One Second Every Day-March 2019

Hello Dear Reader,

Just a quick little post today-

I hope you're not sick to the back teeth of this monthly post, my one second everyday. This year I decided to do an all food, one second everyday and so far I've only forgotten a couple of times. We are often watching the news during dinner, but I always mute the TV as I don't want a newsreaders voice in the background of the little snippets, what I have ended up with though, if you listen closely, is the melodic drone/gurgling of our large tropical fish tank. It is like white noise in our home, I'm sure I would miss it if it wasn't there.



This month we ate-

14 x veggie/pulse based dinners
9 x seafood based dinners
8 x meat based dinners

Have a lovely day,
🍕Fi

One Year Ago-Happy Easter and Some Easter Reading
Two Years Ago-Rain, At Last
Three Years Ago-This Weeks 5 Frugal Things on a Friday

FLOODING IN AMERICA CREATING FOOD SCARCITY

Trump to EMP-harden Grid - Greenland Glacier Grows - 

UN: Food Scarcity Looms

Waterways Are Exploding in Size -- USA Floods

GRAND SOLAR MINIMUM UPDATE

Space Weather News

Amazing Moons, Current Sheet Crossings | S0 News

My Home: Beautiful Limited Edition SKY Lamps From Bornholm, Denmark

Collaboration* In my mind, lighting is one of the fundamental ways Scandinavians create such beautiful homes. As soon as the sun dips beneath the horizon, the living space becomes bathed in a soft warm, golden light which is as cosy it is calm. The design of the light itself is of equal importance - it's form, style and colour adding something to the space when unlit. Listening to recent trend talks, I was excited to hear lights are set to be a big thing everywhere in 2019 - with every light becoming art in itself. Over the past year I've become a big fan of lighting by Danish glass-blower Pernille Bülow (remember these beautiful SKY pendants over my dining table?). To celebrate 30 successful years since opening her glassblower workshop in Svaneke on the island of Bornholm, Pernille has launched the limited edition SKY lamp. And it's so beautiful! The mouth blown pendant lamp comes in three sizes and has a smoky glass and brass finish - with every piece numbered one to one hundred! I've been looking for something to go over my bar cart for what feels like forever  -  and I think these lights are perfect. I particularly love them clustered together, what do you think?

I am thinking of combining these with the three I already have at some point to make a cluster of 6 - for even bigger impact! You can also add different colours from the collection too.

The mouth blown limited edition SKY lamp is available through the Pernille Bülow webshop. You'll need to be quick though!

Wishing you a wonderful Sunday!

Niki

*This post was brought to you in collaboration with Pernille Bülow, however all words and pictures are my own and I only ever work with brands I truly love and think you will too! 

Rabbi Mizrachi — Miracles

This video is Rabbi Mizrachi in one of his finest presentations on MIRACLES

B”H Giving Great Honor to Hashem

Very informative and interesting

Sunny Side Up Sunday

Hello Dear Reader,

I was a bit late taking the dogs for a walk yesterday afternoon as my sister and I had been to visit our Aunty Brenda in hospital. She is doing okay, she has a lung infection but add in her age and the fact that she is on dialysis 3 times a week, it has knocked the wind out of her sails. She is comfortable and improving, so that's a good sign.

It had been raining on and off all day and the rain was really quite heavy driving into the hospital but had cleared by the time I dropped my sister off at her place. On the way back down the highway towards home, it began to rain again, not too heavy and you could see the sun trying to peak through.

When I got home, I immediately changed into some wet weather gear and took the little woofs for a walk, nothing stops their walk, well maybe a storm would, but a light sprinkle of rain doesn't worry them.

Here is what I saw during the walk-



Today I am grateful for rainbows at the end of a long tired day.

What are you grateful for today?

