Yitzchak and Yaakov reveal the final battle before Mashiach

Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff

Both Yitzchak and his son Yaakov revealed what nations would come and attempt to block the final redemption before Mashiach’s arrival.

Let's Do This

This segula is attributed to Rav Palagi, via Rav Shalom Arush

"Whoever merits to not complain or speak negatively at all from Rosh Chodesh Kislev until the 8th day of Chanukah, will see a miracle that year."

Not a Penny in the Pocket

H/t Rivky

Alternatively, the Messiah will not come until the peruta will cease from the purse....

Sanhedrin 97a.10

A peruta is a small coin, a penny.

The U.S. Mint presses it's final penny as the 1-cent coin gets cancelled.

Yaakov and Esav, the eternal fight of Good and Evil

Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff

The Battle Ground Before the End of Days

The first six minutes of this is basically an introduction, if you're in a hurry.

Rabbi Daniel Glatstein

It's us against the nations of the world, us against Eisav.  Now Eisav was a wicked guy but there was one merit that Eisav had that was so powerful that we're still dealing with it until this very day. That mitzvah is kibud av v'eim - honouring your father and mother.

When Yishmael Will Fall

The end of last week's Parsha finishes with the words, "Al Pnei Kol Echov Nafal" - "Over all his brothers he [Yishmael] shall fall". 

This week's Parsha starts with the words, " ViEileh Toldos Yitzchak" - "And these are the offspring of Yitzchak". 

Baal HaTurim explains the connection. "Al Pnei Kol Echov Nafal" - when Yishmael - [the Arabs] will fall, then, "ViAyleh Toldos Yitzchak" - Mashiach Ben David will come from the descendants of Yitzchak. 

The fall of Yishmael is a prerequisite for the coming of the Mashiach.

Source: Revach

Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall

It's like watching a car crash in slow motion.  I mean, seriously, you couldn't make this stuff up and have people believe it.... but it's all reality now.  The lunatics really are running the asylum.

Remember Robert de Niro... he had a whole lot to say at the time, and here's a little reminder. 

"Hell No, I'm Not Afraid!" - Netanyahu Exclusive Interview

Erin Molan speaks to Netanyahu "Hell No, I’m Not Afraid” — Reacts to Mamdani, Trump’s Pardon & Ending U.S. Aid 

The Mistakes of Trump and their Messianic Consequences

Rabbi Mendel Kessin, new shiur

Heavens Above !

I see a lot of sky photos daily, but I thought these worth sharing here.

I

Photo: Amanda Grant-Mock

Original can be seen here on FB

I guess you think this is AI.  You'd be wrong.  Everything in the photo is identifiable.
The clouds top right belong to a planet, the clouds top left belong to a different planet, and the round swirly cloud is formed by a passing asteroid.

 

This photo of the sunset was taken on November 7 by MiKaSa.

Not only is the sun totally distorted by something, but you can clearly see two eyes, one on either side. The one on the left is more distinct.  It is not AI, it is a real photo, and you're welcome to check it on any AI image detector.

The distortion of the sun is happening because there are planets all around pinching the sun and distorting it.  

And finally, this was the moon over Portugal, November 4, 2025

Yishmael Repents before Mashiach Arrives

Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff - 20 min video

When will Jacob's star arrive? The War of Ishmael and Edom in the End Times.

4 min video in Hebrew, English sub-titles. 

Rabbi Yuval Ovadia

I have typed up a semi-transcription but I suggest you listen to it yourself for the exact words.

Just a note here [from me].... obviously the comet that we saw on 25 Elul over a year ago was not THE STAR, unless it does a boomerang and comes back.  But at the moment we have many comets approaching earth and an unknown entity they call 3I-ATLAS.  

The holy Zohar says, in Parshat Vayeira, Rabbi Chaya said.... the bnei Yishmael will rule the Holy Land when it is empty of all things for a long time. Just as their bris is without perfection, they will follow the bnei Yisrael to their place until the right of the bnei Yishmael is finished.  

We see this with our own eyes.  For 100 years, if not 150 years, they have been delaying the return of the bnei Yisrael to their place. But it is not written that they will completely eliminate us and therefore the Jewish kibbutz in the Land is  increasing and increasing and this is proof that this is a move of G-d. The whole point of the kibbutz of the exiles here in Israel is a move of G-d.  

It is written "the children of Jacob, the children of Yisrael - meaning all those who come to the Land are children of Israel.  We are in the category of the children of Israel who are equal to their place.  That is why Ishmael came into the world.  

