ב"ה

Moshiach in the Pandemic

R' Yankev Bock

Forget the "signs" -- do you see Moshiach?  The Covid-19 health guidelines are a reality affecting most of the world, regardless of our opinion of those who have instituted these guidelines.  Just as the Czarist government who imprisoned the Alter Rebbe had no idea that they were acting out a Supernal court case, but the Alter Rebbe was sensitive to the Divine Providence guiding his situation -- so, too, we should be aware of the heavenly hand guiding the decisions of even the most politicized actors.

In our case we find a global reality of masks covering the mouth, 2-meter distancing, and isolation -- which recall the status of a Metzora (one who has Tzoraas), whom the Torah instructs must isolate from the community, cover his mouth, and keep daled amos (2-meters.6-feet) from other people.  Are we being told that we have Tzoraas?!

The world hears Tzoraas and thinks loshon hara.  A chossid hears Tzoraas and thinks Moshiach!  The gemara tells us that Rebbi Yehuda HaNosi was fitting to be Moshiach because he suffered illness and was called Metzora.  In Likkutei Torah the Alter Rebbe teaches that Tzoraas is a spiritual state that only comes upon one who is perfected, who has completed his self-rectification internally, and ready for Geuloh.  Only that there is an external manifestation of  a lesion ("nega") on his skin, but that these lesions are in their source actually very lofty spiritual lights ("oneg").  When he will be purified the lesions reveal their lofty source.  The Rebbe says that our entire generation is on this level -- should we be surprised or alarmed to see the world saying to us "Tzoraas"?  But it goes deeper than you think: 

The lesion of Tzoraas which appears on the skin is defined in the Torah as a white patch of skin.  The Alter Rebbe explains that the white color indicates that the blood flow is interrupted.  In a healthy body the heart pumps blood to the limbs, and the limbs return the blood to the heart.  The failure of the limb to return blood to the heart results in the white patch of skin, which is lesion of Tzoraas.

With this concept in mind, let us revisit the words of the Rebbe in the Sicha of Beis Nissan, 5748.  There, the Rebbe explains how the King is the heart of the nation (as the Rambam writes), and just as the role of the heart in the body is to pump blood, which is life, to the limbs, similarly the King gives life to the people. And just as in a healthy body the limbs must send blood — life — back to the heart, so, too, the people must give life to the King (for there is no King without a people).

How do the people return the lifeblood to the King?  Says the Rebbe in this sicha, the lifeblood is returned to the heart (the King) by crowning the King with the expression “Yechi Hamelech!” (The Rebbe suggests that also the declaration "Ad Mosai" ("until when [must we be in golus]") contains within it the crowning of the King.)  

Thus, the crowning of the King by the people through the declaration “Yechi Hamelech” (or "Ad Mosai") is likened to the limbs returning the blood to the heart. And the failure to return blood to the heart results in the white lesion which is Tzoraas, meaning that the failure to crown the king with one of these declarations is itself a case of Tzoraas!

Consider this reality: Supernal Providence is giving the entire world a subtle but firm message that we are in a state of Tzoraas.  Tzoraas itself is a sign of being ready for Moshiach but not having accepted and declared his Kingship -- the final stage before the "purification of the Metzora" which is the actual coming of Moshiach!  Let us correct this "loshon hara" of failing to crown the King (or failing to properly and effectively inspire others to do so) and bring about the purification of the Metzora "on the day of his purification" -- the true and complete Geuloh!

[The rectification of Tzaraas begins with bittul, especially learning of Torah with bittul.  But, as the Rebbe points out, the Metzora must still go through all the stages of purification outlined in the Torah (the process includes bringing two birds, sprinkling, shaving, and immersion (Vayikra 14)).  This process is itself connected with Moshiach, as the Ohr HaChaim haKadosh writes on these verses that the 2 birds described in the purification process are connected with the 2 Moshiachs (Moshiach ben Yosef, Moshiach ben Dovid).  And for those who like hints: the words of the verse instructing the purification of the Metzora ("he shall take 2 pure live birds", ולקח שתי צפרים חיות טהרות) is exactly the same gematria as "this is the year of I will show you wonders, 5781" (זה שנת פלאות אראנו תשפא)!]