Have a lovely day,
🌈Fi

One Year Ago-One Second Everyday-March 2018
Two Years Ago-A New Beginning 
Three Years Ago-What's Growing in the Garden

Weekend Book Reviews

In Peppermint Peril by Joy Avon is the first book of the A Tea and a Read Mystery series.  Callie is helping her aunt with an event for the Book Tea shop.  The event is so an elderly widow can read her will in front of relatives and elite members of the town.  The event is sidelined by a missing engagement ring and a dead body.  Callie and her aunt find themselves in the middle of a mystery full of fussing suspects.  This is a nice start to the series, and I hope to learn more about Callie, her aunt, and the Book Tea.  The mystery was strong, and the Christmas themed story was well written.  I look forward to the next book in the series. 

The seventh book in the Haunted Vintage Mystery series by Rose Pressey is Fashions Fade, Haunted is Forever.  Cookie, owner of It's Vintage, Y'all, is styling the clothing for a fashion shoot in a cemetery.  A gunshot rings out, and the cemetery has one extra body.  Cookie along with her ghost sidekicks sets out to solve the mystery.  The premise of having ghosts follow the lead character around requires a stretch of the imagination.  It is stretched a bit further with this particular book.  I am not sure that is a good thing in regards to the direction of the series.

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

What we bought, spent and ate this week

Hello Dear Reader,

And hello to the weekend, like everyone I so look forward to the weekend, but, maybe unlike some people, I look forward to it so I can stay at home. I know, so totally boring but I love it. This weekend I plan to do a lot of jobs around the house as well as run a couple of errands outside the home.

-do the washing
-make a jar of muesli
-make a loaf of bread
-make a big pot of chicken soup
-do some quilting
-do a quick vac plus run the vacuum over the lounge, why? enter one black cat
-have my hair cut
-visit our Aunty Brenda who is in hospital at the moment
-collect our daughter from the airport tomorrow morning early

I think that will keep me out of trouble!

What's on your "to do" list today?

Now, here's what we bought, spent and ate this week-

What we bought

Simply Good Bulk Store

Northside Discount Fruit Barn

Coles

Aldi

What we spent

Simply Good Bulk Store-$42.17

Northside Discount Fruit Barn-$29.09

Coles-$17.50

Aldi-$46.20

TOTAL-$134.96

What we ate

Friday-Beans on Toast with melted cheese and schrishra

Saturday-BBQ Steak with Mushroom Sauce and Roast Pumpkin and Pesto Salad

Sunday-Roast Pumpkin and Haloumi Burgers

Monday-Tempura Whiting with steamed Basmati rice and Choy Sum

Tuesday-It was just me for dinner so I had some left over steamed rice, choy sum and a quick asian omelette 

Wednesday-Stir Fried Prawns

Thursday-Pork and Maple Sausages with Creamy Potato Bake and Grilled Broccoli

What ever you get up to today, I hope you have a lovely day.

💗Fi

One Year Ago-This Weeks 5 Frugal Things on a Friday

Two Years Ago-No Blog Post Today

Three Years Ago-What we ate this week

Two Idyllic Cottages To Rent In Denmark This Summer

It's going to reach a high of 12 degrees Celsius (53 degrees Fahrenheit) here in southern Sweden tomorrow and we're seriously excited (we've been waiting 6 months for this, I kid you not!). If you walk through Malmö tomorrow, you'll see people outside cafes in droves, with faces tilted towards the sun. With warmer weather finally on its way, my thoughts are drifting to the summer holidays and carefree days by the sea. If you haven't been to this part of the world in summertime, it's an absolute must. In case you're wondering where to stay, I stumbled across these two idyllic coastal cabins on Airbnb last week while planning my day by the Danish coast. Both are located in beautiful holiday destinations on the Danish coast and are a relatively short hop from Copenhagen!

1. Liseleje
Danes flock to Liseleje on the Danish riviera in the summer time to enjoy the authentic fishing village, al fresco dining on the quay and the long, golden stretch of sand. This charming white washed cottage sleeps 6 and is a mere 600 metres from the beach - and the interior is as pretty as can be!

