Look on the Bright Side

HT: Commenter at Absolute Truth

The ''Flame''

Disclaimer: This is speculation.

HT: Dov bar Leib


We already saw the star on the East swallowing the seven stars on the North [see this post]

when a star on the East side will swallow seven stars on the North side, and a flame of black fire will be hanging in the firmament 60 days..... [Zohar]

And now we have something called the "Flame Virus'' [a hint?]

Exactly 60 days before Tisha B'Av. The Flame virus is now being called the most dangerous malware virus ever created, as revealed today by Russian sources:

A massive, data-slurping cyberweapon is circulating in the Middle East, and computers in Iran appear to have been particularly affected, according to a Russian Internet security firm. Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab ZAO said the "Flame" virus was unprecedented both in terms of its size and complexity, possessing the ability to turn infected computers into all-purpose spying machines that can even suck information out of nearby cell phones.

Source: Flame Computer Virus Strikes Middle East, Speculation Continues
 Also see: Telegraph

Hidden Secrets in Torah

Extracted from ''Letters of Fire'' by Rabbi M. Glazerson

The Torah has a revealed [nigleh] and a hidden [nistar] aspect.  One who looks at it in a superficial manner deals only with the revealed aspect.  However, if one deeply contemplates the Divinely-given Torah, one begins to discover the secrets hidden beneath the revealed aspect.

The root  סכה can mean either ''to cover'' or ''to see''.  In his works Kad Ha-Kemach and Sidduro shel Shabbat, Rabbeinu Bachyei mentions the dual meaning of the root  סכה, and relates it to a verse in Mishlei:  ''An utterance spoken in the right context is like golden apples in silver coverings''.  The word for coverings is maskiot, which comes from the root שׁכה.  Since the letters שׁ and ס are interchangeable this root is equivalent to סכה.  The silver coverings, says Rabbeinu Bachyei, have small holes in them, through which one can see סכה the golden apples within.

The ''golden apples'' within the coverings symbolize the secrets of the Torah, while the ''silver coverings'' symbolize the revealed aspect.  Only by means of the ''coverings'' - the revealed Torah - can man glimpse the ''golden apples'' within; for the secrets of the Torah are deeper than the ocean and wider than all the world, and man's intellect would not be able to grasp them at all without the aid of the revealed Torah.

Thus the covering - סכה - is what makes the seeing - סכה - possible.  Similarly, the משׁל mashal [fable or simile] or סמל [semel - symbol] is like a שׂמלה [simlah - garment].  On the one hand, it covers the inner content, but on the other hand it enables one to view and understand it.

If a person is lazy and does not exert himself in his studies, he will not see the inner meaning and will be left only with the outer ''covering'' - סכה.   His Torah study will be full of unresolved questions and apparent contradictions.  But one who labors indefatigably will discern - סכה - the truth hidden within the Torah.  Labor [עמל - amal] leads to revelation of the inner secrets of both the person who studies and of the Torah which is studied.  Thus, the letters following עמל in the alphabet are  פנם [penim ''inner''].

פ follows ע

נ follows מ

ם follows ל

The Torah's outer cover, its revealed meaning, enables one to see its inner light.  This may be compared to tinted glasses which are necessary in order to gaze at the sun.

The Last Revelation

There is a tradition that King David passed away on Shavuos: in the year 2924 [837 BCE].  Read more here: The Shepherd Who Became King

The Baal Shem Tov also left this world on Shavuos:

On the day of his passing from the world [the first day of Shavuos], the Baal Shem Tov was in his bed surrounded by his closest chassidim. Only Reb Hershelah Tzvi, the Baal Shem Tov's only son, was absent.

The chassidim warily asked, "Rebbe, don't you want to give your son a few last instructions?"

The Baal Shem Tom answered with a sigh, "How can I? He is still sleeping."

A few Chassidim rushed out to wake Reb Hershelah. "Reb Hershelah, quick, wake up, your father the Rebbe is getting ready to leave the world."

"Oh no," answered Reb Hershelah with a shock, "that's impossible! I don't believe my father is passing on to the next world."

