A Great Miracle Happened There

I copied this from the journal “Hakriyah Vehakedushah”, Dec. 1941, published by the Previous Rebbe of Chabad. As you read bear in mind the year this was printed: during the Holocaust, before the state of Israel was reborn! If you bear that in mind, you can count the miracles since these words were written.

A Great Miracle Happened There

The Jewish nation was born by a miracle; We live by miracles and by a miracle we hope to be able to exist henceforth.

At the age of 90 Sarah, Abraham’s wife, gave birth to her son Isaac. After her womanhood was entirely gone she was rejuvenated, became young again and brought a child into the world. This was the Almighty’s proclamation to the future Jewish generations that they, too, will suddenly come to life again many times, become young and astound the world through a great miracle.

After our forefathers had slaved in Egypt for over 200 years and there wasn’t the slightest possibility of their ever emerging as a nation again, the great miracle occurred. Not only were they freed from their bondage and emerged as a separate nation but they became the chosen people from among all the nations. We, more than any other nation, have given the world spiritual treasures and we have existed longer than any nation of ancient times, thank God. We have outlived the greatest nations as well as our enslavers and oppressors.

We were set free from Egypt with many reoccurrences of the great miracle.

We lived in the desert for 40 years; We acquired a land of milk and honey; After we had lost our great land by being sinful we returned from exile by a miracle and again rebuilt our country. And with a great miracle our champions the Chashmonoim defeated the mighty enemy, the Greeks, the world conquerors of that time which holiday we have been celebrating unintermittently until this very day, a period of 2080 years.

We are existing as a separate nation while in exile by a miracle, without a land, without an army, without a navy and without a single nation whom we can call our friend and protector, and in spite of the fact that most every nation has wanted and still wants to exterminate us.

By a great miracle we have outlived the historical “Haman the wicked” and his tens of thousands of children in every land since then. It seems as if the children of the “ancient giants” haven't got one-thousandth of the life-strength in them that the offspring of Isaac have, the children of a man who was born to aged parents, a father of 100 years of age and a mother 90 years old. According to the rules of nature such a person should have been weaker than ordinary normal children and not be able to bring forth into the world a race that is stronger than any other one upon the face of the earth.

In the normal course of events such a wonder would not be possible but it did happen because of the great miracle. Nations, as hard and strong as iron like the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans and their like were not able to overcome their first national defeat and have disappeared without even so much as a goodbye. Only the Jewish nation had the Godly miracle occur to them to be able to exist while drowning in a sea of national calamities.

If the world had any sense, any justice and respect for God it would look at us in awe and wonder and would think 10 times before it would attempt a new attack upon us. It would realize that we are under the special protection of God and that to oppress and torture us is a deed which can bring no good. But the world doesn't want to see the truth; It persecutes us wholesale and retail; The entire Jewish nation as a whole, each part of it separately, and every Jew individually. Its punishment is that it doesn't see any other truth as well, not even the simplest truth that war is the greatest insanity and international suicide.

From the day of our birth until today and as long as we Jews will exist it was and will be by miracles. This is a fact that the world refuses to listen to and unfortunately many of our Jews don't understand this as well. The truth of the matter is that we are the “Chosen people” and that in spite our many and great troubles it still is an honor to be a Jew. It certainly must be a very great privilege to be a member of a nation over whom God watches specially so that they should exist by His miracles. This is positively a very big thing even if one doesn't understand all the particulars of this type of providence.

When a nation lives through thousands of years of persecution by the entire world and is saved each time by a miracle, then the miracle by which this nation exists is a triple one; It is a past, present and future miracle.

Because the Chashmonoim defended the honor of the Torah and sacrificed their lives without the slightest chance for victory, praying for a miracle to happen and to save them, they deserved to win and did because of the great miracle that was happening, so much so that all later Jewish generations can rejoice with the great miracle that “did happen”.

This teaches us that in all times, our own included, we Jews must do everything possible and even impossible to raise the honor of the Torah in the hope that a great miracle “will happen”. We must not lose hope and give up, heaven forbid, just because we don't see the miracle “happening” right now. It is surely here and it will become in the future a “great miracle which did happen” if we will fulfill our obligations believing as the Chashmonoim believed in the great miracle “that will occur”. The Almighty will crown our suffering with victory.

Therefore, we must not despair because of all of the persecutions and tortures which are horrible and threaten us with destruction, heaven forbid. We must hope for the great miracle that “will occur” in spite of the fact that we don't see it “occurring”. It is here and is shielding us. We will, with God’s help, live through the persecution and torture; And our children and grandchildren, as well as we ourselves, will positively see and understand later the great miracle that “did occur”. Because God's watch is upon us always, every day, every hour and if we are suffering then it surely our own fault. Unfortunately we know that we are deficient in many ways and we are paying for these deficiencies. But in general and as a nation, as a whole, we are always better than the other nations. And for this very reason we are assured against annihilation, heaven forbid. The fact is that once before, about 2000 years ago in Asia we were almost completely destroyed and we, as well as the other nations believed that that was our end and that there would never again be a Jewish nation. Later we awoke from our bitter dream of several hundred years and discovered that all the other great nations of Asia have disappeared forever and that the Jewish nation remained in existence.

