First Candle of Hannukah
14 December 2025
"It Is This That Has Sustained Us"
24 Kislev 5786
Erev Hanukkah
BD"E
* * *
And it is this (the promise) that has stood by our ancestors and for us.
For not only one (enemy) has risen up against us to destroy us,
But in every generation they rise up to destroy us.
But the Holy One, Blessed be He, delivers us from their hands.
* * *
Tehilim for Sydney - Names to pray for so far...
Reuven Ben Manya
Chaya Mushka bas Shterna Sara
Feivel Eliezer ben Dobra Bella
Arsan ben Amelia
Yaakov Dov ben Pnina
Yaakov ben Ethel
Moshe Yonatan ben Tziporah
Adding -
Elon Ben Shimshon
Yaacov haLevy Ben Miriam
Shoshana Bat Minette
Make sure to pray as much as possible! Share🙏
12 December 2025
Yoseph: "The Hidden Messiah"
22 Kislev 5786
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Vayeshev - Mevarchim
BS"DYESHIVAT HARA'AYON HAYEHUDIJerusalem, IsraelHaRav Yehuda Kreuser SHLIT"A, Rosh YeshivaTHE HIDDEN MESSIAH"These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph was seventeen years old and was feeding the flock with his brothers."Why was Joseph singled out from all the other brothers, so that the Torah lists him as the "generations" of Jacob? To teach us that everything that happened to Jacob happened to Joseph. The GRA in "Kol Hatur" goes further and writes that everything that took place in the life of Joseph will also happen to "Zion" - the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. In fact, it was the GRA who, some 250 years ago, compiled all the sources and expanded on the unknown topic - which is still unclear to most people - of the existence of two Messiahs, the long awaited Messiah Ben David and his counterpart, Messiah Ben Joseph. What, then, are the attributes of this Messiah and how does he play into the unfolding history of the return of the Jewish people to their Land in our days?First, it will only be to Joseph and his offspring that wicked Esau, Rome and their descendants - the West - will fall. We find that when Jacob saw all the chiefs of Edom rising, he became frightened. G-d told him: "Do not fear, for I will give them all over to the descendants of Joseph". So when Joseph was born, Jacob said to Lavan: "Send me away that I may go to my own place and to my country." What did Jacob see that made him want to return to the Land of Israel, now that Joseph was born? Jacob realized that now that Joseph was born, he had the means to combat his brother Esau, and so it was time to pack it up and head home to Israel. This is what the prophet Obadiah told us: "The House of Jacob shall be fire and the House of Joseph flame, and the House of Esau stubble, and they shall kindle them and devour them and there shall be none remaining from the house of Esau, for the L-rd has spoken."Another important aspect of Messiah Ben Joseph is that he is hidden from us and works for the benefit of the Jewish people and unbeknownst to them. As the Torah tells us, that "Joseph recognized his brothers but they did not recognize him." The GRA writes that this is the work of the "Satan", for if we were able to recognize the work of Messiah Ben Joseph, all of our troubles would be over.The GRA continues and writes "that every aspect of the rebuilding and reclaiming of the Land of Israel, including the planting in all of its details and the settling of the Land, is the mission of Messiah Ben Joseph. For Messiah Ben Joseph is from earth - meaning, he works for the physical rebuilding of the Land of Israel and Messiah Ben David is from heaven - who works for the spiritual benefit of the Jewish people. They live in every generation!"Crucial to understanding the work of Messiah Ben Joseph is the fact that Hashem is bringing the Redemption, and returning the Jewish people in our day to their Land in a totally natural way. Through our hands and the hands of the nations of the world, through the UN, wars that are fought and won, roads and houses are built, destroyed and rebuilt, all done with hard labor, sweat and many tears, and all done naturally with Hashem's help - but not with open miracles, for this is the way of Messiah Ben Joseph. Unfortunately, many religious Jews still lack the concept of Messiah Ben Joseph, for he is the "hidden Messiah", they sit in the exiles of the world, not taking part in the Redemption process, waiting for some sign or someone to knock on their door inviting them to come home, they wait and wait and wait.The path of Messiah Ben Joseph is not an easy path, but this is the only way. The GRA writes that every good and every step in this process of Redemption that comes, comes only though hardships. The main thing is to understand this and know that this is the only way to move ahead - though hardships, but not to despair of them, for this is the path.
~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~
11 December 2025
Hanukkah Is Almost Upon Us
21 Kislev 5786
Only four days left until the Festival of Lights!!
Hanukkah as Jewish civil warBy James Ponet...Read in its historical context,...the Hanukkah story is really about a revolt against the Hellenized Jews who had fallen madly in love with the sophisticated, globalizing superculture of their day. The Apocrypha's texts make it clear that the battle against Hellenization was, in fact, a kulturkampf among the Jews themselves. Here is how the first Book of the Maccabees describes Jerusalem on the eve of civil war and revolt in the time of Antiochus (translation by Nicholas de Lange):At that time there were some evil-doers in Israel who tried to win popularity for a policy of integration with the surrounding nations. It was because the Jews had kept themselves aloof for so long, they claimed, that so many hardships had befallen them. They acquired a following and applied to Antiochus, who authorized them to introduce the Greek way of life. They built a Greek gymnasium in Jerusalem and even had themselves uncircumcised.Uncircumcision as the price of admission to the Jerusalem gym! When they were eight days old, the "sign of the covenant" had been carved in their flesh; now as young men, these Jews risked health and sacrificed sexual pleasure to "become one flesh" with the regnant beauty culture. In Judea, then, there were Jews choosing to die rather than publicly profane Jewish law—and there were Jews risking death to free themselves from the parochial constraints of that law. The historic Jewish passion to merge and disappear confronted the attested Jewish will to stand apart and persist.That's the clash of Hanukkah. Armed Hasmonean priests and their comrades from the rural town of Modi'in attacked urban Jews, priests and laity alike, who supported Greek reform, like the gymnasium and new rules for governing commerce. The Hasmoneans imposed, at sword's edge, traditional observance. After years of protracted warfare, the priests established a Hasmonean state that never ceased fighting Jews who disagreed with its rule....
And this battle is still going on today. The Torah-true Jews who cherish their uniqueness and guard against foreign intrusion are an extreme minority. It is also very noteworthy that every trouble we have ever had with foreign rulers was due to reshaim who wanted to assimilate.
09 December 2025
"A Day in the Life..."
19 Kislev 5786
Thought for the day... The ultimate success is Klal Yisrael's. That's a given. Imagine the reaction of the evildoers when that finally becomes clear to them.
* * *
07 December 2025
"Sneak Attack"
17 Kislev 5786
Eighty-four years ago today, Sunday, December 7, 1941, it was also the 17th of Kislev. The United States suffered the most devastating enemy attack on its own territory until September 11, 2001.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)