In the Hebrew year 5786—corresponding to 2026 on the Gregorian calendar—the world appears to be spiraling toward a long-prophesied confrontation. Escalating conflicts in the Middle East, Iran’s nuclear ambitions framed as modern Persia, and public figures like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens reviving ancient accusations against the Jewish people create an atmosphere of existential tension. Amid this turbulence, one phrase repeatedly surfaces in Christian discourse: “turn the other cheek.”

Frequently invoked as the pinnacle of love, forgiveness, and non-violent resistance, it is presented as a universal moral imperative. It is important to understand what it means to turn the other cheek within this context. Yet for Jews, the phrase carries a very different origin, context, and implication—one rooted in the Jewish Bible rather than the New Testament.

Amid this turbulence, one phrase repeatedly surfaces in Christian discourse: “turn the other cheek.” Frequently invoked as the pinnacle of love, forgiveness, and non-violent resistance, it is presented as a universal moral imperative. Yet for Jews, the phrase carries a very different origin, context, and implication—one rooted in the Jewish Bible rather than the New Testament.

The expression draws directly from Lamentations 3:30: “Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes him; let him be filled with reproach.”¹ This verse appears in the Book of Lamentations, traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, and is recited during Tisha B’Av services commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples.

Far from advocating perpetual passivity, the passage expresses profound grief and self-accountability in the wake of Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon in 586 BCE. Jeremiah portrays the calamity not as the triumph of Babylonian might or blind hatred, but as divine chastisement for Israel’s disobedience to Hashem’s covenant.

The call to “offer the cheek” is an act of humble acceptance: acknowledge the punishment, endure it, repent, and ultimately return stronger. It is grief with purpose—consequence from Hashem’s hand when the people stray, not random evil inflicted by human foes alone.

The Rabbi Was Wrong

Jesus alludes to a parallel concept in the Sermon on the Mount: “But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39).² Christian tradition has interpreted this as a radical ethic of enemy-love, non-retaliation, and submission to unjust authority. Over two millennia, this teaching has shaped entire civilizations—often beautifully in acts of charity and forgiveness, but also problematically.

The phrase “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21) has at times been extended to mean unquestioning obedience to secular power, allowing governments to co-opt religious communities into tools of control. In its most extreme theological form, Christianity’s doctrine of original sin teaches that humanity is born inherently corrupt and evil, redeemable solely through faith in Jesus’ atoning death.

Good deeds alone are insufficient; without belief in the savior, even the most virtuous life leads to damnation. Generations raised on this framework have internalized deep guilt, shame, and fear—psychological burdens that have contributed to societal patterns of anxiety, division, and externalized blame.

There is no Meteator Job 9:33

Judaism stands in direct contrast. Jewish education begins with the affirmation that every human being is created b’tzelem Elohim—in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).³ Rabbi Efraim Palvanov and others draw an analogy to the atom: 99% positive energy (goodness, divine spark), with only 1% negative inclination (yetzer hara) serving as a test and motivator for growth.⁴ Children are taught that every soul carries unique goodness, every nation has a distinct purpose in Hashem’s plan, and no one is born damned.

Redemption comes through teshuvah (repentance), righteous action, and wrestling with God—not through vicarious atonement or belief in a divine intermediary. This foundational optimism fosters critical thinking, debate, and direct confrontation with the divine: Abraham argues over Sodom (Genesis 18), Jacob wrestles the angel (Genesis 32), Moses challenges Hashem at the burning bush and beyond.

Israel’s Repentances Israel’s Redemption

These theological divergences become stark in eschatological contexts. Ezekiel 37 depicts the valley of dry bones coming to life—a metaphor for the Jewish people’s physical and spiritual return from exile.⁵ Chapters 38–39 introduce Gog and Magog: a coalition led by Persia (modern Iran), invading Israel.

The attack arises not from inherent hatred, but from Israel’s incomplete repentance; Hashem deploys nations as instruments of awakening (Isaiah 59:20).⁶ There is no pre-tribulation rapture removing believers, nor an Antichrist deceiving Jews into building a false temple (a common misreading of Daniel 9). Instead, judgment falls, followed by redemption and gathering.

This prophetic rhythm resonates in Kabbalat Shabbat liturgy. Each Friday evening, Jews welcome the Sabbath by singing Psalms 95 through 99 in sequence: a crescendo of divine kingship, judgment on nations, trembling earth, fire preceding Hashem, and rejoicing in Zion.⁷

Psalm 97 commands: “You who love Hashem, hate evil” (v. 10)—an active stance against injustice, not meek endurance. Psalm 29 describes thunder shattering the cedars of Lebanon—symbolizing proud empires (today’s Iran and its allies) —crumbling before divine power.⁸ Jews are positioned as witnesses and testifiers, not passive recipients.

The Messiah Is Riding A Donkey

Zechariah 9:9 further illuminates the divide: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! … Behold, your king comes to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”⁹

Christians traditionally link this to Jesus’ triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. Rabbi Efraim Palvanov, however, emphasizes the chapter’s context: judgments on Damascus (reduced to a “ruinous heap” per Isaiah 17:1), Gaza, and Tyre precede the king’s arrival.

The “donkey” is not mere humility; it evokes Ishmael, described in Genesis 16:12 as “a wild donkey of a man; his hand against everyone.”¹⁰ In this reading, Islam—the spiritual heir of Ishmael—represents the untamed, rampaging force. The Messiah subdues this “wild donkey” after the conflagration, entering in victory. Not a past event of meek salvation, but a future triumph following war.

Christian eschatology frequently envisions a rapture removing the faithful, followed by surviving Jews “looking upon the one they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10) and converting en masse—effectively ending Judaism.¹¹ This is classic replacement (supersessionist) theology: the Church as the “new Israel.”

Submissions Only

Islam, meanwhile, demands submission (the root meaning of “Islam”) or death for non-believers. Both paths ultimately seek the erasure of Jewish distinctiveness—Christianity through theological absorption, Islam through conquest or conversion.

As a descendant of a Cohen and chazan (cantor) for my synagogue since 2001, I have repeatedly entered pastors’ offices to ask why such teachings persist. The overwhelming majority cannot cite chapter and verse; they know inspirational themes but falter on difficult passages like 1 Thessalonians 2:14–15, where Paul accuses “the Jews” of killing Jesus and the prophets and being “contrary to all men.”¹²

Candace Owens, in her widely circulated interview with Tucker Carlson, labeled Israel a “demonic nation” filled with “gremlins and goblins”—a modern echo of ancient tropes.¹³ Yet many Christian homes display Israeli flags alongside American ones, even as Bibles remain unread.

Judaism = Responsibility

“Chosen people” status is not superiority but responsibility. Deuteronomy 7:7–8 clarifies: “It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that Hashem set His love on you … but it is because Hashem loves you and is keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers.”¹⁴ Jews are tasked to preserve Torah, question authority (divine and human), and testify to monotheism.

The Maccabees fought not only Greeks but Hellenized Jews who sought assimilation—shaving beards, abandoning mitzvot, embracing foreign culture. Today, similar pressures exist: some Jews pursue Christianity, believing “Jesus fixed it all.” I actively counter this narrative, as my forefathers did.

Glen Beck Knows

Glenn Beck grasps the urgency: Israel faces an “existential deadline” with Iran; “delay is the most dangerous choice.”¹⁵ Yet he frames the response through a Christian lens—Hashem using figures like Trump as proxies. Judaism requires no intermediaries; we act because preserving life is holy, and survival demands confronting evil head-on.

In the unfolding Gog-Magog scenario, the question is not Islam versus Christianity—who prevails? It is Torah truth versus replacement ideologies.

Genetic studies, such as those in Nathaniel Jeanson’s Traced, trace male Y-chromosome lineages to three primary founders (corresponding to Adam, Noah, and Shem), with Jewish lines enduring unbroken.¹⁶ Archaeology affirms Jewish presence in Jerusalem from King David’s era. Recent signs—the Star of Jacob comet in September 2024, the October 7, 2023 (Simchat Torah) massacre—align with prophetic patterns.

“Turn the other cheek” may apply to personal slights or insults, fostering humility and peace. But when faced with genocidal threats—rockets, vows of annihilation, or theological programs to erase Jewish identity—it becomes suicidal passivity. Lamentations teaches accountability amid exile: accept divine consequence, repent, and rebuild. Judaism commands: hate evil (Psalm 97), wrestle with Hashem, claim the covenantal land, and stand firm.

To my neighbor Jody—whose home flies both American and Israeli flags, yet whose Bible has gathered dust—read Ezekiel. Witness God thundering through history, not whispering platitudes. See the Jewish people not as victims or obsolete, but as enduring witnesses.

The world insists “no chosen people, no promised land.” But if the Tanakh is true, we are real, the land is real, and the battle is real. Redemption arrives when we fully return to Hashem—not through submission or replacement, but through teshuvah and fidelity to Torah.

