In the wake of such tragedies, one coping mechanism is to try to find meaning to the deaths. Thus, a close friend of some of the victims came up with a tenuous devar Torah involving gematrias, connecting their deaths to geulah. (See here at the Yeshiva World.)
And more recently, there is a claim that the Zohar predicted this attack in Mumbai, and that 32 days from the attack, which comes out to the 8th day of Chanukkah, Moshiach will come. (And connecting specific Yamim Tovim to the redemption is also trendy.) The relevant Zohar is here:
וההוא שופר זעירא יתקע תרועה תקיעה ותרועה תלת זמנין בריש טורא כמלקדמין כדין נטלין דההוא משיח ויפול רעשא על עלמא באינון קלין דשופרא וכל אינון בני עלמא ישמעון ויחמון כמד"א [ישעיה יח] כל יושבי תבל ושוכני ארץ כנשוא נס הרים תראו וכתקוע שופר תשמעו. וכדין יתבערון גלולין מן ארעא קדישא. ותלת קרבין יעבדון בני ישמעאל בהדי משיח דא ואינון ייתין ויסגדון למארי עלמא בטורא דקודשא בירושלים ואילין קרבין יהון באלף שתיתאה [בשיתסר יומין לירחא שביעאה לזמן חמשין ותשע שנין לאלף שתיתאה. הרנ"ש]ש
The Divine Spirit will go and return to Moshe (Rabenu, zs'kl) for 70 days. At the end of the 70 days, the pain of Am Israel will ascend to the Holy King. One Synagogue in the South will be destroyed and lost and five true Tzaddikim will be amongst the dead.
...
At the end of the 32 days since the murder of the people in that Synagogue, HKB'H will put on a garment of outrage to the little Shofar (the Kingdom) and Moshiach ben Efraim will spread, like a ram whose horns go upwards.
Let me explain why I do not think this is significant in any way.
1) The indications are that the deaths in the Nariman house were on Thursday, November 27th, not Wednesday, December 26th. Still, 32 days later would be December 29th, which would be the 8th day of Chanukkah. So OK.
2) There were six people who died in the Nariman House, so the number 5 is wrong:
Name | Age |
---|---|
Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg | 29 |
Rebbetzin Rivka Holtzberg | 28 |
Bentzion Kruman | 26 |
Rabbi Leibish Teitelbaum | 37 |
Yoheved Orpaz | 62 |
Norma Shvarzblat Rabinovich | 50 |
Which
of
the
six
murdered
kedoshim
will
we
refuse
to
consider
a
tzaddik,
in
order
to
arrive
at
the
5
needed
to
make
this
Zohar
"work"?
3)
Was
the
Nariman
House
a
synagogue?
It
included
a
synagogue,
but
was
also
a
Jewish
center
and
hostel.
It
was
a
Chabad
house.
OK,
this
is
not
too
much
of a
kvetch.
4)
Does
the
Zohar
actually
say
that
one
synagogue
will
be
destroyed?
It
states
וכנישתא
חדא
לצד
דרומא
יתאביד
ויתחריב.
What
is
the
meaning
of
kenishta?
The
word
typically
means
"assembly,"
or
עדה.
But
it
could
actually
mean
synagogue.
This
would
often
be
written
as
bei
kenishta,
a
house
of
assembly,
a
bet
kenesset,
but
sometimes
just
the
word
kenishta
is
used.
E.g.
Yerushalmi
Moed
Katan
has
קומי
חדא
כנישתא.
So
which
of
the
two
is
meant?
The
gathering/assembly,
or
the
synagogue/Esnoga?
Well,
if
it
means
a
bet
kenesset,
was
the
actual
structure
destroyed
and
demolished?
Not
that
I
heard
of.
Yet
Zohar
states
וכנישתא
חדא
לצד
דרומא
יתאביד.
Furthermore,
the
Zohar
states
later
that
וחמשה
זכאי
קשוט
יתקטלון
בינייהו.
The
key
word
here
is
beinayhu,
which
means
"amongst
them."
Amongst
who?
The
obvious
referent
is
the
kenishta.
And
it
does
not
have
the
equivalent
of
betocha,
within
it,
but
rather
amongst
them.
The
idea
is
that
a
large
congregation
of
people
--
the
context
indicates
that
it
is a
large
congregation
of
Jews,
but
let
us
leave
that
alone
for
a
moment
--
will
be
destroyed,
and
amongst
that
large
congregation/assembly
will
be 5
truly
righteous
people.
So
let
us
assume
that
this
means
the
many
non-Jewish
assembly
in
Mumbai,
to
try
to
save
this
peshat.
If
so,
there
is
no
mention
of a
synagogue
at
all.
And
the
Zohar
got
the
number
of
people
wrong.
5)
The
context
is
also
that
the
Jews
will
be
attacked
all
over
the
world.
Thus,
דיהון
מעיקין
לון
בכל
סטרין
דעלמא
וכנישתא
חדא
לצד
דרומא
יתאביד
ויתחריב
While
what
happened
in
Mumbai
was
a
tremendous
tragedy,
it
was
not
part
of a
global
campaign
against
the
Jews
that
was
being
conducted
at
that
time,
that
from
all
sides
of
the
world,
Jews
were
being
attacked.
