The following announcement was widely distributed. Does anyone know what this means. Even though they claim this happens every 7 years I have never heard of it before. See Bluke Kikar Shabbat
Text of Bris Menucha - first column
Be'er Mayim Chaim
Foundation Stone
This coming Thursday (November 26th) the 9th of Kislev is a very special time where the gates of tefilot are wide open and Hashem is hearing, accepting and answering our prayers! Like the Ramban wrote: "the 9th year on the 9th month at the 9th hour of the day is a time of happiness and grants from Hashem". and you should know, adds the Chesed L'avraham, "this time is very appropriate for success and is a pipe to bring upon ourselves abundance and redemption."
This very special moment only comes around once every 7 years so we must get ready for it and take advantage of the opportunity granted to us from Hashem. Therefore it is important we take the time to pray and ask Hashem for all we need and desire in a clear and detailed way. In order to do so, we must prepare ourselves and put on paper what is the most important to us so that we can ask it clearly on this very special moment.
Text of Bris Menucha - first column
Be'er Mayim Chaim
Foundation Stone
This coming Thursday (November 26th) the 9th of Kislev is a very special time where the gates of tefilot are wide open and Hashem is hearing, accepting and answering our prayers! Like the Ramban wrote: "the 9th year on the 9th month at the 9th hour of the day is a time of happiness and grants from Hashem". and you should know, adds the Chesed L'avraham, "this time is very appropriate for success and is a pipe to bring upon ourselves abundance and redemption."
This very special moment only comes around once every 7 years so we must get ready for it and take advantage of the opportunity granted to us from Hashem. Therefore it is important we take the time to pray and ask Hashem for all we need and desire in a clear and detailed way. In order to do so, we must prepare ourselves and put on paper what is the most important to us so that we can ask it clearly on this very special moment.
When I checked some of the websites that were promoting this,
ReplyDeletethe source of this is given as follows:
"The above was written by Rabbi Avraham Marimon HaSfaradi, zs'kl, in the Sefer Brit Menucha. (A 13th century kabbalist who was known as Avraham Yitzchak of Gerona) because:
Also Rabbi Avraham Azulai, zs'kl, wrote in his sefer Chesed Le'Avraham, "I saw in the Sefer that the ninth month in the ninth day on the ninth hour is a time of great success and the reason for this is because it is the ninth wheel of the Yesod and is a pipe of abundance". Also the Ramban, zs'kl, writes that the ninth year of the Jubilee, on the ninth month, on the ninth day, in the ninth hour is time of special will."
The first suspicion here that the source of this is Christianity and not Judaism is "the ninth year";
According to the Christians, the Jubilee year was 2000, so according to Christianity, 2009 would be the ninth year of the Jubilee, but not according to Jews.
By the Jewish calendar, the next Yovel year is 5776.
So how could Jews possibly be in the ninth year of the Yovel?
Can anyone provide an exact reference (ie chapter and verse)?
The only source I can find for any holiness attributed to the "ninth hour" is Acts 3:1, 10:3, 10:30; Mark 15:34, Matthew 20:5, 27:45, 46, Luke 23:44.
Wikipedia explains:
"The ninth hour is a fixed time of prayer in almost all the traditional Christian liturgies. It consists mainly of psalms and is said around 3 p.m. Its name comes from Latin and refers to the ninth hour of the day after dawn. Among the ancients the hour of None was regarded as the close of the day's business and the time for the baths and supper. As a rule, it is the death of Christ that is commemorated at the Hour of None (the ninth hour). "
The ninth hour seems to have great significance in Christianity but I do not know of any source for this in Judaism.
http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=31194&pgnum=28
ReplyDeleteIs the page that was referred to as the source from V'yigash 6 lines down.
I still cannot understand how we could be in the ninth year after the Yuvel year.
The text says 9th year of the Yovel, not 9th year of the Shmita, implying it is once every 49/50 years, and not once every 7 years.
ReplyDeleteI am going to give this my best go. Obviously the 9th hour(unlike what Jerseygirl said) is important. As the Brit Menuchah(a sefer which is one of the few Kabbalistic seforim that the AR"I held in high esteem and did a commentary on) points out the fact. As well as the Gemarra and other places, that the ideal time for Mincha is in the 9th hour. Also that Eliyahu HaNavi was only answered in the 9th hour.