Footnotes ¹ Lamentations 3:30 (ESV). ² Matthew 5:39 (ESV). ³ Genesis 1:27 (JPS Tanakh). ⁴ Based on teachings by Rabbi Efraim Palvanov and similar Jewish mystical/educational sources. ⁵ Ezekiel 37:1–14. ⁶ Isaiah 59:20; Ezekiel 38–39. ⁷ Psalms 95–99 (standard Kabbalat Shabbat order in Ashkenazi and many Sephardi traditions). ⁸ Psalm 29:5–9 (cedars as metaphor for empires). ⁹ Zechariah 9:9 (ESV). ¹⁰ Genesis 16:12 (ESV). ¹¹ Zechariah 12:10. ¹² 1 Thessalonians 2:14–15 (various translations). ¹³ Candace Owens, interview with Tucker Carlson, August 2025 (widely reported clips). ¹⁴ Deuteronomy 7:7–8 (ESV adapted). ¹⁵ Glenn Beck commentary, March 2026 video on Parsha Inspired channel. ¹⁶ Nathaniel Jeanson, Traced: Human DNA’s Big Surprise (Answers in Genesis, 2022).

Hazan Gavriel ben David

I was in the hot tub again, listening to the weekly Torah portion, the water cooling around me, steam long gone, but my mind still warm from the day. The phone screen glowed in my hand, and I hit play on another Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson video. His voice came through—thick Latvian-Russian accent, Hebrew words tumbling fast, English mixed in like it was fighting to keep up.

I smiled. Friends always said the same thing: “I tried, but I can’t understand a word.” They’d quit after thirty seconds. Me? I leaned in. Slowed the speed to 0.75. Paused. Rewound. “What did he say again?” I’d mutter, keyboard open, typing out every line I could catch. Hours went by like that. Not because I’m a genius. Because I love languages.

Mom’s Spanish at home. Hebrew from reading Torah. Even Laotian and Vietnamese customers when I was in the car business years ago—“Sabadee,” “Gao Nam Lai”—simple greetings that made people smile. I’m not fluent in any of them. I just love learning. Enough to hear past the accent. Enough to listen.

3300 Years Ago Torah Codes

That’s how I found the codes. Three thousand three hundred years ago, someone wrote down the Torah. Simple black letters on parchment. They had no computers. No satellites. No news feeds. Yet now? Those letters spell today’s headlines. Glazerson shows it on screen—grids of Hebrew text, red lines highlighting skips.

“Seventh of October” appears vertically in Deuteronomy. Perfect equidistant letter spacing. “Iran” sits right beside it. “Magog begins.” “Hamas invasion.” “War starts the morning after Hoshana Rabbah.” That’s the seventh day of Sukkot. Simchat Torah. October seventh, twenty twenty-three. We were dancing with the Torah scrolls—no walls, no guards—just like Ezekiel 38 described: an attack when Israel dwells securely. Iran? Persia. The head of the coalition. He had the matrix ready two days after the attack. Not after the fact. Before the world even processed what happened.

I went back to his older videos. Twenty fourteen: “MASHIACH – MAGOG- NATIONS.” “Jihad” right in the center. Syria, Palestinians, Arabs all clustered around it. “Mashiach” emerging from the chaos. Professor Robert Haralick’s statistical analysis—one in fourteen thousand chance for “end of days” and “Gog Magog” to cluster like that. One in three thousand five hundred for “Messiah” appearing right next to it. Not guesswork. Not retrofitting. Hidden in the text for millennia. Like the Urim and Thummim stones glowing again, but for our generation.

Math Genius Eliyah Rips

The real mind behind it all was Eliyahu Rips. Born in Riga, Latvia, in nineteen forty-eight. His mother survived the Holocaust by hiding in forests. His father fought with the Red Army against the Nazis. The family made it to Israel when he was a child. He earned a PhD in mathematics from Hebrew University and became a professor in geometric group theory—one of the sharpest minds in pure math.

But he started as a skeptic. When he first heard about people finding “codes” in Genesis, he thought it was nonsense. So he built his own software to test equidistant letter sequences (ELS). He expected to disprove it. Instead, he found rabbi names, birth dates, and death dates encoded in the text with probabilities that screamed design.

That brings us to the 1994 paper itself—the one that started everything. It’s called “Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis,” published in the respected peer-reviewed journal Statistical Science (Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 429–438). The authors are Doron Witztum, Eliyahu Rips, and Yoav Rosenberg. Rips was the mathematician who developed the software and ran the tests.

The Urim and Thummim

The paper is short, dense, and technical, but its conclusion is stunning: when you treat the Book of Genesis as a two-dimensional array and look for equidistant letter sequences (letters spaced equally apart that spell meaningful words), you find pairs of related words appearing in close proximity far more often than random chance would allow.

The key experiment: they took a list of famous rabbis and their birth and death dates. Then they searched the Hebrew text of Genesis for ELS versions of the rabbis’ names and the dates. They measured how close those encoded names and dates appeared to each other in the text. To test if it was a chance, they ran 99,999 random permutations of the text and compared the results.

The observed clustering was so tight that the p-value came out at 0.00002—meaning the odds of it happening by random chance are about 1 in 50,000. The journal editors were impressed enough to publish it with a note saying they believed the results were real.

Holocaust Survivors to Math Pioneer

Rips didn’t set out to prove anything mystical. He was a pure mathematician trying to debunk what he thought was a silly claim. Instead, the data convinced him.

He co-authored the paper, defended it for years, and later collaborated with Glazerson on books and lectures. He passed away last July at seventy-five. From a child of Holocaust survivors to the pioneer who proved the codes are real. That’s not coincidence. That’s the Torah saying: “I wrote this for you. For now.”

Haralick—Brooklyn-born mathematician, former Boeing chair, pattern-recognition expert—ran his own independent tests. He confirmed: “This is real.” Harold Gans—twenty-eight years as an NSA cryptologist breaking enemy codes—tested rabbi names with birth and death places.

Intelligence That Can Be Trusted

His conclusion: “If this were enemy intelligence, I’d trust it completely.” Moshe Koppel—Israeli-American computer scientist—focused on authorship analysis, but his work supported the overall integrity of the text. These aren’t rabbis or mystics. They’re scientists. Skeptics who became believers because the math didn’t lie.

Three thousand three hundred years ago, Moses wrote down the Torah. Today, we see “October seven,” “Iran,” “Gog,” “Magog,” “Hamas,” “invasion” spelled out in the same letters. The grids. In precise skips. In probabilities that defy chance. Glazerson’s accent is thick. But I paused. I would have to replay the video over and over. I listened. And I heard.

End Of The Darkness

Here are some of Rabbi Glazerson’s most current Torah codes from his YouTube channel (as of March 2026). These matrices show the year 5786 tied to Messiah, repentance, Purim patterns, Passover, and Iran threats—right as events unfold. Pause the videos at these timestamps and see the letters line up yourself:

1. Festival Passover 5786-2026 Messiah Elijah in Bible Code (March 2026) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DLJxuEAm3Q Key code: “Passover festival” + “Messiah Elijah” clustered. Timestamp ~1:40–1:49: Matrix zoom on “Messiah” in red. Ties to redemption after Gog-like trials.
2. The Head of the Month Nisan 5786 -2026 Messiah Son of Jesse in Bible Code (March 2026) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1aq2IGJ7YM Key code: “Nisan 5786” + “Messiah Son of Jesse” (Davidic line). Timestamp ~0:44–0:52: Screen zoom on “Messiah” cluster. Points to 2026 as the redemption year.
3. Purim in the Letters Skip of this Year 2026 in Bible Code (March 2026) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-y32kkeR9k Key code: “Purim” center with skip matching “5786.” Timestamp ~0:32–0:41: Grid shows skip pattern spelling year. Purim (hidden miracles) as an end-times pattern.
4. War with Iran 5786 -2026 Month Adar in Bible Code (March 2026) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUgppSwgYVo Key code: “Iran” full writing + repentance in Adar 5786. Timestamp ~2:35–2:41: “Iran” highlighted near repentance. Direct Iran (Persia) war code for 2026.
5. List of Significant Bible Code Tables for this Year 5786 \ 2026 (February 2026) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2Z5ts1xL1Q Key code: Multiple tables for 5786—repentance, Messiah, end-times. Timestamp ~0:14–0:25: List of codes including year 5786. Overview of 2026 as pivotal.

The Star of Jacob Prophecy Has Begun

These are the most recent/active ones with visible matrices (grids) — perfect for screenshots in your chapter. They emphasize 5786 (2026) as a year of the Messiah, repentance, and shaking related to Iran.

Christian friend, Messianic brother: You waited for signs in the sky or in dreams. We had them hidden in the text—spelling headlines before they happened. Torah is more than proof. This is footage shot live. This is the album we didn’t lend. It’s playing.

Hazan Gavriel ben David

Next chapter: The Bride Westward – Shabbat’s Final Rehearsal.

I was in meditation and the water was flowing through the steam that rose around me like incense from some forgotten altar. The water was still warm, the sky had gone completely dark, and the only sound was the low hum of the jets mixing with the quiet rhythm of my own breathing.

I closed my eyes and let Psalm 29 wash over me again, the way it does every Friday night when the house fills with voices for Kabbalat Shabbat. The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon; He makes Lebanon skip like a calf. Those words have been in my lungs for years now. Every week we sing them, the whole room turning west—not east, west. We bow low. We welcome the bride. Shabbat.

