Messianics and the G-d Factor – Pesach
אין חכם כבעל הנסיון (עקידת יצחק, שער יד').
Everyone is familiar with the passage in the Haggadah that says בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאלו הוא יצא ממצרים, that Pesach should not be something imaginary for us, but that in each and every generation we should truly feel that we are reliving the Exodus mamash.
In my lifetime, so far, this has always been a challenge. To try picture in my mind’s eye what it must have been like to be freed after been exiled and enslaved for 210 years, the last 87 of which (Seder Olam) were true slavery and bondage, hard labor, extermination of the firstborns, etc. What the atmosphere must have been like, the sights, the smells, the sounds, the uncertainty, the spiritual elation. I have tried to portray this imagery in many of my shiurim, like three weeks ago in Vayakhel-Pekudei regarding the multitudes of donkeys that accompanied Am Yisrael when they left Egypt.
This year, however, the task is somewhat easier, because אין חכם כבעל הנסיון - the only way to acquire true wisdom, is from personal experience. I do not believe that there is a single ben/bat Torah in Israel (or the world) today, experiencing the current events as they unfold each day anew before our very eyes and not feel a strong sense of déjà vu, a reawakening of something embedded deep in our national consciousness.
As opposed to many who feel that we are witnessing a fast-action-replay of the destruction of the 2nd Beit Hamikdash, I believe with all my heart that what we are currently experiencing is not that at all, but rather a replay of יציאת מצרים. The reality we are currently living through has the markings of Geulah, not Churban. In this shiur I would like to explore this hypothesis and hopefully obtain a deeper understanding of the geopolitical events we are currently experiencing in Israel and in the world.
It is easy to get sucked into the deluge of commentary surrounding the current crisis in Israel regarding the judicial reform by the newly elected, right wing government and the vehement opposition by the left wing. The extremely vocal slogans are pumped out incessantly, 24/7, by the various mainstream media channels, newspapers and social media platforms, heralding (amongst other things) the end of democracy, dictatorship, imminent civil war, military coup, revolution, assassination, demagogy, etc. The one common denominator between all of them - both on the left and on the right - is a focus on the micro and not on the macro. The media lens is primarily focused on the series of events that have transpired in the last 150 years that have “supposedly” led to the current situation. I believe that unless we “widen the angle of the lens” and examine the current reality in light of a broader historical perspective, we will not truly understand what is happening here.
Our national history began long before יציאת מצרים, at the dawn of time. Chazal on the first passuk in the Torah בראשית, say that HKB”H created the world because of the Torah that is called ראשית and Am Yisrael who are called ראשית. This was the purpose of creating the world in the first place. HKB”H created the Torah even before the creation of the world. Chazal say that HKB”H used the Torah as the “blueprint” for creating the world. Am Yisrael as a nation, however, did not materialize until 2448 years after that. When we left Egypt we metamorphosed from a “clan/family” of 70 souls into a nation.
HKB”H’s plan was to reset the world to the state it was in before Adam Harishon sinned. The Midrash says that HKB”H went to every nation in the world, before approaching Am Yisrael and offered them the Torah. Each nation in turn refused to accept it. The Midrash goes on to say that that HKB”H did not place pressure on any of the nations to accept the Torah, He gave them lots of time to think it over, but only after they absolutely refused, did He move on to the next nation, the next, etc., until the only nation that HKB”H had not yet approached was Am Yisrael. The reason for this is that in the future the other nations would never be able to claim “If only we had the Torah, we would have turned out like Am Yisrael”. They were given first choice and refused.
Since the purpose of the creation of the world was the Torah, HKB”H said, “If Am Yisrael, the last nation left to approach, will not accept the Torah, I will undo the world and return it to a state of תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ”. In the end Am Yisrael accepted the Torah willingly, without even asking what was written in it, unlike all the other nations. We signed the “contract” without first having read it. The reason we were able to do so, is because we had it in our DNA – inherited from our forefathers/mothers.
From this point on Am Yisrael became the “chosen” nation, the nation who throughout history, have had the closest connection with G-d than any other nation on earth and who have died, in the untold millions, על קידוש ה', upholding our faith and belief in Him. Being the עם סגולה does not make us “better” or “superior” to other nations. Instead it entails a greater responsibility, to be מתקן עולם and to disseminate HKB”H’s name throughout the world, to be a beacon of light unto the nations, אור לגויים.