Individuals, single isolated cases, yea, thousands of these if you wish, departed this world before their time and in a horrible manner because they were deficient in some of their spiritual requirements, but, as a nation in general, we remained in existence thank heaven. Today, once more, many nations have begun to persecute us and because of their cruelty Jewish blood is flowing like water. They think that it's only a matter of short while and we will disappear too. Many Jews who don't have the right faith also fear for our nation's future. But the “great miracle which occurs” is doing its work and it will in the future become with God’s help a “great miracle which occurred”. The coming generations will discover that both the big and small nations who tried to annihilate us were themselves exterminated and have disappeared forever but that the persecuted and tortured Jewish nation has remained.

Therefore let the current holiday of Chanukah serve as a comfort and encouragement for us in the present time of the new “Antiochuses” that we will with God’s help outlive them as well. Their terrible cruelty will boomerang and be spent on themselves. Although we find ourselves in such a bad predicament that there is no natural possibility for our rebirth as a nation in view; Although we are old and dried-up like an old woman of 90, nevertheless we have already gone through such a time before and like our mother, Sarah, became young again and there is no doubt that it can and will occur again, with God’s help.

“And with His mighty arm He has delivered the chosen ones, the might of Pharaoh and all his children sank to the bottom of the ocean like a heavy rock”.

In these words which we say every Chanukah lies the secret of the “great miracle”. God's “mighty arm” brings on the “great miracle” and God has sufficient pits into which to hurl all the Pharaohs and Antiochuses past and present.

As “Chasidei Chabad” and because we are now going to celebrate the holiday of deliverance of the 19th day of “Kislev” we should like to take this opportunity to remember also the “great miracle which occurred” through which the old rabbi, the author of the “Tanya” and compiler of the “Shulchan Aruch” Rabbi Schneer Zalman of Liady and afterward the second rabbi were freed from prison and the second “great miracle which occurred” before our very eyes through which our rabbi of Lubavitch was freed from the hands of present-day Russia.

The time of deliverance hadn't come yet in old Czarist Russia for the millions of other Jews who still had to suffer in exile. The time of deliverance still didn’t come for the few million remaining Jews, in present day Russia, who are being cleansed, may God help them, in the Red melting pot just like in old Egypt, because there were not and still are not as many pious Jews as there were in the time of the Chashmonoim, holy and pure men in whose merit the millions of Jews should be delivered, but there were a few such people and God did His part for them only. Between the few remaining holy and pious Jews the flowers of the Jewish nation were not neglected. The author of the “Tanya” and his second rabbi, as well as our own Rabbi of Lubavitch have witnessed the great miracle which occurred even in the darkest hours of our exile and the modern “Antiochuses” held no power over them.

Witnessing with our own eyes what a good God we have and how He protects the true “believers in Him” by opening all iron doors to free them, the great holiday of the 19th of “Kislev” becomes a bit beclouded by the thought of how easy it might be for the entire Jewish nation to be delivered if it only had just a little more than the few pious men; If all or even the majority only realized that they can bring on the great miracle whenever they want to! But we must suppose it was so desired that before the appropriate time Jews shouldn't discover their possibility. Let us hope however, that now is the proper time and that the great miracle will come of itself because of God’s benevolence and because we have already paid for our old and new sins more than enough!

5776 - In the Year of Hakhel

At the end of chapter 23, the Ba’al HaTanya in Igeret Hakodesh quotes Yirmiyah (33:16) and writes,

ובימינו - תושע יהודה וירושלם תשכון לבטח

This possuk refers to the Era of Ultimate Redemption by Moshiach soon to transform the world’s revelatory powers so God will be visibly evident to all.

This verse is interesting on two points, besides the Rebbe's imparted prayer that this phenomenon should happen now, in our days.

Firstly, the word “תושע” is the acronym of this 6th millennium’s Jewish year, 776. Also, the word “תשכון” has the same gematria as the former word. It’s as if “יהודה וירושלם” cozily nestle between these two words - which strongly suggests 5776 as the implicated year.

(As told to me by Chabad chassid, Reb Arye Prager.)

