God of History and Verse Number in Torah

In the First Commandment, conveyed by the Divine to the Israelites in Mount Sinai, God “introduces” Himself not as creator of “the Heavens and the Earth” (Genesis 1:1), but as ruler of History.

This complies with Jewish tradition, which asserts that God continuously engages in human affairs, in the history of the created, to implement the unknown and humanly-unknowable Divine Design (refer to my related post: “And Elohim Saw Ki Tov” (“that it was good”)” (Gen. 1) — A Different Viewpoint).

The First Commandment starts:

“I am Jehovah your God, who have brought you out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2).

In compliance with this tradition, of Jehovah as God of History, Kabbalah claims that each verse in Torah corresponds to a single Hebrew-calendar year, and the verse consecutive (serial) number in Torah is indication of the Hebrew year, to which the content of the verse relates.

The above is based on introductory comments by Rabbi Benjamin Blech in a lecture of February, 1-st, 2021, a link to which is given below.

In this short post, we list verses from Torah (including some from the afore-cited source), with possible links to historic events that have occurred the same Hebrew year, as the verse serial number. We pursue Rabbi Blech comment that these cannot and should not to be used to predict the future; first, because the full historic significance of a Torah verse can only be comprehensively comprehended only post-factum (namely, after the Hebrew-calendar year, to which the verse supposedly refers, is already part of history); Secondly, because human prophesizing, lacking explicit Divine inspiration and authorization, goes against the most fundamental condition of human existence, namely, Free Will.

Here are some examples (from Rabbi Blech presentation and else):

1. Historic Event: Nazi Germany executing the “Final Solution” (Holocaust still in full swing, 1944; Jews uprooted from their place of residence to Concentration Camps, mostly in other countries); Hebrew-calendar year: 5704 (1944); 5704-th verse in Torah: “And Jehovah uprooted them from their land in anger, and in fury and in great wrath and cast them into another land, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 29:27);
2. Historic Event: End of World War II (also end of Holocaust, now revealed in its full dimensions, with lingering question mark in the minds of people-of-faith – “where was God??”); Hebrew-calendar year: 5705 (1945); 5705-th verse in Torah: “The hidden belong to Jehovah, our God, and the revealed are for us and for our offspring forever, that we may do all the words of this Torah” (Deuteronomy 29:28);
3. Historic Event: Founding of the State of Israel; Hebrew-calendar year: 5708 (May, 1948); 5708-th verse in Torah: “Then Jehovah your God will restore you from your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples that Jehovah your God has scattered you” (Deuteronomy 30:3);
4. Historic Event: Mass Jewish immigration to the State of Israel during its first 3 and a half years of existence, mostly from Moslem Arab countries (“Some 688,000 immigrants came at an average of close to 200,000 a year… As approximately 650,000 Jews lived in Israel at the time … this meant in effect a doubling of the Jewish population”; Source: site of The Jewish Agency for Israel); Hebrew-calendar years: 5709 (1949) – 5712 (1952); 5709&5710-th verses in Torah: “If your outcasts be at the ends of the earth, from there will Jehovah your God gather you and from there will He fetch you; And Jehovah your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers” (Deuteronomy 30:4-5);

Comment: Based on lecture of Feb 1, 2021:

Kabbalah: Can It Predict the Future? (Ft. Rabbi Benjamin Blech)