The Rumblings of Gog and Magog

Those close to the Lubavitcher Rebbe were spared anxieties of troubling times in the past. For example, prior to the 6-Day War, his lone voice in the world echoed optimism and foretold of a great victory for Israel while everybody else shuddered at the prospects. Or when, before Iraq's war against Israel, amid much consternation about nerve gas bombs, the Rebbe said there was no need for gas masks. This list of prophecies can become quite long for one with a good memory.

The dire prospects of a bitter end Jewish people might suffer prior to their final redemption from our present state of exile - is a case in point. Everyone is concerned about and looking for Talmudic signs about the days of Gog and Magog.

With Iran on the verge of attaining nuclear capability, and bearing in mind Iran's Islamic ideology to sow worldwide terror as the proper setting for the debut of their holiest imam, the end of days as good as we knew it sure seems plausible. Any way you cut it, things don't look secure for the future of the Jewish state, nor for the Jewish people.

Unless, of course, you hold close to your heart the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Before the 1st Persian Gulf War, the Rebbe said:

"It is a simple matter, to the extent there's no reason to doubt, that after the Holocaust, grief will not repeat itself, not like it was nor like any part of it, God forbid. In fact, on the contrary, there will be only good and favorable circumstances, as we ourselves deem goodness to be, for every Jew, and wherever he is. And, emphatically it bears repetition - in good and favorable circumstances!"

"... And surely ... in these days when nations provoke each other, when Jews have a special guarantee from God, 'My children, have no fear, all that I did I did only for your sake' [The Rebbe brought attention to and quoted this Yalkut Shimoni] ... and it's a certain thing that 'the Guardian of Israel neither rests nor sleeps', wherever Jews happen to be, either outside of Israel and how much more so in The holy Land itself, a land which our holy Torah refers to as 'The land ... upon which God's eyes keep watch over it from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.'"

The above good tidings by the Rebbe therefore negate the prospects of a "Gog and Magog" Armageddon.

There is a difference in how the Rebbe and his predecessor, the Previous Rebbe, viewed the forthcoming arrival of Moshiach. The Previous Rebbe witnessed and suffered from oppression in Russia and the Holocaust of Europe. These, for him, constituted the birth pangs of Moshiach. The Rebbe, on the other hand, talks of Moshiach coming under "favorable conditions and mercy," inasmuch as the birth pangs are behind us. In fact, we may well have Moshiach coming during a time of plenty and serenity. Says the Rebbe (Chayei Sarah, 1992), "The only thing remaining for Jews to do is to accept Moshiach for who he is!"