Adar Bet 13 & Breaking through the Mazalot

 Today is thesecond day of Adar Bet   Or thesecond Adar   Explainlunar vs solar      ​כג וְדָבָ֖רבְּעִתּ֣וֹ מַה־טּֽוֹב:     354 vs 365   Chinese NewYear  Ramadan   “We can’t dothat because we’re guided by our Torah, which says Passover must come in the springwhen we plant, and that things need to be growing during the time of Shavuotand harvested during Sukkot. Hillel realized that, if we stayed strictly lunar,things would soon get out of kilter, and he put in a system to fix that withthe leap year.”     We are allfamiliar with a leap year  This year wehad a February 29th – Every four years we have a leap year with theexception of the Century year      Traditionhas it that it was the great sage Hillel, head of the Sanhedrin from 320 to 385C.E. who created the Jewish calendar through some pretty sophisticatedmathematical and astronomical calculations. And without a computer orcalculator. (and although some months can be off by a day, we stick with it)The result: A 19-year cycle with seven leap years to anchor the holidays intheir rightful place.     Priorto that time, the Torah told us to DECLARE the New Moon by the Testimony of twowitnesses. In other words, Man declares the New Moon and the moon and sunadjust their relationship to comply with the consciousness of man. IN OTHERWORDS this Mitzvah to declare the New Moon is a manifestation of Mind OverMatter and it is important in the individuals spiritual growth to achieve thislevel of consciousness.  Inthis calendar, in use today, there are 7 years in a total of 19 years where weadd an additional month for a total of 13 months. In Hebrew the word that isused (usually translated as leap year) Shanah Me'uberet, has a Shoresh (root)that means pregnant. The explanation for this is that we need to keep theHoliday of Pesach in the Spring which is called Aviv in the Torah.  Priorto this current calendar, other criteria was used to determine which years hadan additional month. An additional month was added when 2 of the following 3criteria were met. The 3 Criteria are      1) Thestate of the barley crop at the end of the 12th month;   2) thefruits of the Trees; and   3)the equinox.   Aswe can see from the Talmud and Baraita below, the main issue is the state ofthe barley crop. The teaching is that the state of the barley crop must reach alevel called Aviv, such that in 2 to 3 weeks the barley can be brought to theTemple as a wave offering. If the barley does not reach this level of growth bythe end of the 12th month then the Bringing of the Omer on the second day ofPesach cannot be done with the new crop.     Why Adar   TosafotSanhedrin 12  Only Adar   Based onEsther   12th monthis Adar   Adar must be12   Add oneafterwards   If you addanother month before, than Adar wouldn’t be 12     Increase joyAdar   If choice todouble joy  Adar      Lubavitcher Rebbe   Batelbeshishim   All havetroubles   60 days ofjoy   Nullifytrouble      Whyis the word in Hebrew that means leap year using the Shoresh that meansPregnant. Pregnancy is a state of development manifesting potential. What doesthis mean? When a child is born he is beginning the manifestation of all of thelight that he will reveal in his life. At the moment of birth he is starting toreveal his potential. Will he achieve all that he can be? No one knows at thatmoment but his potential is beginning its manifestation. Therefore, thepregnancy is actually the manifestation of what that child can achieve inpotential.  The13th month represents a state of potential relating to unity.   We’llcome back to unity relating to 13, but if I forget remind me.      In less thantwo weeks, we celebrate Purim   Why call it Purim?   Purim is the name of the holiday that isexplained in the Megillah as being al shem haPur, hu hagoral.   Isn’t thatbad day ?   Lotteryagainst us.   Maybe name theday Yom Hafucha – The Day of reversal? Or day of salvation   Also why Pruim which is plural   Come back to that !      HalachotKetanot - Rabbi yisrael yaakov Hagiz   Jacob Hagiz (1620–1674) (Hebrew: יעקב חגיז Fes, Morocco.  