Beit El - and the future of Israel

I was  recently asked to elaborate about a previous post - Solving the Riddle of Beit-El and Beit-el - the confusing complexity it was intended to be. I find this particular subject important because it continues to incorrectly influence present day thinking, in the negative and the source is ancient. For example, Dr. Ben-Artzi, the brother-in-law of Israel’s present Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is a proponent of the negative view. Here is the alternative: That Beit el, north of Jerusalem was populated and re-established in 797 BCE to separate the tribes, north of Beit el from those of the south who had allowed Solomon’s Temple to supplant the cultural and historical importance of Beit El, South Jerusalem. This sup-plantation and separation continues to influence Israel’s views, sentiments and cultural integrity.

This story begins during the nations attempt to appoint their next King after the death of Solomon. The tribes of Israel struggled because Solomon’s son Rechavam of Yehuda, who was next in line was considered by many to be a shadow of his father. Against him was Yerovam (Jeroboam) of Ephraim who previously worked for Solomon, supervising construction in Jerusalem’s City of David, Shechem and collecting tax from the tribes of Joseph, but eventually he opposed Solomon. He fled to exile under the protection of Shishak, the Egyptian Pharaoh because of his outspoken views about the imposition of Solomon’s opulence. Yerovam returned from exile to challenge Rehavam and split tribal loyalty, in part by re-establishing an old center of worship at Beit el, north of Jerusalem on the border of land belonging to the tribe of Benjamin and Ephraim.

Yerovam was socially influential over the northern tribes, he aligned himself with prophets, priests and leaders of the north from Dan, Shilo, Shechem and Beit el. He used previous religious practices including idol worship to influence the tribes by placing two golden cow gods in temples and referring people to their significance as gods of people of prominence, including Moses brother and grandson who had engaged with them. During the southerly pilgrimage to Solomon’s temple, he blocked routes, diverted and attracted his tribesmen with bedazzling worship at the temples he constructed. Yerovam exposed Solomon’s impartiality toward idol worship, exemplified by the idol practices and requirements of Solomon’s Egyptian wife, to justify the disposition of his fellow northern tribesmen.   

For his new nation, he set up an alternative priesthood and offered temple worship extravaganzas at which he offered sacrifices. On one festive occasion that occurred on the same days as southern tribes worship, a man from Yehuda (south) who was a prophet from Shomron (north) stopped Yerovam at the altar in Beit el by freezing his hands whilst he prophesied there would come a King Yoshiahu (Josiah) who would destroy Yerovam’s altar.Then the prophet released Yerovam and on his way home was tempted by a false prophet to eat and bless food, which he was not permitted to do, as a result he died.

Three hundred and thirty years later, the prophecy came true. Yoshiyahu was one of the last kings of Israel and the great grandson of King Chizkiyahu. He quickly made it his mission to clear Israel of its idolatrous altars including Yerovam’s altar at Beit el. The destruction of these altars is the subject of my previous post from which I conclude, that Yoshiyahu rediscovered the high ridge at the Gihon which his great grandfather dug-up during his major excavation of the water tunnel from the Gihon Spring to the lower pool at Shiloah. The once land filled high ridge may fit the picture of an area known as the Milo, which 330 years earlier Yerovam had become intimately familiar during his construction tenure with King Solomon.

Archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon confirmed the landfill of the east facing terraces to be the Milo. More recently Eli Shukron who was responsible for the high ridge excavation, on the same eastern slope, confirmed that soft earth covering the high ridge seems to have been deliberately placed to protect it. These indications suggest the Milo was a land filled area adjacent to a wall and may indeed fit the description of the high ridge. Although some claim the Milo to be further up the hill toward the temple mount, I claim the area of the high ridge is the location of Beit El Jerusalem, which coincides with the Milo.

King David who came to Jerusalem to capture Beit El  and Yerovam, like Chizkiyahu may have known that it was the origin of Jerusalem, but each were unable to reveal it in their time.The concealment of Beit El’s centrality, on the border of Binyamin (Benjamin) and Yehuda subverts Israel’s culture, Jewish life and law, back then, Yerovam exploited it to split the tribes and the kingdom.

 

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Censorship, Spies and Tzitzit.

