiled from his nation, a humble shepherd tending the flocks of his father-in-law Yitro (Jethro). When God saw that Moshe had turned aside to behold the wonder, “God called to him from the midst of the bush, and He said, Moshe, Moshe” (Exodus 3:4).
The second time was at Mount Sinai, immediately before the Giving of the Torah: “Hashem called Moshe to the peak of the Mountain, and Moshe ascended; and Hashem said to Moshe: Go down, warn the nation lest they break through to Hashem to gaze” (Exodus 19:20-21).
The obvious question that arises from here is: what do these three events (the Burning Bush, the Giving of the Torah, and the beginning of the Mishkan’s functioning) have in common?
The simplest and most obvious answer is that all of these were events which were intimately connected with Israel’s redemption. The process of redemption from Egypt began when God revealed Himself to Moshe at the Burning Bush; the purpose of redemption was the Giving of the Torah (1); and the building of the Mishkan was the pinnacle of the redemption (2).
It is significant that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochay, one of the greatest of first-generation (mid-3rd century) Tannaim in the Land of Israel, cited these three occasions as examples of when God bestowed His glory on the Elders of Israel: “We have learned in a few places that God gave honour to the Elders. At the Burning Bush, as it is written ‘God said to Moshe…, Go and assemble the Elders of Israel’ (Exodus 3:15-16); at Sinai, as it is written ‘To Moshe He said, Go up to Hashem, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the Elders of Israel’ (Exodus 24:1); and at the Tent of Meeting, as it is written ‘It happened on the eighth day [of the Inauguration of the Mishkan] that Moshe called Aaron and his sons and the Elders of Israel’ (Leviticus 9:1)” (Shemot Rabbah 5:12).
So on the three separate occasions which were the three milestones on the road from Egyptian slavery to redemption, God first called to Moshe and then spoke to him. And on those same three occasions He gave honour to the Elders of Israel.
The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 5:12) continues: “And in the future time to come, it will be the same, as it says ‘When Hashem, Lord of Legions, will reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, there will be glory for His elders’ (Isaiah 24:23). Rabbi Avin said: In the future God will seat the Elders as on a threshing-floor, with Himself sitting as the head of them all as the President of the Court, and they will judge the idolaters, as it says ‘Hashem will enter into judgment with the elders of His nation and its princes’ (Isaiah 3:14). It does not say [that He will enter into judgment] 'against the elders of His nation’ but rather ‘with the elders of His nation’: He will sit with them and judge the idolaters”.
We pause here to explain the somewhat cryptic reference to the Elders sitting “as on a threshing-floor”. The Mishnah records that “the Sanhedrin would sit in the shape of a semicircular threshing-floor so that they could see one another” (Sanhedrin 4:3).
This refers specifically to the Great Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Israel, which would sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone in the Holy Temple. (Every town and city with more than 120 adult men would have its own Minor Sanhedrin of 23 judges, and every village with fewer than 120 adult men would have a court of three judges.)
Of the 71 Judges on the Great Sanhedrin, 69 would sit in three concentric semicircles of 23 each. Facing them were the Nasi (the President of the Court), and to his right the Av Beit Din (Father of the Court). The Nasi was the leader; the Av Beit Din was the second in charge (Rambam, Laws of the Sanhedrin 1:3).
So the Midrash looks back on three landmark events in the first redemption, the redemption from Egypt, when God called to Moshe and then spoke to him, which were the three times when He gave honour to the Elders of Israel.
Our parashah opens with the third of these occasions – when the Mishkan began to function.
And the Midrash then looks forward to the time of the final redemption – may it come speedily! – when God will again give honour to the Elders of Israel. And though then, at the time of the first redemption, the Elders’ honour was manifest only to Israel, in the time to come their honour will suffuse the entire world. After all, only thus will they be able to stand with God Himself, so to speak, to judge all the idolaters in the world.
And this is logical. After all, 3,325 years ago in the desert, God gave honour to the Elders of Israel in the Mishkan, which holy though it was, was but a precursor to the Holy Temple which would only be built 479 years later by King Solomon. The second Holy Temple, the one built by Ezra and Nehemiah, had a lower level of sanctity than that of King Solomon.
But the third Holy Temple, the one destined to stand for all time, the Holy Temple which the prophet Ezekiel depicts so graphically in chapters 40 to 44, will be far grander and more magnificent, and have a far higher level of sanctity, than those which came before.
So it is entirely fitting that in that third Holy Temple, God Himself will stand, so to speak, as the Leader of the Sanhedrin, to administer ultimate justice, not only to Israel, but to the entire world.