1646, Ḥagiz went to Italy for the purpose of publishing his books,and remained there until after 1656, supporting himself by teaching.   Samuel di Pam, rabbiat Livorno, calls himself a pupil of Ḥagiz.   About 1657, Ḥagiz left Livorno for Jerusalem,where the Vega brothers of Livorno had founded a beitmidrash for him,[2] and where he became a member of therabbinical college.    Manystudents   R. Chizkiyahda Silva author of Pri Chadash     Well knownstory   Two brothers  Reuben bornfirst   Shimonsecond   Shimon barmitzvah first   How   Born leapyear   Reuben 29 ofaleph   Shimon 1Adar bet   Bar mitzvahnon leap   Shimon first  He goes on,and he states that when it comes to brothers respecting one, another, the olderbrother based on birth has to respect the younger brother based on months   He alsobrings this with regard to Yibum   He suggeststhe possibility that this situation occurred between Jacob and his brother Esav  Esav wasborn last day Adar 1, while Jacob came out first day Adar 2   Althoughthis is puzzling based on the verse holding his brothers heel   And even that is puzzling as same amniotic sack?       A single placenta normally supports a single fetus. When the situationarises in which two fetuses have to share a single placenta, complications maysometimes develop. Identical twins that share a single placenta are calledmonochorionic twins (MC). “Chorion” is the Latin root that refers to theplacenta, while the word “amnion” refers to the sac, or “membranes” thatsurround each fetus. While fraternal twins (2 eggs and 2 sperm) are alwayssurrounded in their own sacs and have their own individual placentas, 70% ofidentical twins may end up sharing a single placenta. Only 1% of identicaltwins share both a single placenta and a single sac, and this poses significantrisk.  Were they identical ?  Rabbi suggest yes, other than red and ruddy.   twins with identical DNA can also show variations by the timethey are born, which may result in different hair.  They get equal amounts of nuclear DNA(comes from both parents) but notneccessarily equal amounts of mitochondiral DNA (different DNA only from themother). This can appear as minor differences in how they look. They still haveidentical DNA but not always the same amount of mitochondiral DNA.  But letsstick with the Rabbi’s suggestion      RabbiMansour asks   Why Goyimhave so many Gezerot against declaring month   I wouldsuggest they don’t want us to control time   But perhapsit has to do with declaring a leap year   Maybe relatingto the birthright of Jacob vs Esau  Gemarah of Yevamottells of two rabbis sabotaged by edomi      Maharshagoes so far to suggest there is a Military advantage here   Shmuel Eidels (1555 – 1631) (Hebrew: שמואל אליעזר הלוי איידלס Shmuel Eliezer HaLevi Eidels) was arenowned rabbi and Talmudist famousfor his commentary on the Talmud, Chiddushei Halachot. Eidels isalso known as Maharsha (מהרש'א,[1] a Hebrew acronym for 'Our Teacher, the Rabbi ShmuelEidels').  his mother Gitel was acousin of Rabbi YehudaLoew, the Maharal ofPrague, and his father 'was a direct descendant of Rabbi Yehuda HaChasid.'  Our Rabbi, Haham EzraAttieh, 31 January 1885 – 25 May 1970) who was the head of Porat Yosefstated that of all the commentaries written on the Torah, that of the Maharshawas the favorite   Just to keep in mind: Hisstudents included: Ovadia Yosef and Mordechai Eliyahu, future Sephardic ChiefRabbis ofIsrael; YitzchakKaduri, renownedkabbalist; YehudaTzadka, who succeededhim as rosh yeshiva of Porat Yosef; Ben Zion Abba Shaul; Baruch Ben Haim,who became a leader of the Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York; EliyahuBen Haim, rabbi of theMashadi community in Great Neck, New York; and Zion Levy,Chief Rabbi of Panama.     Yishmael   Esav  Normallyhate each other   Except whenit comes to us. That is unfortunately when they can get together it isextremely dangerous  Wementioned: Esau took Mahalath from thehouse of Ishmael to be his wife, after seeing that Canaanite wives displeasedhis father, Isaac (Genesis 28:6–9). We also had a class on how Yaakov countersthis.   