11 Iyyar 5782
26 Days of the Omer
12 May 2022
09 May 2022
05 May 2022
"The Omer: Countdown to Faith"
5 Iyyar 5782
20 Days of the Omer
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Emor - The Omer: Countdown to Faith
Rabbi Meir Kahane
When you come to the land that I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, you must bring an Omer of your first reaping to the Kohen. He shall wave it in the motions prescribed for a wave offering to the L-rd so that it is acceptable for you. The Kohen shall make this wave offering on the day after the first day of the [Pesach] holiday [see Torat Kohanim, Emor, Ch. 12] .... You shall then count seven complete weeks after the day following the [Pesach] holiday when you brought the Omer as a wave offering, until the day after the seventh week, when there will be [a total of] fifty days. [On that fiftieth day] you may present new grain as a meal offering to the L-rd. (Lev. 23:10-11, 15-16)
In order to reinforce the principle of a holy nation, G-d tied Pesach, the time of national liberation, to Shavuot, the time of the Giving of the Torah, via the Sefirat HaOmer, the “counting of the Omer”. The counting is also tied to the Land, for it begins with the harvesting of the Omer. This is why our sages declared (Menachot 83b), “All communal and individual offerings can come from the Land of Israel or from outside of it, from new grain or from old, except for the Omer and the two loaves of Shavuot, which can only be brought from new grain and from the Land.” The mitzvah of the Omer bound Pesach to Shavuot and the people to their holiness. It completed the creation of Israel as a holy nation and ensured that this holy nation would merit Eretz Yisrael. Our sages said (Vayikra Rabbah, 28:6): Never take the mitzvah of the Omer lightly, for Abraham merited through it to inherit the Land. It says, “To you and your offspring will I give the land where you are now living as a foreigner. The whole land of Canaan” (Gen. 17:8), and this was so that Abraham “would keep G-d's covenant” (Ibid., v. 9). By fulfilling the mitzvah of the Omer, which ties Pesach to Shavuot, and thereby becoming a holy nation, Israel merited to inherit the Land from the nations; for had they not agreed to be a holy nation, why should G-d have taken the Land from the nations and given it to them?
Our sages ask why the Torah was not given immediately or shortly after Israel left Egypt, and they answer (Kohelet Rabbah, 3:[11]2): When Israel left Egypt, they were worthy of receiving the Torah immediately. Yet ... G-d said, “My children have not yet attained their lustre. They emerged from an enslavement of mud and bricks, and shall I give them the Torah? Let them enjoy two or three months of the Manna, well-water [Miriam's well that miraculously followed Israel] and quails, and then I shall give it to them.” Nonetheless, the nation's faith was weak and abated very quickly. As our sages (Shemot Rabbah, 5:14): “Moses and Aaron then went to Pharaoh” (Ex. 5:1): And where did the elders go that they were not mentioned together with Moses and Aaron, when G-d had previously said to Moses, “you and the elders will go” (Ex. 3:18)? Our sages answered, “The elders went with them, yet they stole away... and disappeared. By the time Moses and Aaron reached the palace, not one remained.” Numerous other sources testify to Israel's lack of faith then. G-d, therefore, demanded of them at least a small sign of faith, albeit fleeting, before He would redeem them, because faith and trust are the root of serving G-d. Without them, without faith in the King, Redeemer and Savior, there is no Torah. Therefore, the counting of the Omer not only underscores the bond between the people and holiness, between a holy nation and its holy land, but also establishes the formation of the people on the basis of faith. The Omer was harvested from the new grain, and until then it was forbidden to eat new grain and forbidden even to harvest it. As Rambam wrote (Hilchot Temidim U'Musafin 7:13), “It is forbidden to harvest in Eretz Yisrael any one of the five species of grain before the Omer is harvested.” Through this, we proclaim that G-d gives bread to all flesh and that we depend on Him for this grain, for His blessings, for His dew and His rain. Therefore, the first cutting is given to G-d as the meal offering, as an announcement that we have placed our hope in Him with faith and trust, and as an acknowledgment and giving of thanks for blessing us with this harvest.
