This past year since Rav Yaakov Litman and his son Natanel were brutally murdered, there has not been a week since our son who was in his first grade class last year brings him up. Our two oldest sons both learned with him. They like the rest of the students in their school spent the last year grieving and learning to grow past the pain of losing such a beloved teacher to a murderous terror attack.
It’s strange to find myfelf back at the same Torah portion as last year and see the exact same relevance as before. I wrote last year the following in connection with the murder of Rav Yaakov and Natanel and the Torah portion:
So how do you tell your son that he will never see his Rebbe again? How do you tell your 1st grader that arab murderers gunned his Rabbi and son down for no other reason than because they are Jewish?
Our son heard the news from us last night and processed it. In many ways kids are more resilient than we are. “Who is going to be there tomorrow?” he asked my wife. Our older son seemed to wonder the same thing. Rav Yaakov taught him two classes a week as well. The three of us decided to learn together. That was what Rav Yaakov would want us to do. We picked this week’s Torah portion to learn.
“And Yaakov left Beer Sheva…,” it began. Yaakov left. Rashi tells us that when a tzaddik leaves a place the people feel his absence
A year has passed and in that year I have begun to understand in a different way what our sages meant when a tzaddik (righteous person) is alive even in their death. They live through their students. To understand the impact this one man and his son had on a school and community is impossible without looking at the students in the school. Everyone who met Rav Yaakov was touched and lifted up.
This is how the great Tzaddiks like Rebbe Nachman, the Baal Shem Tov, Arizal, and others live in both worlds. Each student carries his life force with him. I only met him briefly, but Rav Yaakov’s smile on meeting me still stays with me. Seeing both of our sons who had the merit to learn with him still talk about Rav Yaakov shows me that he is up there with the greatest. His lifeforce is more than just a simple statement, he has given his strength and eternity over to his students and he lives on within them in a very real way.
To this end the entire school put together a video marking a year since he and his son were murdered. Watch and even without the translation you can easily see what impact Rav Yaakov is still having on his students and community.
Our mystical tradition teaches us that everything in this physical world is a reflection of the upper worlds. “Upper” refers to less tangible and more spiritual realms. This is why, whether or not Donald Trump delivers on 100% or 50% is less important than the actual shake up of the world order that has sought to break apart our G-d centered reality. People from all walks of life around the world seek to be free. This does not mean free of obligations or responsibilities, but rather they want to have self governance to make their own choices in their lives.
The Creation is built on free choice. We see this is the beginning of the Torah when the Creator gives Adam and Eve one single commandment “Do Not Eat From The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” A commandment is a choice. You can either follow it or not. When we follow them we grow closer to the source of creation. When we don’t we move farther away. This is why Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches that the commandments in the Torah and the rulings of the sages are advice on how to attach ourselves to the Creator. If we want to be free and act as a our authentic G-dly selves, we would act positively on these pieces of advice. If we shun them, then we jettison our divinely created selves and merge into the broader forces of nature.
The Globalists would like to take away this ability to choose. They want to decide for us already that we are in fact just pieces of nature that need to be ruled over. If they succeed then they rule and G-d becomes buried in story books.
The war of Gog U’Magog is a war between the forces of the Creator and those who oppose a G-d centered reality. This is why the main purpose of redemption is to reveal he Divine root in Creation. This is what the forces of the New World Order are so frightened of. They have disconnected themselves so much from their Divine root that they will be wiped out at the end.
Many freedom loving people are ecstatic over Trump’s victory, but beware, because the Globalists will find other ways to fight. This is exactly why the battle cannot be fought directly or we will lose. We must through our thought, speech, and actions uncover the divine light within creation and wield it carefully over the enemy. This they cannot stand up against.
When the Nation of Israel returned to its Land. The world shook because it meant that what we had been insisting on for 2000 years was true. It meant that the prophecies are true. It meant that G-d does not only exist as Creator, but as an active participant in everyone of our lives. The Tower of Bavel has begin to collapse, but that is when those forces of darkness are most dangerous. The sages of the Talmud understood this and all prayed for Messiah to come, but also prayed that they would not live to see it. The final battle is about to begin and change the world forever.
