Some more thoughts on Groundhog Day

I have to admit, that I’m still feeling a little ‘down’ at the moment.

I’m not 100% sure why. Of course, there are a million things I could point to that aren’t going my way, but that’s nothing new, and we all have some version of it. Mostly, my life is full of blessings and brachot, mamash.

But when I was sat at the Rav yesterday for the prayers, a feeling of sadness started to creep over me, or maybe, I just recognised it, for once, instead of batting it away with all my chores and ‘stuff to do’.

In Uman, I feel I finally reconnected back to that bit of myself that has been feeling pretty lost, for a long time, in the mad world we live in.

Mad, and at the same time, so predictably the same, in so many ways.

==

More elections…more Bibi…more ‘viruses’ on the horizon…more fake threats to humanity, from a place of very real human malice…more pretending…more wasting our life on stuff that really doesn’t matter very much, or at all…more ‘war with Iran’…

==

A bit of me just wants to kick free of all this, but can’t.

We are all stuck in ‘Groundhog Day’, on some level, repeating all the mundane, apparently pointless details of life, until we finally work it out, and work it through.

I spent some time reading the Wiki page for Groundhog Day just now – strange to say, as I have so many other things to do, and it doesn’t sound very spiritual, or ‘uplifting’. And yet, even there, I found some spark of something holy, that is kind of helping me make more sense of what I’m feeling at the moment.

It was talking about how Bill Murray’s character goes through the five stages of grief after a big ‘shock to the system’, as defined by Kubler-Ross, namely: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally – acceptance.

Something about that procession rang a big bell for me.

==

The ‘denial’ about how hard things have been the last few years was taking a lot of energy to keep up.

So a few months ago, it morphed into anger – such anger, that I was having to read the Rav’s anger prayers all the way through every morning before I even got out of bed, just to (try to…) keep a lid on it.

That stage lasted three weeks, or so.

And then, it morphed into ‘bargaining’ with God, about what I was prepared to do, and stop doing, to get my own personal madness to stop..

I got to Uman in that state.

And I seem now to have moved forward, into the feelings of sadness and occasionally, even a little depressed and ‘paralysed’ by it all.

I hope this stage doesn’t last too long, but now I’ve seen this procession, I can pick out the forward movement in all these negative emotions and bad middot, so it’s not troubling me the way it was.

==

We’ve all been through so much, the last seven years.

Seven years, since ‘Covid 19’ started, and the mask finally got ripped off our ‘wonderful’, G-dless, modern world, where the essence of the human being, the soul, has just been so deliberately degraded, dumbed-down and coarsened.

In so many ways, Covid 19 did us all a favour.

I used to feel way, way weirder and ‘alone’ before the scamdemic, the loony in the corner trying to argue with people that something is very, very wrong with the world.

That the soul dimension was lacking.

Now, BH, I have that problem way less than I used to. And the war in Israel has also helped to fast-track the spiritual awakening that has been going on here, hidden underneath the surface, but so real, nevertheless.

==

So on that front, Covid 19 and the war did us all a favour.

But, there is a part of me that is yearning to rest under my fig and under my vine, and that stage just seems so very far away, still.

The key to reaching it appears to be ‘acceptance’.

Accepting, that God is running the world, that God is doing everything, that God is only good, and that this whole fake world was just set up by Him as a sort of film set, for us to come down and finally figure out our bad middot, and lack of emuna.

==

I still have my work cut out for me.

We all do.

But strange to see, reading the plot of Groundhog Day gave me a derech again, where I’m headed:

Out of the sadness about everything that’s gone on, and everything that hasn’t, towards simple acceptance, that God is good, and the world is running exactly the way it should be, appearances not withstanding.

It’s a big ask, honestly.

==

And probably, I can only get to this level of deep acceptance when God gives it to me, as a present.

And until then, my job is to not get too confused, or too depressed, and to just work on ‘accepting God’s will’, with the big things, and the small things, and to make as much teshuva as I can, and to do as many good deeds as come to me, while I’m waiting.

Just like ‘Phil Connor’, in Groundhog Day.

 

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Atzeret for the Rav to get to Uman: 6pm Tue at the Kotel

The Rav started talking about Uman again, only very recently.

The main message is: everyone needs to go to Uman, regardless of what is happening with the Rav and Uman this year.

