Exile and Redemption Part 1: Holy Sparks
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Why have Jews been scattered to the four corners of the earth?
In order to properly understand the meaning of exile and redemption from a Jewish perspective, one must go back to the deepest roots of history, specifically to the second verse of the creation story:
The earth was null and void and there was darkness upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God hovered above the water. (Genesis 1:2)
For, with respect to this seemingly uninformative verse, the rabbis have written a very insightful explanation:
"Null" -- this refers to the Babylonian exile (423-371 BCE). "Void" refers to the Median exile (371-356 BCE.). "Darkness" -- the Greek exile (318-138 BCE). "The face of the deep" -- to the last exile of Rome (approx. 63 BCE until the present day). "And the spirit of God" -- alludes to the Messianic period at the end of days. (Genesis Rabba 2:4)
Within this single and ominous verse, there is an allusion to all four exiles that the Jewish people were destined to experience throughout their long history until the Messianic time, which has still yet to occur. And without exception, all of them have come to pass as predicted, with the final exile, the "Roman Exile" still in progress.
The question is: Why does this verse describing primordial chaos so strongly allude to the future exiles of a people which, at the time, had yet to exist? What connection is there between this dark and incomplete stage of creation and the concept of exile and redemption?
THE CONCEPT OF HOLY SPARKS
The concept of "tohu," the Hebrew word for "null," is a deeply Kabbalistic one. Even though it is mentioned in the second verse of the creation story, it is really a description of the pre-creation state (Zohar, Genesis 15a), which was a combination of a certain spiritual matter from which creation was made, and Holy Sparks (Nitzutzei Kedusha).
What is a Holy Spark? Holy Sparks are like the spiritual fuel of creation, and nothing can exist or function anywhere in the universe without a Holy Spark. These are, in a sense, spiritual packets of God's Holy Light, that actually represent the constriction and filtering of that Light. Without this constriction and filtering, physical creation could never exist, because God's Light would remain too intense for anything physical to contain It. Thus, the more Holy Sparks something possesses, the holier it is and by definition the more life it has.
These are spiritual packets of God's Holy Light, constricted and filtered.
For the sake of creation, the sparks which began on a very high spiritual level were sent down to the lowest of spiritual levels, a place of great spiritual impurity. To make creation, God drew out exactly as many sparks as He deemed necessary to make creation, and left the remainder for man to utilize as a partner in perfecting creation.
There is not an infinite amount of Holy Sparks in creation. In fact, history is measured by these sparks, and will come to a close when all sparks have been drawn out of the tohu and returned to their holy source Above. It is then -- once all the sparks that God has made available to mankind are expended -- that by definition the Messianic Period must begin.
How does one use up Holy Sparks? Through the learning of Torah and the performance of mitzvot, Holy Sparks are redeemed, purified, and ascend to Above. Indeed, transgressions also use up Holy Sparks, but in the process the sparks themselves become defiled and require "cleansing" before being able to ascend. The cleansing process comes in the form of either sincere repentance by the transgressor, or through Heavenly-ordained suffering.
LIGHT UNTO NATIONS
Since Torah and mitzvot are the most effective way to utilize Holy Sparks, the nation in possession of Torah and mitzvot becomes the most effective one to complete this process. Thus it is primarily the responsibility of the Jewish people, who accepted Torah at Mount Sinai in the year 2448 from creation (1313 BCE), to redeem the sparks of creation. This is the deeper meaning of the famous exhortation to be a "light unto the nations" (Isaiah 42:6).
During King Solomon's time, nations came from far and wide to access Jewish wisdom.
As long as the Jewish people remained committed to this process, as evidenced by their commitment to Torah and mitzvot, then God arranged for all relevant sparks to be brought to the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. For example, during King Solomon's time (9th century BCE), nations came from far and wide to witness the great wisdom of this famous Jewish king, bearing great gifts.
Within the many gifts and sacrifices that were brought to the land were Holy Sparks from different parts of the world. Used and enjoyed in the Land of Israel, these sparks were redeemed and returned to their place Above, thus furthering the cause of history. In turn, the exposure to Jewish wisdom resulted in other nations adopting Torah philosophy and practice, thus using up sparks through their actions as well.
EXILE: THE CONCEPT
However, in spite of this great success, the Jewish people eventually lost appreciation of their role in history and how easy God had made it for them. This was evident through their laxity in the learning of the Torah and performance of mitzvot, which resulted in defilement of the Holy Sparks.
Upon seeing this, God told the Jewish people: "If you don't appreciate how I’ve been bringing the sparks to you for redemption, then I will send you out to get them yourselves -- at your own peril!"
This is the essential concept of exile and its role in Jewish history. This is why the second verse of creation (which describes these sunken Holy Sparks) is also an allusion to the future exiles of the Jewish people, and to their eventual redemption.
When sparks in one location are spent, the work of the Jewish people in that area is complete.
In other words, exile of the Jewish people is God’s way of moving Torah to various parts of the world, to redeem those sparks ready to be redeemed at that stage of history. When the sparks in a particular location are spent, then the work of the Jewish people in that area of the world is complete.
Not only is it complete, but the Jewish people have no business there anymore. This is what the Torah says regarding Egypt:
[The Jewish king] must not accumulate many horses, so as not to bring the people back to Egypt to get more horses. God has told you that you must never again return on that path. (Deut.17:16)
Why not? Wouldn't it be the most realistic Passover experience to go back once again and visit the place of the slavery of our forefathers, to tread in the footprints of Moses, and make a Seder where the very first one was celebrated?!
Perhaps, says the Torah, but not necessary. The purpose of creation is to redeem Holy Sparks, and the purpose of the Jewish people is take responsibility for doing so. The purpose of exile is to facilitate our gathering the sparks from around the world, when we don't merit doing so from inside our land. And when the sparks are gone from a particular place, then so must the Jewish people be gone from that place.
Indeed, we have witnessed the fulfillment of the prophecy:
And you, I will scatter among the nations... (Leviticus 26:33)
The Jews will have gone to just about every corner of the earth to redeem those sparks, before the only place left to go is home -- to the Land of Israel. Thus is the prophetic Final Redemption.
It shall come to be on that day that the Lord will once again show His hand... And He will gather in the dispersed ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth. (Isaiah 11:11-12)
Why does life and history come down to Holy Sparks and their redemption? And even if it does, where does anti-Semitism fit into the picture? And, if it does mean going to the "four corners of the earth," does that mean we may have to one day move on to places like Antarctica (brrrr)? We will address these questions in coming installments of this series, "Exile & Redemption."
Holy Sparks #2: The Contractor Who Couldn't Say Good-Bye
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Nobody wants to overstay his or her welcome. Jacob spends just enough time in exile to gather the sparks.
Imagine hiring a contractor to renovate a part of your house. The first day of work is an exciting day, and in anticipation of his arrival you get up early and even have coffee prepared to start the project off on the right foot.
As work progresses, you probably have stopped with the fresh coffee, but you still anticipate the arrival of the contractor and his crew because now you can't wait for the work to be completed, wondering, "How much longer with this work shlep on for?" You long for the day when you’ll once again enjoy privacy and a clean house.
Finally, at long last, the renovation is complete. You have even paid the entire fee, satisfied with the work that was done. It had taken the contractor longer than originally anticipated, but that is now forgotten as a thing of the past.
That is, until something strange happens.
All of sudden, early the next morning, you hear a familiar car engine. You tell yourself that it is only a coincidence, or your imagination after so many months of hearing the same car pull into your driveway around the same time. Convinced, you put your head back down on the pillow to sleep a bit more.
A minute later the doorbell rings. You can't believe it. Who could be at the door at this time in the morning? You look out the bedroom window and sure enough, that same car is in the driveway. The contractor is back.
You quickly get dressed and go downstairs, wondering what the contractor left behind or forgot to do that brought him back unannounced.
I like the coffee and thought I'd stay here a while longer.
"Good morning," you say, trying to sound unfazed seeing the contractor looking as if he was ready for another complete day of work. "Did you forget something?"
"No, not at all," he says, as if nothing was unusual.
"Um ... then why are you here this morning?" you ask, wondering if it's just a bad dream.
"You know," the contractor casually says, "I've grown to enjoy being here. I especially like the coffee. You make the best coffee, and I thought to stay here a while longer."
Stunned, you can only say, "What?" as you wonder about the sanity of the man standing before you. Though he had never exhibited too unusual a behavior in the past...
You politely make him a cup of coffee, and anxiously send him on his way, hoping not to see him again. But when he returns to your house, day after day, it is a terrible nuisance. You even begin to regret the renovation work he did for you.
And eventually, you have no choice but to call the police and lodge a formal complaint.
NOT JUST A PARABLE
As strange a story as this may seem, it has been happening in real life for thousands of years. In fact, it is the history of the Jewish people -- the contractor in the story.
Within the parable is a mystical explanation for anti-Semitism, something which defies most physical explanations by its very nature, timing, and severity. Anti-Semitism is the result of our staying on after the "job" is finished -- the job of redeeming the sparks of exile.
As discussed in part one, the Jewish people are sent to a place in the world to redeem the sparks there. As we undertake that work, consciously or not, our quality of life improves to allow us to go about our business. Sometimes the struggle may continue because the sparks in a particular place require extra self-sacrifice to be drawn out. However, often life does improve and may even result in acceptance by our non-Jewish hosts.
Anti-Semitism is Heaven's way of letting us know that one exile is coming to an end.
It may not necessarily mean that the hosts truly like us, as we have found out through history, and as we have misunderstood for millennia now. It means that, for the time being, history is riding a wave while we reach the golden era of the present exile. Whether we are learning Torah, going to work, or punching keys on a computer keyboard, it is all about redemption of Holy Sparks.
However, like the renovation work in the story above, all exiles must eventually come to an end; the limited amount of sparks expected to be redeemed demand it. And, like the contractor in the story above, if we leave at just the right moment, then not only do we get paid in full, but the "client" sends us off with a gracious thank you and a pleasant smile.
However, if we overstay our welcome, then the face of our host changes and makes life less comfortable. Anti-Semitism, in other words, is Heaven's way of letting the Jewish people know that the present job -- exile -- is coming to an end.
JACOB THE PROTOTYPE
There is a wonderfully clear and forthright example of this very idea.
Of all the forefathers, Jacob's life was the closest to being the prototype for the lives of the Jewish people. If the phrase ma'aseh avot siman l'banim -- "the events of the elders are a sign for the children" -- applied to any of our ancestors, it is to Jacob.
In so many cases, when we try to understand how to deal with our present, we look for answers in Jacob's past. What he did, how he acted, how he responded is always an insight into how we, his descendants, should respond in similar situations, especially while in exile.
As the Torah records (Genesis 28), Jacob impersonated his evil brother Eisav and took the blessings from his father Isaac. Jacob was forced to flee home and seek refuge outside of Israel, in Padan Aram (Mesopotamia) in the house of Lavan (“the white house”), his mother's brother. There he married and worked for 20 years while waiting to receive word from his mother that it was safe to come home once again.
A righteous person like Jacob would have had to have asked the obvious question, "Why me?" He would have wondered why Divine Providence pushed him away from home to a foreign land, to live with the greatest and most dangerous trickster of the time (even if it was his uncle).
Jacob understood that everything was just a way to redeem the sparks outside the Land.
And as one of the most righteous people of all history, a man who is said to have used every moment in service of God, Jacob would have known the answer: to redeem sparks. Jacob would have understood from the outset of his journey that everything that had transpired, from the purchasing of the birthright, to the incident of the blessings, was just a way to go where he otherwise would not have gone, to redeem the sparks outside the Land, and to move history that much closer to fulfillment.
For, as the Arizal teaches, although Lavan was evil, he had some good traits and so did the land upon which he lived. However, Jacob's presence there drew out most of that good and kept doing so -- as long as Heaven maintained the status quo, which last for 20 years. In the 20th year, things began to change, as Jacob himself noticed:
Jacob saw the face of Lavan, and behold, it was not towards him as before. God said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and the place of your birth, and I will be with you." (Genesis 31:2-3)
Maybe Lavan had just been having a bad day? Maybe he wasn't feeling well? Maybe he'd feel better tomorrow and smile the same way he always had?