It is then that Israel will truly be a light unto the nations. In the words of the prophet Isaiah in one of his magnificent, majestic depictions of the messianic era, “I am Hashem, I have called you with righteousness and I will strengthen your hand; I have fashioned you, and I will make you for a covenant with the nation, as a light to nations” (Isaiah 42:6).
And again: “Then He said: It is not enough for you to be My servant, to establish the Tribes of Jacob and to bring back the besieged of Israel; I will also make you a light to nations, that My salvation shall be unto the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
Endnotes:
(1) We expounded on this idea in detail in a previous D’var Torah on Shavuot
(2) Last week, in the context of Parashat Pekudey/Shabbat Shekalim, we cited the Ramban’s Introduction to the Book of Exodus: “The [Egyptian] exile was not ended until the day of their return to their place, and when they were restored to their forefathers’ level. When they left Egypt, even though they had left the house of slavery, they were still considered exiles, because they were ‘in a land not theirs’, wandering through the desert. And when they came to Mount Sinai and built the Mishkan, and God restored His Divine Presence to their midst, then they were restored to their Forefathers’ level…and then they were considered redeemed”.
7.3.14
6.3.14
URGENTLY NEEDED! PRAYERS FOR JONATHAN POLLARD
5 Adar Bet 5774
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
UPDATE: Pollard undergoes surgery, condition called ‘not good’
______________________
4 Adar Bet 5774
Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard hospitalized
And basically, right now, that's all the information we have. Please pray for Yehonatan Ben Malka. Pray for his health and pray that PM Netanyahu will bring him home with him on the return trip from the United States.
Be"H, to be updated as information becomes available.
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
UPDATE: Pollard undergoes surgery, condition called ‘not good’
______________________
4 Adar Bet 5774
Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard hospitalized
And basically, right now, that's all the information we have. Please pray for Yehonatan Ben Malka. Pray for his health and pray that PM Netanyahu will bring him home with him on the return trip from the United States.
Be"H, to be updated as information becomes available.
US DOLLAR - R.I.P.
4 Adar Bet 5774
Will the "killing" of the dollar mirror the final plague of Egypt - the "killing" of the firstborn? Although this video was posted a year ago, today we actually see Russia and China publicly colluding to destroy the dollar. How much time is left??? Wherever you are when it happens, that's where you'll be stuck. Are you where you want to be in the final analysis???
Will the "killing" of the dollar mirror the final plague of Egypt - the "killing" of the firstborn? Although this video was posted a year ago, today we actually see Russia and China publicly colluding to destroy the dollar. How much time is left??? Wherever you are when it happens, that's where you'll be stuck. Are you where you want to be in the final analysis???
4.3.14
Drafting Yeshiva Bachurim - in Chu"l!
3 Adar Bet 5774
This may be the biggest news of the day yet...
Talmidei Yeshivos in the Ukraine being Drafted!
As the fighting in the Ukraine continues, Chabad talmidei yeshiva are receiving draft notices for the Ukrainian army. According to the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine and Chabad shaliach Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman, the situation is very serious.
Azman tells the Israeli media that “we are on the brink of war” and that the situation is most serious, hoping to see miracles in the month of Adar. He confirms that talmidei yeshiva are receiving notices calling them to serve in the Ukrainian army.
This is the army which is now under the control of Neo-Nazis, Hashem yerachem!
Washington's Role in the Ukrainian Coup & How it May Spin Out of Control
...Flash forward to 2014 and we had a new president, Victor Yanukovich who made the controversial decision to refuse E.U. membership for Ukraine in favor of closer ties with Russia. This sparked a massive backlash. Some of this backlash came from a contingent that wanted to join the E.U., but anger over the alliance with Russia was a much bigger factor. This anti-Russian sentiment played directly into the hands of Ukrainian Neo-Nazi groups such as Svoboda who capitalized on the backlash to strengthen their position and rise to power in the fray.
The Svoboda party which traces its roots to the Ukrainian partisan army of World War II, was loosely allied with Nazi Germany. Until 2004, Svoboda had been called the Social-Nationalist Party, which critics said was a deliberate reference to the National Socialism of the Nazis.
At this point even mainstream outlets like the New York Times are having to admit that Svoboda activists played an integral role in the barricading of Independence Square and the occupation of government buildings. In many cases their aggressive posture has enabled them to edge out the other factions and take the credit entirely.
