The Ramchal – Two Moshiachs …

 Goodie but Oldie: The Ramchal – Two Moshiachs [i apologize that I do not know from where I obtained this. Know that I did not write this]

What follows is a beautiful piece from the Ramchal, which I 'happened' across last week while flipping through the fourth volume of Otzros Ramchal. This is the fourth of the Igros which can be found toward the back of the book. The main text is the Ramchal, and my own thoughts are separated by asterisks and different looking text.

Behold, all of the concepts that we find in the root need to be revealed below in the branches. This is the people of Israel, for whom the world was created. Behold, the Shechinah (Divine presence) itself is the root of Israel, and it has two aspects. These, themselves, are the secret depth of the concept of the inner aspect (pnimiyus) and outer aspect (chitzoniyus). These two are Leah and Rachel, and the secret depth is heh-heh, for Bilhah and Zilpah are just the backs of Rachel and Leah. Behold, from there come the tribes, whose secret depth is vav-vav, which are the twelve permutations of the Tetragrammaton, six on the right, and six on the left.

Behold, this is the secret depth of the concept of the two Moshiachs, for they are the perfection of rectification. This is a very great secret depth. For all of Israel are branches of the Shechinah, however the king is the revelation of the root itself. Since there is a dual aspect in the root (inner and outer), correspondingly there must be a dual aspect to the Moshiachs (Moshiach ben Yosef and Moshiach ben Dovid). The rectification is the secret depth of the verse, "And they will be one in your hand," for there were numerous times that the rectification was almost accomplished and was, so far, unsuccessful until the end of the matter in the days of Moshiach. 

We thus find that the king is the revelation of the root itself, and he therefore includes all the branches. This is the concept of the verse, "And a king was in Jeshurun with the gathering..." This indicates that the king gathers them and they are all included within himself. At the beginning, however, the people of Israel did not merit to have a king, for they had not accomplished the appropriate rectification. Rather, they had judges who arose for them from the aspect of Yesod, for this was necessary for their leadership. Afterwards, the kingship began, in the days of Sha'ul, who was from the tribe of Binyamin.

And the concept is that Yosef was fitting to receive kingship from the aspect of Rachel, and Yehuda from the aspect of Leah. And I already stated that the rectification is accomplished when these two aspects unite. Now I tell you who connects them - it is Binyamin who serves this function. Yosef is from the aspect of Yesod, and Yehuda is the aspect of Malchus. Binyomin, however, is the secret depth of 'the spirit left in her by her husband.' He is the one who connects the male and female aspects. It was for this reason that the first kingship was taken [by the tribe of Binyamin], for this would serve to connect the two of them [Yosef and Yehuda]. 

Then the kingship would be given to Dovid, who is the secret depth of the female concept, for it is this concept that rules over the lower realms, and it also includes within it the male concept, which is the kingship of Yosef. This was to be the rectification at that time, however, since Shaul himself, who was the one who was responsible for this rectification, did not accomplish it as he was meant to, this caused Dovid to stumble, when he said, "You and Tziva should apportion the field." This ultimately caused the kingship to be split between Yeravam and Rechavam, who represent Yosef and Yehuda, respectively. This was from Sha'ul, for the matter devolved through his son.

The final rectification will occur when these two aspects reconnect at the time of the two Moshiachs, as the verse says, "And they will be one in your hand." Moshiach ben Dovid will be the main one, in the secret depth of the statement, "Who is the main one? The son of Yishai is the main one." It comes out that this all extends from the root, which is the connection between the male and female aspects. 

This is "I am" - Malchus, "Kel Shakai" - Yesod, "Be fruitful and multiply" {*} - to bring about a result/offspring through this secret depth, which is Binyomin who connects the two branches, in the secret depth of Efraim and Yehudah through the two kings, in the secret depth of the two Moshiachs. This is the concept of "A nation and a congregation of nations," as well as "kings."

{*} This is the verse that contains the promise of Hashem that Binyomin is about to be born. This was concurrent with Yakov receiving the name Yisrael, and coincided with his return to Israel. Binyomin was the only one of the tribes that was born in Israel, and was the only one that did not bow down to Esav. This represents his superior status - his job as the one who accomplishes the final rectification.

Behold, we have a great, deep secret here, for after this, in the time of Achashverosh, our sages tell us that "they reaccepted it [the Torah] in the days of Achashverosh" - through Mordechai. The concept is that the original destruction was in this secret depth, which is the sin of Adam Harishon with the tree of knowledge, in which he separated between the two trees [the tree of knowledge and the tree of life], and caused the darkness of the outer [evil] forces, upon which the klipos (encrustments) take hold. Then the body was darkened in the secret depth of "leather clothes." 