This idea is also alluded to in the law that this Omer comes from barley (Menachot 68b), an animal food, as with the meal offering of the Sotah, the suspected adulteress, and of the Sotah we find: All of the meal offerings come from wheat [a food consumed by humans] but [the meal offering of the Sotah] comes from barley [consumed by animals]... R. Gamliel says, “Just as her deeds were bestial, so is her offering from the food of the beast.” (Sotah 14a). All this is so even though the Omer meal offering is not entirely like the Sotah offering, since the former requires oil and frankincense, whereas the latter does not. Furthermore, the former is brought as geresh, the finest grade barley flour (not normally consumed by animals), whereas the Sotah barley offering is brought as regular barley flour, the way animals eat it. Even so, G-d wished to hint to us at the start of the new grain that man, like the animal, depends on G-d's mercy. As King David described in Psalms (104:27), “All of them wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season.” Our sages furthermore said (Vayikra Rabbah, 28:3): It says, “Neither say they in their heart: 'Let us now fear the L-rd our G-d, Who gives the early and late rain in due season'” (Jer. 5:24). [Let him not say], “Once G-d gives you everything, you no longer need Him.” “Who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest” (Ibid.). G-d will protect us from evil winds and evil dews. When? During the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot. In other words, we should not think that since the winter has passed and there was rain, and there is already grain, there is no more need to pray to G-d regarding this grain. Even when there is grain, if during harvest time rain falls and there are evil winds and evil dews, the grain will be ruined. As Samuel said, “Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call unto the L-rd that He may send thunder and rain... and all the people greatly feared the L-rd and Samuel” (I Samuel 12:17-18). For this reason, the Omer meal offering is waved, as our sages said (Vayikra Rabbah 28:5): How would he wave it? R. Chama bar Ukva said in the name of R. Yossi bar Chanina, “He passes it back and forth, and up and down. He passes it back and forth for the One Who owns the entire universe, and he raises it up and down for Him Who owns those in Heaven and earth.” R. Simon, son of R. Yehoshua says, “He passes it back and forth to cancel harsh winds, and he raises and lowers it to cancel harsh dews.” The main point here is that faith is a fixed component of the Omer meal offering, because the meal offering itself symbolizes faith. Indeed, G-d established this interlude between national liberation and sanctification in order to exalt and refine Israel with mitzvot and values, precisely those of faith and trust in G-d – the manna, the well and the quail. All three served as signs that the sustenance and survival of man on the individual and national level are solely in G-d's hands.
As our sages said (Pesikta Rabbati, 18):G-d said to Israel, “My children, when I used to give you the Omer [of manna that fell for each person], I would give each of you 'an Omer per person, according to the number of people each man has in his tent' (Ex. 16:16). Now that you are giving Me the Omer, you give Me only one Omer from all of you collectively.” We see that the waving of the Omer, which makes the new grain permissible, serves as a reminder of the Omer of the manna, and as a symbol of Israel's faith and trust in G-d. From here, we learn that even physical and national liberation do not make the people fit to assume the mantel of holiness. After all, a secular nation, like all the nations, surely thinks exclusively in nationalist, “realistic” terms. For such a nation, only the size of its army and the quantity of arms and allies can make them secure. They must advance to this by keeping mitzvot which express concepts, values and trust in G-d, which refine and elevate the nation from base secular nationalism.
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[Source: Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from "The Jewish Idea" of Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D]
~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~
04 May 2022
WE THANK HASHEM...
4 Iyyar 5782
Yom HaAtzma'ut (Commemorated)
On this day, we give thanks to HKB"H with special kavannah for the mercy He showed us in 1948 when He freed us from the rule of the nations and delivered us from the hands of our enemy attackers. It was a major step on the road to redemption.
However, to our sorrow, due to our many sins, we remain under the domination of foreign powers as the Erev Rav rule over us. Due to our many sins, the so-called "Jewish" State has become a daily chillul Hashem. How much longer can it last?
Israel is doing what it does best this week and strutting its stuff with an LGBTQ embracing anthem – “I.M” – in the first rounds of the Eurovision Song Contest.Performed by Michael Ben David, an openly gay graduate of Tel Aviv’s prestigious Beit Zvi School, the song which is a call for celebrating self-affirmation will bring camp energetic fun to the contest up to the semi-finals on May 12 – and beyond if it goes Ben David’s way.
