Rabbi Yonatan's Chicken

23 Tevet 5786

In case you missed the reference in the comments to the previous blogpost, make sure you don't miss this!  (h/t Shana and HDG) : Rav Elbaz on the Imminent Geulah: "A Matter of Days or Weeks".

There is a story that describes the world before Mashiach when all the nations will be threatening each other as well as Eretz Yisrael.  It seems this is our current situation.  Read the story below to see how we fare in the end.

A Look at Who Is Threatening Whom Currently

(Not an Exhaustive Representation and Does Not Include Internal Conflicts)

A story about the famous 18th-century Torah scholar, Rabbi Yonatan Eibeschutz as told by the Lubavitcher Rebbe:

Rabbi Yonatan was well respected by the king of Prague, and often advised him on matters of state. Jealous of Rabbi Yonatan's wisdom, members of the court began speaking ill of him to the king. Initially the king refused to believe them, but as time went on, the slander grew and grew until the king was forced to deal with it. An ardent fan of chicken fights, the king suggested a contest to resolve the matter once and for all.

Each contestant had to train a chicken to be quick and vicious. The chickens would then have a race. Participation of all the king's advisers was mandatory. The advisor whose chicken won the race would prove his wisdom and talent, and would become the hero of the king's court. Rabbi Yonatan had no interest in participating and had no idea how to make anything in this world vicious, certainly not a chicken. Nevertheless, he had to participate.

The day of the race arrived. Each contestant brought a chicken that was groomed and trained for the occasion. Rabbi Yonatan brought a chicken too, except that his chicken was thin, weak and not at all aggressive. The contestants took their places and set down their chickens. The race began.

As soon as the race started, the quick and vicious chickens began to fight with one another. Rabbi Yonatan's chicken, however, untrained in such matters, quietly made its way around the brawling birds and crossed the finish line first while the other chickens were still busy tearing one another apart. After emerging as the winner, Rabbi Yonatan's status was never questioned again.  (Source)

The nations are at war and we are unwillingly dragged into it, but while they are fighting it out amongst themselves, we will advance toward our finish line - the restored kingdom of David.  And when it's all over, we will be the winners!

THE YEAR OF OUR REDEMPTION

22 Tevet 5786
Shavua Tov!

Is the Ayatollah reading the weekly parashah?

THE YEAR OF OUR REDEMPTION

I would like to share something that came to me over Shabbat.  Maybe some of the readers will have something to add.

I had already pointed out in a blog post after the New Year about 5786 with "86" being the gematria of Elokim, the name that describes HKB"H when He is operating by strict judgment.  I felt very strongly that this would be the year that the redemption would unfold.

So, I was reading the commentary on this week's parashah - Shemot...

Nearly 210 years had elapsed since Jacob's descent to Egypt, 116 since the beginning of servitude, and eighty-six since the beginning of the back-breaking oppression.  Hmmm, 86 again.

The commentary goes on...

...The preponderant Name of God in this chapter is Elohim. the Name that connotes strict justice, because He was about to judge Egypt for its excessive cruelty.  In the three places where He reveals Himself to Moses (Shemot 3.2, 4, 7), however, He is called Hashem, the Name of mercy, to show that His primary intention is to save Israel in a historic demonstration of Divine mercy (see Ramban to vs. 7).

Therefore, I was surprised when reading the parashah (3.18) to see the following...

...You and the elders of Israel shall come to the king of Egypt and say to him, "Hashem, the God of the Hebrews, happened upon us.  And now, please let us go on a three-day journey in the Wilderness and we shall bring offerings to Hashem, our God."

When Moshe carries out this instruction in chapter 5, vs. 1, is it any wonder that Paro responded with:  "Who is Hashem that I should heed His voice to send out Israel?  I do not know Hashem, nor will I send Israel!"  

As we will learn at the beginning of next week's parashah, not even the Patriarchs knew HKB"H by this name, but he should have understood from the second identification - "the God of the Hebrews" - who he was really dealing with.  

Interesting side note that Moshe said "Hashem" twice and Paro responded "Hashem" twice.  In the Thirteen Attributes, we start by saying "Hashem" twice.  (I don't know what the significance is, but nothing is coincidental.)

For the Children of Israel, Hashem was coming to save them, but for the Egyptians, Elokim was coming to judge them.  Like two sides of the same coin so-to-speak.  And we will see as the plagues unfold that Israel and Egypt did not share the same experience of the plagues.

Ok, back to "86".  Elokim acting in judgment.  He says...

"I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go, except through a strong hand.  I shall stretch out My hand and I shall strike Egypt with my wonders...."  (Shemot 3.19-20)

The parashah ends off with...

