The Psychic Breastplate

Picture: Rabbi Mordechai Becher

"And Aaron shall carry the names of the Children of Israel in the Breastplate of Judgment over his heart, when he enters the Holy Place, as a rememberance before G·d at all times. And you shall place the Urim and the Tumin (a parchment containing G-d's name) into the (fold of the) Breastplate of Judgment so that it will be over Aaron's heart when he comes before G·d . . "

[Tetzaveh 28:29-30]

The Breastplate of Judgment was a prophetic device, worn by the High Priest, through which questions could be asked of G·d. When the king or the High Court (Sanhedrin) would ask a question, the Priest would see various letters sparkle or bulge out. Using Divine Inspiration, he would then be able to combine the letters to spell out the answer. [See Aryeh Kaplan, Handbook of Jewish Thought, vol. 1 (New York: Moznaim, 1979), 6:36 and fn. 110, for more on this subject]

There were twelve precious stones set in the Breastplate of Judgment. They were engraved with the names of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the names of the twelve tribes, and the words "tribes of Yeshurun." Certain letters, such as the gimel or the zayin, were written only once. [Yoma 73b]

As our Sages have said, the Breastplate barely contained all twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Therefore, when they had to ask a question that used several of the same letters, such as "Should I go to Bavel," how were they answered?

The question "Should I go to Bavel?" contains two letters beit, and three lameds. However, it is likely that the author was only using this as an example of a phrase with repeating letters, because there were at least five beits and four lameds in the Breastplate - enough to spell out these words.

There is a very great mystery in this . . . I heard from my grandfather [the Baal Shem Tov], that each of the twenty-two letters [of the Hebrew alphabet] contains within it all the other letters of the alphabet - these can be attained by spelling out each letter in full. For instance, writing out the letter aleph in full provides a lamed and a phey. Furthermore, each of these letters can be further expanded, to produce even more letters, until the entire Hebrew alphabet is reconstituted - except for the letter mem which, when written in full, will not produce any additional letters.

Since G·d commanded that all twenty-two letters be inscribed on the Breastplate, when the priest would be enwrapped in Divine inspiration, the letters would shine in their expanded forms. This enabled the priest to receive everything he needed to know. This is the meaning of "shoham stones and filling stones "avnei miluyim" for the apron and for the Breastplate" [Tetzaveh 25:7].

"Avnei miluyim" read alternatively as "stones that are filled out" - meaning that the engraved letters shone in their expanded forms. In a number of other lessons on this theme, the Baal Shem Tov explains that additional letters can be derived from a single letter by using the techniques of gematria (numerical value of the letters), or by dividing the letters into their component parts. It is possible that those approaches were originally mentioned with this lesson, since there are a number of other letters, such as the gimel, zayin, ches, tes and samech that could never be derived from the other letters, no matter how many times they are spelled out.

Source: From the writings of the Baal Shem Tov

Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Shore

A True Christian? You Be The Judge

Barack Hussein Obama is currently promoting himself as "a true Christian".  He is trying very hard to dispel the notion that many people have that he is actually a muslim!   But... his father was a muslim.... and that makes him one too, because unlike Judaism where the religion of the mother determines the religion of the child, it is the religion of the father that affects whether or not the child is considered a muslim. 

And very recently, there's been a lot of publicity about Obama's Christian faith. "Today at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton, President Obama spoke of his Christian faith. Obama and his family are of course aware that many Americans persist in thinking that he is Muslim. While his family has not found a regular church home in the D.C. area yet, the President said that the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David gave his family spiritual nourishment.... "I came to know JC for myself and embrace him as my Lord and Savior..."

Now pause for a minute, take a deep breath, and cast your mind back to 2009:

Remember when there was a lot of fuss made about the Bible used at Obama's first swearing in? : "President-elect Obama is deeply honored that the Library of Congress has made the Lincoln Bible available for use during his swearing-in," said Presidential Inaugural Committee Executive Director Emmett Beliveau in a statement.   

Unfortunately, Obama (deliberately) fluffed his lines, and had to re-do the swearing in ceremony....... 31 hours later at his second attempt, he got the lines right, but there was no Bible in sight.

This official White House photograph shows President Barack Obama, right, retaking the oath of office from Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday evening.

