Reb Neuberger – Chayei Sarah ....The Final Golus

THE FINAL GOLUS

 

No one who was alive then can forget the events of 9/11/2001.

 

I remember hearing, shortly thereafter, Rabbi Yissochar Frand Shlita”h, recite, in a trembling voice, the words, “Oy! …. Who will survive when He imposes these?!” (Bamidbar 24) These words are understood by Chazal to refer to the days when the nation whose name contains the Name “kel” is in power in the world. As is well-known, only two nations contain the Name of G-d in their name, Yisroel and – lehavdil – Yishmoel. This Name gives its bearer incredible power.

 

This week’s parsha concludes with the following words: “These were the years of Yishmoel’s life: a hundred and thirty-seven years.… over all his brothers he dwelt.” The final word, “dwelt” is expressed by the Torah with the word “nafal,” which literally means “he fell.” The next possuk reads, “And these are the offspring of Yitzchak the son of Avraham ….” (Beraishis 25:19)

 

On these possukim, the Baal ha Turim makes a famous and stunning forecast: “This teaches that, when Yishmoel’s [descendants] fall in the End of Days, then [Moshiach] … of the offspring of Yitzchak, will flourish.” This implies that the Moslem nations, the descendants of Yishmoel, will dominate the world prior to the coming of Moshiach. When they fall, the Final Redemption will occur.

 

The Rambam says, “We know … that Moshiach will come after the Roman and Arab empires have swept across the world…. He will come soon after the rise of ‘the man riding a camel,’ which is the Arab Empire….” (Letter to Yemen)

 

What will happen then?

 

“Rav Chaim Vital … writes that the final Golus will be Golus Yishmoel. There are four goluyos: Bavel, Madai, Yavan and Edom, but at the end of days, Yisroel will be in Golus Yishmoel… and this exile will be more difficult than the others.

 

“The Yishmoelim will go from being tent-dwelling desert nomads to ruling over the entire world … and they will cause us unprecedented grief. They will seek to wipe us off the face of the earth, and without Divine intervention, they would be able to implement their murderous designs. At that time, we will cry out to Hashem and He will hear our cries and prayers. Hence the name ‘Yishmoel,’ composed of two words, ‘Yishma’ and ‘Keil,’ meaning ‘Hashem will hear’ [the cries of Israel,] according to the Pirkei D’Rabi Eliezer.

“What is happening now with the offspring of Yishmoel is preordained. In order for us to prevail over Yishmoel, we must raise our voices in prayer. His name does not hint that if we are strong and battle him with chivalry, we will defeat him. His name does not hint that if we engage him in diplomacy, we will outwit him. His name proclaims that the only way to defeat him is through tefillah.” (Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz Shlita”h in Yated Ne’eman, Feb. 2006 and June 2009)

 

Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer recently wrote, “The Gemara … states ‘There are two nations whose kingship will … continue until the coming of Moshiach …. One of them is Iran.’ (Avoda Zarah 2b) Yalkut Shimoni says the world will tremble and the Jewish People will not know where to turn due to fear of Iran. Rav Yehonasan Eybeschutz .... says there have been … many ... occasions in history when it seemed that Moshiach should have come, [but] ‘Do not become despondent, because – until there is war with Iran, Moshiach will not come.’” (Mishpacha Magazine)

 

I am not writing about these things so that we should lose hope, G-d forbid, because the Torah explicitly guarantees that Am Yisroel will triumph at the end of history and inaugurate a worldwide reign of Torah and kedusha. Just as we survived Golus Mitzraim and received the Holy Torah, so now, at the end of history, we will survive all our troubles and usher in a world which will resemble Gan Eden.

 

In order to achieve this, we are called upon to magnify in ourselves the power which resides in the Name of Hashem by which we are called.

 

The Torah says, “You shall circumcise your heart and no longer stiffen your neck.” (Dvarim 10:16) Rabbi Moshe Shapira zt”l wrote about circumcising the heart. “Man isn’t born with a bris milah. Bris mila involves effort, pain and … rejection of something which appears part of oneself. We must do the same with [our heart]. Through tremendous effort [and] toil akin to bris milah … one can fulfill the bris of the heart. And when one does this, he can prevail in the present danger…. He can reach the level of ‘mi yichyeh … who will survive’ the days of Golus Yishmoel.” (Courtesy Rabbi Doniel Baron)

 

We have this power, for the Name of Hashem is in our name!

 

“In the End of Days [Moshiach] … of the offspring of Yitzchak, will flourish.”

 

May we greet him soon in our days!

 

 

World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 (Courtesy of the

Prints and Photographs Division. Library of Congress)

Desert Nomads

Footprints in the Desert

GLOSSARY

Chazal: Rabbis of the Mishnah and Gemora

Golus: Exile (Pl. Goluyos)

Kedusha: Holiness/sanctity

Possuk: Sentence in the Torah

Yishmoel: The progenitor of the Moslem Nations