The Downfall of Israel's Enemies

See today's headline from Debka.com:

What do you read between the lines?

We can see clearly that our wars against our enemies are being done for us, without us having to lift a finger. The unseen hand is fighting our wars for us, as we sit idly and watch arm in arm. 

One of Moshiach's qualifications is, he fights for the Jews the wars they would otherwise have to fight by themselves. The Rebbe said in 1980 that the Gog and Magog War was underway (LINK).

The Rebbe, explaining King David's Psalms 2 and 3, shows that this war of Gog and Magog, as it is ongoing, will leave the Jewish people totally immune from destructive conflict. 

And indeed, Amalek will finally be destroyed, as we, the last generation of the Diaspora, and thus the first generation of Geulah, watch our enemy's demise plays itself out. Not one Israeli soldier is needed to beat the enemy into oblivion, b"H.

Have a great month of Elul!

Chassidic Countdown to Redemption: 5780

חצות

Today is Friday, the 6th day, God's 6th millennium since He created Earth, after the night has passed, the time at 5780 being 12:43 pm.

If, as Moses explains,

כי אלף שנים בעיניך כיום אתמול כי יעבר

"For a thousand years are in Your eyes like yesterday, which passed ...." (Tehillim (90:4)

then we've passed from nightime, the first 500 years of that millennium, which began in year 5000, and have already entered daylight hours. If 500 years equals 12 hours, and we are 280 years since morning, and morning was at 6:00 am - let's say - then the time right now is 12:43 pm, 43 minutes after חצות!  

עלות השחר

The year the Ba'al Shem Tov went public was at 6:00 am, at dawn of the 6th day. The Alter Rebbe of Chabad became the 3rd generation thereafter to expose Chassidut, in the year 5550.

The light of Chassidus was lost from most Jews for 1,950 years; Since the 2nd Temple's destruction in the 4th millennium. Jews stuck with Torah, to be sure, but only to the well known 4 layers of Torah. The 5th layer of depth was an entirely new perspective of Torah that only Chassidus now brought to the public's cognitive grasp. 

This was a taste of the new light of Moshaich. This made for Jews for Moshiach to again become a valid topic of discussion. This new insight would have been shunned by Jews before that had they learned about it then because this topic brought about sorrowful memories. It had been a taboo subject earlier. The Jewish mind back then was unprepared to entertain the concept of Moshiach having been deeply frustrated over the years with fake candidates and, instead, met only with severe oppression by host countries.

The Wellsprings of Chassidus Opening Up

Kabballah, which preceded the exposure of Chassidus, began the reawakening of this secretive aspect of Torah, but only to a limited extent. Some secrets were then revealed, but kept under low profile because not everybody was "suited" in mindset to accept these. Kaballah opened the gates, so to speak, for Chasidus to begin trickling out.

Dawn arrived with the Ba'al ShemTov in 5500, and especially after sunrise the Alter Rebbe, in the year 5550, began to spread the word widely. By then all Jews were cognitively equipped by God to better digest this new light, this new spiritualism, of Chassidus.

These dates are significant from a Jewish Halachic perspective! How so?

We know that Chassidus will be learned during the Sabbatical Era in the 6th millennium. We will then be immersed in it, learning the most inner secrets of the infinite Torah. That will be the entire purpose of Jewish existence. This is what is meant by the metaphor, that in Moshiach's time we will partake in the festive "feast of the Leviathan and the Wild Bull" (סעודת שור הבר והלווייתן). That food is Chassidus.

Halachically, on Friday, once daytime arrives, it is a Mitzvah - a commandment for every Jew - to taste of the food being prepared for the Sabbath (טועמיה חיים זכו). That Mitzvah is time-dependent, sanctioned only starting at daybreak. Thus since the year 5500, we are obliged to taste some of that food in anticipation of what it'll be like.

Had you learned some Chassidus before 1740, it would have meant little to you because the command to learn Chassidus, that is -- to taste the future food of Shabbat -- only took effect in the year 1740, with the exposition of the Ba'al Shem Tov.

Other halachic aspects concern the times when formal prayer services begin or end. So, for example, the time of Tefillah, the  Shmoneh Esrei morning prayer, is a time that Chassidus regards as a fight -- as a struggle to keep well concentrated in prayer, doing our best to keep from being distracted. These times may well translate into what happened to the Jewish people during the progroms and then the holocaust.

Anyhow, those time of day aspects, as to how and when they occurred, are now well behind us. For us Jews today, we only await the Ultimate Redemption that's about to happen any day now. Surely God won't wait until the last minute to debut Shabbat aspects, as if Friday hours were as secular as before. Rather, along the lines of the אחישנה possibility, which is one way Moshiach can come, aside from the other inevitable way (בעתו), the blessings will shower down a lot sooner than expected.

 
[Gleaned form a Maamar (להבין הקושיא הידוע) of the 5th Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Rebbe Rashab, who founded the first officially Chassidic Yeshivah, said in 1903.]

"Garments" - And of Redemption - 5780

Think good; Will be good!

God gave us "Freedom of Choice". We express this freedom in 3 ways:
Free to think thoughts of one thing or another;
Free to speak words of one sort or another;
And free to do, one way or another.

In 3 ways we can align with, or misalign with, a given perspective.

You can think good thoughts or bad thoughts.
You can say good things or bad things, and
you can do either good or bad.

Thinking, saying and doing are referred to in chassidus as "garments". Just as you can choose which garment to wear or shed, so too you can decide to "wear" new thoughts and thereby abandon ("shed") your former thoughts; As you can say words that please in place of words that displease; And you can do favors and avoid crime, instead of proceeding otherwise.

Can emotions also be referred to as "garments"? No! There's no "free choice" for emotions. Emotions pursue thought, and not the other way around. Thoughts evoke emotions.

However, because emotions follow reflexively from thoughts, the garment of thought can be changed. This change of thoughts will trigger new emotions to supplant those that preceded.

Free choice, in light of chassidus, subdivides into thoughts, speech and behavior.

That bit of chassidus also sheds light on how to control emotions.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe wanted us well-versed in the topic of Moshiach because that's the Era we've entered, according to him. And if you think of it, thinking about Moshiach, whose revelation is approaching rather swiftly, will lead -- if you trust the Rebbe -- to good feelings during Moshiach's Eras.

The Rebbe so instructed us because he wanted us to see spectacles we'd otherwise never sense. Our panoramas are vast and exactly what to look for in this broad landscape to discern a moving target, among lots of activity, needs special attentiveness.

Learning about Moshiach and speaking and doing about Moshiach grows spiritual antennas. There are things happening locally and globally and to feel good amid these swirling events -- to be able to connect the dots of all these events in a refreshing light, they must be identified in proper context.