So
the
context
is a
different
context
from
what
existed
in
the
world
at
that
time.
6)
The
Zohar
says
a
lot
of
things,
and
has
a
lot
of
predictions.
Such
that
any
situation
can
be
kvetched
to
match
something
stated
in
Zohar
or
elsewhere.
Need
I
remind
you
of
the
failed
kvetch
of a
Zohar
(which
turned
out
to
be a
Ramchal)
to
be
that
President
Gog
Bush
was
going
to
cancel
the
US
elections?
7)
There
is
nothing
to
indicate
that
this
event
will
take
place
in
this
year,
as
opposed
to
any
other.
The
particular
prediction
in
Zohar
had
a
lot
of
details,
and
the
two
details
that
matched
were
the
number
of
victims
(five)
and
the
location
(synagogue),
but
as
we
saw,
even
those
details
do
not
match.
And
how
many
other
instances
were
there
of
destructions
of
assemblies,
in
which
five
people
could
be
stated
to
be
tzaddikim?
And
how
many
synagogues
were
destroyed
over
the
years,
with
how
many
victims?
For
example,
in
Tunisia
in
2002,
a
synagogue
was
bombed
and
there
were
also
6
Tunisian
victims
(and
14
German
victims),
though
they
were
all
(IIRC)
non-Jews.
How
do
we
know
which
destruction
of a
synagogue
was
meant,
even
if a
synagogue
was
meant?
In
1980,
a
Paris
synagogue
was
bombed,
with
4
victims
(also
one
off
from
5).
8)
See
the
gloss
there
which
connects
this
specifically
to
the
7th
month,
and
thus
Pesach,
rather
than
to
Chanukkah.
9)
Finally,
if
the
Zohar
was
not
written
by
Rashbi,
but
was
a
late
forgery
of
Rabbi
Moshe
de
Leon,
or
by
Avraham
Abulafia,
then
I
would
not
expect
its
predictive
qualities
to
be
worth
anything.
Update:
Also,
10)
I
did
not
note
that
it
states
in
the
verb
דיקטלון
לכנישתא
ההיא.
A
synagogue
is
not
killed.
An
assembly
can
be
killed.
See
the
comment
section,
for
a
possible
alternate
interpretation
by
Gilui,
and
his
webpage,
where
he
translates
the
whole
section
there.
Update
2:
As
Yaak
of
Yeranen
Yaakov
points
out
in
the
comment
section,
in
the
commentary
of
R'
Ashlag,
the
Sulam
(see
picture
to
the
right),
he
translates
kenishta
as
bet
kenesset.
I am
no
expert
on
kabbalah
or
Zohar,
so I
am
no
bar
plugta
of
R'
Ashlag
in
this
field.
But
it
does
seem
to
be a
mere
matter
of a
dispute
in
the
havana
of
the
words
of
passage,
rather
than
in
kabbalistic
concepts.
How
does
he
deal
with
the
issue
of
בינייהו
and
of
דיקטלון
לכנישתא
ההיא?
I
understand
why
he
would
say
bet
haknesset
--
it
makes
sense
given
the
words
יתאביד
ויתחריב.
Or
more
precisely,
ויתחריב.
(But
the
word
יתאביד
is
perhaps
slightly
awkward.)
And
since
kenishta
could
mean
either
assembly
or
shul,
he
chooses
the
latter.
But
it
could
apply
quite
well
to a
specific
assembly
--
they
can
be
lost
(in
battle,
of
the
ten
tribes
fighting
in
all
corners
of
the
world)
and
thus
destroyed.
In
terms
of
בינייהו,
he
indeed
translates
it
ביניהם.
But
there
is
the
problem
of
the
missing
referent.
Amongst
whom?
There
must
be
more
than
five
killed,
and
the
implication
is
much
more.
And
this
was
not
mentioned
earlier,
if
you
render
it
as
shul
instead
of
assembly.
He
translates
דיקטלון
לכנישתא
ההיא
by
inserting
לאנשי
in
there,
because
a
synagogue
cannot
be
killed.
I
still
believe
that
there
is
some
awkwardness
in
it.
But
even
if
Rav
Ashlag
is
correct,
we
still
are
missing
everything
else.
The
number
of
victims
is
wrong,
and
Jews
worldwide
were
not
being
oppressed
70
days
previous,
and
the
synagogue
was
not
destroyed,
such
that
there
is
no
reason
to
assume
that
it
was
the
Zohar
was
referring
to.
Update:
I
did
not
read
the
perush
carefully
enough.
I
just
fixed
the
above
update
with
a
stealth
edit,
based
on
"yaak"'s
correction.
(Thanks!)
But
as I
note,
I
still
believe
that
there
is
some
extreme
awkwardness
in
it.
