“They took in their hands from the fruit of the land and brought it down to us; they brought back word to us and said, ‘Good is the land that HaShem, our G-D, gives us!’ But you did not wish to ascend, and you rebelled against the word of HaShem your G-D.” (DEVARIM 1:25-26)
Moshe rebukes the Children of Israel, not for their sin but for that of their fathers who had already perished in the desert. This seemingly unwarranted admonition serves to create within Israel a feeling of collective responsibility and to offer the people an opportunity to correct the major shortcoming of the previous generation. In order to correct past transgressions, however, it is first necessary to internalize what actually took place. And in order to clearly appreciate this teaching, we must identify who the “they” are that Moshe refers to in his rebuke.
“Yehoshua son of Nun and Kalev son of Yephuneh, of the spies of the land, tore their garments. They spoke to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel, saying, ‘The land that we passed through, to spy it out – the land is very, very good. If HaShem desires us, He will bring us to this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. But do not rebel against HaShem! You should not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their protection has departed from them; HaShem is with us. Do not fear them!’” (BAMIDBAR 14:6-9)
The “they” are Yehoshua and Kalev, two of the twelve tribal chiefs sent into Canaan to spy out the country and report back to Moshe. The twelve spies were the Torah giants of their generation and for reasons of pekuaḥ nefesh (preserving life), the majority argued against entering the Promised Land. It was the minority, Yehoshua and Kalev, who asserted that Israel must enter Eretz Yisrael and wage a war of liberation, not taking into consideration the superior military forces of the Canaanite giants. This being the case, the question arises how following the majority of rabbis over a seemingly irresponsible and adventurist minority opinion could be called rebelling against the word of HaShem – especially when Israel has been instructed to generally follow the legal opinions of the rabbinic majority.
To properly answer this question, it is necessary to accept that despite the great piety and scholarship of leading rabbis, legal decisions regarding national issues can often be influenced by issues of personality, transient circumstances and other external factors.
The mistaken assumption in certain circles that the rulings of great rabbis are at all times stirred by Divine inspiration, which by definition must be infallible, has unfortunately led several institutions of Torah learning to promote a herd mentality that transforms many otherwise gifted students into obedient devotees – not daring to even respectfully question the opinions of leading scholars.
“If the entire assembly of Israel shall err, and a matter became obscured from the eyes of the congregation, and they commit one from among all the commandments of HaShem that may not be done, and they become guilty; when the sin regarding which they committed becomes known, the congregation shall offer a young bull as a sin-offering, and they shall bring it before the tent of meeting.” (VAYIKRA 4:13-14)
The Talmud explains these verses to refer to a situation in which the Sanhedrin (high court of Torah authorities) commits a mistake and, due to their error in deciding the Law, a majority of Israel transgresses a commandment. The Torah is clearly recognizing the possibility of a situation in which the Sanhedrin itself can lead Israel astray. And if the Sanhedrin is capable of making such a mistake, then certainly modern rabbis can err in this regard.
The first Mishnah in Tractate Sanhedrin states that we are not meant to follow the majority if that majority is transgressing against the Torah. This is based on the verse in SHEMOT 23:2 which states, “Do not be a follower of the majority for evil.”
The Gaon of Vilna illuminates in Kol HaTor (the Gaon’s teachings on the process of Israel’s redemption) how even great scholars can miss the significance of events taking place in their generation.
“The Sin of the Spies… hovers over the Nation of Israel in every generation… How strong is the power of the Sitra Aḥra that it succeeds in hiding from the eyes of our holy fathers the dangers of the klipot; from the eyes of Avraham our father, the klipah of exile… and in the time of the Messiah, the Sitra Aḥra attacks the guardians of Torah with blinders… Many of the sinners in this great sin of, ‘They despised the cherished land,’ and also many of the guardians of Torah, will not know or understand that they are caught in the Sin of the Spies, that they have been sucked into the Sin of the Spies in many false ideas and empty claims, and they cover their ideas with the already proven fallacy that the mitzvah of the settlement of Israel no longer applies in our day, an opinion which has already been disproven by the giants of the world, the Rishonim and Aḥronim.” (Kol HaTor chapter 5)
Rabbi Zvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook was once asked by the newspaper Maariv how Torah leaders in his day, like those in the times of Yehoshua and Kalev, could err in their opposition to the struggle for Eretz Yisrael. He answered, “When one believes that the redemption of Israel and the coming of the Messiah must appear miraculously from out of the heavens in a way which transcends the natural order of life, then one fails to see the hand of HaShem in all of the events of the world. The redemption is not obligated to appear with obvious miracles, nor does it have to be absolutely natural. Both miracles and natural world developments belong to the Almighty’s domain. The Rambam explains that the appearance of the Messiah is also a natural historical process, which is revealed by the ingathering of the Jewish people back to the Land of Israel, and even through wars. The redemption of the Jewish people, which comes to pass in a natural way, is also from the Almighty.”
While some scholars might argue that Israel’s salvation must occur through supernatural miracles and that Jews must refrain from active participation in the national struggle, others recognize the redemption as a process that develops gradually through natural historic events in which human beings are meant to play active roles. To only appreciate HaShem’s hand over the supernatural realm is to place limitations on His hegemony (from the perspective of man) and to not acknowledge His supremacy over the natural events transpiring in our day. Rather than reject the way in which the Kadosh Barukh Hu has chosen to bring history to fruition, Torah leaders must train the Jewish people to broaden our vision so that we might better understand our national mission in this world, as well as the actions we must take to facilitate the redemption process already underway in this miraculous generation.
Rav Eliezer Schick, ZTL, shares some of Rebbe Nachman’s ‘Hidden Scroll’ which explains what will happen before Moshiach comes
For around 200 years’, the Megillat Setorim, or hidden scroll, written by Rebbe Nachman has been one of the best-kept secrets of Breslev chassidut. Until recently, very few people had even heard of it, and even fewer had access to its secrets.
The scroll was written in code by Rebbe Nachman before his death in 1810, and it contains secrets pertaining to what will happen in the world before Moshiach comes, that only one in a generation is initiated into.
