12 Kislev 5774
I know I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. Since Har Sinai, the only free choice a Jew has in this world is whether he will fulfill his destiny by the easy way or the hard way. We saw this when we left Mitzrayim and could have made the trip to Eretz Yisrael in 11 days, but instead took the 'scenic' forty-year route. And we see it played out as well in the two redemption scenarios - achisheinah or b'itah.
When redemption comes achisheinah - the "easy way" - Mashiach arrives on clouds of glory, but when it comes b'itah - the "hard way" - Mashiach will arrive as if riding on a donkey; figurative language describing the unworthiness of the generation.
It would seem by all indications that we have entered into the period of redemption in its time. I believe that one of the most prominent signs of that is the way that we are receiving messages from Heaven. Yes, Heaven is still talking to us, but instead of coming through holy and pure sources, it's all round-about and obscure and hidden. However, if we are open to this possibility, the results can be staggering. Just take a look at the "messages" I saw today in the reportage of current events...
From a report on survivors of Typhoon Haiyan:
"Everybody knew a big storm was coming. But I had no idea it was going to be this hell. ... Nobody imagined what was about to happen."
And from another report about the mid-air plummeting of an airplane:
"[The pilot] said, we're going down. And everyone is looking around like, is this a joke? Is he serious? And then you felt the nosedive," ....
When I read these statements, they made me realize that these could be the words of all those who are going to be caught unawares when that day known to our prophets as The Day of the Lord arrives. Of that Day, the prophet said:
"Lament, for the day of the Lord is near; like a raid from the Almighty it shall come. Therefore, all hands shall grow feeble, and the heart of every mortal shall melt. And they shall panic; pangs and throes shall seize them;...." (Yeshayahu 13.6-8)
But for those who are aware and prepared...
"Mount Zion shall rejoice; the daughters of Judah shall exult for the sake of Your judgments." (Tehillim 48.12)
14 November 2013
13 November 2013
The Latest Sacrifice for "Peace"
11 Kislev 5774
(I would have written sooner, but I was away from the computer for the entire day.)
It rakes at your soul and tears into your heart until you are trailing blood wherever you go. Read it and weep...
Murdered Soldier: Pvt. Eden Atias, 19
IDF Private Eden Atias, 19, of Natzrat Illit, has died after an Arab terrorist stabbed him in the neck and upper body in the Central Bus Station at Afula, in northern Israel, Wednesday. The attack took place inside a bus. Pvt. Atias was on his way to the military base in which he served.
...The attacker has been identified as an Arab aged 16 from the Palestinian Authority city of Jenin, who is reportedly staying illegally in Israel.
...the soldier, who is about 18, got on the bus at Nazareth, together with the terrorist. The soldier fell asleep on the way to Afula and at a certain point, the Arab began stabbing him over and over again, until other passengers grabbed hold of him and alerted security forces.
IDF Radio said that the attacker confessed that he left his home and got on the bus at Nazareth, with the intent of stabbing civilians, supposedly as revenge for the fact that his uncles are being held in Israeli jails.
Murdered Soldier's Mother has Worst Fears Confirmed
...Edna, a friend of the mother, was next to her in the post office when she tried phoning Eden. She said "we heard the news about the stabbing and when they said it was a soldier from Nazereth Ilit she already felt that maybe it was her son because at the time he was on the bus line they were talking about. She tried to call several times - but he didn't answer."
The family friend added "we're all in trauma here. She's a 'single parent' mother and her son enlisted only three weeks ago. They were very close."
'I Pointed My Weapon and Ordered Him to Surrender'
...Second Lieutenant Yitzhak Meimon had left his house in Beit Shean Wednesday morning and made his way to the central bus station in Afula. He was still waiting for the number 823 bus to Tel Aviv when he noticed a disturbance, and went to investigate.
"As I was waiting for the bus I noticed an unusual commotion and ran to check what was going on," he relates.
Suddenly, Meimon came face-to-face with the attacker and, realizing the threat posed to the other passengers, he took action.
"As I alighted the bus I noticed the terrorist standing by one of the back seats where he had just stabbed the soldier [Atias] only a few moment before.
"Within a few seconds I took command of the situation. I pointed my weapon at the terrorist and ordered him (to surrender)."
The terrorist immediately froze and surrendered, according to Meimon, who then led him to security forces at the bus station.
As an officer who commands soldiers just like Atias, Meimon says the tragedy really hit home. Nevertheless, he has no doubt that, despite the recent spike in terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, the security forces are in control of the situation.
"I share the suffering of the family, and feel their pain," he said. "As an IDF commander I am confident that we are doing our best to protect the lives of the citizens of this country."
Terrorist's Family Committed Past Murders & Attacks
Hamas: Terrorist Who Stabbed Sleeping Soldier "Heroic"
The bitterness of this news wells up in the throat and chokes off the air in the lungs. You want to scream at the useless words of the opportunistic politicians who each had a hand on the knife. You want to scream...
"Wake up!! Be alert!! Don't sleep in the presence of your mortal enemy lest he take advantage of you!! Be wary!! Keep a distance from him!! Never forget that he hates you and wants to kill you every moment or you will be the one who dies. "Rise up and kill him first!!"
