Tag: Redemption

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Mike Pence, Israel, and the Final Redemption

There are moments when we recognize that the world is shifting and that something momentous is happening. We all have our view of the future and what it will be.  Those of us who are believers tend to have varied accounts of the End of Days.  Despite the many interpretations of Biblical passages dealing with the final Redemption all agree on the main points.  These involve a return of the people of Israel to their ancestral homeland within the borders of their ancient Kingdom.  This return appears to occur after millenia of years wandering in exile.  The Land which lay fallow suddenly sprouts again and more than that the People of Israel become a leading force for good throughout the whoe world.  Of course there are prophecies and accounts of trepidation as envisioned in multiple chapters in Zecharia and Ezekiel, but there is not saying to what extent these prophecies must occur because each prophet spoke in generalities.

Most of the prophecies detailing the return of the Jewish people to their Divinely ordained homeland have occurred.  The miraculous wars fought against all odds and the continuing ingathering of the exiles and now the next stage which appears to be about locating and integrating the lost tribes back into Israel is already well under way.

The 70th Year Marks a Crossing Point

The number 70 in Judaism is a critical number.  Our sages recognize it as an end of one stage and a beginning of the next.  70 played an important role at the end of the first exile when it was clear that King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Israel after 70 years just as the prophets said he would.

We are now at an important inflection point in world history.  This is the 70th year since Israel’s founding and we have a President and Vice President in America that not only won the election last year in miraculous fashion, but seem to understand that they are meant to play a pivotal role in history.

Mike Pence knows the Bible and with this knowledge it is no surprise that when he spoke at the Knesset yesterday he mentioned the number 70 and its connection to the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal capital.

Mike Pence spoke on this fact with the following words:

“Seventy years ago, the United States was proud to be the first nation in the world to recognize the State of Israel.  But as you well know, the work we began on that day was left unfinished, for while the United States recognized your nation, one administration after another refused to recognize your capital.

But just last month, President Donald Trump made history.  He righted a 70-year wrong; he kept his word to the American people when he announced that the United States of America will finally acknowledge Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. 

The Jewish people’s unbreakable bond to this sacred city reaches back more than 3,000 years.  It was here, in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, that Abraham offered his son, Isaac, and was credited with righteousness for his faith in God.

It was here, in Jerusalem, that King David consecrated the capital of the Kingdom of Israel.  And since its rebirth, the modern State of Israel has called this city the seat of its government.”

The Vilna Gaon said that the final redemption will occur in a similar fashion as the redemption during the Second Temple period. That is up until the very end.  Pence paid homage to the very fact that the people of Israel are the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  He made a clear connection to the miraculous rise of the Nation of Israel in its historic homeland to the final redemption.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslev clearly states that the end will not begin on Pesach, but rather Purim.  He is not talking about actual dates, but concepts. Purim is about the miraculous wrapped within the guise of the mundane.  So too now.  What seems like simple politics is the Redemption literally unfolding in front of our eyes.

Esav’s Head Can Be Rectified While Its Body Dies

Our sages teach us that the Roman Empire and the subsequent Catholic Church and now the decadent morality of the Western World are the outgrowth of Esav, Jacob’s brother.  Yet there is a curious midrash, which details the burial of Jacob and the subsequent decapitation of Esav (who tried to stop it).  Esav’s head mysteriously rolled into the Cave of the Patriarchs along with Jacob’s body.

We know from extra biblical sources that Esav knew and believed in Torah and the Creator, but his body’s lusts and drives overtook his reasoning and drove his decisions.  The midrash I detailed above indicates that at the end Esav’s head can be and will be redeemed and come to Jacob’s aid.

There is no question about it. America is far different from any other nation aside from Israel.  In the cosmic archetype structure of the universe, the European drive to destroy Israel as well as individual freedom appears to be analogous to Esav’s body.  Juxtaposed to this is America, which sought out to redeem and return Christianity to its original source.

Pence said the following in regards to America’s special reverence to the Bible and Christianity’s Hebrew roots:

“My country’s very first settlers also saw themselves as pilgrims, sent by Providence, to build a new Promised Land.  The songs and stories of the people of Israel were their anthems, and they faithfully taught them to their children, and do to this day.  And our founders, as others have said, turned to the wisdom of the Hebrew Bible for direction, guidance, and inspiration.