At the giving of the Torah, the matter had reached its rectification, which is the depth of the verse, "Hashem came from Sinai..." For all the klipos are included in two, which are Yishmael and Esav, the inner and outer aspects, both of which are [together] the outer aspect of the outer aspect of Holiness, which is the Left side. Behold, at that time, the rectification began from below to above, and the Good of Esav, which is the outer aspect, was included in Yishmael {*}, which is the inner aspect of the Other Side [i.e. the forces of evil]. For this reason, the verse says, "...shined from Se'ir [which is a reference to Esav], appeared from the mountain of Paran [which seems to be a reference to Yishmael]." 

The two became the outer aspect of Holiness. Then, "And it came from the ten-thousands of Holiness," at which point the Holiness itself found the Left to be included in the Right. Afterwards, from this Right side, which now contains the Left - the Torah was given to the people of Israel, in order that they complete this rectification as one, and the secret depth of the verse, "From His Right, a Law of fire to them." This is what [Rabba bar bar Channa] saw [in reference to Sinai], "A scorpion with a white mule." And this is... [There is something difficult to read here in the original manuscript] ...around the mountain of Sinai.

{*} This idea gives new meaning to the midrash that talks about Hashem going to the nations and offering them the Torah, which they rejected. The midrash speaks of Him going to Edom and Yishmael and asking them each, to which they respond, "What is in the Torah." When Hashem answers, they reject it. This would seem to be a birur process, where Hashem removes the dross of the evil parts of Esav and Yishmael, which leaves only the Good of each, which are then brought to be contained within the other's aspect. Subsequently, they are then contained within the Right side of Holiness, allowing for the revelation of the Torah, as the Ramchal says. It would not be a far stretch to say that we are currently seeing an identical birur taking place in preparation for the revelation of the Torah of Moshiach's times, as the dross of Esav and Yishmael is slowly but surely removed, leaving only the the Good of each, which will then be contained within the side of Holiness.

And behold, if the people of Israel could have withstood the entire length of the exile of Egypt [instead of leaving after 210 years, leaving after a full 400], all would have been rectified. However, since they did not complete it in its entirety, the Erev Rav came out without being rectified. It was for them that there was an aspect of force in the giving of the Torah, as a result of which, the evil came out of them. However, since this matter was done with force, it did not last long, as a result of the deterioration of the Erev Rav. This brought the deterioration of Adam back into its place and resulted in the shattering of the tablets, which is the separation of these levels [the tree of knowledge and the tree of life], and the result was that the concept of death returned. 

This matter continued until the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, for the rectifications that were intended in the interim did not take effect. Then, when they wanted to build the second Beis Hamikdash, which is the secret depth of the lower letter heh [which represents Malchus and Shechinah], the Outer aspect, an accusation was aroused in the secret depth of the original blemish. This was with Haman, in the secret depth of "המן העץ" - [when Adam sinned and Hashem asked Him,] "Was it from the tree..." This was because he was drawn from the tree of knowledge. Mordechai, however, who was from the tribe of Binyomin, returned the rectification of the connection of Yehuda and Yosef {**}. 

The truth is that Binyomin comes through the power of Yosef, which is the secret depth of the verse, "Let Hashem add on (יוסף) another child for me." {***} Mordechai was referred to as "Mordechai the Jew [Yehudi]" in reference to the fact that he was involved in the rectification of connecting Yehuda to himself {****}. The truth is that this concept began long before, for Binyomin was given into the hands of Yehuda to be brought to Yosef. I can not speak about this at length now. 

Mordechai, however, certainly rectified this connection, and Haman was hanged on the gallows (עץ), which is the tree of knowledge, which he wished to overcome, but ended up humbled by it {*****}. The tree was fifty (נ) cubits high, in the secret depth of the lower letter heh that we mentioned. Then, "they accepted it [the Torah] again," for the original rectification which had been accomplished at the original giving of the Torah - had already been weakened, and now was strengthened again. In truth, however, the second Beis Hamikdash did not complete this rectification. Rather, at the end of days, the matter will reach its true rectification with the two Moshiachs. This is all the secret depth of the verse, "A nation and a congregation of nations," which we mentioned.

{**} Yosef would seem to correspond to the tree of knowledge (דעת) , as this is the connecting Male aspect, which is also the concept of Yosef as the Tzaddik Yesod Olam. Yehuda would then correspond to the tree of life, which would then be the female aspect (Malchus). Their reconnection through the liaison of Binyomin would serve (and will serve in the future) as a rectification of the sin of Adam Harishon. 

As is generally the case in Kabbalistic thought, it could also be thought of from another perspective, where the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil corresponds to the female aspect, which is the aspect of separation and judgment, the Left side. This would still seem to correspond to Yosef and Moshiach ben Yosef, who are the aspect of dealing with the physical world, a more natural Moshiach process, one that seems separate from Hashem, as it were. The tree of life would be the Male aspect, the Right side, which is the greater unifying concept, corresponding to Yehuda and Moshiach ben Dovid, whose advent is typified by a more miraculous, all encompassing and overarching characteristic.

{***} This was the prayer of Rochel when Yosef was born, where she used Yosef's name as part of the prayer, and asked for another child, who was to be Binyomin.

{****} Here it seems that Mordechai, who is from Binyomin, actually includes Yosef, and therefore connects all three aspects - Yosef, the Left; Yehuda, the Right; via Binyomin, the center.

{*****} Mordechai is the tree of knowledge, or Da'as, because he represents Binyomin who is the center column, the connector between the Left and Right. Haman tried to overcome Mordechai, but instead, ended up falling to him, and was hanged on the tree which corresponds to Mordechai.

What to Expect When Mashiah Comes

In light of the recent post about "neshama" based life on "other stars in the Universe of Hashem," I present an old article by KosherTorah about Mashiach. Please read with caution:

"One last thing about extra-terrestrial life: I am not arguing that there is such a thing. There very well might be. We do not know yet either way. Philosophically, though, it simply poses no theological problems if neshamah based life forms exist elsewhere. I wanted to make that clear. Now I am finished with this matter. (endofdays blog)

What To Expect When Mashiah Comes

by HaRav Ariel Bar Tzadok

Copyright © 2009 by Ariel Bar Tzadok. All rights reserved.

The nature of Mashiah is often misunderstood. Granted, Mashiah is supposed to come as a savior, to step into the middle of a very nasty war between Israel and its enemies and to destroy those enemies with an overwhelming show of force. Then once Israel is safe and its enemies no more, we are all supposed to live happily ever after. Everyone is supposed to love one another; we expect all to live carefree lives, and life will be blissful and utopian. This is what the majority expect the Mashiah is to accomplish. There is however one simple problem with all this; this utopian fantasy is not what the Biblical prophets prophesied.

The same prophets of the Bible who informed us that there would be a future intervention of superior force to overwhelm and destroy the enemies of Israel also tells us that what follows is no “kumbaya” love fest, similar to a gathering of 60's-style hippies. On the contrary, Mashiah is expected to overwhelm and destroy a lot more than the military enemies of Israel, he is prophesied to also destroy entire segments of human civilization that have not lived up to certain expectations.

Mashiah comes to rule as a king and dictator. Nowhere in any Biblical or later Torah literature does it state, suggest or even insinuate that Mashiah will rule by force of love. The hippies aren't going to make it; neither will the “kumbaya” crowd. Mashiah is not going to be very open to variables or questions to his rule, authority and power. The future King will rule with a rod of iron, not one of rosebuds. Symbolically our Sages referred to this when they said that in present times Torah Law follows the lenient views of House Hillel and when Mashiah comes Torah Law will follow the strict views of House Shamai. Of course this is a metaphor, not to be understood literally, nonetheless, the intent is clear. When Mashiah comes, there will be “no more Mr. Nice Guy.”

King Mashiah will not be known for his sweetness, but rather for his swift and quick judgment, which the prophecy states, he will execute by literally smelling the litigants. No trials, no testimony, no deliberations. One sniff and he'll know whether you're guilty or innocent. Mashiah will know all hidden truths and judge telepathically. Some today might not consider this to be the proper liberal way. Then again, where throughout all of Biblical literature is Mashiah ever referred to as a liberal?

Biblical prophecy and later Torah literature all describe the coming of Mashiah as an event of global if not galactic proportion. The consequences of his intervention in human history will certainly not be limited to the nation of Israel. It is prophesied that Mashiah comes with an army of angels from out of the sky. In other words, they literally come from out of this world. And this signifies that not only will Mashiah's invention be global but its influence and affect will reach far beyond the reaches of our planet, and possibly beyond the confines of our presently known universe. After all, where did this “angelic” army really come from? The term Heaven is mythical. It obviously refers to some real place; yet where this place is, in our universe or in another is not clearly understood.

The prophet Zechariah clearly states that Mashiah marches on Earth backed by an army of angels. It amazes me how so many are oblivious as to what this prophecy seems to suggest especially in light of modern technological knowledge. Angels are clearly described in the Bible, some are humanoid entities that seem to glow with some kind of energy; others are clearly described as having multiple faces, animal-like features and other traits that we can only describe as un- earthly. So, when Mashiah appears in the skies over Jerusalem with an army of these entities, I do not believe that such an advent will be recognized in the religious context. I do not believe that those witnessing this event either live or on world-wide television, will be saying, “look, up in the sky, Mashiah has come!” I think they will use words very different from “angel” or “angelic” to describe the invading Messianic army.