Facebook - The information you are about to read was deleted by the administrator of The Archaeology News Network who would not endure my challenge to their fixed logic. Underlying my theory I proposed some archaeologists are so biased against the Biblical record they refuse to admit any evidence that would suggest its authenticity. Two wrestlers; the archaeologist first handicaps the biblical proponent tying both hands behind their back.

The information below are the immediate posts following the deletion. I started out with a general question:

“Can anyone help improve the theory that tassels on the skirt (relief in the tomb of Seti I) are also on the ivory from Megiddo, which are tzitzit worn by the Shasu/Israelites after they settled in Israel?” - see the full paper at the link below;.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/163659132/Understanding-the-Record-of-Ancient-Egypt-From-a-Biblical-Perspective

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• Warriór Móuse' and 3 others like this.
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• Nicholas del Cioppo I think you're on to something. The tribes of Ysra'el were told by their god to put tzitzit on the "kanaf" of their garments (Bemidbar/Numbers 15:38) "Kanaf" means the borders or extremities, so Hebrews sewed tzitzit on the edging of their clothing,  mush like the above tribesman's loincloth. One of the strands of the tzitzit was dyed with tekhelet, the blue dye that was used on the tabernacle covering and for the high priest’s ceremonial robe. Thus, wearing a blue tzitzit was a sign of nobility because the blue dye suggested priestly status. But tzittzit were not restricted to royalty or priests. Every Hebrew was supposed to wear them. Here's more about Tzitzit:http://www.hebrewshepherd.com/mitzvah-tzitzit.html
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• Mitzvah Tzitzit - Do You Follow The Bible, Scripture, Torah,Prophets,Writings ?
• www.hebrewshepherd.com
• September 11, 2013 at 6:18am · Edited · Like
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• Kevin Bermeister Nicholas del Cioppo Thanks - The site reference is excellent - i never knew about the red and blue tzitzit and was worried about their coloration on the modern render and the original relief. Now my concerns are satisfied. I'm still having difficulty with another group @https://www.facebook.com/.../thearcha.../702241073124107/... who believe the Megiddo reference to be a standard Egyptian Motif, but I am arguing about the specificity of the ivory as it relates to the Shasu relief at Medinat Habu - where the depiction is with strange headdress as in Megiddo ivory...the one image relates to Seti-Merenptah the other to RIII - so there is quite an apparent time gap between reliefs - one without and one being with headdress...
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• September 11, 2013 at 7:40am · Like
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• Kevin Bermeister Yesterday my extensive post was deleted by an administrator of The Archaeology News Network - a link to it is in my last post to you (above). In any event I slightly enhanced the image of the Meggido Ivory knife handle to emphasize the person on the throne is receiving a folded fabric to his left hand which I re-posted. I now suggest, based on the enhancement, the fabric on offer to be the kilts of the demeaned prisoners and their "holy" fringes, chopped off, are prominently floating in the image. Today I made a similar post to this one on The Archaeology News Network, which they deleted again - guess they don't like me or what I am saying...
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• September 12, 2013 at 9:08am · Edited · Like
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• Nicholas del Cioppo What ARE you saying?
• September 14, 2013 at 6:24pm · Like
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• Kevin Bermeister That the kilts of the prisoners are being presented to the person sitting on the throne and the tassels, which have been cut off the kilts, are prominently displayed to boast of victory over the holy kilt wearing Shasu and their tzittzit!
• September 15, 2013 at 9:27am · Like

Modern archaeological dating, especially the Egyptian chronology is notoriously unreliable, yet it is often relied upon to obfuscate Biblical dating. Population regression estimates Israel, before their departure from Egypt may have been 5 to 10% of greater Egypt’s population. Some 430 years prior, Jacob’s grandfather Abraham established relationships in Egypt. The birth of Abraham's first child came from his marriage to Hagar who was a daughter of Egypt’s pharaoh, their son Ishmael was circumcised age 13. 

Egyptian boys were circumcised as depicted in this ~2000-2300 BCE sixth dynasty relief. The Hebrew calendar precisely dates Abraham and Ishmael’s circumcisions to 3725 years ago or 1713 BCE. Therefore, by the Egyptologists approximate relief dating we are encouraged to assume circumcision was already common amongst Egyptians before Ishmael. After Jacob’s father Isaac was born (his descendants were circumcised on the 8th day after birth) the Torah and its traditional teaching relays that Hagar and Ishmael went back to live in Egypt. Sometime later Jacob’s brother Esau married Ishmael’s daughter (Basemath) Mahalath. This marriage aligned the lineage of Egypt with that of Abraham, Isaac and Esau.

