Six Million For Machzit HaShekel and the Rivers from Eden
I am making an executive decision regarding this blogsite. At this time I am swamped with work for my teudat hora'ah (teaching certification) here in Israel. Writing a full length essay at this time would require time that I do not have at this time, for the Israeli Ministry of Education thinks that I can handle a course load of ten courses. That's right, TEN courses. Until Hol Hamoed Pesach (intermediate days of Passover) I cannot write full lengths essays for this blog, but I can include letters that I have written to others about what is going on anyway. True, these letters will not be fully sourced, but time is so short that it is better to release these letters now than to spend the next six months finding spare time to write full essays.
If anyone wants to help fund the writing of full essays on the subject of the End of Days or to help fund the translation of these essays and any future essay into Hebrew, please contact me through my gmail e-mail address dovbearbarleib@gmail.com . Any contributions to writing a whole volume of essays or for translation of these essays into Hebrew would be welcome.
This post will include two letters to two separate people about the subjects of Gog son of Gog- the gilgul of Eliphaz, the rivers of Eden, and the 6 million Jews who will give makhazit hashekel for the repair of the sin of the golden calf. I realize that the second letter touches on the Shoah and in a sense gives a powerful reason for why it occurred. It is in no way written in a way which cheapens the memory of all who passed through the nightmare from over 60 years ago. I hope what I have written will ultimately elevate the memory of all 6 million, and I pray that the Eternal will comfort all of us, for we Jews are all survivors of the deepest, longest-lasting , and most universal hatred in human history, Anti-semitism. Yet, even this will be explained by G-d through His anointed, may he come speedily in our days. Perhaps giving makhzit hashekel (1/2 of a shekel for every male in our families) this week before Purim (the Feast of Lots) will have new meaning?
First letter:
Dear Rav:
I was just at your website, and I was reading with interest a discussion on the significance of the number 600,000 and 6 million. I was happy to see that others are as profoundly affected by the need to unlock some of the secrets of the Torah as I am. After the Shoah, we have the right to beg G-d for some answers just to keep from going insane. Perhaps it is this extenuating circumstance alone along with 1870 years of grueling Jewish suffering at the hand of our twin brother (Esau) that gives us the right to hear an answer that neither the Gaon of Vilna nor the Malbim could ever hope to hear. On this note, one who might barely be seen in their shadows hopes to explain why.
It came to me about three Shavuoses ago. I was dwelling and delving into 2 questions.
1. If the Chait HaEigel (sin of the golden calf) was committed with gold, why do Rashi and others say that the tikun (repair) can at least be partially be done with silver coins ( commandment to give ½ shekel to the Tabernacle Treasury)?
2. How many Jews did Haman purchase when he put 10,000 silver Kikar (talents) into the King's Treasury in the Book of Esther?
I knew that the second question was important because Megillat Esther (book of Esther) uses the expression the King's Treasury without the mention of Achashverosh's name. Therefore, this was a business deal between G-d and Amalek (Haman's descendants) that would span the generations till the Final Redemption. Had the Book of Esther mentioned Achashverosh's name at this point, I would have had my doubts, but since Achashverosh's name is absent, I knew that The King of Kings would deliver on His side of the bargain. Note that Achash's name is mentioned when Haman approaches him and when he sends out the letters to the 127 provinces to carry out Haman's wishes. The business deal alone, the transfer of 10,000 kikar and the handing over of the ring along with the money to carry out the dirty business of genocide were all done with Achash's name missing.
Before the second question can be answered, though, the first question must be answered. The secret to that lies with Mechirat Yosef (the sale of Joseph in Genesis). You see, before the Chait HaEigel, there was a mitzvah (commandment) for Machzit Hashekel with silver coins. The original purpose of this donation was to redeem Yosef from the slave owners to whom he had been sold. Yet, since those slave owners were dead at the time the mitzvah was given, the donation was given as a penitence to the Creator's Mishkan (desert Tabernacle). The calculation is as follows: The ten brother's who were partners to the sale received a total of 20 dinar. Whenever the Torah mentions silver without the denomination, the dinar is the basic unit that the Torah is pointing at. Chazal seem to agree that the basic unit of monetary exchange during the time of the Avos (Patriarchs) was the dinar not the shekel. Whenever the Torah means shekels it mentions the unit. Here at the sale where the unit is not mentioned the Torah means dinar. Also apparently although Reuven was absent, he was allowed to benefit from the proceeds of the sale because it was his idea to throw Yosef into a pit in the first place. Binyamin, who was not present for any of this, received no benefit from the sale. Just to help with the math, Chazal (the Sages of the Ages) tell us that one shekel was worth 4 dinar. This means that Yosef, Rachel's bechor (first born) was sold for 5 sh'kalim (shekels). It makes sense that the redemption of every bechor after Yosef would also be with five silver sh'kalim. Yet, because 10 brothers benefited from the sale, each brother received 5/10 or machtzit ha-shekel, (1/2 of a shekel) from the sale of their brother to the Yishmaelim (Ishmaelites). They then each took their portion and purchased shoes from the Medianim (Medianite traders), a subject of more commentary for another time.
The important thing to realize is that this was the true original sin of the Jewish people. All suffering for sins bain adam l'chavero (between one Jew and his fellow Jew) throughout Jewish history have a tinge of this original sin in them. The teshuvah (repentance) for this sin although great was incomplete, for although Yehudah (Judah), the arbiter of the sale, vowed to be Yosef's only full brother's, Binyamin's, guarantor in Egypt, and although he was willing to put himself into slavery for Binyamin's sake, he had not shed enough bitter tears to come to recognize his long lost brother whom he had sold years earlier. Encrustations of sin still covered his wailing heart, for if those encrustations had fully fallen away, he would have come to recognize the brother who most represented the heart of the Jewish people. Alas, Yosef revealed himself too soon. For the day of his sale was the 9th of Av (the date of the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem). On that day the Shechinah (divine presence) left his father's tent, sending him into mourning for almost 22 years, and sending us into mourning for millenia. Except, of course, here in the Region of Nachalat Binyamin, the Shechinah is still present, for Binyamin did not participate in the sale.
Fascinatingly, though, the Torah recommends that our penitence for this heinous crime should be a 1/2 shekel coin that has double the value of the original machtzit hashekel, for was not the crime Grand Theft Human, stealing Yosef from himself. Is not the money owed for the crime, double what was received through ill-gotten means. Now that we can understand the original intent behind the mitzvah of machtzit hashekel, the question that should jump out at you is how did this same mitzvah become the tikun for the Chait haEigel?
It should be pointed out that the silver that is placed in the Temple treasury as a pidyon (redemption) for Yosef who was sold into Egypt, is really Yosef's property since he was stolen from himself in the sale. Apparently, we are given a glimpse of how Yosef will get this money back at the End of Days for this crime of being kidnapped and sold into slavery when the funeral procession for Ya'akov Avinu (the Patriarch Jacob) reaches the Goren HaAtad (the Barn of Thorns, a.k.a. bramble barn) where the greatest and most powerful eulogy in the World History takes place over a seven day period. It seems that the Ca'ananim (Ca'ananites) are there and curiously the princes of Yishmael are there to testify that this massive presence from Mitzraim (Egypt) is a funeral procession and not an invading army. They then proceed to place 36 silver crowns on the casket of Ya'akov Avinu and then allow the funeral procession to pass through to Hevron. The obvious question is that while we can understand why the Canaanim are there, why are the Yishmaelim there? The answer is obvious, but there are 2 answers. 1. While the Canaanim are there for that generation that buried Ya'akov Avinu, the Yishmaelim are there for our generation to ultimately permit the Bnei Ya'akov (the children of Jacob) to return to the vestibule between this world and the World to Come and to wrest the keys to the Kingdom away from the Bnei Edom (Esau's children). Since Ma'arat Hamachpelah (Cave of Machpelah in Hevron) is that vestibule, the dismantling of Malchut Edom (Esau's Kingdom) and the destruction of Amalek will emanate from there. 2. The Yishmaelim place these 36 silver crowns on the casket, for it was the Yishmaelim that took the 20 silver coins in the first place. In a sense they were giving the silver back to its rightful owner.
Another interesting question comes to mind. Why silver? It seems that Yosef's Malchut (rulership) is better represented by silver that gold. The answer seems to be that while gold represents the bonding of the heart to the neshama (divine soul) and therefore represents the heart as a seat for both gaiva (pride) and the divine presence, silver represents the bonding of the heart to the nefesh behamit (animal soul) and the therefore represents the heart as a seat for taiva (fleshly desires) and mitzvot bain adam vechavero which are done even if one does not "feel" like doing it. Since Mechirat Yosef is a transgression of the latter category of bain Adam vechavairo prohibitions, the sin was done with silver and the teshuva will be with silver. In turn, Mashiach ben Yosef will somehow be reimbursed for his hardship by the Yishmaelim with silver. The tikun seems to involve the crying of bitter tears to shake off the deepest encrustations of our hearts which lead to the brothers' misjudgment of Yosef in the first place. Perhaps Hashem wants us to mourn for all the suffering of Jewish History not just the suffering of our own time. What a better way to induce this than to force worldwide economic isolation upon us. We will then be forced to turn inward and to each other. We will then cry for all the suffering in Jewish History and discover the Yosef that is at our collective core. I will say this that this heavenly imposed psychotherapy might even cut in half the number of auto accidents here in the Holy Land, once we are forced to engage in this therapy.
On a related note I believe that 9-11 was a warning that this is coming. For Klal Yisrael the sign was unmistakable. The date was the 23rd of Elul, 7 days before Rosh Hashana. On that day exactly seven days prior to Rosh Hashana in the year of the Great Flood, the dove that was sent out for its second flight, returned with an olive branch in its beak. Rashi plainly states that the olive branch which does not represent world peace, does represent total economic dependence on the Hand of G-d. So better that Klal Yisrael should depend on the bitter fruits of the Hand of G-d than the sweet fruits of the hand of Man. For 2500 years since the Shechinah left the First Temple, the main source of Jewish parnassah (economic support) with the root being in the gentile world and not directly from G-d himself has been as facilitators of global economic commerce, World Traders, so to speak. On the 23rd of Elul 5761, we were warned that this galut (exile) role for Klal Yisrael (the Jewish people) was about to come to an end. In the words of the Chofetz Chaim, the third world wide conflagration where Klal Yisrael would be tested in our love for Hashem b'chol meodecha (with all your money) had commenced.