America’s first President, George Washington, wrote with favor to “the children of the stock of Abraham.”  Our second President, John Adams, declared that the Jews, in his words, “have done more to civilize man than any other nation.”

And your story inspired my forebears to create what our 16th President called a “new birth of freedom.”  And down through the generations, the American people became fierce advocates of the Jewish people’s aspiration to return to the land of your forefathers to claim your own new birth of freedom in your beloved homeland.” 

With Esav’s cosmic head now severed from its decadent European body, the American ideal can be restored to its true roots.  While European leaders deny the miraculous return of the Jewish people to their homeland, Americans do the opposite.  Mike Pence said as much with the following:

“The Jewish people held fast to a promise through all the ages, written so long ago, that “even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens,” from there He would gather and bring you back to the land which your fathers possessed.

Through a 2,000-year exile, the longest of any people, anywhere, through conquests and expulsions, inquisitions and pogroms, the Jewish people held on to this promise, and they held on to it through the longest and darkest of nights.  A night that Elie Wiesel proclaimed “seven times sealed.”  A night that transformed the small faces of children into smoke under a silent sky.  A night that consumed the faith of so many and that challenges the faith of so many still.

And tomorrow, when I stand with my wife at Yad Vashem to honor the 6 million Jewish martyrs of the Holocaust, we will marvel at the faith and resilience of your people, who just three years after walking beneath the shadow of death, rose up from the ashes to resurrect yourselves, to reclaim a Jewish future, and to rebuild the Jewish state.  

And this April, we will mark the day when the Jewish people answered that ancient question — can a country be born in a day, can a nation be born in a moment? — as the State of Israel celebrates the 70th anniversary of its birth.  

As you prepare to commemorate this historic milestone, I say, along with the good people of Israel, here and around the world: Shehecheyanu, v’kiyimanu, v’higiyanu la’z’man ha’zeh.” 

Never during exile have we the Jewish people, the Children of Israel received such praise and admiration and offers of true partnership to fulfill the Creator’s will.  It is precisely this that seems to indicate that we may not be in exile anymore.  The 70 years since the creation of the State of Israel is almost up.  It is this 70 years that was a transition between exile and redemption.

We have been so busy building our nation that it takes rightous gentiles yearning to be part of G-D’s grand plan to tell us what is happening before us.  The Nation of Israel is meant to be a light to the world; a magnet for others to come and join us for the work ahead.  The next stage of the Redemption is this work.

 

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Longing for Redemption

Throughout most of the year, we are satisfied and grateful as we appreciate the redemption process unfolding before our eyes. The return of Jewish self-determination following nearly two thousand years of exile, the Land of Israel bearing her fruits after being barren for so long and the revival of the Hebrew language as a spoken vernacular are only three of the many wondrous feats that have graced us in the modern age. And although the re-born State of Israel is still far from perfect and often requires a deeper vision to recognize the Hebrew Kingdom developing to fruition beneath the surface despite all of the challenges that exist, our general attitude must be positive as we acknowledge the historic significance of our generation and express gratitude to HaShem for the miracles performed on our behalf.

But once a year we take time to recognize how much of the redemption is still incomplete as we mourn the destruction of our Temple and the Jewish people’s lack of complete national freedom. On the one hand, we see the goal – that amazing revolution in reality that is moving the world towards what it was always meant to be. We see the Divine Ideal from before Creation sprouting forth as Israel experiences a national renaissance on our native soil.

At the same time, however, during these sorrowful days, we remember how much of that absolute goal is still absent from our reality – how the Temple has yet to be rebuilt, how much of our country has yet to be liberated from foreign rule, how submissive our leaders behave to the demands of foreign powers, how socioeconomic injustices plague our society, how unbridgeable the gaps seem between Israel and our neighbors, how rampant corruption appears to permeate our political system and how many of our people still live in exile by choice.

This recognition of what is currently lacking is itself part of the appreciation we feel throughout the entire year. The true understanding of redemption can only be perceived when we are able to see where the process is going, what great historic objective is about to be attained and how much we still have to work for its completion. This understanding of the State of Israel’s deficiencies is what gives us the ability to value our achievements – to appreciate the foundations that have already been built.