In the last generation, as the footsteps of Moshiach have come closer, more and more of the contents of the ‘hidden scroll’ have been leaking out. Before his untimely death last year, Rav Eliezer Schick, ZTL, wrote the following about the contents of Rebbe Nachman’s ‘hidden scroll’ in his book, Paolot HaTzaddik.
Rav Shick revealed that there would be a terrible ‘war’ prosecuted against the nation’s leading Tzaddikim, as part of the preparations for Geula. He wrote (my translation):
“There are the wars of Gog and Magog, which will include all the machloket (disagreements) and the accusations that will be made against the true Tzaddikim, those who uncover the true will of Hashem Yitborach.
“Because there are those who want to eat them alive [these Tzaddikim], God should have mercy, and who say every forbidden thing against them, and mock them a lot. And by doing this, they greatly distance Jewish souls from coming near to them, and also lengthen the duration of our bitter exile, God forbid.
“And because they do this, woe to them! Woe to the souls of these people, who have a share in the machloketand disagreements involving the true Tzaddikim, and who reveal Hashem’s true will in the world.
“And they are the brazen-faced of the generation, the people with the face of a dog [note: in the language of the gemara], the soldiers of Gog and Magog, who conceal the truth, and they are the wicked people of the generation, as written in, (Bava Metzia, 83): “As this one is exceptionally contemptuous, one may deduce that he is a wicked person.” [This was a statement made by Rabbi Elazar the son of Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai, in relation to a mocking comment that was made to him by a laundryman, who it was later discovered WAS a very wicked person.] I.e, the man was so insolent and brazen towards one of the leading Rabbis of the generation, he had to be a wicked person.
“It’s written in the Midrash (BeMidbar Rabba, יח:י): ‘He who is brazen-faced, and who is not ashamed in front of those who are bigger than him, and he who is a baal machloket (troublemaker), you’ll see that he is the wickedest of the wicked.”
“And if I would have known, my dear brother, what was written in the Megillat Setorim regarding these soldiers of Gog and Magog, and the people who cover over the truth, you would fall on your face from fear and dismay, about how this bitter exile would be lengthened by them.
“And it was already written in the Yerushalmi, (2a) that ‘the insolent one will win-out over the kosher one’, in order to maintain free will and spiritual tests.
“As we can see, my beloved brother, you must flee from all machloket and from all disagreements, and not get drawn into fights and arguments. And in particular, be very careful that you should have no part whatsoever in any mockery, disagreements or criticism of the true Tzaddikim, because you don’t know what the next day will bring. And you don’t know against who and against what you may be opposing or mocking.
“And even though they may want to try to destroy you [with their words], because for them it’s a ‘mitzvah’ to persecute kosher people, SAVE YOUR SOUL, my beloved brother, and run away from doing ‘mitzvahs’ like these, because otherwise ‘bitter will be you end’.
“And the opposite is also true: If you help the true Tzaddikim, then you will bring the geula closer, and you will merit to have all the good that has been set aside for the soldiers of the House of David. [Referring to Moshiach].”
After learning of Moshe’s stunning victory against the Amorites, King Balak of Moav forged an alliance with Midian in order to wage war together against the Children of Israel. Once realizing the extent of Israel’s strength, however, Moav and Midian enlisted the infamous Bilaam to attack the Hebrew tribes through spiritual means.
Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain – the second Admor of the Sokhatshov Ḥasidic dynasty – teaches in his Shem MiShmuel that Balak did not necessarily seek Israel’s destruction but was determined “to strike it and drive it away from the land” (BAMIDBAR 22:6). Pointing out that Israel posed no direct threat to either Moav or Midian, as neither people’s territory was en route to the Promised Land, the Shem MiShmuel quotes our Sages as teaching that Balak’s primary goal was to prevent the Hebrew tribes from entering the Land of Israel (Tanḥuma Balak 4, Bamidbar Rabbah 20:7).
The Shem MiShmuel further quotes the explanation of the Ḥidushei HaRim – the first Ger Admor Rabbi Yitzḥak Meir Alter – on the verse “the heavens are HaShem’s but the earth He gave to mankind” (TEHILLIM 115:16), where he teaches that man is tasked with creating heaven from earth by giving concrete physical expressions to the Divine Ideal. This is accomplished through the performance of themitzvot that uplift all aspects of the material world to their highest functions in existence. According to the Ḥidushei HaRim, this verse reveals the entire purpose of Creation.
Israel is charged with establishing a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (SHEMOT 19:6) that will elevate every sphere of national life and reveal the kedusha inherent in our physical world. The Shem MiShmuel explains that Israel’s task is not to live monastic spiritual lives in the desert but to express the Divine Ideal in all areas of human endeavor. This goal necessitates the establishment of a Hebrew Kingdom in Eretz Yisrael that will serve as a light unto nations and reveal HaShem’s Oneness to all humankind.
According to the Shem MiShmuel, Balak and Bilaam desperately sought to avoid such a kingdom for fear Israel’s example would force them to apply a Divine moral standard to governance, commerce and other features of the material world, ultimately stripping them of the benefits they enjoyed from the corruption permeating the political realm. Having no objection to Hebrews living lives of individual piety disconnected from national life, Moav and Midian feared the establishment of a Hebrew Kingdom because they intuitively understood that if Am Yisrael were to achieve political sovereignty over Eretz Yisrael, we would eliminate the illusory separation of “religion” and “state” and influence humankind to ultimately adopt policies that reflect a higher moral standard. Through Bilaam’s ability to curse, they hoped to keep Israel forever stranded in the desert where we could live ascetic spiritual lives disconnected from national issues. But while our enemies championed a separation of kedushaand statecraft, Israel’s historic mission demands that we materialize our spiritual ideals on a national level so that the Torah’s deepest values attain full expression in this world.
Once Bilaam is recruited for the war effort against Israel, the Torah recounts a bizarre situation in which the very laws of nature were temporarily altered. Although nevua as it is generally understood is an exclusively Hebrew trait, the gentile Bilaam possessed some level of prophecy and even attempted to use this gift to assist Israel’s enemies. When HaShem obstructed Bilaam’s path and he in turn began to beat his donkey, another abnormal occurrence took place.
