Signs of Redemption - Early 5776

After a brief brush with annihilation only 75 years ago, remaining Jews (today’s grandparents) today still feel the heat of that inferno in the form of yet another threat - from the latest, powerful, big Jewish-hater, today’s archetype of the Persian Haman - among others.

But we Jews fear no more such threat of violence or intrusion into our private lives because the leader of this Jewish generation, the Rebbe of Lubavitch, gave us optimistic words that now resonate ever louder.

The word “prophecy” in Hebrew also spells “we will come”, as if the spoken words themselves attest to their own future encore.

From one of our holy sources, the Midrash, of Yalkut-Shimoni, (Isaiah, 499): “R’ Yitschak says, ‘The year in which Moshiach will be revealed ... a Persian king provokes an Arab king ... and says to them [God to the Jews] my sons, fear not, for all that I do I do for you, your era of redemption has arrived.’”

The Midrash continues: “The time when King Moshiach comes, he stands on the roof of the Beit Hamikdash, wherefrom he tells the Jewish People, ‘Modest ones, your era of redemption has arrived!”

Is it not strange for a king to proclaim good tidings from a rooftop?

The Rebbe explains halachically that a rooftop lacks the holiness its abode houses beneath it. By wording it this way the Midrash invokes the rooftop as the appropriate metaphor for an event to transpire outside the Holy Land (a place with less sanctity than Israel). The Rebbe elsewhere asks, similarly, why does the Rambam in his book of halachah say Moshiach will build the Beit Hamikdash “in its place”? Why not just say, “in Jerusalem”; Why the obscure “in its place” terminology? The answer of the Rebbe, again, is that the debut for the redemption begins in the exiled land (in its place) - outside the boundaries of the Holy Land.

Perhaps others will argue with Brooklyn, NY as the optimal venue from where Moshiach makes his announcements, but they too first must answer the above questions at least.

But whatever your belief here, open your eyes to see - that the Redemption is in gear, moving along. (Not as fast as we’d like, to be sure.)

You can see it in the irony playing itself out in Germany, for example. Where once Germany sought to expel an "other" people, they now have the opposite happening to them - an influx of an other people. And to further note God’s ironic hand in this, as it prophecises in Psalms(2:4), “God is mocking them”, Muslims, all of whom supported Hitler and his “final solution”, now have joined together with their German peers. Two peoples who agreed on Jewish extermination now have themselves for bedfellows.

Do you smell Redemption in the air yet?

Yes we haven’t yet been driven down far enough along this entire highway of Redemption because we still witness individuals falling as sacrifices, (חס ושלום), with Jews still made to suffer; But, a global Redemption landscape is clearly visible worldwide. What all can see is evil raising its ugly head, exposed on an internet of windows. We can see how one Jew-hater goes after another Jew-hater, as they swallow each other up. Meanwhile, as Redemption progresses, Jews today can calmly enough lock arms across their chest and sit back and watch. The world is watching evil vanquish itself.

That Iran’s Khamenei is today’s Haman - is obvious. That they both derive from Persia in itself is telling, as is the pronunciation of their names. Both wanted the total physical annihilation of the Jewish People. This is of course the final issue that all peoples of the world will have to reckon with anyhow one day, who is it that will inherit the Earth in the Era of Redemption? The Jews - that’s obvious, but the sectors of Gentiles that will also benefit in this Jewish utopia may well find they have come from fragmented nations.

How about America - how can we account for a stealth outsider who usurped the reins of power in the mightiest of all nations? How is it that Americans now find themselves much as would feel a king forced to cater to his slave? Perhaps it’s God’s way of removing from Americans their haughtiness? Can't be, because most American folk are decent folk, and when they gain wealth they remain modest, knowing God has graced them. I personally cannot figure this one out vis-a-vis Americans.

Vis-a-vis Israelis I do see a clear sign. Israelis for so long have clamored they “need America”, be it for its generosity or culture, so God says “Enough!” because He wants to show the Jews they need rely only on Him and Torah, so He places a despot into the seat of highest USA office, to put a halt to all help to Israel, (significantly - while keeping all the good public of Americans pro-Israeli!). It’s Redemption time Jewish folk, and it’s about time you evidence God’s Hand manipulating the world to this dear end.

Still, if you come from a well-seasoned "naturalist" perspective, you're still seeing Redemption behind a vague curtain. You do not know of the Rebbe's assertions in 1980 that the final war, the one Messiah will fight and is fighting, will be a world war that cannot and will not infringe upon Jewish soul or body. The wars that will rage will be “about Jerusalem” - but Jews will have no concerns of invasion. (link)

Those waiting to see these words exemplified in amplification will soon enough get to see more of that too, because that’s what the Rebbe forecasts.

I take this tzaddik’s word for what it is, words of a prophet, words of the leader of this generation, words by him who represents all his predecessor Rebbes wrapped into one, and, significantly - of King Moshiach!

He created an army of believers spreading the word of Moshiach worldwide. These are his foot soldiers.

During the 6-Day War the Rebbe stood alone and declared Jews will win. In ’73 he told us too. Before the Persian Gulf War he urged that Eretz Yisrael is the safest place for a Jew, and all the bombs that fell caused nothing but concrete to bite the earth. He invoked the Yalkut Shimoni Midrash and introduced the conflict that had the Middle-East riled up then as the debut of the Era of Redemption, telling Jews their time for redemption has arrived and telling them they have nothing to fear.

Just as Abraham began by standing as one alone in the world, so too Moshiach is alone, now, a lone general fighting our battles for us.