In other words, if we believe the Rebbe and do as he wishes, we'll discover that worldly events, which happen beyond our control, are actually benefiting us. We can begin to appreciate the good the Rebbe wants us to experience these days, much as father wants to impart his love to his child.

For those who think thoughts devoid of Moshiach, or have an entirely different perspective, the lesson of the Rebbe will be missed by them. Here's an example of this phenomenon today: What might appear to one person as a political fluke, as it might concern a politically-immersed person of the Democrat party, say regarding president Trump's election win in 2016, and he's expecting that already in 2020 Trump will be replaced by a "suitable" candidate -- to another person is a laughing joke. This other person, well-versed in Torah's views on Moshiach, sees that event as a palpable marker of a new era in history. This event was not at all a fluke. Rather, it was a sharp upturn in Moshiach's momentum.

This is an example of how "garments" of thought give one person agony for 4 long years, and to the other sheer ecstasy, under the same circumstances, seeing an altogether different pattern in the mosaic developing before him.

One will wallow while the other will thrive under the same circumstances. Think good; Will be good. Think Moshiach; Will sense Moshiach's imminence!

Another Rebbe Footprint

Wow; Just found another footprint while tracking the unfolding of the Era of Redemption! It's the footprint of the Rebbe, MH"M, the general running the show from abstentia. Didan Notzach is a holiday specially connected to Chabad. These dates are appropriate for registering knockout blows to sources of evil, in these last days in diaspora.

The era that is backdrop to this new, universal transformation is characterized by Good being revealed and promoted, while Evil is revealed for eventual elimination. The audience these days is the entire world, connected by internet. 

In these times, when you can access an entire world from the palm of your hand, Good and Evil are paraded over many screens for all to see. People can thus pick sides. The populace has free choice to align with either side. Of course soon enough Good will have the final triumph, while Evil is marked for extinction.

And, as usual, focus is always on the Jews and Eretz Yisrael. 

Because it's for their sake the world exists and because of them that the world is now in a state of metamorphosis into a utopic era illuminated with divine presence. Souls will have to decide either to hop onto this eternal, holy Messianic bandwagon, or squander the opportunity with poor choice, relegating themselves to the dust bin of history.

It was this Hei Tevet 5780 (דידן נצח) that Trump eliminated the top Iranian general, Q. S., who represented the pinnacle of that terror system. (Our time is 8 hours prior to Baghdad's).

(This "footprint" series was earlier broached here.)

Rating the Trump Miracle

The election of President Trump in 2016 may well appear to the general public as a "natural" event that was just a happenstance, because long-shots on occasion win as they do in horse races.

Judging from his opposition's view of things still today, despite his convincing majority, they think his win was a fluke.

But those of us in the know, those who ride on to the coattails of the prophet and leader of this generation, know better. More than that, with our keenly honed perspective, we can even rate Trump's victory -- not just as a simple miracle that happened, but as a huge miracle of the highest proportions.

Of course to see it this way, you'd have to familiarize yourself with a good "miracle barometer".

To learn what this miracle barometer is based on, you can go to this LINK to find out. But for here, briefly, the difference between a "big" miracle and a "small" one is -- the extent of its concealment from the natural landscape. The more that nature's framework of laws and constraints is breached, the smaller the miracle is; And the greater its concealment within the natural environment, thus making it practically undetectable, the greater the miracle.

For example, consider events as they unfold before us in the present. As Jews, do we not sense a greater fear because of a rise in antisemitism the world over, and in America too, where it never existed to such a degree? Still, that would seem natural enough because Jew-hatred has been around for ages and now it's just escalating even over here. This phenomenon would assuredly cancel out any talk of living today under miraculous conditions, would it not?

Or, consider today's Democrats who have consolidated behind their "never Trump" posture, with full backing by the "deep state" or "establishment swamp", together with their Republican (in name only), university, mainstream media and Hollywood cohorts in full support. These have the strong impression they have simply encountered a bump in the old road, which will again smoothen itself out once they obliterate or trash their nemesis often enough. With such folk around, does today's scenario suggest a miracle is in progress?

Even good folk, even Trump lovers, without the spectacles that align us with the vision of the Rebbe MH"M, they too cannot see the great miracle that took on tangible form the day of Trump's election. They too would fail to see the momentous transformation occurring in real time, right now, and only growing stronger.

How so? Doesn't the virulent antisemitism and the disgusting politics of the left negate this view of the imminence of an era of ultimate Jewish and world redemption? On the contrary, does it not portend a slippery slope into an abyss of socialism, divisiveness and hate?

It would -- unless you see the present trend in motion from the Rebbe's angle. Consider the miracle of Purim. It all looked frightfully bleak for world Jewry then. They were destined for demise. That is, until that night when the Persian king was unable to sleep. At the crack of dawn, he welcomed into his palace the nemesis of the Jewish people. That's when events quickly revealed that a grander plan had actually been in effect already 9 years in the making. Sure enough, Jewish prospects suddenly took a turnaround. Less than a year later, Jews would breathe a deep sigh of relief and rejoiced. That was the Purim miracle, one that rates extremely high according to the aforementioned barometer. These events and the turnaround all became apparent when, metaphorically, "on that night the King [of the universe] had his sleep perturbed." (Esther 6:1) - בלילה ההוא נדדה שנת המלך
[The halacha is that this possuk must be read by the megillah-reader a bit louder because here the main part of the miracle is about to happen.]

There's a major transformation going on in our natural landscape and another huge step took place during the few hours polling booths were open across America. In that short span of time another giant leap to advance the Era of Ultimate Redemption happened.

Just before the election, the Hillary witch was destined to be the next leader, with some polls predicting her victory with 90% probability. And who was this dame? The wife of a crook, awash in Arab money, hateful of Jews, and having for two decades as her deputy chief of staff the daughter of a Muslim Brotherhood key figure. She was expected to take over the reins from the incumbent, Muslim, Jew-hating president, may his memory be wiped out. Until that election day, Jews certainly, if not most of America, had little hope for a good future had she won. This country would have quickly become a 3rd world country.

But behold, the election results betrayed the forecasts. In a matter of hours the outcome had cast aside a gloomy situation. It was the bright light of Moshiach dissipating darkness. The new Era of Ultimate Redemption can no longer be turned back.

Instead of a Muslim girl in the White House steering Hillary, we now have where a Jewish girl can comfortably sit in the White House. Instead of greed, hate, immorality, disgrace and ugliness spewing from the world's highest office, we now sense beneficence, love, moral integrity, grace and beauty exuding therefrom.

The election result was an obvious turnaround moment. Of course another such obvious turnaround event was wrought 70 years earlier when the United Nations (of all organizations) granted the Jews their right to return to their Jewish homeland.

