The Bride's Debt

It once happened in Safed, that a disciple of the Holy Ari had to go on a long journey. Before departing, he came to his teacher for a letter of recommendation. The Ari wrote it for him, then blessed him and said "May G-d be with you, and may you go in peace".

The disciple then asked "Master, can you tell me anything about what will happen when I get there?"

"You will marry a beautiful woman" the Ari replied. "And she is your destined soulmate for this life. But after you have been happily married for only six months, she will suddenly die. And here is the reason: In another incarnation, this woman was a man, and you were also a man then. He was your dearest friend, but he also caused you some legal trouble for six months. Finally, he brought a lawsuit against you in the civil courts, which caused you to lose 600 gold coins, even though you were innocent of his charges.

"Now" continued the Ari, "this friend from another life is once again reincarnated - as the woman you will marry on your journey. His soul has come to make atonement for his sins against you. For the six months of trouble that he caused in that life, you will have six months of happiness in this life. The inheritance you will receive when she dies is to repay you for the 600 gold pieces you lost in the past life. But even though you know this, you should be kind and patient to this woman, and grant her forgiveness for the trouble she caused you in the previous life."

And everything happened exactly as the Holy Ari said it would.

[Shivchei Ha-Ari, 16th century]

5 Av - Yarzheit The Arizal

The Arizal [1534-1572] - Rabbi Isaac Luria was the most famous Kabbalist in the city of Safed, Israel who became known as the "Arizal" or ARI, an acronym for “The G-dly Rabbi Isaac of Blessed Memory.”

The Arizal passed away at the age of 38, and it was only during the last two years of his life that he met his foremost disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital. The Arizal himself never wrote any books, however all his words were faithfully recorded by Rabbi Chaim Vital in what is known as Kitvei Ari, the “writings of the Arizal.” The Kitvei Ari is the key to the secrets of the Zohar, and it was the Arizal who formulated the Kabbalah into a comprehensive system. Rabbi Chaim Vital writes in the name of the Arizal that, “It is a Mitzvah to reveal this wisdom.” Until the time of the Arizal, knowledge of Kabbalah was not known outside of the tightly knit circle of the tzaddikim.

14 Facts about the Arizal every Jew should know

Israel Braces for Attack

12 min video

Rabbi Lazer Brody's Emunah News analysis shows where the current conflict is rooted in history and how it repeats itself today. Strategy and military defense are only a small determining factor in the outcome of the war. The political and military leadership of Israel are so far clueless to the spiritual efforts the country should be making, especially in light of the Nine Days that lead up to Tisha B'Av. Here's what we must do. 

Moshiach 18 - Armageddon 2024-2025

Ari Goldwag

The Final Redemption

"The Final Redemption" is here.

R’ Doniel Stochel introduces a brand new website about all the secrets of the imminent redemption from Yaakov’s Vayechi Torah Matrix and his book entitled “Until the hour of the Final Redemption”. 

Read through the few pages of the website: The Final Redemption …then - watch the “introduction video” so you’ll understand what it is all about…then and only then watch the revelatory Matrix #1-22 Windows in Vayechi to see the Nevuah (Prophecy) of Yaakov our father, just as he promised to reveal it all to us, his children, now at the very last Days before Mashiach Ben Yoseph rises up and versus the entire world. 

The Steps of Man

Art Lowell Herrero

Ilui Nishmas Malka Tcharna bas Yitchak Izac

A person who believes in Divine Providence knows that ''the steps of a man are made firm by G-d''. [Tehillim 37:23]

A person goes to a particular place because his soul must refine and perfect something there.  

For hundreds of years, or even from the very beginning of creation, the object that must be refined or rectified waits for that soul to come and do that task.

Similarly, this soul itself, from the moment of its emanation and creation, awaits the time that it will descend [to the physical world] to refine and perfect that which has been assigned to it.

Source: HaYom Yom - Lubavitcher Rebbe

The Divine Punishment of America and It's Salvation at the End of Time

Rabbi Mendel Kessin

Journeys

Written by Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

"These are the journeys of the Children of Israel" [Masei 33:1]

אֵלֶּה מַסְעֵי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

This verse alludes to the four exiles that the Jewish nation would endure:

אֵלֶּה - Eileh - Edom [Rome]

מַסְעֵי - Masei - Madai and Paras [Medes and Persia]

בְנֵי - Bnei - Bavel [Babylonia]

יִשְׂרָאֵל - Yisrael - Yavan [Greece]

Why, asks Rashi, was it necessary to enumerate all of the different journeys?

To answer this question, Rashi quotes the words of the Midrash Tanchuma: "This can be compared to the case of a king whose son was ill and he took him to a distant place to cure him. Once they started back, his father began to enumerate all the stages [of their journey] saying to [his son]: "Here we slept. Here we felt cold. Here you had a headache, etc."

What is the nimshal [the application] of this parable? asked the Imrei Emes [R' Avraham Mordechai of Gur]. Is the Torah merely telling us that the Jews rested or cooled themselves in these places? Isn't it obvious that they had to do these things? What, then, is the Midrash coming to teach us by listing the places where they slept or felt cold?

These verses and Chazal's parable, answered the Rebbe, have deep meaning and contain hidden admonishments.

"Here we slept" - this is an allusion to the time of the Giving of the Torah. For on that monumental morning when the Torah was to be given, the Jewish nation overslept.

"Here we felt cold" - this alludes to when Amalek "cooled down" the Jewish nation's enthusiasm for serving Hashem, as the verse states "That he happened [karcha, "made you cold"] upon you on the way" [Devarim 25:18]

"Here you had a headache [chashasta es roshecha]" - this is an allusion to the sin of the Golden Calf, when the Jewish people had uncertainties [chashashos] regarding the whereabouts of their leader [rosh] Moshe Rabbeinu.

This is why, concluded the Rebbe, the Torah specified each journey, in order that the Jewish nation should remember what transpired at each place and repent wholeheartedly.