Two Presentations by Eliezer Katzoff ........SEE UPDATE

Bomb Shelters in Israel

I've also updated my website to reflect these links ( www.elikatzoff.com).

As has been all over the news, last week Israel was directly attacked by Iran with a barrage of drones and missiles. And once again Israelis spent the night in the various bomb shelters that exist all over the place in the country. But what do all these shelters look like?

 

That's what I explore in the video above.

 

And, in the course of doing this, I sat down for one of the most intriguing interviews I've conducted in Israel with Colonel (Ret.) Miri Eisin.

Mind you, I conducted this interview the very next morning after the Iranian attack and everyone was pretty exhausted. But her observations about the situation here, in the US, and in general are truly insightful. Unfortunately I couldn't fit most of it into the short video above. So I've decided to attach the bulk of the interview here below in long form. Please enjoy and share.

 Full interview with Colonel (Ret.) Miri Eisin, April 14th

I've also updated my website to reflect these links ( www.elikatzoff.com).

This long form (full interview) with Colonel (Ret.) Miri Eisin conducted on April 14th directly after the Iran attack on Israel explores topics ranging from shelters in Israel to payloads of the ballistic capabilities of Iran and others in the region. It is an almost uncut information heavy interview with a true expert in the field.

_____________________

NOTE:

This blog IY"H will resume daily/weekly after Pesach

Reb Ginsbourg – Counting the days - the freedom of our time

 

Follow in the ways of Avraham Avinu - make sure that every day of our sefira, is truly ‘ours’ - that we have given it content, by serving Hashem.

Our Rabbis, in the tefillot of our Chag, and in its kiddush, added the words זמן חרותינו: ‘The Time of our Freedom’.

These additional words allude to the wondrous delivery of Bnei Israel, from slavery to freedom - מעבדות לחירות.

This, as we read, was the glad tidings that Hashem commanded Moshe to foretell to Bnei Israel:( Vayera 6:6 ):’Therefore, say to Bnei Israel: I am the Lord and I shall take you out from under the burden of the Egyptians, and I will save you from their labor.’

As the time of the slave belongs totally to his master, the direct result of the release from slavery, was that the time of Bnei Israel became THEIR time.

Let us suggest that a different addition of words, to the name of our Chag, may also be apt.

Our starting point is the comment of the Tur, that the three regalim allude to the three Avot, Pesach alluding to Avraham Avinu, as the Torah relates: ( Vayera 18:6 ):’.And Avraham hastened to the tent of Sarah, and he said: ‘Hasten three seah of meal (and) fine flour, and make cakes’.

Our Sages comment, that this was because it was Pesach, and add ( Yoma 28: ), that Avraham observed all of the Torah before it was given at Sinai to Bnei Israel.

We find a more direct teaching in the Midrash, that we received the Chag of Pesach in the merit of Avraham.

The Midrash Tanchuma ( Parashat Vayera ), states:’In the merit of the three acts of hastening of Avraham, Hashem repaid Bnei Israel by giving them the Mitzvot of Pesach’.

The three acts of hastening - the Midrash relates - are:(18:2)’And he saw and he ran towards them’; (18:7)’And to the cattle did Avraham run’; and:(18:7)’And he hastened to prepare.

The Midrash makes clear that this reward was not merely because of the hospitality, hachnasat orchim, of Avraham Avinu, but because of the alacrity with which Avraham acted.

Indeed , this attribute is alluded to in the name of Avraham: אברהם in reverse order of its letters, reads: מהר בא: ‘came quickly’.

We learn from this speed with which Avraham treated his guests, how precious the mitzvot - especially helping others, gmilut chasadim - was to his soul: despite the great pain of his recent circumcision, and the heat of the day, he ran at every stage, to attend to the wayfarers.

The Be’er Mayim Chaim derives a beautiful lesson from this episode.

He expounds:’There is a fundamental difference between one who merits the exalted title of ‘an איש חסד׳: a ‘man of chessed’, AND one who merits to be called איש רחמים: ‘a compassionate man’.

‘The former runs after those that may need his chessed, as he has a need to do good in this world; his first prayer when he wakes up each morning, is that he merit to find someone whom he can help, so strong is this need to his very being.

‘The Zohar Hakadosh states that he merited each day of his life, to perform acts of hachnasat orchim and other acts of chessed.

