Many Say Moshiach is Coming – What is the Appropriate Response?

37 comments on “Many Say Moshiach is Coming – What is the Appropriate Response?”

1. Rav Moshe Sternbuch relates that during World War II, his mother was convinced that after such atrocious killings had taken place, Moshiach would soon arrive. She decided that she would save her best dress and all of her jewelry for the day that Moshiach arrived. Even after the war ended and Moshiach did not come, she continued to set aside her best dress and jewlery for the day that he would come.

   Chazal tell us that the donkey that Moshe Rabbeinu rode on was the very same one that Avroham Avinu traveled on to the Akeidah (the binding of Isaac). This is also the same donkey that Moshiach will arrive on. What is the connection between these three events and why must they all ride on a donkey?
   A donkey is the archetype animal representing a beast that lacks all intelligence and is completely reliant on its master, going only where he directs it. Jews are meant to learn from the donkey vis-à-vis our relationship with the Almighty. At times, we are meant to nullify all understanding and follow Hashem’s will without second thought.
   First, Hashem told Avroham Avinu that Yitzchok would be the heir to his life-long work of bringing recognition of Hashem into the world. Afterward, the Almighty seemed to contradict His original promise by commanding Avrohom to offer Yitzchok as a sacrifice. Without a second thought, Avrohom Avinu boarded his donkey and hurried to fulfill the Divine order.
   Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu to return to Mitzrayim to spearhead the redemption of Klal Yisrael. Even though some of Moshe Rabbeinu’s enemies had died, he still had many enemies remaining there. Nonetheless, Moshe Rabbeinu and his family got on a donkey and traveled to Mitzrayim.
   In our time, we face a similar paradox. If we think logically about our present situation, there is no reason why the redemption should come. Previous generations were more righteous than we are and yet he did not come during their days. Why should Moshiach come now?
   Although it may not seem logical, Hashem has promised us that whether we are worthy or not, the final redemption will come. In this respect, we must make ourselves like donkeys and disregard all arguments to the contrary, just as Avrohom Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu put all reasoning to the side to fulfill the Almighty’s will. If we follow their example, we will merit to witness the coming Moshiach very soon.

2. The main thing is not to do any actions to hold him back (acting out sinas chinam, for example).

3. Dear Judy,

   “Ani maamin be’emunah sheleimah b’viat ha mashiach, v af al pi sheh yitmameah, im kol zeh, achake lo b’kol yom sheh yavo.”

   “I believe in the coming of Moshiach, and even if he tarries, I will keep waiting until such time as he arrives.”

   This is one of Maimonides 13 ikarim. It was made into a song by one of the Modzitzer Chassidim. The song was composed while he was on his way to one of the death camps. The entire story is on the Modzitzer site. It is worth the visit.

   In terms of what the Rambam teaches us, we are not meant to calculate the date of the arrival of Moshiach. When he is destined to come, he will I.Y.H. be with us. As with all things in Judaism, some people may hold differently on this one.

4. I have read that if Moshiach is supposed to come on a certain date, but does not, then instead terrible things happen to the Jewish people.

   I have also read that 5700 was one of those dates on which Moshiach was supposed to come, and instead the Holocaust began.

   Everyone from Rabbi Akiva to the Rambam to the last Lubavitcher Rebbe has tried interpreting Sefer Daniel to calculate the End of Days.

   When G-d brings it, it will come.

5. It’s been 2 years since this article was posted.

   This is what I’ve learned. We don’t have prophecy today. Hashem speaks to us through current events. We need to be attentive and not be asleep, otherwise we’ll miss it all.

   It’s very easy to say, “Don’t listen to this and don’t listen to that. We’ll know when Moshiach comes.” If we don’t listen when we are supposed to, then we aren’t listening to Hashem. Simple as that.

   Listen also to Pirkei Avos. “Who is a wise man? A person who can anticipate the future.” This is THE generation where we all have to wake up from our slumber and anticipate Moshiach even stronger.

6. Chaim Cohen:

   * Moshiach standing atop the roof of the Beis Hamikdash and announcing to the Jewish people “the time of your redemption has arrived” was actually occurring.

   Oh yeah? Where was I when that happened?

