Today, the 23rd of Sivan, marks the day that Haman’s decree for Jewish annihilation was counteracted when Mordechai drafted the royal decree allowing Jews to defend themselves. We know how that ended. In fact, modern day history reiterates this: Jews don’t start a fight – but that doesn’t mean that we don’t win it in the end.
The Six-Day -and Yom Kippur-wars attest to this. Israel has again been drawn in for a fight in recent weeks.
Iran has now enriched their Uranium to 60%. See the article here. Things on the Gaza border has quieted down, but both the western and Northern border (Lebanon, Hezbollah) are aggravated.
Although Israel is a free democratic country where people have the right to live and express their choices, it saddens me that on this day, the city of Jerusalem is dragged into a parade representing behaviour that Hashem strongly warns against.
Use this day to pray for the current decrees to be countered. We are heading to the Tammuz/Av danger zone, and we have the responsibility to take these days set on the eternal calendar and harness its power to bring about and secure turn-arounds and preventions. Light a candle in the merit and memory of Mordechai and Esther.
It is also worth mentioning that just before midnight last night, when 23rd of Sivan already entered, Yair Lapid has informed President Rivlin that he has formed a government.
The 23rd of Sivan is the day on which the Ten Tribes were cut off from Jerusalem. It marks a sad event, where King Yerovam, from the Tribe of Ephraim, barricaded the roads to Jerusalem as he saw it a threat to his sovereignty. Due to the youthful arrogance and bad councel by David HaMelech’s grandson, the young King Rehavam, an insulted and equally hard-headed Yerovam decided to break away from Yehuda’s authority and dragged ten tribes with him.
Yerovam faced some challenges as Jerusalem, the heart and focal point of connection, stood centre in Israel. So, he started a replacement campaign. He replaced Jerusalem with worship centres in Bethel and Dan, basically telling the Northern tribes that this is their “new Jerusalem”. He forcefully denied the 10 Tribes passage to Jerusalem by barricading the road, severing them from the heart.
He replaced Sukkot with an imitation of some sort, shifting it one month later, changing the times of the festivals and creating new ones, and he appointed priests not ranking from Levite descent. As his flagship move, he exploited and enforced an already existing weakness in the House of Israel – deviant worship - by replacing/substituting G-d with two golden calves that were now medium to G-d, leading the House of Israel down a steady slope to full-on idolatry. Any of this sound familiar?
We are seeing its effect being reversed in our days. More and more identify themselves with the lost Ten Tribes, and Jerusalem, Zion, stands centre in their journey back out of idolatry into the fold.