“HaShem opened the mouth of the she-donkey and it said to Bilaam, ‘What have I done to you that you struck me these three times?’” (BAMIDBAR 22:28)
Bilaam’s donkey actually spoke as if she were human, complaining to her master for his abusive treatment and humiliating him before the elders of Moav. Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi teaches in The Kuzari that there are five levels of Creation (inanimate objects, plant life, animals, human beings, Israel). One attribute that separates between the third and fourth levels – between animals and humans – is the power of speech. And the major trait differentiating Israel from human beings is the potential to attain nevua (or at least prophecy that can transcend one’s own national experience). Bilaam’s donkey was able to speak only for the sake of clarifying the significance of Bilaam’s prophecy. Just as HaShem bent the laws of nature in order that a donkey could possess the ability to speak, so too was He bending the laws of nature in order that a gentile could possess the ability to prophesy regarding Israel. And rather than allow him to utter a curse against the Hebrews as Balak had instructed, HaShem forced Bilaam to bless His treasured nation.
The Maharal of Prague teaches in Netzaḥ Yisrael that the greatness of Bilaam’s blessing exceeded even those of Yaakov and Moshe, possessing no rebuke or distraction from pure brakha (Yalkut Shimoni Balak 25). Bilaam represented the extreme opposite of Israel’s spiritual power and the intensity of his desire to curse the Hebrew tribes made him the ideal candidate to serve as the conduit for HaShem’s abundant blessing, illustrating the Kadosh Barukh Hu’s mastery over even those forces that appear to stand in the way of Israel’s national mission. But to fully grasp why HaShem would suspend the world’s natural order by granting Bilaam such a uniquely Hebrew trait, we must examine a piece of his final message and understand what Divine benefit could be extracted from the anomaly.
“I shall see him, but not now, I shall look at him, but it is not near. A star has issued from Yaakov and a tribe has risen from Israel, and he shall pierce the nobles of Moav and undermine the children of Shet. Edom shall be a conquest and Seir shall be the conquest of his enemies – and Israel will attain success. One from Yaakov shall rule and destroy the remnant of the city.’” (BAMIDBAR 24:17-19)
The holy Ohr HaḤaim explains these verses to mean that if the redemption occurs due to Israel’s merit, it will come as a supernatural event with the messianic redeemer being revealed through great wonders. But if the redemption comes in its time – without the Hebrew Nation necessarily deserving it – there will rise up a group of Jews who come together and – through human endeavor – will assist HaShem (so to speak) in bringing the redemption through natural means.
The redemption can occur in one of two ways. The first option, known as aḥishena (hastened), is a miraculous and supernatural event in which the Nation of Israel is righteous and deserving. The second possibility, where Israel is unworthy, is generally referred to as bi’eta(in its time). This second option exists because as the predetermined goal of all human history, the redemption of Israel must ultimately come about and therefore has a set time if we do not merit it sooner. The Ohr HaḤaim understands from Bilaam’s prophecy that the redemption will most likely unfold through an organization of activists uniting to bring the Jewish people back to the Land of Israel through practical human means.
This understanding – which sheds light on much of what has been taking place in modern times – is well worth HaShem temporarily altering the laws of nature and allowing a gentile to attain a uniquely Hebrew form of prophecy. Israel must internalize this crucial message in order to not only gain a heightened perspective of current events but also to fulfill our national objective of establishing the Hebrew Kingdom that will ultimately reveal the kedusha inherent in all of Creation and bring humanity to recognize HaShem as the Divine Author of the story in which we are all participants.
In this article I’ll outline some of the prophecies about the people of Israel that already came true and what’s going to happen next.
First I have to say that I’ll mention 2 types of prophecies. First are prophecies that are written in the bible. Second are events that were predicted by the prophets but were not written and were only passed orally, until our Rabbis wrote them later on in the Midrash or in the Talmud. What I won’t mention are vague prophecies that can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but will only mention explicit prophecies.
All the prophecies are written in Hebrew or Aramaic, and unless I specified otherwise, all the translations are mine.
What Has Already Happened
The Prophet Moses said about the exile of the people of Israel, more than a thousand years in advance (Deuteronomy 28:62-64):
“And only a few of you will remain after you’ve been a huge people like the stars of the sky, and God will spread you to all lands all over earth”.
Moses further said about the time of this exile that it’ll be tough for the people of Israel, and predicted anti-Semitism (Deuteronomy 28:37):
“And you’ll be laughed at amongst all people…”
He also wrote about that exile (Deuteronomy 28:65, 28:67):
“And amongst those people you won’t have peace…. And God will make you anxious and afraid and bring sorrow to you souls, and you’ll be scared in nights and days and you won’t believe in your life. In the morning you’ll pray to live until the night, and at nights you’ll pray to live until the mourning, because you’ll be scared that much from what your eyes will witness”.
He further said (Leviticus 26:38-39)
“And you’ll be lost in the countries of other nations, and the countries of your enemies will exterminate you. And the ones who are left would suffer greatly for their sins in the countries of their enemies, and because they sinned themselves, they’ll suffer greatly even for the sins of their ancestors”.
Depiction of Jews going to exile after destruction of the Holy Temple
Moses also wrote (Leviticus 26:32):
“And I’ll make the land (the holy land) a desert, and your enemies won’t be able to build it, so the land will be a desert and your cities will remain in ruins”.
Moses predicted that the enemies of the people of Israel won’t be successful in this land, although they’ll try. And so said the Ramban in his commentary on this verse, about 800 years ago. And Mark Twain (The Innocent Abroad 1867) said that the land of Israel is a desert and it is like it is cursed. Now that the people of Israel returned to it there’s no curse any more.
Prophet Moses also said that the people of Israel would survive the exile (Leviticus 26:44):
“And even when they’ll be in the countries of their enemies, I (God) won’t be so disgusted of them as to kill them all, and by that to break my covenant with them, because I am their God. And I’ll remember the covenant I made with their ancestors when I saved them from Egypt in front of other nations, and called my name upon them, I am God!”
Not only did Prophet Moses know the people of Israel would survive the exile, but he explicitly said the people of Israel would return to their land (Deuteronomy 30:4-5):
“If you’ll be lost in the end of the sky, even from there God will unite you and take you. And God will bring you to the land he gave your ancestors and it’ll be given to you, and he’ll bring blessing to you and make you prosper even more than your ancestors”.
