This study is dedicated in the loving memory of Mr. Michael & Mrs. Channah Sakash, may they rest in peace.
Parshas Vayechi is the first mention of the words Bih Ah Chah Reet - Hah Yaw Meem {In the end of days}. Ha Torah mentions these words four times and the rest of Ha Tenach mentions them only nine more times. They are rare when compared to other words and other subjects. This may seem odd because humankind has such a thirst for the future. Humankind attempts to uncover every stone surrounding the end of days... It is an extremely popular subject. It is often in the shell of our thoughts and hearts... The end of days is very important to Jewish people because this time tells of our return to Hashem.
We examine several other usages of the words Bih Ah Chah Reet - Hah Yaw Meem in Ha Torah: Devarim 31:29 and 4:30,31
For I {Moshe} know after my death, for the corrupt, you will deal corruptly and you will rebel from the way that I commanded you and evil will happen to you in the end of days for you do everything from Aleph to Tav of evil in the eyes of Hashem to anger Him with the actions of your hands. Devarim 31:29
When you {B’nei Yisroel} are in distress Go and realize you are insufficient [then remember] all the words spoken to you about the end of times and return to Hashem your G-d and obey Him! For the Alm-ghty is Merciful, Hashem is your G-d! He will not forsake you and He will not destroy you and He will not forget everything from Aleph to Tav of the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them. Devarim 4:30,31
Why would a subject of such a high level of interest be discussed so little in Ha Tenach? Why would the end of days be so elusive... so evasive? Dear classmates, that is because Hashem desires for us to focus on the NOW. A university student begins with their eye on the completion... on graduation... on the end. Yet to reach that goal the student must seriously focus on the NOW. That is how it is for us! We must take good care of the now to make it to the future.
So in the words Bih Ah Chah Reet - Hah Yaw Meem we should not expect to find an easy Gematria. Just as the end of days is veiled so are the mystical meanings of the words Bih Ah Chah Reet - Hah Yaw Meem. In the word Bih Ah Chah Reet {in the end} we observe the same Gematria as May Oor Cahs Deem {from [the] Fiery [Furnace]}. May Oor Chas Deem {from [the] Fiery [Furnace] of the city of] Kasdim} is in reference to Avraham Aveinu in Bereishis 11:31 {also see 28}.
Ha Torah mentions this city in a common sort of way. The meaning today is lost in translations. May Oor Cahs Deem was named after an incident between Avram, {Avraham} his father Terach, a brother Charan, and King Nimrod. Avram broke all his father's idols - which were many - with an ax. He then left the ax in the hand of the largest idol and told his father that the largest idol had destroyed all the other idols. This was of course untrue. Terach realized the senselessness of Avram's story. Terach knew idols could not do what Avram claimed. Avram used this incident to in an attempt to persuade his father to believe in the One true G-d. Terach refused. Terach took his son Avram before King Nimrod. Avram repeated the story to King Nimrod. He also knew idols could not do what Avram claimed. Avram used this incident to share about Hashem, the One true G-d, with King Nimrod. Our sages say Avram was just three years old at this time.
One must understand that the land of Chaldea in which Nimrod was king had over 5,000 different idols. Terach, Avram's father, was an idol maker. It was a very lucrative business. So both Terach and King Nimrod had much to lose if Avram's doctrine of monotheism spread. That being the situation King Nimrod ordered that Avram be held for ten days while a court be convened to judge his actions. Avram's actions were judged. The court ordered that after three days he should be burned alive in the furnace of Kasdim. Most of the world {over 900,000 people} watched as Avram was cast into the fiery furnace. The guards who cast Avram into the furnace were burnt but Avram was untouched! King Nimrod ordered guards to retrieve Avram. They died in the attempt! Eventually King Nimrod acknowledged Hashem as G-d. Then Avram stepped forth unharmed. This is what the meaning of May Oor Chas Deem originates from.
Now let’s consider the comparison of May Oor Chas Deem and Bih Ah Chah Reet. How are they connected? In Bih Ah Chah Reet we have the final days of evil when the Jewish people return to Hashem. In May Oor Chas Deem we have what at first appeared would be Avram’s final day. It would have been without our Creator’s intervention. May Oor Chas Deem represents the intended final day and Bih Ah Chah Reet are the final [days]. Both represent a fallen people. In Bih Ah Chah Reet it is the Jewish people who are fallen and return to the Creator. In May Oor Chas Deem it is the non observant Spiritualist people who are fallen who our Creator challenged to return through this great miracle of May Oor Chas Deem. May Oor Chas Deem speaks of the past and Bih Ah Chah Reet of the future. The Gematria of Bi Ah Chah Reet and May Oor Chas Deem are both 621. So within the Gematria of 621 we use the miracle of the past as a foundation and as a reminder of the miracle for the future
This is why the emphasis MUST be on the NOW! It is the NOW that we MUST GUARD as we G-d willing head toward the future! It is both the Jewish now and the Jewish future that are under attack.
Now remember that it is ‘in the end of days’ that we the Jewish people will do shuvah... that we will repent... that we will return to Hashem. Jews are reminded, For the Alm-ghty is Merciful, Hashem is your G-d! He will not forsake you [the Jewish people] and He will not destroy you [the Jewish people] and He will not forget everything from Aleph to Tav of the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them. Devarim 4:31
In fact, holy classmates, Hashem will rescue us even after our horrible past, THANK G-D!! We see this in the Gematria Mispar Katan of Bi Ah Chah Reet. The underlying support... the foundation of "in the end of days" is life... Chai! This life comes from G-d, the Originator of life. This life takes many avenues including the resurrection of the dead and life after death.
The May Oor Chas Deem, the fiery furnaces of our trials, represent the potential for purification, for purity to those experiencing them and their glorifying of the Creator. The usage of Eh Caw Vayd is from Vayikra 10:3 where Aharon’s sons Nodov and Avihu bring a strange fire before their Creator. They die for this mistake. Yet even in their death our Creator is glorified. When Avram was spared from May Oor Chas Deem our Creator was glorified. When Nodov and Avihu brought the strange fire our Creator was glorified in their deaths. And in the end of days our Creator will be glorified. In other words through the trials of life and through the mistakes in life our Creator must be glorified. The end of days is no different. Our Creator will be glorified in B’nei Yisroel returning to Him. Our Creator will be glorified in the justice served out to those in opposition... Our Creator can use any point, place or issue to be glorified.
Best Wishes,
Dr. Akiva Gamliel Belk
Written in 5760
Updated in 5764
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