Ruminating in Elul 5775

From a Redemption-slanted mindset, one may well associate the recent surge in fame of prospective presidential candidate Donald Trump with what the Rebbe said often regarding the state of Jews before the Final Redemption. He said all Jews, now as Redemption unfolds, deserve to be filthy rich (my words), just as the Jewish nation, when it first became a nation in its deliverance from ancient Egypt, also - then - became filthy rich (in a matter of hours) at the start of their redemption.

Remember when the Jews still feared Egyptians were chasing at their heels, God wrought a further miracle and washed up to shore all the dead Egyptians to placate Jewish fears. With all Egyptian military dead before them, the Jews entered Ba’al Tzefon and emptied Egypt’s treasury, which then held all the world’s money which Joseph accumulated during the years of hunger, right there near the Reed Sea shore. By the time they completed their 3rd of 42 voyages, every Jew had a slew of donkeys carrying his own personal fortune.

The devil in office today is also a godsend, of course, without which good and evil could still be obfuscated, without which no two clear perspectives diverge and force people to choose sides, and without which secular Israelis could not be weaned off their misjudged reliance on America instead of reliance on God alone. It is under this devil’s guard that the delineation and clear choice is now given to everybody - to choose between good and evil - between Jews and Jew-haters, a decision plastered across the world’s media for all to see, for it bears upon everyone. Everyone will have to take a side.

So onward Mr. Trump, and may Jews break through all natural barriers to great wealth - as they truly deserve as per the Rebbe - if for no other reason that these Jews comprise the generation that debuts in the Era of Ultimate Redemption.

And just to keep this wealth issue represented by Trump now stay afloat, God makes sure the other side, that of evil, implodes, just as happened to the Soviet Union that evaporated overnight without one shot fired. This is probably why the Clinton wench remains adamant and doesn’t resign in the face of mounting scandals. We are reminded how God hardened the heart of Pharoah.

The forceps-industry horrors of Planned Parenthood are also there for all to see. They wrought a silent holocaust. Evil ensues when human sanctity is scorned. It’s there for all to see; how forceps separate wrist from arm, or intact brain from a sliced-open face... These people care nothing for their own life, let alone those of others. They live as a one-generation bunch of parasites, not caring for the development of further generations, because they have no good family ties ingrained to model after.

Trump, of course, is good for the Jews. An indication of this is simply that his daughter married the Jewish son of another real-estate tycoon, and converted herself. They live as orthodox Jews (maybe a bit on the “modern” side). So Trump cannot really be a Jew-hater, thank God, as his would-be predecessor exquisitely is.

Recently we see how quickly the course taken by B Hussein O can tailspin America into a Sodom. We see God’s Hand in reversing this abysmal target to one of renewed and strong hope. We note the good disproportionately advancing despite the growing horrors of evil as they become revealed before us, for the split must happen to separate out these two diverse and opposite trends.

The prophet Daniel spoke to these times of distillation of good from evil, and the Rebbe his whole lifetime has been trumpeting this imminent Era of Redemption whose threshold we’ve already passed.

Back some 70 years ago the world could not see the multi-millions of Jews and others that were enslaved, gassed, burned and murdered. Evil had curtains to hide behind. No more today. It's there for all to see. A clash of contrasts one must take sides with. For, to refine humanity, the unrefined remnant must be swept clean away. It's the scapegoat's turn to finally enjoy revenge.

Signs of Redemption abound around us. We just need stay focused to keep seeing God’s Hand shape our sweet future, with Beit Hamikdash and utter joy in Jerusalem.

Daniel's Prophecy on the Era of Redemption

There won't be any 'gray' areas ...

The Jewish people survived several exiles since the destruction of the Second Temple 1,945 years ago. The present exile, quickly coming to a close, will be their last one, to be followed by a utopia.

The closer we get to this "Era of Ultimate Redemption", after which Jews will never again suffer exile, the clearer becomes the distinction between good and evil. The reason for this separation is simple. Evil will be wiped off the face of the earth and people must make their choices which of these two sides to align with, so they can be held accountable.

