The Last Ten Centuries.Pdf

Introduction. This booklet is based on one statement of the Vilna Gaon in which he wrote that the last ten Parshiyos of the Torah hint to what would happen throughout the last one thousand years of history. This way, the last book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) predicts the history of the sixth millennia and every century is hinted to by one parsha. We will try to evaluate this statement of the Gaon and understand the history accordingly. We certainly do not assume the knowledge of all of the hints. Everybody who studied the Talmud knows full well that we sometimes don’t know answers to even much simpler questions. Even the great sages often end their commentaries with the words “Tzarich Iyun” – this needs further examination. Still, after analyzing the recent history, we found a wonderful correspondence between the years and the Torah portions and hence we decided to publish this article. We would like to thank Mr. Shlomo Simon, Mrs. Chaya Bartel and Mrs. Chana Ziegelheim for their help in editing this work. If you will have questions or comments, please call +1-347-645-2274. The Vilna Gaon also explains that the spiritual root of the ten Torah portions of Devarim is in ten Sefiros of the world of Asya. This is the lowest of the spiritual worlds and it is a projection of the worlds above it, just as the fifth book of Torah is a projection of the books before. Thus, to better understand the history of the ten centuries, we need to have some understanding of Sefiros as well. In general, Sefiros can be viewed as parts of Divine will or as ways of Hanhaga – Hashem’s rule over the universe. There are ten such ways. Everything in the spiritual and physical realms is a result and projection of some combination of the ten Sefiros. Just as all physical materials with their great variety are composed of just a little more that one hundred elements, so too, is everything spiritual, a combination of these ten general spiritual roots. The names of the Sefiros are: Keser – Crown, Chochma – Wisdom, Bina – Understanding, Chesed – Kindness, Gevurah – Strength, Tiferes – Harmony, Netzach – Perseverance, Hod – Splendor, Yesod – Foundation, Malchus – Royalty. The projections of these Sefiros are in everything including the human body. Even though some knowledge of Kabala will enhance the understanding of this booklet, such knowledge is not required. One can learn a lot from this article even without it. Let us study the history starting with year 5000, i.e. 1240 by the secular calendar. According to the Gaon’s arrangement we have the following correspondence: Parsha Sefira Jewish Secular years years Devarim Keser 5000-5100 1240-1340 Vaeschanan Chochma 5100-5200 1340-1440 Ekev Bina 5200-5300 1440-1540 Ree Chesed 5300-5400 1540-1640 Shoftim Gevurah 5400-5500 1640-1740 Ki Setze Tiferes 5500-5600 1740-1840 Ki Savo Netzach 5600-5700 1840-1940 Nitzavim- Hod 5700-5800 1940-2040 Vayelech Haazinu Yesod 5800-5900 2040-2140 VeZos HaBracha Malchus 5900-6000 2140-2240 Note, that Nitzavim and Vayelech count as one Parsha. When there are two Shabbosim between Rosh Hashanah and Sukkos, we split them; however they are generally considered one Parsha. Thus, there are 53 Parshiyos in the Torah, like the gematria of the word “Gan” – garden. If we were to consider Nitzavim and Vayelech separately, we would have a total of 54 Parshiyos. The written Torah as well as the Talmud and the book of Zohar predict many elements of our history. However, the statement of the Gaon shines additional light on it. A short summary of the book of Devarim. In general, the book of Devarim covers the last month and seven days of Moshe’s life. During this time, he chastised our people, he reviewed the Torah’s commandments with them, he predicted their future and, at the end he blessed them. Thus, the book can naturally be divided into four parts. The first three weekly readings have to do with the past. Moshe was reprimanding our nation for its sins. The next three Parshiyos are completely dedicated to mitzvos. The following three weekly portions deal with predictions of the future. The last Parsha is Moshe’s blessing of the twelve tribes, each according to its spiritual root. This general division fits perfectly into the teachings of Kabala. According to Kabalistic works, the general division of the Sefiros is also into groups of three. These groups also correspond to the three levels of the soul – Neshama, Ruach and Nefesh, as well as to the three times – past, present and future, and to the three levels of the body. Thus, the first three Sefiros correspond to the Neshama, to the past tense and to the head. In