‘One who may be called ‘a compassionate man’, on the other hand, when someone in need comes before him, he will come to his aid; but should no opportunity to do chessed come before him, he will not go out to seek it, nor will he feel any lack in his soul, that he did not perform an act of chessed, that day.’

We can readily understand why Avraham Avinu merited the singular praise: ( Isiah 41:8 ) : אברהם אוהבי: Avraham who loves me - AND why Hashem fulfilled the need of Avraham to do chessed each and every day.

We find an allusion to this, in the Pasuk: ( Chayei Sarah24:1 ):’And Avraham was aged, בא בימים: of venerable age, and Hashem blessed him in everything.’

The hassidic masters expound the words בא בימים, homiletically, as:’came with all his days’ - that he merited to make each and every day ‘his’, because Hashem blessed him by fulfilling the need of his soul, enabling him every day to do chessed - as the Zohar Hakadosh we brought, teaches.

If we have established a special link between Avraham Avinu and Pesach, we can proceed to expound our suggestion - which arises from this - that Pesach is also ‘the time of the freedom of our time.’

Let Rav Gedalia Scharr elucidate:’As a result of the deliverance from servitude, Bnei Israel became masters of their time, as clearly a slave’s time is not ‘his’, but belongs to his master.

‘Indeed, by the very first Mitzvah that we received in Egypt - sanctification of the new month - Bnei Israel were elevated to a new level: they were given ‘control’ over time, through the power of determining when the moadim would be - a determination that bound even the heavenly hordes.

‘Whilst they were enslaved, their time was also ‘in bondage’, as the Egyptians believed that all was predetermined by the laws of nature, without room for renewal or change.

‘When Moshe Rabbeinu proclaimed to Bnei Israel:’This month is for you’, he infused into their souls a new wind, at the heart of which lay the power to control time - it was given ‘to them’, for their use and benefit, including the powers of renewal and change.

Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl adds:’The main freedom that Bnei Israel received, was that, from then on, time was theirs.

‘Here we ask: Was it only when we left our enslavement in Egypt, that our time became ‘ours’?

‘We said that we received control over time on the preceding Rosh Chodesh, when we when we received the Mitzvah of sanctifying the new moon, and were told that ‘time was ours’!

‘The answer is that, whilst our time was indeed ours - in the sense that it no longer ‘belonged’ to masters, as the servitude had ceased some months earlier.

‘However, ‘time’ in itself had no meaning, until it was utilized for the purpose for which it was given: the purpose for which we were redeemed from slavery in Egypt - as Hashem declared:’To be for you a G-d.’

‘At that point we had not been given any Mitzvot, and therefore time being ‘ours’, had no meaning, no substance.

‘Only when we were given the Mizvot of Pesach, could it be truly said that time was meaningfully ‘ours’- when it could be used for the purpose for which it was given to us, by Hashem.

‘We can now understand that Hashem took us out of slavery in Egypt, for the objective that time should be ‘ours’, to serve Him, and not to waste it in meaningless pursuits.’

We can now also connect our Chag to the ways of Avraham Avinu, who - as we brought - used every day of the gift of time, to serve Hashem by acts of chessed, thereby making each day truly ‘his’.

This, may we suggest, is the reason that, immediately from the first day of Pesach, we are commanded with the Mutzvah of Sefirat Ha’omer

Haktav veHakabala expounds that the word ‘omer’ alludes to ‘servitude’, and that the Mitzvah is to each and every day, ascend in our service of Hashem, till we reach the pinnacle on the last day: to merit to receive the Torah.

This requires us to- following in the ways of Avraham Avinu - to make sure that every day of our sefira, is truly ‘ours’ - that we have given it content, by serving Hashem.

Therefore, if we have failed to do so on any day, we can symbolically no longer continue to count with a bracha.

May we merit that our counting shall be תמימה: complete, and to have truly made time ‘ours’

Yoram ETTINGER – Passover Guide for the Perplexed 2024

 Passover Guide for the Perplexed 2024 [especially in America]

1. Passover (April 22-30, 2024) is a Jewish national liberation holiday, highlighting the Exodus, the Parting of the Sea, the Ten Commandments, the 40-year-wandering in the desert, and the reentry to the Land of Israel 3,600 years ago.