"Reb Hershelah," they said with a solemn voice, "the Rebbe said that he will leave the world today."

Reb Hershelah quickly dressed and rushed to his father's room. When he arrived at his father's side, Reb Hershelah started weeping, "Father, father, please don't leave us."

The Baal Shem Tov reached out and held his son's hand. "My dear son, I'm going to depart from this world. One thing I want you to know is that you have a very holy soul. When your mother and I conceived you, the very Heavens shook. At that time, I had the power to bring any soul I chose, even that of Adam HaRishon [the first man]. But I selected your soul because it was very holy and possessed all that you will need."

"Please father, tell me something before you depart," begged Reb Hershelah. So the Baal Shem Tov started to speak to his son, but his voice was barely audible.

"Father, I can't understand what you are trying to tell me," said Reb Hershelah in a distraught voice.

The Baal Shem Tov gathered his strength and spoke louder, "My dearest son, there is nothing that I can do now. Just listen and remember this Name." Then the Baal Shem Tov motioned to his son to come closer. Reb Hershelah bent down very near to his father and the Baal Shem Tov whispered the Name to him. Then he said, "Whenever you concentrate on this Name, I will come and study with you."

Reb Hershelah spoke, "But what if I forget the Name?"

"Come close to me again," said the Baal Shem Tov, "and I'll tell you a way of remembering the Name."

After the Baal Shem Tov whispered the way to remember to Reb Hershelah, he closed his eyes and his soul ascended.

And to this day, no one knows the Name or how to remember the Name.

And so it was.

Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane Cohn from a story in SHIVCHEI HABAAL SHEM TOV and translated in IN PRAISE OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV by Mintz and Ben Amos.

No Common Ground

Two people in Vilna had an argument that required a Din Torah. The agreed to choose the Dayanim through Borerus, where each one chose one Dayan and the two Dayanim would choose the third. One side chose the Vilna Gaon. The other side chose someone who wasn't a Ben Torah and the Vilna Gaon said he would not hear the case together with this other Dayan. He said that the Daas of a Ba'al HaBayis is completely different from Daas Torah and they would never see things eye to eye. 

When the Vilna Gaon was asked where his basis for this was in the Torah, he said that it can be found in Parshas Bamidbar. When discussing the encampment of the Shevatim, the Torah says each Degel had three Shevatim under it. By the last Shevet in each group the pasuk say's "U'Mateh," and the Shevet... By Zevulun who was last in the Degel of Yehuda, right after Yisachar, it says [Bamidbar 2:7] "Mateh," without the letter "Vav".

The Vilna Gaon explains that the letter Vav connects what is written previously with what the Torah is saying now. Since Yisachar learned Torah, and Zevulun were the businessmen, their outlook was always different and there was no common ground between the two. Therefore, the connecting "Vav" was left out.

Source: Revach.net

Nevua: An Out of Body Experience

Shavuos: How Could the Bnei Yisroel Oversleep The Day of Matan Torah?

Our Minhag is to stay up all Shavuos night in order to make sure we don't oversleep on the morning of Kabalas HaTorah. Chazal tell us that on the morning of Matan Torah the Bnei Yisroel were sleeping and Moshe Rabbeinu had to wake them up and bring them to Kabalas HaTorah. How could this be? Weren't they up preparing all night for this unprecedented historic event?

Reb Chaim Yaakov Safran, the Komarna Rebbe, in the Hakdama to the Chumash Heichal HaBracha, answers as follows. 

The Rambam says that there are many levels of Nevuah [prophesy]. Typically, it is an out of body experience where the Navi's neshama reaches such a high level that it leaves his body, which remains in a trance, while the neshama receives the nevuah. The Rambam calls this "sheina", sleep. In order to prepare to hear Hashem's words at Har Sinai the Bnei Yisroel brought themselves to this state of "sheina". 

On the other hand, Moshe Rabbeinu who had purified his soul and body to a state of perfection, was the only Navi in history that was able to receive nevuah in a perfectly conscious state. This is called "Aspaklariya HaMeira".

