“Yosef is still alive.” The basic approach of the Gaon is encapsulated in the principle “Yosef is still alive.” meaning that Mashiach ben Yosef is alive and will live…”

Kol HaTor 1:9, Sefaria.org

״עוד יוסף חי״. השיטה היסודית של רבנו היה ״עוד יוסף חי״ היינו שמשיח בן יוסף חי ויחיה

You shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Shabbat, from the day on which you bring the Omer offering; seven complete weeks they shall be . . . (23:15)�

“The word sefirah, “counting,” also means “illumination.” On each of the forty-nine days of Sefirat HaOmer (the “Counting of the Omer”), we refine, develop and illuminate another of the forty-nine traits of our soul.”

Rabbi DovBer, the Maggid of Mezeritch cited at Chabad.org

 “Waving represents shaking off – in this case, shaking off layers of self-centered physicality and materialism in order to elevate our existence. We see a hint to this idea in the parsha itself (Leviticus 23:9-22), which mentions waving seven times. We could suggest that these seven mentions of waving correspond to the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot. Each week we have the ability to shake off another layer. What are these layers, exactly? All the physical aspects of this world were initially created in seven days. Each week of the Omer period thus “shakes off” one of these physical layers of Creation. As we progressively refine and elevate ourselves, we prepare ourselves to receive the Torah on Shavuot.”�R’ Aba Wagensberg, Between the Lines, Emor, the Peak and Potential, Aish.com

Avraham

Yitzhak

Yaakov

Moshe

Aharon

Yosef

David

Father

Spirit

Son

Bride

Crown

The Holy Ushpizin

“The unit of 49 always symbolizes the limit of the reach of natural time and the limits of nature in general. Take for example the unit of 49 years of the Jubilee era, which exactly parallel the 49 days of the Omer. The Torah refers to the 50 years of the Jubilee period as "forever.” . . . the number 50 is beyond the realm of multiples of seven and belongs to the series of eights, and represents the part of the universe that lies beyond what is directly visible in the natural world. . . The 49 days between Passover and Shavuot, which are the 49 days of counting the Omer symbolize the painful climb out of the natural world of the seven days of creation to the spiritual peak of Mount Sinai, to the level of the eighth day.”

Aish.com, Up For the Count, R. Nosson Weisz

“The number seven represents the cycle of creation; the number eight represents the “circumference“ – that which lies beyond the perimeter of time and space. This is why the Divine Presence came to dwell in the Israelite camp on the eighth day. This is also alluded to in the saying of our sages (Talmud, Erchin 13b) that “The lyre of Moshiach has eight strings.”�Kli Yakar, Shaloh, Cited in Chabad.org

“If the number seven defines the natural reality, eight represents that which is higher than nature…In contrast, eight represents the introduction of a reality that is beyond all nature and definition, including the definition transcendence. This eighth dimension (if we can call it a dimension) has no limitations at all: it transcends and pervades, being beyond nature yet also fully present within it, being equally beyond matter and spirit and equally within them. . the messianic seventh millennium of history will be followed by the ultimate "eight": the supra-historical World to Come (Olam Haba), in which the divine reality will unite with the created reality in ways that we cannot even speculate upon in a world in which finite and infinite are mutually exclusive.”

Chabad.org, The Eighth Dimension

“For I say to you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

Luke 22:18

“From the day that Joseph took leave from his brothers, he did not sample a taste of wine, as it is written: ‘They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of he who was separated [nezir] from his brothers”(Gen 49:26).”�Shabbat 139a, The William Davidson Koren Noé Talmud, Sefaria.org

“…The main part of Mashiach’s Seudah is to eat the matzah and to drink four cups of wine. What is the concept of Mashiach’s seudah, why must we eat and drink? Why isn’t it enough that we read the Haftarah that deals with the aura of Mashiach. And the answer is very simply that it is not enough that we think about Mashiach, or we talk about Mashiach, but we have to internalize Mashiach, by eating a meal of Seudat Mashiach we are internalizing this concept of Mashiach into our bodies and we make it real. We bring it into the World of Action. . .”

“…So now, we infuse every act that we do with the aura and with the radiance of Mashiach, and perhaps we can say that specifically wine and matzah, are crucial to this meal because matzah is the food of faith. By eating the matzah we are strengthening our faith in the coming of Mashiach, believing that today he can come. And the wine represents the idea of joy, of simcha, that we have joy in the awaiting in the coming of Mashiach. That we know he is coming, that we are so joyful that he is about to come…”�Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin, Moshiach’s Meal, The Eighth Day of Passover

כִּי זֶה הוּא דָּמִי דַּם־​הַבְּרִית הַחֲדָשָׁה הַנִּשְׁפָּךְ בְּעַד רַבִּים לִסְלִיחַת חֲטָאִים׃

“For this is my blood,

the blood of the New Covenant, that is shed for many,

for the forgiveness of sins.”�Matthew 28:26

“Human bone marrow produces approximately 500 billion blood cells per day.”

​

Niche heterogeneity in the bone marrow�Alexander Birbrair and Paul S. Frenette, NIH

Look at My hands and My feet�- it is I Myself! Touch Me and see! For a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

Luke 24:36-44�Tree of Life Version

“...the Midrash, which told us that Pharaoh had a dream and saw a lamb on one side of a scale and all the Egyptians on the other side; and the lamb outweighed them. In that dream, he did not see himself among the Egyptians. His advisors told him that the lamb is a symbol of the redeemer of Israel, and the dream caused his heart to become hardened and he refused to let them go…”

Ben Ish Chai, Aderet Eliyahu, Volume 1: Bereshit-Shemot

M. Abromovich Publishers, Bnei Barak, pg. 215

cf. Targum Yonatan on Exodus 1:15

הַיָּם לֹא נִקְרַע אֶלָּא בִּזְכוּתוֹ שֶׁל יוֹסֵף...

