Parshas Tisha B'Av Issue
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
I was sitting near the front window of a Starbucks in Midtown Manhattan when a tall African-American guy came out of the bathroom in the back and headed to the front door. When he spotted me with my kippah on, he started “bageling†me. He said “Shabbos!†“Rosh Hashanah!†and “Yom Kippur!†Typical, I thought to myself, nothing I haven’t already heard before. But then he really threw me when he said “Shivah Assar B’Tammuz!†and “Tishah B’Av!†I couldn’t believe it! [Shivah Assar B’Tammuz and Tishah B’Av are traditional Jewish Fast Days that always fall out in the summertime – which is probably the main reason why most secular Jews - and certainly all non-Jews - are not familiar with them.] I saw the knowing grin on his face so I called him over to my table and asked him how he knew about Shivah Assar B’Tammuz and Tishah B’Av. He explained that he used to be a waiter at the old Homowack Resort in the Catskill Mountains (in what used to be called “The Borscht Beltâ€). And twice every summer the kitchen staff at the resort were notified that they had the day off due to the Jewish fast days of Shivah Assar B’Tammuz and Tishah B’Av.
We got to talking about our lives and he shared with me that he had become a Born-Again Christian … and all because of a verse in the Book of Malachi. He explained that things were really going downhill for him after he cheated on his young wife and she left him. His mother, who was a devout Christian, believed that the answers to all his problems could be found in the Bible. So she would tell him at every opportunity, “Read the Bible, Son! Read the Bible!†Of course, he had no interest in reading the Bible. Until one day, when he was really desperate, he picked up a Bible and said, “G-d, I don’t know if You exist, but if You do, then please show me a sign!†He opened the Bible to a ‘random’ page, and this was what he read; “You say, ‘Why [is this]?’†It is because G-d has testified between you and the wife of your youth whom you have betrayed, though she is your companion and the wife of your covenant.†(Malachi 2:14). Right then and there - the fellow told me - he became a Born-Again Christian!
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I don’t know about you folks, but when the fellow at Starbucks finished his story, I really wanted to ask him why he became Christian as a result of a verse that randomly came to him from the Book of Malachi. After all, the prophecy of Malachi is part of the Hebrew Bible … so the guy should have become Jewish! …. but I decided to just let it go.
Truth be told, Malachi is most definitely “one of our boys†who prophesied during the Second Temple era and was a contemporary of the prophets Haggai and Zecharia. What is especially important to know is that, according to the Bible commentators Radak and Ibn Ezra, Malachi was the very last prophet to prophesy for Israel until the spirit of prophecy ceased in the year 313 B.C.E. This means that the last prophecy and direct Divine communication the Jewish people ever heard – which would have to carry them through the long and bitter exile until the coming of the Messiah – was Malachi’s final prophecy.
And what were Malachi’s final words of prophecy to the Jewish people?
“Behold, I send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of G-d. And He will turn back to [G-d] the hearts of fathers with [their] sons and the hearts of sons with their fathers…†(see Malachi 3:23-24).
According to our Sages, the primary tasks of Elijah the Prophet – as prophesied by Malachi - are as follows:
(1) To “announce†to the entire world the coming of the Messiah (see Pesikta Rabosi)
(2) To anoint the Messiah as King (see Nachmanides’ Milchamos Hashem 5:24)
(3) To bring the Jewish people back to G-d (see commentary of Rashi to Malachi 3:24)
(4) To make peace in the world (see Mishnayos Eiduyos 8:7)
(5) To restore “Classical†Semichah (Rabbinic ordination) and the Great Sanhedrin
(6) To answer previously unresolved Halachic queries (see Talmud Bechoros 24a)
Here’s to hoping that we’ll all be alive and well when Elijah announces the coming of the Messiah! Amen!
HAVE A MEANINGFUL FAST!
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=625