2. The Abolitionist and human rights movements were spurred by the Passover Exodus. For example,  in 1850, Harriet Tubman, who was one of the leaders of the “Underground Railroad” – an Exodus of Afro-American slaves to freedom – was known as “Mama Moses.” 

Moreover, on December 11, 1964, upon accepting the Nobel Prize, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “The Bible tells the thrilling story of how Moses stood in Pharaoh’s court centuries ago and cried, ‘Let my people go!’” Furthermore, Paul Robeson and Louis Armstrong leveraged the liberty theme of Passover through the lyrics: “When Israel was in Egypt’s land, let my people go! Oppressed so hard they could not stand, let my people go! Go down Moses, way down in Egypt’s land; tell old Pharaoh to let my people go….!” 

3. The US Founding Fathers were inspired by the Exodus, in particular, and the Mosaic legacy, in general, shaping the Federalist system, including the concepts of (anti-monarchy) limited government, separation of powers among three co-equal branches of government, featuring Congress, as the most powerful legislature in the world. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense – “the cement of the 1776 Revolution” – referred to King George III as “the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh of England.” And, the Early Pilgrims considered their 10-week-sail in the Atlantic ocean as “the modern day Parting of the Sea,” and their destination as “the modern day Promised Land” and “the New Israel.”  

4. The US Founding Fathers deemed it appropriate to engrave the essence of the Biblical role model of liberty (the Passover-related Jubilee) on the Liberty Bell: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof (Leviticus, 25:10).”    The Jubilee is commemorated every 50 years, and the Liberty Bell was installed in 1751 upon the 50th anniversary of William Penn’s Charter of Privileges.  

Moreover, there are 50 States in the United States, whose Hebrew name is “The States of the Covenant” (Artzot Habreet –ארצות הברית ). Also, the Exodus is mentioned 50 times in the Five Books of Moses; Moses received (on Mount Sinai) the Torah – which includes 50 gates of wisdom – 50 days following the Exodus, as celebrated by the Shavou’ot/Pentecost Holiday, 50 days following Passover.

5. According to Heinrich Heine, the 19th century German poet, “Since the Exodus, freedom has always spoken with a Hebrew accent.”  

6. According to the late Prof. Yehudah Elitzur, one of Israel’s pioneers of Biblical research, the Exodus took place in the second half of the 15th century BCE, during the reign of Egypt’s Amenhotep II. Accordingly, the 40-year-national coalescing of the Jewish people – while wandering in the desert – took place when Egypt was ruled by Thutmose IV. 

Then, Joshua conquered Canaan when Egypt was ruled by Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV, who were preoccupied with domestic affairs to the extent that they refrained from expansionist ventures. 

Moreover, as documented by letters which were discovered in Tel el Amarna, the capital city of ancient Egypt, the 14th century BCE Pharaoh, Amenhotep IV, was informed by the rulers of Jerusalem, Samaria and other parts of Canaan, about a military offensive launched by the “Habirus” (Hebrews and other Semitic tribes), which corresponded to the timing of Joshua’s offensive against the same rulers. Amenhotep IV was a determined reformer, who introduced monotheism, possibly influenced by the ground-breaking and game-changing legacy of Moses and the Exodus.  

7. Passover aims at coalescing the fabrics of the Jewish family and the Jewish people, commemorating and strengthening Jewish roots, and enhancing core values such as faith, humility, education, defiance of odds, can-do mentality, optimism, and patriotism, which are prerequisites to a free and vibrant society.

8. Passover highlights the unique resilience, which has surged the Jewish people to new heights (for the benefit of all of humanity) following a multitude of crises such as: the 722 BCE destruction and exile of the Kingdom of Israel by Assyria, the 586 BCE destruction of the First Temple by Babylon, the 70 AD destruction of the Second Temple by Rome, the 135 crushing of the Bar Kochba’ rebellion against Rome, the 484, 1736 and 1865 pogroms of the Jews in Persia, the 627 massacre of the Jewish tribe of Quraysh by Muhammed, the 873 pogroms by Byzantine, the 1096 First Crusade’s pogroms, the 1141 pogroms in Moslem-ruled Andalusia, the 1147 Second Crusade’s pogroms, the 1189  Third Crusade, the 1198 forced Islamization of Jews in Yemen, the 1248 pogroms in Baghdad, the 1290 expulsion of England’s Jews, the 1306 expulsion of France’s Jews, the 1492 expulsion of Spain’s Jews, the 1496 expulsion of Portugal’s Jews, the 1648 pogroms of Ukraine’s Jews, the 1881 pogroms of Russia’s and Ukraine’s Jews, the 1903 pogroms in Russia, the 1919 pogroms in Ukraine, the 1929 Arab terror in Hebron, the 1938 Kristallnacht pogroms in Germany and Austria, the January 20, 1942 Wannsee Nazi Conference which presented “the Final Solution of the Jewish Question.”     