Torah tells us the Israelites under Jacob were settled in Goshen and that Hebron, in Israel was established seven years before Tzoan in Egypt. According to the dating, Abraham on his journey South probably established Hebron and Tzoan. A recent discovery using infrared technology, revealed a massive and ancient buried city called Tanis. Tanis was known by many names. Ancient Egyptians called it Djanet, and Torah refers to the site as Tzoan. There is no Hebrew letter for “J” or “Dj” it would have been substituted over time with “G” making - Ganet. The sound for “t” in Hebrew can be substituted with the sound “s”. Therefore its possible that Djanet, Ganet, Ganes and Ganesh proceed Torah’s Tzoan and Goshen. Remarkably the modern name of the town Sân el-Hagar relates to the Egyptian princes Hagar.

After Israel left Egypt, crossed the sea and miraculously escaped Egyptian revenge, they are said to have lived in an elevated spiritual state. Many did not want to leave the desert and confront the prospect of entering and fighting wars for their land in Canaan. Instead, Moses sent out spies to investigate, they came upon Hebron which Torah said was 7 times more fertile than Tzoan. The spies specific depiction of the allegedly unconquerable Canaanite land was informed by encounters with Canaanites living around Jericho on the planes of the Dead Sea, Hittites living around Hebron, Jebusites living in the approach to Jerusalem and Emorites living in the immediate proximity of the holy mountain of Jerusalem. But it would take another 38 years before they entered the battle for their land in the year 1273 BCE. 

The Merenptah Stele (~1207 BCE) in the Egyptian museum boasts victory in a campaign in Canaan against Israel. Most of the text glorifies Merenptah's victories over enemies from Libya and their Sea People allies, but the final two lines mention a campaign in Canaan, where Merenptah says he defeated and destroyed Ashkalon, Gezer, Yanoam and Israel.

Immediately following Israel’s re-entry to the land under Joshua, no king was appointed by the tribes to unify the nation. The tribe of Dan had been allocated the smallest portion of land. Despite their relatively large numbers, they failed to conquer it and surrounding land from the occupants along the Mediterranean in the approximate area of Gaza to Ashdod and Ashkelon. To accommodate the growth of their tribe, they discovered land in the North. Beyond the Biblical boundaries they conquered the city known to them as Laish where some of the tribe immigrated. Laish is the source of the Jordan River’s water, later it became known as Banias. Unlike all the other tribes, Dan were dominated by one primary family, the Shuamites.They frequently travelled the trail from Gaza/Ashkelon/Ashdod through Beit El (north of Jerusalem) and up to Laish in the north (Syria).

The story of Micah from the book of Judges, reveals that the tribe of Dan, the Shuamites are referred in the Egyptian record as the Shasu of YHW, with their strange headdress, depicted in the images displayed in Karnak. The Shasu, true to their tribal emblem, snaked through Israel from South to North and harassed the Egyptian army as they travelled on the same migratory paths to Kadesh on the Orentes river near Laish. Although no direct match for Merenptah’s might, the Shasu made life very difficult, particularly in the hill country, as such they won frequent mention on the battle scene reliefs of Karnak. 

Now we can finally understand the hieroglyphic translation on Merenptah’s Stele - ‘Israel as people without a city,state’. The author referring to Israel, without a king, personified the Shasu, the tribe of Dan who had not conquered their land like the other tribes had already done. Merenptah used the Shasu to describe Israel’s retribution in the process of his Canaanite campaigns.

Megido was a strategic location, the convergence of the ocean path north to the inland and the return of of the northelry path on the Judean ridge to the flatland. A carved ivory knife handle discovered in the Megiddo excavation revealing two captives being presented to a bearded leader.The men wearing the strange head dress are circumcised. Megiddo discoveries are attributed to two time periods based on the stratum analysis up to the earlier 950-1050 BCE and later period to ~550 BCE, but Megiddo also presents chronological difficulties.The ivory depicts a harp that does not appear to be an Israelite instrument, more likely an ancient Egyptian lyre and the throne is typical and may have followed the design of prophetic visions. In any event the King on the throne is bearded as are his soldiers. The two Semites may be Israelite Shasu, bearded and circumcised.

