BS"D
Parashat Noach 5773
A:
The Gemara (Pesachim 118b) discloses that when the Mashiach will appear, nations will come forward to present him with gifts. HaShem will permit him to receive gifts from Egypt and other nations, but will prohibit receiving gifts from Aisav, while comparing Aisav to a wild boar.
A boar is a wild pig. A pig symbolizes hypocrisy, as it extends its feet to exhibit its (kosher) split hooves while concealing its treif character that it does not chew its cud.
Aisav is the personification of hypocrisy among men, just as the pig symbolizes hypocritical behavior among animals.
B:
An age old adage that will guide the Jewish people’s trek towards the "end of days":
מעשה אבות סימן לבנים
What transpired in the private lives of our forefathers (Avraham, Yitzchan and Ya’akov) will unfold in the future on the international level.
Yitzchak’s nemesis was his brutish, crass, crude, offensive, uncouth, uncultivated, vulgar half brother Yishmael. The very same Yishmael, who the angel described to his mother to be, Hagar, as a "pereh adam" (primitive and barbarian; Beraishiet 16:12)
והוא יהיה פרא אדם ידו בכל ויד כל בו
He will be an uncontrollable wild man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand will be against him.
Ya’akov’s nemesis was different. He was Ya’akov’s calculating, deceitful, duplicitous, treacherous twin brother, Aisav.
Aisav so much wanted to kill Ya’akov. But unlike his brutish uncle Yishmael, Aisav was sly, and devious, not one to attack in a moment of uncontrolled fury. Aisav was the planner, the committee man, the parliamentarian, the strategist, the serpent that springs at his victim at the opportune time, from the proper angle.
Aisav planned (Beraishiet 27:42)
וישטם עשו את יעקב על הברכה אשר ברכו אביו ויאמר עשו בלבו יקרבו ימי אבל אבי ואהרגה את יעקב אחי:
Aisav hated Ya’akov because of the blessing his father had given him (to Ya’akov). Aisav thought, "When the days of mourning for my father are near (after father dies), then I will kill my brother Jacob."
Yishmael is the progenitor of the Arabs who developed a faith called Islam, based on brutish and vulgar Shariah laws and mores. How true that not all Moslems are terrorists, but almost all terrorists are Moslem.
To explode planes, buses and trains filled with innocent people in the name of Allah is one’s ticket to everlasting eternal bliss! To kill one’s sister or mother on suspicion of improper behavior is moral and just. To behead, to cut off limbs, to enslave, all in the name of the "religion of peace" are the ways of life which befit the descendants of the ‘pereh adam,’ wild Yishmael, and his Moslem followers.
These are evil people, motivated by even more evil leaders, in the name of a god that only satan could have conceived. But as bad as they are, and as dangerous and contrary as they are to the basic human feelings of right and wrong; as far as the Jewish nation is concerned, they are not the worst, because Aisav outscores Yishmael every time.
As history has evolved, Aisav’s descendants reside in most of Europe, the United States, South America etc., and are Christian, or guided by Christian culture. Yishmael’s descendants are Moslems.
And true to form, each exhibits their animosity toward Judaism and to our return to Eretz Yisrael in the manners characteristic of their progenitors.
Yishmael loves the sight of blood. He makes war against his own sons and, certainly, against the Jewish State. He shows no mercy in Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen Bahrain, Syria and-other African countries. Beheading, torture, slavery: these are the cultural legacy derived from Yishmael.
Aisav, through Christianity, is more devious, and much more dangerous for the Jewish people. Aisav shows a smiling face while hiding the knife behind his back.
The establishment of the State of Israel was a devastating, thundering onslaught on Christian dogma, which holds that God would never permit the Jews to return to the Holy Land. Christianity (Catholics and Protestants) has never recovered from this lethal assault on their basic tenants, so in desperation they made a theological u-turn and adopted a dual approach that claims: 1. The State of Israel is a necessary precursor of the realization of their beliefs, 2. It is their religious obligation to convert the Jews in the Holy Land, who will then recognize their messiah.
Enter here the hypocritical pigs of Aisav.
Beginning in the 1980s, billions of dollars have flowed into the Medina from Christian evangelical groups from many lands. This "Crusade of Dollars" enters our lives camouflaged as welfare benefits and social betterments of all sorts.
