BS”D Parashat Balak 5785

Taking Time Out to Think

PART ONE

It is now Wednesday morning, the 13th of Tamuz (July 9th) and our Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu is in Washington meeting with the United States President Donald Trump, for the purpose of carving out new realities in the Middle East and elsewhere.

It’s too early to know the outcome; nevertheless, the scenario is somewhat similar to what we will be reading from the Torah this coming Shabbat, parashat Balak.

The Parasha’s story line is as follows:

The king of nation #1 invites B, a well-known wizard, to condemn and malign nation #2.

B arrives with full intentions to cause irreparable harm to nation #2.

But the fortunes of nation #2 turned out to be far, far better, and the wizard had no choice but to accept the reality and say AMEN and go home.

In our scenario, President Trump invited our PM to Washington for talks regarding the Iranians, Hamas of Gaza, Hezbollah of Lebanon, and Yemen. The PM came with the intention to underscore the evils inherent in those people and to seek extreme sanctions against them.

However, as matters proceeded, the President initiated a different set of plans: to make deals with all these enemies of morality and goodness in the world, to last for at least another three years.

And our PM would have to sign on and say AMEN and go home.

And the Nobel Prize committee, sitting in October, will award the Nobel Peace Prize to the President for presenting these enemies of good the oxygen to stay alive, to regroup their armies and develop the means of mass destruction, without interference.

But HaShem turns bad into good, and good into better and best, and we will all cry out AMEN as our fathers and mothers have done in the past in the face of danger when HaShem performed miracles for His chosen people.

PART TWO

A: Introduction

Tehillim (105,8)

זכר לעולם בריתו דבר צוה לאלף דור 

 

He hath remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.

 

The Gemara (Chagiga 13b) explains this pasuk. HaShem recalls (is forever aware of) the bond He made with Avraham to reveal the Torah to his descendants (through Yitzchak and Ya’akov) at the 1000th generation of the world’s existence. However, HaShem knew that the world could not exist that long without Torah, so He kept the Torah 974 generations in abeyances before creating the world, and with the 26th generation left to the number 1000 created the world with Adam and Chava and at the 26th generation, at Mount Sinai presented the Torah to Am Yisrael.

B: Time Out to Think

Because of the ongoing political-military-religious fireworks our concentration becomes distorted, and we are often oblivious to that factor which is closest to us, namely – ourselves.

1- Who are we, each and every individual Jew? And what is our role as vital parts of HaShem’s collective chosen nation?

2- What are we supposed to do in the fleeting seconds within infinite time that HaShem has allotted to each of us in this transient world?

I suggest:

When studying our sources and learning from prestigious rabbis, it is obvious that Judaism points in one direction: that every Jew and Jewess is an MMM – a Mitzva Making Machine and in Ivrit מכונה מייצרת מצוות.

To be sure, not your ordinary machine, but a perpetual motion machine that man cannot produce due to the limitations imposed by the basic laws that control nature, specifically the laws of thermodynamics.

These laws dictate that energy cannot be created or destroyed (but only transferred. For example, electricity to create heat and light; whereas a perpetual motion machine, by definition, would need to produce more energy than it consumes, which violates this principle. In addition, all systems experience energy losses due to friction, heat, and other factors, leading to a decrease in usable energy over time. A perpetual motion machine would need to reverse these phenomena, which is not possible.

Nevertheless, the Creator of all that exists, who designated the guidelines of natural law, is not subject to these laws. And indeed, HaShem has created a perpetual motion machine; it is called Am Yisrael – the Jewish nation.

What does this mean?

The Zohar (parashat Teruma) states:

קודשא בריך הוא אסתכל באורייתא וברא עלמא

The holy one, blessed be He, after bringing forth the Torah, used it as a blueprint for all creation. From one of the largest objects in infinite space designated as UY Scuti, a red hypergiant star, with a radius about 1,700 times that of our sun and so immense that nearly 5 billion of our suns could fit inside of it, down to the smallest sub-atomic particle or wave.

And the Midrash states that HaShem imposed a condition with created matter, that if the Jewish nation at Sinai agrees to accept the role of chosen nation, with all its implications, then there will be a spiritual justification for creation; however, if the nation refuses to accept the yoke of the holy Torah, there would be no reason to create matter and all will revert back to nothingness.

In short: The descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov were chosen to actualize the potential that HaShem placed in His Torah in a world far away from spirituality. While the other races and nations were brought on the scene to create a living, breathing world of billions of individuals to create the background upon which the Jewish nation will keep HaShem’s Torah.

Now what about the Jewish perpetual motion machine?

Pirkei Avot (chap. 4) states:

 מצוה גוררת מצוה

 

A mitzvah begets a mitzvah

A single mitzva engenders another mitzva – even one which requires a greater degree of physical and spiritual energy; hence a Jewish perpetual motion machine that creates new and more powerful energy.

C: The Great Lesson of a Hospital

Several years ago, I spent a few days in Sha’arei Tzedek hospital. On the second day, a distinguished looking gentleman entered the room and introduced himself as Prof. Marin, Director of the hospital, and asked if I was Rabbi Kahana. We began talking and I told the Professor that during my stay I was learning what a hospital is all about. Obviously, it is to restore wellness to the sick. But that’s only half the story. The great lesson of a hospital is, in my eyes as a rabbi, to educate people to value the importance of an ordinary so called mundane day in one’s life, for two reasons. For the secular person, because the alternative of one more dull day could be a stay in the hospital; and for the Torah observant Jew there are no boring days in life; for every moment one can, and is expected, to be involved in performing mitzvot.

We parted, both more enriched for the half hour that we talked.

I recall often walking along Jaffa Road towards the Old City, consciously seeking opportunities to offer assistance to a passerby. Inevitably, I would come home richer in mitzvot than when I had left.

In Eretz Yisrael we are especially gifted in that we are living in an atmosphere of one big mitzvah – to be present in HaShem’s holy acre even when sitting and daydreaming.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Korach 5785

Behind the Headlines

The Tanach (Melachim 1 chapter 18) records that Eliyahu HaNavi confronted the evil Achav, king of the 10 northern tribes, with a challenge. To gather on Mount Carmel with many of his subjects along with 450 prophets of the idol Baal for a test.

Two altars would be constructed, each with a slaughtered bull prepared for sacrifice, but with no fire lit. The prophets of Baal would call on their god to send fire, and Eliyahu would call on Hashem; and the deity who answered would be proven as the authentic one.

The prophets of Baal went first. From morning until noon, they cried out to Baal, danced around their altar, gashing themselves ritually, hoping to provoke a response. Eliyahu taunted them, suggesting that perhaps the Baal is occupied with personal matters, perhaps he is sleeping or even traveling. Despite their fervent efforts, there was no fire and no response.

Towards late afternoon, after their dismal failure, came Eliyahu’s turn.

He repaired a long-ago broken-down altar to HaShem, using twelve stones representing the tribes of Israel. And in order to make the awesome miracle even more undeniable, he requested that the slaughtered bulls, the altar and its wood, be drenched with twelve large jugs of water, enough to fill a large trench around the altar.

Then Eliyahu uttered a prayer, asking HaShem to show that He is the omnipotent God of creation and of the Jews. Fire immediately appeared out of nowhere and consumed not only the sacrifice and the wood, but also the stones of the altar and even the water in the trench.

Witnessing this undeniable display of divine power, the Jews bowed as one and exclaimed, “HaShem – He is the only God! HaShem – He is the only God!” Eliyahu then commanded seizure of all the prophets of Baal to be brought to the Kishon Valley and killed.

My question regarding this dramatic incident is: after realizing the feebleness, collapse and impotence of their deity, why didn’t the prophets deny the deity of Baal and submit to the Jewish God? Why had he forsaken his faithful children? E-lokim, the God of Yisrael is true, and Allah is a fiction?

This same question arose now when the Ayatollahs of Iran and other Islamic religious leaders witnessed the incredible miracles that were being performed for the Jews in the miniscule State of Israel (land area of Iran is 80 times larger than Israel and their population is 9 times greater). Why didn’t they rise up and yell, “where is Allah?”

Answer: Belief in a higher being goes beyond an individual’s logic and experience. The prophets of Baal went to their deaths believing that Eliyahu was a master magician, but their Baal was still Baal.

So too with the warped minds of Islamics. We can beat them to a pulp, but their sense of honor will lead them to Gehennom before they admit that E-lokim is the true G-d.

It appears that the only solution when dealing with people like this is the one proscribed in the Torah regarding the ten nations whom we found in the land when entering with Yehoshua bin Nun.

Is there an Eliyahu or a Yehoshua bin Nun anywhere among us today? If so let him step forward and lead.

The 3,000-year-old battle continues

In the minds of most observers, the Arab – Israeli “conflict” is a manifestation of an unresolved political conflict over land, resources, security, and national identity, marked by periods of conventional warfare and ongoing asymmetric violence.

The impression I receive from President Trump’s statements and actions regarding the Arab-Israeli battles is like a parent hovering over his young children as they fight over an irrelevant crayon, and he imposes his parental authority. When and where you can shoot, when there will be a cease fire, and for how long, etc.

But this is far from the truth. The Arab Israeli “free-for-all” is not a mere conflict. It is a three-thousand-year-old struggle to the death between the two sons of Avraham – Yitzchak and Yishmael and their descendants; where Yitzchak is faithful to E-lokim and Yishmael chooses Avoda Zara that has turned into devotion to Allah.

In this three millennium-year-old battle, no holds are barred, and no side will cede.

Evil minds and hearts like the Jihadi Moslems never forget and never forgive. They are like snakes waiting for their prey. By not destroying the regime, and permitting them to reconstruct their atomic facilities, their first ten nuclear bombs to be constructed will be directed at the US, the second batch at Christian Europe, the third will explode over Teheran.

Iran will remain a world threat because the U.S. and Israel did not finish the job in the fashion dictated in the Torah.

Next Battleground: The Strait of Hormuz

The Zohar (end of parashat Va’eira, second parasha in the book of Shemot) reveals that the “Sons of Yishmael” will, in the future, provoke three great wars against the descendants of Edom (Esau); one on the sea, another on land, and the third in the vicinity of Yerushalayim where Yishmael will then be totally destroyed.

I suggest:

At the exact moment of our planet’s creation, HaShem had already navigated Man’s destiny through the design and placing of continents, with their specific raw materials essential for the development of societies.

HaShem placed huge underground oceans of petroleum for the benefit of the descendants of Yishmael, leaving a relatively modest quantity of natural gas in the Mediterranean for the descendants of Yitzchak.

Around 20-30% of global oil trade and approximately one-fifth of global natural gas transit the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, leading out to the Gulf of Oman and from there to the Arabian ocean, and Indian and Pacific oceans.

As matters are now developing and the present threats of the Iranian Nazi regime, it appears that the battleground of Yishmael’s naval battle against the Christian west will be at the Strait of Hormuz. This strait is of immense importance due to its critical role in global energy and international trade. It is the world’s most important oil transit choke point. A significant portion of the world’s seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passes through this narrow waterway.

The Strait provides the only sea passage from the oil-rich Persian Gulf to the open ocean (Arabian Sea and beyond). Countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE, Qatar, Iran, and Kuwait rely heavily on this strait for their crude oil and natural gas exports.

Any disruption or threat to the flow of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz can immediately cause significant price spikes in global energy markets. This will have a cascading effect, leading to higher fuel costs, impacting economies worldwide.

At its narrowest point, the Strait is only about 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide, with shipping lanes just 3 kilometers wide in each direction. This makes it highly vulnerable to blockades, military actions, or even terrorist attacks, which could severely impact global supply chains.

The Iranians have threatened to block the strait with sea mines even though they themselves will be the big losers. It would be by international law “casus belli” (Latin term meaning “a cause of war” or “an act or event that provokes or is used to justify war”).

President Trump made the correct choice

President Trump deliberated with his advisors whether to get involved in the Iranian situation by bombing their major nuclear facilities. We are not privy to the issues involved nor his inner thoughts, or perhaps the impulses imposed on him by HaShem through his conscience, but there is an interesting issue.

Every day 12,000 Jews were murdered in the Auschwitz Birkenau camps alone. They were brought from all over Europe by train and to many other death camps that dotted the landscape of Europe.  Jewish leaders begged FDR to bomb the track leading to these camps. Every day that the trains would not run thousands of Jewish lives would be saved.

How many times did the US Air Force, which flew in the vicinity of many of these camps, bomb them?

NOT EVEN ONCE!

I recall an interview with a Jewish pilot whose plane had to land but could not because of the bombs he was carrying. He was commanded to jettison the bombs but warned not to drop them over the rail tracks leading to the camps!

This is an indelible stain on the moral background of America.

President Trump was in a similar situation last week, with an opportunity to blur that stain somewhat.

MAGA! President Trump chose the right direction of history by bombing the elements designed to murder millions of Jews as was planned in ancient Persia and intended to be put into practice by their present-day descendants.

In closing: What is unfolding now is just the beginning of an ongoing world change.

