Category: Redemption Watch

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END OF DAYS: Britain, Israel, and the Unleashing of Radical Islam

With the recent terror attack in Britain directed against the British Parliament and the tepid response by London’s first Muslim mayor, a sort of karmic end to Britain’s one time global rule has come upon it. The British government insists it does not have a problem, but outside observers sense that its capital London, renamed Londinistan by journalist Melanie Phillips in her 2006 book titled by the same name is heading towards two countries, one Muslim and the other British.  There appears no turning back and yet the British government continues to placate Radical Islam by encouraging Muslim immigration into Britain.  It was this immigration policy which fueled Brexit and yet with all of the push to finalize Brexit under the May government, immigration continues.

The problem for Britain did not start in the 21st century. It began 100 years ago, just before the end of World War One. Lord Balfour declared famously:

His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

Not quite a state and yet it was perceived by all as the beginning of nation-state in the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, Balfour’s declaration galvanized the Zionist movement like nothing else. Jews who had been streaming back to the Land of Israel since the early 1800’s were ready to back the British war against the Turks in what would become the Palestinian Mandate.

Balfour himself had always been sympathetic to Jewish aspirations in the Land of Israel, but Britain began to back track after Balfour.  Winston Churchill would himself become the leader of the push-back against Balfour’s promise. Although never dismantling the idea of  the Palestinian Mandate being a homeland for Jews, he zeroed in on the word homeland and made it abundantly clear that Arabs should have nothing to worry about since no state would arise. This need to placate the Arabs found its way into Churchill’s 1922 White Paper with these words:

“The tension which has prevailed from time to time in Palestine is mainly due to apprehensions, which are entertained both by sections of the Arab and by sections of the Jewish population. These apprehensions, so far as the Arabs are concerned are partly based upon exaggerated interpretations of the meaning of the [Balfour] Declaration favouring the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine, made on behalf of His Majesty’s Government on 2 November 1917.”

“‘Unauthorized statements have been made to the effect that the purpose in view is to create a wholly Jewish Palestine. Phrases have been used such as that Palestine is to become “as Jewish as England is English.” His Majesty’s Government regard any such expectation as impracticable and have no such aim in view. They would draw attention to the fact that the terms of the Declaration referred to do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded “in Palestine.” In this connection it has been observed with satisfaction that at a meeting of the Zionist Congress, the supreme governing body of the Zionist Organization, held at Carlsbad in September, 1921, a resolution was passed expressing as the official statement of Zionist aims “the determination of the Jewish people to live with the Arab people on terms of unity and mutual respect, and together with them to make the common home into a flourishing community, the upbuilding of which may assure to each of its peoples an undisturbed national development.”‘

Britain’s colonial policies post World War One no matter if it was Africa, India, Afghanistan, or the Middle East sought control through setting up perpetual conflict between inhabitants within a particular boundary. Balfour’s declaration was an anomaly to this policy and although successive British governments tried to push back on the Jewish return to the Land of Israel, the Zonist movement grew and broke through these attempts.

British Arabism Unleashed Today’s Radical Islam

It is no secret that British governments have been inclined to support Arab and Islamic claims to large swaths of the Middle East. This policy directly led to later White Papers which curtailed Jewish movement into the Land of Israel. This in turn led to the extermination of millions of Jews during the Holocaust.  If it was just Israel then perhaps, one could simply label Great Britain’s leadership as anti-semitic or anti-Zionist, but the same policy extended and is still active in Nigeria, with the British government overtly supporting the Muslim Hausa against the Judeo-Christian Igbo or in India where the British went out of their way to support Islamic rights in Kashmir or the Duran line, which cut the indigenous Pashtun in half in order to allow them to become engulfed by Pakistani Shiites.

The British seem to be enthralled with the idea of Islamic armies settling an untamed world that was laid to waste by the British imperialism of the 19th and 20th centuries. By pitting indigenous peoples whom they conquered (yes, Jerusalem had a majority Jewish population by 1863) against Radical Islamic hordes and barbaric Jihadist Arabs they have unleashed the very Radical Islam they claim to be fighting against.

Imagine a world, in which Britain had stood up to the stooges in Mecca and backed Balfour’s declaration to the end or if Britain had refrained from forming Nigeria and allowed the independent Judeo-Christian republic of Biafra to grow. Radical Islam and the supremacist current so prevalent in today’s Arab culture would have been kept caged and contained.

At the End of Days, the Western World stands hollowed out, a rotten corpse consumed by greed and a misplaced moral relativism.  The foot soldiers of Islam whom it has tried to manipulate against others have now turned their heads against the very master which set them free.  Ishmael has become unbound and unleashed against a Western World that appears to desire its own end. The Torah says the following when referring to Ishmael: “He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

Great Britain’s treatment of Jewish national aspirations and the placating of the armies of Radical Islam and oppressive Arabist regimes have sown the seeds of its own demise. Ishmael will not stop at London or Paris.  He is following the divine script written for him. This is the final act of the sojourning of Jacob and his return to spiritual and physical leadership. Britain and the West can put aside their animosity for Jacob’s movement towards redemption and thereby salvaging their countries or become consumed by Ishmael’s fury.  Either way, Israel will be redeemed.

 

 

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North Korea, Israel, and the Light of Redemption

For several years now, I have written several posts about North and South Korea being in the Twilight Zone of our halakhic international dateline and the End of Days implications of their placement there.  As Rav Levi Sa’adia Nachmani zt”l said years ago. that the Great light of Mashiach will come from the following two cryptic verses from Parshat Ha’Azinu (Devarim 32:21-22):

כא  הֵם קִנְאוּנִי בְלֹא-אֵל,  {ר}  כִּעֲסוּנִי בְּהַבְלֵיהֶם;  {ס}  וַאֲנִי אַקְנִיאֵם בְּלֹא-עָם,  {ר}  בְּגוֹי נָבָל אַכְעִיסֵם.  {ס} 21 They have roused Me to jealousy with a no-god (atheism); they have provoked Me with their vanities (nonsensical pursuits); and I will rouse them to jealousy with a non-people (the PaLeStinians who are not a nation, just an Arab collection of  Squatters from Jordan and Egypt since the P(h).L.S(h). root in Hebrew means “to squat on someone else’s land”  This is true in all Semitic languages by the way.  The derogatory name for Ethiopian Jews in the Amharic language with the same P(h).L.S(h). root,  given them by Ethiopian Xtians, was FaLaShah or Squatters in their midst.); I will provoke them with a vile nation (Tzarfat or France).
כב  כִּי-אֵשׁ קָדְחָה בְאַפִּי,  {ר}  וַתִּיקַד עַד-שְׁאוֹל תַּחְתִּית;  {ס}  וַתֹּאכַל אֶרֶץ וִיבֻלָהּ,  {ר}  וַתְּלַהֵט מוֹסְדֵי הָרִים.  {ס} 22 For a fire (a nuclear blast) is kindled in My nostril, and burneth unto the depths of the nether-world (She’ol or Seoul, South Korea), and devoureth the earth with her produce, and setteth ablaze the foundations of the mountains.

