20 Nissan 5786
Day 5 of the Omer
Erev Shvi'i shel Pesach
(H/T Yeranen Yaakov and Shirat Devorah)
Thanks go to my fellow bloggers for making this connection. May this truly be the Year of Redemption!!!
Read here first ...
Pesah 5786 - 3338 Years Since the Exodus"There is no other nation on earth that has maintained something this detailed, this demanding, and this consistent for this long. Empires came and went, languages disappeared, cultures vanished, and Jews are still arguing over how to kasher a countertop and whether a product is acceptable for Pesach."
If you’ve never experienced Passover in an Orthodox Jewish home, it’s almost impossible to understand how far it actually goes. People throw around the phrase “spring cleaning” and think that’s what it is. It’s not. It’s a full teardown and rebuild of how you live inside your own house, all for just one week.It doesn’t start a few days before the holiday. It starts weeks, sometimes even months earlier. Every cabinet gets emptied, every shelf is wiped down, and every corner is checked. We’re not just cleaning dirt, we’re on the hunt for chametz, any leavened grain product. Bread, cookies, crumbs, even something that fell behind a couch months ago. You move appliances, you vacuum inside drawers, you scrub surfaces you normally wouldn’t even think about, like high walls. Some people take apart their ovens, some pour boiling water over countertops, others line entire kitchens with foil or special coverings so nothing that touched chametz during the year comes into contact with Pesach food.And that’s just the beginning...
12 Nissan 5786
(H/T Shirat Devorah)
Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak:
"There Will Be Three Days of Darkness"
Some of you may already be aware of a seventh-century midrash that mentions an End of Days repeat of the scenario which took place on Mount Carmel in ancient Israel - a contest between Eliyahu HaNavi and the prophets of Ba'al.
The Eschatological Sacrificial ContestIn this narrative, the Jewish people and the king of the Arabs engage in a debate over the rightful ownership of the Temple. The king proposes a test akin to Elijah's challenge: both sides will offer sacrifices, and the acceptance of these offerings by God will determine the true claimants to the Temple. The outcome is unexpected and unsettling:"Israel will offer a sacrifice, but it will not be accepted because Satan will denounce them before the Holy One, blessed be He. The sons of Qedar will offer sacrifices, and they will be accepted, for it is said, 'All the flocks of Qedar shall be gathered to you… they shall be acceptable on my altar' (Isaiah 60:7)."Following this, the Arabs urge the Jews to convert to their faith. The Jewish response is one of steadfast refusal:"Come and believe in our faith," they say. But Israel replies, "Either we kill or are killed, but we will not commit apostasy."This narrative serves as a profound allegory, reflecting themes of trial, faith, and identity at the culmination of history.Context and InterpretationThe passage draws a deliberate parallel to the biblical account in 1 Kings 18, where Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a sacrificial contest to prove the sovereignty of God. In the eschatological retelling, the roles are inverted, and the Jewish offering is rejected. This inversion is often interpreted as a test of faith, emphasizing the importance of unwavering commitment to one's beliefs even in the face of divine silence or apparent rejection.The reference to "the sons of Qedar" connects the narrative to Isaiah 60:7, which speaks of the flocks of Qedar being accepted on God's altar. This linkage underscores the complexity of divine favor and the mysterious workings of providence in eschatological times.Additional Sources and InsightsWhile Pirqe Mashiach provides the most direct account of this narrative, similar themes are echoed in other Jewish texts. For instance, the Zohar, a foundational work of Jewish mysticism, discusses the role of the descendants of Ishmael in the End of Days, suggesting a period of dominance before the ultimate redemption.Moreover, rabbinic literature often portrays the End of Days as a time of great trial and testing for the Jewish people, where faith and identity are challenged, and only those with profound emunah (faith) remain steadfast.
Don't buy their lie that Redemption comes from surrendering for the sake of unity. Cling to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and His Torah and you won't go wrong.
BONUS: They are already prepping the other side for it
The Ultimate Solution.
Shemot 8:22~Pharaoh summoned Moshe and Aharon and said, "Go - bring offerings to your God in the land." Moshe said, "It is not proper to do so, for we will offer the deity of Egypt to Hashem, our God - behold, if we were to slaughter the deity of Egypt in their sight, will they not stone us?"