This explains the midrash. Bnei Yisroel went to "sleep" or "sheina" to enable themselves to hear Hashem's words. Until, that is, Moshe Rabbeinu woke them up. He brought them up to his level of Aspaklariya HaMeira in order for the Torah to be given to humans and not angels. At Har Sinai we heard, for the only time in history, Hashem speak while we were fully conscious.

Source: Revach.net

Shavuos: Torah, Tikkun, Segulas and More

Reb Boruch of Mezibuzh says that on Rosh Hashana we are judged on material matters, but on Shavuos we are judged on spiritual matters. [Botzina Dinehora] 

It says “ad mochoras haShabbos”, meaning that we have the whole sefira including the 50th day to teshuva and purify ourselves (the word “sapir” can mean purify). And if one can’t purify himself, even on the last day, then he has no choice but to attach himself to the Tzadik Emes, and he will lift him up and purify him. Through his attachment to the Tzadik Emes, he will be able to do teshuva. [Divrei Dovid] 

Read the post at: Shavuos - Torah, Tikun, Segulas and more

The Media and Chassidic Women

Chaya writes:  When you slam Orthodox Jews because you think you're defending or somehow liberating the women of our communities, you're actually doing us a huge disservice.

Hi. I'm Chaya, and I am a Chassidic Jewish woman. I am also a media professional with a degree in Women's Studies from a large, very liberal university (magna cum laude, baby!).

In the past few days, I've been reading the backlash against "the asifa," a recent mass meeting of religious Jewish men meant to draw a few boundaries around Internet use in our homes (meaning religious Jewish homes; not your house).

Whenever religious Jews make a stink about some cultural issue, the media moves in on it with a bizarre kind of vengeance. Like yesterday, Katie J.M. Baker published an article on Jezebel about the event, in which she actually compared Jewish men to ants!

See: "While men in traditional Orthodox garb filed into Citi Field as steadily as a never-ending line of ants approaching an anthill…" Um, where have I seen Jews compared to insects before? Oh, wait, WWII. 

 Continue reading at: What Women's Media Needs to Know about Chassidic Women

Why Tzadikim Atone for Us All

Regarding the Horrific tragedy in Northern Israel of the Atias family zt"l

Question: How can the death of a Tzaddik become a Kapparah [atonement]?
Answer by Rabbi Elchanan Lewis

Answer: The Tzadik is not a personal individual that has an impact only on himself, he is a public figure who impacts on all those around him; the loss of a Tzadik is therefore a public loss, not an individual or family one. The Tzadikim are here not for themselves, rather for others - that is how they live their lives and that is how they also die; Just as the death serves as atonement to the deceased himself, so the departure of a Tzadik does to his community.

Also see: A Kapora for Am Yisrael

Shavuot Video: King David's Passing

Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson - Exploring a strange Talmudic story about the passing of King David - 
''A Dead King and Hungry Dogs''

Shelah HaKadosh Prayer for Children

This Monday, 21 May, 2012 is Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan when this special prayer for parents should be said.

Yom Yerushalayim May 20

How did the "Western Wall " survive for almost three thousand years of wars and destruction? 

The answer lies in an ancient Jewish Midrash. "Behold - He stands behind our wall'' - this refers to the Western Wall of the Temple. Why so? Because God has sworn that it will never be destroyed." [Midrash Raba, Song of Songs 2:4]    

Source: Evidence for Torah - A website which I just discovered and is well worth a visit.

In The Desert

Bamidbar, the name of this week's parsha as well as the name of the entire 4th book of the Torah, means "in the desert". However, the name Bamidbar itself does not seem to bring to light any unique qualities of the Parsha at all. At this point, the Jewish people have been situated in the desert for a considerable period of time: throughout the whole book of Vayikra and part of the book of Shemos. So what is added now by stressing that the Jewish people were "in the desert"?

The answer to this question lies in the fact that "we always read Parshas Bamidbar before Shavuot" [Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim]. Before we experience the giving of the Torah once again - for spiritually the Torah is given anew every Shavuot - it is necessary to recall and take to heart the fact that the Torah was not given in a civilized environment, but in a desert.