ReplyDeleteAside from that though things begin to get a little more tricky. Brit Menuchah is a sefer of profound depth, and it is also a sefer of Kabbalah Maasit. What is online is only as single daf, left in context you would see that verbally invoking a series of holy names and angels is necessary to fully manifest this segulah. There are better authorities than myself that you can speak with to discuss the halachic ramifications of that, but essentially my understanding was that in this generation, except for pikuach nefesh Kabbalah Ma'asit was assur(thus holds R' Hillel, R' Kaduri Z"L, et.al).
Now where we are in the Shmittah cycle all depends upon which opinion you follow. The Rambam seems to think we are 5yrs in, my own Yeshiva thinks that we are in the second year of sixth shmittah cycle of the 67th Yuval(still not the ninth year). I can't remember all of the other opinions, but based on those opinions you could probably get this segulah 3-4times in 50yrs(not every seven). Which further complicates matters. How can one invoke holy names in such a severe doubt. Only the Zionists who start the Yuval cycle with the first full year of secular state's existance seem to fall out that this is the 9th year of the cycle.
However overall the every seven years bit makes no sense whatsoever, the text is very clear that it occurs once every Yuval. Finally these things also seem to be relying heavily upon the secular Gregorian calander. The author of Brit Menucha having lived his entire life under muslim rule would not have known this calender, but rather the Hijiri and the Jewish calanders, which both use different year systems.
All of that being said, many mekubalim do a special tikkun(reciting of the entire Tehillim and selichot and other special prayers) every 9th of Kislev. Though I can assure you if this were the real thing, that actual 9th year deal, you would have seen posters up by many of the Roshei Yeshivot of the Kabbalistic Yeshivot such as you do for other important Kabbalistic dates, such as Erev Rosh Chodesh and the Shovvavim.
One other thought, unless my eyes are failing me in the one poster found on one of the blogs it states that Brit Menuchah preceded the RaShB"Y? I am speechless... That is absolutely absurd. All things considered, this is either a scam or someone is woefully misinformed.
Correction according the Luach my yeshiva uses, which is also in use by Beit E-l, Sha'ar HaShamayim and others... we are in the second year, of the third shmittah cycle, of the 67th Yuval. Why all of that is important to know is a different story... but in the the end it simply does not jive with this whole thing that is being spread around about every seven years. To my own best reckonning we will not hit what the Brit Menucha speaks about for another 42yrs.
ReplyDeleteNinth hour??? This "segula" had nothing to do with praying mincha.
ReplyDelete"Halachos which are associated with the scheduling of Mincha.
There are two time periods during the day in which one is permitted to daven Mincha. The earliest time one can daven Mincha is six and half hours after sunrise. This time, which is one half hour after Chatzos, is known as Mincha Gedola. The second time period, known as Mincha Ketana, begins three hours (Zmanios) later, nine and half hours after sunrise.
There are conflicting opinions in the Rishonim as to which of these time periods is the preferred choice for davening Mincha. Some Poskim prefer Mincha Gedola, (Rabbeinu Seadya Gaon, Rif, Ritva, Rosh, Tur) while others hold that Mincha Ketana ( Rabbeinu Chananel, Rambam, Archos Chaim, Meiri) is the preferred time to daven.
Mishnah Berurah 233:1 and Aruch Hashulchan 233:12 quote both views and do not clearly rule in accordance with either one.
As there is no decisive ruling on this question, either custom may be followed. The Poskim agree, however, that it is better to daven Mincha Gedola than to daven without a Minyan.
Similarly, before embarking on a trip or sitting down to a main meal, it is better to daven Mincha Gedola first.
"All of that being said, many mekubalim do a special tikkun(reciting of the entire Tehillim and selichot and other special prayers) every 9th of Kislev."
ReplyDeleteThe only reference I could find for special tehillim on the 9th of Kislev was for the Mitteler Rebbe of Lubavitch's birth and yahrzeit.
Please enlighten me to a source of any special tikkun that is recited every 9th of Kislev.
I would like to share this with my Rabbi in Brooklyn who has said that this "segula" is purely from Abodah Zara.
"All things considered, this is either a scam or someone is woefully misinformed."