general, all Neshamos were created in the beginning, and one can’t change them or damage them. Our actions only affect the levels below Neshama. The Neshama itself simply leaves a person at the time of sin. This is also the explanation of Kares – the spiritual incision. The lower levels of the soul are cut off from Neshama. The next level – Ruach – corresponds to present tense and to the middle level of the body. We breathe through our lungs, and indeed the meaning of the word Ruach is wind. The lowest level – Nefesh – corresponds to the lowest part of the body, below the diaphragm. Our qualities come from this part of the soul. It has to do with the future tense and we have to work on it all our lives. It is thus taught that Ruach is riding on top of the Nefesh, like a rider on a horse. Some people have a hard time taming their “horse,” for they are born with many bad qualities, but if they succeed in the end, their reward is very great. Similarly, our Temple consisted of these three levels. The Holy of Holies corresponded to the brain. The Heichal had a small altar, on which only beautifully smelling incense was burned. This corresponded to the middle part of the body, where the lungs are situated. At last, the outside part had the big altar on which blood was sprinkled and fats were burned, corresponding to the digestive tract. After this introduction, the general order of the book of Devarim becomes clear. The first three chapters have to do with the first three Sefiros, and they are mostly dedicated to our past history. Even though there are some mitzvos in VaEschanan and Ekev, these mitzvos mostly have to do with strengthening our Emuna – faith. The next three portions are completely dedicated to describing the detailed commandments of the Torah and correspond to the Sefiros that have to do with the present. We will later see that a tremendous rise of Torah learning happened in the period of time corresponding to these chapters. The following three Parshiyos describe the predictions of the future and correspond to the Sefiros that have to do with the future. In these chapters, our deviation from Torah is predicted, as well as our punishment and the return to Judaism – the Baaley Tshuva movement. At last, the blessings of the tribes correspond to Malchus – for this Sefira shows our readiness to receive the Divine blessing, and it is also the source of the Jewish souls. Let us delve a bit further into each Parsha separately. Parshas Devarim. This chapter is an introduction to the whole book. Just as Kabala teaches us, Keser is the Sefira that connects each world with the world above it. It is thus taught that the Malchus of the higher world becomes the Keser of the world below. Thus, this Parsha summarizes everything that happened until now and introduces us to what will be discussed in the book. From a historical point of view, two fundamental books saw light in this century – the Tur and the Zohar. The author of the Tur, Rabbi Yakov ben Asher, summarized all the works of the Rishonim before him, producing a unique compendium which describes all the laws that apply to us. Centuries later, Rabbi Yosef Karo used this work as the basis for his Shulchan Aruch. Therefore, most of the halachic works we have today are completely based on the Shulchan Aruch and the Tur. Certainly, the Tur can be considered the root of all other works of halacha, corresponding perfectly to Sefiras Keser. The Zohar was also rediscovered during this century. After being hidden for generations, it became the root of all subsequent writings of Kabala. Interestingly, the other principal Kabalistic writings of Ramban and his students were also composed in this century. Parshas VaEschanan. In general, the sages of the past one thousand years are divided into Rishonim (early ones) and Acharonim (the last ones). Usually, the exile of Spanish Jewry is considered the splitting point. According to this, the Rishonim continued their activity in the time corresponding to the first three Sefiros. In general, all of the first three Sefiros are hidden and so is the activity of most sages of the time. Some of the known writings of this Parsha’s period include the Maharil’s compilation of our customs and his answers to halachic inquiries. Parshas Ekev. This is the last of the Torah portions in the first group of three. In many ways, it is similar to the previous one just as Chochma is similar to Bina. It is known, that in every group of three Sefiros there is right, left and middle. The right side is that of kindness, while the left is of judgment. Thus, in this group, Bina is from the left side.

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