The Moon in its Strength

At the top of Talmud Bavli Masechet Brachot 59b, the Baraita states:

The Rabbis have taught:

One that sees:

• The sun in its tekufah (equinox)
• The moon in its gevurah (strength)
• The stars in their paths and 
• The constellations in order

says Blessed is the One that Makes Creation.

(See the Yerushalmi for a slightly different version)

For Halachah, only the sun is discussed, and from this we arrive at Birkat HaChamah.

So what is this gevurah?  If, from "the sun in its tekufah", we arrived at there being something special regarding a certain equinox in the sun's 28 year cycle, then the parallel here would be something special in a certain part of the moon's 19 year cycle.

In Kabbalah, summer and winter are both related to gevurah: the summer, in that restraints are removed and the heat comes to the world, and the winter, in that restraints are applied to the maximum, and the extreme cold comes to the world.  The summer is the active strength.

Shemot 12:1 - This month is for you the head of months, it is first for the months of the year.

The focal point in the year for the moon is Nissan, and the focal point of Nissan is of course Pesach.  Our task for finding the Moon's Strength is to find the Pesach that is closest to the summer.

With the Hebrew calendar in effect since approximately the year 4119, the year of the latest Pesach is the 8th year out of the 19th year cycle.

8 + 19n where 217 <= x <= 303

• 8 + (19 * 217) = 4131
• 8 + (19 * 303) = 5765

Recent years of note in this series are x = 300 and 301.  This is the year 5708 and 5727, both where monumental events took place for Am Yisrael shortly after Pesach.  The visibility of these events are dependent on other factors.

G-d willing, the next occurrence of this strength will be the decision of the Sanhedrin, as it is the Sanhedrin's task to set the pattern of the 19 year cycle.  This is much needed, as our current calendar is for the whole Golah, and not for afterwards.

The Defining Moment

During the period of the Omer, we celebrate the two redemptions that happened in the last 60 years:

• Yom HaAtzmaut - The 20th day of the Omer
• Yom Yerushalayim - The 43rd day of the Omer

What is the celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut? The 20th of the Omer, 5708, was the day that David Ben-Gurion read out the Declaration of Independence for the State of Israel. This was a calendar day before the British Mandate ended. The British left Eretz Yisrael some 12 hours after the Declaration was declared.

Yom HaAtzmaut obviously marks the fact that we have our own homeland, but it also marks the fact that the Jew stood up, unashamed. We woke up from our slumber, and Hashem made us successful over the course of the coming war. The name of the day is fitting. An essential Tikkun of Am Yisrael's personality had finished.

What is the celebration of Yom Yerushalayim? The Six-Day War began on the 41st day of the Omer, and ended on the 46th day of the Omer. The war was pushed upon Israel, and the Jews fought valiantly. Over the course of those 6 days, the majority of the biblical Western Eretz Yisrael came under Jewish control. There was no essential change in Jewish action between that day and the other 5 days of war. Yerushalayim was another Tikkun, adding Yerushalayim on top of Yehudah. In this way the 5708 and 5727 are related, the beginning and the end to one story.

As it says in Zechariah 12:7

והושע ה' את אהלי יהודה בראשנה, למען לא תגדל תפארת בית דויד ותפארת ישב ירושלים על יהודה

And Hashem will save the tents of Yehudah at first, so that the glory of the House of David and the glory of the residents of Yerushalayim will not be exalted more than (that of) Yehudah.

Yom HaAtzmaut has an aspect of Awakening from Below, and Yom Yerushalayim has an aspect of Awakening from Above. However, the work of Awakening from Below is not done.

The First Geulah

This is a continuation/correction on this post.

The First Geulah of the Geulah Shleimah is referred to as רנו. This is, in Gematria, 256.

There seem to be 2 ways to read this. I was referring to one of those ways in the prior post. The sevarah behind it is rather solid, but does not match 100%.

Let's look at the 2nd way, which was mentioned in the comments to that post.

Earlier in the Raya Mehemna there, the count of 72 after 1200 is referred to as רע"ב, meaning drop the 1000, but keep the 200. Therefore it would mean that the 256 here refers to 56 after 1200. Furthermore, the Zohar on Pinchas 3:230b refers to this Geulah as being HaKadosh Baruch Hu taking revenge on those that hate him. I have to conclude that this second way of understanding this is the correct understanding, and therefore make this correction to myself:

• 1st Geulah of (2)56 - The Israeli War of Independence in 5708
• 2nd Geulah of 60 - The Six-Day War of 5727

The Hours of the Sixth Day

According to Chaza"l, there are 6000 years of human history in parallel to the 6 days of Creation. The 6 days in Creation had a purpose, to continue perfection in to the first Shabbat. This did not happen, due to the sin of Adam HaRishon. Therefore, as a tikkun, there are 6000 years of human history as a preparation for the Great Second Chance. See the Ramban on Breishit 2:3 for an in depth explanation of this idea, including parallels for each of the days with each of the different millenia.