9. Passover highlights the central role of women in Jewish history.  For instance, Yocheved, Moses’ mother, hid Moses and then breastfed him at the palace of Pharaoh, posing as a nursemaid.  Miriam, Moses’ older sister, was her brother’s keeper.  

Batyah, the daughter of Pharaoh, saved and adopted Moses (Numbers 2:1-10).  Shifrah and Pou’ah, two Jewish midwives, risked their lives, sparing the lives of Jewish male babies, in violation of Pharaoh’s command (Numbers 1:15-19).  

Tziporah, a daughter of Jethro and Moses’ wife, saved the life of Moses and set him back on the Jewish course (Numbers, 4:24-27). They followed in the footsteps of Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel, the Matriarchs (who engineered, in many respects, the roadmap of the Patriarchs), and inspired future leaders such as Deborah (the Prophetess, Judge and military commander), Hannah (Samuel’s mother), Yael (who killed Sisera, the Canaanite General) and Queen Esther, the heroine of Purim and one of the seven Biblical Jewish Prophetesses (Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah and Esther).

10. Passover is the first of the three Jewish pilgrimages to Jerusalem, followed by Shavou’ot (Pentecost), which commemorates the receipt of the Ten Commandments, and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), which was named after Sukkota – the first stop in the Exodus.

11. Jerusalem is mentioned three times in the annual story of Passover (Haggadah), which is concluded by the vow: “Next Year in the reconstructed Jerusalem!”

United Jerusalem has been the exclusive capital of the Jewish people since King David established it as his capital, 3,000 years ago.   

Historic Reenactment of the Omer Barley Offering

 From 2015

On Saturday night/Sunday, Apr 8, 2015, the 16th of Nisan, the Temple Institute, in cooperation with the Women on Behalf of the Holy Temple, performed a reenactment and training session for kohanim of the Omer harvesting and offering of the new barley crop in the land of Israel. The Omer offering is a Torah commandment to be performed every year in the Holy Temple. It marks the first day of the fifty day countdown between the start of Passover and the festival of Shavuot commemorating the receiving of Torah at Sinai.

Thanks to Adam Propp and Abba Richman for their beautiful photographs. Thanks to the Women on Behalf of the Holy Temple for their hard work and inspiration.

Eliezer Meir Saidel: All Free Today – Pesach

 All Free Today – Pesach

Pesach has many names. Chag HaPesach, Chag HaMatzot, Chag HaAviv, Chag HaKneidlach  … and Zman Cheiruteinu, the time of our freedom.

 

In this shiur I would like to explore the concept of freedom and why Pesach specifically is given this synonym and not any another chag, like Yom Kippur, Shavuot, etc.

 

We are living through troubled but exciting times. Since the 7^th of October, Am Yisrael have been left with a gaping wound. Over 133 of our hostages, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, remain in the clutches of a barbarous enemy. If I were to ask you "What is the opposite of freedom?" the answer would very likely be "What our hostages are currently experiencing in Gaza!"

 

 What defines freedom?

 

There are three main categories of freedom - "Freedom of thought"; "Freedom of choice"; "Freedom of action".

 

Under these main categories we find many sub-categories, like "Freedom of movement"; "Freedom of speech"; "Freedom of religion"; etc.

 

The question I would like to pose is - "For human beings, is there such a thing as absolute freedom?"

 

The answer is "No!"

 

While many may live under the illusion that they have absolute freedom, it is precisely that – an illusion. Anyone living in this physical world can never attain absolute freedom. Whether we like it or not, we are bound by natural laws, such as gravity, for example. It is all very well to say "I would like to fly like a bird and defy gravity", but humans are not made that way. Birds are born with wings and can fly, but humans are not. Conversely, a bird cannot compose a symphony or paint a Mona Lisa, they are not made that way. Humans can.

