This week (7/29/06)we begin reading the last book of the Torah, which is called Deuteronomy or Devarim. This Parsha begins the last discourse that Moses gave the children of Israel. In fact, the discourse lasted 36 days as we learn that his speech began on the first day of the 11th month and he died on the 7th of Adar (12th Month). Although the Torah does not tell us what day he died, we see an allusion from the first word of Devarim, which is vkt, eilah, these are, which has a Gematria of 36. He spoke for 36 days. On the 37th day, he died by the kiss of God.
According to our beliefs, the Torah is one continuous scroll divided into five books. Of course, we see the Torah scroll when we read from it on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. According to the skeptics, it was written at different time periods. With the aid of the codes, we see proof that the Torah is really one continuous reading based on the connection between Bamidbar (the Fourth Book) and Deuteronomy (the Fifth Book). The last words in Masei and the first words in Deuteronomy are as follows: van rcs rat ohrcsv vkt : ujrh isrh kg , “at the Jordan, by Jericho”. “These are the words that Moses spoke” (Numbers 36:13-Deuteronomy ).The encoded letters spell the word, vrubn , Menorah , candelabrum (I Chronicle 28:15). It was the Menorah that Aharon the High Priest was commanded to light on a daily basis (see Numbers 8:2).
Since Biblical times, more than any other object , the Menorah has been the symbol of the Children of Israelas it represents the light of the Torah and as noted by Isaiah 42:6 , where it says, ohud rutk og “for a light to the nations”. Letit not be forgotten that until electricity came on the horizon, the lamp has been the conduit of light for thousands of years. It is also interesting to note the hidden and revealed letters of the term Menorah adds up to the Gematria of 714, which equals,ryev , Haketores, incense (Leviticus 16:13). The incense is placed on the fire as an offering to God. It is interesting to note that Menorah and Eish (fire) share the same Gematria as 301. The Menorah plays a central role in our observance of our Holy days as Jewish women light the Menorah candles every Friday evening as we commemorate the Sabbath. The incense is remembered on a daily basis as it is part of our liturgical prayer services where we read the pitum haketores, the incense mixture, where it is taken from the Talmud, Kereisos 6a.We also see the term Menorah encoded again in the Parsha, where it says,
onuh ibgcu vc ufk, rat lrsc of,trk vkhk atc “with fire by night to show you the road that you should travel and with a cloud by day” (Deuteronomy ). The encoded words (rearranged) spells the term vrubn, Menorah. May God always gives us light as we really need it in our dark days of mourning of the nine days and Tisha B’av. We are now in the third week of the war between Israel and the Arab terrorists. We also learn insights from the Hebrew word for war, which is vnjknmilchamah (see Deuteronomy 2:9) which can be rearranged as ov ojk , which means they are our bread. In fact, the winner of a war takes all spoils and booty. As we learned in this week’s Parsha, we defeated Sichon and Og and took over his land only after being attacked and we took the booty. The land was given over to the two and a half tribes who stayed on the eastern side of the Jordan. In today’s war, Israel was attacked when Hezbollah kidnapped two soldiers and killed eight soldiers. At present time Israel does not plan to keep the border cities (like Bint Jbail- an Hezbollah stronghold) it has captured although it has suffered casualties. Perhaps they will rethink their strategy after reading this Parsha. May the light of the Menorah guide us in our perilous times and may peace reign from Zion.
A refuah shlaima to my father, Yaakov Zev Ben Malka Blima, who is recovering from stroke at Vanderbilt Nursing Home , SI , NY SShabbat Shalomouka,ca
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