— The answer is yes, at least for the last 2,000 years… Principle #8
By Levi Liberow •
A longtime Jewish “hobby,”dating back to the days of Ya’akov Avinu, has been calculating and uncovering the “ketz” – the time of Moshiach’s arrival.
A famous adage says that “those who know don’t say, and those who say don’t know,” yet Jewish literature from time immemorial, is filled with various kitzin predicted by Gedolei Yisrael of all groups.
Regardless of the legitimacy of this quest, (a topic to be discussed in the second part of this essay), the interest into this unknown topic itself is testament to the great yearning for the Geulah embedded in the psyche of the Jewish people, in a way reminiscent of children asking their parents “are we there yet?” before the car managed to pull out of the driveway for a multi-hour trip. It’s slightly annoying, but it’s a show of enthusiasm…
Yet the very notion of a specific preset time for the Geulah is something that requires explanation: is there such a time and it is just unknown, or as Rav said, and rendered Halacha by the Rambam in unequivocal terms “the Jewish people will do Teshuvah and be immediately redeemed.”
No date, no time; Immediately. Period.
“I Will be a Nazir the Day Moshiach Comes…”
If we were to think that this was just a theological and theoretical topic that has no practical bearing, the following Halacha proves otherwise, and at the same time answers the question.
The Gemara discusses the case of a person who makes a conditional vow to become a nazir, thereby abstaining (among other things) from drinking wine.
“If one vows, ‘I hereby undertake to be a nazir on the day that [Moshiach] the son of David comes,’ — if the vow was undertaken on a weekday, he is forever forbidden to drink wine. If it was undertaken on a Shabbos or a Yom-Tov, then he is permitted to drink wine on that Shabbos or that Yom-Tov, but from then on, this is forbidden forever.” (Eruvin 43b; Rambam, Laws of Nezirus 4:11)
From this Halacha, we learn that Moshiach can come any day.
23 minutes and 59 seconds
Another example:
There is an opinion in the Gemara that even in our days, after the Destruction, a Kohen is forbidden to drink wine, since it is probable that “the Beis HaMikdash will be speedily rebuilt,” finding him under the influence of wine and hence disqualified from serving there.
Now this influence can wear off by either of two causes:
(a) Sleep; or (b) The passage of as much time as it takes to walk a mil. According to the longest estimate, this comes to 24 minutes.
Here, then, we have evidence from the revealed plane of the Torah that in the course of a very short time (i.e., within a maximum of 23 minutes and 59 seconds), Moshiach is likely to arrive together with a completed Beis HaMikdash.
[This opinion has not become Halacha, and Kohanim may drink wine and become intoxicated for the reason that we lack the knowledge to which mishmar [shift] of kohanim every kohen belongs to, but would a kohen know his mishmar he would indeed be prohibited from drinking wine during that week.]
To gain some clarity into this topic, let’s return to the beginning of the galus.
When Avraham delayed the Geulah
The galus actually began, not when the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, but long before that at the Bris Bein HaBesarim, at that supreme moment when Hashem told Avraham, “Know for sure that your seed will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs … for four hundred years”(Bereishis 15:13). Chazal explain that this covenant between Avraham and Hashem alludes to all the exiles the Jewish people will experience before its redemption:
“[Hashem] said to [Avraham): Take Me a prime heifer, a prime goat, a prime ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.” (15:9)
The Midrash comments:
“A prime heifer” – this is the kingdom of Edom…; “a prime goat” — this is the kingdom of Greece; “a prime ram” — this is the kingdom of Medea and Persia; “a dove” —this alludes to the descendants of Yishmael.
“He took for him all these, and he split them down the middle…” [ibid. 15:10): Had he not split them, the world Could not have withstood them. Once he split them, their strength weakened. — (Pirkei DeRabi Eliezer, ch. 29)
During this prophetic vision, something strange happened:
“Vultures descended on the carcasses, but Avraham drove them away” —“Vultures” alludes to Moshiach ben Dovid. Avraham stood and waved shawls at the vultures so [they] would not gain control over (the carcasses) until the evening. — (ibid)
If the vultures allude to Moshiach, why did Avraham chase them away? Was he attempting to delay the Geulah?
To explain this, we must preface that Galus is analogous to pregnancy and Geulah to birth.
The prophets (Hoshea 13:13 and others) describe the pre-messianic tribulations as “the sorrows of a travailing woman.”
