Well, this is turning into quite the journey of discovery, here.

There are so many new leads popping up about the people behind ‘Kol HaTor’, and messianic xtians, and Sabbateans, and ‘z-ionism’, that’s it’s hard to keep track of it all.

I know this is quite a provocative title, but by the end of this post, you’ll have a lot more information to help you think for yourself, about what might be really going on here, in our failed State.

So, let’s proceed in a methodological way, just bringing more of the information ‘out there’ together, so you, dear reader, can engage with it in your own way, at your own level, and come to your own conclusions.

==

The next piece of information comes from reader N., who sent me a link to an introduction to ‘Kol HaTor’ on ARI GOLDWAG’s website, HERE.

It’s entitled: R’ CHAIM FRIEDLANDER’S INTRODUCTION TO KOL HATOR

Here’s a snippet of how Goldwag introduces his translation:

The following is my translation of R’ Chaim Friedlander’s introduction to the book “Kol Hator.” R’ Chaim Friedlander was the Mashgiach in Ponevizh yeshiva in B’nei Brak, and was the publisher of many seforim, including many of the seforim of the Ramchal.

R’ Friedlander also had a number of volumes of his own published posthumously by his children, and they are seeped with the Torah of the Ramchal, the Maharal, and his rebbe, R’ Elya Lopian.

==

Kol Hator, as you will soon see, is the book that describes the Geulah process in depth, and also focuses on the concept of Moshiach ben Yosef, which we have discussed many times here at length.

It is important to understand the root of these teachings, and the quality of their validity, based on those who were the bearers of the traditions themselves.

Keep in mind that this introduction was written a number of years ago by R’ Friedlander, who passed away in the mid-eighties.

It is extremely interesting, and contains much biographical information that is probably not available anywhere else.

It specifically speaks about the early history of the current Jewish settlement of Jerusalem and the surrounding areas, which dates back to the early eighteen hundreds.

==

It’s very useful to go and read that introduction by R FRIEDLANDER, if you really want to bottom-out what is going on here.

I know it’s easier for everyone to just rely on the ‘factchecker’ – me, in this instance – but you know what? Even sincere ‘factcheckers’ aren’t infallible, and the more people engage with this material to figure out where this stuff is really coming from, and what’s really true – the faster the nightmare we’re stuck in unravels for everyone.

==

(BTW: I want to be very clear that I’m not suggesting R Friedlander himself was trying to dupe people. It’s very possible he was passing on this false information totally innocently, without understanding where it was really coming from, or why would someone lie about all this…)

====

So, here are the main bits of ‘biographical info’ that jumped out at me, from the translation of R Friedlander’s intro to ‘Kol HaTor’, from the edition published in 1968, on Ari Goldwag’s site.

I will bold the bits in R Friedlander’s into, then add my comments afterwards in normal font.

==

• “Kol Hator” was originally released by SHLOMO ZALMAN RIVLIN.

Shlomo Zalman Rivlin is the cantor who wrote a bunch of books about ‘Rivlin family history’, who some academics state is the true author / editor of ‘Kol HaTor’.

He was also a leading member of the ‘World ACHaVA Brotherhood’ secret society, operating out of Jerusalem, that got R AVRAHAM KOOK his job as the first ‘Chief Rabbi’ of Israel.

Shlomo Zalman Rivlin is also the nephew of the YITZHAK ZVI RIVLIN, the ‘Preacher of Redemption’, who Eli Eshed and other researchers believe was the real author / editor of Kol HaTor – this guy:

 

YITZHAK ZVI RIVLIN was also the Rav of the ‘World ACHaVA’ secret society neighborhood in Jerusalem.

==

• ‘Kol HaTor’ was released ‘twenty years ago in Jerusalem’ [i.e. 1947] but R Friedlander doesn’t know when, exactly, because “the book was released in stages over a number of years for lack of funds.”