Now Rav Nachmani seemed to insinuate that the North Korean nuclear program may have been first to be used on Seoul, South Korea or against Japan or even against the American Pacific Coast, but its final target address would at least be an attempt to nuke Eretz Yisrael.  So over the course of the past week we see this lo and behold, Israel had to bomb a convoy of hi tech missiles from North Korea that were being transported in Syria to Hezbollah!    So if the missile and high grade fissionable uranium and plutonium technology, which is being produced in North Korea and disbursed to their Axis of Evil ally in Persia, is now being disbursed to Syria and Hezbollah, we are right now not far away from at least an attempt to actualize Rav Levi Nachmani’s nightmare scenario.  These are telling moments and telling times while our Supreme Court focuses its evil efforts on the destruction of Jewish life in Yesha, the rest of the world makes no distinctions and focuses in on murdering all of us.  But alas they will not succeed.  G-d if overseeing this last and final ingathering of exiles which began in earnest in several stages over the last 100 years (1917, 1948, 1967, 1990-1991).  The last one was predicted by the Vilna Gaon.  The final push to ingather the exiles of Israel would take place 3/4 of the way through the 6th Millennium in the years 5750 and 5751 (1990- 1991) to fulfill the verse in Yeshayahu 27:13 that with the Teki’ah blast of a Great Shofar, the Lost ones in the Land of Ashur and the castaways in the Land of Egypt would come on Aliyah.  Since the Lost ones in Ashur were at least in part absorbed by the Khazar tribe, the tenth son of Togarmah (the Turks), who migrated north to form their 500 year kingdom between the Black and Caspian Seas and since the Khazar kingdom did convert en masse to Judaism because of the convincing arguments of Rav Yehudah Almangari (recorded in the Kuzari by Yehudah HaLeivi), and since Khazaria was destroyed by Russia around the year 1240ce dispersing Jews northward into the Pale of Settlement in Russia and the Ukraine mixing in with Ashkenzaic Jews migrating eastward, the ingathering of Russian Jewry which began in 1990 and the ingathering of the castaways from Egypt, Ethiopian Jewry, in Operation Shlomo and Sheba in 1991 were a tremendous fulfillment of this incredible prophesy, right on schedule according to the Vilna Gaon.  This ingathering began the last 250 years BEFORE Yom sheKulo Shabbat too.  According to Sefer HaLeshem, that final ingathering would take a maximum of 40 years so that Techiyah HaMeitim could begin by the year 5790, 40 years after 5750.

In order to continue this post, though, we need to pause for review of the following three posts that I wrote many years ago on this blog.

1.  The Koreas (Are) In the Twilight Zone  from December 31, 2005
and
2.  North Korea is Emerging from the Twilight Zone from September 17, 2007
and
3.  The Korean Peninsula is Inching Closer to World War from March 31, 2013

Also ponder the following from the Zohar VaEira 32a:

Zohar 32a continued, after discussing how the Children of Yishmael were given merit for 1300 years, 400 years after the last Tanna, Yehudah HaNassi, wrote down the Mishneh because of the emptiness of Eretz Yisrael.

At that time, a nation from the end of the earth (halakhically determined international dateline) will be aroused against evil Rome and wage war against it for three months. Nations will gather there, and [Rome] will fall into their hands, until all the children of Edom will gather against it [that nation] from all the corners of the world. Then G‑d will be roused against them. This is the meaning of: “For G‑d has a sacrifice in Botzrah”(Yishayahu 34:6). (Botzrah is the city in Iraq controlled by the Shi’ite Arabs at the behest of neighboring Iran. This points to an endtimes alliance between the nation at the edge of the world (N. Korea) and Persia/Iran.) And afterwards, it is written: “That it might take hold of the ends of the earth…” (Job 38:13) He will destroy the descendants of Ishmael from the land, and break all the powers of [all the nations’ guardian angels] Above. There will not remain any power of any people on earth, except the power of Israel alone. This is the meaning of “G‑d is your shadow upon your right hand”. (Psalms 121:5)

Here, below, is the preceding text for the above excerpt from the Zohar from the Kabbalah On Line website from Chabad.org:

Come and see: for four hundred years (after the year 4000 when Eretz Yisrael was being emptied of Jews), the Heavenly minister of the children of Ishmael stood and begged before G‑d. He said to Him, ‘whoever is circumcised has a portion in Your name’. He (G-d) said to him, ‘it is so’. He (Yishmael’s Minister) said to Him, ‘Behold Ishmael who is circumcised. Why does he not have a portion in You like Isaac?’ He said to him, ‘It is not so, the one (Isaac) was circumcised properly and according to the full requirements, while the other was not so’ [as Ishmael does not fulfill “periyah/uncovering of a fourth layer of skin after three are removed”]. Moreover, the ones (Children of Isaac) cleave to Me as is specified on the eighth day, while the others (Children of Ishmael) are distanced from me for many days[being circumcised only at age 13]. He [Ishmael’s guardian angel] said to Him, ‘But still in all, since he is circumcised, would he not have a good reward for this?’
[R. Hiyya then says] Woe is to the time that Ishmael was born into the world and was circumcised. What did G‑d do [to appease Ishmael]? He distanced the children of Ishmael from supernal cleaving and gave them [only] a portion below in the Holy Land (for 1300 years or 26 Jubilee cycles, 100 years (or more exactly 98 years) for each year when Ishmael was circumcised) on account of their circumcision.
And in the future, the children of Ishmael are destined to rule over the Holy Land for a long time when it is empty from anything, like their circumcision which is empty and imperfect. And they will prevent the children of Israel from returning to their place until the reward for the merit of the children of Ishmael reaches completion (26 Jubilee cycles of control of Eretz Yisrael in the merit of his imperfect circumcision).
The children of Ishmael [i.e. the Arab nations] will (THEN After their 1300 year reward) cause great wars in the world and the children of Edom will gather against them and wage war against them, one on the sea (First Persian Gulf War as lead by Gog H.W. Bush, Sr.), one on the dry land (2nd Persian Gulf War as lead by Gog ben Gog W Bush, Jr.), and one near Jerusalem (to be determined). And they [the children of Edom]will rule over them [the children of Ishmael], but the Holy Land will not be given over to the children of Edom. [The children of Edom is the Christian West, for Edom is Rome (see Num. 24:19, Rashi) and Rome signifies Greece-Rome and the Roman Catholic Church, the foundations of Western Civilization]
Then, the following from above:

At that time, a nation from the end of the earth (halakhically determined international dateline) will be aroused against evil Rome and wage war against it for three months. Nations will gather there, and [Rome] will fall into their hands, until all the children of Edom will gather against it [that nation] from all the corners of the world. Then G‑d will be roused against them. This is the meaning of: “For G‑d has a sacrifice in Botzrah”(Yishayahu 34:6). (Botzrah is the city in Iraq controlled by the Shi’ite Arabs at the behest of neighboring Iran. This points to an endtimes alliance between the nation at the edge of the world (N. Korea) and Persia/Iran.) And afterwards, it is written: “That it might take hold of the ends of the earth…” (Job 38:13) He will destroy the descendants of Ishmael from the land, and break all the powers of [all the nations’ guardian angels] Above. There will not remain any power of any people on earth, except the power of Israel alone. This is the meaning of “G‑d is your shadow upon your right hand”. (Psalms 121:5)

Originally Published in Years of Awe.

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END OF DAYS: Russia is Coming for Israel

The Middle East is becoming unhinged. Whether Putin maliciously planned to allow Israel to be cornered by Iran and Hezbollah or not may never be known, but what is clear is the agreements between Russia and Israel on “freedom of attack” when Iranian arm transfers to Hezbollah are determined to be for attacking Israel appears to be changed from their original parlance.  When the IAF attacked a convoy that inadvertently destroyed Russian armaments, Israel’s relationship with Putin changed.

