Shavua tov!

Totally weird weather happening in Jerusalem at the moment.

A wall of fog / dust / who knows what, that’s been hanging around for more than 24 hours, no rain and lots of gusting wind. But the wind isn’t making a dint in that ‘fog’.

Or whatever it is.

Just adding to the general, all-round feeling of total weirdness going on at the moment.

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Still no update on the Rav’s whereabouts.

But there is the growing feeling that maybe, just maybe, things are starting to ‘move’, in some undefined way.

In the meantime, here’s an excerpt of a shiur from the 10th of Shvat – shortly before the Rav disappeared.

Talking about how Goliath’s brother wanted to crush King David to death in a ‘beit chabad’…

Enjoy!

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Excerpt of shiur from 10th Shvat, 5786

The Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) was also one of the hatufim (the hostages).

David was one of the hatufim. They said they brought everyone back, but they didn’t bring everyone. They still didn’t bring the Rebbe back, they didn’t bring [King] David back.

The Rebbe chai v’kayam! They didn’t bring David back.

Avishai caught him.

[The Rav now returns to a story he’s told before, about how Goliath’s brother, also a giant named Yishbi, kidnapped King David and tried to crush him to death under a ‘beit chabad’, aka olive press. Yishbi said he was the avenger of the blood of his brother, Goliath, who David had killed.]

[David said to him]:

What’s between me and your brother?! What do you want from me?! I killed your brother?1 What are you talking about, that I killed your brother? Bring a picture! Take a photo! Prove it! There are no witnesses! What are you talking about?!

[Yishbi replied]:

You killed my brother! My brother! My brother!

[David said]:

Who knows, who your brother even is?

-You killed my brother!

OK.

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So, Yishbi took him and put him on the press of the beit chabad.

All of this is written in the Gemara, Tractate Sanhedrin 95a. He wanted to crush him.

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Now, in another 60 days its Pesach.

We need to get oil ready for Pesach, already. The wife of Hoffman used to make him oil from nuts. They didn’t use to accept the regular bottles [of oil for Pesach], even if they had ‘badatz’ written on them, and everything. They didn’t rely on it.

Back then, they didn’t rely on the Badatz.

They wanted to make oil out of David HaMelech. To crush him, and oil would come out, and then they would put this in the matzot.

And from this, they would make shnitzels, in the honour of Pesach, and they would make matzot.

They wanted oil that was kosher for Pesach. Here, he’ll give this a hechsher. [Turning to someone] Would you have given this a hechsher, to oil made from King David? Think about this carefully. We want to make a hechsher that is better than the Badatz!

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[So, Yishbi put King David in the oil press, the beit chabad].

He wanted to crush him.

But, there was a hole underneath the oil press. He put him there, but there was a hole… He pressed himself into the indentation [in the ground]. He picked up the press of the beit chabad…

And then [Yishbi] saw that there was a hole. He said to David you making a fool out of me!

He took David, and threw him up to a height of 100 metres. 100 metres, [a person falls back down] in just 10 seconds. Within 10 seconds, [Avishai] needs to come from Jerusalem [in order to save David’s life.].

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Now, Avishai saw an eagle attack a dove.

And this is assur (forbidden), it’s forbidden to tear into a dove. This is against the Geneva Accords and the Oslo Agreement.

The dove, poor thing – why are you attacking it?! She needs to be rescued! Only the Jews would do something like this.

[Avishai said] a dove being attacked – this is David! A dove is King David!…

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Excerpted and translated from Shivivei Or 445.