As for the Jew-hatred, I suppose it's a way to keep our opponents busy so they can wallow in their evil as a world of goodness lying dormant is reshaping the natural terrain. It's a slow process, apparently for the purpose of still allowing the individual free choice, allowing him to consider which side he wants to be on, to weigh matters on his own and have bearing. To paint everything blatantly rosy would rob the individual of his free choice.

But besides for appearances, Israel and the Jewish people will thrive and only wax in prosperity.

The Rebbe MH"M told us, nay -- bombarded us daily, for years, from around 1991, trying his darnedest to get us to see the great miracle in its making. There were, to be sure, plenty of other significant events that pointed to the truth of his prophecy, before then and after then. And in 2016, Trump's election has clearly solidified the Rebbe's stance.

That Mr. Donald J. Trump will be a shoo-in in 2020 is a sure thing. May God grant him and his family good health and disposition. Thereafter too the golden path will be open to us, leading us to the utopian era. There's no turning back. May it happen that we dance with all Jews and with King Moshiach in Jerusalem sooner than we expect.

Ukraine Connection to Moshiach Times

Volodymyr Zelensky

Ukraine connection. Today (18 Nissan) is the Birthday of the father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe! Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson born (1878), one of the greatest Kabbalists in the last 500 years, and the former chief Rabbi of Yekatrinoslav, Ukraine (today, Dnepropetrovsk). It was announced yesterday (just hours before the birthday of the Rebbe's father commenced on the Jewish calendar) that Ukraine just elected a Jewish comedian as its President, in a massive 73% landslide victory! And the new President is from near Dnipro, where the Rebbe's father was the head Rabbi and where the Rebbe grew up as a boy.

The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, MH"M, was born in Nikolaev, Ukraine; and raised much of his childhood in Dnipro -- where today the largest Jewish Center in the world, operated by Chabad, was constructed in the past 10 years.

About the new president of Ukraine, it was written:
“Imagine, a pure-blooded Jew with the appearance of a Sholom Aleichem protagonist wins by a landslide in a country where the glorification of Nazi criminals is enacted into law,” Avigdor Eskin, a Russian-Israeli columnist, wrote in an analysis published earlier this month by the Regnum news agency.

The French-Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy also referenced Ukrainian Jews’ bloody history in an interview with Zelensky, the 41-year-old son of scientists who lived near major Soviet army bases in Ukraine.

“His Judaism. It’s extraordinary that the possible future president of the country of the Shoah by Bullets and Babi Yar is a self-affirmed Jew from a family of survivors from Kryvy Rih near Dnipro – the land of pogrom if ever there was one,” Levy wrote in an article published earlier this month in Le Point.

Ukraine to become first country outside Israel whose president and PM are both Jewish

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson (1878-1944), was born on the 18th of Nissan in the town of Podrovnah (near Gomel) to his parents, Rabbi Baruch Schneur and Rebbetzin Zelda Rachel Schneerson; his great-great grandfather was the 3rd Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch.

In 1900 Rabbi Levi Yitzchak married Rebbetzin Chanah Yanovski, whose father, Rabbi Meir Shlomo, was the rabbi of the Russian city of Nikolaiyev. In 1902, their eldest son, Menachem Mendel, later to be known as The Lubavitcher Rebbe, was born. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak lived in Nikolaiyev until 1909, when he was appointed to serve as the Rabbi of Yekatrinoslav (today, Dnepropetrovsk). In 1939 he was arrested by the communist regime for his fearless stance against the Party's efforts to eradicate Jewish learning and practice in the Soviet Union. After more than a year of torture and interrogations in Stalin's notorious prisons, he was sentenced to exile to the interior of Russia, where he died in 1944.

For more on Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, including the story of his valiant battle for Yiddishkeit, his arrest and exile, see Rebbetzin Chana's biography

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Also today in Jewish History, Lubavitcher Rebbe's Brit (1902)
On the eighth day following his birth on the 11th of Nissan, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, MH"M, was entered into the covenant of our Patriarch Abraham.

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The new president of Ukraine, Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky, is in close contact with Chabad in Ukraine, is proud of his Jewishness and participates in the events of the Chabad House. On the eve of the Passover holiday, he met with Chabad emissaries and received a Shmurah Matzah for the Seder. Am Yisrael Chai!

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The world’s largest Jewish center opened in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine several years ago, in the town where the Lubavitcher Rebbe's father was the Chief Rabbi, and one of the towns where the Rebbe grew up in his childhood. Built at a main intersection between the left and right banks of the Dnepr River, the 22-story, seven-towered, 538,000 square foot "Menorah Center" now sits, under the direction of of Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzki. As airplanes fly across the Ukraine sky at night, they can see what looks like a giant Menorah from a distance.

Kamenetzki, director of Chabad of Dnepropetrovsk, said that while in the past the city had been associated with suffering and persecution – the Rebbe’s father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, of righteous memory, was arrested and the Rebbe’s brother and tens of thousands of other Jews were shot during a mass slaughter by Nazi forces – the whole world can witness a resurgence of the city’s Jewish life.

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"Reb Levik" Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson (father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe) was considered one of the greatest Talmudic and Kabbalistic scholars of his generation. He served as the chief rabbi of the city of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, during the bloody Bolshevik revolution and the subsequent Communist oppression. Despite terrible persecution directed at religious leaders in those days, he remained fearlessly defiant in strengthening Jewish learning and practice in his city and throughout the Soviet Union. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was eventually arrested, tortured, and subsequently banished to exile in a remote village in Kazakhstan. His spirit, however, was not extinguished, even while his body was broken and eventually gave way to his early passing.

His selfless efforts for Jews and Judaism even in the face of a sadistic superpower regime determined to leave no trace of them were later tenderly nurtured by his son and disciple, the Rebbe. The Rebbe conducted Soviet Jewry’s affairs clandestinely from afar, and eventually saw the decades of his father’s effort blossom into full bloom upon the fall of the Iron Curtain and the public resurgence of Jewish life there.

Soviet Jewry, however, is not alone in the debt of gratitude it owes to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak. His personal example, demonstrating how Judaism will survive against all odds and how we must adhere steadfastly and proudly to its ideals, serves as a shining beacon of inspiration for all of us today, and for all generations to come.

We are likewise collectively indebted to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and his life’s partner, Rebbetzin Chana, of righteous memory, for giving us the Rebbe, whose application of their teachings and way of life to all the rest of us changed the very course of world Jewry.

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After her husband had been imprisoned, tortured and interrogated for nearly a year, Rebbetzin Chana, the Rebbe's mother, was informed that her husband and one of the great kabbalists of the generation, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, had been tried in Moscow for his “criminal activity” of spreading Judaism, and sentenced to five years of exile in the far-flung village of Chi'ili in Central Asia. There he would be completely isolated from other Jews. He was 61, and after his horrendous prison experiences his health was in such a dreadful state that he was nearly unrecognizable.