Maybe. However, Jacob understood only too well that Lavan's treatment of him and his family was completely a function of Divine Providence. As the Passover Haggadah reminds us, "An Aramean tried to destroy our father," and would have had not God protected Jacob, as he declares as well:
You know that I worked for your father with all my strength, and that your father cheated me and changed my wages 10 times. However, God didn't let him hurt me. (Genesis 31:6-7)
And even Lavan was forced to admit in the end:
I have the power to harm you. However, the God of your father spoke to me last night and told me, "Make sure not to speak to Jacob either good or evil." (Genesis 31:29)
Jacob's reason for staying in Padan Aram had dissipated with the sparks themselves.
Therefore, from Jacob's point of view, Lavan's slightly less-friendly-than-usual appearance had great significance, even if the result of a bad breakfast that morning. He took it as a sign from Heaven, signaling the end of a 34-year exile (14 years studying in the yeshiva of Shem and Ever, and 20 years in Lavan's home). The sparks that Jacob had been sent to redeem had been taken; his reason for staying in Padan Aram had dissipated with the sparks themselves.
This brought him a clear recognition of the hand of God, for then God spoke to him directly and confirmed his plans. And it saved him having to witness what Lavan could really be like, should he overstay his welcome.
The moral of the story? When the sparks we are sent to redeem are at their end, the "face" of "Lavan" will change toward us, ever so slightly at the beginning, and more so as we overstay our visit. Like our great and devoted forefather before us, we must ride on top of the wave of redemption, and not be caught perilously inside it.
Holy Sparks #3: Soul Food
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By ingesting food, we feed our soul the holy sparks hidden within.
On the surface, it looks like one of those childhood school games: Can you pick up all the red blocks before the bell goes off, and win a prize? However, that is only a game, and eventually the child will go home and have to deal with real life, and have to worry instead about picking up his dirty laundry before his mother "goes off."
The world consists of about 5 billion people, and countless countries and nationalities. However, if you asked any of them, "What do you do for a living?" it would be surprising if you could find one who answers, "I gather sparks, of course. Don't you?"
What do you do for a living? I gather sparks!
Even if you narrowed the field to Jews only, and then again to Torah-living Jews only, I would still say that nary a person would mention "spark-gathering" in their daily repertoire. You would hear such things as: practice medicine or law, learn or teach Torah, care for children, crunch numbers for an accounting firm, repair clothing, program computers, sell computers, use computers, go for long walks, etc., etc. But "redeem sparks"?!
"Well, I guess... maybe somewhere in the process of taking care of my family and myself... not to mention all my community obligations... sparks, whatever they are... are getting... how did you say it, redeemed?"
The Right Priorities
The Talmud tells us that the son of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi had a near-death experience (Pesachim 50a). After returning from the brink of death, his father asked him, "My son, what did you see?" He answered: "An upside-down world."
The father knew exactly what the son meant, and why he had erred. Compared to this world of 5,762 years, the World to Come is just the opposite in nature. So, the rabbi explained:
"My son, what you saw was the correct world. This is the world that is upside down."
You saw the correct world. This world is upside down.
Imagine going to see a Broadway show on opening night, and upon returning from the lobby, you notice a person acting out some part from another play in front of a group of three people who have tickets for the main performance, which they are missing. All you can do is shake your head and wonder why the people would give priority to an amateur performance – while overlooking the main act.
However, as you return to your seat for act two, you stop to consider that in Heaven they have a similar view of us. From their vantage point – which includes knowing the entire past, present, and future, and being free of the confusion that results from having an internal Yetzer Hara – they wonder to themselves, "Hmph! What is it with those people? They give time and attention do everything – except redeeming sparks!"
Talking to Food
We are all guilty of a classic mistake: We have made the means the ends, albeit quite innocently at times. We have come to believe that everything we do during the course of our days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes – is important unto itself. In reality – God's reality – it is just one of the many ways to redeem Holy Sparks and bring creation to fruition and our purpose to completion.
For example, Jewish law instructs us to make a blessing over food that we are about to enjoy. If you are hungry, and you want to eat a nice, red, delicious apple, then you will have to make the special blessing for fruit of the trees. If it is bread that you are about to sink your canines into, then you'll make the blessing for eating bread. Fish, eggs, orange juice – you name it, they all require a blessing before being enjoyed.
So the next time you chance upon a person who seems to be talking to his food before eating, you might ask him, "What are you doing? Why are you talking to your food?"
He, of course, would answer (hopefully), "I am not talking to my food, I am talking to God. I am hungry, so I am making a blessing so that I can eat this sandwich with His permission."
Is he right? On a simplistic level, yes. He is making a blessing so that he can eat. However, on a more Kabbalistic level, the true answer would be, "I am about to eat this apple so that I can make a blessing."
"What? You're eating so that you can make a blessing?"
A blessing over food elevates then sparks contained in both the food and the person himself.
"Yes, correct again. When one makes a blessing over food, it elevates sparks that are contained in the food and the person himself. And after all, elevating sparks is what life in this world is all about. Right?"
"But what about me? I practice medicine. What does that have to do with elevating sparks?"
"Yes, you practice medicine, or law, or whatever else occupies your time, in order to elevate Holy Sparks temporarily entrapped in creation. And this is no game, either. It is the purpose of everyday life and history itself. When the job is finished, so will history be over, at least as we know it."
Fasting 40 Days
Food, in fact, is just physical clothing to hide the spiritual sparks within it. It is not apples or vitamins that keep us alive – otherwise they'd be able to revive dead people as well (which of course, they cannot). It is the sparks they hide inside that feed the soul, which in turns provides life for the body.
This explains how Moses was able to remain on Mount Sinai for 40 consecutive days without eating or drinking. Atop the holy mount, Moses received his life-giving sparks directly from God, without needing to process them through anything physical (i.e. food).
This is the deeper meaning of the verse:
Human beings "live" through whatever contains Holy Sparks, light of God. And if it exists, it by necessity contains Holy Sparks. And a human, by necessity, must redeem those Holy Sparks in one of the possible ways sanctioned by Torah law, something to which the Talmud (Ta’anit 21b) alludes:
It is not the place that gives honor to the person, but the person who gives honor to the place. As we find at Mount Sinai, the entire time the Divine Presence dwelled upon it, as the Torah says, "The sheep and cattle must also not graze by the mountain" (Exodus 34:3). Once the Divine Presence left, it says, "After the blast of the shofar, they ascended the mountain" (Exodus 19:13).
For if no one is there to redeem the sparks, what difference does a place make in the larger scheme of things?
Nevertheless, we still have not answered the question: Why sparks at all? However, to do that we must once again bring up the discussion about the purpose of creation and our role within it. There is great method to all this "spark madness," and it is the basis for which we, and the entire universe, physically and spiritually, were created in the first place.
Holy Sparks #4: The Purpose of Creation
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The physical world contains latent sparks of holiness, waiting for us to draw them out.
There are many ways to phrase the purpose of creation according to the Torah. However, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746), in his landmark, "Derech Hashem" (The Way of God), does so precisely and succinctly:
God's purpose in creation was to bestow of His good to another... Since God desired to bestow good, a partial good would not be sufficient. The good that He bestows would have to be the ultimate good that His handiwork could accept.God alone, however, is the only true good, and therefore His beneficent desire would not be satisfied unless it could bestow that very good, namely the true perfect good that exists in His intrinsic nature...
God desired to bestow good. God is the only true good.
His wisdom therefore decreed that the nature of His true benefaction be His giving created things the opportunity to attach themselves to Him to the greatest degree possible. For the intended purpose to be successfully achieved, means must exist through which this creature can earn perfection.Humanity was therefore created with both a Yetzer Tov and a Yetzer Hara. A human has the power to incline in whichever direction s/he desires... The Highest Wisdom decreed that the human should consist of two opposites: the pure spiritual soul and the unenlightened physical body. Each one is drawn toward its nature, so the body inclines toward the material, while the soul leans toward the spiritual. The two are then in a constant state of battle... (Derech Hashem 1:2:1-1:3:2)
In simpler terms, the Ramchal (as Rabbi Lutzatto is often called) is defining life as a battle of the spiritual over the material. According to the Ramchal, even when we do enjoy the physical world it should be for spiritual reasons, as defined by the Torah. In doing so we become more elevated, more God-like, and more able to become attached to God -- the greatest good a person can know. This is the essence of the eternal experience called Olam Haba, the World to Come.
PARTNER WITH GOD
Though the Ramchal was a great Kabbalist, he nevertheless did not go into the Kabbalistic meaning of his words, which are far more profound than they may at first seem. He didn't refer to the Holy Sparks about which he was well aware, but, as we shall see, he did allude to them.
The Ramchal writes: "For the intended purpose to be successfully achieved, means must exist through which this creature can earn perfection." In other words, the Ramchal is pointing out what we ourselves have noticed over the ages: humanity and creation exist in an imperfect state.
Humanity and creation exist in an imperfect state.
This is so humanity can become a "partner" with God in bringing creation to its completed and perfected state. As Rabbi Shlomo Eliashiv (1841-1925), another great Kabbalist, writes:
...After, for the sake of making creation, God shone down His holy light and allowed it to emanate to the lower levels in order to elevate and separate from the sparks and "broken pieces" all that was necessary to make creation... However, the rest of the sparks and "broken pieces" that were destined for what would follow throughout history had yet to be separated, because humanity was meant to complete the rectification process through actions. (Drushei Olam HaTohu, Ma'amrei HaKlalli, 2)
For us to begin to understand this topic, we need to build an intellectual bridge between the words of these two great Kabbalists.
THE LEGO PARABLE
Imagine walking into your child's room and finding Lego scattered all over the place -- hundreds of pieces covering every square inch of floor space. Your first reaction is to scream, "Get in here and clean up your room now!" However, knowing that your children are too far away to hear you (or that they’ll at least pretend they are), you instead sit down on the floor to begin the familiar task of picking up after your children.
Only this time it’s different. This time you are moved to build and not clean up. Slowly, you take a few pieces of Lego and stick them together, as you once did as a child. Minutes pass, and you are already on your third tower for what is fast becoming the Lego International Airport.
Forty-five minutes later and cut off from reality, one of your children finally comes in looking for you. "Daddy, what are you doing on the floor?" Then, as his eyes behold your awesome creation, he asks in awe and admiration, "Who built that?!" It is only then that you see and appreciate how you took absolute chaos and turned it into something quite sensible and orderly.
That was the world of Tohu -- the chaotic state at the onset of creation (Genesis 1:2). These "broken pieces" were all over the place, just waiting to be used in some magnificent creation that would justify their existence. And that is exactly what God did: He drew out broken pieces and combined them spiritually, until physical creation came into being.
God drew out broken pieces and combined them spiritually, until physical creation came into being.
Yet God only used that which He needed to make creation, and left the rest behind for Adam, Eve and their descendants -- all created in the image of God.
Imagine you wanted to breath life into your Lego creation and make it move. In real life, it would be impossible to do so unless you could somehow wire it electronically. However, when it comes to physical creation, we see that things indeed have a life force -- from the ground from which plants grow to a person who eats them, and many things in-between.
How did the "broken pieces," even after assembly, gain their life force?
The answer: Holy Sparks.
When God set out to make physical creation from the broken pieces of Tohu, He infused them with sparks, which provide life and energy, just as a spiritual soul does for a physical body. Thus, when a person uses anything in this physical world and consumes it on some level, the Holy Spark it previously harbored is released, and returns back to its source in the spiritual world from which it originally came.
And most important of all: you get the credit for doing so.
This is true for every moment of life throughout history.
THE MOST EFFECTIVE PATH
How does Torah and mitzvot fit into all this?