יחי אדוננו מורנו ורבינו מלך המשיח לעולם ועד!י

The King Does Not Reign Until the People...

It is known that the King does not reign until the people will crown him and accept him over themselves as King and will say "Yechi Hamelech Yechi Hamelech" ("may the King live")...

Mekubal R' Avraham Abulafia, sefer Imrei Shefer

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ונס ידוע שהמלך אינו מלך עד שימליכוהו העם ויקבלוהו עליהם למלך ויאמרו יחי המלך יחי המלך

רבי אברהם אבולעפיא, ספר אמרי שפר

Awaiting Moshiach--To Wait with Wisdom

To Wait with Wisdom

by Harav Hamekubal Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh

One of the definitions of the word חכמה (widsom) is חכה-מה -- the power to wait and to anticipate that something will tarry, as in the verse that relates to the ketz of Moshiach "if he will tarry wait for him because he will come, he will not be late" (and as the fundament of faith [Rambam]: "even though he will tarry, despite all this I await him").

The power of chochma to wait and anticipate brings closer that which one is awaiting. The degree of power of one who waits is very great -- in the end -- it approaches "close to prophecy". Thus the prophet states עין לא ראתה א-להים זולתך יעשה למחכה לו "no eye has seen what Hashem will do for those who wait for Him", and the sages explain that in the time to come the one who waits will merit to see that which the prophets themselves did not see. In the Zohar it explains "to wait for him" -- "to one who is exacting in the words of chochma". In Kedusha, even one who awaits something that he can't even imagine doesn't wait passively; rather, he strives and dives deep to discover it in the depths of Divine chochma. So, too, in the anticipation of Moshiach and his unimaginable wonders, the one who truly waits does this wisely -- with chochma -- with effort and exacting study of inyanei Geulah and Moshiach and Torah. For it is precisely in the Torah of Geulah and Moshiach can the one who waits already taste "the Torah of Moshiach" about which it is stated "every palate which tastes of it says 'let me have, let me have'. In the merit of the "taste [and see] that Hashem is Good" we merit in the time to come to "and you will see that Hashem is Good" -- "no eye has seen what Hashem will do for those who wait for him."

Generation of Moshiach is Moshiach's Donkey

The donkey is unique in the Torah. It is an impure animal lacking both external signs of purity (split hooves and chewing of the cud). The donkey in Hebrew is חמור (chamor) which is the word for materiality, even more coarse than simple "physicality".

Yet the donkey contains a hidden level of kedusha: its first born must be redeemed from the Kohen. And the donkey is mentioned in association with the greatest tzaddikim: Avraham saddled his donkey to go to the akeida; Moshe placed his wife and children on a donkey; and Moshiach, says the novi Zecharia, will appear riding on a donkey (according to chazal, the same donkey as Avraham and Moshe).

The Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 60) states that Moshiach's donkey, as the novi Zecharia says (9:9) "a poor man riding on a donkey" represents this state of concealed kedusha. טב מלגאו ולבושא דיליה ביש דא איהו עני ורוכב על חמור Good on the inside, but its external appearance is bad. The generation of Moshiach--neshomas on the cusp of complete refinement dressed in "filthy garments".

Perhaps this helps explain Sotah 47a, which describes the period of Ikveisa d'Meshicha (the footsteps of Moshiach) as האמת תהא נעדרת "truth will be missing". The true purity of the neshomas of this generation concealed behind outer layers of ignorance and indifference, arrogance and antagonism. But one who heeds the advice of the Alter Rebbe in Tanya perek 32--to make the body secondary and to focus on the neshoma inside--the truth will not be missing, in the way that the Torah recognizes the hidden kedusha of the first born donkey.

Moshiach Has Been Appointed

The appointment of Dovid King Moshiach has already occurred, as is written "I have found my servant Dovid, I have annointed him with Holy oil" (Tehillim 89:21), and there needs only to be the acceptance of his kingship by the people and the connection between the king and the people in complete revelation.