After Esau saw that hisfather Isaac had ordered Jacob not to take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,he abandoned his evil ways and married Mahalath, the daughter of his uncle Ishmael. By meritof this marriage, the Holy One, blessed be He, forgave Esau all his sins(Jerusalem Talmud Bikkurim 3:3,65c–d). Mahalath’s name indicates that God pardoned (mahal) Esau.   However, according toanother view, Esau did not mend his ways and Mahalath was as evil as hisfirst two wives (Midrash Aggadah). Thislater marriage was also the result of negative motives: Esau plotted togetherwith Ishmael to kill Isaac and Jacob, to marry the daughter of Ishmael, and toinherit both families.   Accordingly, his marriage toMahalath was ke-mahalah (asan affliction) and only increased the pain his parents had suffered upon hisfirst marriages Gen. Rabbah     The Rabbibrings that Esav is associated with 12   Yishmael 12families   Yisrael seem12   How?   · Twelve tribes of Israel - שנים עשר שיבטיא - Sons of Jacob  · Ritual items frequently came in twelves to represent therole of each tribe. The high priest's breastplate (hoshen) had twelve precious stones embeddedwithin them, representing the 12 tribes. Elijah built his altar with 12 stonesto represent the tribes,[11] Mosesbuilt 12 pillars at Sinai representing the tribes,[12] andJoshua erected twelve memorial stones at the Jordan River representing thetribes.[13]  · 'All of God's creations are equal in number to the 12tribes: 12 astrological signs, 12 months, 12 hours ofthe day, 12 hours of the night, 12 stones that Aaron [the high priest] wouldwear.'[14]  · The TempleMount could be accessed through twelve gates  · There were twelve loaves of show-bread on the shulchan (table)in the BeitHamikdash  · Number of springs of water Elim     But Yaakovgives double to Yosef   12 plus one   When doesthe 13th take affect?  It takesaffect during the leap year when we have the 13th month and that’s why in theleap year when we have the 13th month, we are more tuned to overcome ourenemies because 13 will overcome the 12.  (I thinkalso that the 13 in many ways corresponds to the Levi’s and the question ofBringing the scholars in to fight is an interesting one as it relates to this.)  Maharsha saysthat each of the 12 months is broken down to one of the tribes and the 12thmonth relates to JOSEPH and I’m guessing this is part of the idea behind thePisces fish.  And whenthere’s a 13th month it relates to the additional tribe of JOSEPH.  It’sinteresting to guess – is the world afraid of the number 13 and does the worldassociate 13 with black magic, because just as Moses is depicted with horns byMichael Angelo in his misunderstanding of Keren Or, the devil is depicted withsimilar horns, do they associate the negativity of 13 with us?  There areJews still alive who can remember being told that they could not possibly beJews because they had no horns on their heads. I am one of them. Until recentlythis belief was fairly common in backward rural areas both in Europe and in theUnited States—areas where normally no Jews were to be seen. It may well persistin remote corners even today.  I wasperhaps 17 and met a girl in the Electronics store where I worked on FifthAvenue. She had just arrived in the states from Northern parts of Norway.   In a similarway : Researchers estimate that as many as 10 percent of the U.S. populationhas a huge fear of the number 13, and each year the even more specific fear ofFriday the 13th, known as paraskevidekatriaphobia, results in financial lossesin excess of a billion dollars annually, as people avoid marrying, traveling orin the most severe cases, even working. But what’s so unlucky about the number13, and how did this numerical superstition get started?  An earlymyth surrounding the origin of the fear involved one of the world’s oldestlegal documents, the Code of Hammurabi, which reportedly omitted a 13th lawfrom its list of legal rules.   