Tag Archives: Judgement Day

Ten Rectifications for Judaism

As we prepare to usher in another new year, we pray fervently that it will be the one in which we finally see the completion of the Geulah, the great redemption of our people, followed by the transformation of the entire world into a more wholesome, peaceful, and divine place. As we listen to the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, we hope it will be the great shofar that will herald the coming of Mashiach (Isaiah 27:13). We hope that it will be the final Judgement Day, and that we will all be inscribed in the Book of Life for good. But as we yearn for these things, it is vital to ask: what are we doing practically to bring about that reality? There are so many issues and threats confronting us both externally and internally. And we know that, at the end of day, all of these things come not from various political opponents, or antisemites, or military powers, or terrorists, or propagandists—but straight from Hashem.

God tells us over and over again in the Torah that if we follow his mitzvot properly then we will be safe, blessed, and prosperous. It’s only when we don’t that all the suffering and travails come upon us. So, as a nation, we are obviously doing something wrong here. Yes, as we all know, we are lacking unity. There is a lot of disagreement and infighting, and many within the house of Israel remain secular and disconnected. But we rarely ask why this is the case, and what we can actually do to fix it. It’s like we’ve helplessly accepted the status quo, as if there’s nothing we can do about it. When our Sages list all the things wrong with the world before Mashiach comes (Sotah 49b), they conclude by saying “there is no one to rely on except our Father in Heaven”. Some of our rabbis understood this concluding statement as being part of the list of things wrong with the world, ie. that people have given up and say there is nothing we can do but wait for Hashem!

The truth is that God is waiting for us. This was precisely the case at the Splitting of the Sea, when Moses prayed fervently to Hashem and Hashem replied: ma titzak alai?! “Why are you calling out to Me?!” (Exodus 14:15) It was Nachshon who understood what had to be done, and when everyone else stood back passively; crying, stressing, waiting; he decided to dive into the water. Only then did the Sea split. Today we are, yet again, at another splitting of the sea moment, right at the finish line of Geulah, and we all need to be Nachshon right now. So, what can we do? How do we actually solve the lack of unity? How do we address the widespread secularism and materialism? How do we bring people back to Hashem, back to Torah and mitzvot, to a “Geulah mindset”? How do we shift away from passively waiting to actively doing? In short, how do we bring Mashiach? Continue reading →

Constellations and the Jewish Calendar

Yesterday marked the start of the new month of Nisan, first of the Jewish calendar. According to our ancient mystical texts, like Sefer Yetzirah, each of the twelve months of the Jewish year corresponds to one of the twelve Zodiac constellations (mazalot). The month of Nisan corresponds to Aries, or tal’e in Hebrew. Aries is depicted as a sheep or ram and, of course, the highlight of Nisan is the holiday of Pesach, referring to the korban pesach, the “paschal lamb”—a sheep!

The Ram-headed idol Ra

Our Sages pointed out that God specifically commanded this species to be sacrificed because it was what the Egyptians worshipped at the time. This is likely referring to the ram-headed deity Ra. Amazingly, Ra is actually mentioned in the Torah when Pharaoh tells Moses that Ra neged pneichem (Exodus 10:10), typically translated as “evil [ra] will be before you”. Rashi comments here that Ra is an Egyptian idol and Pharaoh was warning the Israelites that they would perish under the wrath of his god Ra. Of course, the entire Exodus narrative was about showing God’s mastery over all aspects of Creation, and His destruction of Egypt’s false idols, Ra chief among them.

In astrology, Aries is a “fire” sign, which is quite appropriate for the Exodus connection. The fire alludes to the fire of the sacrificial altar for the korban pesach, as well as the pillar of fire that led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the Wilderness. Furthermore, at the Pesach seder, the Haggadah reminds us to say “blood, and fire, and columns of smoke”, dam v’esh v’timrot ashan, in memory of the Ten Plagues and the Exodus. (Actually, this phrase originally comes from Joel 3:3, straight from the prophet’s vision of the End of Days!) Continue reading →

The Spiritual Significance of 2025

What is the significance of the alignment of the last night of Chanukah with the first day of 2025? What does it have to do with the upcoming Chinese Year of the Snake? And how is it all connected to the new month of Tevet and the current Daf Yomi tractate Sanhedrin? Also: Why was the Zohar revealed to the world in the year 1290? Which verses in Tanakh prophetically allude to the year 2025? What is the significance of the letters on the dreidel? And what happened when Alexander the Great presided over a lawsuit against the Jews?

See also ‘The Dragon, the Snake & the Messiah’ and ‘Chinese Zodiac in Judaism’.