For This We Wait

16 Menachem Av 5783

 The dilemma of a preventive Israeli strike on Hezbollah

Hezbollah’s provocations on the Lebanese-Israeli border continue, while deeper within Lebanon, the Iranian-backed terror army continues to amass a monstrous arsenal of some 200,000 rockets, mortar shells, missiles and drones. Hundreds of these threats are capable of targeting strategic sites within Israel.

...“Iran is at the core of [Hezbollah’s] regional activities, and these activities also involve Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Israel is not interested in a clash that turns regional. This is the heavier threat hovering over us,” [Col. (res.) Shaul Shay, a former deputy head of the National Security Council of Israel and an ex-intelligence officer at the Israel Defense Forces’ Southern Command] said.

Such a conflict could involve Hezbollah in Lebanon, spread to Iranian-backed militias and Hezbollah in Syria, and drag in the Palestinian arena, he cautioned. 

*******  

War! It's being trumpeted throughout the world. War between Ukraine and Russia, NATO and Russia, China and Taiwan, China and the US, Poland and Belarus, North Korea, Iran, Africa against the West, and all the countries taking sides. Russia, the US, Iran and who knows who else are in Syria together. Israel is facing an enemy on every border and beyond, including an internal battle that is being touted more and more as a "civil war". Where is it all leading?

First some background.  Following are excerpts from previous blog posts:

(1)  Rabbi Nachman Kahane refers to it as "the only authentic holy trinity": Eretz Yisrael, Am Yisrael and Torat Yisrael.

These three components are repeatedly emphasized as the sides of the triangle representing God's interest in this world.

They are even alluded to in Breishit 26:3-5 where God renews the Abrahamic covenant with Yitzchak ...

"Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and I will bless you, for to you and to your seed will I give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham, your father." (Land)

"And I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and I will give your seed all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will bless themselves by your seed,...." (People)

"...Because Abraham hearkened to My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My instructions." (Torah)

The Chaftez Chaim famously said: 

"‘After this war [WW1] there will be a pause and then there will be another war [WW2] and then another pause. Then, there will be another war [WW3] and with that war the Mashiach will come…the last war will be the beginning of the redemption,....

The Three Wars of Gog uMagog correspond to these three aspects of Israel. They also correspond to the three exiles...

WW1 - Eretz Yisrael - Babylon (Bavel)

From the Jewish perspective, what was the most significant outcome of WW1? It had to be the transfer of power over Eretz Yisrael from Yishmael (Ottoman Empire) to Eisav (British Empire). This has been viewed as a very positive outcome, but was it really?  The British Mandate imposed harsh restrictions on the Jewish Return to Eretz Yisrael.  First whittling down the area of land allotted to us and then cutting off immigration altogether. ...significantly, the exile of Bavel was primarily about removing us from Eretz Yisrael.

WW2 - Am Yisrael - Persia (Paras)

No one can deny that the focus of WW2 was on Am Yisrael as one-third of the world's Jewish population was extinguished in Europe. The parallel with Haman's decree of annihilation also cannot be overlooked.

WW3 - Torat Yisrael - Greece (Yavan)

Now, we arrive at today and we can see clearly that there is a very severe war being waged on the Torah of Israel. That's how we can know without a doubt that we are already in the third war of Gog uMagog; although the military aspects of these wars must also be acknowledged.

The Greek war against Torah

• Translated the Torah into Greek.
• Forbid the Jews on pain of death to observe Rosh Chodesh, Shabbat, and brit milah, as well as the learning of Torah. 
• Promoted Hellenistic Judaism - a hybrid religion combing traditional aspects of Judaism with Greek thought and culture.

This WW3 War on the Torah is being carried out with the same goal today, but in reverse measures.

• The New Testament is handed out in Hebrew and Yiddish translation.
• Christians in their masses are learning Torah and 'observing' mitzvot, including Shabbat, etc.
• Judeo-Christianity is the new hybrid religion "breaking down the walls" and "building bridges" between Jews and Christians so as to create "One New Man from the two."

Annihilation through assimilation - a "soft" weapon of mass destruction (WMD), but just as effective.

(2)  ...[T]he Other Side inspired an "UNholy Trinity" to parallel Rav Nachman Kahane's "Holy Trinity" as follows:

* The Land of Israel vs. The State of Israel

* The People of Israel: The Jews vs. The Israelis

* The Torah of Israel vs. Universal Torah/Universal Judaism

You can see already that the former is exclusively for Jews while the latter is a mixture of Jews with Gentiles.