Before the sin of Adam, good and evil were clearly distinguishable. The sin of eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil obfuscated this distinction, making what was "good" much less discernible. The sin burdened mankind with an intellectual challenge to determine right from wrong. With this obfuscation man could rationalize away his misdeeds.

But now, as we stand at the threshold of the 7th millennium, the nature of the world is coming full circle. In the utopia that preceded Adam’s sin, good and evil were blatantly incongruous. But the ultimate purpose of this descent served a purpose. It was a descent is for the purpose of a subsequent ascent.  The world will be taken to a level of experience even higher than that which prevailed in the Garden of Eden. A most wondrous and ultimate utopia is, therefore, about to dawn.

Evil cannot inherit the future. It will be swept away forever, as a pre-requisite for a more sacred, lofty experience. We will experience a so-called visualization of divinity; Even the flesh will "see", and we'll comprehend G-d's omnipresence.

To pave the way for this imminent era, arbitrary, politically-correct boundaries are falling asunder. Distinction between what is right and what is wrong is becoming all-too evident. Man, with his power of reasoning, will not be permitted to straddle the fence. With the choices people make from now on, they sign their fates.

For example, we see now how the United Nations constituents begin to line up for or against Israel. But in the final analysis, individuals, not countries, will be responsible for their own destiny. (Unless the country is almost bereft of righteous people to save it, as was Sodom.)

In the Book of Daniel (written about 2,400 years ago), reference is made to the interval preceding the Era of Redemption using the metaphor of a “refinery” - a time of demarcation and separation. For evil to be vanquished, it must be separated out and identified. Once Moshiach ushers in The Era of Redemption, the evil camp will be fought and eradicated.

The last chapter in Daniel (verse 10) describes this precursor stage of the “end of days”: “Much will become clarified, purified and refined; [But] the wicked will continue in their evil ways, and none of the wicked will understand, but the wise ones will understand.”

Daniel says the distinctiveness of "good" versus "bad" is strictly for the sake of the wise, for whom the process is unfolding. The world-to-come will accommodate Jews and Gentiles - but only righteous Gentiles.

Will good people who passed away prior to the utopia lose out; Will those who behaved righteously merit this glorious eternity? The final verse in the final chapter provides the answer, “And you continue on your [righteous] path [towards the] end-of-days, and were you to rest, you will get up to your fate in the end of days.”

G-d grants every human being an intellect and ability to decide for himself his own fate regarding his portion in the world to come.

Moshiach: Dead or Alive? Sanhedrin 98b

The Talmud depicts the character of the Jewish Messiah: "If he is among the living, he is someone like Rabbi Yehuda; If he is from the dead, he is someone like Daniel." Why them specifically? Says Rashi, "because they were extraordinarily righteous and absorbed much suffering."

Rashi explains "If he is from the dead":
"If you want an example in this generation of someone who qualifies to be Moshiach, it's Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi. And if the candidate would be of a previous era who would qualify, it could be Daniel. 

In other words, he can be from the dead or from the living.

Then Rashi continues:
"And another version:
If such a personality we see today, it's Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi ... or, were he to be as exemplified by a personage of yesteryear, he would be like Daniel."

In his 2nd explanation Rashi is saying that were Moshiach to come presently, he would come only from the present generation;  and worthy candidate examples, from past and present, who Moshiach would resemble (Rabbi Yehuda or someone like Daniel) are offered.

Rashi thereby explains that Moshiach can come from both the dead and certainly from the present.

The Rebbe's 'shita', i.e., the Rebbe's usual way of looking at opposing views in gemora,  is always to find a mediating position where in fact both positions bear validity. Both positions in fact can be understood as the same position, or are not arguing at all.

Well here, how so? How can "from the dead" and "from the living", two opposing views, be rectified to being compatible with each other?