ReplyDeleteWoefully misinformed people do not get copies of esoteric kabbalistic texts from the 13th century.
Me thinks it is Christian missionaries hard at work to further blur the lines between Judaism and Christianity.
Seven is the special number to Jews. Nine is the special number to Christians. Even the Catholic encyclopedia says just that.
All of this is seed planting for the next generations. Now that they have heard of a special significance attached to ninth hour prayers, the will be more open to hear the "Word" of the man who died on the cross while beseeching G-d to save him at the "Ninth hour".
And thus the references to the "ninth hour" emergencies etc in literature and non Jewish culture.
Now, this deeply rooted belief in Christianity is a part of our culture and belief system as well.
The distribution of this article is a clear example of how very devoted Christians are successfully influencing Orthodox Jewish thought in order to one by one break down the barriers between Judaism and Christianity amongst observant Jews.
ReplyDeleteIt worries me that so many Rabbis distributed this. The author knew how to make it look right and drop the right names.
I'd like to know who the original author of this is and ask a few questions.
I'm having a great deal of difficulty understanding what this whole conversation is about: there hasn't been a Yovel cycle for millenia since the halacha follows the Rabbanan (Erchin 33a and Rambam Hil' Shmitos 'Yovel 10: 7) that the Yovel year is the 50th of the previous cycle and the new cycle doesn't begin until year 51. Since there's no Yovel any more (Erchin sham), there is no 50th year and the shemita cycles just go 7, 7, 7 without taking into account a 50th year.
ReplyDeleteSo even if someone were to count the years since the last Yovel, it would be meaningless since that's completely out of sync with the real shemitos!
Read the piece from Brit Menucha again. You will clearly elucidated there that it has everything to do with Mincha.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Mincha Ketana being the preferred time(which according to Sephardi poskim is three seasonal hours before sunset) this was the ruling of the RaShaSh, the Chida, the Kaf HaChaim, the Ben Ish Hai, and R' Ovadiah Yosef.
The Baba Sali was known to hold to this stringency even when taking a journey.
Read the piece from Brit Menucha again. You will clearly elucidated there that it has everything to do with Mincha.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Mincha Ketana being the preferred time(which according to Sephardi poskim is three seasonal hours before sunset) this was the ruling of the RaShaSh, the Chida, the Kaf HaChaim, the Ben Ish Hai, and R' Ovadiah Yosef.
The Baba Sali was known to hold to this stringency even when taking a journey.
Brit Menucha is available in just about every sefarim store here in Israel. In NY it may be a little harder to find, but I am sure they have at least one copy on the shelf at Mekor in Flatbush. That remains the primary source for said segula.
ReplyDeleteAs well as for the primary custom of the mekubalim. Beyond that there are many things that the mekubalim do that are not in printed works that one can simply pick up at any sefarim store. Much of what we have is at best in kitvei yad, passed down through the generations of teacher to student.
As far as this being some sort of xtian conspiracy that is actually fairly laughable. First they would have to have a good enough knowledge of Hebrew books to even know that there is something called Brit Menucha, then they would have to actually know that it is authoritative. Be able to read it(as it is in Aramaic). Then they would have to have someone planted with enough access to major Rabbanim to get them to sign off on this stupidity... Essentially this was either a big practical joke(which is distantly possible) or someone well intentioned but misinformed person pushed this through.
My money is on the latter. That happens all the time. Recently a major Gadol said quite publicly that there is no source for praying forty days at the Kotel. I can personally name four sources, one of which is his own grandfather. Gedolim today aren't fact checking what they say or are encouraged by others to say, and thus they are making some really interesting mistakes, but most of it is simply well intentioned, though misinformed people.
As far as which numbers have what significance to Judaism. You are woefully under informed as well. Though those things are again best left to the mekubalim.
This "segula" is not about praying mincha. I do not believe that anyone is debating whether it is a mitzvah to pray mincha.
ReplyDeleteThere is a debate among the Chachamim regarding the best time to pray mincha, but this is not at all what this is about.
This is about a "special ninth hour" prayer that is NOT mincha that the author of this poster suggests be added to our religion.
