Connecting Heaven and Earth

Our Sages consider the Sin of the Spies even worse than the Sin of the Golden Calf. What is the root cause of the sin of rejection of the Land of Israel? What is so terrible about "We will make a new leader and return to Egypt?" At the time of the sin, as Rashi explains, the spies were righteous Jews who had just experienced the myriad miracles of the Exodus from Egypt and the journey through the desert. Did they really believe that G-d could not humble the lowly Canaanites as He had the mighty Egyptian empire? How could they so severely miss the mark?

There is a difference between the Exodus from Egypt and the entry into the Land of Israel. The entry into the Land of Israel brings with it an entirely new reality. G-d took care of Pharaoh by Himself: "G-d will fight for you and you, remain silent," G-d told the Israelites at the edge of the Red Sea. But for the Canaanites, the approach is different: Both the Israelites and G-d will be in the fight.

As soon as the Jewish People enters the Land of Israel, the manna stops falling from the heavens. In the Land of Israel, we must plow, plant and harvest. We must live a life of action and bring the manna down from heaven by ourselves – in full cooperation with the Creator. That is the message of the Jewish Nation. It is a message that cannot be applied without the Land of Israel. It is the message of perfection of the world – in the Kingdom of the Almighty.

The Sin of the Golden Calf, although totally unacceptable, was easier to rectify. The Israelites were punished, repented and returned to G-d. The Sin of the Spies is much more difficult to eradicate and rectify. It is not a tactical sin but a rejection of the entire purpose of the Jewish Nation. It is a strategic sin – a strategic error of cosmic proportions. It is a lack of understanding of the goal of the journey, the loss of the purpose for our very existence.

The resolution of the conflict between the material and spiritual has tormented humanity from time immemorial. The Western approach is to nullify the material in order to be holy. The Moslem approach is to wallow in the material in order to be holy. On the Festival of Tabernacles, the 70 nations of the world bring their holiday offerings to the House of G-d in Jerusalem. But there is one offering that only Israel can bring. It is the shlamim (wholeness) offering. Half of it is to be eaten by the people and half is for G-d. It is the offering that is irrelevant to a non-Jewish reality. The secret of the unification between the holy and the mundane was given to Israel alone.

There is only one way to resolve the conflict between the spiritual and the mundane. Only when the Jewish Nation lives in the unique Land chosen for it by the Master of the Universe and crowns the spiritual G-d over the material world at their fusion point – in Jerusalem, at the Royal Palace, the Holy Temple – will the world live in peace and serenity.

By attempting to return to Egypt, the Israelites effectively sent the entire world into a helter-skelter tailspin. No wonder that the consequences of that ill-conceived error are still plaguing us today.

The Sin of the Spies smolders in all sectors of Jewish society throughout the generations. It infects every person who excludes himself or G-d from even one aspect of our holistic reality. It infects those who cling to G-d to the exclusion of the Land of Israel and those who cling to the Land of Israel to the exclusion of G-d. It infects the person who studies Torah but does not work, the person who does not study Torah and only works, the person who does not settle the Land, the person who strictly settles the Land, the person disassociated from politics, the person who deals only with politics; any attachment to partial reality conceals within it a touch of the Sin of the Spies.

The solution is to open ourselves to the entire spectrum of our reality - and to perfect the world in the Kingdom of the Almighty.

By attempting to return to Egypt…

Thankfully Hashem didn’t let them. But the Christians did return to Egypt (in a sense).

Everything that ever happened and ever will can be found in our eternal Torah!
Pirkei Avot

***

How about Christmas trees? Glad you asked! First from the Prophets, Jeremiah 10 describes the process of setting up a living room idol. But take a look at a portion of Ya’akovs return to the Land.

Berasheit Genesis 35

35 Then G-D said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to G-D, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”

2 And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to G-D, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.”

4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem.

***

Soooo, what do the Church father do? They left BeiT EL and went back to the tree to pick up their idols, and the rest is…well anyway.

And the moral of the story is… if you want to ascend to the House of G-D leave your idols under the tree and go up!

Oy and there’s lots more!

Shabbat Shalom

Thanks for the ping, ZC.

And

By attempting to return to Egypt, the Israelites effectively sent the entire world into a helter-skelter tailspin. No wonder that the consequences of that ill-conceived error are still plaguing us today.

America would do well to take note.