Mathematiciansand scientists, meanwhile, point to preeminence of the number 12, oftenconsidered a “perfect” number, in the ancient world. The ancient Sumeriansdeveloped numeral system based on the use of 12 that is still used formeasuring time today. Most calendars have 12 months; a single day is comprisedof two 12-hour half days, etc. Following so closely on the heels of a “perfect”number, some argue, that 13 was sure to be found lacking and unusual.   This fear ofthe unknown would seem to play into two other popular theories for the number’sunlucky connotation, both of which revolve around the appearance of a 13thguest at two ancient events:   ancientNorse lore holds that evil and turmoil were first introduced in the world bythe appearance of the treacherous and mischievous god Loki at a dinner party inValhalla. He was the 13th guest, upsetting the balance of the 12 gods alreadyin attendance.  But morerelative to us, Christians hold that Judas was the 13th guest to arrive at theLast Supper, is the person who betrays Yeshu – and obviously relates to theirhatred of us and accusations of Deicide finaly refuted by the Church in 1965   According tothe Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina,more than 80 percent of hi-rise buildings in the United States do not have a13th floor, and the vast majority of hotels, hospitals and airports avoid usingthe number for rooms and gates as well.   Returning toYosef who relates to both number 12 and 13 through Ephraim and Menashe   Additionally,we know that Joseph was blessed to multiply like the fish below the sea, and wealso relate the fish below the sea to those beyond the evil eye, and notsusceptible to the evil eye,   Additionally,the only sign of the horoscope, which is a two distinct individual Images isthe sign of Pisces which is fish. Gemini may relate to twins, but they are Siamesetwins, who are one and connected.   Piscesrelates to this month which can be two or one  There is no13th astrological sign  And perhapsthis relates to the idea of En Mazal   Each RoshHodesh   Count wordsof blessings   חַדֵּשׁ עָלֵינוּ אֶתהַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לְטוֹבָה וְלִבְרָכָה, לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה, לִישׁוּעָהוּלְנֶחָמָה, לְפַרְנָסָה וּלְכַלְכָּלָה, לְחַיִּים טוֹבִים וּלְשָׁלוֹם,לִמְחִילַת חֵטְא, וְלִסְלִיחַת עָוֹן, בשנה מעוברת אומרים: וּלְכַפָּרַת פֶּשַׁע.וְיִהְיֶה רֹאשׁ הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה סוֹף וָקֵץ לכָל צָרוֹתֵינוּ, תְּחִלָּה וָרֹאשׁלְפִדְיוֹן נַפְשֵׁנוּ, כִּי בְעַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל מִכָּל הָאֻמּוֹת בָּחַרְתָּ,וְחֻקֵּי רָאשֵׁי חֳדָשִׁים לָהֶם קָבָעְתָּ: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה , מְקַדֵּשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְרָאשֵׁי חֳדָשִׁים:     12   Relates toeach per month   Leap year wechange   Kapara pesha  Peshacriminal committing sins continually   This month   Endsuffering   Beginningour redemption      Baruch AtahHashem   Seruf ofHavaya   Relate toverse   Adar Bet   Think all   Carriesblessing of all 12      In theblessing of the month there is a kavana – a thought when saying Hashems name weimagine it in one of 12 combinations   Also foundit interesting that the thought during the blessing of the month for this 13thmonth is to take all of the names and combine them.  So the powerfor the children of Israel is compounded when there is a leap year relating tothe 13.     We mentionedin the class on Sunday the words of Rabbeynu Bachya when it comes to the warwith AMALEK   בחר לנו אנשים,“choose men for us!” The Amalekites were expert astrologers (compare Rashi; ouredition מכשפים, sorcerers). Moses meant that Joshua should select men whoaccording to their horoscopes would not die during the current year, somethingMoses was aware of due to his own knowledge of astrology. The two armies facingeach other would all consist of soldiers who according to their respectivehoroscopes would not die during that year.   