Redemption Now

Parshas Vayechi — A Closed Portion

Parshas Vayechi is considered a closed portion because in the sefer torah, the space preceding each Torah portion is missing from this parshah. The Sages explain that this absence reflects G-d's preventing  Yaakov's from revealing the time of the redemption to his sons before his passing.  Another teaching of our Sages  states that the coming of the redemption depends upon the Jewish people's return to G-d. If so, then the final redemption does not have a true date. Rather, we have the power to bring the redemption at any time, on any date.

— Minchah Belulah

The Rock of Israel

 

מִשָּׁם רֹעֶה אֶבֶן יִשְׂרָאֵל

 

 

 

The Shem - Moshiach Connection

We find in Breishis 10:10 -  “These are the descendants of Shem,” and then comes the list of the ten generations from Shem to Avraham — Shem, Arpachshad, Shelach, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nachor, Terach, and Avraham.

Earlier, another set of ten generations appears spanning the period from Adam to Noach — there, after each name it says “and he died.” But in Breishis 11:10, that phrase is conspicuously absent for Shem’s descendants.

" You will not find the word “death” mentioned with any of Shem’s descendants listed here, unlike the list from Adam to Noach. Perhaps the reason is that the kingdom of David (i.e., Moshiach) descends from Shem, and Moshiach will not die—he will live forever. "

— Rabbeinu Bachya 

#Noach #Genealogies #Moshiach

Sources: Genesis 5; Genesis 11:10–26; Rabbeinu Bachya

The Three Promised Lands

When G-d  made a covenant with Abraham, He said (Genesis 15:18): “I have given your offspring this land from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. After that, in the Torah (15:19-21) the lands of ten peoples are listed: the Kenyans, the Knesites, the Kadmonites, the Hitites, the Prizeans, the Rephaim, the Emorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

RASHI comments that ten nations are listed here, but He gave only the lands of seven peoples to the Jews (see Devarim 7:1), and the lands of three other peoples - Edom, Moab and Amun (they are also Knanim, Knizim, and Kadmonim) - will become the property of the Jewish people in the future. As it is said (Isaiah 11:14): "Edom and Moab are subject to them, and the sons of Amun are subject to them."

The question arises: where are these three lands that we will receive in the future?

In the Jerusalem Talmud there is a dispute on this topic: Rabbi Yehuda says that these are Arabia, Salmiya and Nabatiyeh. Rabbi Shimon believes that these are Asia, Spain and Damascus. Rabbi Eliezer son of Yaakov believes that these are Asia, Carthage (Tunisia) and Turkey. And according to Rabbi, this is Edom, Moab and the beginning of Ammon, and RASHI thinks so.

In any case, according to Rebbe SHLITA King Moshiach, during the Redemption, the peoples of the world will themselves give all these lands to the Jews and there will be no need to fight for this.

Chabad in Dubai

Revealing  Chabad’s Activities in Dubai

By Rabbi Sholom Lougov

(Original article: https://www.moshiach.ru/view/profile/17357.html)

 

On August 13, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreed to fully normalize relations. So now we can openly state that an emissary of the Rebbe  King Moshiach has been operating in the Emirates for many years ...

 

If it had occurred to you last week to type in the name "Israel Buchbinder" in a Google search, you would not see a single result. And this despite the fact that Rabbi Israel Buchbinder has been the envoy of the Lubavitcher Rebbe SHLITA King Moshiach in the Jewish community of Dubai for nine years! Until last week, very few people knew about this and even more so, this was not publicized since the United Arab Emirates is a Muslim country which until recently,  would bar entry to someone with an Israeli passport. Although Rav Buchbinder had an American passport with him, all these years he carefully concealed information about himself.

 

A historic event happened last week - on August 13, 2020, Israel officially announced a peace agreement with the UAE, and I immediately remembered an article entitled “Our Man in Dubai” which was published two years ago without mentioning names and with the faces concealed in photographs. ..

 

The hour is approaching when the Israelis will begin flying from Tel Aviv to Dubai, and now we can already name the secret heroic emissaries by name. In addition to R. Buchbinder, another emissary, Rabbi  Levi Duchman from New York is active as well.  He has opened a Jewish school for the children of the businessmen in the city. Overall, about 1,500 Jews live in the UAE today.

 

It all started many years ago when Shimon and Sharon, a young Jewish couple from London, decided to move to Dubai for bisiness. Their relatives were very surprised and tried to dissuade them from this decision, but Sharon, who was born in the Middle East, did not see this as a problem. Of course, Shimon and Sharon had to hide their Jewishness in public, so for a while they felt like Esther in the palace of Achashverosh. In their first year, they would meet local Jews and become friends with them. But there was no community as such in the city.

 

A year later, when the couple were awaiting the birth of their first child, they felt the need for a real Jewish community - with a synagogue, a Torah scroll, festival  prayers, etc. When they were on vacation in Sri Lanka, they met the local envoy of the Rebbe , Rabbi M. Crombie and shared their concerns with him. He decided to help them and started looking for yeshiva students who would agree to travel to a Muslim country. In the end, he found two - they  Israel Buchbinder (with an American passport) and Shuki Gur (with a Canadian one). At first they were very apprehensive facing  the unknown, but after clearing customs,  they gradually calmed down.