I have to say, the Rav’s perseverance and refusal to get yeoush about getting to Uman is remarkable, and really a living lesson, in just not giving up.

It’s something I am trying very hard to internalise myself, not always so successfully, as yeoush so often feels like the right response to all the crud we sometimes have to wade through in life.

Repeatedly.

==

There are some days, weeks, and even months, that just feel like ‘Groundhog Day’.

You know, like this:

(not shmirat eynayim)

==

Tov.

In the meantime, the lesson is that we keep getting to do things over and over and over again, until we finally do it ‘right’.

However long that is meant to take.

==

So, we have another atzeret for the Rav, to BH get to Uman.

6pm, this Tuesday, at the Kotel.

BH, I will be there.

I hope you will be there too.

==

PS: If you can’t get to Uman yourself for Rosh Hashana this year, but want to sponsor one of the Rav’s long-term Torah learners to go, please get in touch.

Usually, someone else helps this guy buy a ticket, but this year, the well has run dry.

 

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The Turks put every rabbi in jail – comments from the Rav

Shavua Tov!

More interesting comments from the Rav.

Enjoy.

==

Shiur from 29th Tammuz after Tikkun Chatzot

The Turks [in the time of the Ottoman control over Eretz Yisrael] put every rabbi in prison.

The Alexander Rebbe came, the Tolna Rebbe came – everyone was put in jail. Give us 30 thousand grushim!!!

The Shelah was in prison, from the 11th of Elul until the eve of Rosh Hashana, and so, everyone is buried in Tiberius, because here [i.e. in Jerusalem] – it was impossible to be here.

The Pasha, the Governor, immediately he put the rabbanim into prison. Bring a redemption [and then I’ll free you.]

They loved pidyons..

==

So this Allenby, he arrived with the book the Protocols of the Elders of Zion – they were distributing it.

Before you get to Eretz Yisrael, you should know that this is the most awful people in the whole world, the most dangerous. They want to conquer the whole world!

He explained there that all the Congresses, they were about how to conquer the world. YEAR the First Congress began, 1897, there were around five Congresses up until the Shoah, maybe seven Congresses.

They [the antisemites] said that everything was about how to conquer the world. That the Jews did everything, they were gathering there, they were making plans, because the banks belonged to the Jews, to Rothschild, everything belonged to Rothschild.

==

This Rothschild, he worked for Yaakov Mi’Galuna.

There was R Yaakov of Galuna, he was on the level of the Baal Shem Tov. Whatever he blessed [the blessing occurred].

He learned kabbalah for seven years, for seven years he learned the pshat. And so on, until he died. He was always with the seven years. [He learned] the whole of the Etz Chaim, all the kabbalah, all the sephirot.

Keter, chochmah, bina, da’at, chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod, malchut.

And after this the four worlds, atzilut, briah etc.

==

Excerpted and translated from Shivivei Or #468.

==

 

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The Burgher and the Pauper – Part 8

We are back, in Rabbenu’s tale of the Burgher and the Pauper.

Here’s the latest instalment:

==

I have to admit to having some yeoush about getting this done – most of the scenes are great, but every episode, I hit one ‘glitchy’ scene that is super hard for me to fix, no matter how I try.

See if you can spot which scene tripped me up this time…

But, I decided there is no perfection until Moshiach comes, and so, however imperfectly, the tale will continue to be told.

==

Here’s a bit more explanation, based on some hints from Rav Natan:

The non-Jewish nations of the world appear to be connected to the Emperor, and his family.

The Jewish nation appears to be connected to the Burgher, and his family.

At the end of this episode, we see that the Burgher’s Son has lost his status and wealth, and is being totally persecuted by the Emperor, who wants to see him dead, instead of married to his daughter.

The Emperor is pursuing his own ‘glory’, and doesn’t understand that withholding the princess from the Burgher’s Son is actually only going to lead to his own downfall.

==

Meanwhile, in this episode the Burgher’s Son has had enough of being persecuted and hounded, and he’s basically deciding to turn his back on the world and ignore it from now on, as he has everything he needs to live a simple life.

I would say, this is the point in the story we’re actually at right now – we’re so tired and battered, we just want to find some hammock to swing in, eat grapes, and whistle at all the ‘problems’ of the world…

==

BUT – God has a plan.

