Two Doors

 

Art Jorm Sangsorn

Hashem created two doors: one in Shamayim and one in the heart of man.

When one opens his heart to the needs of his fellow man, then the corresponding door in Shamayim is opened to hear his cry. 

Vilna Gaon

The Power of Tu b'Av and Rebirth after the 9th

 

Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

Final Credits

Illui nishmat Mordechai ben Menachem

Artist Unknown

Every commandment that I command you this day you shall keep to do, that you may live and multiply, and come and possess the land that the Lord swore to your forefathers. [Eikev 8:1]

The lesson that one who completes a mitzvah is credited with it [see Rashi] is particularly apt for our generation.

For according to all the signs which were given by our Sages, we are presently in the last generation of exile, which will become the first generation of redemption.

Thus, it is greatly encouraging to know that despite the fact that the Torah study and observance of mitzvot in previous generations greatly surpassed that of our more humble efforts, nevertheless one who completes a mitzvah is credited with it.  

Mashiach will come in the merit of our mitzvot, which are performed in the last moments of exile.

Based on Likutei Sichos vol 9 pp 104-5 Lubavitcher Rebbe

Morning Moon and Night

Photographer Samuel  took these photos of the moon in Toowoomba Queensland Australia. The first one was taken last night.

and this one was taken this morning

Sometime in between those two photos, the moon looked like this

Photo: William in Raby NSW Australia

The Transformation of Reality in the Messianic Era

New shiur from Rabbi Mendel Kessin

Mashiach Facts

 

When Will the Mashiach Come?

There is a wide variety of opinions on the subject of when the Mashiach will come.  Some of the Jews' greatest minds have cursed those who try to predict the time of the Mashiach's coming, because errors in such predictions could cause people to lose faith in the messianic idea or in the Torah itself.  This actually happened in the 17th century, when Shabbtai Tzvi claimed to be the Mashiach; when Tzvi converted to Islam under threat of death, many Jews converted with him.  Nevertheless, this "prohibition" has not stopped anybody from speculating about the time when the Mashiach will come (including some who themselves spoke harshly of those who engaged in such vain efforts!).

Although some scholars believed that God has set aside a specific date for the coming of the Mashiach, most authorities suggest that the conduct of mankind will determine the time of the Mashiach's coming.  In general, it is believed that the Mashiach will come in a time when he is most needed (because the world is so evil), or in a time when he is most deserved (because the world is so good).  For example, each of the following has been suggested as the time when the Mashiach will come:

• when all Israel repent a single day
• when all Israel observe a single sabbath properly
• when all Israel observe two sabbaths in a row properly
• in a generation that is totally innocent, or totally guilty
• in a generation that loses hope
• in a generation where children are totally disrespectful towards their parents and elders (commonly thought to be "our generation", in every generation!)

What Will the Mashiach Do?

Before the time of the Mashiach, there will be war and great suffering (Ezekiel 38,16).  Then the Mashiach will bring about the political and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people by bringing all Jews outside Israel back to Israel, and restoring Jerusalem (Isaiah 11,11-12; Jeremiah 23,8; 30,3; Hosea 3,4-5).  He will establish a Torah government in Israel that will be the center of all world government, both for Jews and Gentiles (Isaiah 2,2-4; 11,10; 42,1).  He will rebuild the Temple and reestablish its worship (Jeremiah 33,18).  He will restore the religious court system of Israel, if it had not already been reestablished before him, and establish the Torah as the law of the land (Jeremiah 33,15).

Source and more at Mechon Mamre click here

Global Boiling

It's interesting that we have now entered the stage of "Global Boiling" rather than "global warming". This is a term brought to us by the UN.

Just as the souls from the generation of the Flood have re-incarnated at the End of Days,  we also have the "boiling" aspect of things.

At the time of the Flood:   "The gates of heaven broke loose, and the depths of the earth opened to send forth streams of raging, boiling water..."

Our water is also heating up.  On July 25 water temperatures off Florida Keys measured 101 degrees.