Why was his name called Ishmael? In the last days, the people of Israel will cry out to G-d because of the many troubles He will cause them.They will do teshuva and G-d will hear and answer them.  What about all the Jews who live in the rest of the world?  It will be that Ishmael will cause problems for those Jews as well, to every Jew wherever he is.  Ishmael is the staff in the hand of HKBH.  We can strengthen ourselves with gatherings, with tzniut [modesty], humility.  If there will be no deviation from the Divine, there will be no permission for the harmful to harm. And if we unite and love each other and multiply in kindness and tzedaka, it can be completely cancelled or at least sweetened.

The Holy Zohar says in Parshat Vayeira: the children of Ishmael will incite strong battles in the world and the children of Edom will gather against them and there will be battles, one on the land, one on the sea and one near Yerushalayim.  At that time, a people will be aroused, from the end of the earth, against the Romans of iniquity, and they will wage war for three months, and nations will gather there and fall by their hands.

Soon, my friends, a world war will be waged until all the children of Edom will gather against it - that same people from the end of the world.  Then HKBH will awaken upon then. This is by way of natural disasters. When you will be in a world war, you will understand that the sign of it is about to arrive.,,,

THE STAR. 

Later it is written that He will take hold of the corners of the earth and wash the bnei Yishmael from it just as one washes away the dirt from the carpet. 

Everything is happening. Everything is in progress. The great and terrible day of the Lord is closer than anything else, and our eyes will see it and our hearts will rejoice in the chariot and in the approaching day.

Amen v' amen.

Will Moshiach come in 2026? Practical Survival Guidebook - Part 2

Part 1 can be found here

Laivi Shor

Are the Days of Moshiach going to begin in 2026? We learn the Midrash Ne'alam in the Zohar that teaches about when the Ingathering of the Exiled Jewish people, the Days of Moshiach, and the Resurrection of the Dead will begin.

The Final Exile of Yishmael

from the writings of Rav Chaim Vital 

Rabbi Chaim Vital (1542-1620) was unquestionably the leading disciple of the Holy Arizal, Rabbi Isaac Luria, and his foremost interpreter. The Ari himself wrote very little and what is commonly known as the "Ari's writings", were in fact transcribed by Rabbi Chaim.

"You already know that the exiles [from Egypt until the Mashiach] are four: Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome [as represented by the four cups of wine on Pesach, the four beasts in Daniel 7, and many other places. The fourth, Rome stretched out from the 2nd Temple destruction and apparently ended with the Holocaust].

However, the Jewish people are destined further in the end of days to be in the exile of Yishmael, as mentioned in Pirkei D'Rebi Eliezer, and in the Midrashim of our Rabbis, and in the Zohar end of Parsha Lech Lecha. And there in [Zohar] Parsha Lech Lecha it says that being that Yishmael is the son of Avraham, and was circumcised, he is called "Pereh Adam" - "A wild donkey of a man" - [Bereishit 16:12], implying not a full man, because he was circumsized without Priah [an integral part of the Bris Mila]. But the other four exiles are compared to beasts as mentioned in the book of Daniel Chapter 7.

.....and he will cause suffering to Israel, great and terrible sufferings, such that none like these had ever been seen, and we will not know what to do. And we will have no other hope than to trust in His great Name to save us from his hand. And this is what is meant in verse 8, "Our help is in the name of the L-ORD, who made heaven and earth. Which means who made heaven and earth for the sake of the Torah and Yisrael who as in the verse "if not for my covenant day and night [study of Torah], I would not have appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth [Yirmiyahu 33:25]". Therefore He is forced to help us from their hands, and redeem us a full future redemption, in order that there will be a cause for the existence of heaven and earth.

Read the entire essay at Daf Yomi Review

The Murky Roots of Mashiach...

 

...he's NOT who you would ever expect him to be.

Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff

The 50th Gate

The Kabbalah speaks of "50 gates of spiritual understanding", 49 of which can be achieved by a person as a result of his own initiative.  The final 50th gate is then granted by G-d from Above.

When Avraham had circumcised himself, he had reached the greatest degree of spiritual perfection that he could possibly achieve as a human being - the 49th gate - and he became "sick" yearning for the 50th gate.  This is alluded to by the fact that choleh חולה [the Hebrew term for "sick person"] has the numerical value [gematria] of 49.  Then "God appeared to him", revealing to him the 50th gate of spiritual understanding, which cured his spiritual sickness.

