In recent decades, science has discovered and confirmed what the ancient Jewish mystics knew about the origins of our universe. In this fascinating class, we dive into the secret of Creation and of God declaring “Let there be light!” Join us as we uncover some of the most profound mysteries of the cosmos, and see what it all has to do with the light of Chanukah, and the forthcoming Messianic Age.
See also ‘Chanukah & the Light of Creation’ here.
Link to Rabbi Ginsburgh’s Periodic Table here.
As we tremble and mourn the senseless carnage in Israel over the last several days, we begin a new Torah reading cycle as well. Beresheet opens by telling us that the first thing God created was light. This was a special, divine light which was subsequently hidden away for the World to Come. It is therefore known as the or haganuz, the “hidden” or “concealed” light. The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni II, 499) states that this light has the power to destroy all evil instantly. For now, it is stored away under God’s Throne, to be revealed only at the End of Days. Unfortunately this means that, at the moment, the world is more like it was before God brought forth this light, when the cosmos was “chaotic and void, with darkness over the face of the abyss” (Genesis 1:2). Indeed, the Midrash teaches that this verse is speaking of the future Four Exiles of the Jewish people: “chaotic” being an allusion to Babylon, “void” to Persia, “darkness” to the Greek, and the “abyss” to the Edomite (Beresheet Rabbah 2:4).
At the same time, our Sages taught that each exile actually has two parts, and is a partnership between two oppressors. (The term “oppression” or “persecution” is probably more accurate than “exile” since, for instance, the Greek oppression happened in the Holy Land and did not involve exile.) Babylon only finished what the Assyrians started in the decades before by destroying the northern Kingdom of Israel and banishing the Lost Tribes. Persia was allied with Media, and the Greek oppression began with Alexander, who was a Macedonian. Similarly, while Edom began the final exile, it is Ishmael who concludes it. This is alluded to in several places in the Torah, including when “Esau went to Ishmael and took for a wife, in addition to the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael.” (Genesis 28:9) The Vilna Gaon taught, in his commentary on Sifra diTzniuta, that in the End of Days, too, the world of Edom will “marry” the world of Ishmael to oppose Israel.
This is precisely what we see today, where Israel’s terrorist Ishmaelite oppressors—Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and their main financier, Iran, among others—are enabled and supported by Western countries. European nations are quick to condemn Israel and send “aid” to the terrorists. The Western mainstream media constantly paints Israel as the aggressor, and describes the real villains as the poor and oppressed victims. Russia pretends to have good relations with Israel, but keeps Iran as one of its closest allies, arms them, and props up the Iranian regime. It even invited Iran to join its CSTO military defense pact. (Though not currently a full member, Iran is the only non-Soviet nation to be part of the CSTO.) Nor is the United States off the hook since, despite its valuable aid, it has often thrown Israel under the bus. It was George W. Bush’s “roadmap to peace” that pressured Israel to give up Gaza for nothing, and create the huge disaster we are mired in. And it is no coincidence that this current war began just weeks after the Biden administration unfroze $6 billion in Iranian funds, supposedly for “humanitarian” purposes. (Internal memos reveal that the Biden administration was aware the money might go to terrorists, and they proceeded with the deal anyway.)
Make no mistake, nearly the whole world is complicit here in some way. Let’s not forget that the United Nations spends much of its time attacking Israel, and has passed more resolutions against Israel than any other country (than most other countries combined, in fact). Long ago, our Prophets predicted that God would “gather all the nations” against Israel (Zechariah 14:2), and “many nations” would join the wicked Gog against Israel at the End of Days, first among them Persia (Ezekiel 38:5-6). King David foresaw that those who “secretly conspire” against the Jewish people come from both “the tents of Edom and Ishmael” (Psalm 83:7). He goes on to list Moab and Ammon (today’s Jordan), Tyre (ie. Lebanon), Syria, the “Philistines” and, of course, Amalek.
The Torah presents us with 70 root nations in the world, from which all others branch out. These were divided up between “the tents of Edom and Ishmael”, which is why we often see reference not to 70 nations, but to 72 nations. The Vilna Gaon found further proof for this from Psalms 20:8, which says “These [call] on chariots and these [call] on horses, but we call in the name of the Lord, our God.” The word these, eleh (אלה), has a value of 36, alluding to the fact that 36 nations under the umbrella of Edom stand on one side, and 36 nations under the Ishmaelite umbrella stand on the other side. All of this reinforces the notion that the final exile and oppression is an Edom-Ishmael partnership.