True, Putin most probably set the confrontation up as a test to see how serious Israel was in taking out Iranian weapons, but the question is why.  With the Syrian crisis far from over and the Ukrainian conflict growing in the Don-bass, Russia is trying to demarcate who stands where.  It had been assumed before Friday’s attack and Sunday’s Hezbollah movement to the Golan that Israel would elect to stay out of the burgeoning war between Russia and the West.  Israel’s reaction proved this hypothesis wrong.

The next stage is a purposeful allowance of Iranian and Hezbollah soldiers to take the Syrian Golan.  This is a red line for Israel and  yet vitally important for Russia to execute in order to put in place a Gordian knot on the Jewish State.  While Putin cements his control of Syria, the last thing he needs is for Israel disrupt it.

Making Deals with Putin Never Ends Well

Bibi Netanyahu responded to Putin’s summoning of the Israeli ambassador with these words: “Our policy on the subject will not change,” declared Netanyahu. “If there is a feasibility from an intelligence and military standpoint – we attack and so it will continue.”

Yet, it was Bibi himself who insisted that he had struck a deal with Putin.  The changing parameters of that deal, which shift by the day show how ridiculous it is to toy with KGB directors turned Presidents.  Bibi is a good chess player and out-foxed Obama for eight years, but Putin is a champion at it and despite Bibi’s tough talk he knows Israel is becoming cornered.

In December of of 2015 I wrote this concerning the embracing of Russia as a partner for Israel:

“a regionally strong and globally ascendant Israel should not run to embrace a looming Russian Bear just yet. Especially a Russia that is purely pragmatic and whose leaders do not share the biblical values that have made Israel function beyond the realm of pragmatism. These values in many ways have made the dream of an Israel that went from persecuted to global leader a reality far more than the tactical pragmatism of Putin. We have to remember that as much as we want to be accepted by a strong Russia, Putin himself lives in a world of tactics and tactics can change if Mother Russia needs them to. In other words an alliance with Russia will only happen if it is good for Russia and its length will only last if it is good for Russia.” 

Putin’s shifting tactics have finally caught up with Israel’s strategic needs.  In the next phase of the Syrian and expanding Levant conflict, the Israeli government would do well not to rely on earthly kings for security and perhaps take the time to put their trust in the only King that truly matters.

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Did Donald Trump Just Trigger the Islamic End of Days?

News that America has sent marines into Syria to first bolster Kurdish forces in the North of the country and then to spearhead the fight to rake Raqqa has raised the prospect of all out war with US boots firmly on the ground.

This sudden injection of US fighting forces has changed the nature of the war being fought to wipe out ISIS.  Up until Trump gave the go ahead, the Russian along with Syrian and Iranian forces were fighting head on against ISIS.  There have been some wins, but nothing decisive.

With the American military now directly involved in Syria, the battle of Raqqa may prove fatal for the young caliphate. Yet, Donald Trump’s decision to send troops into Syria may offer something else to ISIS, hope.

There is an Islamic Hadith dating back to the time of Muhammed that says the following:

“The Last Hour would not come until the Romans would land at al-A’maq or in Dabiq. An army consisting of the best (soldiers) of the people of the earth at that time will come from Medina (to counteract them).”

The Hadith is referrng to the Western powers coming to do battle with the army of the Caliphate.  The US troops were sent to a base West of Manbij.  Their first mission was to protect the Kurdish forces there from the Turkish army.  Now that this has been accomplished, the US troops and their Kurdish allies will move on Raqqa in an attempt to finish off ISIS.

Look at the map below and notice that Dabiq is about 36 miles from Manbij.  The US troops landed west of Manbij, putting them awefully close to Dabiq.  Many observers falsely quote the Hadith in saying the battle takes place in Dabiq, but it clearly states they land there.

Have a look at the map below to learn just how close Dabiq is to Manbij.

Map from Google

So why are we quoting a Hadith, afterall Muhammad was crazy, right?

Two points must be made clear. First, Muhammad did not know how to read or write.  He was orphaned at a young age and spent lots of time with the Jewish merchants in his area.  He began to keep many Jewish traditions.  When he proposed that he was actually the long awaited Messiah, many Jewish tribes rejected him outright.  Many of these tribes were either killed or expelled.

Despite the Jewish opposition many Jewish tribes actually converted after the Exilarch Shallum ben Hushiel (the head of the Jewish community in Babylon and descendent of King David) met with Muhammed and converted. This weakened the resolve of the Jewish tribes’ opposition to Muhammed.

The Koran and early Hadiths were inspired by Muhammed’s connection to Judaism.

The second point is the fact that Islam draws from what is called “Dark Side Emunah (faith).”  This gives its followers strength to see the task through to the end, yet there is something far deeper than simple preserverence. The fact that the Hadith were drawn from a point of faith that was twisted means there are elements of truth to it. Afterall, those Jewish tribes that converted did so even after they saw their brothers and sisters massacred in the battle of Kaibar.

Keep in mind this does not mean the Hadith will come true in its entirety, but that pieces of it may point to signs of an end time war.

The Bible also speaks of an End Time War in the North of Israel in Zecharia and then again in Isaiah chapter 17 with the destruction of Damascus.

Whether it is the Hadith or the Bible, US troops in Syria in combat positions seem to indicate an important line has been crossed.  Is the final battle coming? We are certainly closing in on it.

 

 

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Redemption Requires Israel to Shed its Slave Mentality

“Pharaoh approached; the Children of Israel raised their eyes and behold! – Egypt was journeying after them, and they were very frightened; the Children of Israel cried out to HaShem. They said to Moshe, ‘Were there no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the Wilderness? What is this that you have done to us to take us out of Egypt? Is this not the statement that we made to you in Egypt, saying, Let us be and we will serve Egypt? – For it is better that we should serve Egypt than that we should die in the Wilderness!’

Moshe said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand fast and see the salvation of HaShem that He will perform for you today; for as you have seen Egypt today, you shall not see them ever again! HaShem shall make war for you, and you shall remain silent.’” (SHEMOT14:10– 14)

Acknowledging that Israel greatly outnumbered the Egyptian military at the Sea of Reeds, the Ibn Ezra provides a remarkable explanation of the above verses. He writes: “How could a camp of six hundred thousand men fear their pursuers? Why should they not fight for their lives and the lives of their children? The answer is that the Egyptians had been Israel’s masters. The generation leaving Egypt had learned from childhood to endure the Egyptian yoke and they possessed a low soul. Being weak and unaccustomed to warfare, how could they now fight against their masters? We see that Amalek came with a small force and, if not for Moshe’s tefillah, they would have weakened Israel. G-D alone does great deeds and orchestrates events. He arranged for all the males who had left Egypt to die out – because they lacked the strength to fight the Canaanites – until another generation arose who had not seen exile and who possessed an exalted spirit.”

The Ibn Ezra teaches that despite their superior numbers, Israel was not commanded to stand and fight. The Hebrews had been conditioned by several generations of slavery to fear and obey their Egyptian masters. Possessing a low soul made them near incapable of warfare, thus requiring Moshe’s tefillot to later overcome the Amalekite ambush (SHEMOT 17:8-13). According to the Ibn Ezra, this low soul was the reason that the generation departing Egypt would later need to die out in the desert over a forty-year period. Their children – a new generation raised in freedom – would then be able to wage a war of liberation against the Canaanite kings.