Talk of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Mishpatim 5751 (1991)

Publicizing Moshiach

If before Moshiach's coming the hearts of men were not drawn after him, also at the time of his true coming they won't be able to verify and publicize his matters in the world except with great difficulty.

Abarbanel, Yeshuos Meshicho, p.45 (new edition)

Segulah to Speed Up Moshiach: Learning About Geulah

As has been spoken about recently as regards a special increase in learning the subjects of Geulah and Moshiach – not (only) as a segula to speed up and bring close the coming of Moshiach and the Geulah, but rather (also and) mainly in order to begin to “live” with the subjects of Moshiach and Geulah, “to live with the times” of the days of Moshiach, by way of the intellect becoming filled and imbued with understanding and grasp of the subjects of Moshiach and Geulah as they are in Torah, and from the intellect it spreads out and imbues also the feelings in the heart, until it reaches the actual behavior in thought, speech and action in a way that suits this special time, when we are standing on the doorstep of the Geulah, and we are pointing with a finger that “here, this one (Melech Hamoshiach) is coming”.

And we can add as an explanation the need and the special quality of learning Torah on the subjects of Moshiach and Geulah and the building of the third Beis Hamikdash as entryway and beginning to the days of Moshiach – even though our sages said that Moshiach comes “when attention is diverted” (b’hesech hada’as), this is not a contradiction, G-d forbid, to thought and contemplation in a way of “knowledge” (daas) (“the he connects his daas with a very firm and strong knot and immerses his thoughts with strength” [Tanya end of ch. 3]) in the subjects of Moshiach and Geulah [and first of all the thought and the contemplation to know and to recognize that we are standing at the entrance to the days of Moshiach, “here this one is coming”, since all the appointed times [for Moshiach’s coming] have passed, and they have already done tshuva, and they have completed all the matters of avodah to perfection […] – because “hesech hada’as” means “above da’as”, namely, that after this subject imbues his da’as (through thought and contemplation, etc.), then for him this becomes in a way that is above his da’as (and thus diverted from it).

[…] We see that it is difficult to become imbued with the recognition and the feeling that we are standing on the edge of the days of Moshiach mamash to the degree that they will start to “live” with the subjects of Moshiach and Geulah. […] the recommendation [to overcome this] is – through learning Torah on the subjects of Moshiach and Geulah, because it is in the power of the Torah (the wisdom of the Holy One blessed be He which is above the world) to change a person’s nature, that even if his feelings are still, G-d forbid, outside of the realm of the Geulah (since he still didn’t go out of his internal state of golus), then through learning the Torah on the subjects of the Geulah he is elevated to a state of Geulah, and he starts to live with the subjects of the Geulah, amidst knowledge and recognition and feeling that “behold, he is coming”.

Sicha of the Rebbe, Parshas Balak, 5751

Beginning with the study of Moshiach and Geulah...

As regards actual action – “the action is the main thing”: Publicizing in every single place that we are standing at the end and completion of our deeds and our avodah, and at the beginning of the period of the collecting the reward, “the salary of tzaddikim”, and as befits this there must be the avodah as well in matters that are relevant to the days of Moshiach, beginning with the study of the Torah in the subjects of Moshiach and Geulah and the Bais Hamikdash[…]

Sicha of the Rebbe, Parshas Ki Seitze, 5751

Prepare for Moshiach by Learning About Moshiach

The simple intention is that from the Kinus Hashluchim must come good resolutions as to how each shliach needs to prepare himself and to prepare all the Jews in his place and in his city, etc., to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu, by his explaining the subject of Moshiach, as explained in the written Torah and the oral Torah, in a way that it can be accepted by every single one according to his intellect and understanding, including and especially—by learning the subjects of Moshiach and Geulah in a way of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. And being that this is the avodah of this time, thus it is understood that this is relevant to every Jew, without any exceptions.

(Sicha of the Rebbe, Parshas Chayei Sara, 5752)