Rebbetzin Chana, then 59, could have stayed home and tried her best to get food sent to her husband. Instead she decided to go into exile to be with her husband and support him, no matter what that entailed. Upon arrival, she realized just how dismal the situation was. She arrived early spring, “when the ground turns into deep mud, making it difficult to walk in the street. But to obtain life’s most basic necessities, it was necessary to walk a long distance, although it was virtually impossible to get out of the quagmire. When you put your foot down, it became bogged down in the sticky morass, and you needed the strength of Samson for every step you took.” The moisture and warmer weather brought swarms of fleas, mosquitoes and other biting insects. Clothing would become covered in black dots within hours, soiled by the fleas. Rebbetzin Chana burned a type of fuel made from mud, dried-out grass and straw she had gathered, which didn’t provide light or fire, but a thick black smoke to keep the insects away. Often, the strong night winds blew that awful smoke in their faces.

Every season was extreme. Summer brought unbearable heat that forced everyone indoors for cover, and winters were beyond frigid. It wasn’t uncommon for people to freeze to death. Rebbetzin Chana gathered assorted types of “bricks” and fashioned a crude furnace to help keep warm.

Rebbetzin Chana and her husband moved to a few different shacks while in exile, each place with its own challenges. The shacks were made of clay, with muddy floors, and were often darkened by swarms of mosquitoes. They were damp, moist and small, often without dividing doors between the rooms, offering no privacy. Bigger shacks with the luxury of a wooden floor meant more people with whom to share the space. In one place, they had only roach-infested cots to sleep on.

It was forbidden to purchase food; everything was government-regulated with ration cards and quotas, requiring long daily treks and endless lines. Throughout their years in exile, the Rebbetzin and her husband suffered severe hunger, at one point going without any bread for a month! Their health deteriorated, and Rabbi Levi Yitzchak became extremely weak and frail.

These were the conditions of exile. Yet Rebbetzin Chana was there to take care of her husband and keep up his spirits. It was due to her resourcefulness and determination that she was able to get food whenever possible and physically care for her husband, literally saving his life. She knew that more than bread for survival, he urgently needed materials to write down his copious thoughts of Torah and Kabbalah. She was determined to obtain such supplies. She taught herself how to make ink from various herbs and grasses, and presented her homemade ink to her overjoyed husband. He wrote along the margins of the few holy books and notebooks she had brought him.

When Passover neared, she spent days traveling to find a utensil for Passover, knowing Rabbi Levi Yitzhak would not eat otherwise. She successfully obtained a tin-plated pail made from new materials.

Once, to their surprise and joy, they received a package with white flour, and she set some aside to make two hamantashen for the holiday of Purim. Rebbetzin Chana expressed how important and meaningful it was for them to be able to observe even a minor custom. She exerted tremendous effort to enable herself and her husband to celebrate any and every observance.

Trump - Go Solar! (Rebbe's Advice)

The Rebbe always was “ahead of his time” in knowledge. Here's an article from Derher magazine (derher.org) wherein the Rebbe, 36 years ago, outlined what ought to be America’s energy priorities. Now with Trump at the helm, seeking to make America great again, this ought to be required reading for him.

Fulfilling America’s Mandate Through
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

Throughout the second half of the 20th century there were two rivaling superpowers in the world: the USA and the USSR. Whereas the Communists endeavored to promote an ideology of atheism and to stifle human rights and freedom, the Americans stood at the forefront of preventing their expansion.

The Rebbe declared on numerous occasions that the United States of America is a “Kingdom of Kindness” with a divine mission to promote a global awareness in emunas Hashem, as stated on every piece of U.S. currency: “In G-d We Trust.”

In an era of technological advancement, discovery and innovation, one of the most valuable commodities is oil to supply energy. Without it, society as we know it cannot operate. For over half a century, the United States has imported oil from foreign countries to meet the demand of energy that resulted from the post WWII economic boom.

This dependence on other nations for such a vital resource has, on numerous occasions, compromised America’s ability to assert its power to ensure that justice, morality, goodness and kindness prevail throughout the world.

• • • • • • 

On Yom Kippur 5734 (1973) Egypt and Syria declared war on Eretz Yisrael with a devastating surprise attack. During the first week of the war the situation was so desperate that many were certain that it would end in assured catastrophe. On the second day of Sukkos, U.S. President Richard Nixon authorized Operation Nickel Grass, a strategic airlift to deliver weapons and supplies to Eretz Yisrael.

In retaliation for the overwhelming U.S. support to Eretz Yisrael during the war, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)—an international group of twelve oil rich countries (which included seven Arab countries)— agreed to an oil embargo on the United States. The price of oil greatly increased, causing a major oil shortage in the U.S., which eventually triggered a major stock market crash.

To end the embargo, America pressured the Israelis to make devastating concessions to their mortal enemies, compromising the security of millions of Yidden to this day. This is one example of how America’s great diplomatic weakness was exposed due to its dependence on foreign powers for energy.

• • • • • • 

In a sicha during the historic farbrengen of Yud-Aleph Nissan 5741, the Rebbe emphasized the urgency of this matter and advocated for an immediate remedy.¹ The following is a summary of the various points of the sicha.²

AMERICA'S MANDATE 

Recently, the Soviet Union’s policy of expansionism is causing a deterioration in relations between many countries and disrupting the world order. At the same time, Hashem bestowed the United States with the mission and the power to counter this evil. This will not only benefit other countries, it will also result in increased justice for the people of the USSR itself. The freedom to practice their religion, and especially so that the Yidden have the ability to serve Hashem in spiritual and physical tranquility. Isolationism is an inappropriate policy for this powerful and consequential nation.

USING OUR RESOURCES 

To succeed, America must be free of economic pressure from immoral dictatorships. As long as we rely on them for oil, our strength and influence is compromised. Recent events have illustrated that acquiescing to the demands of these rogue dictators and regimes has caused great harm to Eretz Yisrael and in turn harmed the physical and material wellbeing of the United States as well.

Freedom from this pressure will be accomplished only if this country utilizes the full potential of its resources. It is inconceivable that in this modern era, when oil is such a critical resource, the nation charged with the mission of bringing true peace, justice and morality to the world should depend on and be manipulated by lowly nations.

In truth, beneath American soil there is an abundance of natural resources of energy. If we would only develop our abilities to mine our own oil and coal, we would have long been freed from this irrational reliance on other countries, whose capabilities for exporting oil throughout the world were, ironically, developed by Americans! There is such an abundance of these resources that we can even export energy to others! Failure to do so is blatant ungratefulness to Hashem for the gifts he has bestowed upon us.

This is not simply in order to wield U.S. strength, or increase U.S. power. Hashem placed these resources in this nation’s soil, so that, ultimately, it will be able to spread Torah’s justice throughout the world, primarily the observance of the sheva mitzvos b’nei Noach.