Hashem said to Moses, "Now you will see what I shall do to Pharaoh, for through a strong hand will he send them out, and with a strong hand will he drive them from his land."  (Shemot 6.1)

Eight plus six (86) equals 14, the gematria of the word yad - hand.  And there were ten plagues - one for each finger on the 'hands' of Elokim.

Here is the final part.  If this year of  5786 is the year of our redemption, the final year of our exile, then the previous 86 years should correspond to the final 86 years of Egyptian servitude - the most oppressive time in our history until now.

If so, then Year 1 of the 86-year period would have begun in 5699 - the year which began with Kristalnacht and ended with the launch of WWII!   The year 5785 would have been the 86th year which was completed on Rosh Hashanah 5786 or will it only be complete on Pesach 5786!???

As it was in Egypt, Yeshayahu, chapter 40, on the final redemption...

"In Nissan we were redeemed and in Nissan we will be redeemed!

- 81 Days and Counting -

We Made A Deal With HKB"H

20 Tevet 5786
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Shemot

(Reposting from 5771)

Excerpted from the Stone Edition Chumash...

"I have descended to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land, to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites.

And I said, 'I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.' (Shemot 3:8, 17)

Note well that Hashem said He was bringing us up out of Egypt in order to bring us to Eretz Canaan, to the land of the seven nations who were so full of tumah and abominations that they deserved to be wiped off the face of the earth---men, women, children and animals. And yet at the same time, the land remained "a land flowing with milk and honey---a good land."

I reiterate. There is only one reason for Jews to come up and live in Eretz Yisrael---because it is a mitzvah---a commandment from Hashem. Every other consideration---the evil of the Erev Rav regime, difficulties, suffering---is all just so much shtuyot. Hashem does not require us to do the impossible and what He asks of us, He supplies the means to accomplish.

The most dangerous and widespread problem in Am Yisrael is outright rebellion against Hashem's sovereignty---an unwillingness and refusal to obey Him and fulfill our mission in this world. Our own ego is our god and the goal of life is to satisfy its every wish and desire. G-d forbid!

If you are a Jew still sitting in Mitzrayim after 3500 years, you should tear kriah, sit on the floor and put ashes on your head. Sit in mourning over your tragic fate and beg Hashem day and night to redeem you from there; to slay your ego and release you from its cruel bondage. If we are to believe the population studies, the majority of Jews in the world are in outright rebellion against the King. They shake their fists in Hashem's face and shout "Hell, no! We won't go!" And they look for every reason under the sun to bolster their refusal to go up to "the land flowing with milk and honey."

They deny the very raison d'etre of Yetziat Mitzrayim. They live in an upside down reality in which the punishment of exile has become a blessing; death is preferred over life and has even become a mitzvah for its own sake. G-d forbid!

This is not addressed to the sincere person in chu"l who truly wants to fulfill Hashem's will and truly cannot. He feels that he is living in a graveyard and prays daily for his deliverance and looks forward passionately to the day when Hashem takes him out of there. But this is a very rare person, very rare indeed. It does not explain or excuse the vast majority.

And it is this rebellion, this inexcusable flaunting of Hashem's will which needs teshuvah so desperately and which is the real reason that Mashiach and the geulah shleimah has not yet come. It is clear that those who won't listen to Hashem surely won't listen to His Mashiach. If they won't heed Hashem, they won't follow Mashiach.

It is selfishness dressed up in false piety, all these people who refuse the gift of Eretz Yisrael because it is too impure for their tastes and all while they sit and imbibe the fetid air of the most impure societies in the goyische world.

The time for teshuvah grows very short. Examine your hearts earnestly and honestly and root out every trace of rebellion. Break your heart and your will and lay them as an offering before the King of all kings who patiently waits for your teshuvah, but not endlessly.

* * *

5786 Postscript:  We were not set "free" from Egyptian slavery to fulfill our own desires or decide our own fate.  We were never going to be our own masters.  

We went from forced slavery to Egypt to voluntary servitude to HKB"H and sealed the deal for all generations and for all times at Har Sinai.  That is not a choice we make today.  It was a choice we made 3300+ years ago!

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~

Whose "Way of Life" Will Survive in the End?

19 Tevet 5786

Someone wrote to me and said of the chareidim, "They come out in droves to 'protest'  they don't want to go into the army and their way of life is being threatened."

My initial reaction when I read that statement: "Is their 'way of life' not also your way of life - the life of Torah and mitzvot?  Are we not duty-bound to preserve the Torah way of life in any way that we can?" 

I think this is coming from a very short-sighted perspective, one that does not fully grasp what is at stake here.

The IDF is considered by all Israelis to be the gateway to "integration" (assimilation) into the common culture which is anti-Torah at its core.  And that is the sole reason that the State is insisting on pulling everyone into it.  They do not believe for one minute that Torah-learning provides any kind of protection for the nation.  They rely not on HKB"H, but only on their own ingenuity and the might of their military machine.  