Shabbat ha-Gadol, “the Great Shabbat”, the Shabbat immediately before Pesach, commemorates our final Shabbat in Egypt, 3,3[38] years ago, just five days before the Exodus.G-d had commanded the erstwhile slaves: “On the tenth of this month they will take to themselves – each man – a lamb for each father’s house…it will be for you to guard it until the fourteenth day of this month; then they will slaughter it – the entire assembly of the Congregation of Israel – at the onset of twilight.” (Exodus 12:3-6).The Midrash expounds: “The Jews would tie [the lamb] to their bed-posts from the tenth of the month on; when the Egyptians would enter [the Jews’ houses], they would see the lambs thus, and their souls would explode in rage” (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Parashat ha-Chodesh s.v. dabru; Yalkut Shimoni, Bo 191).The lamb was the Egyptian god, and for the Egyptians’ former slaves to show such contempt for their god and their religion drove them insane with impotent fury.Obviously, the corollary was that for the Jews to openly treat their former masters’ god with such contempt took tremendous courage and faith in G-d. Keeping this god tied to a bed-post for four days was a continuous challenge to Egypt; it demanded far more dedication than a single impetuous act of bravery in a moment of excitement.The Midrash continues: “‘Moshe called to all the elders of Israel, saying to them: Draw forth the flock and take it to yourselves’ (Exodus12:21) – every single one must drag around a god of Egypt, and slaughter it in front of them”. They had to extend this brazenness into the public squares and streets of Egypt, by slaughtering and roasting the Egyptian god in front of the Egyptians.G-d commanded them to “eat it roasted over fire…do not eat of it raw [partially roasted], or cooked in water – only fire-roasted, its head with its legs with its innards” (Exodus 12:8-9).Why this specific way of preparing the meat? – “Because it was an abomination for the Egyptians, slaughter it. And so that no [Jew] would say, We won’t roast it thoroughly lest it infuriate the Egyptians, it says ‘do not eat of it raw [partially roasted]’. And so that no Jew would say, We will cook it and thus conceal it in a pot, it says ‘do not eat of it …cooked in water’. And so that no Jew would say, We will cut off its head and its legs so they won’t recognise it, it says ‘its head with its legs with its innards’” (Da’at Z’keinim mi-Ba’alei Tosafot, Exodus 12:9). The Pesach sacrifice was a massive act of defiance against the idolatrous Egyptian oppressors.The Midrash (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana ibid. and Yalkut Shimoni ibid.) further continues: “Their taking of the lamb stood by them at the River Jordan, and their eating of it stood by them in the days of Haman: they had eaten the flesh on this night– the night when ‘the king’s sleep eluded him’ (Esther 6:1)”.The day they took the lamb, the 10th of Nisan, was the day that they would cross the River Jordan into Israel forty years later (Joshua 4:19). And the day that they ate it was the day that Achashverosh’s sleep would elude him 957 years later, in the days of Mordechai and Esther: Haman had promulgated his decree of genocide on the 13th of Nisan (Esther 3:12), so the three days of fasting that Esther decreed (4:16) were the 13th, 14th, and 15th of Nisan.Hence the day that Esther risked her life by donning royal apparel and going to King Achashverosh (Esther 5:1) was the first day of Pesach, so the previous night, when ‘the king’s sleep eluded him’, was the night of the 14th of Nisan (see Esther Rabbah 8:7; Yalkut Shimoni, Esther 1056; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 50; Seder Olam Rabbah, Chapter 29; Targum, Esther 5:1 et. al.).The Talmud (Shabbat 87b) and the Midrash (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishma’el, Beshallach, Masechet de-Vayasa 1) record that the day of the Exodus, 15th Nisan 2448 (1312 B.C.E.), was a Thursday. “So they slaughtered their Pesach sacrifices on the Wednesday, and it was on the previous Shabbat that they had taken their Pesach lambs, because that was the tenth of the month. And it is therefore called Shabbat ha-Gadol – the Great Shabbat, because a great miracle was wrought thereon” (Tosafot, Shabbat 87b s.v. ve-oto yom).The Shulchan Aruch cites this as practical halachah: “The Shabbat which is before Pesach is called Shabbat ha-Gadol because of the miracle that happened thereon” (Orach Chayim 430:1). The Mishnah Berurah (ad. loc.) explains: “In the year that they left Egypt, the 10th of Nisan fell on a Shabbat. Every single Jew had taken the lamb for his Pesach sacrifice and tied it to his bed-post… The Egyptians saw this, and asked them ‘Why are you doing this?’ They responded, ‘In order to slaughter it for the purpose of Pesach, as Hashem has commanded us’.Their teeth were set on edge because they slaughtered their god, yet they were unable even to say anything to them. And because the tenth of the month then was a Shabbat, the Shabbat before Pesach was ever after to be called Shabbat ha- Gadol”.The Haftarah reading for Shabbat ha-Gadol is the very last prophetic vision ever – the concluding 21 verses of the prophecy of Malachi, the last prophet, who prophesied during the early Second Temple era. After castigating Israel for their lack of gratitude to G-d and their defiling of the Holy Temple with their sub-standard sacrifices, Malachi portrays the Messianic era.The Haftarah begins by contrasting the future glorious time with our past misdeeds: “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Hashem, as in days of old and as in former years” (Malachi 3:4). In his final message – the message which seals prophecy for all time – until the coming of the Messiah - he exhorts Israel: “Remember the Torah of Moshe My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, decrees and statutes. Behold! I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome Day of Hashem comes”.An obvious question arises: why did our Sages select just this prophecy as the Haftarah for Shabbat ha-Gadol? If they wanted to link the redemption from Egypt with the final Messianic Redemption, then why not select one of the more impressive prophetic passages from Isaiah? Or why not one of Jeremiah’s magnificent descriptions of the final Redemption, which he depicts as being even more majestic than the redemption from Egypt (for example, 16:14 onwards, or 31:30 onwards)?I suggest the following answer:The Targum (Malachi 1:1) identifies Malachi as Ezra, which is also the opinion of two Talmudic sages, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha and Rabbi Nahman (Megillah 15a; Yalkut Shimoni, Malachi 586). Later sages, however, disagree: the Radak and the Ibn Ezra (commentary to Malachi 1:1) are of the opinion that Malachi was a separate prophet. The Rambam (Introduction to the Mishneh Torah), Rashi (commentary to Sukkah 44a and Bava Batra 15a), and Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartinura (commentary to Pirkei Avot 1:1) all state that Malachi was part of Ezra’s Beit Din (the Men of the Great Assembly).On the 15th of Nisan they were redeemed from Egypt; and on the 15th of Nisan they will in the future be redeemed from subjugation to exile” (Tanhuma, Bo 9).
What is undisputed is that the prophet Malachi lived through the second redemption – the return of the exiles from the Babylonian/Persian exile and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Malachi was born during a period of exile, of destruction, when the majority of Jews were in foreign lands and the Land of Israel was under foreign occupation, with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem lying desolate.Malachi witnessed King Cyrus’ proclamation, granting the Jews the right to return to Israel and rebuild the Holy Temple in Jerusalem (Ezra1:1-3, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23); he was part of the second redemption, the end of the Babylonian/Persian exile.It was no coincidence that during the second redemption, the first festival that the Jews celebrated was Pesach (Ezra 6:15-22); neither was it coincidence that Ezra began his Aliyah journey on the 1st of Nisan (7:9), and led his followers from the River Ahava – the last leg of the journey to Israel – on the 12th of Nisan (8:31).Malachi’s prophecy, then, is the synthesis between the first, second, and third redemptions, and is therefore the perfect reading for Shabbat ha-Gadol. Malachi had a unique perspective on Redemption, because he had experienced redemption in his own life.“On the 15th of Nisan…[G-d] spoke to Abraham our father in the Covenant between the Parts; on the 15th of Nisan the ministering angels came to announce to him that his son Isaac would be born to him; on the 15th of Nisan Isaac was born; on the 15th of Nisan they were redeemed from Egypt; and on the 15th of Nisan they will in the future be redeemed from subjugation to exile” (Tanhuma, Bo 9).As we begin to celebrate the first redemption, it is especially relevant that the prophecy of the prophet who, during the second redemption, foretold the final and eternal Redemption, resounds in every synagogue.
~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~
6 Nissan 5786
Within the past 24 hours, the world went from preparing for a massive escalation against Iran, as promised by US Pres Trump, to an announcement by the Pres that back-channel talks were producing positive results and the war may be over by April 9th to two unexpected attacks on energy infrastructure in Iran, as originally promised.
It can make your head spin unless you take my advice to block out the noise and keep focused on the facts that we know for sure - Iran is going to lose this war with Edom and Edom itself is going to lose its power in the process. In accordance with further prophecies, we also know that just as Ya'aqov Avinu was grasping the heel of his brother Eisav, when the latter-day nation of Eisav (Edom) begins to fall, there is no lapse of time until Israel will immediately begin to rise; when Mashiach will be revealed and redemption will have arrived. Truly...
