Torâh | Haphtârâh | Âmar Ribi Yᵊhoshua | Mᵊnorat ha-Maor |
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To minimize the enormous bandwidth consumed by video data (disk space, dictating loading time), as much content as possible is diverted to the text section (below), with the video handling only the parts that cannot be handled as well by text alone. For this reason, videos are archived in YouTube. Ta•na"khꞋ selections are read from the SeiphꞋër Tor•âhꞋ ha-Tei•mân•iꞋ, the כֶּתֶר אֲרָם צוֹבָא (Aleppo Codex), an Artscroll Ta•na"khꞋ or iQIsa, as appropriate, and pronounced according to No•sakhꞋ Tei•mân•itꞋ.
Har ha-BaꞋyit (aka Har Mor•i• Click to enlarge. The bottom section of the sign reads Har ha-• |
28.11 — וַיִּפְגַּע בַּמָּקוֹם
הַמָּקוֹם is identified by the Sages as הַר מּוֹרִיָּה in יְרוּשָׁלַיִם. Further, הַמָּקוֹם is a metonym for
וַיִּקַּח מֵאַבְנֵי הַמָּקוֹם וַיָּשֶׂם מְרַאֲשֹׁתָיו
In bᵊ-Reish•itꞋ 49.24, Tor•âhꞋ instructs that Yo•seiphꞋ, as Prime Minister of Mi•tzᵊr•ayꞋim, "shepherded the אֶבֶן of Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ." The editors of the Artscroll Stone Edition Ta•na"khꞋ remark, "The word stone denotes the primary personage of the nation, as it is used in Zᵊkharyah] 4:7"—which refers not merely to Zᵊru-Ba•vëlꞋ but, beyond him, to Tᵊhil•imꞋ 118.22 in the Ha•
אֶבֶן also represents יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Zᵊkharyah 12.2), manifesting a convergence of several elements of the symbolism of אֶבֶן and הַמָּקוֹם—which is in יְרוּשָׁלַיִם.
This theme is elaborated in the
All of this is resolved in the realization that the אֲבָנִים of this Beit-ha-Mi•qᵊdâshꞋ are the nᵊphâsh•
The Teimân•imꞋ allude to this in their tᵊphil•
When all of בָּנַיִךְ are students of
י--ה then the peace of בָּנָיִךְ will be great.
"Don't call them בָּנָיִךְ, but rather בּוֹנָיִךְ."
The context of this passage (54.11-12) is a description of the Beit-ha-Mi•qᵊdâshꞋ in יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, immediately following the description of the chief cornerstone of this Beit-ha-Mi•qᵊdâshꞋ, the Mâ•
This is the solution to the enigma of the Beit-ha-Mi•qᵊdâshꞋ described by Yᵊkhëz•qeilꞋ, which
Understanding the nᵊphâsh•
כִּי בֵיתִי בֵּית-תְּפִלָּה יִקָּרֵא לְכָל-הָעַמִּים(Because My House shall be called a House of Prayer for all kindreds).
Friend's wedding khup• |
Ya•a•qovꞋ's dealings with his uncle Lâ•vânꞋ share many parallels with the cosmic marriage between Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ and
29.26 – לֹא-יֵעָשֶֹה כֵן בִּמְקוֹמֵנוּ; לָתֵת הַצְּעִירָה לִפְנֵי הַבְּכִירָה:
Wedding – Khup• |
As an agent and representative of
Despite this, without acknowledging the coming of the Mâ•
"The number seven represents the cycle of completion in Creation'" (Artscroll, Vayikra, III(b).425). Comments on numerology are excerpted or based on Jay Kappraff, Dept. of Mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Connections, The Geometric Bridge between Art and Science, McGraw-Hill, 1991, p.4 and "Numbers, Typical and Important," Ency. Jud., 12.1257. (See also 70. Numerology is also covered in pâ•râsh•otꞋ Ta•zᵊriꞋa and bᵊ-Ha•al•otᵊkhâꞋ.)
"The natural number 1 was called the monad, the origin of all numbers.
The dyad 2 was the first feminine number and represented the first stage of creation, the split into the mutually dependent opposites of positive-negative, hot-cold, moist-dry, etc.
The number 3, the first masculine number, represented the second stage of creation, the productive union of negative and positive which follows the separation and refinement of these opposite elements. Associating a man-god with Trinity is no accident.
The number 4 is associated with the four points of the compass, thus signifying completeness in the world.
The sum of the first feminine and the first masculine number, 5, represented man, the 5 fingers and 5 senses, microcosmos, harmony, love, and health. An example is the 5-pointed star.
6 represented inanimate objects (e.g. crystals and snowflakes). An example is the 6-pointed star (which is animated only by the incorporation of
Seven Heavens of Ancient Astronomy |
Seven "was sacred to Semitic and other peoples, including the Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, and the Vedic folk in India. Its importance is often derived from the worship of the seven [then known] heavenly bodies."
Perceived as gods by the ancients, the days of the week are still named after them:
sun(day),
moon(day),
Mars=Tiwes(day),
Mercury=Oden('sday),
Zeus=Jupiter=Thor('sday),
Venus=Frige(day) and
Saturn(day).