This apparatus is a clear and present danger to us all as it promotes licentiousness in the midst of existential war, the very thing the Torah warned us would cause HKB"H's protection to leave us.  Not only that, it is filled with non-Jews, many of whom are idolaters who use their service to proselytze others to their idolatry.  Modesty does not even exist! These are crimes which the Torah condemns and the State finds legitimate and deserving of legal protection.

They've come for our sons and now they are after our daughters!!

People who hold by the Torah must get over this false idea that this is a Jewish State with a Jewish Army.  The laws of the Torah with regard to military conscription and military action cannot be applied here because the military itself is not bound by Torah law.   

Their "way of life" is in reality the way of death as we saw clearly on October 7th!  We survive in spite of them not because of them!

Listen & Learn

18 Tevet 5786 

[NOTE:  Three posts went up today.  Don't miss the first two.]

Kahane Is Still Right, and will aways be right because his words and his ideas come straight out of the Torah which is perfect, and which never changes.

"Why I'm against sovereignty in Judea: An excerpt from my address at Rav Binyamin Kahane's hyd yortzeit."  [David Sidman on Facebook.]

BD"E: Chaim Yosef, HY"D

18 Tevet 5786

 

Related: Bus Driver To Be Charged With Aggravated Murder; Pressed On Gas & Deliberately Plowed Into Bochurim

* * *

Chaim Yosef was niftar on Chai Tevet - the double reference to LIFE should remind us that death is not the end, just as the death rampant across our holy land is not the end, is not the final destination for our nation.  There is hope and a future for every Jewish neshama who clings to the Torah - The Tree of Life.  

The name Yosef brings to mind all the righteous qualities of Yosef HaTzaddik and especially the righteous Mashiach ben Yosef who is even now here among us, doing the work that prepares the world stage for Mashiach ben David.

I can't help but think that Chaim Yosef is even now, at his hour of judgment, pleading the case for the geulah shleimah for which he became a precious korban.  

May he succeed and be one of the first to return in techiyat hameitim.  Until then, his memory will remain a blessing to the entire nation. 

The World Today Is Out of Balance

18 Tevet 5786

There is an interesting message hidden in the days of the week on which the "Abrahamic" religions observe their holy day. 

It's a very simple message that holds a world of truths.  

The lies and falsehoods of the made-up religions throw the world out of balance.  Each insists that its way is the only way.  The pull and tug of their competition for supremacy keeps the planet rocking back and forth.  Those immersed in Torah alone occupy the calm in the balance.  

While the Friday people try to erase us, the Sunday people try to absorb us. Anything that attempts to pull us toward one side or the other - including Zionism, the false religion from within - disrupts the equilibrium and brings chaos and destruction to the world.

Peace, harmony and unity are only possible within the Torah-based Judaism framework and will never be achieved by anything else.

Zionism: Religion for the One New Man

17 Tevet 5786

It's time for good Jews, righteous Jews, Torah Jews to part with the illicit love affair with Zionism.  Just because "Zion" is in the name does not mean it has any connection to the hopes and prayers for a return to Zion as practiced by our forebears.   

Zionism is the modern equivalent of the Golden Calf and so-called "religious" Zionism is an illegal mixture like meat and milk, wool and linen, Jew and Gentile.  It is the Erev Rav who push Jews to mix with the nations for the same reason Bila'am advised King Balak to bring out the Midyanite women.  It leads to sin and brings down Hashem's wrath upon us.

Zionism also did not invent aliyah.  Encouraging Jews to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael is not the sole domain of the Zionist State, but they do not limit it to Jews.  They use it also as a means to bring more and more Gentiles into the country in order to weaken the influence of Torah over the Land.

This anti-Torah State is now actively persecuting Torah scholars and their students and their students' families in the name of loyalty and service to the ideals of Zionism.  

Look how far it has already gone among the so-called "Religious" Zionists...

This is the religion for the "One New Man" of Chr*stian theology - Jew and Gentile together as one people.  It's the eqiuvalent of the Midrash which describes Eisav as putting on a tallit, sitting down next to Ya'aqov and saying, "I'll compromise and come closer to you and you compromise on your end and move closer to me and together we'll rule."

Every Torah-true Jew must reject not only these foreign ideals but also the people promoting them.  It's time to abandon the Zionist label and the Zionist ethos, too.  They hold no copyright on Eretz Yisrael.

Take note of the following.  This is not a hill-top out-post.  This is the Chareidi neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo in Jerusalem on the morning of January 4, 2026.  And this is where Zionism is now taking us.

THE WANTON DESTRUCTION OF
A SYNAGOGUE IN JERUSALEM

(Source)