And so we get back to the controversial tassels, the Tzitzit worn by the Shasu. According to my analysis they belonged to the captives depicted in the Megido artifact. However, my viewpoint was dismissed with such vigilance because it opposed the archaeological fraternity, that my post was deleted entirely. Deniers of the Biblical record who penalize anyone from using it, claiming their techniques and knowledge to be more reliable must surely be seen for the bigoted views they promote. Beware the spies among us!

Elation, The King, Two Nuun's and The Ark of The Covenant

A good friend and refined Torah scholar reflected on King David's aborted attempted to bring the Ark of The Holy Covenant to The City of David after it had been shunned by the Philistines who had previously captured it. Immediately before David, the state of the nation was apparent because the tribes had failed to consolidate their power to protect their nations most holy object.  

David was anointed king in Hebron in the Hebrew year 2884 considered to be the midpoint of Jewish history and the year Prophet Samuel passed away. Seven years later he entered the city that was to become known as the City of David where he consolidated power, including by returning the Ark of The Holy Covenant to its people. King David was elated by the prospect that the Ark would finally be settled in its permanent and eternal place. However, the elation was short lived because the poles, once used to carry the Ark were inadvertently removed when the Ark was placed onto an Ox drawn wagon. During the journey the Ark jolted with the wagons movement and tragedy struck when Uzza touched the Ark and died. The ominous sign halted immediate attempts to move it and it was housed on a farm of a prominent family outside of Jerusalem till another attempt could be mustered.

Following the first attempt, King David motivated national leaders to participate in moving the Ark to its temporary location in the City of David. He officially re-appointed the tribal priesthood who had retained their family lineage through Moses brother High Priest Aharon. Their job was to re-insert the poles, to lift the Ark and carry it back, on their shoulders up the mountains surrounding Jerusalem to the City of David. The mission was successfully accomplished and the Ark finally rested in a temporary dwelling the King had erected for it.

After these events, King David proceeded to cement political and supply agreements to construct his palace, but it bothered him that he would live in a permanent dwelling while the Ark rested in a tent. The Prophet Nathan advised him; not he, but his son would be the one to build the temple as a permanent dwelling for the Ark. Intent on facilitating the process and his son, the King did everything in his power to prepare the Divine decree. This included the King locating the altar, the ultimate requirement, according to Jewish law for identifying the precise relative position for the Ark of the Covenant to finally rest. During approximately 37 years of King David’s reign the Ark rested at the City of David and served people as one of the nation’s principal places of worship.

Toward the end of the King’s reign, he desperately struggled, spiritually and politically to locate the altar. He had experienced many difficulties including his controversial marriage to Bathsheba and his oldest son Absalom attempting a coup d'etat that forced the King to temporarily leave his City with the Ark. Finally he ordered an ill fated census of the nation that was directly attributed to the death of more than 70,000 people. But, the national pandemonium also brought opportunity and with it the King momentarily unified the disparate nation by his public display of soul searching and personal repentance. During these whirlwind events he bought the crest of the mountain, above the City of David, from the Jeubusite King on which he built an altar and offered personal sacrifices. The public took favor and the site was declared as the national location for the future temple altar to be located. The King was then able to complete the temple plans and progress the construction of its foundation including the preparation of materials, making it all but ready for his son Solomon to construct.

When the King first attempted to move the Ark to the City of David, he was impassioned. Elated by the prospect that the Ark was going to finally rest, he quashed the legally prescribed requirement to maintain the attachment of the poles to the Ark. With the building of the permanent location so close to being achieved, he believed the messianic era, the permanent temple and peace in the world would prevail during his reign, but it wasn’t to be. Similarly Moses had become elated, on the nation’s first journey after receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai he began in earnest marching toward Israel, believing he would enter the land, bring the nation Israel to settle and build a permanent temple for the Ark. However, it wasn’t to be, that brief, painful moment for Moses was recorded for posterity. Written in 85 letters, placed between two backward letter Nuuns, isolated it separates Torah’s five traditional books into seven with the words of Moses; “Arise Hashem and disperse Your enemies and those that hate You shall flee from before You.” And when it came to rest he would say: “Return Hashem, the myriads of the thousands of Yisrael.” (10:35-36)”.