SOLAR ENERGY 

Defeating the arguments of those resisting the development of these domestic resources (for personal gain, etc.³ ), or effectively ignoring these elements, will take a very long time. Even when this roadblock is finally cleared, it will take a significant amount of time to develop these resources to the point of full energy independence.

There is, however, a clear solution to America’s energy crisis: Solar Energy.⁴ To harness the light and heat of the sun as a source of generating energy. Solar technology requires far less time to develop than other energy sources and the southern region of this country is saturated in sun-light. The solar energy that can potentially be generated in those regions can provide ample energy for the rest of the country and even a surplus for export!

The development of this vital resource has already started, albeit on a very small scale⁵ and it should be greatly intensified. Doing so, based on belief in Hashem and in observance of the command to fully utilize the resources He provides, will make us fully energy independent in a very short while.

SHARING THE MESSAGE 

What can be accomplished by discussing this topic during a farbrengen, in a shul and beis hamedrash, in the presence of Yidden that have no direct impact on governmental policies?

As U.S. citizens we have an obligation to be concerned for the welfare of this country. More importantly, this issue concerns the Yidden behind the Iron Curtain, that they should be able to learn Torah and observe mitzvos under better conditions than they were able to until now.

The Rambam rules that even a single statement based on Torah, has the power to tip the scales for salvation, and past experiences have shown that issues discussed here have reached Washington.

When hostile nations can no longer use oil to manipulate U.S. policy, America’s influence will increase, without having to use force. The mere knowledge of our energy independence will nullify foreign pressure. Hashem has blessed this Nation of Kindness with plentiful sources of energy to accomplish a divine mission—to promote true goodness throughout the world.

• • • • • • 

It is interesting to note, that during the year of 5741, construction of the very first large scale solar power plant, Solar One, was completed in the Mojave Desert, California, USA.

------------------------

¹ While the U.S. and USSR are not specifically named throughout the sicha, the Rebbe was clearly addressing the recent turmoil caused by Soviet aggression and the ability of the U.S. to intervene.
² See the full sicha in Sichos Kodesh, 5741 vol. 3 page 120 – 126.
³ The campaign to prevent the development of domestic energy resources is significantly funded by the oil monies of these foreign countries!
⁴ A week before this farbrengen, on 4 Nissan, Yidden around the world observed birkas hachama (see “Moments” column in this magazine). According to nusach Chabad, Kapitel 19 in Tehillim is recited, and it includes the words
“ואין נסתר מחמתו – Nothing is hidden from its heat.” This provides a clear lesson for the current discussion.
⁵ See the end of this article.

Redemption Unfolding in 5777

Just before "Yishmael" rose to ultimate prominence, a day or two before he could get into highest office and start World War III, God sent a messenger to depose him.

The Muslims gained tremendous power with their huge wealth hard at work for a good 30 years. This power wound all the way up to effect, no less, the commander-in-chief of the United States Forces. Muslim countries "invested" in America's political, educational and judicial infrastructure to seed devastation and propaganda as the preamble and fertile soil for Islamizing the West. They finally got what they wanted -- the Democratic establishment's leadership as their puppet. With money they could operate by remote control. If it's upheaval they wanted, upheaval they almost got. They had groomed Hillary as their surrogate.

Just then the Islamic juggernaut fell over the precipice!

For all it would have taken at this point was a win by Hillary Clinton. Clinton was the puppet remotely controlled for her greed and her disinterest in America’s welfare. To be sure she would toe the Muslim line, Hillary needed a chaperone. Hillary, in full cognizance of the game she was meant to play, in accordance with her greed for money and power, had the Saudi Arabian mole Huma Abedin as her right-hand advisor.

The Muslim Abedin grew up in the Clinton machine. But meanwhile another woman was growing up in the Trump family. She, it turns out, is Jewish. Thus, instead of some Muslim countries gaining choke-hold advantage, the Muslim gambit failed, and failed big -- with the election of Donald Trump.

A Jewish girl took the place of the Arab girl. Evil had almost arrived at its pinnacle. The country would have become 3rd-world. At the last moment Good vanquished the Evil.

By the way, it’s not for nothing God chose Trump for leadership of the USA. Like his father, who donated a significant sum (some 50 years ago) to allow a Jewish school to rise on new ground, Donald too contributed (in 2005 about) to help the Israelis who were kicked out of their homes and land, forced to resettle elsewhere. These Jewish families were tossed out their homes, lands and livelihoods, some after 3 generations, for the sake of their worst enemy, by a foolish government gesture of appeasement. (link - witness)(link - press)(Hebrew blog post)

Just as God told Abraham the first Jew, “and all those who bless you I will bless” (Genesis 12:3), God blessed the Trump family too -- the dad with business success, and the son with that plus the presidency too.

Hillary needed war on a grand scale to keep herself socially afloat, without all her criminality bogging her down. This way she could run a war, sitting high at the helm of some “important” battle, and thus weather the criticism coming from internal policies. This is probably what Putin was thinking when he had to face an effeminate Obama who could get into a frenzy to call upon his dogs to attack, when he said the Democratic party leader (either Obama or Hillary) was likely to start a World War.

Soon is Purim. And real soon is Kislev. Kislev is a time for many miracles. Purim had Esther in the royal palace. This Purim we’ll have an “Esther” of our own. Haman the evil one was destroyed, and thankfully the evil Democrat party and the "establishment" too has been toppled.

By the way, Cheshvan too fits into this one big scheme of miracles transpiring to take Jews into their Torah-true Redemption era. We saw in Cheshvan that Trump’s daughter and son-in-law went to the grave site of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to ask for a brachah. This aspect of the world-in-transformation happened revealed the hidden hand of the one in charge of the fighting the wars for the sake of God and His Jewish People -- the Rebbe (link).

But all aspects of world events fit well in the scheme of the unfolding redemption. The Muslim must fall before the Jew can rise (Ba'al Haturim Genesis 25:18); Damascus must fall before Jerusalem is free of foreign entanglements (link); The Jewish people collectively swing to the right and swing to the belief in the One God and respect the Torah and Jewish tradition (over reformist attempts to dilute the belief); That Jews wherever they are can now practise their religion without governmental interference, without the Jew having to feel like a second-class citizen; That the whole world remains focused on that little plot of land called Israel in the Middle East; That good and evil are being blatantly touted for what they are and people eventually must take one side, the side the Jews are on, or the other; And that the USA will now take, when Trump enters office, the side of Israel (unlike the evil incumbent's).

The United States has a rosy future because it was founded on the belief in God and the freedom to practise your religion. (These traits would have disintegrated had the Democratic party won.) This is a charitable nation and a charitable people, and probably will remain that way until Moshiach.

