The Year of Avraham- 5765

I have decided to post on the Year of Avraham in retrospect. I will include some more insights on Katrina, for the destruction of "Tzoar" can only be understood in context that the year 5765 was the year of Avraham. This is a work in progress. Please forgive the shorthand explanations of why this was the year of Avraham at the end of the essay. I am publishing this now as I write because I am back full time in school and earning a parnassa. Yet, I believe that this essay is important. So I will work on it as time allows. This essay is in part based on the Cosmic Clock which is on the sidebar of this blog where I conclude that the year 5765 was the first year of Sukkot of which there should be seven such years. A well known custom in Klal Yisrael is to invite the seven shepherds of Israel into the Sukkah each night of the Moed. Each one of the guests ends up being the principle guest for that night. This is the case because after the Ten Days of Penitence during which time we have purified our neshamot (divine soul), we end up afflicting our animal soul through fasting on Yom Kippur in order to complete the process of purifying our divine souls. After our upper souls are cleansed, the time comes for reattaching our animal soul, one dimension each night under the schach of the Sukkah in the Shekhina's presence. With the Shekhina's guidance we properly prepare our lower souls (our animal souls) for proper service to do the Creator's bidding during the year to come. This, of course, is done with meat and wine and much joy, for the animal soul cannot thrive in abstinance. The first night involves the purification and proper re-attachment of Chessed. Since this attribute of G-d was best represented by Avraham. Avraham becomes our first honored guest. On the second night Yitzchak is honored since he most represents strict justice. On the third night Yakov is invited since he represents Emeth which is Tiffereth (charisma) in its purest form. The opposite of this is of course the charisma of Esau which is stuffed with falsehoods and lies. The fourth night is reserved for Moshe Rabbeinu, for he most exemplified Netzach (eternity) in Klal Yisrael because he bequeathed us with G-d's eternal blueprint for Creation, the Holy Torah. The fifth night is reserved for Aharon the Kohen, for he most represented G-d's (Hod)Glory, wearing all eight garments for the his intimate service of the Almighty on behalf of G-d's nation of priests. The sixth night is reserved for Yosef who draws that which is pure out of what is mostly impure, who regularly perceives the Hand of G-d in natural events. This is the attribute of Yesod (foundation) and along with the first five attributes are represented by the Vav in HaShem's name. Since the nations of the world do not desire the purification of this lofty attribute only Israel can rule at this rarefied level, giving Yosef's End of Days Scion the title of Mashiach ben Yosef. Finally of course, the last Day of Sukkot, Hoshana Rabba, is given over to David the King whose scion will be a king of the nations of the world in worldly matters when G-d's Kingdom is firmly established and service to Him is for no ulterior motives. This attribute is called Malkhut (Kingship) and is represented by the final Hey in his name. Since with the Cosmic Clock every year starting with 1918 has been like a day on the Jewish calendar starting with the 17th of Tamuz, projecting forward 5765 was the First Year of Sukkot, the year of Avraham. 5766 should be the Year of Yitzkhak, etc....

Looking back as difficult of a year as it was, it all reflected Avraham Avinu's life. In a sense since 1948 Jews have been living here on pure chessed. The merit of the Bolshevick founders lies only in the fact that they were Jews who built up the Land with their blood and their spirit. This is not a small task and needed plenty of Divine Help. The merit for this help seems to be the intense suffering of Jewish History. The Holocaust as the pinacle of that intense suffering became the springboard for the founding of the secular state. Since the Holocaust according to the Cosmic Clock (see article in the sidebar) was the seventh Churban at the end of six three hundred year cycles, the nefesh of Klal Yisrael needed to be revived in a supernatural way. Since seven is the number of the koach or strength of the nefesh, the seventh Churban in a spiritual sense wiped us out. We see this with Shabbat. At the end of six days we need a rejuvenation of the nefesh, less we be not prepared to take on the mundane world the following week. As the pasuk says, "Shabbat va'yinafash". With Shabbat, the seventh day, the nefesh is restored. Yet, after the Shoah, all we had left was our dry bones. Yes, even for those who were incinerated in the ovens, the ashes of the bones were there.

