"In the ninth year, on the tenth of the tenth month, the word of the L-rd came to me: O mortal, record this date, this exact date, for this very day the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem"
--Ezekiel 24: 1-2
We have well established by now that Hashem runs His world on the Jewish/Hebrew Calendar. There are strong cycles of the chagim (festivals) and mourning or fast cycles (Zech 8:19, you can see the four fasts mentioned.) The world, His world, still ticks by that TODAY.
You can only look at what happened with the Los Angeles fires that erupted mid-Tuesday. Mid-Tuesday in LA was the beginning of the 8th of Tevet in Israel. Tevet has a series of three fast days (8th, 9th and 10th) ending in the big fast today. We'll get to some insights on this a bit later, so keep on reading. The 10th of Tevet also marks the beginning of the fast cycles where Jerusalem was besieged, ultimately for her walls to breached two and a half years later on the 17th of Tammuz, and our beautiful sanctuary burned on the 9th of Av.
To understand more about how Hashem's timeline work, you only have to look under "other calamities" on the Tisha B'Av Wikipedia page to see the terrible expulsions, the approval of the Final Solution by the Nazis, and other horrific events that took place on that day over millennia. Or how the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy dominoed a streak of red and black days on the stock market between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, better known as the 10 Days of Awe, with the markets only starting to stabilize on Shemini Atzeret, 2008.
The most recent was COVID-19, first making headlines on the 10th of Tevet 2020. Jerusalem's walls were breached two and a half years after the besiegement. Covid was officially declared over by the WHO in May 2023, almost 2.5 years after it started. You can't make these things up. Most people just don't know about it. But something very significant happens when you start connecting the dots.
The Next Siege has Begun - a Famine in the Making
We know from last year that the WEF (World Economic Forum), during their Davos convention, has moved up its diabolical plans from 2030 to 2025. Klaus Schwab, founder of the WEF famous quote, says it all: "You will own nothing, and you will be happy." And so, on January 1, we already felt the noose tightening when heavy municipal and national taxation bills were introduced in Israel. It was almost poetic and about to kill off most small and medium businesses that COVID didn't kill in the previous round. The war is blamed, but global price hikes seem to tell a different story.
The sudden global ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) implementation, also declared in January, arrived in Israel, the US, and the UK, raising more red flags. A more concerning trait rising is that of measuring individual carbon footprints to hold each person accountable for their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. I'll leave this one here for you to investigate yourself, but the gist of it is that you will be given a certain amount of CO2 points per day, connected to travel, air conditioning (heating or cooling), and even meat consumption that is apparently killing the environment. One flight from the US to Europe or Israel might cost you 80 days of CO2 points, leaving you to ride a bike for the rest of the year, arrive in your cold house and eat lab-grown meat.
Back to the TANAKH for some emuna (faith) and hope
Something beautiful stands out from last week's parsha Vayigash. Yosef (Joseph) promises his brothers that they will be taken care of in Gen 45: 11.
וְכִלְכַּלְתִּי אֹתְךָ שָׁם, כִּי-עוֹד חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים רָעָב: פֶּן-תִּוָּרֵשׁ אַתָּה וּבֵיתְךָ, וְכָל-אֲשֶׁר-לָךְ.
There are different words in the Torah that refer to provision. Mazon, Parnassah, Kalkala etc. The word used here is Kalkalah. It is also used in modern-day terms as "economy". According to Rabbi Hirsch, it refers to a center point that allows an object to include the whole measure of its innate powers in all directions. To embrace everything and to be able to cope with something completely. Yosef promises his brothers that a place will be set up for them (Goshen) where they will be taken care of, as there are still five years of famine ahead.
In the famous prayer, Nishmat Kol Chai, we thank Hashem for taking care of us in every possible situation. There the pairing is as follows:
בְּרָעָב זַנְתָּנוּ. וּבְשבָע כִּלְכַּלְתָּנוּ.
For lack of a better translation (Hebrew can hardly be translated into another language without losing a whole chunk of depth and meaning - see our previous post on this), it translates as:
"In famine You sustained/nourished us, and in plenty you completely provided/sustained us." Mazon is nourishment, entry-level of sustenance. Kalkalah is providing to the full capacity with nothing lacking.
Yosef couples the word famine, which is supposed to go with mazon, with kalkalah rather. Meaning that even within the harshest famine, you will be taken care of to the fullest capacity.
There are, of course, some terms and conditions if you want to see this applied in your own life. Jeremiah 17: 5-6 gives us some insight:
Cursed is he who trusts in man, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his thoughts from the L-rd. He shall be like a bush in the desert, which does not sense the coming of good. It is set in the scorched places of the wilderness.
Which brings us to the LA fires. If you think that your finance portfolio, property, or those who invest your money, or any man or worldly insurance for that matter, will save you, you're in for a big surprise. Shir haShirim gives us a hint of what will happen at the End of Days, which, yes, we are very well in. Twice the writer urges not to awaken love, which refers to G-d's love until it can be "handled" correctly. In the last chapter, we see this sequence again. This time that love finally comes as a blazing fire.
מַיִם רַבִּים, לֹא יוּכְלוּ לְכַבּוֹת אֶת-הָאַהֲבָה, וּנְהָרוֹת, לֹא יִשְׁטְפוּהָ; אִם-יִתֵּן אִישׁ אֶת-כָּל-הוֹן בֵּיתוֹ, בָּאַהֲבָה--בּוֹז, יָבוּזוּ לוֹ.
Songs of Songs 8:7
Vast waters cannot quench this love, nor rivers drown it. If a man offered all the value of his house (or all his wealth), he would be utterly scorned.
It seems to me that Hashem is about to release this love. I'm saying this based on the dates that these worldly events are occurring on. Anything material that you hold as surance, will be tested.
Jeremiah continues (17: 7-8)
Blessed is he who trusts in the L-RD, where the L-RD Himself is his whole insurance. He shall be like a tree planted by waters, sending forth its roots by a stream. It does not sense the coming of heat; its leaves are ever fresh; it has no care in the year of drought, and it does not cease to yield fruit.
Now, that sounds like a Yosef promise. You will not only "just" be taken care of (mazon). In the famine itself, you will be fresh and push out new leaves! That's Kalkala.
We are, with the fast of the 10th of Tevet, coming to an end of a very important message spelled out by the last three days.
The 8th of Tevet, when the Torah was diluted to a mere topical story, we are called to come back to the fullness of Torah and everything that it stands for. G-d's world, G-d's rules. For the Jews, that means keeping all His commandments. To the Noachides, that means keeping the seven laws of mankind.
The 9th of Tevet, the yahrzeit of Ezra and Nehemiah, emphasizes the Return to Zion. For the Jews, that means time is up in exile; your jobs and houses won't save you. For the Noahides, you also have a spiritual abode and protection from Zion (Ps 20:3, 87:5).
The 10th of Tevet. Famine is the birur, the sifting. It will show where your true investments lie. G-d promises that these fasts will turn into feasts (Zech 8:19), but verse 16 gives the conditions:
Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates. Do not contrive evil against one another and do not love false oaths because all those things I hate, declares the L-RD.
Wishing you an easy and meaningful fast. May you be reckoned as a tree planted by G-d's waters of Torah in the days coming!