And He’s not going to let the Burgher’s Son stay a hermit, and totally disconnected from the world, for too much longer.

Stay tuned, to see what happens next.

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Don’t bind yourself to the Rav – more comments

Excerpt from Shiur given on Erev Rosh Chodesh, Av 1, 5786

There was a serious injury in Kifl yesterday.

Now, for a whole year, no-one travels to Kifl, also not Yosef Asulin[1], and not Shimi Tzuker. In another 23 days, it’s the barmitzvah.

==

Today is the true Tisha B’Av, here, let’s bring the Tanach.

It’s written, ‘on the ninth of the month’, ‘twenty and one days’, so the Gemara says: “’twenty and one days’.”

The Rebbe [Rebbe Nachman of Breslov] says in Torah Peh Heh – first, let’s bring the Lesson 85, part 2. It’s written: ‘T’isha be hodesh’ – the ninth of the month. The Rebbe says, this is only twenty and one days… If it’s ‘nine’. From the ninth of Tammuz, so then that’s the first of Av.

Today [i.e. the first of Av] is T’isha B’av, today was the true date of the destruction of the first  Beit HaMikdash.

If this was on the 17th of Tammuz, so it comes out the 9th of Av, this is already 22 days, because another day is added.

So, the Rebbe explains in Lesson 85, part 2, that the Rebbe says in Lesson 219, that from an overabundance of light [the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed].

Because each day, we need to bring down new light, we need to reach new lowliness, because only the Tzaddik who is ein, nothing at all – he can do it.

==

It’s forbidden to bind oneself (l’hitkasher) to the Rav.

Don’t bind yourself to the Rav. The Rav doesn’t raise up the prayers. And the Rav doesn’t do a tikkun for souls, everything is only Rabbenu [Rebbe Nachman].

It’s totally forbidden, to bind to the Rav. It harms the Rav, and creates kitrugim (spiritual accusations) against the Rav.

We only bind ourselves to Rabbenu [Rebbe Nachman of Breslov].

Afterwards, let’s go to the Tziyun of Rabbenu – and not the Tziyun of the Rav, under absolutely no circumstances.

The Rav is not Eliezer Shlomo, the Moharosh[2], and it’s not anyone else. The Rav needs to go to Rabbah, halevai, if only we can get there.

==

It’s written[3] that they come to confuse a person.

They tell him: Who says, that this is the Tzaddik?! Maybe, the Rebbe of Gur is the Tzaddik?!

Even when a man ascends to shemayim, they still try to confuse him, they try to confuse him.

==

Excerpted and translated from Rasisei Tal, # 78.

==

FOOTNOTES:

[1] One of the Rav’s main gabbays.

[2] The late R. Eliezer Shlomo Shick of Yavniel.

[3] Chayei Moharan, #101:

“On Friday night at the table the Rebbe was talking about his own activities and purposes. He commented how strange it was that he was always doing unusual things which people found incomprehensible. He was constantly moving from place to place like a wanderer. In Medvedevka he had had everything he needed. It would have been quite satisfactory  if he had stayed there permanently. There he had peace and quiet. But he had not wanted a peaceful life. He left and went to settle in Zlatipolia, where he endured so much opposition and suffering. Then, he left and finally came to settle in Uman. Having come to Uman, he should at least have chosen to stay with a respected figure. Instead he chose the lodgings he had. The Rebbe asked why he was always doing such strange and incomprehensible things…”

==

I read this in Uman on Shabbat, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I’ve also let Rabbenu, and his writings, drop a little, as I’ve been busy translating stuff from the Rav.

I decided, with God’s help, that now I’m going to put one thing up from the Rav a week, plus also one thing from Rebbe Nachman, some how or other – and yes, the ‘cartoons’ count, and I’ll continue with those, BH.

Except, I’ll try to give more explanation when I post them up. Not because I’m a Rav, nothing like it, but just because it’s good for each person to try to engage with Rabbenu at whatever level they can, which means for me, a pretty low level that other people may also be able to access and relate to.

==

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Three lessons from Uman

So, I went to Uman, BH, and I came back from Uman.

It was a tough trip with all the travelling, but it did me the world of good, and I finally had some time and space to start figuring out a few things in my life, again.

