TEIVES AND MOSHIACH

As we get closer to Moshiach, the Geula aspect of Teives is becoming more and more apparent. There are quite a few Moshiach components in Teives that are highlighted in the Sichos of the Rebbe…

Dear Reader sh’yichyeh

We are currently at the beginning of the month of Teives. At first glance, the month of Teives seems to be an “exile” month. It is a dark, cold and winter month, which shows the lack of warmth and light of spirituality. In addition, in the month of Teives began the process of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash. 

[That explains an interesting irony about the fast of 10 Teives. On the one hand, it is a very short and relatively “easy” fast. Yet, halachically, it is one of the strictest fasts. It is the only (rabbinic) fast that if it were to fall out on Shabbos, we would actually fast! The reason is because the 10^th of Teives was the beginning of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and the current exile.] 

Yet as we get closer to Moshiach, the Geula aspect of Teives is becoming more and more apparent. There are quite a few Moshiach components in Teives that are highlighted in the Sichos of the Rebbe:

1) The expression that the Gemara uses to convey that Teives is cold is that it is a month “that the body benefits from the (other) body.” The uniqueness of the Jewish body is connected with Moshiach, for at that time it will be revealed to the world that Hashem not only loves the Neshama of the Jew, but also the Jewish body. Furthermore, Chazal tell us that in the times of Moshiach the Neshama will receive its sustenance from the body!

2) We merited to the Yom Tov of 5 Teives. It is a day when the Seforim that were in captivity were redeemed and eventually brought back to the Rebbe. While at first glance it looks like a small chassidic holiday, the Rebbe (see kuntres 5 Teives 5752) connects the redemption of the Seforim to the redemption of Klal Yisroel.

It should be noted that in the summer months of 5751, the Rebbe stressed the ko’ach of the Frierdike Rebbe, to bring Geula (12 Tammuz) to the sad month of Tammuz. The Rebbe was able to bring Geula even to the cold month of Teives. It is also interesting to point out the connection to the 5^th day of Teives. In Jewish history, 5 Teives was a sad day. It was a day that the last Jews heard about the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash. In our generation, it became a day celebrated by all as the day we heard the good news of the redemption (of the s’farim)!

Let us finish with words of the Rebbe (Teives 5751):”Since our generation is the last generation of exile and the first of Redemption, preparing for the transformation of the exile into Redemption is emphasized through a “taste” of what is to come, now in the days of exile. Thus, as we stand at the very end of exile, we can experience the state of “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt.” The closer we get to the transformation of the exile – with the advent of the true and complete Redemption – this condition increasingly intensifies.”

Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim on Inyanei Geula u’Moshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com.