I am appalled and ashamed at the words and actions of the "hero" who arrested the murderer. While he yet stood over his victim, the blood still wet and warm upon him, the brave IDF Commander allowed him to remain alive.
And to add insult to injury he had the nerve to say "I...feel [the family's] pain. ...I am confident that we are doing our best...." He is parroting the propaganda that he has been fed throughout his schooling and his army training and service. He has been well-prepared to offer sacrifices for "peace" or to become one.
May the Holy One Blessed Be He comfort this bereaved mother and all those who mourn with her and for Jerusalem, the Holy City and the Holy Shekhinah. May He quickly turn our mourning into joy with the coming of our righteous Mashiach and the geulah shleimah and quickly re-unite this mother and son at tehiyat hameitim!!!!!!!
(I would have written sooner, but I was away from the computer for the entire day.)
It rakes at your soul and tears into your heart until you are trailing blood wherever you go. Read it and weep...
Murdered Soldier: Pvt. Eden Atias, 19
IDF Private Eden Atias, 19, of Natzrat Illit, has died after an Arab terrorist stabbed him in the neck and upper body in the Central Bus Station at Afula, in northern Israel, Wednesday. The attack took place inside a bus. Pvt. Atias was on his way to the military base in which he served.
...The attacker has been identified as an Arab aged 16 from the Palestinian Authority city of Jenin, who is reportedly staying illegally in Israel.
...the soldier, who is about 18, got on the bus at Nazareth, together with the terrorist. The soldier fell asleep on the way to Afula and at a certain point, the Arab began stabbing him over and over again, until other passengers grabbed hold of him and alerted security forces.
IDF Radio said that the attacker confessed that he left his home and got on the bus at Nazareth, with the intent of stabbing civilians, supposedly as revenge for the fact that his uncles are being held in Israeli jails.
Murdered Soldier's Mother has Worst Fears Confirmed
...Edna, a friend of the mother, was next to her in the post office when she tried phoning Eden. She said "we heard the news about the stabbing and when they said it was a soldier from Nazereth Ilit she already felt that maybe it was her son because at the time he was on the bus line they were talking about. She tried to call several times - but he didn't answer."
The family friend added "we're all in trauma here. She's a 'single parent' mother and her son enlisted only three weeks ago. They were very close."
'I Pointed My Weapon and Ordered Him to Surrender'
...Second Lieutenant Yitzhak Meimon had left his house in Beit Shean Wednesday morning and made his way to the central bus station in Afula. He was still waiting for the number 823 bus to Tel Aviv when he noticed a disturbance, and went to investigate.
"As I was waiting for the bus I noticed an unusual commotion and ran to check what was going on," he relates.
Suddenly, Meimon came face-to-face with the attacker and, realizing the threat posed to the other passengers, he took action.
"As I alighted the bus I noticed the terrorist standing by one of the back seats where he had just stabbed the soldier [Atias] only a few moment before.
"Within a few seconds I took command of the situation. I pointed my weapon at the terrorist and ordered him (to surrender)."
The terrorist immediately froze and surrendered, according to Meimon, who then led him to security forces at the bus station.
As an officer who commands soldiers just like Atias, Meimon says the tragedy really hit home. Nevertheless, he has no doubt that, despite the recent spike in terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, the security forces are in control of the situation.
"I share the suffering of the family, and feel their pain," he said. "As an IDF commander I am confident that we are doing our best to protect the lives of the citizens of this country."
Terrorist's Family Committed Past Murders & Attacks
Hamas: Terrorist Who Stabbed Sleeping Soldier "Heroic"
The bitterness of this news wells up in the throat and chokes off the air in the lungs. You want to scream at the useless words of the opportunistic politicians who each had a hand on the knife. You want to scream...
"Wake up!! Be alert!! Don't sleep in the presence of your mortal enemy lest he take advantage of you!! Be wary!! Keep a distance from him!! Never forget that he hates you and wants to kill you every moment or you will be the one who dies. "Rise up and kill him first!!"
I am appalled and ashamed at the words and actions of the "hero" who arrested the murderer. While he yet stood over his victim, the blood still wet and warm upon him, the brave IDF Commander allowed him to remain alive.
And to add insult to injury he had the nerve to say "I...feel [the family's] pain. ...I am confident that we are doing our best...." He is parroting the propaganda that he has been fed throughout his schooling and his army training and service. He has been well-prepared to offer sacrifices for "peace" or to become one.
May the Holy One Blessed Be He comfort this bereaved mother and all those who mourn with her and for Jerusalem, the Holy City and the Holy Shekhinah. May He quickly turn our mourning into joy with the coming of our righteous Mashiach and the geulah shleimah and quickly re-unite this mother and son at tehiyat hameitim!!!!!!!
12 November 2013
Dumbing Down Judaism
10 Kislev 5774
New Realities At The Kotel For Women Of The Wall
Jewish Agency for Israel Chairman Natan Sharansky announced on Monday, 8 Kislev 5774 that when Women of the Wall gather at the Kosel next rosh chodesh and read from a Sefer Torah there will not be any arrests made as has been the case throughout the years. Sharansky made his comments at the General Assembly Conference.