The distinction between good and evil must be clearly identified so people can take sides and only then, with evil now separated out, can it be wiped away. Evil is being exposed for the whole world to see wherever it is.

For example, Castro just dropped dead. We now find out he demanded Israel withdraw from "the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem." He took the side that foists the false “Palestine” concept. The whole world will realize this ruthless dictator was on the (bad) Muslim side.

The world sees, now on a daily basis, just how brutally Arabs or Muslims behave. This is the War of Gog & Magog -- now ongoing! They watch while Muslims or of their ilk kill each other. Meanwhile, Jews are sitting pretty watching the spectacle without being actively involved, much like spectators (link). Instead of eating up the Jews, Arabs eat each other up.

The world sees too how Germany, Sweden and much of Europe now are in deep turmoil. Jewish blood had drenched European soil. The irony is that Germans now have Arabs as their bedfellows. Arabs, after all, had strongly supported the annihilative attempt of Germany against the Jewish people. Other European countries too now suffer for their "political correctness" they keep trying to impose upon the Jewish country. Like a boomerang effect. Now the world sees that just as God blesses those who bless the Jews, so too God curses the nations that demean the Jews (Genesis 12:3).

The world sees how fires rage across Israel, more than hundreds started, by Arabs living inside Israel. The world thus needs to realize that the internal Arab population is just as ominous as those surrounding the small country. Those empathetic to Israel will recognize Muslims could never have it so good under any other nation’s auspices -- and that the Arabs are ingrates. It is by the grace of God that gave us no deaths, God forbid, from this broad arson-terror attack.

Let's not forget we saw God’s grace getting back our Holy Land 70 years ago. Then with every single war Israel saw tremendous miracles. Israel today thrives, its desert blooms and everything in Israel is on the up and up. This despite the inferno that surrounds it every which way you look.

The biggest miracle, the true and final Era of Redemption for the Jewish People, the one now only seen by connecting the dots of this vast mosaic that lingers in the background, should soon be brought to the foreground for us to see in full glory with our own fleshy eyes, amen.

The Hidden Hand of the Rebbe

It’s hard to see The Redemption unfolding unless you know where to connect the dots of innumerable scattered world-wide events. Yet for those imbued with the dream of Geulah as the Rebbe promulgated, his followers and chassidim, it’s rather easy to decipher.

The hand of the Lubavitcher Rebbe could easily spotted, when, on the Motzei Shabbos just days before the 2016 presidential election, Trump’s daughter and his son-in-law visited the Rebbe’s Ohel. They obviously went to ask for a brachah for her father’s victory.

This event may have passed under most people’s radar, or it drew undue short shrift, but a Lubavitcher recognizes his Rebbe’s imprint. This event broadcast to the Jewish people this rabbi’s influence, for one thing.

But more importantly, it broadcasts the continuing involvement of the Rebbe to finally bring us the divine revelations that will transform existentialism. The world is about to embark on a new, Messianic journey and the pieces are being put in place. Trump's victory is one such cog in the mechanism.

The daughter is not a Chabadnik, nor is her husband, so it must be they recognize the Rebbe’s exalted influence, even as he “rests in peace”, as many would deem it; Or, as those keyed in on Moshiach note (we "Moshichists"), he continues to fight “the wars of Hashem” for us, without even our, or Israel’s, involvement.

Fighting the wars of Hashem and winning, by the way, is the precursor phenomenon that qualifies as a step before Moshiach's revelation. For, as the Rambam asserts, it is only thereafter that Moshiach will build the Beit Hamikdash and ingather the Jewish exiled.

(Step one was getting most Jews cognizant of their being Jewish and recognizing the significance thereof. The Rebbe has seen to that quite well, what with many thousands of Beit Chabad emissaries, appointed or self-appointed, all working as soldiers of the Rebbe with self-sacrifice, disseminated world-wide. Never mind that Lubavitch heritage from all 7 Rebbes has bred an immense library of Chassidus and spawned thousands of volumes of current, moshichist Judaic studies.)

Step two -- “He will fight the wars of Hashem. If he does so and succeeds ... he's presumed to be Moshiach!”.

If he succeeds, steps 3 and 4 will then follow.

It's spelled out right here:
The Laws of Kings and Wars 11:8

ויכוף כל ישראל לילך בה ולחזק בדקה

ויילחם מלחמות ה' -- הרי זה בחזקת שהוא משיח

  אם עשה והצליח  וניצח כל האומות שסביביו

 ובנה מקדש במקומו  וקיבץ נדחי ישראל -- הרי זה משיח בוודאי

)

The war of Gog and Magog, now raging among the enemies of Israel, as they swallow each other up, as yet the Jewish people remain on the sidelines as spectators, had been foretold by the Rebbe. In 1980 he explained, based on our sages, that the Jewish people during this war of nations will remain immune during the ongoing internecine destruction! {LINK}

The Rebbe alone, the general and chief-of-staff, is alive and well, albeit invisibly handling the show; He leads the war and, as well, solely fights it for the Jewish people.

May he be revealed in the full glory that soon awaits the Jewish People, who will take the world to a higher transcendent view of God and His world, to experience how all that exists really is ONE.

Balak & Moshiach - Since 1991

The “times of Moshiach” is a term that resonates well with most Jews today. Many, to be sure, like many of our secularly-based Jewish friends from academia, see world affairs and divine scripture as unrelated. Orthodox Jewry, on the other hand, aware that Torah commandments have eternal, practical value, feels the imminence of Moshiach in the air.

The Era of Redemption no longer is some quaint, quackish topic for back-room conversation. Jews tuned to Moshiach feel a shift in the winds of history gripping the world and, however things play out dynamically, the world is moving closer to the betterment of the Jewish people and their prophesied cozy utopia.

A particular Midrash tells us what it’ll be like when Moshiach arrives. Well, that scenario, inscribed as prophecy since this Midrash was written, has begun to unfold -- when the Rebbe declared it, in 1991.

This is, by now well-known, the prophecy of the sage Rabi Yitzchok (Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah:499), namely, “During the year Moshiach is first revealed, all leaders of the world’s nations are inflamed by each other. The King of Persia provokes the Arab King, and an Arab King goes to Aram to seek their advice ... fear not ... for ... I only did all this for your sake, so why are you afraid? Stop being afraid -- your Era of Redemption has arrived!”

The Rebbe in 1991 invoked this Midrash not as a repetition of a prophecy for the future but rather as a prophecy that is currently actualizing. The time line of demarcation from past to present has been crossed.

We’ve crossed over the threshold of this important milestone. The Era we are in now has a quality that went missing two thousands years. What Jews accomplished throughout these two millennia of exile, by keeping Torah and mitzvot, is in this present period being vindicated and redeemed!

Of course we can see the half-filled glass as half-full or as half-empty.