Who is our shaliach (emissary) of this ultimate B'chol Meodecha nisayon (test), why I believe it to be freshly re-elected Gog ben Gog Bush. I believe him to be the Gilgul (reincarnation) of Eliphaz. He will strip us of our Kavod (glory) rather than kill us. You see unlike his father, he is not a vicious hater of Klal Yisrael's revival here in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel). On the contrary he wants to help us in every way. On one hand his father condemns us in front of Pres. Reagan when Gog Sr. was V.P. when Israel bombed Saddam Husein's nuclear reactor in 1981 or 82. The present Gog W. thinks that this form of unilateralism is wonderful. He cites it as a model for his own version of unilateralism. Gog Sr. went to Yale when Jews were not allowed on campus. Gog Jr. may have had a Shomer Shabbas roommate. ( I need a source for this.) Gog Sr. hated Yitzchak Shamir. Gog Jr. values his relationship with A. Sharon. Most of all, Gog Sr. condemned Israel on the first night of Chanukah in 1992 when he had no political reason to do so, for he was already a lame duck, freshly defeated by President elect Clinton. Yet, it was the Bush Administration which wrote the condemnation resolution which was passed unanimously, of course, in the U.N. Security Council on the First night of Chanukah. And pray tell why did he condemn us? because in the spring of that year P.M. Rabin took it upon himself to send 400 Hamas thugs packing into no-man's land at the 33rd parallel in Southern Lebanon. Yet, Gog Sr. who Chazal hold to be holding at the 33rd level of purity, because that is the level one serves G-d at if his intent is to only build Olam Hazeh (the present world as opposed to the World to Come), turned that murderous crew right around and insisted that Rabin give them the old welcome back home treatment. Curiously, I opened up my Chumash and looked at the first pasuk (verse) of the 33rd perek (chapter) of Bereshis in order to see what I would find. We had just read it in shul (synagogue/House of Learning) the previous Shabbas, and I will never forget what I saw: " And Ya'akov lifted up his eyes and behold Esau was approaching with 400 men." So now I finally understood. Gog Sr.'s administration had been a four year long guilt trip of one condemnation after another. If Shamir had fallen into Gog Sr.'s web, the medina (the State of Israel) would have been destroyed right then and there. How is it that 4 years of horrendously shameful relations had followed the relatively empathetic Reagan years. Why Gog Sr. was none other than the gilgul of Esau himself!. He was going to preserve his malchus (kingdom) come hell or high water. (I think come Hell, for we have been promised no more high water.) An uncanny inability to judge us as he would judge himself if he were in our shoes characterized the man. He was a true ex-head of the CIA. He was all for Law and Order. He was all for Chesed. Truth, forget it! Let Ya'akov try to build a world with it! The New World Order has no place for it. While Ya'akov Avinu is davening for his descendants that would be as uncountable as sand at the seashore, he curiously did not ask for his descendants to number like the stars in the heaven. Why not? Perhaps because he knew that Esau would be blessed with those thousand points of light, and he would be stuck with all the sand. Alas, Bilaam has to tell us there will be yet one star from Ya'akov... Yet, Gog's administration will always be remembered that he was the first American president to stand up to the pro-Israel lobby over those $10 billion in loan guarantees. I am sure that is one of his sweetest memories... You might say did not VP Gog Sr. plea with Sudanese Pres. Numeiri to permit 1000 Ethiopian Jews languishing to death in the desert to leave for Israel in March of 1985, two months after Operation Moses had been aborted. The answer is yes. Remember Esau is not Amalek. If Ya'akov presents himself on his hands and knees, Esau will embrace him as his brother. Yet, as Israel, Esau hates us.
All this brings us to Gog ben Gog from the territorial inheritance of Magog, one of the 14 descendants of Japhet. Magog, the Mongols, had access to the Bering Strait land bridge which existed for a couple hundred years after the flood. We know that the Mongols were the Ben Magog, for the Arabs in the Middle Ages called the Great Wall of China Al Magog since it was built to keep out the Mongol hordes. Of course, by the time Marco Polo arrives, the Wall had failed in this task. So much for the first Geder Hafradah (Wall of Separation). While the bulk of Mongol civilization was destroyed before Peter the Great, who expanded the sovereignty of Meshach(Moscow) and Tubal (Siberia) to the Pacific Ocean, vast tracts of Magog territory were conquered by Europeans conquering N. and S. America from the other direction. The Bnei Magog in the Americas were wiped out and placed upon reservations. So much for 2 state solutions. And this last point IS the point. As long as America accepted Klal Yisrael's destiny to return to Eretz Yisrael at this time in history, the U.S. is blessed. Just walk into any American suburban shopping mall to try and count all of America's post-WW2 blessings. Yet, as soon as an American president rises up and says that part of Eretz Yisrael is not back in the hands of its rightful owner after the miracle of the 6 Day War, a great treasury of Kitrug (accusation) is opened in Shamayim (heaven). Thus saith the Lord: "I am against thee O Gog from the Land of Magog", for you, Gog, are truly the one sojourning on truly stolen land. I realize that Gog ben Gog is under tremendous pressure. In order to preserve his father's malchus, he must respect his father's vow to Yishmael, a vow of marriage to his daughter Mahalath in order to get an inroad into Yitzchak's blessing of Ya'akov for Olam Haba (the World to Come) and to form an endtimes alliance to destroy Ya'akov. Gog ben Gog has none of the hatreds of his father, but in order to hold onto his father's kingdom he has to pretend that he is killing us by causing us total economic privation. He must rip us of our glory. This is the price to be paid in order to keep the price of crude oil low enough so that his civilization that is no longer blessed by G-d can survive. His father's new wife, Mahalath bat Yishmael, demands it in order for Eliphaz to inherit the blessing Mi'shmanei haaretz yihiyeh moshavecha (from the oil of the earth will be your dwelling) from his father. Can we recognize this rasha (evil man) in our midst? Apparently not! He has spent too much time as Ya'akov Avinu's number one chevrusa (study partner in Ya'akov's tent) to be seen for his real self. He has too much respect for Ya'akov in his tent to ever permit Yisrael from dwelling in his Mishkan, for then the gold for the indwelling of the Shechinah would be in Israel's midst, then Eliphaz whose name means My G-d is gold would get nothing! 2000 years of professing a lie. Your world to come has been signed, sealed, and delivered by another (Jesu)! Therefore the purpose of serving G-d is to make money, or as the U.S. Constitution says, in order " to promote the common welfare." America's self-interest is to make more money. Gog ben Gog has vowed to preserve America's self-interest. Unlike Pnai Hakelev (Face of the Dog), Bark Bark Bill Clinton, Gog ben Gog's vow is sacred. Ya'akov is on the run. We have crossed the Yarden with his staff. We are standing at the Jabok, this time on the way to Haran. Gog ben Gog is approaching. He is saying please forgive me for what I am about to do.......Yet, as he inflicts global economic sanctions or threatens them, we will cry out to our Father in Heaven.
Tenth century Shabbos song by Donash ben Labrat of Baghdad: Droch purah b'soch Botzrah, the gam Bavel asher Gavrah. Ntotz tzarai b'af v'evrah. Shma Koli byom ekra. (Tread the wine press in the midst of Botzrah, and also in Babylon which arose and became strong. Smash my foe with anger and with wrath. Hear my voice on the day that I cry out!) Is it not a good thing that the British are in Botzrah, and not the Americans. The British closed the gates to Eretz Yisrael in 1939 and kept them closed during the entire time of the Shoah. While the rest of the world did not let Jews in to their countries, they were refraining from doing a Hesed. America, the nation of Hesed, refrained on the insistence of one Joe Kennedy, Yemach shmo v'zichro (May his name and memory be erased!). Yet, America and others were not obligated in Hesed, for it is not a Noahide Law to do Hesed. The British, though, closed the borders to our country that G-d gave to us. This is a different matter. They are shutaf (in partnership) with Hitler. Of course, the British said that they did not know what Hitler was doing to the Jews in Europe. "We were only shogeig (unintententional murderers)", they cry out. Quick! Although our Malach (angel) has no more rights in the Heavenly Court, he can flee to a city of refuge, to Botzrah! (Talmud in Makkot, Eilu Hen HaGolin) Yet, the Knower of Secrets knows that the British knew precisely what they were doing when they kept the gates to Eretz Yisrael closed from 1939 onwards. May they soon be sentenced, especially since that mamzer, Tony Blair has made a Palestinian state into Gog ben Gog's #1 priority! He will be the first Head of State to visit Gog since his re-election upon his arrival in Washington either the end of this week or the beginning of next week.
Now I will attempt to complete the calculation for Machzit Hashekel and why. Remember that each brother received Machzit Hashekel (1/2 of a shekel) for the sale of Yosef, and Yosef himself was sold for 5 silver shekel. Therefore when the mitzvah was first introduced to Klal Yisrael, we were being given the tikun (repair) for the sin of Mechirat Yosef (the sale of Joseph). In short we were buying 1/11 of ourselves back from the Yishmaelim, but depositing the money instead in the Treasury of the Mishkan. The calculation is as follows. 600,000 Jews in the midbar gave a total of 300,000 shkalim. These 300,000 shkalim divided by 5 shkalim/ Yosef = 60,000 Yosefs. Now this was fine and dandy until we all participated in thinking that the horns of the Eigal Hazahav would be a good place for the shechinah to dwell. We probably thought this because we reasoned that if G-d would bless us with bounty for eternity, we would be in utopia forever, and surely the Shechinah would dwell in our midst forever. In this perspective the purpose of serving G-d is to make money, and to engender eternal good will from the Creator by dedicating ourselves to serving G-d at that madreigah (level of purity). On a side note this madreigah is the 33rd level of purity, for since Mon (Manna) first fell on the 31st day of the Omer, we therefore had a Hazakah (partial ownership) on the Mon on Lag B'Omer (33rd day of the counting of the days between Passover and Pentacaust a.k.a. Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks). In short, we could demand it for all eternity if we continued to hold at this level, 2/3 of the way to doing what is right lishma (for its own sake). Apparently this same mistake was repeated again when Yeravam ben Nevat set up his rebellious Northern Kingdom, Malchut Yosef, in Shekhem. He also built a golden calf for the divine presence to dwell.
At this point upon setting up the altar for the Golden Calf and upon offering korbanos (sacrifices) on this altar, we all became slaves to Egypt again, and just like Yosef, we needed a pidyon (a price for redemption). This of course is easy to explain. Moshe had a plate which referred to the bones of Yosef when he threw it into the Nile to retrieve Yosef's bones before leaving Egypt. On this plate it said Rise Bull Rise. This is why Moses refers to Yosef as a bull in his parting blessing on him at the end of Deuteronomy. Somehow the mixed multitude of insincere converts got their hands on this talisman, and they threw it into the furnace when Aharon was trying to stall for time when Moshe had not yet descended from Sinai with the tablets of the Law. Out of the furnace that Aharon was standing in front of popped the golden calf! By bowing down before this calf who would provide sustenance in the desert just as Yosef had provided it in Egypt, we intrinsically replaced Yosef in Egypt with ourselves in Egypt. We sold ourselves back into bondage.
Since all 603,550 Jews participated with this plan, except for Hur and the Leviim, when the Klal did not take up the struggle to prevent this, all 603,550 engaged in one way or another, through commission or omission in this chait (sin). No longer would it be possible for the 600,000 Jews at the chait to simply donate their Makhzit Hashekel with a contrite heart for the sin of Mechirat Yosef, purchasing back 1/11th of themselves from slavery. Now all 600,000 would need this pidyon (price of redemption) for the sin of the Golden Calf. In order to accomplish this, 6 million would need to give Machzit Hashekel. 6 million would give 1/2 a shekel equalling 3 million shekels. These 3 million shekels would then redeem the 600,000 men who participated in the sin. There would have needed to be at least 12 to 14 million Jews at Sinai to accomplish this task so that the number of Jewish males in the world would add up to 6 million. This possibility of self-redemption from the Chait Haeigal would need to now wait until the End of Days.