...he explained “we are negotiating with the Conservative and Reform”, for he posits this is critical towards increasing the connection with those streams and the State of Israel or risk losing their Jewish identity entirely.
...Sharansky remains an ardent advocate of recognizing the rights of non-Orthodox streams of Judaism and giving them official recognition in Israel. He feels by shunning the majority of the Jewish People, the Conservative and Reform Movements, most of Am Yisrael will assimilate as a result.
I hate to be the one to say it, but "most" of Am Yisrael are Erev Rav only intent on destroying Judaism and Bnei Yisrael from the inside out. Without the minimum requirement of mitzvah observance as received in the Written and Oral Torahs, there is no Jewish identity, just Jewish DNA.
All calls to dumb down Judaism to LESS than the lowest common denominator are actually calls for mass spiritual suicide. In a day when gentiles are coming from the depths of idolatry to purify themselves and merit to join the Jewish people through halachic conversion, there is simply no excuse to lower the bar for those questionable quasi-Jews who, through their own lack of care or concern are "risking their Jewish identity."
What greater risk to Jewish identity is there outside of these Torah-and-mitzvah-denying "streams" which are themselves carrying away millions of Jews into oblivion?
New Realities At The Kotel For Women Of The Wall
Jewish Agency for Israel Chairman Natan Sharansky announced on Monday, 8 Kislev 5774 that when Women of the Wall gather at the Kosel next rosh chodesh and read from a Sefer Torah there will not be any arrests made as has been the case throughout the years. Sharansky made his comments at the General Assembly Conference.
...he explained “we are negotiating with the Conservative and Reform”, for he posits this is critical towards increasing the connection with those streams and the State of Israel or risk losing their Jewish identity entirely.
...Sharansky remains an ardent advocate of recognizing the rights of non-Orthodox streams of Judaism and giving them official recognition in Israel. He feels by shunning the majority of the Jewish People, the Conservative and Reform Movements, most of Am Yisrael will assimilate as a result.
I hate to be the one to say it, but "most" of Am Yisrael are Erev Rav only intent on destroying Judaism and Bnei Yisrael from the inside out. Without the minimum requirement of mitzvah observance as received in the Written and Oral Torahs, there is no Jewish identity, just Jewish DNA.
All calls to dumb down Judaism to LESS than the lowest common denominator are actually calls for mass spiritual suicide. In a day when gentiles are coming from the depths of idolatry to purify themselves and merit to join the Jewish people through halachic conversion, there is simply no excuse to lower the bar for those questionable quasi-Jews who, through their own lack of care or concern are "risking their Jewish identity."
What greater risk to Jewish identity is there outside of these Torah-and-mitzvah-denying "streams" which are themselves carrying away millions of Jews into oblivion?
11 November 2013
The "Birur" Continues...
8 Kislev 5774
The Creator made order among His creation, separating light from darkness, day from night, land from water and each living thing "after its own kind." Man came into the garden and mixed everything up - mixing good together with evil. This is also what the Erev Rav - the mixed multitude - came to do; to mix us up with the other nations and their inferior laws and cultures. It's what the Maccabim came to root out "in those days at this time."
In this final stage before the complete redemption, the "birur" process comes to clarify what is "good" and what is "evil" and to separate between the two. This process is clear and known to all and is referred to often in the secular media as "the polarization of society."
You can see a prime example of it in today's YWN article:
The IDF May Lose its Finest Combatants
...the IDF is rapidly becoming an environment that is incompatible for religious soldiers and officers. For the dati leumi community this would spell disaster as military service is not viewed as a responsibility, but a privilege, at the core of the dati leumi hashkafa.
If Chief of Personnel Branch Major-General Orna Barvibai continues as planned, some prominent religiously right-wing dati leumi rabbonim may instruct their talmidim not to serve while the more liberal dati leumi community will find a way to make it work. This will result in the IDF losing some of its finest combat soldiers and officers as well as causing a major split in the dati leumi community.
...the fact that there are religious Zionist colonels is reason for panic, and these folks will do whatever it takes to prevent too many religious officers from reaching the control level of the military. For them, a religious General Staff is their worst nightmare. While the religious Zionists have truly sacrificed in their military service, all of the discipline and exemplary service does over the years will do nothing against the Hellenists whose biggest fear is a religious chief of general staff.
There is a story I remember hearing. I think it was from Rebbe Nachman. It was about a cup of flour that a Master Baker began to sift in order to make a very fine bread.
As grain after grain of flour began to fall into the bowl, the larger and fatter pieces along with the chaff began to gloat. "Look at those poor grains discarded into the bowl while we remain up here looking down upon them. Surely, the Baker is preserving us in order to make His very fine bread." The grains which had fallen through the sifter into the bowl below bemoaned their fate. "Look at them sitting up there high and mighty in the sifter. Surely the Baker is preserving them in order to make His very fine bread while we who are lowly have been discarded here below."
But, they were all surprised when the Baker took the remains inside the sifter and tossed them onto the garbage heap. It was those very grains of flour which had been deemed lowly and discarded who were worked into the dough to become the Master Baker's very fine loaf of bread.
At the end of the "birur" sifting process, the world will essentially turn upside down and those who were on top will go to the bottom and those who were on the bottom will rise to the top!