She arrives like a queen, and we are her attendants. I used to think east was the direction for Messiah, the rising sun, the final redemption. Turns out west is for Shabbat, for the bride who comes to rest with us. And Shabbat is the dress rehearsal for the world to come. The quiet before the storm. The peace before the shaking.

Lebanon and Iran

I opened my eyes and reached for my phone, the screen lighting up my face in the dark. October ninth, twenty twenty-four. Rabbi Efraim Palvanov had just released his lecture “Lebanon & Iran in the End of Days.” It was the same week Hassan Nasrallah’s underground command center in Beirut was flattened by eighty bunker-busters. Palvanov didn’t mince words: Lebanon is biblical ground zero.

The land appears more than seventy times in Tanakh. Solomon built the First Temple with Lebanese cedars and gold from Hiram, king of Tyre. Isaiah sixty-thirteen promises the glory of Lebanon will return to beautify the sanctuary in the end. But first it must fall. Isaiah ten thirty-four: “He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.”

The Adir—the Mighty One—is our own F-35 jets. Our thunder in the sky. October twenty-first, the IDF declassifies the find: beneath Al-Sahel Hospital in Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s heartland, a massive bunker. Not medical. Nasrallah’s personal war chest. Five hundred million dollars in cash and gold bars. Tunnels connected to hospital rooms, beds, generators, long-stay facilities. Like the maternity ward has a secret vault for rockets and money.

Isaiah forty-five three echoes again: “I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places.” Cyrus received Babylon’s hidden wealth. Now Israel uncovers Lebanon’s. Not seized yet—still claims, still evidence, still sitting there—but exposed. The cedars are breaking. The shaking has begun. And every Friday night we sing it. Facing west. Bowing to the bride.

All Messianic Prophecy

Then Rabbi Tovia Singer released his February twenty-fifth, twenty twenty-six talk: “What’s Unfolding In Iran Right Now Is ALL Messianic Prophecy.” No Zohar mysticism, no comet timelines—just straight Tanakh. Ezekiel thirty-eight and thirty-nine: Persia—Iran—is Gog’s head. The coalition from the north comes when Israel dwells securely—no walls, no bars, just peace.

God responds with fire, earthquakes, plagues. Vilna Gaon taught the war begins around Hoshana Rabbah, the seventh day of Sukkot. Singer says October seventh was the spark. Simchat Torah. While we danced with the Torah scrolls, Hamas flooded in. Kibbutzim burned. Nova festival turned into a killing field. Over twelve hundred dead. But that is not random. It is the haftara we read every Sukkot: Gog invading during the festival. The sukkah’s flimsy roof reminds us that God is our shelter. Concrete roofs? That is what Iran trusts. And they are crumbling.

Singer calls this process Moshiach ben Yosef—the suffering and trauma before Messiah ben David arrives. Not a single person. A collective experience. October seventh is Jacob’s trouble. He points to surveys: twenty-five percent more Jews became religious in the aftermath. Mourning unites us. The land blooms again—exporting fruits like never before.

Ezekiel 36 Back in the Land Judah

Ezekiel thirty-six: “I will make you inhabited again… and you shall be like the garden of Eden.” Iran rises as Gog’s head, but the proxies fall first. Nasrallah eliminated. Hezbollah tunnels exposed. Houthi leaders killed. Syria flipped. Singer warns against date-setting—Daniel sealed the times—but the signs shout: the land lives, enemies gather against Jerusalem like a burdensome stone (Zechariah twelve), God strikes them down, and the nations learn to trust clouds, not concrete.

And just today—March eighteenth, twenty twenty-six—JNS publishes “The Hidden Strategy Behind The War In Iran” with Doron Spielman. He brings the focus right back to Lebanon. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz declares: the Shiites (Hezbollah) will not return to southern Lebanon until Israeli residents in the north can live in security.

The Blue Pill

The old “blue line” border is indefensible. Israel seeks the Litani River as the new natural barrier—wider, deeper, much harder to tunnel under or launch rockets across. “Hezbollah equals Iran” on our northern border. The strategy is to degrade the IRGC so severely that the Iranian people themselves rise up and force regime change. The cedars are still breaking. The shaking has not stopped. It is ongoing. The bride is still coming.

Palvanov and Singer overlap with this fresh JNS report: Lebanon’s cedars breaking is part of Iran and Gog’s downfall. Psalm twenty-nine—we sing it facing west. The bride rides in. The American folk song says she’ll be coming ’round the mountain on six white horses. Nobody ever told me it’s Shabbat. Nobody said it’s prophecy. But we bow.

Christians quote Psalm twenty-three—green pastures, still waters. Christians never mention Lebanon. They never mention cedars skipping like calves. No Christian Prophet ever mentioned gold under a hospital. They retrofitted October seventh afterward—Psalm eighty-three enemies, Joel’s armies. But no holiday flag. No Sukkot haftara warning. We knew. You guessed.

You Have a Place Also

My Christian friend, my Messianic brother: the cedars broke. The gold blinked in the dark. Iran shakes. October seventh sparked Gog. Even now, in March twenty twenty-six, Israel is redrawing the map so Hezbollah can never return to the south.

Where was your warning? There was no comet in a prophecy. No seventy days. No haughty king like Trump—tool, not savior—pressing Iran while we sing the cedars falling every Shabbat. Ours had it all. Step by step. Visuals included. The bride is almost here. Bow west. Welcome her.

Hazan Gavriel ben David

Next chapter: Codes That Don’t Lie – Glazerson’s Torah Oracle.

Were all the nations gathered together, and kingdoms assembled, who of them would tell this or let us know of the first events? Let them present their witnesses, and they shall be deemed just, and let them hear and say, "True."	 	טכָּֽל־הַגּוֹיִ֞ם נִקְבְּצ֣וּ יַחְדָּ֗ו וְיֵאָֽסְפוּ֙ לְאֻמִּ֔ים מִ֚י בָהֶם֙ יַגִּ֣יד זֹ֔את וְרִֽאשֹׁנ֖וֹת יַשְׁמִיעֻ֑נוּ יִתְּנ֚וּ עֵֽדֵיהֶם֙ וְיִצְדָּ֔קוּ וְיִשְׁמְע֖וּ וְיֹֽאמְר֥וּ אֱמֶֽת:
10"You are My witnesses," says the Lord, "and My servant whom I chose," in order that you know and believe Me, and understand that I am He; before Me no god was formed and after Me none shall be.	 	יאַתֶּ֚ם עֵדַי֙ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָ֔ה וְעַבְדִּ֖י אֲשֶׁ֣ר בָּחָ֑רְתִּי לְמַ֣עַן תֵּ֠דְעוּ וְתַֽאֲמִ֨ינוּ לִ֚י וְתָבִ֙ינוּ֙ כִּֽי־אֲנִ֣י ה֔וּא לְפָנַי֙ לֹֽא־נ֣וֹצַר אֵ֔ל וְאַֽחֲרַ֖י לֹ֥א יִֽהְיֶֽה: Yeshayahu (Isaiah) - Chapter 43:9-10

Dear Glenn Beck,

As you prepare your March 19 special on the Twelfth Imam and Islam’s potential to “destroy the world,” I urge you to reconsider the narrative through the lens of authentic Judaism. The Bible—Torah and Tanakh—speaks solely of Israel, not Christianity or Islam as divine sequels. Both faiths, while tools in God’s plan per Rambam (Maimonides), are represented as commentaries that distort the eternal covenant.

This essay, structured as a research paper, applies critical tests to their foundations, examines their histories of atrocities against Jews, and reveals how current events, including October 7, fulfill prophecies like the war of Gog and Magog.

If the Bible is true, the conflict we witness—pitting Christianity (the “Sun religion” with solar symbols like Sunday worship) against Islam (the “Moon religion” with lunar calendars)—is World War III, a battle over righteousness waged by those changing God’s word. Yet Israel has allies, including the lost tribe of Ephraim, and divine receipts in our unbroken history.

The Falsehood of Islam: Jay Smith’s Critical Test

Jay Smith, a Christian apologist, dismantles Islam’s historical claims in his lecture “The Man, The Book, The Place.”[^1] Smith argues Muhammad lacks contemporary evidence: no 7th-century references exist; biographies like Ibn Ishaq’s (d. 767 CE) appear 195 years after Muhammad’s purported death in 632 CE.

Hadith collections (e.g., Sahih al-Bukhari, d. 870 CE) emerge 240+ years later, with manuscripts from the 11th–15th centuries. Textually, early Arabic script lacked vowels and diacritics until the 8th–9th centuries, making original readability dubious. Archaeologically, Mecca shows no pre-7th-century evidence as a trade hub; early mosques face Petra, not Mecca, until 750 CE. Smith concludes that Islam’s narrative was fabricated under Abbasid rule (post-750 CE).

Truth The Witness of Israel

This test—demanding contemporary historical, textual, and archaeological proof—exposes Islam as a post-biblical invention, not God’s word. Smith further highlights newfound falsehoods: No early qiblas (prayer directions) or mosque towers/minarets face Mecca; all pre-750 CE sites point north to Petra in Jordan or Jerusalem, suggesting Mecca was a later construct.