 

Since the dawn of time, mankind has strived to challenge their physical human limitations – run faster, dive deeper, climb higher, etc. The Guinness Book of World Records is filled with such feats. Mankind has used their intelligence to defy natural laws and expand their freedoms – building airplanes to fly in the air, rockets to travel into outer space, microscopes and telescopes to see beyond the capability of the naked eye, computers to make calculations almost at the speed of light, medicines to cure disease and increase longevity. It is part of human nature – to push the limits. When someone is told "You cannot do this!" it only spurs them on further to try defy the limitation. This is what the passuk means when it says וּמִלְאוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁהָ (בראשית א, כח).

 

There is one limitation that humans can seemingly never overcome – we all die eventually. Theoretical "absolute" freedom, includes the freedom of immortality. Since humans can seemingly never achieve that, humans can never attain absolute freedom.

 

That is not the way HKB"H created humans though. When Adam and Chava were created, they were immortal. Even so, they were not created with absolute freedom. HKB"H placed limitations on them "Do not eat from this tree!" Human nature being what it is, the first two humans in history tried to push their physical limits. However, by attaining freedom to eat what they wanted, they forfeited freedom of immortality.

 

This is the blueprint of the human species – in order to acquire a new freedom, you must forfeit another freedom in order to attain it. This is the way HKB"H created His world, that humans would not have absolute freedom.

 

If we examine the three main categories of freedom listed above, HKB"H gave us humans all three. We are free to think, we are free to choose and we are free to act as we please. HKB"H seemingly gave us absolute freedom, but this is not the case.

 

HKB"H also gave us the Torah, which limits our thought and our actions. Yes, we are free to choose whether to follow the Torah or not. Many don't and they mistakenly believe by shedding the shackles of the Torah they gain greater freedom, but this too is merely an illusion. They are simply trading one master for another. Humans either serve HKB"H or they serve their yetzer harah.

 

Humans cannot be "masterless". The human being is an empty vessel that must be filled with something. Either we fill ourselves with נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (the Torah), or we are filled with the yetzer harah. This is the underlying principle of matza and chametz. Matza is diligently following the Torah, not permitting any vacuum to exit. If, however, we are remiss in observing the Torah, a vacuum is formed and in steps the yetzer harah – chametz, and takes control.

 

When someone breaks free of the shackles of the Torah, they might consider themselves to be more free – free to do what they want, eat what they want, say what they want, whenever they want … but this is an illusion. They think it is they who are freely making the decision what to do, eat, say, etc., but in fact it is the yetzer harah directing them in all the above. They become slaves to their desires until they are in fact less free than if they followed the "strict" laws of the Torah. There are other addictions besides drugs and alcohol, people can also become behavioral addicts, slaves to bad habits prompted by desire.

 

We tend to regard our slavery In Egypt as physical in nature. That we were forced to perform back-breaking labor, but it is not as simple as that. Am Yisrael, just prior to יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם had almost completely assimilated. They were practically indistinguishable from the Egyptians. This is what the שַׂר of Egypt complained while Am Yisrael were crossing the Red Sea, he said "Why are they any different to the Egyptians? They are both idol worshippers!" Am Yisrael were at the lowest level of the 49 levels of impurity and if they would have remained in Egypt one second more, they would have been irredeemable!

 

In fact, four fifths ended up being irredeemable and perished during the plague of darkness (either they physically died or they were spiritually lost to Am Yisrael, see shiur on Pesach 2023).

 

When we were set free from Egypt, it was not merely a physical freedom, it was also a spiritual freedom. We were liberated from the conceptions that had become ingrained during our period of slavery.

 

However, some in Am Yisrael misunderstood this newly acquired freedom, they thought that the Exodus meant absolute freedom. When they discovered that they had simply switched their Egyptian masters with another Master (HKB"H), they rebelled. זָכַרְנוּ אֶת הַדָּגָה אֲשֶׁר נֹאכַל בְּמִצְרַיִם חִנָּם (במדבר יא, ה). We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for "free" – the Sifri says "free from commandments". This small group were not yet fully liberated from their prior misconceptions.