According to White House counsel Greg Craig, the second oath taken by Obama was done out of "an abundance of caution." In a quieter setting this time, the scene was the White House Map Room in front of a small group of reporters, not the Capitol platform before the whole watching world. "No TV camera crews or news photographers were allowed in.

Justice Roberts put on his black robe. "Are you ready to take the oath?" he said. "Yes, I am," Obama said. "And we're going to do it very slowly." Roberts then led Obama through the oath without any missteps. The president said he did not have his Bible with him, but that the oath was binding anyway.

Interesting.... it seems even Justice Roberts couldn't supply a Bible for the revised oath, despite the "abundance of caution" being applied and the much-hyped Lincoln Bible being made available by the Library of Congress - giving us more reason to believe that the fluffed lines were rehearsed beforehand, so that the real oath could be taken sans Bible. And all this from a man who made a very public point of attending prayer services before and after his inauguration.

A Hint of Moshe Rabbeinu

"And you will command the Children of Israel" [Tetzaveh 27:20]

The Vilna Gaon asks why the verse begins with Hashem instructing Moshe "And you will command..." without first stating the standard opening "Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying..."

The answer, said the Gaon, is as follows:

The day of Moshe Rabbeinu's passing (and day of his birth) was the seventh of Adar. In most years, this day falls out during the week in which Parshas Tetzaveh is read. Now, in the entire Parshas Tetzaveh, Moshe's name is not mentioned, even once. This alludes to the fact that Moshe's demise took place during this week.

However, continued the Gaon, even though Moshe's name is not mentioned explicitly in Tetzaveh, it is nevertheless there in a hint:

There are 101 verses in the Parsha. If the letters that comprise the name "Moshe" - משׁה -are spelled out in their entirety, we would have the following:

מ the letters comprising Mem are מ מ -

שׁ the letters comprising Shin are שׁ י ן -

ה the letters compring Hey are ה א -

Total numerical value: 446

If we add up the numerical value of all these letters, and then subtract the numerical value of משׁה (Moshe: 345) - we will be left with the number 101 - the exact number of verses in the parsha.

Source:  Rabbi Y. Bronstein

Yasi's Aftermath: Paradise Lost

Homes disintegrated, crops were flattened and boats were hurled hundreds of metres as Cyclone Yasi left a trail of havoc across Queensland yesterday.

A swimming pool at the Dunk Island resort lies buried under sand dumped by Cyclone Yasi yesterday. Picture: Brian Cassey

A banana plantation is destroyed in Innisfail, North Queensland, by cyclone Yasi - Picture: AAP

Cars are blocked by flood waters on the Bruce Highway south of Innisfail - Picture: AAP

Source: The Australian

Harnessing the Power of the Enemy

And Yaakov left Be'er Sheva and headed towards Charan....

We will understand this based on the verse "And Yehoshua weakened Amalek and his nation by the sword" [Shemos 17:13]. The only reason that Esav (from whom Amalek descended) has any power over the Jewish people is because he performed one mitzvah: kibbud av - honoring his father, Yitzchak. Esav honored his father by using his sword to hunt for him. This is why Yitzchak blessed Esav that he should "live by the sword" [Bereishis 27:40] - through the mitzvah of honoring his father that he performed using his sword, he merited some power in this world. This is why the verse says "al charbecha" - "by your sword" and not "b'charbecha" - "with your sword" - by way of your sword; because of what you did with it, you shall live.

When the Jewish people wish to weaken the strength of Esav, they need not use the power of all of the 613 mitzvos, since even in the one mitzvah from which Esav draws power, the Jewish people surpass him. The Torah teaches us that Yaakov honored his father more than Esav - the Midrash relates [Targum Yonasan 27:31] that Esav could not find game to hunt so he brought a dog instead and planned to feed that to his father. This is the meaning of "and Yehoshua weakened Amalek and his nation by the sword" - even by the power of the sword that symbolizes Esav's one mitzvah of honoring his father, Yehoshua (representing the Jewish people) weakened and surpassed Amalek.

This then is the meaning of "and Yaakov left Be'er Sheva" - literally "the well of the seven". It is known that Be'er Sheva alludes to the high spiritual levels that Yaakov had achieved, since he rectified all the seven character traits, as explained in the holy writings.

The seven traits are the seven lower sefirot: Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut - translated as Kindness, Strength, Beauty, Victory, Splendor, Foundation and Kingship. Perhaps the Noam Elimelech is teaching us that Yaakov was able to use all of these traits to serve the Almighty.