For instance, researcher Dan Gibson’s GPS mapping of over 100 early mosques shows deviations of 30–40 degrees from Mecca, aligning instead with Petra’s fertile northern Arabian landscape. Rituals like circumambulating the Kaaba counterclockwise seven times mirror the Jewish siege of Jericho in Jordan (Joshua 6), and running between Safa and Marwa (Quran 2:158) is tied to Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus and Moriah, not the Meccan hills.

No 7th-century trade routes mention Mecca; ancient maps highlight northern Jordan/Syria. The Quran’s geography describes streams, fields, and trees—incompatible with Mecca’s barrenness—and its Arabic is Nabataean/Aramaic from Jordan, not a Meccan dialect.

No Muhammad

Falsehoods about Muhammad include claims that there are no contemporary references; “Muhammad” (with vowels) didn’t exist in 7th-century script—”Mhm” or “Mhmd” was a title meaning “praised one,” applied to Jesus in Christian and Jewish texts. Early non-Muslim sources (e.g., 634 Doctrina Jacobi) describe northern figures, not a Meccan prophet. Biographies and hadith are 200–800 years late, with no eyewitnesses.

For the Quran, no 7th-century manuscripts exist; commentaries like Al-Tabari’s (923 CE) are 300 years removed, and the sequences only make sense in reverse. Mecca lacks pre-7th-century evidence; the Zamzam well is modernly supplied, not miraculous, and no prophet burials were found in the Kaaba excavations. If Islam has this many problems, Glenn, then what is the truth about Christianity? The same critical lens reveals similar fabrications, as explored below.

Applying the Test to Christianity: Paul’s Invention

The same scrutiny reveals Christianity’s foundations as equally fabricated, centered on Paul, a Roman citizen who claimed Pharisaic training under Rabbi Gamliel (Acts 22:3).

Scholars like James Tabor and Markus Vinzent argue that Paul “invented” Christianity, transforming Jewish messianism into a Gentile religion.[^2] Paul, born Saul of Tarsus, was a Roman citizen.

(Acts 22:25–29), Yet critics note inconsistencies: he shows poor knowledge of Hebrew, misquoting the Tanakh (e.g., altering Jeremiah 31:32 in Hebrews 8:9 to claim that God “rejected” Israel).[^3] Rabbi Gamliel, a liberal Pharisee advocating tolerance (Acts 5:34–39), contrasts Paul’s claimed persecution of Christians (Acts 9:1–2), suggesting fabrication.

The Truth About Paul

Biblical scholarship (e.g., Higher Criticism), where experts like Bart Ehrman question Pauline authorship: six letters (Ephesians, Colossians, etc.) are pseudepigrapha, post-70 CE forgeries.[^4] Tovia Singer notes Paul’s “mystery” revelations (Ephesians 3) invent doctrines absent in the prophets.

[^5] Like Islam’s late compilations, Christianity’s New Testament canonized centuries later (Council of Nicaea, 325 CE), borrowing pagan elements (e.g., virgin birth from Roman myths). Archaeology yields no contemporary evidence of Jesus, mirroring Smith’s critique of Mecca.

A historical overview of Paul highlights his self-description as a Pharisee “blameless” in law observance (Philippians 3), yet he shifted to “spirit” over “flesh,” rejecting circumcision for Gentiles (Galatians).[^6] He criticized rivals as “false brothers” or “deceitful workmen” (2 Corinthians 11), using allegories like Sarah and Hagar to demean Torah advocates. Interpolations, such as 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 (post-70 CE), accuse Jews of divine wrath—un-Pauline language.

Biblical Scholars

Professor Nina E. Livesey further deconstructs Paul in her book Galatians and the Rhetoric of Crisis: Paul – Demosthenes – Cicero, applying a “rhetoric-of-crisis” framework to argue that Paul’s letters are mid-2nd-century pseudepigrapha, possibly from Marcion’s school around 144 CE.[^7] In her analysis, Livesey compares Paul’s strategies to those in Demosthenes’ and Cicero’s Philippics, where orators used hyperbole, rebuke, and irony to generate urgency and moral outrage.

For instance, Paul employs gross exaggerations, claiming the Torah “does not come from God” but from intermediaries and was provisional, or that law-keepers are “under a curse” (Galatians 3), not as sincere theology but as rhetorical devices to demean opponents and assert divine authority. She structures her chapters by first illustrating stylistic features from the Philippics—such as binary oppositions (e.g., slavery vs. freedom, flesh vs. spirit)—and then applying them to Galatians, showing how Paul constructs crises to undermine Torah observance among Gentiles.

Livesey highlights extreme language, like suggesting opponents self-castrate (Galatians 5) or comparing them to Satan (2 Corinthians 11), as encomium (self-praise) combined with derogation, prioritizing persuasion over historical truth. Details like the Damascus escape (2 Corinthians 11:32–33) are treated as literary tropes, recycled from the Tanakh (e.g., Rahab in Joshua or Michal in 1 Samuel), rather than as factual events.

The letters depend on Acts and the Gospels, postdate them, and invent Christianity amid 2nd-century debates following the Bar Kokhba revolt (135 CE), subordinating Torah to new doctrines to facilitate Gentile inclusion. Reviews note Livesey’s work provides a viable explanation for Paul’s anti-circumcision stance, viewing the Torah as a “pawn” in rhetorical battles rather than a genuine critique of Judaism.[^22][^23]

Historical Atrocities: Christianity and Islam Against Jews

Both religions’ histories are marred by atrocities against Jews, contradicting their “peace” claims.

Christian Persecutions (from “The History of Christian Persecution of Jews” video):[^8]

• 1096 Rhineland Massacres: First Crusade kills 12,000 Jews; communities are either forced to commit suicide or are slaughtered.
• 1196 Worms Massacre: 800 Jews killed, synagogue burned.
• 1348–1349 Black Death: Jews blamed for poisoning wells; 2,000 burned in Strasbourg.
• 1492 Spanish Expulsion: Alhambra Decree forces 200,000 to convert or flee; Inquisition tortures conversos (last execution 1781).
• 1648 Cossack Uprising: 100,000 Jews killed in Ukraine/Poland.
• 1881 Russian Pogroms: Hundreds killed post-Tsar assassination.

Tovia Singer details Church supersessionism: Jews “replaced” for rejecting Jesus, fostering exile as “proof” (e.g., Ezekiel 38 misapplied).[^9]

Muslim Persecutions (comparable historical list):[^10]

• 622–627 Medina: Muhammad expels/massacres Jewish tribes (Banu Qurayza: 600–900 beheaded).
• 1066 Granada Massacre: Thousands killed in Muslim Spain.
• 1106 Jerusalem: Persecution by Turks.
• 1941 Farhud (Baghdad): 180+ Jews killed, 1,000 injured.
• 1947 Aden Riots: 80+ Jews killed.
• 1948–1950s: Expulsions from Arab countries; 900,000 flee.
• Mamluk Era (13th–16th CE): Mob violence, forced conversions.

Both reflect replacement theology: Christianity as “new Israel,” Islam as final revelation, erasing Judaism.

Jewish Eschatology: Torah on Christianity and Islam

Torah views both as divinely permitted but distortive. Rambam (Mishneh Torah) states that God allowed them to prepare nations for monotheism and the Messiah.[^11] Mishnah (Avot) says Jews scatter to gather converts.[^12] Yet both Messiahs end Torah: Christian Jesus “fulfills” the law into obsolescence (Hebrews 8:13, misquoting Jeremiah 31).[^13] Islamic Mahdi, with Isa (Jesus), enforces sharia, subjugating/destroying non-Muslims, including Jews (hadiths).[^14]

Bible predicts Sun-Moon conflict: Christianity (Sun: Sunday, Easter solar ties) vs. Islam (Moon: lunar calendar). King David prayed for Jerusalem’s peace amid enemies (Psalm 122), foreseeing 2,500 years of strife.[^15] Jewish history (Jew of the Week) proves resilience: from Babylonian exile to modern return.[^16]

If the Bible is true, both religions change God’s word (Deuteronomy 4:2), waging WW3 over righteousness. October 7 marks the beginning of Gog-Magog: Tovia Singer sees Ezekiel 38–39 unfolding (Iran/Persia leads).[^17] Rabbi Glazerson’s Torah codes link October 7 to Gog-Magog.[^18] Palvanov notes Iran in prophecy (Ezekiel 38).[^19]

Daniel 7, Esau’s Role, and Reconciliation

Daniel 7 speaks of Israel’s anointed king: a “one like a son of man” receives everlasting dominion (Daniel 7:13–14), given to the “saints of the Most High” (Daniel 7:27), symbolizing Israel’s sovereignty. Esau (Edom/Christianity) is a patriarch; rabbis like Kessin see Trump as Esau’s gilgul, subduing evil (Iran defeat fulfills Yalkut Shimoni).[^20] Allies include Ephraim (lost tribes).

Rabbi Fohrman’s “A Book Like No Other” uses the Jacob-Esau story to urge reconciliation: transcend scarcity and recognize divine grace.[^21]

Glenn, stop running. The two Messiahs lead to the end of the Torah; the Bible’s war is here. Join Israel’s receipts—eternal covenant.