So in Yechezkel 37 HaShem gives Yechezkel two prophesies. Then He (HaShem) said to me, "Son of Man, can these bones (atzamot) come to life?" And I (Yechezkel) said, "HaShem Elokim only You know!" He said to me, "Prophesy on these bones! Say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of HaShem! I bring bring ruach (spirit) into you, and you will come to life. I will put sinews upon you, I will bring up flesh upon you, and I will coat you with skin; Then I will put spirit into you and you will come to life; then you will know that I am HaShem.' " So first Yechezkel prophesies on the bones. According to the prophesy, before the first prophesy the bones say, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are doomed." But what is Yechezkel's response to the bones? HaShem Elokim said, "Behold, I am opening your graves and raising you up from your graves, My people, and I will bring you to the soil of (Eretz) Yisrael. This is the physical return of the Jewish people, not the spiritual one. Only after Yechezkel has prophesied on the bones is he told to prophesy on the Ruach of the Jewish people. "Prophesy on the spirit! Prophesy, son of Man, and say to the spirit, 'Thus said HaShem Elokim: Come from the four directions, O Spirit, and blow into these slain people, that they may come to life!' "

From this prophesy we can see that there are two distinct historical events that are described here. The first one, the physical ingathering of the exiles has occurred as is continuing to occur. The second one, the revival of our Spirit, has not yet occurred and with G-d's help will occur very soon. Some might say that the teshuva movement which began in the 1960s is the beginning of the spiritual revival. I would argue that although large number of Jews are being revived, a complete revival of the Jews here in the Land of Israel still has not occurred. There is much evidence that the founding of the state on the heels of the Shoah was a fulfillment of the first half of this prophesy. Here I will quickly offer three such proofs.

1. The Hebrew word for independence as in Israeli Independence Day is Atzma'ut, spelled exactly like atzamot with an Aleph stuck between the mem and the vav. The evidence is clear that although the secular Jews who founded the state thought they were ridding themselves of Heaven's yoke, G-d stuck the Aleph of Elokus right in the middle of their movement. The spark of the Divine was hidden under layers of husks of impurity ready to spring forth one day as a rose does amongst the thorns. This of course is a reference to Mashiach ben Yosef who has not yet appeared from the thornbush of Ariel Sharon. As it says in Shlomo's Song of Songs: "I am but a rose (or lily) of Sharon, even an ever-fresh rose of the valleys. Like the rose maintaining its beauty amongst the thorns, so is My faithful beloved among the nations." May the Rose of Jacob bloom very soon, for the thornbush is making us all nauseous. Yet, when the rose finally appears amongst the thorns, the day of the four winds will have arrived. In order to understand how we are now stuck between the two prophesies of Yechezkel, one must understand a very important Sfas Emes, a great sage from the the second half of the 19th century, Rav Yehudah Leib Alter, ztl. It is with this that I offer my second proof.

2. According to the Sfas Emes (for Chanukah in 5641 or 1880), the three pilgramage festivals of the year which are from the Torah are to be considered like the sun. The two rabbinic festivals that have been decreed throughout the centuries of our history are lunar reflections of two of these three Torah ordained festivals. Purim is the lunar reflection of Pesach, and therefore comes exactly 30 days prior to Pesach. Chanukah is the lunar reflection of Sukkot, and therefore comes exactly sixty days after Isru Chag of Sukkot (Isru Chag is the day after the festival which still has in it some of the sanctity of the festival). Shavuot from ancient times has had no lunar reflection either 30 days prior or 60 days after Isru Chag of Shavuot. In his actual writings the Sfas Emes implies that Purim is really the lunar reflection of Shavuot because Shavuot is the "Atzeret", the culmination of Pesach. On Shavuot we accepted the Oral Torah when HaShem threatened to drop Har Sinai on our heads. On Purim we accepted the Oral Torah with love. Therefore, it makes sense that the final split Rabbinic festival will revolve around Shavuot although it is a reflection of Pesach. The point remains, though, for purpose of symmetry there should be two festivals which reflect the "sun" of Shavuot. According to the Sfas Emes, "As it was like the Days of your leaving Egypt, I will show it (him?) wonders." (Michah 7:15) is a reference to a lunar reflection of Pesach which has not yet occurred. Or has it? Remember there are two commandments to Yechezkel to prophesy. Once on the bones and once on the four winds to renew Israel's spirit. It just so happens that exactly 30 days prior to Shavuot is the 5th of Iyar, Israel "Independence" Day Yom Ha'Atzmaut, and 60 days after Isru Chag of Shavuot (the 8th of Sivan) is the 9th of Av which is still a fast day as of this year 5765. We are still in the interim period between the ingathering of the dry bones and the ingathering of the four winds. Of course the Four Winds correspond with the Vav in HaShem's name (See article on 6 Million for Makhzit HaShekel where I speak about the four physical states of matter).

