Why is our generation worthy of Moshiach?

The answer can be found in the Haggadah, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe explains:


''I am like a man of seventy years old.'' - Rabbi Eleazar ben Azaryah [Haggadah; Berachot 12b]

The Gemara [Berachot 28a] explains that, in fact, R. Eleazar ben Azaryah was much younger, but eighteen rows of his hair turned white and he looked like an old man. [Rabbi Eleazar's hair turned white on the day he was appointed Nassi [head of the Sanhedrin] so that he would look older and evoke the respect due to his high office. According to the version in Berachot 28a, he was only eighteen years old on that day, while according to Yerushalmi Berachot 4:1 he was only sixteen.]  The phrase ''like a man of seventy years old'' is therefore only an analogy.

This interpretation, however, renders the continuation of the passuk ''yet I did not succeed in proving...'' - rather difficult to understand. The apparent contradiction of the phrase ''yet I did not succeed'' is not only in view of R. Eleazar's scholarship but also in view of his being advanced in years. He was like a man of seventy years old and devoted a lot of time to the subject under discussion; thus he should have been able to convince his colleagues that his view was correct.  If, however, he merely looked like an old man, how could he have expected that his ruling should be followed?

There are no mere analogies in Torah.  All comparisons evolve from the nimshal [point to be made, or moral to be derived, from the comparison itself].  The analogy of appearing like an old man, therefore, is quite appropriate.  R. Eleazar was  a man of seventy years old, albeit in a spiritual sense.  Thus, it is said in Siddur Arizal that by adding all his years since the first incarnation of his soul, R. Eleazar was indeed seventy years old. [Other sources elaborate, on the authority of R. Isaac Luria, that R. Eleazar ben Azaryah was a reincarnation of the prophet Samuel: Samuel died at the age of 52 [see Seder Olam Rabba ch. 13, and the sources mentioned there in ed. Ratner]; combined with his 18 years when he was appointed Nassi [and when making the present statement], R. Eleazar therefore had the cumulative age of 70 years.]

Being an old man on the spiritual level, R. Eleazar questions why he should not have succeeded in having the ruling established according to his opinion.

The spiritual state of his ''old age'' had become bound up with Torah, as is evident from his expectation that the legal ruling represent his view.  Torah rules over and determines physical reality. [The Torah preceded creation and is both the ''blueprint'' for the creaton of the universe as well as the Divine ''instrument'' for creating it [Bereishis Rabba 1:1; Zohar II: 161a].  As such, the Torah rules over and determines physical reality.]  R. Eleazar's spiritual state, therefore, manifested itself in the physical reality of his appearance as a man of seventy years old - even on the most external level, i.e. the hairs which are merely subsidiary to the body.

The Yerushalmi thus comments on the verse [Psalms 57:3] ''To G-d who fulfills for me'', that the reality of the world is determined in accordance with the rulings of the Torah.

There is a lesson in this for every person's avodah [service], and when we are confronted by situations that seem to be too difficult to cope with, given our present abilities, we must derive strength from this lesson.

We must realize that most of the souls in our generation are not new souls, but have already been incarnated earlier. [Shaár HaGilgulim ch. 20, Sefer Halikkutim, and Likkutei Torah, of Arizal, Shemot, on Exodus 3:4]

It is possible that positive powers of earlier incarnations can now become tapped into and help us in our present avodah. This applies not only to matters relating to the ''internal faculties'' of intellect and emotions, but also to matters concerning the ''external faculties'' of thought, speech and deed [similar to hair], as well as our day-to-day lives. [See Sha'ar HaGilgulim ch.3 and end of ch.4]

Offhand one could conclude that if it is possible to bring into play the aspects of an earlier incarnation, this might also include the negative aspects [evil].  Besides, who can tell what his status was in a previous existence? And from where will one draw strength to battle the evil and to carry out one's avodah?

The answer lies in the fact that goodness is a reality possessed of permanence. When a Jew does a mitzvah it remains forever, as stated in Tanya [Ch. 25]: ''This union is eternal in the upper spheres...''  Evil, on the other hand, has no reality. It is merely a state of concealment of the good.  In a situation where one has already been subjected to a physical or spiritual punishment [which cleanses the blemish of sin] or one has done teshuvah, the evil is surely nullified. [see Igeres HaTeshuvah ch 1-2]  How much more so will this apply to teshuvah done out of a sense of love, which transforms intentional sins into virtues.