 

This trip was very dangerous, since shortly before that a well-known Arab terrorist had been liquidated in Dubai (presumably by Israeli special services).

 

Fortunately, everything went well and the two young men  arrived in Dubai two days before Yom Kippur. Their meeting with local Jews took place on the 32nd floor of a luxurious building in the apartment of one of the businessmen,  overlooking the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah.

 

On this day, a Jewish community was born in Dubai. More than 50 people came to the prayer services and were pleasantly surprised to see so many of their fellows. Most were businessmen who had come to Dubai, but there were also locals. One of them, a Jew named Levi, said that his parents always called him by the Arabic name Tariq and he was constantly sad because he had to hide his Jewishness. One fine day he got tired of behaving like that and he began to tell all his friends and acquaintances that he was a Jew. Some turned away from him, but in the end he stopped being sad and depressed and turned into a happy and joyful person.

 

Hanukkah in Dubai

 

Israel and Shuki spent about ten days in Dubai, subsequent to that, they came for Hanukkah and brought prayer books, mezuzahs and Hanukkah menoras with them. This time they also visited Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirates, located on an island off the coast in the Persian Gulf.  Abu Dhabi is a major hub for business and oil exports. There,  they published the book "Tania" at the instructions of the Rebbe.

 

After that Rabbi Buchbinder repeatedly visited Dubai, spreading the light of the Torah and Hasidism there. At Hasidic gatherings  with local Jews, he spoke about the prophecy of the Rebbe, King Moshiach  regarding the coming Redemption, inspiring  the listeners.

 

One woman invited him to her house to  study Torah  with her son Torah. At the end of the lesson, she said that she wanted to show something to the Rabbi and took him to the end of the hallway. Rabbi Buchbinder  was shocked to see  a huge oil portrait of the Rebbe. The woman, in her simplicity, said that every morning she’d face the portrait of the Rebbe and ask to intercede  on  her son’s behalf, so that with the help of the Almighty he would grow up to be a good Jew.

 

Another Jewish person, who has lived in Dubai for thirty years, said that his sister married a Lebanese Arab and converted to Islam. She had fought with the Arab constantly for several years. Suddenly she called this person and asked to put up a mezuza…at her. He replied that a Rabbi had just arrived here who had mezuzahs and  Rabbi Buchbinder happily supplied a mezuzah to her.

 

So that no one should think that life in the Emirates is problem-free, Shuki Gur told me that when he was leaving Dubai for the first time and feeling safe, a security officer stopped him at the customs at the airport and showed him a printout with a detailed record  of all of his movements in Dubai. Only then did he realize how dangerous their mission was and how the Rebbe King Moshiach was watching over them while they were there.

Guarded Wine

At the end of the Grand Messianic Banquet in the future, G-d will turn to the Tzaddikim and request that they bentch Birkas HaMazon. They will all refuse except for Dovid HaMelech who will say “I will bless.” "As it says – “The cup of salvation I will carry.” They will then let him lead the zimun (invitation) on a cup of blessing filled with the Guarded Wine - Yain HaMeshumar (כוסי רויה ) That cup will contain 221 lugin of wine (approximately 18 gallons), the gematria of רויה is 221! The world is created for 6000 years. The new year is 5779, meaning there are 221 years left.

The Vilna Gaon on Moshiach

This is what the GR”A – the VILNA GAON, the leading opponent of Chassidus in his time (1720-1797), writes about Moshiach (Sefer Kol HaTor, Ch. 2 par. 75, Ch. 2:2, 4:1), check marks indicate how this matches up to the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

1. Moshiach Ben Yosef will teach Pnimiyus HaTorah (essential Torah secrets, i.e. chassidus). √
2. Moshiach will reach out to non-Jews (7 Laws of Bnei Noach). √
3. Moshiach will begin the preparations for the Redemption. √
4. Moshiach will be hidden before he completes the process (3 Tammuz). √
5. At that point, a period of darkness and confusion will ensue. √
6. The nations, particularly Yishmael, will intensify their false claims against Eretz Yisroel and Jerusalem in particular. √

Additionally, he writes "when the situation seems hopeless, Moshiach Ben Dovid will appear to resurrect Moshiach ben Yosef, and the process of redemption will be completed by them both”

Moshiach Ben David and Moshiach Ben Yosef are NOT two separate Moshiachs at all. According to such notables as Rav Chaim Vital, Moshiach ben David and Moshiach ben Yosef are terms that represent different aspects of one and the same individual. (Sefer Chizyonos p. 106). We are left with the following scenario: One Moshiach will arise to prepare the world for redemption for forty years after which he will die, only to return in resurrection to complete the job.

