“…when these things begin to happen, �look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

Luke 21:28, NKJV

וּכְהָחֵל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה לָבוֹא� הִתְעוֹדֲדוּ וּשְׂאוּ רָאשֵׁיכֶם כִּי־​קָרְבָה גְאֻלַּתְכֶם׃

“When you the lamps, �let the seven lamps give light �at the front of the lampstand.”�Numbers 8:2

בְּהַעֲלֹֽתְךָ אֶת־הַנֵּרֹת אֶל־מוּל פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה יָאִירוּ שִׁבְעַת הַנֵּרוֹת׃

light

raise up

“And this was the work of the menorah . . . from its shaft to its flowers (8:4)

�The menorah also represents the Torah, the source of divine light in the world. This is alluded to in the menorah’s design, which is detailed in the 25th chapter of Exodus. The menorah had 7 branches, 11 knobs, 9 flowers and 22 goblets, and was 17 handbreadths in height. These numbers represent the five books of the Written Torah: the first verse in the book of Genesis has 7 words, the first verse of Exodus has 11 words, the first verse of Leviticus has 9 words, the first verse of Numbers has 17 words, and the first verse of Deuteronomy—22 words.”

Divrei Noam cited at Chabad.org, Parsha In-Depth

“And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, �“Arise, O HaShem and let your enemies be scattered, �and let those who hate you flee before you.”

Numbers 10:35

“Our Rabbis taught: “And it came to pass when the ark set forward that Moses said, [etc.]’: for this section the Holy One, blessed be He, provided signs above and below, to teach that this is not its place.’ Rabbi said: ‘It is not on that account, but because it ranks as a separate Book.’ With whom does the following dictum of R. Samuel b. Nahmani in R. Jonathan’s name agree: ‘She [Wisdom] has hewn out her seven pillars:’ this refers to the seven Books of the Law? With whom? With Rabbi. Who is the Tanna that disagrees with Rabbi? It is R. Simeon b. Gamaliel. For it was taught, R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: ‘This section is destined to be removed from here and written in its [right place].”�Shabbat 115b-116a, Soncino Press Edition

“Man knows not the order thereof” (Job 28:13). R. Eleazar taught: The sections of Scripture are not arranged in their proper order, and any man so read them, he would be able to resurrect the dead and perform other miracles. For this reason the proper order of the sections of Scripture is hidden from mortals and is known only to the Holy One, blessed be He, who said: “Who, as I, can read and declare it, and set it in order.” (Isaiah 44:7)�Midrash Tehillim, translated by William G. Braude, Yale University Press, pg. 48

“This book-within-a-book, only two verses long, is distinguished from everything that comes before and after it, alerting us to the fact that here is something quite extraordinary. These are not simply a pair of innocuous verses; they indicate that something monumental happened, or to be more accurate, that something monumental did not happen – and therein lies the key to this unique, truncated book. What do these two verses actually tell us? The Holy Ark of the Covenant moves, for the first time since its creation, and Moshe calls out to God to scatter His enemies. What enemies are these? Quite simply, the nations occupying the Land of Israel: The time had come for the Israelites to come home and reclaim their birthright.”�R’ Ari Kahn, M’oray HaAish, Be’halot’cha; The Seven Books, Aish.com

“Why did the sages place inverted nuns before the verse: “The people took to complaining (Num 11:1)? The sages thereby declared: The entire Torah consists of the prophecy of Moses, except for these two verses which are from the prophecy of Eldad and Medad.” 

 The Inverted Nuns at Numbers 10:35-36 �and the Book of Eldad and Medad, Sid Z. Leiman

“Moses went out, and told the people the words of HaShem; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them around the Tent. HaShem came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders: and it happened that when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more. But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them. . ."