The fact that good is eternal is a reponse to those who ask ''How is it possible that nowadays we should merit the revelation of Moshiach when preceding generations did not merit it? Is our generation so deserving?''  The answer is that our present generation compounds all the goodness and virtue of earlier generations. [Our generation is obviously inferior to our predecessors. On the other hand, there is an ancient proverb, cited by R. Isaiah de Torani in this context, that later generations are like midgets compared to those that preceded them; nonetheless the midgets are in effect standing on the shoulders of the giants before them, and thus can see much further than the giants themselves.  So, too, we ourselves are no more than midgets, but we stand on the shoulders of the accumulated merits of the past and thus we can and shall merit and achieve things which somehow escaped our predecessors.]

That is why it is specifically now that we shall merit the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our very own days.

Source: Lubavitcher Rebbe, Likkutei Sichot Vayikra 

Europe: Islam & Leftists Propagating Hate for the Jews in Guise of "Anti-Zionism"

Europe's antisemitism has grown beyond the point of no return as the Left-wing media reports strictly from the larger islamic populations perspective.

The Kabbalah of the Three Matzot

by Rav DovBer Pinson

The Three Matzos: Their Outer and Inner Meanings

What is the simple halachic reason that we use three Matzos when leading a Seder? It is so we will have two whole, unbroken matzos over which to bless ha-motzi—as we do at every Shabbos and Yom Tov meal—as well as one matzah to break during the Seder.

The two loaves of Shabbos and Yom Tov commemorate the two whole portions of manna that miraculously appeared every Friday, allowing us to dedicate the day of Shabbos to being with Hashem, rather than to gathering the day’s food. The third matzah of the Seder is broken, symbolizing Lechem Oni, or the ‘bread of poverty’. [Devarim, 16:3] A poor person must ration his food, so he breaks his loaf and hides a portion to eat later.

The Rif [Tenth Century], and the Gra [Eighteenth Century] used only two matzos for the Seder. They held the opinion that we need only one whole unbroken matzah, and one matzah to break. The prevailing opinion today is to use three matzos, two whole matzos and one broken matzah.

Remez, the Hinted Reason for Three Matzos

The three matzos hint at the minimum three matzos that were offered in Temple times as a todah, a ‘thanksgiving offering’. This offering was made when a person was saved from danger or released from prison. On Pesach, we give thanks for the Exodus from Egypt, which was like being freed from prison. [Mordechai]

The three matzos also remind us of when Avraham/Abraham is visited by the angels and he calls to Sarah, “Hurry! Three measures of the finest flour! Knead it, and make ugos [round breads].”[Bereishis 18:6] The Midrash says this meal takes place on Pesach, and the ugos are matzos, made in a hurry so they do not become Chametz .

D’rash, the Expanded Reason for Three Matzos

The three matzos represent the three patriarchs—Avraham, Yitzchak/ Isaac and Yaakov/ Jacob.[Rokeach] They also represent the three categories of Jews—Cohein, Levi, and Yisrael. [Arizal]

When we are preparing for the Seder, we stack the matzos in this order: first the matzah representing Yisrael on the bottom, then Levi above it, and finally the Cohein on top. In this order, their acronym is YeiLeCh, meaning ‘going’ or journeying. The Seder is a process, a journey towards liberation. [The Rebbe Rayatz]

Sod, the Mystical Reason for Three Matzos

Our sages tell us, that, “A child does not know how to call ‘Father’ or ‘Mother’ until he tastes grain.” [Sanhedrein, 70b] This implies that the consumption of wheat is associated with our intellectual development. The Arizal, R. Yitzchak Luria, says that the three matzos symbolize the three forms of intellect: Chochma or ‘wisdom’, Binah or ‘understanding’, and Da’as or ‘awareness’.

The matzah on the bottom of the stack is the one that is combined with Maror [bitter herbs] to make Hillel’s sandwich. This matzah specifically embodies Da’as, a Sefirah that brings together opposites. Hillel’s sandwich brings together the intellect [matzah] and emotions [maror], or brings together redemption [matzah] and slavery [maror].

