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Judaism, Torah and Talmud

Important Note: study the Hebrew verses and translations quoted in this commentary.

This parasha has extensive ramifications for us.

1. The Torah, which represents the truth, warns us that if we live according to its laws and precepts, the land of Israel will be ours and our enemies'attempts to destroy us will be naught. If we do not keep to the precepts of the Torah, we will be prey to our enemies, until the time we return to the Torah of Hashem. The stakes are high and frightening.

2. History has testified so often to these warnings that we can no longer ignore them.

3. The present situation in Israel brings us face to face with this problem: now it is no longer a warning, but a very real drama of life and death, in which we are the participants. We lived in the land of Israel, like those to whom the warnings are addressed, but we did not live according to the precepts of the Torah. Moreover, minority groups who did adhere to the Torah were subjected to hatred, humiliation and treated as primitives. Education was based on values other than those of the Torah and the fundamental principle of the Torah, to which generations of Jews have aspired (the land of Israel as the home of the divine presence, within His people), has been reduced to
- a political issue in which sons seek to destroy the edifices of their fathers;
- a frenetic desire to give up this promised land, which was given to us, and hand it over to those who have openly declared their aim to destroy Jewish history and take over the land with fire and bloodshed (this is the avowed aim of those who are attacking Israel and who are controlled by leaders with whom we sit at the negotiating table); a readiness to give arms to our enemies, to hand over to them our land as quickly as possible, including our most holy places.

Only three places are named in the Torah as being the eternal domain of Jews: Schehem (Nablus) and Hebron, which we have already handed over, and Jerusalem. When the Temple Mount fell into our hands in 1967, we didn't want it and, to the great astonishment of the Arabs, we handed it back to them, to those who systematically destroyed and continue to destroy all signs of Jewish history.
Archaeologists (secular) have found proof of what amounts to the most extensive archeological devastation on the Temple Mount since the destruction of the Temple. And now Israeli politicians wish to hand over parts of Jerusalem, including parts of the Old City, to those who publicly vaunt their murderous programs. Nothing is done to halt the advance of the Palestinians or to take away their illegal arms. It is us who brought them into our midst.

What is the reason for this self-destructiveness, described in the Torah, in which we ourselves contribute to our own destruction?
This scenario is not a fiction: this crazy, sacrilegious policy is real and paid for with the flesh of those who have been murdered by our enemies. This madness becomes even greater when the process of self-destruction is described as a "peace process, a process of shalom," for Shalom is the name of God who gave us His land in a covenant that was handed down through generations, so that justice could reign and be the fount of benediction for all mankind.

The new Torah is the political program of leaders who have no integrity or understanding of their roots. Why has this generation fallen so low? Especially as we were warned that this holy land would reject those who profane it. We hardly seem to heed this warning. Israelis went along with this program but they too are beginning to reject it, in disgust at the wholesale degradation and destruction that is taking place at the hands of the Palestinians.
This is the first time in 2000 years that Jews themselves are responsible for such infamy. This is the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel that Jews are ready to give up their land in order to hand it over to those who seek to destroy us.
When we see what folly Jews are capable of, it is not surprising that the Torah takes great pains to warn us of dire consequences. The Torah is addressed to our generation above all.
What does the Torah say? It deals specifically with this issue in its conclusion to the book of Vayikra (Leviticus).

The mitzvot in the parasha

This parasha, which concludes the book of Vayikra, describes mitzvot 350-361:
the valuation of a man's worth (27, 2),
the prohibition against exchanging an animal selected for an offering (27, 10),
the valuation of animals (27, 11-12),
the valuation of a man's house and fields after it has been sanctified (27, 14-17),
the prohibition against the offering of firstlings and the prohibition against offering sacrificed animals for other sacrifices (27,26),
the attribution of all devoted things (herem) to the Cohanim (27,28),
the prohibition against selling or buying back these things (27,28),
the annual tithe placed on the tenth newborn (27, 32),
These mitzvot complete the process of reparation described in the preceding parashiot.