3. Avraham was born in the year 1948 that is 1948 ac (after creation). 52 years later in the year 2000 he was thrown into a furnace of fire, which according to most classic commenters on the Torah was the first of his ten tests on the side of din (strict justice). For most of those first 52 years he lived a life of heavenly chesed. Only when he was 52 years old did he realize that there can be no world peace without reverence for G-d. Shem son of Noach, his living distant ancestor had already founded the City of Peace (Ir Shalem) here in the Holy Land. He dedicated the city to the service of the one true G-d. Yet, he thought that as long as the rest of world was going about its business trying to establish a society of perfect brotherhood, it mattered not that they were steeped in idolatry and immorality and in the case of Nimrod, all out blasphemy. Shem could trade with Nimrod as long as it was at a distance. For the sake of peace, Shem could worship the One True G-d and Nimrod could do whatever he pleased as long as he preserved the peace of his kingdom by enforcing laws between man and man (mishpatim). By the way, this is why Babel's original name was Mesopotamia (the Land of Mishpatim). Nimrod may have lead an outright battle with the Almighty, but he ran a civil kingdom. On to the world stage comes Avraham son of Terach. Unlike his great ancestor, Shem, Avraham has a utopian vision that can only be made possible with universal reverence for G-d. In short, Avraham's great gift to Mankind was not that there was a G-d who created Heaven and Earth. This was already known. The Chiddush was that Avraham realized and acted upon the idea that there can be no world peace or universal brotherhood without reverence for the Infinite Being. This, of course, brought him into direct conflict with Nimrod, who was trying to create a utopian society in which G-d had no part. Avraham comes to the conclusion that he must convert the multitudes to his world view, and Nimrod responds by tossing him into a fiery furnace to rid the world of this utopian G-d fearing pest. Of course now that Avraham has chosen G-d and His vision for utopia over Nimrod and His pagan vision, G-d chose Avraham to carry the torch for the rest of history and proceeds to rescue him from the fiery furnace. First test out of ten: Avraham passes. From the year 2000 and onward no longer was Avraham just a man who performed acts of chessed as the Creator would. He was now a man who would be tested ten times to see how loyal he was to G-d's Infinite Laws and his Commandments, even when at times those commandments seemed to run contrary to common sense. Starting with the year 2000 a.c. his relationship with the Almighty changed. He would be tested over and over again with different forms of that fiery furnace. This would occur until the Binding of Yitzchak when Avraham was already 137 years old. Yitzchak was of course born when he was 100 years old.

The parallel is striking. The modern state of Israel is born in the year 1948 of the year of Esau's man-god. For 52 years the modern state was redeemed time and again not because of its own merits, but because of the merit of the chessed of our holy patriarch Avraham combined with the crushing weight of Jewish suffering throughout history. In addition to this was, of course the deeds of the ancestors of the secular founders, whose ancestors served G-d faithfully so that their G-dly deeds are rewarded as chessed until the thousandth generation, in particular, to the generation after the Holocaust on whom unparalleled divine chessed was heaped in Israel and in the Diaspora, especially in America. For 52 years life is hard in the Holy Land, but miracles both open and hidden are occurring constantly and pleasantly that the population of the Holy Land explodes from 450,000 at the end of WW2 to 5.3 million Jews today. Even with apparent drawbacks like the Six Day War, G-d turned the attempt by Nasser for anhiliation into complete victory leading to an even greater Renaissance again for no other merit than the fact that the victorious general Moshe Dayan had a proper brit milah while his opponents the Yishmaelim were missing one portion of this same brit. They did not do pri'ah. On this alone Jews win their wars! Of course, not! G-d favored Israel, because through its long history starting with Avraham himself, Israel favored G-d. In the year 2000 that suddenly changed. G-d sent us a test that only Avraham could pass. Would we survive the Fiery Furnace and come out with our faith intact. We, of course, were not at the level of Avraham so that we are still in that fiery furnace. For five years now, we writhe in pain as many other nations go about their normal existence. For us the norm is the fiery furnace, the Al Aksa Intafada and the suicidal evacuation of Gush Katif and Northern Shomron. It seems that there is no end to the decay. Thank G-d, He has a trick up His infinite sleeve.