The end point of Israel’s history, the year 5768 (2008) has already marked the nations redemptive return. Now the moment awaits for Israel to return, for the world to mature, for the messianic era to be recognized and ultimately for the Ark to finally rest in the permanent holy temple in Jerusalem.

Where Jerusalem began?

Standing on the Ophel at Mount Moriah's Temple Mount looking south, the Kidron Valley falls east toward Silwan. Increasingly visible is the new excavation area above the Spring House at the City of David. Most of the green grassy area shown in the picture below hides the archaeology beneath the surface. The landfill is a product of thousands of years of garbage dumping firstly by residents of the original City of David, and later by Israel’s deniers.

Mount Moriah - Looking South to Kidron Valley

The Excavation area (in the center) is the progressive work over the past five years to remove tens of thousands of cubic feet of dust, dirt and garbage to reveal the bedrock and provide public access to the archaeological features a few meters below. 

Jacob's Stairway from the Upper (Gihon) Pool to the Upper Ridge

From the south side looking North to the Ophel and Temple Mount, the highlighted excavations on Mount Moriah's eastern slopes are actually located on its bedrock. The Citadel of Daivd (walls) discovered by archaeologists Eli Shukron and Ronny Reich appear to be a Middle Bronze Age construction north of Jacob's Stairway which runs from the Upper Pool to the Upper Ridge.

Many attempts have been made to artistically render the City of David and The Spring House over the Gihon Spring. As more features are discovered the renditions become more accurate.

Ancient City of David built on Mount Moriah 

Spring House and Upper Gihon Pool

Lower Mount Moriah - Steep Face from Upper Gihon Pool and Spring House to Upper Ridge

I write on this subject to highlight that parts of the Upper Gihon Pool pre-date the Spring House structure by as much as 1000 years and its walls by several hundred years. I maintain the southern walls (of Jacob's Ladder) rising to the Upper Ridge, immediately above the Upper Gihon Pool were built by Jacob to emphasize its sanctity. In the above image, the Pool (contained between walls that climb the mountain face to the Upper Ridge) can be seen adjacent to the south west corner of the Spring House and in its modern iteration (view from the north east) below:

Today - The Gihon Spring House (view from north east corner)

This recently snapped image (below) captures the present excavation on the underground climb from the Upper Gihon Pool to the Upper Ridge, which is where the group are posing. The visible sandbags follow the contour of the bedrock as it falls to the valley floor. On the right (north) of the sandbags are a series of well placed significant boulders, remnants of the southern wall stairway (not connected to the Spring House of Citadel of David). When this wall was first built The Spring House was not yet in existence. 

Upper Pool to the Upper Ridge - Jacob's Stairway

The steps and walls of Jacob's Stairway terminate as it meets the foot of the Upper Ridge. This is an important distinction that suggest the wall may have been designed to emphasize the Upper Ridge.

The Upper Ridge was recently the highlight of a worldwide guessing contest to discover the meaning or purpose of strange markings carved into its bedrock. This section of the floor is located to the left (south) of Jacob's Stairway and can be seen in the following image with archaeologist Eli Shukron.

Eli Shukron at The Upper Ridge

To the north (right) adjacent to the room with V markings (see the steel cabinet in the far right of the above image) is arguably the most well preserved in-situ artifact at the City of David and in Israel. Every time I see it I shudder when considering its importance, I believe it is and will be determined to be the monument (matzevah - Genesis 28:22) that Jacob erected to confirm his covenant with God and take his name Israel. Further along in the next room to the north is a very interesting configuration that includes a slightly raised platform and a channel chiseled in the bedrock for liquid (most likely blood) to run from sacrifices offered at the back of the room to its front.

Steel Case - The Matzevah

Matzevah (monument) of Jacob - Genesis 28:22

Adjacent and further north is a room that appears to have operated as a small animal holding pen. In addition an oil press, a grain press and numerous other elements make this Upper Ridge at the Gihon an area that was certainly used for large scale sacrificial use.

The floor plan of the entire upper ridge illustrated below identifies each of these rooms. Increasingly possible is the prospect that the Ark of the Covenant may have rested in a tent behind (west) these rooms in the 37 years before it was located in the temple.

