Do we sense that our world is just a cover for something deeper? Are we “asleep” when we should really be awake? Dovid Mark continues his class on Rebbe Nachman’s Lost Princess.
Everything in the physical world can be used as a vessel to either draw or contain Divine Light or the opposite to block it. After all, the Creator seeks to always shine his Will on all of the Creation. The State of Israel as a tool for renewed Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel can either be used to complete the process of Redemption or the opposite and stall it. The chaos we are now witnessing in the State is nothing more than the vessel itself as it is structured coming to a close. The tools that came into being when it was established were either incomplete or fashioned in a way in which the light from above could not be contained.
When the State of Israel was created, it was done so as a hasty declaration and a response to the invasion of five Arab armies. True, the Zionist movement had been moving towards an independent state, but the invasion gave the Mapai a chance to take full control over the Zionist project. This had been Ben Gurion’s aim from the beginning. After all, the usurpation of the formal Zionist movement did not give them control over the street. The Revisionist Zionist movement, through the oratory and ideology of Valdamir Jabotinsky were far more beloved in the eyes of most Jews in Israel.
It was only when the British decided to end their control over the Holy Land due to the Jewish rebellion led by Menachem Begin’s Irgun and the late Avraham Stern’s Lechi that Ben Gurion and others used this as a pretext to take full control over the Zionist movement.
In taking control, the Labor Zionists were able to rewrite the history books, glorifying their leadership as well as injecting Western governing concepts into the body-politic. The parliamentary structure, so unstable and not suitable for a Jewish State was used. The courts were structured in a way to enable continuous Labor and internationalist control. Any chance for a true indigenous and authentic Jewish expression so desired by the initial waves of Jewish pioneers as well as Jews that had already been living in Israel for thousands of years, were stamped out to make way for an internationalist, communist controlled bureaucracy.
Not About Redemption
The Labor Zionists never saw the State as anything but a tool to establish their long term control over the Holy Land. Any thought that the State of Israel that had risen was meant to be a vessel for the Redemptive process was an anathema for them. True, Ben Gurion paid homage to the return and could have harbored positive feelings to the idea, but the superstructure of control that was created painted a different story.
Begin’s 1977 Revolution Not Enough
When Menachem Begin surprised the Labor establishment by breaking their electoral control of the state, the Revisionists as well as the Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent believed that a revolution was underway.
While there was a cosmetic change, Begin and Shamir after him never put full energy into the areas of true Labor control – the courts, economy, and the media.
It was not until Prime Minister Netanyahu came along that the media or at least some of it began to change as well as the economy. As things began to open up and the disastrous effects of Oslo felt, the populace turned its back on the Two State-Solution as well as social welfare programs championed by the Left.
With the current political stalemate in Israel showing no signs of letting up, one must take a look at the entire structure of the State itself within the context of how it was formed and understand that the system is begging to be changed in order to take the Redemptive Process to the next level.
Rav Kook teaches the following in Orot HaTechiya 28:
“The holiness that is expressed from within the physical is the holiness of the Land of Israel. When the Shechina (Divine Presence) descended into exile with the Nation of Israel, holiness stood in opposition to the physical. But holiness which battles the physical is not a complete holiness. It is necessary that holiness become subsumed within the Divine from above, which leads to a holiness that is expressed through the physical itself. This is the foundation of repairing the entire World.”
Ultimately, the vessels of Redemption which flow from Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel were never seen as conduit for the Holiness of our Divine mission in this world. The two remained disconnected and so 72 year later the State itself requires a true fusion of the Vessels within it to the Holiness we seek to draw into the World.
The light of Redemption can be harnessed within the State of Israel, but the concept that this is what is necessary must be injected into the conversation. The Left would like to continue its subversive control over the institutions and the Right would like to pretend it only cares about being a capitalistic Western Democracy, but neither can stand up against the current wave of yearning for something beyond what we have. The only thing missing is the right leader to clarify the path ahead and by doing so repair the vessels of Redemption strewn out in front of us.