Everyone is being forced to choose a "side" at a level appropriate for them. This is a test, but not only a test!
The Creator made order among His creation, separating light from darkness, day from night, land from water and each living thing "after its own kind." Man came into the garden and mixed everything up - mixing good together with evil. This is also what the Erev Rav - the mixed multitude - came to do; to mix us up with the other nations and their inferior laws and cultures. It's what the Maccabim came to root out "in those days at this time."
In this final stage before the complete redemption, the "birur" process comes to clarify what is "good" and what is "evil" and to separate between the two. This process is clear and known to all and is referred to often in the secular media as "the polarization of society."
You can see a prime example of it in today's YWN article:
The IDF May Lose its Finest Combatants
...the IDF is rapidly becoming an environment that is incompatible for religious soldiers and officers. For the dati leumi community this would spell disaster as military service is not viewed as a responsibility, but a privilege, at the core of the dati leumi hashkafa.
If Chief of Personnel Branch Major-General Orna Barvibai continues as planned, some prominent religiously right-wing dati leumi rabbonim may instruct their talmidim not to serve while the more liberal dati leumi community will find a way to make it work. This will result in the IDF losing some of its finest combat soldiers and officers as well as causing a major split in the dati leumi community.
...the fact that there are religious Zionist colonels is reason for panic, and these folks will do whatever it takes to prevent too many religious officers from reaching the control level of the military. For them, a religious General Staff is their worst nightmare. While the religious Zionists have truly sacrificed in their military service, all of the discipline and exemplary service does over the years will do nothing against the Hellenists whose biggest fear is a religious chief of general staff.
There is a story I remember hearing. I think it was from Rebbe Nachman. It was about a cup of flour that a Master Baker began to sift in order to make a very fine bread.
As grain after grain of flour began to fall into the bowl, the larger and fatter pieces along with the chaff began to gloat. "Look at those poor grains discarded into the bowl while we remain up here looking down upon them. Surely, the Baker is preserving us in order to make His very fine bread." The grains which had fallen through the sifter into the bowl below bemoaned their fate. "Look at them sitting up there high and mighty in the sifter. Surely the Baker is preserving them in order to make His very fine bread while we who are lowly have been discarded here below."
But, they were all surprised when the Baker took the remains inside the sifter and tossed them onto the garbage heap. It was those very grains of flour which had been deemed lowly and discarded who were worked into the dough to become the Master Baker's very fine loaf of bread.
At the end of the "birur" sifting process, the world will essentially turn upside down and those who were on top will go to the bottom and those who were on the bottom will rise to the top!
Everyone is being forced to choose a "side" at a level appropriate for them. This is a test, but not only a test!
10 November 2013
09 November 2013
LOOK OUT!
7 Kislev 5774
Motzaei"sh
Kerry slams Israel’s West Bank policies, warns of 3rd Intifada
US Secretary of State John Kerry launched an unusually bitter public attack on Israeli policies in the West Bank Thursday, warning that if current peace talks fail, Israel could see a third intifada and growing international isolation, and that calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions would increase.
[Kerry] “I’ve got news for you. Today’s status quo will not be tomorrow’s…”
Amen! And I've got some news for you Secretary Kerry. You'd better look to your own West Bank, er...Coast:
Big quake near Fukushima would ‘decimate Japan, lead to US West Coast evacuation’
Shake, rattle and roll!!
08 November 2013
Parshat Vayeitzei 5774
5 Kislev 5774
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Vayeitzei: From Sodom to Heaven via Beit El
by Daniel Pinner
Parashat Vayeitzei begins by relating Jacob’s departure from his parents’ home: “Vayeitzei Ya’akov – Jacob left from Beer Sheva; and he went towards Haran” (Genesis 28:10). These six simple Hebrew words conceal far more than they reveal.
Let us begin by noting that the trop (the cantillation mark) under the word “Sheva” (in the name Beer Sheva) is an etnachta, indicating a significant break in the sentence (which we have attempted to approximate in English translation by using the semi-colon). The punctuation indicates a separation between these two events – Jacob’s departure from Beer Sheva and his going to Haran.
The Talmud (Megillah 17a) shows, through complex calculations which Rashi (commentary to Genesis 28:9) summarises, that 14 years are missing from the Torah’s account of events. These are the 14 years which Jacob spent studying at the Yeshivah of Shem and Ever before leaving Canaan for his uncle Laban’s house (Megillah 17a, Bereishit Rabbah 68:5).
So there was a 14-year hiatus between Jacob leaving from Beit El and going towards Haran; this is the break that the etnachta under the word “Sheva” (in the name Beer Sheva) indicates.
On the phrase “and he went towards Haran”, the Midrash makes a simple grammatical observation. The word that the Torah uses for “towards Haran” is Haranah, adding a heh at the end of the word (in grammatical nomenclature a heh ha-megamah or locative heh). “It was taught in the name of Rabbi Nehemiah: Any word which needs a lammed as a prefix [meaning ‘to’] can instead have a heh as a suffix, thus Sedomah for ‘to Sodom’, or Seirah for ‘to Seir’, or Mitzraymah for ‘to Egypt’, or Haranah for ‘to Haran’” (Bereishit Rabbah 68:8).