Yet, at the End of Days we would be so removed from the Dor HaDeia (the generation that experienced the Giving of the entire Torah firsthand), we could easily become just a footnote in history. Having chosen the path of Klalah (curse) in the tochachah (great rebukes in Leviticus and Deuteronomy), leading to the destruction of the 1st Temple, each generation would find it more and more difficult to turn to G-d because of both lack of knowledge of the Creator being in our midst and because of the ease with which some would melt into the gentile world in order to escape the intense suffering. The Satan would forever accuse G-d's bechor (first born), klal Yisrael, hound us for eternity for the storehouse of our continual sins. For in the Satan's world, the slightest imperfection requires reproach from Hashem's Midas Hadin (attribute of strict judgment). Alas Hashem has reserved Emes (Truth) for himself. A nation which suffers the most incredible tortures can be redeemed from this crucible on the merit of its suffering and on its feeble but real attempt to be decent. Yes the 613 mitzvot are still valid, but after the Shoah, during which the 1/3 of World Jewry, geographically most dedicated to his Program are wiped out, G-d has lowered the bar. Just being a mensch in this dor (generation) merits a zechut (merit) beyond all the gold in Fort Knox. His midah of Emes (attribute of Truth) in force after the Shoah makes the Final Redemption not just possible but almost mandatory. It is if the Creator intentionally backed himself into a corner so that he could summarily dismiss 95% of the Satan's accusations against us. "These founders of the Modern State are secularists and Bolshevicks" ,cries the Satan! Hashem answers "Yes but they have a love of Eretz Yisrael." The Satan screams out, "Look, they return the Holy Spot on earth to their enemies, the day that you place it in their hands in 1967." Hashem says, "It would take a total Tzaddik to see my hand in hidden events after the Shoah. I permit the Benoni (in between Jews) to have his very reasonable doubts." The Satan screams, "They worship at the feet of Pnei Hakelev (Dogface Bill Clinton), the avodah zarah (idolotry) of world public opinion. For this reason alone they carry out the folly of Oslo!" Hashem says, "Maybe so, but the generation which I redeemed from Egypt were also Ovdei Avodah Zara (worshipers of idols). Yet they still deserved to be redeemed." But finally the Satan cries out, "Yet this avodah zarah requires that its adherents show public contempt for those who live beyond a line drawn by the UN at an accidental armistice which leaves the nation extremely vulnerable. Yet the avodah zarah demands that those who want the world to love them divorce themselves from those Jews who live beyond this line." To this Hashem says, "You have a point." "Sadly I must redeem this people through sorrow, until the day that I destroy this avodah zarah in the hearts and minds of its adherents." And now we have the Matzav (the present situation). Yet, G-d will yet fulfill the totality of his words to our Avos (Patriarchs), for after the Shoah nothing will stop this process.
Now let us return to question #2. When Haman placed 10,000 kikar in the King's Treasury, how many Jews did he purchase for slaughter? The key to this calculation is in Parshas Pekudei where we are told precisely how much silver was collected from the Makhzit Hashekel. There we are told that Moshe Rabbeinu collected 100 kikar for the 100 Adanim holding the Krashim(planks) together for the structure of the Mishkan + 1775 shekel of silver for an assortment of other kelim. Since the 1775 shekalim correspond with the 3550 individuals above 600,000 who gave it, the 100 kikar of silver must have been given by exactly 600,000 Jews. Therefore 300,000 shekel must be equal to 100 kikar. This means that we now have a conversion factor of 3000 shekel per kikar. From this we see that Haman placed 10,000 kikar times 3000 shek/kikar in the King's Treasury equaling 30,000,000 shekel of silver. How many Jews did he purchase? Keep in mind that Klal Yisrael is Hashem's Bechor, and that we all, 600,000 Jews at the Chait HaEigal, became like Yosef, needing to be redeemed because of the Chait Haeigal. We remember that Yosef was sold for 5 shekalim. Therefore, Haman purchased 30 million shekel divided by 5 shekalim/Jew equaling 6 million Jews for slaughter. Yet, immediately the King gives the money to Haman for Klal Yisrael's total destruction. After this the Megillah curiously returns to trying to carry out the decree in the name of Achashverosh. It is as if the decree for destruction in that generation could still be reversed by teshuva for attending Achashverosh's lavish banquet, but the decree that 6 million must die would still be carried out in a future generation. It is as if G-d were telling Haman, I agree to your evil scheme but for my reasons alone, but not in this generation. Besides there were not 6 million Jews to slaughter in that generation still leaving alive a reasonably sized remnant. For 2000 years G-d's commitment to Haman's decree was held as a sword of Damocles above our heads. When the Creator decreed that it was time to back himself into a corner in order to guarantee our redemption B'ito (at the final moment), he permitted the seed of Amalek to carry out his sworn deal with them. May these same 6 million souls see a redeemer come to Zion (the present Jewish population of Israel is 5.2 million).
As a conclusion I would like to thank the Late, Great Shlomo Carlbach for the inspiration to this wort. He must have truly been a gilgul of one of the great Menatzchim that conducted the Levitical choir in the Beit HaMikdash. He truly understood the soul of a nigun (tune). Such it is with one of the greatest of his nigunim, "The Krakow Nigun", in the prelude to his nigun he says the following, (if I may paraphrase for clarification): I was at the schule in Krakow, Poland, the last remaining schule in Krakow, the largest town close to Auschwitz. I was composing this song which begins as a funeral dirge for the 6 million when suddenly I saw them, the 6 million. And they were asking: Is this the way to Yerushalayim? Let's dance!
Dov Bar-Leib
I am attaching a file which shows why I think Gog ben Gog is the president of the Golden Calf not the Golden Medina.
Notice that July 4, 1776 was the 17th of Tamuz
2nd letter: to the Gogumogog.com website
If anyone wants to help fund the writing of full essays on the subject of the End of Days or to help fund the translation of these essays and any future essay into Hebrew, please contact me through my gmail e-mail address dovbearbarleib@gmail.com . Any contributions to writing a whole volume of essays or for translation of these essays into Hebrew would be welcome.
This post will include two letters to two separate people about the subjects of Gog son of Gog- the gilgul of Eliphaz, the rivers of Eden, and the 6 million Jews who will give makhazit hashekel for the repair of the sin of the golden calf. I realize that the second letter touches on the Shoah and in a sense gives a powerful reason for why it occurred. It is in no way written in a way which cheapens the memory of all who passed through the nightmare from over 60 years ago. I hope what I have written will ultimately elevate the memory of all 6 million, and I pray that the Eternal will comfort all of us, for we Jews are all survivors of the deepest, longest-lasting , and most universal hatred in human history, Anti-semitism. Yet, even this will be explained by G-d through His anointed, may he come speedily in our days. Perhaps giving makhzit hashekel (1/2 of a shekel for every male in our families) this week before Purim (the Feast of Lots) will have new meaning?
First letter:
Dear Rav:
I was just at your website, and I was reading with interest a discussion on the significance of the number 600,000 and 6 million. I was happy to see that others are as profoundly affected by the need to unlock some of the secrets of the Torah as I am. After the Shoah, we have the right to beg G-d for some answers just to keep from going insane. Perhaps it is this extenuating circumstance alone along with 1870 years of grueling Jewish suffering at the hand of our twin brother (Esau) that gives us the right to hear an answer that neither the Gaon of Vilna nor the Malbim could ever hope to hear. On this note, one who might barely be seen in their shadows hopes to explain why.
It came to me about three Shavuoses ago. I was dwelling and delving into 2 questions.
1. If the Chait HaEigel (sin of the golden calf) was committed with gold, why do Rashi and others say that the tikun (repair) can at least be partially be done with silver coins ( commandment to give ½ shekel to the Tabernacle Treasury)?
2. How many Jews did Haman purchase when he put 10,000 silver Kikar (talents) into the King's Treasury in the Book of Esther?
I knew that the second question was important because Megillat Esther (book of Esther) uses the expression the King's Treasury without the mention of Achashverosh's name. Therefore, this was a business deal between G-d and Amalek (Haman's descendants) that would span the generations till the Final Redemption. Had the Book of Esther mentioned Achashverosh's name at this point, I would have had my doubts, but since Achashverosh's name is absent, I knew that The King of Kings would deliver on His side of the bargain. Note that Achash's name is mentioned when Haman approaches him and when he sends out the letters to the 127 provinces to carry out Haman's wishes. The business deal alone, the transfer of 10,000 kikar and the handing over of the ring along with the money to carry out the dirty business of genocide were all done with Achash's name missing.
Before the second question can be answered, though, the first question must be answered. The secret to that lies with Mechirat Yosef (the sale of Joseph in Genesis). You see, before the Chait HaEigel, there was a mitzvah (commandment) for Machzit Hashekel with silver coins. The original purpose of this donation was to redeem Yosef from the slave owners to whom he had been sold. Yet, since those slave owners were dead at the time the mitzvah was given, the donation was given as a penitence to the Creator's Mishkan (desert Tabernacle). The calculation is as follows: The ten brother's who were partners to the sale received a total of 20 dinar. Whenever the Torah mentions silver without the denomination, the dinar is the basic unit that the Torah is pointing at. Chazal seem to agree that the basic unit of monetary exchange during the time of the Avos (Patriarchs) was the dinar not the shekel. Whenever the Torah means shekels it mentions the unit. Here at the sale where the unit is not mentioned the Torah means dinar. Also apparently although Reuven was absent, he was allowed to benefit from the proceeds of the sale because it was his idea to throw Yosef into a pit in the first place. Binyamin, who was not present for any of this, received no benefit from the sale. Just to help with the math, Chazal (the Sages of the Ages) tell us that one shekel was worth 4 dinar. This means that Yosef, Rachel's bechor (first born) was sold for 5 sh'kalim (shekels). It makes sense that the redemption of every bechor after Yosef would also be with five silver sh'kalim. Yet, because 10 brothers benefited from the sale, each brother received 5/10 or machtzit ha-shekel, (1/2 of a shekel) from the sale of their brother to the Yishmaelim (Ishmaelites). They then each took their portion and purchased shoes from the Medianim (Medianite traders), a subject of more commentary for another time.
The important thing to realize is that this was the true original sin of the Jewish people. All suffering for sins bain adam l'chavero (between one Jew and his fellow Jew) throughout Jewish history have a tinge of this original sin in them. The teshuvah (repentance) for this sin although great was incomplete, for although Yehudah (Judah), the arbiter of the sale, vowed to be Yosef's only full brother's, Binyamin's, guarantor in Egypt, and although he was willing to put himself into slavery for Binyamin's sake, he had not shed enough bitter tears to come to recognize his long lost brother whom he had sold years earlier. Encrustations of sin still covered his wailing heart, for if those encrustations had fully fallen away, he would have come to recognize the brother who most represented the heart of the Jewish people. Alas, Yosef revealed himself too soon. For the day of his sale was the 9th of Av (the date of the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem). On that day the Shechinah (divine presence) left his father's tent, sending him into mourning for almost 22 years, and sending us into mourning for millenia. Except, of course, here in the Region of Nachalat Binyamin, the Shechinah is still present, for Binyamin did not participate in the sale.
Fascinatingly, though, the Torah recommends that our penitence for this heinous crime should be a 1/2 shekel coin that has double the value of the original machtzit hashekel, for was not the crime Grand Theft Human, stealing Yosef from himself. Is not the money owed for the crime, double what was received through ill-gotten means. Now that we can understand the original intent behind the mitzvah of machtzit hashekel, the question that should jump out at you is how did this same mitzvah become the tikun for the Chait haEigel?
