New Story! Caleb's Daughter.

New Story! The First Judge, Othniel.

3 weeks ago, our friends from South Carolina came for a visit, and brought a 7 week old pure-bred Great Pyrenees puppy with them. He was adorable! Because he was so big for a puppy, my family and I decided to name him Eisenhower. Well..... after a few days, he started looking really sick. He was wheezing a lot and he would only move a couple of steps at a time and then he would plop down on the floor, and go to sleep. Also his nose was always really dry. So we decided to take him to the doctor. At first the vet said that it was Pneumonia. Just to be on the safe side, we called our friends from South Carolina. They told us that they had recently found out from the owners of the mother and father of Eisenhower, that while the mother was still pregnant with the puppies, both of the parents got in a fight with a raccoon! The father has had all of his shots, so he is fine. The mother hasn't, and she just recently died, along with both of Eisenhowers siblings. So the doctor changed his prognosis to Distemper. We only had Eisenhower for 14 days, when he died of a mix of Bacterial Pneumonia and Distemper.

Nachman summarizes this week’s portion in Likutey Halakhot I, p. 290-146a, “We read Parashat Pinchas and Parashat Matot during the Three Weeks, as these Torah portions reflect the themes of this time period. The destruction of the Temple began on the Seventeenth of Tammuz, when the Jews made the golden calf that concealed Divine Will. Phineas, through his zealotry for God, revealed Divine Will. Furthermore, Parashat Pinchas speaks of the sacrifices brought on the Festivals, which also reveal Divine Will by way of the miracles that occurred on those days. Parashat Matot speaks of vows, which allow a person to single-handedly transform what is permitted into what is prohibited. This shows the power of free choice, which one can use to reveal God’s Will.”

Numbers 25:11 reads, “Pinchas the son of El‘azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, has deflected my anger from the people of Isra’el by being as zealous as I am, so that I didn’t destroy them in my own zeal.”

Nachman states, “In fact, Phineas was a most compassionate person. His goal was not to destroy the entire nation, but only the instigator of the evil, which would be sufficient to turn away God’s anger and bring an end to the Divine judgments. By assuming the mantle of vengeance, Phineas actually eased the judgments from the Jews, so that God could say, “I did not destroy the Jews in My vengeance.” Phineas transformed ChaMaTI (חמתי, My anger) into MaChiTI (מחתי, I have wiped away), as in “I have wiped away your sins like a cloud” (Isaiah 44: 22) (Likutey Moharan I, 241).”

The message here gives me hope. HaShem cares about the smallest of details, like a sciatic nerve. That G-d loved Yaacov so much that when the evil Angel of Esav touched his hip, HaShem prohibited anyone from eating that part of an animal. It is just so awesome. Well enough of what I think. This is from Azmut.com, Rabbi Alon Anava.

It’s Not Petty When It’s Your Child

“….Therefore, the bnei Yisrael may not eat the Gid Hanasheh, which is on the socket of the hip, until this day, for he touched the socket of Yaakov’s hip, in the tendon which became displaced….” – Bereishit 32:33
״…על כן לא יאכלו בני ישראל את גיד הנשה אשר על כף הירך עד היום הזה כי נגע בכף ירך יעקב בגיד הנשה…״ – בראשית לב, לג

This mitzvah is to serve as a reminder to the Jewish people that though they will suffer many hardships in their exiles, at the hands of the nations and at the hands of the children of Eisav, they will be confident that they will never be lost. —Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvah 3

Vayishlach
It is remarkable that such a crucial aspect of Jewish faith, our eternal hope of survival, is commemorated with a law so narrow in scope. The prohibition of eating the sciatic nerve seems to be a mere technicality in the laws of Kosher, applicable only to the precise nerve that the angel wounded in Yaakov, which is in and of itself only a minor detail in the story of Yaakov’s miraculous salvation!

The emphasis on detail in this mitzvah is extremely significant. It highlights that G-d’s intimate concern extends even to the most negligible details in the life of a Jew!

Truly, the Baal Shem Tov taught that every single aspect of creation is governed by Divine Providence, and serves a specific role in the Divine plan for the universe. Nevertheless, in the rest of creation, the significance of the role played by each blade of grass is still minor in comparison to that played by the sun or the clouds, or by animals and humans.