With respect,
Gabriel Ben David
Hazan, Esnoga Beit Hashoavah
Amarillo, Texas

[^1]: Jay Smith, “The Man, The Book, The Place” (YouTube, 2020).
[^2]: James Tabor, “Paul and Jesus” (YouTube, 2022); Markus Vinzent, cited in Derek Lambert and Robert M. Price, “Pauline Letters After Acts?” Journal of Higher Criticism 20, no. 2 (2025).
[^3]: Tovia Singer, “Paul Was Not a Pharisee” (YouTube, 2015).
[^4]: Bart Ehrman, “Did Paul Write Ephesians?” (Blog, 2022).
[^5]: Tovia Singer, “Bible Problems in Christianity” (YouTube, 2020).
[^6]: “Historical Overview of Paul the Apostle” (YouTube, 2020).
[^7]: Nina E. Livesey, “Paul’s Rhetoric in Galatians” (YouTube, 2020).

Introduction

In “Milestones to Emmaus,” Warren Gage interprets the ninth plague—the three days of darkness in Egypt (Exodus 10:21–23)—as a symbolic “three days of death” followed by an “arising” into light, foreshadowing Jesus’ crucifixion darkness (Luke 23:44–45) and resurrection. He describes the darkness as “thick” and “felt,” entombing Egyptians in place, while Israelites had light.

Gage ties this to creation (light conquering chaos, Gen 1:2–4) and sees it as God humiliating Egyptian sun god Ra, emblematic of death overcome by gospel light (2 Tim 1:10). The “symbol: darkness” section links darkness to judgment/Sheol, with light as resurrection.

From the Tanakh’s original Hebrew, historical context, and Jewish tradition, this milestone is not a prophecy of Jesus’ death, burial, and third-day resurrection. It’s a targeted plague demonstrating God’s supremacy over Egyptian idols, separating Israel from Egypt’s spiritual darkness. Let’s break it down.

The Three Days of Darkness: Judgment on Egypt’s Gods, Not Resurrection Symbolism

Exodus 10:21–23 describes the plague: Moses stretches his hand, causing “thick darkness” over Egypt for three days. Egyptians could not see or move, while Israelites had light in Goshen. The darkness was palpable (“felt”), emphasizing its supernatural intensity.

Gage views this as a “three-day death” where Egyptians are “entombed” and “arise” after. He parallels it to Jesus’ three hours of darkness and resurrection light. However, the text shows no death or revival. Egyptians are immobilized but alive; darkness ends abruptly, with no “resurrection” language. The three days emphasize completeness—a common biblical motif for full duration (e.g., Jonah 1:17).

Jewish exegesis (Rashi, Ibn Ezra) sees the plague as humiliating Ra (Amun-Ra), Egypt’s sun god. Darkness mocks their deity, proving YHWH’s power (Exod 12:12: “judgment on all the gods of Egypt”). Midrash (Shemot Rabbah) adds practical effects: darkness hid the Israelites while they gathered Egyptian treasures, or punished informers. No resurrection motif; it’s divine separation (light for Israel, dark for Egypt).

Contrast with Jesus: literal darkness during crucifixion, death, burial, and rising. Here, no equivalent sacrifice or revival. The plague is national judgment, not personal atonement.

Symbol of Darkness: Chaos and Judgment, Not Tomb and Resurrection

Gage correctly notes darkness symbolizes chaos and death in the Tanakh (Gen 1:2; Job 10:21–22; 1 Sam 2:9). Light represents life/God (Ps 84:11; Mal 4:2). He claims dawn = resurrection (Luke 24:1), and eternal light in the new creation = no more death (Rev 22:5)

Yet, the Tanakh uses darkness for divine judgment, not always death-resurrection. The plague’s darkness is temporary humiliation, not entombment. Israelites’ light shows favor, not revival. Rosh Hashanah liturgy contrasts light/dark as good/evil, but no third-day resurrection link.

Gage’s “analogy of faith” ties this to Abraham’s covenant (Gen 15:13–14), arguing that elders knew God would judge Egypt after 400 years. True, but the three days are diplomatic (as in Milestone 10), not analogical resurrection. Rabbi David Fohrman’s reading counters Gage: the three days echo Jacob’s honorable burial procession (Gen 50), an ideal peaceful exit Pharaoh rejected.

Christianity’s Interpretation: Typology Over Textual Intent

Gage imposes the New Testament onto Tanakh, turning a plague into a foreshadowing of crucifixion. The three-hour darkness at the cross (Luke 23:44–45) is a divine sign, but Exodus’ three days target Ra, not symbolize the tomb. Supersessionism claims “fulfillment” where Jewish tradition sees God’s ongoing sovereignty.

Paul’s “according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:4) lacks direct support here. Jonah’s three days (Matt 12:40) is closer, but deliverance, not death-resurrection.

Reclaiming the Narrative: God’s Power Over Idols

Exodus 10 teaches YHWH’s supremacy—darkness humbles Egypt’s gods, protecting Israel. Themes of separation (light/dark) and providence resonate in Jewish life. Midrash emphasizes moral lessons: darkness punished evil and rewarded good.

For seekers, study midrash and commentators—the “lecture notes” that illuminate the text. The plague wasn’t a preview of resurrection; it was a victory over false gods, affirming monotheism.

Comparison Table: Gage’s Claims vs. Tanakh Reality

Aspect	Gage’s Interpretation	Tanakh/Jewish View
“Entombment” followed by “arising” as a resurrection type	“Entombment” followed by “arising” as resurrection type	Temporary judgment humiliating Ra; no death/revival
Symbol of Egypt	Sheol/land of graves; three-day journey as resurrection	Oppression/idolatry; journey for worship/separation
Analogy to Abraham	Three-day journey like Isaac’s “sacrifice” and sparing	Strategic diplomacy echoing Jacob’s honorable burial
Connection to Jesus	Three Days of Darkness	No messianic link; national deliverance, not individual rising

Call to Action: Subscribe to Milestone 13. Comment: Does Exodus 10 foreshadow resurrection? Share your thoughts.

Hazan Gavriel ben David

I was meditating this morning—eyes closed, water warm around me, mind quiet—and it hit me: the Torah’s just a family album. Not a rulebook. Not a secret code. A scrapbook full of real people, real fights, real promises. And for two thousand years, Christianity and Islam have been flipping through it, scribbling in the margins: “This is about us now.”

But here’s what they don’t tell you: neither Jesus nor Muhammad shows up in those pages. Not once. The Tanakh—our Bible—ends with Malachi. There is No New Testament. No Quran. No “new covenant” takeover. Just… Israel. Judah. Ephraim. Edom. Ishmael. Keturah’s sons. All the family branches.

Israel My Witness

The only names mentioned? Jews—our people—and the nations that either stand with us or stand against us. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia. Moab, Ammon, Edom. Support Israel? Get blessed. Hate us? Get burned—like Obadiah’s stubble. But nowhere does it say “a new people will rise and replace you.” No verse: “After two thousand years, Gentiles take the throne.”

Instead? Deuteronomy 30: “When you return… the Lord will gather you from all nations.” Not “replace you.” Not “hand it off.” Gather. Restore.

Christianity adds a sequel—says “Jews rejected, we’re in.” Islam says, “Torah corrupted, Quran corrects.” But if the Bible’s true? Their books aren’t in it. They’re footnotes they wrote themselves.

Every Nation Has A Place

And here’s what they miss: the Torah doesn’t need ’em. It already has room—every nation gets a blessing, a role. Ishmael’s twelve princes (Genesis 17:20). Keturah’s gifts sent east (Genesis 25:6). Ephraim’s fruitfulness (Genesis 49). Even Persia—Iran—descends from Shem through Aram (Genesis 10:22). Family. Cousins.

Archaeology backs it. Merneptah Stele, 1200 BCE—”Israel is laid waste, his seed is not.” First outside mention. Real. Dead Sea Scrolls? Our text—unchanged. DNA? Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi—traces to Canaan. No break. No replacement.

Envy The Poison

Envy? That’s the poison. Esau thought Jacob stole everything—raged. But Jacob bowed, gave gifts: “I have enough.” Reconciliation. Torah says: blessings aren’t zero-sum. Help your brother shine; yours gets brighter.

World today? Wars, migrations, tech—it’s shaking the old stories loose. Iran falls, nations rise, Trump hands back land. Like Obadiah: fire purifies. Esau’s stubble? Old lies. Flame? Truth.

The Family Reunion

Hashem’s plan? Not conquest. Reunion. Jews reveal the blueprint. Everyone else? Step up. Use your gift. No need to steal.

So yeah—help ’em find their page. “Here’s yours. Here’s mine. Let’s read together.” No replacement. Just family.

Isaiah 19:25 seals it: “Blessed be Egypt, My people, Assyria the work of My hands, Israel My inheritance.” And Zechariah 8:23? “In those days, ten men from every language of the nations shall take hold of the hem of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'”

Big table. Room for all.

Hazan Gavriel ben David

I was meditating this morning—eyes closed, water warm around me, mind quiet—watching the world unfold in headlines and prophecies. Israel and the United States are striking Iran with unprecedented precision: F-35s, drones, missiles, lighting up nuclear sites like Natanz and Fordow.

It’s never been like this—two of the most powerful air forces in history teaming up, turning threats to ash. My rabbis have been saying it for years: October 7, 2023, marked the start of Gog and Magog. Every sign is here. But as I sit in that quiet space, thinking only of Hashem, I wonder: is this Obadiah 1:18 playing out live?