2. Rørvig

About a one hour and a quarter drive from the Danish capital, this rustic log cabin is surrounded by woodland and situated near Rørvig harbour which is lined with quayside restaurants, cafes and shops. The area is also great for hikes. I'm loving the rustic vibe! Oh and it sleeps 6.  

Could you imagine spending your summer holidays at one of these lovely cottages?

I certainly could!

For more Danish summer cottage inspiration, I'm also loving these homes (although they're sadly not available to rent!):

A charming cottage on the island of Fejø
An idyllic Danish summer cottage
A Danish retreat

Wishing you a wonderful weekend friends.

Roll on the Danish summer!

Niki

Photography courtesy of Airbnb with thanks

Parshas Shemini – Rain and Redemption

RAIN AND REDEMPTION

By Roy S. Neuberger

Next Shabbos the Month of Spring arrives. With the advent of Nissan, hope blooms in our hearts and flowers bloom in the fields and on the trees. During this season we have to remember that Zman Chairusainu can come only after we have been released from slavery. There is no redemption unless there has been danger. That is why redemption is so powerful.

This year is no exception. The world situation seems to be plummeting daily, as Klal Yisroel becomes increasingly isolated. Right now, it seems like a world with no good news.

And yet …. 

I am writing from Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh, the place the entire world covets. Recently, in Yated Ne’eman, I saw an article about Turkish attempts to establish a presence in Israel. They are focusing on the Temple Mount and, interestingly, Kever Shmuel Hanovi. 

Kever Shmuel Hanovi, which is not as popular a Jewish destination as it should be, is one of my beloved spots. One can seek this beacon of hope visually from all over Yerushalayim. Shmuel Hanovi anointed Dovid Hamelech and we are expecting, b’ezras Hashem soon, his descendant to anoint Moshiach ben Dovid. The Moslems are evidently aware of the importance of Shmuel Hanovi. Just as they have been trying for centuries to “occupy” the Temple Mount, clearly they are trying to do the same for Kever Shmuel Hanovi. 

Amidst all this, there is an encouraging siman for Am Yisroel, and that concerns the bracha of geshem, rain in the Holy Land. In America,lehavdil, rain is considered a “downer.” The weather forecaster is always apologetic when he must forecast rain, because rain ruins the plans of the nation which is always running after activities “under the sun” (which is, for Koheles, the phrase evoking mortality in this world).

But for us, geshem is a miracle of life. “Af-bri is designated as the name of the angel of rain, to thicken and to form clouds to empty them and to cause rain …. May it not be withheld!  … In the merit of the faithful Patriarchs, protect the ones who pray for rain.” (Sukkos tefilla)

This year, Af-bri has poured down rain upon the Holy Land, in contrast to recent winters. The Kinneret, although still below ideal levels, has risen about one and one-quarter meters. We have merited to see the blessed rainfall in recent days.

Every day we are reminded, “if you continually hearken to My commandments … then I will provide rain for your land in its proper time….”Conversely, if we abandon Hashem, chas v’Shalom, one sign of His anger is that “He will restrain the heaven so there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce.” (Shema)

We have to look beyond the headlines. Hashem, “the Reviver of the dead, [Who] makes the wind blow and the rain descend,” is watching over us. Soon we will see the full majesty of His blessing with the “flowering of [His] servant, Dovid,” soon in our days! 

Rain Soaked Street in Yerushalayim

Flowers in the Negev

Raindrops

*          *          *          *

Roy Neuberger, author and public speaker, can be reached at roy@2020vision.co.il.

© Copyright 2019 by Roy S. Neuberger

Rabbi Winston – Parshat Shemini

Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aharon, took their incense pans and put fire and incense in them, and offered an unauthorized fire before God, which He did not command them to do. A fire went out from before God and burned them up, and they died before God.  

