“In the Six Hundredth year of the Sixth Millennium [which corresponds to the year 1840] the supernal gates of wisdom will be opened. This will prepare the world for the Seventh Millennium like a person prepares himself on Friday for Shabbos, as the sun begins to wane. So it will be here. There is a hint about this in the following verse: ‘In the six hundredth year of Noach's life …all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.’”
The trouble is that mankind has corrupted this eruption from the heights and from the depths as we corrupted life inside Gan Eden, and we have turned it all to materialism instead of spiritual wisdom, so that the Flood which has come upon the earth is destruction, like the Great Flood in the Days of Noach.
Indeed, the fountains of the deep and the apertures in the firmament are opening. Deep and dangerous waters are flooding the world. The storm is coming and the sky is darkening. I am reminded of the famous remark of Viscount Edward Grey in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I: “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”
This time the lamps are going out all over the world and we shall not see them lit again until a new light shines upon the world, as we say, “May You shine a new light on Tzion and may we all speedily merit its light!”
I believe that we can say that the world after the coming upheaval will be totally different from the world of today. The corruption which has surrounded us since we were expelled from Gan Eden will destroy itself and we will return to a pure world … provided that we survive the coming upheaval.
It is not just the world of Yishmoel and Edom – Islam and the Church of Rome – which will disappear, but Oriental culture as well, regarding which the late Rabbi Yisroel Belsky said, “Our rabbis tell us that there is one place in the world outside the Land of Israel where idol worship was exceedingly strong. That is somewhere in the Far East. The late Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner used to explain that the reason we see so much idol worship emanating from the Far East is sourced in the [following] words of the Torah:
“‘To the children of Avraham’s concubines Avraham gave gifts, and he sent them away from Yitzchak his son, while he was still alive, eastward to the land of the East.’ Rashi … writes that the gifts which Avraham gave to the children of his concubines were the ‘Shaim tumah … the names of impurity.’ In other words, Avraham gave them the pseudo-spiritual practices rooted in the ‘sitra achara … the dimension of impurity.’ This ‘storehouse’ of impure wisdom was sent to the Far East, as suggested by the repetition of the words ‘kedmah … kedem’ (in the Biblical verse just quoted). Apparently, Avraham tried to get rid of all this impurity by sending it far out, but he was not completely successful.”
We can see that the entire world is filled with impurity and idolatry.
Unbridled and uncontrolled technology embodies the final spurt and energy of the worldwide rebellion against Hashem. I believe that technology may be the most powerful example of idolatry in history, because it is universal, finding its way into almost every home on earth, where it is accepted as being essential to life. Even religious Jewish homes are open to this poison, and world commerce is based completely on technology. Without computers and internet, no aspect of the modern world would function.
And so, when it crashes, world civilization will crash with it.
Based on everything we have seen up to now, it appears that we have reached the end, and we are on the brink of the ultimate Redemption.
It is all too much to contemplate. One cannot fathom the depth of what is ahead and one cannot fathom the height of what is coming after that. It is easy to be afraid of the War of Gog and Magog. It is easy to be afraid of what will happen to us in this catastrophe of all catastrophes. One cannot contemplate it.
But one has no choice. We are alive now in this beleaguered world, and the fate of the world is beyond our ability to control. “Rabos machashavos b’lev ish … many thoughts are in the heart of man, but the counsel of Hashem, only it will prevail.”
And so, we frail mortals stand here, at the edge of doom, at the brink of the precipice and we imagine what will be. We do not know. And we are afraid.
Have you ever stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon? Many visitors have died there. People fool around at the edge of the cliff. They do not take it seriously … and then they lose their footing. The next ledge may be a mile below them.
In our days, the danger is great. The drop has no end. There is nothing below us. And we are fooling around.
One should be afraid, yet we are not supposed to be afraid.
Dovid HaMelech says, “Hashem is with me; I have no fear,” and this is how we are supposed to be. Ah, but this takes work. This takes an effort to achieve a sense of reality, to try to understand what is really happening in the world. I doubt that Moshe was afraid of the collapse of Egypt, but he was Moshe!
Can we reach the level at which we are so close to Hashem that, indeed, we can walk into the future unafraid? Certainly, it is better to be unafraid. Fear paralyzes a person, so it is better for us if we are not afraid. It is not good to go into the coming period unable to act, because, in a situation of danger, it is not good to be paralyzed.
But how do you achieve it?
I have been working on this my entire life because I have been afraid literally since as long as I can remember. I want to tell you one thing about being afraid: it does something for you. If you try to deal with it honestly then I believe it makes you a religious person. If you are afraid and you are able to admit it (which is not easy) then you eventually discover that you need Hashem. You have to hang on to Hashem if you are afraid, because you learn that there is nothing else to hang on to.
And so, I have to thank fear! Yes, I have to thank fear itself and I have to thank Hashem for the fear and for enabling me to admit that I was afraid. But you have to learn how fear can help you.
If we understand our own helplessness, our weakness, our inability to control the world, then perhaps we will return in teshuva, repentance, to the Master of the Universe, fall upon our face and beg Him to save us. “But we bend our knees, bow and acknowledge our thanks before the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He. He stretches out the heavens and establishes earth’s foundation. The seat of His homage is in the heavens above and His powerful Presence is in the loftiest heights.”
“What can we say before You, Hashem, our G-d and the G-d of our fathers? Are not all the heroes like nothing before You, the famous as if they never existed, the wise as if devoid of wisdom and the perceptive as if devoid of intelligence? For most of their deeds are desolate and the days of their lives are empty before You. The preeminence of man over beast is nonexistent, for all is vain.”
Dovid HaMelech was totally honest. Who else could have said, “I am a worm and not a man, scorn of humanity, despised of nations.” Do you think he didn’t mean it? Of course he meant it! What courage!
But Dovid HaMelech is also the mightiest hero, the man who stepped out alone to face Golias! Dovid is the one who said, “It is You who will light my lamp. Hashem, my G-d will illuminate my darkness. For with You I smash a troop, and with my G-d I leap a wall! The G-d! His way is perfect. The promise of Hashem is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him.”
They go together: the weakness and the total dependence upon Hashem, the fear and the triumph!
And so, we stand before the future.
When Moshe Rabbeinu ascended Har Sinai to meet Hashem, he first had to penetrate a cloud of darkness, as it says, “Behold, I come to you in the thickness of the cloud …” We have to take this seriously. Moshe had to go through the deepest darkness to reach Hashem.
Please contemplate the following words. I imagine that you have never seen this before. I certainly had not.
“If we would have had the [merit] of seeing into the Mishkan (the Tabernacle), we might have been surprised to see how dark it was inside. There were no windows. A small amount of light may have come in around the sides and the bottom of the thick curtain at the entrance. For a short time, there also would have been some light from the glow of the coals on the Altar of Incense. And of course, there was the glorious Menorah whose beautiful and pure light would dispel all darkness while it was lit.
“But, nevertheless, the Mishkan was … dark …. The Creator dwells in darkness. His Presence is hidden…. His thoughts, and the reasons for that which He brings upon man, are also hidden. Klal Yisroel, the Children of Israel, wait patiently, knowing the Creator is hidden and that therefore His plan is hidden. And we are thereby elevated by the test of our not knowing when ….”
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