הַיַּרְדֵּן לֹא נִקְרַע אֶלָּא בִּזְכוּתוֹ שֶׁל יוֹסֵף...

בִּזְכוּת עַצְמוֹתָיו שֶׁל יוֹסֵף נִקְרַע הַיָּם לְיִשְׂרָאֵל...

�“The Sea did not split except for the merit of Yosef

The Jordan did not split except for the merit of Yosef

In the merit of the bones of Yosef the Sea split for Israel.”

Genesis Rabbah 84:5, 87:8

אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, אַתָּה נַסְתָּ וְיָצָאתָ חוּצָה, חַיֶּיךָ, הַיָּם יָנוּס מִפְּנֵי אֲרוֹנְךָ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: הַיָּם רָאָה וַיָּנֹס (תהלים קיד, ג). 

“The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You fled, therefore be assured: The sea will flee before your coffin, as it is said: The sea saw it and fled (Ps. 114:3).”

Midrash Tanchuma, Vayeshev 9:3, translated by Samuel A. Berman, Sefaria.org, cf. Midrash Shocher Tov 114:3

“Moses also took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made Bnei-Yisrael swear an oath saying, “God will surely remember you, and then you are to carry my bones away with you.”

Exodus 13:19, Tree of Life Version

עצמות יוסף

“However, there are indications that Mashiach could possibly be a righteous individual who has already lived and died and will then be resurrected as Mashiach.¹⁵ Discussing the personality of Mashiach, the Sages state:¹⁶ “If he is one of the living, then an example would be Rabbeinu HaKadosh [i.e., R. Yehudah HaNasi]; if he is someone from among the dead, then he is someone like Daniel.” Abarbanel, in his authoritative classic entitled Yeshuos Meshicho clearly raises the possibility that Mashiach may be among those resurrected. He cites a passage from Tractate Derech Eretz Zuta: “Nine people entered the Garden of Eden alive ...Mashiach.” He explains that according to this view, a righteous individual deemed to be the Mashiach will live, then die on account of the sins of his generation, but will eventually be resurrected. In his encyclopedic work entitled Sdei Chemed, R’ Chizkiyah Medini states that if Israel is exceedingly meritorious Mashiach will be resurrected from the dead in a miraculous manner.”

R’ Nissan D. Dubov, To Live and Live Again, Chapter 6: When Will the Resurrection Take Place? Chabad.org

“ON THE THIRD DAY (Genesis 22:4). It is written, ‘After two days He will revive us, on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence’ (Hosea 6:2). E.g. on the third day of the tribal ancestors: ‘And Joseph said unto them the third day: ‘This do, and live” (Gen. 42:18); on the third day of Revelation: ‘And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning’ (Exodus 29:16), on the third day of the spies: ‘And hide yourselves there three days’ (Joshua 2:16); on the third day of Jonah: ‘And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights’ (Jonah 2:1)…”

“…on the third day of those returning from the Exile: ‘And we abode there three days’ (Ezra 8:32); on the third day of resurrection: ‘After two days He will revive us, on the third day He will raise us up,’ on the third day of Esther: ‘Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel’ (Est. 5:1) - i.e. she put on the royal apparel of her ancestor. For whose sake? The Rabbis say: ‘For the sake of the third day, when Revelation took place.’ R. Levi maintained: ‘In the merit of what Abraham did on the third day, as it says, ‘ON THE THIRD DAY’, etc. AND SAW THE PLACE AFAR OFF. What did he see? He saw a cloud enveloping the mountain, and said: It appears that that is the place where the Holy One, blessed be He, told me to sacrifice my son.”

Genesis Rabbah 56:1, Soncino Press Edition

“(Ps. 20:7) “the Lord has saved his anointed one” -- The entire Psalm that begins with “the Lord will answer you in your day of distress, ” is a prayer to save Mashiach ben Yosef so that the latter should not die. This is explained by the Gaon in his commentary on Habakkuk regarding the verse: “that I might rest on the day of distress”; and also in connection with !# [Ps. 20:3] “‘your help from the sanctuary”’ which hints at “Mashiach ben Efraim’” because it equals it in gematria [741].”

Kol HaTor 2:29, Sefaria.org

“Yosef is still alive. The light of Mashiach ben Yosef has three levels: a) Mashiach ben Yosef from the land, in line with Yosef, son of Rachel, from the aspect of recipient. b) Mashiach ben Yosef from Heaven in line with Yosef son of Jacob, from the aspect of one who gives and influences. c) Mashiach ben Yosef from both Heaven and Earth, revealed in the words “even all in the Heavens and Earth” is in the sefira Yesod. In gematria “all in the Heavens and Earth” equals “Mashiach ben Efraim” [741]. Likewise the value of “horn of salvation, ” is 741 in gematria, and, according to the Gaon, this refers to Mashiach ben Efraim.”

Kol HaTor 1:30, Sefaria.org

קרן ישועה

ישוע הנצרי

כל בשמים ובארץ

משיח בן אפרים

“But now Messiah has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah all will be made alive.”�1 Corinthians 15:20-22

עוד יוסף בני חי

“Od Yosef b’ni Chai”

My son Yosef is still alive

ישו

Yeshu - Jesus

316

“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Yeshua, who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen…”�Matthew 28:5-6