Chabad chassidim, especially those who believe the Rebbe is Moshiach, have no problem here weaving together both perspectives into one. The Rebbe, to be sure, had been buried, as sure as Yaakov Avinu was buried. But, just as Yaakov remains alive despite his burial - a way we don't even expect to understand but accept on full faith, because our Talmudic sages tells us so, so too the Rebbe, who on the 3rd of Tammuz exited this world - as we see it, is well and alive. He is invisible to us, but Moshiach can be both "dead" and "alive" too.

In every generation a head of the generation is planted by God upon the body of the Jewish people, ever since the first generation of Jews, the generation of Moses. No leader of the Jewish people is physically apparent today in this generation, yet the Rebbe's outreach, the Rebbe's influence and his war against the enemies of the Jews is today still gaining momentum and quite apparent - for those tuned in to see.

We waited with anticipation. This generation, the Rebbe said, is the last generation of exile and the very first generation of the Era of Redemption. All indications point to the Rebbe as having been granted by God the rank of King Moshiach.

Unfortunately, there are a few who regard the natural events of Tammuz 3, 5754 as proof the Rebbe's Messianic kingship was forfeited, disqualifying him of that role.

Most, however, as myself, believe the natural events on that fateful day didn't changed the true, supernatural state of King Moshiach, despite our natural presumptions. We were thrown into a sensory "darkness" to test our faith in the supernatural, as alluded to at the end of Daniel (12:12), where Rashi asserts (quoting several Midrashim) that Moshiach "will reveal himself, then hide himself, and then again reveal himself."

What Christians Should Know

Because gentiles may happen upon my site, here's an article written by Bryan Ellison (LINK). (He has two intriguing sites: noahide.com and attacreport.com).

Who Was Jesus?

The Bible gave a warning about a dangerous, false prophet who would arise to test our faith in G-d. In Deuteronomy 13, G-d describes this false prophet as a member of the Jewish people (v. 2, 7) who would tell true prophecies and would have the power of miracles. G-d Himself would give this false prophet the power to perform miracles and reveal prophecy, but the false prophet would try to seduce the people away from G-d's Law and towards strange gods unknown to Judaism. The purpose would be to test whether we are truly committed to living under the Law, or whether we will be dazzled and fall for the temptation to join a false path to salvation (v. 3-6, 7-8, 11). In this Biblical passage, G-d repeatedly commands the Jews to kill this false prophet, lest the evil spread and destroy many souls.

To be accepted by the people, the false prophet would sometimes pretend to be a righteous Jew who fulfills the Law, but at key moments he would turn against certain details of the Law in order to make the breach (v. 6, 7). This is the reason that verse 1 commands us not to add or subtract any details from the Law, and verse 5 warns us to remain steadfast with all the traditions of the Law.

In Deuteronomy 17, this false prophet is also described as someone who would rebel against the authority of the judges of the Jewish people, and who should be put to death for his rebelliousness (v. 8-13, esp. v. 12). Who are the judges? The highest court in Israel was the Sanhedrin, which was established by Moses (Exodus 18:13-26; Numbers 11:16-29), and which lasted more than 15 centuries. The members of the Sanhedrin were the rabbis known as "Pharisees" (Pirushim, "those with the explanation"). G-d gave permanent authority to these judges to interpret the Law and G-d's Word, and it is a commandment to follow their decisions without turning even slightly to the right or the left (Deut. 17:11). But the false prophet would challenge the authority of the Sanhedrin, thus revealing himself to be an evil man.

In the book of the prophet Daniel, this false prophet is described as a king (the eleventh horn on a terrible beast) who would wage war against the Jews (the "holy ones"; see Deut. 14:2 on this term) and would change the Law including the calendar and the holidays (Daniel 7:8, 20-25). Elsewhere, this false prophet is described as a king who would disregard the G-d of his fathers, exalting himself as a god and giving honor to this new god-head (Daniel 11:36-39).

The man known today as "Jesus" fulfilled all these prophecies. He became a "king" (over the Christian church) who changed the original Law, doing away with the Hebrew calendar and the Biblical holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkos the Festival of Tabernacles, Passover, etc.). He disregarded the one, infinite G-d of the Hebrew Bible in favor of a new "trinity" that included himself. And he repeatedly broke the Law by committing terrible sins, while openly challenging the G-d-given authority of the rabbis of the Sanhedrin.