Understanding Obadiah’s Prophecy: Fire, Flame, and Stubble

The Book of Obadiah is tiny—just 21 verses—but it’s a powerhouse. Verse 18 stands out: “The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble; and they shall kindle them and devour them, and there shall be no survivor to the house of Esau—for the Lord has spoken.”

In Jewish tradition, this isn’t abstract poetry. The house of Jacob represents Judah—the southern kingdom, core of Israel today. The house of Joseph? That’s Ephraim, the northern tribes, often symbolizing the lost but returning Israel. Together, they unite as fire and flame, consuming the house of Esau—Edom, symbol of Rome, exile, and Western imperial powers. Esau’s “stubble”? Dry grass, ready to burn. No mercy, no remnants. It’s justice after centuries of oppression.

But who is Ephraim really? In Messianic and Hebrew Roots circles, many Christians claim it: “We’re the lost tribes, grafted in through Jesus.” Judaism has never seen it that way. Ephraim is Israel—our scattered kin, not a replacement faith. The Tanakh doesn’t “graft” Gentiles into Ephraim; it reunites the tribes. Obadiah’s flame isn’t about “new covenant” inclusion—it’s Israel rising, torching what scattered us.

Ephraim as the United States: A Modern Fulfillment?

Could the United States be Ephraim? It fits Joseph’s blessings in Genesis 49: fruitful, powerful, “archers bitterly grieved him,” but enduring. America, born from rebellion against old empires, has been Israel’s steadfast ally. Look at today’s strikes: Israel’s Iron Dome and precision tech (fire) paired with U.S. carrier groups and intel (flame). Iran? Proxy stubble, crumbling under the blaze.

Maps of recent attacks show clusters around Tehran—nuclear ambitions reduced to rubble. This isn’t random warfare; it’s biblical cleanup. Rabbis like Mendel Kessin point to wars as signs of Satan’s diminishment—the yetzer hara weakening as holiness returns. Isaiah 45:7 reminds us: Hashem creates evil as a tool for choice. Iran’s fall? Part of that purification.

Trump as Cyrus: The Good Side of Esau’s Teshuva

Enter Donald Trump—my rebbeim call him the modern Cyrus. Like the Persian king in Isaiah 45, a non-Jew used by Hashem to restore Israel. Trump isn’t the Messiah; he’s a tool. But is he also Esau’s “good side”? Esau, the red hunter, birthright-seller, became Edom—Rome, the West. Yet prophecy hints that Edom’s remnants will join Israel (Obadiah 1:19-21). Teshuva—return—redeems even Esau.

Trump’s actions scream it: Abraham Accords, Jerusalem recognition, Golan Heights. Now, dismantling Iran’s threats. His family roots? Scottish through his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, from the Isle of Lewis. The book When Scotland Was Jewish by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman and Donald N. Yates suggests clans like MacLeod carry hidden Sephardic blood—Jews fleeing the Inquisition, blending in. Not that Scotland was a “Jewish country,” but threads of our people in unexpected places. Is Esau’s line turning back? Maybe Trump’s “teshuva” is baked in—breaking from hate to help.

The Promethean Angle: Britain’s Hidden Empire as Esau’s Shadow

But Iran’s not the real target—Britain is. Promethean, led by Barbara Boyd and Susan Kokinda (former LaRouche associates), exposes the truth: the British Empire never died. It’s the City of London—finance, not flags. They funded the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran’s oil deals for over a century, and proxy wars to keep the Middle East unstable. Their e-book, “How the British Assassinated Our Presidents,” details hits on Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, JFK—all anti-empire leaders.

We’ve fought the same “five kings” since the Revolution: Britain, France, Holland, Switzerland (banking hub), and Germany (Prussian roots). Deep state? London’s puppets. Iran? Their latest tool—divide and rule, choke oil routes like Hormuz. Glenn Beck talks culture wars, but misses this: Britain’s the Esau core, envy-driven, stealing blessings.

Trump torches it: tariffs on Europe, alliances with India and Saudi Arabia, and opening trade. “America First” isn’t isolation—it’s “everyone first.” Like Jacob returning Esau’s blessing in Genesis 33: bowing, gifting, saying, “I have enough.” Reconciliation ends envy. Trump tells nations: “Your land, your faith—take it back.” Cyrus freed captives; Trump frees economies from imperial prisons.

Archaeology and DNA: Proving the Family Album

This ties to the Torah as a family album. Archaeology digs up our snapshots: Merneptah Stele (1200 BCE) mentions Israel. Tel Dan Inscription confirms King David. DNA links modern Jews to ancient Canaan. No break, no replacement. Christianity and Islam claim our Bible, but aren’t in it—just nations blessing or cursing Israel.

Persia (Iran)? Descendants of Shem through Aram (Genesis 10:22). Family. Ishmael? Twelve princes (Genesis 17:20). Keturah’s sons? Gifts east, perhaps to India (Genesis 25:6). All have places. No envy—help each shine.

The Bigger Picture: Hashem’s Reunion Plan

Obadiah isn’t hate; it’s purification. Fire refines. Today’s wars? Shaking lies loose. Iran falls, Britain’s shadow shrinks. Trump hands blessings back—peace pacts, trade deals. Like Rabbi Akiva Tatz’s alien watching workouts: pain looks like torture, but it’s growth.

Hashem’s plan: Jews reveal Torah. Nations step up. Isaiah 19:25: “Blessed be Egypt, My people, Assyria the work of My hands, Israel My inheritance.” Zechariah 8:23: “Ten men from every nation will grab a Jew’s tzitzit: ‘Let us go with you, for God is with you.'”

Big table. Room for all. No replacement—just a family reunion.

Hazan Gavriel ben David

Why We Don’t Need a Savior

I was meditating this morning—eyes closed, water warm around me, mind quiet—thinking about this week’s parsha, Ki Tisa. The Golden Calf. Everyone knows the story: Israel stands at Sinai, receives the Torah, witnesses God’s presence, and then, in a moment of panic, builds an idol out of gold and dances around it.

The tablets are smashed. Moses is furious. But Hashem doesn’t destroy them. Instead, He reveals the 13 Attributes of Mercy—unconditional compassion—and tells Moses, “Carve new tablets. They’ll be even better.” 

Ki Tisa- The Second Set Will Be Even Better

Rabbi Warren Goldstein, Chief Rabbi of South Africa, calls this radical acceptance in his lecture on the parsha. The first tablets were perfect, divine, untouchable. The second? Hewn by human hands, born from failure. Yet they’re superior because they emerge from brokenness.

It’s like a man who supports, listens, and shows empathy—principles from Pirkei Avot that Rabbi Goldstein weaves into his teachings. “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” (1:14). “Who is honorable? He who honors others” (4:1). These aren’t just sayings; they’re tools for rebuilding. In prison, where I teach Ish Mishlei based on Rabbi Shlomo Ruzhansky’s Garden of Peace, this hits hard. Men who’ve fallen learn: setbacks aren’t the end. They’re the start of something stronger.

Rabbi Shaul Youdkevitch takes it deeper in his Zohar on Ki Tisa. At Sinai, Israel hit a spiritual peak—every soul so elevated that even the “lowest” Jew surpassed any prophet. No death, no separation. The calf? A catastrophic fall, witchcraft from unpurified souls. But God doesn’t end the world.

Be Merciful

Moses pleads, “Show me Your glory,” and Hashem responds with mercy that defies logic. The 13 Attributes aren’t punishment; they’re the Torah’s greatest insight: love without conditions. Teshuva—return—is built in. The half-shekel? An antidote, giving to create “returning light.” Fall, but rise higher. For my class at Clements Unit, this is gold: tragedy sets the stage for renewal.

This echoes Adam and Eve, as Rabbi Manis Friedman explains in “Adam & Eve: The Whole Story Doesn’t Make Sense—Until Now.” God plants two trees: Life for eternal perfection, Knowledge for choice and struggle. Command: Don’t eat from Knowledge, or die. But Eve deciphers the divine hint—Hashem wants us to choose the hard path.

Perfection without challenge? Useless. Eat from Life, stay immortal robots. Eat from Knowledge, descend into mortality, fix the broken world. Eve tells Adam: “Better to die and have purpose—our children get real choices.” She’s the hero, volunteering for the mission. The “fall”? Not original sin, but original opportunity. Mistakes are the point; you can’t overcome without them.

Free Will

Rabbi Akiva Tatz flips “sin” in his talk on free will. Imagine an alien peeking through a keyhole at someone lifting weights—grunting, straining, faces twisted. Torture? No, perfection. Chet means “miss the mark,” like archery. Aim, miss, adjust. The world is designed for it: business, sports, skills—all thrive on failure.

Christianity says sin damns you, needs a savior’s blood. Torah? No debt. Just growth. Tatz ties it to male-female, truth-faith: male (truth) sharp, logical; female (faith) open, trusting. The split in Genesis? Eating Knowledge divides them. Torah reunites—through mitzvot, teshuva.

Dr. Iain McGilchrist echoes this in *The Master and His Emissary*. The brain’s divided: right hemisphere (master), holistic, empathetic, big-picture; left (emissary), detail-oriented, logical, but arrogant—thinks it’s boss. Genesis 1: Adam whole, male-female.