A person can look at Torah and its 613 commandments as a “rule book,” or you can look at it as an “instruction book for maximizing the potential of creation.” A mitzvah is not merely a test of obedience, but a message about how to best draw out and release Holy Sparks. Choosing the spiritual over the physical, about which the Ramchal spoke, is just another way of expressing one's commitment to maximizing the holy consumption of Holy Sparks.
For example, a car requires fuel to give it mobility. The same gas can be used to drive to the store to buy food for poor people, or it can be used to drive the get-away car after a bank robbery. Gasoline does not distinguish between one usage or another; it does not agree to be consumed only if used for a moral purpose.
Whether a person wants to perform a moral act or an immoral one, each requires sparks of energy to exercise his will.
The same thing is true with Holy Sparks. Whether a person wants to perform a moral act or an immoral one, each case requires sparks to give the energy to exercise his will. Part of the transgression of a sin is using something holy for an unholy purpose. It takes Holy Sparks to do a good deed, and it takes Holy Sparks to do a bad deed as well.
The ideal purpose of using Holy Sparks is to send them back to their source Above, which can only happen immediately if they were used for a holy purpose. A spark that was "dragged" through the spiritual "filth" of impurity cannot ascend in its present state, but must go through a purification process before it can return back to its place Above.
According to Kabbalistic tradition, the purification process for a spiritually sullied spark is either a person's own sincere repentance, or the Divinely ordained punishment that comes in its place. And the latter can happen whether a person is aware of the connection or not.
Thus, when the Torah admonishes, "Choose life that you may live" (Deut. 30:19), it is really saying: Do mitzvot and use up Holy Sparks in a spiritually clean way. Become a partner with God in creation by redeeming more spiritual "Lego blocks" from the depths of Tohu, and release the sparks within them so that they can ascend Heavenward.
In this way, you become a partner with God in creation, and earn the eternal world for doing so.
This, after all, is the ultimate good for which we were created.
Holy Sparks #5: Why Not Antarctica?
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Some spots on earth are merely storage halls of Holy Sparks, until the time comes for each spark to be released.
Let's face it. If being sent to the "four corners of the earth" is to be taken literally, there are still plenty of places the Jewish people have not yet moved to, willingly or unwillingly. Not that anyone else has moved there either, but still, for Jews uncomfortable with the Middle East situation and not 100 percent secure in America (or England or France or South Africa or Argentina), the Great White North, or the Great White South, might be a last ditch option. Not to mention the Sahara Desert...
Why not? It might be far easier to weather the cold and polar bears, and avoid all the social, political and religions tensions. Maybe God has one more final exile in mind for the Jewish people, a much colder one, after which time we'll have gone to all those corners and be ready to come home, once and for all.
When God created the world, He separated out a large portion of [holy sparks] to make all that was to come into existence throughout the six days of creation. What remained after that (of the sparks from the world of Tohu), the Almighty left behind for man to rectify through his actions, throughout the generations until the arrival of Moshiach.They were set aside and given place in all the deserts throughout the world, from where they ascend and are constantly undergoing rectification. What this means is that they are drawn from the portions of the desert to places of settlement, where they become revealed and rectified as necessary.
They represent the new and additional strength of each yield from the land, which results in straw for animals and wheat from which man makes his bread, or anything that is "quarried" from the ground. As it is written, 'For silver has a source and there is a place where they refine gold' (Job 28:1). All of it is the result of the rejuvenation which flows into the places of settlement from the places of desert. (Sefer HaKlalim, Klal 19:2)
At first reading, this sounds like a difficult concept to understand. However, as we will see, not only does it makes perfect sense, but it helps us better appreciate a miracle of life that we may otherwise take for granted.
HIDDEN SYSTEM OF LIFE
Why are there new crops every year? Why is there plenty in some years, and famine in others? Why does the ground at times produce nothing at all, let alone food that we can eat and enjoy? We may know why this occurs on a physical level, but what is the spiritual mechanism?
Holy Sparks, of course.
Like a time capsule, each Holy Spark of history has its own moment in time to be realized and used throughout the course of six millennia, before returning to its source Above. Who determines when that moment is and where it is to be used? God Himself, Who moves the sparks to wherever He wants, in order to help a person, nation, and the world to fulfill its potential and role on the stage of world history. Only God can be so precise.
God has an elaborate system for moving sparks around, so they're available when and where we need them.
God has a whole system for doing it, and right under our very noses, too. The life that we take for granted in a world that we are used to, is really a very sophisticated and elaborate system for moving sparks around, so they can be available when and where we need them.
For example, a simple wind moving north from the Sahara Desert toward a big city may be carrying dust filled with Holy Sparks, just waiting to land on the soil of some community to bring life to the ground, which in turn can bring life to animals. This in turn brings life to people who can use the Holy Sparks for a Godly purpose -- thereby expending them and sending them on their way back to the source.
Contrary to assumption, cornflakes do not grow on the shelf of the local supermarket. They grow out in a field that was nourished by Holy Sparks, without which all the irrigation in the world could not make a difference.
Similarly, what gives a vitamin its power is the sparks contained within, which are invisible to the scientist and doctor. Why else would one entity be stronger or weaker than another in terms of accomplishing a specific task?
It all comes down to the sparks inside -- the nature of a specific spark and its potential. Why one place in the world is inhabitable and why one is not depends on the sparks there, and their potential to maintain life on any level. How that particular place responds to external conditions and human activity will depend on its spiritual make-up -- that is, the sparks designated to be there.
Think of it as a spiritual gene pool. Each spark has a different potential to create, vis a vis the other sparks. Appreciating the vastness of life and its closeness to unlimited potential, is another way of appreciating the vast spiritual pool of Holy Sparks. From there we can begin to appreciate a little of the wisdom God used to make creation, and with which He continues to maintain creation every moment of the day, all throughout history.
INHABITABLE BY SPARKS, NOT MAN
However, the question we came to answer was why there are no longer any "corners" of the world where the Jewish people can go. The answer is that the deserts, whether they are frozen or made from sand, seem to be places not meant to be inhabited by humans.
Of course, if we had to, we could build some kind of enclosed city in the Arctic Circle, or in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Knowing human ingenuity, we'd figure out some way to sustain life within it.
When Adam left the Garden of Eden, he designated specific places on earth to be inhabitable.
However, such areas in the world are not "natural" human habitats, and at this late time in history it seems unlikely that they will become so. More than likely they are wastelands because God ordained them as places that man will not live en masse, so that they can remain as storage halls of Holy Sparks, until the time comes for each individual spark to be released and its potential realized.
In fact, the Talmud says that when Adam left the Garden of Eden, he designated specific places on earth that would be inhabitable (Brachot 31a).
Perhaps Holy Sparks are the reason why there are no more "corners" of the earth for the Jewish people to flee to, as they have continually done throughout their long, arduous journey toward the end of history and the Final Redemption.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
In any case, the Jews are in the final exile of history: Golut Edom -- the Exile of Edom, Eisav's descendants. It began with the Romans back at the destruction of the Second Temple, and in the 2,000 years since, we've been everywhere Edom has made his home -- whether in Europe, Russia, or America.
We've been nearly everywhere mankind has ever settled.
Now it's time to go home.
The Jewish year is 5762. According to the Zohar's calculation, with which the great kabbalist Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv seems to concur, "Resurrection of the Dead" is destined to begin no later than 28 years from now. By that time, the Zohar also explains, all the exiled Jews remaining at the end of history will have to be gathered in, and Moshiach will have already rid the world of evil.
By this time, the sparks of history will have to already be expended and returned to their sources Above.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and it probably would take a lot longer to build a thriving community in inhospitable Antarctica. No matter how we look at it, if life for the Jewish people takes a turn for the worst, and the "Lavans" of today no longer look at us with the same smile as they did yesterday, then we need to think about whether we have perhaps exhausted the sparks.
If our work is finished, then staying around may defeat our purpose. And in the end, defeat us, too.
Moshiach and the World Today
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For millennia, Jews have eagerly anticipated the arrival of Moshiach. Today we need him more than ever.
We are living in very turbulent times, to say the least. Whereas only two years ago the world and the people of Israel were optimistic about a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict, today that optimism has been replaced by fear and depression.
Fear of unbridled and senseless terrorism, and, depression from what appears to be a no-win situation for the State of Israel.
Now, more than ever before over the last 50 years, the Jewish people, and even the world in general, need a savior. We need someone who can, somehow -- perhaps even mystically -- bring about more than just a tenuous ceasefire between two warring peoples. We need someone who can, once and for all, bring an end to all human conflict, especially in the Middle East.
And, if he can do that -- a tall order -- then perhaps he would also be able to destroy whatever other evil exists in the world. As he engineers this long-dreamed-of world peace, let him make unethical and immoral behavior a thing of the past, too. In other words, this savior, if he is truly a savior, should usher in a permanent utopian society where virtuous living is the main theme and second- (if not first-) nature.
And, what shall we call this modern-day hero of Biblical proportions?
In Judaism, he has always been called "Moshiach"– "the anointed one"-- because, as a Jewish king he is to be anointed upon taking office, so-to-speak. (The Moshiach concept has been adapted into other religious societies, and is known in English as the Messiah.)
EXILE AND REDEMPTION
The centrality of Moshiach and the belief in his eventual arrival is part-and-parcel of Jewish belief, as Maimonides emphasized in his classic "Thirteen Principles of Faith":
I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Moshiach, and even though he may tarry, nevertheless, I will wait for him everyday, that he will come. (Principle #12)
-- and a promise from the prophets:
The smallest shall become a thousand, and the least, a mighty nation. I am the Lord, in its time, I will hasten it. (Isaiah 60:22)
According to tradition, the prophet Isaiah was referring to the future arrival of the savior of the Jewish people -- Moshiach ben Dovid -- Moshiach, a descendant of King David, from the tribe of Yehudah. There are many similar references to his eventual arrival in the Jewish Bible and subsequent commentaries, and this is one of the most-discussed concepts in Torah literature.
To appreciate the importance of Moshiach's arrival, one must first appreciate that the Jewish people are in exile, as we have been for thousands of years. This is true even with the present-day State of Israel; "exile"from a Torah perspective can occur even when the Jews are living in Israel, as was the case during the Greek Exile (319-139 BCE) which ended with the miracles of Chanukah.
In other words, "exile", from a Torah-perspective, is defined as "anything short of a complete and perfect Torah society living on the Land of Israel under the leadership of Moshiach."That will be a time when all nations will accept the existence of God, and the need for devotion to Him.
Until this is an absolute reality, exile will still be a primary theme of Jewish history.
From a non-Torah perspective, events in the Middle East today may be reason for grave concern, but are not necessarily a "portal"to significant change in the spiritual quality of society and mankind. From this perspective, the only hope is that somehow the situation will find rectification, so that the lives of those affected can return to "normal,"a subjective term defined by each individual and society.
The million-dollar question has always been, "When will Moshiach come?"
From a non-Torah viewpoint, the concept of "Moshiach"and a spiritually utopian society may be burdensome, even to be feared and avoided, since its goals are so radically different. Indeed, the yearning for Moshiach is usually appreciated only once a person gains a deeper understanding of Torah, its values, and God's master plan for creation and humanity.
TIMETABLE FOR REDEMPTION
The million-dollar question has always been, "When will Moshiach come?" To that end, calculations have been made throughout history -- obviously without success. As well, false messiahs have popped up all over the world throughout history, sometimes to no effect, sometimes causing great despair, and sometimes leaving whole new religions in their wake.
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 98a) speaks of two possible dates for the arrival of Moshiach, one is the early date, and one is the last possible moment. Bringing Moshiach "early"means, for the most part, national repentance to the ways of Torah, after which the rest of the world will fall into line.
However, should the Jewish people avoid a return to Torah, then history will be allowed to run its "natural course"until the time that God pre-destined from creation for it to end. And end it must, for creation has much bigger goals to accomplish than we have seen until now. As the Sages say: "This world is but a corridor to the next world"(Pirkei Avot 4:16).