As I have said before, Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer says that an hour of Hashem's day is taking 1000 years and dividing it by 12, with the end result being 83.333 years per hour. Kol HaTor brings a different division, taking 1000 years and dividing it by 24, with the end result being 41.666 years per hour. Both are words of the Living G-d. For the 83.333 years, all 1000 years have acts of creation. For the 41.666 years, it is only the second 500 years of the millenium have acts of creation.

There are three places that I am aware of that refer to the events of this first and most fateful Sixth Day.

• Sanhedrin 38B
• Vayikra Rabba 29:1
• Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer chapter 11

Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer and the Bavli Sanhedrin have nearly identical orders (the differences come in the last few hours of the day).

It is worthy to note that the 5th hour, according to both of them, that Adam HaRishon stood up on his legs.

To illustrate:

• First Hour (5500 - 5541.666) - The dust was brought together
• Second Hour (5541.666-5583.333) - It was made into a Golem (a lifeless shape, a shell)
• Third Hour (5583.333 - 5625) - The limbs were stretched out
• Fourth Hour (5625 - 5666.666) - A soul was thrown in to him
• Fifth Hour (5666.666 - 5708.333) - He stood up on his legs.

From this we can see very clearly, Adam HaRishon of the 6th day of Creation is Am Yisrael in the 6th millenium, who, with 600,000 souls, stood up during the fifth hour, culminating in 5708.

Daniel 8

The 8th chapter of Daniel discusses the Four Great Kingdoms that were to span history from the time of the fall of Bavel. It includes within it one of the well-known predictions in the book.

At the end, the question is asked: How long will it take for all this to transpire? The answer is terse enough:

He said to me: Until evening morning, two thousand, three hundred, and the holy one will be justified. (Daniel 8:14)

Among the commentators we see the opinion that the 2300 mentioned is 2300 years, see Rav Sa'adiah Gaon, Rashi, etc. The question, however, before looking to see what the end-date is, is to ask: what is the start date?

And the vision of the evening and the morning that was said, it is true; And you - hide the vision, for it is for many days. (Daniel 8:26)

Daniel indeed hid the true meaning of his vision, as he did later on in chapter 12, however in a different manner.

In the third year of the kingdom of Belshatzar the king, a vision appeared to me; me, Daniel, after what appeared to me at the beginning. And I saw in the vision, and it was when I was seeing, I was in Shushan... (Daniel 8:1-2)

The third year of Belshatzar was the last year of Belshatzar, and indeed the 70th year of the kingdom of Bavel, as brought in Megillah 11b. The Ibn Ezra takes note of this and states that it couldn't be that Daniel went to Shushan and came back even the same year. He saw himself in the future in Shushan.

Daniel is hinting to us that the starting point of the vision is in the future during the reign of Paras uMadai. The vision starts at the tachlit of their kingdom, the construction of the 2nd Beit HaMikdash, which came to fruition in 3408.

The year 3408 was a beginning that went awry. It would be a full cycle to start over.

And there was evening and there was morning, one day (Breishit 1:5)

It would be 2300 years to restart the cycle.

3408 + 2300 = 5708

Now, unlike then, we achieved the minimum threshold of ingathering, 600,000 souls. The Geulah is proceeding according to Daniel's vision, with the order of tefillah as its guide.

Symmetry in Jewish History

• 100 Years - From the birth of Avraham to the birth of Yitzchak (1948 - 2048)
• 190 Years - From the birth of Yitzchak to the beginning of the exile in Mitzraim (2048-2238)
• 210 Years - From the beginning of the exile in Mitzraim until Yetziat Mitzraim (2238 - 2448)
• 40 Years - In the desert (2448 - 2488)
• 440 Years - From the entrance to Eretz Yisrael to the beginning of the 1st Beit HaMikdash (2488 - 2928)
• 410 Years - From the construction of the 1st Beit HaMikdash to its destruction (2928 - 3338)
• 70 Years - From the destruction of the 1st Beit HaMikdash to the building of the 2nd Beit HaMikdash (3338 - 3408)
• 420 Years - From the construction of the 2nd Beit HaMikdash to its destruction (3408 - 3828)
• 1880 Years - From the destruction of the 2nd Beit HaMikdash to the founding of the modern state of Israel (3828 - 5708)

This is the general progression of Jewish history from 1948 to 1948 (i.e. the year 1948 from creation, to 1948 of the secular calendar). And as one would expect from that fact that they are the same year in those 2 different calendars, the difference between the beginning and end is exactly 3760 years, as this is the general margin of difference between the two calendars.

However, what is not so obvious is that this is also 2 equal periods of time hinged around one year, the year of the destruction of the 2nd Beit HaMikdash in 3828.

• 1880 Years - From the birth of Avraham to the destruction of the 2nd Beit HaMikdash (1948 - 3828)
• 1880 Years - From the destruction of the 2nd Beit HaMikdash to the founding of the modern state of Israel (3828 - 5708)