The U.S. has known for some time that Svoboda was a key player. In the first week of February Victoria Nuland met with Oleh Tyahnybok the leader of Svoboda, and in the leaked phone call she specifically mentions Tyahnybok (you might want to listen to that audio again if you missed it).
And Nuland isn't the only high ranking U.S. official that met with Svoboda leaders. In December Senator John McCain (a CFR member) met with Tyahnybok.
So clearly the U.S. government knew who they were dealing with.
To put this in perspective a bit the leader of Svoboda, Oleh Tyahnybok, once called Ukrainian-born American film actress Mila Kunis a "dirty Jewess." and another top Svoboda member, Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn, a deputy in parliament, often quotes Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, as well as other Third Reich luminaries like Ernst Rohm and Gregor Strasser. These are real Neo-Nazis, and they have a real chance to rise to power in the chaos.
Russia has been repeatedly asserting that this is the case, calling the crisis in Ukraine a "brownshirt revolution" but the mainstream media has by and large avoided reporting on this angle....
Concluding the YWN article...
...According to Maariv, talmidim from the beis medrash of the Chabad Brodsky Shul are being inducted along with talmidim from Yeshivas Orach Chaim in Kiev, with the latter affiliated with Karlin-Stolin under the leadership of Ukraine Chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich.
Rav Bleich is quoted saying “they only had to report to the induction center to register but at present, no one is being drafted”. According to members of the community, if there is a war they will be mobilized and they will have no alternative to serving in the army. Some of the talmidim are thinking of traveling to Russia to avoid being drafted Maariv reports, but they are aware the airport may shut down too.
Talmid Meir Povlovsky is quoted by Maariv explaining that if he is called up he is heading to Israel, explaining it is not possible to be religious in the army, which does not offer kosher food, nor may one observe halacha, one must be clean shaven and Shabbos is a day dedicated to cleaning.
Povlovsky explains it is “just like prior to WWII for those talmidim who are drafted will head to Israel but the question is when the gates will shut and it will be too late. Most of the Jews wait till the last moment to decide. At times, one must simply get up and make aliyah to Israel” he concludes.
This may be the biggest news of the day yet...
Talmidei Yeshivos in the Ukraine being Drafted!
As the fighting in the Ukraine continues, Chabad talmidei yeshiva are receiving draft notices for the Ukrainian army. According to the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine and Chabad shaliach Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman, the situation is very serious.
Azman tells the Israeli media that “we are on the brink of war” and that the situation is most serious, hoping to see miracles in the month of Adar. He confirms that talmidei yeshiva are receiving notices calling them to serve in the Ukrainian army.
This is the army which is now under the control of Neo-Nazis, Hashem yerachem!
Washington's Role in the Ukrainian Coup & How it May Spin Out of Control
...Flash forward to 2014 and we had a new president, Victor Yanukovich who made the controversial decision to refuse E.U. membership for Ukraine in favor of closer ties with Russia. This sparked a massive backlash. Some of this backlash came from a contingent that wanted to join the E.U., but anger over the alliance with Russia was a much bigger factor. This anti-Russian sentiment played directly into the hands of Ukrainian Neo-Nazi groups such as Svoboda who capitalized on the backlash to strengthen their position and rise to power in the fray.
The Svoboda party which traces its roots to the Ukrainian partisan army of World War II, was loosely allied with Nazi Germany. Until 2004, Svoboda had been called the Social-Nationalist Party, which critics said was a deliberate reference to the National Socialism of the Nazis.
At this point even mainstream outlets like the New York Times are having to admit that Svoboda activists played an integral role in the barricading of Independence Square and the occupation of government buildings. In many cases their aggressive posture has enabled them to edge out the other factions and take the credit entirely.
The U.S. has known for some time that Svoboda was a key player. In the first week of February Victoria Nuland met with Oleh Tyahnybok the leader of Svoboda, and in the leaked phone call she specifically mentions Tyahnybok (you might want to listen to that audio again if you missed it).
And Nuland isn't the only high ranking U.S. official that met with Svoboda leaders. In December Senator John McCain (a CFR member) met with Tyahnybok.
So clearly the U.S. government knew who they were dealing with.
To put this in perspective a bit the leader of Svoboda, Oleh Tyahnybok, once called Ukrainian-born American film actress Mila Kunis a "dirty Jewess." and another top Svoboda member, Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn, a deputy in parliament, often quotes Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, as well as other Third Reich luminaries like Ernst Rohm and Gregor Strasser. These are real Neo-Nazis, and they have a real chance to rise to power in the chaos.
Russia has been repeatedly asserting that this is the case, calling the crisis in Ukraine a "brownshirt revolution" but the mainstream media has by and large avoided reporting on this angle....