==

• R Friedlander himself states that “only a few lone pieces [of the original work] remained in the possession of Rav Rivlin’s son [SHMUEL RIVLIN] as well as a few of his relatives.

SHMUEL RIVLIN was the son of SHLOMO ZALMAN RIVLIN, above.

When his father died, SHMUEL RIVLIN (1915-1994) took over leading the ‘World ACHaVA’ lodges in Israel.

THIS is his Hebrew Wiki page, and here are a few pertinent snippets:

He was born in Jerusalem on September 15, 1915, the son of cantor and cantorial teacher Shlomo Zalman Rivlin.

He studied at the ETZ CHAIM Talmud Torah and Yeshiva, and then at the LUMJA Lumja Yeshiva in Petah Tikva, and at the MERCAZ HARAV in Jerusalem.

At the age of twenty, he was ordained to the rabbinate by Rabbi YAAKOV MOSHE HARLAP and Rabbi BEN ZION CHAI UZIEL….

Rivlin continued his father’s activities and was involved in the WORLD AHAVA ASSOCIATION. He served as secretary of the Bureau Center, and founded several bureaus in Israel and South Africa.

====

‘Bureau’ can also be read ‘lodge’.

But this is the SHMUEL RIVLIN who apparently ends up with fragments of the KOL HATOR, pushing the idea that anyone who participates in the settlement of Eretz Yisrael in any way is a ‘spark’ of MBY.

Even if they are a Torah-hating, anti-God, anti-Judaism apikorus.

====

Next, R FRIEDMAN explains that as no biography of the Kol HaTor’s presumed author, HILLEL RIVLIN of SHKLOV, was included in the first edition:

• Therefore, we decided to fill in this lack, and we have put together a short synopsis based on the material found in the book “Chazon Tzion,” which will give us an idea of [HILLEL RIVILIN’s]  lifetime and the path he chose, lit by the light of his Torah.

CHAZON ZION –  a history of the RIVLIN family that could win prizes for creative fiction – was written by none other than that same SHLOMO ZALMAN RIVLIN, leading member of the WORLD ACHaVA Brotherhood.

All the proof of authorship is circular, repeated by different people down to the line until it becomes ‘the truth’.

==

Next, R FRIEDMAN starts talking about how HILLEL RIVLIN was born to his father BINYAMIN RIVLIN, in 1758, who is super wealthy, and a big supporter of Torah in Shklov.

Here’s the bits that jumped out at me:

• Rebbi Binyomin was a spiritual individual and extremely active in causes for Torah and chessed. He donated his money to establish a great Yeshiva in Shklov, whose learning was patterned after the approach of the Gr”a, with the Gr”a’s approbation.

• Through Rebbe Binyomin’s influence, many of his wealthy friends moved themselves and their businesses to Shklov. His intent was to form a group of people to support the great center of Torah that he had established.

• During his lifetime the city merited to be called “Yavneh Dreizen” and Rebbi Binyomin was referred to as the “builder of the city Shlov and its wise ones.”

====

According to genealogist NEIL ROSENSTEIN, BINYAMIN RIVLIN of SHKLOV was married to DREIZA / DREIZEL ZEITLIN.

The daughter of the super-wealthy Russian court factor called YEHOSHUA ZEITLIN who was also BINYAMIN RIVLIN’s business partner.

Don’t you think it’s strange, that these key facts are being omitted?

As a btw, ‘YAVNEH D’REIZEN’ could also be a sort of pun on BINYAMIN RIVLIN’s wife – he built the ‘YAVNEH DREIZA’, with his wealthy father-in-law’s cash….

====

Next, R FRIEDMAN gives over the ‘dream’ that BINYAMIN RIVLIN (BR) is meant to have had when he was 52, that’s meant to have been interpreted by the GRA as being a sign BR should start trying to ‘settle’ Eretz Yisrael:

• We still have one of [BINYAMIN of SHKLOV’s] sermons preserved from that time period, in which he speaks about the idea of the ingathering of the exiles, based on the verse in Yirmyah 31, “הנני מביא אותם מארץ צפון” – I am bringing them from a Northern land.