 

What does it mean that Pesach is Zman Cheiruteinu? It does not mean that we acquired absolute freedom. It means that we reacquired the level of freedom that HKB"H intended for us when He created us, the level of freedom that Adam Harishon was created with. Not absolute freedom, but freedom from the yetzer harah.

 

This is why we were forbidden to eat chametz when we left Egypt, because chametz is the yetzer harah. It is something that rushes into the void created when we do not diligently follow the Torah, just like chametz is formed in dough that is not diligently being worked on.

 

יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם was the equivalent of a fast action replay of the Creation. The Ten Plagues reflected the six days of Creation (see shiur on Va'eira 2021). It was the beginning of the reset of the world to HKB"H's original blueprint, the intended blueprint of freedom, the freedom we celebrate on Pesach.

 

In our modern age, a new stream of thought is sweeping the world – progressive liberalism. This philosophy focuses primarily on the individual and seeks to increase individual rights, strip away boundaries and strive for absolute freedom. In this "utopian" world, there cannot be a G-d, or religion because religion, by definition, means abolishing many of the freedoms they strive to attain. Not surprisingly, few progressive liberals are devout followers of (any) religion.

 

In the Torah, we first encounter this life philosophy after the Exodus from Egypt. It is called Amalek. The cornerstone of Amalek's philosophy is that G-d is not involved with anything here on earth. Down here on earth – anything goes, absolute freedom to do whatever you like, whenever you like, however you like.

 

This is why Judaism is the arch-enemy of Amalek, and why antisemitism exists in the world, because we are a constant reminder that G-d is an integral part of the fabric of our world. This is why in order for the Geulah to come, we first need to eradicate the philosophy of Amalek. As long as the philosophy of Amalek exists, HKB"H's name will never be complete., as it says וַיֹּאמֶר כִּי יָד עַל כֵּס יָ-הּ מִלְחָמָה לַה' בַּעֲמָלֵק מִדֹּר דֹּר. As long as the Amalek philosophy exists it will be כֵּס instead of כִּסֵּא (missing an א) and יָ-הּ instead of י-ה-ו-ה (missing ו-ה). This is why in order for the Geulah to come we need כִּי בָחַר ה' בְּצִיּוֹן אִוָּהּ לְמוֹשָׁב לוֹ. The word אִוָּהּ are the missing letters. This is why HKB"H chose Am Yisrael as His people, because it is our responsibility to supplement the missing letters so that HKB"H's throne and name will once again be complete and His blueprint for the world will be restored.

 

True utopia is not absolute freedom, it is freedom from the yetzer harah and full control of our desires. That is true freedom.

 

When Adam Harishon sinned, according to the סִפְרֵי הַקַּבָּלָה, his neshama was split into רפח נִיצוֹצוֹת, 288 "sparks". To achieve the tikkun for Adam Harishon's sin, these רפח sparks had to be "repaired".

 

When Am Yisrael left Egypt during the Exodus, 202 of the 288 sparks were repaired when the עֶרֶב רַב left with them. רַב in gematria is 202 (אריז"ל).

 

In order for the Geulah to commence, we need to repair the remaining 86 sparks.

 

86 in gematria is מֹחַ וְלֵב. In order for HKB"H's name and throne to be complete, we need to repair our hearts and minds. We need to achieve control over our hearts and minds, the very aspects of our human nature that the Amalek philosophy has perverted.

 

Pesach has an integral role to play in this. To complete HKB"H's name and throne, we need to replace the missing letters אִוָּהּ, which in gematria is בדו. As everyone knows, there is a rule that Pesach can never fall out on the days בדו, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Pesach, more than any other chag, is a symbol of our control over our yetzer harah (chametz). This is why Pesach davaka is called Zman Cheiruteinu and not Yom Kippur or Sukkot, for example.

 

However, that is not all. אִוָּהּ in gematria is also י"ב. To merit redemption, the Twelve Tribes need to be united as one.

 

Finally, אִוָּהּ in gematria is גּוֹג. This is the final stage prior to the Geulah, when the last remnants of Amalek and their philosophy are finally eradicated from the world.

 

 

Chag Kasher Ve'Sameach

 

Eliezer Meir Saidel

Machon Lechem Hapanim

www.machonlechemhapanim.org

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