It should be pointed out that the silver that is placed in the Temple treasury as a pidyon (redemption) for Yosef who was sold into Egypt, is really Yosef's property since he was stolen from himself in the sale. Apparently, we are given a glimpse of how Yosef will get this money back at the End of Days for this crime of being kidnapped and sold into slavery when the funeral procession for Ya'akov Avinu (the Patriarch Jacob) reaches the Goren HaAtad (the Barn of Thorns, a.k.a. bramble barn) where the greatest and most powerful eulogy in the World History takes place over a seven day period. It seems that the Ca'ananim (Ca'ananites) are there and curiously the princes of Yishmael are there to testify that this massive presence from Mitzraim (Egypt) is a funeral procession and not an invading army. They then proceed to place 36 silver crowns on the casket of Ya'akov Avinu and then allow the funeral procession to pass through to Hevron. The obvious question is that while we can understand why the Canaanim are there, why are the Yishmaelim there? The answer is obvious, but there are 2 answers. 1. While the Canaanim are there for that generation that buried Ya'akov Avinu, the Yishmaelim are there for our generation to ultimately permit the Bnei Ya'akov (the children of Jacob) to return to the vestibule between this world and the World to Come and to wrest the keys to the Kingdom away from the Bnei Edom (Esau's children). Since Ma'arat Hamachpelah (Cave of Machpelah in Hevron) is that vestibule, the dismantling of Malchut Edom (Esau's Kingdom) and the destruction of Amalek will emanate from there. 2. The Yishmaelim place these 36 silver crowns on the casket, for it was the Yishmaelim that took the 20 silver coins in the first place. In a sense they were giving the silver back to its rightful owner.
Another interesting question comes to mind. Why silver? It seems that Yosef's Malchut (rulership) is better represented by silver that gold. The answer seems to be that while gold represents the bonding of the heart to the neshama (divine soul) and therefore represents the heart as a seat for both gaiva (pride) and the divine presence, silver represents the bonding of the heart to the nefesh behamit (animal soul) and the therefore represents the heart as a seat for taiva (fleshly desires) and mitzvot bain adam vechavero which are done even if one does not "feel" like doing it. Since Mechirat Yosef is a transgression of the latter category of bain Adam vechavairo prohibitions, the sin was done with silver and the teshuva will be with silver. In turn, Mashiach ben Yosef will somehow be reimbursed for his hardship by the Yishmaelim with silver. The tikun seems to involve the crying of bitter tears to shake off the deepest encrustations of our hearts which lead to the brothers' misjudgment of Yosef in the first place. Perhaps Hashem wants us to mourn for all the suffering of Jewish History not just the suffering of our own time. What a better way to induce this than to force worldwide economic isolation upon us. We will then be forced to turn inward and to each other. We will then cry for all the suffering in Jewish History and discover the Yosef that is at our collective core. I will say this that this heavenly imposed psychotherapy might even cut in half the number of auto accidents here in the Holy Land, once we are forced to engage in this therapy.
On a related note I believe that 9-11 was a warning that this is coming. For Klal Yisrael the sign was unmistakable. The date was the 23rd of Elul, 7 days before Rosh Hashana. On that day exactly seven days prior to Rosh Hashana in the year of the Great Flood, the dove that was sent out for its second flight, returned with an olive branch in its beak. Rashi plainly states that the olive branch which does not represent world peace, does represent total economic dependence on the Hand of G-d. So better that Klal Yisrael should depend on the bitter fruits of the Hand of G-d than the sweet fruits of the hand of Man. For 2500 years since the Shechinah left the First Temple, the main source of Jewish parnassah (economic support) with the root being in the gentile world and not directly from G-d himself has been as facilitators of global economic commerce, World Traders, so to speak. On the 23rd of Elul 5761, we were warned that this galut (exile) role for Klal Yisrael (the Jewish people) was about to come to an end. In the words of the Chofetz Chaim, the third world wide conflagration where Klal Yisrael would be tested in our love for Hashem b'chol meodecha (with all your money) had commenced.
Who is our shaliach (emissary) of this ultimate B'chol Meodecha nisayon (test), why I believe it to be freshly re-elected Gog ben Gog Bush. I believe him to be the Gilgul (reincarnation) of Eliphaz. He will strip us of our Kavod (glory) rather than kill us. You see unlike his father, he is not a vicious hater of Klal Yisrael's revival here in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel). On the contrary he wants to help us in every way. On one hand his father condemns us in front of Pres. Reagan when Gog Sr. was V.P. when Israel bombed Saddam Husein's nuclear reactor in 1981 or 82. The present Gog W. thinks that this form of unilateralism is wonderful. He cites it as a model for his own version of unilateralism. Gog Sr. went to Yale when Jews were not allowed on campus. Gog Jr. may have had a Shomer Shabbas roommate. ( I need a source for this.) Gog Sr. hated Yitzchak Shamir. Gog Jr. values his relationship with A. Sharon. Most of all, Gog Sr. condemned Israel on the first night of Chanukah in 1992 when he had no political reason to do so, for he was already a lame duck, freshly defeated by President elect Clinton. Yet, it was the Bush Administration which wrote the condemnation resolution which was passed unanimously, of course, in the U.N. Security Council on the First night of Chanukah. And pray tell why did he condemn us? because in the spring of that year P.M. Rabin took it upon himself to send 400 Hamas thugs packing into no-man's land at the 33rd parallel in Southern Lebanon. Yet, Gog Sr. who Chazal hold to be holding at the 33rd level of purity, because that is the level one serves G-d at if his intent is to only build Olam Hazeh (the present world as opposed to the World to Come), turned that murderous crew right around and insisted that Rabin give them the old welcome back home treatment. Curiously, I opened up my Chumash and looked at the first pasuk (verse) of the 33rd perek (chapter) of Bereshis in order to see what I would find. We had just read it in shul (synagogue/House of Learning) the previous Shabbas, and I will never forget what I saw: " And Ya'akov lifted up his eyes and behold Esau was approaching with 400 men." So now I finally understood. Gog Sr.'s administration had been a four year long guilt trip of one condemnation after another. If Shamir had fallen into Gog Sr.'s web, the medina (the State of Israel) would have been destroyed right then and there. How is it that 4 years of horrendously shameful relations had followed the relatively empathetic Reagan years. Why Gog Sr. was none other than the gilgul of Esau himself!. He was going to preserve his malchus (kingdom) come hell or high water. (I think come Hell, for we have been promised no more high water.) An uncanny inability to judge us as he would judge himself if he were in our shoes characterized the man. He was a true ex-head of the CIA. He was all for Law and Order. He was all for Chesed. Truth, forget it! Let Ya'akov try to build a world with it! The New World Order has no place for it. While Ya'akov Avinu is davening for his descendants that would be as uncountable as sand at the seashore, he curiously did not ask for his descendants to number like the stars in the heaven. Why not? Perhaps because he knew that Esau would be blessed with those thousand points of light, and he would be stuck with all the sand. Alas, Bilaam has to tell us there will be yet one star from Ya'akov... Yet, Gog's administration will always be remembered that he was the first American president to stand up to the pro-Israel lobby over those $10 billion in loan guarantees. I am sure that is one of his sweetest memories... You might say did not VP Gog Sr. plea with Sudanese Pres. Numeiri to permit 1000 Ethiopian Jews languishing to death in the desert to leave for Israel in March of 1985, two months after Operation Moses had been aborted. The answer is yes. Remember Esau is not Amalek. If Ya'akov presents himself on his hands and knees, Esau will embrace him as his brother. Yet, as Israel, Esau hates us.
All this brings us to Gog ben Gog from the territorial inheritance of Magog, one of the 14 descendants of Japhet. Magog, the Mongols, had access to the Bering Strait land bridge which existed for a couple hundred years after the flood. We know that the Mongols were the Ben Magog, for the Arabs in the Middle Ages called the Great Wall of China Al Magog since it was built to keep out the Mongol hordes. Of course, by the time Marco Polo arrives, the Wall had failed in this task. So much for the first Geder Hafradah (Wall of Separation). While the bulk of Mongol civilization was destroyed before Peter the Great, who expanded the sovereignty of Meshach(Moscow) and Tubal (Siberia) to the Pacific Ocean, vast tracts of Magog territory were conquered by Europeans conquering N. and S. America from the other direction. The Bnei Magog in the Americas were wiped out and placed upon reservations. So much for 2 state solutions. And this last point IS the point. As long as America accepted Klal Yisrael's destiny to return to Eretz Yisrael at this time in history, the U.S. is blessed. Just walk into any American suburban shopping mall to try and count all of America's post-WW2 blessings. Yet, as soon as an American president rises up and says that part of Eretz Yisrael is not back in the hands of its rightful owner after the miracle of the 6 Day War, a great treasury of Kitrug (accusation) is opened in Shamayim (heaven). Thus saith the Lord: "I am against thee O Gog from the Land of Magog", for you, Gog, are truly the one sojourning on truly stolen land. I realize that Gog ben Gog is under tremendous pressure. In order to preserve his father's malchus, he must respect his father's vow to Yishmael, a vow of marriage to his daughter Mahalath in order to get an inroad into Yitzchak's blessing of Ya'akov for Olam Haba (the World to Come) and to form an endtimes alliance to destroy Ya'akov. Gog ben Gog has none of the hatreds of his father, but in order to hold onto his father's kingdom he has to pretend that he is killing us by causing us total economic privation. He must rip us of our glory. This is the price to be paid in order to keep the price of crude oil low enough so that his civilization that is no longer blessed by G-d can survive. His father's new wife, Mahalath bat Yishmael, demands it in order for Eliphaz to inherit the blessing Mi'shmanei haaretz yihiyeh moshavecha (from the oil of the earth will be your dwelling) from his father. Can we recognize this rasha (evil man) in our midst? Apparently not! He has spent too much time as Ya'akov Avinu's number one chevrusa (study partner in Ya'akov's tent) to be seen for his real self. He has too much respect for Ya'akov in his tent to ever permit Yisrael from dwelling in his Mishkan, for then the gold for the indwelling of the Shechinah would be in Israel's midst, then Eliphaz whose name means My G-d is gold would get nothing! 2000 years of professing a lie. Your world to come has been signed, sealed, and delivered by another (Jesu)! Therefore the purpose of serving G-d is to make money, or as the U.S. Constitution says, in order " to promote the common welfare." America's self-interest is to make more money. Gog ben Gog has vowed to preserve America's self-interest. Unlike Pnai Hakelev (Face of the Dog), Bark Bark Bill Clinton, Gog ben Gog's vow is sacred. Ya'akov is on the run. We have crossed the Yarden with his staff. We are standing at the Jabok, this time on the way to Haran. Gog ben Gog is approaching. He is saying please forgive me for what I am about to do.......Yet, as he inflicts global economic sanctions or threatens them, we will cry out to our Father in Heaven.
