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Sunday, July 7, 2019

The Sound of the Earthquake: The Voice of the Earth


Everyone has heard about the massive earthquakes that hit Los Angeles on July 4 and subsequent even bigger aftershocks more recently.

The quakes came during the Parsha of Korach, where the ground opens up and swallows the evil ones.  Thankfully no-one died as a result of the quakes [or so I read, whether that is actually true or not I do not know], but the ground did open up in several places.

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The Israeli city of Tzfat has suffered several devastating earthquakes. After one of them in the year 1839, the Chassidic Rabbi, Rebbe Avraham Dov of Avritch, said the following: "This catastrophe is a sign of the redemption. The Talmud in Sanhedrin alludes to the time when the Mashiach will redeem us. He will come when 'This gate shall collapse, be rebuilt, collapse, be rebuilt again and again, until there will not be enough time to rebuild it before the Mashiach comes.' The word gate in Hebrew is _sha'ar_. These same three (Hebrew) letters when reshuffled, spell the word _ra'ash_ (meaning earthquake)...May this be the last 'collapsing of the gate' mentioned in the Talmud, and may we soon see the final redemption in our time - Amen."  Source:  God and Earthquakes

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"V'Chol Yisroel Asher Sevivoteihem Nasu L'Kolam" - all of Bnei Yisroel that were around them ran from the voice [Korach 16:34]. Which voices were they running from? The Mizrachi says it could not have been from the screaming of the people falling into the open earth or else all the people would run towards the voices to see this strange event, and not away from it. Instead he says it was from the booming noise of the earth opening up. 

The Tosfos Yom Tov says that the voice was that of the earth speaking and announcing that the sinners were swallowed alive and still living inside the bowels of the earth. He brings proof from the pasuk that says [Korach 16:30], "U'Phatzta HaAdama Et Piha" the earth opened its mouth. The word Phatzta implies that it opened its mouth to speak because the word that is used in this parsha to describe the opening of the ground is "VaTiftach HaAretz Et Piha". 

Maybe this would explain the mishna in Pirkei Avos [5:8] that says that one of the ten things created Erev Shabbos Bein HaShmashos was "Pi HaAretz" - the mouth of the earth that swallowed Korach. if it meant the crack in the earth then why would this be a special creation? The earth splitting was not a one time event and happens from time to time. Moreover, a crack is not a creation. Maybe it means the mouth of the earth that spoke, similar to another creation in this mishna, the mouth of the donkey of Bilam who spoke.

2 comments:

  1. Ken Cohen [editor of Facts and Logic
    about the Middle East (FLAME)] said:


    Last year, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed
    bin Salman reportedly stated in a closed-door
    meeting that “Palestinians should accept
    peace or shut up and stop complaining.”

    SOURCE: Why are Arab states rejecting
    the Palestinian cause
    ? by Ken Cohen, 2019 July 2
    www.jns.org/opinion/why-are-arab-states-rejecting-the-palestinian-cause/

    ===================================

    Nikki Haley (former USA Ambassador
    to the United Nations):


    “The number of actual Palestinian refugees is classified.
    There are multiple people working to get it unclassified.”

    SOURCE: The better and stronger
    we make Israel, the safer we make the world

    by Dr. Miriam Adelson, 2019 June 28
    www.jns.org/nikki-haley-the-better-and-stronger-we-make-israel-the-safer-we-make-the-world/

    ===================================

    “As Israeli NGO Palestinian Media Watch
    has documented, P.A. [Palestinian Authority]
    leaders are backing the decision to continue
    payments to terrorists and their families,
    even if it comes at the expense of ordinary,
    law-abiding Palestinian citizens.”

    SOURCE: As world leaders gathered
    in Bahrain, PA continued to prioritize ‘pay for slay’

    https://www.jns.org/as-world-leaders-gathered-in-bahrain-pa-continued-to-prioritize-pay-for-slay/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alexander H. Joffe [a Middle East Historian] said:

    “Increasingly, discrimination against Jews is regarded as
    legitimate whether or not there is any connection to Israel.”

    SOURCE: BDS Spreads Through Community
    Organizations and K-12 by Alexander Joffe, 2019 July 2
    www.algemeiner.com/2019/07/02/bds-spreads-through-community-organizations-and-k-12/

    ===================================

    Alexander H. Joffe [a Middle East Historian] said:

    Similarly, neo-Nazis in Germany have begun
    using the phrase “Israel is our misfortune,”
    a sentiment that converges with the German
    [Leftist] Green Party’s explicit support for BDS.

    The crossover between the two streams
    was seen recently when a founder of
    the Green Party spoke at a neo-Nazi event.

    SOURCE: BDS Spreads Through Community
    Organizations and K-12 by Alexander Joffe, 2019 July 2
    www.algemeiner.com/2019/07/02/bds-spreads-through-community-organizations-and-k-12/

    ===================================

    Mr. Ariel Ben Solomon said:

    “During the past year-and-a-half,
    he [Yigal Carmon] explained, MEMRI
    concentrated on monitoring sermons
    by imams [Muslim preachers]
    across America.

    The results from a random sample
    of over 100 imams, he said,
    were shocking.

    The sermons were laced with incitement
    to kill Jews, support for global
    jihad and hard-core misogyny.

    A few imams, he said,
    preached tolerance and coexistence,
    but they were a small minority.”

    SOURCE: Supremacists and Jihadis form
    two-pronged attack threatening Jews in USA

    by Ariel Ben Solomon, 2019 June 26
    www.jns.org/memri-adds-white-supremacism-to-its-research-of-the-jihadi-threat/

    ReplyDelete

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