Interesting Gematria for תשפ״ג

The passuk says that Yaakov bowed down to Esav seven times until he reached him - עד גשתו אליו

The two words in bold have the gematria of תשפ״ג.

To me, this seems to indicate that the end of Klal Yisrael's bowing to Esav is this year, as spoken about in the keitz meguleh blog.

also interesting to me that the first of the two words is עד= 74 - indicating that the total number of years we 'bow' to Esav is 74 years. In the 75th, we break free.

Clothing of Geulah and Cosmic Friday's Mincha Gedolah

In the parsha podcast a few weeks ago, I mentioned the interesting point that when Yosef comes out of jail, he immediately receives a change of clothing, which is referred to as שמלות. Similarly, when Yosef finally reveals himself to his brothers, he gives them each a change of clothing - חליפות שמלות. This reference to clothes as שמלות comes in contrast to previous references to clothing as בגדים (e.g. when Potiphar's wife grabs Yosef's clothes). The chiddush that I said then was that the difference between a בגד (beged) and שמלות (Semalos) is that the root of the first comes from the word 'to rebel' - an indication of the clothing's function after the sin of Adam Harishon, to cover up his rebellion. After Yosef and his brothers achieved their complete rectification, they each earned their שמלות. Since the first letter is the letter 'sin' and it is interchangeable with the letter 'samach,' it could be explained that the concept of שמלות represents the concept of a סמל - something that represents. Whereas the בגד betrays who the person is, the שמלה represents properly who the person is. Thus, they received a change of clothing - now that they rectified their previous blemishes - clothing that reflected their true greatness.

As the ba'al korei read the parsha this past week, I had to smile as I saw that when the Jews left Mitzrayim, they 'borrowed' gold and silver - as well as שמלות! At the very moment which represented the final rectification of the Galus of Mitzrayim, just as at the first moment of the tikkun, the Jews got new clothes - שמלות.

What I didn't mention in the podcast was something else I noticed about the word שמלות. In the Torah, it is actually spelled חסר, without the ו"ו. Thus it is written שמלת. The Gematria of the word is תש"ע - the year we currently stand in. Thus, the very word which represents the completion of the rectification has the same value as this year.

What is also interesting is that when the Jews leave Egypt, the passuk says that they borrowed gold, silver and clothing. There the word is with the extra ו"ו which means 'and.' This brings the gematria of the word to be the same as the year תשע"ו which is in six years from now.

Thus, if there is any significance to this observation, it could be said that there is a significant rectification that might be accomplished by the leaders of the Jewish people in our current year (5770). Perhaps the rectification of the entire Jewish people is hinted to as being set to occur in the year 5776. It must be noted that the year 5776 is a yovel year, and the last one was in 5727 (1967) when the six-day war occurred. It is worth checking out Keitz Meguleh's post, entitled "Geulat Mitzraim to Yemot Hamashiach" which speaks at length about the significance of these dates. Also, see his online book on Yovel and the year 5776, which is fascinating.

It is also significant to note that in this year we also reach an important point in time on the sixth day. What I am referring to here is that each thousand years of history corresponds to a day. The period of 6000-7000 is Shabbos. Thus, we are in the second half of Friday. 1990 marked חצות - midday - of Friday. There is no question (and I have seen this in completely secular books) that the year 1990 marked a new chapter in the annals of mankind. Russia and Communism fell, and we began a new age of computers and internet. (Stephen Covey refers to this age as the 'knowledge-worker age.') The world today is vastly different from the world of the 1980s.

The sefer Kol Hator notes that if we divide 1000 years into 24 (hours of the day), each hour corresponds to 41 2/3 years. This would mean that the year 5500 was daybreak of the sixth day, and 5750 was חצות (as we saw). This year (5770/2010), we hit 12:30, which is 20 5/6 years (half an hour) since 5750. This occurs on Rosh Chodesh Av. The time 12:30 is referred to as Mincha Gedolah - the first time you can daven Mincha. It is also the time that the daily afternoon Tomid offering was brought. This time is also known as the time when the walls begin to darken as the sun is no longer directly overhead. It is also the time that the sun begins to lean towards the west. Interestingly, this time is referred to as בין הערביים - between the eves. This is because the word ערב (normally translated as eve) means 'to set.' This is the first time the sun sets, as it has passed its peak and it begins to head downward. The second time the sun sets is at shkiah - sundown. Thus, Rosh Chodesh Av is the beginning of the suns descent on erev Shabbos.

Now, as in the past, I am reluctant to make any predictions, but I think it is safe to say that when we look back at this year, we will be able to note a very significant point in history, just as we do when we look back at the year 5750 (1990).

Obama and Moshe's staff

After reading Shirat Devorah's post about the gematria of Obama's name coinciding with the gematria of דצ"ך עד"ש באח"ב, a little bell went off in my head, reminding me of what I saw in my rebbe's book "Machat Shel Yad" (pp. 39-43).

There Rabbi Frankel mentions that the matteh that Moshe used to perform all the miracles in Mitzrayim was inscribed with precisely those letters. He brings down the mishnah in Pirkei Avos that says that this staff was one of the ten things created right before the first Shabbos of Beraishis. It seems this staff goes all the way back to the beginning (ראש).

My gut tells me that Obama will be the rod that Hashem uses to punish the world with, and that he was prepared long ago for the role he is to play in the endgame.

5769 II

The passuk uses the words "והיה ביום ההוא" in numerous places to refer to the time of Moshiach. On the surface these words are quite innocuous. The gematria of these words is 101, which would seem to be insignificant.