This is curious not because it teaches something new, but precisely because it doesn’t seem to teach us anything. After all, every Hebrew speaker knows that there are two ways of indicating motion towards – either with a lammed as a prefix (le-Haran) or with a heh as a suffix (Haranah). And if the Midrash wants to teach us a Hebrew grammar lesson, then why here? Why not on the word Gerarah (“to Gerar”) (Genesis 10:19), the first heh ha-megamah in the Torah? Or on the word artzah (“to the Land”) (Genesis 11:31, 12:5), as Abraham began his journey to the Land of Canaan?
The Midrashic commentator Maharz”u (Rabbi Ze’ev Wolf Einhorn, Grodno and Vilna, died 1862) notes that this observation of Rabbi Nehemiah’s also appears earlier in Bereishit Rabbah 50:3, commenting on the word Sedomah (“to Sodom”) in the verse “the two angels came to Sodom in the evening” (Genesis 19:1); also later on in Bereishit Rabbah 86:2, commenting on the word Mitzraymah (“to Egypt”) in the verse “Joseph was brought down to Egypt” (Genesis 39:1).
I suggest that by making this seemingly superfluous grammatical observation in these three contexts, the Midrash, and specifically Rabbi Nehemiah, is very subtly connecting three events: the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jacob’s arrival at Beit El, and the start of our national exile when Joseph was taken down to Egypt.
As Jacob slept in Beit El, he dreamed his famous dream of the ladder linking earth and Heaven, with angels ascending and descending (Genesis 28:12). Who were these angels?
The Targum Yonatan (loc. cit.) gives a very intriguing answer: “Behold! – the two angels who had gone to Sodom and had been expelled from their precincts (they had been expelled for having revealed the secrets of the Lord of the World) and who had been wandering around until the time that Jacob left his father’s house, had accompanied him with loving-kindness as far as Beit El. And on that day they ascended to the Heavenly Heights, responding and proclaiming: You see the pious Jacob whose own likeness is engraved into the Throne of Glory, whom you have yearned to see! At that, all Hashem’s other holy angels descended to look at him”.
This complements the Midrash. “Rabbi Levi said in Rav Nahman’s name: The Ministering Angels, because they revealed God’s secret, were cast out of their precincts for 138 years…Rabbi Hama bar Hanina said: It was because they were arrogant and said ‘We are destroying this place’ (Genesis 19:13)” (Bereishit Rabbah 50:9 and 68:12).
From the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah(in the year 2047) until Jacob’s encounter with the angels in his dream (in the year 2185) was a period of 138 years (see Seder Olam Rabbah chapters 1 and 2 which calculates all these years directly from the Torah).
A careful reading of the Torah’s narrative of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33) shows that God never specifically told Abraham, or anyone else, of His intention to destroy the metropolis. Abraham’s first inkling was the men (had he already guessed that they were angels?) gazing down at Sodom,while Abraham escorted them on their way.
It was the angels who revealed the impending destruction to Lot (19:13), and according to Rabbi Levi in Rav Nahman’s name, they thereby overstepped their authority. According to Rabbi Hama bar Hanina they arrogantly imputed the power of destruction to themselves by saying “We are destroying this place”, instead of “God is destroying this place”.
As punishment for this they were expelled from their holy Heavenly precincts and condemned to wander about in this world for 138 years…until they accompanied Jacob to Beit El, and when he slept there and dreamed of the ladder, they were released from their wandering and could return to their higher abode. The angel’s mission, that began when they came Sedomah (“to Sodom”) and should have finished the next morning, instead continued until the night that Jacob dreamed.
Those two angels returned from Sodom to Heaven via the ladder in Beit El.
Jacob was already fourteen years into his first exile. Twenty years later he would return home, and 33 years after that he would leave Israel for Egypt. And from that second exile, he would return to his native land in a coffin. The preparations for that exile began the day that “Joseph was brought down Mitzraymah (‘to Egypt’)”.
Rabbi Nehemiah’s connexion between the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jacob’s arrival at Beit El, and the start of our national exile when Joseph was taken down to Egypt is coming into focus.
We saw the Targum Yonatan’s depiction of all God’s angels yearning to see Jacob, whose likeness was engraved on the Throne of Glory. The Midrash complements this: “The ministering angels were ascending and descending on the ladder, and they saw Jacob’s face and said: This is the face like the face of the Chayyah on the Throne of Glory! Those who were below ascended to see the face of Jacob among the faces of the Chayyah which is imprinted on the Throne of Glory” (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 35).
In a terser depiction, “[The angels said to Jacob]: It is you whose likeness is engraved on high! They ascended up and saw his likeness, then descended down and found him sleeping” (Bereishit Rabbah 68:12).
Similarly in the Talmud: “The angels ascended to look at the likeness above, and descended to look at the likeness below” (Hullin 91b). Rashi explains, “The face of a man which was among the four Chayyot (‘Beasts’) was the image of Jacob”, which seems to be a reference to Ezekiel’s description of the Heavenly Chariot, on which were imprinted four Chayyot (“Beasts”) (Ezekiel 1:5), each with four faces – one human, one of a lion, one of an ox, and one of an eagle. The human face on each of the Chayyot was the face of Jacob.