Rooms on the Upper Ridge above Upper Gihon Pool

From left to right - the room with marking, the room with matzevah, the room with blood channel and the room with holding pen. More on this Upper Ridge at the Gihon can be discovered at this link - Hypothesis for Upper Ridge.

Bottom left - Early Bronze Age Cave House

In archaeological terms this area and other rooms discovered at the Upper Gihon Pool confirm it to be an active early Bronze age II site. For the uninitiated this is arguably the most exciting news because its continuous use from this era confirms that Noah's son Shem, Malchitzedek may have used it as his base for worship at Salem where it is said he presided. This timeline would confirm the Biblical view that Salem is the origin of Jerusalem and the continuous site of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David.

Finally I am beginning to conceive the original structure integrated into the natural mountain face may have once been a Ziggurat (a Stariway) rather than a wall. If the matzevah at the Upper Ridge is indeed Jacob's then this 'stairway to heaven' would be consistent with his dream. It can be envisaged looking to the sandbags (in the previous image) on the climb from the Upper Gihon Pool to the Upper Ridge.

Understand Good and Evil!

Maimonides (Rambam) elaborates on the fundamental Jewish tenet of free will*, the fact the Almighty grants each individual the capacity to choose between good and evil. Rambam rejects outright and unequivocally the notion of predestined virtue or sinfulness; he asserts that it is possible for all people to be righteous like Moshe, or wicked like Yerovam ben Nevat” (5:2)

Of all the evil characters that span the pages of Tanach, the 24 books of the Bible, why would Rambam choose Yerovam as the person to juxtapose Moshe? Rambam is one of the most knowledgeable Jewish scholars ever to have lived, so his choice of Yerovam deserves investigation.

Most people know who Moshe (Moses) was, that he was chosen by God and led the enslaved descendants of Jacob out of Egypt. Over 40 years he forged them into Israel, the Jewish nation and transcribed and made Torah, the nation’s constitution. The story of the exodus is re-told at Passover every year by Jewish families and remains the most popular of all Jewish holidays among the secular and religious. However, in the Haggadah the book from which the story is retold Moses name is never mentioned. A great Rabbi taught me that the reason is each Jewish child has the same opportunity as Moses to feed directly from God’s manifestation. Therefore, the Haggadah was written to open, on this holy night a window for the participant to be enjoined in the same way and to rise to the same stature as leader of the Jewish nation.

Some 400 years after Moses, King Solomon died and  his son Rehavam was challenged by Yerovam for national leadership. Incredibly Yerovam led the northern tribes to a revolt and promoted two golden bull idols, their gods to compete with the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem. The idols, reminiscent of those that once elicited a similar revolt in which Moses brother in-law was killed and his brother threatened, existed north of Jerusalem. Moses grandson once served as a priest in the presence of one of these idols when the rear-guard tribe of Dan promoted their worship among the northern tribes. The political power vested in these gods was enough for Yerovam to advantage his revolution and successfully split the kingdom. In Beit El (north of Jerusalem), Yerovam built an altar and a temple for his divided nation to serve these gods and he prevented pilgrims heading south to Jerusalem.

Rambam connected free choice with these characters because they epitomise the breadth of its manifestation. Jewish nationalism may orient toward righteousness, but it accommodated Yerovam and Rehavam becoming leaders of the divided nation. The tribes of Israel split, they followed different teachings, they prayed in different temples, they bordered their lands and went to war. Ever since this time, the nation Israel has never reconciled. The nation that had once been redeemed from Egypt was and remains to this very day locked in its second exiled state.

A man from Yehuda (south) that came as a Prophet from Shomron (north) once froze Yerovams right arm as he revealed that his altar would be destroyed by a King from the future. That King, Yoshiyahu discovered the last surviving Torah scroll written by Moshe, it was open at the curses that foretold the impending destruction of the temple. Yoshiyahu repented deeply, he immediately defiled and destroyed Yerovam’s altar, traveled the nation destroying its idols and re-instituted Passover including the most glorious Pesach celebration in Jerusalem. Yoshiyahu’s efforts were so genuine that for the first time since Yerovam some of the northern tribes began to return to Jerusalem. Then Yoshiyahu became overwhelmed, he buried the Ark of the Covenant in a secret chamber and denied Pharaoh Neco permission to travel through Israel to attack the advancing Assyrians. Neco’s army killed Yoshiyahu piercing his body with 300 arrows. Twenty two years later the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the divided nation led into captivity.