Just want to remind you what the Rebbe said in 1980 (here):

ובמוצאי שביעית בא משיח

Clouds of Glory during Hakhel Year 5776

See how Hashem is tightening the screws to hasten the Era of Redemption. He stirs up an enormous hurricane (“Patricia”) to raise the specter of potential terror. Had the hurricane come well into land, much of Mexico would have been devastated. Suddenly we open eyes to the possibility that millions more refugees will now stream into America from the South. The porosity of America’s borders with Mexico will now send shudders into many more minds and hearts.

The decay of America socially, economically and morally seems well on its way. Universities are becoming anti-Jewish; Cities across America are becoming “refuge sanctuary” cities where crimes go ignored; Torrents of illegal migrants are making their way into the heart of the country; The morale and religious backbone of the country is in tatters; Christians are losing their prominence; and “Every Jew is fair game!” shout the mullahs and shmullahs.

But despite the rising threats of invasion and chaos, and despite America's apparent tailspin towards Sodomite values, Jews have every reason to rejoice. True the Redemption picture as of now looks like it's only collectively at work, as some individual lives fall as sacrificial lambs (ה׳ ישמור), the rumblings of the oncoming ultimate Redemption cannot be ignored.

For the very contrary of a broad misery that bleakens the world today is happening in the Jewish quarter. To Jews worldwide the prospect of imminent redemption is palpable. Everywhere Jews exist today they enjoy the freedom to observe their religion to a tee. No longer do Jews suffer persecution under government sanction. Today when police escort Jews, they do so to protect them. Not too long ago the escort of police meant Jews were being transported to gas chambers.

Just as in ancient days just prior to their redemption, Jews were surrounded with God’s “Ananei Shemaya” to protect them against the Egyptian military onslaught, so too - today - in this process of Final Redemption, Jews worldwide (this time) are again protected by God’s “Clouds of Glory”. These clouds may not appear physically as they did back then, but they exist today around every Jew, by divine providence of events wherein he finds himself. The Jew is protected against the rising worldwide evil as evil exposes itself worldwide and as evil itself then swallows evil.

By “tightening the screws” I refer to the phenomenon referred to by the Previous Rebbe, who indicated this was exactly how Geulah will unfold (link). Groups of Jews will be streaming towards the Holy Land. In the end, all Jews will become observant of God’s Torah, only some before others, and the worldwide change in demographics and politics is setting up for Jews just that landscape and avenue to Israel.

That article’s link above starts out like this: “A deep secret every intelligent person must find interest in concerns the final Jewish Redemption and, particularly, the logistics of departure from the diaspora.” I invite you to read it.

As for America, the Rebbe has said, in his booklet “קונטרס בית רבינו שבבל”, that the Beit Hamikdash will first adjoin 770 Eastern Parkway, in Brooklyn NY(!), and therefrom be flown by Clouds of Glory to Jerusalem (however that actually manifests). That scenario itself guarantees America shall remain a safe and powerful haven until Moshiach’s exposition, which bids well for a good future for America, despite the grim outlook as of now with what looks like a Muslim usurper/anarchist having snatched the reins of its highest office.

But it all bodes well for Jews and may this Hakhel year finally bring the march to Jerusalem with upright pride, for every Jewish man, woman and child.

In Support of Yad L'Achim

Modern Jew-Hatred in Spiritual or Physical Mode

Jew-hatred can manifest physically or spiritually. Jew-haters want to either physically harm and/or to cause Jews spiritual grief.

Take, for example, the Arab young man who seeks to marry a Jewish woman, and, as another example, a Christian (“Jews for J”) missionary who seeks to trap Jewish souls to get them to submit to Christian dogma. This parallel of Arabs marrying Jewesses and Christian missionaries fishing for Jewish souls demonstrates a striking resemblance.

A mall in the Jewish non-Jewish state

The Arab man who seeks to marry a Jewish woman loiters where Jewish girls intermingle freely in crowds of various persuasions, as in a university setting or in a mall. He keeps a lookout, and when he spots a good candidate who's hungry for companionship (usually because of a loveless home or because of some crisis situation), he sweet-talks her, makes believe he's Jewish, dates her for weeks and months ostensibly to demonstrate his “goodness”, only to later divulge his real identity, when the girl is already in love. By the time she discovers his true identity she's prone to brush aside such racial “trivialities” and accepts him wholeheartedly. He'll even tell her slyly he did not want to lie at first because he would be rejected for his religion, and therefore “had to” conceal his identity.

Why does the Arab young man do this? He does it out of his intense hatred for the Jew. He seeks to marry her because he hates her. All along he'll keep secret his final intent - to take her into a Muslim enclave where from she cannot escape, where then she can be made to feel worthless, while he can brag to his friends of his dominance over the Jewish soul. He'll marry other women – Muslim, who will regard the 1st wife as a slave. This is his manhood; This is his spirituality.

This demonstrates the extent of his hate. He stalks to marry a woman he wants to hate.