A world where the Jewish nation, led by Hashem, ascends the historical stairway to world leadership.

GREAT TO BE A JEW!

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Behaalotecha 5785

YOUR HOLY JEWISH NAME

 

Many of our sources state that our exodus from Egypt was in the merit of the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov, Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah. That despite the harsh servitude and persecution, they diligently continued to identify as the Jewish nation by their stubborn refusal to relinquish the symbols of their national unity by maintaining and passing down their Hebrew names, unique dress, language and the moral values of proper sexual behavior.

I wish to relate to the value of maintaining traditional holy Hebrew names.

First names often play a dominant role in shaping our identities, relationships, and interactions with the world. Surnames may carry family history and lineage; but it is our first names that often embody our individuality and personal narrative.

Spiritual Naming of a Child

Our sources deal with the spiritual aspects of naming a child – boy or girl.

Jewish tradition views a child’s name as far more than a mere identifier. It is a profound spiritual statement, a reflection of the child’s inner essence and potential, a link to the past, and a prayer for their future character and destiny. The choice of name is, therefore, approached with seriousness, prayer, and a deep awareness of its lasting spiritual impact.

The Ari’zal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria), a Kabbalist, stated that when naming a Jewish child, the name that is finally chosen was already placed into the minds of the parents by Divine influence.

Similarly, the Vilna Gaon (Harav Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman) taught that when naming a child, parents are imbued with Ruach HaKodesh (divine inspiration), guiding them to choose a name aligned with the child’s unique mission and potential in life. This “flash of insight” is considered divine inspiration leading to the name that truly expresses the child’s soul.

At the beginning of life, we are given a name, and at the end of life we acquire a “good name” earned through a life of Torah and mitzvot. It is that name and reputation that we take with us to our other-world existence.

I wish to begin a holy trend with the target number of one million Jews in the galut.

From today on, identify yourself by your holy Jewish name. Granted that after living with a spouse for 50 years and calling each other Bobby and Shirley, it could feel a bit awkward. However, as time goes on and the pride of bearing a holy name extends to more Jews, the name you are called up to the Torah will become a valuable part of your life. Call your children by the Jewish names you gave them and teach them to call their siblings by their Jewish names. As the saying goes, “a habit becomes second nature”.

It is especially at this time that when you exhibit pride in your Jewishness, you are sticking a “finger in the eye” of the antisemites. It is as if you are saying, “I am a proud Jew. In my veins flows the blood of thousands of years of being one of Hashem’s chosen people; but in your veins flows the putrid blood of thousands of years of genocidal frustration”.

In essence an antisemite maliciously denies the God of Am YIsrael, Creator of heaven and earth. If we cringe before the goy by shuttering the windows of our shuls and yeshivot or if we let antisemitic comments pass as trivial, then we are committing a desecration of Hashem.

We fight back even by simply exhibiting Jewish symbols – not for being able to live as a happy citizen in the galut, but for the glory of protecting and honoring the God of Am Yisrael.

In the natural progression of life, a cause produces an effect and the effect itself becomes a cause of another effect. And so it is that when we are proud of who and what we are, we will eventually be drawn closer to our original source and be returned to our Holy Land.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, pass the word on.

 

Part Two

THE FLAME WILL RISE UP BY ITSELF

Shavuot is the day when Hashem designated the Jewish nation to be His chosen people and gave us the holy Torah with its many laws, requirements and restrictions.

The first mitzvah in our parsha of lighting the menorah as part of the daily sacrificial service – “sheds light” on the essence of Shavuot.

The parasha begins:

וידבר ה’ אל משה לאמר: דבר אל אהרן ואמרת אליו בהעלתך את הנרת אל מול פני המנורה יאירו שבעת הנרות:

 

And HaShem said to Moshe, “Speak to Aharon and say to him, when you raise up the candle, the seven stems should point in the direction of the menorah.

Rashi explains the unusual use of the term “when you raise up the candle” which should have been “when you light the candle”.

שצריך להדליק עד שתהא שלהבת עולה מאליה

Aharon was directed to light the candle until he would be certain that the flame would rise up by itself.

The Torah contains Hashem’s cradle-to-grave directives to His people Yisrael. There is no aspect of human life that does not fall within a Torah mitzvah. The laws are stated in the Written Torah and expounded upon in the Oral Torah. Halachic decisions appear in the Shulchan Aruch, and they are put into practical application in the responsa literature.

Question: Was it Hashem’s desire to create “Halachic” robots, where the written word would be sovereign, and as good, disciplined soldiers, we would mechanically fulfill its dictates davening without understanding what we are saying, giving our 10% tithe without really feeling the pain of the recipient, crying on Tisha b’Av over a Beit Hamikdash that no one really misses, putting away the kinot (lamentation) booklets with the knowledge that we will need them again next year?

Or is there more to being a Torah observant Jew?

Obviously, Hashem “had in mind” a very elevated purpose for all the mitzvot.

I will explain:

The Gemara (Ketubot 110b ) records:

ר’ חייא בר גמדא מיגנדר בעפרה שנאמר (תהלים קב,טו): ‘כי רצו עבדיך את אבניה ואת עפרה יחוננו’

 

Rabbi Chiya ben Gamda would roll in the soil of Eretz Yisrael (from time to time), adhering to the verse (Tehillim 102:15):

 

כי רצו עבדיך את אבניה ואת עפרה יחננו

 

For her children desired her stones and favored her soil

 

Rashi, the great teacher and commentator, in his commentary on the actions of Rabbi Chiyah ben Gamda simply repeats the verse:

כי רצו עבדיך את אבניה ואת עפרה יחננו

 

For her children desired her stones and favored her soil

What is Rashi, in his great wisdom, telling us by simply quoting the verse?

I suggest that Rashi is alluding to a fundamental concept in Yiddishkeit.

If you look carefully, you will see that Rashi quotes the verse from Tehillim as stated in the Gemara’s text, while omitting the essential word meaning in adherence to the verse.

שנאמר

Meaning – in abidance with the verse.

Rashi is in effect saying, that if one loves Eretz Yisrael because that’s the requirement of the law as stated in the verse, then that is tantamount to respecting one’s parents just because the Torah says so. In both cases love that is adjudicated by law is a contradiction in terms; one cannot be compelled to love. Love is beyond the law which stops at the gates of one’s heart.

Aharon was directed to light the menorah until the flame “will rise up by itself”.

So, too, is the goal of Shavuot. The mitzvot were initially presented to us by Hashem as compelling requirements, with the intention that as we would grow in spirituality, the mitzvot would become a reflexive part of the Jewish personality. And just as we would become elevated from the fundamental command to respect and be in awe of our parents to the level that this is what should be, so too must it be with regard to all the other Divine commands in the Torah.

Rashi is telling us that Rabbi Chiya ben Gamda rolled in the soil of Eretz Yisrael, not because the verse instructed him to love the land, but because he himself was aware of the profound kedusha (sanctity) inherent in the Land of Israel.

A short story to illustrate the above.

Moshe and Chaim, two yeshiva students in Brooklyn, were comparing their individual private meetings with the Rosh Yeshiva.

Moshe discussed his desire to live in Eretz Yisrael, and Chaim brought to the Rosh Yeshiva his intention to marry a young lady he was seeing.

The conversation went as follows:

Moshe: “The RY said that as long as I am learning so well and especially when there is no imperative mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisrael, there is no reason to leave –  although one fulfills a mitzvah when doing so.”

 

Chaim: “The RY said that as long as I am learning so well and especially when there is no imperative mitzvah to marry just now, there is no reason to stop and get married – although I would fulfill a mitzvah if I would marry her.”

 

Moshe: “The RY also said that it is easier to make a living in the US than in Eretz Yisrael, so stay here.”

 

Chaim: “The RY also said to me that getting married would require me to work to support my new family, whereas now I am free of such responsibilities in order to learn.”

 

Moshe: “The RY also said that there is little kedusha in the land where the initiatives for its resettlement came from people who were not frum.”

 

Chaim: “The RY also said that since I met the young lady through my non-frum cousin, and even though she is very much so, no good can come from such a marriage.”

 

Then Chaim looked at Moshe and said with a great smile on his face, “Do You know something Moshe? I’m going to marry her, because I love her!”

 

Moshe responded, “And I’m going to Eretz Yisrael, because I love her!”

 

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Naso 5785

THE TORAH AS A WAY OF LIFE

 

The holiday of Shavuot, when we receive the Torah every year anew with great satisfaction and pride, has now passed. However, in the first year when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai there is an apparent contradiction in our understanding the attitude of our ancestors’ willingness to receive it.

On the one hand the Torah states (Shemot 24,7):

ויקח ספר הברית ויקרא באזני העם ויאמרו כל אשר דבר ה’ נעשה ונשמע

 

Then he (Moshe) took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we shall obey.”

Rashi explains that Moshe read the Book of Bereishiet and the three mitzvot that were given at the Mara encampment, to which the nation agreed wholeheartedly to accept.

However, the Gemara (Shabbat 88a) states that HaShem uprooted Mount Sinai and held it above the people saying, “If you accept the Torah now then all will be well. However, if you refuse, then here will be your burial place”.

So, which is it. Did the Jews readily accept the Torah, or did HaShem have to coerce our ancestors to do so?

We will return to this.

The Torah is a Chok

The Torah contains two types of mitzvot: mishpatim and chukim. Mishpatim are those laws which are conducive to human understanding and may be found in the law books of other nations. Chukim are beyond logic and are not to be found in any other society. For example, the laws dealing with tuma (ritual impurity) and, of course, the Red Heifer.

Parashat Bechukotai begins, “If you follow My chukim (laws. Vayikra 26:3) you will be blessed.

The use of the word bechukotai (My chukim) describing the Torah as a “Chok” is problematic, because the Torah consists of many laws that we can understand (mishpatim).

I suggest:

When we, as individuals or as a nation, perform a single mitzvah or a number of mitzvot, such as avoiding usury or fulfilling the laws of interpersonal relations between neighbors, we reap blessings and a good life. Yet living according to the entirety of the Torah presents daunting challenges, as the Torah itself recognizes.

Regarding the Sabbatical year we read (Vayikra 25,20):

וכי תאמרו מה נאכל בשנה השביעת הן לא נזרע ולא נאסף את תבואתנו:

 

“In the seventh year, you might ask, ‘What will we eat [in the seventh year]? We have not planted, nor have we harvested crops.”

In an agricultural society, such as existed in Biblical times, it seems impossible that an entire nation could stop working the fields for a year. HaShem responds:

וצויתי את ברכתי לכם בשנה הששית ועשת את התבואה לשלש השנים:

 

“I will direct My blessing to you in the sixth year, and the land will produce enough crops for three years” (verse 21).

HaShem makes clear that, in those days, an agricultural society could not survive while following the Sabbatical laws. So, He promises that He will intervene miraculously to make it possible.

The same applies to the thrice yearly pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem, as the Torah says (Shemot 34, 23 24):

(כג) שלש פעמים בשנה יראה כל זכורך את פני האדן ה’ א-להי ישראל:

 

Three times each year, all your males shall thus present themselves before HaShem the Master, Lord of Israel.

How can entire cities have emptied out all their inhabitants, when society contains thieves, and foreign enemies who could easily have occupied our country? So, the following verse states:

(כד) כי אוריש גוים מפניך והרחבתי את גבלך ולא יחמד איש את ארצך בעלתך לראות את פני ה’ א-להיך שלש פעמים בשנה:

 

When I expel the other nations before you and extend your boundaries, no one will be envious of your land when you go to be seen in HaShem’s presence three times each year (verse 24).

HaShem promises that He will guard the Jewish homes when everyone is in Jerusalem for the pilgrimages.

From here and other examples we see that the Torah in its entirety, as a political, religious and economic system transcends nature and cannot succeed if HaShem does not intervene in the functioning of society. Therefore, the Torah in its entirety is indeed a chok; a way of life beyond human understanding.

Did the Jews readily accept the Torah?

To return to the apparent contradiction regarding our receiving the Torah…

When Moshe read from the book of Bereishiet and the three mitzvot that were given to the Jews at the Mara encampment, as Rashi explains, the nation enthusiastically proclaimed נעשה ונשמע – We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey”. However, when the full gamut of mitzvoth was presented to them as well as its impossible implementation as a rational, practical national program there were calls of regret. At that point HaShem uprooted Mount Sinai and held it above the people saying, “if you accept the Torah now, then all will be well. However, if you refuse here will be your burial place”.

The die was cast the moment they said נעשה ונשמע there was no way of return.

HaShem’s Intervention

Despite the fact that the Torah is not yet the law of the land of Medinat Yisrael, HaShem unceasingly intervenes in every aspect of our lives. There is no natural way that the small population of 650,000 Jews in 1948 with no tanks, planes or heavy weapons could have repelled five standing armies of surrounding Arab states if not for HaShem’s intervention.

In 1967 we defeated a coalition of Arab states backed by Russian advisors (pilots and others) and increased the area of the State threefold in only six days. And without the help of HaShem in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, the Syrian army could have easily walked into Haifa and the Egyptian army into Tel Aviv.

