Parshas Balak (5768)
Let me share with you a true story called The Rabbi's
Great Surprise:
It was a typical weekday morning when the Rabbi was
returning home from the Yeshiva, having just
completed the Morning Prayer service. His wife, the
Rebbetzin, asked him, "Chaim, would you like some
breakfast now?" The Rabbi replied, "Relka, my daily
lecture to the students is not yet prepared. I can't sit
down to eat until I study the pages of Talmud which I
have to teach today." The Rebbetzin said, "Good,
Chaim, you finish preparing your class, and I'll go out
to the store to buy a few things. Meanwhile, I am
leaving a pot of food cooking on the stove. Pay
attention to it, Chaim, make sure that it doesn't burn. I
know you already, Chaim, when you get involved in
Torah study, you forget about everything that's going
on around you!" The Rebbetzin went out to the store,
and the Rabbi sat down to learn the Talmud.
All of a sudden, he felt the sun's rays pouring through
the window much stronger than usual. What an
intense brightness! And then, to his amazement, the
Rabbi heard the birds perched on the trees out in the
yard singing a beautiful melody, the likes of which he
had never heard before. The Rabbi then heard what
sounded like swarms of people noisily milling about
on the street below. He stuck his head out the front
window only to see Eli, the shoemaker, running
frantically. He called out to him, "What happened, Eli?
What happened to the light of the sun? Why are the
birds chirping these amazing melodies? Why are all
the trees blossoming new sprouts all of a sudden?
What's going on?"
Eli, the shoemaker, still wild-eyed and frantic, stared
at the Rabbi with amazement, and said, "What ...
haven't you heard, Rabbi? The Moshiach (Messiah)
has finally come!!!" Immediately, the Rabbi ran to his
closet to pull out his best Shabbos suit, in order to
greet King Moshiach properly. When he took out the
suit, he realized that it was missing one of its buttons.
The previous Saturday night, the button had fallen off,
and when he had asked the Rebbetzin if she could
sew it back on for him, she told him she would do it
later on in the week. Meanwhile, the button was still
not on the suit, and the Rabbi was not sure if he
should wear the Shabbos suit without the button or
not. All of a sudden, the Rebbetzin ran into the house,
all out of breath, screaming, "Chaim, where were you?
The pot on the stove burned!" The Rabbi said, "Forget
about the soup! Just put on your best Shabbos dress
and come with me to greet King Moshiach!"
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Yes, folks ... this is a true story!
Only it hasn't happened yet.
You see, it has been a part of our tradition since time
immemorial to believe in the coming of the Messiah
(known in Hebrew as the Moshiach, a word
meaning "the anointed one"). The books of the
Prophets are full of references to the final Redemption
and the coming of the Messiah (particularly Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah, and Zechariah). Such
references are also found in the Torah (e.g.
Deuteronomy 30:1-10, 32:36-43).
Belief in the Messiah's arrival is one of the thirteen
articles of faith enumerated by Maimonides in his
introduction to the eleventh chapter of Tractate
Sanhedrin in the Talmud. In the Siddur (Prayer Book),
this principle of faith is expressed thus: "Ani ma'amin
be'emunah sheleimah ... I believe with complete faith
in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he
may delay, nevertheless I long for him each day,
[hoping] that he will come."
As a matter of fact, in this week's Torah portion,
Parshas Balak, we find a reference to the Messiah.
Bilaam, the great non-Jewish prophet, speaks about
the very distant future of the Jewish people, the time
when the final Messianic redemption would come:
"I shall see him, but not now, I shall look at him, but it
is not near. A star has issued from Jacob and a
scepter-bearer has risen from Israel, and he shall
pierce the nobles of Moab and undermine the children
of Seth. Edom shall be a conquest and Seir shall be
the conquest of his enemies - and Israel will attain
success." (Numbers 24:17-18)
Many commentaries interpret these verses to allude to
the coming of the Messiah. Messiah is called a "star"
because he will shine above all of mankind and he
will guide the Jewish people and lead them all to their
homeland.
The belief in the coming of the Messiah is not only
mentioned in the Torah and the Prophets, it is also
discussed at length in the Talmud, the Zohar, as well
as in the great works of philosophy of Saadiah Gaon,
Maimonides, Crescas, Albo, Luzzatto,etc. And it has
been a very basic element of our Jewish tradition
which all Jews believed in for well over 3000 years,
that one day, in the hopefully not-too-distant future, the
Messiah will arrive (probably when we least expect it)
and we will all go out to greet him - with or without all
our buttons in place.
WHO IS THE "MESSIAH" AND WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN HE ARRIVES
The Jewish people will regain their independence
when the Messiah - a human being of flesh and blood
and a descendant of the royal family of David -
reestablishes the Davidic dynasty over Israel. Under
his leadership, the Temple will be rebuilt (on the site
where the Dome of the Rock is presently situated), all
the Jews will return to the Land of Israel, and all the
law of the Torah will be restored to their former levels
of observance.