(Vayikra 10:1-2)

THE NATION WAS stunned, horrified. “What just happened?” people asked themselves, and one another, in a state of total disbelief. They had gone from the HIGHEST of heights to the LOWEST of lows faster than the speed of gravity. It would take time for the magnitude of the event to settle in, and even longer to recover from it.

For seven days Moshe Rabbeinu had officiated in the initiation of the Mishkan, while Aharon and his sons only looked on. They only watched and learned for the day they would take over the responsibility, on the eighth day. On the same day Nadav and Avihu assumed their roles as kohanim, they died because of it as well.

Nadav and Avihu were Aharon HaKohen’s eldest sons, the one’s destined to eventually replace their father at the head of the nation as Kohen Gadol. Now they were only destined to be buried before their father even had a chance to retire from his holy position. Their opportunity to shine had come and gone in the blink of an eye.

Later there would be a debate as to the cause of their deaths. Rabbi Eliezer would later argue, “Aharon’s sons died only because they decided halachah in the presence of Moshe, their teacher,” when they brought their unauthorized fire. Consequently, the same flame that had miraculously descended from Heaven to consume the korbanos offered consumed Nadav and Avihu as well.

Rabbi Yishmael would say: “[They died because] they had entered the sanctuary after having drunk wine. The proof is that after their death, [Torah] admonished the survivors that they may not enter the sanctuary after having drunk wine…Thus [it said], ‘A fire went out from before God and burned them up, and they died before God.’ We would not know why they died, except for His commanding Aharon, ‘Do not drink wine that will lead to intoxication.’ We know from this that they died precisely on account of the wine.”

Then there was their father’s own sin. Back at Har Sinai, while Moshe Rabbeinu was still up on the mountain receiving Torah, the Erev Rav pressed Aharon HaKohen to build them a golden calf. THEY had intended to make it a replacement for Moshe Rabbeinu, whom they had thought died on the mountain. Aharon however had intended it as a stall tactic, to put the people off until Moshe Rabbeinu returned to the camp to restore order.

Even though Aharon had the best of intentions, it was still considered to be a grievous sin, as the Torah later tells us: “God was very furious with Aharon, to destroy him, so I prayed also for Aharon at that time.” Rashi explains: “‘God was very furious with Aharon’…because he listened to you…‘to destroy him’…this refers to the destruction of [his] children’…so I prayed also for Aharon’…And my prayer succeeded to atone for half, and thus two [of his sons] died, and two remained [alive].”

Whatever the reason for the death, they were gone, and in the most dramatic of ways. And, seemingly forever, just like that.

Physically perhaps, but not spiritually. Their physical journeys may have been short, but their spiritual ones outlasted the people they left behind who lived full lives.

“Nadav and Avihu made a drastic mistake that cost them their lives,” the aging Mekubel said with a twinkle in his eye. “But that only meant that they had to complete their tikunim through the lives of other great people.”

The four of them sat inside of a cave in the hills of Tzfas, the rebi and his three students. They met there three times a week, always at the same time. There was no electricity, and they did not even use flashlights. The melted wax all over the stones of the area revealed that candles had always been their source of light. 

They learned there because it cut them off from the world around them. They could have been on the moon, for all they knew, barely hearing even the chirping of the birds just outside the cave entrance. Other than the odd snake or scorpion, they remained free of all distraction, enabling them to focus completely on the material. 

They learned slowly and thoroughly, discussing every point in detail. Currently they were in the middle of Sha’ar HaGilgulim, the Arizal’s teachings about the rules of reincarnation and personal growth. The topic of that time was the deaths of the Nadav and Avihu, and the reincarnation of their souls.

“As we have discussed,” the Mekubel began to explain, “there are basically two types of reincarnation. There is the soul that you are born with, without which you cannot live. When it leaves, so does life.”

They listened intently, even though they had gone over this information before.

“Then there is an ibur. An ibur is a soul, or souls, that can come to a person who had already been alive for years, and when it leaves, the person continues to live. An example of an ibur is the Nefesh of Nadav and Avihu that came to Pinchas, after he killed Zimri when he sinned with the Midianite princess, Cozbi.”