The land of the free and home of the brave has become the land of the freebie and home of the slave.

HEIGHT

The roof of the top floor of One World Trade Center will be 1,368 feet (417 m) tall, including a 33 ft 4 in (10.16 m) parapet; this is identical to the roof height of the North Tower of the original World Trade Center.[58] The building's spire will bring One World Trade Center to a total height of 1,776 feet (541* m),[4][59] a figure symbolic of the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence.[60]

* ישראל

Obama writes of Yeshayahu 9:9 in red on the "One World" beam.

[Red] Flag Day. Say, is that like the red flag warning that the SOL waved 19 days before 911 (see post 127)? How many days to July 4th?

The symbolic cornerstone of One World Trade Center was laid in a ceremony on July 4, 2004

"We remember, we rebuild." President vows

It's its own slideshow.

Well I'll just go ahead and drop this here.

From the original article:

The Sin of the Golden Calf, although totally unacceptable, was easier to rectify. The Israelites were punished, repented and returned to G-d. The Sin of the Spies is much more difficult to eradicate and rectify. It is not a tactical sin but a rejection of the entire purpose of the Jewish Nation. It is a strategic sin – a strategic error of cosmic proportions. It is a lack of understanding of the goal of the journey, the loss of the purpose for our very existence.

Compare:

"Just as Yom Kippur symbolizes the atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf, Tu B'Av signifies the atonement for the sin of the Spies, where ten came bearing such negative reports which reduced the entire nation to panic. As a result of that sin, it was decreed by God that the nation would remain in the desert for 40 years, and that no person 20 or older would be allowed to enter Israel."

The Meaning of Tu B'Av

America would do well to take note.

Jerusalem, allegory for America.

Time from the Inauguration of Desolation to Tu B'Av 772, 1290 days

Time from the Inauguration of Desolation to the completion of the 7 1/2 year Daf Yomi cycle, 1290 days

Connecting heaven and earth on [Red] Flag Day:

Jerusalem, allegory for America.

Dan 9.

25. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command [davar, word] to restore and to build Jerusalem until the coming of an anointed prince shall be seven weeks; then for sixty two weeks it shall be built again, with squares and moat, but in a troubled time:

Time from [Red] Flag Day until Tu B'Av 772, 7 weeks

Time from [Red] Flag Day until Tu B'Av 773, 62 weeks

"On December 17, 2006, a ceremony was held in Battery Park City, with members of the public invited to sign a 30-foot (9.1 m) steel beam.[25] This beam, the first to be installed, was welded onto the building's base on December 19, 2006.[26] Afterwards, construction of the foundation and further steel installation commenced, and by the end of 2007, the tower’s footings and foundations were nearly complete.[27]"

1 WTC Construction History

December 20, 2006 to [Red] Flag Day 2012, 2003 me'ot, 2003 from a sign, when

After the first signed beam was welded onto the base, construction of the foundation commenced. 2003 days later,

We remember.
We rebuild.
We come back stronger.

"Those were the words the president inscribed on a One World Trade Center-branded beam that will top the tower some time in the coming weeks.

‘We Remember. We Rebuild. We Come Back Stronger!’ Obama Visits the World Trade Center [Pics]

From an old website that was looking through the glass darkly, an important word about that 2003:

Now from the end of the book of Daniel we understand that the times in the book are coded, and will be revealed at the end of times.

We can now see something very interesting. The word `hundreds` in Hebrew (me'ot) has two meanings. One is, of-course, "hundreds", and the other is "from a sign".

The Midrash (Tanhuma) explains the mentioned verse from Daniel this way: When the morning of the world-nations will become evening. So we understand that we are talking about a time that relates to the world-nations, not Jews.

Now we can see clearly and read the verse correctly:

And he told me: until the eve of morning of two thousands and three from a sign...

And the 'sign' of the world-nations is clearly the birth of Yesh"u of Nazzerath.

The Latter Days - Final Stage MAIN

(The last distracting sentence is included to provide the context from that page.)

We remember.
We rebuild.
We come back stronger.

"Those were the words the president inscribed on a One World Trade Center-branded beam that will top the tower..."

Gen 11.

4. And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach to heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth:
5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men built:
6. And the Lord said, Behold, the people are one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have schemed to do:

Connecting heaven and earth on [Red] Flag Day

That's a lotta dots...

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