THIS Is The Real War, Everything Else is Distraction

27 Nissan 5786
Day 12 of the Omer  

As I have written in greater detail in the past...

Each World War (the three wars of GoguMagog) corresponds to a different exile, a different messianic war and a different pillar of Jewish existence.

Eretz Israel 

   WWI - British (Eisav) conquered Ottomans (Yishmael).  They meant to control the burgeoning waves of aliyah and prevent Jewish autonomy in the Land of Israel.  What they wanted to prevent was realized by the 1948 War of Independence. The Babylonian Exile was also about removal of Jews from the Land of Israel.

Am Israel

   WWII - German (Eisav) attempted annihilation of European Jewry.  They meant to rid the world of Jews and thereby wipe Judaism from the world, too.  The result was that the population and power of Jews in Eretz Israel grew until they were able to expand into Judea and Samaria, Gaza and the Golan and take control of the Holy City of Jerusalem during the Six Days War.  The Persian Exile was also about an attempt to annihilate Jews from the world.

Torat Israel

   WWIII - The United States (Eisav) has launched a holy war for Chr*stianity.  They have invaded the Land of Israel and set up bases from which to influence and control Am Israel and preserve Chr*stian "rights" in violation of Torah Law.   They mean to fulfill their own prophecies where the Torah is replaced by their New Testament.   The Greco-Roman Exiles were also focused on denial of Torah Law and mass assimilation of Jews into Greco-Roman culture.

The Third Messianic War, which started with the Simchat Torah Massacre, will see the return of the Temple Mount to full Jewish sovereignty in accordance with Torah Law, and not just the Mount, but the Temple itself!!

Claims of genocide, settler violence, the ongoing destruction of Jewish farms, closure of Jewish holy sites, arrests of yeshivah students...

Understand that THIS is the real war at present.  Everything else is just distraction!  Stay focused on the end game!!

“The Goal Is Not Enlistment”: Commentators Warn of ‘War Against the Torah World’ Amid Draft Crisis

As tensions mount over Israel’s draft policies, Israeli commentators warned that the real objective behind recent legal and political moves is not military enlistment, but a broader campaign targeting the chareidi ציבור and the עולם התורה.

Speaking on Kol Chai’s main program, analysts Avi Blum and Yaakov Rivlin discussed the wider implications of current events, from President Donald Trump’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz to political developments in Hungary, focusing on what they described as an existential threat to the Torah world and what they called the judiciary’s silence in the face of escalating incitement.

...“When a lawyer sits and smiles and says, ‘We will dismantle the Torah world,’ he is expressing what the judges are thinking. 

And they mean to go still further and integrate our sons into an international military. removing them from Eretz Israel altogether to be assimilated into an international (non-Jewish) order.

GOD FORBID!!!!!!!

What's Conceived in Nissan Is Born in Iyyar

26 Nissan 5786
Day 11 of the Omer 

We had our "Turning Back Toward Egypt" moment on Shvi'i shel Pesach.  Just when we expected a clear path to freedom - some revelation of Mashiach - the process appeared to reverse itself.  It looked like, yet again, another premature "ceasefire" would stop redemption in its track.  

But, just like it was in Egypt, 3338 years ago, this "pause" was to lure Egypt in for the kill.  Just watch and see!!

Trump said "two weeks" and that brings us to, of all possible days, Israeli Independence Day!  From Nissan to Iyyar - the month of miracle wars of Redemption and Liberation.  

Keep watching and keep believing.  It's not over until it's really over.

FOR THIS WE WAIT

The Level of Eight - Above Nature

23 Nissan 5786
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Day 8 of the Omer
Parashat Shemini - Mevarchim

Parashat Shemini (Leviticus 9:1–11:47) marks the dramatic inauguration of the Tabernacle on the "eighth day". Aaron and his sons begin priestly service, but tragedy strikes when Nadav and Avihu die after offering "strange fire". The portion includes dietary laws (kashrut) for kosher animals, fish, and birds, alongside laws of ritual purity.

Key Themes of Shemini:

The Eighth Day Inauguration: Following seven days of training, Aaron and his sons assume the priesthood. Divine fire consumes the offerings, showcasing God's presence.

The Death of Nadav and Avihu: Aaron's sons are consumed by divine fire for offering an unauthorized, "strange fire," leading to a profound moment of grief and duty for Aaron.

Priestly Prohibition: Following the death of Nadav and Avihu, God prohibits priests from drinking alcohol before officiating in the Sanctuary.

Kashrut (Dietary Laws): The Torah outlines characteristics of permitted animals (split hooves and chew cud), fish (fins and scales), birds, and insects.

Sanctity of Food: The dietary laws are presented to teach holiness in everyday life and to make a distinction between holy/profane and impure/pure.

Haftarah Reading:

The Haftarah for Shemini is II Samuel 6:1–7:17, which describes King David bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, including the story of Uzzah and the incident with Michal.    (Source:  Google)

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~ 

The Significance of the Number 3338

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

and then see my follow-up from ten years ago...

Jerusalem In The Year 3338: The Birur

~ Mo'adim l'Simchah - Chag Sameach ~

Happy Festival of Matzot

14 Nissan 5786

Erev Pesach 

"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."

* * *

Borrowed from AP@Average_NY_Guy on "X".

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...

You can see the whole thing here.  It's well worth the read.
Morning update.  Average NY Guy has hit another one out of the ball park here.  Enjoy!

~ CHAG SAMEACH ~

The Easy Path to "Redemption" - Give Up!

12 Nissan 5786 

(H/T Shirat Devorah)

Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak: 
"There Will Be Three Days of Darkness" 

Please go back and see the previous blog post titled Right on Schedule, especially the comments which serve as an introduction to this current post.  Then continue with the following  (originally published as part of The Eliyahu Challenge at the End of Days almost a year ago)....

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 Contest

In 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 Interpretation

The 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 Insights

While 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.

Right on Schedule

12 Nissan 5786 

"The Great Shabbat"!

9 Nissan 5786
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Tzav - Shabbat HaGadol

As it did at the time of Yetziat Mitzrayim, the tenth day of Nissan this year falls out on Shabbat.

One of the reasons given by Chazal for why the Shabbat just prior to Pesach is called Shabbat Hagadol is that this is the day the Hebrews brought the Passover lambs into their homes and the Egyptians did not take retribution against them.

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?"

As we all know, Pharaoh did not let the people go and the lambs were taken into the Hebrews' dwellings for four days until the time came to slaughter them and roast them whole over an open fire for all the world to see and know that Hashem is God over all.

Can you imagine the sound of the bleating up and down all the streets? This was quite an in-your-face insult to Egypt, but they bore it without repercussion and Chazal considered it a miracle. Hence -Shabbat Hagadol.

~ ~ ~

Remember this:  Faith only becomes real when it is put to the test.

For those with enough time to read, here is a very interesting and more detailed account by Daniel Pinner...

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 ~