Page 275 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew
P. 275
CHAPTER 20 COINCIDENCES IN JEWISH HISTORY
AND BEYOND
CHAPTER 20
Coincidences in Jewish History and Beyond
20.1 Introduction
There are three issues addressed in this chapter. The first two relate to Jewish his-
tory, both representing extremely bizarre coincidences. They are detailed in the
two sections that follow this one.
In the last section, 20.4, we ponder the meaning of coincidences in daily life
and address a public coincidence of recent years, marked by a clue ignored by all.
Section 20.3 addresses the Hebrew month of Iyar and what this month
symbolizes in Jewish tradition and mysticism. We then demonstrate how, via
a strange succession of historical events centuries apart, the month of Iyar has
become, over centuries of Jewish history, the most crucial month in the buildup
of Jewish nationality. The bizarre correspondence between what the month of Iyar
symbolizes in Jewish tradition, and its actual role as host to historical events that
constituted defining moments in shaping Jewish nationality, is discussed.
In the next section 20.2, we recount two chains of unfolding events that have
taken place in recent years in the Middle East. The timing of these two chains of
events is unrelated to the Jewish calendar. Yet, by a bizarre twist of unexplained
coincidence, the Jewish calendar seems to be tightly correlated with these events.
The contents of this section were originally submitted to an English newspaper,
published in Israel, in February of 2004—a time of anguish for the people of
Israel due to the frequent suicide bombers that had killed and maimed many
Israelis. The submitted paper was rejected and not published. That submission is
replicated here (section 20.2) almost verbatim.
254
254