The ultimate goal - happiness

The two short chapters of this parasha are characterized by promises of happiness made to the people if it follows the injunctions given to it, and dire consequences if it veers from them. Ending the book on this tragic note and on the issue of punishment raises several questions. In order to understand the problem, we have to put these promises in the context of the overall meaning of the book of Vayikra: the aim of all the injunctions in this book is to restore the original state in which the Creator and his people lived together in the garden of Eden, thus to bring them close together (this is the meaning of the word sacrifice, korban). This is stressed at the beginning of the parasha, when Hashem makes his promises to his people:
venatati mishkan betokhakhem velo tighal nafshi etkhem
"And I will set my tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you" (26, 11).
Rashi comments:
ze beit hamikdash ; ein ruhi katza vakhem..
Omitting this would take away all meaning from the promises and warnings made by Hashem.

Happiness and threats? The logic of love

A question remains: can the Creator demand love from man and at the same time impose such awesome conditions?
The answer will become clear if we look at the overall meaning of the book of Vayikra: if two people, who love each other, do not continually show great sensitivity towards each other in their feelings and actions, then their relationship will certainly crumble and lead to suffering and tragedy. What is at issue here is an inherent law and not a question of threats and promises. In this case, the greater the love, the greater the disillusion, suffering and ruin that would ensue. I am sure that many people have witnessed this process in their own lives.

Rashi's commentary

In his commentary, Rashi stresses the importance of continuity in a relationship of love (26, 9: an employee who has served his master a long time, a new, indissoluble tie; 26, 10: the fruits of a harvest become better with time and a three-year old harvest is better than a new one ; 26, 11: my soul shall not abhor you..). This teaches us both about love and about our relationship with Hashem:

1. Love is valueless unless each partner gives all the time and forever ; this is not a possessive form of love but the very nature of absolute love. Rashi gives a bold interpretation of verse 26, 12 (vehitlalakhti betokhekhem, "and I will walk among you") in his commentary: atayel imakhem kenian eden keehad mikem, "I will walk with you in the garden of Eden as one of you." This equality corresponds to that of a true relationship of love, which is based on respect and reciprocity.

2. In love, it is not enough to have basic positive feelings (expressed in the Torah with verse 26, 5 which means "to receive a dwelling place, food and drink") ; one must reach the level of "everything" kol. Rashi states this explicitly in his commentary on verse 26, 6:
venatati shalom baaretz, "and I will give peace in the land":
"you will perhaps say that here there is to eat and to drink but there is no shalom, there is nothing (ein klum); this is why after everything (ahare kol) it is written:
venatati shalom baaretz, "and I will give peace in the land" ;
this tells us that shalom is the counterpart of "everything" and this is why it is written: "he makes peace and creates everything" (ose shalom uvore et hakhol).
The word shalom must be understood according to its root, which means "complete, whole." In love, the choice is between "all" or "nothing."
The parasha begins with verse 26, 6: ne natati shalom baaretz, and I will give peace in the land. This is the true "peace now" of Judaism.

The commentaries of Rabbenu Bahya and the Ramban

The stages

Rabbenu Bahya (d. 1340), who was a student of the Rashba (1235-1310) who was himself a student of the Ramban (1194-1270), comments on this verse thus: "after listing the wealth of blessings, he ends with shalom, for without shalom (wholeness) there is nothing (Sifra on parasha 1, 8).
Like the Ramban, Rabbenu Bahya distinguishes between different levels of interpretation and writes that one must also understand the word shalom according to the deeper meaning of the Torah. It thus represents:
the state of benediction, given by the creator and received by us, must undergo several stages before achieving a state of plenitude, wholeness;
the stage that involves man's material and spiritual life;
Torah study will help this process achieve total union, which is called "everything" kol ;
then true union and fruitfulness, represented in children, will be achieved in this world.
This is the real meaning of peace in Judaism. It is not: "we shall give you our land and you will give us your peace, which really means our destruction and ruin, and let's do it right-away." The word shalom has nothing to do with "peace now": for it is the name of God himself, ata shalom, shalom is You. It is through him that peace will come, especially for Jews. This is what the parasha teaches us.

