Rabbi Yuval Ovadia on "Planet X"

This is a re-posting from 2018.  Thank you Sherry for bringing it to my attention.  I think it is very relevant right now.  There's a lot more to come on this topic but for now, this is all I can manage.

The shiur includes the following information:

• Sources from the Torah and the Zohar
• This Star was seen in the war of Devorah and Sisera and will also be seen at the End of Days
• Which Rabbis have spoken about it, and why some Rabbis say it is nonsense
• The deliberate fake news and dates given on the internet purely to confuse people and cause them to think that it is not real, when it is in fact very real -  for example Obama Warns Americans
• It is not going to destroy the world
• Isaiah prophecies that those who try to escape by going into bunkers will just fall into another trap - they cannot run from Hashem 
• Rainbows, climate change, earthquakes, volcanoes, extreme weather
• How Gog u Magog will play out
• The government of Israel will stop functioning at the same time that Moshiach will be revealed
• The war against Moshiach ben David
• What kind of person Moshiach will be
• Nibiru is just a messenger of Hashem, we must do teshuvah [repent] - the effects of Nibiru are in our hands
• Moshiach is definitely coming soon and He will take the world into the new spiritual phase. 

Restoring Evil to Its Holy Source

"He forgives sins.... " [Ki Tisa 34:7]

The word for "forgive" here literally means "carry" or "lift". Based on this, the Baal Shem Tov taught that G-d elevates the sparks of holiness in the sin, for nothing - not even a sin - could exist unless it contained a spark of holiness. G-d returns them to their source. This is the essence of forgiveness.

Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi explained this idea as follows: It is indeed impossible to elevate a sinful act; such an act is evil, and the only proper treatment for it is to denounce it. 

In contrast, the power of desire vested in the act is not evil, for it is possible to utilize this power to desire good as well as evil. When we repent properly, we divest our power of desire of its veneer of evil and restore it to its holy source.

from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Adapted by Moshe-Yaakov Wisnefsky

Purim 5783

Chag sameach everyone.  Sorry for the lack of posts, I haven't been feeling great lately, I think it is part of the suffering we all have to go through.

If you can't do much for Purim, at least give some tzadaka.  This can be done easily over the internet.  I know some people are homebound and may not even be able to hear the Megillah being read "live" and in person, unless they are fortunate enough to have someone come to their house and read it.

It seems a long time ago that I looked at a photo of a strange "planet" [moon?], seemingly covered in holes.  That same  planet is back again and starring in it's own cameo on the FAA Advisory camera.  It's part of the "Nibiru" system, and when I find out its name [someone has given them all names] I'll let you know.  

Why We Have Purim and Shushan Purim

 New shiur from Rabbi Mendel Kessin

Amalek and the Spiritual Essence of Purim

 New shiur from Rabbi Mendel Kessin

The Three Keys

"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

The Yanuka: "For My Sake The World Was Created"

5 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles.

If the English subtitles do not appear, run your mouse over and click on the Cog in the bottom right hand corner of the video, click on Subtitles and the click on English.

Who Will Build the Final Beit HaMikdash?

 Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz