tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post8511134961464035436..comments2024-03-05T21:22:43.426-05:00Comments on parshablog: Was this the Gra's ketz, according to Rav Moshe Aharon Stern?joshwaxmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03516171362038454070noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-49902312643136600642011-06-02T09:55:32.884-04:002011-06-02T09:55:32.884-04:00Secondly, to Ben: I must speak to someone in St. ...Secondly, to Ben: I must speak to someone in St. Louis first who heard the whole story from Rav Stern when the Rav was in his house when I was learning in my car. Drivers do not normally accompany Rabbaim and Meshulachim into the homes of people where the Rav or Meshulach is collecting funds. Therefore, I heard the story from the Ba'al Habayit who heard it firsthand later that evening.Dov Bar-Leibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15915682856620634130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-81764059147186245212011-06-02T09:38:08.707-04:002011-06-02T09:38:08.707-04:00Zach: The problem with what you just said is that...Zach: The problem with what you just said is that I wrote my most recent blogpost on Mystical Paths and at www.yearsofawe.blogspot.com five days before R. Josh Waxman's post on this blog. So you got step one and two reversed. I was not even thinking about Rav Stern's smile until I saw this post six days after I had already posted my post. The smile on Rav Stern's face has nothing to do with my original post. <br /><br />Secondly unlike Camping, I am not predicting with any sense of definity when ben David will show up. Thirdly Camping thinks that there will be a rapture which has nothing to do with what we believe. When I saw Rav Stern smile, I had no idea that he knew what he knew about the Gaon's keitz.Dov Bar-Leibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15915682856620634130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-63091602449164803182011-06-02T08:06:44.745-04:002011-06-02T08:06:44.745-04:00Step 1: believe in the keitz prediction of some re...Step 1: believe in the keitz prediction of some rebbe, or similarly interpret a cryptic saying (or even gesture such as a smile!) Step 2: rationalize/spiritualize the failure of said prediction to come to pass. Step 3: go back to Step 1.<br /><br />All this goes to show is how many yidden are really no different in their cognitive processes than the gullible followers of Harold Camping.zachnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-78812719112676567462011-06-01T06:56:19.608-04:002011-06-01T06:56:19.608-04:00I seriously question anyone quoting a calculation ...I seriously question anyone quoting a calculation in the GR"A's name when the GR"A himself wrote (Paraphrased and thanks to R' Pinchas Winston, shlita):<br /><br />The Vilna Gaon (18th century Lithuania), whose commentary offers a formula for calculating the end, entreats those who understand the formula not to reveal it to others:<br />"...And from here [what I have just written] you can calculate the time of the Final Redemption if, God forbid, we do not merit [to bring it earlier]. However, I have imposed an oath, in the name of the God of Israel, on the reader of this that he should not reveal it." (Biur HaGra, Safra D'Tzniusa, Chapterakapla1https://www.blogger.com/profile/06162532153211334205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-76850696834618879972011-05-31T17:21:05.214-04:002011-05-31T17:21:05.214-04:00Dov, please tell us your next story about HaRav Mo...Dov, please tell us your next story about HaRav Moshe Aaron, who I also had the very big zechus to know.<br /><br />By the way, I think the Chofetz Chaim told Mr. Herman (see the story in the sefer All for the Boss) that although Mr. Herman would not be around for Moshiach's coming, he would see the generation who would be. (I don't remember the exact quote)<br /><br />Mr. Herman was HaRav Moshe Aaron's grandfather; he found for HaRav Moshe Aaron his shidduch, and he passed away after the 1967 war, in Jerusalem.Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14326692290696186619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-86601827793758284352011-05-31T16:25:32.738-04:002011-05-31T16:25:32.738-04:00I believe now that he knew a great secret, and tha...I believe now that he knew a great secret, and that he had probably taken a vow never to reveal it. So when I mentioned 5771 as being the year of Hoshana Rabba, the most that he could do was smile.<br /><br />Does that mean that 17th Iyar was the keitz for the coming of Mashiach? Obviously not. But given the events of Lag B'Omer weekend and the related speeches and yes, judgements, in the form of the fourth major system of killer tornadoes since Shabbat HaGadol, something happened on the Shabbat before Lag B'Omer and on Lag B'Omer itself whose final results we may not see until next Purim. Yes, I do verily believe that the process of the revealing of Mashiach ben Yosef has begun, and it began on the weekend of the 17th and 18th of Iyar, just as you mentioned above. And this time unlike the Year of Sukkot 5765, it will happen irregardless of our bad behaviour. Yes, many will be forced to do teshuvah for a lack of human decency out of sheer terror, but by next Purim all will realize that G-d means business. So let us all work on the idea that G-d gave us all Laws of human decency before He gave Israel His Torah. By the way, Rav Moshe Aharon Stern, ztl believed this precise thing. I know of another story about his father that testifies to that.Dov Bar-Leibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15915682856620634130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-29539205619264807082011-05-31T13:18:35.408-04:002011-05-31T13:18:35.408-04:00Rav Mishkelov = Rabbi Ofbrooklyn.Rav Mishkelov = Rabbi Ofbrooklyn.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-27781843369495810062011-05-31T12:31:13.035-04:002011-05-31T12:31:13.035-04:00dov:
how do you now interpret his smile?