It gets interesting when you break down the letters as follows:

וי"ו ה"י יו"ד ה"י (והיה) בי"ת יו"ד וי"ו מ"ם (ביום) ה"י ה"י וי"ו אל"פ (ההוא)

in this form, והיה is 72, ביום is 534, and ההוא is 163. This adds up to a grand total of... you guessed it folks...769, corresponding to the year תשס"ט that is fast approaching.

(a note on מילוי - filling up the letters. The letters ו and ה can be filled three different ways - with an א - which would be וא"ו and ה"א; with a י - which would be וי"ו and ה"י; and the third way is ו"ו and ה"ה. These different methods are used in filling up the Tetragrammaton, ie. name of Hashem and give us the values of ע"ב ס"ג מ"ה ב"ן. Here we used the מילוי which corresponds to the name ע"ב, which is the highest name.)

While I am already posting, I would like to add something which I have thought about a lot recently.

I heard from my Rav that our sages tell us that when Noach exited the ark and looked around at a world devoid of humanity, he turned to heaven and said, "Could you not forgive the world? Was it necessary to bring such great destruction?" To this Hashem responded, "This would have been a wonderful thing to say before the flood. There was a hundred and twenty years of opportunity. Now the opportunity has been lost!"

We keep hearing that when Moshiach comes a large number of people will be lost from our people. I don't know what the source for that statement is. I have seen other sources that explicitly state that all of the Jewish people will survive to see Moshiach, namely Rebbe Nachman, among others. We need to understand that there is great danger, but we need to learn from Noach's mistake, and take on Avraham avinu's ways. When he heard about the destruction that was slated to occur to Sodom, he immediately pleaded for their lives, despite their great wickedness!

We also find that when Moshe rabbenu was told by Hashem that because of the Golden Calf, the Jewish people were to be destroyed, Heaven forbid, Moshe had no good excuse for the people. That did not stop him from beseeching Hashem for mercy. He was successful because of his self sacrifice. He constantly prayed for Hashem to forgive them despite the horrendous sin they had perpetrated.

We must learn from Moshe as well - not be concerned only for our own welfare. We must believe that all of Klal Yisrael will survive. Unfortunately, many of them can not pray for themselves. But we can pray for them. We are all responsible for one another and we can move the world with our heartfelt prayers, literally saving our people.

5769

In the parsha this week, the passuk says the famous line:

והיית אך שמח

Interestingly, the gematria of the consecutive letters in bold is תשס"ט corresponding to the year 5769 that begins on the 30th day of September.

Someone commented on the last gematria post that אליהו התשבי is also תשס"ט

I also had mentioned in a previous post that the passuk in Zecharia 12:3 says:

והיה ביום ההוא אשים את ירושלים אבן מעמסה לכל העמים

the gematria of the words in bold is תשס"ט

This Year

As I was saying the Kinos on Tisha B'av day, I was struck by something very interesting in the eighth Kinah.

It goes like this:
אילותי לעזרתי תרתי חזות, אימתי בכל שנה אומרת היא השנה הזאת, אידע לכל כי מודעת זאת, אם לא כי יד ה' עשתה זאת

The Artscroll translates:
I seek to witness [the fulfillment of my plea], 'O my Strength [God], come to my assistance!' My awe-inspiring nation proclaims every year, 'This is the year [of redemption]!' [When that time comes] I shall announce to everyone, so that it will be universally known, that [it could not have happened] had the hand of God not wrought all this!

It is Tisha B'av that is the basis of our redemption - represented by the concept that Moshiach is born on Tisha B'av. Tisha B'av sows the seeds in our hearts to constantly yearn for the Shechinah's return from exile. This is being expressed here by the poet in his (and our!) constant desire to believe and hope that this is the year!

The Gematria of שנה הזאת (this year) is תשס"ח - corresponding to the year we are in now - 5768.

5768 & 5769 in gematria

The first few posts here are posts that originally appeared on Dreaming of Moshiach.

In the Haggada, there's a song at the very end, and I dont know who wrote it, but it seems he may have known something.

it says:
קרב יום אשר הוא לא יום ולא לילה

the gematria of the bold is תשס"ח

recently, I was looking at the pesukim in zechariah perek 12 passuk 3. There it says:

והיה ביום ההוא אשים את ירושלים אבן מעמסה לכל העמים וכו...

the gematria of the bold words is תשס"ט and the end of the three words is אמת (I just noticed that now).

I recently heard from a very reliable source that Rav Elya Svei, Rosh Yeshiva in America said that in תרצ"ט, 1939, Rav Elchanan Wasserman said that Moshiach would come in 70 years. After I heard that story, I "happened" upon another story that Rav Elya Lopian said over from Rav Elchanan Wasserman that he was with the Chofetz Chaim in the beginning of World War I (circa 1914) and the Chofetz Chaim said that WWI was the first of three Gog Umagog wars. The next would be in 25 years. That story ends there, but clearly Rav Elchanan Wasserman was someone in the know.

Another interesting point is as follows:

the gemara in Rosh Hashana lists off the ten exiles of the Sanhedrin which correspond to the ten exiles of the Shechina.
it went from Lischat hagazit to a chanut, to Yerushalayim, to Yavneh, to Usha, back to Yavneh, back to Usha, to Shfar'am, to bet She'arim, to Tzipori, and ended in Teveriah. The Gemara ends off with a statement of R' Yochanan.
ומשם עתידין ליגאל שנאמר, התנערי מעפר קומי שבי ירושלים
from there (Teveria) will they be redeemed in the future.