Well this prophecy is still in the process of coming true, waiting for the rest of the people of Israel to return to the holy land (Jews abroad as well as the Igbo, Pashtuns, and other lost Israelites) and for the great blessing to come. This process has obviously begun.
Pashtun
It is written in the book of Zohar (a Midrash of Kaballa) on page 116 about the following prophecy that was passed orally to the Rabbis who wrote the book:
“In the year 5600 (5600 years since Adam and Eve according to the Hebrew calendar) the gates of wisdom will be opened above, and the springs of lower wisdom too, and the world we get prepared to be fixed for the 7th millennium” (‘springs’ is a literal translation from the Aramaic word ‘Mabuee’, which doesn’t fit perfectly in English).
According to the Hebrew calendar, this year, 2016, is 5776, so 5600 is 1840, which is the last year of the Industrial Revolution when the “lower wisdom” (science) advanced tremendously. Some think the “higher wisdom” is the Hassiddic branch of Judasim, but this is less obvious than what the “lower wisdom” that advanced was.
It is written in the Talmud on Megila, page 6:
“Rabbie Yisshak said, what does this verse mean (Psalm 140:9): ‘God, do not grant the desires of the wicked; do not let his thoughts succeed, for they are constantly haughty (Chabad translation)’? Yaakov said to God, ‘the king of the world, don’t grant Esaw (Yaakov’s brother) his desires, don’t let his thoughts succeed’. This is Germanya of Edom (recognised by the commentaries of the Talmud, hundreds of years ago, as today’s Germany, which is called in Hebrew Germanya). If they do not go, they destroy the world. And Rabbi Hama son of Hanina said, there are 300 kingdoms in Germamya of Edom (Germany), and 365 dukes in Rome, and every day they go out one against the other and one of them is killed, so they are too bothered for uniting under one king.”
According to this oral prophecy, Germany’s 300 kingdoms would not unite because they fight the Romans, and once they’d stop fighting them, they’d destroy the world. The “Holy” Roman Empire ruled over more than 300 kingdoms of Germans prior to 1806. Then came Napoleon and conquered the Germans. As a result, The Germans united. In 1882, Italy joined forces with Germany and Austria-Hungary, so they officially stopped fighting. In 1914 Germany started WW1, which caused the death of over 16M people (about 9M of them were civilians). In that war Italy actually didn’t help Germany even though they made a pact, but a few years later, Germany started WW2 with the help of Italy, which caused the death of 50M-85M people, which basically means they destroyed the world.
Prophet Yehezkel wrote (36:20-24) (Chabad translation):
“And they entered the nations where they came, and they profaned My Holy Name, inasmuch as it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and they have come out of His land.’ But I had pity on My Holy Name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they had come. Therefore, say to the house of Israel; So says the Lord God: Not for your sake do I do this, O house of Israel, but for My Holy Name, which you have profaned among the nations to which they have come. And I will sanctify My great Name, which was profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord-is the declaration of the Lord God-when I will be sanctified through you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you to your land.”
In the book of Zohar, second part, page 124, it is written:
“Rabbi Hiya said: Because the people of Israel are getting circumcised, they beat their enemies and get their land”.
Based on those prophecies, the Ramban wrote in his commentary of Song of songs chapter 8:
“After he mentioned the redemption of Efrayim, who are the 10 tribes (who are the Pashtuns who will return to Israel soon), he mentioned the redemption of Yehuda (the Jews), and said ‘even with the blood of your Brith I sent you away’ (meaning that in general, circumcision should prevent the people of Israel from being sent away from the holy land, and this case was special because even though they were circumcised, they were still sent away). He hinted here that at the end of days, there will be a generation that is all bad, the Torah will be forgotten from them, there’ll be a lot of insolence in that generation, but one right they’ll all have – circumcision”.
Biafrans in support of Israel
Now, those 3 writings fit reality very accurately. Basic theology says that the righteous get a reward, so it might come as a huge surprise that after 2000 years of keeping the Torah, and even giving up life for keeping it, refusing to convert religion, it was a generation of secular Jews who didn’t keep the Tora who returned to the holy land and created the state of Israel. Surprising as it might look, Prophet Yehezkel said that returning to Israel won’t be a reward, but an action of God protecting His name. By letting the secular Jews return to Israel he also saved a lot of secular Jews from mixing with other people, and, by that, stopping their Jewish lineage (The high mixing percent of the secular Jews in the US and Europe prove just that.) And here comes the Ramban and analyzes that prophecy and the prophecy-hint in the Song of songs, saying that generation will have one thing going for it – circumcision. In fact, those secular Jews who returned to the holy land, although being secular, were all circumcised and they all circumcised their children, even though this commandment is one of the strangest of all the commandments of the Torah. (By the way, please notice that the realization of these prophecies is very bad news for those who thought God left the people of Israel.)
It is also written in the book of Zohar, in Va’Erah, page 32 (written before Islam and a lot before the Arabs conquered the holy land):
“Damn that moment that Yishmael (Ismail) was born and got circumcised. What did God do? He kept the chlidren of Yishmael away from being mentally close to him and gave them a grip on the holy land, as a reward for their circumcision. And in the future (our present) the children of Yishmael would control the holy land when it is empty of anything, like their circumcision is incomplete, and they’ll prevent the people of Israel from returning to their land, until their reward for their circumcision will be over”.
What’s Next?
In the book of Zohar, it is written (Va’Erah, page 32):
“The children of Yishmael will start big fights in the world, and they’ll make the people of Edom (Europe, Russia, US) unite and attack them. They’ll fight them in the sea and in the land, and there will be a fight close to Jerusalem. And Edom will control Yishmael, but the holy land would not be given to Edom. Then another nation from the end of the world will start a war against the evil Romans (Edom), which will last 3 months, and a lot of nations will unite against that nation but they’ll fall, until all the people of Edom (Europe, Russia, US) will unite, and then God will say enough is enough”.
ISIS are playing out that prophecy accurately. We would expect something in the sea, although maybe all those ships that are firing on Syria is a fight in the sea. Then the Europeans/Russia/US/All of them would conquer some countries of the Arabs. A fight near Jerusalem might occur in Jordan. Then some other nation, who knows who (China? Iran who aren’t Arabs? Korea?) will attack Edom in the last war.