Throughout ancient Jewish texts, it is Ishmael who is described as starting the final war in the End of Days. The Midrash (Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer 30) says they will launch a three-pronged attack to start the conflict, with an assault in the wilderness, an invasion by sea, and in a “big city”. This is highly reminscent of what we witnessed earlier this week, with terrorists slaughtering helpless young people at a nature party in the wild, landing at the Zikim Beach from the sea, and taking over the city of Sderot, and neighbouring kibbutzim.
Within the wider world of Ishmael—the whole house of Islam—who is it in particular that is the main culprit? Not surprisingly, the Midrash identifies Paras, Iran, as the one that’s really behind the war that “destroys the world” (Yalkut Shimoni II, 499). This is tremendously prescient, since Paras back then was not Muslim, and not yet Ishmaelite. It was only in the 7th and 8th centuries that the Islamization of Persia occurred. And today, Iran is the undisputed leader of Ishmaelite extremism.
Amazingly, the Midrash here says that Iran will do this precisely at a time when the “king of Arabia” will head west for council and diplomacy. Indeed, in recent weeks we saw how Israel and Saudi Arabia were getting closer and closer to a long-awaited peace deal. Iran could not let this happen, and made sure to use their terrorist proxies to attack Israel and axe any such deal. Iranian weapons, training, and funds are behind the deadly massacres we witnessed. Nearly two millennia ago, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught that “when you see the Persian horse tied to the graves of the land of Israel, expect the footsteps of Mashiach.” (Shir haShirim Rabbah 8:9) In other words, when Iranian armaments are causing graves in Israel, the coming of Mashiach is imminent.
The multitude of graves we see today in Israel are beyond tragic, and there are no words to describe the unspeakable crimes committed by the Ishmaelites. While it is no consolation whatsoever, this terror was foreseen, and the Midrash even states that God deeply “regrets” having created four things, foremost among them is Ishmael (Yalkut Shimoni II, 424). The Talmud describes some of these Ishmaelites as se’irim shel beit hakis’e, like “demons of an outhouse” (Kiddushin 72a). We certainly saw such demonic beings in the grotesque crimes committed against innocent civilians, helpless youths, and little children—may Hashem avenge their blood.
Foreseeing these tragedies, the Sages declared: “Let [Mashiach] come but let me not see him!” They would rather not be alive to witness such things. The same Midrash cited above (Yalkut Shimoni II, 499) says the Jewish people will be so confounded at the End of Days that they will repeat over and over again l’eikhan navo v’nelekh? “Where do we go from here?” But God will reveal Himself soon after, and restore the primordial light of Creation—that hidden or ha’ganuz first mentioned at the start of this week’s parasha. We will bask in this light, glow with it, illuminate the whole world, and finally enjoy the era of peace and prosperity we’ve been awaiting for so long.
May we merit to see it very soon.
This week’s parasha (in the diaspora) is Nasso, the longest in the Torah. In it, we read how God commanded Moses to instruct Aaron and his priestly descendants to bless the people with the following formula:
יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ. יָאֵר יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ. יִשָּׂא יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
Loosely translated: “God bless you and protect you; God shine His Face upon you, and be gracious to you; God lift His Face upon you, and place peace upon you.” (Numbers 6:25-27) This unique, enigmatic phrase carries tremendous meaning, and an interesting history, too. In fact, the oldest Hebrew inscription of a Torah verse ever found is this blessing!
In 1979, archaeologists in Ketef Hinnom near the Old City of Jerusalem discovered two small silver scrolls. After painstakingly unravelling the fragile scrolls (a feat that took three years), they discovered that they were inscribed with Birkat Kohanim, the priestly blessing, along with a few introductory lines. The scrolls have been dated back to the 7th century BCE, and are considered among the greatest finds in the history of Biblical archaeology.
What secrets are buried within the words of Birkat Kohanim?