Naturally, Jesus did sometimes pretend to respect the Law, but whenever he thought he could get away with it, he turned right around and broke that same Law. In Matthew 5:17-19, he declared that he came to fulfill the Law, and in Matthew 23:1-3 he defended the authority of the rabbis. But the rest of the time, he rebelled against the Law—thus showing that his occasional words of piety were meant only to hide his evil agenda. The following sins of Jesus are recorded in the "New Testament":

1. Jesus repudiated the laws of kosher food (Mark 7:18-19). [Compare this to the prophet Daniel's strict adherence to kashrus, in Daniel chapter 1.]
2. He repudiated the laws of honoring one's parents, and called on his followers to hate their parents; he also dishonored his own mother (Matthew 10:34-36; Matthew 12:46-50; Luke 14:26).
3. He violated the Sabbath by picking grain, and incited his disciples to do the same (Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-26).
4. He again violated the Sabbath by healing a man's arm, which was not a matter of saving a life, and he openly defied the rabbis in his total repudiation of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:9-13; Mark 3:1-5). [Compare this to G-d's view of violating the Sabbath, in Numbers 15:32-36, Nehemiah 10:30-32, and dozens of other places throughout the Bible.]
5. Jesus brazenly defied and disobeyed the rabbis of the Sanhedrin, repudiating their authority (This is recorded in many places throughout the New Testament, but look especially at Matthew 23:13-39 and John 8:44-45).

The Talmud (Babylonian edition) records other sins of "Jesus the Nazarene":

1. He and his disciples practiced sorcery and black magic, led Jews astray into idolatry, and were sponsored by foreign, gentile powers for the purpose of subverting Jewish worship (Sanhedrin 43a).
2. He was sexually immoral, worshipped statues of stone (a brick is mentioned), was cut off from the Jewish people for his wickedness, and refused to repent (Sanhedrin 107b; Sotah 47a).
3. He learned witchcraft in Egypt and, to perform miracles, used procedures that involved cutting his flesh—which is also explicitly banned in the Bible (Shabbos 104b).

The false, rebellious message of Jesus has been thoroughly rejected by the vast majority of the Jewish people, as G-d commanded. Unfortunately, however, this same message has brought a terrible darkness upon the world; today, over 1.5 billion gentiles believe in Jesus. These lost souls mistakenly think they have found salvation in Jesus; tragically, they are in for a rude awakening. Truth and eternal life are found directly from G-d, through performing His Law. Any "mediator" only separates man from G-d:

1. "G-d is not a man, who can lie, nor the son of man, who relents... He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen perverseness in Israel" (Numbers 23:19).
2. Speaking prophetically of the Christian church, Moses declared, "For their 'rock' is not like our Rock... Where is their god, in whom they trusted?" (Deut. 32:31, 37).
3. "'See now that I, only I, am He, and there is no god with Me. I kill, and I bring to life; I wound, and I heal, and there is none who can rescue from My Hand...' Sing songs of joy, gentiles, with His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will take vengeance on His enemies, and will forgive His land and His people" (Deut. 32:39, 43).
4. "I, only I am Hashem (the L-rd), and besides Me there is no savior" (Isaiah 43:11).
5. "I am the First and I am the Last; besides me there is no god... Is there a god besides Me? There is no rock; I do not know any" (Isaiah 44:6).
6. "Israel is saved in Hashem with an eternal salvation... Assemble yourselves and come, come near together, you gentiles who have escaped [the judgment]. (They have no knowledge, those who carry wooden sculptures and who pray to a god that does not save.) Announce and bring near, even take counsel together: Who declared this from ancient times, and announced it from then? Is it not I, Hashem? And there are no other gods beside Me, nor any righteous and saving god other than Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all ends of the earth, for I am G-d and there is none else. By Myself I swore, a righteous word went out of my mouth and it will not be withdrawn, that to Me every knee will bow and every tongue will swear" (Isaiah 45:17, 20-23).