It's much like an Arab mother who sends her child to commit a suicide bombing on the presumption that innocent Jewish victims can be killed as well. The difference is that Arab mother wishes on her enemies physical death, whereas the Arab lover seeks to perpetrate a spiritual, sacrilegious rape.

ימח שמם וזכרם

The Christian missionary who pushes the J figure upon naive Jewish souls also bears, like his Muslim counterpart, this spiritual hateful emotion. The amount of money plowed into missionary work is staggering. In Israel alone they have some 100 “communities”. They are cautious in their use of semantics and therefore call their churches “communities”. They connive even with the color of their blue and white t-shirts. Here too a (Christian) person sets out to deceive the Jew. He'll offer his “friendship” (like the Arab who professes his love to a Jewess), plenty of money, gifts and lodging if necessary, whatever it takes to get this Jew to participate with them. They would rather beguile and “convert” to Christianity one Jew, especially of Hareidi background but not necessarily, than convert the entire continent of Africa! We know this from the stories the "returnees" tell (e.g., link).

The Arab marries the Jewess out of hatred for her. The Christian missionary makes his lifelong preoccupation to subdue Judaism because he envies and begrudges the Jew's connection to God. He wants to provoke God with physical revenge against God's favorite people. Both jealousies are as intense as of those who seek to physically annihilate the Jews, only here the motive is to tear Jews away from God spiritually.

It goes to show, even to one unaware of his Judaism or to him who lacks pride in being Jewish, just how worthy Judaism really is – so much so that so many non-Jewish people actually preoccupy their whole lives stewing in this enmity.

We should be generous to organizations like Yad L'Achim who actively seek (and succeed - e.g., rescue story) to liberate such Jewesses and their children, and spiritually lost souls, from torment. Significantly, not stopping there, they also succeed in educating these repatriated souls with true Yiddishkeit.

Signs of Redemption - Early 5776

After a brief brush with annihilation only 75 years ago, remaining Jews (today’s grandparents) today still feel the heat of that inferno in the form of yet another threat - from the latest, powerful, big Jewish-hater, today’s archetype of the Persian Haman - among others.

But we Jews fear no more such threat of violence or intrusion into our private lives because the leader of this Jewish generation, the Rebbe of Lubavitch, gave us optimistic words that now resonate ever louder.

The word “prophecy” in Hebrew also spells “we will come”, as if the spoken words themselves attest to their own future encore.

From one of our holy sources, the Midrash, of Yalkut-Shimoni, (Isaiah, 499): “R’ Yitschak says, ‘The year in which Moshiach will be revealed ... a Persian king provokes an Arab king ... and says to them [God to the Jews] my sons, fear not, for all that I do I do for you, your era of redemption has arrived.’”

The Midrash continues: “The time when King Moshiach comes, he stands on the roof of the Beit Hamikdash, wherefrom he tells the Jewish People, ‘Modest ones, your era of redemption has arrived!”

Is it not strange for a king to proclaim good tidings from a rooftop?

The Rebbe explains halachically that a rooftop lacks the holiness its abode houses beneath it. By wording it this way the Midrash invokes the rooftop as the appropriate metaphor for an event to transpire outside the Holy Land (a place with less sanctity than Israel). The Rebbe elsewhere asks, similarly, why does the Rambam in his book of halachah say Moshiach will build the Beit Hamikdash “in its place”? Why not just say, “in Jerusalem”; Why the obscure “in its place” terminology? The answer of the Rebbe, again, is that the debut for the redemption begins in the exiled land (in its place) - outside the boundaries of the Holy Land.

Perhaps others will argue with Brooklyn, NY as the optimal venue from where Moshiach makes his announcements, but they too first must answer the above questions at least.

But whatever your belief here, open your eyes to see - that the Redemption is in gear, moving along. (Not as fast as we’d like, to be sure.)

You can see it in the irony playing itself out in Germany, for example. Where once Germany sought to expel an "other" people, they now have the opposite happening to them - an influx of an other people. And to further note God’s ironic hand in this, as it prophecises in Psalms(2:4), “God is mocking them”, Muslims, all of whom supported Hitler and his “final solution”, now have joined together with their German peers. Two peoples who agreed on Jewish extermination now have themselves for bedfellows.

Do you smell Redemption in the air yet?

Yes we haven’t yet been driven down far enough along this entire highway of Redemption because we still witness individuals falling as sacrifices, (חס ושלום), with Jews still made to suffer; But, a global Redemption landscape is clearly visible worldwide. What all can see is evil raising its ugly head, exposed on an internet of windows. We can see how one Jew-hater goes after another Jew-hater, as they swallow each other up. Meanwhile, as Redemption progresses, Jews today can calmly enough lock arms across their chest and sit back and watch. The world is watching evil vanquish itself.