This does not mean that throughout history every member of Am Yisrael has stood up to that responsibility. There have been repeated occurrences of failure to fulfill our intended purpose.
If we examine Jewish history from the Exodus onward, it is typified by a sine wave. Am Yisrael have sometimes been at the pinnacle of their stature and at other times at their nadir. The frequency of these waves and crests vary, for example ספר שופטים is a high frequency pattern of waves and crests.
One common characteristic, however, defines the pinnacles and the nadirs – the degree of closeness of Am Yisrael to HKB”H and the Torah. When Am Yisrael were closest to G-d and the Torah, we were at the pinnacle of our stature. When we strayed from G-d and the Torah, we were at our lowest point.
There was only one point in history when the entire nation of Am Yisrael, without exception, was at their pinnacle and that was when we received the Torah on Har Sinai. Before and after that, Am Yisrael has never been unanimous in our closeness to HKB”H. There has always existed a group of dissenters of varying proportions.
I would like to go back now to just before the Exodus. Am Yisrael numbered in the region of 30 million souls. The Torah tells us that 600,000 men between the ages of 20-50 left Egypt. If you include women, children and men over the age of 50, the total population that left was close to 6 million. The Torah also tells us וַחֲמֻשִׁים עָלוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם, only one fifth of the total population of Am Yisrael left Egypt. If 6 million left, that means four fifths, i.e 24 million, did not. What happened to these 24 million?
According to Chazal, despite the fact that they had witnessed untold, overt miracles in Egypt during the Ten Plagues, they had assimilated into the Egyptian culture to such a degree that when they were offered the choice to leave or stay, they chose to stay and not be redeemed. According to the Mefarshim, these 24 million died during the plague of darkness and in the three days of darkness, the 6 million who chose to leave, were busy burying them, out of sight to the Egyptians, so as to not cause a חילול ה'. If we assume that only the 600,000 able-bodied-men were actually involved in digging graves and burying them (women, children and the elderly did not have the physical strength to do this), that means that 600,000 buried 24 million, which means that each person was burying 40 dead, over a three day period, which makes it 13 burials a day per person - digging 13 holes in the ground, burying the people and covering the graves so the Egyptians could not see them.
From a very brief perusal of Google on the subject, the average time it takes two people to dig a grave with a shovel (we should never need it) is around 4 hours (in optimal soil). That means for one person to dig a grave takes 8 hours. 40 times 8 hrs is 13 days. Simple mathematics proves that it is impossible to bury 24 million in 3 days with that manpower.
Therefore, in all likelihood, when Chazal say that four fifths of Am Yisrael died and were buried in Egypt it does not mean that they physically died during the three days, but rather that they died spiritually ונכרתו הנפשות מקרב עמם. That they ceased to be a part of Am Yisrael – the last umbilical cord that connected them to our nation was severed and they became swallowed up among the Egyptians. They died (natural or unnatural deaths at whichever point in their lives) and were buried in Egypt. When the Mefarshim say that they were buried in the three days of the plague of darkness, it means that the one fifth of Am Yisrael who remained faithful to HKB”H, “buried” them in their hearts, they relinquished any emotional ties to them and forgot them. We know what happened to the 6 million who left Egypt, because we are descended from them, but nobody knows what happened to the 24 million who stayed behind. They have been swallowed up in the pages of history without leaving any legacy.
The Mefarshim ask why HKB”H had to rain down Ten Plagues on Egypt? Why not skip to the chase and send one plague מכת בכורות (like Moshe threatened Pharaoh with in the beginning) and save all the bother? The Mefarshim say that the plagues were not for the Egyptians. They were a lesson in emunah for Am Yisrael. HKB”H wanted to give all 30 million souls the chance to make the right choice. HKB”H sent plague after plague, each more spectacular than its predecessor, to make Am Yisrael wake up.
Who were the leaders of Am Yisrael during this time?