The low soul that the Ibn Ezra speaks of is similar to what modern psychologists term “learned helplessness.” At various historic points, this slave mentality has prevented the Jewish people from successfully advancing our national mission. One example of this neurosis in recent decades has been the confusion among many scholars concerning the process of redemption and how the Jewish people must relate to – and interact with – the historic events unfolding in modern times.

Israel’s Prophets and ancient Sages teach that there are two ways in which the final redemption can occur. There is the miraculous way (aḥishena) and the more mundane natural process (bi’eta). Due to the bitter realities of life in the Diaspora, Jewish communities in recent centuries were conditioned to believe that the redemption could only transpire through open miracles. Taking the initiative to advance salvation through physically conquering the Land of Israel was scorned as forbidden by many rabbis who claimed that Israel must sit patiently and wait for the Kadosh Barukh Hu to redeem His people. In the ghettos of Europe, where day-to-day life included a fear of gentile persecution, the idea of Jews valiantly recapturing Eretz Yisrael by force of arms seemed as if it would be even more an aberration of the natural order of the world than HaShem performing supernatural miracles on our behalf. As a result of this reality existing for so long, many Jews became trapped in this mindset of helplessness even once the political reality surrounding them had changed.

Other factors also contributed to the Jewish idealization of learned helplessness. Because of the internal damage inflicted upon Israel by so many unsuccessful messianic movements, the study of the redemption process was halted in most houses of study throughout Europe, leading to any attempt at bringing salvation closer through human efforts becoming widely seen as tantamount to an act of heresy. The combination of these factors created an expectation that the redemption would occur through supernatural events above and beyond human participation. Practical efforts to achieve redemption came to be viewed as destructive behavior stemming from a weakness of faith.

Learned helplessness became most prevalent in Jewish circles during the decades leading up to the development of political Zionism. The handful of Torah giants at the time who understood that Hebrew liberation could – and most probably would – unfold through a series of natural historic events were unable to effectively spread their ideas or inspire the faithful masses to actively participate in the redemption process. But examining the words of these visionary scholars can help us to retroactively recognize how correct they truly were and how much their teachings still illuminate our proper path.

Rabbi Yehuda Ḥai Alkalai, the famed kabalist of Sarajevo, wrote of redemption from within in Raglei Mevaser. In it he explains: “Redemption will reach us in a natural way. Had the Almighty wished to redeem His people through miracles, the exile would not have lasted so long. Moreover, in the present Jewish situation even a naturally attained redemption would be miraculous. Redemption will grow from within the people and not with the Messiah performing miracles, as in the days of the Exodus from Egypt. Final redemption will be the result of national initiative aided by G-D, as it is written: ‘And the Children of Judah and the Children of Israel will be gathered together’ (HOSHEA 2:2), and ‘Shake yourself from the dust, arise and sit down, O Jerusalem, release the bonds from around your neck,’ (YISHAYAH 52:2). Yishayah uses the reflexive form to emphasize that redemption will stem from self-help.”

In his Reply to the Skeptics, Rabbi Eliyahu Guttmakher states: “To our great misfortune there are yet many who mistakenly believe that they will sit in the comfort of their homes when suddenly a voice from heaven will proclaim redemption. But it will not be so! The Babylonian exile, though destined to last no more than seventy years, required the practical leadership of Daniel, Ezra and Neḥemia to achieve a significant return toEretz Yisrael. Unlike many of our own contemporaries they did not say ‘let every man remain at his place and redemption will come of itself.’”

Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Kalisher illuminates the way to redemption in Drishat Tzion. He writes: “It is wrong to believe that redemption will come as a sudden revelation of G-D from heaven, calling upon His people to leave the Diaspora. The vision of the Prophets must come true, but not as a sudden event. Final redemption will come in stages with the return of the people to the land and ultimately by the coming of the Messiah. Dear friend, you must rid yourself of the illusion that the call of the Messiah will come as a bolt from the blue arousing the sleeping masses. Redemption will come about through an awakening of well dispersed gentile leaders and governments, viewing favorably the return of Jews to the Holy Land.”

In regards to Rabbi Kalisher’s last point, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Ḥarlop – a prominent disciple of Rabbi Avraham Yitzḥak HaKohen Kook and former head of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav – teaches in the sixth volume of Mei Marom (Mayanei HaYeshua) that initial gentile support for Israel’s return to our land must eventually give way to hostility from the international community in order facilitate a later stage of the redemption process that will force the Jewish people to become independent through the realization that our strength and security stem not from alliances with other nations but directly from our relationship with the Kadosh Barukh Hu.

In Awake, Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever teaches: “Even though natural events will lead to redemption, this is not simply an historical accident. There are no coincidences in the Universe, since G-D’s Will is also manifested in the course of natural events. Accordingly, it is for us to rouse the powers that be to treat the Jewish people favorably, whereupon Divine help will surely be forthcoming in the ingathering of the exiles to the Holy Land. As the Prophet proclaims (YISHAYAH 62:10): ‘Go through, go through the gates; clear the way of the people; cast up, pave the road; clear it of stones; raise a banner over the peoples.’ Yishayah’s intention is clear: we must awaken and do all in our power to clear away the obstacles in the path of our redemption.”

These scholars stressed the fact that human initiative would be necessary in bringing Israel’s redemption to fruition. Their ideas were highly advanced for their time – especially when compared with many of their contemporaries – and their teachings represent a Torah of action that challenges the psychological state of learned helplessness. While it is clear that we have still not yet tasted full redemption, the process has certainly begun to unfold. There exists a sovereign Hebrew state in much ofEretz Yisrael but in order for us to participate in bringing total salvation, a higher approach to Torah study must be adopted.

The holy Ohr HaḤaim speaks of redemption and self-awakening in his commentary on VAYIKRA 25:25. There he states: “Redemption will start with a stirring in men’s hearts urging them: Do you feel secure living in a strange land, exiled from your G-D? What pleasure does life offer so far removed from the lofty values that were yours in the presence of the Almighty? Superficial, ill-conceived desire will then become repulsive and a spiritual craving will awaken your soul, improving your actions until G-D will redeem. Who will be called to stand in judgment? The Jewish leaders of the Diaspora who throughout the years did not encourage their people to return to Zion. They will be made to bear the shame of a forsaken homeland.”

In Eim Habanim Smeiḥah, written during the Holocaust, Rabbi Yissakhar Shlomo Teikhtal echoes the Ohr HaḤaim’s statements on the dangers of passivity. “The Orthodox, on the other hand, those zealous for G-D’s Will, stood aside and took no part in this effort. They remained with their traditional view that ‘sitting back and doing nothing is best’… It seems to me that all the leaders who prevented their followers from going and joining the builders [of Eretz Yisrael] will never be able to cleanse their hands and say ‘our hands have not spilt this blood.’”

A new generation has arisen today, alive with a more vibrant Torah of redemption. It is a generation infused with an exalted spirit of vitality as Israel’s youth is again being raised on our natural soil. The homeland – which had for so long refused to provide fruits to any stranger – has blossomed under the renewed political sovereignty of her native people.

The vitality infused into the Jewish people today has inspired incredible acts of valor and self-sacrifice, even amongst those not observant or even knowledgeable of mitzvot. At nearly impossible odds, Israel has won miraculous victories over our enemies. We have liberated portions of our homeland and revived the Hebrew language after many long centuries of separation from both. These incredible events are part of a greater process prodding history forward as Israel returns to the international stage in order to ultimately shine blessing and light to mankind. HaShem has inspired a new generation with a lofty spirit uncorrupted by fear, passivity or the learned helplessness of the Diaspora. Israel’s youth demands a greater and fuller Torah that encompasses and infuses all aspects of life with the necessary strength and courage to usher in an era of universal redemption.

