Dear Friends:
WHY IS THIS NIGHT DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER NIGHTS?
ON ALL OTHER NIGHTS WE PRAYED FOR REDEMPTION BUT OUR EXILE CONTINUED. ON THIS NIGHT OUR PRAYERS MAY BE ANSWERED!
My friends, this is real! Great rabbis are telling us that the Redemption may be imminent. We must take this seriously.
This may not be an easy process. According to Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler ZT”L, “the destruction of Edom [Western Culture, the current residence of most Jews] will come about through the destruction of the world (as we know it). Tranquility will be disrupted, personal lives will be filled with worry, fear and yissurim and the entire world will cower in dread of destruction and devastation. Only then will the light of Moshiach be revealed.”i
It seems as if our world is crumbling under the Hand of G-d like the world of Ancient Egypt. I would like to offer the following suggestions as to the contemporary equivalents of the Ten Plagues:
BLOOD: Hatred and violence worldwide.
FROGS: Pollution and the worldwide pileup of refuse.
LICE: Endless petty annoyances adding up to torture.
WILD BEASTS: More and more crazy people in and out of positions of power.
ANIMAL PLAGUE: The imploding economy. (Animals were the equivalent of currency.)
BOILS: Rampant disease, uncontrollable and strange illnesses.
HAIL: Natural disasters: tsunamis, hurricanes, monsoons, tornadoes, wildfires.
LOCUSTS: Drought and hunger.
DARKNESS: Psychological stress and mental illness.
FIRSBORN: War and terrorism, fear for our children.
Moshiach is referred to as “keren,” which is a horn, like that of an ox. By nature, the ox is a domesticated, herbivorous animal, but, when he is aroused, the keren can be a deadly weapon. Our rabbis may be hinting that the coming of Moshiach may involve a process in which great damage will be inflicted upon anything which obstructs the will of the Master of the Universe.
It is possible that G-d has lost patience with a world which does not recognize His existence. How long will the chillul Hashem continue? How long will G-d’s Holy Name be dragged in the mud? How long “must” He endure exile along with His children? How long must His children be denigrated and spat upon, portrayed as criminals, thieves and murderers? How long must we remain the object of worldwide ridicule and scorn? Will G-d’s children forever be trampled and beaten?
No, my friends, the keren is coming. The deadly horn will rip apart the civilizations that have invested their very life-force into millennia of hatred against the children of the Al-mighty G-d.
“The word of G-d…. I scattered [the House of Israel] among the nations and they were dispersed among the lands…. It was said of them, ‘These are G-d’s people, but they departed His land.’ But I pitied My holy Name…. and I will sanctify My great Name that was desecrated among the nations…. Then the nations shall know that I am G-d…. and I shall take you from the nations and gather you in from all countries and I shall bring you to your Land, and I shall sprinkle pure water upon you that you be cleansed…. And I shall give you a new heart and a new spirit shall I put within you. I shall remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and you shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers…. Then they shall say, ‘This very land that was desolate has become a Garden of Eden and the cities that were destroyed and desolate and ruined shall be inhabited!’ I G-d have spoken….”ii
Do you think civilizations will stand at that moment? Do you think life will be the same?
Just as Ancient Egypt fell, so the modern capitals of idolatry and impurity will fall and never rise again. A new world will arise: “Torah will emanate from Zion, and the Word of G-d from Jerusalem.”iii
The day before Passover this year we will make the blessing over the renewal of the sun, Bircas ha Chammah. The clock will be set back to zero hour. A new Creation will begin and a new Garden of Eden will emerge, this time never to be spoiled by the arrogance of man. No man can predict an hour and a minute for these things to happen, but it seems the process has already begun. We must watch very carefully as events unfold. We must attempt to be in the proper spiritual condition to ensure that G-d will protect us as he protected those who left Egypt.
The following words were spoken recently about a beloved Jew at his funeral: “He just could not understand how people could pass one another on a street on Shabbos and not greet one another.”iv
My friends, please pardon me.
There are Jews who do not speak to one another.
There are Jews who do not respond when someone says “hello” or “good morning.
There are Jews who do not respond when someone bumps into them and says, “I’m sorry.”
What does this mean?
It means this Jew doesn’t think he’s your brother or she’s your sister.
It means: “We’re not connected! I have nothing to do with you! You don’t matter to me.”
My friends, if we – and I include myself – don’t fix this NOW, if we don’t act like family, then why should we expect Our Father in Heaven to rescue us as a family? G-d gave the Torah to a NATION, not individuals.v If we don’t act like a nation, “like one man with one heart,”vi then how will we survive the keren, the coming upheavals that will, it seems, rip apart the current world order?
Do not fear the lunatic in Iran. His bombs will fall upon his head!
Only fear that the children of Israel will not behave as one family, united in love with their Father in Heaven!
My friends, we stand upon the threshold of the greatest event in the history of the world. May we all do teshuva! May we greet Moshiach ben Dovid this year and live in the glow of the Bais Hamikdosh, soon to be erected on the Temple Mount in the rebuilt City of Jerusalem! May we all be among the jubilant, triumphant children of G-d who live to see the Day of Eternal Glory, when G-d’s Name is redeemed from Exile and His Children from our two thousand years of slavery!
THIS YEAR IN JERUSALEM!
May we see it with our own eyes!
Roy S. Neuberger