The final state - closeness to Hashem

This state of Jewish shalom, can be expressed thus:
"His holy temple in His Holiness is established"
as is written in I Kings 9, 3: vehayu eini velibi sham kol hayamim,
"and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually."
Rabbenu Bahya writes:
although "Hashem is in his holy temple, Hashem's throne is in heaven" (Psalm 11, 4),
Hi shekhina is in the Temple, among men.
This closeness is so intense that even food, money and the trials of life are channels through which it is expressed (verse 26, 41).
The Ramban commented on verse 26, 6 (venatati shalom baaretz) that, where man is capable of such complete intimacy,
when everything in this world is connected to the world above (ve al drekh haemet sheyiten hashalom mehubar baaretz, ve hu shalom hakol hashakul keneged hakhol),
then violence will be excluded, and there will be peace between mankind.
This is how he defines the love implicit in verse 26, 6.
This is the reason, he says, why the blessings described in the parasha represent a state of wholeness where there will be no abortion or infertility in the world.

The world is not split

1. In order to understand this concept, we must go back to the commentary of Rabbenu Bahya: although His glorious throne is in the heavens, He is among us." This is the paradox which the Torah teaches us: the world is not split
as though what is invisible only concerns the world above and not us,
and as though our task is to live only in the visible world. Nor should we confine the meaning of the word "life" to this world.
The Ramban wants us to be aware of true reality which is the loving union between the two worlds (the visible and the invisible). Hashem, despite the scission caused by Adam's sin, repeats in his Torah that He will walk among us, that he is close to us and that He will bring us happiness.
This is the meaning of the first verse of the Torah.
This is the key to parasha Behukotai: it is only our ignorance of this union which
causes the separation of our world and impedes the flow of happiness.

The doctor who comes to heal us

The Ramban tells us that Hashem comes to teach us this again through the Torah and this is why he is the doctor who comes to heal us: ki ani Hashem rofeikha, Shemot 15, 26. This is what the prophet Jeremiah teaches us in the haftara and we can now understand the themes repeated here (Jeremiah 16, 19 to 17. 14):
Hashem, my strength uzi, my stronghold mauzi, my refuge menussi (closeness),
the sin hatat…ye have kindled a fire esh kehahtem,
blessed is the man that trusteth in Hashem, barukh hagever asher yivtah baHashem,
the heart is weak, ha lev anush hu,
thou throne of glory, on high, kisse khavod marom.. thou place of our sanctuary, mekom mikdashenu,
all that forsake Thee, kol ozvekha, shall be ashamed, yevoshu,
heal me Hashem, and I shall be healed.

Miracles are invisible

The Ramban clarifies an important point (verse 26, 11), after having said that Hashem is our healer: "the meaning of this is that, although the blessings are miracles, they are hidden miracles and these abound in the Torah as I have explained."
The subject is so important that the Ramban devoted his introduction to his commentary on the Torah to this one subject.
We should not look for visible and wonderful miracles, or for seductive, charismatic figures: the Torah describes our universe every part of which is a miracle for it is the direct expression of what Hashem is giving us now, and it is written in the Torah.
We do not need to look any further for, if we learn the language of the Torah, we will see that everything is in it, including the names of Hakadosh barukh hu, which He wishes us to know.
We cannot acquire knowledge about any of this just by reflecting on the world or on the Torah ; we can only acquire it through Torah study.

Teachings which ensue

It is easier now for us to understand the teachings of the prophets, which would have seemed strange to us before hand:
1. Hashem is close to us. He represents love and He loves us with an eternal love (ahavat olam, Jeremiah 3, 3). This expression appears before the reading of the Shemat Yisrael.

2. Hashem seeks us, calls out to us, and bids us to return to Him: in doing so, we engender happiness in the world. It is surprising - and enlightening - to note that the prophet who brings us this message, Jeremiah, who is read in the haftara of this parasha, has been described as the "prophet of doom" by people who close their ears and hearts.

Happiness and love, are the things which man rejects most, for both require total commitment and a state of shalom.

The same people who reject happiness have the audacity to speak of "God's silence" in regard to the suffering of man, while the real culprit is, in fact, man for having refused to listen to the word of God.
Here, for example, is what Jeremiah says (beginning of chapter 4):
"If thou will return, im tashuv, Israel…
If thou wilt put away thine abominations, im tassir shikutsekha..
And thou shalt swear, ve nishbata, Hashem liveth in truth, hai Hashem beemet, in judgment and in righteousness, memishpat…
the nations shall bless themselves in Him, ve hitbarekhu vo…"

3. Hashem, never abandons His people, never, even after having turned his back, even when His people's conduct led to terrible catastrophes (26, 44), as the people collaborated with the forces that sought to destroy Israel.

