Following the Footsteps of Moshiach in 5778

Some footprints of the Rebbe in action are easy to spot.

Today’s deserves mention. Today is
י׳׳ט כסלו תשע׳׳ח.

World events after all stem from Torah - the blueprint of the world. So let's look at secular developments to see how Torah life renders a refreshing perspective.

Today President Trump announced that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish People! As far as America and most of the world was concerned, Israel was a country without a capital until now.

Today is Yud-Tes Kislev! Yud-Tes Kislev is a rather new chassidic holiday. An ancient primordial brightness, unbearable for mankind to have seen over the course of most of its history, until recently, is now finally becoming easy to behold. Chabad had turned this day into a Rosh Hashanna of Chassidus. This holiday is in commemoration of the Alter Rebbe's emancipation from certain death at the hands of the KGB in Soviet Russia. His freedom had vindicated his efforts to further disseminate the wellsprings of Chassidus.

That is, permission was granted from on high to spread these hidden aspects of Torah wholesale worldwide. Thereafter, with every Chabad Rebbe, these teachings gushed forth and burgeoned even more. That primordial bright light they were disseminating - is the new light of Moshiach!

The Alter Rebbe spurred his chassidim to “live with the times!”. He meant, put your heart into study of Torah as apportioned by the week and by day of the week.

Under the Rebbe MH”M this idiom transformed to mean that all you see, feel, hear and interact with should consider the imminence of Moshiach or his presence as its backdrop; The Rebbe urged us to always “think Moshiach!”

So, let's think Moshiach. Today is Yud-Tes Kislev. What does the industrious talmid find in today’s portion of Chumash (parshas Vayeishev, in the 4th section, being that today is Wednesday)? He learns the segment about Yehuda and Tamar.

In perek 38, possuk 15, says the Baal Haturim:

לזונה. ב' במסורה. ויחשבה לזונה. איכה היתה לזונה (ישעיה א, כא). מה תמר בבזיון ולבסוף בכבוד אף ירושלים סופה בכבוד, כדכתיב (זכריה ב, ט) ולכבוד אהיה בתוכה. וזהו זאת קומתך דמתה לתמר  (שה"ש ז, ח

Translation: Just as Tamar had to compromise herself (for the sake of lawful progeny) stooping to apparent humiliation in order to serve a future glorious cause, so too Jerusalem must first suffer disgrace before it can exult in its return to dominion.

This the Baal Haturim learns from a 5-letter word that repeats itself only twice in all of Tanach (see image of search results - 2 "hits" in all of Tanach), once in reference to Tamar; the other in reference to Jerusalem. This same word in both places suggests an association can be made between Tamar and Jerusalem.

(This connection, between Tamar and Jerusalem, is also alluded to by King Solomon in Shir Hashirim (7:8) - זאת קומתך דמתה לתמר.)

By coinciding Yud-Tes Kislev with the day Trump made his epic announcement, the Rebbe shows the association is operative for the era of Moshiach. If we "live with the times", then today’s Baal Haturim bespeaks of worldly events -- happening today in our times!

Here’s another "living with the times" nuance:

This week's days are among the shortest of the year. Midday is therefore close to noon, unlike the midday on any other summer day. Were we to make the Jewish calculation where each of "God's day" counts as 1,000 human years, then we are presently already into Friday, or Erev Shabbos. That means by the year 5778 we are plenty past 12 noon already (ie, past 5500)! The timing of glorifying Jerusalem on a day when Shabbat enters earliest seems significant. It suggests the rapid advance of The Era of Ultimate Redemption, the days of eternal Shabbat.

Hope to dance with you all in Yerushalayim, very soon, in our days!

UPDATE (12/24/17):
Just discovered too that last year on this day, on Yud-Tes Kislev 5777, Monday, December 19, 2016, Donald Trump won the electoral college vote (-- which counts -- as opposed to the popular vote, which doesn't count) and became President of the USA! So here we have yet another of the Rebbe's imprints.

Zerach's Ribbon

We note the midwife tied a ribbon around the hand of Zerach (Gen.38:28). This demonstrates rather assuredly there was the expectation of twins. You don't always need sonograms to tell you've got twins. Otherwise, why tie a ribbon on the hand? Obviously it was to mark the one first to emerge.

But if a hand comes out, that is quite problematic. The doctor would probably seek to push back the hand otherwise the baby would be unable to emerge. The newborn's head has the largest circumference of any body part and emerging head-first ensures the rest of the body can slip out rather easily. But a hand-first scenario raises horrible prospects.

Perhaps they tied the ribbon on the hand and figured they can push back the hand into the womb and, while they are at it, put the doctor's or midwife's hand inside as well, maneuver the body around and hope the head comes out first this time.

In this case, however, Zerach himself retracted his hand. Peretz saw an opportunity and burst forward.

Making some sign to know which baby emerged first has ramifications in Jewish law, which can differ depending on who comes out first or who comes out when. So identification is important, especially with identical twins. For example, one twin can emerge on one day, and another twin, who emerges two minutes later, may well have been born the "next day". Another example, the first-born male twin might inherit from his father more than might the other children.

Interpretation of the Butlers' Dreams

The Dream’s Message

by Eliezer Zalmanov

[My additions are in brackets]

We all [Chabadniks] have the responsibility to publicize the Rebbe MH”M’s prophecy that  
"הנה זה בא" [Moshiach]
and the primary shlichus [mission] of “קבלת פני משיח”. There are those who hide behind the Rebbe's directive [by claiming] that it [must] be 
“באפן המתקבל” [and exclude themselves with this excuse].

They may be embarrassed from scoffers and refrain from positive action. However, the Rebbe’s advice that it be “באפן המתקבל” means just the opposite! We must develop our own strong unwavering belief - until [and in order that] we can deliver the message in a way that it will be accepted and understood to the outside.

We find this concept [that we need internalize that which we wish to project] hinted at in our Parsha, in the story of the [ministers'] dreams and their interpretations by Yosef Hatzadik.

The question that immediately arises is: Why did he interpret the dream for the butler [minister of beverages] for the good and a similar dream of the baker [minister of pastry] for the opposite?

The Maharam of Lublin asked this question and answered it with a parable. An art display included a strikingly beautiful painting of a farmer carrying a basket full of delicious fruit. The painting was so life-like and the fruit [especially] looked so real that birds would attemp to pick the fruit off of the painting.

The spectators were amazed. However, there was one person among them who just shrugged his shoulders and said, “The fruits indeed look real, but the farmer who is carrying the fruit isn’t alive – for were he alive, the birds wouldn’t dare approach to pick at the fruit.” [See Gen. 9:2, Rashi]

Such was the case in the dream of Pharoah’s baker and Yosef Hatzadik’s interpretation [of it]. When Yosef Hatzadik heard that, in the dream, the birds were picking from the basket that was on the baker’s head, he [necessarily] concluded the baker was missing life.

The same is true with publicizing the news of the Redemption. When a chassid publicizes the words of the Rebbe MH”M, he is, of course, explaining true and accurate concepts. However, in order that it be “באפן המתקבל” to the outside person, the chassid must be totally involved in it – he should be alive himself!