Dear Friends:
In last week’s Torah reading our Father Abraham left this world. (Genesis 25:8)
With his passing, warfare erupted: “And Hashem said to [Rebbecah], ‘two nations are in your womb….’” (Genesis 25:23) Thus began strife, the seeds of Exile, death and destruction that continues unabated today, some thirty six hundred years later!
Holy people protect the world!
On the 11th day of the Hebrew Month of Cheshvan, on the Yahrzeit of our Mother Rachel, the towering Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel ZT”L left this world. This closely followed the death of the Gadol, Rabbi Dov Schwartzman ZT”L and the catastrophic accident which took the lives of two students at the Yeshiva of Waterbury. And this followed a year of numerous tragedies, the death of great rabbis and many frightening events.
A G-d fearing Jew told me, “We are in big trouble.”
Who will protect us?
“Va’anachnu lo naida ma na’ase … And we do not know what to do…. (Tachanun)
My friends, we have to try to understand the gravity of the world situation. Storm clouds are gathering; cataclysmic changes are brewing, and we must prepare ourselves.
We know that “ma’ase avos siman l’banim … the actions of the Fathers are signs for the children.” Events depicted in the Torah are a guide to what we can expect. And it is known that the events of the Exodus from Biblical Egypt are considered to be hints of what the Final Redemption will look like.
“Several times I heard from the holy Chofetz Chaim that we can learn about the end of our exile from what happened at the end of our exile in Egypt, as it says (Micha 7:15), ‘As in the days of your leaving Egypt, I will [in the Final Redemption] show wonders….’” (Rabbi Elchonen Wasserman, quoted in Redemption Unfolding, page 78ff)
Toward the end of the Biblical Exile in Egypt, we were very much alone. We had no leaders! Our Father Jacob was long gone. All of his twelve sons were gone! Moses was still in Midian with his father-in-law Yisro, and we were trapped in a world that was about to devour us. All seemed dark and desperate, to the extent that husbands and wives separated because of the apparent hopelessness of raising another generation.
We are very much in that situation today. Our great Torah leaders are leaving us and we are alone, lost and frightened sheep surrounded by circling, howling wolves.
My friends, what is the lesson of Biblical Egypt if not that, when darkness envelopes us, the Redemption is very close? If we cling to Torah just as our ancestors clung to our Teacher Moses, we can not only be saved from catastrophe but we can hope to witness the greatest moment in history, the Final Redemption!
Please review with me what the Talmud and the Medrash have to say about the period before the coming of Moshiach:
“Before [the coming of Moshiach] there will be no salaries (i.e. severe poverty), and to him who travels there [will be] no peace … (i.e. from accidents and dangerous people) … even Torah scholars will have no peace …. If you see a generation becoming poor, wait for him….Rabbi Simlai said in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Shomon, the son of David will not come until all judges and officers cease from Israel…. If you see a nation that is [impoverished] expect Moshiach….Rabbi Yochanan said: If you see a generation upon which numerous troubles come like a river, expect [Moshiach]…. (Tractate Sanhedrin 98a)
“In the generation in which Moshiach ben Dovid will come, the government will support immorality …. people who fear sin and people of chessed will pass away…. the wise men of the generation will die; the eyes of those who remain will ache with weariness and sighing … many evil troubles will befall the community….” (Medrash Shir Hashirim Rabba 2:33)
Do these passages not describe our world with perfect clarity?
If we know that we are now going through the prophesied travails prior to the Final Redemption, does that not give us strength? Does that not allow us to conquer depression and fear so that we can endure until the Redeemer comes?
Yet, we cannot passively wait. We have vital, life-saving tasks to perform. Our survival lies in our own hands. It is essential to remember that only twenty percent of the Children of Israel left Egypt at the time of the Exodus (Rashi on Shemos 10:22; 13:18). Whatever implications that has for us today, it should be obvious that redemption is not automatic. We will have to work for it, and the outcome may well depend on whether we are able to free ourselves from attachment to the crumbling culture around us. In Biblical Egypt, those who chose loyalty to Moses were the ones who left with him.
The Gemora makes it very clear: “Rabbi Elazar was asked by his students: What can a person do to be spared the travail of Moshiach? [And he responded:] One should occupy himself in the study of Torah and in acts of kindness.” (Sanhedrin 98b)
When my wife and I speak to yeshiva boys or girls, we tell them that, with every word of Torah they learn, every mitzvah and act of chessed they perform, they are safeguarding their own future and the fate of the entire world. Their Torah learning and practice literally enable the world to survive. They are, without exaggeration, the most powerful army in the world; their weapons are Torah and mitzvos.
In fact, we are all soldiers. “Ele verechev, v’ele v’susim … some with chariots, some with horses, but we call out in the Name of Hashem, our G-d. They slumped and fell, but we arose and were invigorated. Hashem save! May the King answer us on the day we call.” (Psalm 20)
My friends, the world is dangerous, but Moshiach ben Dovid is standing in the doorway, waiting to enter. We have the power to work for our own survival. If we live up to the challenges of our times and embrace the Torah with all our heart, we will soon hear once again the Voice proclaiming, “Comfort, comfort My people, says your G-d. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her time [of Exile] has been fulfilled…. The Glory of Hashem shall be revealed and all flesh as one shall see that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:1ff)
© Copyright 2011 by Roy S. Neuberger
