Erev Sukkot
Commenter Elliot pointed out the following regarding Thursday's stampede during the Islamic Hajj: "Check out today's portion of Chumash with the news from Saudi Arabia; verse 35 'Yom Eidam'; incredible!"
He's referring to Devarim 32:35 of Parshat Ha'azinu...
לִי נָקָם וְשִׁלֵּם לְעֵת תָּמוּט רַגְלָם כִּי קָרוֹב יוֹם אֵידָם וְחָשׁ עֲתִדֹת לָמוֹ
"Vengeance is poised with Me, and it will pay at the time their foot stumbles. For the appointed day of their reckoning is near, and what is destined for them hastens".
Last day of Hajj shadowed by grief
What should have been a day of celebration Saturday was tempered by grief as millions of Muslims marked the final day of Hajj without hundreds of fellow worshipers.
At least 769 people were killed in a stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, according to Saudi state-run SPA news agency. Another 934 people were injured.
Saudi officials say they're investigating what caused hundreds of pilgrims to get trampled.Their "appointed day" is called "eidam" in the Chumash and the holiday they were celebrating is one of two on their calendar called "Eid". The pasuk says "at the time their foot stumbles" and people were trampled.
I would go further. I would include the next pasuk which says...
כִּי יָדִין יְהֹוָה עַמּוֹ וְעַל עֲבָדָיו יִתְנֶחָם כִּי יִרְאֶה כִּי אָזְלַת יָד וְאֶפֶס עָצוּר וְעָזוּב:
When Hashem will have judged His people, He shall relent regarding His servants, when He sees that enemy power progresses, and none is saved or assisted.
This happened the day after Yom Kippur when Hashem had finished judging His people Israel.
I checked and although there have been similar incidents at the Hajj in the past, only one had more fatalities and none of them had taken place any time around Yom Kippur.
Let's hope this really is a reflection of where we stand in relation to the events described in Parshat Ha'azinu, because this is what is next...
"O nations - sing the praises of His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants; He will bring retribution upon His foes, and He will appease His Land and His people."
[For a much better and more detailed presentation of this idea, please see Yeranen Yaakov's blog.]
~Ken, yehi ratzon! Chag Sukkot Sameach!~
Also interesting the Pope stumbled, too.
ReplyDeletePope Francis stumbles as he departs New York City for Philadelphia
Eid is spelled and pronounced with an ע not an א. The Arabic word עיד derives from the Hebrew מועד if I'm not mistaken. Perhaps that doesn't make a difference for your connection with the reading in Humash for that day since א, ה, ח, and ע are interchangeable letters according to Rashi (and see Sefer Yetzira) because they're all made from the same part of the mouth. (Like how יצחק is spelled normally spelled with a צ which is really a kind of s sound not ts, but is spelled ישחק with a ש in Tehillim 105).
ReplyDeleteInteresting findings, and the Pope stumbling has to be a good sign!
NNNNM
Thanks for adding this info, Aaron. Chag sameach!
DeleteAaron, I stand corrected on my explanation of Eid as being identical to איד in Hebrew. Thanks for pointing it out. אידם does mean "their feast day," as in Hil. A"Z ch. 9:4 of the Ramba"m:
Deleteהנוצריים עובדי עבודה זרה הן, ויום ראשון יום אידם הוא.
Christians are practicioners fo foreign worship and Sunday is their feast day.
I am interested in the those of your mention of Rashi and "interchangeability." I would very much like to see the context, of what he was mentioning.
There are many sources indicating that the pronunciation of each letter is distinct and important, such as the RaSa"G's perush on Sefer Yetzira. HaZa"L was also critical of those from Beth Sha'an regarding their confusion of Alefs and Eyins, and thus they should not serve as ba'alei qore.
Not to answer out of turn, but this idea of interchangeability of letters in some letter groups according to how they are formed in the mouth is part of gematria. At least according to one book I have about it.
DeleteBut, I can't say that was my thinking. I'm just a very poor Hebrew speller and didn't even notice the difference. ;-)
Men who wear DRESSES are bound to fall.
DeleteEsser Agaroth, I will try to find the source, but I really can't think of where I read this Rashi about it. I am really into authentic Hebrew pronunciation, which if I'm not mistaken, you are too. So you can relate to my [almost] nerdy obsession, lol.