Three weeks, nine days and then finally one day a year we remember and experience anguish for what is still not complete and how much of a struggle still awaits us. Because of how much the world is suffering today and how great and amazing Israel’s complete redemption will be, we are overcome with grief for what the world is still waiting for – that perfect, ultimate rectification of existence that will bring the world to levels of blessing and perfection beyond what humankind can even currently comprehend.

In his introduction to Musar Avikha, Rabbi Avraham Yitzḥak HaKohen Kook writes that “As long as a person does not learn for himself the lofty essence of the soul of man and the loftiness of the soul of Israel and the elevated value of Eretz Yisrael, as well as the longing and yearning every Jew must feel for the building of the Temple and the redemption of Israel, it is almost impossible to experience the taste of Divine worship.”

If one does not understand the true essence of Am Yisrael or experience a desire for the return of G-D’s Temple, he probably cannot help but find daily prayers somewhat monotonous. All of the requests in the Amidah are directed toward superior ideals – the full expression of the Nation of Israel in our land and the entire system of everything in this world as it was always meant to be. But if one does not appreciate the significance and true grandeur of these things and only drearily says the words because they are written in the book, he may justifiably wonder why tefillah feels so dry. If he has not learned and clarified for himself the value of these vehicles – what they do for the world and reality and all of humanity, then the words of the prayers will feel meaningless, as they do not genuinely stem from the depths of his soul.

When instructing us to serve HaShem with all of our hearts, the Torah is referring specifically to tefillah. As it would be ridiculous to assume that the Kadosh Barukh Huactually needs our prayers, the obligation to engage in the activity three times a day is clearly for the sake of something beneficial to us. Tefillah serves as a thrice-daily exercise session for our ratzon (will power) and an examination for the true quality of our lives. It is the essential instrument for measuring how much we link up to HaShem – how much our conscious will is aligned with the will of our Divine Source.

By exercising our will three times a day, tefillah helps us to properly internalize and direct our lives towards the national aspirations of the Jewish people. The true intensity and quality of our lives as Jews can be determined successful when that which we read from the siddur is actually close to our hearts. When healing for the sick, the ingathering of our exiles, the restoration of justice, the rebuilding of the Temple and universal peace are the concerns that regularly occupy our thoughts and deeds, we can be confident that we truly want that which HaShem wants and we are then able tol’hitpallel with true attachment and devotion.

Sincere tefillah logically stems from the emptiness we feel at the absence of that which we request. If one occupies himself with the study of Torah and clarifies for himself what is yet to be achieved, he will begin to feel pain for what is missing from our world. He will become thirsty with yearnings for redemption and recite the tefillot from the depths of his heart. In order to feel this emptiness, however, one must know and appreciate the true value of Israel’s redemption and what blessing and refinement it brings to Creation.

Rabbi Moshe Ḥaim Lutzatto writes in Mesillat Yesharim that a person should feel constant, almost physical pain for the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jewish people. But how many of us are so consciously unified with Israel’s collective soul that in these days before the ninth of Menaḥem Av we feel the anguish of the Hebrew Nation and what is lacking from our reality? How many of us are so sensitive to the humiliation of Israel and to the accompanying concealment of HaShem’s Ideal for this world that we actually suffer this torment in the depths of our very beings? If we could understand the reality of what the world is actually missing, we would not be able to concern ourselves with what we can or cannot eat, buy or listen to during this period of national mourning.

To truly feel the deficiency in the world around us, we must learn to recognize the magnitude of the redemption unfolding in our times and be able to appreciate that which has already been accomplished. Only with this appreciation are we able to comprehend what is still missing from the process and what we must do to effectively participate in transforming the ninth of Av from a day of mourning to a festival of unparalleled joy.

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HAVE WE HAVE ARRIVED? Israel, Syria, and the Final Redemption

Isaiah 17:1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

The above verse has been rolled out over and over again since the Syrian civil war began six years ago.  The verse offers an important sign that indicates the final stage of the redemption of the Nation of Israel at the End of Days. Now, with tensions rising between the USA and Russia over President Trump’s shooting of 59 missiles into Syrian territory, the above verse has become extremey significant.