See Devarim 4:2 "You shall not add to the matter that I command you, nor shall you subtract from it, to keep the commandments of Hashem, your G-d, that I command you"
(See Rambam, Book of the Commandments, Negative Commandments 313, 314; Sefer HaChinuch, 454, 455; Sifri 13:55; Rosh Hashana 28a; Sanhedrin 88a; Zevachim 80a; Tur and Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 128:27.)
Altering the mitzvot is considered an attempt to improve on them, which is an affront to Hashem. Bal tosif includes inventing mitzvot, such as adding a holiday(see Melachim I 12:33).
In fact, GRA (R. Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, 1720- 1797) in Aderet Eliyahu identifies two types of Bal Tosif:
1) altering any of the mitzvot (Devarim 13:1); and
2)adding new mitzvot (4:2).
We have a daily and Shabbat mincha prayer. We have our festivals at fixed times.
The Ninth hour, ninth day, ninth month has no significance in Judaism and any attempts to change our religion to include the practices of other religions are avodah zara.
The Ninth hour, ninth day, ninth month has no significance in Judaism and any attempts to change our religion to include the practices of other religions are avodah zara.
ReplyDeleteAgain see Brit Menucha. It is an accepted Kabbalistic Sefer that disagrees with you.
Segulot are a normal part of normative Judaism. This has nothing to do with a altering mitzvot of any sort. Segulot by nature are part of our Torah from the side of Sod. Some of the "Segulot" that we have today are valid some are not.
This one, though it is nothing as I have been given to know from several Gedolim of the mekubalim, is based on valid, if skewed, principles.
Specifically what this poster attempted to do was to inform people of an auspicious time for prayer. You find this several times in the Gemmarra itself. Good times for blessing people, good times for cursing people, good times for requesting Parnassa...ect...
It is not about instituting a special or new prayer service. That is your own imagination running away with you. Nor is it something injected from another religion. Just because another religion has things that resemble the treasures of our own, does not mean that we are borrowing from them... it is quite the opposite. That you do not know about some of these things, only shows that you are under informed about what you profess to be your own religion.
As the actual segula as laid out in Brit Menucha and as practiced by the Mekubalim stands, it has everything to do with mincha. There is for a confluence of reasons, which if you really insist I could lay out, but you would not understand, a special period of Eit Ratzon on the 9th of Kislev, and specifically at the 9th hour(mincha time). So that one when praying mincha, if they have special needs, should take the opportunity to insert in the appropriate places their own supplications. Also as a Jew is not only allowed, but encouraged to pray from the heart at all times, one could also use this time to make one's own supplication outside of the mincha prayer.
If a person truly wants to understand the spiritual significance of the hours, days ect... this is a serious avodah. When we started broaching the subject in one of my shiurim, I went with my confusion to my Chavruta, who has studied Kabbalah, under R' Sharabi, R' Kaduri, R' Hillel, R' Hadayya and other for the last 40yrs, and he said to me that he still doesn't fully comprehend it. It is one of the most difficult inyanim in Kabbalah.
That being said, there is every possibility that these posters(which were endorsed by Rabbanim) were simply done by a slightly confused individual with absolutely no malice. Also there is every likelihood that you have much to learn in this area before attempting to enter the discussion as to whether any of it is a valid part of Judaism.
Having asked Gedolim over Shabbat, I have been told, that yes there is a special time on the 9th hour of the 9th of Kislev, and that it is especially so in the 9th year of the Jubilee cycle, and I have been pointed to the books that "explain" it. However, many of the details of this poster were inaccurate... notably that it is a 13min window, and that it only happens every seven years.
Is there not always a thin line between segulot and avodah zarah?
ReplyDeleteBut if the ninth of Kislev was a good time to daven, why did you post this information on the 10th? So that we could regret we did not know it beforehand?
"Brit Menucha. It is an accepted Kabbalistic Sefer that disagrees with you."
ReplyDeleteBrit Menucha mentions the 9th year after the Yovel.
We are not in the 9th year after the Yovel therefore the Brit Menucha is irrelevant as a source.
"a special period of Eit Ratzon on the 9th of Kislev, and specifically at the 9th hour(mincha time)."
Sefer, Chapter and verse, please.
We are the "People of the Book". Please give us a source. If there is no source in the accepted sefarim, then it is by definition Avodah Zara (foreign service).