The world is about to be thrown into a level of chaos of unknown proportions. None of this depends on the outcome of the elections in America. Either way the path ahead post elections is fraught with danger. The prophecies in the bible are clear. When the nations of the world gather and come against Israel’s control of Jerusalem, the Almighty himself will intervene and save his children. This prophecy can, like all prophecies be revealed in a variety of ways.
It is almost guaranteed that Obama will, especially if Trump wins come against Israel in the UN. Eventhough the UN Security Council vote will not come with a force of arms attached to it, the coming vote (which Obama will not veto) will lay down the “final boundaries” of a “Palestinian” State. This will include Israel’s biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria and “East Jerusalem.” Expect the Old City to fall under international control.
With three months left in Obama’s term there will not be enough time for the world to send forces against Israel. However the vote itself will fulfill the prophecy in both Zecharia and Yechezkiel. What will happen afterwards are events that have already been set into motion. The nations of the world instead of destroying Israel will fight one another as it says, “Jerusalem will be a Cup of Poison.” Russia is already preparing for war against the USA, as is China. Europe is preparing to repel an invasion from Russia. Iran and Syria are ready to attack Israel and Saudi Arabia is ready to defend against attacks from Iran.
Chaos is coming, but we know that chaos leads to order as it always has. Afterall in creation, night comes first followed by the day. Night represents chaos and day represents order. Noah and his children experienced intense chaos and yet when the door to the Ark opened, the world was ready to be put back together again by their descendents.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov tells us the Messiah, descendent of King David will conquer the world without firing a shot. He will fight with prayer as “prayer is his main weapon” (Lekutei Mohran, Lesson 2). In a moment when the world has exhausted itself and G-dlessness reigns he is revealed to teach us that it is in fact the Creator who directly has done, does, and will do everything in the world for our good. The Messiah will open our hearts so we can worship the true King, G-d Almighty directly.
In Rebbe Nachman’s lesson concerning Tzohar (Lekutei Mohran, Lesson 112) the light in the Ark, he teaches that all holiness comes to the world surrounded by evil. We ourselves find it hard to allow the Creator’s light into our lives. The flood of anti-holiness and G-dlessness has gripped the world. However desperate things appear, Rebbe Nachman teaches that any of us can break through the layers of darkness and despair by making an opening to the Creator’s light within our own lives. Afterall, there is no despair in the world at all since everything is done for our own good.
What is coming may be scary, but it is the final moment of chaos and darkness before the greatest light is revealed. The Midrash in Yalkut Shemoni relating to the End of Days says: “Do not be afraid my children. Everything I have done I have done for you.”
In the second lesson of Lekutei Moharan Rebbe Nachman teaches that the main weopon of the Mashiach (Messiah) is prayer. In fact, in other teachings Rebbe Nachman was clear that the Mashiach will conquer the world without firing a shot. He will have such a connection between him and the Creator that he will be able to defeat the enemies of the Jewish people and their supporters through his speech.
All of us have an aspect of the Mashiach within and each of us can harness the divine weapon of prayer that allows us to not only change our reality, but plug into the Creator of the universe. The world may appear to be chaotic, yet we have the opportunity and capability to steady the ship.
Watch Rabbi Lazer Brody below teach us how to plug into the divine by using prayer to change our lives and the world.
1 The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The saying of the LORD, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him: 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of staggering unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it fall to be in the siege against Jerusalem. 3 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.
and again in chapter 14:
1 Behold, a day of the LORD cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, but the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fighteth in the day of battle. 4 And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, so that there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel; yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the LORD my God shall come, and all the holy ones with Thee.
UNESCO has finally gone ahead and used its majority Arab membership to rewrite history and erase the deep and unwavering connection between the Jewish nation and Jerusalem. While it states in the text, which can be read in full here, “Affirming the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions…” it clearly and unequicably only acknowledges Jerusalem’s Old City as having Palestinian heritage. Instead of viewing the Jewish return to Jerusalem and the national rectification of recieving back that which was stolen from it during theyears of forced Arab occupation as legitimate these regrown Jewish roots are seen through the veil of increased “occupation”.