With those 59 missiles Donald Trump not only recalibrated the Syrian conflict, he has changed his and in turn America’s relationship with the Putin regime in Russia to one of possible rapproachment to nearing open conflict.

King Solomon says the following in the book of Proverbs:

21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD as the watercourses: He turneth it whithersoever He will.

We believers know that a leader has no true will power of his own when it comes to global affairs and so the Trump White House no matter the promises before the election of not getting involved in Syria is now involved. Trump is not the sort of president to back down and there is no position Russia or Iran could retreat to in order to compromise with the USA on Assad’s future.  Given this, the conflict in Syria has become the trigger for something far bigger.

In ancient days Damascus was always the thorn in the side of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This ongoing tug of war between the Kingdom of Israel and Aram and later Assyria played itself out in much of the book of Kings.  The State of Israel at this stage is a representation of that Kingdom, with only the Messiah representing the return of the Davidic Kingdom of Judah.  Furthermore we understand that Damascus falling at the End of Days is equally important, not just for the rectification that needs to occur in relation to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, but because of the way in which this once great city becomes no more.

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The Bible is replete with accountings of a final war between the Nations of the World. Although this war is global, it is also connected to the Land of Israel.  The modern State of Syria, at least the area of Syria and Lebanon up to the Euphrates River fell within the Davidic Kingdom and will be part of that reconstituted Kingdom at the End of Days.

The Nations of the World duke it out in and around the Land of Israel just prior to the Messiah’s arrival.  It is this war that spreads out from a collapsing Damascus that lays the foundation for a new era.  It is once again the principal of chaos to order, we see thoughout the Creation and expressed so beautifuly in the beginning of the Torah and its accounting of the Creation of the World. We are entering a period of intense chaos, one which will lead to a new order.

Syria, Passover, Rebbe Nachman, and the Ongoing Redempion

Every year we find ourselves back at the Seder and yet every year there seems to be a new set of personal, national, and global challenges.  Passover is our time to feel that our personal and national freedom is guided by the Almighty.

Each one of us sees the world and the chaos that flows throughout it as a threat to our very existence.  Yet, the opposite is true.  The chaos is an opportunity.  This chaos will settle and afterwards there will be a new order and set of rules for the world to follow. Yet, just like the time of the first redemption we did not know when the chaos would end, we drew comfort in following Moses, the one true leader of the generation. However, it was not Moses alone. The Midrash teaches that it was in fact the bones of Joseph who the Nation of Israel carried out of Egypt and went in front of it that led to the Sea splitting.

We are at the proverbial sea again. There are nations all around us.  Some are fighting eachother and others are preparing to attack us.  We have no where to go and yet we wonder in which form our salvation will come. The politicians want us to believe it is they who we should trust, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches that the Messiah will conquer the world without firing a shot.  How does this happen? We know the redemption from Egypt is a prototype for the final redemption.  The chaos of the world around us is nothing other than the clearing of the deck to make way for a far higher consciousness to prevail. The boundaries and order established by the elites are crumbling. The false kingdom is being laid to waste.

Damascus, who challenged the Kingdom of Israel thousands of years ago, essentially challenging the Creator’s plan, will now be destroyed as the empires of the world take one final swipe at eachother before their reign comes to an end.

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Rebbe Nachman said his fire wil burn until the coming the Messiah. Those who opposed his leadership just over 200 years ago, thought the statement was mad. Yet, it is Rebbe Nachman and his teachings who have penetrated the mainstream Jewish conciousness in a way that could have never been imagined even 20 years ago. As the world of lies continues to crumble, the world of truth prepares to be revealed.

Passover instills us with a deep faith that all is in the hands of the Almighty and all will be good no matter the chaos that seems to be ovetaking us.  Syria is the trigger for the final war. Rebbe Nachman teaches that simple faith in the Almighty is the key to the final redemption.  Now more than ever we too need to cling to the faith that all is for the best just as we did during the very first Passover thousands of years ago.