The ruling elites, the sacred establishers of Israel’s bureaucracy are coming with their knives sharpened – closing in on Bibi Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel. After all it is their state – their establishment and not his. This was made clear to Menachem Begin, the man who Bibi’s father served as secretary, when David Ben Gurion ordered Yitzhak Rabin to fire on the Atalena destroying it, the ammunition in it, and killing many passengers – most of whom were Holocaust survivors. The real target had been Begin who made it out alive.
Israel Eldad had warned Begin not to trust the Mapai, the forerunner of the Labor. “Menachem, do you really think they will just let you walk in with enough weapons to take control? It is their state not yours and they rather destroy it than hand it over to you.”
Eldad was right of course. The destruction of the Altalena led to the fall of Jerusalem since the ammunition and weapons Begin was bringing in would have led to its capture.
Why Netanyahu?
When Avichai Mandebilt declared his intention to indict the Prime Minister, he essentially paved the way for the leftist super-structure, Israel’s Deep State to begin the process of finally wresting control of the country from the street it lost it to when Begin surprised the parochial classes and Laborites in 1977.
True, there have been right wing leaders before, but each eventually bent to the will of the courts and the media, but not Netanyahu – he has always been smarter than the left. The street, the disadvantaged, the religious, the settler, the sefardi, they have all sensed Netanyahu was different.
True, Netanyahu has not always acted the way any one group would want, but changed the face of Israel, steering it away from failed policies and turned it into a powerhouse – a true global leader. The Prime Minister has been a thorn in the side of the Left, because he mainstreamed positions that were at one time unthinkable, steering a shaky ship after Olmert went down and turned the State around in the face of tremendous systemic opposition .
The Rise of Mashiach ben Yosef
At the End of Days, a leader will arise that will be a forerunner to Mashiach ben David. This forerunner is dubbed Mashiach ben Yosef, whose whole aim is to safeguard the Jewish people in the Land of Israel in a material sense. His power and ability is to utilize the physical vessels available and harness them for the good of the Nation of Israel while protecting the nation from harm.
The Mashiach be Yosef is also a concept or a movement, represented by thousands of “redeemers” since the birth of the Zionist movement. This movement has been encapsulated by the State – the one which has been uplifted by the current Prime Minister in a way never previously imagined.
Along with Mashiach ben Yosef, there is the Erev Rav named for the mixed multitudes that left Egypt with the Nation of Israel. At the End of Days, it is said that these mixed multitudes will be control of the Land of Israel and ultimately destroy the Mashiach ben Yosef, which is both the leader himself and the physical restoration of the Nation of Israel in the Land of Israel.
Sometimes we think Redemption and we feel the End of Days is sometime in the future, but it seems now we are at that point.
Predicted in the Bible
“And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplications. And they shall look to me because of those who have been thrust through [with swords], and they shall mourn over it as one mourns over an only son and shall be in bitterness, therefore, as one is embittered over a firstborn son.On that day there shall be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon.” Zechariah 12:10-11
The first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of British Palestine Rav Kook wrote the following in 1904 as a eulogy on the occasion of Theodor Herzl’s death:
The characteristics of nationalism was prominent in Ahab, who had great love for Israel. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Omri, who founded a city in the land of Israel. Scriptural commentators said: Everyone receives a portion in the world to come. ‘Gilead is mine’ refers to Ahab, who fell in Gilead. At the height of battle, despite being shot through with arrows, Ahab hid his injury so as not to alarm his soldiers. Such courageous spirit is derived from tremendous, abundant love. He also honoured the Torah, for he outwardly preserved the nations dignity in the eyes of Ben-Haddad. Nonetheless, he did not recognise the value of the Torah and of God’s unique holiness, in which Israel’s entire advantage lies. Therefore, he followed the ways of Jezebel and the despicable customs of other nations to the degree that they then prevailed over the Zeitgeist.