We also know that the tribes of Israel (the Pashtuns, Igbo, Lemba, and others) will come back (Deuteronomy 30:4-5, already written above):
If you’ll be lost in the end of the sky, even from there God will unite you and take you. And God will bring you to the land he gave your ancestors and it’ll be given to you, and he’ll bring blessing to you and make you prosper even more than your ancestors.
We know that from other prophecies too (Jeremaya 31:16):
(God tells Rachel, the mother of Binyamin and Josef (father of Yusufzai, Afridi – Pashtun tribes, and Menashe), but actually talking to the people of Israel who are called by her name, like we are called by our father’s name Israel/Yaakov) “There is hope for those who remain of your children, said God, and sons will return to their land”.
Yishaaya 51:11:
“And those who were saved by God will return, and they’ll come singing to Zion (Jerusalem), with a huge happiness with them. they’ll have joy and happiness, and all graveness and sorrow will be gone”.
Yehezkel 37:16-22:
“(God is telling prophet Yehezkel) And you, son of Adam, take a piece of wood and write on it “for Yehuda (the Jews) and for Benei Israel his friends”, and take another piece of wood and write on it “for Yosef, the tree of Efrayim (Afridi. The tribes that lived in the kingdom of Yehuda were called simply Yehuda and the other tribes were called simply Efrayim/Yosef), and for all the house of Israel, his friends (the friends of Efrayim – the rest of the Pashtun tribes)”. Bring them closer to each other, make them one in your hand. When your people will ask you – what is your business with those? answer them: The lord God has spoken – I am taking the wood of Yosef which is in the hand of Efrayim and the tribes of Israel, his friends, and I’m putting on it the wood of Yehuda, and I am making them one wood, so they will all be one in my hand. (God keeps on speaking to prophet Yehezkel) And put those pieces of wood in your hands in front of their eyes and tell them – So has spoken the lord God: I am taking Bene Israel from the other nations where they went, and I’ll unite them from all corners and bring them to their land. And I’ll make them one people in their land – the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule them all (son of King David), and they will never be separated to 2 kingdoms again”.
Jews of KaiFung China
We also know this from a lot of other prophecies. And how will that happen? In the book of Magid Mesharim, an angel told Rabbi Yossef Karo (Ssaw, right before the part on slaughtering):
“(Kings 2, 7:9) ‘This day is a day of tiding’, like you thought. Prophet Yishaaya said about that day (41:27): ‘The first one to Zion, behold, behold them, and for Jerusalem I will give a herald’ (Chabad translation). The way of the world is that when a king comes back to its house, a few heralds are coming to give the tiding of the king’s return. The first one says that the king is coming in 10 days, the second says he’s coming in 5 days, the fourth says the king’s coming in 4 days, etc. Finally the last one says the king is very close to the city. The prophet said that at the redemption of the people of Israel, it won’t be like that, but it would happen all of a sudden, and the first herald will say that they are here! the tribes of Israel are here, and their return will be so sudden that even though they’ll be very close, the people of the city won’t notice them until the herald will tell them that in Zion – the palace of the king…”
From here we learn that some time in the middle of the predicted war between Yishmael and Edom, or during the last war, the tribes of Israel, who are mainly the Pashtuns as well as other groups like the Igbo, Bnei Menashe, Lemba, and others will return to their land very quickly. This will happen so quickly that the Jews in Israel will notice it only after a lot of them will already be in Israel.
We also know that in that time, the people of Israel won’t be too righteous (maybe most will be secular like they are now), because Prophet Malaahi said (3:22-24):
“Remember the Torah of my servant Moses, whom I commanded in mount Sinai, laws and justice over all the people of Israel. I’m sending you Prophet Eliya before the big day of God. That he may turn the heart of the fathers back through the children, and the heart of the children back through their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with utter destruction” (partly Chabad translation).
Let’s all remember a rule the prophets taught us – good prophecies will surely come true, but bad ones depend on our ways. If we fix our ways, a punishment (bad prophecy) can be cancelled. And lets all wait for this great and awesome day, when all the people of the world will know God is one and only one, blessed Him, and He’ll show us great miracles, even greater than those our ancestors witnessed in Egypt and the Sinai desert, more than 3000 years ago.
“‘You have seen what I did to Egypt, and I have borne you on the wings of eagles and brought you to Me. And now, if you hearken well to Me and observe My Covenant, you shall be to Me a Segula of all nations, for Mine is the entire world. You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the Children of Israel.” (SHEMOT 19:4-6)
Before bestowing upon Israel the Torah at Sinai, HaShem commands Moshe to relate these instructions to the entire Hebrew Nation. Awareness of Israel’s national mission is a prerequisite for receiving the Torah because only through understanding our historic purpose and the Divine Ideal our nation is meant to manifest can we hope to fully grasp the significance of the individual mitzvotthrough which that greater ideal is expressed.
The national mission of the Jewish people in history is achieved through that which can best be described as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Israel is tasked with bringing all of humanity to the conscious awareness of HaShem as the timeless ultimate Reality without end that creates all, sustains all, empowers all and loves all. And in order for Israel to achieve this lofty goal, we must first constitute a healthy nation in our homeland that manifests the Divine Ideal in all spheres of national life. Our society must encompass scholars, doctors, farmers, pilots, accountants, lawmakers, firefighters and sanitation workers, all serving HaShem and working in unison to build His kingdom in our physical world – a kingdom that will provide material expression to all of our Torah’s highest spiritual values. Not as a “religion” or philosophy but rather as a living reality – a kingdom who’s very life force and national culture is the Divine Ideal being fully expressed in every field of human endeavor. A kingdom of priests and holy nation – where even the bus drivers drive their buses and the merchants sell their wares in such a way that manifests HaShem’s Ideal in their specific spheres of life – is the way in which Israel brings the world to know HaShem.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzḥak HaKohen Kook writes at length on the topic of Israel’s Segula. In Letter 555, he explains that the holiness and Divine connection ofAm Yisrael is made up of two main components – the Segula and free will. TheSegula is our nation’s absolute inner essence that transcends the behavior or personal consciousness of any individual Jew. It is the eternal national Covenant between the Kadosh Barukh Hu and Israel and the intrinsic kedushainfused into the nature of Knesset Yisrael – Israel’s collective soul – that cannot be altered or negated, thereby upholding the Mishnaic teaching that all Israel have a share in the world to come. Just by virtue of being substantially linked to the Divine, every Hebrew enjoys an eternal connection to HaShem.