The middle matzah is broken into two pieces. This is an expression of Binah, whose function is breaking ideas down into fine details. The left brain. The larger of the two pieces is broken into five smaller pieces before it is hidden away as the afikoman. These five pieces represent the five levels of Gevurah, constriction, another ‘left-column’ sefirah, which is just below Binah on the Tree of Life.

The letter Hei

In terms of the sefiros, Binah is represented in the letter Hei, the fifth letter, and a letter that is comprised of two parts, [a right vertical line connected to a horizontal line above, and a left suspended line to the left] thus the middle Matzah is broken into two, and then further into five.

The top matzah is consumed together with the remaining piece of the middle matzah, in fulfillment of the mitzvah of ‘eating matzah’. Fulfilling a mitzvah is a manifestation of Chochmah, a higher intuition or faith in what is above and beyond us. Being that the top Matzah is connected with the letter Yud, a simple one point, the matzah is not broken.

In general, the numerical value of the word matzah is 135, which is the same as the combined values of the Divine names AV [72] and SaG [63]. Av is associated with the sefirah of Chochmah, and SaG is associated with the sefirah of Binah.

Three and Four

Now we have an understanding of why we use three matzos. Another question arises: why should there be three matzos when the main numerical theme of the Hagadah is ‘four’? What is the inner reason for three matzos but four cups of wine, and how can this inspire our Seder?

Our sages tell us [Shabbos, 104a] that the letters Gimmel and Dalet mean Gomel Dalim. The letter Gimel [in Hebrew, the number three] means gomel - ‘giver’ - and the letter Dalet [the number four] means dalim - ‘poor people’, i.e. recipients of the ‘giver’. Thus the relationship between three and four is one of giving and receiving.

This relationship can be understood through the following analogy. One person, ‘the giver’, is considering how to communicate a subtle spiritual insight to another person, ‘the receiver’. Before communication occurs, the insight has three metaphorical dimensions within the mind of the giver: omek or ‘depth’, orech or ‘length’, and rochev or ‘breadth’. ‘Depth’ refers to the giver’s understanding of deeper meaning of the insight. ‘Length’ refers to the giver’s ability to articulate the insight, taking it out of abstraction and giving it an understandable form. ‘Broadening’ means the giver’s ability to develop practical implications of the insight.

The receiver is ‘poor’ in terms of these three dimensions. However, when the giver finally communicates the insight, a fourth dimension is added to the three: relationship with the receiver. Thus, when ‘three’ is received, it becomes ‘four’. The giver’s insight now expands vertically and horizontally within the vessel of the receiver’s mind, and there is a unity between giver and receiver.

Our Redemption

In terms of our Exodus from Egypt, Hashem is the ‘giver’ and we, the redeemed ones, are the ‘receivers’. Eventually we reach a unity with Hashem, but first a relationship must be developed. In the beginning, as slaves, we are dependent, immature, and unable to receive. During the journey of redemption, we become ready to have a genuine relationship with our Redeemer.

We drink four cups of wine to represent the four expressions the Torah uses in reference to the Exodus: “I will take you out,” “I will save you,” “I will redeem you,” and “I will take you to Me.” The first three expressions are like the three dimensions of insight within the giver, and they imply ‘poverty’ on the part of the receiver, for there is not yet an active receptivity or relationship. The fourth term, “…take you to Me” implies a genuine relationship, a unity between the giver and the receiver. This is when communication finally occurs.

In the expression “I will take you to Me,” the term ‘take’, l’kicha, alludes to the ‘taking’ of a marriage partner.[Kidushin, 2a]  Hashem takes us to Himself in marriage when we reach Mount Sinai.  Prior to this, we are still eating the bread of poverty, working on our freedom, and opening ourselves. Under the Divine wedding canopy, we sip the wine of Hashem’s Torah, and we receive the full depth, length and breadth of His insight. In Hashem’s embrace, we transcend intellect, and we are fully redeemed.

In Summary

The three matzos, as the ‘bread of poverty’, are flat and relatively tasteless—representing the receiver in an empty, passive, open state. Therefore, the first three expressions of redemption, in which the receiver is passive, correspond to the three matzos. They also correspond to the three levels of intellect, Chochma, Binah and Da’as, before they are touched and ignited by Divine love.