7. Identifying a generation as the one likely to see Mashiach is not nearly as specific as pinpointing a year or date.

8. The Year Moshiach is Revealed

   In the ancient collection of Midrashim called the “Yalkut Shimoni”, there is an interesting Midrash that begins with the following words:

   In the year King Moshiach is revealed, nations will be provoke one another; the king of Paras provokes an Arab king[…]all the nations of the world are distressed and panicking[…Hashem] says to Israel ‘don’t be afraid, all that I have done I did not do except for your sake—the time of your redemption has arrived[…]Moshiach stands on the roof of the Beis Hamikdash and announces to Israel—the time of your redemption has arrived. (See Appendix I for full translation)

   Midrash Yalkut Shimoni: Foretelling a war with Iran?

   The above-mentioned Midrash in the Yalkut Shimoni is particularly noteworthy because it mentions the king of Paras (which is Persia, the empire that included present-day Iran and Iraq), the king of Aram (the Western nations), and the assurance made to the Jewish people not to be afraid during these events, because “the time of your redemption has arrived”.

   Given the ongoing tension between Iran and the West, as well as Israel, it is compelling to say that this Midrash is describing an end-of-days war with Iran (Paras) and the West, a war which brings fear to the entire world, but which culminates in the revelation of Moshiach. But in order to understand better the meaning of this Midrash in relation to the present, we should reflect back to the first Persian Gulf War (“Operation Desert Storm”), which took place in 1991 (5751 on the Jewish calendar). In that year, the Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke publically on the subject and he explicitly connected this very Yalkut Shimoni to the events in the Gulf; not once or twice, but on nearly 20 different public occasions.

   The Rebbe: Yalkut Shimoni refers to the Gulf War

   In those talks, the Rebbe stated in unmistakable language that this Midrash was describing the events of the Persian Gulf War, and that 5751 (1991) was indeed the year “in which King Moshiach is revealed”.

   Among the elements in the Yalkut Shimoni that were emphasized by the Rebbe over those months:

   * “Paras” refers to the “territory that includes Iraq” and “Aram” refers to the super-powers;
   * This Midrash of “the nations provoking each other” has been fulfilled;
   * The main emphasis in this Midrash is Hashem’s assurance to the Jewish people “do not be afraid” and “do not fear” because “the time of your redemption has arrived”;
   * Moshiach standing atop the roof of the Beis Hamikdash and announcing to the Jewish people “the time of your redemption has arrived” was actually occurring.

   In addition to saying that the events of that year fulfilled the words of the Midrash, the Rebbe showed hints in the Torah that the year 5751 was indeed the year that Moshiach would be revealed (see Appendix II). Not only would be revealed, but that indeed these events “testify that this is ‘the year in which King Moshiach is revealed’”, even though “there is a difficulty to internalize this recognition and feeling that we are standing on the edge of the days of Moshiach”.

   This raises an obvious question for us: how could 5751 (1991) be the “year in which King Moshiach is revealed” and yet Moshiach still hasn’t come?! It would seem obvious that the fact that Moshiach hasn’t yet come is a blatant contradiction to saying that Moshiach was revealed in 5751!!

   Moshiach was revealed…and still Moshiach didn’t come?

   Regarding this logical question, it will help to take a look at the Ohr Hachama, the commentary of R’ Avraham Azulai, z”l, on the Zohar:

   […]so to it will be with the Moshiach after he merits to that neshoma and recognizes himself that he is Moshiach, as it states [in the Zohar] Moshiach will be revealed but he still won’t be recognized by the rest of the people[…] (Shemos 7b, quoting R’ Chayim Vital, z”l)

   This describes how the initial “revelation” of Moshiach is when the neshoma of Moshiach is revealed to the individual who has been chosen by Hashem to be Moshiach. At the time that this individual receives the neshoma of Moshiach it is a private revelation, “but the rest of humanity will not recognize him”; only later will he be revealed to the people as Moshiach—what we refer to as the “coming of Moshiach”.

   The reason for this “delay” is found in the Ohr Hachama on Shemos 9a, where it states that “Moshiach can’t redeem Israel from below…only from Above…there needs to be an awakening from below in order to awaken the rachamim from Above, even if the physical Moshiach wants to redeem [them].” This describes a situation where there already exists the “physical Moshiach” (i.e., the individual to whom has been bestowed the lofty neshoma of Moshiach) who himself knows that he is Moshiach, but the revelation to all of Israel has not yet occurred. We can see this in the language of the Yalkut Shimoni itself: the Midrash begins with “the year in which the King Moshiach is revealed”, and the Midrash concludes with “the hour in which the King Moshiach comes”.