Of the three Patriarchs, of all the greatest men and womenon our history, the one whose face is engraved into God’s Heavenly Throne is Jacob. Maybe this explains why God is never referred to as the Holy One of Abraham or the Holy One of Isaac, but He is on occasion called “Kedosh Ya’akov”, the Holy One of Jacob.
The first person ever to refer to God by this appellation was the prophet Isaiah, chastising Israel and prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem and its eventual redemption, at a time when the multitude of nations will attack Jerusalem (sounds familiar?): “Therefore Hashem, Who redeemed Abraham, says thus to the House of Jacob: Now Jacob shall not be ashamed…they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob”(Isaiah 29:22).
The phrase Kedosh Ya’akov, the Holy One of Jacob, is most familiar, of course, from the fourth and final Blessing of Grace after Meals, wherein we bless “God, our Father, our King, our Mighty One, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Maker, our Holy One, the Holy One of Jacob…”.
This fourth Blessing, ha-Tov ve’ha-Meitiv (“He Who is Good and Beneficent”) was not part of the original Grace after Meals: it was added after the Romans crushed the Bar Kochba Revolt. Shimon Bar Kochba and Rabbi Akiva’s final stronghold was the city of Beitar, and the Talmud and the Midrash have truly chilling descriptions of the slaughter that the Romans perpetrated there.
The Romans’ victory did not come easily: the Roman historian Dio Cassius records in his account that “many Romans perished in this war”. The Talmud (Yerushalmi Ta’anit 4:5) records the evil emperor Hadrian’s final revenge against the Jews: having conquered the city on the 9thof Av 3893 (133 C.E.), exactly 63 years after the destruction of the Holy Temple, he refused to allow the surviving Jews to bury their dead.
So these uncountable myriads of Jewish corpses lay exposed until the evil Hadrian died, six years later. And then, on the 15thof Av 3899 (139 C.E.), Turnus Rufus allowed the survivors at last to bury the slain.
A miracle had happened, and the bodies of those Jews slaughtered in Beitar had remained uncorrupted for all those years. In gratitude for this, Rabban Gamliel the Elder’s Sanhedrin in Yavneh composed and instituted this Blessing: “Ha-Tov – He is Good in that the bodies did not decompose; ve’ha-Meitiv – and He is Beneficent in that they were brought to Jewish burial” (Berachot 48b, Ta’anit 31a, Bava Batra 121b, Eichah Rabbah 2:4 et. al.).
This Blessing, as we have noted, refers to God as “the Holy One of Jacob”, the phrase which originated with Isaiah’s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and its eventual redemption.
Earlier we cited Rabbi Nehemiah’s seemingly superfluous grammatical comment (Bereishit Rabbah 68:8) linking the angels coming to Sodom, Jacob coming to Beit El, and Joseph coming to Egypt.
I suggest that it is no idle coincidence that Rabbi Nehemiah, a 4th-generation (mid-2nd century) Tanna, was one of Rabbi Akiva’s seven great students in Kerem be-Yavneh (Bereishit Rabbah 61:3, Berachot 63b, Tosafot on Yoma 40b, s.v. keivan). This means that after the disaster in which Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students died and he rebuilt his entire Torah-enterprise anew, Rabbi Nehemiah was one of those few who took Rabbi Akiva’s mantle on their shoulders.
And after Rabbi Akiva was murdered by the Romans after being defeated in Beitar, it was Rabbi Nehemiah who had to continue his work and teach his message. He infused – so subtly, so gently, almost invisibly –this seemingly mild grammatical observation, linking the destruction of Sodom with Jacob’s descent to his first exile, and linking Jacob’s descent to his first exile with Joseph’s descent to Egypt to prepare the way for Jacob’s final exile.
Our final exile – the exile which only in our generations is at long last drawing to its dramatic and painful and magnificent end – arguably begins with the defeat of Beitar. For sure, the fall of Beitar was the final defeat, after which there was no going back. And by commemorating God’s minuscule mercies in Beitar in this final Blessing of Grace after Meals and by referring to God therein as “the Holy One of Jacob” – the appellation which Isaiah used when prophesying both the destruction and the eventual redemption of Jerusalem – we link Jacob’s personal exile with our national exile, and our national exile with Jerusalem’s ultimate redemption.
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Vayeitzei: From Sodom to Heaven via Beit El
by Daniel Pinner
Parashat Vayeitzei begins by relating Jacob’s departure from his parents’ home: “Vayeitzei Ya’akov – Jacob left from Beer Sheva; and he went towards Haran” (Genesis 28:10). These six simple Hebrew words conceal far more than they reveal.
Let us begin by noting that the trop (the cantillation mark) under the word “Sheva” (in the name Beer Sheva) is an etnachta, indicating a significant break in the sentence (which we have attempted to approximate in English translation by using the semi-colon). The punctuation indicates a separation between these two events – Jacob’s departure from Beer Sheva and his going to Haran.
The Talmud (Megillah 17a) shows, through complex calculations which Rashi (commentary to Genesis 28:9) summarises, that 14 years are missing from the Torah’s account of events. These are the 14 years which Jacob spent studying at the Yeshivah of Shem and Ever before leaving Canaan for his uncle Laban’s house (Megillah 17a, Bereishit Rabbah 68:5).