• According to Rebbi Binyomin, this verse teaches that from a Northern land – from Russia which is to the extreme North of Jerusalem, and more specifically from the city of Shklov – the inspiration will begin to return to Tzion and to rebuild Jerusalem.

• Through Rebbi Binyomin’s efforts, a movement began in Shklov to return to Tzion, a movement that the Gr”a called “Chazon Tzion.”

• Shklov merited that most of the first Olim to Eretz Yisroel came from it, and that it became an example in the eyes of the Jews dispersed in exile.

• Rebbi Binyomin himself left Shklov in 5572 (1812) headed for Eretz Yisroel, however, he did not reach his desired destination, as he passed away en route.

====

Please pause now, and go back and read the series of blog posts I put up a few months ago, about the maskilim of SHKLOV – one and the same group of people as BINYAMIN RIVLIN, YEHOSHUA ZEITLIN, and BORUCH SHICK (the freemason and grandson to the Alter Rebbe of Chabad).

You can see that HERE.

====

Another interesting CO-IN-CID-ENCE is that BINYAMIN RIVLIN of Shklov dies on the road, ‘en route’ to Eretz Yisrael, exactly the same time the ALTER REBBE of CHABAD also dies ‘en route’, apparently running away from Napoleon.

==

Now we get into the meat of the claims made for HILLEL RIVLIN, grandson of BARON YEHOSHUA ZEITLIN of SHKLOV and son of BINYAMIN.

Let’s bullet-point them, for ease of reference – and remember, all of this stuff is being culled from the writings of SHLOMO ZALMAN RIVLIN, with no other supporting sources (that I am currently aware of).

• HILLEL RIVLIN studies under the GRA for 17 years, and is one of his main students.

There is no evidence for this statement – see the discussion on KOL HATOR on the IBROX forum in Hebrew HERE. (The other links are now dead…. That’s happening a lot around this subject.)

==

• In the year 5543 (1783), when the Gr”a saw that it was not Hashem’s intent for he himself to enter into Eretz Yisroel, he decided to give this heavenly mission into the hands of his student, Rebbi Hillel.

• Rebbi Hillel was the person chosen by the Gr”a to be placed at the helm of the great “Chazon Tzion” movement. The Gr”a also taught him all the secrets of the beginnings of the Redemption process, and all the specific actions that would be necessary on the part of the Jewish people to bring about the complete redemption process…..This Torah was collated by Rebbi Hillel into a great and deep book, and the essence of that book is the book “Kol Hator” which we have in front of us.

Again, there is no evidence for this, nor for the next bit of the ‘claim’ made in R FRIEDMAN’s intro to Kol HaTor, that Hillel Rivlin arrived in Jerusalem in 1809 and started setting up the ‘yishuv’ of the GRA’s Perushim then.

The historical evidence so far shows that HILLEL RIVLIN didn’t make it out to Israel until 1832.

The person who was trying to set the Perushim up in Jerusalem at this time was MENACHEM MENDEL OF SHKLOV.

(We wrote about him, and his Sabbatean leanings, and his descendents who became xtian missionaries HERE.)

==

Skipping a bunch of hagiographic bunkum, we now get to the next link in the chain of RIVLINs trying to throw their weight around in the Holy Land, namely – R MOSHE MAGGID RIVLIN.

You can read the foreword yourself, but bottom line is we’re told that MOSHE RIVLIN is also presented to the GRA aged 15, and told he has a special gift to encourage people to go to Eretz Yisrael.

• With a fiery spirit, he followed the request of the Gr”a, and spent much time speaking about the desire for Tzion, to the point where he became known as “Rebbi Moshe the Doresh Tzion.”

==

The next link is YOSEF YUSHA RIVLIN – son  of MOSHE MAGGID RIVLIN.