In the decades before Moshe returned to Egypt from Midyan, the leader of Am Yisrael was Aharon. There is no human being who loved human beings more than Aharon. Aharon was אוהב שלום ורודף שלום. When Aharon died בית ישראל mourned him for 30 days, as opposed to when Moshe died, the passuk says that בני ישראל mourned Moshe for 30 days. What is the difference between בית ישראל and בני ישראל? The Mefarshim (Rashi, R’ Bachyei and others) say that Aharon was loved by Am Yisrael more than Moshe, because he was a man of peace, he created peace between man and wife and between Jew and Jew.
Then Moshe returned to Egypt and became the leader. Who was Moshe? The passuk says that when Moshe “grew up” (according to the Abarbanel – when he turned 20), he “went out to his brothers”. Before Moshe was forced to flee from Egypt for killing the Egyptian guard, he had grown up in Pharaoh’s palace as a prince, but when he came of age and discovered the suffering of his people, he left the palace and became a “human rights activist” trying to help ease their suffering. The Mefarshim say that amongst other things Moshe convinced Pharaoh to give Am Yisrael one day in the week to rest (Shabbat) “so that their work productivity in the remaining days of the week would be greater”. This is the meaning behind the tefila ישמח משה במתנת חלקו. Moshe could not tolerate injustice. The Torah specifies three cases where Moshe was confronted with injustice. The first was a non-Jew beating a Jew. The second was a Jew beating a Jew. The third was a non-Jew beating a non-Jew. In all cases Moshe took the side of the victim, the underdog. Moshe was a champion of the downtrodden and weak.
Moshe and Aharon, these were the leaders of Am Yisrael in Egypt. You could not find leaders more connected to their people. These two were not politicians with hidden agendas - they were champions of and loved by the people.
Despite the supernatural miracles that Am Yisrael witnessed directly from G-d, despite the optimal character of their leaders, 24 million out of 30 million in Am Yisrael did not wake up. They were so far gone and assimilated, that they could not see what was in front of their very eyes! Despite all the multiple signs and the supernatural miracles, the love of their leaders - they found ways to rationalize it. When offered to the choice to be with HKB”H or against Him, they chose the wrong side. Even the erev rav – non-Jewish converts – chose the right side, but these four fifths of Am Yisrael did not and history has forgotten them.
We have no understanding of Kabbalah and gilgul neshamot, but the Ari z”l says that Moshe questioned HKB”H’s justice when the Egyptians were cementing Jewish children in the foundations of the buildings. HKB”H told Moshe that this was a tikkun for their neshamot, that these children were neshamot from the דור הפלגה that returned to this world for tikkun. Moshe did not listen and decided to save one of the children – Micha. The same Micha who was instrumental in creating the עגל הזהב by throwing the piece of pottery with the words עלה שור that Moshe used to raise Yosef’s coffin from the Nile. Micha kept this piece of pottery as a souvenir and when they were making the עגל, he threw it into the fire.
We might regard four fifths of Am Yisrael being lost as tragic. However, anyone who does is not taking into account the “G-d Factor”. That HKB”H has plans that we are not aware of and that everything that happens is not by chance, but by design that is beyond our understanding.
Fast forward 3335 years.
In the period between יציאת מצרים and now, Am Yisrael has experienced pinnacles and nadirs - David Hamelech, Shlomo Hamelech, the two Batei Hamikdash, the destruction, the exiles, the miracles (Purim, Channukah) the persecutions, the expulsions, the pogroms, the Holocaust, the establishment of the State of Israel, קיבוץ גלויות, the resurgence of Torah study, the wars, the terror attacks. Our history has been a turbulent one.
The survivors of גלות אדום are those who have clung to their belief in HKB”H and the Torah over the centuries. Their descendants rebuilt the Land of Israel and settled it. Yes, this is one of the modern miracles – the rebirth of a nation that everyone had written off. The fact that it is a Divine miracle and orchestrated from Above does not minimize one iota the dedication and mesirut nefesh of those who participated in it. Many of the secular Jews who established the State of Israel were 2nd generation descendants of Torah scholars and observant Jews. Many of them were Torah observant Jews in their childhood who became secular later in life. Many of them were born and remained Torah observant Jews.