The Rebbe wants us to see it as half-full because a positive perspective reveals that other unexpected lights, though they may appear as random, fit in as pieces of a greater puzzle. A positive view helps you connect the dots of light of the unfolding, underlying Messianic mosaic. A negative perspective robs you of this encompassing view; You remain blind to the cohesiveness that binds the scattered events into the unique phenomenon we are now able to palpably feel happening -- to the world, to the collective Jewish People and to Israel.

It’s no longer a prophecy. It was a prophecy; Actually a sage's prophecy of some details that depict and debut as the Torah's prophecy of a Moshiach era. It is now ongoing -- before our very eyes. If you look, you can see how everything is preparing the Jewish People for their huge crowning state of glory and eternity.

The Torah portion of Balak in particular hoists high the idea of Moshiach who will show up as the King of all the Jews. This end-of-times period is one that waxes honor on Jewish folk. Even though Bilaam hated Jews, he could foresee nothing but praise for the Jewish people, praise for that nation’s matriarchs and patriarchs and praise for their good nature and noble humility.

Bilaam had remarkable prophetic power, at least of the same caliber as had Moses (the sages tell us)! So important was this prophecy, our sages considered including this portion in the daily prayer of the Shema. A mere technicality kept them from including it.

So important is this scriptural portion that even before any praise of God is mentioned in morning prayer, even before quotations from the Torah and Talmud, the very first verse of prayer, the very opening verse of Jewish morning prayer in the synagogue is -- a quote from this Torah portion of Balak (24:5) (“How goodly your tents, of Jacob, your dwellings, of Israel”)!

This prophecy's main end point is clear: In the "Days of Moshiach" the Jewish Nation will rise to supernal glory. During these times they will climb from strength to strength! This is the meaning of the words near the end of this divine prophecy (Balak 24:18):

" ... and the Jews wax in triumph”
וְיִשְׂרָאֵל עֹשֶׂה חָיִל

The Wars of Hashem

Jews find themselves in this 2nd half of the Hakhel year 5776.

The first order of the day for Jews as a whole is that they must appoint a king when they enter their Holy Land. Then comes the need to conquer the Amalekites, a war waged to cleanse the atmosphere for the next and 3rd obligation - to build the Third Temple.

The first obligation for Jews in Israel, then, is the nomination of a king. Well, that king years earlier made his presence in Brooklyn, NY. This king, otherwise known as “The Rebbe”, was accepted by many Jews whose prominent rabbis ruled on this by signing such a declaration. Even a giant of the non-chassidic Litvish element (Rabbi A. Soloveichik) agreed that the claim these rabbis make coincides with Torah view, leaving his legacy as a stalwart supporter of the cause (link).

Then, on the 3rd of Tammuz, 5754, he may well have made his move to Israel - as King Moshiach. (The 3rd of Tammuz is significant in Jewish history for then it became obvious how the whole world order caters to the wishes of the “Leader of the Jewish People”, the day Joshua froze the entire orchestrated motions in the heavens above.) That we cannot see him in person for now is a problem we have, but only if perceived from lightweight faith in the Rebbe’s words, or from undue faith in Nature for a people who transcend Nature, or simply underestimating the supernatural powers of Moshiach who is no less a personage than Moses or Joshua.

The next obligation, that of wiping out the enemies of the Jews (the Amalekites and their Jew-hating supporters), is now in progress. Enemies of the Jews are enemies of God. Right now, as you read these words, King Moshiach is fighting the wars against God’s enemies for the sake of the Jewish people. He’s doing it all on his own. No soldiers of Israel need be involved. While Jews sit in security watching with folded arms the world’s stage, seeing how Jew-haters fight Jew-haters, Jews remain unblemished spectators while their enemies swallow each other up with vicious violence.

The words of the Rambam, “And he will fight the wars of Hashem” [Kings 11:4], make a little more sense to me now. Normally the reader figures it means Moshiach as general will command that war be waged against so and so, and we assume he’ll lead brigades or battalions into battle. Apparently the wording of the Rambam is precise. We can assume it means that he, the general himself, will be doing all the “fighting”. Let’s put this into context. After all, the enemy is fighting another enemy, so what kind of fighting is the general himself doing? Evidently it means he is “mediating” between enemies that they fight each other, generating conflicts among these enemies. For this war of “mediation”, the general himself is handling it - all by his lonesome.

Now, in this age of instant communication, where the entire world has an open window to see all that transpires in every corner on earth, a phenomenon is unfolding. Evil has surfaced for the whole world to observe and/or to choose sides between good and evil, between being pro- or anti-Jewish. It all boils down to this simple distinction. Israel and the Jewish people always take center-stage; Whether you’re in Tibet or in Timbuktu. For evil Amalek must be vanquished before the purity of space provides the proper base upon which to build the physical sanctuary on earth for God - the 3rd and ultimate Beit Hamikdash. As long as weaponry remains significant, we must lay aside the tools of construction. The king we have. The wars of Hashem are now in process; And, may it be very soon, once the Beit Hamikdash is rebuilt in Jerusalem, all Jews from the world over will stream their way to live and thrive in their wonderful Holy Land.

These wars are very significant because they decide for us, based on victory or defeat, whether we speak of Moshiach with certainty. Unless “this general” emerges victorious and afterwards builds the Temple, he may cast doubt about who he really is. Only complete victory followed by the rebuilding of the Temple shall be the final gauge.

Nevertheless, for now, in this 2nd half of the Hakhel year 5776, we remain firmly committed to seeing our general trounce our enemies from this old world order and create for us the new world order, the Era of the Final and Ultimate Redemption, which is barreling its way headlong into our modern history.

In the 66th year Moshiach will be Revealed

I don’t pretend to understand Zohar, but throw this out to those who may find this a tasty “condiment of wisdom” (“פרפראה לחכמה”). Think of it as “hors d’oevres” before the Redemption's meal.

The holy Zohar writes (119a; or in 478, depending on how the book is published):
“In the 66th year Moshiach will be revealed
in the land of the Galil ....”

Like I said, I’m not here to explain, but only to point out that the 66th year is significant relative to the Lubavitcher Rebbe because on the 11th of Shvat of this year the Rebbe entered the 66th year of his “reign” (as far as ‘Moshichists’ see it).

As far as I’m concerned, we’re up to our necks in signs of the Geulah (סימנים) and want the real thing already, but this gem is too valuable to keep private.

This gem was pointed out to me by a friend, Rabbi Yaakov Bock, who also points out that which the Rebbe said about the “Galil” (referring to the same Zohar):

Translation (a part of a conversation):
The Rav Mordechai Eliyahu shlita:
“'U’va l’Tziyon goel' (It says ‘And the Redeemer will come in Zion.')”

The Rebbe shlita (smiling):
“'U’va l’Tziyon goel' is said in future tense, but we need it said already in past tense, or at least a moment after this already occurred!”