Genesis 2: split. McGilchrist says the corpus callosum—the bridge—shrinks over history, worsening the divide. Left dominates: spreadsheets, control, “facts” over feelings. Torah heals: listen to the master inside. No savior needed—just realign.

The Evil Inclination

Now the Nachash—the “shining one,” not snake. Hebrew nachash means to shine, divine insight. Ancient cultures saw it as enlightening. But in Eden, it inhibits unity, like the shrinking corpus callosum blocking flow. Rabbi Mendel Kessin says in his latest talks: Satan’s fading. Not a devil—yetzer hara, evil inclination—Hashem’s tool. Isaiah 45:7: “I form light, create darkness; make peace, create evil.” Wars today? Symptoms of Satan’s diminishment—holiness sparks returning, evil starving. No external Satan; just a test for choice.

Rabbi David Foreman (Fohrman) ties the Ten Sayings to family drama in his podcast series. Starting with “Chosenness,” ending with “Overcoming Envy.” The Commandments? From Genesis 27: Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Esau. Favoritism, deception, envy. Sinai flips it: God chooses Israel to bless all families. Envy? Fear of missing out. But Jacob and Esau reconcile—hug, no grudge. Torah’s therapy: repair humanity, descendants of Shem, Ham, Japheth. Return the world to Hashem as Adam had it. “Hey, family—help fix this.”

Unity -Split -Repair= Israel

The Golden Calf in Eden? Same pattern: unity, split, repair. God plants the Tree of Life in the midst—commands eating from the trees there. Adam misses it, eats Knowledge, gets blocked. Useless tree? No—mirror for choice.

Rabbi Foreman says it becomes the burning bush: fire unconsumed, life eternal. Then the cherubim—from Eden’s guards with swords—to wing-to-wing over the Ark in the Mishkan. No barriers. Invitation: “Come in, spend time with me.”

Christianity misses this: chet as curriculum, not curse. No hell, no savior. Torah’s training manual—fix the psyche, the soul. We don’t argue, Jesus; we show the map. Adam never ate the Tree of Life. But we can. Every day. Through teshuva, mitzvot. “It is a tree of life to those who grasp it” (Proverbs 3:18).

So no—don’t argue. Hand ’em the map. Torah’s not about guilt. It’s about getting up.

Links:  

See- Rabbi Goldstein: https://youtu.be/NJvbsBFLD5o  

Kabbalah- Rabbi Youdkevitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-37Ub3CnPp4  

– Rabbi Friedman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A7pFcnHVoo  

– Rabbi Tatz: SimpleToRemember.com (search “Free Will”)  

– McGilchrist RSA Animate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFs9WO2B8uI  

– Rabbi Kessin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8rlnq6jPvI  

– Rabbi Fohrman: alephbeta.org/podcasts/book-like-no-other  

Hazan Gavriel ben David

As Purim draws near, the Megillah’s tale of hidden miracles—hester panim, Hashem’s concealed face—feels eerily timely. In ancient Persia, Haman the Amalekite plotted the Jews’ annihilation, only for divine providence to orchestrate a stunning reversal.

Today, in modern Iran (ancient Persia’s successor), Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei echoes that hatred, funding proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah while vowing Israel’s destruction. Yet, as Rabbi Tovia Singer teaches in his lectures, drawing on Isaiah and Zechariah, the Jewish people endure as eternal witnesses (edim) to Hashem’s sovereignty, especially in the end of days.

This blog explores that thread: Hashem’s hidden hand guiding history, a Gematria lesson on Haman/Amalek as “doubt,” recent miracles amid Iranian missile barrages, and prophetic promises of ultimate redemption.

From Haman to Khamenei: The Hidden Hand of Hashem and the Jewish Witness in the End of Days

The Eternal Echo: From Ancient Persia to Modern Iran

History’s cycles are no coincidence; they’re Hashem’s blueprint. The Persian Empire under Ahasuerus spanned 127 provinces, the ancient world’s superpower. Haman, descendant of Amalek (Esau’s grandson), rose to vizier, wielding near-absolute power. His decree: exterminate all Jews in one day—Adar 13. As the transcript from Rabbi Singer’s Purim lecture notes, this wasn’t a mere pogrom; it aimed to “uproot the root itself,” erasing Judaism’s spiritual essence in a single blow.

Fast-forward 2,500 years: Iran, heir to Persia’s legacy, under Khamenei since 1989, pursues nuclear ambitions and arms anti-Israel militias. Khamenei’s rhetoric mirrors Haman’s: In 2014, he tweeted Israel’s “annihilation” as the only cure for the Middle East. Relevant history? Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution ousted the Shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), installing a theocracy hostile to Jews. Yet, as in Esther, hidden miracles abound. Iran’s proxy wars—via Hezbollah (1982 Lebanon invasion response) and Hamas (Gaza control since 2007)—have failed to destroy Israel, often backfiring. Rabbi Singer, quoting major rabbis like Ramban, emphasizes this as hastir panim: God “peers through the cracks” (Song of Songs 2:9), watching unseen.

Gematria’s Hidden Truth: Haman, Amalek, and the Seed of Doubt

Delve into the mystical layers of Hebrew: Gematria reveals Haman’s essence. Haman, from Amalek, embodies doubt (safek). Amalek (עמלק) totals 240 (ayin=70, mem=40, lamed=30, kuf=100). Safek (ספק)—doubt—also equals 240 (samech=60, peh=80, kuf=100). As Rabbi Singer explains, drawing on the Gemara (Chullin 139b), Haman’s name hides in Genesis 3:11: “Hamin ha’eitz?” (“Did you eat from the tree?”). This question marks humanity’s first doubt—Adam’s confusion after the Tree of Knowledge, when good and evil blend.

The lesson? Doubt isn’t neutral; it’s Amalek’s weapon. Haman sowed it by fixating on Mordechai’s refusal to bow, rendering his vast wealth meaningless (Esther 5:13). Khamenei sows doubt today, denying the Holocaust while building missiles. Yet, as the Zohar teaches (via Rabbi Singer), light shines brightest in darkness. Our task: dispel doubt through Torah study and mitzvot, affirming Hashem’s unity (echad).

Miracles in Missiles: Hashem’s Hand in Recent Attacks

October 1, 2024: Iran launches nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel—retaliation for assassinations of Hezbollah’s Nasrallah and Hamas’s Haniyeh. Sirens wail; millions shelter. Yet, miracles unfold. Israel’s Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow systems intercept most. Debris kills one Palestinian in Jericho; two Israelis suffer light shrapnel injuries in Tel Aviv. No direct Israeli fatalities—despite warheads packing hundreds of kilos of explosives. As Rabbi Singer’s video (youtu.be/6RHYp_gQe88) on Purim miracles highlights, this echoes Esther: no overt splitting of seas, but improbable “coincidences.”

The user mentions “a precious few 11 Israelis”—perhaps alluding to minimal impact, with sources confirming just two injured directly, though indirect effects (like stress-induced issues) affected others minimally. Hashem’s protection? Undeniable. U.S. Navy destroyers aided intercepts; even Jordan downed missiles. Rabbi Singer, in his lecture (youtu.be/BTchH9Uzho4), parallels this to Purim’s “hidden phases”: No divine names in the Megillah, yet providence turns the tide. Iran’s barrage, like Haman’s gallows (built from Noah’s ark beam, per midrash—symbolizing cosmic assault), boomeranged: Israel’s October 26 retaliation struck Iranian sites, killing four soldiers, crippling missile production.

This isn’t new; Iran’s April 2024 drone/missile swarm (300+ projectiles) saw 99% intercepted, zero fatalities. As Rabbi Singer quotes Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” These events affirm Jews as witnesses amid rising antisemitism—waves since October 7, 2023, with global protests and attacks.

Prophetic Witnesses: Isaiah, Zechariah, and the End of Days

Rabbi Singer masterfully cites core rabbis and prophets. Isaiah 43:10-12 declares: “You are My witnesses (atem edai), says Hashem… that I am God.” We testify to His oneness in a doubting world. Zechariah 12-14 envisions the end times: Nations (including Persia/Iran?) besiege Jerusalem; Hashem intervenes, “fighting as on the day of battle” (14:3). A plague strikes the attackers; survivors recognize Hashem (14:16).

Singer, echoing Rambam and Rashi, sees Purim as foreshadowing: Haman’s ten sons hanged mirror Nuremberg’s ten Nazis (1946, Hebrew year 5707 via small letters in Esther 9). Khamenei’s Iran fits Gog-Magog prophecies (Ezekiel 38-39), allying with anti-Israel forces. Yet, Jews witness through survival, from 6 million post-Holocaust to 15 million today. As the transcript notes, we’re in “dark scenarios,” detached generations miraculous in ignorance. Our role: Bond via Purim mitzvot—Megillah reading, mishloach manot (gifts fostering unity), matanot la’evyonim (charity), seudah (feast)—countering doubt.

Closing the Circle: From Doubt to Divine Partnership

Purim celebrates a non-zero-sum partnership: Esther’s strategy plus Hashem’s “insomnia” for the king. Today, amid Khamenei’s threats, we partner by affirming faith. The transcript’s “song” (shir, from shur—circle) signifies completion: Evil self-destructs, as Haman’s gallows hanged him.