It’s been a rough while for all of us, especially in Israel, but not only.

I had reached the bottom of the barrel by the time I booked the trip to Uman, and I was literally feeling like if I didn’t go and get my batteries recharged by Rabbenu, it wasn’t going to be good.

Without going into all the gory details, for a change, let me just share a few of the insights that are generally relevant to most of us.

==

  1. We can’t let fear run our lives, or stop us from doing what we need to get done.

I was feeling more than a little ‘trapped’ in Israel, scared to go to Uman in case of ‘war with Iran’ kicking off again and possible airport closures. Who knows what tomorrow brings, right now?

But, then I realised I am letting fear run and ruin my life, and I really, really needed to get to Rabbenu. So I sat down, did a mindmap of worse-case scenarios, and decided if I got stuck out of Israel I would go to Italy for a few days, instead.

It’s been on my bucket list for a while, but I am not planning to go anywhere soon – so this was a kind of mental win-win, which helped me get over the ‘what if’ fear of leaving Israel.

==

2) We can’t control anything, much, except our own responses and beliefs, so staying flexible is the key to staying happier.

I knew it was going to be a challenging trip, socially, as it’s the height of ‘lady season’ in Uman, between Tu B’Av and Elul.

I was on a coach with 110 other ladies, 90% of whom were trying to get married and find their bashert.

There were also a couple of grannies, a couple of mums with their batmitzvah daughters, and one teen who’d ‘won a trip to uman’ via her Breslov seminary.

That was my roommate at the Baal Shem Tov in Medzibozh, and boy, was she just thrilled to pieces to have an English-speaking old bag in the next bed over…

==

So, I let her have the room to herself as much as possible.

She was actually very sweet and considerate, but no 16 year old girl would be thrilled with that arrangement, so I ‘made myself scarce’ as much as possible – and actually spent a few hours trying to catch some zzzs on one of the benches in the renovated Apter Rebbe beit hamidrash in Medzibuzh, that I mostly had entirely to myself.

I don’t know how many people sleep on benches in the beit hamidrash any more, but I felt I was doing some sort of weird tikkun – and the bench was so wide, and I was so tired from an all-night bus ride, that I really did manage to sleep.

==

The next stop was Uman, via R Natan and the Kedushat Levi, so another 12 punctuated hours on the bus. A woman my age with her elderly mother asked me if I could move to the back of the bus, to the spare seat there.

Why?

Because it’s too noisy for my mother, she explained, with a look of quiet desperation in her eyes.

==

Now, I know I’m a polite Brit, and therefore always the weakest link when it comes to these types of things. It’s one of the things that has been a big challenge for me, to be honest.

But, I’d decided that staying flexible was important, and so, if I was meant to get my tikkun this way, so be it.

The first five minutes, the teenage girls next to me played ear-splitting Rabbenu trance really, really, really loud.

I had another six hours on the bus with them, to Uman.

But then, a strange thing happened: the music calmed down, the music got way more to my taste – and then, they started having a really interesting discussion about why Rabbenu yelled there is no yeoush in the world!!!!

==

Rabbenu wasn’t yelling for the people who were standing right next to him, listening, explained the 19 year old amateur rabbanit of the group. He was yelling for us, to our generation, far away, so we’d also hear him.

I literally got some of the best chizzuk and Torah of the whole trip from being in the back of the bus with those girls. The flexibility paid off, big time.

==

So, when the organiser realised that the hotel she’d booked for the group couldn’t accommodate everyone and was looking for people to go elsewhere, I volunteered.

Most people were being really stubborn, there for the ‘social experience’, the achdut, the fun of chatting with other women until 3 in the morning.

Me? I am never really such a big part of that anyway, not least because so few anglo women ever seem to  make it out to Uman these days.

And boy, did I hit the jackpot, by agreeing to move:

A room to myself, in the best hotel in Uman, which was just a little further up the road from the main hotel.

The next day, quite a few of the ‘achdut-moaners’ had also decided to jump ship, fed up with the overcrowding and constant noizz.

==

I’m going to skip a whole bunch here, about the lessons I learnt for myself, mamash over Shabbat. Maybe I’ll cover that another time.

In the meantime, the trip back to the airport was also full of tikkunim.