Wine, in contrast to matzah, is full of taste, color and passion, representing the receiver engaged in a loving relationship. The four cups of wine thus represent the fourth expression of redemption, when we, the receivers, are mature enough to enter into intimate communication with Hashem. When our three intellectual sefiros are then ignited, we transcend intellect. We unite ‘three’ and ‘four’. This is the end goal of our redemption, and these are the energies we activate at the Seder, as we eat the three matzos and drink the four cups of wine.

With blessings for a redemptive Pesach

Rav DovBer Pinson

Source: THE IYYUN HAGGADAH - A Haggadah Companion

In this beautifully written companion to Passover and the Haggadah, Rav DovBer Pinson guides us through the major themes of Passover and the Seder night.

What is the big deal of Chametz vs. Matzah?

What are we trying to achieve through conducting a Seder?

What are the 15 steps of the Seder towards freedom?

What's with all that stuff on the Seder Plate, what do they represent?

The Four Cups of Wine and the Four Stages of Freedom

And most importantly, how is this all related to freedom?

Click here to Purchase as a Soft Cover book

Israel: Avian Flu: 20,000 Turkeys to be culled

Discovery at Moshav Zavdiel is third case in recent weeks

The Agriculture Ministry plans to slaughter 20,000 turkeys from the same coop after avian flu was discovered there.

The coop, on Moshav Zavdiel, near Lachish in the lower Judean plain, is the third farming community discovered in Israel in recent weeks with an avian flu outbreak.

Source and more: Times of Israel

Tehillim

Please say tehillim for [Bryan] AHARON BEN LEAH - the 17 year old victim of the cold blooded shooting attack on Ozar HaTorah in Toulouse, who has relapsed and is again in a coma. Davening Tehillim [Psalms] 121 in his zechut [merit] is requested.

Obama: The Not-So-Smooth Operator

Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest.

by Peggy Noonan  Wall St Journal

Something's happening to President Obama's relationship with those who are inclined not to like his policies. They are now inclined not to like him. His supporters would say, "Nothing new there," but actually I think there is. I'm referring to the broad, stable, nonradical, non-birther right. Among them the level of dislike for the president has ratcheted up sharply the past few months.

It's not due to the election, and it's not because the Republican candidates are so compelling and making such brilliant cases against him. That, actually, isn't happening.

What is happening is that the president is coming across more and more as a trimmer, as an operator who's not operating in good faith. This is hardening positions and leading to increased political bitterness. And it's his fault, too. As an increase in polarization is a bad thing, it's a big fault.

The shift started on Jan. 20, with the mandate that agencies of the Catholic Church would have to provide birth-control services the church finds morally repugnant. The public reaction? "You're kidding me. That's not just bad judgment and a lack of civic tact, it's not even constitutional!" Faced with the blowback, the president offered a so-called accommodation that even its supporters recognized as devious. Not ill-advised, devious. Then his operatives flooded the airwaves with dishonest—not wrongheaded, dishonest—charges that those who defend the church's religious liberties are trying to take away your contraceptives.

What a sour taste this all left. How shocking it was, including for those in the church who'd been in touch with the administration and were murmuring about having been misled.

Events of just the past 10 days have contributed to the shift. There was the open-mic conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in which Mr. Obama pleaded for "space" and said he will have "more flexibility" in his negotiations once the election is over and those pesky voters have done their thing. On tape it looked so bush-league, so faux-sophisticated. When he knew he'd been caught, the president tried to laugh it off by comically covering a mic in a following meeting. It was all so . . . creepy.

Next, a boy of 17 is shot and killed under disputed and unclear circumstances. The whole issue is racially charged, emotions are high, and the only memorable words from the president's response were, "If I had a son he'd look like Trayvon." At first it seemed OK—not great, but all right—but as the story continued and suddenly there were death threats and tweeted addresses and congressmen in hoodies, it seemed insufficient to the moment. At the end of the day, the public reaction seemed to be: "Hey buddy, we don't need you to personalize what is already too dramatic, it's not about you."

Source and more: Online.WallStJournal

Australia joins list of countries warning against Israeli strike on Iran

More and more Western countries are joining a growing list of countries who are applying heavy international pressure on Israel to prevent it from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. The latest voice is that of the new Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr.