Our precarious security position in the midst of 22 Arab states of the Middle East and North Africa, as determined by HaShem in the Torah, is the very heart of the paternal relationship we have with our Father in Heaven.

As absurd as it is for a doctor to deny the divine miracle of the human body, or for an astrophysicist to deny the presence of a master intellect behind the trillions of heavenly bodies; it is ever more absurd and bizarre that a Jew could doubt that HaShem has brought about and sustains the Jewish State.

The ultimate CHOK, which is beyond all human understanding, is the day to day lives we lead in Eretz Yisrael, with our phenomenal success in all walks of life.

Why would any believing Jew want to live anywhere else except in HaShem’s Holy Land?

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Bamidbar 5785

Once the axe falls there is no turning back

 

The parasha begins with HaShem’s command to Moshe to commence a nationwide census of men based on military age of twenty (1,3):

מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה כל יצא צבא בישראל תפקדו אתם לצבאתם אתה ואהרן:

 

Those who are twenty years old or more and able to serve in the army, count them according to their divisions – You and Aharon

So, this week’s message will deal with military conscription in the US.

Today, the 29th of Iyar, we descend from yesterday’s spiritual Olympus marking the 58-year anniversary of Am Yisrael’s restored sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the Kotel and old city of Yerushalayim. For 2000 years the city intermittently changed hands between Aisav’s descendants and those of Yishmael, while Hashem arranged matters that neither would be able to retain it permanently.

Today we return to the complex realities facing the Jewish nation here and in the galut. This week’s message is directed to the Jews in the US, essentially to parents of teenagers.

The present law in the US requires all males from the age of 18 to register in the advent that the military draft might be reinstated.

The following is a story which appears in the first volume of my book “With All Your Might”. It could become reality in many families.

The phone rang in the nearly empty, topsy-turvy home of the Levines as they prepared for their aliya to Eretz Yisrael.

 

Mrs. Beth Levine nervously let the wrapping cord fall from her hand as she ran to answer the phone. Too late. The light on the phone’s base signaled that there was a recorded message.

 

She pushed the “play” button, and a familiar voice spoke: “Hello, this is Miri from Nefesh b’Nefesh. I have two messages for you: a happy one and another, a bit disappointing. The movers will be coming to your home tomorrow morning, Monday, at exactly 7:00 AM, so please be ready. And the not so happy news.

 

I know how much you wanted the three ABC seats by the window, because of your names Al, Beth and Carol, plus the adjoining D seat of the middle section for David, on this Thursday’s flight. But because you are a family of four you were assigned the four DEFG seats in the middle section. In any event, the thrill of going on aliya will certainly overshadow such minor irritations. Aliya tova!”

 

Miri was so right, Mrs. Levine thought to herself. The thrill of a dream-come-true leaves no room for such mundane issues as seating on a plane; although it would have been nice to see the coastline of Israel drawing closer as the “wings of eagles” brought them home.

 

Al and Beth Levine had decided to come on aliya five years ago, when Carol was ten and David had his bar-mitzva. However, it took five years for Al to find a suitable replacement in his law firm; in addition, selling the house for the right price was a protracted process. But thank God, the local shul bought it to serve as the community home for whichever rabbi would be serving at the time.

 

In the interim, the Levines kept up with current events in Israel, as well as developments in the Middle East, and kept their dream alive.

 

Tensions were high. Iran, patron of the murderous Hezbollah and Hamas gangs, continued to develop a nuclear capacity. The United Nations Security Council passed a limited economic boycott resolution against Iran, and in an angry knee-jerk response, the Iranians decreased their sale of oil, causing the world price to jump to $100 a barrel! As if this was not bad enough, Venezuela’s leftist president signed a ten-year agreement to sell its oil exclusively to China, which brought the price of gas at the pump to $7 a gallon, with no sign that this would be the final price.

 

But none of this could detract from their decision to come on aliya.

 

David is to begin Bar Ilan University right after the holidays and Carol is registered in the Ulpan in Kiryat Arba. David was the crisis person in the decision. Youngsters of his age in Israel are drafted into the IDF, but David was promised that he would be permitted to finish his BA uninterrupted by army service.

 

With this issue behind them, there was really nothing to prevent the Levines from taking the step of a lifetime.

 

The one annoying factor in their aliya was the attitude of some relatives and friends, who, perhaps for reasons of jealousy or personal weakness, were very critical of their plans. “What’s the rush? Wait until the children finish school. You’re now at your peak earning power. Is this the time to leave?”

 

On the other hand, the Rabbi was wonderful. On Shabbat, he spoke from the pulpit on the mitzva of living in Eretz Yisrael. He praised the Levines, saying how they would be missed in the many areas of their community involvement. Al for giving up his Sundays in order to coach the shul’s little league team; Beth for being the Shabbat kiddish coordinator; Carol for helping her mother with the kiddishes and David for managing the shul’s teen activities.

 

But, of course, the Rabbi was careful to point out that the mitzva of living in Eretz Yisrael was in the category of a four-cornered garment, which although not mandatory to wear, if one should do so he would be required to attach to it tzitzit and merit a mitzva. So too, one is not required to “go up to the land” until the Mashiach comes, but if one should do so he merits a great mitzva.

 

To their skeptical friends and relatives, Al would respond that there have been so many warnings of late that the time has come to go home. So, if not now, — when?

 

The tensions in various areas of the world forced Congress to upgrade the military.

 

The following day, on Monday, true to Miri’s message, the movers arrived at 7:00 AM sharp to take all the worldly possessions of the Levine family to the packing company, and from there to Israel.

 

Packing was an unforgettable experience.

 

Beth Levine stood wondering how they “succeeded” in 20 years of marriage to accumulate so much “stuff”. They began in the attic, which served as a nostalgic trip into the past. Many memories were evoked as they rummaged through their possessions. The less-than-modest wedding gown which Mrs. Levine did not want her Carol to see. A 78 RPM record player, Al’s catcher’s mitt, which he could not part with. Old photographs from the Pineview and Pioneer Hotels and summer camps. How these experiences have sweetened with time.

 

But life goes on. And with mental scissors, they will be severed in the light of the new life in the Promised Land.

 

Eventually, much was given away, more was thrown out, and the necessary articles were now packed in cartons to be shipped off.

 

In the packing process, the Levines concluded that Moshe Rabbeinu was so right in ordering the Jews to leave with only a few matzot, because if they would have been permitted to bring their possessions we would still be in Mitzrayim.

 

Ten in the morning and the movers had finished about half the work. A Western Union messenger suddenly arrived with a telegram for Mr. David Levine.

 

Al signed for it, opened the envelope and read aloud.

 

“Greetings. You are hereby informed that The President of the United States of America and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, and Congress in emergency session, have passed the Selective Service Act of 2013, to be enforced immediately. You are hereby ordered to report on May 14, 2013, to the Induction Center at 1948 Independence Ave. for induction into the armed services for a period of not less than three years. You will be sent to Paris Island, Georgia, to commence basic training as a proud United States Marine. Your passport will be on hold until the completion of your military service. Good luck and God’s speed to you in the service of your country.”

 

Al handed the telegram to Beth as the phone suddenly rang. He got there too late to answer, but the light on the phone’s base signaled that there was a recorded message.

 

Al pushed the “play” button, and a familiar voice sounded.

 

“Hello, this is Miri again from Nefesh b’Nefesh. Good news. Due to several unexpected last-minute cancellations, we have been able to get for you the three ABC seats near the window and the D in the middle. Derech Tze’lei’cha.”

 

HaShem works with a stopwatch! Unfortunately for the Jews of America, if this occurs the reply of their rabbinic Halachic experts will be that as citizens of the United States, which has given so much to the Jewish people, it is a Torah obligation to answer the call of the flag.

Good Luck!

President Trump has two interesting qualities which are not necessarily good nor bad; depending on how he balances them. The President is ambitious and impatient; and has only 3.5 years to make America great again.

As it has been since time immemorial “great’ in terms of a nation, is not the number of Nobel winners in Chemistry it produced but by the millions of soldiers arming planes, tanks, missiles and atomic war heads. For now, the US military is superior to China, however, they are rapidly advancing and will by sheer numbers achieve superiority in most areas. What is more 1.6 billion or 330 million?

It could happen overnight, as Al and Beth Levine in our story found out after years of planning and postponing, which was dissipated in one moment by a short and unexpected telegram.

When the draft is in effect, aliya for that family will be close to impossible.

There will be no exemptions for divinity students, and no more one-or two-year learning stints in a yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael. When the law is re-enacted, young men and women in the age group will be prohibited from leaving the country.

Once the axe falls there is no turning back.

As I have repeatedly urged over the years, send your teenagers here. But one can rightly say that Israel too has an army (probably man for man the best in the world) so what will we gain? To state it simply our army is “heimish”, if you know what I mean!

Shabbat Shalom chag Sh’vuot Sam’ai’ach

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Behar- Bechukotai 5785

Global Natural Disasters

 

There is an undeniable increase in global natural disasters, particularly those related to weather and climate.

Key Trends: Increased Frequency, Intensity and severity especially floods, storms, heatwaves, and wildfires.

Climate change is widely recognized as the main factor.

Rising global temperatures lead to more intense rainfall and increased flood risks due to the atmosphere holding more moisture.

Stronger and wetter hurricanes and tropical storms, with increased wind speeds and storm surges.

Longer and more extreme droughts, contributing to wildfires and water scarcity.

The number of natural disasters causing over a billion dollars in damage has significantly increased. In the U.S. alone, the average number of such disasters per year has risen from 3.3 in the 1980s to over 17 from 2014-2023.

Floods are the most frequently occurring natural disaster globally, while wildfires are growing in scale, frequency and intensity in many regions, as well as tropical cyclones and storms.

Overwhelming evidence points to a genuine and significant rise in natural disasters, largely driven by the accelerating impacts of climate change.

But the question is, the immediate cause of the increase in global natural disasters could well be climate change, but what is causing the climate change?

 

Prophecy

The idea of HaShem’s retribution towards nations who have in the past and the present harmed the Jewish people is a prominent theme throughout the TaNach linked to historical events and end-times prophecies.

For example:

The Covenant (Brit) with Avraham (Bereishiet 12:3):

ואברכה מברכיך ומקללך אאר ונברכו בך כל משפחת האדמה:

 

“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be (eventually) blessed through you.”

 

Zecharya 2,12:

כי כה אמר ה’ צבאות אחר כבוד שלחני אל הגוים השללים אתכם כי הנגע בכם נגע בבבת עינו:

 

For this is what the Lord Almighty says, After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you: for whoever touches you, touches the apple of his (own) eye, I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves (or foreign residents) will plunder them.

 

Ovadya 1,15:

כי קרוב יום ה’ על כל הגוים כאשר עשית יעשה לך גמלך ישוב בראשך:

 

 The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.

 

Joel 3:1-2

כִּ֗י הִנֵּ֛ה בַּיָּמִ֥ים הָהֵ֖מָּה וּבָעֵ֣ת הַהִ֑יא אֲשֶׁ֥ר (אשוב) [אָשִׁ֛יב] אֶת־שְׁב֥וּת יְהוּדָ֖ה וִירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃

וְקִבַּצְתִּי֙ אֶת־כׇּל־הַגּוֹיִ֔ם וְה֣וֹרַדְתִּ֔ים אֶל־עֵ֖מֶק יְהוֹשָׁפָ֑ט וְנִשְׁפַּטְתִּ֨י עִמָּ֜ם שָׁ֗ם עַל־עַמִּ֨י וְנַחֲלָתִ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר פִּזְּר֣וּ בַגּוֹיִ֔ם וְאֶת־אַרְצִ֖י חִלֵּֽקוּ׃

 

In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.

 

The prophecies of Yechezkel, Yishayahu and Yirmiyahu contain extensive prophecies against nations as a consequence of their treatment of Am Yisrael.

 

Consequences

In the year preceding the Exodus from Egypt HaShem brought upon the Egyptians ten plagues for their part of putting into practice the deprived commands of Paro.

Blood, Frogs, lice, Wild Animals, Pestilence, Boils, Hail, Locust, Darkness and the “coup de grace” – Death of the Egyptian firstborns.

We are now witnessing so-called “enlightened nations” who are threatening Medinat Yisrael with economic and political sanctions over our defensive war against Arab Islamic Nazis fueled by thousands of years of their anti-Jew hatred.

The leaders of this are the “enlightened” European nations and others – all members of the U.N. – who are now “suffering” conscious pangs for the long-suffering unfortunate peace-loving residents of Gaza.

Their ranks include western nations which were once friendly but are now moving towards our worst enemies in an act of betrayal.

In this week’s Torah reading, which includes the section called Tochacha (admonishment; warning of what will happen if we do not obey the Torah) that enumerates graphically one by one, the punishment HaShem has for the Jewish nation if we depart from the Torah way of life. Unfortunately, each one has come about and even some that are not mentioned on the list.

