"AND IF ISRAEL DO NOT REPENT..."

14 Marcheshvan 5781
  Shavua Tov

Rabbi Eliezer said, “If Israel repent they will be redeemed, and if not they will not be redeemed.”

Rabbi Yehoshua answered him, “If they don’t repent they will not be redeemed? Rather say that the Holy One Blessed is He will raise up for them a King whose decrees are worse than Haman’s, and Israel will repent and return to the right path.” (Talmud, Sanhedrin 97b)

Do any of us, can any of us, truly understand the spiritual depths to which we have sunk?  Have we reached this awful place of "a King whose decrees are worse than Haman’s"?  How can it be anything else?

While I hope and pray with all my heart that we really are in the nine months of 'Rome's' global rule and that their power will end in another two months with the cataclysm that will renew our world in righteousness, there is a midrash which indicates that this could go on for another year or two, so in the interest of full disclosure...

Or Hara'ayon, Vol. II, Chapter 32 - "The Gentiles' Punishment for their Persecution of the Jews", pp. 947-948...

We find a remarkable Midrash in Pesikta Rabbati (34):

"Their seed shall be known among the nations; their offspring among the peoples" (Isaiah 61:9):  Who did Isaiah say this about?  About the mourners of Zion [those who look forward to returning to Eretz Yisrael and salvation].  G-d in the future will give them their victory over their enemies, as it says, "Their seed shall be known among the nations."  Read not "their seed" [zar'am] but their might [zero'am].  Who protects them with strength?  G-d protects them with His strength, as it says, "O L-rd, be gracious to us.  We have waited for You.  Be You their strength every morning, our salvation also in time of trouble" (Ibid., 33:2).  "Every morning":  Referring to those who rise early each morning to seek mercy.  "Our salvation also in time of trouble":  These are mourners who longed for salvation morning, noon and evening, despite great sorrow for Israel through their being mocked and ridiculed.  Once they see the decrees of a later year, through which the Messiah is revealed, and these come one after another without pause, they immediately understand and say,  "In all our lifetime there was never anything like this.  Perhaps the Messiah is arriving."

These are the decrees through which they understand:  In Nissan on the eve of the seventh year {5781}, a western wind blows and snow falls and smites the seed.  After that, troubles begin in every single month and are doubled.  Then they understand and say,  "Surely this is the Messianic king."  Even so, they are not at rest until they suffer punishments in the seventh year {5782} which blackens their countenances like the bottom of a pot.  How are they punished?  With hunger, for the heart of Israel is not broken except through hunger.

After that, the righteous of the generation rise up and remove their tefillin and place them on the earth.  They beseech G-d,  "Master of the Universe!  We have not done well all the years.  We have strayed like sheep."  G-d says to them,  "You are forgiven," and He kisses them and sets a crown on their heads.  Whoever has Torah merit is protected by it, and whoever lacks such merit regrets his lack.  This teaches that whoever believes from the first year has his merit doubled and quadrupled. 

"All who see them shall acknowledge them" (Isaiah 61:9):  These are the mourners of Zion.  G-d brought upon His world angels of destruction who continuously destroy all the days of the redemption, and the mourners of Zion pass them to and fro unharmed, like a person in his friend's house.  Whoever sees them says, "In vain did we laugh.  In vain did we mock their words."

R. Bar Chanina said [that they say],  "The merit of these gathers them together, and we were skeptical!"  Of that moment Isaiah said,  "The nations shall see your righteousness" (Ibid., 62:2):  These are the nations of the world who see the righteousness of the mourners of Zion."

 How great, then, are those who looked forward to redemption all the time, who from the start believed in the coming of the Messiah and looked forward to his kingdom, and who performed acts of faith and trust in G-d in order to bring redemption near.  Our sages said,  "If someone looks forward to redemption, G-d causes him to lie down in the Garden of Eden."  Obviously, simply looking forward is not a great enough attribute to make G-d place one in the Garden of Eden.  Rather, it refers to those who looked forward to redemption and performed acts of faith and trust in G-d in order to bring it, and did not fear either the nations or the ridicule of the sinners of Israel.

Listen well, my friend, to a great axiom of redemption.  Ostensibly, those who ridiculed the mourners of Zion, who mocked those who believed in redemption, were the nations.  Clearly this is so, yet also countless Jews do not believe, and they ridicule those who look forward to redemption and the Messiah.  Following is from the continuation of Pesikta Rabbati:

"He is righteous [tzaddik] and saved [nosha]" (Zechariah 9:9):  This is the Messiah, who justifies [matzdik] the punishment Israel received, for Israel ridiculed him while he was sitting in prison [the ridiculing of redemption transforms the Messiah, so to speak, into one imprisoned, for without repentance and acts of faith and trust in G-d, he is prevented from redeeming Israel until the advent of redemption "in its time."]   He is thus called "tzaddik."  Why is he called "saved" [nosha]?  Because he justifies their punishment and says to them:  "Surely you are all my children, but you will only be saved [tishavu] through G-d's mercy."

In other words, G-d will save them in order to sanctify His name, and this will be redemption "in its time" and not "in haste."  Israel will lack merit to be redeemed in that way.

Even so, it is clear that even large parts of Israel will mock the redemption, and for that reason, it will not come until the deadline arrives.... 

 ~ Rabbi Meir David Kahane, ztz"l, Hy"d