The Rabbisuggested that Amalek chose warriors who’s birthday was that day and Joshuachose those born in Adar Bet who whold not be subject to the sorcery of Amalek   As a resultof these considerations neither army inflicted fatal casualties on the otherduring this encounter. This is what is meant when the Torah reports the outcomeof the battle as: “Joshua weakened Amalek and his people by the sword.” TheTorah carefully refrained from mentioning that the Israelites actually killedany of the Amalekites.   Returning toPurim:   We hadmentioned the previous years that the rabbi suggested that how did Mordechaimess up Herman‘s plans? He declared the year a leap year, thus realigningastrological impact.  We need toask: Did Purim fall in First or Second Adar?   some say(based on the Talmud Yerushalmi) that the miracle of Purim happened on a leapyear in the first Adar, (that makes sense to me as the Megillah speaks of the12th month) nevertheless, the commentaries on the Yerushalmi (Korban HaEdah is a running commentary on the Jerusalem Talmudby Rabbi David ben Naphtali Frankel, chief rabbi of Berlin in the mid-18thcentury. And The PeneiMoshe (“The Face of Moses”) is theearliest known commentary on the entire Jerusalem Talmud, composed in the 18thcentury by Rabbi Moshe Margalit.) explain that the miracle of Purim actually occurred in thesecond Adar.   Thus, we tooshall begin to increase our joy beginning from Rosh Chodesh Adar II. !  BenaiIssachar      But theBenai Issachar says that when we look at the verses in the book of Esther,   בַּחֹ֤דֶשׁהָרִאשׁוֹן֙ הוּא־חֹ֣דֶשׁ נִיסָ֔ן בִּשְׁנַת֙ שְׁתֵּ֣ים עֶשְׂרֵ֔ה לַמֶּ֖לֶךְאֲחַשְׁוֵר֑וֹשׁ הִפִּ֣יל פּוּר֩ ה֨וּא הַגּוֹרָ֜ל לִפְנֵ֣י הָמָ֗ןמִיּ֧וֹם ׀ לְי֛וֹם וּמֵחֹ֛דֶשׁ לְחֹ֥דֶשׁ שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֖ר הוּא־חֹ֥דֶשׁ אֲדָֽר     which tellsus about he set up a drawing, we don’t define he, but it was set up in front ofHaman.   Consideringthat it was in front of Heyman that it must’ve been someone else who set thisup   Even Rashi: Whoever cast, cast, and the verse does not specify who [cast the pur].This is an abbreviated verse.  and hesuggests that someone else, the He, is none other than God, who set this upWith Haman thinking that it was him so he should fall into a trap.  Now somemight suggest that due to his blind hatred, he didn’t realize that this was infact, a trap and dangerous as this month had negative ramifications for hisancestor piece of, and also for his ancestor Who fought in the war.  But I wouldlike to suggest that he believed otherwise.  Themazal[1] of the month of Adar, as is well-known, is dagim – fish.     Thereis a well-known Gemara: When Haman cast lots (purim) in order to decide whichmonth to destroy the Jewish people, it landed on the month of Adar, the monthwhere Moshe Rabbeinu left the world, and therefore he grew very happy, takingthis is a sign that it will be a month of bad mazal for the Jewish people.[2]     Elsewhere,Chazal state a different reason of why Haman rejoiced. In the words of theMidrash in Esther Rabbah, Haman was happy that the lot fell on Adar because themazal of Adar is fish, and fish can be swallowed.[3]     TheGemara elsewhere says that “Just as big fish swallow the smaller fish, so wouldpeople swallow each other, if not for fear of the government”. Amalek did notfear Hashem when they attacked the Jewish people in the desert. They weremissing fear of a higher authority, so they did not care to swallow others.Haman, who descended from Amalek - the nation that does not fear Hashem – wasready to ‘swallow’ the Jewish people, for his lot landed on the month of Adar,the mazal of fish, which can get swallowed alive. Thus, we can now betterunderstand why Haman rejoiced when the lot that he cast fell on the month Adar.     What was Haman’s downfall? Chazalsay that Haman overlooked the fact that “Just as fish can swallow, so can theybe swallowed.”[4]  Additionally, TheGemara says that “the fish do not meet the sunlight, because they are alwayscovered by the water. There is also a Gemara that says that “The face of Mosheis like the face of the sun.”[5] In other words, the spiritual light of MosheRabbeinu, which is compared to the sunlight, cannot reach where the fish are.  