And, being that his physical sickness was a reflection of his spiritual dissatisfaction, the Divine revelation healed him physically too.

Based on Sichat Shabbos Parshas Vayeira 5750 - Lubavitcher Rebbe

The Mystical Secret Behind not mixing Milk and Meat

Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff - 12 min video

Some really good insights here that you may not have heard before.

Moshiach is Coming Soon

A Practical Survival Guidebook Part 1 

If Moshiach (Messiah) comes this year will you be ready? Have you just heard about Moshiach and want to learn more? What do we have to do to get ready?

Laivi Shor

Hidden Blessings

“A blessing rests only on something that is hidden from the eye.” [Taanit 5b]

"And they gave their father wine to drink on that night....."[Vayeira 19:33 ]

According to the Zohar, the dot on the word - וּבְקוּמָהּ - alludes to the fact that God was secretly assisting this event, because Moshiach was to materialize from it, since Ruth, King David's great-grandmother, was a convert from the Moabites.

The latter event between Lot and his younger daughter [19:35] is written without the letter vav, to indicate that the union did not produce such great offspring.  Rabbi  Shimon said "When the verses states that Lot wasn't aware, it means he wasn't aware that Moshiach was destined to come from this union."

Why should the beginnings of Moshiach occur in such an undignified manner?

Ramak explains that when a very lofty soul is about to descend into the world, the forces of kelipah [evil] oppose the soul's descent vehemently.  Sometimes, however, kelipah will consent to the soul's descent if it occurs amidst a particularly sinful act.  Thus we find that from this undesirable act the ancestor of Moshiach was born.

Source: Lubavitcher Rebbe

11 Cheshvan: Yarzheit Rochel Imeinu

Jewish Mother's Day The 11th of Cheshvan 

by Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh

One of the most important days in the month of Cheshvan is the 11th, which commemorates the day of passing of our matriarch Rachel. Rachel was Jacob's most beloved wife and was the principal of his household and thus the principal of the entire house of Israel. From the first day of the year, the 1st day of Tishrei, the 11th day of Cheshvan is the 41st day. 41 is the numerical value of the Hebrew word "eim," which means "mother," thus the 11th of Cheshvan is truly the Jewish Mother's Day.

"Rachel cries for her children, she will not be comforted…"

Rachel constantly mourns over the exile of her children, the Jewish people, and the Almighty comforts her with the words: "Withhold your voice from crying and your eyes from tearing, for there is a reward for your actions… and the children will return to their border." Literally, "return to their border" refers to the return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. But, more deeply, it refers to the return of our people to our natural spiritual environs: Judaism and our ancestral Jewish nature. These are the borders that truly circumscribe the uniqueness of our people. Amazingly, numerically, the value of the Hebrew word for "border" (g'vul / גבול) is exactly the same as the value of the word for "mother" (eim / אם); both equal 41.

In Hebrew, Cheshvan is written with the four letters: חשון. The borders (the first and last letters) of Cheshvan are chet - ח and nun - ן, which together spell the word chein - חן, meaning "beauty." The word chein - חן, "beauty" equals 58. The 58th day of the year is the 28th day of Cheshvan.

Rachel is described as the most beautiful woman in the Torah. The numerical value of the two middle letters, shin and vov, שו, is equal to isha -אשה , meaning "woman." Thus, the name of the month itself hints at the special and unique grace endowed to women.

King Solomon says that external beauty by itself is deceitful. If external beauty is all that a woman seeks then the name of the month becomes Marcheshvan, which means Bitter-Cheshvan. It is of such a woman King Solomon says: "And I find the woman to be more bitter than death." But, of true beauty, the beauty of a Jewish woman that emanates from within, he says: "The woman of beauty shall support honor." This true beauty is given to us, the Jewish people, by G‑d through the Torah, for "there is no truth but Torah" and "there is no honor but Torah."

It was Rachel, who was first endowed with this real beauty. Rachel is described as the most beautiful woman in the Torah, "She had a beautiful face and a beautiful figure." Thus, Rachel was the embodiment of the verse: "A woman who fears G‑d, she shall be praised," praised both for her grace and true beauty.

The beauty of the Jewish woman is not just a passive agent of spirituality. The sages teach that the offspring of Esau and his grandson Amalek can be defeated only by the children of Rachel.