According to Ms. Mina Fenton, a member of the Jerusalem Municipality, Mr. Hagee, a prominent Christian evangelist, has given millions of dollars to Rabbi Riskin to establish the "Christian Jewish Center" in the town of Efrat, south of Yerushalayim. Hegee has also established the "International Christian Center" in Kfar Nachum at the northern part of Lake Kinneret. Millions more were given for distribution through Rabbi Ekstein’s organization and many others, and the numbers just keep rolling on without end..
In its initial stage, the ideological thrust of all this money is the "kiss of Aisav" (the kiss of religious death) intended to obscure the very acute differences between Yehadut and (lehavdil) Christianity, and in the final stage to convert all the Jews in Eretz Yisrael.
The infiltration of these Christians in our society slowly numbs the natural feelings of self preservation which are part of the Jewish will to survive. These lovable, smiling Christians slowly infiltrate the decision making bodies of many sensitive areas in society. They do not push their way through the front door. They act smoothly, softly, and subtly, through the psychological corruption of bribery, as in the words of the Torah (Shmot 23:8) "... for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent".
Were it in my hands, I would outlaw all Christian missionary activities in Eretz Yisrael, with the punishment for these activities a mandatory death penalty, And any Jew who accepts money or favors from them with life imprisonment.
The situation in chutz la’aretz requires much less efforton the part of evangelical Christians. For there, the very presence of Jews among the goyim acts has an evangelical influence. I am not referring only to the unaffiliated Jews who assimilate through intermarriage, as if the bliss of life can be found with a gentile spouse. Christian culture passes by osmosis through the spiritual cell walls of even the most religious Jews, so subtly that it cannot be felt.
The parasitic worm of goishkeit crawls through the conscious awareness and in the sub-consciousness of their souls.
This does not mean that religious Jews are running to be baptized. But it does mean the their Jewish defense systems have become desensitized. The most telling sign of goishkeit with the most chareidi yeshiva communities, is their preference to live in gentile lands surrounded by and bombarded by Christian culture; rather than with their brothers and sisters in the land given to us by the Creator.
The Gemara states that it is better to live in Eretz Yisrael in a city where the majority worship idolatry, rather than in chutz la’aretz in a city where the majority of people are Jews. To put it simply: it is preferable to live in Arab Shechem or in the city of Shomron at the time of the arch evil idolator Achav, than to live in today’s Lakewood, Monsey or Flatbush; and how much more so to live in today’s holy cities of Medinat Yisrael.
But as I have stated, the insidious worm of goishkeit has penetrated the souls of the God fearing Jews in the galut.
Sunday the fun day. Sports of all sorts occupy the minds of the "righteous" and are the topic of conversation much more than daf hayomi. Fashion, food, their way of speech are just some of the more external signs of the goishkeit that exists in our brothers in the exile.
What would it take to wake them up? I think that Noach has the answer.
Noach lived not only in an evil society; his was a failed one. His society crossed all the red lines that HaShem had imposed on human behavior, to such a degree that retreat to a moral life style was no longer possible.
In the nearly 65 years since the establishment of the Jewish State, approximately 110,00 American Jews have come on aliya. This is the result not of a bad educational system, but of a failed Torah educational system - and failed systems cannot be resuscitated.
On whose shoulders does the blame fall? Think!
C:
From my book "With All Your Might"
The Rainbow
The waters retreated and the ground began to restore its mantel of green, and the feeling that a new age had begun enveloped Noach and his family. But it was not a consummate joy, because in the back of his mind Noach harbored the fear that in the future there could be again a deluge which would destroy all mankind.
The Creator (and destroyer) of all things)alleviated Noach's fears with an assurance that He would never again cover the earth with water as a punishment for man's evil deeds. And then HaShem decreed that the rainbow would forever serve as the symbol of this declaration.
The sign of the rainbow requires explanation. Most commentators on the Torah agree that the rainbow is not a new phenomenon but an understandable result of sunlight's refraction off the tiny droplets of moisture when the sun is below 42 degrees over the horizon. So how does the rainbow serve as the symbol, and why did HaShem choose to appoint a common natural phenomenon to a new relationship between HaShem and Man?