==

We had to leave at 3am… Everyone was getting messages from Israel that the country was back on high alert and ‘war with Iran’ could possibly kick off again, stuffing up the airport…Even the teenage girls had had enough ‘social’, and many of them were hogging two seats to themselves on the coach now, which meant that I got stuck sitting next to someone I didn’t know…

She turned out to be a really interesting BT who’d spent a few years as a tattoo artist in India and smoking a lot of pot, before she realised how totally and utterly pointless and meaningless her life was…

We had a really interesting conversation, and she gave me a lot of chizzuk. I actually enjoyed that bus ride the most.

==

Meanwhile, Kishinev airport was a big mess.

We’d all got there early, for a change, but they were expecting everyone to rush in two hours later, so only opened one counter for the flight.

As a polite  Brit, I knew I had no chance.

Here was the perfect test, to put all my ‘anger techuva’ into motion, whilst still trying to not be a total patsy, and see where I’d got to.

I joined the back of the mass of people not even pretending to form a queue. Tempers were flaring, people were tired and hungry, there was no aircon in the airport, even though it was really, really hot…

==

Then, an older Israeli woman appeared and decided to ‘adopt’ me as part of her strategic pushing in action.

Let’s queue over there, she told me, I think they are going to open that counter soon.

So, I did.

And a bunch of hairy arsim also bowled over there, and of course, pushed in front of us.

But then – the counter was apparently for the flight going to Turkey, so after 20 minutes, the old lady shrugged her shoulders and tried to push in elsewhere, while the arsim followed suit.

==

I stood there, with my suitcase, just trying to ‘accept’ that I was going to be last in the queue, obviously.

Why are you standing there? Someone from my bus shouted. You also need to get on the plane!

I sighed, started walking towards the back of the queue again – and just at that moment, they opened the new counter.

Of course, I got crushed by the stampede of hairy arsim and even the older lady again, who rushed back in front of me, because they were ‘before me’, and that status sticks, even when you go to five different queues, the toilet, and to have a smoke outside, in the meantime.

But the point was – I was ONLY 12 people from the front of that particular line.

For me, in that situation – this was an open miracle.

==

How quickly, all the pious discussions about ‘having emuna’ and ‘accepting with love’ can disappear, when stuck in a hot airport waiting to fly home…

Even for the most externally ‘frum’ people.

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On the plane back, I had the last test of flexibility.

Of course, I got given a middle seat. Of course. Seat ‘B’.

I get there, and see that Baruch Hashem, I would at least be flanked by two women, a young Russian teen, and an older chareidi woman. Just as I sat down – the older chareidi woman disappeared, and got replaced by some 60 something large guy with an obvious smokers’ twitch.

My heart sank.

But OK, Hashem, everything You do is for the best, so OK!!!

==

No snoozing next to that guy, instead 3 hours of trying to make sure my leg or arm doesn’t accidentally touch his.

Quite the test of endurance after a 12 hour journey, a three hour checking-in nightmare, and not even any chocolate to see me through it.

==

After two minutes, the smoker went to the toilet. I have no idea where he went after that, but he never came back.

Just before take off, I shifted over the aisle seat and had a relaxed trip where I could even put my feet up.

The flexibility had paid off again.

==

Life is kind of angry and annoying-making for most of us, at the moment.

No-one does well with uncertainty, and uncertainty is all we have at the moment.

It’s human nature to try to double-down and flip into ‘control’ mode to limit the damage.

But, we can’t.

We have to learn to let go, and let God.

Now, more than ever.

Because who really knows, what tomorrow brings?

And isn’t God doing everything for our very best? If we only take a deep breath, see everything as a test of middot, and a big spiritual tikkun, and do our best to let God guide our lives however He sees fit?

Very easy to write, very, very hard to do, in practise.

And without the help of Rebbe Nachman, probably, out of reach for most of us.

==

The last general lesson learned was this:

3) Nothing is going on, ‘online’ that any of us need to engage with.

I just took my dumb-phone to Uman, and was out of ‘online’ contact for 6 whole days. It was bliss. I stayed in touch with my family via text and a few short calls.

I got home, checked ‘online’, and saw that it’s all the same old bollocks, all the same nothing, hevel hevelim. I literally missed nothing at all from being offline for six days, and instead, I actually gained my time, headspace and ability to focus better, again.

How much time we all waste, caught up in Whats App groups and pointless ‘news’.