We might be seeing now the beginning of the period where one evil nation wages war on another evil one, while in the background their countries are being ravaged by HaShem’s manipulation of natural disasters.

Time will tell.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Acharei and Kedoshim 5785

Thoughts Following Yom Ha’Atzma’ut

In Bamidbar, chapter 14, the Torah relates the tragic episode of the ten miraglim (spies or scouts) who convinced the nation to defy the wishes of HaShem that they liberate Eretz Yisrael from its Canaanite occupiers. As a consequence, 10 of the miraglim died immediately, and the entire male generation between the ages of 20 and 60 were condemned to death within the coming 38 years.

When the nation heard that HaShem had declared them to be persona non-grata, many of them informed Moshe that they regretted their decision to follow the miraglim and were now prepared to enter Eretz Yisrael.

Moshe warned them that for the time being, HaShem would not perform miraculous military victories; so, they would endanger their lives by entering the Land. They ignored Moshe’s warning, entered the Land, and were destroyed.

HaShem used the weapon of persona non-grata beginning with Adam and Chava, who were expelled from Gan Eden, then with Kayin (Cain) who was excluded from the company of men to be a wanderer his whole life, and then with Lot who was sent away by Avraham, and a metzorah who was forbidden to enter a walled city.

Aliyah

A while back, the Ha’aretz newspaper, which cannot be accused of being a lover of Zion, published an article in its English edition on the subject of aliya from the US. The following are excerpts from the article:

1) Immigrating to Israel (aliyah) was never a top priority for the Jews of the United States. Indeed as Israel prepares this week to mark Independence Day, the subject has disappeared completely from the community’s agenda.

 

2) Aliyah is not mentioned at all in the list of subjects for discussion at Jewish conferences; its place will not be found at gatherings of organizations and institutions that pride themselves on being Zionists and ask for community support to build close ties to Israel.

 

3) Israeli cabinet ministers and senior officials who appear at Jewish functions have for some time stopped talking about the necessity for aliyah and are cautious about even paying lip service to the notion. The Jewish Agency, whose mission used to be promoting aliyah, has officially removed the word “aliyah” from its list of priorities.

 

4) Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that tries to fill the void created by the agency—, operates privately and in limited fashion in the US, as if ashamed to be seen doing something so unacceptable and unfashionable in the community’s eyes.

Nefesh B’Nefesh brings some 2,000 new olim from North America every year. That they are mainly religious does not mean they decided to make aliyah because of the preaching of rabbis or religious figures. If a small minority on the fringes of the Orthodox community immigrates to Israel, it is despite the total silence on the subject of America’s Jewish religious leaders.

 

5) The previous generation of American rabbis still spoke of settling the land, preaching that it was a “mitzva” to do so. Today, Orthodox rabbis and other influential figures have dropped the issue entirely from their sermons and speeches.

 

Contemporary Jewish life in the USA is essentially a replay of the major sin that brought about the near tragedy of Purim.

The Jews in Persia had deteriorated so far in their assimilation process that they even dined at the King’s royal feast while eating and drinking from the sacred vessels taken from the Bet Hamikdash.

While it is not specifically recorded, I have the feeling that the Jews would never have taken this giant step towards spiritual suicide without rabbinic permission. I can close my eyes and hear the “heterim” (permits) promulgated in the shuls and Jewish newspapers. “We cannot permit ourselves to be the only ethnic group not participating in the King’s feast”. Or – “It’s a one-time situation, therefore one may be lenient in the matter”. And the list continues ad nauseum.

The Jewish people are composed of two essential elements: we are a national entity and possess a unique spiritual-ritual way of life, and we pronounce the following blessing over the Torah.

אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים ונתן לנו את תורתו

 

HaShem who has chosen us over all other nations and has presented us with His Torah.

This is an indivisible duality, where each factor exists only by virtue of the other. One who relinquishes the spiritual-ritualistic component, will eventually – he or his close descendants – surely lose their national association, and conversely: one who separates himself from the major cohesive factor of nationality – a common land and language – will eventually find no reason to continue in its ritualist ways. This is a time-tested fact, immutably set in concrete, as proven by our history.

When rabbis no longer teach that the essence of HaShem’s covenant with the Jewish people is our keeping of the Torah IN Eretz Yisrael, it is only a question of time before spiritual gangrene begins to rot away at the nation’s cohesion.

Now, if the presence of these galut leaders were a neutral phenomenon that had little or no effect on the world scene, it would be bad enough. But the existence of religious, ultra-religious and ultra ultra-religious communities broadcast to the world; to the few friends we have, as well as to the billions of our enemies, a disastrous, untrue message. That the Creator did not give us the Holy Land, and hence we are not God’s chosen people. Because when the Creator gives a gift, you do not turn it down with crippled, lame excuses such as “when the Mashiach will come.”

On Yom Ha’Atzma’ut, we recite the Hallel prayer which contains the words:

“They have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear”.

I wonder if King David, when he wrote these words with idol worshippers in mind, could have imagined that they would apply perfectly to Jewish leaders who have eyes, ears and brains, but are unable to perceive that the world of the galut is now in the midst of its death throes; while the new-old world of the Jewish nation is being reshaped in Eretz Yisrael?

Our Minister of the Interior should declare all those who oppose the Medina through word of mouth or by disregarding its existence as being persona non-grata. But then I realized that it would be superfluous, unnecessary, and a redundant act. Because HaShem has already elegantly and subtlety deemed them persona non-grata, by leading them to believe that they need not come on aliya to God’s Holy Land.

During WWII, we begged the major ally nations to use their air forces to bomb the concentration camps, or at least the rail tracks, and thereby every day save tens of thousands of Jews. Not once, during all those years, did an American, British, or other allied plane bomb a camp or the tracks.

But how wondrous are Your ways – HaShem!

Today the world is holding its breath and counting the minutes until our Israeli Air Force will bomb the Iranians and rid the world of that scourge.

Indeed! How wondrous are Your ways, the God of Israel, in Your relationship with Your children in Eretz Yisrael.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Tazria-Metzora 5785

The Chareidi View

Chareidi, is a branch of Judaism that adheres to strict Halakha, encompassing a wide range of groups with varying customs and approaches, but fundamentally sharing the following: Rejection of Secular Culture; Emphasis on Torah Study; Strong Rabbinic Authority; Distinctive Dress and Community Living.

Another shared feature among most, if not all, of the Chareidi religious leadership is the rejection of today’s Medinat Yisrael as the beginning of the final stage of the Jewish nation’s redemption, leading to the Mashiach, the Bet Hamikdash and restoration of the Davidic monarchy.

The Chareidi view maintains that the Medina is a political entity that grew out of the Shoah, and not an end of the galut, which will come about only by HaShem’s miracles through G-d fearing leaders, or a leader, as in the time of the Exodus from Egypt when Moshe was sent as Hashem’s emissary.

In the Chareidi view it is not conceivable that the secular Zionist personalities were and are the tools of HaShem to end the 2000-year galut and usher in the final stages of our redemption.

This narrative dictates their religious, social and political positions, including opposition to serving in Tzahal, the military wing of the secular Medina, even at this crucial juncture in our history. In addition, they claim that the army has an agenda to weaken the religious fervor of the Chareidi youth.

It is this position that I will address in this week’s message.

A difficult question: Where is the essence of the Medina expressed in the Torah?

I submit:

In Bamidbar (Numbers, 5,11-31), the Torah outlines the procedure to be followed when a husband, in view of certain circumstances, suspects his wife of infidelity (Sota). The husband brings her to the Bet Hamikdash where she undergoes a complex ritual which will either confirm or refute his suspicions.

Among these procedures is the act of a kohen copying on parchment verses from the Torah that contain curses that will befall the woman if she is guilty. These verses include the name of HaShem twice.

The kohen then erases what he had written into an earthen cup of hallowed water and some dust taken from the floor of the Temple which she must then drink. If she is guilty of adultery, there would be physical changes in the woman, and she would die, if innocent she would remain unharmed.

The purpose of this ritual is to restore the love and faith that was compromised because of the husband’s suspicions.

Chazal (our rabbis of blessed memory) elaborate on the command of erasing the Torah verses from the parchment, including the name of HaShem, which is prohibited in Devarim 12,2. The Almighty Creator of heaven and earth takes a “step back” and permits His name to be erased in order to demonstrate the importance of restoring love and trust within the family.

Back to the issue of Chareidim and their rejection of any sanctity in the present Medina.

Granted, the Jewish State was established through the blood, sweat and tears of mostly secular Jews; so today the Medina is not mehadrin kosher. Therefore, Chareidim maintain a cold, distant relationship, where the Medina is the giver, and they are the takers (the largest philanthropist of the Torah world is the present Israeli government).

In the Chareidi view there is no proactive mitzva to live here and some leaders even oppose making aliya.

Let’s take a step back and consider:

As of now, Jews in the holy land number close to 8 million. This is a very small number for a modern nation that has to maintain a standing army, an international competitive economy, the highest academic and technical educational standards, social welfare systems, research and development institutions, and the highest medical standards, etc.

In the late 19th century, with the beginning of political Zionism, and the efforts to create an independent Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael, HaShem, in His absolute wisdom, knew that in human terms if the future Medina would have any chance of surviving in this part of the world and in this point of time, surrounded by hundreds of millions of fanatical Moslem Arabs, it would need the close cooperation of world Jewry.

If the future Medina would be headed by a dati leadership that would create a halachic state, religious people would come here, but the secular would not. They would not invest in the country, nor would they lend political support, and the Medina would wilt like a fading flower. The situation of world Jewry would in that case be a small Medina of religious Jews, with the majority of secular Jews remaining in the galut, where in one or two generations they would disappear by assimilation.

So, HaShem took a step back (as with the issue of erasing His name), and brought about the situation where Zionist leadership was secular. In the nation that they would create there would be room for religious Jews to come and live freely in their halachic societies, with the knowledge that in time the Medina would grow into maturity and Am Yisrael would return to the way of the Torah.

That is the true way to understand the beauty and genius of how HaShem cares for His nation Yisrael.

It is time for the Chareidim to come out of the cold and recognize the wisdom of HaShem in history and the great potential that this Medina brings to ALL parts of Am Yisrael.

In my humble opinion, the Chareidi leadership should go 180 degrees. Not to prohibit their youth from serving in Tzahal but sending them in their thousands and tens of thousands to fill the ranks of the army. They will be protected religiously by their religious peers, and they will influence their fellow soldiers to return to the Torah.

Encourage these young men to go to officer training and in time the spirit of love of the land, love of fellow Jew, will be felt in all elements of our holy army.

Unfortunately, this will not happen in the foreseeable future!

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Pesach 5785

MY FOREVER RELEVANT PESACH TALE OF ONE FAMILY – TWO WORLDS

Pesach in the USA

A frum (observant) family at the Seder night, living in any one of the great Torah centers in the galut – Flatbush, Boro Park, Lakewood, Los Angeles or south Florida. The home of Reb Sender and Mrs. Rayza is impeccable; the result of the great time and energy, not to speak of the huge outlay of money, which the expeditious and skillful ba’alat ha’bayit (woman of the house) has devoted to it.

The sofas and armchairs in the sitting room that look so inviting were it not for the thick plastic covers which ensure that the upholstery retains its “new” look.

The five-meter-long, Brazilian Mahogany dining room table is covered with the finest Irish linen tablecloth. In the middle of the table stands the imposing sterling silver candle sticks handed down from mother to daughter for generations. The china is the finest Rosenthal, with each plate delicately rounded off with a band of gold. The silverware has been put away in favor of goldware in honor of the sacred night.

On the table, under a hand embroidered silk cloth, lay the matzot. On the insistence of the two sons who are learning in the recently opened Yeshiva Taharas Ha’Torah (purity of Torah) in Las Vegas, in order to bring the voice of Torah even to the entrance of Gehennom, the matzot are from the first 18-minute batch, guaranteeing that no naughty piece of dough would be hiding in any of the rollers. The hand matzot were personally chosen by the rebbe of the shtiebel (homey synagogue) where the family now davens after leaving the central shul which was costing too much. The rebbe assured the boys that the matzot were bubble-free, with no overturned edges.

The wall-to-wall carpet is as deep as the grass in the beautiful garden. Above the table hangs the family’s pride and joy – a multi-faceted crystal chandelier, personally chosen by Rayza on the family’s last visit to Prague.

Reb Sender is wearing his new bekeshe (silk robe), the one with the swirls of blue, with a gold-buckled gartel (belt). Rayza has just said the Shehechiyanu blessing (gratitude for seeing this day) over the $5000 dress imported from Paris. The boys are handsome in their wide-brimmed black hats and the two girls will make beautiful brides when the time comes, dressed in their very expensive dresses imported from Paris.

The seder goes better than expected; words of Torah, beginning with an invitation to the hungry to join with them in the meal, despite the fact that there is not a needy person within 50 miles. A lively discussion develops on the characters of the “four sons.” The main course of Turkey and cranberry sauce is served, in the finest American tradition dating from the Pilgrims, of giving thanks to the Almighty for all His abundance. The afikomen (ritual dessert matza) is “stolen” by the youngest daughter who, for its return, has succeeded in extorting  from Tattie a vacation in Aruba.