Seven was, therefore, understood as the complete number of the heavens. As a result, particularly in prophecy, seven symbolizes a perfect number – and a perfect period of time.
Just as 'seven years' of service was required of Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ for each wife, so, too, 'seven years' of service is required of Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ for each Mâ•
Thus, the Mâ•
The reaction to this belated realization is predictable (29.25): "And it became morning, and look, it was Lei•âhꞋ!!!"
Speaking to Lâ•vânꞋ—who corresponds in the analogy to
Wormhole Conduit (Physics Theory) |
"Wa-Yei•tzeiꞋ is unusual in that [in the
28.13 — Why does this pâ•suqꞋ not read 'I am
This was because י--ה intended that the legacy of Av•râ•hâmꞋ should pass to Ya•a•qovꞋ via messianic Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ Âv•iꞋnu as a conduit. This is another way in which Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ Âv•iꞋnu prefigured the Mâ•
28.12 — סֻלָם מֻצָּב אַרְצָה
וְרֹאשׁוֹ מַגִּיעַ הַשָּׁמָיְמָה
The ה- (-âh; -ward) ending is significant. The pâ•
מַלְאֲכֵי אֱלֹהִים עֹלִים וְיֹרְדִים בּוֹ
The Artscroll editors ask "First ascending and then descending?" While their answer was logically short of compelling, it's, nevertheless, an astute observation. In Ta•na"khꞋ, מַלְאֲכֵי
[Pᵊsiqta Zutrata] observes that Ya•a•qovꞋ's dream is unusual in that its interpretation—unlike the other prophetic dreams recorded in Scripture—is not given in the Tor•âhꞋ.
To paraphrase a remark by Einstein,
Einstein's rebuke of an atheist is consistently ignored by atheists:
"Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in point of fact, religious." – Albert Einstein
Artscroll editors suggest two primary symbolisms of the סֻלָם: the giving of Tor•âhꞋ at Har Sin•aiꞋ and the Mi•zᵊ
Ibn 'Ezra, the Artscroll editors note, concurs. "The סֻלָם represents the vehicle by which one's tᵊphil•âhꞋ ascends to heaven and by which salvation descends from heaven (R. Yᵊho•shuꞋa Bën-Yehudah)." (Artscroll, Bereishis I(b):1226).
"Ibn 'Ezra concludes, however, that the most acceptable interpretation is that the סֻלָם is emblematic of the link between the earthly and the heavenly spheres." (ibid.).
If Ibn 'Ezra had used slightly more technical terms, we seem to be in complete agreement to this point. We see the סֻלָם as emblematic of the link between the dimensional (physical) universe and the non-dimensional Realm.
Commenting on Ramba"mꞋ's discussion of Mor•ëhꞋ Nᵊvukh•imꞋ 1:15, the Artscroll editors note: The מַלאָכִים in this context represent the Nᵊviy•
First, מַלְאֲכֵי
Has anyone ever wondered why Ya•a•qovꞋ made such an uncomfortable pillow—out of stones? In the Hebrew, Ya•a•qovꞋ took stones from the Place and set them as מְרַאֲשֹׁתָיו, not necessarily "under his head."
Rather than under his head, I suggest that Ya•a•qovꞋ used the stones to form a windbreak and/or some protection against being spotted and attacked by animals and/or bandits.
With his head toward a semi-circle of fair-sized rocks, facing his campfire under the heavens, Ya•a•qovꞋ falls into a dream state. Perhaps he was still half-awake as he began to dream, watching the tongue of flame from his campfire lick into the starry Yi•sᵊ
While the English reads that
12.13 – וַיִּבְרַח יַעֲקֹב שְׂדֵה אֲרָם; וַיַּעֲבֹד יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאִשָּׁה, וּבְאִשָּׁה שָׁמַר:
Ya•a•qovꞋ worked seven years for the wife he eschewed (Lei•âhꞋ = Mâ•
Khâ•rânꞋ, A•râmꞋ (in modern southern Turkey, near their Syrian border) – mud-brick houses with unique, iconic, conic roofs |
Given the eschatological meaning of time cited earlier, the messianic parallel of Ya•a•qovꞋ working 'seven years' for his first wife, Lei•âhꞋ, is the 'perfect period' (7 in numerology) in Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ's history for the appearance of the Mâ•
12.7— "Therefore, you return in your Ël•oh•imꞋ, keep (watchguard) khësꞋëd and mi•shᵊpâtꞋ, and hope toward your Ël•oh•imꞋ eternally."
13:4 — "An Ël•oh•imꞋ beside Me you do not know, and there is no military-savior בלתי (bilti; without/except) Me." "Beside me" in Hebrew is זולתי (zulati). בלתי means "without," "except" or even "except by'" This pâ•suqꞋ is not always rendered accurately in English versions. "Military-savior" is מושיע (moshia), from ישע (yasha; he saved [militarily]).