Despite the objective kedusha of Israel’s inner Segula independent of the thoughts or deeds of individuals, its expression is generally revealed only to the extent that a Jew’s free will facilitates. Its manifestation is therefore normally dependent on a person’s conscious relationship with HaShem, emersion in Torah and fulfillment of mitzvot.
Because Israel possesses this consecrated Segula and the potential to bring great blessing to the world, we must strive to express it through our individual and collective conduct. The Hebrew Nation was created with the ability to shine a tremendous light to the world that will elevate Creation to its loftiest ideal state. While all Jews possess this unique Segula regardless of whether or not we ever actualize our potential, a healthy person who understands this responsibility will naturally strive to live up to his true self. The more we appreciate our national mission and connection to HaShem, the more we desire to reveal the Segula in our lives. This manifestation of Divine energy and blessing is essentially accomplished through the performance of the mitzvot.
Although Rabbi Kook teaches that there are historic periods in which theSegula is able to override personal choice and subconsciously propel Israel forward (such as the Zionist movement’s initial stages), the role of Israel’s free will is to recognize and reveal the Segula’s innate kedusha by conducting our personal lives and national life in accordance with the statutes of our Torah. By properly utilizing our power of choice, we open valves that bring Divine content into our world. Each mitzvah performed in Eretz Yisrael is a finite vehicle that infuses immense light into our reality, like a faucet connected to a pipe full of blessing that enters the world through each precept carried out. This Divine energy then raises the world to a higher plane of existence, measurably improving and illuminating it through the Jewish people properly expressing our inner essence. Every time a Jew learns a verse of Torah, gives money to the needy or plants a tree in his homeland, a surge of Divine blessing enters the world, causing the forces of evil and human suffering to be diminished.
For much of the time that Jews were in exile from our homeland, the world was trapped in what is often referred to as “dark ages.” Advancement in the fields of medicine, culture and technology was halted as senseless violence and disease plagued civilization. But as soon as the Hebrew Nation began to trickle home to our native soil, a world of wisdom and idealism began to open up and flourish. Science and technology began to rapidly advance as mankind’s sensibilities grew increasingly more humane. For the first time in history, warfare – rather than glorified – became viewed as a negative (although often necessary) historic occurrence. Mass movements were formed and revolutions took place geared towards rectifying the ills of human civilization.
History’s ultimate goal of universal fulfillment and total blessing necessitates exposing the Divine Ideal that manifests itself through Israel’s national life ofkedusha. While the Segula of Israel is eternal and unchangeable, the Hebrew mission is to reveal it on the highest level possible in order to drive humanity closer to achieving a perfect world.
The Torah is not a “religion” relegated to the houses of study or prayer. Nor is it a set of rules meant to coercively modify human behavior. The Torah is the Divine Ideal from before Creation lowered into our world in order to guide Israel in successfully exposing our inner Segula and actualizing our potential of bringing humankind to the awareness of its unique relationship with the infinite Whole we call HaShem. Each word and precept found within our Torah only serves to instruct us in properly revealing our inherent kedusha and behaving according to our authentic nature.
The Torah ideal of Israel becoming “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” necessitates the sanctification of every element of nationhood, from commerce and social services to warfare and diplomacy. This is the Divine Ideal – revealed to us even before the Ten Commandments – that constitutes the essence of Israel’s spiritual composition and illustrates the perfection of the Torah as our constitution. The Kingdom of Israel, now advancing towards fulfillment, will revolutionize human values and shine blessing to mankind as we establish a model society that will set an example of Divine perfection and bring history to its ultimate goal.
“Pharaoh approached; the Children of Israel raised their eyes and behold! – Egypt was journeying after them, and they were very frightened; the Children of Israel cried out to HaShem. They said to Moshe, ‘Were there no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the Wilderness? What is this that you have done to us to take us out of Egypt? Is this not the statement that we made to you in Egypt, saying, Let us be and we will serve Egypt? – For it is better that we should serve Egypt than that we should die in the Wilderness!’
Moshe said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand fast and see the salvation of HaShem that He will perform for you today; for as you have seen Egypt today, you shall not see them ever again! HaShem shall make war for you, and you shall remain silent.’” (SHEMOT 14:10– 14)
Acknowledging that Israel greatly outnumbered the Egyptian military at the Sea of Reeds, the Ibn Ezra provides a remarkable explanation of the above verses. He writes: “How could a camp of six hundred thousand men fear their pursuers? Why should they not fight for their lives and the lives of their children? The answer is that the Egyptians had been Israel’s masters. The generation leaving Egypt had learned from childhood to bear the Egyptian yoke and they possessed a low soul. Being weak and unaccustomed to warfare, how could they now fight their masters? We see that Amalek came with a small force and, if not for Moshe’stefillah, they would have weakened Israel. G-D alone does great deeds and orchestrates events. He arranged for all the males who had left Egypt to die out – because they lacked the strength to fight the Canaanites – until another generation arose who had not seen exile and who possessed an exalted spirit.”
The Ibn Ezra teaches that despite their superior numbers, Israel was not commanded to stand and fight. The Hebrews had been conditioned by several generations of slavery to fear and obey their Egyptian masters. Possessing a low soul made them near incapable of warfare, thus requiring Moshe’s tefillot to later overcome the Amalekite ambush (SHEMOT 17:8-13). According to the Ibn Ezra, this low soul was the reason that the generation who left Egypt would later need to die out in the desert over a forty-year period. Their children – a new generation raised in freedom – would then be able to wage a war of liberation against the Canaanite kings.
The low soul that the Ibn Ezra speaks of is similar to what modern psychologists term “learned helplessness.” At various historic points, this slave mentality has prevented the Jewish people from successfully advancing our national mission. One example of this neurosis in recent decades has been the confusion among many scholars concerning the process of redemption and how the Jewish people must relate to – and interact with – the historic events unfolding in modern times.