Tenth century Shabbos song by Donash ben Labrat of Baghdad: Droch purah b'soch Botzrah, the gam Bavel asher Gavrah. Ntotz tzarai b'af v'evrah. Shma Koli byom ekra. (Tread the wine press in the midst of Botzrah, and also in Babylon which arose and became strong. Smash my foe with anger and with wrath. Hear my voice on the day that I cry out!) Is it not a good thing that the British are in Botzrah, and not the Americans. The British closed the gates to Eretz Yisrael in 1939 and kept them closed during the entire time of the Shoah. While the rest of the world did not let Jews in to their countries, they were refraining from doing a Hesed. America, the nation of Hesed, refrained on the insistence of one Joe Kennedy, Yemach shmo v'zichro (May his name and memory be erased!). Yet, America and others were not obligated in Hesed, for it is not a Noahide Law to do Hesed. The British, though, closed the borders to our country that G-d gave to us. This is a different matter. They are shutaf (in partnership) with Hitler. Of course, the British said that they did not know what Hitler was doing to the Jews in Europe. "We were only shogeig (unintententional murderers)", they cry out. Quick! Although our Malach (angel) has no more rights in the Heavenly Court, he can flee to a city of refuge, to Botzrah! (Talmud in Makkot, Eilu Hen HaGolin) Yet, the Knower of Secrets knows that the British knew precisely what they were doing when they kept the gates to Eretz Yisrael closed from 1939 onwards. May they soon be sentenced, especially since that mamzer, Tony Blair has made a Palestinian state into Gog ben Gog's #1 priority! He will be the first Head of State to visit Gog since his re-election upon his arrival in Washington either the end of this week or the beginning of next week.
Now I will attempt to complete the calculation for Machzit Hashekel and why. Remember that each brother received Machzit Hashekel (1/2 of a shekel) for the sale of Yosef, and Yosef himself was sold for 5 silver shekel. Therefore when the mitzvah was first introduced to Klal Yisrael, we were being given the tikun (repair) for the sin of Mechirat Yosef (the sale of Joseph). In short we were buying 1/11 of ourselves back from the Yishmaelim, but depositing the money instead in the Treasury of the Mishkan. The calculation is as follows. 600,000 Jews in the midbar gave a total of 300,000 shkalim. These 300,000 shkalim divided by 5 shkalim/ Yosef = 60,000 Yosefs. Now this was fine and dandy until we all participated in thinking that the horns of the Eigal Hazahav would be a good place for the shechinah to dwell. We probably thought this because we reasoned that if G-d would bless us with bounty for eternity, we would be in utopia forever, and surely the Shechinah would dwell in our midst forever. In this perspective the purpose of serving G-d is to make money, and to engender eternal good will from the Creator by dedicating ourselves to serving G-d at that madreigah (level of purity). On a side note this madreigah is the 33rd level of purity, for since Mon (Manna) first fell on the 31st day of the Omer, we therefore had a Hazakah (partial ownership) on the Mon on Lag B'Omer (33rd day of the counting of the days between Passover and Pentacaust a.k.a. Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks). In short, we could demand it for all eternity if we continued to hold at this level, 2/3 of the way to doing what is right lishma (for its own sake). Apparently this same mistake was repeated again when Yeravam ben Nevat set up his rebellious Northern Kingdom, Malchut Yosef, in Shekhem. He also built a golden calf for the divine presence to dwell.
At this point upon setting up the altar for the Golden Calf and upon offering korbanos (sacrifices) on this altar, we all became slaves to Egypt again, and just like Yosef, we needed a pidyon (a price for redemption). This of course is easy to explain. Moshe had a plate which referred to the bones of Yosef when he threw it into the Nile to retrieve Yosef's bones before leaving Egypt. On this plate it said Rise Bull Rise. This is why Moses refers to Yosef as a bull in his parting blessing on him at the end of Deuteronomy. Somehow the mixed multitude of insincere converts got their hands on this talisman, and they threw it into the furnace when Aharon was trying to stall for time when Moshe had not yet descended from Sinai with the tablets of the Law. Out of the furnace that Aharon was standing in front of popped the golden calf! By bowing down before this calf who would provide sustenance in the desert just as Yosef had provided it in Egypt, we intrinsically replaced Yosef in Egypt with ourselves in Egypt. We sold ourselves back into bondage.
Since all 603,550 Jews participated with this plan, except for Hur and the Leviim, when the Klal did not take up the struggle to prevent this, all 603,550 engaged in one way or another, through commission or omission in this chait (sin). No longer would it be possible for the 600,000 Jews at the chait to simply donate their Makhzit Hashekel with a contrite heart for the sin of Mechirat Yosef, purchasing back 1/11th of themselves from slavery. Now all 600,000 would need this pidyon (price of redemption) for the sin of the Golden Calf. In order to accomplish this, 6 million would need to give Machzit Hashekel. 6 million would give 1/2 a shekel equalling 3 million shekels. These 3 million shekels would then redeem the 600,000 men who participated in the sin. There would have needed to be at least 12 to 14 million Jews at Sinai to accomplish this task so that the number of Jewish males in the world would add up to 6 million. This possibility of self-redemption from the Chait Haeigal would need to now wait until the End of Days.
Yet, at the End of Days we would be so removed from the Dor HaDeia (the generation that experienced the Giving of the entire Torah firsthand), we could easily become just a footnote in history. Having chosen the path of Klalah (curse) in the tochachah (great rebukes in Leviticus and Deuteronomy), leading to the destruction of the 1st Temple, each generation would find it more and more difficult to turn to G-d because of both lack of knowledge of the Creator being in our midst and because of the ease with which some would melt into the gentile world in order to escape the intense suffering. The Satan would forever accuse G-d's bechor (first born), klal Yisrael, hound us for eternity for the storehouse of our continual sins. For in the Satan's world, the slightest imperfection requires reproach from Hashem's Midas Hadin (attribute of strict judgment). Alas Hashem has reserved Emes (Truth) for himself. A nation which suffers the most incredible tortures can be redeemed from this crucible on the merit of its suffering and on its feeble but real attempt to be decent. Yes the 613 mitzvot are still valid, but after the Shoah, during which the 1/3 of World Jewry, geographically most dedicated to his Program are wiped out, G-d has lowered the bar. Just being a mensch in this dor (generation) merits a zechut (merit) beyond all the gold in Fort Knox. His midah of Emes (attribute of Truth) in force after the Shoah makes the Final Redemption not just possible but almost mandatory. It is if the Creator intentionally backed himself into a corner so that he could summarily dismiss 95% of the Satan's accusations against us. "These founders of the Modern State are secularists and Bolshevicks" ,cries the Satan! Hashem answers "Yes but they have a love of Eretz Yisrael." The Satan screams out, "Look, they return the Holy Spot on earth to their enemies, the day that you place it in their hands in 1967." Hashem says, "It would take a total Tzaddik to see my hand in hidden events after the Shoah. I permit the Benoni (in between Jews) to have his very reasonable doubts." The Satan screams, "They worship at the feet of Pnei Hakelev (Dogface Bill Clinton), the avodah zarah (idolotry) of world public opinion. For this reason alone they carry out the folly of Oslo!" Hashem says, "Maybe so, but the generation which I redeemed from Egypt were also Ovdei Avodah Zara (worshipers of idols). Yet they still deserved to be redeemed." But finally the Satan cries out, "Yet this avodah zarah requires that its adherents show public contempt for those who live beyond a line drawn by the UN at an accidental armistice which leaves the nation extremely vulnerable. Yet the avodah zarah demands that those who want the world to love them divorce themselves from those Jews who live beyond this line." To this Hashem says, "You have a point." "Sadly I must redeem this people through sorrow, until the day that I destroy this avodah zarah in the hearts and minds of its adherents." And now we have the Matzav (the present situation). Yet, G-d will yet fulfill the totality of his words to our Avos (Patriarchs), for after the Shoah nothing will stop this process.
Now let us return to question #2. When Haman placed 10,000 kikar in the King's Treasury, how many Jews did he purchase for slaughter? The key to this calculation is in Parshas Pekudei where we are told precisely how much silver was collected from the Makhzit Hashekel. There we are told that Moshe Rabbeinu collected 100 kikar for the 100 Adanim holding the Krashim(planks) together for the structure of the Mishkan + 1775 shekel of silver for an assortment of other kelim. Since the 1775 shekalim correspond with the 3550 individuals above 600,000 who gave it, the 100 kikar of silver must have been given by exactly 600,000 Jews. Therefore 300,000 shekel must be equal to 100 kikar. This means that we now have a conversion factor of 3000 shekel per kikar. From this we see that Haman placed 10,000 kikar times 3000 shek/kikar in the King's Treasury equaling 30,000,000 shekel of silver. How many Jews did he purchase? Keep in mind that Klal Yisrael is Hashem's Bechor, and that we all, 600,000 Jews at the Chait HaEigal, became like Yosef, needing to be redeemed because of the Chait Haeigal. We remember that Yosef was sold for 5 shekalim. Therefore, Haman purchased 30 million shekel divided by 5 shekalim/Jew equaling 6 million Jews for slaughter. Yet, immediately the King gives the money to Haman for Klal Yisrael's total destruction. After this the Megillah curiously returns to trying to carry out the decree in the name of Achashverosh. It is as if the decree for destruction in that generation could still be reversed by teshuva for attending Achashverosh's lavish banquet, but the decree that 6 million must die would still be carried out in a future generation. It is as if G-d were telling Haman, I agree to your evil scheme but for my reasons alone, but not in this generation. Besides there were not 6 million Jews to slaughter in that generation still leaving alive a reasonably sized remnant. For 2000 years G-d's commitment to Haman's decree was held as a sword of Damocles above our heads. When the Creator decreed that it was time to back himself into a corner in order to guarantee our redemption B'ito (at the final moment), he permitted the seed of Amalek to carry out his sworn deal with them. May these same 6 million souls see a redeemer come to Zion (the present Jewish population of Israel is 5.2 million).
As a conclusion I would like to thank the Late, Great Shlomo Carlbach for the inspiration to this wort. He must have truly been a gilgul of one of the great Menatzchim that conducted the Levitical choir in the Beit HaMikdash. He truly understood the soul of a nigun (tune). Such it is with one of the greatest of his nigunim, "The Krakow Nigun", in the prelude to his nigun he says the following, (if I may paraphrase for clarification): I was at the schule in Krakow, Poland, the last remaining schule in Krakow, the largest town close to Auschwitz. I was composing this song which begins as a funeral dirge for the 6 million when suddenly I saw them, the 6 million. And they were asking: Is this the way to Yerushalayim? Let's dance!
Dov Bar-Leib
I am attaching a file which shows why I think Gog ben Gog is the president of the Golden Calf not the Golden Medina.
Notice that July 4, 1776 was the 17th of Tamuz
2nd letter: to the Gogumogog.com website
Gog, Eliphaz Reincarnate
Dear Sirs:
For 12 years now I have suspected that this Gog, the gilgul of Eliphaz, would run off to Botzrah to Iraq to complete the work of his father, the gilgul of Esau. Now that he has been re-elected and the British are ensconced in Botzrah where they deserve to be, I am fairly sure that he is the Gog of prophecy. It is one of the reasons we have made Aliyah a year ago. We live in a place close to Yerushalayim, where the world is bound to hate our guts. Yet, from the top of our hills here in Kochav Yakov, we can see the Temple Mt. and most of the Northern half of the city. Your website is off to a roaring start. I would like to correct a few small errors though.
