וְהַמֶּלֶךְ וְהָמָן יָשְׁבוּ לִשְׁתּוֹת

 

Source: Fulcrum

CBS:

Ahashveirosh praises Haman after Throne room meeting: "I want him to do a great job"

Mamdani and Mashiah

Rav Hayim Volozhin ZT"L predicted that America would be the last station of 10 exiles for Torah before Mashiah.

New York City has the biggest Jewish population for a city outside of Israel.

Matzav: Nearly A Million New Yorkers Ready To Flee NYC If Mamdani Becomes Mayor — Possibly Igniting Largest Exodus In History

Now, Mamdani became mayor.  We shall see if those threatening to flee will make good on their threats, who exactly are these people, and where exactly they will go.  But it seems that the exile from the last station of exile has commenced.

---

Some statements of Haza"l come to mind:

1) Socialism will now rule the day in New York City.  

אין בן דוד בא עד שתכלה פרוטה מן הכיס

אין בן דוד בא עד שיבקש דג לחולה ולא ימצא

2) And NYC will now have a pro-Hamas mayor, and government officials will now follow their leader in that sentiment:

אין בן דוד בא עד שתתהפך כל המלכות למינות

3) Those stuck in Mamdani's NYC will end up being fatalistic:

אין בן דוד בא] עד שיתייאשו מן הגאולה, - שנאמר 'ואפס עצור ועזוב': כביכול אין סומך ועוזר לישראל]

so based on these statements from Haza"l, there is hope coming from the terrible election news.

---

The following phrase:

ראש העיר ניו יורק זוהרן ממדאני

has the gematria (with the ן as 700) of 2231.  This is also the gematria of (Tehillim 132:17):

שָׁם אַצְמִיחַ קֶרֶן לְדָוִד; עָרַכְתִּי נֵר, לִמְשִׁיחִי

Upon the Sheloshim of my Rosh Yeshiva - Rav Doniel Lehrfield ZT"L

Rabbi Lehrfield ZT"L was my Rosh Yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael, I was in his shiur for the better part of a year, and I merited to learn with him בחברותא for a certain period.  He will be missed.

Links:

Matzav: Rav Doniel Lehrfield zt”l, Rosh Yeshivas Beis Yisroel, Yerushalayim

YWN: BD”E: Harav Daniel Lehrfield Zt”l, Rosh Yeshivas Bais Yisroel In Eretz Yisroel

Mishpacha: He Saw What We Could Be

Hesped in Chicago

Old link on the Blog: Rabbi Doniel Lehrfield Shlit"a on Corona and Mashiah

The Hostage Release on Hoshana Rabba and Yosef's Release in Egypt

Parashat Miketz begins: 

א  וַיְהִי, מִקֵּץ שְׁנָתַיִם יָמִים; וּפַרְעֹה חֹלֵם, וְהִנֵּה עֹמֵד עַל-הַיְאֹר.

1 And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.

This was the end of two extra full years in jail for Yosef, who, on his level, didn't completely trust in Hashem and was therefore punished by having to endure these extra 2 years in prison.  Yosef stands for the people currently in Eretz Yisrael as יוסף is the gematria of ציון - the people of the Zionist State of Israel.  We put our trust in the government to save us, but ולא זכר שר המשקים את יוסף וישכחהו - we were forsaken by our government.  We trusted in the conceptzia instead of trusting in Hashem to protect us.  When Hashem doesn't protect us, שוא שקד שומר - no one can protect us.

So now, we are exactly at the end of 2 years since the Simhat Torah massacre when the hostages were captured.  And at the end of these 2 years, it is a קץ.  As the Midrash here in Miketz says, quoting the verse in Iyov 28:3, "קץ שם לחשך" - Hashem is putting an end to the darkness.  This refers to the darkness endured by Yosef Hatzadik - and the hostages of today - in the dungeons of Egypt and its Gazan neighbor respectively.  

Daniel 12:1

א  וּבָעֵת הַהִיא יַעֲמֹד מִיכָאֵל הַשַּׂר הַגָּדוֹל, הָעֹמֵד עַל-בְּנֵי עַמֶּךָ, וְהָיְתָה עֵת צָרָה, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-נִהְיְתָה מִהְיוֹת גּוֹי עַד הָעֵת הַהִיא; וּבָעֵת הַהִיא יִמָּלֵט עַמְּךָ, כָּל-הַנִּמְצָא כָּתוּב בַּסֵּפֶר.