4. I shall quote a few teachings from the Zohar, which are relevant to this parasha and which are not too difficult to understand. Using a graphic metaphor, the Zohar defines God's love thus: Hashem so desires to bring man close to His knowledge and His divine plan that the man who carries out all the mitzvot of the Torah is as worthy "as though he had made" Hashem. Hakadosh barukh Hu says: "it is as though man created me" (Zohar III, 113a).
The Zohar gives us an example of man's correct response to God's calling: it is King David who was able to feel the constant presence of the creator in the world and who, in the heart of the night, at midnight, heard the songs of the world and rose to study the Torah till dawn and sing Psalm 67 (Zohar II, 67b).
This gave him the strength to face the trials of human existence and to praise God in the midst of each trial.
It is at night, during this moment of solitude and suffering, that man can feel most God's words of love.

5. In contrast, when man acts against this state of love, when he rejects life and happiness, he becomes incomplete, un-shalom. This is evident in verse 26, 44 of Vayikra: while, in the preceding verses, the relationship is described in terms of "you," here it becomes an anonymous "they," for God has been forsaken.

Commentary

1. The reparation process continues. Through the example of David, Judaism teaches us that the best of men constantly need to strive to improve themselves, and to work on this process of reparation. This may surprise us, and yet, in the same way, we constantly need to breath, eat and drink. What applies to the body also applies to our psychological, emotional, moral and intellectual development.

2. Indulgence. On this basis, we can be more tolerant towards ourselves and to others. So when we see deplorable behavior in another person, or in ourselves, we should always look at the whole person and remember that human failings are normal.

3. Self-development. What is abnormal, in such circumstances, is be to condemn the other person outright or to become depressed at our own conduct or helplessness. This is tantamount to viewing something temporary phase as permanent, or for someone who is hungry to say he is sick. We have been given considerable time to learn from experience, to sharpen our understanding of human behavior, and to study the history and culture of the Jewish people. People devote a great deal of time learning how to cook, use a computer, play the stock market, learn a language, etc. and yet they rarely find the time to develop what is most essential - self-knowledge and psychological awareness.

4. Holism, gestalt, shalom. The Book of Vayikra teaches us that every part of us is inter-dependent and coordinated. Thus, through the Temple and the sacrifices, a good deed (love-offering-elevation) or a dangerous and harmful deed (hatred-sin-egoism) are linked to God in a continuous chain: everything and everyone is linked in a direct line to God. This is the Jewish concept of shalom, which means completeness rather than "peace," peace being just one result of this state. Judaism has a totally holistic or gestalt concept of the world and mankind. We should use the word shalom only in this context. Reducing this word to a political slogan perverts it and its vision of the world, and the perversion becomes even more acute when people use this word as a tool in ideological warfare, while omitting the self-work that is necessary to achieve this state of completeness. This is as absurd as living on a diet of vitamins and medicines instead of looking after our bodies and minds.

5. How we see ourselves. These teachings have not been given to us in order to enhance our self-image or to construct elegant philosophical theories, but in order that we should "be" and "live." Our Sages tell us that self-pride is the worst level of pride, and graver that the sense of rivalry or superiority.

6. How we see others. This holistic approach should influence us to look at other people in the same way, taking into account all their qualities and aspects, including their divine dimension (that which is in the likeness of the creator or part of the divine plan). Let's take a very concrete example: the way men see women or the way women see men. The holistic approach would be not just to see the physical beauty or sexual attraction of a man or woman, or a particular quality or fault, but to look at the other from a perspective which includes "all" his or her dimensions. This particularly means to look at a person from the perspective of his or her union with the creator, which we have described in this parasha. We should try to look at others through the eyes of Hashem or, at least, to direct our partial/materialistic gaze towards what is whole and divine.
We could say that it is in this domain that the sacrifice (korban) should be made, in order to achieve intimacy and closeness. The Torah and the Sages teach us this. Moreover, we are fortunate to belong to a generation which provides us with the social and psychological tools needed to achieve this. But we must first learn the immense science of human nature which the Sages handed down to us. End of commentary.)

What is truly sad is the fact that those who led the Jewish people to the present moral and political abyss in which it finds itself acted out of ignorance, not out of malevolence. Those who studied the Torah and did not propagate it among the people are also responsible. This was the greatness of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, for he spread the word of the Torah among the people and this is why he is celebrated by the entire nation with joy and love on Lag ba Omer.