1. The U.S. is part of the territorial inheritance of Magog not because it is further north than Meshech and Tubal. This is the case for the following reason. All 14 nations which emanated from Japheth went north from Bavel during the Haflagah. Half went into Europa and the other half became Russia and Asia Minor. Ashkenaz is Germany; Yavan is Greece; Togarmah is the Turks. Tarshish is Crete or Spain. Meshech is Moscow and the Russian Empire's western flank. Tubal is the flank of the Russian Empire east of the Urals in western Siberia. Madai became the Kurds. Etc. The exception to this rule seems to be Magog. This is the case because Magog went to the northeast corner of the Asian continent. You see Magog is really the ancient Monguls. The proof of this is during the Middle Ages and back into antiquity the Arab traders with China would refer to its Great Wall as Al Magog, for it was built to keep out the Mongul hordes. When Marco Polo show up on the scene, the Mongul hordes had already successfully scaled this wall one century earlier. So much for history's first Geder Hafradah. When Peter the Great comes on the scene in Russia, he expands the eastern border of Russia to the Pacific Ocean effectively wiping out the Empire of Magog so that today the Russian Empire does include the territory of Meshech, Tubal, and Magog.
The story would stop here if it were not for the injection of one small detail. 3700 years ago at the time of the Haflagah (the dispersion from Babel), the Bering Strait Land Bridge was still available for anyone who might want to cross between Asia and Alaska. It was effectively the only land connection that existed between Asia and the Americas from the time of the Mabul until today. According to some opinions prior to the Mabul, all the continents were together and fit like the jigsaw puzzle that is obviously discernable when one looks at a map of the world. Yet, even though Pangea may have existed prior to the Mabul, since all human and hominid life was wiped out off the face of the earth, the American Indians needed to come from somewhere. A little bit of research into the source of native American tongues will assuredly reveal that almost all the different nations from Alaska to the tip of Chile are cognates of ancient Magog, for it was Magog that was the only ancient nation with access to this Bering Strait land bridge.
It is interesting to note that the first President of the U.S. was also named Gog. His claim to fame? the respect and the admiration of his troops that he earned during the French Indian War. During this war the British Empire and the soon to be emerging nation of the U.S. overwhelmed the truly native peoples of North America expanding future American sovereignty to the Mississippi River. In the end the war between Gog and Magog would end up with Magog being the definite loser, his territorial inheritance trampled underfoot by Esau's distant descendents. The worst crime of all was the Trail of Tears of the Cherokee, Chikasaw, Choktaw, and the Creek Indians. They were sitting on prime Georgia farmland. Any honest peace deal with these civilized and humane tribes would lead to America forgoing this prime real estate. So when Andrew Jackson had to choose between promoting the common welfare of America's citizens and doing the right thing, the bottom line trumped all, a key to understanding America's greatest moral failures even though America is probably the most moral gentile empire in human history. Whenever truth and prosperity are at odds, Esau's pig's feet makes its ugly appearance. This brings me to mistake number 2.
2. Gog ben Gog treasures his relationship with the Saudis, not because he does not understand the evils of Islamic Fundamentalism but because if he did not treasure that relationship, American prosperity would be negatively affected. The price of oil would go through the roof, and the Saudis would not be inclined to produce to their maximum capacity to keep America in business. It is worth noting that when the Torah introduces us to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, it mysteriously tells us about 4 rivers that come forth from Gan Eden. Only after the rivers are introduced does the Torah tell Adam not to eat from that tree, for on the day that he eats he will surely die. The best way to understand these 4 rivers is that the mineral wealth of these rivers will repair the damage of eating this fruit, our original sin. Yet, the River Pishon seems to have a monopoly on this mineral wealth. There is the finest gold for Hashra'at Shechinah (the resting of the Divine Presence). There is onyx so that the Kohen Gadol can feel the pain and ecstasy of all Klal Yisrael as he davens on their behalf. The other three rivers seem to lack this tikun for mankind's original sin. Yet, surely there is mineral wealth galore in these three other rivers. This mineral wealth though is not to build Olam Habah as is true with the River Pishon's wealth. The mineral wealth of the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates is only to build Olam Hazeh (this world as opposed to the World to Come). We should note at this point the present "end-times" scenerio being played out in Iraq has as its backdrop the mineral wealth of 2 of the 3 rivers that come out of Gan Eden whose mineral wealth will only secure Olam Hazeh. The mineral is Black Gold, Texas Tea, bubbling crude oil. And the city at the confluence of these two rivers as they enter the Persian Gulf is Botzrah. The fact is that 55% of the world's known grade A oil reserves are located along the banks and at the mouth of these 2 rivers that spew forth from Gan Eden. Skip forward about 2100 years from Adam's sin, and we see why Esau is so angry at Ya'akov. When he had sold his bechirut, his first born birthright, he had not bargained for this. 45 years after his selling his birthright, he finds out from his father that the only bracha reserved for him is Olam Hazeh. From the oil of the earth will be your dwelling, and only then will you taste the tal (dew) for all of the good that you do in this world. Yet, even for all that good that you do, your reward will totally be in this world. Hard truths for a ruddy son of the Family of Spirit, through which all mankind would be blessed. And when your bracha dries up, Esau, you will only have the oil of the earth. That will be your angel's final resting place, the oil fields in the vicinity of Botzrah(Isaiah 34). What does Esau do when his abba (his father Yitzchok) reads him the Riot Act? What does he do at this moment of Truth, when his lifetime of moral failings bears its ugly fruit? He makes a beeline for Ishmael's tent for the purpose of marrying his daughter. Why? Because his daughter is Bosemath (a.K.a. Mahalath), the fragrance of death, the sweet smell of the oil of the earth with which he was blessed. An alliance with Ishmael was in the divine deck in order to destroy Ya'akov at the "end of days". Yet true to G-d's plan Ishmael must die. For when Esau receives the hand of his daughter in marriage it is Ishmael's eldest son, Nevaioth who gives away his sister to be married. Esau, has to hatch a new plot. Let me send my son, Eliphaz, to kill Jacob, for surely he will not spare his life in order to inherit my Kingdom in this world. Surely he will choose his Olam Hazeh over the Truth that his best friend and mentor represents. This Eliphaz ben Esau is very possibly Gog ben Gog. If and when he comes after us in order to split up Eretz Yisrael, the old Cherokee Indian curse will come to the fore. If he chooses to economically torture us into submitting to his Roadmap to Hell, the old Kitrug being held up in Shamaim will be opened up for accusation. How dare you, Gog, for accusing Hashem's bechor for stealing the land of another, when this is precisely what your nation did! You separated the descendents of Magog from their territorial inheritance for more pennies in your pocketbook, yet you dare claim that My bechor does not have the right to fight for its survival!! I am against thee oh Gog from the Land of Magog, for the Land on which you sit is not yours!
Thank you. Please place me on your mailing list, or contact me for more essays.
Dov Bar-Leib
Dear Sirs:
For 12 years now I have suspected that this Gog, the gilgul of Eliphaz, would run off to Botzrah to Iraq to complete the work of his father, the gilgul of Esau. Now that he has been re-elected and the British are ensconced in Botzrah where they deserve to be, I am fairly sure that he is the Gog of prophecy. It is one of the reasons we have made Aliyah a year ago. We live in a place close to Yerushalayim, where the world is bound to hate our guts. Yet, from the top of our hills here in Kochav Yakov, we can see the Temple Mt. and most of the Northern half of the city. Your website is off to a roaring start. I would like to correct a few small errors though.
1. The U.S. is part of the territorial inheritance of Magog not because it is further north than Meshech and Tubal. This is the case for the following reason. All 14 nations which emanated from Japheth went north from Bavel during the Haflagah. Half went into Europa and the other half became Russia and Asia Minor. Ashkenaz is Germany; Yavan is Greece; Togarmah is the Turks. Tarshish is Crete or Spain. Meshech is Moscow and the Russian Empire's western flank. Tubal is the flank of the Russian Empire east of the Urals in western Siberia. Madai became the Kurds. Etc. The exception to this rule seems to be Magog. This is the case because Magog went to the northeast corner of the Asian continent. You see Magog is really the ancient Monguls. The proof of this is during the Middle Ages and back into antiquity the Arab traders with China would refer to its Great Wall as Al Magog, for it was built to keep out the Mongul hordes. When Marco Polo show up on the scene, the Mongul hordes had already successfully scaled this wall one century earlier. So much for history's first Geder Hafradah. When Peter the Great comes on the scene in Russia, he expands the eastern border of Russia to the Pacific Ocean effectively wiping out the Empire of Magog so that today the Russian Empire does include the territory of Meshech, Tubal, and Magog.
The story would stop here if it were not for the injection of one small detail. 3700 years ago at the time of the Haflagah (the dispersion from Babel), the Bering Strait Land Bridge was still available for anyone who might want to cross between Asia and Alaska. It was effectively the only land connection that existed between Asia and the Americas from the time of the Mabul until today. According to some opinions prior to the Mabul, all the continents were together and fit like the jigsaw puzzle that is obviously discernable when one looks at a map of the world. Yet, even though Pangea may have existed prior to the Mabul, since all human and hominid life was wiped out off the face of the earth, the American Indians needed to come from somewhere. A little bit of research into the source of native American tongues will assuredly reveal that almost all the different nations from Alaska to the tip of Chile are cognates of ancient Magog, for it was Magog that was the only ancient nation with access to this Bering Strait land bridge.
It is interesting to note that the first President of the U.S. was also named Gog. His claim to fame? the respect and the admiration of his troops that he earned during the French Indian War. During this war the British Empire and the soon to be emerging nation of the U.S. overwhelmed the truly native peoples of North America expanding future American sovereignty to the Mississippi River. In the end the war between Gog and Magog would end up with Magog being the definite loser, his territorial inheritance trampled underfoot by Esau's distant descendents. The worst crime of all was the Trail of Tears of the Cherokee, Chikasaw, Choktaw, and the Creek Indians. They were sitting on prime Georgia farmland. Any honest peace deal with these civilized and humane tribes would lead to America forgoing this prime real estate. So when Andrew Jackson had to choose between promoting the common welfare of America's citizens and doing the right thing, the bottom line trumped all, a key to understanding America's greatest moral failures even though America is probably the most moral gentile empire in human history. Whenever truth and prosperity are at odds, Esau's pig's feet makes its ugly appearance. This brings me to mistake number 2.