1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

In the End of Days, the Angel Michael will be our great defense attorney in the Heavenly Court against the attacks from the Yishmaelim (see Metzudat David on this verse) as it will be a time of great trouble that we never endured before, but at that time, the Jews will escape - if you were written in the book.  לולא דמסתפינא, perhaps, this time of trouble refers to the Simhat Torah Massacre and the people who escape refers to the remaining hostages who were written in multiple lists over the past 2 years.

Which brings me back to Miketz.  What occurred at the end of 2 years?

יד  וַיִּשְׁלַח פַּרְעֹה וַיִּקְרָא אֶת-יוֹסֵף, וַיְרִיצֻהוּ מִן-הַבּוֹר; וַיְגַלַּח וַיְחַלֵּף שִׂמְלֹתָיו, וַיָּבֹא אֶל-פַּרְעֹה.

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. And he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.

When the 2 years were up, Par'oh - the most respected leader of the world's largest superpower at that time - sent for Yosef to be rushed out of the dungeon of Egypt to freedom.  And Yosef actually went to go meet this leader.

Similarly, after exactly 2 years were up, Trump - the most respected leader of the world's largest superpower of today - sent for the hostages to be rushed out of the dungeons of Gaza to freedom.  And reports are that Trump may make a surprise hospital visit to the hostages if time permits.  But even if he doesn't, Trump has seen many other released hostages in the past 2 years and will likely see the newly released ones soon.

Interestingly, the Sha"ch says that it's possible that the one who shaved Yosef and changed his clothes was the Angel Gavriel, who was the one who protected Yosef for many years and taught him 70 languages.  That was then when we were beginning the first exile of the Jewish people, so it required the attribute of Din, which Gavriel is associated with.

Now that we are at the end of our final exile, the Angel Michael, who is associated with the attribute of kindness, will be our defense against Yishmael, as the aforementioned verse in Daniel states.

The entire verse:

 וַיִּשְׁלַח פַּרְעֹה וַיִּקְרָא אֶת-יוֹסֵף, וַיְרִיצֻהוּ מִן-הַבּוֹר; וַיְגַלַּח וַיְחַלֵּף שִׂמְלֹתָיו, וַיָּבֹא אֶל-פַּרְעֹה.

when using final letters as big numbers - has the gematria of 5685.  When we add 101 for מיכאל, we get 5786.

On Hoshana Rabba, we say verses at the end of Hoshanot that have to do with the Final Redemption.  A couple of these verses seem appropriate for the hostage release:

Yeshaya 52:7:

ז  מַה-נָּאווּ עַל-הֶהָרִים רַגְלֵי מְבַשֵּׂר, מַשְׁמִיעַ שָׁלוֹם מְבַשֵּׂר טוֹב--מַשְׁמִיעַ יְשׁוּעָה; אֹמֵר לְצִיּוֹן, מָלַךְ אֱלֹהָיִךְ.

7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger of good tidings, that announceth peace, the harbinger of good tidings, that announceth salvation; that saith unto Zion: 'Thy God reigneth!'

Only Mashiah can announce "Peace".  But we hope that a cessation of fighting in Gaza will bring peace.  Trump is optimistic.  Skeptics abound (including myself), but let us pray for it. 

Yeshaya 51:11:

יא  וּפְדוּיֵי יְהוָה יְשׁוּבוּן, וּבָאוּ צִיּוֹן בְּרִנָּה, וְשִׂמְחַת עוֹלָם, עַל-רֹאשָׁם; שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה יַשִּׂיגוּן, נָסוּ יָגוֹן וַאֲנָחָה.

11 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

No explanation needed on this verse.

May Hashem bring comfort to Kelal Yisrael in many ways.

חג שמח!

5786 is Starting Off Wild

שופר is gematria 586.

Add the 100 Kolot from the first day of Rosh Hashana and the 100 Kolot from the second day of Rosh Hashana and you get 786 - corresponding to the year 5786.

Before blowing Shofar, Sepharadim recite the piyut ה' בקול שופר.