==

If you didn’t go to Uman yet this year – make your plans.

If you’re a guy, go for Rosh Hashana.

If you don’t like Rosh Hashana, go now instead, or book to go straight after – but go!

War or no war, money or no money – don’t let fear run your life!

I got my batteries recharged in Uman this time, and I learnt so many things that are giving me energy and motivation to move forward again, and to try to resolve stuff that’s been stuck and making me miserable for a very long time.

It’s not an easy trip, but you get the tikkunim there, so you can have a much sweeter life at home.

It’s the deal of the century.

But don’t just take my word for it, try it for yourself.

 

 

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Digital IDs and what’s really going on in Gaza?

Let me spoil the ending, and tell you upfront I have no idea what’s really going on in Gaza.

But I came across this very thought-provoking article mostly on digital IDs, with a bit about the ‘experiment’ in Gaza, that was v. interesting reading.

And not least, in the middle of that article there is this video, reminding us exactly how the scamdemic helped put us in our current situation, across the globe:

(Not shmirat eynayim friendly, but a really useful shout-out to all those who withstood this. Looking back, it’s crazy as many people stood up to this, as did. And for those who didn’t – don’t fall for it the next time around).

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Bardak and Bein HaZmanim

This is quite funny, and very apropos Bein HaZmanim

==

It’s amazing, totally, that after the sort of year we’ve had here in Eretz Yisrael, we are just carrying on with life as usual.

Who is like Your people, Hashem?!

Really, it boggles the mind.

And probably, as well as being a rich and potent source of PTSD, this ability to just keep absorbing the ‘madness’, but then carry on living, is also a big part of the secret to how the Jews have survived this long.

Still, would be nice to have a bit more ‘fluff’, and a bit less ‘steel’ to deal with.

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Yuval Kogan, Rabbenu, and an amazing kiddush Hashem

Last week, four year old Yuval Kogan went missing in Ashkelon, amongst the sand dunes.

My heart really sank, when I heard that. I was expecting the worst, mamash.

Instead, a miracle happened, and he was found alive after 27 (?) hours, by a Breslov guy who joined the search for Yuval, then happened to get lost on the way back to his farm.

And that’s when he spotted Yuval under a tree, and rescued him.

Here’s the interview, it’s such a kiddush Hashem, and also, another example of the power of Rebbe Nachman.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

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The State was really founded by HarryTruman – more comments from the Rav

Excerpt of shiur from 7th Tammuz, 5786, to Yeshivat Chachma ve daat

(The Rav has been speaking about how yeshiva students shouldn’t be spending their time working out in the gym, and should be concentrating on their learning. He continues.)

In any case, we need to know that the first thing is not to participate in body-building competitions.

There is what to read [instead], there’s the Zohar, that [the Angel of Ishmael] requested 400 years [to rule over Eretz Yisrael].[1] And they ruled here for 400 years, until Allenby arrived.

Here, [in Jerusalem], there is no ‘Allenby Street’. Now, I was in Netanya, and I saw Harry Truman [Street] – they made him a road. This State was founded by Harry Truman, not Ben Gurion, and not Moshe Sharett, and not Golda Meir.

The person who founded the State was Harry Truman and Masaryk.

==

Everyone said, yalla, let them destroy the Jews, it’s enough! We have no more strength for these Jews.

But he said no.

So then, the Arabs said that there wouldn’t be any oil, for half a year [during the Yom Kippur War of 1973] there was no oil. There was no-one who would sell it.

At that time time we were in Holland, and everyone was with their bicycles. They distributed bikes for free, half-price, a third of the price. They subsidised it with payments. All the Dutch travel around on bikes – there was no oil.

And Holland was, at that time, a good friend of ours, so they said we don’t need petrol.

==

[When they founded the State in 1947] Truman said, we don’t need petrol, the ikker [main thing] is that there shouldn’t be rivers of blood here. There was his speech.

And Harry Truman said:

I, from the age of 10, I said I would return the Jews to Eretz Yisrael. I want to be Koresh [Cyrus].

He used to study Tanach every day. Lincoln only studied Tanach. Lincoln, who founded [the modern United States of] America – only Tanach. There are non-Jews who only study Tanach.

==

There was Bedford – he only learned Tanach.