2. Gog ben Gog treasures his relationship with the Saudis, not because he does not understand the evils of Islamic Fundamentalism but because if he did not treasure that relationship, American prosperity would be negatively affected. The price of oil would go through the roof, and the Saudis would not be inclined to produce to their maximum capacity to keep America in business. It is worth noting that when the Torah introduces us to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, it mysteriously tells us about 4 rivers that come forth from Gan Eden. Only after the rivers are introduced does the Torah tell Adam not to eat from that tree, for on the day that he eats he will surely die. The best way to understand these 4 rivers is that the mineral wealth of these rivers will repair the damage of eating this fruit, our original sin. Yet, the River Pishon seems to have a monopoly on this mineral wealth. There is the finest gold for Hashra'at Shechinah (the resting of the Divine Presence). There is onyx so that the Kohen Gadol can feel the pain and ecstasy of all Klal Yisrael as he davens on their behalf. The other three rivers seem to lack this tikun for mankind's original sin. Yet, surely there is mineral wealth galore in these three other rivers. This mineral wealth though is not to build Olam Habah as is true with the River Pishon's wealth. The mineral wealth of the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates is only to build Olam Hazeh (this world as opposed to the World to Come). We should note at this point the present "end-times" scenerio being played out in Iraq has as its backdrop the mineral wealth of 2 of the 3 rivers that come out of Gan Eden whose mineral wealth will only secure Olam Hazeh. The mineral is Black Gold, Texas Tea, bubbling crude oil. And the city at the confluence of these two rivers as they enter the Persian Gulf is Botzrah. The fact is that 55% of the world's known grade A oil reserves are located along the banks and at the mouth of these 2 rivers that spew forth from Gan Eden. Skip forward about 2100 years from Adam's sin, and we see why Esau is so angry at Ya'akov. When he had sold his bechirut, his first born birthright, he had not bargained for this. 45 years after his selling his birthright, he finds out from his father that the only bracha reserved for him is Olam Hazeh. From the oil of the earth will be your dwelling, and only then will you taste the tal (dew) for all of the good that you do in this world. Yet, even for all that good that you do, your reward will totally be in this world. Hard truths for a ruddy son of the Family of Spirit, through which all mankind would be blessed. And when your bracha dries up, Esau, you will only have the oil of the earth. That will be your angel's final resting place, the oil fields in the vicinity of Botzrah(Isaiah 34). What does Esau do when his abba (his father Yitzchok) reads him the Riot Act? What does he do at this moment of Truth, when his lifetime of moral failings bears its ugly fruit? He makes a beeline for Ishmael's tent for the purpose of marrying his daughter. Why? Because his daughter is Bosemath (a.K.a. Mahalath), the fragrance of death, the sweet smell of the oil of the earth with which he was blessed. An alliance with Ishmael was in the divine deck in order to destroy Ya'akov at the "end of days". Yet true to G-d's plan Ishmael must die. For when Esau receives the hand of his daughter in marriage it is Ishmael's eldest son, Nevaioth who gives away his sister to be married. Esau, has to hatch a new plot. Let me send my son, Eliphaz, to kill Jacob, for surely he will not spare his life in order to inherit my Kingdom in this world. Surely he will choose his Olam Hazeh over the Truth that his best friend and mentor represents. This Eliphaz ben Esau is very possibly Gog ben Gog. If and when he comes after us in order to split up Eretz Yisrael, the old Cherokee Indian curse will come to the fore. If he chooses to economically torture us into submitting to his Roadmap to Hell, the old Kitrug being held up in Shamaim will be opened up for accusation. How dare you, Gog, for accusing Hashem's bechor for stealing the land of another, when this is precisely what your nation did! You separated the descendents of Magog from their territorial inheritance for more pennies in your pocketbook, yet you dare claim that My bechor does not have the right to fight for its survival!! I am against thee oh Gog from the Land of Magog, for the Land on which you sit is not yours!
Thank you. Please place me on your mailing list, or contact me for more essays.
Dov Bar-Leib
posted by Dov Bar-Leib at 3/19/2005 09:47:00 PM
20 Comments:
Great site, and I eagerly look forward to new posts. Two very minor comments here:
I think come Hell, for we have been promised no more high water.
I saw once in the Zohar, and it gets brought here and there, that the promise not to bring floods is only for the duration of this world. But when Hashem begins to "renew his world", it will takka include floods.
Yet, as Israel, Esau hates us.
Aii, but the maamar chazal says "soneh l'Yaakov" daika! In fact, I heard a vort (the person didn't have a source) that Esav hates Yaakov, but Yisroel is another story.
Now, a minor challenge: it's all quite interesting to suggest the George W is Gog, the gilgul of Eliphaz, American Indians as Magog, etc. But mai nafka mina? Moshiach zol shein kumin, and we need to be ready to accept our melech!
Keep up the good work, b'hatzlacha.
--Yaakov
Dear Yakov:
If you have not yet left America, be prepared to leave all your worldly wealth in America. According to the Chofetz Chaim, the test of this WW3 generation is to serve G-d with all your "meodecha". WWI and WW2 were with all your heart and with all your life. The post 9-11 generational test is with all your money. If you come to Eretz Yisroel with your money, you will have what you can buy with it in the Messianic Era such as your house here. Yet, if you wait until the price of oil reaches $80-$100 / barrel to think of leaving America, your dollar will not go very far here. It will be hard to leave. Of course, if you are broke, you will not lose what you do not have. This is one reason why with all your meodecha is in the singular and not in the plural. Hatzlacha on whatever choice you and others will make.
In addition to buying a house here, of course, give tsedakah, for this mitzvah will have value in the World to Come. Also buy silver and gold, for they will have value in the Messianic era. Dedicate some ounces of both for donating Makhzit Hashekel, for buying voluntary korbanot, and for making cotributions for the upkeep of the Temple. These are your best investments.
Do NOT invest in the Euro, for this is the currency of Amalek. Chazal tell us that the last currency of Edom (Western Civ.) will be the currency of the Ayin Hara (evil eye). Avraham purchased the Cave of Machpelah after Ephron the Hittite suggested the price of 400 silver shekels. 400 is the gematriah of ayin ra. Chazal comment that the verse Vayakam Sdei Ephron (Gen. 23:17)(Esau in the acronym) hints that at the End of Days Esau would claim that the cave was purchased for his grandson Amalek, not for Yakov. According to the Gemorah in Megillah, Amalek rises when Germany is united internally and with Rome. This has now happened through the EuRo. Where Amalek failed through brute force under Hitler and Mussolini, he is now succeeding under the Euro. Since EuRo should be spelled with an ayin not an aleph as it is spelled in modern Hebrew. EuRo is the acronym for ayin ra. This is a BAD investment.
Based on the seeming erudition of your essays, I suspect that you know that the essential meaning of "eretz Yisroel" is a place where Elokus is revealed. And of course when Moshiach comes "eretz Yisroel tispashet b'khol ha'artzos"--eretz Yisroel will spread over the whole world.
On a personal note, I once spoke to an old Yerushalmi mekubal, zol gezunt un shtark, and was expressing to him my desire to live in Israel, but that my wife did not agree. As I went on about how I felt when I was in Eretz Yisroel, the holiness, yada yada yada, he waved his hand with a smile and told me, basically, to relax and let Hashem guide me where He wants me. He understood that Eretz Yisroel is first and foremost a ruchniyusdik inyan.
Or like the 3rd Lubavitcher Rebbe told his chosid who asked about making aliyah: "make where you are into eretz Yisroel" (i.e., a place where G-dliness is revealed).
Or the letter someone showed me from the Baal Hasulam to his talmidim. He was in London, they were in Jerusalem, and he wrote them that he wished they could be in Eretz Yisroel with him.
These baalei hasagah understood that Eretz Yisroel is first and foremost a ruchniyusdik inyan.
Just as during golus Yavan the Jewish people lived on the physical soil of Eretz Yisroel, so to here at the end of golus Edom we have Jews living on the physical Eretz Yisroel, but no less in golus than their brothers abroad. And in some cases -- not meaning to imply anyone in particular -- in a deeper golus.
As chassidus explains on the megillah, "ba'lailah ha hu" the king's sleep was disturbed is the ikkar ha'nes, the main part of the Purim miracle. Why so? Because the Yidden under Achashverosh were not simply in golus, but in a double golus (lailah hahu) -- they were in such golus that they didn't realize that they were in golus!
And the coy Israeli who sees that as describing only his misguided cousins in America is himself in a double golus, r"l!
A desire for the spiritual Eretz Yisroel -- for G-dliness to be revealed -- will naturally lead a person to desire to live in the physical Eretz Yisroel. But there is work still to be done in golus, even in these final moments. Thus we find that by chassidim (Lubavitch, at least) there isn't the custom of bringing in Shabbos early. The oneg of Shabbos he wants, but as long as a few moments of weekday remain there is much that can be accomplished.
And in any event, Moshiach is goel rishon goel acharon. Just as Hashem chose Moshe Rabbeinu because of how he chased after a single wayward sheep, Moshiach tzidkeinu is chasing after every single Yiddishe neshoma, and without the true ingathering of every single Jew he himself is incomplete. When you and I can say the same, we'll know Moshiach is here.
Another wonderful, enlightening piece, Dov. MANY THANKS for your efforts! Please keep 'em coming.
In the future, EVERYTHING will go up a level in kedusha. Jerusalem will have the sanctity that the Temple Mount does today and the entire Land of Israel will have the sanctity of Holy Yerushalayim, while the rest of the world will attain the level of kedusha that Eretz Yisrael possesses today.
THANK G-D!! That in His abundant mercy, he has returned me to my ancient ancestral home. I prefer her dust and rocks to anything that can be found anywhere else in the whole world. I prefer her dust and rocks in poverty and oppression to any wealth and luxury enjoyed in freedom anywhere else in the whole world. THANK YOU, HASHEM!! That in times past foreign armies stood in our path and would not let us enter, but today the doors stand wide open to accept any who will come, any who can appreciate her unique and priceless value. BARUCH HASHEM for ERETZ YISRAEL!!
I disagree with your assertion that we need to worry about saving up in order to buy things during the Messianic era. Such worries about parnasa are only during galut. But when Moshiach comes "delicacies will be available as dust" as the Rambam rules. And Jews must always keep in mind that American is galut, and Israel is our true home, but this doesn't mean there is an obligation for aliyah. Our obligation is to do torah mitzvot, and moshiach will bring us up to eretz yisrael.
"The Rambam does not cite the mitzva of settling the land in his Sefer Hamitzvos (where he lists the 613 biblical commandments). The Ramban takes him to task for this (see the fourth Mitvat Aseh - positive commandment - which the Ramban cites as having been "forgotten" by the Rambam, citing Devarim 15:22), yet it is
not at all clear that the Rambam did *not* hold that the mitzva of
settling Eretz Yisrael is a Torah mitzvah (see, for example, the Rambam in Hilchos Ishus 13:17-19 in which he paskens like the Gemara in Ksuvos that a man and woman who are married to each other may each force the other to move to Israel or end the marriage; or more impressively in
Hilchos Shabbos 6:11 in which he permits one who buys a house from a
non-Jew in Israel to tell the non-Jew to write a contract of sale
because the Rabbinic edict against telling a non-Jew to violate the
Sabbath for you does not apply against the Mitzva of settling Eretz Yisrael."
Other mitzvot that we close our eyes to because they are "too difficult": driving the former inhabitants out of the Land, appointing a king, building the Beit Hamikdash. The rishonim clearly regarded these as encumbent upon every generation. Mashiach will lead the people to comply when he comes only if the generations until that time have not. Non-compliance does not remove the obligation however or the consequences as we clearly see.
Two questions, if I may.
1. Is there any widely recognized source that specifically says that it is not a mitzva to live in Israel?
2. Does anybody know Dr. David Golander of this article http://koshertorah.com/PDF/warning.pdf and if he still stands by his message today?
(Excerpts)
“I have come here to warn the Jews and to call upon them to move to Israel; for those who will not (move to Israel) will be harmed. This will happen due to anti-Semitism that will in a short time spread throughout the United States. Anyone who trivializes the signs of the coming anti-Semitism will be lost, similar to those who were lost during the plague of darkness that struck Egypt (during the Exodus). With this same energy, the process of the redemption begins, and soon after this will be revealed the one who is to lead it.
...Every Jew who does not come to Israel but remains here will be destroyed, and this time it will be by the Hand of Heaven. This is what was requested of me to tell you.”
Sorry. I thought I would just add this in since it fits the discussion. Dr. Golander also said (in the same article):
Jews love money and have a lot of it. In one day all money will be rendered worthless. During this time many will suffer heart attacks, for the many people who own (and will lose) a great many possessions will be broken-hearted. Therefore even today, one must give all one has to charity. Tzedaka matzil m’mavet (The giving
of charity saves from death) – this is not just a saying! The giving of charity will be very important. Even prayer is not as important as the giving of charity. Thus, according to the Kabbalah, all the Torah can be summed up with the performance of good deeds. This is how one purchases a place in the world to come after the destruction. Therefore, one who is able to get rid of his wealth should do so now, for afterwards his wealth will be of no value."