Israel’s Prophets and ancient Sages teach that there are two ways in which the final redemption can occur. There is the miraculous way (aḥishena) and the more mundane natural process (bi’eta). Due to the bitter realities of life in the Diaspora, Jewish communities in recent centuries were conditioned to believe that the redemption could only transpire through open miracles. Taking the initiative to advance salvation through physically conquering the Land of Israel was scorned as forbidden by many rabbis who claimed that Israel must sit patiently and wait for the Kadosh Barukh Hu to redeem His people. In the ghettos of Europe, where day-to-day life included a fear of gentile persecution, the idea of Jews valiantly recapturing Eretz Yisrael by force of arms seemed as if it would be even more an aberration of the natural order of the world than HaShem performing supernatural miracles on our behalf. As a result of this reality existing for so long, many Jews became trapped in this mindset of helplessness even once the political reality surrounding them had changed.
Other factors also contributed to the Jewish idealization of learned helplessness. Because of the internal damage inflicted upon Israel by so many unsuccessful messianic movements, the study of the redemption process was halted in most houses of study throughout Europe, leading to any attempt at bringing salvation closer through human efforts becoming widely seen as tantamount to an act of heresy. The combination of these factors created an expectation that the redemption would occur through supernatural events above and beyond human participation. Practical efforts to achieve redemption came to be viewed as destructive behavior stemming from a weakness of faith.
Learned helplessness became most prevalent in Jewish circles during the decades leading up to the development of political Zionism. The handful of Torah giants at the time who understood that Hebrew liberation could – and most probably would – unfold through a series of natural historic events were unable to effectively spread their ideas or inspire the faithful masses to actively participate in the redemption process. But examining the words of these visionary scholars helps us to retroactively recognize how correct they truly were and how much their teachings still illuminate our proper path.
Rabbi Yehuda Ḥai Alkalai, the famed kabalist of Sarajevo, wrote of redemption from within in Raglei Mevaser. In it he explains: “Redemption will reach us in a natural way. Had the Almighty wished to redeem His people through miracles, the exile would not have lasted so long. Moreover, in the present Jewish situation even a naturally attained redemption would be miraculous. Redemption will grow from within the people and not with the Messiah performing miracles, as in the days of the Exodus from Egypt. Final redemption will be the result of national initiative aided by G-D, as it is written: ‘And the Children of Judah and the Children of Israel will be gathered together’ (HOSHEA 2:2), and ‘Shake yourself from the dust, arise and sit down, O Jerusalem, release the bonds from around your neck,’ (YISHAYAH 52:2). Yishayah uses the reflexive form to emphasize that redemption will stem from self-help.”
In his Reply to the Skeptics, Rabbi Eliyahu Guttmakher states: “To our great misfortune there are yet many who mistakenly believe that they will sit in the comfort of their homes when suddenly a voice from heaven will proclaim redemption. But it will not be so! The Babylonian exile, though destined to last no more than seventy years, required the practical leadership of Daniel, Ezra and Neḥemia to achieve a significant return to Eretz Yisrael. Unlike many of our own contemporaries they did not say ‘let every man remain at his place and redemption will come of itself.’”
Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Kalisher illuminates the way to redemption in Drishat Tzion. He writes: “It is wrong to believe that redemption will come as a sudden revelation of G-D from heaven, calling upon His people to leave the Diaspora. The vision of the Prophets must come true, but not as a sudden event. Final redemption will come in stages with the return of the people to the land and ultimately by the coming of the Messiah. Dear friend, you must rid yourself of the illusion that the call of the Messiah will come as a bolt from the blue arousing the sleeping masses. Redemption will come about through an awakening of well dispersed gentile leaders and governments, viewing favorably the return of Jews to the Holy Land.”
In Awake, Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever teaches: “Even though natural events will lead to redemption, this is not simply an historical accident. There are no coincidences in the Universe, since G-D’s Will is also manifested in the course of natural events. Accordingly, it is for us to rouse the powers that be to treat the Jewish people favorably, whereupon Divine help will surely be forthcoming in the ingathering of the exiles to the Holy Land. As the Prophet proclaims (YISHAYAH 62:10): ‘Go through, go through the gates; clear the way of the people; cast up, pave the road; clear it of stones; raise a banner over the peoples.’ Yishayah’s intention is clear: we must awaken and do all in our power to clear away the obstacles in the path of our redemption.”
These scholars stressed the fact that human initiative would be necessary in bringing Israel’s redemption to fruition. Their ideas were highly advanced for their time – especially when compared with many of their contemporaries – and their teachings represent a Torah of action that challenges the psychological state of learned helplessness. While it is clear that we have still not yet tasted full redemption, the process has certainly begun to unfold. There exists a sovereign Hebrew state in much of Eretz Yisrael but in order for us to participate in bringing total salvation, a higher approach to Torah study must be adopted.
The holy Ohr HaḤaim speaks of redemption and self-awakening in his commentary on VAYIKRA 25:25. There he states: “Redemption will start with a stirring in men’s hearts urging them: Do you feel secure living in a strange land, exiled from your G-D? What pleasure does life offer so far removed from the lofty values that were yours in the presence of the Almighty? Superficial, ill-conceived desire will then become repulsive and a spiritual craving will awaken your soul, improving your actions until G-D will redeem. Who will be called to stand in judgment? The Jewish leaders of the Diaspora who throughout the years did not encourage their people to return to Zion. They will be made to bear the shame of a forsaken homeland.”
In Eim Habanim Smeiḥah, written during the Holocaust, Rabbi Yissakhar Shlomo Teikhtal echoes the Ohr HaḤaim’s statements on the dangers of passivity. “The Orthodox, on the other hand, those zealous for G-D’s Will, stood aside and took no part in this effort. They remained with their traditional view that ‘sitting back and doing nothing is best’… It seems to me that all the leaders who prevented their followers from going and joining the builders [of EretzYisrael] will never be able to cleanse their hands and say ‘our hands have not spilt this blood.’”
A new generation has arisen today, alive with a more vibrant Torah of redemption. It is a generation infused with an exalted spirit of vitality as Israel’s youth is again being raised on our natural soil. The homeland – which had for so long refused to provide fruits to any stranger – has blossomed under the renewed political sovereignty of her native people.