SIX DAYS -- SIX THOUSAND YEARS
The first thing to know is that history will last only 6,000 years (Talmud - Sanhedrin 97a). This is because the six millennia are based upon the six days of creation, as hinted to in the following verse:
For one thousand years in Your [God's] eyes are but a day that has passed. (Psalms 90:4)
-- which, in turn, are spiritually rooted in the six Sefirot:
...This is why so much time must transpire from the time of creation until the time of the tikkun (i.e., Moshiach's coming). All the forces of Gevurot are rooted in the six Sefirot -- Chesed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod -- which are the six days of creation... and also the 6,000 years of history that the world will exist. And within [the six Sefirot] are the roots of all that will happen from the six days of creation until the Final Tikkun... We find that all that transpires is the result of the sparks from the time of Tohu, Chaos... (Drushei Olam HaTohu 2:151b)
Spiritual DNA influences the direction of history for that particular millennium.
This is why events happen in history as they do, when they do. Just like physical DNA determines much of our direction in life, so too, spiritual DNA influences the direction of history for that particular millennium. In the first 1,000 years of humanity, the Divine trait of Chesed (Kindness) gave people long lifespans, though they didn't deserve it. In the second millennium, Gevurah (Strength/Judgment) brought down Divine justice on mankind through the Flood and the dispersion from the Tower of Babel. Tifferet (Beauty) made Torah possible in the third millennium, the time of Abraham and Moses. And so on...
Today in 2001, we are in the year 5761 from creation, 239 years until Year 6000 -- the end of "This World."This represents slightly less than four percent of all of history as we are used to it. However, though this information in and of itself may not create a sense of urgency, a lot is meant to happen within this remaining thin slice of time, part of which may be already affecting the direction of events around the world, particularly those relating to the Jewish people.
RESURRECTION IN 29 YEARS TIME
One of the most important concepts in Jewish thought is that there was a radical transformation in man as a result of Adam disobeying God's command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This resulted in a spiritual distancing of God from man, and an intense "hiding of God's face,"so-to-speak (hester panim), which in turn resulted in the "physicalization"of mankind and creation.
According to the Zohar, prior to the sin of eating, Man was such a spiritual being that his skin was translucent like light. Our skin today is solid and opaque, which limits our ability to rise above nature and act spiritually as someone made in the image of God ought to.
Though this "physicalized" state of man suits our period of history, it is unacceptable for higher spiritual planes, especially that of the World to Come. Therefore, before humanity can enter that ultimate phase of history, we must reverse the process and return again to the state that Adam enjoyed before everything went wrong.
This period of "rebuilding"is called Techiyat HaMeitim -- "Resurrection of the Dead,"a concept that we mention every day in the Amidah prayer. This time period will be characterized by people dying, decomposing in the ground (as part of the atonement process), and then being re-built anew on a much higher spiritual plane. Compared to today, it would be like looking at an angel.
Though many rabbis believe this period will not occur for a long time to come, there are some sources -- the Zohar (Midrash Ne'elam - Toldot 140a), and the "Leshem Shevo v'Achlamah"(Drushei Olam HaTohu, 2:4:12:9-12) -- that suggest that this period will begin no later than 210 years in advance of Year 6000. That's 29 years from today!
For us, this is hard to believe. Twenty-nine years is not a lot of time, and the transformation from "this"reality to "that"reality is unimaginable. However, this difficulty in imagining may be unique to our generation, which did not witness how Europe and the entire world were transformed literally overnight, over a short period in the early 1940s.
Kabbalists say that everything will change at breath-taking speed.
Furthermore, when God is directly involved in such transformations, they can take place in very short periods of time, like the 10 months it took to bring the Jews from the lowest rung in Egypt to the highest one, culminating in the Jewish slave nation devastating the powerful empire of Egypt.
The Talmud (Brachot 13a) says that the Final Redemption will outdo all previous redemptions, and Kabbalists say that once this happens, everything will change at breath-taking speed. By the time history hits Year 5790, the world may still resemble what it looked like in the past, but at the same time, it may be experientially very different. 'Paradise' will not be something dreamed about, but rather lived within.
INGATHERING OF EXILES
The Zohar (Toldot 139a) says that in advance of the 210 years of the Resurrection of the Dead, there is a 40-year period of Kibbutz Galiot, literally the "Ingathering of the Exiles."As the name implies, it is the period during which all remaining Jews will be brought back to the Land of Israel. And as the number implies, it corresponds to the 40 years the Jewish people wandered in the desert.
In other words, the end of Jewish history perfectly mirrors the beginning of Jewish history in the time of Moses. We began with 210 years of life in Egypt, meant to bring us back to the level of Adam before the sin (though just the opposite resulted), and then, we "wandered"outside the Land of Israel for 40 years. So too, at the end of history, we may experience a process of returning to the land over the course of 40 years, followed by a 210-year period necessary to return to the level of Adam before his sin.
This period of ingathering will have two phases: Pre-Moshiach and Post-Moshiach. During the Pre-Moshiach period, history will still be subject to hidden Divine Providence. There will be limited aliyah (immigration) to Israel, but many situations will force Jews around the world to reconcile their feelings regarding the Land of Israel and redemption.
During that phase, it may look as if not much is happening to help the process of exile-ingathering, when in fact, a hidden winnowing process could be in full swing. Some Jews may feel a yearning to live in Israel, whether they will get there or not, while others may feel disenchanted and neutral to the idea of living on the land.
At that time, the importance of one's feelings and attachment to the Land of Israel may be virtually unnoticeable to most people. However, many midrashim explain that where a person stood with respect to the concept of living in Israel and their drive for closeness to God will make an important difference during Phase Two.
Phase One, within this 40-year period of ingathering, will come to a conclusion just before and during the arrival of Moshiach ben Dovid. Having come to save the Jewish people from the cataclysmic war of Gog and Magog (if that is the path history takes), and to rid the world of evil, the reality of God, the priority of Torah, and, the centrality of the Land of Israel will become eminently clear.
With the evil impulse (yetzer hara) on the way out of history for good, the era of free will choice will come to an end forever (Talmud - Sukkah 52a). With the end of free will, the opportunity to earn reward and enhance one's portion in the World to Come will also cease -- forever.
PHASES OF REDEMPTION
According to some sources in the Zohar, the official beginning of the ingathering may have been the year 5750 from creation, or 1990 CE. This corresponds to the demise of the Soviet Union and its stranglehold on millions of Jews. This also corresponds to the last quarter of the sixth millennium, which -- corresponding to the six days of creation -- equals the afternoon just prior to Shabbat, when preparations greatly accelerate life's pace. Indeed, the world seems to have quickened over the last decade with the advent of cyberspace, and major shifts in world thinking have since occurred.
Certainly, recent events in Israel have dominated world attention, forcing Jews to take sides and make decisions about their vision of Israel's future. Very little middle ground seems to exist today, with Jews being forced either to the right or the left. This is not incidental or just plain politics; this is a function of the "period of ingathering."
The transference from Phase One of the ingathering to Phase Two signals the Final Redemption under the leadership of Moshiach ben Dovid. When exactly this will happen is the big question mark in Jewish history, and the subject of many trial calculations and controversy.
However, the Zohar (Bereishit 118a) says that just as the actual birth of a child becomes increasingly obvious with time, so, too, will Moshiach's arrival eventually become so obvious that even a school child will be able to make the calculation.
What is important to us is that as the moment of transition from Phase One to Phase Two approaches, one can expect miracles to become increasingly more obvious, free will to become increasingly reduced, and world history to become increasingly more precarious.
CALCULATING MOSHIACH'S ARRIVAL
The Talmud records:
Rabbi Shmuel ben Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonaton: "May the spirit of those who calculate the end expire. For they say, "Since the pre-determined time has arrived, and [Moshiach] has yet to come, he will never come!" (Sanhedrin 97b)Whoever forecasts the date of Moshiach's arrival has no place in the World to Come. (Derech Eretz 11)
We see that the Talmud is concerned about making calculations regarding the precise day for Moshiach's arrival, since errors in such calculations usually result in national disappointment, and perhaps, revelations of false messiahs. Furthermore, the Talmud states:
When Rav Zeira happened upon scholars who were engaged [in calculating the date of Moshiach's arrival], he told them, "I beg you! do not postpone it ... for it has been taught, 'Three things come when the mind is occupied otherwise: Moshiach ...'" (Sanhedrin 97a)
Additionally, there is the concern that believing in a specific date will prevent a person from expecting Moshiach earlier than that date, a violation of the principle of "anticipating him any day." Failure to believe this, says Mamonides, can give such a Jew the status of a heretic (Laws of Kings 11:1).
Yet we see that great rabbis over the ages did attempt to predict the precise date of Moshiach's arrival. This is because the prohibition has been interpreted differently by many rabbis throughout the ages, as follows:
According to the Abarbanel (15th century Spain), it is only forbidden to make calculations based on astrology, however it is permissible to calculate the date of Moshiach;s arrival based on Biblical sources (Maayeni HaYeshuah 1:2).
Nachmanides says that the prohibition applied only to earlier generations, and now that we are on the eve of redemption (he was writing in the 13th century!), there is no prohibition (Sefer HaGeulah, Ma'amer 4).
Signs all around us foreshadow redemption.
The Malbim (19th century Europe) provides an analogy of a father and son traveling a long distance. As they start out, the son begins to ask when they will arrive, and of course the father does not answer. However, as they near the town, the son asks the same question, and this time the father readily answers that it is only a short while before they reach their destination. "So too, as the time of redemption is clearly approaching, we cannot help but notice the signs all around us that foreshadow that redemption. As the end grows nearer, doubts will become smaller, and at the very end, all doubts will be removed... As the time grows closer, uncertainty recedes in the wake of increasingly abundant wisdom" (Introduction to the Book of Daniel).
The Vilna Gaon (18th century Lithuania), whose commentary offers a formula for calculating the end, entreats those who understand the formula not to reveal it to others:
"...And from here [what I have just written] you can calculate the time of the Final Redemption if, God forbid, we do not merit [to bring it earlier]. However, I have imposed an oath, in the name of the God of Israel, on the reader of this that he should not reveal it." (Biur HaGra, Safra D'Tzniusa, Chapter Five)
The events of the 20th century were put into perspective by the greatest Sage of our time. Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian wrote:
heard in London from the holy Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, quoting the Chafetz Chaim, that the Sages say the war of Gog and Magog will be threefold. After World War One, the Chafetz Chaim said that this was the first battle of Gog and Magog, and in about 25 years (1942) there would be a second world war, which would make the first one seem insignificant. And then there would be a third battle...Rav Elchanan concluded that one must suffer the pangs of Moshiach, but the wise man will quietly prepare himself during that time -- perhaps he will be worthy of seeing the comforting of Tzion and Yerushalayim." (Leiv Eliyahu, Shmot p.172)
It is frightening to think that after so many years of pain and persecution, the Jewish people may be on the brink of true redemption. Who will merit to see this awesome reality? The Talmud teaches:
Rava said: When they bring a person for judgment, they will ask: "Did you deal faithfully in business? Did you set aside fixed times for Torah? Did you try to have children? Did you anticipate the redemption..."(Shabbat 31a)
This question is not merely theoretical. It will actually determine the quality of each individual's redemptive experience. As Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein wrote:
The Exodus from Egypt liberated only one out of five Jews (and some say one out of every 50) because all those who were bound to Egypt and did not want to depart died in the three days of darkness and were not privileged to leave. Only those who desired redemption with all their hearts were redeemed. The Final Redemption, likewise, depends upon our yearning. (Ohr Yechezkel, Emunat HaGeulah)
May we all merit to see the Redemption, speedily in our days.
Destruction of Joseph's Tomb: A Kabbalistic View
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Shechem -- where Joseph was sold into slavery and later buried -- is where redemption will begin with acts of destruction.
How fitting it is that a rioting Arab mob destroyed Joseph’s Tomb after all these millennia.
I am devastated by the loss of such a holy site, but I am also awed by the timing of the event.
Because this is Joseph's millennium.
According to the Talmud, there are six millennia to world history as we know it (Sanhedrin 97a); in the Kabbalistic understanding there is a correspondence between each millennium and the functioning of the world according to different spiritual forces.