Interesting you mention the word EuRo corresponds to Amalek. So does the word "Dollar"
Dollar = Daled Vav Lamed Reish (as spelled in modern hebrew.
4+6+30+200 = 240 = Amalek = Suffik (doubt)
AndrewK, if I understand Rabbi Winston when he says that worry over parnasa which keeps Jews from making aliya is the test for the Jews of chu"l, then "doubt" about Hashem's ability to provide where money is concerned fits.
If these talmedi chocomeim have the same message as the ones in pre-world war II askenazim hassidim in europe telling all the pious jewis sheeple to hang around in their Yeshiva's while Hitler was gaining power and sending jews to the slaughterhouse, I'll gladly pass on that advice. I apologize if these sources are too mitnagdim for lubavichers:
In all times, a Jew should live in the Land of Israel, even in a city where most of the residents are idol worshippers, rather then outside the land, even in a city where most of the residents are Jews." Talmud, Ketubot 110b (also Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 5:12)
"Said the Almighty: A small group in the land of Israel is dearer to Me than a full Sanhedrin outside the Land." Talmud Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin 86
"A man is safer in a pit filled with scorpions and snakes in the Land of Israel, than in the opulent palaces of a foreign land. Safer, in apparent physical danger in the Land of Israel, than in circumstances which appear physically secure outside the Land." Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, from his comments on the Talmud Sanhedrin 6, on the matter of Joseph being thrown into the pit.
"Jews who dwell outside the Land of Israel are idol worshippers in purity." Talmud, Avoda Zara 8
"In the Diaspora, whoever increases its settlement (by establishing a home, business, etc) adds to the destruction of the worship of G-d. But in the Land of Israel this same work is considered a mitzvah since it settles the land." The Chatam Sofer, on the Talmud Sukka 36a and Yoreh Deah p. 136
________________________________
There is a tradition that, at the time of the arrival of Moshiach,
wonderful things will happen for Jews everywhere. On the actual day
that they arrive from the Diaspora . . . the walls of Yerushalayim
will be replaced. It will also be the day of the re-building of the
Temple, which will be built from exquisite stones and gems. Once the
dead are resurrected, they will become transformed and will have very
lofty natures. However, the same type of transformation will occur for
the . . . Jews who remained alive [in Eretz Yisroel], and their bodies
will be like that of Adam HaRishon before his sin, and like Moshe
Rabbeinu's. They will become so spiritual that they will be able to
fly like eagles, which will astound the redeemed exiles. Upon
witnessing this, the "Diaspora Jews" will become upset, and they will
complain to Moshiach, Are we not Jews like them? Why do they merit to
fly and live in an elevated spiritual state, and not us? However,
Moshiach will answer them, "It is quite well known that God works
measure-for-measure. Those who lived in the Diaspora and made efforts
and sacrifices to elevate themselves by moving to the Holy Land
merited purity of soul. They were not so concerned about their
finances and health. They traveled over vast lands and crossed seas,
not paying attention to the possibilities of drowning, being robbed
along the way, or being taken captive by some strange foreign ruler.
Being that they placed priority of their spirit over materialism and
physicality, they merit, measure-for-measure, to be elevated to this
lofty spiritual plane. On the other hand, you who also had
opportunities to go up to Israel, but remained hesitant and reluctant,
enamored instead with your materialistic status, making materialism a
higher priority than spiritual growth, therefore, measure-for-measure,
remain physical . . . However, for those who valued their soul most,
they will be transformed into supernal beings and will be led into the
earthly Garden of Eden. (Tuv HaAretz: Praise Of Those Who Dwell In
Israel At The Time Of Moshiach)
Yaakov, maybe you don't intend it, but you come across as very patronizing, as if your way is THE way. I'm sure you must be well aware that Judaism is not so dogmatic. One can be a proper Torah obaservant Jew and not hold by Tanya or the Rebbe's sichot.
What does Ketuvot 110b/111 say? Can you put it here for those who might not have it? Thanks.
Regarding this comment: “If these talmedi chocomeim have the same message as the ones in pre-world war II askenazim hassidim in europe telling all the pious jewis sheeple to hang around in their Yeshiva's while Hitler was gaining power and sending jews to the slaughterhouse, I'll gladly pass on that advice.” Anyone who dares to criticize the gedolim Z”L of Europe for recommending their flocks stay in Europe has a tremendous amount of chutzpa. First of all, it was very difficult to leave in those days (not an 8 hour ElAl flight), the world was closed…Palestine was blocked by the British, America had immigration quotas, etc. My father-in-law wanted to leave Poland but could not…he was saved by being drafted into the Russian army and sent to Siberia. Secondly, while the gedolim Z’L were angels compared to the puny so called talmudim Chachamim of our generation, they were not prophets, they just saw the tremendous destruction of Jewish souls going on by the Zionists who were secularizing the children and basically turning them into goyim, as many of them still do today, and now the children of these children are worshiping an idol called “Land for peace”…and many gedolim did not want to join in this effort. We can see how correct the gedolim were as we look at the problems this secularization has caused our current generation. They knew that destroying the minds of Jewish children in Eretz Yisrael is not a mitzvah, and sending more people there to be secularized and forget the Torah could lead to future holocausts (which happened anyway). Who knows what additional damage these chutzpadik peace now at any cost leaders who bow to America are willing to bring upon us in the name of this “peace process roadmap to gehenom”? There is a price to be paid for insulting the Torah, and the Torah leaders (Woe to the creatures for the insult to the Torah –Avos 6,2) and we are reaping the benefits of this insult. They ignored Mordechai who told them not to eat from Achashverosh’s table. They also greatly resented the fact that huge amounts of funds were being given to secular Zionists, while the Yeshivos were being given pennies. They were not prophets and certainly had they seen the gas chambers coming they would done anything to save lives. So please, please, spare us the ignorant criticism of the gedolim of Europe. May our generation be able to have one percent of the wisdom of those people, who were dedicated to Torah and would have spared no effort to save lives. Also remember that the few Vilna Gaon’s students did make Aliya even before the secular, soul destroying Zionists did, so there were also those who sacrificed to come to Eretz, well before the Holocaust. In general, most gedlolim were very unimpressed with secular Zionism, and felt that since they survived as Jews for 2000 years without Eretz Yisrael, they would manage as long as they had the Torah. But without the Torah, which the Zionists blamed for all of their problems and still do today, we can’t even last two generations. Of course today, when it is much easier to go to Eretz, there really are NO good excuses other than maybe fear of terrorism not to go there, live a Torah lifestyle, and try to vote the Reshaim from power. Meanwhile we should do all we can to destroy the Amalek, the desire to have no responsibility or accountability for our actions, from our current environments. Thanks again Dov for your insights.
Yaakov, I'm happy that you mention Baalei Hasaga. And on the same ocassion I would like to ask you to explain - how come that today virtually ALL Baalei Hasga live in Eretz Yisrael? There is not a single Baal Hasaga or Mekubal in Chutz La'aretz, you cannot mention one.
Europe and America has become spiritual morgue both for Jews and gentiles, and the only explanation why Jew would prefer to stay in Chutz La'aretz is Meshichah le'Gashmiyus and Tumah, since there are no sparks of Kdushah left in Chutz la'Aretz. All Baalei Hasaga were annihilated in Europe during WW-2, and those leaders who persuaded Jews to stay in Europe were NOT Baalei Hasaga at all. On the other hand, TRUE Baalei Hasaga, such as Rav Kook and Rav Yehuda Leib HaLevi Ashlag ztz"l (Baal HaSulam) warned of coming annihilation of European Jewry and the necessity to make Aliyah. Baal HaSulam sent letters to leaders of Jewish communities in Europe in late twenties, warning them that "dark cloud is covering European Jewry" and that they should immidiately bring Jews to Eretz Yisrael, but no-one listened...
Shortly, if you haven't prepared yourself for Shabbat - what do you expect to eat on Shabbat?
KOL HAMITABEL AL YERUSHALAIM ZOCHEH VEROEH BESIMCHATA ("Everyone mourning for Jerusalem will merit to see her in her joy")...and "mourning for Jerusalem" means living beside Jerusalem and suffering together with it while it is trampled in state of tumah, and not by living in America is search for prosperity...
I just want to say two things
1. I agree that the Jews need not be afraid of the war of Gog and Magog. This war is about the judgement of the nations and the vehicle that will reveal G-d's majesty to the entire world.
2. Perhaps we can reconcile the two stated view about aliyah to Israel; you shouldn't stay outside of Israel because of fear or materialistic considerations, however if there are factors such as leading a community, family etc. it might be different. Also everybody agrees that it is a mitzvah to live in the land, but it might be a voluntary mitzvah, i.e. it is certainly a mitzvah to live there, but you don't have to move if you already live in the diaspora. Also I think it would be inappropriate to want to leave the diaspora merely because of fear of an impending war or anti-semitism. Jews must only fear G_d and none else, because there is none else besides Him.
A very interesting and informative website. I must comment however on the Native American history, as I have studied and taught on this subject w/relationship to their origins. While traditionally it was thought that all came across the bering strait, much evidence has been found in recent years that recognize two influxes of those we know to be American Indians. One was the bering strait, but the other group came from the east over the top of Europe and through Greenland etc. This group would be the Alegonquian, some of the eastern tribes and the Cherokee. Very interestingly all of these tribes had traditions, language and customs that paralleled ancient Hebrew tradtions & customs. For example, in my work (study) with the Ojibwe (from the Alegonquian tribes)I found drawings and stories of priests who had bells and pomegranates on the bottom of their priestly garments!! The Cherokee which you mentioned, had a language almost identical to that of ancient Hebrew. So you see the sins of Gog/Magog against the American Indians perhaps carries with it the sin and consequences of coming against Yaakov - in this case,the northern kingdom Yisrael, which will return and reunite with Yehuda.
On 18 Adar II (March 19) of this year, Harav Ovadia Yosef (former chief Sefardic Rabbi of Israel), said:
All the goyim wll be cut down -- they can go to Azazel! All the talk about disengagement from Gush Katif is only temporary. Immediately (tekef umiyad) Moshiach will come!! He is already at our gates! Very shortly he will knock on the door: "I am coming! Ahlan w'sahlan!" (familiar Arabic greeting)
Moshiach will come and then -- who are all these dogs? (enemies of Israel) He will throw them to Azazel in the desert! He will return the crown of old, and all of Eretz Yisroel will be ours forever!
Video: http://gog.web-site.co.il/gog/marang3.asx
On the subject of silver/gold and Yosef/Yehdua, a few words of chassidus:
Gold represents emotional ahavas Hashem, whereas silver represents intellectual ahavas Hashem (see Tanya ch.44). Also, silver represents the tzaddik, whereas gold represents the one who returns in tshuva.
Regarding Yosef and Yehuda, it is explained in Chassidus that Yosef is the level of limud Torah and Yehuda is the level of maaseh haMitzvos and that ultimately the level of Yehuda -- maasah haMitzvos -- will ultimately be superior.
Of course, this doesn't come to negate any other explanations from our Holy sources, since eilu v'eilu divrei Elokim Chayim, v'dal.
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