The lesson here is twofold:

1. A desert is a place of utter desolation where "no man can live". Thus the Torah was given there to indicate that it should be embraced without any preconceptions or ulterior motives. When a person lives in a civilized place and he encounters a new idea or suggestions, he will first evaluate it to determine whether it is acceptable according to societal norms. With Torah, however, this would be a mistake; the correct approach to accepting the Torah is "we will do, and (later) we will understand" (Shemos 24:7). Therefore the Torah was given in a desert, where nobody lives, to indicate that one needs to be truly "open-minded" - i.e. not influenced by one's environment - to appreciate its values.

2. The Torah was given in a desert to teach that sharing the Torah with those who currently find themselves in a spiritual desert is fundamental to Torah Judaism. It is not the case that the Torah can "also" reach those who are found in a spiritual wasteland; to the contrary, this is a central theme of the giving of the Torah: To transform every spiritual desert into a "civilized environment".

Based on Sichas Shabbos Parshas Bamidbar of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (5732 and 5734)

Seven Stars on the North and 60 days

I have updated this post as some new information has been passed on to me from Dov bar Leib, which is actually very exciting:

The seven stars on the North side, as mentioned below, ARE the Pleiades - they are actually known as the Seven Sisters in Greek mythology because it is composed primarily of seven bright stars in a very large nebula which can be seen as a Messier object called M45 by Astronomers. The key point being that the Pleiades highlights 7 stars.....

.. when a star on the East side will swallow seven stars on the North side, and a flame of black fire will be hanging in the firmament 60 days..... [Zohar]

[The star on the East side would be the Sun itself]........ It is hard to keep up with the plethora of gods and goddesses from Greek mythology, but one thing that sticks out with regards to the Seven Sisters is that they are the nursemaids to Dionysus, the god of drunkenness and the grape harvest. The Sin of the Spies was during the grape harvest in Eretz Yisrael, but the spies were dispatched on the last day of Sivan, not at its molad, which is this coming solar eclipse in the Ring of Fire. [Source: Dov bar Leib]

May 20 [Yom Yerushalayim] will see the alignment of the earth, moon, sun and the Pleiades - as well as an Annular Solar Eclipse  [see video]

You can read more about this eventful date, and the Mayan Messiah Theory at: Venus Transit and the Star of Moshiach

60 days after this brings us to erev Rosh Chodesh Av - July 19.

July 20 is when Obama's Presidency reaches it's three-and-a-half-year mark: which could refer to Sefer Daniel [where President Obama is hinted to] - see ''time and times and a half of time'' for more on this.

And as Devash just blogged: Sixty days after Shavuot, the London Olympics will begin.

It's just speculation on my part ...... we'll have to wait and see.

Ubuntu Philosophy

An anthropologist suggested the following game to a group of children in a tribe in Africa: He placed a basket full of fresh fruits under a tree. He then said that whoever reached the basket first in a race would be the winner of all the fruits. As he gave the signal to begin the race, the whole group held hands, ran bonded together and then sat and enjoyed the prize together.

When he asked why they had done such thing, when he had offered the possibility to one to be the ultimate winner. They replied: " UBUNTU"-- how could one of us be happy [feel happiness] while the rest are in despair, unhappy?

Ubuntu in the Xhosa culture means: "I am, because we are."

Greece: Bank Run

Greek Depositors Withdrew $898 Million From Banks Monday 

ATHENS—Greek depositors withdrew €700 million ($898 million) from local banks Monday, the country's president said, as he warned that the situation facing Greece's lenders was very difficult.

In a transcript of remarks by President Karolos Papoulias to Greek political leaders that was released Tuesday, Mr. Papoulias said that withdrawals plus buy orders received by Greek banks for German bunds totalled some 800 million.

Citing a conversation he had with Greek Central Bank Governor George Provopoulos, Mr. Papoulias said "that the strength of banks is very weak right now."

Source: WSJ

Greece and Europe: Back on the Brink

Europe is back on the economic brink.

With a leaderless Greece approaching another milestone in its struggle with debt, European stock markets closed yesterday's session at a 4-and-a-half year lows.  Source: ABC

Following news that Greece has failed to form a government, the Greek stock market is crashing.