That Iran’s Khamenei is today’s Haman - is obvious. That they both derive from Persia in itself is telling, as is the pronunciation of their names. Both wanted the total physical annihilation of the Jewish People. This is of course the final issue that all peoples of the world will have to reckon with anyhow one day, who is it that will inherit the Earth in the Era of Redemption? The Jews - that’s obvious, but the sectors of Gentiles that will also benefit in this Jewish utopia may well find they have come from fragmented nations.

How about America - how can we account for a stealth outsider who usurped the reins of power in the mightiest of all nations? How is it that Americans now find themselves much as would feel a king forced to cater to his slave? Perhaps it’s God’s way of removing from Americans their haughtiness? Can't be, because most American folk are decent folk, and when they gain wealth they remain modest, knowing God has graced them. I personally cannot figure this one out vis-a-vis Americans.

Vis-a-vis Israelis I do see a clear sign. Israelis for so long have clamored they “need America”, be it for its generosity or culture, so God says “Enough!” because He wants to show the Jews they need rely only on Him and Torah, so He places a despot into the seat of highest USA office, to put a halt to all help to Israel, (significantly - while keeping all the good public of Americans pro-Israeli!). It’s Redemption time Jewish folk, and it’s about time you evidence God’s Hand manipulating the world to this dear end.

Still, if you come from a well-seasoned "naturalist" perspective, you're still seeing Redemption behind a vague curtain. You do not know of the Rebbe's assertions in 1980 that the final war, the one Messiah will fight and is fighting, will be a world war that cannot and will not infringe upon Jewish soul or body. The wars that will rage will be “about Jerusalem” - but Jews will have no concerns of invasion. (link)

Those waiting to see these words exemplified in amplification will soon enough get to see more of that too, because that’s what the Rebbe forecasts.

I take this tzaddik’s word for what it is, words of a prophet, words of the leader of this generation, words by him who represents all his predecessor Rebbes wrapped into one, and, significantly - of King Moshiach!

He created an army of believers spreading the word of Moshiach worldwide. These are his foot soldiers.

During the 6-Day War the Rebbe stood alone and declared Jews will win. In ’73 he told us too. Before the Persian Gulf War he urged that Eretz Yisrael is the safest place for a Jew, and all the bombs that fell caused nothing but concrete to bite the earth. He invoked the Yalkut Shimoni Midrash and introduced the conflict that had the Middle-East riled up then as the debut of the Era of Redemption, telling Jews their time for redemption has arrived and telling them they have nothing to fear.

Just as Abraham began by standing as one alone in the world, so too Moshiach is alone, now, a lone general fighting our battles for us.

Shannah Tova l'Am Yisrael 5776

In light of what I spoke of in the prior post, of wealth soon to bedeck the Jews in light of the soon-to-be-here Messianic Era, I wish Am Yisrael an ultimately redemptive 5776! Got this from friends at Shefa Yamim in Eretz Yisroel, and I pass it along to you:

Ruminating in Elul 5775

From a Redemption-slanted mindset, one may well associate the recent surge in fame of prospective presidential candidate Donald Trump with what the Rebbe said often regarding the state of Jews before the Final Redemption. He said all Jews, now as Redemption unfolds, deserve to be filthy rich (my words), just as the Jewish nation, when it first became a nation in its deliverance from ancient Egypt, also - then - became filthy rich (in a matter of hours) at the start of their redemption.

Remember when the Jews still feared Egyptians were chasing at their heels, God wrought a further miracle and washed up to shore all the dead Egyptians to placate Jewish fears. With all Egyptian military dead before them, the Jews entered Ba’al Tzefon and emptied Egypt’s treasury, which then held all the world’s money which Joseph accumulated during the years of hunger, right there near the Reed Sea shore. By the time they completed their 3rd of 42 voyages, every Jew had a slew of donkeys carrying his own personal fortune.

The devil in office today is also a godsend, of course, without which good and evil could still be obfuscated, without which no two clear perspectives diverge and force people to choose sides, and without which secular Israelis could not be weaned off their misjudged reliance on America instead of reliance on God alone. It is under this devil’s guard that the delineation and clear choice is now given to everybody - to choose between good and evil - between Jews and Jew-haters, a decision plastered across the world’s media for all to see, for it bears upon everyone. Everyone will have to take a side.

So onward Mr. Trump, and may Jews break through all natural barriers to great wealth - as they truly deserve as per the Rebbe - if for no other reason that these Jews comprise the generation that debuts in the Era of Ultimate Redemption.

And just to keep this wealth issue represented by Trump now stay afloat, God makes sure the other side, that of evil, implodes, just as happened to the Soviet Union that evaporated overnight without one shot fired. This is probably why the Clinton wench remains adamant and doesn’t resign in the face of mounting scandals. We are reminded how God hardened the heart of Pharoah.