He’s also the brother of YITZHAK ZVI RIVLIN, the ‘Preacher of Redemption’ – and Rav of the ‘ACHaVA Brotherhood’ neighborhood in Jerusalem. This guy:

==

And that brings us around again to YOSEF YUSHA’s son, the Cantor and leading ACHaVA Bro, SHLOMO ZALMAN RIVLIN, who first publishes KOL HATOR, claiming it’s the Torah of the Gra, as captured by his ‘main student’ HILLEL RIVLIN of SHKLOV.

Do you still believe that?

==

While you are pondering, here’s some more interesting info to consider.

That last par on ARI GOLDWAG’s site says this:

If you are interested in reading an authentic English translation of the book Kol Hator, Click here. The translation was done by Rav Yechiel Bar Lev, who was a student of R’ Chaim Friedlander. He has approbations from Rav Ovadiah Yosef, Rav Chaim Kanievsky, The Badatz Eidah Chareidis, Rav Avraham Shapiro, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, and Rav Mordechai Gross, which you can see on his website www.yedidnefesh.com.

==

I clicked that first link – it’s dead.

I clicked the bottom link – it also seemed to be dead. So then, I took the yedidnefesh.com address, plugged it into the Wayback machine to see what would turn up, and got to THIS archived homepage describing the many great works of RAV YECHIEL BAR LEV.

He’s meant to be the official English translator of KOL HATOR, and apparently has haskamot from:

R MORDECHAI GROSS

R MORDECHAI ELIYAHU

R CHAIM KANIEVSKY

R OVADIA YOSEF

R AVRAHAM SHAPIRA

And the ‘BETH DIN TZEDEK’ – who styles the author: “The Rav, the Gaon, the metzion”, and a few other superlatives, for his work ‘YEDID NEFESH’.

Hmmm.

====

(At this stage, having completed the research set out here, I think these haskamot are fake. I am very happy if readers want to help me pin that down more- plenty of big, sincere people got ‘fooled’ by Kol HaTor, but at least some of these haskamot seem faked – take a look at the one attributed to R Chaim Kanievsky, for example.)

====

Here’s a snippet from that home page of the YEDIDNEFESH.COM site, archived from 2015:

It is appropriate here to draw the reader’s attention to two people responsible for bringing this book to the light of day for the English-speaking public. Rabbi Yechlel Bar Lev of Petach Tikva was the principal translator and inspiring force behind this work. Rabbi Bar Lev is one of Torah Judaism’s outstanding experts on Kabbalah. He is the author and translator/editor of major works widely used in Israel and the Diaspora…..

He also recently completed the stupendous job of translating into Hebrew from Aramaic, and with his own commentary, the entire Talmud Yerushalmi (14 volumes). Rabbi Bar Lev’s website is www.yedidnefesh.com

==

Yoav Baram of Brookline, MA. and Safed Israel, was the other force behind this pubilcation.

A ba’al teshuvah since 1990, when he was an overseas student at Tel Aviv University (where the total secularism and indifference to God and Judaism were painful to behold), Yoav has been inspired to share his love of Kabbalah and faith in the Geulah with other baalei teshuvah.

He used his own limited funds and raised money to produce the translation of this book from Hebrew to English; and he hopes to do the same with respect to the Vilna Gaon’s commentary on the Sefer Yetzirah, also the Ari z?l?s Shaar HaGilgulim and selected works of the Abir Yaakov (Abuehatzeira).

As Yoav?s father and partner, I am happy to assist in these truly noble endeavors.

Pinchas Baram

====

I’ve never heard of either R YECHIEL AVRAHAM HA LEVI BAR LEV, nor his translation buddy YOAV BARAM.

As I’m clicking around the archived version of the YEDIDNEFESH site from 2015, all of a sudden, it turns into this:

A site written by a Jewish heretic who is writing stuff that sounds INCREDIBLY similar to the stuff put out by JOEL DAVID BAKST.

==

This is where it gets even stranger.