None of this is surprising when you consider that we currently have two suns, one behind the other. And behind the second one is a gas giant, hence the appearance of the sunset photo below. 

Sunset Italy July 22

A Sign: Fox on Temple Mount

 

Last night [Tisha b'Av]  in Jerusalem, a fox was spotted wandering among the rocks. On the solemn day of Tishabav, which commemorates the destruction of the Temple, we recall a story from the Talmud of Makkos. In this tale, a group of Rabbis visited Jerusalem to witness the ruins of the Temple. As they stood on the Temple Mount, they saw a fox emerging from the very place where the Holy of Holies once stood. This sight intensified their sadness, but Rabbi Akiva responded with laughter. 

Confused by his reaction, the other Rabbis asked Rabbi Akiva why he was laughing amidst their grief. He explained that their tears were fulfilling two prophecies. Uriah had predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, which led to the area being inhabited by foxes. On the other hand, Zechariah had prophesied a future where people would return to Jerusalem and live there peacefully. 

Rabbi Akiva believed that since Uriah's prophecy had come true (seeing the fox), it meant that Zechariah's prophecy would also come true (people living peacefully in Jerusalem). Therefore, their tears of sorrow were actually bringing hope for a better future. The other Rabbis found comfort in Rabbi Akiva's explanation and thanked him for his wise words.

Source: Sholom Rochela Rodal

Yellow Moon

This may appear to be two suns.  It's actually three different objects.  On the left is the yellow moon belonging to another planet.  Then we have our sun, and behind our sun is a much larger sun, which you can see from the reddish halo around our sun.

There are a lot of photos showing this yellow moon, and people think it is the second sun.  We can't even see the second sun, it's BEHIND our sun.  The other planets and their moons are orbiting around the second sun, which is why they are so close to earth right now.

Here is a photo taken yesterday in Hungary, where you can clearly see the red behind our sun.

Labor Pains of the Mashiach

HT: Sherry

Rabbi Shimon Kessin

The Yanuka Shiur for Tisha b'Av

Hebrew with English subtitles

"Amen Yehai Sh'mai Raba" - Yanuka - with transcription

 Transcription of first half

With regards to the answering of  "Amen, may His great name be blessed" - אמן יהא שמיה רבה

I have spoken about this - אמן יהא שמיה רבה -  it is an individual redemption and a general redemption.

This is saying that if a person wishes to act before Hashem any sort of salvation, for what he needs from HaKodesh Baruch Hu, then he performs a salvation before HaKodesh Baruch Hu - individual and general.  

This is written in Zohar Noach 62b, in the Zohar Terumah 120b. In the Beit Yosef 56 he cites this. We mentioned yesterday Shabbat 119 in the name of  Tosafot that this helps for the salvation of the Jewish nation. In Massechet Sotah 49a and in Massechet Brachot 39a according to Tosafot we see that there is significance that a person says "Amen may His great Name be blessed", that his decree is torn up.

The Sefer Chareidim mentions that there is atonement... there are a few types of atonement for a person. One of the atonements that he mentions first is to say "Amen may his great Name be blessed". This is among the atonement that can atone for a person's soul.

When a person says אמן יהא שמיה רבה with kavana [concentration and meaning] this is atonement for him. When a person has atonement, HaKodesh Baruch Hu acts towards him with all good, from all good, in whatever he desires.

[He then goes on to explain what "kavanah" means.]

Mad World

If you're reading this in the comfort of your home, consider yourself extremely fortunate... that you are not fleeing the wildfires in Greece, losing your home to massive flooding in India, China, Kenya, Afghanistan, the Philippines or Pakistan, living near an active volcano or being rain-bombed and dodging hail  in Europe.  

There's an all-seeing eye in the sky, watching everything we do... even when no-one else sees, Hashem sees.  We are living through the most incredible time, but most people go about their days as if nothing special is happening, and it's business as usual.   

