The Source of Sickness and Disease [videos]

Parts 1, 2 and 3 - from Rabbi Alon Anava

 

''The More They Torture You - The More You Grow''

Rabbi Mizrachi: Parshat Shemot and Current Events
For the Gog & Magog watchers: @ around 24 minutes he talks about the latest developments.

HT: Neshama

 

Hillary Rodham Clinton

by Joel Gallis a''h and Dr Robert Wolf

''A Time Of Terrible Distress'' [originally published July 2009]

When Hillary Rodham Clinton lost the Democratic Nomination for President to Barack Hussein Obama, many thought that she would disappear from the world stage for years. But her name in Hebrew hinted that something different would happen. Our attention was gained by her unique name expressed in Hebrew letters. Never before did we see the following occur in anyone's name:

Hillary הילרי, Rodham רודהם, and Clinton קלינטון each have a gematria of 255. Imagine that a person's first name, middle name and last name all have the same exact value! When the value of the entire name is calculated, the total gematria is 765 [255x3], the same value as עת צרה [Time of terrible distress]. This finding indicated that Hillary would not disappear into the sunset so quickly. She would be (as she has become) an influential voice reprimanding the State of Israel.

The term עת צרה comes from the Book of Daniel [12:1] which describes the time when Michael, the guardian angel of Israel, will stand in defense of his people at this time of catastrophe. The atbash gematria of עת צרה is 106, the same value as the letter נ nun, spelled out נון.

No verse in the Ashrei prayer [Psalm 145] begins with the letter נ nun. There are 21 verses in this psalm and each verse (in order) begins with the remaining 21 letters of the Hebrew aleph bet. This is because in the verse that speaks of G-d supporting the fallen, the letter נ can be taken as an allusion to the word נפילה, Israel's future downfall, G-d forbid. King David refused to use a letter to begin a verse that could suggest such tragedy. But knowing that downfalls must take place as they have throughout our history, King David comforted Israel with the verse that begins with the letter ס samech [the letter that follows the nun in the Hebrew alphabet]. The full verse beginning with the samech states "Hashem supports all the fallen ones and straightens all those who are bent." With this verse, King David made a guarantee to the Jewish People that even when a dreaded downfall occurs, the people can count on Hashem's support.

Today, the leader of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahou בּנימין נתניהו, has not one, but four nuns in his name, representing the four exiles of the Jewish People. We have gone from one exile to another, falling down and then being lifted up by Hashem. We kept falling into galus because we would not learn from our mistakes and make adjustments in our lives. The purpose of falling is to arise and lift ourselves to a higher level, not to the same plane. When G-d tests us in our personal lives and we fall down through illness, financial setbacks or personal tragedy, we must pull ourselves not only back to where we were before the fall, but to greater heights.

The letter נ is the 14th letter in the aleph bet. This is the gematria of דוד [David] whose descendant will shortly be sent by G-d to redeem us. May we all dance with joy when that wonderful moment arises.

Rabbi Mizrachi Responds

I'm not going to link to all the articles, but in the past week or so, Rabbi Mizrachi has been accused of saying various offensive things.  The accusations were distortions of his words and taken out completely of context. Here he responds to those who have publicly attacked him. Comments are disabled, as I do not want to start another debate here.

 

The Alter Rebbe, Sarah and Esther

Adapted from the works of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson 

Source: Chabad.org

The 24th of Tevet marks the anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad. On this day, it is customary to gather for farbrengens, informal chassidic gatherings where Torah thoughts, inspiration and stirring melodies are shared around a festive table.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson—who was a direct descendant of Rabbi Schneur Zalman—wrote extensively about the greatness of his illustrious ancestor and pointed out how the details of various aspects of his life were in tune with the teachings of the Kabbalah. While the full teaching is beyond the scope of this article, let’s focus on Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s understanding of the name Schneur Zalman.

The name Schneur (שניאור) contains within it two Hebrew words, שני (two) and אור (light): “two lights.” This is a most appropriate name for a man whose life mission was to teach others the two illuminations of the Torah: the revealed portion of Torah, which is embodied in his Code of Jewish Law; and the hidden Kabbalah, which he espoused in his many chassidic teachings.

Taking it a step further, אור (light) has the numeric value of 207. Adding together “two lights” (207+207) brings us to a total of 414, the numerical value of ואהבת (“and you shall love”).

Indeed, Rabbi Schneur Zalman devoted his life to helping people live the values of “And you shall love the L‑rd your G‑d” and “And you shall love your fellow like yourself,” as well as a love for the Torah and a love for the Land of Israel, which he actively supported through the Colel Chabad charity he led.

Curiously, Abraham our forefather was also associated with these same qualities of love and light. Isaiah refers to him as “Abraham, my lover,” and the Midrash tells us how he brought light to the world, saying, “Until Abraham, the world functioned in darkness—Abraham came and began to shed light.”

If the two lights of Schneur are associated with Abraham, then the name Zalman must connect with Sarah, his wife.

Sarah is the only woman in the entire Torah whose age is recorded: 127 years, a number the Kabbalists explain denotes perfection and achievement. And you guessed it: Zalman (זלמן) has the numerical value of 127.

Now, the 127 years of Sarah’s life were not all identical. There were the first 90 years before G‑d blessed her with a child, and then there were the last 37 years, when she raised her son Isaac, fulfilling her essential role as a mother of our people.

The name Zalman (זלמן) can be divided neatly into these two halves: זל=37, and מן=90.