"Having asked Gedolim over Shabbat, I have been told, that yes there is a special time on the 9th hour of the 9th of Kislev, and that it is especially so in the 9th year of the Jubilee cycle,"
Again, source as in Sefer, Chapter and verse.
I have asked Talmidei Chachamim in Brooklyn and Israel and have been told that there is no source for this, it is Avodah Zara. If you have a source, please DO share it with us so that I can inform the Rabbis who are saying and writing otherwise.
I also would like the names of every "Gadol" you have consulted with who believes that we are in the 9th year of the Jubilee cycle.
If this practice were endorsed by "Gedolim" as you say, then why hasn't that been put in writing?
Why were there no hashkamas on the poster?
You apparently are incapable of reading the Brit Menucha. While it stipulates the full segula as the 9th year of the Yovel, it also states very clearly that 9th of Kislev and the 9th hour are also times of Eit Ratzon.
ReplyDeleteLet's see works that discuss the various factors of this beyond Brit Menucha:
Sefer Yetzirah
Raziel HaMalakh
Shorshei Shemot
Nahar Shalom
Sha'ar HaKavvanot
Pri Eitz Chaim.
If there is no source in the accepted sefarim, then it is by definition Avodah Zara (foreign service).
This is an absolutely false statement that you can bring no proof for. It denies the very aspect of Oral Torah, and the transmission of Kabbalah which is from teacher to student, and mostly not contained within books.
I also would like the names of every "Gadol" you have consulted with who believes that we are in the 9th year of the Jubilee cycle. I have never stated that any Gadol believed this to be the ninth year of the Yovel cycle. You are now intentionally misconstruing my words.
I have said more than enough on this already. I have no intention of disclosing the sodot of Torah on any blog. Especially in the English language.
You have already publicly stated that you hate Judaism, and obviously on account of that you have not spent enough time learning it to understand what is and is not part of our mesorah.
You have claimed to follow a posek who was a talmid of the Chazon Ish and now of R' Ovadiah. If that were the case you would already know that the 9th hour is a time of Eit Ratzon and that is why they both insist Minha be prayed then.
Spoke with R' Eliyahu Hemed this morning concerning this. He felt that it was fully valid, except for the every seven years thing. Went around the block with him over the Brit Menucha specifically stating the ninth year of the Yovel, he said that as not important.
ReplyDeleteTold him that there appears to be some Talmidie Chachamim in Brooklynn who said this was A"Z. He said they are more than welcome to call him and he will explain to them. That anyone qualified to make that call on a matter of Kabbalah already has his phone number. If they think they are qualified and don't have his phone number then they can get it from R' Kassin provided that they first tell R' Kassin that R' Hemed disagrees with their position.
For those who are Syrian R' Hemed needs no introduction, but for the rest of the world, he was one of the chief students of R' M. Sharabi Z"L, as well as one of R' Hillel's teachers of Kabbalah. R' Kassin, the titular head of Sephardi Judaism in the US, has in speech and the written word deffered to R' Hemed as his superior in all things Kabbalistic.
“... and in the ninth Israel was answered by the Sea [cf. BT Shabbat 88a: “Blessed is the Compassionate One Who gave a threefold Law to a threefold people, by the third (namely Moses who was the third child born to his parents), on the third day, in the third month [namely סִיוָן Sivan, the month of מַזַל תְאוּמִים Gemini]. And the ninth hour [the time of מִנחָה] is the hour of merriment, and blessing, and joy; it is the hour of offering in which Elijah was answered, as it is written: And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, (and said, YHWH God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word) [1 Kings 18:36]. It is an assurance to you that the ninth year of the Jubilee will be the most auspicious year, the ninth month [כִּסְלֵו], will be a month of רָצוֹן favor [which shares of gematria of 346 with מָקוֹר source, and שְּׁמוֹ His Name (Exodus 3:13)], and it will be the most auspicious of months. The ninth day of the month will be the most auspicious day of the month, and the ninth hour of the day will be the most auspicious hour of all the hours” (Brit Menuḥa).
ReplyDeleteCorrection: the ninth month of the civil calendar is סִיוָן Sivan
ReplyDeleteAlso the Brit Menuḥa seems not to be in agreement with Zohar 2:156a on Psalms 69:14: During the week at the time of minḥah, Judgment looms over the world and it is not a time of favor.
ReplyDelete