Tag Archives: Brit Milah

Eliezer & the Immortals

‘Eliezer and Rebekah’ by Gustav Doré

In this week’s parasha, Lech Lecha, we are introduced to Abraham’s loyal servant, Eliezer (Genesis 15:2). Eliezer was a righteous man and wanted nothing more than to be a full-fledged part of Israel. He hoped to marry into Abraham’s family, too, but because he was a Canaanite, and the Canaanites were deemed cursed, it was not possible. Nonetheless, the Arizal (Sha’ar haPesukim on Chayei Sarah) explains that in his future life, Eliezer reincarnated in none other than Caleb, the righteous spy and leader from the Tribe of Judah. In fact, the Arizal explains that this is why Caleb went to visit the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron at the start of his spy mission (Sotah 34b). He specifically wanted to pray at the grave of his former master, Abraham, and hoped that just as Abraham had helped him in his past life, he would assist him again in the difficult journey he was on.

Interestingly, the minor Talmudic tractate Derekh Eretz Zuta actually states that Eliezer was one of nine immortal people who never died. These special people merited to enter the Garden of Eden alive and well. As a quick aside, Derekh Eretz Zuta is a fascinating tractate that reads like Pirkei Avot, with maxims from the Sages on ethics, morals, and life advice. It begins with the following statement:

The ways of a scholar are that he is meek, humble, alert, fulfilled, modest, and beloved by all. He is humble to the members of his household, sin-fearing, and judges people according to their deeds. He says “I have no desire for all the things of this world because this world is not for me.” He sits and studies, dusting his cloak at the feet of the scholars. In him no one sees any evil. He questions according to the subject-matter and answers to the point.

The last three verses in the first chapter tell us about some of the greatest figures in Jewish history. First the tractate points out (with citations to prove it) that God forged a covenant with seven people in Tanakh: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Pinchas, and David. One might notice that these are nearly the same as the Seven Shepherds made popular by the Sukkot ushpizin, with the exception being Pinchas in place of Joseph. The truth is that Pinchas and Joseph are spiritually linked, with Pinchas containing a spark of Joseph. Kol HaTor (Ch. 2) even states that Pinchas was the potential “Mashiach ben Yosef” of his generation. There is mathematical proof to this, too, with “Pinchas” (פינחס) being 208, exactly like “Ben Yosef” (בן יוסף).

We are then told that seven people were so righteous and holy that their bodies never decomposed: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, and Amram. Some also add David to this list. Finally, the chapter ends with nine people who merited to enter the heavenly Garden of Eden alive: Enoch, Eliyahu, Mashiach, Eliezer, King Hiram, Eved-Melekh the Cushite, Yaavetz “the son of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi”, Batya the daughter of Pharaoh, and Serach bat Asher. Some add a tenth person to the list: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. What was so great about these individuals?  Continue reading

Why Did Muslims Rule the Holy Land for 1300 Years?

The Islamic Caliphate conquered Jerusalem and the Holy Land in 638 CE. With minor exceptions, various Muslim powers continued to dominate the land for the next 1300 years, until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. What is the deeper spiritual reason for this? Why did Muslims, the descendants of the Biblical Ishmael, merit to hold onto God’s Land for 13 centuries? Hear the Zohar’s surprising prophetic answer in this short video:

This video is an excerpt from ‘Did the Talmud Predict Today’s Crisis in Israel?’

For ‘Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict in 5 Easy Points’, see here.

Why Kiddush on Wine?

In this week’s parasha, Nasso, the Torah commands that a nazir is to abstain from wine and any other grape products. Wine appears frequently in the Torah, and plays a huge role in Judaism. Every Shabbat and holiday is ushered in with kiddush on wine, and concludes with a wine havdallah. Every wedding has a blessing on wine under the chuppah, as does a brit milah, and in ancient times wine libations were brought in the Temple. What makes wine so special?

The numerical value of “wine” (יין) is 70, a most significant number. It reminds us of the seventy names of God, of the seventy root nations of the world, and the seventy “faces” of Torah understanding. Our Sages famously stated that nichnas yayin, yatza sod, “when wine enters, secrets come out”. More than a simple proverb, it is a mathematical equation since the value of “secret” (סוד) is also 70. So, as seventy comes in, seventy comes out. On the surface level, the statement means that alcohol makes a person more likely to spill their secrets. On the deeper level, though, the Sages meant that one who drinks wine may be able to enter a mental state where they can uncover the secrets of Torah, and see it through all seventy faces. Wine can make “a man’s mind more receptive” (Yoma 76a).

Our Sages taught that wine is unique in that it defies the natural order: whereas other things degrade over time (as encapsulated in the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy, that the universe always tends towards disorder), wine improves and gets more valuable over time. Wine has another incredible scientific quirk: Japanese scientists researching electrical superconductors had a party in their lab and ended up accidentally discovering that wine makes certain metals superconductive!

Superconductivity refers to the property of being able to transmit electricity perfectly with no resistance and no energy loss. Generally, superconductivity requires cooling substances to near absolute zero (-273ºC). Some substances are able to superconduct at higher temperatures, around -90ºC, but even this is far too cold to be practical. Scientists around the world are therefore on the hunt for a room-temperature superconductor which, if found, would completely revolutionize the world. It would result in dramatic energy savings, and would allow for other cool phenomena like “quantum levitation”.

The Japanese scientists found that wine makes some things superconductive, especially iron-based compounds. And red wine especially was up to seven times more effective than other alcoholic beverages. No explanation for this has yet been found. It is all the more significant when we consider the central role that electricity plays in Jewish mysticism, and that our brains literally run on electrical signalling (suggesting how wine might make our brains more receptive to Torah secrets!) and that our bodies are full of iron, which makes our blood red, too.

While all of the above is fascinating, it does not explain why wine is so prevalent in Jewish rituals, especially in the recitation of every kiddush. What is the reason for wine? Continue reading