Just like the concept of physical DNA, so too, is there cosmic DNA.
Just like there is a concept of physical DNA, so too, is there a concept of cosmic DNA, spiritual realities called sefirot which possess the potential for all that history can and will ever produce. They act as spiritual transformers, spiritual filters for the awesome and sublime light of God, resulting in the manifestation of different traits that form the basis of all creation and mankind.
All together, there are ten such sefirot, filters or traits, which represent the spiritual "chain of command" between God and the world in which we live. Six of them have governed history since creation, and each one is associated with a specific Torah personality who exemplified this trait, as follows:
- Chesed, "kindness": 0 to 1000, Abraham
- Gevurah, "power/strength": 1001 to 2000, Isaac
- Tiferet, "beauty/harmony": 2001 to 3000, Jacob
- Netzach, "dominance/victory": 3001 to 4000, Moses
- Hod, "glory": 4001 to 5000, Aaron
- Yesod, "foundation": 5001 to 6000, Joseph
We are now in the year 5761 (from creation), therefore we are also in the sixth millennium, the one that is spiritually "powered" by the sefirah called yesod – the one that corresponds to Joseph.
TWO MESSIAHS
The Talmud points out (Succah 52a), there are meant to be two Messiahs – redeemers of Israel. The first one, according to tradition, will descend from the line of Joseph, and die in battle, while paving the way for the final Messiah, who will descend from the line of David.
The Torah tells us that, just before Jacob died, he gave Joseph an extra piece of Israel – the city of Shechem.
The Torah tells us that, just before Jacob died, he gave Joseph an extra piece of Israel – the city of Shechem (Genesis 48:22). It was in Shechem that Joseph's brothers sold him down into slavery, and, it was to Shechem that the bones of Joseph were brought from Egypt hundreds of years later for their final burial.
It was here in Shechem – called Nablus by the Arabs – that the yeshivah stood, until two weeks ago, when it was viciously destroyed.
Regarding the territory of Joseph, the Zohar, the chief work of the Kabbalah, has this to say:
In the time of the resurrection of the dead, many camps will arise in Land of the Galil, because that is where the Messiah is going to be first revealed, since it is part of Joseph's territory. It will be the first place to be destroyed. It will begin there ahead of all other places, and then spread to the nations. (Zohar, Vayakhel 220a)
Shechem, according to the Talmud, is a place where bad things happen (Sanhedrin 102a.) It is a place "set aside for punishment," and at this time, this prophecy has come true. Arabs have ruthlessly murdered heroic Jews – Jews who were self-sacrificing for the sake of Torah, for the sake of Israel, and for the sake of Jewish history – and pillaged and destroyed the yeshivah, and burned many holy books.
And now, with the Israeli withdrawal from the site, in the minds of Arabs and Jews alike, Shechem represents a weak point in the Israeli chain of command.
But it need not be so.
IN SHECHEM, THIRTY-SIX
It is pointed out in the Kabbalah – where so many secrets about Messianic times are revealed – that the first letters of each of the words Baruch Shem kevod malchuto l'olam va'ed, spell the words, b'Shechem lamed-vav, meaning "in Shechem, thirty-six."
Baruch Shem is the second verse of the Shema said twice a day. According to tradition, it represents our belief that God orchestrates the events of history, even when this fact is veiled by nature and "natural" cause-and-effect. This verse alludes to the day when God will stop working undercover and reveal himself to humanity in an obvious manner. In other words, it is a verse that alludes to the final redemption.
But, why "in Shechem thirty-six?" And "thirty-six" what? That's a question that opens up a Kabbalistic "pandora's box," for thirty-six is all about exile AND redemption.
The original primordial light of creation shone for 36 hours before God hid it.
There are many phrases that have the same gematria or numerical value and they all point in the direction of one answer: the original primordial light of creation, which, the Talmud (Brochos 8:5) says shone for thirty-six hours before God hid it for the righteous people of history. This light is redemption; when it shines, evil is banished.
This is why Moses was born with it, and exemplified it, and was even compared to it. He was also born in the Hebrew year 2368, thirty-six years after Egyptian servitude officially began following the death of the last of Joseph's brothers, Levi.
This light is called Ohr HaTikun – the "Light of Rectification." It shone for Adam on day six of creation; it shone again at Mount Sinai when the Torah was given; and, with the help of God, it is going to shine again, soon – permanently – for the generation of Messiah.
As we mentioned earlier, Ten Sefirot represent a "chain of command" between God and the world as we know it. Each of those Ten Sefirot are also meant to have a sub-set of Ten Sefirot of their own, but, during times of exile, we only have six. Six times six, of course, is thirty-six, and, it represents our potential to fulfill the purpose of creation.
This challenge is actually alluded to in one of God's own name, Elohim. Kabbalah teaches that this name is really made up of two parts: the first three letters add up to a numerical value or gematria of thirty-six, corresponding to the six sefirot we have examined; the last two letter have numerical value or gematria of fifty, representing one of the top three sefirot – binah, which is associated with "fifty gates of understanding."
What does all this mean?
If we, the Jewish people, act as if God and Torah are all that counts, then, the light of binah is drawn down and becomes attached to the lower six sefirot, and, this, in turn, elevates these six sefirot upward towards binah. The result is redemption.
This is actually what we were trying accomplish at the end of the Yom Kippur service, when we say the Shema once, Baruch Shem kevod three times, and Hashem et Elohim seven times – one time for each level of heaven that, in exile, stands between us and the Divine Presence.
When falsehood rules the minds of men, this is a signs that the Messiah is near.
If, on the other hand, we act inconsistently with our belief in God, paying only lip service to His desire for creation and us within it, then, binah is drawn upward, the six sefirot downward, and falsehood and exile overrun creation.
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 97a) says that, when falsehood rules the minds of men, this is actually one of the signs that Messiah is not too far away.
Judging by the reporting of the Israeli-Arab conflict by many prominent newspapers, we have entered that era.
Even the name Shechem itself symbolizes this idea. The first and last letter are separated from each other by the letter kaf which symbolizes intellectual blindness. However, when kaf is removed, and these two letters are allowed to unite, then they spell the word shem, "name," a euphemism for the Tetragrammaton, God's holy ineffable name – Ha-shem, "the Name."
Yes, Shechem is a place set aside for punishment. However, that is only up until the time for redemption, and, when that time comes, then, the hidden light of creation will be unleashed, a light clearly associated with Joseph, and it will cause great miracles. Miracles that will clearly reveal the hand of God in history, and cause God's name to be unified, with or without our efforts.
So, how fitting it is at this late stage of history, while the Jewish people seem to be grappling for ground on so many fronts, that Joseph’s Tomb was decimated. I hope it is a good sign, for they know not upon which holy ground they tread, nor what powers of redemption they have unleashed.
Perhaps the spirit of Messiah Ben Joseph?
A year of miracles and peaceful redemption for all the Jewish people!
Jewish Unity and the Key to Redemption
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The Jewish People are handicapped if even one Jew has fallen away from our people.
Why was the First Temple destroyed? Because that generation transgressed the three cardinal sins: idol worship, sexual immorality, and murder.
Why was the Second Temple destroyed? Because of unwarranted hatred.
This shows how great is the punishment for unwarranted hatred. Because the generation of the three cardinal sins was redeemed after 70 years, yet for the generation of unwarranted hatred, its redemption has yet to come.
Talmud, Yoma 9
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What does the existence of the Temple have to do with love and hatred between fellow Jews?
The Temple was the main conduit for the flow of Godliness into this world. When we had the Temple, there was respect for God, for His Torah -- and for each other. There were no atheists, no doubt about God's existence. Every Jew acknowledged one God and understood the genius of His laws. The world was filled with awe of God and love of God.
As we began to lose that clarity, the flow of Godliness became severed. The prophet Ezekiel (ch. 9) actually describes seeing God's presence withdraw from the Temple. With the loss of the Temple, God has become more concealed -- resulting in a world filled not with clarity but with spiritual confusion. It is no coincidence that immediately following the destruction of the First Temple (circa 421 BCE), Greek and Roman philosophy (as well as Buddhism and Tao) rose to their peak. Similarly, Christianity began concurrently with the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE).
Back to the Garden
Today, the world is beset by jealousy, greed, theft, violence, lying, impatience, intolerance, deception and fraud. We are suspicious of our neighbors and cynical of our leaders. We are factionalized and worship different gods. Rather than cooperate, we compete. We are manipulative and seek advantage at the expense of others. It's dog-eat-dog and every man for himself. We withdraw into our homes behind a curtain of satellite dishes, internet, and take-out food. We shield ourselves from the harsh realities, and worst of all, we despair of the notion that things can be much better. We shrug our shoulders and lament, "That's just the way life is."
Judaism says: "No!" When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, God assured us of a path back. Statesmen may speak of "peace in our time," but Isaiah said it best: "The lamb will lie down with the lion... and young children will play at the cobra's nest" (Isaiah 11:6).
"Shalom," the Hebrew word for "peace," comes from the root "shaleim," which means complete or whole. "Shalom," says the Talmud, is one of the Names of God, for His unity encompasses all. This "one-ness" is the primary theme of the Jewish Pledge of Allegiance: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is ONE!"
Just as the ecosystem works to perfection -- with trees breathing carbon dioxide and clouds carrying rain, so too we seek a world where all humanity works together in harmony. This is not to suggest that we should all act the same and ignore our differences. As the saying goes: "Two Jews, three opinions." But because we have differences doesn't mean we can't love and be committed to one another, learn together, and work together for Jewish survival.
One Person, One Heart
Realize that all Jews must be united in order for the nation to be redeemed. The verse (Exodus 19:2) says that the Jewish people camped at Mount Sinai. Rashi points out that the word for "camped" is written in the singular, to indicate that they were "like one person with one heart." Say the commentators: Jewish unity is a prerequisite for acceptance of the Torah.
Further, the Midrash says: If the Jewish people were lacking just one person from the 600,000 Jews at Mount Sinai, they would not have received the Torah.
Why is this? The kabbalists point out that just as 600,000 Jewish souls stood at Mount Sinai, so too there are 600,000 letters in the Torah (including the white spaces between letters). Because just as a Torah scroll is invalid if even a single letter is missing, so too the Jewish people are handicapped if even one Jew has fallen away from our people.
Each and every Jew is completely integral -- regardless of their beliefs or level of observance. In fact, one of the spices used in the incense at the Holy Temple was "galbanum," which has a foul aroma. The Talmud (Kritot 6b) derives from here that even the worst sinners are inextricably bound into the community of Israel.
Redemption Today
Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz, one of the great rabbis of pre-war Europe, was quoted as saying: "When I will stand before the heavenly court, and they will ask me, 'What merit have you brought with you?' What shall I answer? Torah? Is my Torah knowledge worth enough to be mentioned? Fear of Heaven? Are my deeds worthy of that description? There is only one thing I could possibly claim -- that I loved every Jew with all my heart. Whenever I walk in the street and I see a Jew, one thought comes to me: A blessing on his head!'"
The Sages teach that the Temple and all that it represents can be rebuilt at any moment. The Midrash says that the Third Temple has already been constructed in heaven, and merely awaits our preparations here on earth. In every generation, an individual exists with the capacity to be Moshiach. The Jewish people have returned to the Land of Israel and made it bloom once again. God is ready when we are. For as King David writes in Psalms 95:7: "(Redemption will come) today -- if you hearken to His voice."
Yearning for Redemption
Why Jews should yearn for the Messiah.
It’s easy enough to imagine why a Jew living in Inquisition-period Spain or pogrom-era Russia or World War II era Europe would hang his hopes on Judaism’s promise of Messianic redemption. Powerless against pervasive enmity and danger, there would have been no other hope.
Today, even in a world fraught with its own dangers, it’s hard to imagine a time when Jewish life has been easier. In America and Israel, the Jewish people are free to live as they please, keeping as much or as little of their tradition as they wish. Throughout much of the world, life overflows with prosperity never dreamed possible. Today’s “struggling” family lives with comforts, conveniences and health standards that top anything the “rich man” of the shtetl could have imagined.