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[watch] BREAKING: Yemen Fires Ballisitic Missile on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia…Has WW3 Begun?

The prophecies about the end of days tell us of a final war between Persia and Rome.  This war is sparked by an attack from Persia on [Saudi] Arabia forcing Arabia to ask for help from Rome.  The events of last night, now slowly trickling out of the Middile East is that Iranian backed Yemenis did indeed fire a ballistic missile on Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia last night. Could this be the beginning of the above mentioned war?

With Trump clearly putting the focus on the Iranian regime over the last week, this attack is a test of how committed he is to intervening and going head to head with the Ayatollahs.  If the answer is yes, then the security situation on the Arabian penninsula and beyond will start to unravel as more countries get involved.

The enusing conflict has the ability to quickly spiral out of control and turn into a global war.

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Piercing the Darkness of France at the End of Days

Three Decades ago the seventh and last Lubavitcher Rebbe told us that Tzarfat(France) would be the last home base of the Evil Inclination at the End of Days when the 70 nations of the world would unite against us to divide the Land of Israel as mentioned in Zecharia 14 and Yo’el 3 and 4.  In both Zecharia and Yo’el, the language is that “all” the nations or “all 70” nations from the Tower of Bavel would unite to divide Yerushalayim (in the case of Zecharia) and all of the Land of Israel (in the case of Yo’el 4).  And the language in both cases is TO DIVIDE.  He said this based on Bereishit 28:14 which says that while HaShem appeared before Ya’akov Avinu after Ya’akov had his dream of a ladder with angels ascending and descending, HaShem told him:  יד  וְהָיָה זַרְעֲךָ כַּעֲפַר הָאָרֶץ, וּפָרַצְתָּ יָמָּה וָקֵדְמָה וְצָפֹנָה וָנֶגְבָּה; וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ כָּל-מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה, וּבְזַרְעֶךָ. 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  From this we see that at the End of Days, while not in our ancient past, Ya’akov seed would Ufaratzta, a double entendre which can mean “to pierce or burst through” or “to spread out”. that is that the Messianic Era would erupt on the world scene through as veil of darkness and would encompass the entire planet by bursting through the last great darkness of our world of lies!  And when would this occur?   Well we see from the verb Ufaratzta (וּפָרַצְתָּ) that first we remove the Vav which turns a past tense verb into a future tense verb leaving us with (פָרַצְתָּ).  Then we juggle those same letters around a bit and we get the name Tzarfat (צרפת).  Now according to the Lubavitcher Rebbe from this we learn that at the time the light of Mashiach bursts through the darkness of this present World of Lies, the 70 nations who yearn to divide the Land of Israel at the End of Days will try to execute their evil plan from Tzarfat!  (Remember that the Gematriah of Gog UMagog (גוג ומגוג) is 70.)  And 70 nations DID gather in Tzarfat on January 15th, 2017 (17th of Tevet 5777) for this purpose precisely 271 days, the length of an ideal pregnancy, before the end of Chag Sukkot 5778!  If Kislev had had 30 days as it usually does, then the 271st day would have been Hoshana Rabbah itself!  But this year because of a necessary tweak in the Jewish calendar, Kislev only had 29 days JUST so that next Yom Kippur would not fall on a Motzei Shabbat so that we would not have two days in a row of total Issur Melachah (when all creative work is forbidden for 48 hours including not being able to cook).  Notice that the the molad for Shevat was less than two hours before the beginning of Rosh Chodesh Shevat here in Israel.  It was at 5:36pm while sunset on Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Shevat was around 7:10 pm.  Surely a new moon would not have been seen in ancient times on the night of this past Rosh Chodesh, but this was done this way by those who inter-calculated the calendar in the Fourth Century just so that the following Yom Kippur would not fall on Motzei Shabbat. If Rosh Chodesh Shevat and later Rosh Chodesh Tishrei 5778 were to be declared solely from spotting the nascent crescent New Moon, Rosh Chodesh would be the following day in Tishrei, Rosh HaShanah 5778, making the 1st of Tishrei on a Friday instead of a Thursday.  So it is easy to see that in Shamayim this Paris Pieces Conference was PRECISELY 271 days prior to and including Hoshana Rabbah 5778, the length of an ideal pregnancy in the Talmud in Niddah.

This story, though, of France as a nation of debased prostitution in the bedroom and in the halls of international diplomacy does not have a recent beginning.  It goes back to the beginning of the 70 nations.  We read from Bereishit 10 that Yafeth’s son Gomer had three children: Ashkenaz, Rifat, and Togarmah.  It is an accepted mesorah that Ashkenaz is Germany, and many think that Togarmah is Turkey. But what about Rifat?  Rifat is the progenitor of ancient France which at its inception was a Celtic nation, only later to become a Romance nation after Caesar’s invasion of Gaul.  The name for Rifat in Sefer Ovadia is Tzarfat which is Rifat with a Tzadee added to the front of his name.  To understand why he may have added that tzadee, an explanation will follow later in this post, but before there was Tzarfat (צרפת), there was Rifat (רִיפַת) without the initial tzadee.  Now these Celts from Tzarfat migrated up into England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, but they got their start in the heart of France.  So a study of Celtic immediately tells you that Celtic is a Germanic (or Gomeric) language which fits our profile.  And as we know from Sefer Yechezkel, Rifat as one of the 70 original nations will gleefully join, the invasion of Israel lead by Meshech and Tuval as it says in Yechezkel 38:6:    גֹּמֶר, וְכָל-אֲגַפֶּיהָ–בֵּית תּוֹגַרְמָה, יַרְכְּתֵי צָפוֹן וְאֶת-כָּל-אֲגַפָּיו; עַמִּים רַבִּים, אִתָּךְ. Gomer, and all his bands (that is including Rifat and Ashkenaz); the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his bands; even many peoples with thee.  

Looking at the original name for the French nation, the actual origin of the name screams for an interpretation.  The name Rifat is part of the Hebrew verb conjugation group called Binyan Pi’el (פיעל) with a Yud between the first and second letter of the root.  Binyan Pi’el is always active voice and unlike the basic binyan Pa’al (פעל), Pi’el with a Yud almost always has a direct object as an object that is acted upon even if the object being acted upon is only implied and not mentioned.  For instance, one can say that I sat or I sat down (ישבתי), Yashavti.  Notice the sentence “I sat.” or “I sat down.” does not have a noun after the verb which is a direct object and that you can say that sentence without the listener asking for that direct object.  This is often the case with Binyan Pa’al even though Binyan Pa’al may or may not act on a direct object.  It can go either way.  One can say “I wrote” (Katavti) or “I wrote the book” (Katavti et HaSefer.), same verb with or without a direct object.  Yet, with Pi’el, the verb usually begs for the need for a direct object.  Getting back to the Yud Shin Vet shoresh (in Pi’el), Yishavti ( יישבתי) means “I settled” which is very similar to “I sat down” except that I sat down does not have a direct object while to say “I settled” begs the listener to ask, “You settled what?”  The answer would then be, (יישבתי את היישוב), I settled the yishuv or from another Pi’el word (קיימתי את היישוב) (Qiyamti eth haYishuv.)”I maintained the settlement.”  In both cases a direct object is called for by the conjugation of the verb in Binyan Pi’el.  So getting back to our name Rifat, we see that Rifat (ריפת) before it became Tzarfat (צרפת) is a word in the Pi’el conjugation of the root (רפת).  A Refet is a cow barn, a place where one houses cows and a place where one milks cows too.  So our implacable enemy at the End of Days is an ancient Dairy Farmer!  From his name we see that he works long hours in cow barns.  Now for those of us who only drink Cholov Yisrael here in Eretz Yisrael and in places where it is readily available such as on the East Coast of the US or in Chicago, we really don’t know if the French dairymen mix some of their cow milk with milk from horses or pigs, but at least the “face” that they show the world is that they are dairy farmers EVEN onto this present day.  Notice that number One and Two in the world in dairy production are Canada at number One and France at number Two.  Canada would of course be number One because in addition to their large French province, Quebec, their dairy production is supplemented by all their English speaking provinces in a much larger land mass than France or Quebec alone.  Yet, the French are STILL number Two in the world while Canada with Quebec included is at number One at dairy farming and dairy product production.  From this we see that Rifat IS still a dairyman even to this present day.  (In the previous post at the End of Comments on that post, I discussed why this might be important for those who can begin to put this post together with that comment.  I don’t want to discuss it here.)

