Uzza got electrocuted – more comments from the Rav
Shavua Tov.
I did a long hitbodedut about what’s going on here, on the blog, and whether to stop or to continue.
I realised that even if there is censorship – it’s coming from Hashem, as a message. What seems to be attracting the censorship is every time I talk about ‘current news’ stuff, instead of just sticking up words from the Rav, or doing my own historical research (which usually attracts no comments from readers = doesn’t spark off the censorship mechanism in the same way.)
To put this another way – it’s when I’m writing anything ‘news’ that I am having this problem.
So, I am taking it as a message from Hashem, that I need to continue to focus on stuff that’s not ‘news’, especially, Rav translations and the historical stuff.
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My kids told me that Instagram is full of people starting to doubt the narrative on all sorts of ‘mainstream’ propaganda now, in any case.
Stuff I was talking about 7 years ago is now going mainstream…. so, even though there is part of me that loves discussing current affairs, and enjoys putting the pieces together about what might be going on….God is telling me to stick to the other stuff.
The stuff that takes me hours upon hours to write and research.
The stuff that gets very few comments, or feedback.
S0, that’s what I’m going to do, going forward, and we’ll see if my blog settles down again.
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Last week, the Rav made some very interesting comments that have a direct bearing on stuff that is getting censored here.
I’m bringing the first snippet below, watch out for the next one – then put them together, and see what you can figure out.
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Shiur given during Malaveh Malka, 29th Nissan 2025 (26th April, 2025)
[The Rav has previously been speaking of the high level of Nadav and Avihu, who were struck down by the altar when trying to bring a ‘strange fire’ before Hashem, and how they were greater than Moshe and Aaron. Then, the Rav starts speaking about when King David tried to bring the Ark of the Tabernacle up to Jerusalem, after it had been recaptured from the Philistines.]
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There was a problematic boy, he was called Uzza…
What happened to Uzza, do you remember? [Someone answers:] He died. [The Rav replies]: That’s correct.
So, the Gemara says in [Tractate] Sotah, that he got to ‘Goren Nachon’ – this is the Holy of Holies. He[1] approached the Holy of Holies, and the Ark wanted him to be stopped. He approached to the Kodesh Kodeshim.
After this, it took David another 37 years, until he revealed this.
Thirty-three years, until he…[text missing in original].
Seven years he was in Hebron. When he came to Jerusalem, he immediately brought the Ark from Kiryat Yearim – and suddenly, Uzza died.
(He used to learn in Shuvu Banim, I remember. He was a little problematic. So, he simply died on the spot.)…
All this, the Gemara recounts in Sotah 35b. Each person should read this when they get home.
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[Skipping a discussion about how King David made Jerusalem the Holy of Holies by uncovering the foundation stone, and almost drowned in the attempt, as he’d uncovered the tahom, the depths.]
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Shmuel II:6, 3-7:
“They placed the Ark of God upon a new wagon and carried it from the house of Avinadav, which was in Gibeah. Uzza and Ahio, the sons of Avinadav, guided the new wagon. They carried it from Avinadav’s house, which was in Gibeah, with the Ark of God, and Ahio walked in front of the Ark.
“David and the entire House of Israel were rejoicing before Hashem with all kinds of cypress-wood instruments – with harps, lyres, drums, timbrels and cymbals. They came to the threshing floor of Nachon (‘Goren Nachon]), and Uzzah reached out to the Ark of God and grasped it, for the oxen had dislodged it.
Hashem became angry at Uzza and God struck him there for the blunder; and Uzza died there by the Ark of God.”
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So, this is Shmuel I:6. It’s written that they brought the Ark of God.
Back then, all the Jews from Gibeah brought it, they brought it on a wagon. And ‘Ahio walked’, and also Uzza, and then the Ark shifted – the Ark simply bounced out of the wagon, and wanted to alight on the ground, on the floor.
This was the Kodesh Kodeshim, ‘Goren Nachon’.
“[A]nd Uzzah reached out to the Ark of God and grasped it.” He thought that the Ark was falling.
As soon as he touched it – he died on the spot.
He was electrocuted.
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And that’s why I always say about [Tractate] Hagigah 13 – don’t learn this page!
Because the two were electrocuted, there.[2]
Whoever knows how to cut off the electricity – they can learn. So, the two were electrocuted, and the same thing [with Uzza], when he touched the Ark.
Straightaway, he died.
Translated from Shivivei Or, 406
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] Given the Rav’s continuation, it appears that the Rav is saying that the Ark wanted King David to be stopped, from building the first Temple, but that David only understood this 37 years later, when he was told that the Temple would be built by his son, Shlomo.
[2] A reference to Nadav and Avihu.
I missed those historical posts anyway. So much amazing information you put in them, always.
Lately my father has taken to insulting me and ridiculing me in sundry ways because I know that the Earth is flat. I know that the Rav and Rabbi Nachman say to be humiliated and scorned is a very great merit. Only how do I strengthen myself enough to withstand such insults and humiliation and all that? For example, being accused of “Then you’re just throwing all of Science in the trash!” and the like, when I am not, is not something I’m used to. But I want to reach the merit of accepting ridicule and insults with love.
It’s a very, very high level.
I am not usually there myself – I usually blow back, at least once – and then try and accept the rest ‘with love’. (Having a teenager was a very useful practise, but you aren’t there yet.)
So tachlis: try and avoid the discussion with your dad as much as possible. If that’s not possible, try and ‘get out of it’ as fast as you can – you need the toilet, you forgot something you need to go out and get, there’s a call you need to do for school, whatever.
And if you still get stuck being ‘insulted’ – do your best to accept and not blow back. But also, understand it’s one of the hardest tests in the world.
That’s why it’s so effective at cleaning off all of the sins.
Interesting, I didn’t think the AI post had anything to do with “news”.
Wondering if you can explain when obstacles & hardship are to be interpreted as signals to stop or change routes, & when they’re understood as those intended to withstand & overcome in order to grow ascend further.
The basic rule of thumb is that three things are acquired with difficulty, always: Torah, Olam Haba and Eretz Yisrael.
Obstacles in these areas are par for the course, and shouldn’t automatically be taken as ‘signs to stop’.
Then, with everything else, if I’m clearly doing something ‘wrong’ – it’s clearly a sign to stop.
If I have no idea what’s going on (most of the time….) then I go back to hitbodedut, and I ask God to show me what is going on, for me personally, and what He wants from me.
I nearly always get some clarity that way – God dafka wants the conversation, and He knows how confused and limited we are, and how much help we need to get the message, because we all have blind spots.
If the ‘takeaway message’ is correct (and it’s not one of three things above) – the problem usually resolves pretty fast. If not, then it reoccurs, and more hitbodedut is required, to figure out what God REALLY wants from me.
But, God is not interested in trying to ‘fool’ His creations. We fool ourselves, usually, which is why it can be hard to really figure out ‘the message’ if we don’t want to hear it.