And yet, there is still something missing.
Our food is so abundant that we barely taste it. We worry incessantly about money. Maintaining a middle-class lifestyle casts many families into a pit of debt, destroying their peace and corroding their health. We have miracle drugs and treatments for so many diseases, and yet the tears of suffering and loss still flow.
Our abundance of religious freedom falls short of its potential as well. Although our spiritual inheritance is so beautiful and fulfilling, it is a constant struggle to maintain a connection to it. People pray but sometimes feel that no one is listening. They try to do good, but wonder if it really matters. They voice their convictions but can’t find the drive to live up to them.
Why We Still Long for Redemption
The nagging ache within us – the inability to really ignite with the fullness of joy and blessing apportioned to each and every Jew – is the ache of exile. It is our soul’s yearning for an era when, as promised, the clear sense of God’s Presence – called the Shechinah – will radiate its full glory from the Third Beis Hamikdash, Holy Temple. Everywhere on earth, God’s light will become increasingly discernible, bestowing bountiful blessings on us all.1
In good times and bad, the Torah gives each Jew the obligation of “tzipisah l’yeshua” – longing for the redemption. This is not because life in the present is so difficult that our only hope is a Messiah who will lead us out of this mess. If that were the case, the obligation would only apply to times of trouble and danger.
It's a mind-set geared toward bringing God’s presence ever more patently into our world.
Rather, tzipisah l’yeshua is an obligation for all times and all places, for it is a mind-set geared toward bringing God’s presence ever more patently into our world. When we set our sights on that vision and let it guide us through our path in life, every aspect of life takes on greater meaning. Every interaction, whether with others or with God, is fueled by the desire to touch the Godliness within ourselves. Thus the longing for redemption – for closeness to God – draws abundant blessing into our lives.
Utopia
Robert applied for a great job in an up-and-coming software company. But he didn’t get the job. Instead, he was stuck in his underpaid position for the foreseeable future, struggling along on too little money and having nothing to offer all those he wanted to help. Why didn’t God make things work out right for Robert?
The pillar of Jewish belief is that in every situation in life, God does make it work out right. “Right” as defined by God, from His all-knowing perspective of each person’s needs in the present and the future, in the body and the soul. Nevertheless, it takes a great deal of spiritual strength to know the good is there, even when the immediate outcome is pain.
The world redeemed, however, operates in perfect harmony. Pain and suffering no longer play a role, for the inherent good in all God does is no longer hidden. Isaiah2 paints the Messianic era as a time of ultimate bliss. “The eyes of the blind shall be clear-sighted, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened… the lame shall leap as a hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing…”3 Man will no longer face mortality, for “Death shall be swallowed up forever and God shall wipe the tears from every face.”4
The Talmud5 describes the Messianic era as a time of extraordinary fertility. Trees will grow ripe fruits every day, and Israel’s wilderness will be “like Eden, and her desert like the garden of God.”6 Even the burdens of earning a livelihood will be relieved, as “Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and aliens shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.” 7
In the Messianic era, the Jewish people will have the opportunity to rise to the status of sages,8 for they will come to know their Creator to the utmost capacity of human beings. As Isaiah describes, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.”9
In the Rambam’s10 view, the main difference between the present world and the Messianic days is “delivery from servitude to foreign powers.”11 That one transformation will be enough to free us to become completely absorbed in learning about and connecting to God,12 opening an era ruled by goodness, wisdom, knowledge and truth. Every person will have perfect faith that God provides for him, freeing him from his struggle for sustenance and his inner struggles with jealousy and hate.
A Brighter Light
In the darkness of night, the watchman used his powerful flashlight to illuminate his path and examine the sources of any suspicious noises. But when the sun rose to its full strength, his flashlight was useless, a mere flicker that added nothing to the sun’s brilliant rays.
Likewise, in the days of Mashiach, when God’s light permeates the world, the brilliant light shed by God’s miracles will no longer outshine the pervasive brilliance of the entire, natural world. The splitting of the Reed Sea will reveal itself to be neither more nor less God’s work than the splitting of an amoeba.
We will see how every episode of the exile was part of God's plan bringing the world to perfection.
In the full light of redemption, we will also see how every episode of the exile was the work of the Creator, aimed at bringing the world to perfection. Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler13 draws this message from the words of Shir Hama’alos said on Shabbos and Yomim Tovim before the “Grace After Meals”: “When God will return the captivity of Zion, we will be like dreamers.”14 When the return to Zion (Jerusalem) finally comes, the suffering of past oppressions will seem like a dream15 – a vaporous non-entity leading us to open our eyes to the true reality.
At the heart of all our longing is this one desire: that God’s presence and Divine Providence manifest itself clearly in the world. Everything else, including the physical abundance in the world, the end of suffering and illness, and the removal of all obstructions from our spiritual lives – springs from this singular, all-encompassing good.
Click here to order Yearning with Fire. With thanks to Chana Nestlebaum who edited this article.
- Rambam, Hilchos Melachim, 12:5.
- Yeshayahu 35:5-6.
- See Bereishis Rabba 95:1; Tanchuma, Vayigash 8 and Metzora 2.
- Yeshayahu 25:8. See Pesachim 68a; Shemos Rabba 30:3 and Midrash Tehillim 145:1. See Succah 52a that the yetzer hara will be slaughtered during the days of Mashiach. See also Bava Basra 16a.
- Shabbas 30b; Kesuvos 111b.
- Yeshayahu 51:3. See Yecheskiel 36: 29-30, “and Rambam Hilchos Melachim 12:5, “At that time there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor strife. All good things will be bestowed in abundance, and all delicacies will be accessible like dust”..
- Yeshayahu 61:5. See also Yeshayahu 49:23 and 60:10-12.
- See Michtav M’Eliyahu, Volume 5, Page 163, s.v. ‘V’yosair mezeh’, They will have ruach hakodesh.
- Yeshayahu 11:9. See Hilchos Melachim 12:5. See also Netzach Yisrael , ch. 42.
- Hilchos Melachim 12:1-2; See Hilchos Teshuvah 9:2.
- See Berachos 34b. See also Ohr Hachaim on Shemos 21:11.
- Hilchos Teshuvah 9:2.
- Michtav M’Eliyahu, Volume 3, Page 245.
- Tehillim 126:1.
- Michtav M’Eliyahu, Volume 1, page 101, s.v. ‘Ach ka’asher’.
End of Days
With the world appearing more and more a dangerous place, I'm wondering what Judaism has to say about the possibility of an apocalyptic final event. Does such a concept exist, and how will that play out?
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
The Jewish people believe in what's called the End of Days. This isn't the final end of the world – but merely the end of history as we know it. After the End of Days the world will continue as usual, with the big exception that there will be world peace.
As the End of the Days approach, there are two paths that the world could take. The first is filled with kindness and miracles, with the Messiah "given dominion, honor and kinship so that all peoples, nations and languages would serve him; his dominion would be an everlasting dominion that would never pass, and his kingship would never be destroyed." (Daniel 7:13-14) This scenario could be brought at any moment, if we'd just get our act together!
The other path is described as Messiah coming "humble and riding upon a donkey" (Zechariah 9:9). In this scenario, nature will take its course, and society will undergo a slow painful deterioration, with much suffering. God's presence will be hidden, and his guidance will not be perceivable.
According to this second path, there will be a valueless society in which religion will not only be chided, it will be used to promote immorality. Young people will not respect the old, and governments will become godless. This is why the Midrash says, "One third of the world's woes will come in the generation preceding the Messiah." (Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, "Handbook of Jewish Thought")
According to the Talmud, as the Messianic era approaches, the world will experience greater and greater turmoil: Vast economic fluctuations, social rebellion, and widespread despair. The culmination will be a world war of immense proportion led by King Gog from the land of Magog. This will be a war the likes of which have not been seen before. This will be the ultimate war of good against evil, in which evil will be entirely obliterated. (Ezekiel ch. 38, 39; Zechariah 21:2, 14:23; Talmud – Sukkah 52, Sanhedrin 97, Sotah 49)
What is the nature of this cataclysmic war? Traditional Jewish sources state that the nations of the world will descend against the Jews and Jerusalem. The Crusades, Pogroms and Arab Terrorism will pale in comparison. Eventually, when all the dust settles, the Jews will be defeated and led out in chains. The Torah will be proclaimed a falsehood.
Then, just when we think the story is over, the Messiah will come and lead the Jewish redemption. He will inspire all peoples to follow God, rebuild the Temple, gather in any remaining Jewish exiles to Israel, and re-establish the Sanhedrin. (Maimonides – Melachim ch. 11-12)
In many ways, the world is a depressing place. But life is like medicine. Imagine a person with a serious internal disease. Taking the right medication will detoxify the body by pushing all the impurities to the surface of the skin. The patient may look deathly ill – all covered in sores. But in truth, those surface sores are a positive sign of deeper healing.
The key is to maintain the hope of redemption.
Rabbi Azriel Tauber, a successful businessman and Torah scholar who lives in New York, is a survivor of the concentration camps. Rabbi Tauber says he was able to survive the camps because every day, his father would encourage him and say: "Don't despair, my son, for redemption can come at any moment."
The Torah provides our hope for the future. Maimonides says that every day, a Jew should yearn for the Messiah. Not in order that Jews should rule the world, or to be exalted amongst the nations, nor to eat, drink and rejoice. But rather we yearn for the Messiah so that we will have time for the wisdom of Torah, with nothing to disturb that pursuit.
The message should be clear: Keep focused on the Torah, for it is the voice of reason in our world of insanity. If we live with that knowledge today, then the Torah promises that the final resolution will come more quickly and painlessly. And at the very least, living with this understanding is sure to keep us among those who have preserved their sanity in this world of confusion.
Indeed, the world is in desperate need of Messianic redemption. War and pollution threaten our planet; ego and confusion erode family life. To the extent we are aware of the problems of society, is the extent we will yearn for redemption. As the Talmud says, one of the first questions a Jew is asked on Judgment Day is: "Did you yearn for the arrival of the Messiah?"
How can we hasten the coming of the Messiah? The best way is to love all humanity generously, to keep the mitzvot of the Torah (as best we can), and to encourage others to do so as well.
Despite the gloom, the world does seem headed toward redemption. One apparent sign is that the Jewish people have returned to the Land of Israel and made it bloom again. Additionally, a major movement is afoot of young Jews returning to Torah tradition.
By the way, Maimonides states that the popularity of Christianity and Islam is part of God's plan to spread the ideals of Torah throughout the world. This moves society closer to a perfected state of morality and toward a greater understanding of God. All this is in preparation for the Messianic age.
The Messiah can come at any moment, and it all depends on our actions. God is ready when we are. For as King David says: "Redemption will come today – if you hearken to His voice."
Anointing and “The Anointed One” (Messiah)
When was anointing done in Biblical times? Is it still practiced today?
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
Anointing is a form of consecrating a sacred person or item, and initiating it in its special function. In the Torah it was done to the Tabernacle (Exodus 30:26-30), to High Priests (as well as all the Priests when the Tabernacle was first dedicated), and occasionally to kings.
The earliest instance of anointing in the Torah is the stone which Jacob anointed to dedicate as an altar (Genesis 28:18). He did so when he was fleeing his brother Esau, after he awoke from his dream in which he saw a ladder ascending to Heaven. According to the Sages, that episode occurred on Mount Moriah (Talmud Hullin 91b), and thus, Jacob’s act was the earliest consecration of the place which would ultimately house the holy Temple.
Throughout the generations, a special anointing oil was used to consecrate kings and High Priests. God instructed Moses to produce this anointing oil, which consisted of olive oil mixed with certain spices in the proper proportions (Exodus 30:22-33). It was used at the time to anoint the Tabernacle and its utensils (such as the ark, altars and menorah), and to anoint Aaron and his sons. The Talmud states that the original oil produced in the desert, though only 12 logs (=~1 gallon), miraculously lasted for all of Israel’s history and exists in its full quantity today (Horiyot 11b).