When Yaakov faced both Esav his brother and Lavan his uncle, he didn't need to use all his lofty spiritual powers against them, rather he came with the power of "be'er sheva" - the well, or foundation, of the other seven character traits that he had rectified. "And he went to Charan" implies that he used their own power against them. Thus it says: "And he went to Charan" - with this power he faced them and defeated them. This is easy to understand.

Source: "Mipeninei Noam Elimelech"  Translated by Tal Moshe Zwecker

Cyclone Yasi: Live Webcam

Townsville - Tropical Cyclone Yasi as it approaches Nth QLD. View from West End looking ENE towards Castle Hill. 


Free video streaming by Ustream

UFO over Temple Mount #3

Third and final video: proof that it is a hoax (right again Josh)

Divorced - but still married

There's a lot of Jews out there who have divorced under the civil law, but not according to Jewish law - that is, with the husband writing out a gett (Jewish bill of divorce) for his wife.  Actually, he doesn't write it, the rabbi does, but he has to hand the document to her.  The original ketubah (marriage certificate) is then torn up, and the couple are formally divorced.  If this hasn't happened... then they are still married, both according to Jewish law and according to Heaven, and all the laws of a married couple are still applicable. 

Jews who divorce without a gett cause themselves a multitude of problems: not the least of which can be a rapid descent into poverty for them both or singly, or even severe illness. This is because they are still married under Heaven's eyes, and their living arrangements as "divorcees" are not in accordance with their halachically "married" status.  Every day they continue in this manner, they are bringing more and more judgments upon themselves.

The following is written by Rabbi J. Forsythe (c) 2002

When a Jewish married couple decides that they are no longer able to live together as husband and wife, Jewish law requires that they separate from each other promptly and, in a reasonable period of time, terminate the marriage with a document of divorce, called in Hebrew, a "get." This applies whenever a Jewish man and Jewish woman have entered into marriage with each other.

Some people do not realize that their marriage remains fully intact as long as there is no get. A get is mandatory and inescapable to end a Jewish marriage. The Torah makes very clear that once a Jewish marriage has been created, only a kosher get, executed by a kosher bais din [Torah court], can undo it. The Torah refers to the get as the husband giving a "document of cutting off." The choice of words teaches 1. that the marriage is not at all terminated until this document is given by the man to the woman as the conclusion of the divorce procedure and 2. by the Torah's not using the literal name of the document ["get"], we should strive to refrain from ending a marriage [i.e. avoid coming to a get, just as the Torah avoids saying the word "get"] and we should consider it painfully sad when a marriage has to die and divorce has to come.

This is something which is not affected at all by a person's religious affiliation, philosophy, observance-level or marital-strife level. A civil divorce or agreement to be unmarried is not enough. Without a kosher get, executed by an authorized bais din, there has been no removal at all of the marriage status.

If a woman is separated from her husband, or has a secularly legal divorce, she might MISTAKENLY consider herself free to have a relationship with a man other than the husband with whom she had a Jewish marriage. However, THIS WOMAN IS NO DIFFERENT THAN ANY OTHER WOMAN MARRIED UNDER JEWISH LAW and her involvement on any level with any other man is adulterous. She may not be alone with another man, may not have physical contact with him, may not be without her body covered thoroughly by modest clothing or without her hair covered when in his presence, and she certainly may NOT have any intimate relations. A child born from such a union is a "momzer" which is an uncorrectable taint and distortion (on the soul of the child born from this union), which will be continued and passed on in all offspring through all generations. A "momzer" may not marry a "regular Jew," and his or her descendants will never be able to marry a "regular Jew" till the end of time.

If you know someone whose religious commitment is not strong, or who is not religious; whose marriage is essentially over but the couple is without a get, it is crucial that you bring to bear any influence or assistance to have the couple execute a KOSHER GET FROM AN AUTHORIZED ORTHODOX BAIS DIN WHICH IS UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED BY TORAH LAW AUTHORITIES. Generations are at stake - not just the couple. A Jewish marriage is holy and is in "rumos shel olam (the heights of creation)." Its violation; no matter how antagonistic or alienated the relationship is; is serious and treasonous trampling on the sacrosanct, is punished by premature death and is, in many ways, "playing with fire."

This is just a small extract; the entire article can be found here: Shalom Bayis Issues