Dear Friends:
We have a taxi driver in Israel named Yosef Levi. I call him “Yosef ha Tzaddik” because I believe he is a tzaddik. Possukim, Gemoras and divrai Torah stream from his mouth. On the way from the airport to Yerushalayim, Yosef told us, in the name of his Rav, some amazing things.
This year -- boruch Hashem! – the rainfall in Israel has been exceptional. Streams are full and the Kinneret is rising. In the south, the desert is blooming! Yosef quoted a possuk in Isaiah (35:1): “The wilderness and wasteland will rejoice (over the homecoming of the Children of Israel); the desert will be glad and blossom like a lily.” In other words, the desert in bloom is apparently a sign indicating the imminent Final Redemption.
Yosef’s Rav also referred to a Gemora (Sanhedrin 98a): “And Rabbi Abba said: There is no clearer indication of the ‘End’ (of our Exile) than this, as it is stated (in Ezekiel 36:8): ‘But you, O mountains of Israel you shall shoot forth your branches and bear your fruit for My People Israel…” It seems that the Land is preparing itself for the Geula!
So we decided to spend a day with Yosef touring the Negev to see the desert in bloom and the fulfillment of the verse in Isaiah. Indeed, blue, yellow, white and purple blossoms and lush green grass covered the once-parched land. Soon, b’ezras Hashem, the promised Redemption will come.
During the week of T’U B’Shevat, I discussed the fact that the coming of Moshiach is compared to the blossoming of a flower. I would like to try to go beyond those thoughts. Why do Chazal use the term “sprout” in connection with the Redemption?
Our seemingly endless exile is like the winter; everything seems to have died: our happiness, our peace of mind, our hope for a perfect world! How can we ever return to the purity of Gan Eden before the sin, when our souls were unsullied and there was no barrier between us and our Creator? Many people do not believe we could ever return to that perfect world.
But it seems Yirmiahu ha Novi believes it. Doesn’t the possuk say, “renew our days ‘k’kedem’ as in the beginning” (Lamentations 5:21)? If we think about how far we are from that perfect world, then maybe we will cry enough so that Hashem will return us to it.
Is that idea naïve? Dovid ha Melech didn’t seem to think so. “Every night I drench my bed; with my tears I soak my couch.” (Psalm 6) It seems that Dovid ha Melech was crying because he desired so much that G-d should heal him. He was in desperate pain because he saw how far he was from where he knew he should be.
Is it so different to cry for our own distance from perfection and the world’s distance from perfection? If we could cry like Dovid ha Melech, then perhaps G-d would not only heal us but He would heal the world. “The Gate of tears is never closed.” Perhaps, because tears represent our anguish over how far we are from where we should be … perhaps that is why they are so healing.
“If you will continually hearken to My commandments … then I will provide rain for your land in its proper time….” (Dvarim 11:13) Rain falls and dead plants come to life; tears fall, and the neshoma comes to life. Hashem demonstrates the power of tears by showing us the power
of rain. The “power of rain” is mentioned in the bracha on the Resurrection of the Dead. The rivers are flowing in Israel. The deserts are blooming in Israel. G-d is renewing the world in front of our eyes, so why should He not renew us also? Does he lack the power? “In His goodness He renews daily, perpetually, the work of creation.” Why shouldn’t the tears fall from our eyes and bring renewal to us also?
Yes, my friends, it is happening in Israel. Blessings are pouring out of the sky. Now, all we need to do is to imitate Hashem and let rain fall out of our eyes. At that moment, Moshiach will “sprout” and the Children of Israel will return from Exile. Then we will blossom like the flowers in the Negev, and our simcha will flow like the rivers of the north.
Meshenichnas Adar marbim b’simcha!