We have a lot to be thankful for, but nothing to celebrate.
We should hang our heads in shame before the Master of the Universe
for what we have done with the gifts He entrusted to us.
03 May 2022
02 May 2022
Messianic "Brilliance" Shines in the Month of Ziv
1 Iyyar 5782
Rosh Chodesh II
16 Days of the Omer
(Reposting from three years ago)
I have written in the past about Three Messianic Wars, two of which have both occurred in the month of Iyyar or Ziv, as the Torah calls it. So, there is reason to believe that the third and final one, which is yet to be, will also occur in this month.
It is related in the Prophets (Kings I, 6:1) that King Solomon began the building of the First Temple. “In the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the House of G-d.” The Radak explains: “The month Ziv is the month of Iyar… and it is called Ziv, as our sages explain, because of the splendor of the trees, namely the brilliance of the flowers and buds.” Ziv means “splendor” or “brilliance.” In this month of “brilliance” King Solomon “began to build the House of G-d.”
The two names of the month, Ziv and Iyar (from ohr, the primary word in Hebrew for “light”), are indeed two synonyms for “light.” They both relate to the special light that shines in this second month of the Jewish calendar. In particular, Iyar refers to the light source (or to the light within and proximate to its source), whereas Ziv refers to the expansion of radiant-energy as it shines far from its source. With regard to G-d’s Divine light, the Ziv is that radiance which descends from its source to shine on the Jewish soul as enclothed in a physical body on earth, and to awaken in it the desire to build a House for G-d (within the context of physical reality, far removed, as it were, from the source of Divine light)....During Iyar, the “lower reality” is slowly refined to become a proper vessel able to receive the revelation of the essence of the “higher reality.” This is accomplished by fulfilling the commandment of sefirat ha-omer (“the counting of the omer; the word for “counting,” sefirah is from the same root as “saphire,” the brilliant stone known as even sapir, denoting the light scintillating from within lowly materiality). (Source)
Since the First Messianic War, which saw the return of Jewish sovereignty to a small part of Eretz Yisrael, took place on 5 Iyyar (20th Day of the Omer - Yesod in Tiferet) and the Second Messianic War, which saw the return of Jews to the mountains of Israel, the cities of the Patriarchs and Holy Jerusalem, took place on 28 Iyyar (43rd Day of the Omer - Chesed in Malchut), I have often wondered if the Third Messianic War, which is destined to bring us the East Bank of the Jordan River, as well as establish our sovereignty over the Temple Mount, will take place somewhere in the middle. Like the Sefirot themselves: one to the left, one to the right, and one the balance between the two.
The most obvious date would be 14 Iyyar - Pesach Sheini (29th Day of the Omer - Chesed in Hod) with its obvious connections to redemption and second chances. If we were looking for geulah on Pesach in Nisan, but were found undeserving, perhaps one month of counting the Omer might confer enough merit to bring geulah on Pesach Sheini
On the other hand, a case could be made for any one of the days of the weeks during which we count the Sefirot of Netzach (Days 22 - 28 of the Omer) and Hod (Days 29 - 35 of the Omer). Day 33 of the Omer is, of course, L"g baOmer, the day the Zohar, which also alludes to brightness, was revealed.
...We will now describe the third group of sefirot which we will call the "tactical" sefirot; they are netzach, "victory," and hod, "awe."When we call these sefirot "tactical," we mean that their purpose is not inherent in themselves, but rather as a means for something else.For example, if I wish for my son, whom I love with all my heart, to make something of himself, I may have to be strict and stern with him in order to teach him discipline or insure that he applies himself to his studies, etc. The "strictness and sternness" is tactical -- that is, it is the means by which I endow the child with the benefits that I want him to have. But my intrinsic intent is that of kindness -- of giving him an education and teaching him values.In another instance, I may use the tactic of kindness, though my intent may be antagonistic. I could lure an enemy into a trap by inviting him with a smile and a pleasant demeanor. The exterior façade of the act is pleasantness, its interior is punitive.Understanding these two attributes of netzach and hod gives us a new perspective into understanding what is happening in the world. No longer do we merely look at an act at face value, and attempt to understand it as such, but we must look at it also in terms of "a means to an end."...For instance, the suffering of the righteous may be a test in order to heighten their reward, or a way to cleanse them in this world of their few sins so that they are pure and perfect in the World to Come. The wicked may be prospering in order that their feeling of complacency forestalls their repentance or in order that they should receive their entire reward on earth so their later destruction can be total.There are other possibilities too; the main point is that there is more to God's actions than what appears to be happening at surface level. (Source)
Quoting SEFIROS: Spiritual Refinement Through Counting the Omer by Rabbi Yaacov Haber:
For the Sefirah of Netzach...