Not so in the details which transpire in (and effect) the life of the individual Jew; the health of even a nerve in his hip is as important and cherished by G-d as is the whole of the entire universe and even more so. Each Jew is uniquely chosen by G-d to be a part of His treasured nation, each member of which He loves like His very own biological child. Therefore, even the seemingly trivial details of a Jew’s life are of infinite and essential importance to Him and are His most pressing issue and concern.

—Likutei Sichos vol. 30, pp. 148-154

I love Sephardic Jewry history. I have been able to trace my line to early 1400's #sephardichistory

#rabbinachmanmoment
I have not personally verified this statement but the person I copied from, I trust.

Rabbi Nachman teaches If a person had complete faith in G-d and fully believed that He stands over him listening to his prayers, hearing every word that comes from his mouth, he would certainly pray properly without a trace of apathy or despondence . The main thing that prevents us from praying with enthusiasm is a lack of faith, which makes people despondent and apathetic.

If a grain of wheat is planted in good soil, it will sprout and grow beautifully without being harmed by winds and storms. This is because there is a power that makes it grow and flourish. But if the same seed is planted in poor soil, it literally rots in the earth because there is no power making it grow.

In the same way, when a person has faith, which is the growth-generating power, nothing can harm him. He is not afraid of anyone or anything in the world; he puts energy into his prayers and visits the Tzaddik. But if a person lacks faith, he lacks the growth-generating power, and then he literally rots, like a grain of wheat planted in poor soil. This is what makes him ponderous and depressed and he literally rots!

When a person is patient and slow to anger, he fears nothing and lets nothing distract or deter him from his devotions. No matter what happens, he continues as best as he can, doing his part to serve G-d without worrying about anything or letting anything disturb him.

Patience depends upon faith, for "as long as there is idolatry in the world, there is anger in the world" ( Sifri, Re'eh ). Faith is the opposite of idolatry and therefore dispels anger, bringing the person to patience, which is the opposite of anger.

Whenever you encounter distractions and barriers in your prayers and devotions, you must take a deep breath of patience and bear everything—patiently. Do not allow yourself to become discouraged, depressed and apathetic. Breathe... breathe deeply and don't take it to heart. Continue doing what you have to do and try your best to ignore all the distractions and obstacles. This is the mark of true patience, which comes through faith, the growth-generating power.

Faith will make you grow, flourish and succeed in your devotions, because no obstacle will have the power to disturb you or throw you into depression and apathy. Regardless of what happens, you will continue doing what you have to do joyfully and with enthusiasm, paying no attention whatever to any disturbances and distractions.

Likutey Moharan I, 155

Have an amazing day

Be blessed and...

S M I L E ! ! ! 😊

#esther
1:11-20
to bring Queen Vashti before the king [adorned] with the royal crown, to show off to the people and the officials her beauty. for she was beautiful of appearance. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command [conveyed] by the hand of the chamberlains; the king therefore became very enraged and his wrath burned in him. Then the king spoke to the wise men, those who knew the times (for such was the king's procedure [to turn] to all who knew law and judgement), those closest to him - Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven officers of Persia and Media who had access to the king, who sat first in the kingdom: "By the law, what should be done to Queen Vashti for not having obeyed the bidding of the King Ahasuerus [conveyed] by the hand of the chamberlains?"
Memucan declared before the King and the officials, "Not only against the King has Queen Vashti done wrong, but against all the officials and all the people in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the Queen's deeds will go forth to all women, making their husbands contemptible in their eyes, when they will say, 'King Ahasuerus said to bring Queen Vashti before him, but she did not come!" And this day the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's deed will speak of it to all the king's officials and there will be much contempt and rage. If it pleases the king, let there go forth a royal edict from him, and let it be written into the laws of Persia and Media, that it not be revoked, that Vashti never appear before King Ahasuerus; and let the king confer her royal estate upon another who is better than she.

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BUT QUEEN VASHTI REFUSED.
Not because of modesty. Megillah 12b
When Ahasuerus sent for her, "Vashti, the Queen" implying that her title was of secondary importance. He was suggesting that she was simply, "a vashti," a commoner, who had been elevated to the throne because it pleased him to do so. She, on the other hand, referred to herself as "Queen Vashti" to make it plain that she was of royal blood even before her marriage, and that her dignity was not to be trifled with. Further on when he wished to spare her, Ahasuerus referred to her a Queen Vashti reminding his advisers that she was a queen - the daughter of a great ruler, a royal personage in her own right. Vilna Gaon

TO THE WISE MEN
The Talmud (Megillah 12b) understands this to be the Rabbis.