“Was this part of Pinchas’s reward?” one of the students asked.

“Yes, because of what it triggered. Since a person is not born with an ibur soul, it does not naturally join with the host’s original soul. For that, an additional ibur is required, and in the case of Pinchas, that new soul was called, ‘Eliyahu HaTishbi.’ It came in order to connect and join together the Nefesh of Nadav and Avihu with the Nefesh of Pinchas himself.”

“So,” another asked, “Eliyahu was not born like other people, but just started his life inside Pinchas?”

“Right,” their teacher answered, and then continued. “However, Pinchas further required another new soul as well in order to connect and join the new soul called ‘Eliyahu HaTishbi’ with the rest of the old souls, the Nefesh of Pinchas and Nadav and Avihu. Therefore, it was necessary for an additional new soul to come into Pinchas which was also called ‘Eliyahu,’ except that it came from the root of Binyomin.”

“So Pinchas had five souls in him,” the student recounted, “the Nefesh of Pinchas himself with which he was born, the Nefesh of Nadav and Avihu, the Nefesh called ‘Eliyahu HaTishbi’ from the root of Gad, and the Nefesh called ‘Eliyahu’ from the root of Binyomin?”

“Actually,” the Mekubel corrected, “only FOUR. Nadav and Avinu are considered as two halves of a single soul, as the Zohar says.”

“Did the souls of Nadav and Avihu stay with Pinchas all of his life, until he went up to Heaven as Eliyahu HaNavi?”

“No,” he answered. “For a while the souls of Nadav and Avihu went elsewhere. When the incident of the daughter of Yiftach HaGiladi occurred, Pinchas was punished. Our rabbis, z”l, say that Yiftach was a judge and did not want to go to the house of Eliyahu to annul his vow, and Eliyahu did not want to go to him because he said, ‘Someone who feels the pain goes to the doctor.’ Between the two of them, the daughter of Yiftach remained a victim of her father’s vow, and therefore both of them were punished. Everywhere Yiftach went limbs fell off. Eliyahu was punished by the removal of the Divine Presence from him, because the ibur of Nadav and Avihu, was removed from him. This is the sod of what our rabbis, z”l, say that the Vav of ‘My covenant of peace’ is severed.”

All of them sat quietly for a while, thinking over what had been said. Their teacher felt it would be worthwhile to summarize the entire matter.

“Let’s go over it from start to finish. In the incident with Zimri, Pinchas merited the ibur of Nadav and Avihu. After he killed Zimri and Cozbi, the rest of the Jewish nation wanted to kill HIM, since Zimri had been a prince. When he saw them coming for him, it shocked him to the point that his soul flew away. That’s when the ibur of Nadav and Avihu entered him. When he lost the ibur from the sin—which is what causes an ibur to leave—regarding the daughter of Yiftach, then the Vav of his name was cut, when the Divine Presence and the ibur of Nadav and Avihu were removed from him. After that, nothing remained with Pinchas except his own soul,  other than the spark of the drop from the root of Yosef alone, because the ibur of Nadav and Avihu went to Shmuel as mentioned. Also, the spark of the drop of Yisro was removed from him.”

“Where did Nadav and Avihu go after that?” one of them asked.

“To Shmuel HaNavi. The addition of Nadav and Avihu turns a person into a prophet, because of where their souls come from. As long as Shmuel had their souls in him, which he did until he died, he remained a prophet. As long as Pinchas was without them, he could NOT be a prophet.”

“But we see that Pinchas became Eliyahu again, and dies a prophet?”

“That’s right,” the Mekubel agreed. “That’s because after Shmuel HaNavi died, Nadav and Avihu later returned to Pinchas for the rest of his life, which is why his name was changed from ‘Pinchas’ to ‘Eliyahu HaTishbi’.”