According to the Zohar and quoted in the Secret of the Vav in HaShem's name, Mashiach can come b'itah starting in the year 5666, 2/3 of the way through the sixth millenium. From pograms in Kishinev and Bialotstok in that year until the end of the Shoah, the human misery of Eastern European Jews did not cease. Of all the impetuses to move out of Russia to establish a worker's paradise in the Holy Land, nothing did more to spur this on than the Czar's pograms from 1903-1906. The Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael jumped from less than 50,000 Jews at the turn of the 20th century to 200,000 by WW1 and there was no turning back. As said earlier between WW1 and WW2 the Jewish population more than doubled to 450,000. At the founding of the state there were slightly more than 600,000 Jews. In five years this figure doubled because of a massive Sephardi immigration to 1.2 million. By the Six Day War the population was 2.7 million. And now we stand at the threshhold of six million Jews, the same number of Jews who perished in the Shoah (see 6 million for Makhzit HaShekel). From 1906 until now we have been experiencing the century of Avraham. It does not look like we will need to spend 48 years in the fiery furnace to the birth of Yitzkhak. The years between Pesach 1906 and 1948 count as time served. This only leaves us with six years in the fiery furnace starting with the year 5760 (2000 of Edom's kingdom). With G-d's help we are now ready to enter the Year of Yitzkhak. To be continued...

List of several events this year which correspond to Avraham's life and which are necessary components of the Year of Avraham, corresponding to the First year of Sukkot according to the Cosmic Clock.

1. The one set of children that he disposed of without a bracha (blessing) were the Bnai (Children of) Ketura. They were sent packing to the East with books on the Kochot HaTumah (forces of impurity). So the Sukkot Judgement of those nations could begin first. Yishmael could not be judged this year as a Klal (whole) for Yishmael was blessed by Avraham. Individually, though, nations which emanated from Ketura even though they later converted to Islam were judged in the Great Tsunami in Teves (see the my article on the tsunami in the sidebar.).

2. When Avraham first arrives in EY, he sets up a mizbeach (altar to HaShem) in Shekhem, but he cannot call out HaShem's name there because he foresaw that Shekhem in the future would be the root of Makhlokes (unhealthy debate and strife) in Klal Yisrael. Specifically the Road between Shekhem and Dothan where Yosef was sold by his brothers would be a place where HaShem could not rest his presence in the merit of Avraham alone. At the end of days in our time when UTJ joined the government creating so much machlokes we were bound to lose the Road to Dothan. Homesh and San-ur were the principle places along that road which were lost because of machlokes. They will only be won back in the year of Yakov, the third year of Sukkot, for Yakov prophetically claims that he took the city of Shekhem with his sword and with his bow. Perhaps this will come about with a tikun (repair) for Mechirat Yosef (sale of Yosef).

3. Of course, Avraham also sold out Gaza for three generations of peace and quiet. His son Yitzkhak received neither peace or quiet from Gaza. This does not bode well for missile attacks into the Western Negev during the coming year. For in Yitzkhak's merit we do not get back Gaza this year. May G-d have mercy and give it back to us anyway!

4. Avraham brought up the stench of Mitzraim according to the Ramban because he went there to escape the famine. Each time he cried out HaShem's name between Bet El and Ai when he was going down and coming back. From this I can potentially conclude that if there are more evacuations in the Shomron, G-d forbid, it will not extend down to the hill on which Avraham stood and cried out HaShem's name even with the fact that Sharon has brought up the stench of Egypt into Aza.

5. Of course, while Avraham sought to alleviate the suffering of the five cities, he did not argue with their ultimate judgment. Tzoar was not destroyed in his day, but it (a.k.a. New Orleans) apparently has been at least badly ruined in our day, measure for measure for what Gog W. Bush required of Gush Katif to keep the price of oil below $70 per barrel. G-d is now showing him who is in charge of the world's price for oil. Lot the refugee was saved in Tsoar. Now that Tsoar has been devastated where will the refugees find refuge? Houston?

6. And do not forget the wonderful Besorot Tovot (good news) of all those Rabbis this past Pesach that the process of redemption was now beginning. It is as if Michael the Archangel had shown up at Avraham Avinu's tent when he was 99 years old to tell him that he would surely return next Pesach when Sarah gives birth to his son!

Just some thoughts on the Year of Avraham.

Dov