...While the first three sefiros are primarily about internal relations, both netzach and hod are midos that connect with the outside world.
Netzach gives the long term view. It sees events as part of a much bigger story.
...Netzach and hod are very closely connected. The two keruvim, the golden cherubs on top of the Ark of the Covenant, which provided the interface between God and humanity, represented netzach and hod. Similarly, the two pillars at the entrance to the First Beis HaMikdash were called Yachin and Boaz, and also represented netzach and hod.
...Netzach is closely associated with the Written Torah, while hod is connected to the Oral Law.
...Netzach is personified by Moshe Rabbeinu.
For the Sefirah of Hod...
...Choice is associated with hod because any choice can only be for the moment. Just like hod, free choice focuses on the present, while ultimately affecting the future.
Aharon HaCohen personifies hod.
Hod in netzach is on Day 26 of the Omer - 26 being significant for the gematria of yud-kay-vav-kay. That day is Yom Chamishi which corresponds to the fifth aliyah of Parashat Behar (Vayikra 25) ...
29 And when a man sells a residential house in a walled city, its redemption may take place until the completion of the year of its sale. Its [period of] redemption shall be a full year.
30 But if it is not redeemed by the end of a complete year, then that house which is in the city that has a wall, shall remain permanently [the property] of the one who purchased it throughout his generations. It will not leave [his possession] in the Jubilee.
31 But houses in open cities, which do not have a wall surrounding them, are to be considered as the field of the land. It may have redemption and shall leave [the purchaser's possession] in the Jubilee.
32 And, [regarding] the cities of the Levites, the houses of their inherited cities shall forever have a [right of] redemption for the Levites.
33 And if one purchases from the Levites, whether a house or an inherited city, will leave [the possession of the purchaser] in the Jubilee, because the houses of the cities of the Levites, are their inherited property amidst the children of Israel.
34 And a field in the open areas of their cities cannot be sold, because it is their eternal inheritance.
35 If your brother becomes destitute and his hand falters beside you, you shall support him [whether] a convert or a resident, so that he can live with you.
36 You shall not take from him interest or increase, and you shall fear your God, and let your brother live with you.
37 You shall not give him your money with interest, nor shall you give your food with increase.
38 I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be a God to you.
It's all about redemption and return of the land. In fact, the entire parashah is about redemption and restoration. How appropriate to the Third Messianic War!
Shabbat is Day 28 of the Omer - Netzach in Malchut. The number 28 is the gematria of koach (power) and is twice yad (hand) as in HKB"H acting with the power of both hands to redeem Yisrael. The seventh aliyah...
47 If a resident non-Jew gains wealth with you, and your brother becomes destitute with him and is sold to a resident non-Jew among you or to an idol of the family of a non-Jew.
48 After he is sold, he shall have redemption; one of his brothers shall redeem him.
49 Or his uncle or his cousin shall redeem him, or the closest [other] relative from his family shall redeem him; or, if he becomes able to afford it, he can be redeemed [on his own].
50 He shall calculate with his purchaser [the number of years] from the year of his being sold to him until the Jubilee year; then, the purchase price shall be [divided] by the number of years; as the days of a hired worker, he shall be with him.
51 If there are still many years, according to them, he shall return his redemption [money] out of the money for which he was purchased.
52 But if only a few years remain until the Jubilee year, he shall make the [same] calculation; according to his years [that remain until Jubilee], he shall return the redemption [money]._
53 He shall be with him as an employee hired year by year; he shall not enslave him with rigor in your sight.
54 And if he is not redeemed through [any of] these [ways], he shall go out in the Jubilee year he and his children with him.