The year is 5783. Chazal say that whatever happens, Mashiach and the Geulah will come (בעיתה) before 6000 years are up. That means that whether we like it or not, whether we are deserving of it or not, the Mashiach will arrive in the next 217 years. If we deserve it - it will be before 217 years (אחישנה). We currently have the privilege to be living in the era of the “throes of Mashiach” חבלי משיח. The third and final Geulah, like the first Geulah, יציאת מצרים, will be a “reset of the world”, to the time of Creation before Adam Harishon sinned. That means that many of the “realities” we have come to accept out of habit as “normal” are about to change (or have already changed). Just as in Egypt HKB”H unequivocally revealed Himself and altered the laws of nature, so it will be in the imminent Geulah. Chazal say that the miracles we will experience during the final Geulah will make those in Egypt look like “child’s play”.
In the last century humanity has experienced more upheavals in a short 100 years than at any other equivalent timeframe in history. Two world wars (with perhaps a third in the offing), the technology revolution, the rebirth of the Nation of Israel, two global pandemics, etc…. The last century is “history in hyperdrive” and it shows no signs of slowing down, quite the opposite. As we get closer to the Geulah everything will become more condensed, more “extreme” and upside down to what humanity has come to accept as normal over the millennia in preparation for this “reset of the world”.
Each major upheaval in the last century has ended in Am Yisrael coming one step closer to Geulah. After World War I came the Balfour Declaration. After World War II the State of Israel was established. If there is a WWIII in the near future, in all likelihood, the aftermath of that will result in the actual Geulah and the Mashiach. Perhaps these upheavals are a punishment for the goyim who have been and still are doing everything in their power to prevent the Geulah. Perhaps these חבלי משיח are also some kind of punishment for us because we have not fully realized the enormity of the moment and are not wholeheartedly and sufficiently anticipating and embracing the Geulah unfolding before our very eyes.
The Midrash in פסיקתא רבתי (פרק לו)says –
אמר רבי יצחק, שנה שמלך המשיח נגלה בו כל מלכי האומות העולם מתגרים זה בזה. מלך פרס מתגרה במלך ערביא והולך מלך ערביא לאדום ליטול עצה מהם וחוזר מלך פרס ומחריב את כל העולם כולו וכל אומות העולם מתרעשים ומתבהלים ונופלים על פניהם ויאחוז אותם צירים כצירי יולדה וישראל מתרעשים ומתבהלים ואומרים להיכן נלך ולהיכן נבוא.
The Midrash is describing the year that Mashiach will arrive and מלחמת גוג ומגוג. That it involves מלך פרס (the leader of Iran?) in some way threatening the leader of (Saudi?) Arabia, who goes to find an alliance with Edom (the Christian Western World?) and all this results in some apocalyptic event that creates upheaval in the world.
I have always thought that it was referring to Iran mamash. However, what if פרס does not simply mean Iran alone? What if פרס is rashei teivot for an alliance between 3 nations פרס, רוסיה, סין ? Has anyone been watching the news in the last year? There is an alliance developing between Iran, Russia and China against the USA and Europe with the threat of a third world war in the air. Does that not sound like something of the magnitude of גוג ומגוג?
Five years ago, who would have believed that the entire modern, technological world could be brought to a standstill by a simple virus. Post Covid, there is nobody who does not believe it – we saw it with our own eyes, air traffic shut down worldwide, the global economy thrown into pandemonium and depression.
We are witnessing the crumbling of empires - the European Union, the Russian (illusion of an) empire, the world’s greatest “model” democracies, America and Israel, the demise of the democratic process. HKB”H is showing us how all our man-made political systems are – man-made – and fallible.
What is happening in Israel right now is a small microcosm of that, but it is the purpose of it all. If you look closely, it is a replay of the pre-Exodus period in Egypt. It is a convergence of the age-old choice - do we choose to believe in or reject HKB”H and the Torah? If you strip away the layers and the clutter, that is what it boils down to. It has nothing to do with Bibi, the judicial reform, democracy - this current crisis has just sublimated the real issue to the surface. At its heart it is a struggle between –
and
The VAST majority of Am Yisrael today in Israel fits into the first category. However there is a small minority who falls into the second, anyone who has ignored that fact has recently received a serious wake up call, in Israel and abroad.