In addition, I find it strange that the story of Avram begins in the parasha named Noach, creating the impression that Avram had a minor part in the story whose star was Noach.
I suggest.
As we delve more and more deeply into the internal essence of any issue, be it material or spiritual, we find the details to be less diversified and less complex than what appears from its external trappings.
In nature, our world is distinguished by its many diversified flora and fauna, not to mention the "infinite" grains of sand on the world's beaches. But as we enter the internal world of atoms, we find that the atoms of a steel girder are identical to those which compose the wings of a butterfly. The resulting difference between the all-powerful steel girder which supports 100 story buildings and the delicate, fragile wings of a butterfly is due to the number and configuration of the atoms within the molecules which compose the chemical elements of our existence. And if we go back in time to the first Big Bang, the present belief among scientists, based on Einstein's teachings, is that the essence of all the atoms and sub atomic particles is "simple" energy produced by the "big bang" which later (about one millionth of a second after) began to condense into matter.
The external appearances are a steel girder or butterfly wings, however their internal makeup is the indistinguishable atom, and the atom's internal essence is undivided simple energy.
In our spiritual world this phenomenon appears in the Bet HaMikdash.. Kohanim wore identical apparel of four pieces of clothing, making each kohen indistinguishable in appearance from his fellow kohanim. In addition, the individual kohen did not have a task specifically assigned to him, but was assigned his task by virtue of a daily drawing of lots. Also, the amount of teruma which the Torah requires to be given to the kohen is one grain out of an entire crop, which again emphasizes the identical features of the kohanim.
In contrast, levi'im had no specific uniform which de-emphasized their individuality. Every levi had a task which was specific to him. A door-keeper could not change his function to be in the choir and vice versa. The tithe given to the levi was one tenth of the farmer's crop which resulted in different amounts given to each levi.
The result of all this was that the levi's individuality was a perceived fact, whereas the kohen's individuality was minimized. The reason is as stated above, kohenims’ service of God is more internal and hidden so his essence is less complex, whereas the levis' tasks are more external and hence more individualized.
The rainbow too has an external and internal reality.
The external one is perceived as its seven basic colors, ranging from red to violet, while the complete amalgam and consolidation of all the seven colors disappear into uniform white light. The external is detailed and complex; the internal is simple and homogeneous.
HaShem was informing Noach that He would produce an emanation from within the invisible, concealed, ethereal, imponderable, indiscernible, intangible, essence of Himself. The imperceptible One, so enclosed within Himself never to be disclosed but to Himself, more ethereal than light, will become perceptible to lowly Man in the form of the external 613 mitzvot of the Torah. The seven colors of the rainbow are perceived by the breakdown of light when it comes into contact with water droplets, the mitzvot are perceived when the Holy Spirit comes into contact with a Jewish neshama.
This is the essence of
שמע ישראל ה' א-לקינו ה' אחד
'Listen (understand) Yisrael the God of the manifold forces of nature is essentially one ethereal entity
HaShem decided that the time had come to bring into the world a holy people whose souls will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and will perceive the 613 desires of HaShem. The father of this nation will be Avraham, so the saga of Avraham begins in the parasha of Noach, in order to inform us that HaShem's declaration never to destroy the world with water is dependant upon the degree that the Jewish people, the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'akov, will abide by their most inner instincts to serve God.
In parashat Lech Lecha, HaShem informs Avram that his unique neshama, which reflects HaShem's spirit into the 613 mitzvot can do so only in Eretz Yisrael. This is the basis of the Ramban's (Vayikra 18:25) :affirmation that the Torah was given to be kept in Eretz Yisrael and what we keep of the mitzvot in the galut is (based on a verse of the prophet Yirmiyahu) so that we should not forget how to keep them when we return to Eretz Yisrael.
In conclusion:
The parasha relates the "brit" (covenant) which HaShem made with humanity never to bring a world wide deluge. This covenant certainly includes the Jewish people. But what concerns us even more is that in the course of history HaShem concluded covenants specifically with the Jewish nation, one of which was declared by HaShem to the prophet Yirmiyahu (32:37-42):
37 I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.
42 "This is what the LORD says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them.
Shabbat Shalom
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5773-2012 Nachman Kahana
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