Spirit of HaShem

Wisdom

Counsel

Knowledge

Fear of HaShem

Might

Understanding

(1) The Spirit of HaShem will rest on him, �(2) the Spirit of Wisdom

(3) and Understanding

(4) the Spirit of counsel

(5) and Might

(6) the Spirit of knowledge

(7) and of the Fear of Hashem.”� Isaiah 11:2

“Grace be unto you, and shalom, from Him who is and was, and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne...”

Revelation 1:4

“and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp! Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, ‘My lord Moses, forbid them!’ Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all HaShem’s people were prophets, that HaShem would put his Spirit on them!’ Moses went into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.”�Numbers 11:24-30

“And both of them prophesied together, and said: ‘Behold, a king will arise from the land of Magog, at the end of the days, and will assemble kings crowned with crowns, and captains wearing armor, and all nations will obey him. And they will set battle in array in the land of Israel against the children of the captivity; but already is it provided that in the hour of distresses all of them shall perish by the burning blast of the flame that comes forth from beneath the Throne of Glory; and their carcasses shall fall upon the mountains of the land of Israel, and the wild, and Yehoshua bar Nun, his disciple, minister of the camps, will succeed.”�Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Numbers 11

“Gog and Magog and his host come up against Jerusalem; �but by the hand of the King Messiah they will fall, and seven years of days �will the children of Israel kindle their fire with their weapons of war.”�Jerusalem Targum to Numbers 11

“The children of Ishmael will at the same time rouse all the peoples of the world to come up to war against Jerusalem, as it is written, ‘For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, etc. (Zech. 14:2)’, also, ‘The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together, against the L-rd, and against his anointed (Ps. 2:2).”

Zohar I:119a, Soncino Press Edition

"R. Isaac taught: In the year in which the king Messiah reveals himself, all the kings of the nations of the earth will be at strife with one another. The king of Persia will make war against a king of Arabia, and this king of Arabia will go to Edom to take counsel from the Edomites. Thereupon the king of Persia will again lay the whole world waste. All the nations of the world will be agitated and frightened, they will fall upon their faces, and they will be seized with pangs like the pangs of a woman in labor . . .”

Pesikta Rabbati 36.2, translated by R' William Braude, Yale University Press, pg. 681-682

“Gog and Magog and his host come up against Jerusalem; but by the hand of the King Messiah they will fall, and seven years of days will the children of Israel kindle their fire with their weapons of war.”�Jerusalem Targum to Numbers 11

“Also I will give power to my two witnesses; and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two menorahs standing before the Lord of the earth.”�Revelation 11:3-4

“What are those two olive trees on the right and left sides of the menorah?” … “Those are the two who have been anointed with oil, they are standing with the Lord of all the land.”�Zechariah 4:11-14

“After six days, Yeshua took with him Kefa, Ya`akov, and Yochanan his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light. Behold, Moshe and Eliyahu appeared to them talking with him.”

Matthew 17:1-5

"The lamp symbolizes the soul, as it is written, "The soul of man is the lamp of God" (Proverbs 20:27). When you wish to light up the soul, you must do so toward the "face" or countenance of the Menorah - this is the tzaddik, whose countenance shines for all Israel. This countenance will light up even the darkest nights and the darkest places."

Rebbe Nachman's Torah, Beha'alotkha, Volume III, Breslov Research Institute, pg. 40

“The purely righteous do not complain of the dark, they increase the light; they do not complain of evil, they increase the good; they do not complain of heresy, but increase faith; they do not complain of ignorance, they increase wisdom.”

R’ Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook

“What can a person do to be spared the travail of the Messiah? And he responded: One should occupy himself in the study of the Torah and in acts of kindness.”

Sanhedrin 98b

“The leader of Persia will bring destruction to the entire world, and all of the nations will be struck by panic and fear … Israel will also be overtaken by panic and fear, and they will cry, ‘Where shall we go? Where shall we go’? “Mashiach will then tell them: ‘My children, fear not. Everything I have done, I have done for you. �Why are you afraid? Do not fear! �The time of your liberation has arrived.”�Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah, Remez 499, �Cited in the Kabbalah of Basra, Yosef Y. Jacobson