“Our sages in Midrash say Moshiach (Eliyahu HaNavi) will first reveal himself in the Galil, specifically in Teveria, which is of “goodly appearance”, but no one will mind if Eliyahu HaNavi first appears in the Diaspora, even in Brooklyn, and the next day Moshiach will go to Teveria.”

The Dash to Redemption in 5776

The Lubavitcher Rebbe inaugurated 1990 as the “year of miracles”. Since then we saw the dissolution of the Soviet Union, bringing Communism to a halt without one shot fired; The takedown of the Berlin Wall; The miraculous Persian Gulf War where 39 Scud missiles fired into Israel from Iraq killed nobody, this when just one Scud missile killed scores of American soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia; As well as a significant reduction of nuclear proliferation by the superpowers - ;“and they will turn their swords into plowshares”. (Isaiah 2:4).

Another not small miracle becoming apparent is the coming demise of the Islamic world. The whole world now has an open window to the cruelty and depravity of Islamic culture, where over 50 Muslim countries have zero to show in terms of success or advancement since the Middle Ages. Islam is still eating dust. It looks like Arab borders will soon disintegrate entirely; Whereas once you had Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, etc., ever since the “Arab Spring” it seems these borders will soon disappear, leaving behind havoc and anarchy. So the world will see, if not acknowledge, that this Jew-hating culture is and always was morally destitute.

We are watching the unfolding of Isaiah’s prophecy “I will instigate Egyptian against Egyptian, brethren against brethren and peer, city against city, kingdom against kingdom” (19:2), where Muslim enemies of the Jews swallow each other up, as Israel sits with arms crossed watching the show (thank God!).

The World War of Gog & Magog is pressing full-steam ahead while generally Jews remain and will remain untouched, as the Rebbe prophesied in 1980! (link)

The Arab chaos recently shifted into higher gear with the sudden onset of “Isis”, to accelerate the process.

Recall what Torah says of the Muslim (Yishmael): “He will be a human maniac; He will impose on every nation, and then every nation will be against him.” (Gen. 16:12) Torah tells us about this - that when Yishmael ultimately falls, Israel will finally rise. (eg, Baal HaTurim; Gen.25:18)

That is, before their fall, Muslims will become a gigantic threat across civilization. The tsunami of Muslims invading Europe may just be God’s payback to that continent where Jewish blood spilled like water. In an ironic twist, we see how today’s virulent anti-Semites now have Germans and other past supporters of Hitler as bedfellows.

This while waves of Jewish immigrants, mostly from invaded Europe, are flying to Israel.

And, while most Western countries have been thrown into economic distress, little Israel is finding gas and diamonds, building military prowess (eg. “Iron-Dome” technology, drones), and pushing forward full of vigor. (Even as domestic Muslims and queer sympathizers do their utmost to destroy the country from within.)

In summary, we are witnessing God promise in Torah coming true: As per the words of Bilam, “The Jewish nation will by itself prevail, without kowtowing to other nations”. (Numbers 23:9)  Despite prevalent and rising anti-Semitism in the West, in the U.N. and elsewhere, the Jewish people have a loyal shepherd in Hashem protecting them, taking His People to redemption.

We’ve turned the corner of exile, now dashing headlong to the Era of Ultimate Redemption. Soon we’ll dance with Moshiach in the streets of Yerushalyim, may it happen NOW, amen!

(Of course, if your perspective derives through the prism of “Nature”, then of course you will remain distraught about the “natural” threats of missiles, ISIS, tunnels, cyber attacks, etc. However, in contradistinction, trust in the Rebbe’s words and in Hashem’s Torah renders an alternate, very bright perspective.)

Clouds of Glory during Hakhel Year 5776

See how Hashem is tightening the screws to hasten the Era of Redemption. He stirs up an enormous hurricane (“Patricia”) to raise the specter of potential terror. Had the hurricane come well into land, much of Mexico would have been devastated. Suddenly we open eyes to the possibility that millions more refugees will now stream into America from the South. The porosity of America’s borders with Mexico will now send shudders into many more minds and hearts.

The decay of America socially, economically and morally seems well on its way. Universities are becoming anti-Jewish; Cities across America are becoming “refuge sanctuary” cities where crimes go ignored; Torrents of illegal migrants are making their way into the heart of the country; The morale and religious backbone of the country is in tatters; Christians are losing their prominence; and “Every Jew is fair game!” shout the mullahs and shmullahs.

But despite the rising threats of invasion and chaos, and despite America's apparent tailspin towards Sodomite values, Jews have every reason to rejoice. True the Redemption picture as of now looks like it's only collectively at work, as some individual lives fall as sacrificial lambs (ה׳ ישמור), the rumblings of the oncoming ultimate Redemption cannot be ignored.

For the very contrary of a broad misery that bleakens the world today is happening in the Jewish quarter. To Jews worldwide the prospect of imminent redemption is palpable. Everywhere Jews exist today they enjoy the freedom to observe their religion to a tee. No longer do Jews suffer persecution under government sanction. Today when police escort Jews, they do so to protect them. Not too long ago the escort of police meant Jews were being transported to gas chambers.

Just as in ancient days just prior to their redemption, Jews were surrounded with God’s “Ananei Shemaya” to protect them against the Egyptian military onslaught, so too - today - in this process of Final Redemption, Jews worldwide (this time) are again protected by God’s “Clouds of Glory”. These clouds may not appear physically as they did back then, but they exist today around every Jew, by divine providence of events wherein he finds himself. The Jew is protected against the rising worldwide evil as evil exposes itself worldwide and as evil itself then swallows evil.

By “tightening the screws” I refer to the phenomenon referred to by the Previous Rebbe, who indicated this was exactly how Geulah will unfold (link). Groups of Jews will be streaming towards the Holy Land. In the end, all Jews will become observant of God’s Torah, only some before others, and the worldwide change in demographics and politics is setting up for Jews just that landscape and avenue to Israel.

That article’s link above starts out like this: “A deep secret every intelligent person must find interest in concerns the final Jewish Redemption and, particularly, the logistics of departure from the diaspora.” I invite you to read it.

As for America, the Rebbe has said, in his booklet “קונטרס בית רבינו שבבל”, that the Beit Hamikdash will first adjoin 770 Eastern Parkway, in Brooklyn NY(!), and therefrom be flown by Clouds of Glory to Jerusalem (however that actually manifests). That scenario itself guarantees America shall remain a safe and powerful haven until Moshiach’s exposition, which bids well for a good future for America, despite the grim outlook as of now with what looks like a Muslim usurper/anarchist having snatched the reins of its highest office.

But it all bodes well for Jews and may this Hakhel year finally bring the march to Jerusalem with upright pride, for every Jewish man, woman and child.

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.

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.