What is the true key to salvation? Those who return to the Law (the Seven Commandments for the Children of Noah, according to the eternal covenant made with Noah in Genesis 9) and who assist the Jewish people (Isaiah 60, 61, 66) will be saved and will participate in the miracles and revelations, including worshipping in the Third Temple, under the kingship of the Messiah. As described in many places, including Jeremiah 16:19-21 and Zechariah 8:20-23, all the old gentile religions of the world will disappear, and their followers will turn to the Jews for spiritual leadership. Until then, Christians are spiritually blinded, and cannot yet understand G-d's wisdom in the Bible.

Ours is the last generation of the era of sin and evil and the first of the Messianic Era. Indeed, for the first time in history, there is a growing consensus of leading rabbis willing to name the man most suited to be the Messiah, and they are agreeing that he is the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The Rebbe is the spiritual leader of our generation, having boldly stirred up controversy over vital issues in which other leaders have remained tragically silent or have even caved in to the growing forces of darkness. He has upheld the Law perfectly and has worked mightily to strengthen the observance of the Law by Jews, as well as the observance of the Noachide Law by gentiles. Through his teaching of chasidus (Jewish mystical teachings, preserved from Moses and Mount Sinai), he has taught the world that G-d is One, the Infinite Who renews creation at every moment. The Rebbe is a direct descendant of King David and has received a true prophecy from G-d that we who are alive in this generation shall be the first in history to see the coming of the true messiah. Many Jews are eagerly anticipating the Rebbe's resurrection from the grave, ready to re-establish the Sanhedrin and anoint the king.

Our job is to finish preparing the way, by announcing the truth and bringing all of mankind back to the Law immediately. Through our divinely mandated efforts, we shall now clear the path for the return of the Garden of Eden and the establishment of the eternal sinless world promised by Isaiah and the other Biblical prophets.

Faith in Hashem and Moshiach

We stand beyond the threshold, having entered the Era of Redemption. We left behind the world of Exile as we knew it, the usual, run-of-the-mill world. The Rebbe informed us of this fact many times. Only, our expectations fail us, for we expect the utopia will shower down goodness upon us like rainfall, when in fact the world seems to churn on as it has in the past, with no feel for a better world at all tangible. In fact, a look at the horizon reveals nothing less than massive destruction from all aspects of life.

Terror and totalitarian cruelty loom across the continents, Iran arrives at the brink of nuclear technology, African nations suffer genocide, Russia and China advance in military might, Islam spreads its tentacles of horror, European and U.S. economies are as good as dead, freedom in Europe and the U.S. hangs on a thread ... and a World War threatens the world - for those who have eyes in their heads.

How then can we rectify the contradiction? On the one hand, we were promised utopia to anticipate, yet grief portends to come at us from every other angle.

We are the last generation of exile and the first generation of Redemption. We are about to watch the transformation of the world as it is thrown into an inferno, in order to refine away the evil from the good.

Unless we recognize what's happening, we will be caught in a vice. As long as we remain cognizant, we'll understand the significance of the squeeze. If we remain aloof in mind over threats that might terrorize our hearts - we will withstand the torment and even see how it configures well to our own benefit.

The world will undergo a bewildering upheaval, on the largest and widest scale it has ever yet experienced. But Jews and good people will be spectators as evil gets consumed by the fires of a World War wrought by God to vanquish evil once and for all. It also will serve to convince any Jew who hasn't yet discovered the paradise that awaits him in believing and trusting in God.

As if the physical mappings of disaster weren't enough, we also find ourselves enshrouded in spiritual darkness, in an era apparently bereft of a spiritual leader.

But just as the physical aspects of disaster will try our beliefs, the same holds true for our spiritual senses. We are being tested in our belief in Moshiach who will redeem the Jewish people, who will finalize the utopia now developing, which will blossom full bloom in short time. We are being squeezed spiritually because many Jews have yet to submit and yearn for Moshiach's second revelation. They are being tested as Daniel's says at the end of his book, " Happy are those who wait for him ..." (12:12) and as Rashi there explains, "for he will be revealed, then covered up, and then revealed again!"