Several days ago, Carr phoned his Israeli college Avigdor Lieberman. This was the first telephone call between the two. Aside from the niceties of the first formal phone call, Carr took advantage of the conversation in order to warn Lieberman that an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities will have serious consequences.

Carr revealed the contents of the conversation during an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “Our position is very clear – we counsel Israel against taking military action apart from any other consideration. It is not in the interest of Israel - I said that to the Israeli Foreign Minister when I spoke to him last week,” Carr said. Despite insisting he was concerned over an Israeli strike, Carr said a military operation was still only a “hypothetical solution.”

Source and more: Haaretz

The World of Tikkun

Among the chassidim of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi was a learned and wealthy man. An accomplished Torah scholar and chassidic thinker, he served the Almighty devotedly and gave generously to charity. In his younger years, this chassid had been a distinguished student in Rabbi Schneur Zalman's first cheder.

But then it came to pass that this chassid lost his entire fortune, and went heavily into debt. Furthermore, he had several poorer relations for whom he had promised to provide dowries and wedding expenses. Their wedding dates were approaching and he saw no way in which he could make good on his promises. Marriage arrangements had already been made for two of his own daughters and even here, he would be unable to meet his obligations.

He came to see Rabbi Schneur Zalman and poured out his heart, weeping with deep, genuine pain. "If G-d has chosen to afflict me with poverty", he said, "I accept the Divine judgment. But how can I be reconciled with the fact that I cannot repay my debts? That I am unable to keep my word concerning the marriages of my relations and daughters? I had made these promises when I still had the means and thus, according to the Torah, I was fully justified in making them. But if I fail to keep my word, it will be a terrible chillul Hashem."

"Why", wept the chassid, "is the Almighty punishing me so severely, by causing me to commit the terrible sin of desecrating His holy name? I beg you, Rebbe, please intercede on my behalf to arouse the Heavenly mercy upon me, that I be able to meet my obligations. Aside from this, I accept all that has been decreed. I must give for my relatives what I have promised! I must give for my daughters what I have promised!"

Rabbi Schneur Zalman sat with his head in his arms in a deep state of d'veikus [meditative attachment to G-d]. In this manner he listened to the chassid's tearful pleas. After a long while, Rabbi Schneur Zalman lifted his head and said with great feeling: "You speak of all that you need. But you say nothing of what you are needed for...."

Rabbi Schneur Zalman's words pierced the innermost point of the chassid's heart and he fell, full length, in a dead faint. The Rebbe's servant, Reb Zalman, who stood in the doorway, called to two chassidim who were in the Rebbe's anteroom. Together they carried the chassid out of the Rebbe's room, poured water over him, and finally managed to revive him.

When the chassid opened his eyes, he said nothing to anyone. He simply applied himself to the study of Torah and the service of prayer with renewed life and with such devotion and diligence that he forgot all else. Although he spoke to no-one and fasted every day, he was in a perpetual state of joy.

On the second Shabbos of the chassid's stay, the Rebbe spoke on the subject of tohu and tikkun. Tohu [chaos] is an earlier stage and order of creation in which the flow of G-d's involvement and presence was so intense that the created reality was unable to receive and digest it. The definitions of existence simply melted down before this overwhelming dose of G-dliness. In the terminology of the kabbalah, it was an existence of "much light and scant containers".

Then G-d created our present existence, the world of tikkun [correction]. Here the opposite is true - we live in a world of "broad containers and little light". Our world is indeed a most formidable "container" which holds its own before the Divine light. It is a world which defines, limits and screens the infinite emanations from its Creator. But as a result, ours is a dark world, a world which conceals, shrouds and distorts the reality of G-d.

The purpose of life, said Rabbi Schneur Zalman, is to bring together the best of both worlds - to fill the broad containers of tikkun with the immense light of tohu. This is achieved by serving the Almighty through one's involvement in the world. In the words of the prophet Isaiah "He did not create it for chaos, He formed it that it be settled" [Isaiah 45:18]

On the following Monday, Rabbi Schneur Zalman summoned the once-wealthy chassid, blessed him with success, and told him to return to his home and business. In time, the chassid regained his wealth, made good on his debts and promises, married off his daughters, and resumed his philanthropy on an even more generous level than before.

Source: "Once Upon A Chassid"