Update:
And
to
further
clarify
and
reiterate,
when
it
comes
to a
matter
of
perush
hamilim,
based
on
context,
as
opposed
to
kabbalistic
concepts,
I
will
indeed
consider
myself
a
valid
bar
plugta
of
Rav
Ashlag.
And
in
context,
I
think
it
is
extremely
difficult
and
awkward
to
translate
it
as
Bet
Knesset.
Does
Rav
Ashlag
know
that
knishta
can
mean
either
knesset
or
bet
knesset,
that
is
community
or
synagogue?
If
he
does
not
realize
that
the
word
can
take
either
meaning,
then
he
might
feel
coerced
into
the
more
difficult
peshat.
We
should
see
how
he
translates
in
every
place
in
Zohar
that
the
word
kenishta
appears.
For
example,
in
Zohar
Chadash
on
parshat
Noach,
he
does
the
same
thing,
I
think
leading
to
an
awkward
peshat,
IMHO.
Here
is
the
Zohar:
The
discussion
starts
in
kuf-mem-gimel,
but
the
relevant
words
appear
in
kuf-mem-heh,
with
reishei
kenishta
and
then
chada
kenishta.
Rabbi
Eliezer
says
that
for
all
the
exiles,
Hashem
has
set
a
time
for
redemption
for
Knesset
Yisrael,
except
the
last,
but
it
is
rather
dependent
upon
repentance.
The
question,
by
Rabbi
Akiva
is
how
the
redemption
will
happen.
How
will
all
communities
across
the
globe
simultaneously
do
teshuva.
Rabbi
Eliezer's
reply
is
that
we
just
need
one
community,
one
kenishta,
or
else
the
heads
of
that
one
community,
to
do
teshuva,
and
then
the
entire
Diaspora
will
be
redeemed.
This
is
the
simple
meaning
of
the
passage,
selecting
community
from
the
set
of
{community,
shul}.
But
Rav
Ashlag
translates
it
as
the
heads
of a
bet
haknesset,
or
one
synagogue
doing
teshuva
{presumably
the
people
in
one
synagogue,
because
a
shul
structure
is
incapable
of
doing
teshuva}.
This
is
awkward,
because
the
logical
{IMHO}
and
straightforward
division
of
the
entirety
of
the
Diaspora
is
one
community
in
one
location,
one
knesset
within
the
whole
of
knesset
yisrael.
And
it
is
even
more
awkward
(IMHO)
in
parshat
Balak,
as
discussed
above.
So
the
question
is,
is
this
a
deliberate
choice
--
does
Rav
Ashlag
ever
translate
knishta
as
community?
(I
do
not
know
the
answer
to
this
question
-- I
just
searched
for
kenishta
and
looked
up
the
first
instance
and
translation
I
encountered.)
On
the
other
hand,
perhaps
I am
wrong.
Rav
Ashlag
seems
to
be
joined
in
his
understanding
of
this
Zohar
by
the
Arvei
Nachal
(elsewhere
on
the
Web
attributed
to
Zohar,
as
if
Zohar
had
itself
used
these
words
--
please
point
out
where
it
exists
in
Zohar,
if
it
does,
but
a
Bar
Ilan
search
only
has
it
in
Arvei
Nachal):
אפילו
אי
בי
כנישתא
חדא
יתובון
בתיובתא
שלימא
או
אפילו
בר
נש
חד
יתוב
אזי
יוכל
לזכות
את
כל
בני
דורו.
I
would
still
maintain
I am
correct.
Kenishta
occurs
(based
on a
Bar
Ilan
search)
29
times
in
Zohar.
Except
in 4
locations,
it
is
always
Bei
Kenishta,
and
so
this
is
what
Zohar
uses
when
it
wants
to
say
"shul."
We
have
seen
two
instances
above,
where
I
argued
that
context
strongly
suggests
it
means
community.
The
other
two
times
are
when
in
construct
form
with
Yisrael:
זוהר
כרך
ב
(שמות)
פרשת
שמות
והוא
נסיב
לחולקיה
כנישתא
דישראל
הדא
הוא
and
זוהר
כרך
ג
(במדבר)
פרשת
בלק
רבי
אבא
פתח
(שיר
א)
אם
לא
תדעי
לך
היפה
בנשים
צאי
לך
בעקבי
הצאן,
כנישתא
דישראל
אמרת
לגבי
מלכא
עלאה,
כנישתא
דישראל
מהו
כנישתא
דא
איהו
עצרת
כנישו
כמה
דאת
אמר
(במדבר
י)
מאסף
לכל
המחנות,
מאן
דכניש
לכל
משריין
עלאין
לגביה,
ומגו
דלזמנין
נוקבא
אקרי
כנישתא
this
latter
example
shows
that
sometimes
women
are
called
kenishta,
and
it
obviously
does
not
mean
synagogue.
Interestingly,
in
English
both
Synagogue
and
Church
can
refer
to
either
the
building
of
to
the
assembly.
Regardless,
I
will
still
maintain
that
it
means
community
in
both
these
instances.
And
that
even
if
it
means
synagogue,
the
rest
of
the
details
in
the
Zohar
do
not
match
Mumbai
as
discussed.