In the end days, per Zechariah, nations witness Hashem via us. Rabbi Singer urges: In darkness, shine. Dispel inner Amalek—doubt—through consciousness before Purim’s adloyada (unknowing via drink or sleep). Recent miracles prove: Hashem peeks through cracks, turning missiles to testimonies.

Happy Purim! May we merit seeing Haman-to-Khamenei reversals, fulfilling Isaiah’s witness.

Sources & Further Reading

• Rabbi Tovia Singer’s lectures: Purim Insights and Miracles Video.
• Isaiah 43, Zechariah 14 (Chabad.org).
• Historical: “Iran-Israel Proxy War” (Council on Foreign Relations).

With Purim celebrated today, many of us return to the Book of Esther as a beloved fairy tale—complete with a brave queen, a wicked villain, and a miraculous reversal. As children, we absorb it as history that the rabbis wanted us to remember. But reading it as an adult, through the lenses of Rabbi David Fohrman and Rabbi Efraim Palvanov (often referenced in mystical teachings as Palanov), reveals something far richer: a living map of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life (Etz Chaim), the Ten Sefirot, and the hidden hand of Hashem orchestrating redemption through human partnership.

The Megillah—literally “revealing the hidden”—never once mentions God’s name. Yet His presence pulses through every verse. This is no accident. It mirrors Hester Panim (the hidden face of God) in exile. My own family story echoes this ancient thread: my maternal grandfather, a Kohen whose FamilyTreeDNA Kohanim haplogroup traces back to 500 BCE—around the time of Esther, just before Ezra and Nehemiah—reminds me that these stories are not distant myths. They are our DNA, our living covenant.

Read Purim Like An Adult

Rabbi Fohrman challenges the childhood view that Purim is solely about God working “behind the scenes.” Yes, the King of Kings pulls the levers—but Esther and Mordechai are masterful strategists. Does their cleverness write God out of the story?

Absolutely not. Fohrman explains it’s not a zero-sum game like basketball, where one player’s gain is another’s loss. Instead, it’s a divine collaboration. Esther fasts for three days (and asks the entire community to join her) right before risking her life in the king’s chamber. Why fast when beauty and timing are her weapons? Because she knows: “She can strategize all she wants, but it ain’t just about her strategy… she’s going to need a partner. God is going to have to be her partner.”

Her plan is elegant—two parties, a love triangle with Haman, and she plays the cards perfectly. Yet victory is never guaranteed. What if the king’s insomnia hadn’t led to the exact page in the records? What if Haman hadn’t arrived at that moment? Without the divine partner, it would have been “a big elegant failure.”

Little Creators

Fohrman beautifully illustrates this with personal stories: backpacking with his father, his daughter’s hackathon where friends built life-saving software overnight. The thrill comes from co-creation. God, the ultimate Creator, made humanity “in His image” (b’tzelem Elohim) so we could become “little creators” partnering in the grand project of history. Esther’s fast embodies the humility that says, “We’ve done what we can. Now join us.”

This is the adult Purim: our effort doesn’t diminish God—it invites Him in. As Fohrman concludes, “Creativity is always more meaningful when it’s shared, and there’s no more special privilege than to share it with God.”

The Forbidden Fruit: Could You Become Haman? Haman’s Path to Darkness and the Tree of Knowledge

Rabbi Fohrman’s second major insight ties the Megillah directly to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Etz HaDa’at Tov v’Ra). The rabbis hint at this with the phrase “Hamin ha’eitz” (Genesis 3:11)—“Was it from the tree…?”—which sounds like “Haman ha’eitz.”

Haman mirrors Adam perfectly. God elevated Adam above all creatures and gave him every tree except one. Adam fixates solely on the forbidden. Haman, elevated above all servants, given riches, sons, and exclusive feasts with the king, fixates on one thing: Mordechai the Jew, who refuses to bow.

Haman brags to his family: “All this means nothing to me as long as I see Mordechai sitting at the king’s gate.” Pathetic—and exactly like Adam. His wife Zeresh then offers the solution: “Make a tree (eitz) fifty cubits high” and hang Mordechai on it. The Hebrew eitz screams Tree of Knowledge. Haman reaches for the one thing he can’t have and seals his fate.

But You Have Everything!

Fohrman notes the deeper tragedy: Haman wants to pretend he is king with no restrictions. By eating the forbidden fruit (or building the gallows), Adam and Haman both try to erase the distinction between “what I want” (subjective good) and “what should be” (objective good). The boss who abuses power because “I make the rules” lives in this fantasy today.

The consequences? Death. Haman is hanged on his own tree—after the king returns from his garden (again, Eden imagery). The path to darkness begins with ingratitude for all we have and obsession with the one thing denied.

Mapping the Megillah to the Sefirotic Tree of Life: Chapter by Chapter

Here, Rabbi Efraim Palvanov’s teachings explode the text into pure Kabbalah. The Book of Esther has exactly ten chapters—a deliberate mirror of the Ten Sefirot on the Tree of Life. This isn’t a coincidence; it’s the structural blueprint of redemption flowing from Keter (Crown) to Malkhut (Kingship).

Rabbi Palvanov maps it as follows (drawn from his article “A Mystical Peek Into Megillat Esther”):

• Chapter 1 – Keter (Crown/Will): Achashverosh’s lavish kingdom and crown. Every unnamed “king” secretly alludes to Hashem’s supreme Will (Ratzon).
• Chapter 2 – Chochmah (Wisdom): Mordechai the chakham (sage) enters as Esther’s adoptive father (Abba in Kabbalah).
• Chapter 3 – Binah (Understanding): Haman appears, twisting understanding into rage. He is the “Tree” (hamin ha’eitz), linked to the Tree of Knowledge (associated with Binah). His 50-cubit gallows echo the 50 Gates of Binah. This is the Sitra Achra (other side) of Binah—anger and manipulation.
• Chapter 4 – Da’at/Chessed (Knowledge/Lovingkindness): “Mordechai yada (knew)”… the Jews fast and weep, arousing divine Chessed to annul the decree.
• Chapter 5 – Gevurah (Strength/Judgment): Esther approaches in judgment; red wine (Gevurah) flows; Haman builds the gallows.
• Chapter 6 – Tiferet (Beauty/Truth/Harmony): The king’s insomnia and the turning point—“If Mordechai is a Jew, you will not prevail.” Truth (emet) triumphs.
• Chapter 7 – Netzach (Victory/Eternity): Haman is hanged—Netzach achieved.
• Chapter 8 – Hod (Splendor/Glory): “The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor (hod)” (8:16). Mass conversions follow; Gentiles become Yehudim, sharing the root with Hod.
• Chapter 9 – Yesod (Foundation): The ten sons of Haman are slain (counter-Sefirot of evil); Purim is established as an eternal foundation (yisad).
• Chapter 10 – Malkhut (Kingship): Mordechai becomes “second to the king”; the small chapter mirrors Malkhut’s “receiving” nature. Esther, crowned with keter malkhut, embodies the Shechinah.

This progression is cosmic tikkun—repair—moving from potential chaos (Haman’s Binah-distortion) through balanced Sefirot to harmonious Malkhut. Esther herself is the rose (shoshanah) balancing white (Chessed) and red (Gevurah) petals, gematria 661.

Prophecy Fulfilled: The Ten Sons of Haman and the Nuremberg Trials

Chapter 9 lists Haman’s ten sons with three unusually small letters (tav, shin, zayin). Their gematria (plus a vav) equals 707—the Hebrew year 5707 (1946–47 CE). Esther’s plea to “hang Haman’s ten sons tomorrow also” hints at a future recurrence. The first decree against the Jews was never fully nullified; it echoes through Amalek’s descendants.

On October 16, 1946—Purim 5707—exactly ten Nazi leaders were hanged after the Nuremberg Trials. Julius Streicher, the vicious antisemite, shouted “Purimfest 1946!” moments before his death. Ten sons of Haman, ten sons of modern evil—hanged on a tree of justice. The hidden hand of Hashem had not forgotten.

From Tree of Knowledge to Tree of Life: Living the Lesson Today

The Megillah contrasts two trees. Haman chooses the Tree of Knowledge path—ego, restriction-denial, conflating desire with truth. Esther and Mordechai choose the Tree of Life: a strategy fused with fasting, creativity offered as a partnership. The Sefirotic structure shows how human action aligned with divine attributes rectifies the original sin.

This Purim, when we read the Megillah, dress in costume, and give mishloach manot, we reenact the collaboration. Facing our own “Hamans”—tyranny, illness, despair—we strategize, we fast (or pray), and we turn to the Creator: “We’ve done our part. Partner with us.”

The thrill, as Rabbi Fohrman teaches, is indescribable. “There can’t be anything more joyous, more thrilling than that.”

Happy Purim! May the deep secrets of the Book of Esther illuminate your Tree of Life this year and every year.

Sources & Further Reading

• Rabbi David Fohrman’s lectures: Aleph Beta – When God and Humans Partner and the “Forbidden Fruit” series.
• Rabbi Efraim Palvanov: “A Mystical Peek Into Megillat Esther” at Mayim Achronim.