5

Rashi and most other Meforshim agree that Kri'as Yam Suf (the Splitting of the Sea) was five times the makkos of the Makkos (Plagues). I never found any discussion of why 5, why not 7, 6, 40, whatever. Below is a chiddush as to maybe why 5:

Perhaps the Makkos were middah keneged midda (measure for measure) punishment for enslaving the 20% of the Jews in Egypt who wound up being redeemed at Sinai (80% were killed by Hashem during the 9th Plague, Darkness). However, the Egyptians were so evil that they persued the Jews after the Makkos, Hashem decided to punish them for that transgression midda-keneged-midda for all of the Jews in Egypt, including the 80% killed during the Darkness, thus creating the 5x comparison.

When Lakewood Came to Chabad

I like to remember this when I get bummed out about the lack of achdus in the Torah Observant world of today.

I like to remember my Chassunah.

To out myself a bit, I am someone who was married for 18 years to someone not Jewish. During that time, I went to the local Chabad; then, at age 41, I left my wife and family and adopted the Frum lifestyle.

At about age 39, I got in contact with my Frum family, who happen to include several members of the G'dolim haDor. I even got my picture in the Hamodia centerfold, accidentally, at a Chasunah. For the curious among you, that's me, on the Rebbe card #114, unknown shmendrick staring at the camera.

For the first three years of my Frum life, I lived in Passaic; then, my non-Jewish daughter needed to move in with me. Unfortunately, there's no place in Passaic for a man with a non-Jewish daughter, so I moved back to where I had come from, and restarted my relationship with Chabad.

Last Kislev, I finally found a Frum woman who would put up with me, and we got married at our local Chabad. Of course, my Frum family, the Roshei Yeshivos came to the Chabad house and were b'simcha Chosson v'Kallah. I have pictures to prove it (:=).

It was wonderful. I started off with a speech, in Yiddish, on how we have seemed to have forgotten what the Rishaim of Mumbai knew: a Jew is a Jew. The murderers didn't ask what Nusach their victims davened, nor if they poskened according to the Mishna Breura or the Shulchan Aruch haRav. My Rebbe then regaled the Roshei Yeshivos with a vort from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, also in Yiddish.

My Rebbe was Mesader Kiddushin, and my Kallah's Rebbe (also Chabad) read the Kesubah. Besides my father, the Kevodim were mostly given to my Choshiv family. At the end of the evening, my S'fardi friend led the M'zumin, stumbling over the unfamiliar Ashkenaz Birkas haMazon in his hard-core S'fardishe accent.

During the evening, Lubavitch, Yeshivish, Frei and Goy (my immediate family is not Frum) all danced together. My Rebbe regaled my family with stories of his work out in the "wilderness", the atmosphere was magic.

Sinas Chinam is not necessary. Achdus is possible. All of us need to remember this, no matter how difficult it may be.

Minim

The word "Minim" in Hebrew is a very interesting word. Spelled Mem Yud Nun Yud Mem (I don't use Hebrew letters because I can't control how they appear), the word is a palindrome; i.e., the word is pronounced the same right to left and left to right.

Whenever I ask people how to translate Minim, everybody tells me "species". Indeed, that's correct, they are usually thinking of the "Arbah Minim", the Four Species of plants that we wave during Succos. However, it also means something else: heretic.

I always wondered why this word, this palindrome, had these two disparate meanings. One day, it came to me: perhaps Hashem intended this as a siman (sign) to the heretics, that they still have a connection to Hashem and the Jewish People, all they need to do is to turn around.

7 and 8

7 and 8 are very important numbers in Jewish thought. To grossly oversimplify, the Maharal held that 7 represents Teva (Nature), while 8 represents that which is beyond nature. I'd like to extend the Maharal here.

Before I start, I want to introduce a concept from geometry known as a projection. If one were to pass a sphere through a flat plane, for example, the sphere would first be a dot, then become an increasingly large circle, then an increasingly smaller circle, then a dot again, and then disappear.

That is a projection.

Now most people, when asked how many directions there are in this world, would say 6: up, down, left, right, front, and back. However, there are 7: we go forward in time. The difference is that we have free will in choosing which of the 6 spatial dimensions to move in, while we all move through time at the same rate. Therefore, the 6 spatial dimensions correspond to the 6 weekdays, while time corresponds to the Sabbath.

Indeed, 7 comes up frequently with time-based Mitzvahs (Commandments). 7 days of the week, 7 weeks of Counting the Omer, the seventh month is Rosh haShanah, seven years make a Sh'mittah (fallow year), seven Sh'mittah's make a Yovel (Jubilee).

8, however, is identified with a fifth dimension (no, not the people who sing the Age of Aquarius (:=)) which Hashem uses to control Teva. We have some, but not much connection to this: Shmini Atzeres, Bris Mila (circumcision), the Sh'moneh B'gadim (the 8 garments of the High Priest).

Now, I hold that the Sukkahs we build for the Holiday of Succos become, by our efforts, a 4 dimensional projection of this supernatural fifth dimension into our world. Think about it: a Sukkah has no Holiness before or after the Holiday. However, once inside a Sukkah on Succos, we wave the lulav and esrog in the six spatial dimension. The net effect of that is that we nullify our free will before Hashem, thus sanctifying our free will. After doing the work, we are then privileged at the Atzeres (Culmination) of connecting, however slightly, with the special dimension of pure Holiness.

I don't think it a coincidence that this is also the day for "finishing" and "restarting" our Torah readings (Simchas Torah).

Sha'ul haMelech

One of the most complex figures in Jewish history is Sha'ul haMelech (King Saul), the first Jewish King. There are many aspects to Shaul and his Malkus (Kingship) that are difficult to understand, but perhaps the most difficult is the manner of his death.

On the last day of his life, he made himself into a gossess, someone who is about to die. According to the Halakah (Jewish Law), that is clearly and unequivocally forbidden. You are not allowed to kill yourself, nor make it inevitable that you are going to die quickly. Falling on your sword is just not allowed. However, the Sages have clearly stated that he was a Tzaddik (Righteous Person) and did not sin.

Something has to give here.

There have been several answers over the years on how to resolve this seeming paradox. I have a new one that I'd like to offer: Sha'ul used his Kingly authority to pronounce a death sentence on himself.

First, some background. A Jewish King has special powers that are not available to other Jews. Among these powers is the right to order an extra-judicial execution. We see King David do that right after Sha'ul died.

Secondly, Sha'ul had a history. Early in Sh'muel (Samuel), he had ordered the complete destruction of Nov, the city of Cohanim (Priests), based on libelous information. I hold that Sha'ul depression was in large part because he thought that he had lost his place in Heaven because of that.

Then, the day before he died, he had Sh'muel raised from the dead. Sh'muel told Sha'ul that he would be with him the next day. I hold that from that, Sha'ul realized that he hadn't necessarily lost his place in Heaven.

The day he died, he decided to take as many Pli'shtim (Philistines, Palestinians) with him as he could. Then, at the end of the day, when he saw that the decree would not be lifted (sometimes bad decrees are lifted), he decided to make a Kappara (Redemption) for himself by declaring himself liable for death. When his attendant wouldn't carry out the execution, he took it upon himself and cleaned the slate, so to speak, from his transgression at Nov, thereby regaining his place in Heaven.