thanks,
...dov:<br />how do you now interpret his smile?<br /><br />thanks,<br />joshjoshwaxmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05149022516101476797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-13695018026425633632011-05-31T12:27:57.615-04:002011-05-31T12:27:57.615-04:00Israel Rising:
thanks. indeed, i read that post, ...Israel Rising:<br /><br />thanks. indeed, i read that post, and <a href="http://parsha.blogspot.com/2011/05/world-ends-tomorrow-day-before-lag.html" rel="nofollow">referred to it in my past post on the subject</a>. it is a nice post, though i don't find it convincing. had people been propounding this as the obvious meaning of the Gra's prediction in the months beforehand, it would have been one thing. but after the fact, sure, the human mind works to rationalize. it is a rationalizing organ, and can come up with all sorts of creative reinterpretations to make it work.<br /><br />kol tuv,<br />joshjoshwaxmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05149022516101476797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-78341343084007050492011-05-31T09:36:29.022-04:002011-05-31T09:36:29.022-04:00Please read my post: http://www.israelrising.com/2...Please read my post: http://www.israelrising.com/2011/04/churva-and-redemption.html<br /><br />to understand the GR"As Churva prediction.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01822162683765760896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-15229137491164597862011-05-31T07:31:02.356-04:002011-05-31T07:31:02.356-04:00It is worth noting that Rav Moshe Aharon Stern'...It is worth noting that Rav Moshe Aharon Stern's Jahrzeit is the 2nd of Av 5757. What I have to say about him is downright amazing. For the last four years of his life between 1993 and 1996 I had the privelege of spending two days out of every year in my car with this truly holy man. He would come to St. Louis, MO as the Mashgiach Ruchni of Kaminetz Yeshivah to raise funds, and I had the privelege of taking him around the St. Louis area for two inspiring days every year. He would usually show up during the 9 days of Av, and when he did not show up in 1997 because of his death, I really felt lost. If I had not met my future wife about three weeks later, it would have been a horrible month of Av that year. Rav Stern and I were usually engaged in discussions relating to the task at hand, rasising money for his yeshivah. Anyone who has ever driven Rabbis around the cities in the Diaspora can tell you that it is actually hard work to plan a route, to know in advance when people may be at home or at their office, and to not burn out an address with too many Rabbis every month. Yet, like most Rabbis that I took around, he had check copies from previous years for the previous three or four years. So we always had to go to those addresses too. So most of our work was not fun and games. But there were breaks. When I would drive from University City to downtown St. Louis or from Univ. City to Chesterfield. And we would talk about many things. including my favorite topic, the End of Days. Yes, even back then in the mid 1990s, I already had developed my Cosmic Clock which I have frequently written about on my blog since 2005. I told him about the build up to 1918 (5678) as being the Year of the 17th of Tamuz and why every year since has been like a day on the Jewish calendar starting with 5678. 5691 was RoshChodesh Av. 5699 was Tisha B'Av. 5705 was Tu B'Av. 5720 and 5721 were Rosh Chodesh Elul. 5750 and 5751 were Rosh HaShana. And the 1990s were the ten Years of Teshuvah, the Years of Awe. Then I confided in him that I was not sure if The years of Elul had 29 or 30 years, and that we will not know which is the case until the future events of 5759 or 5760 would show which of those years was Yom Kippur. Then I told him that extrapolating forward Sukkot would begin in either 5764 or 5765 and that Hoshana Rabba would be 5770 or 5771. All of a sudden he broke out in a big smile before I could even get to the Year of Shmini Atzereth. I asked the Rav, "Why are you smiling?" He looked at me for a few moments while smiling, and then he changed the subject to the task at hand. "Who are we going to see in Chesterfield first?," he asked. I never knew why he was smiling that day until today when I read your blog. Now I really know what a privilege it was to drive around this incredible Gadol, Rav Moshe Aharon Stern, ztl. <br />www.yearsofawe.blogspot.comDov Bar-Leibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15915682856620634130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-26851709089147688482011-05-31T01:54:42.470-04:002011-05-31T01:54:42.470-04:00[quote]why? does not every good deed add a brick t...[quote]why? does not every good deed add a brick to the Beis Hamikdash?<br /><br />First time I've read Josh teaching chassidus.<br />Moshiach is very close.Devorahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00793434651294780439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-2023331146595457272011-05-30T23:25:18.352-04:002011-05-30T23:25:18.352-04:00i learn pshat in the rambam that it refers to phys...i learn pshat in the rambam that it refers to physical wars because that is the clear peshat. it is only certain meshichist Lubavitchers who take that Rambam entirely out of context and kvetch it. have you learned the Rambam inside?<br /><br /><i>"and if gedolim made a statement , we need to understand according to their statement whats going on."