Who embodies the spirit of Amalek in our day and age? In Hebrew, the words "Amalek" (עמלק) and "doubt" (safek / ספק) have the same numerical value. Thus, the spirit of Amalek that continues to plague each and every Jew is doubt; doubt in our faith, doubt in our Torah, and doubt in ourselves and the moral justification of our path.

But, sometimes the spirit of Amalek becomes bolder and captures a Jew (whether he be a private individual or a political figure) to the point of driving him or her to unconscious or even conscious self-hatred. This can result in a Jew's cooperation with the enemies of our people.

Finally there are the direct spiritual offspring of Amalek: those enemies who threaten the lives of Jews and our return to the Land of Israel.

The sages say that beauty is a woman's weapon. With everything that we have said about Rachel, her role as our matriarch, as the progenitor of Jewish nature, and of her beauty, it should now be clear that our weapon for defeating Amalek is the special beauty and grace of the Jewish mother. Joseph the tzaddik (righteous one) inherited his mother Rachel's beauty and he too is described as having a beautiful face and a beautiful figure. That is why the prophet says about him that "the house of Jacob will be fire and the house of Joseph its flame and the house of Esau straw, and together they will ignite him and consume him; and there will be no remnant for the house of Esau."

True Jewish beauty and grace destroy the enemy indirectly but, beauty is no regular weapon. True grace and beauty work by attracting the sparks of holiness that are bound within the enemy. These sparks are G‑d's will that the enemy still exist. Yet, when they are redeemed by their attraction to true beauty, they escape the enemy's grasp, leaving him void of any Divine source and causing his demise. True Jewish beauty and grace destroy the enemy indirectly by leaving him void of any beauty or grace himself, making him irrelevant and powerless.

The battle against Amalek in our generation must be conducted primarily with our ability to communicate to all around us the true nature of Jewish beauty and grace. It is to this beauty of Jewish nature and character that we return during the month of Cheshvan by reconnecting with our matriarch Rachel, with our own Jewish nature, and with ourselves.

Also visit: Rachel's Tomb

************************

Yiddishe Mama

Rachel lost her own spiritual luxury - the privilege of being buried in the Cave of Machpeilah - in order to help her children. This represents the unparalleled quality of the "Jewish mother" who is always willing to sacifice her own needs, spiritual or physical, for the sake of helping her children.

And this is the inner reason why Jewish identity follows the maternal and not the paternal route. For even though the father possesses a greater degree of spirituality - since he has the privilege of observing more mitzvos than a woman - the quality of a Jewish mother is nevertheless greater, that she is willing to forego much of that spirituality in order to enable her to raise a family with tender loving care. And since this quality is even more quintessentially Jewish than the spirituality of the man, it is the mother that actually makes her children Jewish.

Based on Likutei Sichos of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Parshas Vayechi

*******************

Mama Rochel understood that tending to a broken heart comes above even Kavod Hashem....

When Rochel, out of frustration, complained to Yaakov about not having children, Yaakov got angry with her. The mefarshim say, based on a medrash, that Yaakov was punished for getting angry at Rochel and telling her that she needs to daven to Hashem and not complain to him.

Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro points out that Yaakov was defending Kavod Shamayim (the honor of Heaven) and was correct that Rochel's complaints were unjustified. His mistake was that he addressed the words that she spoke and not the pain in her heart. Had he pierced the veil of her soul, he would have known that because of her anguish, the words escaped her mouth and she was not accountable for them. He should have been slower to defend Kavod Shamayim and faster to understand human suffering.

This he explains was the greatness of Rochel. After the destruction of the first Temple, when Bnei Yisroel went into Galus, all the Avos and Imahos came before Hashem with all their great zechusim but were turned away empty handed. All the heroism of the Akeida, Yaakov's Torah, and lives of pure mesiras nefesh to build Klal Yisroel, did not impress Hashem in that dark moment of history.

The only one who merited Hashem's attention was Rochel Imeinu. What was her great act that warranted this special treatment? That she gave the simanim to her sister and helped fool Yaakov. With this bravery, in her mind, she was sabotaging the history of the Jewish nation since she understood that it was her and Yaakov that were destined to build the nation. Nevertheless she chose to cast aside her own destiny and Hashem's grand plan in order to save her sister from a single embarrassing moment.

Only Rochel, who had such a deep understanding of another person's pain and how it carries more weight than the entire Jewish experience, can be Hashem's emissary to bring his children's pain before Him. Only tears from Mama Rochel can bring the Geula.