There are several recorded instances in the Torah in which kings were anointed. Samuel the Prophet anointed both Saul (I Samuel 10:1) and David (I Samuel 16:13), Zaddok the Priest anointed Solomon (I Kings 1:39), Yehoyada the Priest anointed Yo’ash (after Atalayah killed out the rest of the royal family; II Kings 11:12), and finally, the people anointed Jehoahaz, one of the last kings of Judah (II Kings 23:30).
The Talmud (Horiyot 11b) explains that whereas all High Priests were anointed, a king was only anointed if he began a new dynasty or if there was some controversy surrounding his appointment. This is why, as we saw above, only a few kings were anointed throughout history. (Some controversy or instability existed at the time all the kings listed were anointed, such as King Solomon, who was opposed by his brother Adonijah.)
In addition, there was also a special “Priest anointed for war” (“mishuach milchama”) – who was anointed for the specific role of speaking to the troops before they went out to battle, both to encourage them and to excuse certain classes of people who were exempt from fighting. (See Deut. 20:1-9, Talmud Sotah 42a, Horiyot 12b.)
The special anointing oil which Moses prepared was hidden away by King Josiah towards the end of the First Temple era – when he hid the Ark of the Covenant and a number of other sacred items, knowing that the Temple was soon to be destroyed. From that point new High Priests were “anointed” simply by wearing the 8 garments of the High Priest and beginning to serve. (The later King Jehoahaz was likewise only anointed with persimmon oil (Talmud Horiyot 12a).)
In the End of Days when the Temple is rebuilt, the oil will be revealed from its hiding place – together with the Ark and other items – and both the future High Priest and the Messiah, the future king of Israel, will be anointed with it.
It should be noted that since oil was typically used to anoint people to greatness, the Torah occasionally uses the term to anoint (“mashach”) where it simply means to appoint to high position, without the use of oil (see e.g. I Kings 19:16,19 regarding Elijah’s appointment of Elisha as his successor, and Isaiah 61:1).
Likewise, the Torah occasionally uses the term “the anointed one” = “mashiach” / “messiah” to refer to any person appointed to carry out an important task. People sometimes mistake this word to refer to the Messiah proper, but the word is not limited to that definition. It simply means “the appointed one,” and very often from the context is clearly referring to someone else. See for example Isaiah 45:1 regarding Cyrus, Lamentations 4:20 regarding Josiah, and Psalms 105:15 regarding all of Israel.
Four and Ten
Va'eira (Exodus 6:2-9:35)
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When God says to Moses that He is going to bring the Jews out of Egypt, He uses four different ways of saying the same thing (Exodus 6:6-7):
- "I shall take you out from under the burdens."
- "I shall rescue you."
- "I shall redeem you."
- "I shall take you to Me for a people."
Why this redundancy?
These four statements are really four different types of redemption. You may recall at the Passover Seder, where the four cups of wine symbolize these four phrases. So what does each of these phrases mean?
- "I shall take you out from under the burdens." Even if God did not take us out, He still stopped the servitude, for which we are grateful.
- "I shall rescue you." To rescue is to remove the problem altogether. We ask God to get us out of Egypt, so we won't have to worry about the problem happening again.
- "I shall redeem you." The word "redemption" implies removing the effects of the problem - our slave mentality, our lack of wealth, our lack of infrastructure for an independent society.
- "I shall take you to Me for a people." When God takes us to Him, He gives us a new purpose, something positive and proactive to do.
FOUR STEPS TO TESHUVA
Teshuva means to return. When we do something that we know took us away from the Infinite and holiness, we don't beat ourselves up, wallow in guilt, or crawl into a hole. We do something called teshuva. We try to correct ourselves. We return to the Almighty.
This is a four-step process, hinted to in the verses of redemption from Egypt:
- Stop the problem - resolve not to do the transgression again.
- Rescue - put yourself in a circumstance where you won't be tempted to do the transgression again. If every time you hang out with a group of people, you end up gossiping, consider not hanging out with that group anymore.
- Remove the effects of the transgression - If you stole something, you need to return it. If you became insensitive to people, you need to read material on how to be more sensitive.
- Do something positive - Every transgression comes from a misplaced desire. Look for opportunities to increase a positive activity that removes the desire for transgression. If you find yourself saying something negative about a friend, think of three constructive ways you can help your friend change.
GOD'S NAME
Every significant "four" in the Torah relates back to God's four-letter name (see Exodus 6:2). There are many names of God which refer to different attributes. The primary name which implies His infiniteness, and His love and mercy, is the four letter name - spelled Yud, Hey, Vav, Hey - sometimes referred to as the tetragrammaton.
In this week's Torah portion, God introduces Himself to Moses in a way that appears to change the relationship that God and the Israelites are meant to have from now on. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob related to one aspect of the Infinite, while Moses and the nation of Israel from now on will relate to the four-letter name.
Until now, we related to God through an aspect of strict justice. From now on we will relate to Him through His qualities of love and mercy. The idea of redemption and the process of teshuva are expressions of God's love and mercy.
WHAT DOES FOUR REPRESENT?
Every significant "ten" in the Torah can be broken down to two sets of "five." The Ten Commandments are written on two tablets: five commandments relating to the dynamic between man and man, and five between man and God. Similarly, we have ten fingers, five on each hand.
Furthermore, each five can be broken down into "four plus one." Like the fingers on a hand are four plus a thumb.
Each foursome can be further broken down into "three plus one."
Each threesome is an expression of the three primary forces in the universe: Love, Justice and Harmony. Just like the legs of a stool must be three to support the seat, the universe rests on three principles. Just as a stool is usually a temporary seat, while a chair is more sturdy and permanent, so too, the foursome in the Torah always represents permanence.
TEN PLAGUES
Like the other tens in the Torah, the Ten Plagues also can be reduced conceptually. This is one reason why this week's Torah portion contains seven plagues, and the next portion, Bo, contains three.
The process of redemption and the process of teshuva can be done with three steps, but the fourth step - taking positive action - adds permanence.
When you stop and prevent evil in the universe, you are doing the will of God. But when you also include something positive, you are becoming like God.
Spiritual Exercise:
Think of one single area of personal improvement, and take it through the four steps.
The Returning Exiles to Israel
Since there are many million more Jews in the world, how will there be room for them when the Messiah arrives? Will they all come right away? Where will they stay when they first arrive?
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
It’s an interesting issue. Of course we do not know in detail what the world will be like after the Messiah’s arrival. It’s possible the world will be quite miraculous and all such questions will be meaningless. Even so, there are a number of relevant observations we can make today.
At the time of the Exodus, the Children of Israel were a nation of several million, spread throughout the Land of Goshen. Yet when it was time to depart, they gathered together in Ramses and then traveled to Sukkot at near-miraculous speeds. (See Rashi to Exodus 12:34 & 19:4, based on Mechilta 2 and 14.) The Torah later describes their departure as having been “on eagles’ wings” (Exodus 19:4). This phrase has become metaphorical for the prophesied return of the Jews from their exile to the far corners of the earth, which too will be at a miraculous pace. See likewise Isaiah 40:31 which, while discussing the future redemption, states that those who place their hope in God will grow wings like eagles and have renewed strength.
Such prophecy would have been wholly inexplicable to past generations: how does one travel on the wing of eagles? Yet this is yet another example of prophecy which earlier generations might have scoffed at yet has become routine today with the air travel of our times. In fact, when the nascent State of Israel airlifted tens of thousands of Yemenite Jews to Israel in 1949-1950, the enterprise was dubbed “Operation On Wings of Eagles” (“mivtza al kanfei nesharim” – often nicknamed in English “Operation Magic Carpet”).
How long will it take for the nation to be settled? Here too there are no explicit sources. The final chapters of Ezekiel (47-48) describe in detail the future boundaries of the Land of Israel and its division according to tribes. (According to some, converts will also receive an inheritance (based on 47:22).) In all probability this will take several years to accomplish. The Talmud has a tradition that in Joshua’s time, it took a full seven years to conquer the land and another seven to divide it among the tribes and their families (see e.g. Talmud Zevachim 118b). The people required temporary housing during the interim. Likewise, the early State of Israel was known for housing its many new immigrants in “ma’abarot” – absorption camps, for years until sufficient proper housing could be constructed.
In terms of space, as prophesied in Ezekiel, Israel will extend to the original borders promised in Numbers 34 and somewhat beyond, much larger than it is today. There is also a tradition that we will inherit not only the land of seven nations as promised many times in the Torah (e.g. Deut. 7:1), but the lands of all the ten nations originally promised to Abraham in Genesis 15:18-21. (See also Deuteronomy 19:8-9 regarding the obligation to designate three more cities of refuge when the land is extended.) See this past response regarding this.
Lastly, God gave a special promise to the Land of Israel that it would always have room for every Jew who wants to dwell in it. The Talmud states that Israel is referred to as "the desirable land" ("eretz ha'zvi;" Daniel 11:16,41) – which can also be translated "land of the deer" – because just as a deer's skin stretches to larger than its actual size to accommodate a deer, so too the Land of Israel: when we are there it is spacious, and when we are absent it contracts (Talmud Gittin 57a).
The Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9
I’m curious to know the Jewish understanding of Daniel 9:24-27. It seems such a clear reference to Jesus that I don’t understand how Jewish scholars can disagree. It speaks of the Messiah who will live 483 years after Daniel’s time. He will be cut off (i.e., crucified) but not for his sake (v. 26), and He will make a covenant with the many (v. 27), abolish sacrifice (v. 27), and terminate transgression (v. 24). And after his death there will be terrible destruction (vv. 26-27). This sounds exactly like Jesus dying for our sins and making a New Covenant with all of mankind, and afterwards there would be terrible calamities during the destruction of the Temple. Jesus lived precisely when Daniel was told the Messiah would be – shortly before the destruction of the Second Temple. How can the Jews not accept this? You don’t even believe the Messiah came when Daniel was told he would!
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
Thank you for raising the very important issue. You happen to be right that learned Christians often see Daniel 9, prophesying about a 490 year period (70 “weeks” of 7 years each), as perhaps the most explicit allusion to Jesus in the Torah, even more so than Isaiah 53. It seems to write explicitly that the Messiah would come before the Second Temple’s destruction and that he would die for our sins.
This is a very lengthy topic, especially because those verses in Daniel are so cryptic. However, before summarizing the Jewish interpretation, I’d like to point out a few difficulties with the Christian one. First of all, the term “mashiach”, which literally means “anointed one,” is never used in the Torah in reference to the Messiah as we think of it today. That word appears 39 times in the Torah, and the intention is always for a High Priest, a King, or someone designated by God (“anointed”) for some special mission. See for example Leviticus 4:3, I Samuel 12:3, 24:6, 26:11, Psalms 20:7, Lamentations 4:20, and Isaiah 45:1.
In fact, Rabbi Tovia Singer points out that in every other place where the word “mashiach” appears in the Torah, Christian Bibles interpret it accurately as “anointed one” and only the two times that it appears here do they translate it as “the Messiah” – both with the definite article “the” in front of it (which does not appear in the Hebrew), and with the word Messiah capitalized – although Hebrew has no capital letters.
Secondly, Daniel 9 clearly speaks of two anointed people – one after 49 years (7 weeks), who will begin the rebuilding of the Second Temple. And a second after 62 weeks (434 years), when an anointed person will be cut off. The first one predates the Second Temple and clearly does not refer to Jesus.
The second anointed one, who did live around the time of Jesus, does not seem to be a very righteous person. Daniel writes that he will be “cut off” (“yikarait”). Karet, which means excision, always has a negative connotation in the Torah. It is most commonly used for the punishment of excision which one incurs for the most serious transgressions.
Daniel also states that that this mashiach will be cut off “and there will not be to him” (“v’ain lo”). It is a cryptic term, but seems to say that he will have nothing left or there will be nothing left of him. Christians interpret this expression as meaning “he will die but not for his own sake” – namely, the Messiah will die for our sins. But that is simply not what the Hebrew means.
