Maria - I Once Met a Storm Named Maria

After Harvey and Irma, hurricane season is far from over as can be attested to by the plethora of storms still churning in the world's oceans.

Jose is still going strong.  It's been almost 2 weeks since we last mentioned Jose and at that time, I noted that Jose is spelled חוזה in Hebrew with the gematria of Hashem's name, signifying His attribute of Rahamim (mercy).

And, true to form, the hurricane has been merciful - sparing a direct hit on islands hit by Irma and staying well off the coast of New England despite still expecting to produce strong winds and heavy rain.  If it would have gone way off to the East, that would be pure Hessed.  This is Hashem showing His Gevurah and showing Hessed within His Gevurah, aka Rahamim.

And then along came Maria.  Hebrew news sites spell it מריה, but I prefer to spell it with an Alef: מאריה.  Notice that the word has the exact same letters as Irma: אירמה, which, of course, means that it has the same gematria.  (Even without the Alef, we can use the Kollel to produce the same gematria.)  Recall that Irma had the gematria of 288 which is the same as גברו מאד - hinting to Gevurah - and this can be applied to Maria as well, keeping in mind that it too is a Category 5 storm.  And it seems to be taking a similar path to Irma.

Also, recall that like Irma (אירמה), the letters of Maria (מאריה) can be rearranged to say מיראה - showing that we must do Teshuva this time of year - at the very least - from fear and awe of Hashem's power.

In addition, the name Maria strongly hints to Moriah - or the mountain upon which Avraham was commanded to slaughter Yitzhak - and the spot upon which the Beit Hamikdash was built almost 850 years later.  The episode of the Binding of Yitzhak is read on Rosh Hashana for a number of reasons, including the reason that many say that it took place on Rosh Hashana.  Others say it took place on Yom Kippur.  (Only Hashem knows where Maria will be by Yom Kippur.  May lives be spared.)

One can also say that מאריה is spelled the same way as the word Me'aryeh - or "from a lion".  We know that Mashiah will be born from a father who comes from the tribe of Yehuda and a mother who comes from the tribe of Dan - and this is known from the fact that both tribes are called lions, as the Yalkut Shimoni (Remez 160) writes:

גור אריה יהודה זה משיח בן דוד שיצא משני שבטים אביו מיהודה ואמו מדן ושניהם נקראו אריה שנאמר גור אריה יהודה ודן נקרא גור אריה נאמר דן גור אריה

May Hashem direct both Jose and Maria to show mercy to His people and may this only be a sign for good things to come in the very near future.