“At that time,” the Mekubel continued, “once prophecy returned to Pinchas, Nadav and Avihu returned to him as an ibur. They became complete in their own rectification during the matter of Har Carmel, when the people fell on their faces and said, ‘Hashem is Elokim.’ Then their sin of the unauthorized incense offering was forgiven.”

“Furthermore,” he continued to explain, “though in the beginning they sinned by looking at the Divine Presence at Mt. Sinai, as it says, ‘They saw the God of Israel, etc.’ they became rectified at that time when they, inside Eliyahu at Har Carmel, fell on their faces and did not look at the fire that came down from Heaven.”

The students absorbed every word. They said nothing. They didn’t have to. Their faces clearly indicated that they were amazed by what they heard. But then again, why should that day be different from anything other…

“Is there more?” one finally asked.

“There always is,” the Mekubel said, smiling. “There was Elisha HaNavi as well. He too was blessed with an ibur of Nadav and Avihu, which greatly enhanced his prophecy. There is a lot more to this as well, but perhaps another day. It is already late, and we should return.”

The students looked at one another, the face of each showing disappointment that their session was already over. But they had learned a tremendous amount, even in the short time, and windows previously closed had been opened for them.

“It is too bad,” one said as they rose to leave, “that so few people know anything about what happened to Nadav and Avihu after they died. From the Torah, it looks as if they lived briefly without contributing too much to history, except in a negative way.”

“Yes,” said another student, “and when Moshe Rabbeinu told Aharon that the deaths of Nadav and Avihu showed how they were greater than the two of them, it sounds only like consolation. From Sod, it is clear that they WERE great people!”

The Mekubel just smiled, pleased to have such students, and the opportunity to teach them.  Then he too got up, and gathering his belongings, led the small group back to a world that barely had an inkling of the deep truths they had discussed.

BOOK SHOWCASE

How It Might Play Out: How Current Events Could Lead to the Messianic Era

PART OF MY job, I feel, is to connect people to the concept of redemption. After all, one of the six questions the Talmud says people will be asked on their final day of judgment will be “Did you anticipate redemption?” Sadly, many people will have to answer “no.”

It’s worse than that. NOT anticipating redemption slows it down, literally. Yes, the Final Redemption MUST come at a certain point, but it can also come earlier. Although that may not sound like much of a reason to anticipate redemption from where we stand, because we ALREADY have it so good, not anticipating redemption could become the very reason to make everything even worse.

Redemption is not only about being able to walk around freely and to safely live a Torah lifestyle. It’s actually about much more than that, like returning the entire nation to its borders in all of Israel, everyone accepting Torah as from God, and perhaps most important of all, the return of the Temple with the Divine Presence in it. Until that time God “suffers,” and for that reason WE should too.

The truth is that as good as we have it, we have NO idea what we are missing. It’s a little like someone who thinks Saturday is the best day of the week until he discovers Shabbat. Then he wonders how he could ever have thought he was happy without it.

But try to tell that to someone who has never known Shabbat, the REAL Shabbat. More people become Torah observant because of Shabbat than for any other reason, but until they discover its great joy for themselves, it’s hard for them to believe it. Until then, Shabbat just seems to restrict pleasure and fulfillment, not enhance them. 

It also works like that with respect to redemption. When things are going well for the Jews, they think they’re already living it. They don’t believe that life can get any better, and they’re not convinced just by someone saying that it will, at least not enough to motivate them to anticipate and expedite it. 

That’s one of the main reasons we’ve never really been ready for the end of an exile. It usually catches most Jews off guard, even the ones who pray for redemption three times a day. They just don’t see it coming because they didn’t see how current events could and would evolve into end-of-exile events—until they actually did. And they STILL can’t see it today.

To try to do something about that, I started a weekly essay called “Connecting the Dots.” The goal was to paint current events in messianic terms, in order to get people thinking that way. More than likely it only worked for the people who already thought that way, or at least wanted to, and not for those who didn’t.