Songs of thanks to HaShem for freeing the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt are recited. For it is a mitzva on this night for each person to undergo a déjà vu experience, as if he or she were newly freed slaves from Mitzrayim.

Birkat Hamazon (grace after meals) is said, as is the second part of Hallel. Chad Gadya puts the final touch on the mitzvot of the night. Now, just as HaShem destroys the “Angel of Death” in the song, father jumps up and gathering the family in a circle, they all break out in a frenzy of song — L’shana ha’ba’a Be’Yerushalayim — “Next year in Jerusalem.”

Again and again around the table L’shana ha’ba’a Be’Yerushalayim is sounded. Louder and louder until their song merges with the same melody resounding from the neighbors’ homes, cutting a path into the highest realms of heaven.

Suddenly Mama collapses into a chair, crying hysterically. The singing stops. Father runs over and asks, “Why are you crying just at the apex of the beautiful sacred night?

And between tears Mama answers: “What do you mean next year in Yerushalayim? The table, the chandelier, the deep carpet, the Rosenthal china, the garden! How can we leave all this?”

Father approaches Mama and taking her hand while gently dabbing her tears away, in a voice full of compassion, says to his beloved Rayza, “Darling, don’t cry, IT’S ONLY A SONG!”

 

Pesach in Eretz Yisrael

Ten thousand kilometers to the east, in Eretz Yisrael, lives Reb Sender’s brother, Kalman and his wife Sarah, who came on aliya years ago with their five children and changed the family name to Yerushalmi. They were blessed with a beautiful family, an adequate apartment and much nachat. Their son, Yossi, will not be home for the Seder night; he was serving in the army within the Hesder yeshiva system.

The parents were not overly worried, because Yossi told them that he is in a safe place in the north and that next year they will all be together for the Seder.

At 12 noon, on the 14th of Nisan, erev Pesach (day before Pesach), Yossi and three other soldiers from the same yeshiva were informed that they had been chosen to fill an assignment that evening, on the Seder night. They were to cross into Hizballah territory in Southern Lebanon and man the bunker on hill 432.

Yossi knew the hill well; he had been there several times in the past year. It was sarcastically called a “bunker,” but in reality, it was nothing more than a foxhole large enough for four soldiers. Their assignment was to track terrorist movements and destroy them on contact. It was tolerable except when it rained, which caused the bottom of the hole to be soggy and muddy. But today, the four hoped that it would rain, even though chances were small since it was late in the season. On the 14th of every Hebrew month when the moon is full, crossing into enemy territory presents a greater danger; so, rain would be a mixed blessing.

At 5:00 PM, they were given the necessary arms and ammunition. The army rabbinate provided them with 4 plastic containers – each holding 3 matzot and all the ingredients necessary for a Seder – as well as 4 plastic bottles of wine, each one containing 4 cups, and of course four Haggadot (ritual text).

At 6:00 PM, they waited at the fence for the electricity to be turned off, in order to cross into hostile territory. Yossi held a map of the minefield they would have to cross. “It was so strange,” Yossi thought. “This is the area assigned to the tribe of Naftali, and we have to enter it crawling on our stomachs.”

At 6:15 PM, the small aperture in the gate opened and they passed through. As they had hoped, it was raining, and the thick fog was to their advantage.

At that moment, 10,000 kilometers to the west, it was 12:15 PM and Yossi’s two cousins in New York were just entering the mikva (ritual bath) to prepare for the sacred night.

The 4 soldiers reached hill 432 after walking double-time for 2 kilometers. They removed the camouflage and settled in, pulling the grassy cover over them.

Each was assigned a direction. Talking was forbidden. If any murderers were sighted, a light tap on the shoulder would bring them all to the exact direction. After settling in, they prayed Ma’ariv and began the Seder. It was finished within a half hour, and they were happy that the 4 cups of “wine” had no detrimental effect on their senses.

At 6:00 PM in NY, the family returned from shul to begin their Seder. At 11:00 P.M. the family was dancing around the table singing the song of hope that they will be in Yerushalayim the following year.

It was then 5:00 A.M. in Eretz Yisrael, and the 4 soldiers were waging a heroic battle against boredom and sleep. The minutes crawled by, and right before the first approach of light, they exited the outpost and returned through the minefield and electric fence to the base. After reporting to the officer in charge, the four entered their tent and collapsed on their cots without removing clothing or shoes, because in an hour they would have to join the minyan for the shacharit service.

That night, the protecting heavenly angels of Yossi and his friends were draped in flowing, golden robes while sharing the heavenly Seder with the righteous of all the generations.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Kasher Vesamai’ach,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Pekudai 5785

The war over the soul of our nation

 

Medinat Yisrael will soon be 77 years young, and religious leaders are still debating the nature of our return to the holy land.

There are great rabbis who are confident, implicit and unwavering in their belief that the Medina is the platform on which the Mashiach will appear. Just count the miraculous victories of our army, and no less the miraculous economic boom that took survivors of the holocaust from the murder camps with only the shirt on their back and their children are CEOs of international companies residing on the 35th floor of a Tel Aviv skyscraper. The extraordinary accomplishments in all fields of endeavor and a very high place in the citizens’ satisfaction ladder within the nations.

At the same time there are equally great rabbis who are uncertain and ambivalent as to our link in the golden chain of Jewish history. And yet others who regard the advent of the Medina by mostly non-observant secular Jews (who cherished being Jewish and went to drain the malarial swamps of the Galil) as being illegitimate, and therefore beyond the possibility of rising above their unholy beginnings. Hence it is better to remain in galut until the time when HaShem will send us limousines to come home. Why do I mention limousines?

Once when visiting the States, I was on a subway train when two young Satmar Chassidic men sat next to me. We began talking and at one point I asked them when they would come to Eretz Yisrael. One answered, “when Hashem sends us limousines”. Our conversation came to an abrupt halt when I said that Chazal teaches that “techiyat hamaytim” (resurrection of the dead) will occur only in Eretz Yisrael, and the righteous in chutz la’aretz will have to make their way through tunnels to get to the land. So what kind of Chassidim are you when your rabbi has to undergo a harsh experience while you will be sitting in a stretch limo! They moved to another seat.

As stated above, there are Torah giants who interpret the events of the past 100 years as the beginning of the Messianic era, and those who do not relate any spiritual significance to the establishment of a Jewish Medina in Eretz Yisrael – and even those who condemn its establishment.

Who is right and who is wrong? At this juncture in our history, nothing less than a clear voice from heaven declaring “I am the Lord your God” will move anyone in each of the three camps to concede to the other’s point of view.

However, there is a fourth approach to the issue; the one I believe unites all the conflicting views.

We here are all in the same “boat”. Because while Eretz Yisrael is inherently kadosh (holy), the political Medinat Yisrael is a neutral entity where Hashem is giving us one more chance to establish a “Kohanic kingdom and holy nation” (Shemot 19,6).

The Medina has within it the greatest potential for sanctity. The land and the very air we breathe abound with kedusha. The Temple Mount, Yerushalayim, Me’arat Ha’Machpela down to the last fistful of soil at the end of the extremities of our borders are all imbued with kedusha. The people from over 100 different lands bring with them a heterogeneity reminiscent of the diversity of the twelve tribes – necessary to bring forth the multifaceted demands of a Torah nation.

In the past, HaShem gave the opportunity to King Chizkiyahu to be the Mashiach, but he faltered. Rabbi Akiva and the majority of rabbis in his day knew that HaShem had given Bar Kochba the opportunity to be the Mashiach, but Bar Kochba also faltered.

In our time, HaShem is giving us another opportunity to bring the final redemption. And as a mother who receives her newborn baby in her arms, the future of the Medina depends on how we relate to it; how we tend and care for it; how we educate our young and with how much zeal we defend it and are willing to die for it.

It is the inescapable duty of every Jew to endeavor to actualize the potential of the Medina to be a God-fearing Torah society in the spirit and words of the prophets. If we fail, then we and Jews the world over will pay dearly. There will not be another exile, but our lives will be filled with challenges.

On the one hand, there are here a small but vocal “eiruv rav” (mixed assembly of people), who has accompanied our people since the time of the Exodus and who wish to destroy any semblance of kedusha in the land. On the other hand, there are the most loyal sons and daughters this nation has ever seen. They learn and live Torah and embrace every centimeter of every hill and valley. They are the kippot srugot (knitted kipot) young men and long-skirted young women who are to be found in every positive aspect of society. They study Torah, settle and build the land, struggle and even die in the effort to convince HaShem that we are ready to establish the Third Jewish Commonwealth in Eretz Yisrael.

In between these two camps is the majority of traditional-minded Israelis together with the Chareidi parties, Chassidic groups, “Lithuanian” yeshivot, and whoever else sees themselves as being Chareidi who flounder without direction.

The Chareidim contribute somewhat to our life here, but they themselves harbor very little hope that the Medina can turn into an Am Kadosh. They can be compared to a father teaching his little child to walk, but the infant staggers and falls once or twice; and the father throws up his hands in hopelessness while muttering to himself that this child will never walk.

In this war over the soul of our nation, those who remain in chutz la’aretz will have almost zero impact on the outcome of HaShem’s great test. Nevertheless, they will be held accountable in the real world for not even taking part in bringing about the final geula for us and for the world.

I hope and pray that I see the day when a “kippa sruga” will sit together with a “shtreimel” wearer in a yeshiva, high atop a hillside overlooking Chevron or Shechem, arguing over the application of a Talmudic principle to the Israeli space station hovering over the planet, or religious scientists  designing software applications for the Bet HaMikdash, or three Israeli generals reciting birkat ha’mazon after a working lunch where it was agreed upon to liberate the eastern side of the Jordan river.

It CAN and Will happen, but the timing depends on how much we love HaShem, the Torah, Eretz Yisrael and how much we love each other.

We have no option but to succeed in revealing the hidden sanctity in the inanimate stones of HaShem’s holy land and in the deep recesses of our Jewish souls.

In summary: The quantity and quality of HaShem’s assistance in advancing our uphill climb to the summit of the Jewish spiritual Mount Everest will be determined by the quantity and quality of Am Yisrael’s determination to create here a “Kohanic kingdom and holy nation”.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Vayakhel 5785

Where is the renewed fighting leading?

 

The fighting has resumed, and people are asking, “where is it leading?”

A while back, I wrote what came to my mind regarding where HaShem is taking us at this juncture in our long and circuitous history. And it seems to be even more imminent than before, so I wish to repeat the idea for those who missed that article.

It was reported that following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, the head of IDF military intelligence and the head of Shabak (internal security) met in Jordan with their counterparts to discuss the real possibility that Iran will attempt to undermine the government of Jordan to send in Iranian troops to the border with Israel.

Let’s discuss this:

The changes in our region are so sudden and extreme that political analysts and commentators cannot keep up with the unprecedented events. The only way to be relevant is to begin by appraising events beyond the present and working backwards.

I suggest:

Just as the Assad regime of Syria was overthrown, so too – by the will of HaShem in His plan for Am Yisrael – will there be a revolt and civil war in Jordan with King Abdullah begging for refuge in Israel.

This will necessitate our army to seize large areas within Jordan, if not all of the country.

Behind everything that is happening in and around Eretz Yisrael are the seismic changes in HaShem’s relations with Am Yisrael. They could be headlined “End of galut and beginning of the advent of the Mashiach”.

Meaning:

We have troops in and along the length and breadth of the Gaza Strip. Gaza is part of the biblical tribes of Yehuda and Shimon.

We have troops in Lebanon, which is situated on the soil of the two tribes of Asher and Naftali.

We have troops in Syria, which is in the tribe of Menashe.

In total, there are Israelis today in 10 of the 12 biblical tribes that constitute Eretz Yisrael. Excluded are the tribes of Reuven and Gad, which are in the central and southern regions of Jordan.

Ten is nice but it is not twelve; and like water history seeks its natural level.

The last time Jews were in simultaneous control of all the territories of the twelve tribes was in 722 BCE – a whopping 2746 years ago – when Hoshea ben Ella, the last king of the ten northern tribes and his empire was exiled by the Assyrian King Shalmaneser.

The events in Jordan will necessitate our seizing large parts of the area, including the regions of Reuven and Gad. This will close the historical circle of 2746 years, when Am Yisrael is again in control of all the land areas of the twelve tribes.

This does not necessarily mean that the Mashiach is about to arrive. In fact, it is quite possible that the era of pre-Mashiach struggle could continue with up-and-down periods for many more years.  However, the condition for some of the agricultural Torah mitzvot is our residence in all the 12 tribal areas.

We might yet turn out to be one of the most meaningful generations in our long history.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Ki Tisa and Purim 5785

Megillat Esther: HaShem’s relationship with Am Yisrael

Where in our parasha is the one pasuk, actually the one word, that embodies the essence of HaShem’s relationship with Am Yisrael as a distinct and independent entity unrelated to any other nation or race? Additionally, what is its parallel in Megillat Esther? (hint: Shemot 33:16)

Our parasha relates the enormity of the rebellion against HaShem by many of the eruv rav (mixed multitude). They numbered, according to some accounts, over a million people, who with the agreement of Moshe accompanied the Jews when exiting Egypt and were permitted to convert.