We are surprised by the hate we see from these demonstrators who want to “string the charedim up on the electric pylons by their tefillin”, who curse, spit on and attack anyone wearing a kippa in the street, who fly the flags of our enemies in Rabin square. We can see clearly which side really cares about the unity of Am Yisrael and which side doesn’t? Which side does not balk at crossing any and every red line that until now held together the fragile consensus in the country? Which side knows how precious and dear unity is to the other and uses it as a weapon against them?
These Jews who reject G-d would look at this shiur and say it is the ranting of fanatical “messianics”. By definition, every Jew is a fanatical messianic! All Jews, starting from 3800 years ago, daven Shmoneh Esrei three times a day and say ומביא גואל לבני בניהם למען שמו באהבה. That is not fanatical messianism, it is simply Judaism! Just 80 years ago, millions of our fellow Jews marched to the gas chambers singing אני מאמין באמונה שלמה בביאת המשיח. Were they fanatical messianics? Ironically, those who label believing Jews as fanatical messianics, themselves are totally immersed in the Christian Western culture, which is by far more messianic than Judaism - there is greater focus in Christianity on the messiah than on G-d. So who is the “fanatical messianic”, the Jew who believes in G-d and the Torah or the Jew who is totally assimilated into the Christian culture of the goyim?
We are experiencing overt miracles, signs and upheavals in the world today. The question is how we choose to view them. Do we see them for what they really are or do we rationalize and dispel them.
What would happen if tomorrow we witness an unequivocal miracle, an irrefutable display of HKB”H’s power? For example, all around the world, everyone on the planet looks up at the sky and sees letters in blinding fire saying “I am HKB”H, Mashiach is here. Do Tshuva”. In China when they look up at the sky the letters in fire are in Chinese, in France in French, in Argentina in Spanish, etc. broadcast live on every news channel in the world, CNN, Al Jazeera, Fox News, etc …. Would these atheists and agnostics in Am Yisrael be so shaken by such a display that something in their neshama would be stirred and cause them to rethink?
We do not have leaders today of the caliber of Moshe and Aharon (actually we do, they are waiting in the wings ready to emerge when the time is right and are not part of the current political infrastructure).
Even if we did and even if we did experience such a supernatural miracle, the lesson of יציאת מצרים teaches us that regardless, there would still be a proportion of dissenters. Back then it was four fifths of Am Yisrael, today it is a much smaller fraction, but they exist to this very day. When the Geulah does come, these dissenters will choose to not be redeemed. They will probably live out their lives as they chose to, severing all connection with G-d and like the dissenters back then, will be swallowed up amongst the nations and forgotten from history.
Knowing that, what should we, who believe in HKB”H and the Torah, do? Should we write them off as an “acceptable loss”, in the knowledge that it is unlikely that anything we do will influence them?
What everyone is ignoring in the current geopolitical scenario is the “G-d Factor”. Everyone is still immersed in the illusion that they have total power to dictate events. We do not. This is all part of a prophecy and the Hand of G-d at work and very little we do can influence the outcome. When we accept that then we will discover what our true purpose is in this specific time.
Although we are very close, we have not yet arrived at the stage of indisputable, overt miracles, where HKB”H steps out of the נסתר and into the נגלה. We have not yet witnessed the letters of fire in the sky. Only then will we truly know what effect such revelation will have on each and every soul in Am Yisrael, whether it will melt their heart of stone or not. Hearts of stone can be melted – one only need watch the video of the anti-religious demonstrator break down in tears in Bnei Brak when he heard the tune of Shalom Aleichem Malachei Hasharet playing in the streets.
We do not have the right to discount any Jew. Most of the people in the left wing demonstrations are בחזקת אנשי נינוה אשר לא יודעים בין ימינם לשמאלם. We cannot allow ourselves to give up on them. I am not talking about the very, very small group of מסיתים ומדיחים who are not at the demonstrations, but sitting in a closed room somewhere maliciously and meticulously planning and orchestrating a campaign of lies and falsehood, funded by foreign governments and prompted by jealousy, greed and power. They are mamash resha’im and we do not have to defend or condescend to them (Sanhedrin 29a). They are HKB”H’s concern, not ours, He will take care of them. We need to concentrate our efforts on being mekarev the תמימים in Am Yisrael who have been duped by these מסיתים ומדיחים, who still have a faint glimmer of a spark.