Note how the entire piyut talks about Mashiah, but this stanza talks about the Ketz of Mashiah being revealed:

ה' בְּקוֹל שׁוֹפָר יְגַלֶּה קֵץ וּזְמַן

עֵת יִתְקַע וְהָלַךְ בְּסַעֲרוֹת תֵּימָן

וּמַלְכוּת הָרִשְׁעָה אֲזַי תִּהְיֶה פְרוּעָה

עָלָה אֱלֹהִים בִּתְרוּעָה ה' בְּקוֹל שׁוֹפָר

So the Ketz of Mashiah is revealed in the Kol of the Shofar.  Does that possibly mean the 200 Kolot we said on Rosh Hashana plus the gematria of Shofar - 586?

Note also how this stanza talks about the סערות תימן - referring to Zecharia 9:14 at the time of the Teki'a.  On the second day of Rosh Hashana, when shofarot were being heard, Yemen struck Eilat and injured over 20 people.  The next day, Israel struck back against the Houthis' military targets in Yemen.  Sounds like סערות תימן to me.

Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean, Italy (and Spain) have sent warships to aid the flotilla that is headed to Gaza.  וְצִים מִיַּד כִּתִּים, anyone?

May we all be blessed with Mashiah's arrival speedily and with mercy in 5786.

All Alone

CNN:

Netanyahu admits Israel faces prolonged ‘isolation’ over war in Gaza

Bamidbar 23:9: 

ט  כִּי-מֵרֹאשׁ צֻרִים אֶרְאֶנּוּ, וּמִגְּבָעוֹת אֲשׁוּרֶנּוּ:  הֶן-עָם לְבָדָד יִשְׁכֹּן, וּבַגּוֹיִם לֹא יִתְחַשָּׁב.

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

This verse has always been a part of who we are.  But in a sense, it is also a part of who we are destined to be.  This verse is both a Jewish obligation and the reality of how we are treated by others.

We use this verse to show how the Jewish people are separate and should be separate from the nations.  And that we don't count among them.  That is very true.

However, it also is a prophecy whereby we are ostracized and isolated by the global community - for better or for worse.  At first glance, it seems that it's for the worse, but I claim that it's for the better.

The gematria of הֶן-עָם לְבָדָד יִשְׁכֹּן, וּבַגּוֹיִם לֹא יִתְחַשָּׁב, when using 600 for the Final Mems and 700 for the Final Nuns comes out to 3823.  More on that soon.

The Midrash Rabba on the beginning of the verse says:

“For from the top of precipices I will see it” – this is to inform of the hatred of that wicked one, as from his blessings, you ascertain his thoughts. To what is the matter comparable? It is to a person who comes to chop down a tree. One who is not expert, cuts each and every branch and exhausts himself. But the clever man exposes the roots and cuts. So that wicked one said: ‘Why should I curse each and every tribe? I will go to their root.’ He came to harm them, but found that they were hard. That is why he said: “For from the top of precipices I will see it.”
Another matter, “for from the top [of precipices]” – these are the patriarchs; “and from the hills” – these are the matriarchs.

(And Rashi on this verse summarizes this Midrash as well.)  

In other words, Bil'am tried to harm the Jews from their roots, but found the roots to be solid.  And who are the roots of the Jewish people?  The Avot and Imahot, the first of whom are Avraham and Sarah.

Avraham, the founder of our nation was himself an עם לבדד - alone in his beliefs in relation to the rest of the world.  According to some, he recognized Hashem's uniqueness as the only G-d in the world at age 3.  But he could not become an עם - a nation - until 10 years later at age 13, his Bar Mitzvah.  (And we know that Avraham Avinu kept all the Mitzvot so being a Bar Mitzvah was significant.)

If Avraham was born in the year 1948 from Creation, then the year of his Bar Mitzvah was 1961.  

Sarah was born in the year 1958 from Creation, but, like Rivka after her, did not reach early womanhood and become eligible for marriage until age 3, again in the year 1961.  (Sources tell us that Sarah actually got married to Avraham later when she was age 15.)