We see also among the Christians who are coming to connect with Jews, that they do so through the State, the Settlers, the IDF, and organizations promoting the Temple as a "House of Prayer for All Nations" and who uphold the right of Jews AND Christians to ascend the Temple Mount.

*******

Within this larger context, there are three wars of conquest that take place within Eretz Yisrael.

*******

(3)  There is an amazing prophecy in the Book of Yeshayahu that comprises only one pasuk, but which may very well describe what I call a "messianic war."  To my mind, a "messianic war" is defined as one which brings us closer to the fulfillment of our destiny and includes the restoration of Jewish sovereignty over significant parts of our land.

For instance, the War for Independence in 1948 was the first so-called Messianic War.  It brought us sovereignty over the Land of Israel once again after almost two-thousand years of exile.  The Six Days War of 1967 was the second Messianic War.  It restored Jewish sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and, more particularly, Jerusalem.

Are you beginning to see a pattern here?  It's called "levels of kedushah."  Everyone knows that the Land of Israel has more kedushah than any other land and that Jerusalem is another step up in kedushah from the Land of Israel as a whole.  So, what is the next step up after that?  You got it!  The Temple Mount!

It should be clear to all by now that despite the words of the revered General Mordechai Gur, a"h - "Har Habayit beyadeinu!" - it's really not.  

Therefore, the Third Messianic War should give us complete sovereignty over the Temple Mount and result in the eventual construction of the Third Temple.  So, is this Third Messianic War really described by the Prophet Yeshayahu?  It begins in chapter 11 and identifies the time period as being when "He will gather in the dispersed ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth."  Unlike in Yeshayahu's own time when we were divided into two kingdoms - Israel and Judah - we will be united as one people upon the land and then,...

They will fly in unison against the Philistine (Palestinians) to the West (Gaza), and together they will plunder the people of the East ('Palestinian Territories'); their hand will extend over Edom and Moab, and their discipline over the Children of Ammon (Jordan). (Yeshayahu 11:14)

If I have understood correctly, The Third Messianic War will begin with the re-conquest of Gaza and will ultimately end with our occupation of Jordan.  We can easily imagine how this could happen even today as some unexpected occurrence in the current conflict in Gaza expands to rioting in the 'West Bank' and moves on to Jordan where a reported 75-80% of the population identifies as "Palestinian."  That country becomes destabilized and the kingdom falls and...Israel must rush to fill the vacuum.

With the Jordanian WAKF out of the picture, we will have complete sovereignty over the Temple Mount restored and we will yet again be in possession of more land area, as happened in 1967.  This will also fulfill a promise made by the Prophet Yirmiyahu...

And I will return Israel to its abode, and he will graze in the Carmel and in the Bashan; and in Mount Ephraim and in the Gilead his soul will be satiated. (Yirmiyahu 50:19)

Carmel and Mount Ephraim are on the west bank of the Jordan River. Bashan and Gilead are on the east bank of the Jordan River. See also...

...days are coming - the word of Hashem - when I will make the alarm of war heard in Rabbah [capital] of the Children of Ammon; it will become a heap of ruins and its surrounding towns will be burned down in fire; then Israel will inherit its inheritors, said Hashem. (Yirmiyahu 49:2)

*******

I believe that HKB"H intends to mire the nations down in wars amongst themselves (WW3) while the Erev Rav regime fails (during the mass attack orchestrated by Iran), allowing Mashiach ben Yosef to arise and lead this third war of conquest.  Therefore, it is for this that we wait.  And it can begin at any moment.  The stage is set for the outbreak of this third war of conquest, which will see our surrounding (and internal) enemies defeated, the entire Land of Israel under our control, and the Temple Mount restored to our sovereignty, such that the building of the Third Temple can commence.

However, that still won't be The End, but it will be a very great improvement and it will herald The End.  All that will be left to usher in the Messianic Kingdom under Mashiach ben David is the final battle of Gog uMagog, where the nations which have survived WW3 attempt to invade Eretz Yisrael to reverse what HKB"H has wrought under the leadership of Mashiach ben Yosef.  (See also Tehillim 2, 83,  Yeshayahu 13, 34, Yechezkel 38, 39, Zechariah 14, Tzephaniah 1)

Rabbi David Bar-Hayim Warns of Imminent War