A sage wiser than Solomon, and a prophet whose
greatness approaches that of Moses, the Messianic
king will teach the way of G-d to the world. He will
inspire all of humanity to worship the One True G-d
together. Those who caused harm to the Jewish
people throughout our history will be punished by G-d
during the Messianic period.
In the Messianic era there will be neither hunger nor
war, neither jealousy nor competition. G-d will bestow
such abundance that it will be possible to procure
one's livelihood with minimal effort. Freed from worry
and anxiety, people will enjoy long lives. The
occupation of the world will be solely that of acquiring
knowledge of G-d.
Y6K: THE JEWISH DOOMSDAY
I bet you're wondering as you're reading all this ......
okay, this all sounds kind of nice (except maybe the
part about moving to Israel - who wants to put up with
those rude cab drivers?). But when does tradition say
the whole Messiah thing is supposed to happen? I
mean, we have been in exile for almost 2000 years,
and still not a sign of the Messiah! How can we really
be expected to believe that the Messiah can come at
any time?
Well, let me tell you what the traditional sources say
about that. There is a time frame in which the Messiah
has to come. The Talmud in Tractate Sanhedrin 97a
says the following:
"The academy of Eliyahu taught the following Baraisa:
The world is destined to exist for six thousand years:
The first two thousand years were of nothingness; the
second two thousand years were of Torah; the third
two thousand years should have been the days of the
Messiah, but because of our sins, which are
numerous, the years that have gone from [the
Messianic Era] have gone."
In other words, the Messiah could have arrived to
redeem us and bring us all to Israel as early as the
year 4000 in the Hebrew calendar (which corresponds
to the year 240 CE in the Julian calendar).
Unfortunately, since we haven't been good boys and
girls, it is already the year 5768 and the Messiah still
hasn't shown up!
The good news, though, is that the Messiah has to
come before the year 6000 - which means that he will
definitely arrive within the next 232 years! Who knows,
if we don't get to experience the Messianic Era, maybe
our children or grandchildren will!
TOP FIFTEEN SIGNS THAT THE MESSIAH IS COMING
SOON ...
The Talmud in Sotah 49b gives us fifteen signs of
what the world will be like immediately prior to the
coming of the Messiah. This pre-Messianic period is
known as the Ikvesa D'meshicah - the "footsteps of
the Messiah" - the time when we believe the Messiah
is just around the corner and his footsteps can be
heard.
Here is the list of the signs that signal the Messiah's
imminent arrival, as quoted in the Talmud:
"When the footsteps of the Messiah can be heard...(1)
chutzpah (insolence) will increase; (2) inflation will
soar; (3) the vine will yield its fruit, but wine will be
expensive; (4) the dominant power in the world will
promote the denial of G-d; (5) no one will be able to
reprove another [for everyone will be guilty of the same
transgressions]; (6) the meeting place (of Torah
scholars) will be used for immorality; (7) the Galilee
will be destroyed, and the Gablan will become
desolate; (8) the people who live on the border will go
around begging from town to town and will not be
pitied; (9) the wisdom of the Torah scholars will rot,
and those who fear sin will be despised; (10) the truth
will be hidden; (11) young people will shame old men,
and old men will stand up before youngsters, a son
will degrade his father, and a daughter will rebel
against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law; (12) a man's enemies will be the
members of his household; (13) the face of the
generation will be like the face of a dog; (14) a son will
not be ashamed before his father; (15) On whom can
we rely On our Father in Heaven."
Now obviously, all these signs are extremely vague
and don't seem to make much sense on the surface.
But the truth is that each one of these signs masks
incredible depth, and has a very important message
for all of us. Let me give you one example:
One of the really strange signs mentioned in the
above list is that in the time preceding the Messianic
Era, "the face of the generation will be like the face of a
dog". Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman (a pre-war Torah
giant who was murdered by the Nazis at the infamous
Ninth Fort in Slobodka, Lithuania in 1941) cites the
following explanation in the name of Rabbi Yisrael
Salanter:
The "face of the generation" means the heads (i.e. the
leaders) of the generation. The behavior of the
leaders of the generation will resemble that of dogs.
When a dog is walked by its master, it trots ahead and
thus appears to be leading. In reality, however, it is the
master who chooses the direction in which to go.
When the dog comes to a fork in the road, it stops and
waits for its master to direct it. In the pre-Messianic
era, the leaders will only appear to be leading the
nation; in reality they will be following the whims of the
masses.
[If you would like to see a full treatment of all fifteen
signs, and what they might mean for the times in
which we're living, I recommend reading a book
written by Rabbi Ezriel Tauber called Days Are
Coming, and especially Chapter 3 pages 142-176, in
which he elaborates on each of the 15 signs in great
detail.]
So here's to hoping that the idyllic existence that we
will all experience upon the arrival of Moshiach - no
more pain and suffering, no more anti-Semitism, no
more suicide bombings and sniper shootings, no
more hatred and disunity among our own Jewish
brothers and sisters, and only tranquility, harmony,
peace and spiritual growth will reign - will come soon
and in our times, Amen.
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