DeleteAnother interesting fact is that the ת in the prefix "lehith-" can change to a ד or ט when it is grouped with a root word beginning with an s letter. When the first letter of the root word is a צ, the ת changes to a ט because צ is an s sound pronounced behind the upper teeth and ט is a t sound pronounced exactly in the same place - thus they correlate. Likewise the when the root starts with a ז, the ת changes to a ד because ז and ד are pronounced at the same place (and they're interchangeable letters, a ד without a daghesh is dh as in the th of "the" and a ז with a dagesh is a sound between z and dh - thus zahav becomes dahav in Aramaic and dahab in Arabic). When the root word begins with a ס or ש, the ת remains because these letters are all pronounced at the same place in the mouth.
Examples of the ת in the "lehith-" prefix changing to ט or ד:
להזדמן
להצטרף
This proves that the Temani and old Sefaradi pronunciations of these letters are correct.
Aaron, you may find THIS of great interest.
Delete"Noise Blockers...", I admire your humor and sympathize, but factually, Arabic dress is Hebrew/Jewish dress. Arabic language and dress sounds and looks like Hebrew language and dress, not the other way around. Much of their language is derived from Hebrew and Aramaic, too.
DeleteThe way a Jew dresses is not as important, but pronouncing Hebrew correctly is. As Esser Agaroth pointed out above that Hazal forbade certain Jews with certain dialects to lead Tefilla. They use the example of the Tiberian Jews who would switch alef for `ayin. Today most people don't even pronounce `ayin and that's a halakhic problem. Also, reciting Shema` and Birkath Kohanim, correct Hebrew pronunciation must be employed according to halakha. Once upon a time Jews may not have known which was the correct pronunciation, because they didn't have as much exposure to other communities who pronounced it more correctly and then, how would they know enough about the origins of Hebrew to know which was correct, having been in exile for such a long time. It deteriorated.
What bothers me is Mizrahi Israelis pronouncing Hebrew like Ashkenazim even in tefilla. Most of the youth don't pronounce heth, `ayin, resh, or sadi correctly even while davening. You'll only mostly find old Mizrahim who speak Hebrew with a Mizrahi accent (which in itself is still flawed). Even praying with Temanim, I find many younger ones barely or not at all pronouncing `ayin and the most common is probably switching resh to "ghesh" which is really the soft form of gimel. What will be in the future? Perhaps Mashiah will restore the correct pronunciation to Israel. I certainly hope so, but most people I talk to about this don't seem to care at all!
Tsephaniah 3.9 - "For then I will convert the peoples to a pure language that all of them call in the name of the Lord, to worship Him of one accord."
DeleteActually, Aaron, I vehemently disagree with you. The way we dress is important.
Deleteשלא להידמות במנהגותם ובמלבושם
משנה תורה, הלכות עבודה זרה
יא,א אין הולכין בחוקות הגויים, ולא מידמין להן--לא במלבוש, ולא בשיער, וכיוצא בהן: שנאמר "ולא תלכו בחוקות הגוי" (ויקרא כ,כג), ונאמר "ובחוקותיהם, לא תלכו" (ויקרא יח,ג), ונאמר "הישמר לך, פן תינקש אחריהם" (דברים יב,ל). הכול בעניין אחד הוא מזהיר: שלא יידמה להן--אלא יהיה הישראלי מובדל מהן וידוע במלבושו ובשאר מעשיו, כמו שהוא מובדל מהן במדעו ובדעותיו. וכן הוא אומר "ואבדיל אתכם מן העמים" (ויקרא כ,כו).
Perhaps you will say that "we don't hold by the Ramba"m." Please find me a Rishon or something in the Shulhan Arukh with contradicts this.
Just because we had to adapt our clothing in Galuth so that we did not stick out, and thus get beaten up, and killed, does not make it correct leKhathillah now that we are in Eretz Yisrael.
Even the Vizhnitzer Rav believed this to be important. When he saw that goyim were wearing his style of hat, he changed the bow of his hat from the left side to the right, which is now why you can pick a Vitznitzer out of crowd, because of his hat.
Shavuah Tov, Devash!
ReplyDeleteThank you so so much for these posts - especially Erev Yom Tov!
Indeed BIG things are going on BIG TIME!!
Please keep it coming! Hoping to see you all with Moshiach very soon!!
Chag Sameach
Hadas
I usually feel down at the end of Shabbat, but it's like Shabbat not only didn't end, but went up another level. I'm really excited about Sukkot!
DeleteIn Baltimore, our Bal Korai found an error in the posuk above (lamed vov), and we had to stop (stumble) and change Sifrei Torah . . . may it be well for Klal Yisroel . . .