55 For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants, whom I took out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God.
The commentary on this parashah says...
The commandment of the Sabbatical Year has a special relationship to Mount Sinai [Behar]. At Mount Sinai, God's majesty and power were so manifest that it was clear that the determining factors in human material success are God's will and man's worthiness. The land's rest in the seventh year, too, teaches that the primary force in the universe is God, not the law of nature. ...The Torah emphasizes, therefore, that it is God Who gives the land.
And as if that were not enough! The haftarah comes from Yirmiyahu 32:6-27 and begins as follows...
6 And Jeremiah said: The word of the Lord came to me, saying:
7 Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shallum your uncle, is coming to you, saying: Buy for yourself my field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.
8 Then Hanamel, my uncle's son, came to me in the prison yard, according to the word of the Lord, and said to me; Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, that is in the country of Benjamin, for the right of inheritance is yours, and you have the right of redemption; buy it for yourself." And I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
...14 So said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Take these scrolls, this deed of purchase and the signed one and this open scroll, and put them into an earthen vessel so that they remain many years.
15 For so says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be purchased again in this land....37 Behold I will gather them from all the lands where I have driven them with My anger and with My wrath and with great fury, and I will restore them to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely.
38 And they shall be My people, and I will be their God....44 Men shall buy fields for money and inscribe deeds and sign [them] and appoint witnesses in the land of Benjamin and in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah and in the cities of the mountain and in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the southland, for I will restore their captivity, says the Lord.
So may we see the complete fulfillment of this prophecy and the complete restoration of all our land and people.
Netzach means "eternal" and "victory." May the Holy One, blessed be He, reveal our righteous Mashiach now and grant us an eternal victory over all our enemies.
01 May 2022
Will There Be a Third Miracle War in Iyyar?
30 Nissan 5782
Rosh Chodesh I
15 Days of the Omer
(Reposting from seven years ago and wondering now if there are three messianic wars corresponding to the three wars of Gog uMagog)
In the future, all of creation is destined to ascend to the next spiritual level. The whole world will one day attain the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael; Eretz Yisrael will rise to the kedushah of Yerushalayim; and, Yerushalayim will ascend to the level of kedushah equal to that of Har Habayit today.
I think this future reality will have been mirrored in the physical realm by our attaining access to these three in stages by virtue of three miracle wars that take place in the month of Iyyar.
First, the Land of Israel returned to us on the 5th of Iyyar. Nineteen years later, on the 28th of Iyyar, Yerushalayim was returned to us. Now, as anyone reading today's news can attest, Har Habayit is still not entirely under our control, but that's coming next - maybe even this Iyyar, please G-d!
The Month of Iyyar: From Darkness to Light
Iyyar is the month in which the Levites first raised the Tabernacle onto their shoulders to carry it through the desert, and it is the month in which King Solomon laid the foundations for the Holy Temple onto the bedrock of Mount Moriah.
...The month of Iyyar is known by the name "Ziv" in the Tanach, a word which means "brightness." Only during the era of the second Temple was the name Iyyar adopted. Iyyar, related to the words for light, and for air, also means brightness. The month of Iyyar doesn't merely mark the passage of time from exodus to revelation, it marks spiritual growth. The children of Israel were brought out in "haste" by G-d, but while deliverance from evil can occur in the twinkling of an eye, the spiritual maturity required to take on a life dedicated to walking in the way G-d has prescribed, requires spiritual preparation - and that's what Iyyar, which falls in the midst of this 49 day preparation - is all about.
We learn that the manna, which nourished the Israelites throughout their forty year sojourn in the desert, began to fall during the month of Iyyar. The well of Miriam, which miraculously followed the Israelites from station to station, likewise came into being during the month of Iyyar.
...The war with Amalek - the Israelites' entrance onto the stage of world history - took place during that first month of Iyyar after the exodus from Egypt.
...Iyyar - the month of brightness, marks the passage from the darkness of slavery and exile to the brightness of revelation and the acceptance of G-d's Torah, and the yoke of heaven, by the Israelite nation....
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