So there was a 14-year hiatus between Jacob leaving from Beit El and going towards Haran; this is the break that the etnachta under the word “Sheva” (in the name Beer Sheva) indicates.
On the phrase “and he went towards Haran”, the Midrash makes a simple grammatical observation. The word that the Torah uses for “towards Haran” is Haranah, adding a heh at the end of the word (in grammatical nomenclature a heh ha-megamah or locative heh). “It was taught in the name of Rabbi Nehemiah: Any word which needs a lammed as a prefix [meaning ‘to’] can instead have a heh as a suffix, thus Sedomah for ‘to Sodom’, or Seirah for ‘to Seir’, or Mitzraymah for ‘to Egypt’, or Haranah for ‘to Haran’” (Bereishit Rabbah 68:8).
This is curious not because it teaches something new, but precisely because it doesn’t seem to teach us anything. After all, every Hebrew speaker knows that there are two ways of indicating motion towards – either with a lammed as a prefix (le-Haran) or with a heh as a suffix (Haranah). And if the Midrash wants to teach us a Hebrew grammar lesson, then why here? Why not on the word Gerarah (“to Gerar”) (Genesis 10:19), the first heh ha-megamah in the Torah? Or on the word artzah (“to the Land”) (Genesis 11:31, 12:5), as Abraham began his journey to the Land of Canaan?
The Midrashic commentator Maharz”u (Rabbi Ze’ev Wolf Einhorn, Grodno and Vilna, died 1862) notes that this observation of Rabbi Nehemiah’s also appears earlier in Bereishit Rabbah 50:3, commenting on the word Sedomah (“to Sodom”) in the verse “the two angels came to Sodom in the evening” (Genesis 19:1); also later on in Bereishit Rabbah 86:2, commenting on the word Mitzraymah (“to Egypt”) in the verse “Joseph was brought down to Egypt” (Genesis 39:1).
I suggest that by making this seemingly superfluous grammatical observation in these three contexts, the Midrash, and specifically Rabbi Nehemiah, is very subtly connecting three events: the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jacob’s arrival at Beit El, and the start of our national exile when Joseph was taken down to Egypt.
As Jacob slept in Beit El, he dreamed his famous dream of the ladder linking earth and Heaven, with angels ascending and descending (Genesis 28:12). Who were these angels?
The Targum Yonatan (loc. cit.) gives a very intriguing answer: “Behold! – the two angels who had gone to Sodom and had been expelled from their precincts (they had been expelled for having revealed the secrets of the Lord of the World) and who had been wandering around until the time that Jacob left his father’s house, had accompanied him with loving-kindness as far as Beit El. And on that day they ascended to the Heavenly Heights, responding and proclaiming: You see the pious Jacob whose own likeness is engraved into the Throne of Glory, whom you have yearned to see! At that, all Hashem’s other holy angels descended to look at him”.
This complements the Midrash. “Rabbi Levi said in Rav Nahman’s name: The Ministering Angels, because they revealed God’s secret, were cast out of their precincts for 138 years…Rabbi Hama bar Hanina said: It was because they were arrogant and said ‘We are destroying this place’ (Genesis 19:13)” (Bereishit Rabbah 50:9 and 68:12).
From the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah(in the year 2047) until Jacob’s encounter with the angels in his dream (in the year 2185) was a period of 138 years (see Seder Olam Rabbah chapters 1 and 2 which calculates all these years directly from the Torah).
A careful reading of the Torah’s narrative of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33) shows that God never specifically told Abraham, or anyone else, of His intention to destroy the metropolis. Abraham’s first inkling was the men (had he already guessed that they were angels?) gazing down at Sodom,while Abraham escorted them on their way.
It was the angels who revealed the impending destruction to Lot (19:13), and according to Rabbi Levi in Rav Nahman’s name, they thereby overstepped their authority. According to Rabbi Hama bar Hanina they arrogantly imputed the power of destruction to themselves by saying “We are destroying this place”, instead of “God is destroying this place”.
As punishment for this they were expelled from their holy Heavenly precincts and condemned to wander about in this world for 138 years…until they accompanied Jacob to Beit El, and when he slept there and dreamed of the ladder, they were released from their wandering and could return to their higher abode. The angel’s mission, that began when they came Sedomah (“to Sodom”) and should have finished the next morning, instead continued until the night that Jacob dreamed.
Those two angels returned from Sodom to Heaven via the ladder in Beit El.
Jacob was already fourteen years into his first exile. Twenty years later he would return home, and 33 years after that he would leave Israel for Egypt. And from that second exile, he would return to his native land in a coffin. The preparations for that exile began the day that “Joseph was brought down Mitzraymah (‘to Egypt’)”.
Rabbi Nehemiah’s connexion between the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jacob’s arrival at Beit El, and the start of our national exile when Joseph was taken down to Egypt is coming into focus.