Being a world body UNESCO has opened the first shot in the world’s war against Jerusalem as prophesized thousands of years ago. Israeli politicians, religous leaders, and acitvists have responded with anger and declarations. Afterall, nearly all Jews that have some sort of connection to the broader national belief set hold a bond that is unbreakable with Jerusalem. Despite the outcry, there is not much on a political level we can do. That in of itself may be the most painful aspect of all.
Rectifying Our Past, Reconnecting Our Future
As someone who considers himself a follower of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, I journeyed to Uman, Ukraine to be by Rebbe Nachman’s grave for Rosh Hoshanah. Rebbe Nachman made it clear that his followers should continue to visit him for Rosh Hoshonah even after his departure from this world. “There is nothing greater that my Rosh Hoshanah,” Rebbe Nachman stated to his followers.
Of all of Rebbe Nachman’s teachings, none is more powerful than his exhortation to spend at least an hour a day in personal solitude in direct conversation with the Almighty. While in Uman I spent most of my time like many others next to Rebbe Nachman’s grave, yet when I wanted to be alone I walked quite a ways from the central area of rebuilt Jewish Uman. Just prior to Rosh Hoshanah I reached a quiet spot overlooking a river flowing out of Uman. It was at this spot I chose to speak to G-d. My hour long session was so meaningful I decided to return near to the same spot the next day, yet chose a different route to get there.
As I approached the area I noticed the color of the earth changed to black beneath my feet and there were broken tombstones all around for as far as I could see. I felt a sense of deep anguish in the area and after my hour long seclusion I located the rebuilt graves of Rebbe Nachman’s grandson and one of his chief students Reb Naftali. Nearby I found a sign noting the area was a the burial place for 3000 Jews slaughtered by the Ukrainians in the pogroms of 1920.
Destroyed Graves of the 3000 Jews Massacred in the Ukranian Pogroms of 1920
Jewish blood flows throughout Uman. From the Chmielnicki massacre of 1648 that saw nearly 30,000 Jews killed in Uman with over 500,000 in the rest of the Ukraine to the pogroms of 1920 to the Nazi exterminations in WW2. Rebbe Nachman stated clearly his ability to rectify the souls of the dead and the torments of the souls lying in Uman were clearly far greater than other places. Yet, I believe Rebbe Nachman has another agenda (one of many) by asking us to return to Uman year in and year out.
In many ways we are the rectification. After he leaves, the Tzaddik (rightous one) has no physical presence in our world, yet he continues to have an impact due to the fullfillment of his lessons and advice by his followers who are called his legs. It is our praying, singing, and dancing in a place of such pain that rectifies the broken souls left in the area.
The Long-Short Path
In the Talmud, tractacte Eruvin it states that Rebbe Yehoshua ben Hanniyah was travelling and saw a child at a fork in the road. He asked the child which way was the best to the city. The child said that one path was a short-long path and the other was a long short-path.
Rebbe Yehoshua ben Hanniyah took the short long path and very quickly came to the outskirts of the city and found that it was surrounded by gardens and orchards. He returned to the child and and said: “My child you said this was the short path.” The child responded to him: “No I said it was the long path.” Rebbe Yehoshua ben Hanniyah then said the following: “I kissed him on his head and I said to him, happy is Israel that all of them are with from the big to the small.”
This passage has tremendous lessons for our time. We the Jewish nation returned in great haste to our ancient homeland. Miracle after miracle has guided us and yet we insist on playing by the rules of the nations of the world. We rushed back so fast we have gotten lost in gardens and orchards of world politics and forgotten the surest way of crossing the proverbial finish line of redemption. The Jewish people wanted to so much to be back in Jerusalem we set out on the short-long path and cannot truly enter our city in a way that feels lasting. We have been forced to return to the fork in the road and take the other path no matter how long it seems it may take.
