Tuesday Night Live #29

You gotta love this episode of Tuesday Night Live (episode #29)

Rav Zvihi on Birkat Hahama

R' Pinhas Zvihi has halachot of Birkat Hahama in English here. A Hidush to me is the last halacha:

28. It is best to look at the face of a man called “Abraham” while making the blessing on the sun. (Similarly, one should look at the face of a man called “Isaac” while blessing the New Moon).

Also note a comment made by Anonymous on a previous post:

Its worth it to purachse Hagon Rav Pinchas Zabichi Shlita new sefer "Ateret Paz" on Birchas Hachama, in it he writes that before he was going to publish the sefer, he went in to his Rebbi Maran Shlita and mentioned to him what the Ostravtza Goan says regarding Birchas Hachma on Erev Pesach re: Moshiach, and immediatly Maran started crying etc...

Tzitzit and Shaatnez

We know from the gemara in Yevamot that Tzitzit pushes away Shaatnez - and this is the classic case of עשה דוחה לא תעשה - a possitive commandment pushing off a negative commandment.
However, that's only if you had a garment made of linen with tzitzit made of wool, but if the wool and linen were woven into the garment itself, the problem of shaatnez remains.
Unfortunately, recently, hundreds of Talitot of Hassidim were checked and some were found to have Shaatnez, reports Ladaat.net. In addition, garments that were supposed to be 100% wool were found to have synthetic material. The Belzer Beit Din gave rules as to what items are refundable.

Me'am Lo'ez on Birkat Hahama

My havruta and I learn the Me'am Lo'ez, and we just happened to be in the middle of discussing the fourth day of creation, and we just happened to get to the part about Birkat Hahama tonight. (I was learning it in Hebrew, unlike the original Ladino that you see displayed to the right.)
Ribbi Ya'akov Chuli writes that at the time of his writing, it was the year 5489, which was a year of Birkat Hahama, but he didn't merit to say the beracha that year since it was too cloudy. The year 5489 is 280 (28 x 10) years ago.
As I mentioned previously, may we merit on 14 Nissan, 5769 to say the beracha for Birkat Hahama that morning and bring our Pesahim as Korbanot that afternoon.

Interesting Links

We Want Mashiach - What Happened to Am Yisrael?

Shirat Devorah - The Prophetic Codes of the Frierdiker Rebbe

Geulah Perspectives - Obama, the economy, and the prelude to Moshiach

Yishai Fleisher - Bar Refaeli: The Shabbat Queen (A little mussar for me, being that I'm a sports fan.)

Short Video on Expecting Redemption

This video is a clip from Rav Shmueli's recent Zohar Shiur on Mishpatim, but the message warranted its own video with translation.

Geula After Olmert or After Netanyahu?

The We Want Mashiach blog reminds us that Rav Kaduri Zt"l had reportedly said that Sharon will be the last Israeli Prime Minister, which could possibly be extended to mean Sharon and his deputy - Ehud Olmert - who took over when Sharon became incapacitated.

We also have another reason why Olmert could the last prime minister before the Geula - namely, the Sefer Eliyahu. (See Nava's post and Josh Waxman's dissenting opinion. See earlier posts by R' Dov Bar Leib and Hashem1.net.) The Sefer Eliyahu reads (according to the version on Hashem1.net):

ואז אמר לי מיכאל קץ העתיד להיות באחרית הימים, בימיו של מלך העתיד להיות, הרמלת שמו, ויש אומרים תרמלא שמו. ר’ יהודה בן בתירא אומר כורש שמו, רבי שמעון בר יוחאי אומר הכשרא שמו, והלכה כרבי שמעון דאמר הכשרא שמו.

ולע"ד, let's analyze the names mentioned here:

הרמלת
תרמלא
כורש
הכשרא

הרמלת begins with a "ה", which I contend refers to a ה הידיעה, the definite article of "the". If we take away the "ה", it becomes רמלת, but the "ר" and "ל" can be switched (see footnote 10 here) to refer to "the למרת", or "The Olmert". "The Olmert" refers to the known Olmert before he moved to the Kadima party - the right-leaning former mayor of Yerushalayim who believed in Yerushalayim's unity.