 Yet, the French have another national character trait which personifies who they are as a nation.  The French have always been a nation whose pre-eminent feature is Zenut (not just in the bedroom but in the world of adopting the mores of others in order to be loved by them).  So when Julius Caesar showed up in this land of the Celts, they easily disposed of their Gomeric language, and they instituted a new Romance language just so that their culture would now be palatable in Rome.  Time and time again the French would repeat this pattern of easily surrendering their ancient heritage to the heritage of others in order to be loved by them.  This character trait or lack of character of the French nation would in a basic sense become characteristic of who they really are.  So in addition to being whores in the bedroom, they became the whores in the halls of international diplomacy too.  Yet, since Ancient France was really Rifat, how did they appear later with a Tzadee in front of their name?  In short, how did Rifat become TzaRfat??
For this we need to venture forth to Rav Matis Weinberg’s Sefer on Chanukah where he discusses the difference between Yawan (יון} and Tzion (ציון).  Notice that the only difference between Yawan and Tzion is the tzadee or the Tzaddik.  Yawan and Tzion are very very similar in so many ways.   When Noach sent the dove forth from the ark it was a male dove which is usually known as a ben Yonah in Hebrew (בן יונה), he was sending forth into the world two nations, Yawan and Yisrael.  But in reality Yonah is the female of that species and usually represents Yisrael.  Truncating off of Yonah its femine Hey gives us Yon (יון).  Now from this we see that the male of the species is Yawan!.  Now, Mashiach ben David, as opposed to Mashiach ben Yosef who represents all of Yisrael, the Yonah, physically at least, is also the male aspect of the Good inclination and is also represented by the exact same letters that represent Yawan and are also pronounced Yon (יון)!!  But Mashiach ben David is called a ben Yonah because he comes out of the Tribes of Yisrael who are called Yonah.  Now it is said about Greece and Yisrael,  They had their sages, and Yisrael had their sages.  They have eternity (Netzach), and so does Yisrael.  They believed that the greatest fruits of Man come from Wisdom and Reason.  So does Yisrael.  The similarities between Yawan and Yisrael run very very deep and are easily confused as a first impression by a perfunctory glance at the two civilizations.  From Shir haShirim (the Song of Songs) we see that HaShem recognizes the Equal Beauty of both Yawan and Yisrael, one from Yefeth and the other from Shem:
טו  הִנָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי, הִנָּךְ יָפָה עֵינַיִךְ יוֹנִים. 15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; Your eyes are as two doves.

The difference between the two nations lies in what comes next after Noach sent forth the dove a second time (not the perfunctory first time), the dove who represents both civilizations. from the Ark.  So first he sent forth the dove and it returned to the Ark because it could not find rest for its feet.  Then Seven Days later ON THE 8TH DAY, he sent forth the dove a second time…. And lo and behold the dove returns  לְעֵת עֶרֶב towards evening whose gematriah is 772, the first full year after Minchah Gedolah of the 6th Millennium (after 12:30pm on the Cosmic Clock), the year 5772, which is towards evening with an olive branch in his mouth.  This olive branch, of course, is a remez to Chanukah and how the difference between Israel and the nations of the world is the difference between the natural order in the number 7 and the transcendent or sanctified order in the number 8.  Even the word for oil Shemen refers to the number 8 or Shmonah!  And while other kosher oils that can be used to light Shabbat candles also attach the physical world to the transcendent world, Olive oil bypasses all spiritual intermediaries and attaches us to G-d’s Throne of Glory.  Also the laws of the Torah that most bothered the Greeks were the laws that pointed to Israel as The transcendent, peculiar nation of the world.  From Brit Milah on the 8th day, to determining actual dates by spotting and sanctifying the New Moon and thereby determining destiny for such and such day of a particular month, Antiochus IV sought to forbid such activity.  The Greeks were a nation infatuated with the number 7 and the natural order especially after their desire for idolatry was removed from the world by the Men of the Great Assembly before Alexander the Great went forth to Hellenize the world (7 Wonders of the World or 7 notes in a musical scale aka the 7 Sephirot of the animal soul which they called the Music of the Spheres).  They despised the one nation that was commanded to serve a G-d who transcended nature itself. And by forcing Nature upon the nation that is commanded to serve a transcendent G-d,  that nation had no choice but to break the chains of the Hellenistic culture that tried to enslave its soul.

וַתָּבֹא אֵלָיו הַיּוֹנָה לְעֵת עֶרֶב, וְהִנֵּה עֲלֵה-זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ; וַיֵּדַע נֹחַ, כִּי-קַלּוּ הַמַּיִם מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ. 11 And the dove came in to him at eventide;and lo in her mouth an olive-leaf freshly plucked; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

And just PRIOR to sending forth the dove the first time we read:

וַיְשַׁלַּח, אֶת-הָעֹרֵב; וַיֵּצֵא יָצוֹא וָשׁוֹב, עַד-יְבֹשֶׁת הַמַּיִם מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ.  7 And he sent forth a raven (or crow), and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

So in verse 7 we learn that first Noach sent forth the menuval or reprobate bird representing the most morally debased nations of the world as represented by the Oreiv (the Raven or the Crow).  These nations accuse even Noach of having relations with their mate (the female raven) because they would have relations with Noach’s wife if they could have the opportunity.   Then according to Rashi, Noach waited 7 days to send forth the Dove who represents both Yawan and Israel because both are without blemish. As it says, in the Zohar 237a on the verse from BaMidbar 19:2 dealing with the red heifer:

ב  זֹאת חֻקַּת הַתּוֹרָה, אֲשֶׁר-צִוָּה יְהוָה לֵאמֹר:  דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה תְּמִימָה אֲשֶׁר אֵין-בָּהּ מוּם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-עָלָה עָלֶיהָ, עֹל. 2 This is the statute of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer, faultless, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.

The Zohar states that this is Yawan who is close to the path of emunah (but not there yet).  What the Zohar seems to be saying is that Yawan, more than any Noachide nation, has the potential to keep the 7 Noachide Laws.  This is the difference between the reprobate bird (our raven in the Flood account) and the dove who is released seven days later.  With their infatuation with the number 7 and the laws of nature, one might think that this would be second nature to the Greeks, but it isn’t, of course. Free will is a second nature, but choosing the Yetzer HaTov is NOT a foregone conclusion.  It is so much easier just to morally follow the other nations of the world that you are Hellenizing because of your conquest.  And that is precisely what ancient Greece did.  Because they had no Tzadee attached to the name Yawan, there was no guarantee for them to choose the harder path of righteousness.   So ancient Greece fell away, and only the Dove who attaches the tzadee or righteousness to its national destiny gets to turn the Yon (יון) the male dove released by Noach into (ציון) Tzion.  From Tzion the Torah will go forth, and the World of the L-rd from Yerushalayim!