Moshiach and Geula

IN CASE OF MOSHIACH BREAK GLASS

Anshie Kagan's  sculpture, “IN CASE OF MOSHIACH BREAK GLASS,” scheduled to be auctioned December 16 at Kestenbaum & Company. Anshie  is a young Boston-born Orthodox Jewish artist currently residing in Brooklyn who attended Lakewood Cheder, Mesivta Pe’er Hatorah and Manhattan’s Fashion Institute of Technology.  He renders a unique take on a traditional principle of faith: a sculpture – a wooden box 36” x 12” x 12”, painted red, with a classic metal hammer on a chain attached and a glass front with the words: IN CASE OF MOSHIACH BREAK GLASS.  Behind the glass is a

full-sized shofar, because, says Anshie, “Moshiach will use a shofar to announce his arrival.”

The piece screams for attention, much like the old-style fire alarm boxes we used to see on street corners.

The matters of 22

 We're in the year 22 counting from Gimmel Tammuz, 5754. Below are some musings on the significance of the number 22 as elucidated by R. Elie Soble.



1. Yaakov was away from his parents for 22 years.

2. Yosef and Yakov were separated for 22 years. 

3. For 22 years Dovid Hamelech didn't have his Ruach Hakodesh. 

4. For 22 years Rabbi Akiva had to do a special avoda (described in Tana dbei Eliyahu). 

5. For 22 years one of the Neviem Yirmiyahu (?) was giving warning. 

6. After 22 years Yosef and Yehuda joined which is the sod of Geula. 

7.  When Yakov wanted to reveal the keitz (final deadline),  his Ruach hakodesh disappeared which is the final hint, that the final real keitz is tied to 22 years. This year the concealment ends.

What made Yosef be hidden for 22 years? He told his brothers he was the Melech and they didn't believe him. But in the end Yosef always has rachmonos.

The Rebbe explains in  sichos that  it is the Rebbetzin who binds together the Rebbe and the Previous Rebbe enabling the dirah btachtonim to manifest to fruition. The Previous Rebbe as described by the Rebbe as the Yosef of our generation. And there is a sicha which the Rebbe  describes the Previous Rebbe this way and explains how Yosef gave years of his life to Dovid HaMelech because he knew Moshiach Ben Dovid would return the favor and give life, techiya, to Moshiach Ben Yosaf.

8. It was Yechezkel whose Nevuo's spanned a 22 year period at the beginning warnings to the Bnei Yisroel - but then culminating in Nevuo's about wars and destruction in places to the North of Israel i.e.  Lebanon, Egypt, etc.

9.  Finally,  at the end of 22 years his Nevua was about the full Gilui of Moshiach. 

10. Rabbi Akiva's 22 years was that he had to learn from but also serve Nochum Ish Gam Zu,  the letters comprising the name Akiva are similar letters to Yaakov.

11. It is stated in the name of the Arizal Ha'Chai that these 22 years by Akiva were part of the tikkun for Yaakov's 22 years. These two Tzaddikim , R' Akiva and Nochum Ish Gam Zu - sat together for 22 years - what is one of the main teachings both have given us in their own way? How to deal with manifest adversity. Gam Zu L'tova and Kol D'a'vid Rachmona L'tav Avid.

The direct path to the Redemption

Moshiach's Color

Moshiach in the Tanach is referred to sometimes as a leper. About leprosy the Torah says (Lev. 13:2): "When a person has on his flesh…." The word for "person" is Adam. The Arizal explains that Adam is the most lofty label for a person and refers to an all-inclusive soul. Even Moses is generally referred to in the Torah as Ish (man), this has a more individual connotation. If Moses is an Ish, the Arizal concludes, then the only candidate for the higher title Adam is Moshiach, the quintessential all-inclusive soul. But why is he a leper?

The Moshiach Tsunami

This is an excerpt from an address by R. Adin Steinsaltz on the occasion of the Rebbe's  centennial in 2002. It mentions tsunami and is dated  March 11.  March 11, 2011 is, of course,  when a devastating tsunami hit Japan.

The full article is here.

"...When we speak about the coming of Moshiach, we speak about a mega-event, a major phenomenon that changes everything. We may not be fully prepared and we don't know the how, what, or when of this event, but we are talking about major changes. One of the consequences of this statement is that, if we are expecting things to change in a major way, we will have to make major changes, too. Next to the truly momentous changes we are anticipating, all of our trivial arguments shrink into trifles; our disputes are comic, not just painful. Many of the things that people fight about are the sheerest, shallowest nonsense, especially if we compare these quarrels to the establishment of an entirely different order. ... Who will remember all these foolish people who were fighting about such things? When the tsunami is about to envelop the world...everything will be moved..."

Moshiach in 5775, Part 2

Rabbi Arye Yehuda Leib Tziviak has the following to say (in his commentary in the book Konanta Meaz): 5775, means "nine" in the holy tongue.This is a hint to "purity is nine months" (Brachot 8a). The world will start the cleansing process (from golus) beginning in 5775. The number 9 is associated with the the olive tree, as it says in Zachariah 14:4 - "On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south."
"That is, out righteous Moshiach will stand on the Mount of Olives and the dead will come back to life, may this happen in our days"