Lastly, Christians believe that the Messiah was to be cut off in the middle of the final 7 years (the final “week” of v. 27) and at the end of that week the Temple was destined to be destroyed. But according to Christian tradition, Jesus was crucified in the early 30’s C.E. which was well over the half week (24.5 years) before the Temple’s destruction in the year 70. It is also difficult to understand when to begin the count of 490 years according to Christian interpretation. Four hundred and ninety years before Jesus’s death does not seem to correspond to any significant event, making it unclear what starting point Daniel’s vision had in mind.
To begin understanding these verses according to Jewish tradition, as always, it is important to see the verses in context. In the beginning of Chapter 9, Daniel is profoundly worried about the prophecy of Jeremiah. Jeremiah foretold that Jerusalem’s destruction would last 70 years (see Jeremiah 25:12 and 29:10). He thought the 70 years had come to an end already, and in fact the Babylonian Empire had recently been overtaken by the Persians, yet the return to Jerusalem had not occurred. He feared that they were not worthy of the prophesied redemption and that it was going to be delayed. He began fasting and praying, beseeching God for His forgiveness, until the angel Gabriel came to him and clarified the future events – when the Second Temple would be rebuilt and how long it would stand.
(In truth, the two 70’s of Jeremiah 25 and 29 were separate prophecies. Babylonia would fall 70 years after its ascension (25:12) – and this had occurred the year before the events of Daniel 9, while the return to Zion would not occur until 70 years after Jerusalem’s destruction (29:10), which occurred 18 years after Nebuchadnezzar’s ascension.)
As to the precise interpretation of the verses, there are a number of slightly different approaches among the commentators. In the interests of simplicity, I will follow primarily a single approach below.
The 490 years (70 weeks) refer to the entire time period from the destruction of the First Temple until the Destruction of the Second. Gabriel outlined this entire period to Daniel. Some explain that this was in part a response to Daniel’s anxiousness over the 70 years of Jeremiah. The angel explained that in addition to the literal 70 years of Jeremiah’s prophecy – the 70 years of punishment Israel would require before the building of the Second Temple, Jeremiah was hinting to a longer 70 – 70 weeks of years – which would be required to fully expiate the sins of the nation during the First Temple. Thus, apart from the 70 years of actual exile, there would be 490 years total in which Israel would suffer other forms of unrest and deprivation, even as the Second Temple stood (Abarbanel, Malbim).
Based on this, verse 24 states that a full 490 years would be required to completely wipe out the sins of the First Temple era. At that point, sin could be removed totally and a period of everlasting righteousness and the fulfillment of prophecy could ensue. I.e., after the full atonement of the 490 years, the Messianic era could have ensued, and the Third Temple could have been built shortly after the Second. (Sadly, though, the Jews sinned further during the Second Temple, pushing off the ultimate redemption even further away.)
Verse 25 speaks of an anointed prince appearing after 7 weeks, after which “a street and moat” will be built, standing for 62 weeks, but in troubled times. The anointed prince was Cyrus (whom God referred to as his mashiach (Isaiah 45:1)) who was to grant the Jews permission to rebuild the Temple. This occurred in the 52nd year after Jerusalem’s destruction – longer than 7 weeks, but the final fraction of a week was not counted.
As that verse continues, afterwards would commence the building of the Second Temple. That period would span in total 62 weeks = 434 years, plus the 4 years remaining from the eighth week begun before Cyrus ascended the throne. (Note that the 7+ weeks together with the 62+ total 70 full weeks.) Thus, this period would last 438 years in total – the 18 years from Cyrus’s command until the Temple was inaugurated, together with the 420 years the Second Temple stood. This, however, would be in troubled times – under the rule of the Persians, then the Greeks, and finally the Romans, with much oppression throughout.
Verse 26 describes what will happen at the time of the Second Temple’s destruction. An “anointed one” will be cut off. This either refers to King Agrippa II, the Hasmonean King at the time of the destruction, the High Priest at that time, or the notion of priesthood in general. The Temple will be utterly destroyed by the Roman legions of Vespasian and Titus (“the people of the prince”). Jerusalem will be utterly “washed away” (“its end shall come in a deluge”). And it will remain so until “the end of war” – the final battles in the time of the Messiah.
Verse 27 adds some interesting details of those final years and beyond. The Romans will make a covenant of peace with the “great ones” of Israel for the final seven years. However, they will not abide by their covenant but for the final half a week before the Temple’s destruction they will abolish the offering of sacrifices. Also, an idolatrous temple with mute abominations would later be built on the high place of the Temple (by Hadrian) – until destruction will be poured out upon all such abominations in the End of Days.
Some of the material above based upon a lecture given by Rabbi Tovia Singer.
Water from the Rock?
I heard that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is leaking and that there is great significance to this event. Can you tell me more?
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
Rumors have been circulating that a trickle of water has started to flow from under the Foundation Stone on the Temple Mount. Media reports say that it is impossible to locate the source or to stop the flow.
According to Jewish tradition, the Foundation Stone is the holiest spot on earth. It is the connection point between Heaven and Earth, and is referred to by the kabbalists as the "umbilical cord." Furthermore, it is the site of the binding of Isaac, and the site of the Holy of Holies in the Temple. (see Pirkei D'Rebbe Eliezer 35)
So what's the significance today?
The Talmud (Yoma 78a) writes that in the Messianic era, water will begin flowing from the Temple Mount. The water, originally a trickle, will gradually increase until it becomes deep enough to immerse the impure. As the prophet says: "On that day there will be a spring opened up for the House of David and for the residents of Jerusalem, for cleansing and for purification." (Zechariah 13:1)
The recent reports are difficult to verify. The Foundation Stone is 13 by 17 meters in size, and it has steps leading down to a large cave. The room around it is even bigger. It would be like asking someone to find a trickle of water in a large convention center.
In the meantime, keep checking the Western Wall Camera (http://www.aish.com/w/) and let us know if you detect anything!
When Is Messiah Coming?
What does Judaism say regarding the sequence of events that will lead up to the Messiah's coming? And how will we know when the Messiah has actually arrived?
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
This is indeed a timely question because I think we are seeing a good number of the signs today. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan writes in the "Handbook of Jewish Thought":
There is a tradition that people will begin to despise the values of their religion in the generations preceding the coming of the Messiah. Since in a period of such accelerated change, parents and children will grow up in literally different worlds, and traditions handed down from father to son will be among the major casualties.
Our sages thus teach us that neither parents nor the aged will be respected, the old will have to seek favors from the young, and a man's household will become his enemies. Insolence will increase, people will no longer have respect, and none will offer correction. Religious studies will be despised and used by non-believers to strengthen their own claims; the government will become godless, academies places of immorality, and the pious denigrated...
The Jewish people will begin to return to the Land of Israel as a prelude to the messiah. The ingathering will begin with a measure of political independence, and according to some, with the permission of the other nations. First a small percentage of the exile will return to the Holy Land, and then Jerusalem will come under Jewish control and be rebuilt. (source: Talmud – Sanhedrin 97a and Sotah 49b)
Another major sign of the Messiah’s imminent arrival is that the Land of Israel gives forth its fruits in abundance.
As for recognizing when the Messiah has arrived, we know that he will:
1. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28)
2. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6)
3. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)
4. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world – on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).
If he does not accomplish these, he is not the Messiah. And if he dies, that is a sign he is not the Messiah.
Who is the Messiah?
My Christian friends seem to enjoy the idea that their Messiah has already come (and waiting to return). What does Judaism say about the Messiah – who is he and what will he accomplish?
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
The Bible says that the Messiah will:
1) Build the Third Temple. (Ezekiel 37:26-28)
2) Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel. (Isaiah 43:5-6)
3) Usher in an era of world peace and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)
4) Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world – on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One." (Zechariah 14:9)
It is clear that no previous historical figure has fulfilled these requirements (and there is no tradition for any "second coming").
Furthermore, Jewish sources say that the messiah will be a regular human being, born naturally to husband and wife. He is not a god, nor born of a supernatural or virgin birth.
The very idea that God would take on human form is repulsive to Jews because it contradicts our concept of God as being above and beyond the limitations of the human body and situation. Jews believe that God alone is to be worshiped, and not a being who is His creation, be he angel, saint, or even the messiah himself.
To learn more, read “The Real Messiah" by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan.
Will There be Sacrifices in the Third Temple?
Will there be sacrifices in the Third Temple? I heard that they were only necessary in the olden days when people were more primitive and felt a need to offer sacrifices to God, as the pagans of the time were doing. But today we are more civilized and advanced and no longer have need for such practices.
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
Thank you for raising the important issue. This is a common misconception, but it is not true. The Torah states many times that its commandments are eternally binding. See for examples Deuteronomy 29:28, II Kings 17:37, Isaiah 40:8, and Psalms 111:7-9 – as well as Leviticus 23:4 in relation to one of the sacrifices.
In addition, it is abundantly clear from the Prophets that sacrifices will be reinstated in the Third Temple. See for one example of many Ezekiel chapters 43-46 with a detailed description of the some of the future offerings which will be brought. Even more famous is Isaiah 56:7: “...Their burnt offerings and peace offerings will be pleasing on My altar...”
Furthermore, one of the constant refrains of Jewish prayer is beseeching God to rebuild the Temple and reinstate the sacrificial order.
One possible cause for this misconception is an explanation found in the works of Maimonides (Guide to the Perplexed 3:32). He suggests that animal sacrifice was a universal form of religious expression in ancient times. As a result, God instructed Israel to do the same, since human beings are incapable of immediately discarding their past behavior.
In a later chapter (46), Maimonides offers more specific reasons why God commanded Israel to bring various offerings. For example, sheep must be offered as a repudiation of the Egyptian deification of their sheep (see for example Exodus 8:22). We are further commanded to offer bulls because cows are revered in many idolatrous cultures – as they were in India until Maimonides’ day. (The pagans of those times would rather offer wild animals to their gods.) God therefore commanded us to offer such animals as a means of rejecting contemporary idolatrous practices.
Such time-bound explanations for the Temple offerings perhaps gave rise to the theory that in the Messianic Era, at a time when animal sacrifice will be foreign to man, there will be no reason to continue such practices. This, however, cannot be borne out in Maimonides’s own writings. One of the beliefs of his Thirteen Principles of Faith is that the laws of the Torah will never change. Thus, even if we would posit that God commanded Israel to bring sacrifices for transient reasons, once He placed such commands in the Torah, they are eternally binding. Maimonides likewise devotes quite a lot of his magnum opus, the Mishne Torah, to discussing the laws of the sacrifices.
Furthermore, other great Jewish thinkers rejects Maimonides’ approach altogether, arguing that all the mitzvot of the Torah are inherently good acts and were not simply commanded in reaction to contemporary practices. Nachmanides (Leviticus 1:9) in fact points out that both Abel and Noah offered sacrifices which were pleasing to God (see Genesis 4:4 and 8:20-21) long before there were pagan nations doing such to their idols.
A second suggested source for this misconception is found in the writings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook (commentary on the siddur), who served as the first Chief Rabbi of Palestine (under the British Mandate). Malachi 3:4 states as follows: “And it will be pleasant to God the grain offerings of Judah and Jerusalem as in the days of old and earlier years.” To this Rabbi Kook commented that the prophet specified grain offerings and not animal offerings because in the future knowledge of God will spread even to the animals and only grain will be brought to the Temple.
This too, however, is problematic as Rabbi Kook writes explicitly elsewhere that the Third Temple will include animal sacrifices. It is thus clear that his comment on Malachi is referring to a much later time, perhaps after the Resurrection, when even animal life will become intelligent.
Although animal sacrifice admittedly appears primitive and cruel to us, we must accept that God in His infinite wisdom understands what forms of service are necessary for the universe’s fulfillment. In this case, the painless slaughtering of animals and offering them to God are not only required to perfect the world, but they are the highest form of Divine expression an animal is capable of.
Here are a few important links on the meaning of the sacrifices:
But What If I Don't Want the Sacrifices of the Temple to Return?
See also this article by Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky (which this response is primarily based upon) for a fuller treatment of this topic.
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