So the French seeing all this and knowing their antecedents (since they are from Yafeth like Yawan is) on the Ark of Noach, see all this and decide that they too want to be tzaddikim!!  But their definition of a tzaddik is NOT to follow the commands of their Creator.  Remember the French have a national tendency far more than the Greeks to adopt the culture of the nations of the world in order to be loved by them.  That is really the essence of their evil inclination, and they seem more adept at doing that than every other nation.  So, presto!, they decide to determine their own definition of their righteousness by how beloved they are!!  And in that merit of being beloved by so many nations (70 it seems), they get to add a tzadee to their name!!  So from working in the Refet, as a milk producer, suddenly they are instantly a tzaddik!!….in their own minds of course.  Remember in the 18th Century, there were two Revolutions for spreading democracy to Mankind:  The American Revolution which predicated their revolution on making a this worldly covenant with the Creator of the Universe and the French Revolution who simply believed in their motto:  Liberté, égalité, fraternité  (We are all free.  We are all equal [not because we are created equal but because where we must end up must be equal.] We are all brothers.) Notice that by not predicating their revolution on a barometer of Noachide righteousness attached to their Creator, the French Revolution was doomed from the start.  And the American Revolution?  Well it just produced the greatest self-generated noble experiment in human history at least for serving G-d for reward in Olam HaZeh.  American national service to G-d may not be for Olam HaBa, but it is not America that is the Eternal nation in Olam HaBa anyway.  That distinction belongs to Israel.  But as a Noachide nation, at least America got the Olam HaZeh interaction with G-d down pat.  In contrast, the French Revolution internally was a disaster, but in their intense desire to be loved by the world, they continued to apply those disastrous principles to the world in which they excelled, the World of International Diplomacy.  So now at the end of history when 2/3rds of the people in all nations have reached a level of putrid reprobation, the spiritual level of the raven on the Ark, the French have become the focal point of uniting the debased values of the 70 nations of the world and pointing at G-d’s chosen nation claiming to be more righteous than we are by virtue of how beloved they are amongst those 70 debased nations. In this way, France is the last seat of the Evil Inclination at the End of Days.

Note: None of the above is meant to imply that all Frenchmen are steeped in the immoral value of diplomatic prostitution.  While the tendency of that French nation IS precisely that, individuals are often better than the cultural tendency of the nation that they are a part of.  And while the peak of the bell curve in France is toward this bad character trait, the range of individuals at the base of any bell curve is far greater than the differences between nations as represented by where the peaks of the curve are in comparison with the peaks of the curves of other nations.  And French Jews?:  Obviously, the less French you are in this horrible character trait of desiring to be loved by a fallen world, that some have absorbed over this long exile, the more likely that none of this applies to you.

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The Monumental Merit of Family Kushner

For several months now I have been wondering about the great merit of Jared Kushner to influence the heart of an incoming American Emperor.  And Donald Trump’s ascension to the Presidency is the stuff of legend.  Not an ordinary President is he.  This is not a post on what Jared may actually do in the role of one of Trump’s Chief confidantes, but it IS a post about Why.    And this blog, dedicated to discussing the End of Days, is all about Why and not just a series of events which hopefully will climax nine months from now during the Feast of Sukkot.  The story starts with with his grandfather, Holocaust survivor extraordinaire Yoseph Kushner.  Here is Jared in his own words describing why his father-in-law is not an anti-Semite and how his grandfather survived the Shoah.  His writing style is direct and to the point and full of intense detail.  But it is not here will you will find the essential reason for his great merit, but it is part of the story.

One might mention that once Yoseph Kushner moved to America after the Shoah, he rather quickly became very wealthy because of incredibly hard work and the same street smarts that helped his survive the Shoah.  He worked hard and most of his investments paid off.  Like Yosef in Egypt, Kushner was truly blessed by G-d in terms of his personal prosperity after his years of excruciating pain in the Shoah.  When he passed away in 1985, he bequeathed over 4000 rental properties in New Jersey to his sons Murray and Charles Kushner.  Charles Kushner, father of Jared, then built two Torah intensive, Land of Israel loving day schools in New Jersey, The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston, New Jersey and The Rae Kushner Yeshivah High School on the same campus.  Rae Kushner was Joseph Kushner’s wife who survived the Holocaust with him after escaping from the Lithuanian/ Belarus Ghetto  Novogroduk.  From this I learned that Yoseph Kushner was likely a Litvak which plays a part at the end of this story.  So we see here that Charles Kushner, the father of Jared, built Torah schools in New Jersey.  Yes he plea bargained and admitted guilt to a felony which landed him in jail, but as we see from a famous recent plea bargain here in Israel, a plea bargain is not necessarily a guarantee of real guilt,  I will simply leave it to G-d to know if Charles Kushner committed the crime for which he plead guilty.  If he did the crime, then he did the time.  I am leaving it at that.  Yet, it is not in the merit of these Torah schools that Jared has the ear of Caesar at this time.  There is something else, a missing ingredient.  Many great Jews built Torah in America.  Not all of the have the ear of Caesar at this pivotal point in world history.  Something else is going on.

And then I saw it.  For several months I have been wondering about which ArtScroll publication was proudly sponsored by the entire Kushner clan who descended from the righteous Yoseph Kushner who survived by digging a hole in the woods near the Belarus/ Lithuanian border during the Shoah.  I checked the Schottenstein Gemorrahs to no avail.  The Kushners are not in the long list of donors to ArtScroll’s Talmud project.  It was only this evening that a friend of mine from Dallas, Texas brought it up in a conversation with him.  (He wants to remain anonymous.)  We were discussing the spate of lashon hara going around about the Kushner’s taking a ride on Shabbat from the Inauguration which can be easily explained by Jared Kushner’s new post as Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy.  For a committed Zionist Jew to have that position, which wicked hatefilled Jew hater on the planet would NOT want to assassinate him at this critical time?  All of them would.  The Kushners simply can’t stay in hotels anymore and expect to not be a target.  Kushner by virtue of his new position is likely one of the most hated and targeted people on Planet Earth for assassination before Trump announces his first move in the Middle East.  If I were in Jared’s shoes (which I am not), I would thank HaShem for the very tight and scrupulous protection of the Secret Service who drove him home on Friday night.  He likely owes them his life which HaShem has placed in their hands.  All this lashon hara about what Jared and Ivanka have to do to live through this simply has to stop.  We are not in their shoes.  We are not the target of every evil Jew hater on the planet.  From this past Friday, they are their target.

So what is it that I saw?  I took out My ArtScroll Nusach Ashkenaz (Litwak) SUKKOT MACHZOR!  And there it was.  The entire Kushner clan was the sole sponsors of this machzor, the machzor in whose pages we read about the final chapters of GogUMagog at the end of the nine months of the 70 nations, at least, trying to gather against Yerushalayim!  They named the Sukkot Machzor: Machzor Beit Yosef in the merit of their father and grandfather Yoseph Kushner zt”l.  Think of the Torah they are responsible for spreading in this Machzor which are contained in its very pages.