We saw the Targum Yonatan’s depiction of all God’s angels yearning to see Jacob, whose likeness was engraved on the Throne of Glory. The Midrash complements this: “The ministering angels were ascending and descending on the ladder, and they saw Jacob’s face and said: This is the face like the face of the Chayyah on the Throne of Glory! Those who were below ascended to see the face of Jacob among the faces of the Chayyah which is imprinted on the Throne of Glory” (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 35).
In a terser depiction, “[The angels said to Jacob]: It is you whose likeness is engraved on high! They ascended up and saw his likeness, then descended down and found him sleeping” (Bereishit Rabbah 68:12).
Similarly in the Talmud: “The angels ascended to look at the likeness above, and descended to look at the likeness below” (Hullin 91b). Rashi explains, “The face of a man which was among the four Chayyot (‘Beasts’) was the image of Jacob”, which seems to be a reference to Ezekiel’s description of the Heavenly Chariot, on which were imprinted four Chayyot (“Beasts”) (Ezekiel 1:5), each with four faces – one human, one of a lion, one of an ox, and one of an eagle. The human face on each of the Chayyot was the face of Jacob.
Of the three Patriarchs, of all the greatest men and womenon our history, the one whose face is engraved into God’s Heavenly Throne is Jacob. Maybe this explains why God is never referred to as the Holy One of Abraham or the Holy One of Isaac, but He is on occasion called “Kedosh Ya’akov”, the Holy One of Jacob.
The first person ever to refer to God by this appellation was the prophet Isaiah, chastising Israel and prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem and its eventual redemption, at a time when the multitude of nations will attack Jerusalem (sounds familiar?): “Therefore Hashem, Who redeemed Abraham, says thus to the House of Jacob: Now Jacob shall not be ashamed…they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob”(Isaiah 29:22).
The phrase Kedosh Ya’akov, the Holy One of Jacob, is most familiar, of course, from the fourth and final Blessing of Grace after Meals, wherein we bless “God, our Father, our King, our Mighty One, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Maker, our Holy One, the Holy One of Jacob…”.
This fourth Blessing, ha-Tov ve’ha-Meitiv (“He Who is Good and Beneficent”) was not part of the original Grace after Meals: it was added after the Romans crushed the Bar Kochba Revolt. Shimon Bar Kochba and Rabbi Akiva’s final stronghold was the city of Beitar, and the Talmud and the Midrash have truly chilling descriptions of the slaughter that the Romans perpetrated there.
The Romans’ victory did not come easily: the Roman historian Dio Cassius records in his account that “many Romans perished in this war”. The Talmud (Yerushalmi Ta’anit 4:5) records the evil emperor Hadrian’s final revenge against the Jews: having conquered the city on the 9thof Av 3893 (133 C.E.), exactly 63 years after the destruction of the Holy Temple, he refused to allow the surviving Jews to bury their dead.
So these uncountable myriads of Jewish corpses lay exposed until the evil Hadrian died, six years later. And then, on the 15thof Av 3899 (139 C.E.), Turnus Rufus allowed the survivors at last to bury the slain.
A miracle had happened, and the bodies of those Jews slaughtered in Beitar had remained uncorrupted for all those years. In gratitude for this, Rabban Gamliel the Elder’s Sanhedrin in Yavneh composed and instituted this Blessing: “Ha-Tov – He is Good in that the bodies did not decompose; ve’ha-Meitiv – and He is Beneficent in that they were brought to Jewish burial” (Berachot 48b, Ta’anit 31a, Bava Batra 121b, Eichah Rabbah 2:4 et. al.).
This Blessing, as we have noted, refers to God as “the Holy One of Jacob”, the phrase which originated with Isaiah’s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and its eventual redemption.
Earlier we cited Rabbi Nehemiah’s seemingly superfluous grammatical comment (Bereishit Rabbah 68:8) linking the angels coming to Sodom, Jacob coming to Beit El, and Joseph coming to Egypt.
I suggest that it is no idle coincidence that Rabbi Nehemiah, a 4th-generation (mid-2nd century) Tanna, was one of Rabbi Akiva’s seven great students in Kerem be-Yavneh (Bereishit Rabbah 61:3, Berachot 63b, Tosafot on Yoma 40b, s.v. keivan). This means that after the disaster in which Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students died and he rebuilt his entire Torah-enterprise anew, Rabbi Nehemiah was one of those few who took Rabbi Akiva’s mantle on their shoulders.
And after Rabbi Akiva was murdered by the Romans after being defeated in Beitar, it was Rabbi Nehemiah who had to continue his work and teach his message. He infused – so subtly, so gently, almost invisibly –this seemingly mild grammatical observation, linking the destruction of Sodom with Jacob’s descent to his first exile, and linking Jacob’s descent to his first exile with Joseph’s descent to Egypt to prepare the way for Jacob’s final exile.
Our final exile – the exile which only in our generations is at long last drawing to its dramatic and painful and magnificent end – arguably begins with the defeat of Beitar. For sure, the fall of Beitar was the final defeat, after which there was no going back. And by commemorating God’s minuscule mercies in Beitar in this final Blessing of Grace after Meals and by referring to God therein as “the Holy One of Jacob” – the appellation which Isaiah used when prophesying both the destruction and the eventual redemption of Jerusalem – we link Jacob’s personal exile with our national exile, and our national exile with Jerusalem’s ultimate redemption.
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