One last facet:

The 127 years of Sarah came into play a thousand years later, when Ahasuerus, who eventually married Esther, ruled over 127 countries. Why 127? The Midrash fills us in:

Why did Esther merit to rule over 127 countries? Said G‑d: “Let Esther, the descendant of Sarah who lived 127 years, come and rule over 127 lands.'' [Esther Rabbah 1:8]

Concerning Esther, the Megillah tells us that she was taken to the king’s palace to be queen in the month of Tevet. Quite appropriately, Rabbi Schneur Zalman (whose connection to Esther is expressed in the number 127) was taken to G‑d’s supernal palace on the 24th of Tevet.

Where's David from Georgia?

Miraculous events are common at the Ohel of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.  This one occurred last week.

A small crowd filled the entrance room of Ohel Chabad Lubavitch Center in Cambria Heights, Queens, on Motzoei Shabbos Shemos 5776 to watch videos of the Lubavitcher Rebbe that play in a constant loop.

Shown on the large screen was a farbrengen held on 10 Shevat 5732 in the main shul at Lubavitch Headquarters - 770 Eastern Parkway, and celebrating the anniversary of the Rebbe accepting the leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

In the video, in between delivering "sichos," the Rebbe was searching for someone.

Sitting and watching the clip were David Weisshaar of Atlanta, Georgia, and his fiancee Leah Ganz of Woodmere, New York, who came to pray before their wedding. He is a real estate broker in Atlanta and she works for the Orthodox Union (OU).

"We got engaged on December 13 and people have been encouraging me to go to the Rebbe and ask for his blessing," Weisshaar told COLlive.com in a phone conversation from New York on Sunday.

Weisshaar, 44, has grown close to Chassidus with the guidance of Shliach Rabbi Shmuel Posner of the Chabad House of Boston, MA. He later studied in the Yeshivos Ohr Temimim in Kfar Chabad, Tiferes Bachurim in New York and Ufaratzta in Katamon, Jerusalem.

So when he came to the Five Towns last week to visit his fiancee, he offered her to go with him to the Rebbe's holy gravesite at the Old Montefiore cemetery in Queens after Shabbos.

Upon arriving there, Weisshaar commented to Ganz that "everything here is Hashgacha protis - Divine Providence." The two, accompanied by a friend, wrote a personal 'pan' request, as customary, and walked into the Ohel to pray.

Sipping a warm drink, the two sat down in the "house" adjacent to the cemetery to draw further inspiration from watching a video of the Rebbe from the vast archive footage of JEM [Jewish Educational Media].

"The Rebbe was between talks and had a big bag of mail in front of him," Weisshaar told COLlive.com. "Then, all of a sudden, the Rebbe asked, 'is there a Jew here from Georgia?' I turned to Leah and asked if she saw that as well.

"Then the Rebbe spoke again and said, 'where's David from Georgia?' That is when I jumped up out of my seat. I said, 'wow! This is kind of wild!' I realized the Rebbe wasn't only looking for a Jew from Georgia, he's looking for 'David from Georgia!'"

"We noticed that it took a while for the people in 770 to find this David," Weisshaar related. When the Jew from the former Soviet country is finally found, the Rebbe instructs him to sing.

The person, who was a diamond dealer and an immigrant living in Kiryat Malachi, Israel, began singing a Georgian Jewish melody.

And the words? The blessing for a bride and groom traditionally sung at weddings: "kol sason v'kol simcha, kol chatan v'kol kallah..."

Weisshaar says he turned to some bochurim standing nearby and told them that his first name is David and that he lives in the state of Georgia as well, and that he came at this late hour to request a blessing for their wedding.

The friend that came with Weisshaar and Ganz even commented that David also resembles David from the video. Bochurim present were moved by the story and helped Weisshaar purchase the Farbrengen DVD from 10 Shevat 5732.

"I already knew this (engagement) was a solid thing and I was sure we had the Rebbe's bracha," Weisshaar said. "But this was like the icing on the cake. It was kind of crazy to see it on the screen."

The couple set their wedding date to Thursday, 24 Adar II, 5776 in Brooklyn, NY. Mazel Tov!

Source and more photos at: COLLive

A Miracle Within a Miracle

''There was hail and fire flaming amid the hail'' [Va'eira 9:24]

The Midrash states that the Plague of Hail was a miracle within a miracle: the hail did not extinguish the fire and the fire did not melt the hail.  Rather, both elements joined forces in smiting the Egyptians.

R' Acha compared this to a king who had two very powerful legions of soldiers. To find greater favor in the king's eyes, each legion tried out-doing the other when they went out to war. The competition between the two legions escalated to the point that they hated one another.

This hatred continued for some time until a major war threatened to break out in the king's land. The king summoned both legions to appear before him, and he told them the following:

''I know'' said the king, ''that you are both very powerful and dedicated to my service. I usually send only one of you at a time to the battlefront. But now a major war looms on the horizon, and I need assistance from both of you. But what shall I do about your mutual hatred? You must make peace between yourselves and go out to war united. Then we will be victorious!''

So it was with the Plague of Hail. Hail and fire cannot co-exist because the nature of fire is to melt hail and the nature of hail is to extinguish fire. But in this instance, Hashem made peace between them and together they struck at the Egyptians.

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

Shana Tova on the New Year

Photo: Daily Mail

A story is told, about the Lubavitcher Rebbe, how one year on the 1st of January he wished someone a "Happy New Year". Seeing the surprised reaction to this open acknowledgment of this secular juncture, the Rebbe went on and quoted a verse in Tehillim [Psalms 87], where King David writes how "G-d takes into account the demarcations of time of all the nations of the world".

As Jews we don't ignore New Year, we acknowledge the world around us.

The Apta Ruv – The Oheiv Yisrael - used to bless people on the secular New Year’s “From now on, there should be a good year for Klal Yisrael” 

It is said that The Ropshitzer Ruv, used to wish people a happy new year’s in Polish “Szczęśliwego nowego roku” on the secular new year.

See more at : The Rare Minhag of Wishing ''Shana Tova'' on New Years