Redemption is also likened to birth — “…for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” (ibid. 66:8). These prophecies are the source of the famous term “Chevlei Moshiach” – “the birth pangs of Moshiach” that are described in the Gemara and Midrashim, which are a series of pain-stricken events that precede the onset of the Messianic era.
The Life of the Embryo
This analogy teaches us much about the nature of galus and Geulah:
R. Shimlai delivered the following discourse: What does an embryo resemble when it is in the womb of its mother? A folded writing tablet, its hands rest on its two temples, its two elbows on its two legs, and its two heels against its two buttocks. Its head lies between its knees. Its mouth is closed, and its navel is open. It eats what its mother eats and drinks what its mother drinks… As soon as it goes out into the space of the world, the closed organ [its mouth] opens, and the open one [its navel] closes. — (Niddah 30b)
It appears from this Gemara that an embryo’s limbs are no different from a born child’s, other than that many of them do not function in the womb. However, there is a crucial difference: Man’s uniqueness lies in his brain; hence, his head’s position above all his limbs. Yet the embryo’s head lies between its knees, for the superiority of the head is not yet manifest.
Moreover, the embryo cannot speak or smell, it can barely hear, its lungs do not inhale, and its life is reduced to survival and development. Only after birth does it truly see, hear, taste, breathe, eat, and live.
The embryonic stage parallels galus. For in galus, the Jew may be able to study Torah, pray with devotion, and love and fear Hashem, but he does not see G-dliness or hear G-d’s word crying out from every corner of creation. He views the universe as self-sufficient. Only after much contemplation can the Jew realize that Divinity sustains every moment of creation.
Furthermore, just as the embryo neither tastes nor understands its umbilical nutrition, the Jew in galus does not fully experience his mitzvos, performing them only by rote.
Our yearning for Redemption is comparable to the embryo’s desire to be born, to open its eyes and ears to the world. Only then will we merit the revelation of Hashem’s light before our very eyes. Then, “all flesh will see together, that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.”
After the Geulah, when the Jew studies Torah and observes mitzvos, his entire body will connect with Hashem. Being then aware of our connection with Hashem, we will leave our embryonic state and become seeing, feeling, living beings.
A “Ripe” Geulah
One more important aspect about the Geulah this analogy sheds light on is the timing of the Geulah:
Just as pregnancy precedes and prepares the embryo for birth, galus prepares us for Geulah. When the Jew strives for deveikus with Hashem, loving and fearing Him despite His concealment within galus, he readies himself for Geulah.
The process of pregnancy, like any process, takes the time it takes. This process ensures not only that we come ready to the Geulah, but it also ensures that the Geulah that comes to us is a ready and ripe one.
The Time Moshiach Couldn’t Come…
The Abarbanel enumerates three periods of galus: the first period, when Geulah cannot yet commence; the second, when Geulah can come but would be premature and therefore imperfect; and the third period, when Geulah is ready and waiting to come, and ultimately must come at its end. (Yeshuos Meshicho, vol. 1, p. 11)
Avraham’s vision of the Bris Bein HaBesarim began at night, continued throughout the day, and concluded in the evening. The vultures did not appear at night because night symbolizes the first period, when Geulah cannot begin. With sunrise, representing the second period, the period of imperfect Geulah, Avraham chased away the vultures lest Moshiach arrive unaccompanied by prophetic wonders and ultimate revenge against Israel’s enemies. But Avraham banished the vultures only until evening, ushering in the third period, which is ripe for Geulah.
Significantly, Avraham waved the vultures away with “sudarim” (shawls), a term related to the word “seder” (order). For Geulah must take place in the correct order, i.e., in “the evening,” which has already arrived.
The Shabbos of the World
In light of this, the Halachically established belief that Moshiach can come any day, seems not understood: Why expect Moshiach to arrive before his time? Do we want a premature and incomplete Geulah?
The simple answer, of course, is that this belief became the Halacha only in the third period, in which Moshiach must come.
But to explain this better, yet another analogy of Chazal for galus and Geulah is in place: the six days of the week and Shabbos.