What do these people think is going to happen next? Do they just close their eyes to it all? 

I think they do, I think it's too hard to even think about all this chaos and they just operate on automatic. They don't have the knowledge or belief in the coming of Moshiach, and even if they learnt about it once or twice they don't feel it or expect it. Or they have Moshiach burn out.  Fed up with waiting and given up.  

So whatever is coming has to be incredible enough to wake all these people up.  I can't even begin to imagine. 

Making Room for G-d

''You shall love Hashem,  your God'' [Va'etchanan 6:5]

Every individual, remarked the Dubno Maggid, is required to love Hashem with all his heart.  In order to do this, he must remove all negative and sinful thoughts from his heart.

To what can this be compared?  - to a farmer who arrived in a city on the market day and quickly sold all of his merchandise.

Now that he had a large sum of money in his possession, he decided to buy himself an elegant outfit, the type customarily worn by the city dwellers.  He entered a store that sold expensive silk garments and was given one to try on. The garment seemed too small, however, as the farmer was unable to get his arm into the sleeve.

''The garment that you have given me is too small'', said the farmer to the storeowner.

''The garment is exactly your size,'' laughed the storeowner, ''but before you try it on, you must first remove  your heavy farmer's coat.''

Only after a man removes all the wicked thoughts from his heart, explained the maggid, can there be room in his heart to love Hashem properly.

Source: Rabbi Yisroel Bronstein

5 Av: Yarzheit Arizal

The Arizal [1534-1572] - Rabbi Isaac Luria was the most famous Kabbalist in the city of Safed, Israel who became known as the "Arizal" or ARI, an acronym for “The G-dly Rabbi Isaac of Blessed Memory.”

The Arizal passed away at the age of 38, and it was only during the last two years of his life that he met his foremost disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital. The Arizal himself never wrote any books, however all his words were faithfully recorded by Rabbi Chaim Vital in what is known as Kitvei Ari, the “writings of the Arizal.” The Kitvei Ari is the key to the secrets of the Zohar, and it was the Arizal who formulated the Kabbalah into a comprehensive system. Rabbi Chaim Vital writes in the name of the Arizal that, “It is a Mitzvah to reveal this wisdom.” Until the time of the Arizal, knowledge of Kabbalah was not known outside of the tightly knit circle of the tzaddikim.

14 Facts about the Arizal every Jew should know

Planetary World Tour

Clouds do not clone themselves and go on a world tour. These are the base clouds of planet Napisiti, most recently causing widespread flooding from rain bombs,  purple lightning and giant hail in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Italy... 

Sarajevo July 19

Croatia, 20 July

CONTAINS MUSIC

CONTAINS MUSIC: Mitrovika, Kosovo

Belgrade, Serbia

Australia June 2023

Netherlands July 10

Omaha Nebraska

Edward's County, Texas July 20, 2023

CONTAINS MUSIC

SPLIT HAIL 

Distraction

Art Mike Worrall

The Gemara teaches us that three things come בהיסח הדעת - unexpectedly. 

One of these three is Moshiach.

“Three things come unexpectedly : Moshiach, a lost object and a scorpion.” – [Sanhedrin 97a]

The Lubavitcher Rebbe translates בהיסח הדעת not necessarily as "unexpectedly", rather as "with one’s reason set aside" [Likkutei Sichos, vol. 5, p. 171. Cited here]

This teaching does not mean that a person should not (G‑d forbid) think about the Redemption and anticipate its coming. It means that though his reason sees no possibility for Redemption, a Jew persists with an intense belief that transcends his reason. This meaning springs directly from the Hebrew idiom בהיסח הדעת (here translated “unawares”), which literally means “with one’s reason set aside.” [Likkutei Sichos vol. 5]

Rabbi Brod then cites the Rebbe in Toras Menachem and says: Distraction is the highest form of waiting for Moshiach [תורת מנחם כרך ט עמ' p. 111]

So, according to the Rebbe, Behesech Hadaas does mean unawareness (peshat reading). However, it should be read as "with one's reason set aside". That's the basis for the explanation of Rabbi Brod in sefer Yemos HaMoshiach.