The forceps-industry horrors of Planned Parenthood are also there for all to see. They wrought a silent holocaust. Evil ensues when human sanctity is scorned. It’s there for all to see; how forceps separate wrist from arm, or intact brain from a sliced-open face... These people care nothing for their own life, let alone those of others. They live as a one-generation bunch of parasites, not caring for the development of further generations, because they have no good family ties ingrained to model after.

Trump, of course, is good for the Jews. An indication of this is simply that his daughter married the Jewish son of another real-estate tycoon, and converted herself. They live as orthodox Jews (maybe a bit on the “modern” side). So Trump cannot really be a Jew-hater, thank God, as his would-be predecessor exquisitely is.

Recently we see how quickly the course taken by B Hussein O can tailspin America into a Sodom. We see God’s Hand in reversing this abysmal target to one of renewed and strong hope. We note the good disproportionately advancing despite the growing horrors of evil as they become revealed before us, for the split must happen to separate out these two diverse and opposite trends.

The prophet Daniel spoke to these times of distillation of good from evil, and the Rebbe his whole lifetime has been trumpeting this imminent Era of Redemption whose threshold we’ve already passed.

Back some 70 years ago the world could not see the multi-millions of Jews and others that were enslaved, gassed, burned and murdered. Evil had curtains to hide behind. No more today. It's there for all to see. A clash of contrasts one must take sides with. For, to refine humanity, the unrefined remnant must be swept clean away. It's the scapegoat's turn to finally enjoy revenge.

Signs of Redemption abound around us. We just need stay focused to keep seeing God’s Hand shape our sweet future, with Beit Hamikdash and utter joy in Jerusalem.

The Rebbe’s 1980 Striking Prophecy on Gog & Magog, and Moshiach

The Rebbe מה׳׳מ (on Pesach Sheini תש׳׳מ) explained a passage of Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai, who assesses from King David’s Psalms the Jews' prospects during the final world war of Gog & Magog. Despite the apparent threat this war might pose on the Jewish people (as in Tractate Sanhedrin and other places), King David's prophecy points -- to the contrary! This is particularly timely today, when horrible human tragedies plague Europe and the Middle-East, all while a war-mongering Iran ominously approaches nuclear potential.

In Psalm 2, King David grieves when his own son rebels against his sovereignty.

  ... מזמור לדוד בברחו מפני אבשלום בנו. יהוה, מה-רבו צרי

On the other hand, in Psalm 3, when King David alludes to the final world war of Gog & Magog, he makes no mention of grief. No pain felt for this war.

Why? Because during Gog & Magog, no harm will come to the Jewish people!

That war, he says, won't impinge upon Jewish life. Jewish people will have complete immunity against any of its repercussions. Even if the Gentiles gather together and discuss how to violate the Jewish nation, it is all futile. As for those who nevertheless fear Jewish lives are at risk - the Rebbe asserts those concerns are “for naught”.

On the other hand, the other involved nations will be in turmoil. Accusations may well fly targeting Jewish scapegoats, but the Rebbe emphasizes over and over that, despite the agitation Gentiles will stir up against Jews, it ought not provoke any Jewish concern because this concern is illusory.

You might think terrible tragedies shall befall Jews because of this war. The Rebbe shows how God mocks this negative perspective. And why? Because, “He Who dwells in Heaven has enjoyment from it. The Lord mocks them.” (Psalm 2:4)

יושב בשמים ישחק אדני ילעג למו

Isaiah's prophecy (19:2), “I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians” also alludes to this Era. The verse clearly raises no issue that should concern the Jew because this war Jews will be excluded from.

וסכסכתי מצרים במצרים ונלחמו איש באחיו ואיש ברעהו עיר בעיר ממלכה בממלכה

"And brother will smite his brother, man will smite his friend, city will fight another city and one kingdom will fight against another." All of this is to happen among Gentile Jew-haters themselves.

Worries about Iran, Afghanistan, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, etc. are vain worries, wasted breath. The war of Gog & Magog will not touch the Jewish People, said the Rebbe declared -- in 1980! 

Further, says the Rebbe, all this will happen -- not because of some Jewish superior strength or intellect, but simply because -- “He Who dwells in Heaven derives enjoyment from it.” (Psalm 2:4)

יושב בשמים ישחק אדני ילעג למו

Although the prophet Yechezkel says that Jerusalem will be the focal point of this war, the Rebbe explains this to mean "about Jerusalem" ("מסביב ירושלים") -- and not in Jerusalem.

This is the right perspective, especially because we've already crossed the threshold into Moshiach's Era.

See and listen for yourself, here! (Also has English subtitles.)

Just Launched - toraware.com

Although it's always in development, ... real pleased to announce ... new website just launched.

