Adversity is a Sign of the Advent of Mashiach*

These are the holy words of Harav Yisachar Shlomo Teichtal in Eim HaBanim Semeicha 

Adversity is a Sign of the Advent of Mashiach
[…O]ur prophets and Sages (in the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbalistic works) foresaw the horrible afflictions, massacres, and persecutions that would be inflicted upon the Jewish people in the end of days, before the advent of Mashiach. . . . Our holy writings explain that the most difficult suffering of exile will begin only after the initial onset of redemption. Rashi concurs in his commentary on the verse Like a pregnant woman close to giving birth, she is in pain, she cries out in her pangs. So were we before You, O Lord (Yeshaya 26:17):

We observe renewed afflictions and conclude that they are a sign of salvation and redemption, for we have been promised that we will be redeemed amidst trouble and hardship, like a woman in labor. Before you [means] because of Your decrees.

The Maharal of Prague explains the reason for our troubles. The pangs of Mashiach serve as “the absence before the existence”. The extent of ’the absence’ corresponds to the extent of ’the existence’ that Hashem will bestow upon us at the time of redemption.”

Here the Rav "brings the words of the godly Kabbalist, the author Sha’arei Orah, Rabbeinu Yosef Gikatilla.”  (the Beit Yosef, quotes him several times). (commentary on the Haggadah, called Tzofnat Pa’ane’ach): "Indeed, we must make a great and proper investigation into the reason for the Egyptian exile, for it contains a deep secret.” We learn from his holy words that the secret of the exile was to generate a desire to go out into the desert and receive the Torah.

[…] Now if the redemption would occur while we live prosperously and tranquilly among the nations, there would be many, many of our Jewish brethren who would not want to leave. What are they lacking here in exile? … Why should they care about Mashiach and Eretz Yisrael? … This indeed is what the wealthy Jews of Ezra’s time did when they dwelt peacefully in Babylonia. Rashi writes that the people who dwelt peacefully and comfortably in exile did not ascent to Eretz Yisrael with Ezra.

[…] Thus it is clear from the Midrash that the pains of exile will push the Jews to their Land. This idea is repeated in Midrash Eichah (1:29) on the verse “She dwelled among the nations, but found no rest (Eichah 1:3) “R. Shimon ben Lakish says, ‘Had she found rest, she would not have returned’” It is also found in BeReshit Rabbah (33:8). (pp 91-97)

And the Lord your G-d will bring you to the Land that your forefathers possessed and you shall possess it… And the Lord your G-d will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, to love the Lord your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. (Devarim 30:5-6)

Thus, as long as we are in a foreign land, this spirit of purity cannot come upon us. Therefore, it is befitting and a sacred obligation for all of us to strive to come tour Holy Land by way of the circumstances that the Prime Mover has generated to bring us to the Land. This is the meaning of, And He will bring you to the Land…, that is, through His messengers and through the circumstances He has generated for our sake…. (pp 116-117)

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

INFERNO IN LAKEWOOD: Two Victims Airlifted After Massive Fire Tears Through Apartment Complex  YWN and TheLakewoodScoop

The Lakewood Fire Department, as well as Lakewood EMS responded and the Fire Department brought the blaze under control in little over two hours.

Two adults and one child were severely injured and were transported to MMSC Hospital prior to the arrival of emergency personnel at the scene. Two of those victims were airlifted to burn centers. A third victims was transported by ground to a burn center.

MAJOR CRASH IN BORO PARK: NYPD Cruiser Strikes Pedestrians On 13 Ave
YWN  According to preliminary information available to YWN, an NYPD vehicle reportedly responding to a call collided with a vehicle in the intersection. The police car jumped the curb, and struck two girls on the sidewalk. A total of five people were transported to Maimonides Hospital including: 2 pedestrians, 2 police officers, and 1 driver of the second car. All are Boruch Hashem in stable condition.

Fire Destroys Adas Israel Synagogue in Minnesota
Firefighters responded to the fire at the Adas Israel Congregation about 2 a.m. Monday and finally knocked it down about four hours later. At daylight, spectators could see the charred remains of the synagogue with some structural walls still standing. Duluth Assistant Fire Chief Brent Consie said the building “is pretty much a total loss.” YWN

He Wanted To KILL JEWS:
Man Arrested For Threatening Mass Shooting YWN

- We are in the Last Days of this World
- Israelis Brutally Attacked By Arabs In Warsaw Due To Nationality YWN
- All the other tragedies and anti-semitic attacks
- Awakening to a spiritual message: “This could indeed be the beginning of a creeping expulsion of Jews, and – as Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis said recently of this grave development - another sad day for Europe's darkening skies. We thought that restrictions on the practice of religion belonged to Europe's history, not to its present and even less so to its future.” With due respect to years devoted to the Torah of the Rabbi, maybe after all these years of our history, the main purpose of why we were created in the first place, is to “When you come into the Land to be a Holy nation, serving HaShem, and ….

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Eim HaBanim Semeicha

First published in 1943, Eim Habanim Semeichah remains the most comprehensive treatise on Eretz Yisrael, redemption, and Jewish unity. Much of this remarkable work has been proven prophetic by the passage of time. It is truly a priceless treasure.

The saintly author, Rabbi Shlomo Teichtal, originally shared a prevalent, strict Orthodox view which discouraged the return to Zion. The Holocaust, however, profoundly changed his perspective. The annihilation of unprecedented numbers of his fellow Jews forced him to seek explanations. Thus, relying almost exclusively on his phenomenal memory and keen insight, he investigated the matter exhaustively. His conclusions are eye-opening! The Jewish people will find refuge from their troubles, he argues, only if they unite to rebuild the Land. This will bring about the ultimate redemption.

Although more than fifty-five years have passed since its original publication, the message of this book is as crucial today as it was then.

About the Author:
Born in Hungary in 1885, Rabbi Teichtal grew up in a family with an illustrious lineage. Many of his ancestors were great rabbis and Jewish leaders, and he perpetuated the family tradition. His father, Yitzchak, was a noted scholar, teacher and chassid. Yitzchak's father, Yissachar Shlomo (our author's namesake), served as a Rosh Yeshiva all his life and was one of the foremost chassidim of the Rebbe of the Rebbe of Tzanz.

"Eim Habanim Semeichah is an enormously powerful book about the Holocaust, Orthodox Jewry, the Land of Israel, Zionism, Jewish unity and hatred, and the Messianic Era. This work candidly, almost brutally, confronts the terrible issues of shaken faith and loss of tradition raised by the rise of Zionism and the terribly unimagined events of the Holocaust. Writing from within the hell of Hitler's Europe, without books or research material, Teichtal wrote a work of enormous Torah scholarship and erudition-of searing pain and challenge. This book is literally written with blood for its ink.

Thoughtful Jews, interested in hearing the opinion of a great Torah scholar on the crucial matters of faith and policy that face world Jewry, must read [Eim Habanim Semeichah]."
- Rabbi Berel Wein, Jewish Action