ON EXILE AND REDEMPTION
SORROW OF THE SHECHINA
Rav Y.L. Diskin never went to pray at the Kosel, even though he lived near it. Rav Sternbuch heard many years ago from someone who had the merit of attending to Rav Diskin and afterwards to his students, that his students had a tradition that the reason their rav refrained from visiting the Kosel was that he was afraid of fainting when reaching the Kosel due to his great sorrow, and therefore, instead, he would frequently look out of his window to see the Makom Hamikdash, which would make him cry.
Tradition has it that when he moved to Eretz Yisroel he was on his way to the Kosel when he suddenly thought about the great sanctity of the place he was about to visit and about how the Holy Shechina was in exile and suffering. He started sobbing and felt so unwell that he had to retrace his steps. He did not visit the Kosel after that.
How far removed we are from those generations. Due to the great sorrow he felt, Rav Y.L. Diskin did not visit the Kosel even on Shabbos and Yom Tov, whereas today people dance there joyfully, completely forgetting about the sorrow of the Shechina. The Bas Kol that appeared to the Shelah Hakadosh told him that if people would be aware of even a tiny fraction of the sorrow the Shechina feels, they would incapable of feeling any joy. What then, can be said of our generation, when most of the nation is far removed from religion, and the irreligious rule over the Holy Land?
UNREVEALED SECRET
Rav Sternbuch heard from Rav Moshe Schneider that during the period of the Cantonist decrees, when Jewish boys were snatched away from their parents and forced into 25 years of Russian military service, Russian rabbis convened and unanimously agreed that Moshiach’s arrival was surely imminent. One elderly rabbi, a kabbalist, wanted to announce the date of Moshiach’s coming based on an allusion by the Vilna Gaon in his commentary on Safra Dezniusa, where he warns anyone - subject to an oath - who understands his hint not to reveal the secret. The elderly rabbi declared: “I know the secret of the coming of Moshiach hinted at by the Vilna Gaon, and according to his calculations that date will not arrive for a while yet, but since currently everybody imagines that his coming is imminent, and when he will not come people’s faith will be weakened, G-d forbid, in my opinion the Vilna Gaon would also say that it is a mitzvah to reveal the date, and so that is what I will do”. At that moment he suffered a heart attack and died in the presence of all the rabbanim.
GOG AND MAGOG
Rav Yechezkel Abramsky told Rav Sternbuch that he has a tradition from the Vilna Gaon’s students in the name of the Vilna Gaon that the war of Gog and Magog will last only 12 minutes, and during that war a third of the world’s population will die, a third will be injured, and a third will remain unharmed. Rav Sternbuch says that the Vilna Gaon was talking about the world’s non-Jewish population.
CHILLUL HASHEM
Rav Sternbuch heard from Rav Elyah Lopian who heard from Rav Yitzchak Blazer that when Rav Yochanon said “let him come and let me not see him” (Sanhedrin 98b), he did not mean that he not did not want to witness the coming of Moshiach because of the physical suffering associated with the birth pangs of his coming. After all, Rav Yochanon himself had endured the passing of ten sons in his lifetime, and so he would certainly be able to endure the physical tribulations of Chevlei Moshiach. Rather, he meant that he would not be able to endure the desecration of the Divine name during those birth pangs, such as during the Holocaust when people asked “Where is your G-d?”, and during our time when the irreligious rule over the Palace of the King in Eretz Yisroel and desecrate it terribly. Rav Yochanon felt that he would not be able to endure such a terrible desecration of the Divine name.
MORALITY IN THE GENERATION OF MOSHIACH
The Gerer Rebbe, the Beis Yisroel, told Rav Sternbuch on one occasion that since the main area that needs to be amended in the generation of Moshiach is that of morality, he is very stringent about those matters, but he added that he is lenient with regard to repentance for past actions.
HANGING ON
Rav Yechezkel Abramsky once suggested the following parable: People who swam across the Channel separating England from France would be awarded a prize. There was one swimmer who, just before reaching the French side, said that he was so exhausted that he felt he could not swim even one more stroke. People tried to encourage him to work up just that extra bit of energy so that all the efforts he had invested would not be in vain. Similarly, we have suffered so many tragedies during this long exile. All we have to do now is hang on with determination and perseverance, because we are almost there.