When I try to track down who is ‘officially’ meant to be writing the ‘ADAM DECODED’ site, that morphed around 2015 from the YEDIDNEFESH site with all those haskamot (assuming they are genuine….), I get to this guy:

==

Does ‘LEON BIBI’ sound like a real name to you?

When I stick his official bio picture from Amazon in to Tineye, it only comes up once across the whole web – on Jim Malliard’s website.

BTW, the main thrust of ‘LEON BIBI’s books and ADAM DECODED website is that Adam was an alien….

(I think we just hit more of the baal teshuvahs abusing drugs like DMT in Jerusalem, while trying to get all ‘mystical’ learning kabbalah with spiritual short cuts….)

Whoever else he may be, ‘LEON BIBI’ is now a God-denying apikorus.

==

OK, so now I try some of the other names on the YEDIDNEFESH website, to see if I can find anyone ‘real’ associated with the official English translation of the ‘Kol HaTor’ project.

First up is PINCHAS BARAM, the father of YOAV BARAM.

Initially, I thought I’d tracked him down quite fast – he shows up as an ‘op-ed’ contributor on Arutz7, and comments on other people’s sites, like this one on ynet:

==

But then…. His pieces on Arutz7  have been scrubbed, leaving just this image from the cache:

==

But here he apparently is again, with another ‘op ed’ for AMERICANTHINKER.COM from 2017:

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/03/jew_vs_jew_some_humor_on_why_some_israelis_sympathize_with_west_bank_arabs.html

==

And to bring this up to date, this particular comment from ‘PINCHAS BARAM’ is from March 2024, on Frontpage Magazine, HERE.

==

I am getting the impression I’ve just tripped over a group of journalist-spooks and ‘influencers’.

So now, let’s try ‘PINCHAS BARAM’s’ son, YOAV BARAM.

Is it this guy – another blogger talking about ‘UFOs’ on the ISRAELSEEN site, back in 2014?

Besides that, and a weird ‘entry’ for him with a Hebrew University email address, but no bio or any other details….I am pulling yet another blank.

==

The last of the KOL HATOR English ‘translators’ is R YECHIEL BAR LEV.

Again… I am not turning up much outside of that same yedidnefesh site (more on that in a mo).

Except apparently, as well as doing three different English translations of Kol HaTor, ‘YECHIEL BAR LEV’ also translated another very interesting book, namely the Maggid Mesharim, by R Yosef Karo. (Apparently. There is a big controversy over whether this book is actually authentic, too.)

I have that book on my shelf – my husband and I found it very disturbing, when we bought it and read it many years ago.

Now, it’s only a ‘throw away’ reference on a Chabad site HERE, that links YECHIEL BAR LEV to this translation, as the book isn’t even listed on Amazon:

“[E]xcellent translation of R. Yosef Karo’s Maggid Mesharim by R. Yechiel Bar Lev and K Skaist.”

==

Back on the yedidnefesh.com site, there are some old contact details ‘R YECHIEL BAR LEV’ for anyone who wants to ‘donate’:

Screenshot from HERE:

==

Now, I take a closer look at the haskamot , and I’m convinced at least the one claimed to be from R Kanievsky is fake – no dates, no address, not even an official ‘stamp’, just some words said to be from one of R Kanievsky’s students, SHIMON WEISSBERG.

I am VERY happy for readers to join me in trying to figure this stuff out.

This is kind of a shocking discovery, even for me.

Tov.

==

This story just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

I’m not a betting person, but if I was, I would ‘bet’ that the persona of YECHIEL BAR LEV was created solely to push an English translation of Kol HaTor – which is now being picked up and amplified by literally millions of xtians worldwide, especially in connection with all the ‘Ten Tribes’ stuff.

Don’t take my word for it – just do a google search and see who comes back quoting it. This is just the top 5  sites that popped up:

https://hebrewnations.com/articles/messiah/turtledove.html – the Brit / Am website with ‘YAIR DAVIDIY’ – this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsTg-uJIQYujqZ83QtidAkg

==

His Youtube channel also has links to ‘R ABRAHAM FELD’ – I cannot stress how ‘weird’ all this is getting, even for me.