תרמלא refers to the same person - Ehud Olmert - but it's read backwards, i.e., the Ehud Olmert who went to Kadima and became the prime minister did a complete turnaround and now doesn't believe that Yerushalayim needs to stay united. You now read his name from left to right, as they do in English, hinting to his being persuaded by the Western world. Thus, the יש אומרים say that it is this turned-backwards Ehud Olmert who will be the king before the Ketz.

כורש is the name of the Persian king who first allowed the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash after the Babylonian exile, but then disallowed it. The gemara in Megilla 12a says:

דרש רב נחמן בר רב חסדא מאי דכתיב (ישעיהו מה) כה אמר ה' למשיחו לכורש אשר החזקתי בימינו וכי כורש משיח היה אלא א"ל הקב"ה למשיח קובל אני לך על כורש אני אמרתי הוא יבנה ביתי ויקבץ גליותי והוא אמר (עזרא א) מי בכם מכל עמו ויעל

Mashiah is to admonish כורש for not being involved in the building of the בית המקדש himself, but just allowing the Jews to do it themselves. Ribbi Yehuda Ben Beteira holds that כורש is the name of the king before the Ketz. כורש has the gematria of 526, which is the same as הנתניהו - "The Netanyahu" - the same Netanyahu that resembled כורש - who did not object to the Disengagement/Expulsion from Gush Katif and cut spending to Yeshivot.

הכשרא has the same gematria as כורש - that of 526. However, it is very different. This name, as in the name הרמלת, begins with a "ה". This too is a ה הידיעה that refers to a known figure, i.e., a known Netanyahu, as this too has the gematria of הנתניהו. But which Netanyahu does it refer to? הכשרא - the Kosher Netanyahu - the one that will stand for a strong Israel, keep Yerushalayim and all of Israel united and will be conciliatory toward the religious people of Israel. This is the person whom Ribbi Shimon Bar Yohai says will be the king before the Ketz - and this is the halacha.

Let us hope that the correct view is that of the יש אומרים (as it's too late for the first opinion) that Olmert is the last "king" before the Ketz, but if not, let's at least hope that Ribbi Shimon Bar Yohai is correct - that the Kosher Netanyahu will be the last "king" before the Ketz.

Election Results

With 99% of the votes counted, the results are:

Kadima 28
Likud 27
Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) 14
Labor 13
Shas 11
United Torah Judaism (UTJ) 5
Ichud Leumi (National Union) 4
Jewish Home 3
Meretz 3
Arab parties 12

Thoughts:

• Labor has been relegated to 4th place, overtaken by Yisrael Beiteinu.
  רמז לדבר: והשב את העבודה לדביר ביתך ואשי ישראל
• Anyone have a count on how many religious Jews are headed for the 18th Knesset (assuming these results are final and assuming "religious" is Shemirat Shabbat, Kashrut and Taharat Hamishpaha)?

Vote

Click the image.

The choices are before you. Whatever you do, vote for 1 of these 3.

מחה אמחה

The end of the Perasha says:

כי מחה אמחה את זכר עמלק מתחת השמים

Rav Shmueli in his shiur (at the 45:20 mark) said that the word אמחה is roshei teivot for those involved in wiping out Amalek throughout every Geula we've had.

Geula from Galut Mitzrayim
אהרן
משה
חור
הקב"ה

Geula from Galut Bavel
אסתר
מרדכי
חרבונה
הקב"ה

Geula from Galut Edom
אליהו
משיח
the 8 ח - נסיכים
הקב"ה

Rav Shmueli: We must prepare now for a Nissan Geula

Watch Rav Shmueli's Shiur on Beshalah - the whole thing is good, but at least from 20:20 until 25:05 where he says that we need to prepare now by daily prayer, Emunah and love of Hashem for a Geula in Nissan Be'ezrat Hashem. (I believe that he is saying this as a prayer - not as a definite prediction - but we hope that צדיק גוזר והקב"ה מקיים.)

He also repeats what he has said many times that learning the Zohar and Hochmat Hakabala of the Ar"i and the Rasha"sh will bring the Geula closer and with Rahamim (at 57:40).

Did the Ahmedinejad-Kisser Do Teshuva?

Did the Ahmedinejad-Kisser Do Teshuva?

I guess it depends on whether his Teshuva is sincere or not and whether his sins were considered Bein Adam Lamakom or Bein Adam LaHaveiro (in which case, he would require forgiveness from all of Kelal Yisrael).

Read more at VIN.