For their role in inciting many Jews to take part in the Golden Calf sin, the tribe of Levi volunteered to kill the hardcore sinners, numbering 3000, which was followed by a plague that decimated many more.

The exact composition of this “mixed multitude” is not known, but they probably included Egyptians and other nationalities who witnessed the miracles of HaShem. These “mixed multitude”, despite their acceptance to Judaism, during the 40-year journey in the desert incited the Jews to complain at every challenge and even to threaten returning to Egypt.

HaShem appeared to Moshe while alluding to the possibility that the eruv rav had polluted the nation’s soul to the extent that the centuries-long covenant between HaShem and the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov was no longer relevant. And HaShem raised the possibility that a new covenant be created between HaShem and the offspring of Moshe himself.

Moshe rejected the proposal, adding that if the Jewish nation would be eradicated, then he wished that HaShem would erase the name “Moshe” from the Torah.

Moshe began pleading to HaShem to forgive the sins of the Jewish nation, adding a radical request totally outside of the parameters of what was transpiring at the time. That not only should HaShem continue the historic covenant until eternity but…

אני ועמך מכל העם אשר על פני האדמה” ונפלינו

 

May it be Your will to relate to Am Yisrael with favoritism, positive prejudice and loving discrimination than to any other nation or race.

And HaShem replied:

ויאמר ה’ אל משה גם את הדבר הזה אשר דברת אעשה כי מצאת חן בעיני ואדעך בשם

 

And HaShem said to Moshe, “What you request I will do, because I am pleased with you….”

The heavenly pendulum swung from one extreme to the other. From eradicating the Jewish nation for partaking in, or not preventing, the sin of Golden Calf, to employing extreme apartheid in HaShem’s dealing with all the gentile peoples. That only upon Am Yisrael will HaShem bestow His sanctity, but not upon any gentile nation, religion or individual.

Problem: Apartheid is a policy that is rejected by all morally advanced societies. Equality is the path to harmony between peoples in the recognition that all men are created equal before the law with inherent rights and privileges.

And also, the call of Avraham to HaShem when informed of the imminent destruction of the five evil cities – Sedom, Amora, Adma, Tzevoryim, and Tzorar (Bereishiet 18:25):

השפט כל הארץ לא יעשה משפט

 

Will the Judge of all the earth not do justice!

I submit:

When all the factors are present in the equation; meaning when considering all humanity, it is immoral to show favoritism for a particular group, as in the case when blacks and whites were on a bus and the blacks were relegated to sitting in the back. That is apartheid. However, Am Yisrael was never “in the bus” and therefore we are not a part of the apartheid. HaShem and Am Yisrael are together in a different dimension, where Am Yisrael is not competing with the other nations for HaShem’s attention, hence there is no expression of bias.

Where do we see this extreme spiritual separation of the Jewish nation from all others as a fundamental rudiment of Judaism?

Answer: the Gemara (Brachot 6a) states a fact that cannot be taken literally, but only in kabbalistic terms, that HaShem dons tefillin, as do the Jews.

And what is written in HaShem’s tefillin which differs from ours?

Our tefillin has written inside of its small chambers:

שמע ישראל ה’ א’ ה’ אחד

Listen (comprehend) Yisrael the Lord our God is one (unique and singular in every way).

In HaShem’s tefillin appears the verse:

מי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ

 

Who is likened to your nation, Yisrael, singular and unique among the nation of the world.

We are like the Creator in the sense that there is no entity that can compare to HaShem just as no earthly entity that can compare to Am Yisrael.

How does Hashem exhibit His bias towards the Jewish nation?

One way is our miraculous survival against all odds.

Meaning: HaShem does not ignore our sins – a sin is a sin. But in order to permit our miraculous history, HaShem punishes us bit by bit, so the Quality of Justice does not accumulate our sins into one atomic punishment. Whereas the sins of the nations are left to accumulate until they reach the point of no return and the heavenly retribution for their sins explodes with suffering until that society can no longer sustain itself.

In one sentence: We are not on the bus; we have our own personal limousine!

Where is HaShem’s partiality made real in the 167 verses of Megillat Esther?

The Megillah relates that when Haman informed his wife Zeresh and his advisors about the demeaning manner in which he was treated by the king, having to lead Mordechai on a royal horse through the city, they replied (Megillah 6:13):

… אם מזרע היהודים מרדכי אשר החלות לנפל לפניו לא תוכל לו כי נפול תפול לפניו

 

If Mordechai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you will not defeat him. You will surely fall!

Haman’s family and personal advisors were well versed in world history. They knew that the ultimate absolute downfall of an enemy of the Jewish people, when it begins by Jewish hands, has no way of reversing the inevitable defeat.

After the astonishing turn of events in the 127 regions of the Persian empire – when the citizens prepared to murder all the Jews in one day on the 13th of Adar, and the Jews defended themselves by killing 75,000 across the land, and another 800 in the city of Shushan – the reaction of the Persians was:

מְקוֹם אֲשֶר דְבַר הַמֶלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ מַגִיעַ שִמְחָה וְשָשׂוֹן לַיְהוּדִים מִשְתֶה וְיוֹם טוֹב וְרַבִים מֵעַמֵי הָאָרֶץ מִתְיַהֲדִים כִי נָפַל פַחַד הַיְהוּדִים עֲלֵיהֶם.

 

In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.

At the present time, our Arab enemies have begun their fast descent to oblivion. HaShem is exhibiting His love for His chosen people, with the beginning of the defeat of Hamas in Azza, of Hezbollah in Lebanon, of the Persians in Iran, of the Arabs in Judea and Samaria and of the Houthis in Yemen. And this chain of miraculous victories will continue until we could be seeing great numbers of gentiles the world over leaving their religious beliefs to convert to Judaism, as stated by the prophet Yirmiyahu (16:19):

 …אליך גוים יבאו מאפסי ארץ ויאמרו אך שקר נחלו אבותינו הבל ואין בם מועיל:

 

…the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our ancestors bequeathed us false gods, worthless idols that bring no benefit”.

Conclusion: Something big is happening in the world – changes on a biblical scale.

As it appears, the destiny of Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael under HaShem’s guidance will affect all mankind. Some by wars, others by natural calamities, while others will undergo spiritual transitions. Our destiny is to return home and restore what was lost to us by our not having fulfilled the functions of being HaShem’s chosen people.

We might yet prove to be the greatest generation in Jewish history.

Shabbat Shalom and be joyous in the spirit of our Purim victories,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Tetzaveh – Zachor 5785

The miraculous survival of the Jewish nation

PART ONE

Moshe descended from Mount Sinai with a message from HaShem to Am Yisrael (Shemot 19,6):

ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש

 

You shall be for Me, a kingdom of Kohanim and a holy nation.

Question: It is estimated that only about 5% of the nation are Kohanim, so what is the meaning of “a kingdom of Kohanim”?

We will return to this.

The Gemara (Yuma 5b) points out a discrepancy regarding the order in which Aharon and his four sons donned the sacred Kohanic vestments, which bestowed upon them and their descendants the sanctified status as Kohanim, until the end of time.

Our parasha Tetzaveh (Shemot 28:41) states:

והלבשת אתם את אהרן אחיך ואת בניו אתו

 

And you (Moshe) shall dress Aharon your brother (with the holy vestments) together with his sons.

This was with the understanding that Aharon and his sons were to dress at the same time. However, in parashat Vayak’hel (Shemot 40,13-14), it states:

והלבשת את אהרן את בגדי הקדש ומשחת אתו וקדשת אתו וכהן לי:

ואת בניו תקריב והלבשת אתם כתנת

And you shall dress Aharon with the holy vestments and anoint him to serve Me. And you shall bring his sons and dress them in the tunics.

This was with the understanding that only after Aharon completed donning his holy vestments would his sons begin to don theirs.

The rabbis of the Gemara saw the contradiction, but at the beginning deemed it to be of no consequence. They knew that at the time of the third and ultimate Bet Hamikdash when the order of dress would become pertinent, there would be resurrection, and Moshe and Aharon would direct us regarding how to conduct the matter. However, the rabbi who pointed out the contradiction continued to pose the problem for the purpose of solving the apparent contradiction.  It appears that the yeshiva did not want to get involved with the spiritual and philosophic aspects of the two possibilities and the matter was not resolved.

I submit that there is a huge difference between Aharon donning the garments first and then his sons versus Aharon and his four sons simultaneously donning their garments. This difference has fundamental implications for understanding the essence of Kohanic sanctity, and even beyond.

Had HaShem commanded Moshe to have Aharon and his sons don the holy vestments at the same time, the implication would have been that the sanctity of Aharon and his sons were equal, and Aharon as Kohen Gadol (High Priest) served as first among equals. But donning the holy vestments before his sons (thereby completing his “initiation” into the Kehuna before them), it would imply that the sacred order of Kehuna emanated from HaShem to Aharon directly as “transfer number one”, and from Aharon to his sons, as “transfer number two”. In other words, the status of sanctity of Aharon and every succeeding Kohen Gadol is closer to HaShem than that of  the general population of Kohanim.

Notwithstanding the above implications and suppositions, the matter was actually resolved by the rabbinic authorities who codified the texts of our blessings and prayers. Kohanim recite an introductory blessing before invoking the three verse Kohanic blessings as brought in parashat Naso (Bamidbar chapter 6):

ברוך אתה ה’ א’ מלך העולם אשר קדשנו בקדושתו של אהרן וציוונו לברך את עמו ישראל באהבה

 

Blessed are You H’ E’ King of the universe Who has sanctified us with the sanctity of Aharon and commanded us to bless His nation Yisrael in love.

Aharon was the sole receiver of the Kehuna directly from HaShem and then passed down through him to all succeeding Kohanim.

This has great implications for our understanding of HaShem’s relationship with the Jewish nation vis-a-vis the gentile nations of the world, and for understanding the enigmatic message:

ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש

 

You shall be for Me, a kingdom of Kohanim and a holy nation.

As stated above, HaShem relates to Am Yisrael with the sobriquet ‘Mamlechet Kohanim’ – a Kingdom of Kohanim. However, only 5 percent of Jews are Kohanim, and certainly not a “Kingdom of Kohanim”.

Here is the point:

HaShem’s revelation of His intimate relationship with the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov was identical to the process of sanctifying Aharon and his sons as Kohanim.

Just as Aharon was on a higher level of sanctity than his sons, and was not just first among equals, Am Yisrael descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov was on a higher level in the family of nations, but not first among equals.

Our chosenness was an expression of our intimate relationship with HaShem, just as Aharon was the first and only Kohen in the world through whom the others received their Kehuna. So, too, it is that Am Yisrael is the singular nation that has a direct and intimate connection with the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Only through us does the Creator deal with what is known as “humanity”.  We are the essence of the Creator whose life force gives life to all other nations.

It is told that King Louis the 16th, the last king of France, before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution, asked a philosopher for proof that God exists. The answer he received was two words “Les Juis” – the Jews.

Conclusion:

Indeed, just as HaShem has planned it, He has guaranteed His guardianship and the miraculous survival of the Jewish nation for 4000 years. Our survival and unprecedented return to Eretz Yisrael after 2000 years in exile proves His existence as Creator and Master of all that exists.

 

PART TWO

Now one might ask why we should believe that HaShem is zealously guarding Medinat Yisrael? Are we such great tzaddikim to deserve His supernatural miracles?

To this I reply with two reasons:

1- There were very few generations where so many Jews were willing to put their lives in jeopardy to be in Eretz Yisrael for no other reason than they are Jews.

Both the Torah-observant Jew and those who are not, have come to this Land to defend and develop her, and will never leave – because they are Jews. The proof of the love the people in Medinat Yisrael have for the Land of Israel is the millions of other Jews who choose to remain in the galut rather than risk their lives for the Jewish State. It is this love of being Jewish that resonates in Heaven and arouses HaShem’s love, devotion, and protection of His chosen people.

2: The TaNaCh in Melachim 2 chapter 14 says:

בשנת חמש עשרה שנה לאמציהו בן יואש מלך יהודה מלך ירבעם בן יואש מלך ישראל בשמרון ארבעים ואחת שנה: ויעש הרע בעיני ה’ לא סר מכל חטאות ירבעם בן נבט אשר החטיא את ישראל: הוא השיב את גבול ישראל מלבוא חמת עד ים הערבה כדבר ה’ אלהי ישראל אשר דבר ביד עבדו יונה בן אמתי הנביא אשר מגת החפר: כי ראה ה’ את עני ישראל מרה מאד ואפס עצור ואפס עזוב ואין עזר לישראל: ולא דבר ה’ למחות את שם ישראל מתחת השמים ויושיעם ביד ירבעם בן יואש: ויתר דברי ירבעם וכל אשר עשה וגבורתו אשר נלחם ואשר השיב את דמשק ואת חמת ליהודה בישראל הלא הם כתובים על ספר דברי הימים למלכי ישראל

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Yoash, King of Yehuda, Yeravam son of (a different) Yoash, King of Yisrael, ruled over Shomron for forty-one years.