The author ends with the explanation that when the situation is such that the mind and intellect see no place for redemption to come - this "distraction" is a sign of the coming redemption. This is בהיסח הדעת - Behesech Hadaas.

Source and full article click here

The Birth of Moshiach and Preparation for TIsha b'Av

 Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

[don't listen to this and think he's going to tell you that Moshiach is coming Tisha b'Av.... that's not the content of this lecture, and no-one knows anyway]

Yanuka: Every Pain in the World

Every pain in the entire world is the pain of the Divine

Transcription below [he speaks like a poet!]

All of the troubles that we hear and all the pain that we see 

Is the pain of the Divine Presence 

Every person who has pain in his house 

Every pain in the entire world, is the pain of the Divine Presence 

There was the great R' Meir from Afta

At the end of his book Ohr Lashamayim 

He asks a question and he responds to the question 

He asks, what type of righteous person will be on a higher level 

Is it the righteous person who wants suffering

And will accept suffering upon himself to suffer for the sake of the Jewish nation ?

Or a righteous person who does not desire suffering? 

And there he concludes that the righteous person who does not want suffering is on a higher level

than the one who desires suffering.

There he explains the reason for this. 

He says that we know that every pain and affliction that any Jew has -

Regarding this it says: "in all their troubles He was troubled" 

Hakadosh Baruch Hu feels the pain of this affliction just as the Jew feels pain 

The pain of the family and the pain of the person 

This is pain that is drawn above 

And some of the pain of the Divine Presence descends down to us. 

The pain that we feel here is infinitely small to the extent that we cannot imagine compared to the pain of the Divine Presence 

The Divine Presence is crying 

And when a person leaves the world there is the sound of a cry that is heard from one end of the world until the other

We see that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, He is in pain and He is pained by the situation that we the Jewish people find ourselves in  

Hashem informs us of this pain so that we must understand that we cannot continue in this exile 

But today the exile has reached the situation that the majority of the world thinks that it is possible to remain and function like this.

The exile is comfortable.

If there is an illness then people go to the doctor 

If there is [difficulty] earning a living, they go to the parents 

Eyes are not turned towards Heaven 

The eyes are a great distance away 

And then they see the great destruction that exists in the world 

They see the pain and the suffering that our nation is experiencing

We all, all of us, each of us experiences what he experiences whether specifically or generally  Everyone has something to contend with.

And this pain, this trouble, experienced by every man, by every woman this is literally the pain of the Divine Presence 

And a person who feels this pain must understand that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is hinting to him 

Pray for the Divine Presence 

Rabenu Yosef Chaim wrote a responsa called Rav Pe'alim 

In chapter 1,  He writes at the beginning 

Whoever wishes to delve into this – this is fascinating 

In order to understand what is the Divine Presence, in order to understand what is Tikkun Chatzot 

What is it that we say: "For the sake of the unification of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and His Divine Presence" 

To understand these concepts well, it is worthwhile to study them 

In order to understand the depths of these things 

But what we must ask from Hashem

Every time, every day – is to pray for the Divine Presence 

To understand the pain that it has 

It does not come from wherever it is in the world

It is from the Divine Presence 

The Divine Presence informs us of this pain 

And asks of us – a request of mercy 

Ask for mercy for Me 

Ask that I  will not have this trouble 

Ask that there be a unification of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and His Divine Presence

Because I always recommend that everyone say A blessing before 

Before every thing to say: "for the sake of the unification of the Holy One, Blessed is He and His Divine Presence"

They Call It a Spinning 'Mothership' Supercell

For those who prefer to get their news from mainstream media, here is a new clip from Fox News, showing the base clouds of one of the planets which I think is Napisiti. They don't have a real name for it, because that kind of thing has not been seen here previously, so they called it a spinning 'mothership' supercell.