The 3rd of Tammuz is the day Joshua stopped the sun. It would not set until many hours later.

The sun, aside from it being a physical body, also has its metaphorical counterpart. The Gemora explains (Yoma 28b), "that the sun does not set unless another sun has been created". In other words, the greatest luminary of the generation, the tzaddik, the righteous Jew upon whom the entire world rests ("צדיק יסוד עולם", ibid), in the sense that it cannot exist unless this personage exists, cannot be extinguished unless another such luminary is first born to replace him.

The significance of the 3rd of Tammuz in Jewish history that occurred during the first generation of Jews in the Land of Israel, shares the same with this last generation of exile and the first generation that enters into the Era of Redemption. The leader of this generation, the solitary major luminary of our generation, is the sun that never set - the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the present Rebbe of Chabad.

This 3rd of Tammuz marks the 18th year (!חי) we've been under trial of belief in the Rebbe's words. This week's portion of Torah is Korach. It says in Rashi there (Num. 17:13):

אין משה אומר כלום מלבו אלא מפי הגבורה

"Moses (of the generation) does not say anything of his own but that which he hears from God!"
Note this assertion's incisive, unequivocal and emphatic tenor - "does not say anything but"! Accordingly, we believe God spoke through the lips of the Rebbe and all that he said will happen will happen. May it be already now!

The Format of Moshiach's Emergence

The Talmud (Shabbos 89a) describes the inner conflict of Jews who sinned with the Golden Calf. In their eagerness to find a replacement for Moses, the leader of their generation, an optical illusion they saw in the clouds above, a man on his death bed, finally convinced them Moses had died and could now be replaced. They had but a few more hours to wait for the completion of a full 40-day-hiatus, but their impatience tripped them up.

The essence of their sin was that they relied on their visual perception rather than abide by the words of the leader of the generation, who told them "At the end of 40 days I will arrive, before noon" (Rashi Ex.32:1).

This episode of the past, says the Arizal, bears significantly upon the future (Sha'ar Hagilgulim, Preface). He explains, that the last generation of exile, that which immediately precedes the Era of Redemption [ours!], will be a recycling of the first generation, the generation of Moses that sinned by the Golden Calf. (The souls of the former generation will be recycled into the bodies of the latter generation.) Why? In order to amend the sin of the Golden Calf, those Jewish souls will have to withstand the same test a second time, but this time succeed. In that which they failed the previous time they must pass the next time. Which means those souls of the first generation will receive the very same trial, for only a triumph over the very same trial can rectify the sin that discredited them in the first place. Only a passing of this trial can uproot and eliminate the sin they bore since (Maimonides; Rules of Repentance, Chpt 2, Law 1).

And just like they dropped from so high a level, as when they tangibly experienced the divinity of God during the event of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, to so low a level as worshipping an idol, so too rectification by this same trial will reverse their low state and allow them to regain the high ground, in fact to be launched to an even higher level of experiential holiness than ever before, namely, into that of the Era of the Final and Ultimate Redemption.

What then is that same trial? They will perceive the death of the leader of their generation and the test will be to heed his words without letting their physical perceptions draw them to run afoul of his exhortations. The Rebbe told us we are the last generation of exile and the first generation of redemption (many scores of references, beginning with Bosi Legani, 1951). He expects us to believe this, despite what apparently seems as the disappearance of the leader of this generation, as if to signal the dawning of a new generation.

The same trial indeed manifests today. The Rebbe they say is dead and buried; That nature had taken its unwavering course and our perceptions, those of fleshy eyes, concur with this assessment. We saw the Rebbe shrivel with age, become ill and finally, after a hospital stay, interred at the Montefiore Cemetery.