It’s got GEMATRIA (and other “fun stuff”) methods by which to search Torah, made real simple to use. It's also a "Concordance" where you can very quickly find your word. Every search method has its own set of applicable options.

On the home page the user can set the range of scripture to search through, and he can also set a limit as the maximum number of results he wants to find.

The program as of now is well enough to be up and running.

If you find something remarkable, do tell the world about it.

Please visit:
toraware.com

There's hardware; There's software; 

And then there's toraware!

The Imminent Fall of Damascus

It’s hard not to see Redemption creeping up on us.

Firstly, every Jewish circle seems convinced of it. Even goyim, להבדיל, or “klipah”, acknowledges it, and because the timing is ripe, they strongly promote their version of the prophecy (in an attempt to forestall God’s agenda).

We take the Land of Israel for granted, but this too is a relatively recent phenomenon. Actually it's part of the same phenomenon - Redemption. Years earlier, Israel was only a concept. And we see too in every war we fight with our enemies how God orchestrates it with so many miracles.

Regarding current Middle East upheavals we sense a deja-vu with in Biblical context as well. For example, the Rebbe, quoting many Zohar sources, says (see video here) Jerusalem will rise only when Damascus falls! We note a supportive linguistic prop too - that דמשק and מקדש comprise the same letters.

Meanwhile, surrounding the Land of Israel, her avowed enemies are devouring each other. Enemy countries must now funnel resources and energies to maintaining inner stability rather than allocate capital to wipe out the little Jewish land.

The world at large now recognizes the utter evil that reeks from Israel’s haters and the muslim population. The world now has open windows to view for themselves the cruelty these enemies inflict even upon their own kind. They see, as divine providence would have it, what happens to anybody who stands in the way of their petty whims.

We see how anti-Semitism across the world again raises its ugly head. Why? Because, as the Redemption unfolds, people will have to choose what side they are on, either on the side of the Jews, or on the side of their haters. The world being swept in that direction involuntarily.

We note that practice of the Jewish religion is - amazingly, if history is to serve as a barometer - free in almost all places where Jews live - a phenomenon that Jews never merited in their long history in the diaspora.

We see too in Israel, despite its being a juggernaut of secular culture, even though public Israeli education frowns on religiosity, the population there remains more on the right than on the left, no matter how hard the media, courts and other powerful leftist circles try to shape opinion. For example, the only way Bibi could win his last election was to talk the talk of the right, although he continues to walk the walk of the left.

Even though Israel’s secular public adores and idolizes America, seeking hard to mimic American culture, divine providence has - thankfully - intervened and placed a rabid Jew-hater into the White House in order to wean Israelis off this reverence for “America the great”. Instead of awe for the mythical giant, Israelis will now begin to appreciate all that is Jewish, rather than be taken by the temporary glitz of America.

Here’s another nugget from current events to support the notion that Redemption quickly approaching. ISIS just conquered Palmyra - known in Hebrew as “Tadmor”. Among the legions that joined in destroying both our Holy Temples in Jerusalem were tens of thousands of archers from Tadmor, a city built by King Solomon (Divrei Hayomim II, 8:4). Palmyra’s conquest opens up for ISIS a quick highway to Damascus as well as access to a strategic airstrip. We should be happy to see the downfall of Palmyra, as foretold by Reb Yochanan (see here):

אשרי מי שראה במפלתה של תדמור

Interestingly, the gematria of this phrase has its equivalence to only one possuk in all of Torah:

והנה דבר יהוה אליו לאמר לא יירשך זה כי אם אשר יצא ממעיך הוא יירשך

... where God assures Abraham (Lech Lecha 15:4) that his servant “Damascus Eliezer” will not inherit what belongs to Abraham, but rather to one his own children (ie, Jacob) shall this heritage be bequeathed.

Another Midrash source reads (the reason for happiness) slightly differently:

אשרי כל מי שהוא רואה במפלתה של תרמוד

This has the following possuk (Beshalch 14:19) for numeric equivalence:

ויסע מלאך האלהים ההלך לפני מחנה ישראל וילך מאחריהם ויסע עמוד הענן מפניהם ויעמד מאחריהם

... where God leads the Jewish nation to Redemption and protects them in the process!

Working the "Burning Man Festival" in Israel

Poor secular Israelis need some form of release and seek to mimic their idolized Gentile peers in the USA. Thus they came up with “festivals”, a throwback to the 60’s festivals of “hippie” days, where they would gather a few days at a time away from ordinary venues, to leisurely amuse themselves off the ordinary track. Each festival has its “theme” to characterize and label it.

One such recent festival was the “Burning Man Festival”, held in a desert near Kibbutz Sdeh Boker, a few kilometers south of Be’er Sheva. The event mimics its American counterpart, a yearly event in Nevada that’s “dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance”.