"My children, do not fear; everything I have done, I have done only for your sake. Why do you fear? The time of your redemption has arrived."
Our Sages told us thousands of years ago that the final redemption would mirror the last. How appropriate it is for us that we are in the Pesach season - the season of Redemption - and thoughts of that earlier time are uppermost in our hearts and minds.
Yesterday, Trump announced a five-day deferral on his threat to destroy Iran's energy infrastructure. The Marines who are expected to invade Kharg Island to take possession of the Strait of Hormuz are supposed to arrive in five days. In five days, we will welcome Shabbat Hagadol on the same day (Shabbat - 10 Nissan) that it was originally - a day when our faith in the process of redemption was tested, but not yet to the limit. The ultimate test would not come until 14 Nissan when the lambs we brought inside our homes on Shabbat Hagadol had to be slaughtered in front of the Egyptians who worshipped them as gods.
Following this pattern, we can look for HKB"H to impose upon us a test of faith in Him and in His promise of redemption: "In Nissan you were redeemed and in Nissan you will be redeemed."
Trump's announced date for the end of the war - April 9th - is Isru Chag shel Pesach, the day after Egypt drowned in the sea.
Iran who represents Yishmael began to fall during its holy month of Ramadan. Furthermore, the Temple Mount was closed to Muslims throughout the entire month.
Eisav's "Holy Week" begins the day following Shabbat Hagadol on Palm Sunday and ends on the fourth day of Pesach (18 Nissan) on their Easter Sunday. It looks like 'Jerusalem' is being closed to their idolatry, too. What a sign for good news!!
According to the chronology of events in Egypt provided by the Mechilta...
On Sunday, the eighteenth of Nisan, the people of Israel began to prepare their belongings and animals for departure [from where they were then encamped (Eitam)]. Pharaoh's couriers [who had accompanied them to ensure their return] said to them: "Your period of freedom has ended - it is time for you to return to Egypt, for you said that you would be going on a three-day journey." Israel replied: "It was not by Pharaoh's permission that we left Egypt. It was God's exalted Hand that brought us out." The couriers countered: "Whether you like it or not, in the end you must obey the royal command." Israel rose up against them and struck them - killing some and injuring others. Those who remained went back to report to Pharaoh.
When the couriers left at midday of the eighteenth of Nisan, Moshe said to Israel: "Go back toward Egypt so that Pharaoh shall not claim that you are fleeing. Let him catch up with you near his land and if he has the power to stop you, let him come and stop you." Moshe sounded the shofar and the people returned to Pi haChiros - a day-and-a-half's journey from Egypt.
Now, there is an even bigger test than both the one on Shabbat Hagadol and the one of 14 Nissan when we actually slaughtered the lambs we had taken in on the tenth. Now, we had to move as if we were actually returning to Egypt, after everything!
When the blast of the shofar was heard, those with little faith began to tear out their hair and rend their clothes, for they thought that Moshe was returning them to Egypt. They were calmed only when Moshe told them: "God Himself has told me that you are free men. Our apparent retreat is only to entice the Egyptians and mislead them." (Source: Book of Our Heritage)
The final test would come on the seventh day of Pesach (21 Nissan) when we would see the Egyptian army arrayed against us in all its might and glory while the Sea of Reeds lay between us and escape.
You know the rest of the story. Will we see such deliverance this Shvi'i shel Pesach, in 5786?
All of the signs point to it. In only the most recent miracle of this war (as I write this), in Tel Aviv this morning, a residential building took a direct hit from a missile, but no one was killed - the building was empty!
If it appears at times that we are moving backwards, remember the first redemption from Egypt, and trust the plan - God's plan!!
While we're at it, find your tambourine and have it ready. Be prepared to sing shirah!!
5 Nissan 5786
When you think about it, it is astounding how many voices are out there in the media shouting to be heard - newscasts, podcasts, op-eds, endless analyses by "experts" presenting their views on where we are and where we are headed. It's all just so much noise!!
I think that's why HKB"H gave us the prophecies which have been handed down to us over the centuries and millenia. This is what will keep us on track and anchored rather than blown around by the winds of confusion created by all this noise.
For now, all we need to know is that our ancient Jewish sources tell us that when Arabia consults with Edom and they face off with Paras, there is no need to fear. Paras will fall to Edom and we should understand from HKB"H Himself that this is the sign of our imminent redemption.
For this moment in time, this is all we need to know.