Are we to believe the Rebbe's words now, when before he said, "Whereas for the leader of this generation - interment is inapplicable, any more than it is applicable to the Rock of the Shtiya [in Jerusalem's Temple in the Holy of Holies]" (Shoftim, Elul 7, 5752), or who said, "There is a reality of Moses, the first redeemer is the last redeemer - a soul in an eternal body." (Ha'Azinu, Shabbat Shuva 5750), (and many dozens more such pronouncements)?

And if the Rebbe said "A Rebbe's response is after all 'The words of God He spoke to me and His words are on my tongue' (quoting Shmuel the Prophet 2:23:2)", should we not listen to him, even if it conflicts with our senses?

Thankfully we have plenty of Torah sources to support us in this last period of our struggle. Rashi told us what to expect, "In the future, our Moshiach will conceal himself after he will have revealed himself, only to again reveal himself" (Daniel 12:12).

Said Rabbi Brachya, in the name of Rabbi Levi, "Just as what happened to the first redeemer will happen to the last redeemer - just as the first redeemer revealed himself to them and then goes and is concealed from them, so too the final redeemer reveals himself to them and goes on to conceal himself from them" (Midrash Rabba: Bamidbar 11:2, Ruth 5:6; Psikta Rabati 15; Psikta of Rav Kahana5:8).

"His sovereignty was temporarily placed in limbo, regarding the first redeemer, so too the last redeemer will be concealed, then return and be revealed." (Yalkut Shimoni Ruth 2:603).

"My beloved resembles a deer, just as a deer is spotted and then disappears, is spotted and then disappears, so too the first redeemer is seen, disappears, and then reappears ... Yehuda in the name of Rabi says to Kirsin, so too the last redeemer is revealed to them and, in turn, is concealed from them." (Midrash Rabba Shir Hashirim 2, 9:3)

Chassam Sofer (שמות ד‫'‬ה למה זה שלחתני): "And this was a great trial that he [Moses] disappeared for 6 months, and so will be in the days of Moshiach our Righteous, he will disappear after his revelation, as the Midrash tells us."

Sfas Emes (Rosh Hashana 11) writes, "It is rudimentary that the arrival of the son of David is separate from the redemption, for after all Moses arrived to Egypt before the redemption and could thus be revealed and be concealed, etc., similarly with the last redeemer, etc."

Rabbeinu Bechaye (Exodus 5:22): "And know that the issues of the first exile resemble issues we will face in the last exile ... and so the future redeemer will be revealed and, in turn, will be concealed, for this redemption will resemble the Egyptian redemption in many ways ... and once the threshold time nears, plenty of troubles will befall and wax - and this is the sign for Israel's salvation."

Midrash Pirkei Haychalot (Rabati 35:6): "At that time Jewry will change their minds; They will scoff Moshiach and say, 'Woe for us that we mistakened him for Moshiach'. God said to them, 'Now you will see his light ... and all who believed in him cannot be wiped from the book of life."

Ramban (ראה באור הרמב‫'‬ן על פרשת הנה ישכיל עבדי):
He says, initially Moshiach will reveal himself only to "that sect that yearns for him" [his chassidim, I suppose]. "And scripture relates concerning Moshiach, 'When many will put you to waste, etc.' that is to say when they lay you to waste - by mocking you in your first stage of arrival...."

The Holy Arizal (Sefer Gilgulim, preface, chpt 13) [NOT Sha'ar Hagilgulim]: "Moshiach will reveal himself and he will be recognized by few people, whereas others will not yet recognize him. Afterwards Moshiach will recede from view, as body and soul ... after which Moshiach will be revealed completely, then they will recognize him and all of Jewry will gather to him."

Joab 19:25: "And I knew my redeemer lives".

Midrash Raba, Shir Hashirim 2:25: "And he who believes him and follows him and awaits him - lives".

Psikta Rabati 35: "And your King Moshiach will come ... and God proclaims to the righteous of the generation and says to them 'Righteous of the world! Even though words of Torah endear you, it isn't nice of you that you waited for my Torah but did not wait for my kingdom."

See too here what Rabbi Nachman of Breslov had to say about this precursor era.