On Shabbos they would sing in the Beis HaMikdash “A Psalm, a Song for the Shabbos day.” … a psalm for the future, for the day that is completely Shabbos [tranquil] for all eternity. — (Mishna, Tamid 7:4)
The comparison to Shabbos means more than that during the Redemption we will rest like we rest on Shabbos:
Rav Ketina said: The world will exist for six thousand years and on one it will be destroyed. — (Sanhedrin 97a)
[The meaning of “destruction” of the world means the destruction of the world as we know it — in its galus state of being, as is obvious from the continuation of the Gemara which brings a supporting opinion to Rav Ketina.]
In other words, just as Shabbos is the seventh day of the week, the era of the Redemption – the “Shabbos” of the world – commences after 6,000 years.
But the Gemara continues by bringing what seems to be an alternative, much more detailed, description of the history of the world:
The world is to exist six thousand years: two thousand years of desolation, two thousand of Torah, and two thousand of the days of Moshiach.
According to Rashi, the period of desolation concluded when Avraham began “making souls” (see Bereishis 12:5), converting people to Hashem’s cause. Then came the period of Torah, during which Avraham promoted monotheism in the world. Hence the words of the Midrash, “Until Avraham, the world was conducted in darkness. With Avraham, it was illuminated.”
The period of Torah ended around the time of the redaction of the Mishnah and the beginning of the age of the Amoraim. The Halachic decisions of the Sages from this time on all focus on explaining the words of the Mishna, and no longer on passing the tradition of the Torah by heart.
Today, over 1,700 years after the conclusion of the period of Torah, it is perhaps surprising to think of ourselves living in “the period of Moshiach,” for we remain in galus, with all its trials and tribulations; furthermore, the hardest phase of galus, the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, happened at the start of the “2,000 years of Moshiach!”
“The Season of Moshiach” like “the Season of Rain”
However, the term “the days of Moshiach” indicates merely that Moshiach’s arrival is feasible if we merit it. Abarbanel (Yeshuos Meshicho, iyun I, ch. 1) compares this period to the rainy season: “…rain is more likely to fall on some days than on others. Similarly, the last two thousand years are days that are ready for the coming of Moshiach”.
Maharal of Prague explains that before “the days of Moshiach,” even if the Jewish people had merited Moshiach, he could not have come. But now that the two thousand years of “the days of Moshiach” have commenced, it depends on us: Once we merit it, Geulah will come immediately, but even if we never become worthy of it, it must occur during this period. (Netzach Yisrael, ch. 27)Hence Rav Ketina’s perspective, according to which the current state of the world cannot continue after 6,000 years are concluded.
“On Time” or “Expedited” Geulah
These two possible timeframes for the Geulah are “be’itah” – “on time,” and “achishena” – “I will hasten it:”
Moshiach must come by a certain time, but our deeds can hasten his arrival and bring him earlier, within the 2,000 years of Moshiach, of which the Gemara says “due to our sins that have increased, so and so many years have already elapsed.” Obviously, the fact that our sins have delayed has a flip side: our good deeds and Teshuva have the power to cause it to happen.
This seems to be what stands behind Rav’s statement (delivered, interestingly, right at the start of “the two thousand years of the days of Moshiach”) which became Halacha through the Rambam’s ruling: “all the kitzin have passed and now and the matter depends only upon Teshuvah and good deeds.” (Sanhedrin 97b; Rambam, Laws of Teshuvah 7:5)
Another teaching that supports this notion is that on the day of the churban Moshiach was born. Most commentators understand this to be an indication that the ability to achieve a perfect redemption came only after the destruction of the Mikdash.
From here comes the strong faith that Moshiach can come at any time, as we say in the Ani Ma’amin “I await his coming every day” — a statement which has a twofold meaning: “I await Moshiach every day,” and “I believe Moshiach can come any day.”
***
The Geulah is compared to birth and to Shabbos. What both have in common that they come after a process which we can hasten, but not skip. The good news is that it’s Friday afternoon and we’re overdue… ■
Portions of this essay were taken from “From Exile to Redemption” (SIE) and from “The Days of Moshiach” (Machon Lubavitch)
Summary:
• According to Halacha, Moshiach can come any day.
• There was a period when Moshiach’s arrival was not to be expected.
• Would have then Moshiach come, it would be an “unripe” and incomplete redemption.
• Since the beginning of “the two thousand years of Moshiach,” this time has passed.
• The coming of Moshiach now depends only on our Teshuva and good deeds.
• According to the Rebbe, we are in a period in which to a certain extent the process of Geulah (albeit not the Halachic definition of it yet) has begun.