For a few months in 2015 I went from the essay format to a novel format. I decided to portray the End-of-Days once again. I had already written two novels about this, called “Not Just Another Scenario, 1 and 2. I called the new novel “How It Might Play Out,” showing how the events of that time could lead to an End-of-Days’ scenario to stimulate the imagination of my readers.

I have no idea how many people read it or liked it. I do know that my mailing list increased more during those months than at other times. People love a good story, and some people like a messianic story even more. 

A short while later I  finished the novel. I felt the story had ended, and that it was time to go back to the essay format, which I did. “How It Might Play Out” was archived, and I forgot about it.

Several years later it occurred to me to give the material a second look. Perhaps it was still relevant. Maybe it was even publishable. I decided that it was, and here it is, published. At the very least, it may help those willing to think about Mashiach to do so, and thus be able to answer on their day of judgment, “Yes, I DID anticipate redemption.”

After all, we’re certainly living in the Messianic Era, probably towards the end of it. SURPRISE! So we might as well get with the program before the program moves along without us. That’s never worked well for us in the past.

The Softcover and Kindle versions are available through Amazon, and the PDF, through the thirtysix.org online store.

Rabbi Kahana – Parshat Shemini and Parah Adumah

BS”D 

Parashat Shemini and Parah  5779

Rabbi Nachman Kahana

An Event of Heroic Proportions

After 3500 years of serving as HaShem’s chosen people with a history unlike any other nation – neither in suffering nor in accomplishments – the time has come for us to ask if the Jewish nation is a success story or a failure.

We are the only ancient people that is still alive – success. However, the majority of Jews today are not conscious Torah observers – failure. So, at the end of the day, is HaShem “happy” or “disappointed” with us?

I submit:

It is human to revere and respect people who endanger their own lives for the sake of others.

We are filled with admiration for the Japanese workers who enter the radioactive area of the damaged nuclear reactors in order to prevent a national catastrophe. They are being bombarded with amounts of radiation which may eventually cost them their lives. All this self-sacrifice for the sake of their nation that is composed of millions of people whom these workers do not know and never will.

There are stories of individual soldiers, from many nations, who single-handedly stormed an enemy position or fell on a hand grenade in order to save their fellow soldiers, as did Roi Klein in the Second Lebanese war.

We find in our parasha that Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aharon the Kohen Gadol, lost their lives while participating in the ceremony to effectuate the sanctification of the Mishkan. When mortal man enters the holy precincts of the Almighty, he can never be certain of the outcome.

Queen Esther took her life in her hands when she presented herself before the eccentric, capricious king.

Yehonatan, son of King Shaul, and his shield bearer were not far from being suicidal when they attacked the entire Philistine army in order to save the Jewish nation, and the two men succeeded.

All the above acts of admirable bravery have a common feature. They were all one-time events, although some were over an extended period.

But we have in our history an event of heroic proportions that extended for over 1200 years, when the Kohen Gadol would enter the Kodesh Kodashim (Holy of Holies) on Yom Kippur in order to attain forgiveness for Am Yisrael. The Kohen Gadol knew how he would enter but never knew how he would leave.

As admirable as the Kohen Gadol’s self-sacrifice was, there is the ultimate act of altruism that began 3500 years ago and is still being played out on a day-by-day, minute-by-minute scale.

Thirty-five hundred years ago, HaShem appeared to Avraham Aveinu with an offer to enter into an accord called Brit ben HaBetarim – The Covenant of the Severed Pieces (Beraishiet chapter 15).

Avraham would enter into the treaty in the name of all his future offspring, and HaShem would guarantee His part of the treaty by His everlasting name for all time.

The treaty obligates the Jewish nation to be a “light unto the nations.”

What does this obligation encompass? In the “big picture,” all that is in this world and all the other worlds ranging from the absolute spiritual – the Holy One Blessed Be He of Whom we have no conception – and emanating from Him beyond time and space to all of creation, down to the furthest and absolute opposite of the Creator, the physical, material world of which we are a part.