I believe Rambam chose Yerovam because the concepts so deeply imbued in his choice speak through these events and this prophecy to this very day. I wrote extensively about it connecting it with Yerovam’s Beit El obfuscation that he so cleverly used to divide the nation. Once this obfuscation is removed the nation will finally return to its center, ultimately from exile and eventually it will unify its views and fulfill its longstanding cultural and national commitments. That time is approaching.

* fifth and sixth chapters of his Hilkhot Teshuva,

Israel Rising from the Ashes - 75 Years

Holocaust survivors one day after liberation in May 1945.
 Photo: National Archives and Records Administration.

We became polarized around the meaning of “Team Jewish”. Was Jewish a nationality? Did it include all members of Israel our nation? Did the concept sufficiently incorporate all who consider themselves members of the tribe? And what about Jewish continuity? I began to reflect - what does belonging to the Jewish team actually mean for the culturally diverse, some of whom cling to the thinnest of assimilated threads? Notwithstanding attempts by Jewish establishments to accommodate the estranged, orthodox, conservative and reform aggregate their communities under the Jewish banner. However, some follow no religion at all and many don’t know or don’t even admit to being Jewish.

The immediate assumption was that every member of the tribe is a member of the “Jewish Team”, but that convenience didn’t cut it for me. That would make one mighty big unmanageable team and certainly members from the strictly orthodox league would not play on the same field as conservatives, reformers or abstainers. According to their rules some may not even be Jewish! What is it that exists in the annals of Jewish history that had kept this fledgling nation alive and strengthened it through the most difficult challenges to rise and rise again? Something had to fit with the “Team” ideal that would accommodate all its members whether or not they agreed with each others practices.

The notion of automatic player admission to “Team Jewish” simply would not fit. Perhaps a broader “Club Jewish” concept would work, but who would select the team? Unifying Jewish opinions for team selection would be impossible, it would lead to more segmentation and would certainly do more harm than good. For the most part religious Judaism, in its multiple forms through its various organizations is a club open for anyone to qualify and join. Club-Jewish may fit the mold for diversity, but the club constitution and team selection would remain problematic. Many inconsistencies are imbued through different Jewish practices, some are cultural others more religiously technical, but there is one practice that remains stoically entrenched and central to each sub-community:- The Torah scroll at the front of their clubhouses, written in the same millennial tradition.

My search continued deeper and deeper looking for something that could resolve the problem of team selection, then it struck me. At first I thought the idea is so removed from reality, that it just wasn’t possible, but that led me to the exact place that resolved the problem. A mystical idea of Kabbalah that has forever produced selection of “Team Jewish”! Opinions vary about the number of members that constitute the team, but this minor detail should not get in the way of the establishment as most views converge. Team Jewish are the super-Jews, Tzadikim Nistarim (Hebrew: צַדִיקִים נִסתָּרים) the "hidden righteous ones". This elite group of 36 Jews are thought to exist in the world at all times, without them the world would fall. Any Jew can be selected for team-Jewish, but no-one ever know whether they’ve been selected for the team - could it be you? You may not know it and neither would anyone else, but “Club-Jewish” can be assured of the presence of these special Team Jewish members at all times.

Despite the occasionally rowdy membership, Club-Jewish has survived because of its magnificent team who blitz the competition in every game. These pillars, on which the world stands silently blaze their brilliance every day, whether in business, science, the arts, religion, charity or politics this team keeps Club-Jewish in business for the benefit of its members. It reminds me of a childhood saying at my non-Jewish school, modified here ever so slightly - ‘Jesus saves, but (Pele) Team-Jewish scores on the rebound!’ Now that's a team any self-respecting club would be proud to support.

75 years after the last devastating attempt to destroy the Jewish Club, the team settles the score to proudly unite its members as they go about their humble business. Everyday they tackle, defend, attack, pass and score. As Club-Jewish members increasingly recognize, respect and regard the diversity of their multitudinous culture they settle back to barrack their team and the home ground advantage of Israel, their Jewish nation state continues to pay handsome dividends.

Passover Seder's Fifteen Steps.

