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Wednesday, August 05, 2020

Beirut and Nahamu

I previously talked about Hurricane Isaias and its connection to the Haftara of the week that it struck the islands of the Carribean.  Since then, it has caused much damage to the east coast of the United States mainland.

As we know, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of each week are connected to the following Shabbat while Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of each week are connected to the previous Shabbat.  For this reason, if one neglected to recite Havdala on Saturday night, that person is permitted to do so until Tuesday.

The main damage to the east coast from the hurricane occurred on or before Tuesday.

The same is true with the explosion on the Beirut port.  It also occurred on Tuesday - albeit the latest possible time on Tuesday - at 6:08 PM - a couple hours before sundown.  It too is connected to the previous Shabbat's Haftara:

טז  וּלְבָנוֹן, אֵין דֵּי בָּעֵר; וְחַיָּתוֹ--אֵין דֵּי, עוֹלָה.  {פ}16 And Lebanon is not sufficient fuel, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for burnt-offerings. {P}

The word "בער" means destructive burning - and it could mean that there was not enough burning of Lebanon.  And in the second part of the verse, although the word עולה refers to burnt-offerings, we can also explain it differently: And its wild beasts - possibly referring to its powerful explosives (which are as destructive as wild beasts) - did not rise up in the air enough.

With many reporting that Hizbollah stored ammonium nitrate elsewhere - and their bragging how they are going to bomb the ammonium plants in Haifa - as R' Shlomo Katz points out, this is a classic case of:

כִּי בַדָּבָר, אֲשֶׁר זָדוּ עֲלֵיהֶם

also known as Mida Keneged Mida.

1 Comments:

At Wed Aug 05, 04:30:00 PM 2020, Blogger Devorah said...

From Mordechai Kedar:
What really happened at the Port of Beirut?
====================================
The official report of the Lebanese authorities is that a warehouse containing 2,750 tuns of ammonia nitrate exploded. They also claim that this material has been in the warehouse for over six years with the approval of the court. They have substantiated this claim with documents.
With all due respect to the Lebanese authorities, I do not buy this story. I believe that explosives, ammunition and missile fuel (which are highly volatile and flammable substances) were stored by Hezbollah in this warehouse after being shipped from Iran. I think there are several reasons for this:
1. There was a series of at least three explosions, each of which had a different result. The first created a gray column of smoke that remained for several minutes. The second, a column of red smoke that also remained for several minutes, while the third created a white mushroom cloud that dissipated within seconds. Therefore, there were at least three different materials here. (See the video below)
2. Anyone familiar with how a port operates knows that the front row of warehouses, which are closest to the water, is used for short term storage. Cargo that is meant for long time storage is moved to warehouses which are further away from the water.
3. Anyone who ships sensitive cargo and does not want it to be seen, photographed or hit by others - from the air, space or ground - tries to store it as close to the ship as possible.
4. Beirut Port replaced Damascus Airport as the destination for importing ammunition and explosives from Iran, after Israel - according to foreign sources - attacked the warehouses at Damascus Airport several times. What used to arrive at Damascus Airport is now brought to the seaport of Beirut by ship. The warehouses in the port of Beirut have replaced the warehouses of Damascus.
5. What probably happened on August 4 is that the explosive and flammable materials were stored for at least a day in a metal, un-airconditioned warehouse in August when the temperatures are extremely high. I believe that missile-fuel fumes evaporated from a container and when they touched the hot wall or ceiling they ignited and created a chain reaction which caused the three explosions.
6. Less than an hour after the explosions, Hezbollah's announced that the exploded material was nitrate. Hezbollah was the first to report it. The reason: Hezbollah was looking for a way to cover up what really happened and to determine the official version, because no one would dare contradict them.
7. In my opinion, very few people in Lebanon "buy" the nitrate story. I think that Hassan Nasrallah is viewed by the Iranians and his friends in Hezbollah as personally responsible for this disaster. I would not be surprised to hear that he has suffered a "heart attack" and thus ends his role as Hezbollah's secretary general. Perhaps the "heart attack" will be fatal.

 

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