Thus,the depth of why Haman rejoiced was not simply because it was the month whereMoshe expired (as is well-known, Moshe expired on the 7th of Adar, and thenumber 7 in Hebrew is ז, which is equal in gematria to the word דג\fish).Rather, it is because the spiritual power of Moshe is compared to the sun’slight, which does not reach the fish.     Thatis the depth of why Haman rejoiced: since the mazal of Adar is fish, he thoughtthat Moshe Rabbeinu’s merits would not be able to protect the Jews in the monthof Adar, because the light of the “sun” cannot reach the “fish”. So it wasn’tsimply because Adar was the month where Moshe left the world; it was becauseeven if Moshe were to have remained alive in the month of Adar, his lightcannot reach the “fish”. This insight made Haman confident that in the month ofAdar, he will be able to destroy all the Jews.  Returning toBenai Issachar says  He issuggesting that he knew it would be a leap year and I guess sometimes you canknow based on Passover needing to come out in the spring and he was happyselecting the 13th day of the 13th month. To him that might’ve been the mostunlucky day.    Returning tothe question: We asked why we call it Purim   God pickedpur   G-d seteverything in motion   And althoughthere was a Pur below, it was governed by the Pur above  Perhaps thisis the plural Purim.         Deciding onleap year  Midrash  Vayikra   29/4  R Yehoshua   Discusseswhat occurs when the leap year is reviewed.  The Rabbismeet to review the parameters, and it says that God basically leaves hisbusiness of heaven and constricts Himself so that his presence is fully bound withthem because they are deciding the calendar and whether they are mistaken orcorrect He Agrees with whatever decision they make and blesses it  So this 13thmonth is something that is imbued with an extra blessing from above  So inessence, Haman made all of these calculations and thought he was right, but wassubject to something completely beyond nature.  It’simpossible for us not to think, even though we can never try to imagine, weunderstand heaven‘s thoughts, that this month, and this year, With our monthcoinciding with the Muslim month of Ramadan, and even the Christian where they willcelebrate Easter, which normally coincides with Passover but not this year   and where SinwarY’S who we can call Amalek, is justifying not having a cease-fire, because hethinks that the power of this month of Ramadan is with him to lead him to forcethe Jewish people because of the Muslim holiday,   that’s themonth that he should fall.   At the sametime we’ve come so far because we’ve shown unity and I shudder, and I’m soafraid that this whole discussion of conscripting, the students will notbackfire. Because the only way that we can have success is when we have unity.  Explain 13Unity   Finallyrelating to Friday the 13th   Each day wesay the Mizmor of the day   Hayom yom echad,sheni or shelishi   But onFriday Not You shishi  Yom hashishi  We add theHeh   Rabbissuggest   Ha/5  Shishi/ 6  Letters / 3  365  We can sayShesah Gidey   But I heardfrom Rabbi Galimidi    Third monthSivan   Sixth day ofmonth   Five books         Yom Hashishivayechilu hashamayim   The entireworld for based on Torah  This isFriday      And whatabout 13     13 barmitzvah   Yag midot   Ruleslearning   InYishtabach - . א שִׁיר, ב וּשְׁבָחָה, ג הַלֵּל, ד וְזִמְרָה, ה עֹז,ו וּמֶמְשָׁלָה, ז נֶֽצַח, ח גְּדֻלָּה, ט גְּבוּרָה, י תְּהִלָּה, יאוְתִפְאֶֽרֶת, יב קְדֻשָּׁה, יג וּמַלְכוּת.     Vehu rachum   Love ahava   One echad   Avot   Imahot      13 beyondnature   13 remindsus we are beyond nature  Everythingin Judaism is to go beyond nature  Ourexistence is beyond nature   7 is nature   But werelate to 8 – Brit Milah, Hanukkah   49 Nature,we strive for 50   Same way 12is nature  World Happywith that   This 13thmonth is truly a month beyond natural limitations of 12   Everythingin Judaism is to go beyond nature  Ourexistence is beyond nature   This is amonth without limitations   Withoutblockages   Whereanything is possible   Lets takeadvantage and connect