14:10 — What could more vividly describe the error of Christianity (and, to a lesser extent, the Benei Noakh) and Jews who assimilate? "For straightforward are the ways of
They have heard of many of the teachings of Tor•âhꞋ, but do not feel compelled to obey them. As Ribi Yᵊho•shuꞋa said regarding teshuvah about how those who hear the Saying of the ways of
To these with hearts of stone, Tor•âhꞋ-observance is acceptable only as long as it is convenient and attractive. When pressures of business, society and the like conflict with Tor•âhꞋ-observance, (s)he who is a transgressor in heart stumbles.
Alexandria Library (Bibliotheca Alexandria), built on the site of the ancient Library of Alexandria, Mi•tzᵊr•ayꞋim, heart of the Greatest University of the ancient world (B.C.E. 288 – ca. 400 C.E.), vanished "coincidental" with rise of Christianity and Roman internal conflicts. |
Ho•
וּמִמִּצְרַיִם
קָרָאתִי
לִבְנִי
This passage, introducing this week's Haphtâr•âhꞋ and providing its context, presages RibꞋi Yᵊho•shuꞋa as the Mâ•
When the ma•lâkh•imꞋ who had requested Yᵊho•shuꞋa had returned, look, a malakh of
י--ה appeared to Yo•seiphꞋ in a dream saying, "Having arisen, take the little boy and his mother and flee into Mi•tzᵊr•ayꞋim; and stay there until I speak to you. For Herod the Great is impending to request that the little boy be killed. Having arisen, Yo•seiphꞋ took the little boy and his mother by night, and retired into Mi•tzᵊr•ayꞋim (and remained there until the end of Herod the Great) in order that it would be fulfilled that which was spoken byי--ה through Ho•sheiꞋa ha-Nâ•viꞋ saying, "Out of Mi•tzᵊr•ayꞋim I called My son."
Αντικυθήρων (AntikūthæꞋrōn) analog computer that calculated and displayed positions of the seven then-known planets along with varying orbital speeds and moon phases; ca. B.C.E. 60 (!!!) See also Computer Tomographic X-rays that show 30 bronze gears |
This, of course, is where RibꞋi Yᵊho•shuꞋa, after fleeing to Egypt (and because his education had been financed by the Persian astronomers) would have been educated. The knowledge contained in the Library of Alexandria continues to astound scientists. One of the most startling discoveries proving the advanced state of science among the Greeks, is the ca. B.C.E. 60 (not a typo!!!) analog mechanical computer-clock retrieved from an ancient, Roman-era, shipwreck off the coast of the Greek Island of Αντικυθήρων (AntikūthæꞋrōn). About the size of a shoebox, the "AntikūthæꞋrōn Artefact" is a mechanical model of the Solar System that calculated and displayed the relative positions and motions of the "seven planets" and the moon, which made up the then-known solar system. Such a model wasn't known to exist before it was reinvented again nearly 1¾ millennia later—in 1704 C.E.!!!
Αντικυθήρων (AntikūthæꞋrōn) Artefact actual-size working model by Michael Wright. The outer ring displays months and 365 days. The inner ring displays the 12 Zodiac signs. |
Αντικυθήρων (AntikūthæꞋrōn) Artefact, Wright model face" alt= "Αντικυθήρων (AntikūthæꞋrōn) Artefact, Wright model face" /> |
Αντικυθήρων (AntikūthæꞋrōn) Artefact, Wright model face (click to enlarge) |
With the rise of Christianity, extra-church information was suppressed and polemicized as Satanic, baptizing Europe in the Dark Ages. During this period, the Greek body of knowledge, which had already migrated into Arabic countries of the middle east by the 4th century C.E., continued to progress in Islamic Arabic countries until, with the decline of the Church's power in the Renaissance Era (15th century C.E.), scientific knowledge began to migrate back to Europe – and stagnate in Islamic Arab countries as Islamic clerics, like the Christian clerics before them, increasingly suppressed extra-mosque knowledge. Demonstrating that people never learn, today Ultra-Orthodox (Costume Jewry – בְּנֵי עִדָּן חָשׁוּךְ) rabbis are doing their utmost to suppress and polemicize extra-yeshiva science and knowledge as "Greek philosophy," "Epicurean" and "goyim".
The lesson here is that the education that RibꞋi Yᵊho•shuꞋa received at Alexandria University and Library is astonishingly more advanced than historians have, until very recently, imagined; and would, as a result of this education (that was in addition to his rabbinic education as a student of
RibꞋi Yᵊho•shuꞋa may have seen, operated and learned to understand one of these while a student at the Greatest Library in the Ancient World – the Alexandrian Library and University.
Tor•âhꞋ | Translation | Mid•râshꞋ RibꞋi Yᵊho•shuꞋa: NHM | NHM | |||||||||||||||
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To the world-age a man should strive to be meek in all of his ways. For in this the Sages and the #Df-Tzadiq">tzadiq•imꞋ prided themselves—great meekness with more modesty; as we find in part of every Holy Writing (Shab•âtꞋ 118b) that Rabi Yosei prided himself on meekness, saying, From my days, none has seen happenings of contradictory sayings of my house. Accordingly, it is for a man to be cautious in his lying down and in his rising that he doesn't gloss over his contradictions outside of his bed.
(Translated so far)