Metzora 5767

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Tazria-Metzora (Leviticus 12-15 )

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GOOD MORNING! On Wednesday evening, May 16th, Harold Gans, former Senior Cryptologist at the NSA (National Security Agency), will be speaking on Miami Beach on the topic: "Torah Codes: Prophecy or Hoax?" (For tickets or more information see: http://www.TorahCodesMiami.com). Many people have heard of the hidden codes in the Torah and many haven't. To some the discovery of codes in the Torah is one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century - to others it is just puzzling or suspected fraud.


___What is the big controversy? When codes in the Torah are brought to light predicting 911, the capture and execution of Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Ladin, the Asian tsunami, Ilan Ramon and the Columbia disaster, people are spooked. Either there is a Higher Authority communicating here - or it's a fraud.


___In 1994, a mathematical paper describing the discovery of hidden codes in the Torah encrypting modern day events, dates and historical personalities was published in a respected statistics journal, "Statistical Science." Best selling books and television documentaries have been produced describing the amazing Torah codes. More recently, however, it has been called a hoax, with a scientific paper purporting to prove that the 1994 discovery was a hoax. Harold Gans directed an international team of mathematicians researching the codes and is one of the world's greatest expert on the Torah codes - and has conclusive evidence of the validity of the Torah codes!


___What are the codes? Perhaps when you were in third grade you passed notes in class. You would never pass a note with the message written out in case the teacher intercepted it. What would you do? You'd write your note as one or more long line of letters with (for example) every fifth letter being part of the message; the filler letters are, well, filler letters with no relevance to your message. For instance, look at this encoded message: DabcdOabcdYabcdOabcdUabcdGabcdEabcdTabcdIabcdT? Of course, you wouldn't capitalize, bold and underlines the actual letters of your message!


___This is called an Equal Distance Letter Sequence (ELS) code. Our tradition teaches that the Almighty dictated the whole Torah to Moses who then wrote it down letter for letter, word for word, according to the dictation. We are told that everything is in the Torah and that there are 70 depths of understanding the Torah. It is only with the onset of the computer age that mathematicians and statisticians could analyze and search the Torah for embedded codes.


___It has been known for hundreds of years that there are codes in the Torah. For example, The Ramban (Nachmanides), a great Torah scholar, was asked in the 12th century, "If everything is in the Torah, where is the Rambam, Maimonides, the author of the Mishneh Torah, the codification of the laws of the 613 commandments, found?" Nachmanides directed the inquirer to Exodus 11:9, "Rabot Moftai B'eretz Mitzrayim" -"My marvels may be multiplied in the land of Egypt." Rabbi Michael Dov Weismandel (in the mid-20th century) wondered if the Rambam's magnum opus, Mishneh Torah, was encoded in the Torah. Having discovered other codes with a 50 letter interval (corresponding to the 50 gates of wisdom) he found (remember, this is all in the original Hebrew Torah!) "Mishneh" encoded in 50 letter intervals from starting with the "M" (Hebrew letter "mem") of Moshe in the verse just quoted, and then found "Torah" encoded in 50 letter intervals ... starting exactly 613 letters (corresponding to the 613 commandments, the subject matter of the Mishneh Torah) later!


___One could say, "Nice parlor trick? So, what?" Bottom line? Either the author of the Torah knew 2,500 years in advance about Maimonides and the Mishneh Torah or the whole story is another coincidence with a probability of 1 in 3,000,000. If big numbers don't have an emotional reality, then realize that 1 in 3,000,000 are the odds of a person playing solo Russian Roulette (1 man, 1 gun, 1 bullet, 6 chambered pistol) firing 81 times in a row without killing himself.


___If you are lucky enough to live in South Florida - or to arrange a visit on May 16th- to hear Harold Gans, it will be a night to remember. Go to http://www.TorahCodesMiami.com for tickets or to download Mr. Gans' "Torah Code Primer." If you want to learn more about the codes, try "Codes in the Torah" by Professor Daniel Michelson at http://www.600000men.com/book/bo.htm. Some say "Insignificant coincidence." Others say, "Significant non-coincidence -proof that God is the author of Torah." What will you say when you get the facts?

For more on "The Hidden Codes in the Torah" go to ShabbatShalomAudio.com!


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THE HIDDEN CODES

IN THE TORAH

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Torah Portion of the Week
Tazria-Metzora

___The Torah continues with the laws of physical and spiritual purity. The focus of this portion is upon tzora'as, a supernatural physical affliction sent to warn someone to refrain from speaking badly about others. The disease progressively afflicted home, clothes and then one's skin - unless the individual corrected his ways and followed the purification process stated in the Torah.


___There are two types of speech transgressions: (1) Loshon Hora (literally "evil tongue")- making a derogatory or damaging statement about someone even though you are speaking the truth. (2) Rechilus (literally "tale bearing") - telling someone the negative things another person said about him or did against him. Check out http://chofetzchaimusa.org/ for daily lessons in Shmirat HaLoshon, proper speech - or ask at your local Jewish bookstore, http://www.judaicaenterprises.com or call toll-free to 877-758-3242 for books and tapes! Also, go to http://www.aish.com/stopLH for "The 10 Rules of Loshon Hora."


___The second Torah Portion, Metzora, continues with the purification process for the metzora, the person afflicted with tzora'as and then the home afflicted with tzora'as. The portion ends with the purification process for discharges from the flesh.

* * *

Dvar Torah
based on Growth Through Torah by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

___The Torah states:

"This shall be the law of the one stricken with tzora'as on the day of his purification, and he shall be brought to the Cohen." (Leviticus 14:2)

___Why does the Torah tell us that he will be brought to the Cohen? Won't he come of his own accord? Rabbi Ibn Ezra, a 12th century commentator, explains that after the tzora'as clears up he will not want to bring the offerings that he is responsible to bring.


___When a person has tzora'as, he will definitely claim that of course he will bring the necessary offerings when the tzora'as clears up. Once he is cured, he can easily forget his obligations. Now that nothing is pressing him, he will focus on other things and not on meeting his obligations. (It's kinda like not paying pledges after the person gets well...)


___(There is a story of a young boy playing on a roof. He slips and is sliding towards a precipitous drop. Immediately the boy starts to pray: "Please Lord, I'll keep my room clean." He continues to slide. "Please, Lord, I'll never hit my little brother again." He continues to slide. "Please, Lord, I'll never do anything wrong again in my life." All of a sudden he comes to a stop ... and says, "Forget it, Lord - I got caught on a nail!")


___Some people find it difficult to meet their responsibilities. When they need favors from someone or want to impress someone, they might make many promises. When the time comes to keep their obligations, they do all they can to avoid meeting them. A person with integrity will derive pleasure from meeting his responsibilities and will not need others to coerce him to keep them. The more pleasure you feel when meeting your obligations, the more motivated you will be to meet them.

CANDLE LIGHTING - April 20
(or go to http://www.aish.com/shabbat/candlelighting.asp)

Jerusalem 6:36
Guatemala 5:59 - Hong Kong 6:27 - Honolulu 6:34
J'Burg 5:29 - London 7:47 - Los Angeles 7:10
Melbourne 5:29 - Mexico City 7:37 - Miami 7:29

New York 7:22 - Singapore 6:50 - Toronto 7:48



QUOTE OF THE WEEK:


Failure to hit the bullseye
is never the fault of the target
.


With Special Appreciation to
Svetlana Cherkasskiy
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