WHO KNEW THE TIMES
That is, who knew how to calculate the timing of leap years and fix new moons. Megillah 12b

Ibn Ezra, however, interprets this as referring to astrologers or those familiar with the historical precedents of earlier monarchs.
Ahasuerus, seeking impartial and trusted counsel, turned first to the Jewish sages and asked them to pass sentence on his queen. The sages thought to themselves: "If we condemn the queen to death we shall suffer for it as soon as Ahasuerus becomes sober and hears that it was upon our advice that she was executed. If we advise clemency and advise him to pardon her, he will accuse us of not paying due reverence to the majesty of the king." They therefore resolved to take a position of neutrality.
They said to him, "From the day the Temple was destroyed and we were exiled from our land, we lost the powers to give judgment in capital cases. Better seek counsel with the wise men of Ammon and Moab who have dwelt at ease in their land." Thereupon he sought advice from his seven officials, as we read "those closes to him - Carshena, etc." Megillah 12b

MEMUCAN DECLARED
A Tanna taught: "Memucan is Haman. Why was he called Memucan? Because he was destine for destruction. Rav Kahana said: 'From here we see that an ignoramus always thrust himself to the forefront'" [Memucan is mentioned last in verse 14, yet he speaks first] Megillah 12b; Midrash
Everywhere else he is referred to as mem*mem*vav*Kuf*nun but here he is called mem*vav*mem*Kuf*nun a combination of the two words kuf*nun and Mem*vav*mem, meaning "a blemish is here." The blemish is his discourtesy in speaking out of turn. The Torah is not tolerant of boorishness. Mesoras HaBris

Rabbi Elazar says: Be diligent in learning Torah, and know what to respond to one who denigrates the Torah. Know before Whom you labor--the Master of your work is trustworthy to pay you the wage for your activity. - Pirkei Avot 2:14

Here is an amazing interpretation of the four tzaddiks who entered Gan Eden by Rabbi Shalom Aruch. Posted by Ruben Apaez from Beit Midrash San Antonio. I just had to share this with you.
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Here is Rabbi Shalom Arush's amazing interpretation of the allegorical Gemara passage about the four scholars who entered the esoteric portals of Torah knowledge...

The Gemara describes the four scholars who probed the inner dimension of Torah, metaphorically referred to as the Pardess, the orchard (see tractate Chagiga, 14b): "Rebbe Akiva entered in peace and exited in peace; Ben Azai peeked and was struck; Ben Zoma peeked and died; Acher [Elisha ben Abuya] chopped down the plantings."

Let's first examine the profile of Rebbe Akiva, who was able to enter the deepest portals of the Torah's secrets in peace and exit in peace as well. Rebbe Akiva not only had a prodigious intellect, but a most upright character. He emphasizes that loving one's neighbor as oneself is the essence of Torah. Rebbe Akiva is also the pillar of emuna, and he teaches us to say that whatever Hashem does is always for the best (see tractate Berachot 60b). Rebbe Akiva attained the highest levels of emuna and humility. The entire Oral Torah stems from him. Our sages say that he was worthy enough to have received the Torah on Mount Sinai.

Rebbe Akiva was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was the son of converts, and until age 40, a simple laborer. He attained everything he had with dedication, hard work, and prayer. He cried to Hashem for he every morsel of Torah that he learned. He suffered unspeakable poverty. Yet, he served Hashem and studied Torah with all his heart. His disadvantages were his advantages, for his poverty and his modest background made his climb in Torah and spirituality all teh more remarkable. He became the great of our people, yet he never forgot where he came from.

Rebbe Akiva so humbly viewed himself as nothing without Hashem. Therefore, he prayed for everything. Since everything he attained was the result of prayer, it was all beneficial. As such, he was able to become privy to the loftiest secrets of Torah without losing his mind or becoming arrogant.

Rebbe Nachman teaches (Likutei Moharan I:31) that both Ben Azai and Ben Zoma were tzaddikim of the highest caliber, for our sages tell us, "One who sees Ben Azai in a dream can expect to receive piety; one who sees Ben Zoma in a dream can expect wisdom" (see Avot D'Rebbe Natan, ch. 40). Yet, despite their lofty level, they could not see what Rebbe Akiva saw without being damaged. Why?