From the Qabbalistic blessing that we say as we enter the Sukkah on the First night of Sukkot:

May it be your will, HaShem, my G-d and the G-d of my forefathers, that You cause Your Presence to reside among us; that you spread over us the Succah of your Peace — in the merit of the mitzvah of succah that we are fulfilling — to unify the Name of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and His Presence, in fear and in love, to unify the Name Yud -Key with Vav- Key in perfect unity, in the name of all Israel; and to surround us with the aura of Your honor, holy and pure, spread over our heads from above like an eagle arousing its brood; and from there cause an abundant outpouring of life for Your servant (Hebrew first name) son of (Mother’s Hebrew name) Your handmaid.  And in the merit of my leaving my house to go out – and I will enthusiastically pursue the path of Your commandments.  — May this be reckoned for me as if I have wandered afar.  Cleanse me thoroughly from my iniquity, and from my sin purify me.  From the exalted Ushpizim guests, the guests of faithfulness, may Your ears hear abundant blessings.  (To the hungry and the thirsty, may You give their food and their unfailing supply of water.)  May You endow me with the privilege to dwell and to take refuge in the sheltering protection of Your wings — at the time of my departure from the world — to take refuge from the Stream of Fire and the fiery rain, when You rain coals upon the (heads of the) wicked.  May this mitzvah of succah that I perform be reckoned as if I had fulfilled it in all its details, implications and speifications, as well as all the mitzvos dependent on it.  May You seal (The Book of Life) for our benefit, and allow us the opportunity to dwell many days upon the Land, the Holy Land, in Your service and in Your reverence.  Blessed is HaShem forever, Amen and Amen.  

The emboldened verse is what happens at the End of the Nine months on Hoshana Rabbah for which the flimsy Sukkah which one enters on the 15th of Tishrei provides protection as it says in Psalm 27:

5.  For He concealeth me in His Succah in the day of evil; {N}
He hideth me in the covert of His tent; He lifteth me up upon a rock.
כִּי יִצְפְּנֵנִי, בְּסֻכֹּה–    בְּיוֹם רָעָה:
יַסְתִּרֵנִי, בְּסֵתֶר אָהֳלוֹ;    בְּצוּר, יְרוֹמְמֵנִי.

That Day of Evil is not really evil at all, but it is a day of supreme judgement on the wicked nations of the world, the Great and Awesome Day of HaShem, the Hoshana Rabbah at the end of the 9 months.

At the beginning of this Nusach Ashkenaz ArtScroll Machzor for Sukkot we see the Dedication/ Approbation page:

This Machzor is dedicated to the memory of Joseph Kushner .ע”ה   which can either mean (Servant of G-d or Upon him is HaShem’s peace) Reb Yosef ben Moshe HaLeivi ע”ה
October 5, 1985 (the 6th day of Sukkot 5746)

Surviving the horrors of the Holocaust, he came to a new land to build a glorious future.  Success never compromised his integrity; nor did it cloud his vision of raising a loving, loyal family, and building a community whose centerpiece would be Torah, its values and its institutions.

In glowing memory, he remains the model of the Jew whose character and prosperity, the themes of Succoth and Koheles (Ecclesiastes), are a means to help others.

Signed all the Kushner children and grandchildren and his wife Rae.
Under Seryl and Charles Kushner we find the names Dara, Jared, Nicole, and Joshua.

So now we know why Jared Kushner has been chosen for a time such as this.  May he succeed in G-d’s endeavor for him to fulfill this role for his immediate future to sanctify HaShem’s Holy Name during these final contractions of the pregnancy of GogUMagog!.  

Addendum:  Notice when Yoseph Kushner zt”l passed away on the 6th Day of Sukkot, the Day of the Ushpiz of Yoseph HaTzaddik, and the very day on the Eve of Hoshana Rabbah.   From the 2nd War of GogUMagog in the forests of Belarus to the 3rd War of GogUMagog in and around Yerushalayim is the passage of only one day….

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Trump, Israel, and the Final Redemption

Today is the day.  The unlikely rise of Donald Trump, from building mogul, reality TV Star to the highest office in America has been the story of the past year.  Pundits counted him out, the left thought he was a clown, and his own party wanted nothing to do with him. Yet, he succeeded in a near miraculous fashion.

Jewish history is ripe with unexpected events, historical anomalies, and non-Jewish political leaders lending a hand to help push the long march towards redemption.  It is not lost on anyone that Trump’s rise is more than just about a flamboyant entertainer unexpectedly rising to the top.  Trump’s daughter and son-son-law are both observant Jews who support Israel in an unwavering fashion.  Some of Trump’s closest friends are both orthodox and highly supportive of Israel’s permanent return to all of its historic homeland.

While all of the above makes a Trump Presidency truly historic for those who support the Jewish return to all of the nation of Israel’s ancestral homeland, there is something far deeper going on.

America is Different

The Founding Fathers of America understood that there is a Creator to all things; an active G-d which is involved with the history of the world.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

By naming the Creator as the source of our rights Jefferson was hooking the destiny of America with that of the Bible.  The Founder Fathers believed their destiny was so bound up with the Hebrew Bible that there were those among them that wanted to make Hebrew the official language of America.  Afterall Adams and others were considered to be Hebraists, which was a movement that sought to reconnect Christianity to its roots in Judaism.

The final redemption is about mankind recognizing that the Creator and his Torah are the source and building blocks for all.  Trump may not be politically correct.  He may be thrice married and expresses himself in a way liberals scoff at, but he understands the roots of America’s greatness.  This greatness unlike its European counterparts, is America’s connection to the G-d of Israel, which goes back even before the Declaration of Independence.

While Europe has done everything in its power to rid itself of Christianity’s Hebrew roots, America has done the opposite and embraced them.

Eisav’s Head is Burried with the Patriarchs

There is a midrash (tanaic story from the time of the Mishna) that relates to Eisav coming to the Cave of the Patriarchs when Jacob’s sons come to bury him. Chushim the son of Dan quickly lobbed his head off.  The head rolled into the cave and is buried with Israel’s patriarchs and matriarchs.

The sages of the Torah teach that Rome is the expression of the exile of Eisav in the world.  Rome became Christian and spent centuries attempting to sever Christianity from its source. Now at the End of Days, the midrash makes more sense than ever.  Eisav’s head was always “kosher,” while his body, not.  America has a unique role in reconnecting “the head” of Eisav to its Israelite source while disconnecting it from its pagan influence, which is drawn from the decadent liberal culture flowing from the main stream media, Europe, and American universities.

The battle between Israel and the world is far more to do with reaffirming a direct connection to the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and spreading their teachings to the world.  Far too many Jews have forgotten that this is Israel’s mission. Ironically, Americans understand that they too can share in this mission by lending a hand to the Jews that do embrace the covenant of their forefathers.

On a subconscious level, this is what angers those who oppose Trump. At a base level they desire to break America’s bonds with its Hebrew roots, because they themselves are fearful of the responsibility such roots carry with them.

At the End of Days, just before the Redemption as Israel returns to its Land, the prophecies are unfolding as written. There is another midrash that clearly states: Eisav will return the Crown of Torah to Israel. It does not say Israel will take its crown, but rather it will be returned to it, connotating a partnership.

Trump and America appear ready to stand up to the global elite and fulfill the USA’s mandate to be a partner in redeeming Israel and all of mankind, that is if those that oppose the new President don’t try to uproot the source of its wellbeing first.