The following is by Rabbi Pinchas Winston Shlit”a from Parshas Re’eh, Connecting the Dots, Issue 79 (which the Rabbi does very well):
The uncanny thing about all of this social chaos is that it orderly follows a script. The Talmud (Sotah 49a; Sanhedrin 97a) discussed all of this long before Europeans even knew America existed. But they knew about the End-of-Days, and were able to predict a reality that we are now witnessing first hand.
1) THE GENERATION OF MASHI'ACH
(a) Rav Nachman: Do you know when Bar Nafli will come?
(b) R. Yitzchak: Who is Bar Nafli?
(c) Rav Nachman: It is Mashi'ach - "Akim Es Sukas David ha'Nofeles."
(d) R. Yitzchak: R. Yochanan said that (Mashi'ach) Ben David will come in a generation in which Chachamim are decreasing, everyone else is despairing, and great afflictions and harsh decrees come without respite.
(e) (Beraisa): In the Shemitah cycle before Mashi'ach:
1. In the first year "v'Himtarti Al Ir Echas v'Al Ir Achas Lo Amtir" (some places will be satiated, others will not). In the second year, no place will be satiated;
2. In the third year there will be great famine. Men, women, children and great Tzadikim will die, and Chachamim will forget Torah;
3. In the fourth year, some places will be satiated. In the fifth year there will be great satiation, people will eat and drink, and Chachamim will recover their Torah;
4. In the sixth year, there will be voices (that Ben David is coming; alternatively, Shofar blasts). In the seventh year there will be wars. The following year, Ben David will come.
(f) Rav Yosef: Several Shemitos like this have passed, but Ben David did not come!
(g) Abaye: We did not have voices in the sixth year and wars in the seventh. Also, the events did not come in this order!
(h) (Beraisa - R. Yehudah): Ben David will come in a generation in which Batei Medrash are used for Zenus, Galil will be destroyed, the Gavlan (a place) will be desolate, people of the Gevul (border of Eretz Yisrael; alternatively, the Sanhedrin) will wander from city to city without rest, Chachamim's Chachmah will spoil, people will despise those who fear sin, people's faces will resemble that of dogs (without shame; Maharsha - outwardly (and insincerely) showing love for people), "veha'Emes Ne'ederes."
2) TRUTH
(a) Question: What does it mean "veha'Emes Ne'ederes"?
(b) Answer (d'Vei Rav): Truth will go away like Adarim (flocks; Maharsha - people of truth will have to hide).
(c) Question: What does it mean "v'Sar me'Ra Mishtolel"?
(d) Answer (d'Vei R. Shila): Anyone who avoids evil will be considered foolish.
(e) Rava: I used to say that there is not truth in the world. Rav Tavos told me that he would not lie for all the money on the world.
1. (Rav Tavos): I went to a place called Kushta (truth). People did not lie, and they did not die. I married a woman there and had two children. A neighbor asked for my wife. I thought that it was improper to say that she was washing her hair at the time, so I said 'she is not here.' My two children died.
2. People of the city inquired. I told them what happened. They asked me to leave, lest I incite (more) death on the city.
3) WHEN MASHI'ACH WILL COME
(a) (Beraisa - R. Nehurai): Ben David will come in a generation in which youths shame elders, and elders stand in front of youths. A daughter reviles and shames her mother, a daughter-in-law shames her mother-in-law, people's faces resemble that of dogs, and a son feels no shame in front of his father.
(b) (Beraisa - R. Nechemyah): Ben David will come in a generation of great brazenness. People will not honor each other (alternatively - even the most honorable people are crooked), even though many grapes grow, wine is expensive (because grapes do not yield much wine; alternatively, because everyone drinks a lot), the entire kingdom will be Minim, and there is no rebuke.
1. This supports R. Yitzchak, who says that Ben David will not come until the entire kingdom will be Minim.
2. (Rava): He learns from "Kulo Hofach Lavan Tahor Hu."
(c) (Beraisa): "Ki Azlas Yad v'Efes Atzur v'Azuv" - Ben David will not come until there are many informers. Alternatively, he will not come until Talmidim diminish, or until people lack money, or until they despair of redemption.
(d) When R. Zeira would see people speculating when Mashi'ach will come, he would say 'please do not delay him';
1. (Beraisa): Three things only come when people are not thinking about them - Mashi'ach, a Metzi'ah (found object), and a scorpion (bite).
(e) (Rav Ketina): The world will be 6000 years, then it will be desolate for 1000 years - "v'Nisgav Hash-m Levado ba'Yom ha'Hu."
(f) (Abaye): It will be desolate for 2000 years - "Yechayenu mi'Yomayim ba'Yom ha'Shelishi Yekimenu v'Nichyeh."
(g) Support (for Rav Ketina - Beraisa): Just like one year out of seven the land is left fallow (Shemitah), also the world is empty for 1000 out of 7000 years. It says "v'Nisgav Hash-m Levado ba'Yom ha'Hu", and "Yom she'Kulo Shabbos" and "Elef Shanim b'Einecha k'Yom."
(h) (Tana d'Vei Eliyahu): Six thousand years were decreed upon the world: 2000 years of emptiness (without Torah), 2000 years of Torah, and 2000 years for Mashi'ach;
People like me can’t help but see what is currently happening in Messianic terms. To be sure, there is nothing messianic about either Trump or Clinton. But, there is something very messianic about the period of history in which they are stumbling over each other to get to the White House.
One more point. I always knew that the Allies, especially the Americans, had, at war’s end, tracked down and drafted some former Nazi scientists. They wanted to take the genius that had been used to kill them and harness it to their own technological ends, which they felt justified the means.
What I did not know, and only found out recently, was the story of Werner von Braun, Hitler’s, ysv”z, top rocket scientist of V2 fame. I was stunned to find out he was not only secretly put to work in the US after the war with about 120 of his Nazi colleagues, but eventually put in charge the American’s fledgling rocket program that eventually became NASA.
Von Braun had personally been responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands, either because the development and construction of his rockets, or their subsequent attacks on major European centers. Desperate for the rocket technology, the Americans forgave him and his fellow Nazi scientists for all past wrongdoings. They even became American heroes once the race for space heated up with the Russians during the Cold War era.
Remember Neil Armstrong and his trip to the moon? “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”? It certainly was for Von Braun, who was behind the development of the Saturn rocket that took the American astronauts to the moon, and the American space program higher than the Russian program.
Incredible. People who should have been tried and executed instead became “respected” American citizens with great salaries and position. And that was back in the 40s, 50, and 60s, when America was more conservative, more “religious.” What about today after religion has been dumped in favor of a completely open and liberal society, and the average personal agenda has become even more self-centered? Which ends today will justify which means?
When it comes to the Arabs, we know their agenda and constantly defend against it. When it comes to the Europeans, we suspect their agenda and prepare to defend against it. When it comes to the Americans, we have no idea what their agenda really is, because they go about it very subtly. VERY subtly. We don’t even know what to defend against!
Don’t worry, though, it was all predicted a long time ago. It is part of the architecture of the Messianic threshold. The chaos of today is leading towards a future order, one beyond the political agendas of modern man. It’s only a question of what has to happen as we approach it. I take that back. Maybe worrying about is not such a bad idea.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing. Very sobering.
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