He founded America, Bedford, with his laws. He said, here, we are going to keep Shabbat.

But, they didn’t know what ‘Shabbat’ was, so they travelled to the sea, OK. But there is no football on Shabbat, there just isn’t. So then they said, when are we meant to play football?! So they made two days of ‘holiday’ [i.e. the weekend].

Shabbat according to the halacha, and they recited the prayers, and everything. And Sunday, this is for football. They only worked five days, this was the scheme of the ‘time to come’…

==

So Lincoln, he said that only the Jews are the ‘truth’.

And he held a vote, to kick them out of America, like they did in Spain. It didn’t pass by one vote. He suppressed everything, because everything was Sephardim.

The whole of Florida, and Texas, and Oklahoma, and Virginia – everything there was Sephardim, everything! They were the first ones who came to America. So, they were the majority, and they said they should banish the Jews.

The first thing, was to kick out the Jews, and then, they suppressed it with one vote.

I had a book about Lincoln, someone should bring it. He said how much he worried about the Jews, and how much he was in favour of the Jews.

==

So Harry Truman said, from the age of 10, I was going to return the Jews to Eretz Yisrael, I am going to be Cyrus.

The Gemara says that Cyrus said:

“Whoever is among you of His entire people…”[2]

It’s the last verse in Ezra, he said “Whoever is among you of His entire people” – he should have told them All of you go to Eretz Yisrael! To kick them out.

Only 4,000 out of 10 million ascended [to Israel].

==

So then it’s written at the end of Ezra-Nehemia, “Whoever is among you of His entire people”.

The olim from the generation that was exiled [from Eretz Yisrael after the destruction of the First Temple], Whoever is among you of His entire people”. Divrei HaYamim,the writings of Ezra, here, it’s the end of Divrei haYamim, in the first year of Cyrys.

==

So, Harry Truman said, I want to be Cyrus. I am going to return the Jews to Eretz Yisrael.

That’s how it was. Rosov said that not a single Jew [would remain alive, if the State was declared]. He died after 16 days, [he said this on] April 22, and on May 8th [he was dead].

==

“Thus said Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has Hashem, God of heaven, given to me and He has commanded me to build Him a temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah”[3]

It’s written in verse 45 of Isaiah:

“Thus said Hashem to his moshiach [i.e. anointed one], to Cyrus”, you are Cyrus.

There were a few others, who were called Cyrus. Daniel used to see him every day, and say to him you are Cyrus, who was prophesied about. [Cyrus] was the bodyguard of Nebuchadnezzer.

He said [to Daniel] no, be quiet! They will hang me!

==

Translated and Excerpted from Shivivei Or # 465.

==

So, I never heard of this proposal to “kick the Jews out” under Lincoln, before the Rav said this, above.

(BTW, explain to me again how the Rav knows all this stuff… we keep looking for miracle-workers and lighting on people who really are not. Here, in front of our faces, we have proof time and time again, that the Rav knows things that really can only be ruach hakodesh. Even professors of Jewish history know nothing about this stuff.)

I went looking, and here’s what I found:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43057797.pdf

Here is a relevant snippet – but the whole paper is bang on the topic, if you are interested in this stuff:

“President Lincoln’s administration was marked by a few noteworthy incidents affecting the Jews as a body, the most important being the appointment of a Jewish chaplain in 1861-62, and the proposed expulsion of the Jews “as a class ” from within the lines of General Grant’s army in 1862-63.”

The stuff about the weekend is also in this paper, and also, that Lincoln himself apparently claimed he had Jewish ancestors.

==

“Bedford” seems to be this guy:

Gunning Bedford Jr, an american Founding Father and lawyer. Snippet from HERE:

Bedford was later also named as a member of the Constitutional Convention which met in Philadelphia in the Summer of 1787. At the Constitutional Convention, Bedford was a strong voice for the rights of small states and helped to debate, draft and sign the United States Constitution.

==

According to THIS, Bedford was of course also a leading Freemason. Snippet:

==

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Zohar, commentary on Shmot, Parshat Vayera, 31b.

[2] Ezra 1:3. The full verse reads: “Whoever is among you of His entire people—may his God be with him—and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the Temple of Hashem, God of Israel—He is the God!—which is in Jerusalem.”

[3] Ezra, 1:2.

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