In contrast, Josiah elevated the spiritual aspect as no king before or after him. As the text testifies, “And before him there was no king like him, who returned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and might, in accordance with the entire Torah of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.” To that end, he wanted Israel to have no relationship with the nations of the world. He therefore did not heed the words of Jeremiah, who advised him in God’s name to allow the Egyptians to pass through Israel’s territory.
Thus, Ahab and Josiah combine the two aspects of Joseph and Judah, the power of the Messiah’s of the House of Joseph and the House of Judah. When the people are ready, the distortion of each separate dynasty will be removed, for in the times of the Messiah the two kingdoms will join together and come to fully realise the full potential of their power as a chosen nation. At that time, with this reunification, the mourning [in Jerusalem] will also reach a climax, for what was lost and the distance from true fulfilment will finally be recognised, and the mourning for both Ahab and Josiah will combine and grow exponentially. [This great mourning] will serve as a moral that [both kingdoms] must combine their powers in order to create the balance that will lead to the greatest general good.”
What we are witnessing now is the tearing apart of an approach to make way for something far bigger. After all, Bibi and those within the Revisionist Zionist movement tried to balance between a redemptive vision of the state and an out of date nationalism that relied on secular concepts rather than the Torah and Jewish faith. In this case, the Erev Rav were never done away with because in order to destroy them, the Revisionists would have to rely on a force beyond their cognitive abilities. This force is the light of the Mashiach ben David, which is above time and space.
At the End of Days Mashiach ben Yosef falls, which leads to the next stage of the Redemptive process. Of course this comes with chaos and fear, because all of us no matter what camp we have been in, understand that what has been in existence cannot truly continue as is. Netanyahu’s fall is the fall of the State as we know it.
How the road to the final Redemption will play out now is anyone’s guess, but one thing is certain – it will be a surprise.
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The unthinkable has actually happened. The Knesset now has 21 days to decide who will receive the mandate to build a coalition. There are no parties in this decision, just individuals.
It is important to understand that this process is necessary and part of the shattering of the pre-Messianic vessels that are not fit to hold the light of Redemption within them.
Israel’s system is not based on direct voting, but rather voting for a party, which determines the slate of candidates. This ultimately means that Israeli’s hand over their free choice to others to decide for them who should rule the country. Since coalitions are based on the handout of jobs this effectively sets up a system that can be easily manipulated, creating a parochial class of politicians.
The chaos we are now witnessing within the political structure in Israel flows from the beginning of Creation in what the mystics term the “Olam HaTohu,” World of Chaos, which is only chaotic due to the intense supernal light that was uncontainable within the vessels of Creation. The vessels we have in the State’s current structure are not rectified in a Messianic sense and therefore the light descending now, which is of Redemptive source cannot be contained within them.
This chaos within the system will lead to a new order. However long this will take, the product will be a set of rectified vessels within the State to handle the next stage of Redemption. This is why there should be no expectations or predictions on our current stalemate and the ensuing chaos. We are no longer in the stage as we were post Gush Katif. The Nation has grown. The younger Israelis have embraced an organic experience that has not been dictated by the trauma of the Holocaust or the political machinations of the early state bureaucracy that burdened their parents. The current generation has come of age within the blend of knitted kipas, powerful army, and an integrated Judea and Samaria.
This is the generation of Gush Katif and the Second Lebanon War – now come of age and ready to lead. They are not bound by the same nostalgia of State institutions as previous generations and yet while understanding the State is a vessel for the Redemptive process, its structure can be and probably should be changed to allow the Redemptive light to flow more freely.
When leading to a more stable structure chaos dis not only unavoidable, but necessary.
Our world is designed to be confusing – so much so that we are often pulled onto paths that effectively draw us away from our mission here. How do we draw out the good from within all the darkness? Dovid Mark discusses this in reference to his ongoing class on Rebbe Nachman’s story “The Lost Princess.”