It went from being up modestly to down 4.5% in a matter of seconds......Greek banks are getting totally crushed.  Source: Business Insider

A Lesson for Ahmadinejad from King Titus

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on May 12 said that Israel poses little threat to the Islamic Republic and compared it to a pesky insect.

“Israel is nothing more than a mosquito which cannot see the broad horizon of the Iranian nation,” Ahmadinejad said while speaking in northeastern Iran’s Khorassan province, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.  [ Before Nuclear Talks, Iranian President Compares Israel to Mosquito ]

Our Sages tell us: When Titus was traveling back to Rome on a ship with the Jewish captives and the vessels of the Holy Temple, a storm at sea threatened to drown him. He said: "It seems that the G‑d of these people only has power over water. When Pharaoh came, He drowned him in water. When Sisera came, He drowned him in water. Now He is about to drown me in water. If He wants to show His strength, let Him come onto dry land and fight with me there!" 

A Divine voice came forth and said to him: "Wicked one, the son of a wicked one, descendant of Esau the wicked, I have an insignificant creature in My world called a gnat. Come ashore and do battle with it!" Titus went ashore and a gnat [mosquito] came and entered his nostril, and pecked at his brain for seven years. 

One day, Titus was walking past a blacksmith's shop. The gnat heard the noise of the sledgehammer and became silent. Titus said: "There is a remedy!" Every day they brought a blacksmith and he hammered in Titus' presence. To a gentile blacksmith he would give a handsome stipend, but to a Jew he would say: "It is sufficient that you see your enemy suffering!"

For thirty days they brought smiths to hammer in Titus' presence. Then the gnat adjusted to the noise of the hammer, and continued pecking at Titus' brain even when the hammers were struck.

Rabbi Pinchas ben Arova said: "I was with the great men of Rome at the time when Titus died. They examined his brain and what they found in it was the size of a small bird!"

As Titus lay dying, he instructed his servants: "Burn me and scatter my ashes over the seven seas so that the G‑d of the Jews cannot find me and bring me to judgment."  [See: Death of Titus]

The Path of the Just

The Mesillat Yesharim [The Path of the Just] is probably the most popular musar [instruction] work in Jewish literature.

Authored by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, also known as the RaMCHaL after his initials, Mesillat Yesharim is studied in all Yeshivos and is considered the finest such work ever written. Indeed, Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, founder of the Musar movement which stressed the study of such books on piety, said, "All the classical works of Musar demonstrate that man must fear God. The Mesilas Yesharim tells us how."

"I have been given permission (from upstairs) to ask and understand in any and all matters of the holy Torah even the most difficult passages in the Zohar.."  [RamChaL]

 More and more, however, people are also realizing that Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto was one of the most brilliant thinkers of the past several centuries. Both his depth of thought and systematic mind are evident in all his works, which are literally filled with important basic insights. Over two hundred years ago, Rabbi Eliahu, the famed Vilna Gaon, declared that Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto had the most profound understanding of Judaism that any mortal human could attain. He furthermore stated that if Luzzatto were alive in his generation, he would go by foot from Vilna to Italy to sit at his feet and learn from him.

A new point-by-point summary of the book can be found at Daf Yomi Review

Then read the entire book in english at: Shechem

No Shortage of Onions

"If you ask "What will we eat in the seventh year?" [Behar 25:20]

The year 5719 [1958-1959] was a shemittah year.  With the encouragement of the great Chazon Ish [R' Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz], a special committee was formed in order to assist shemittah-observant Jews.  Despite their endeavours, however, there was a noticeable shortage of onions.

One mornin, an ownerless cargo ship sailed into the Jaffa seaport.  Amazingly, the ship was fully stocked - with onions!

After a thorough investigation, it turned out that the ship was an Egyptian carrier that had been on its way to Egypt.  The captain had made a navigational error, and had mistakenly sailed the ship into Jaffa.  When he realized that they were nearing the coast of Israel, he and his crew abandoned the ship in a panic.

That year, there were plenty of onions for the shemittah-observing farmers - "The strong warriors who do His bidding, to obey the voice of His word" [Tehillim 103:20]

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein