Reb Neuberger: Mishpatim

 

WHAT WILL IT TAKE? 

 

Having recently celebrated TU B’Shevat, I am thinking about trees.

 

Nature lies dormant in the winter. Then, with the warming of the earth, life returns. It is all a metaphor for the life of Am Yisroel, because – throughout our seemingly endless exile – it sometimes seems as if we are going to disappear, G-d forbid!

 

But, like the trees in springtime, we revive. That is why our National Genesis occurs at Pesach, in the Season of Spring. “Behold, the winter has passed; the rain is over …. The blossoms have appeared in the Land; the time of singing has arrived and the voice of the dove is heard….” (Shir ha Shirim 2:11-12)

 

The universe is a vast orchestra, playing Hashem’s symphony. On some level, every aspect of creation is alive. “Praise Hashem from the heavens …. Mountains and hills, fruitful trees and all cedars …. Let them praise the Name of Hashem!” (Tehillim 148) How can mountains, hills and trees praise Hashem if they are not alive? As Chazal tell us, each blade of grass has an angel that says, “Grow!” (Beraishis Rabbah 10:6)

 

Right now, the Land of Israel – the Land itself! -- is in deep pain. The Galil has been set on fire and those who lovingly tend it are scattered across the Land. But this, my friends, is not the end! No! It is a sign of hope, for our rabbis tell us, “In the generation when the Son of Dovid will come … the Galil will be laid waste … and the people of the border will wander from town to town ….” (Sanhedrin 97a)

 

All this chaos is a sign of hope!

 

Recently, a reader wrote me: “I see the present Jewish world even worse than Jewish Europe in the 20s and 30s. It took Hitler y’mach sh’mo to make us realize that we are all Jews. What is it going to take now?”

This, my friends, is a very good question: What indeed is it going to take!

 

I would like to answer as follows: The problems in the world are indeed overwhelming, bigger than any individual. I believe that one reason such a strong personality as Donald Trump has emerged is so that Hashem can show the world that salvation is far beyond the power of any man. We have created a mess that is beyond our power to repair.

 

The following is a quote from my book, Worldstorm. “The Divine Presence is hovering over the surface of the waters, but there is no place for G-d in this world …. We are living in a ‘twilight zone’ in which there is no distinction between right and wrong…. Then the world will revert to total chaos. All creation is on the brink of destruction because we have driven the Creator out of His own world! Do you understand what we are doing!  We have un-created the world!  We are back almost to the [chaos which existed at the] beginning.” Mankind is trying to push Hashem out of His own world, trying to undo the process of creation by which G-d brought our universe into existence. And then, just before we drive the world backwards into “tohu vavoho … utter chaos,” conditions will become so intolerable that Hashem will come to rescue His children.

 

Yes, my friends, I believe that we have reached the point at which we cannot undo the tumah, the chaos, the insanity which mankind has unleashed upon itself. We are dried up! Artificial intelligence is so stupid as to “think” that it can save us! No, my friends, this is where Hashem will step in, as He stepped in to pull His children back from oblivion in Mitzraim.

 

“In the End of Days, after the Children of Israel have returned to their land, the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau will unite to attack Jerusalem. They will form a world coalition against the tiny nation of Israel. But something will go wrong with their plan. The religious beliefs of the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau will clash, and the two nations will collide and destroy each other. This is what is referred to as the War of Gog and Magog. Following this cataclysmic conflict, the Final Redemption of the Jewish People will occur with the coming of Moshiach ben Dovid.” (Malbim on Yechezkel 32:17, quoted in my book, 2020 Vision)

 

Here is a quote from the Chofetz Chaim zt”l: “The third and Final War will be different from the first two wars. In World War I and World War II, the Angel of Death was given freedom to harm tzaddikim as well as evil people. …. But that will not be the case in the Third War…. In the war directly before the coming of Moshiach, the Angel of Death will not have power to harm those who cling with all their strength to Hashem and His Torah and who reject the culture of the surrounding nations. Those who stick like glue to Hashem and His Torah will survive and go on to live in the Days of Moshiach! (Heard from Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon zt”l and quoted in my book, Hold On: Surviving the Days Before Moshiach)

 

Similarly Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein zt”l, said, “In the final war before the coming of Moshiach, all the Jews who fear Hashem will survive. Hashem will say to them, ‘All those who are removed from the secular, worldly culture … you are Mine!’” (Leket Rishimos, quoted in Redemption Unfolding)

 

What will it take?

 

Hashem will save those who are close to Him. May we merit to be among those who see the Days of Moshiach ben Dovid and the Final Redemption!

 

 

Spring

 

GLOSSARY

T’U B’Shevat: The New Year for Trees

Y’mach Sh’mo: May his name be erased