The burningman.org website explains how it works: “They knock together an improvised wooden figure and drag it down to Baker beach .... They light it up, and a curious crowd gathers to watch it burn.”

The holes Israelis crawl into to get to their fun is mid-boggling.

Anyhow, in the thick of secularity, in the middle of all that is devoid of any sanctity, one fearless Chabad emissary (self-appointed soldier) of the Rebbe plies his reach-out agenda to try and influence secular Jews to taste Torah observance.

He’s Michael Kedelburg, a quiet, unassuming fellow, but geared up with immense willpower to accommodate the Rebbe’s wish to reach out to fellow Jews, especially those “kidnapped from birth” by their entirely foreign (Israeli!) culture, to taste Yiddishkeit and participate in a mitzvah or two, for their own sake.

I bumped into him on a visit to Israel last week in Kfar Chabad where he keeps a ship’s container where he stores much of his gear. He told me about his next “festival”. I gave him a few dollars, in addition to that which he got from me on his last trip to America he made months ago to collect for his mission. Just renting a huge tent (see pictures below) cost him $1,000.

Well, since then he wrote me back and sent some pictures. He writes, “The conditions were oppressive; Tremendous heat, a paucity of water and electricity, constant sand storms, chemical toilets, lack of showers, etc.

“Despite the harsh conditions, the activity began Wed. night and continued through the holiday of Shavuot, until Mon. night - five successive days!

“We were kept busy 20 hours a day! Thousands visited our tent, the 'Tent of Israel'. We held classes and get-togethers until dawn. We held private discussions, donned tefillin, handed ladies Shabbat and Holiday candles, had festive meals on Shabbat and Shavuot, ran prayers and, of course, many heard the reading of the Ten Commandments.

“We felt the spiritual thirst many of these travelers were yearning for.”

You can reach Michoel at 0528651551. Here are pictures he sent:

Keeping Mitzvot Saves Lives - A Miracle Story

I stopped blogging because many others have more inspiring things to say than I do, and they say it better. Especially Harav Yitschak Ginsburg. He speaks of this year, 5775, as the propitious year for the Ultimate Redemption to happen and I figured to give this year its chance to materialize in said way, without diluting this blog’s last post of the Rav and his powerful inspiration.

But I heard this miracle story I wanted to share with you nonetheless concerning the terrorist activity shown on Youtube (link) around the start of the Hamas Tunnel War in 2014 ("Operation Protective Edge" last summer).

A group of Jews of the chareidi variety were concerned about kosher sources of food for the oncoming two years of Shmittah and Yovel. So off they went to search all over Israel to locate wheat fields they can harvest to last them for these 2 years. They found large fields near the Gaza area where the wheat stalks were nice and high and still very green. When they went to the owners to negotiate a price for the harvest, the owners began offering selected portions of the area. In response the group said, “We’ll buy all of it!”, and so they did.

Soon after the war started with Hamas and their underground tunnels, these chareidis harvested their crop and stored away their cherished produce. They left the fields, once sprouting with high outgrowth, shaven.

That’s when Hamas happened to erupt from their underground tunnel, more than a dozen terrorists heavily armed, as a surprise tactic, in the middle of a field inside Jewish territory. We remember the video clip shown by Tzahal: Tzahal successfully spotted them by radar, emerging from the mouth of the tunnel by night, and bombed them, killing those that did not scurry back and disappear into their hole.

Those stationed for Tzahal at the radar desks were girl soldiers, who apparently have better concentration abilities than men for this job. When one of the girls noticed the unusual activity, she took action. It took all of 90 seconds before Tzahal targeted the infiltrators.

Had the chareidi group found their harvest in some other fields, this Hamas tactic could well have spread horrible tragedy, God forbid. Had this wheat not been harvested, its long stalks would easily have camouflaged the terrorists and prevented their detection.

Atrocity was averted all because some Jew tried to keep God’s commandments. Jews that learn and keep Torah, just as their soldiering peers, participate in Hashem's army, in one miraculous way or another.

As we just read in last week's Torah portion (Lev.18:5),

ושמרתם את חקתי ואת משפטי אשר יעשה אתם האדם וחי בהם

"Keep my commandments ... and you will live by them" - can be taken literally!

Just another little miracle among so many God does for us in all our wars and, indeed, every day and every moment of our lives.

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UPDATE (8/27/15):

Just found this video that tells the above story in more and accurate detail! HERE

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UPDATE (9/6/16):

Israeli soldiers seen walking among the flower beds at Nir Yitzhak, Southern Israel, on the spot which was a staging area for Israeli tanks and soldiers during last summer’s “Operation Protective Edge”. (Photo: Edi Israel/FLASH90)