HERE is a post about ‘ABRAHAM FELD’ on the Brit-Am site – and his links with the last Rebbe of Chabad, who it’s claimed gave him a blessing to work with ‘Ephraimites’.

[A] meeting was arranged between Avraham and the Rabbi of Lubavitch. The Rabbi blessed Avraham that he should merit to bring the Jewish youth he was dealing with closer to the right path. Avraham then requested a blessing that he should also merit to be able to reach out to the Gentiles he came in contact with, especially since he felt that many of them were of Israelite descent.

==

The Rebbe replied: “Of course they are”.

The Rebbe then blessed Avraham that he should merit to have a good influence on Jews and on Gentiles of Israelite descent.

At the time Rabbi Avraham assumed that the blessing pertained specifically to the particular task he was then dealing with.

Rabbi Avraham Feld later believed that the blessing included his later work with Brit-Am and “Ephraimites” in general.

Rabbi Feld is no longer a member of Brit-Am and has been “released” from whatever ties he may have had.

==

Just go and read it yourself, if you can be bothered.

Now, AVRAHAM FELD is apparently closely associated with that KolHator.com website that’s been run as a (secret….) ‘outreach’ project by the xtian Stand for Israel, which is funded by the International Council of Jews and Christians (ICJC).

==

Here’s some more xtian Trojan horses, all galloping merrily around the English translation of Kol HaTor – and making the false claim that the Kol HaTor website is run by ‘orthodox Jews’:

https://stevenmcollins.com/recommendation-kol-hator-website-and-pending-conference-on-ten-tribes-of-israel/

Snippet:

I have spoken with Mr. Avrahami OvadYah, a leader of the Kol Hator organization, on the phone and we have much common ground on matters involving the ten tribes of Israel and the need for mutual recognition and cooperation between all the tribes of Israel. Rabbi Avraham Feld, one of Rabbis involved with Kol Hator, is a friend of mine who I met in my August 2000 trip to Israel and I  have the highest regard for him.

Obviously, since Kol Hator is an Orthodox Jewish organization, you will see Jewish perspectives at their website, but Christians will likely be pleasantly surprised to see that their website does address New Testament themes and Christian issues as they seek to promote unity on common ground among Christians and Jews in the modern houses of Israel and Judah.

Another trait of Kol Hator is that it promotes Christian and Jewish interactions re: the ten tribes of Israel with a commitment to each group not proselytizing the other to promote maximum cooperation.

==

Wow.

There is so much stuff out there linked to this Kol HaTor translation (done by people who apparently don’t exist in the ‘real world’) about the ‘12 Tribes’ and all the xtian bunkum in Revelations about the ‘older serving the younger’ – the blessing of Ephraim, which the xtians are twisting to claim Jews need to be serving them….

But that will do for today.

And we still didn’t get near to explaining who and what the WORLD ACHaVA BROTHERHOOD – which had xtian links right from the start, and who started off all this ‘Kol HaTor’ frenzy – really was, or what they were really up to, here in the Holy Land.

BH, I will do that next.

====

PS: Just to reiterate: I know this stuff is highly sensitive.

It’s increasingly appearing that the Erev Rav in our midst collaborated with xtian missionaries to put together a pseudo-kabbalistic tract called the ‘Kol HaTor’, where they twisted authentic kabbalistic teachings to achieve their own political and spiritual ends.

God forbid, I’m not saying everyone who fell for this, and who has been quoting Kol HaTor in all sincerity was out to dupe people deliberately.

What I AM saying, is that we know the Erev Rav work by way of deception.

And when we take a closer look at what the World ACHaVA Brotherhood was really about, and who was part of it, this incredible claim about the Kol HaTor ‘deception’ will start to stand on much firmer ground.

With God’s help.