TISHA B'AV
The duty of repenting on Tisha B’Av is on the same level as the obligation to fast. Therefore, part of the duty of the day is to engage in introspection and account taking, especially with regard to the sins for which the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, such as those pertaining to lashon hara, which are very prevalent.
We also have to mourn and feel sorrow not only for the absence of the Shechinah in a revealed manner in the Beis Hamikdash, but also for the fact that the wicked are reviling and treating the Shechinah with contempt.
On the other hand, the reward for mitzvos performed during a period of Exile is much greater, because Hashem’s expectations of us are less when the Shechina is absent. This is especially so during periods of “hester besoch hester” (“concealment within concealment”), because keeping mitzvos properly in such times is especially difficult.
A great tzaddik in the time of Tach v’Tat (the Chmelnitzki Cossack massacres of 1648–49) is said to have promised before he died that when he would get to Heaven, he would not rest until Hashem would bring about the final redemption. After he passed away, he appeared to someone in a dream and told him that anyone who lives in Olam Hazeh cannot imagine what he sees in Heaven. People have no idea of the great reward awaiting those who merit performing any mitzvah during a period of hester panim (Hashem hiding His countenance, so to speak). Whatever used to require fasting and mortifications in previous generations, can be attained in later generation by stubbornly resisting the temptations of each generation with regard to matters of faith and toiling in Torah. Those who are successful in this endeavor climb the rungs of greatness.
ON THE COMING OF MOSHIACH
When people bless Rav Sternbuch that he should witness the coming of Moshiach, Rav Sternbuch responds that a blessing should include the period after the coming of Moshiach too, because the Rambam has ruled that life will continue more or less as it is now. In fact, we especially yearn for that time, because then we will have no worries. One visitor amended his blessing: “May the Rav enjoy a long life also after the coming of Moshiach, and may he become Moshe Rabbeinu’s deputy!” Rav Sternbuch response to that blessing was: “Oy …, when Moshiach comes, I will run away from Moshe Rabbeinu. How embarrassed we will be in his presence!”
Rav Sternbuch once asked one of his congregants how he was doing, and the latter replied, “I’m waiting for Moshiach”. Rav Sternbuch responded, “Are you really waiting for him? You are still preoccupied with your car and your apartment, so your words don’t seem that sincere”.
Rav Sternbuch was once visiting the Brisker Rav when an American visitor told the Brisker Rav that in America people were waiting for Moshiach to come. The Brisker Rav asked him whether people were preparing themselves for this great event. The visitor responded that Moshiach should come already with or without our preparations. The Brisker Rav replied that this would not work. We must start the process of repentance and strengthening our faith now, intensifying our Torah and prayer and working on our character traits so that we will be worthy of welcoming Moshiach and witnessing the unprecedented miracles that Hashem will perform at that time. Even revealed miracles, the Brisker Rav said, will not change a person who is stubborn or steeped in his desires. Someone who is steeped in matters pertaining to Olam Hazeh, and merely pays lip service to his desire for the coming of Moshiach, claiming that he is waiting for his coming, will be filled with embarrassment and shame when he does come. Good deeds and repentance are expected of us, coupled with a real desire for the coming of Moshiach.
Awaiting the coming of Moshiach is a constant theme of Rav Sternbuch’s drashos. When he visited the United States several years ago, he made a point of focusing on this topic, noting that it had become neglected, and emphasizing the need to reinforce our yearning for Moshiach.
Rav Pardes, a Rav in Chicago, told Rav Sternbuch about a meeting he had with the Chofetz Chaim when Rav Pardes was a young bachur. The Chofetz Chaim asked him where he was from, and when Rav Pardes said that he was from America, the Chofetz Chaim asked him whether Jews in America were talking about and awaiting Moshiach. Rav Pardes hesitated about his answer but decided to say “avade,” of course they are. The Chofetz Chaim then went to a corner and started crying to Hashem. Rav Pardes overheard him saying the following: “It is one thing for us, who are suffering so much from poverty and other material problems, to yearn for Moshiach, because it could be that we are waiting for him so that he will redeem us from our material troubles. But even our affluent brethren in America are yearning for him to come. How much longer must we wait?”
The first question we will be asked when in our judgement after 120 years is “Tzipisa liyeshuah — Did you anticipate the salvation?” Rav Yechezkel Abramsky notes that we will not be asked, “Kivisa liyeshuah — Did you hope for the salvation?” because every believing Jew hopes for the redemption. The question we will be asked is whether we anticipated it the same way that we expect someone to arrive for an appointment at a prearranged time. We do not hope that the person will arrive; we expect him to. Hashem has not revealed a prearranged date for Moshiach to come, but we are meant to hope and wait for him in eager anticipation and expectation.