Rather than call out “Hooray! Here comes Mashiah,” I believe those witnessing this event will rather call out “Aaahh! Invasion from Outer Space!” Yes, you guessed it, the world will call the coming of Mashiah as an invasion from outer space. In light of today's loss of Biblical religiosity and the embrace of secular science as the new world religion, the world will interpret the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy in light of modern myths. Therefore, Mashiah's coming will indeed be interpreted as an invasion from outer space. And who amongst us can say what is science and what is spirituality, and what exactly is the difference between the two?

Judging from how prophecy describes the way Mashiah and his army is supposed to act, extraterrestrial invasion might be the proper way to understand the coming event. After all, Mashiah's army will display a superiority over all the world's technology and weapons. With the greatest of ease, the Messianic army will completely demolish the forces opposing it, just like what we would expect from an invasion from outer space.

Just like in our worst-case scenario science fiction movies, where the evil aliens come, smash the Earth and take over, so in reality, according to Biblical prophecy, Mashiah comes, wipes out a massive army of resistance and then takes over the world. Once he does this, he is not transformed into a loving sweet grandfatherly-type of guy. Nowhere is Mashiah prophesied to go around singing, dancing and hugging everyone in the streets.

Mashiah is not going to be personally accessible to the general public any more than any other present political leader today. No one is going to be able to travel to his seat of government, walk in on him and just say hello. If today one were to attempt to approach a President, Prime Minister or King without permission and clearance such an endeavor would be prevented by a wall of security. Why on Earth would anyone expect access to King Mashiah to be any more lenient? Such a wish or hope is beyond wishful thinking, it is delusional and unrealistic in the highest sense. Even G-d is unapproachable to the angels, so much more so Mashiah will be to the everyday common person.

The prophecies clearly state that during Messianic times much will be expected of the nations of the world and any failure (or rebellion) on their part will be met with terrible consequences. True, all Messianic prophecies speak of a world finally in an utopian state, but arriving at this state and maintaining it is never described as being a simple, free and easy process.

While enlightenment is suppose to be enjoyed by a good portion of the world population, not everyone is to be so blessed. True, they will reap the benefits of the Messianic utopian state but they will still have the ability if not the will to rebel. Mashiah will thus maintain order for a very long time with stern vigor. True, they will beat their swords into plow shears and their spears into pruning hooks and nations will no longer wage war, but where does it say that these events are going to transpire willingly? Just because prophecy states that they are destined to happen, no where does prophecy state that they will be desired to happen.

One thing is clear about the Messianic age, religion will become a thing of the past. All the world's religions, and these include Judaism, will cease to exist in their present forms. The entire human race will be exposed to a grander reality about the universe, our own human past and our collective human future in the greater universe. We will finally have the real answers from those who were there as to what really happened on Sinai, who really were Moshe, Yeshu and Mohammad and all similar questions arising out of religions and spiritual traditions world-wide.

Kabbalistic Messianic prophecies state that during messianic times the human race will advance to such a point that the very wall that divides the physical/spiritual divide will finally be broken down. We will be able to interact with what today we call the spiritual on a regular basis in a very regular way. Spirits will be recognized as another form of real actual life, living in a parallel dimension of sorts. No longer will spirituality be a subject of religion, but rather of science, and not science fiction, but actual science fact. This reality alone is what will shatter everything that is old and usher in upon us all a truly new age for all humanity. But don't think for a minute its revelations will be warmly welcomed and easily embraced.

Even the coming Third Temple is not going to be the religious edifice and return to the past that many today think it will be. The oldest tradition in Torah, recorded in the Talmud itself speaks of the Third Temple descending down from Heaven fully built and that it will “land” of the top of an earthquake adjusted now very high peak that was once Moriah, the Temple Mount. When this grandiose edifice is witnessed descending from Heaven; what will the witnesses call it, a building, or something else? Possibly in the UFO/invasion mindset that will be so prevalent at the moment, many will interpret such an event as the landing of the “mother-ship,” something akin to recent Hollywood films.

I pray that I have shown here that the long awaited coming of Mashiah is not going to be what the vast majority in religious circles think it will be. The dawn of the Messianic era will bring with it tremendous iconoclastic upheavals. Almost everything that we all know and believe will be altered, changed or gone. It will indeed be a whole new world and a fresh page in a new chapter for the continuing saga of humanity.

Personally, in spite of all the good that we have today, I am willing to trade it all in for the better world promised to come to us on that day. The great Messianic intervention is a natural process in the continuing evolution of humanity and our world. There is a definite schedule for it, one not of our making, or subject to our influence.

All the Biblical prophecies will definitely come to pass and they will definitely happen in the frightening and other-worldly way which is described. All recent attempts to water-down prophecy and to make it more palatable to modern-day desires will soon be shown up to be the bankrupt deceptions that they truly are. As for me, I say so let it be! I can't wait. Because regardless of where or how I will then be, in this life form or in a parallel one, I'll be there on that day and I'll be darn happy for that!

                 

 Long live the King!