Silver scroll with priestly blessing, discovered near Jerusalem in 1979
In introducing the Priestly Blessing, the Torah commands koh tevarkhu, (כֹּ֥ה תְבָרְכ֖וּ), “thus shall you bless…” The Zohar (III, 146a) reminds us that koh is an allusion to the divine light of Creation. The value of koh (כה) is 25, hinting to the 25th word of the Torah, “light”. When Adam and Eve consumed the Fruit, that original divine light of Creation was concealed. This is the secret behind God calling to Adam: ayekah (איכה), usually translated simply as “where are you?” but really meaning ayeh koh, “where is the divine light?” Indeed, the very purpose of the kohen is to help restore some of that hidden divine light. This is why he is called a kohen!
It is also why it is customary not to look directly at the kohanim when they relay the blessing. The hidden light may be far too intense, and might cause the observer’s eyes to dim (Chagigah 16a). The ancient mystical text Sefer haBahir (#124) adds that the kohanim put together their ten fingers in that unique arrangement in order to channel the energy of all Ten Sefirot. Elsewhere, we learn that the hands of the kohanim come together to roughly form an inner samekh, the only circular letter in the Hebrew alphabet, representing infinite cycles and endless blessings. Sefer haTemunah teaches that the proper shape of a samekh is a combination of a kaf and a vav. (The sum of the values of kaf and vav is 26, equal to the Tetragrammaton, God’s Ineffable Name.) Kaf literally means the “palm” of the hand, and the linear vav represents a shining ray of light. These are the hidden rays of light, the light of koh, emerging through the hands of the kohanim as they bless.
In his commentary on the Torah, the Ba’al haTurim (Rabbi Yakov ben Asher, 1269-1340) states that koh reminds us also of the Akedah, when Abraham told his attendants that he and Isaac would go ‘ad koh, “until there”. The deeper meaning is that Abraham saw the divine light emanating from the top of Mt. Moriah, the future site of the Holy of Holies. This is how he knew exactly where to bind Isaac. Previously, God had already blessed Abraham with the words כה יהיה זרעך, that his offspring would be luminous (and numerous) like the stars (Genesis 15:5). The Ba’al haTurim adds that the Shema has 25 letters for the same reasons and, amazingly, the term “blessing” is mentioned 25 times in the Torah, as is the word “peace”!
The first line of Birkat Kohanim has three words and fifteen letters, the Ba’al haTurim points out, alluding to the three Patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—whose lives overlapped for 15 years. Recall that Abraham had Isaac when he was 100 years old, and Isaac had Jacob at 60 years old, ie. when Abraham was 160. Since we know Abraham passed away at the age of 175, there were 15 years when all three Avot lived together.
More specifically, the first line of the blessing is for Abraham, the second is for Isaac, and the third is for Jacob. This is why the second line speaks of illumination since, as is well-known, Isaac saw the intensely bright divine light unfiltered at the Akedah, and this is the reason he later became (physically) blind. The Sforno (Rabbi Ovadia ben Yakov Sforno, 1475-1550) adds that within the second line of the blessing is a request for God to give light to our eyes so that we could see God within all things, in all the wonders of the world, and in all the wealth (material and otherwise) that God has blessed us with.
The Ba’al haTurim continues that the third line of Birkat Kohanim is for Jacob, which is why it begins with the word yisa (יִשָּׂ֨א), reminding us of Genesis 29:1 when Jacob fled (וישא יעקב רגליו). It has seven words to indicate the subsequent births of the Twelve Tribes, who were (except for Benjamin) born to Jacob over a span of 7 years. The last line again has 25 letters to remind us of koh, and further alludes to the Sinai Revelation—another burst of divine light—when God said (Exodus 19:3) “thus [koh] you shall speak to the House of Jacob” (כה תאמר לבית יעקב). The Ba’al haTurim concludes that the final word of the blessing, shalom, has the same numerical value as Esau (376) to teach us that one should spread peace among all people, gentiles included, and even Esau!
Ibn Ezra (Rabbi Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra, 1089-1167) says that “peace” means complete peace, with not even a little stone or a wild animal to bother a person. Meanwhile, the Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270) says that “peace” here refers to shalom malkhut beit David, peace upon the kingdom of David and his dynasty. We may infer from this that it refers as well to geopolitical peace in Israel, and a request to hasten the coming of Mashiach. This is related to the Sforno’s interpretation, as he says the verse refers specifically to the World to Come in which, as described in the Talmud (Berakhot 17a), the righteous will bask peacefully in God’s glory.
May we merit to see it soon!