So the beginning of the verse tells us that the צרים and גבעות refer to the Avot and Imahot, of whom Avraham and Sarah are the first.  And Avraham became a nation and Sarah became an early woman in 1961.  Add the 3823 from the gematria of the second half of the verse and we get 5784, the year of the October 7th Massacre.  That was the year when we ironically started becoming more isolated from the world in our beliefs and this isolation only increased ever since.  Eradicating evil should not be controversial.  And yet, Israel finds itself almost alone in this war.  It seems as if Hashem is moving us closer to an Avraham-style isolationism of thought and beliefs.  And this is a good thing for the Jews (not so for the rest of the world).

Why is it good? Because it shows the difference between the moral clarity of the (majority of the) Jews in Israel and the utter depravity of the nations.  It's similar to what the Apter Rebbe ZTVK"L says about how the Jewish nation gets merits on every January 1st.  This is because Hashem sees how Jews behave on our New Year and how the nations behave on their New Year. 

Another verse that contains the words אראנו and אשורנו comes a chapter later:

יז  אֶרְאֶנּוּ וְלֹא עַתָּה, אֲשׁוּרֶנּוּ וְלֹא קָרוֹב; דָּרַךְ כּוֹכָב מִיַּעֲקֹב, וְקָם שֵׁבֶט מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל, וּמָחַץ פַּאֲתֵי מוֹאָב, וְקַרְקַר כָּל-בְּנֵי-שֵׁת.

17 I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh; there shall step forth a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite through the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of Seth.

This verse is referring to Mashiah's era.  Once the עם לבדד process is complete, Mashiah cannot be far behind.  May we witness his coming very soon.

1957 Years

 Bereishit 15:5:

ה  וַיּוֹצֵא אֹתוֹ הַחוּצָה, וַיֹּאמֶר הַבֶּט-נָא הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וּסְפֹר הַכּוֹכָבִים--אִם-תּוּכַל, לִסְפֹּר אֹתָם; וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ, כֹּה יִהְיֶה זַרְעֶךָ.

5 And He brought him forth abroad, and said: 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if thou be able to count them'; and He said unto him: 'So shall thy seed be.'

Hashem asks Avraham Avinu to count the stars in Shamayim and compares them to his descendants - the Jewish people.

On a deeper level, however, perhaps, we can say that Hashem was asking Avraham Avinu to count the word "הכוכבים" - meaning to count the gematria of הכוכבים, which equals 103.

A couple notes:

1. The word וספר is the first word in the Torah where a word with the Shoresh of ספר - meaning to count - appears in the Torah.  (The word in Bereishit 5:1 doesn't seem to mean "to count".)
2. The word הכוכבים is the first word in the Torah with the gematria of 103.

How is the number 103 significant?

We recently experienced Tish'a Be'av, when we commemorated the destruction of the 2nd Beit Hamikdash, the start of our current Galut.  According to traditional Jewish sources, the destruction occurred in the year 68 CE, כמנין חיים (3828).  (Others put the date 1 or 2 years later, but I'm going with the traditional Jewish sources.)

That means that we have been in Galut for 1957 years.  Many synagogues actually recite the number of years since the destruction at the end of Kinot on the night of Tish'a Be'av.

1957 is a multiple of 19, which we know is a significant number when it comes to counting years.  The מחזור הקטן - the calendrical 19-year cycle is how we reconcile the lunar to solar calendars.

So how many 19-year cycles have we experienced since the חורבן (the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash)?  Exactly 103.

Perhaps, Hashem was asking Avraham Avinu to count הכוכבים - to count 103 19-year cycles of Galut.  אם תוכל לספר אתם - if Avraham Avinu could bear counting such a long period of time of Galut without experiencing sadness due to its length.  And only then, כה יהיה זרעך - will the Jewish people be the powerhouse of a people that we were meant to be.

ו  וְהֶאֱמִן, בַּיהוָה; וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ לּוֹ, צְדָקָה.

6 And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness.

Then, Avraham Avinu not only had the Emuna in Hashem, but והאמן - which is לשון הפעיל - he gave over this Emuna to his descendants to wait these 1957 years, always longing for the Geula.  And as he foresaw that the Jewish people may not be deserving of Geula, ויחשבה לו צדקה - he foresaw that this Geula is considered a Tzedaka - charity from Hashem even though we may not deserve it.  And that the only possible merit we have is due to our Emuna in the Geula, which was bequeathed to us by Avraham.

May we experience it very soon.