All for the best

Faith makes you truly alive.

It fills your every day with good.

When troubles come, as they will, take comfort in your faith that whatever happens is for the best.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

The Three Keys

As I began to type this blog post, there was a tiny buzz on the main intercom. I ignored it.... because this time of the morning (the sun has just risen) the only people pressing buzzers are usually doing it by mistake. A few minutes later, another tiny buzz..... so I picked up the intercom and a little voice said "We forgot our key, we're locked out, can you let us in..." I let them in the main door... and returned to type up "The Three Keys". I'm sure there's some kind of message in that..... maybe our generation is "locked out" too.

Art: "Key" by Nikoletta Bati

"Engrave on it with signet-ring [type] engraving: "Holy to Hashem" פִּתּוּחֵי חֹתָם קֹדֶשׁ לַי־הֹוָ־ה 
[Tetzaveh 28:36]

In Maseches Ta'anis (2a) R' Yochanan states that there are three maftechos, three keys, in Hashem's possession that He never entrusts to others:

*the key to childbirth

*the key to rain

*and the key to resuscitating the dead.

The Gemara derived this from three verses:

*Hashem does not entrust the key to childbirth to a messenger, as the verse states: "G-d remembered Rachel; G-d hearkened to her and He opened (vayiftach) her womb" [Bereishis 30:22]

*Hashem does not entrust the key of rain to a messenger, as the verse states: "Hashem shall open for you His storehouse of goodness, the heavens, to provide rain for your Land in its time" [Devarim 28:12]

*And Hashem does not entrust the key of resuscitating the dead to a messenger, as the verse states: "Then you will know that I am Hashem, when I open your graves" [Yechezkel 37:13]

These three keys, remarked the Vilna Gaon, are alluded to in the verse: "Pituchei chosam kodesh laHashem" - פִּתּוּחֵי חֹתָם קֹדֶשׁ לַי־הֹוָ־ה -

The acronym of the word  חֹתָם (Ches, taf, mem) which means "seal" hints to the following words:

Ches - Chayah (a woman who has recently given birth)

Taf - Techiyas HaMeisim (the resuscitation of the dead)

Mem - Matar (rain)

The verse can therefore be read as follows:  "The keys of (pituchei) childbirth, resuscitation of the dead, and rain - ChoTaM - are designated for Hashem's use only ("kodesh laHashem").

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

Granny saves the Jewellery Store

I love this: an elderly woman has beaten off a gang of thieves in the UK:

The robbery was - initially - no less successful for being brutally basic: three men with sledgehammers simply smashed the windows of the jewellery shop in the broad light of day, and grabbed the loot.

As they filled their bags with gold from the Michael Jones Jewellers in Northampton UK, their accomplices waited, revving their getaway mopeds. Staff at the Northampton shop froze in horror and members of the public walked on by.

But then, the cavalry arrived, in the shape of a woman in a red coat, matching hat and sensible shoes - handbag flailing.

In a film that instantly became a viral internet clip, the elderly-looking woman is shown charging towards the armed robbers. The thugs - twice her size - didn't stand a chance.

A swing at the head of one of the moped drivers saw him accelerate down the street in alarm, leaving his accomplice without his ride.

Four of the six men are now in custody, police confirmed, and the mystery hero of Northampton will be rewarded.

Source: Woman beats off robbers with handbag

A Couple of Links

From Divine Information: Rabbi Yossi Mizrachi gives a simple-to-understand lecture on how to bring Mashiach: everything you ever wanted to know about the end days.  Click here to listen

and

A new site for B'nei Noach: The Seven Universal Laws for all Humanity :

The world's existence is preserved through three things: Torah study, Prayer and Kind Deeds. For society to flourish mankind as a whole must come to appreciate the importance of Truth, Justice and Peace, and conduct itself accordingly. Within the great Family of Man, each individual has his or her path within a path. Yet there is ONE Universal ethical basis for us all.

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