24 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins that Yeravam son of Navat had caused Israel to commit. 25 He (the evil Yeravam ben Yoash) restored the boundaries of Israel from Levo Hamat to the Dead Sea, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Yonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gat Chefer.

26 The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel was suffering, with no one to help them. 27 And since the Lord had said that He would not blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, He saved them by the hand of Yeravam son of Yoash.

28 As for the other events of Yeravam’s reign, all that he did, and his military achievements, including how he recovered for Israel both Damascus and Hamat, which had belonged to Yehuda, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Yisrael?  29 Yeravam  rested with his ancestors, the kings of Yisrael. And Zechariah his son succeeded him as king.

The second Yeravam was very far from being a halachic person; indeed, he was a rasha. Yet, he was victorious in all his military campaigns, including expanding the borders of the Land and capturing Damascus.

The reason for his great successes could not be attributed to his great ‘righteousness’. It was because “the Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel was suffering with no one to help them. And the Lord had said that He would not blot out the name of Israel from under heaven”.

When the enemies of Yisrael are so many, and the merits of the nation are less than what they should be, HaShem has no choice but to save His chosen people just as a father protects his beloved child.

And this explains why the Medina exists and thrives within a sea of Amaleks, in a full-blown sea of war and hate.

This is the message we should be aware of on this Shabbat Zachor that promises the defeat of all our enemies.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Truma 5785

Tzahal’s failure to protect

What happened on the night of Shabbat Shemini Atzeret (22nd of Tishrei, Oct 7) 2023 when the mantra “never again” was dashed to pieces? And what is the most important lesson and decision that should arise from this tragedy?

A Lesson from Rabbi Yehuda Ha’Nasi

The Gemara (Bava Batra 8b) relates that during a period of severe drought in Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi Yehuda Ha’Nasi, head of the Sanhedrin and compiler of the Mishna, ordered the public storehouses to be opened for distribution of food. He made the stipulation that only those who were erudite in the Torah would be eligible for public help; but the “amei ha’aretz” (those ignorant of the Torah and subsequently commit sins) would not be eligible since they are the cause of the calamities that befall the nation.

Getting to the root of the failure

We are now entering the investigative phase of why Tzahal did not react immediately to prevent the murderous onslaught that took the lives of 1400 Israelis on that day, in the most Nazi-like sadistic ways – too gruesome and frightful to detail.

The army and other security organizations will present their unreliable reports because a failed entity cannot be objective towards itself.

What Mr. average citizen knows so far, is that in the early hours of Shabbat morning there were clear and present signs of military movement near the Azza security fence between them and our towns and kibbutzim to the east.

The intelligence observer units, consisting mostly of women soldiers who have proven to be more capable than men to sit hours before electronic screens observing every inch of ground, informed their superiors of a continuous buildup of Arabs close to the dividing fence and other irregular movements in the hours after midnight.

Most of the officers made nothing of these movements, while others passed the information on to their superiors in military intelligence. At around 2:00 AM they informed the IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi; and the Head of Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman); and the Head of Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and the General of the Southern Command. The air force commander General Bar was not made privy to the information until later in the morning.

The Chief of staff decided that the information was not sufficient to call up the forces, so it did not reach the Prime Minister. The generals decided to go back to sleep and talk in the morning.

On that fateful Morning, 1400 Jews were brutally murdered; women were raped, little children were put into ovens and burned alive, and additional atrocities which are not being revealed, and more than 200 were taken hostage.

The big question is what happened to our military leaders? Is it the duty of the Chief of Staff to decide “go back to sleep; we’ll talk in the morning”.

Here I refer the reader to the above incident involving Rabbi Yehuda Ha’Nasi.

If instead of going back to sleep, any one of those officers would have picked up the phone to the Chief Rabbi of Tzahal or to any rabbi for advice, I have no doubt that “to a man” the rabbi would scream, “Are you insane? immediately call up all necessary forces, because even in a situation of a possible danger to human life, action must be swift and uncompromising”.

How am I so sure?

The “Rama” (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 116,5) based on the Gemara (Chullin 10a) states:

וכן יזהר מכל דברים המביאים לידי סכנה, כי סכנתא חמירא מאיסורא ויש לחוש יותר לספק סכנה מלספק איסור

 

One should beware of all things that might endanger life, because danger is worse than prohibition. The Halachic principle is that in situations where life might be endangered, we must act with greater caution then in matters where there might be a violation of even a Torah law.

For example, where there is a doubt if there exists before us the possibility of committing a Torah sin (kosher vs. non-kosher food) and the matter is brought up for a vote of rabbis, the majority view is the accepted one even if the decision is towards leniency.  However, when the issue is one of life and death and the majority vote for the lenient approach of inaction, and the minority opinion is to be pro-active, we accept the minority opinion.

The root problem on that night was that those senior officers are secular or semi-religious and unaware of Halachic principles of Judaism. A cardinal principle being in cases of even slight possibility of danger to a Jewish life, we act as if it is a major threat.

If even one of the officers had had a good post high school Torah education, he would not have gone back to sleep.

There are very many religious and Torah educated officers in Tzahal, but there is a glass ceiling covering the general staff that leaves no room for Torah orientated generals. Among the usual number of about 20 generals one can find one or two who are Torah educated, but their commands are of a secondary nature, not of strategic or tactical value.

Whatever the outcome of the investigations, one of the conclusions must be to increase the general staff with Torah educated and oriented generals.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Mishpatim 5785

Be a Rosh Gadol!

 

Perspective

Our parasha relates (Shemot 24,10):

ויראו את א-להי ישראל ותחת רגליו כמעשה לבנת הספיר וכעצם השמים לטהר

 

And they “saw” the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a sapir (the gemstone lapis lazuli) as bright blue as the sky

 

The Yerushalmi (Berachot chapter 1) quotes R. Meir regarding the blue (techelet) of the tzitzit:

מגיד שהתכלת דומה לים והים דומה לעשבים ועשבים דומין לרקיע ורקיע דומה לכסא הכבוד והכסא דומה לספיר

 

The hue (color of) techelet is as the ocean, and the ocean is as the green grass, and the grass is as the sky, and the sky is like the color of the holy throne, and the holy throne is like the gemstone (lapis lazuli).

Rabbi Meir states that tzitzit with techelet initiate a chain reaction of sight and thought leading up to the Holy Throne. Tzitzit are basically woolen fringes hanging from the four corners of a garment, but their exalted function is to raise man’s sight and perspective from the routine and mundane to the exalted presence of the Creator.

Intelligence

In modern Hebrew, the simpleton is called “rosh katan” (small head – limited intelligence), and the astute, enterprising person is called “rosh gadol” (large head – prodigious intelligence).

HaShem gave His Torah to the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov who only 50 days previous escaped 210 years of harsh slavery. They were at the time rosh katan (slave mentalities), but Hashem knew that His chosen nation would in time actualize their innate spiritual potential of “rosh gadol”.

Halacha in Israel Today

A Kabbalistic concept: when the Jewish people are in galut (exile), the Shechina (holy spirit of HaShem) is there at their side. This concept refers to a time when the Jewish nation in galut and are discredited, disparaged and in a diminished state in relation to what they were as an independent nation in Eretz Yisrael.

One need not be a professor of history to know that this was our experience during the 2000 years of galut, until we were able to raise up our eyes in pride with the establishment of Medinat Yisrael after the horrific Shoah.

As Am Yisrael goes, so goes the holy Torah. When the Jews are honored and venerated, so is the holy Torah; but when we are degraded, then our Torah and its way of life is disparaged and mocked.

An example:

The Mishna and Talmud are divided into six sections: Zerarim (agricultural laws); Mo’ed (holidays); Nashim (personal status – marriage, divorce, etc.); Nezikin (torts and financial matters); Kodshim (the Temple service), and Taharot (purity vs impurity).

During the 2000 years of galut, the realities of our existence impelled the talmidei chachamim (scholars) of Am Yisrael to withdraw into three of the six sections of the Talmud – Moed, Nashim and Nezirkim. They were studied, analyzed and contemplated, while the other three – Zerarim, Kodshim and Taharot – were relegated to the domain of individual gedolim (rabbinic authorities).

With the establishment of the Medina and the new realities of our national renaissance, our talmidei chachamim have rescued the Shechina from its sorry state in the imprisoned and strangling galut. Here in Eretz Yisrael, the Talmud is studied in its entirety, bringing the three neglected sections back to life. Our religious farmers – and there are very many – till the soil, plant and harvest, and set aside the tithes (teruma and ma’asrot), according to the Halachot of the section of Zerarim. There is a renaissance in our yeshivot regarding the study of Kodshim with its accompanying initiatives and its increased interest in the Temple Mount and the future Bet Hamikdash. And the laws of tuma and tahara are studied in a much wider framework.

Contemporary rabbis deal with issues which were never brought to the table in any bet din (religious court) or yeshiva in galut:

  • Maintaining a modern army and police with their aircraft, submarines, electronic warfare, communications etc. according to Halacha.
  • The vast world of medicine, including human cloning and embryonic stem cell research.
  • Shemita and the need to keep our farmers solvent every 7th year when agricultural work is prohibited, including the prohibition of exporting sanctified Shemita produce.
  • The problems of conversion and prevention of prohibited marriages.
  • The halachic status of civil laws passed by the Knesset.
  • Halachic implications of the day when the majority of world Jewry will be in the land.
  • Treatment of minorities including religions defined as avoda zara.
  • Drafting of yeshiva students for military service in this time of milchemet mitzva.
  • Incorporation of Halacha in the Israeli legal system.
  • The prohibition against giving hallowed lands to gentiles.
  • The inclusion of lands which have been militarily conquered into the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael.
  • Capital punishment for terrorists and freeing convicted Arab murderers as ransom for our prisoners.

The list is endless; nevertheless, our poskim are resolving the problems one by one.

The Medina and its Halachic institutions have brought about “techiyat hamaitim” (resurrection, revival), of the formerly neglected other half of our Talmud.

We are enjoying our return to being “rosh gadol”.

Leadership

However, in the context of a nation “rosh gadol” cannot be limited to the bet midrash. “Rosh Gadol” means leadership. To sit in the bet midrash while secular Jews determine the future of the holy land is very much “rosh katan”.

Think of a community celebrating the donation of a new sefer Torah. There is a festive kilometer procession complete with sound truck and dancing, and a chupa over the new Torah with individuals honored to hold the scroll on the way to its new home. At the critical moment when the Torah enters the bet knesset, the rabbi is invited to hold the sefer and lead the congregation while placing the Torah in its holy ark.

Now, how much more so when HaShem is placing His exiled Jewish nation into His Holy Eretz Yisrael, that the procession should be led by Torah scholars not secular political individuals!

What is lacking today among many Torah leaders is the will to achieve “rosh gadol”.

King Shaul lost the monarchy because he was “rosh katan”, David succeeded him as King by virtue of his rare quality of “rosh gadol”. He was uniquely gifted to be a courageous, fierce and determined military leader, but was also sensitive and spiritual to be able to author the Book of Tehillim (Psalms).

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Bo 5785

Existential Challenges

Along the millennia of our nation, beginning with Avraham to this day, the Jewish people have been confronted with many challenging, even existential, dilemmas when the wrong choice led to death. I have chosen four to demonstrate, with the first just theoretical.

1 – Early on when Israel became an independent state, after 2000 years of groveling in the galu’yot (plural of galut) of Aisav and Yishmael, in our yeshiva we would play a make- believe game that made us all nervous. It was centered around one question: if Israel and the US went to war against each other, on whose side would you be?

The ubiquitous (usual) replies were “Israel with the US, it could never happen”.

2- This was make-believe. But 3300 years ago in Egypt, the parasha through the commentators, relates that the nation faced a soul searching “to be or not to be” dilemma which ended in the death of 80% of the Jewish male population during the plague of darkness.

Moshe put forth his strategic “itinerary” of freedom. The Jews would escape the work-death camps of Egypt and with no time to prepare food and water, they would immediately enter the formidable, intimidating Sinai desert for an unknown period of time. They would make their way to the land of Canaan, employ ethnic cleansing on the descendants of Canaan, and then change all the road signs to Hebrew and resettle the land with the twelve tribes.

It would not sit well in terms of today’s elevated “moral” standards, but Moshe was fulfilling the will of Hashem – the source of right and wrong, and what is moral and what is not.

Twenty percent of the nation (from whom we descend) agreed and followed Moshe to become Hashem’s chosen people to this day, however, 80% could not see themselves in this scenario. How can millions of Jews survive in a barren, ominous desert where rational men fear to tread? That 80% died during the plague of darkness, leaving no trace of their existence.

3- Skipping centuries, lets return to the end of the 19th century at the beginning of political Zionism and up to the 1930s when the Germans unleashed their genie of hate.