In Kabbalistic terms, our physical universe can be compared to the bottom of a foot that supports everything above it.

In this lowly world, the name of HaShem must be ever present. If for one minute His presence would not be recognized, then the whole of creation would cease to exist.

The task that was placed upon Avraham and his future descendants in this covenant was, and is, as difficult as it is essential – to guarantee that the presence of HaShem will forever be recognized by humanity.

Without the Jewish nation, the concept of a monotheistic God would have quickly been replaced with beliefs defined as avoda zara (idol worship). Christianity with its trinity, Islam that uses God as a tool to control and subjugate others, Buddhism and all the other faiths developed by the gentiles would not be capable of maintaining the belief in a Creator that cannot be seen or heard.

Within a generation or two, paganism would replace belief in a monotheistic God – just as it happened in pre-Noach time by Enosh who originated and disseminated the initial ideas of idolatry.

In the covenant between HaShem and Avraham, the father of the Jewish nation, Avraham was warned that the task would be dangerous, even life-threatening, with millions of Avraham’s descendants destined to die in the effort to perpetuate and preserve the presence of HaShem against the pagan instincts of humanity.

Avraham was aware of the future role of Am Yisrael, as seen by his reactions.

The Torah states (ibid):

יב) ויהי השמש לבוא ותרדמה נפלה על אברם והנה אימה חשכה גדלה נפלת עליו:

יג) ויאמר לאברם ידע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם ועבדום וענו אתם ארבע מאות שנה:

יד) וגם את הגוי אשר יעבדו דן אנכי ואחרי כן יצאו ברכש גדול:

טו) ואתה תבוא אל אבתיך בשלום תקבר בשיבה טובה:

טז) ודור רביעי ישובו הנה כי לא שלם עון האמרי עד הנה:

12. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
13. Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years, your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
14. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

Avraham “fell into a deep sleep and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him” when he is told that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land, with all that that implies. This experience was necessary in order to prepare the Jewish people to keep the faith with HaShem in the direst situations, no less heinous than slavery itself.

And the Torah continues:

יז) ויהי השמש באה ועלטה היה והנה תנור עשן ולפיד אש אשר עבר בין הגזרים האלה:

יח) ביום ההוא כרת ה’ את אברם ברית לאמר לזרעך נתתי את הארץ הזאת מנהר מצרים עד הנהר הגדל נהר פרת:

17. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking furnace with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.

18. On that day, the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt (the Nile) to the great river, the Euphrates”.

Avraham saw that in the fulfillment of guarding and protecting HaShem’s presence in the world, his children would have to undergo days of darkness with “smoking furnaces with a blazing torch” in the galut; with its inquisitions, Christian crusades, pogroms, forced conversions, concentration camps, terrorists, international ridicule and denigration.

Now after 3500 years of serving and sacrificing, Hashem has thrown open the gates of His Holy Land for His people, and the authentic Jews whose families have survived the onslaughts of the gentiles in the galut have returned to rebuild the Holy Land. Now we can take a deep breath and declare before HaShem, “We have succeeded. Your Holy Name was not forgotten even for one day since the Covenant of the Severed Pieces.”

And HaShem replies, “My children in Eretz Yisrael, you are the masterpiece of My creations. You are the remnants of those few families who have experienced the worst that man can deal out to his fellow man and survived. You protected and kept My Name alive while all others were violating you for doing so. Now the time is quickly approaching for the rewards I promised. You will soon be masters over all the Holy Land, from the entire River Prat (Euphrates from Turkey to the Gulf) to the great river of Egypt (the Nile).”

Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael IS history’s greatest success story.

We are quickly approaching the closing of the historical circle that began with our father Avraham and mother Sarah. The final links will be the return of all Jews to the Torah’s boundaries of Eretz Yisrael, the restoration of the Kohanic and Davidic dynasties and the rebuilding of the Bet Hamikdash on the Temple Mount.

May it occur speedily in our time.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

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