For me this path is the path of Uman, which by way of complete and pure faith reminds us that we as a nation are above the normtive rules of time and space. We are forever. Our war is not against UNESCO. They are a pawn played by the Almighty in the march towards fullfiling the prophecies laid out thousands of years ago. Our war is with ourselves; with that part of us that forgot what it means to trust in the Almighty and develop an instrinsic faith in G-d as a real active part of our lives, both personal and national.
Rebbe Nachman said many times that a great flood of anti-faith would rage around the world and at the end our war would be about recovering our own faith. By bringing us back to the geographical point where we had such faith that we were willing to die for it, we the Jewish Nation are able to recapture that part of us which was lost along the way.
UNESCO has no power to change the truth. In fact, it is telling that the sons of Ishmael who are supposedly faithful to G-d rely on earthly political constructs to erase our history. If they have stooped that low, we have only to reach inside ourselves to rise past them. That is our task and of course let G-d do the rest.
With all of the chaos and uncertainty spreading around the world these days I wanted to relate the following story from the life of Rebbe Nachman, the great Chassidic master.
In spring of 1808 after Rebbe Nachman had already diagnosed with tuberculosis he became gravely ill and near death while residing in Lemberg. He told his follower Reb Shimon to rush back to Breslov where he lived. There he told Reb Shimon to burn two copies of a manuscript he and his student Reb Nosson put together. This book held deep mystical teachings, so powerful they could bring redemption. Why burn them? Because Rebbe Nachman understood that it was either his death or the books and because he felt it was too early for him to go, the books must since the world was not ready for them.
Reb Shimon made the long journey and even became ill before he reached his destination. Fearing he would not be able to fulfill his master’s wishes, “Reb Shimon gave order that they sould carry him to the coach and lay him down inside. ” He eventually reached Breslov and regained his health. Upon doing so he wasted no time burning the two books, which became known as the Burnt Book. Rebbe Nachman miraculously regained his composure and lived another two years and a bit, teaching and spreading joy.
Rebbe Nachman understood that he had to let go of this amazing work to move forward and teach even more. That is the lesson. Sometimes we have to let go of the things we thought were concrete. With all of the darkness and confusion in the world, there is a bit of light underneath it all. We often times do not understand the reasons for particular events or how to cope with them. This transition we are witnessing on a global level requires us in many ways to let go of things we didn’t think possible. Yet if we do, we will all be able to achieve so much more.
There is a profit in the land over all else, for the king is sustained by the field
Ecclesiastes 5:8 (as per Ibn Ezra on verse)
It’s that time of the year again. The shofar blasts preparing us for the month ahead. “The King is in the Field,” the saying goes, but he is just beyond our grasp. As the world seemingly continues to spiral out of control as the western way of life lies empty and in retreat, we are left yearning for our redemption.
The birthday of the world draws close. The king is waiting to arrive, but where are we? The redemption is actually at hand and yet we are are caught up with mundane activities, distracted, and distraught. Yet, within each of us there is a soul crying and yearning for the truth.
Our sages tell us the redemption will come at a time of complete darkness and confusion. It has never been quite clear what this meant, but in our generation there is no longer any self respect, boundaries, or holiness. It is in this sort of world where all is permissible and nothing has consequences that darkness reigns. Yet, depsite the seeming disarray there is a way back or forward.
Rebbe Nachman, the great chassidic master tells a story concerning the heart of the world. The heart sustains all and yet yearns for a flowing spring ontop of a mountain. Each one of us is the heart of the world. It is our yearning no matter how faint that sustains all around us. This is the power of the month before the great crowning of the King on Rosh Hoshannah.
If we prepare and acknowledge who is truly in charge then we have the power to bring the redemption. If we yearn for the king of the world and by doing so reconnect to our heart then the chaos that surrounds us, the darkness that has enveloped our world will be no more.
In Elul we no longer have to find the king, for he is right before us. All we have to do is prepare. The first step is to know that you are the heart of the world and all of your thought, speech, and actions can decide its fate. Taking the first step is often the hardest. Howver, when we do we have brought ourselves that much closer to our destination.