Ze’ev Hertzl opened up the dream of leaving behind the cesspools of Christian European anti-Semitism to return to Eretz Yisrael not only as downtrodden individuals but as a free nation. It was a challenge for the religious segment. Many leading rabbis said that Palestine is led by secular Jews who are dedicated to create a society where Hashem and Torah will not exist, so however difficult, it is preferable to remain in Europe. This was a dilemma for every Jew. There were those who did come on aliya, but the big numbers remained and paid the ultimate price in the German death camps.

4 – Today there is a background question that no one wants to bring to the surface. It dwells in the consciousness of every responsible leader – religious or not.

Can a country of 7 million Jews survive when surrounded by nearly half a billion Arabs; most of whom pray to their god of vengeance for the destruction of the Jewish state, to be followed by the annihilation of world Jewry.

The combined population of the 22 member states of the Arab League, which includes countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as of 2023, is approximately 473 million. Plus, another 2 million in Israel itself, bringing the total to 475 million.

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, as of December 2023 the Jews in Israel number approximately 7,208,000. Equaling one Jew for every 65 Arabs or 100 Jews for every 6524 Arabs living in the Middle East and North Africa. This statistic is behind many of the world’s nations that back the Arabs in the UN, despite the disparity in all phases of life where Israel is king.

Is it possible that this military imbalance that favors our enemies stands behind the choice of many religious leaders to build their lives in the galut at the expense of denying the overriding mitzvah of living in the holy land?

It would explain why the galut religious leaders of the last century, both chassidic and misnaged, did not call out “let us all ascend to Zion”.

And could this be the real camouflaged reason for the Chareidi segment in Israel not to serve in the army, because their leaders believe that we are still in galut?

In a 2022 survey, 45% of Israeli Jews self-identified as “secular”; 10% Chareidi; 33% Masorti and 12% dati (‘religious’ or ‘orthodox’, including religious Zionists). Bringing the Chareidi and religious Zionist total to 22% and the others to 78%. These numbers parallel the demographics of our ancestors on the eve of the exodus!

One thing is clear. The religious Zionists will cling to the belief that we are now in the era of redemption; and no matter how bleak the situation they will not budge. This was clear in the three weeks prior to the Six Day War when in my Chareidi neighborhood of Kiryat Sanz so many left the country while the religious Zionists stayed.

Religious Zionists are always the first to run to the war front and the last to turn their backs.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Va’eira 5785

Prepare

A wise rabbi once said: “Though we cannot understand why things happen to us, but at least we can prepare for their eventuality”.

Pure Truth

In a previous message, I related the following story about pure truth, which is often distressful, bitter and at times intolerable.

A man traversed the globe in search of the hidden truths of life. It was his habit in every place he visited to ask if anyone there knew the truths of life.  At his last juncture, a townsman told him that it’s rumored that on the adjoining mountain lives a woman of absolute truth.

He ascended the mountain and indeed before him stood the ugliest woman he had ever seen. She could have easily been over 120, with any beauty which might have been hers long ago lost. She was a pitiful sight.

He asked if she was the woman who knew truth.  She replied that she was the personification of truth in the world. The young man could not look at her, but he was so enraptured by her wisdom and revelations on every subject that he stayed. After several weeks, he informed her that he had to return to civilization. When he was just about to leave, she said, “Young man. Remember! Tell everyone that I am young and beautiful“.

The moral of this story is that we seek to sweeten and beautify the truth, even when the facts are schlecht (bad) and bitter.

The Pre-Mashiach Period

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 98b) while discussing the pre-Mashiach period which will be very challenging, relates that three great rabbis Ula, Raba and Rabbi Yochanan declared that they would prefer not to see it, while Rabbi Yosef said that he wished to experience that period even though it entails great challenges.

This exchange of ideas was not a matter for halachic decision. The rabbis were expressing their personal fortitude and willingness to endure physical and emotional tests which are not measures of Torah erudition but the emotional make-up of the individual. But one thing is clear, the rabbis agreed that the pre-Mashiach period, the length of which we do not know, will be challenging and demanding.

We are now in that period. It includes the two world wars, the Shoah and up to our present struggle to fully return to Eretz Yisrael.

I would like to air my thoughts on what, I believe, will be the last and most difficult challenge of our time.

Remember the Exodus from Egypt

After the destruction of the second Bet Hamikdash, the Sanhedrin moved to the town of Yavne, where among other activities, they codified the texts of our prayers.

They prioritized the exodus from Egypt, so that we would recall the bitter memories of that period. We recall the Exodus in Kiddush of Shabbat and Festivals, in Birkat HaMazon (grace after meals), in the siddur between the end of kriyat shema and Amida; not to mention the Pesach Seder. Why?

These many referrals to the Exodus are all the more problematic in light of the Gemara (Brachot 12b) that quotes the prophet Yirmiyahu 16,15:

“הנה ימים באים נאם ה’ ולא יאמרו עוד חי ה’ אשר העלה את בני ישראל מארץ מצרים, כי אם חי ה’ אשר העלה ואשר הביא את זרע בית ישראל מארץ צפונה ומכל הארצות אשר הדחתים שם”… לא שתעקר יציאת מצרים ממקומה, אלא שתהא שעבוד מלכיות עיקר, ויציאת מצרים טפל לו.

 

Here, the days are coming (our days) declares the Lord, when it will no longer be said “as surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt, but it will be said, surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.

Meaning: The prophet is informing us that in the future, the exodus will be cast in the shadows, in light of the enormous miracles of redemption that we will experience in the days of Mashiach.

So, the question: Why are there so many references of the Egyptian exodus which is destined to be sidelined in our collective memories?

I submit:

The rabbis of Yavne knew the secret. The last and biggest war in pre-Mashiach times will be an expounded repetition of the original Egyptian exodus, but enormously bigger and more impressive, and will include the major features of the first Egyptian experience.

The Egyptians will again attack with an army many times larger than ours. We will be gripped by fear and call out to HaShem to save us. And just as in ancient times when the entire Egyptian army was drowned under hundreds of meters of sea water, so too, will contemporary Egypt be annihilated when the great Dam in Aswan collapses and oceans of water come roaring down the Nile Valley where all Egyptians live.

The re-enacting of the ancient Exodus step-by-step will be further proof of the authenticity of our historic Biblical description of the event, and since that is true then all the other episodes in the Torah are true.

Egypt Today

There are serious reasons to suspect that the Egyptians are preparing for war, although they are not seriously threatened by any enemy.

Egypt outnumbers Israel in almost every military category, they have:

  • Army: approximately 310,000 regular army personnel
  • Air Force: approximately 27,000 personnel
  • Navy: approximately 32,000 personnel
  • Air Defense Forces: approximately 85,000 personnel

In addition to the active-duty personnel, they have an estimated 479,000 reservists.

The IDF has:

  • Army: approximately 135,000 personnel
  • Air Force: approximately 25,000 personnel
  • Navy: approximately 10,000 personnel

And an estimated 465,000 reservists.

The size and role of the Egyptian military is too excessive for its economic interests and capabilities. Yet we see a continuous buildup of their forces and their placement in the Sinai desert which divides our two countries.

Conclusion

To reveal the future is to prepare for it, not to grip people with fear.

The finale of the pre-Mashiah period will be a colossal repetition of the first Biblical salvation of Am YIsrael from Egyptian bondage, proving the authenticity of its Biblical narrative, and hence all other Biblical narratives; and HaShem’s choice of Am YIsrael from out of all the other peoples of the world is indisputable.

And then the world will be prepared for the Mashiach.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5785/2025 Nachman Kahana



BS”D Parashat Vayeishev 5785

Sudden and Extreme Changes

It has been reported, that following the fall of the Asad regime in Syria, the head of IDF military intelligence and the head of Shabak (internal security) met in Jordan with their counterparts to discuss the real possibility that Iran would attempt to undermine the government of Jordan and send in Iranian troops to the border with Israel.

Let’s discuss this.

The changes in our region are so sudden and extreme that political analysts, commentators, as well as rabbis who have to prepare Shabbat drashot cannot keep up with events. And the only way to be relevant is to begin by appraising events beyond the present and then waiting for reality to set in.

I suggest that just as the Asad regime of Syria was overthrown, so too, by the will of HaShem in His plan for Am Yisrael, there will be a revolt and civil war in Jordan, with King Abdulla begging for refuge in Israel. This will necessitate our army seizing large areas within Jordan, if not all of that country.

Behind and energizing all that is happening in and around Eretz Yisrael are the tectonic changes in HaShem’s relations with Am Yisrael. They could be headlined “End of galut and beginning of the advent of the Mashiach”, meaning:

  • We have troops along the width and length of the Gaza strip, which is part of the two biblical tribes of Yehuda and Shimon.
  • We have troops in Lebanon, which is situated on the soil of the two tribes of Asher and Naftali.
  • We have troops in Syria which is in the tribe of Menashe.

In total, there are Israelis today in the areas of ten of the twelve Biblical tribes that constitute Am Yisrael. Excluded are the tribes of Reuven and Gad, which are in the central and southern regions of Jordan.

Ten is nice but it’s not 12; and just like water, history seeks its natural level.

The last time Jews were in control in the areas of all the 12 tribes was in 722 BCE when Hoshea ben Ella, last king of the northern 10 tribes, was exiled by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser. That is 2746 years that Jews have not been present and in control in the areas of all 12 tribes at the same time!

The involvement of Iran in Jordan will necessitate our seizing large parts of Jordan, including the areas of Reuven and Gad, thereby closing the historical circle of 2746 years when Am Yisrael is again in control of all the land areas of all the 12 tribes.

This does necessarily mean that the Mashiach is about to arrive. In fact, it is quite possible that the era of pre-Mashiach struggle could continue with ups – and downs – for many more years; but the direction is the increasing admiration for the Jewish nation among the rational family of nations.

Megillat Ta’anit, or “Scroll of (not) Fasting,” is a compendium of miraculous events which occurred during the 420 years of the second temple period. It lists the days the rabbis prohibited fasting and eulogizing in order to commemorate with joy those days of miracles when HaShem intervened to save the Jewish nation. After the Temple’s destruction by the Romans, the Megillah was rescinded and those days of thanks were no longer relevant as holidays, except for two which retained their special status – Chanuka and Purim to this day. Why these two?

Chanukah

I suggest: Our rabbis knew that Chanuka and Purim would be relevant in future Jewish history, specifically to the events of our time, as follows:

Chanuka, which we will be celebrating during the next two weeks, commemorates the military achievements of the Maccabim who defeated the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV. His capital was Antioch in what is today’s southern Syria, and then we reconsecrated the defiled Temple of Jerusalem.

It took the Maccabees 33 years to achieve victory (167 BC to 134), but today our soldiers are walking freely in southern Syria without having fired even one shot. And if our government desired, we could capture all of the strategic areas of Syria.

It is now Chanuka plus.

Baruch… Shehechiyanu

Purim

Purim and the Megillah teach us important lessons:

1- The Megillah relates that when Haman told his wife Zeresh of the demeaning manner in which he had been treated by having to lead Mordechai on a horse through the city, his wife replied (Megillah 613):

… אם מזרע היהודים מרדכי אשר החלות לנפל לפניו לא תוכל לו כי נפול תפול לפניו

 

If Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him. You will surely come to ruin!

And the reverse is true regarding the Jewish nation. “If your enemies before whom your greatness has begun to show are of Yishmael origin, you will rise from victory to victory without end.

2) After the astonishing turn of events in the 127 regions in the Persian empire when the citizens were preparing to murder all the Jews in one day on the 13th of Adar, and the Jews defended themselves, killing 75,000 across the land and another 800 in the city of Shushan, the reaction of the Persians was:

וּבְכָל מְדִינָה וּמְדִינָה וּבְכָל עִיר וָעִיר מְקוֹם אֲשֶר דְבַר הַמֶלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ מַגִיעַ שִמְחָה וְשָשׂוֹן לַיְהוּדִים מִשְתֶה וְיוֹם טוֹב וְרַבִים מֵעַמֵי הָאָרֶץ מִתְיַהֲדִים כִי נָפַל פַחַד הַיְהוּדִים עֲלֵיהֶם.

 

In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.

If the chain of miraculous current events continues, we could be seeing great numbers of gentiles the world over leaving their religious beliefs in order to become Jews, as stated by Yirmiyahu the prophet (16,19):

…אליך גוים יבאו מאפסי ארץ ויאמרו אך שקר נחלו אבותינו הבל ואין בם מועיל:

 

…the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, our ancestors bequeathed us false gods, worthless idols that bring no benefit.

 

Conclusion

Something big is happening now in our world; changes which are on a Biblical scale.

As it appears, the destiny of Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael is to achieve inter-national and religious recognition of which we have been deprived of for 2000 years.

All mankind will be affected. Some by wars, others by natural calamities, while others will undergo spiritual transitions. Our destiny is to return home and restore that which was lost to us by our not fulfilling the functions of HaShem’s chosen people.

We might soon prove to be the greatest generation in Jewish history!!!!

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

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