The vitality infused into the Jewish people today has inspired incredible acts of valor and self-sacrifice, even amongst those not observant or even knowledgeable of mitzvot. At nearly impossible odds, Israel has won miraculous victories over our enemies. We have liberated portions of our homeland and revived the Hebrew language after many long centuries of separation from both. These incredible events are part of a greater process prodding history forward as Israel returns to the international stage in order to ultimately shine blessing and light to mankind. HaShem has inspired a new generation with a lofty spirit uncorrupted by fear, passivity or learned helplessness. Israel’s youth demands a greater and fuller Torah that encompasses and infuses all aspects of life with the necessary strength and courage to usher in an era of universal redemption.
“You shall safeguard the matzot, for on this very day I will have taken your legions out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day for your generations as an eternal decree. In the first, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening shall you eat matzot, until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening.” (SHEMOT 12:17-18)
“Matzot shall be eaten throughout the seven-day period; no ḥametz may be seen in your possession, nor may leaven be seen in your possession in all your borders.” (SHEMOT 13:7)
The Maharal of Prague teaches in GevurotHaShem that “matzah is simple as it is not combined with additional ingredients such as leaven, which would compound and complicate it. Simplicity in essence denotes independence, for an independent being is free and not bound together or dependent upon others. A slave is bound to his master and completely dependent upon him while a free man stands independently, not bound to anyone else. Hence, matzah specifically is an appropriate symbol for the Exodus.”
The Maharal’s explanation of matzah as simplicity and ḥametz (unleavened bread) as complexity provides an essential insight into the mentality of Diaspora Jewry. The word ḥametz shares the root letters of l’haḥmitz (to miss), symbolizing the idea of missing an opportunity. Because it includes leaven, ḥametz is complex and therefore prone to miss out.
When a person defines himself according to his complexity – by what he has acquired in life – he is naturally blocked from fully expressing his inner essence. Each of us is a soul – a unique expression of G-d – playing a character with a distinct purpose in history. And our ability to fully realize our individual missions in life is largely dependent upon our self-identification as souls who, like actors, play roles in the story of man. The more we define ourselves as the actors rather than as the characters we play, the more our characters can actually succeed at fulfilling their roles in the story. But one who defines himself according to the external factors his character has acquired in life (wealth, status, academic credentials, etc.) becomes complex like ḥametz and trapped by these external factors, frightened to jeopardize them in pursuit of his true inner calling.
In the years leading up to the Holocaust, for example, many Jews in Europe had possessions and professions that they were not prepared to abandon. Their complexity kept them psychologically trapped until it became too late for a physical escape. Jewish community leaders in America, meanwhile, were frightened to sacrifice the success they had achieved and were therefore powerless to save their brothers overseas. They feared accusations of disloyalty if they were to focus on the “Jewish aspect” of America’s war effort against Germany. And some even feared that a great influx of Jewish refugees would bolster anti-Semitic attitudes within the United States. Partially due to the complexity of the Jewish Diaspora mentality, an opportunity was missed and six million were lost.
A complex person – one who defines himself as the character and not as the actor – is generally not ready for sacrifice because he is frightened to lose that which his character has acquired. While external factors alone do not automatically cause a person to be complex, how that person relates to these factors can easily reveal the extent of his complexity. A rich man fearful of becoming poor is not yet ready for redemption. In times of crisis, such a person would be unwilling to part with his material wealth and comfortable lifestyle.
A wealthy man in touch with his true inner self, however, is willing to risk losing everything he owns. Although he may know how to appreciate worldly goods, they do not define, trap or complicate him. Such a Jew is ready to sacrifice his money at any moment in order to express his inner essence and assume responsibility for the Nation of Israel’s historic mission. Instead of viewing himself as a wealthy individual, he is simply a unique piece of Knesset Yisrael – the giant collective Hebrew soul that reveals itself in space and time through millions of bodies called the Jewish people.
Matzah represents simplicity, which is the true essence of a soul. While the demands of a healthy society often necessitate that people become doctors, soldiers, builders and plumbers, these are only talents acquired in life and not a person’s actual essence. Practicing medicine, fighting wars, constructing homes and installing pipes are things that Jews must often do – especially when rebuilding Hebrew civilization in our homeland – but they can never define who or what a person is. Being simple is therefore the self-awareness of one’s deepest and truest inner essence as a unique spark of the timeless ultimate Reality without end.
While matzah is the bread of affliction, it is also the bread of freedom. One who views himself as simple can never become trapped by complex external factors. He recognizes himself as part of a larger Hebrew collective and, through a perspective psychologically grounded in Jewish history, is able to identify danger on the horizon before it reaches the maturity to strike. So long as one understands his true essence in its simplicity, he cannot be enslaved and is ready for redemption.
The courage of simplicity stems from the understanding that a person has absolutely nothing to lose. He is prepared to risk everything in order to take responsibility for the future of his people. This willingness to sacrifice oneself for the Hebrew Nation and its mission is born out of a love that elevates a soul from the level of the individual to that of the collective. The Maharal explains in Netzaḥ Yisrael that fear is the shell of love and that the stronger a person’s love grows the weaker his fears become.
Fear and selfishness are both symptoms of complexity while love and courage are actually products of simplicity. Fear results from a lack of compassion and paralyzes a person into irresponsible dormancy. But the less fear a person suffers, the more he is willing to sacrifice and the stronger his inner light can shine to the world. The freedom of simplicity that the matzah represents makes him capable of daring action in the face of adversity.
When the Hebrew Nation received a chance to be born out from Egypt, the majority of our people had viewed themselves to be “Egyptian Jews.” They defined themselves according to their complexity and therefore had to perish in the ninth plague of darkness, missing the opportunity to participate in Israel’s national birth. The minority, who defined themselves simply as Israel, snatched the opportunity to experience liberation and receive the Torah at Sinai. They realized that they had nothing to lose because all they really were was Israel and one cannot truly live up to being part of Israel while subsisting in the exile separate from the Hebrew mission. As the redemption process continues to unfold and we are confronted with newer and greater challenges to overcome, we must learn to properly define ourselves and strive to attain a genuine simplicity in order that we may succeed in ingathering our people back to our homeland, establishing the kingdom destined to manifest the Divine Ideal and fulfilling our national mission of shining G-d’s blessing to all of mankind.