Conclusion on the Book of Vayikra

Let us end this commentary on Vayikra by going back to the beginning and as we go backwards, the main theme of the book will become clear to us.

The first verse of Vayikra says:
"Vayikra el-Moshe vayedaber Hashem elav meohel moed lemor
And he called unto Moshe and Hashem spoke unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying."
After having studied the writings of the Sages, we can better appreciate the commentary of Rabbi Hiya, which links all levels of interpretation (Zohar Vayikra, III 2b).
Rabbi Hiya bases himself on the Song of Songs 5, 1 (union-intimacy-love):
bati legani ahoti khala (I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse),
ariti mori im-bessami (I have gathered my myrrh with my spice),
akhalti yaeri im-divshi ( I have eaten my honeycomb, with my honey),
shatiti yeni im-halavi (I have drunk my wine with my milk).

Moshe represents the ideal man and the Jewish people, who should be able to live in a union (shalom) of the two worlds, the visible and invisible.
When the tent of "meeting" (ohel moed) was established as the place where the world below and the world above would meet, it was a day of great joy for Hashem and Hashem called unto Moshe (vayikra) to come close (hence the korbanot, sacrifices which draw man closer to God), for he saw that man would not, by himself, come towards Him. This is still the case today.

This is the meaning of "I am come into my garden, bati legani" and "my sister, my spouse, ahoti khala" is Israel. Then the six words (mori bessami yaeri divshi yeni halavi) represent the benediction which is present in all worlds and unites with its counterpart (myrrh-spice, honeycomb-honey, wine-milk). This is effected through the korbanot (sacrifices/drawing closer). Even if we do not have the sacrifices today, we should try to achieve this state of closeness and intimacy through study. The twinning of the words in pairs refers to the twinning of the two worlds and to other important pairings.
The text continues thus:
"ikhlu reim ( eat companions), shetu veshikhru dodim, drink, yea, drink abundantly friends."
The reim, friends, are creatures from the world above who are always united with each other and with the source of all things, while the more affectionate term dodim, friends, refers to creatures in the world below, which is man, who do not always succeed in being united with each other and with the world above as they should be.
The Book of Vayikra, Leviticus, represents this moment when Hakadosh barukh Hu calls out to his people Israel and tells them his plan and the relationship He desires with Israel and how to achieve it. We can no longer say: we didn't know.
It is because of this divine message and beautiful plan that children are first taught the book of Vayikra, for this is the center and heart of the Torah, the third of the five books.
With the help of the Sages, we have discovered that the book of Vayikra is not just a complicated text full of strange, ancient rites.

We now know the different levels we must develop in order to attain unity and shalom. This is our task as human beings.
Seeing me coming back from work this week, a small boy, just 5 and a half years old who had previously wanted to know what was my profession (psychologist), asked me: "have you calmed anyone today?" Then, as we were standing under the starry skies of Jerusalem and an almost full moon, he added: "did you pray and say thanks for the moon?" Is not a child's amazing intelligence and ability to get at the kernel of things, one of the wonders of the world? May the Creator grant all couples such children, and may we be given a child's intelligence so that we can hear the call of God and appreciate the gifts we have been given. May we all attain shalom, but as our patriarch Yaakov-Israel taught us, the road is long and difficult.
May the Creator reveal to our leaders the grandeur and role of the land of Israel and its people.
May He bestow on us Sages who will teach the people that the Torah is life.

Personal integration exercises

1. Identify
all the themes in the parasha, adding your own thoughts and questions;
all the words and expressions given in Hebrew and English in this commentary and learn them by heart.

2. Read the parasha again in the perspective of this commentary and keep returning to it, for the fact that we read one parasha every week does not give us enough time to fully integrate its content.

3. Contemplate the beauty of the moon, the link between us and the other world, between light and darkness, between the incomplete and the complete. May this image, which is placed before us every day, awake our sensibilities and our hopes. I wish this for everyone. Beemet, truly.

Lesson for advanced students (second level)

How should we pray in order to save the land of Israel?

This is a question I am often asked.
I shall attempt to answer it, cautiously and basing myself solely on the teaching of the Sages.