Rebbe Natan of Breslev always reminds us that wherever there is deficiency, there is lack of prayer. Either a person didn't pray at all or didn't pray sufficiently. We cannot possibly say that these two holy Tannaic sages didn't pray; but, we can say that they didn't pray sufficiently, for if they prayed as much as Rebbe Akiva did, they too would have entered and exited in peace. Their deficiency of prayer left them with a deficiency, for they lacked the proper receptacle to handle such blinding Divine light.

In order to trod safely in the lofty spiritual places where these two holy sages trodded, one needs a prodigious amount of prayer. Ben Azai "peeked and was struck"; in other words, since he lacked the spiritual vessel strong enough to contain such strong light, or more simply, his soul could not cope with such awesome secrets of Torah, he became insane.

Anyone who doesn't strengthen his soul with sufficient prayer will not have the capability of learning Torah in a beneficial manner. When I was a young man, I lived in Bnei Brak. I had a neighbor who became totally disoriented from learning Gemara. He learned day and night until he virtually lost his mind. The rabbinical leaders who were involved in this case firmly decided to prohibit this individual from learning Gemara any further! They allowed him to work, to travel, to listen to music or to do anything else he wanted, just not to learn Torah. I have no doubt that if this individual would have implemented Rebbe Nachman's advice to pray before and after learning Torah, he too would have been successful. And, if Ben Azai "peeked and was struck", Ben Zoma "peeked and died." Ben Zoma lacked the wherewithal to deal with such strong Divine light, and he lost his life altogether.

Let's reemphasize that Ben Azai and Ben Zoma were two tzaddikim on levels beyond our comprehension. If they could be damaged by learning Torah without sufficient prayer, than what can we, the simple people of this generation, say? We certainly must invest concerted effort in prayer. "Tefilla L'Oni" elaborates that Ben Azai and Ben Zoma placed a greater emphasis on learning than they did on prayer; they were therefore exposed at the highest levels of Torah secrets without sufficient protection. We might compare their souls to a 100-Watt light bulb that suddenly receives 250 Watts of current; it's incapable of handling the load, so it explodes. So, if the greatest tzaddikim must strengthen their souls through prayer to be able to become worthy receptacles for the Torah's light, we certainly must!

Both the Babylonian and the Jerusalem Talmud elaborate on the reasons that led to Elisha Ben Abuya's downfall. When he became a total heretic, his holy contemporaries wouldn't even mention his name; they referred to him as Acher, "the other one." The beginning of his Torah career was not for Hashem's sake. When his father saw the prestige given to Torah scholars, he wanted his son to become a Torah scholar as well. Other accounts in the Talmud say that the circumstances of his conception were not holy and that when his mother was pregnant, she smelled the incense from a house of idolatry, both of which had ultimately tragic effects of her unborn son. Still another opinion says that Acher would listen to Greek music, and that he'd confuse young children with philosophical and existential questions as to the existence of G-d. Combined, all these factors led to his downfall.

If we say that BenAzai and Ben Zoma didn't pray sufficiently, we can say that Acher didn't pray at all. If he would have asked Hashem to lead him on the path of truth and righteousness, Hashem would have gladly complied. He wouldn't have met such a tragic and heretical fate.

The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Mishpatim) provides further proof of what we have said until now: Absalom, Doeg, Korach, Ahab and Elisha Ben Abuya were rescued from Purgatory by saying na'aseh venishma, we shall do and we shall heed." This amazing Midrash reveals a huge secret, namely, that the above-mentioned individuals were all extremely brilliant, yet as soon as they justified the stern judgment against them and took simple emuna upon themselves, their sentences were mitigated. The entire basis of na'aseh venishma, we shall do first and only afterwards we shall heed, means that way place emuna before intellectual prowess. In other words, prayer must precede Torah! Once a person understands this principle, stern judgments against him are mitigated as well. May we all grow in payer and in Torah, amen!

Boker tov AT family. A break in our heat today is truly welcomed. Baruch HaShem for the variety in weather that He provides.
Off to finish the chronological Bible today with my study partner, Betty.
Lunch with my dear friend, Pam.
Hebrew study with Eliyana this afternoon and Kings & Prophets study this evening. What a full and blessed day it will be!
Hope you all have a wonderful day as well😊