</i><br /><br />which gadol made a statement? do you mean the purported statement of the Gra? if he did make it, then it does NOT do him favors to reinterpret his statement into something he never meant, just to make it work. כי השוחד יעוור עיני חכמים ויסלף דברי צדיקים. don't distort the words of the tzadikim. they are allowed to get things wrong. no one said the Gra was infallible. see <a href="http://parsha.blogspot.com/2010/12/does-rashi-predict-moshiach-in-2011.html" rel="nofollow">this post</a>, where Rashi is free to say that people were wrong in their ketz predictions.<br /><br /><i> if we want to go against their words, isnt that finding a tirutz and rationalizing just because we dont agree with them</i><br />no. it is understanding their words as they were intended. and not because 'we don't agree with them', but because they do not accord with the reality around us. to call this a 'teretz' and 'rationalizing' is krum, and a complete reversal of the natural order and the very meaning of the words. in my humble opinion, of course. :)<br /><br /><i>by the way whats the difference between possible and plausible?</i><br />many things are remotely possible. it *might* be likely, or *might* be exceedingly unlikely. but one could construct a scenario in which it *could* occur. if that possibility is plausible, then it is likely; or, it makes good sense that it may be true; or, it is a convincing explanation to someone not grasping frantically at straws for any sort of explanation that will prove X right.<br /><br />for example, saying that Mashiach will build the beis hamikdash bimkomo. rambam means that he will build the Beis HaMikdash in its place, meaning where it used to stand. someone who wants to prove the Rebbe to have been mashiach, based on the criteria of the Rambam, would say that bimkomo means in HIS place, and that this is a reference to 770. can it be read into the words? sure. one can kvetch a good many things. is it a convincing, plausible, likely explanation of the Rambam? not in a million years!<br /><br />kol tuv,<br />joshjoshwaxmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05149022516101476797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-30893475460986786652011-05-30T23:21:56.248-04:002011-05-30T23:21:56.248-04:00Very relevant to this post is a passage from toldo...Very relevant to this post is a passage from toldos eliyahu by Rav Aryei Lev Frumkin. He writes that once Rav Avrohom Simcha miamstislav wanted to tell his father the redemption year acc. to the gra. However his father wasn't interested and said:<br />והקץ לדעת הגר״א ז״ל אפונה מאד אם גם הוא כיוון לאמיתו כאשר גדולים ממנו והם ר״ע וחבריו מנו וטעוJrnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-21452947957267569852011-05-30T22:45:22.314-04:002011-05-30T22:45:22.314-04:00you learn the pshat in the rambam that has to be o...you learn the pshat in the rambam that has to be only physical wars. you are rationalizing, right? or we can say that you are giving a tirutz(maybe a nice one) but still a tirutz. <br />and if gedolim made a statement , we need to understand according to their statement whats going on. if we want to go against their words, isnt that finding a tirutz and rationalizing just because we dont agree with them . most of us we justify, rationalize, and give tirutzim. even "according" to the torah and chachomim.<br />by the way whats the difference between possible and plausible?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-88092805316578981632011-05-30T19:59:34.459-04:002011-05-30T19:59:34.459-04:00a nice teretz, but ultimately, it is a teretz.
ce...a nice teretz, but ultimately, it is a teretz.<br /><br />certainly Rabbi Akiva and the Rambam maintained that the wars of mashiach are physical wars. thus, it is far from a settled matter that the wars of mashiach are only waged on the spiritual plane.<br /><br />and if on the spiritual plane, then why not say that even the older Jews, and not just the children, will be soldiers in the army of mashiach? i suppose one could say that that meant that it would not be in their own lifetimes, but in the lifetime of those children. though that would require that the wars of mashiach only occur in a specific defined time. why? does not every good deed add a brick to the Beis Hamikdash?<br /><br />in other words, a *possible* interpretation of his words, but i don't buy it as *plausible*. rather, i would deem it yet another rationalization, in a field already filled with countless rationalizations. <br /><br />kol tuv,<br />joshjoshwaxmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05149022516101476797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-20219257612481302942011-05-30T18:28:01.856-04:002011-05-30T18:28:01.856-04:00moshiach's wars are not won with physical stre...moshiach's wars are not won with physical strength or weapons, but rather with torah ,tfila, ahavas isroel,etc,etc. therefore moshiach's army is made from good jewsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-73190794378627422622011-05-30T13:43:01.761-04:002011-05-30T13:43:01.761-04:00Well at least we're not putting the expected d...Well at least we're not putting the expected date on billboards across North America like that Chrisian preacher guy did.Garnel Ironhearthttp://garnelironheart.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-82935720583172977282011-05-30T13:38:26.913-04:002011-05-30T13:38:26.913-04:00If you read Arieh Morgenstern's Hastening the ...If you read Arieh Morgenstern's Hastening the Redemption he makes a pretty convincing case that the Gra's talmidim in EY thought 1840 was it. Although it's neat that this mesorah sidesteps them and goes through R. Zundel of Salant, he was already in EY in 1838. Why didn't he tell everyone else that they were wrong?S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com