ReplyDeleteAmen!
DeleteI heard the following from R' Sitorsky BEFORE reading this post: the last 3 words of the posik are a remez to THIS YEAR. Vachash asidos the first and last letters are 5776 and 5he final word of the posik is 76. This word is the roshei teves of time times and half of a time from Doniel. What makes this all the more interesting that's the rav pointed this out before you making the connection to the stampede
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for bringing this, SBS. Did you hear him online or in person? I love his shiurim! And have his website linked on the blog, but it hasn't been updated for a few years.
DeleteAlso, this is not my original idea. Besides Elliot, I heard this connection from someone else.
I heard it in person. He is a close friend of mine. His classes are also on my website, www.torahmediaatlanta.com He still does classes almost every week and they are updated on his site and my site, although not all the time.
DeleteWow! Lucky you! Hey, thanks for the link! Please pass along my thanks to the rabbi, too. I really, really missed those shiurim.
DeleteAlso The Mecca crane collapse:(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
ReplyDeleteOn 11 September 2015, a crawler crane toppled over onto the Masjid al-Haram, the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. 111 people were killed and 394 injured The city was preparing for the Hajj pilgrimage.
The German-made Liebherr Group crawler crane LR 11350 involved in the incident is operated by the Saudi Binladin Group, who are heading the expansion of the Grand Mosque and also responsible for a large amount of major building contracts in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Binladen Group is the second largest construction company in the world and was founded by billionaire Mohammed Bin Laden.[5][40] An engineer for the group said that the crane was erected in "an extremely professional way", and the accident was an "act of God".
Wow! Thanks for the reminder, Yaakov. And I did not know that they had attributed it as an "act of God". I'm sure they're right.
DeleteEidam is also "their feast day" in Hebrew, and not just "their appointed day," the identical of eid in Arabic, and of course, the Hajj being a significant time ending with eid al-adha.
ReplyDeleteCould be that HaShem was not only fed with Arabs threatening His people by also of the kefirah of stating that Avraham brought Yishma'el up to be sacrificed, and not Yitzhaq, which is one of the commemorations of this day of theirs.
I hope the Christians will be next to get their punishment for kefira.
Me, too. They are really resistant to teshuvah.
DeleteLest we forget - and forget we will never
DeleteATROCITIES OF THE CHRISTIANS
http://www.truthbeknown.com/victims.htm
I just want to put out there - here - that it was NOT JUST THE JEWS that suffered from the church in Rome - but every single indiginous people. From the North American tribed to the Australian and Indian tribes to the South American tribes - all were raped, sodomized and forced into baptism. I would urge you all to look deeply into the vdeos and resources on the topic of CANADIAN AND AUSTRALIAN GENOCIDE against the native peoples of the lands on both continents. All were annihilated in the name of the Roman Church. We are in very good company indeed and certainly not alone.
ReplyDeleteGood point! And they didn't just burn Talmuds either. They burned irreplaceable works of non-xian origin.
DeleteAnd this is very traumatizing indeed. Millions were tortured by the Jesuits for the *church* that people are now bowing down to - across the globe. The victims now shadows of their original selves. And it's all being whitewashed in vibrant colors and musical enteritainment - as if it never happened.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea.
ReplyDeleteI wrote my own post about it here.
Thanks so much for telling me so I wouldn't miss it. See my comment there.
DeleteThat facts do rise to the surface however, that political agendas/movements have done far more genocide than religious ideologies:
ReplyDelete"The truth is, non-religious motivations and naturalistic philosophies bear the blame for nearly all of humankind’s wars. Lives lost during religious conflict pales in comparison to those experienced during the regimes who wanted nothing to do with the idea of God – something showcased in R. J. Rummel’s work Lethal Politics and Death by Government:
Non-Religious Dictator Lives Lost
Joseph Stalin - 42,672,000
Mao Zedong - 37,828,000
Adolf Hitler - 20,946,000
Chiang Kai-shek - 10,214,000
Vladimir Lenin - 4,017,000
Hideki Tojo - 3,990,000
Pol Pot - 2,397,0003
Rummel says: “Almost 170 million men, women and children have been shot, beaten, tortured, knifed, burned, starved, frozen, crushed or worked to death; buried alive, drowned, hung, bombed or killed in any other of a myriad of ways governments have inflicted death on unarmed, helpless citizens and foreigners. The dead could conceivably be nearly 360 million people. It is though our species has been devastated by a modern Black Plague. And indeed it has, but a plague of Power, not germs.”
~Batya~