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Redemption Requires Israel to Shed its Slave Mentality

“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.’” (SHEMOT14:10– 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 endure the Egyptian yoke and they possessed a low soul. Being weak and unaccustomed to warfare, how could they now fight against their masters? We see that Amalek came with a small force and, if not for Moshe’s tefillah, 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 departing 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 can help 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 toEretz 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 regards to Rabbi Kalisher’s last point, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Ḥarlop – a prominent disciple of Rabbi Avraham Yitzḥak HaKohen Kook and former head of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav – teaches in the sixth volume of Mei Marom (Mayanei HaYeshua) that initial gentile support for Israel’s return to our land must eventually give way to hostility from the international community in order facilitate a later stage of the redemption process that will force the Jewish people to become independent through the realization that our strength and security stem not from alliances with other nations but directly from our relationship with the Kadosh Barukh Hu.

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 ofEretz 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 Eretz Yisrael] 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 the learned helplessness of the Diaspora. 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.

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Trump, Israel, and the Final Redemption

Today is the day.  The unlikely rise of Donald Trump, from building mogul, reality TV Star to the highest office in America has been the story of the past year.  Pundits counted him out, the left thought he was a clown, and his own party wanted nothing to do with him. Yet, he succeeded in a near miraculous fashion.

Jewish history is ripe with unexpected events, historical anomalies, and non-Jewish political leaders lending a hand to help push the long march towards redemption.  It is not lost on anyone that Trump’s rise is more than just about a flamboyant entertainer unexpectedly rising to the top.  Trump’s daughter and son-son-law are both observant Jews who support Israel in an unwavering fashion.  Some of Trump’s closest friends are both orthodox and highly supportive of Israel’s permanent return to all of its historic homeland.

While all of the above makes a Trump Presidency truly historic for those who support the Jewish return to all of the nation of Israel’s ancestral homeland, there is something far deeper going on.

America is Different

The Founding Fathers of America understood that there is a Creator to all things; an active G-d which is involved with the history of the world.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

By naming the Creator as the source of our rights Jefferson was hooking the destiny of America with that of the Bible.  The Founder Fathers believed their destiny was so bound up with the Hebrew Bible that there were those among them that wanted to make Hebrew the official language of America.  Afterall Adams and others were considered to be Hebraists, which was a movement that sought to reconnect Christianity to its roots in Judaism.

The final redemption is about mankind recognizing that the Creator and his Torah are the source and building blocks for all.  Trump may not be politically correct.  He may be thrice married and expresses himself in a way liberals scoff at, but he understands the roots of America’s greatness.  This greatness unlike its European counterparts, is America’s connection to the G-d of Israel, which goes back even before the Declaration of Independence.

While Europe has done everything in its power to rid itself of Christianity’s Hebrew roots, America has done the opposite and embraced them.

Eisav’s Head is Burried with the Patriarchs

There is a midrash (tanaic story from the time of the Mishna) that relates to Eisav coming to the Cave of the Patriarchs when Jacob’s sons come to bury him. Chushim the son of Dan quickly lobbed his head off.  The head rolled into the cave and is buried with Israel’s patriarchs and matriarchs.

The sages of the Torah teach that Rome is the expression of the exile of Eisav in the world.  Rome became Christian and spent centuries attempting to sever Christianity from its source. Now at the End of Days, the midrash makes more sense than ever.  Eisav’s head was always “kosher,” while his body, not.  America has a unique role in reconnecting “the head” of Eisav to its Israelite source while disconnecting it from its pagan influence, which is drawn from the decadent liberal culture flowing from the main stream media, Europe, and American universities.

The battle between Israel and the world is far more to do with reaffirming a direct connection to the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and spreading their teachings to the world.  Far too many Jews have forgotten that this is Israel’s mission. Ironically, Americans understand that they too can share in this mission by lending a hand to the Jews that do embrace the covenant of their forefathers.

On a subconscious level, this is what angers those who oppose Trump. At a base level they desire to break America’s bonds with its Hebrew roots, because they themselves are fearful of the responsibility such roots carry with them.

At the End of Days, just before the Redemption as Israel returns to its Land, the prophecies are unfolding as written. There is another midrash that clearly states: Eisav will return the Crown of Torah to Israel. It does not say Israel will take its crown, but rather it will be returned to it, connotating a partnership.

Trump and America appear ready to stand up to the global elite and fulfill the USA’s mandate to be a partner in redeeming Israel and all of mankind, that is if those that oppose the new President don’t try to uproot the source of its wellbeing first.