The Hebrew calendar is unusual because Nisan is the first month, associated with Passover or Pesach the holiday of redemption. But, its opposite end, the seventh month, Tishrei is the Jewish new year including the holiday of Sukkot. Kabbalah teaches equal in opposites, so what about Sukkot can we learn about Pesach?

There is a teaching that the lower feminine waters (of the Gihon Spring) complained to God, “We too want to be close to You!” God consoled them, saying; “There will come a time when you, too, will be close, when your waters will be poured upon the altar during Sukkot, to celebrate.” At Sukkot the Levite priests sang spiritual songs that kept Jerusalem wide-eyed till dawn as they stood upon the “fifteen steps of descent from the Israelite courtyard to the women’s courtyard, that correspond to the fifteen ‘Songs of Ascents’ composed by King David.  But, the priests descended those fifteen steps?

Rav Chisda asked “a certain rabbi” why King David composed these fifteen Songs of Ascents to begin with. The rabbi replied that when King David began excavating the foundation of the Temple’s altar, the waters of the subterranean deep rushed upwards and threatened to engulf the world. Then, King David composed fifteen Songs of Ascents, and the depths safely subsided. If so, Rav Chisda protested, why are they not called Songs of Descent, to reflect the subsiding waters.

Replied the anonymous rabbi, this is what occurred: When the deep surged upwards, King David thought to inscribe God's Name on a piece of earthenware and cast it into the waters. His teacher, Achitofel, ruled it permissible reasoning; if according to Torah, for the sake of matrimonial harmony, God commands us to write His Name on parchment and to erase it by placing it into a container of water for an alleged unfaithful wife to drink and redeem herself, then it is certainly permissible for King David to cast the divine Name into the surging waters to bring peace to the entire world!

King David immediately wrote and cast The Name into the waters, which then subsided sixteen levels. Surprised, the King realized the earth’s irrigation would be reduced, so he voiced fifteen Songs of Ascents that brought the waters back up to a safe and desirable level.

In his commentary on the Talmud, Maharsha adds that the divine Name King David wrote was with the letters Yud-Hei, which equates the numerical value fifteen. The Name is associated with the final redemption of the Jewish people. The two priests who descended these steps on the way to draw the water on Sukkot would pause on the tenth step, to divide the steps in two parts, ten and five, corresponding to the Yud (ten) and Hei (five) respectively.

Maharal quotes the verse from Isaiah 26:4, “For in God (Yud-Hei) is the strength of the worlds.” Our sages stated that all creation comes into being via these two divine “letters,” Yud and Hei. These letters comprise “form” that comes from the Yud, and “matter” that comes from the Hei. These reflect the spiritual worlds united with the material.

This, then, is the Kabbalistic secret behind the fifteen Songs of Ascents corresponding to the Temple steps that directed people to the higher world, from the more material, “feminine” women’s courtyard, toward the more spiritual, “masculine” aspect, the Israelite courtyard and ultimately the exclusive domains of the high priests. When a redeemed Israel left the entrapment of Egypt (Mitzrayim) they first journeyed through the lowest waters, the bottom of Yam Suf meaning Reed or some say Sea at the End where they cast their souls, comprising God's name, into the waters and from where they ascended as a nation.

Each year Jews the world over renew the months that will follow by ascending through 15 steps of the Pesach seder (the Passover meal). They pause after the tenth step during which they re-enact eating the pascal lamb sacrifice that saved them from disaster. Then, they continue the last of five steps with the festive meal of the seder. From the digestion of the holy Pesach meal, they are infused and elevated. Six months later they descend 15 steps at Sukkot when they unite the Lulav (Palm) and Willow branches of the lower waters. At that time meals are eaten and elevation is by the encompassing Sukkah, the natural hut Jews live in during that week each year.

Christians adjust their calendar to tie Easter to Pesach and Jews dedicate the water festival of Sukkot for all the nations. We are living in the years considered to be the millennial hour, the time of transition, at the doorstep of Moshiach (Mesiah) and Israel's final redemption. The 15 steps of the Pesach seder compliment Sukkot’s 15 holy steps of the Temple. With the realization of this inner beauty, perhaps we will live a peace that is the Jewish dream. Then those who live and celebrate in Jerusalem will no longer need to utter the Seder's redundant concluding words "next year in Jerusalem"!