HaRav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Vayeira 5774

Rabbi Nachman Kahana

BS”D  Parashat Vayera 5774 Tractate Yoma 29a: אמר רב אסי: למה נמשלה אסתר לשחר? לומר לך מה שחר סוף כל הלילה אף אסתר סוף כל הנסים והא איכא חנוכה? ניתנה לכתוב קא אמרינן Rav Asi said: Why was (Queen) Esther compared to the early dawn of day? To inform us that just as the moments preceding the dawn signal the end of night, so to was Esther the end of miracles. (And the rabbis asked): But wasn’t Chanuka which came after the story of Esther not a miracle? (To which the Gemara answers) The intention is that Esther was the last of the miracles recorded in the 24 books of the Bible. The Gemara in Megila 14a states that a recorded prophecy had significance in its time and significance for the future, while an unrecorded prophecy has no significance for the future. Indeed, the events of the recorded Megila are unfolding now before our very eyes. As in the days of Mordechai and Esther, the nation which plotted and planned the destruction of the Jewish people was Persia, as it is today, under the name Iran. Today, the plan to quickly destroy or slowly erode the existence of the Jewish state is unopposed by the vast majority of UN members, as in the time of Achashverosh and Haman whose plan to destroy the Jewish people was unopposed by the 127 nations under Persian control. Today as then, there are influential segments of the Jewish nation who betray the ideals, hopes and aspirations of the healthy segments of Judaism by siding with the enemy, like the J street traitors of the USA, the despicable Williamsburg haters of Zion who periodically visit Teheran to receive their instructions, and many leftists in Israel. Today, as then, the diabolical plans of destruction are made by distinguished heads of state at presidential dinners or sitting rooms, and sealed with toasts sounded over the background of champagne goblets clinking in glee. Today, as then, there are Jews in the galut, leaders and laymen, who choose to remain on the sidelines of Jewish destiny in the belief that non-involvement will keep them under the radar screen of their gentile masters. However, the marshaling words of Mordechai to Esther (4,14) ring ever more true today: כי אם החרש תחרישי בעת הזאת רוח והצלה יעמוד ליהודים ממקום אחר ואת ובית אביך תאבדו For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. What saved us then will do so now. The call to arms sounded by Mordechai and the other members of the 120 Anshei Knesset Hagedola (The Great Assembly), in preparation for war with the 127 lands under Persian control, and the battles which were waged on the 13th and 14 of Adar by the Jews who were faithful to HaShem, brought them victory and brought to us the holiday of Purim. In whose merit and from where will Hashem bring salvation in our times? Part B: My dear friend Dr. Rephael Polok, head of the Bikur Cholim Hosptal in Yerushalayim, stated the answer in a letter of his which was published in today’s Jerusalem Post: “My third son, Eitan, recently completed his military service in a naval unit based out of Ashdod, which secures the southern sector of our Mediterranean coastline… When we had the occasion to visit Eitan’s ship on Independence day 2011, I was struck by something quite moving. First, when we visited the bridge, I noted that in the center of the control panel was a small Book of Psalms enclosed in plexiglas with instructions saying that it was to be used in time of danger. Similarly, as the boat was staffed in part by yeshiva students, we saw that a volume of Maimonides’s treatise Mishna Torah was sitting on the navigational table. Obviously one of the sailors was studying in his down time. One has to assume that Maimonides in his wildest dreams, hundreds of years ago, could not have imagined that his children would be studying his works and defending the borders of an independent Jewish state. We are fortunate to live in a generation that can be part of this miracle”. Herein lies the strength of Am Yisrael – Torah true Jews in pursuit of fulfilling our God given command that the nation of Israel, all of us, must reside in His holy land. Todah Dr. Pollack and todah to Eitan and all the “Eitans” who willingly sacrifice for the good of our holy nation. Part C: The spin in the twisted minds of Iran Moslems have a deep psychological problem with telling the truth, stemming from the deceit imbedded in their unholy Koran. Iran points its finger at the great Satan, the USA, and at the little one, Israel. The world is in such shock and fear of Iran that even a “certain smile” by one of the Iranian hangmen brings tears of relief to the West. But the truth is that it’s all a smokescreen. The ayatollahs of Teheran voice boisterous threats to destroy Israel, Christian Europe and the USA, but their real target is Sunni Saudi Arabia. The hate that exists between the Sunni and Shi’ite factions of Islam far exceeds the hate they possess for the Jewish state or for the Christians. Once Iran possesses the bomb, by the good graces of President Obama, they will waste no time in making war with Saudi Arabia, which will have no recourse but to beg the infidels of Europe and the USA to come to their rescue. The Iranians will not desist and they will turn the world into turmoil. This is not my analysis of the situation, it can be found in the Yalkut Shimoni, Yeshayahu, chapter 499. Shabbat Shalom Nachman Kahana Copyright © 5774/2013 Nachman Kahana