A. Personal prayer (general aspects)
I.1. Pre-conditions
First of all, a prayer is granted only
if we first do teshuva, which means truly living a life according to the Torah and not out of any self-interest,
if we are truly sorry for the sins and errors (past and present) we have committed and if we acknowledge and repent from them (vidui),
if we are truly determined to break from this path and renounce these practices,
and especially if we make reparation for any harm (material, financial, moral) we have done to others or for any sin of slander (lashon ha ra).
These are the preconditions which are necessary for God to hear us.

Then
your prayer must come from the depths of your heart,
your personal prayer is in addition to the obligatory collective prayer of Jews (the three daily prayers: morning or shaarit, afternoon or minha, evening or arvit).
In each of these services we pray that our eyes may see His return to Zion through His rahamim, His mercy (ve tehezeina einenu beshuvekha le tzion berahamim)
and we say: Blessed are Thee who returns (now) His shekhina towards Zion, barukh ata Hashem hamahazir shekhinato leTzion.
See also the Mussaf service (supplementary service) of Shabbat when we pray that "Thou will elevate us in joy towards our land" (she taalenu be simha le artzenu) and that "Thou will plant us in our borders" (ve titaenu vighvulenu). This is indeed the subject we have been discussing.
You will also see that one third of the prayer recited after meals, and said daily, is devoted to the land of Israel. All this shows us to what extent the land of Israel is not a political issue; it is a living entity and the heart of the union between God and man, it is the basis for man's happiness together with the blessings of the Torah which are disseminated for the happiness of the whole world.
you must pray using the words of the Sages, for only they know the art of prayer. We cannot attain their level of knowledge or the secrets of prayer but we can pray as though we have done so.

I.2 What words should we use to express our wish?
I.2.1. The Psalms
One of the Psalms often used by the Sages to have a prayer fulfilled is Psalm 28.
It is particularly apt for a prayer asking for the salvation of the land of Israel and the people of Israel.
Psalms which ask for salvation and protection against the evil designs of our enemies are: Psalms 35, 36, 44, 48, 53, 54, 60, 70, 74, 83, 87, 88, 100, 109, 118, 125. This large number shows to what extent the danger to Israel is a constant threat which we must face.

I.2.2. Psalms for the days of the week
There are also psalms to sustain us for each day of the week:
First day of the week (Sunday), Psalm 24.
Second day (Monday), Psalm 48.
Third day (Tuesday), Psalm 82.
Fourth day (Wednesday), Psalm 94.
Fifth day (Thursday), Psalm 81.
Sixth day (Friday), Psalm 93.
Seventh day (Shabbat), Psalm 92.

I.2.3. Other prayers written by the Sages for the land of Israel.
It is forbidden for anyone who is not an eminent student of the Sages talmid hakham muvak), acknowledged by the Sages themselves, to compose prayers to be recited by others. Indeed, ignorance of the power of words can have opposing results. The spontaneous outpouring of one's hear is, of course, fully permitted and, moreover, indispensable.
An example of such compositions by the Sages: The Ramhal, Rabbi Moshe Hayim Luzatto composed prayers for the salvation of Israel. These prayers have been put together by Rabbi Mordekhai Shriki and published in a book called Tefilot LeRamhal, Ramhal Publications put out by the Ramhal Yeshiva of Jerusalem. These prayers are particularly appropriate for the current situation, when the number of attacks against Israel, its land and its Torah, are increasing, both from within and outside the country.
There are many Sages who, based on the Talmud, interpret this phenomenon as heralding the final liberation of Israel.
One should beware, however, of over-simplifying these interpretations. The Torah tells us every day what are the conditions for our salvation and liberation (geula). It tells us this in the expression "ha yom," "today" which is found more than 500 times in the Tanakh. Hakadosh Barukh Hu has and continues to give us every day all that we need for the fulfillment of optimal order in the world.
Many times, our masters told us that the time of salvation had come and that the conditions were favorable if we did teshuva, but the people refused to do what was demanded of them. There is no inevitable outcome and there is no one charismatic Rabbi who will ensure our salvation.
The tendency to believe in a magical force stems from our connection to the erev rav, the common people who followed magicians since the time of the exodus from Egypt. These beliefs and practices only delay the moment of liberation, which is based solely on teshuva. The only signs that count are those of the Torah, and the teachings of our Sages. Those who claim to bring new beliefs are simply demonstrating their ignorance and the Torah has described and warned us repeatedly about those who propagate falsehoods and deceptions.