There are many mitzvot in the Torah we are commanded to keep זכר ליציאת מצרים. The sefer Ma’ayan Ganim asks “Why does it say זכר ליציאת מצרים, it should say זכר ליציאתנו ממצרים, our leaving Egypt”. The answer he gives is that we are actually not remembering our leaving Egypt, but Egypt leaving us, the culture and mentality of Egypt departing from us and setting us free. Some of us are able to do that on our own, others need Divine intervention.
Our purpose in this (and every) time, is to leave HKB”H’s cheshbonot up to HKB”H and not to interfere with them. It is to simply do what He asks from us – to believe in HKB”H and follow the Torah. To be like Moshe and Aharon and tirelessly strive to save every neshama in Am Yisrael, even those we do not think are worth saving. Our job is to love Am Yisrael – ALL of Am Yisrael, even though we think we know which people are not going to be saved regardless. We don’t know, only HKB”H sees into a person’s heart and only He knows! We need to do our utmost to be mekarev our fellow Jews, every Jew, wayward as they may seem.
We need to be mekarev them not by “watering down” our Yiddishkeit and making it more “attractive” to them (like the Reform do), but by showing them the true, authentic beauty of the Torah. We will mekarev them, not by giving up our principles, quite the opposite – by clinging more closely to our principles. When someone sees a person who is faithful to their principles, they respect them. When they see someone who constantly compromises on his principles they disrespect them. We, the bnei Torah need to do introspection and raise ourselves to a higher standard, eliminating any behavior amongst us that causes chilul Hashem, choosing worthy leaders who draw from and radiate the true beauty of the Torah outwards and do not mechalel Hashem בפרהסיא, who care more about Am Yisrael than their political careers.
We may succeed or not, that is not what matters. What matters is that we tried. What matters is that we do not repeat Noach’s mistake in his generation where all he was worried about was his own daled amot and not mankind.
That is perhaps the test of this generation. Not to see how much Torah we can learn, know and observe, but how much we care that our fellow Jew will also be part of that and dedicate our lives to making that a reality. Each in their own sphere with their own capabilities, each singing their own special “song” that HKB”H placed them in this world to sing. Whether it is saving people trapped under a collapsed building after an earthquake in Turkey. Whether it is studying full time in Yeshiva and becoming a Rosh Yeshiva. Whether it is creating a successful hi-tech company and providing employment for hundreds of people. Whether it is composing and singing a hit song on the radio that inspires thousands. Whether it is writing a book that inspires hundreds. Whether it is caring for an aged parent or a disabled child. Whether it is teaching a new generation of children grammar. Everyone has their own song to sing. All HKB”H asks is that we sing it for His Glory and not for our own! That is the true Kiddush Hashem.
As we celebrate Pesach this year, we are especially privileged to be living the Geulah, to witness it unfolding it before our eyes. The Geulah is coming soon regardless. We need to concentrate intensely on saving as many neshamot as we possibly can, while there is still time - each in his/her own sphere, in or out of Eretz Israel.
I will conclude with the continuation of the above Midrash in פסיקתא רבתי –
ואומר להם בניי אל תתייראו, כל מה שעשיתי לא עשיתי אלא בשבילכם מפני מה אתם מתייראים? אל תיראו, הגיע זמן גאולתכם. ולא כגאולה ראשונה כך גאולה אחרונה, כי גאולה ראשונה היה לכם צער ושיעבוד מלכיות אחריה, אבל גאולה אחרונה אין לכם צער ושיעבוד מלכיות אחריה. שנו רבותינו בשעה שמלך המשיח נגלה, בא ועומד על הגג של בית המקדש והוא משמיע להם לישראל ואומר להם - ענוים הגיע זמן גאולתכם ואם אין אתם מאמינים ראו באורי שזרח עליכם, שנאמר קומי אורי כי בא אורך וכבוד ה' עליך זרח.
Chag sameach ve’kasher