Concluding the YWN article...
...According to Maariv, talmidim from the beis medrash of the Chabad Brodsky Shul are being inducted along with talmidim from Yeshivas Orach Chaim in Kiev, with the latter affiliated with Karlin-Stolin under the leadership of Ukraine Chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich.
Rav Bleich is quoted saying “they only had to report to the induction center to register but at present, no one is being drafted”. According to members of the community, if there is a war they will be mobilized and they will have no alternative to serving in the army. Some of the talmidim are thinking of traveling to Russia to avoid being drafted Maariv reports, but they are aware the airport may shut down too.
Talmid Meir Povlovsky is quoted by Maariv explaining that if he is called up he is heading to Israel, explaining it is not possible to be religious in the army, which does not offer kosher food, nor may one observe halacha, one must be clean shaven and Shabbos is a day dedicated to cleaning.
Povlovsky explains it is “just like prior to WWII for those talmidim who are drafted will head to Israel but the question is when the gates will shut and it will be too late. Most of the Jews wait till the last moment to decide. At times, one must simply get up and make aliyah to Israel” he concludes.
IS TODAY DOOMSDAY!?
2 Adar Bet 5774
I nearly forgot and I'll bet you did, too. Remember this?
MEANS: U.S. economy on schedule to crash March 2014
By Grady Means October 25, 2012
...there is a very large probability that the real end of the world will occur around March 4, 2014.
The doomsday clock will ring then because the U.S. economy may fully crash around that date, which will, in turn, bring down all world economies and all hope of any recovery for the foreseeable future — certainly over the course of most of our lifetimes.
That's today!! Some of today's headlines jogged my memory...
STOCKS CRATER: Worst Day In Month For DOW...
Ukraine conflict: Global economic crisis brewing?
As I'm writing this at 1:19 pm Israel standard time, this pops up in the news feed...
Ukraine crisis: Russians fire warning shots in Crimea as Kerry flies in
Heads up!
I nearly forgot and I'll bet you did, too. Remember this?
MEANS: U.S. economy on schedule to crash March 2014
By Grady Means October 25, 2012
...there is a very large probability that the real end of the world will occur around March 4, 2014.
The doomsday clock will ring then because the U.S. economy may fully crash around that date, which will, in turn, bring down all world economies and all hope of any recovery for the foreseeable future — certainly over the course of most of our lifetimes.
That's today!! Some of today's headlines jogged my memory...
STOCKS CRATER: Worst Day In Month For DOW...
Ukraine conflict: Global economic crisis brewing?
As I'm writing this at 1:19 pm Israel standard time, this pops up in the news feed...
Ukraine crisis: Russians fire warning shots in Crimea as Kerry flies in
Heads up!
Signs of the Times
2 Adar Bet 5774
Following are pictures of signs that I took with my phone one day. I thought you might find them as interesting as I did. The first one is self-explanatory. It is posted right next to the checkpoint where Jews from Binyamin pass on their way into the eastern entrance of Jerusalem. The road going up to the Arab village known as Azayim exits right there.
I like the next one because it's a reminder that even 24 hr stores close on Shabbat here. This one is located on the back side of Davidka Square facing Haneviim St.
This next one was plastered on a wall outside the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. it says...
"Father in Heaven : Send Mashiach Now!"
Underneath, someone has penciled in...
"It won't come for free."
Following are pictures of signs that I took with my phone one day. I thought you might find them as interesting as I did. The first one is self-explanatory. It is posted right next to the checkpoint where Jews from Binyamin pass on their way into the eastern entrance of Jerusalem. The road going up to the Arab village known as Azayim exits right there.
I like the next one because it's a reminder that even 24 hr stores close on Shabbat here. This one is located on the back side of Davidka Square facing Haneviim St.
This next one was plastered on a wall outside the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. it says...
"Father in Heaven : Send Mashiach Now!"
Underneath, someone has penciled in...
"It won't come for free."
3.3.14
THAT'S ME!
1 Adar II 5774
Rosh Chodesh II
"The Day After"
See the black circle? That's exactly where I was standing yesterday and I was the only one wearing a white hat. (I wear white for Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh.) The little cleared out area just to the right is where a seminary girl fainted and Hatzalah had several people there attending her.
Rosh Chodesh II
"The Day After"
See the black circle? That's exactly where I was standing yesterday and I was the only one wearing a white hat. (I wear white for Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh.) The little cleared out area just to the right is where a seminary girl fainted and Hatzalah had several people there attending her.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