Rav Sternbuch recalls how after World War II his mother was sure that Moshiach’s arrival was imminent. She refused to wear her best jewelry and nicest dress, stating that those were set aside for when Moshiach would come, and she waited for him every day.
Rav Sternbuch was once speaking to a rav when he suddenly sighed and exclaimed, “Oy, Moshiach may come already”. The rav wondered about this statement, saying that surely Moshiach must come already. Rav Sternbuch explained his statement by recalling the time that his mother told her father Rav Shlomo Zalman Pines, “Moshiach has to come”, and her father told her off, “How can we say that he has to come, Hashem does not owe us anything. All we can say is “May he come” and if he is permitted to come, he will surely come”.
Rav Sternbuch says Tikkun Chatzos throughout the year, but many times he does not say the whole text, but only several chapters of Tehillim and the chapters from Megillas Eicha at the beginning of the Tikkun.
At one stage, Rav Sternbuch would get up secretly in the middle of the night to recite Tikkun Chatzos. The late Rebbetzen only found out about it because she noticed that Rav Sternbuch disappeared in the middle of the night, and the following morning his clothes were covered with white dust. One night she decided to follow him to see where he was going. To her astonishment, he made his way to the storage room (machsan) and sat on a sack of flour to recite Tikkun Chatzos far removed from the eyes and earshot of others. However, the telltale white dust gave away the secret.
Many years ago, when Rav Sternbuch was living in the “Shikun Harabbanim” neighborhood in Yerushalayim, he confided to a neighbor that he had chosen to live specifically in that neighborhood because the only path to the Old City (at the time) was from the entry route to Yerushalayim, which was close to that neighborhood. This meant that when Moshiach would come, the residents of Shikun Harabbanim would be amongst the first to welcome him, and would not have to wait until he entered the other neighborhoods.
Similarly, when Rav Sternbuch moved to the Har Nof neighborhood of Yerushalayim, he said that since Eliyahu Hanavi is a Kohen, and since the whole of Yerushalayim is full of graves and bones, how will he be able to enter the town? The only option is to pass through the neighborhood of Har Nof, which is built on hard rock, and therefore does not contain any graves. Hence, those living here will merit seeing Eliyahu Hanavi first.
Shortly before the Rebbetzen passed away, some sixteen years ago, Rav Sternbuch bought a burial plot for himself and his wife at Har Hazeisim. When one of his confidants tried to dissuade him from doing this, stating that it may be difficult to visit graves there because of the security situation, and that it would be better to buy something at Har Hamenuchos, Rav Sternbuch responded: “Even if no one comes to visit the grave, the main thing is to merit being buried at Har Hazeisim in order to be amongst the first to welcome Moshiach”.
Characteristically, Rav Sternbuch signs off letters with the formula “I am expecting the salvation of Hashem and great heavenly mercies with yearning”.
As the Rambam notes (end of Hilchos Melachim) the exact details and chronology of the coming of Moshiach and Milchemes Gog Umagog are not known. Our duty is to reinforce our fear of Heaven and keep our distance from the forces of tumah until the time that Hashem will reveal His glory (Teshuvos Vehanhogos 4:328).
The Gemara says that if we will be worthy, Moshiach will come with the clouds of heaven, and if not, he will come as a poor man riding a donkey (Sanhedrin 98a). This means that we will either be on a very high level, with the Shechina accompanying us, or on a low level. When the time will come, Hashem will not wait even for a moment, just like in Egypt before the dough had time to ferment, Hashem already revealed Himself, and the final redemption will be similar to the first one. May Hashem accelerate the redemption with ease, just like in Egypt (Teshuvos Vehanhogos 5:297).
Several years ago, on Tisha B’Av, members of Rav Sternbuch’s household noticed that he was talking in learning in the middle of his sleep, and they told him about it when he woke up. Rav Sternbuch responded that he was not able to control his thoughts whilst sleeping [and he was therefore not responsible for the act of learning, which is forbidden on Tisha B’Av when one is awake].
May this coming Tisha B’Av be a day of joy and redemption, in which it will be a mitzvah to learn during all hours of the day to our hearts’ desire.