   The year in which Moshiach is revealed refers to the initial revelation, when there is still a need to explain the events of the world to the Jewish people, “don’t be afraid”, etc. The hour when Moshiach comes refers to that transcendent moment when the Jews themselves are able to actually see and recognize the light of Moshiach. In other words, the revelation of Moshiach precedes and is distinct from the coming of Moshiach. (And it is self-understood that when there is such a situation—a situation where the man who himself is Moshiach is the only one to whom this has been revealed– then only this man is able to know and to inform others that “the year in which the King Moshiach is revealed” has been fulfilled, etc.) [see footnote i]

   War in Iraq: Continuing where we left off

   Back to the question of how the Yalkut Shimoni relates to the international events of the present year: the belligerence of Iran, threats of war, and so on. It is an obvious political and military reality that the present Gulf War (which has placed a large portion of the US military near the borders of Iran) was intended to complete what was started back in 1991. In addition, there are some interesting hints that Divine Providence also views the present war in Iraq as a continuation of 1991. For example: the first Gulf war ended on 15 Adar (5751), and the second US invasion of Iraq began “the next day” on 16 Adar 5763 (2003); on that day, President Bush (Jr.) addressed the Iraqi people and concluded with an expression that echoes the Yalkut Shimoni, “The day of your liberation is near”; and in 5751 Rebbe instructed that a portion of one of his talks regarding the US war in Iraq be withheld from publication, explaining only that “od lachazon mo’ed” “these words will be applicable at a future time” [see footnote ii].

   It evidence is compelling that the present situation is a continuation of the events of 5751 (1991), and therefore a continuation of the Yalkut Shimoni. [see footnote iii] Therefore, it is important for us to internalize the message of this Midrash, since it applies to our time as strongly as it applied in 5751. This Yalkut Shimoni is telling us that regardless of any international instability that may develop (“nations of the world provoke each other”), and regardless of how it might look for Israel (“Israel are distressed and panicked and say ‘where will we go , where will we go’”), the message Hashem is sending is clear: “My children, don’t be afraid, all that I have done I did only for your sake… humble ones, the time of your redemption has arrived.”

   And the Midrash continues with what happens next: “and if you don’t believe, see my light that shines forth upon you, as the verse states, ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has shone upon you.’…in the same hour the Holy One shines the light of Moshiach and of Israel, as the verse states, ‘the nations shall go in your light and kings to the brilliance of your shining’…” In other words: the continuation of the events of 5751 lead to the coming of Moshiach and the true and complete redemption.

   A War with Iran—Should We be Concerned?

   As regards a response to threats of war, the Rebbe completely ignored the concept of danger and threat and repeated countless times that the Jewish people would enjoy special Divine protection. The Rebbe stated boldly that although the enemies of Israel plan their evil, “they have no substance, and they will not succeed in doing this, since ‘the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps’” (Appendix II: #8, Bo). The Rebbe pointed out that the Yalkut Shimoni twice tells the Jewish people “do not be afraid”, thus emphasizing the underlying security we should have in Hashem at this time. Some excerpts:

   * “The Jewish people have the special promise of the Holy One ‘my children don’t be afraid, all that I have done I did only for your sake.’[…]It is clear that ‘the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps’ in every place in the world where Jews are found, also outside of Eretz Yisrael.” (#7 Va’era)
   * “[…]these events didn’t harm the Jewish people at all, for they are the pupil of the eye of the Holy One, ‘one who harms you it is as if he harms the pupil of His eye’[…]especially including the Jewish people who dwell in our Holy Land[…]” (#8 Bo)
   * “Before the geulah the Jewish people dwell with security without fear from the fact that ‘the nations of the world are distressed and panicked’ because ‘the rulers of the nations of the world struggle with one another’, since the Holy One says to them (Israel), ‘My children, don’t be afraid, all that I have done I only did for you…’ (and it is repeated) ‘don’t be afraid, the time for your redemption has arrived’, ‘The King Moshiach…stands on the roof of the Beis Hamikdash and he announces by Israel and says humble ones, the time of your redemption has arrived.’” (#9 Yisro)
   * “The Holy One says to Israel ‘My children, don’t be afraid (‘you should not take it to heart’) all that I did I did only for your sake, the time of your redemption has arrived’, namely, that the Holy One Himself is involved with the redemption of Israel.” (#17 Ki Seitze)

   In fact, it is precisely when the Jews trust Hashem and do not fear (as we are instructed by Hashem in the Yalkut Shimoni), and instead Jews “add in their Divine Service in learning Torah and fulfilling its mitzvos[…]this automatically causes stability in the entire world, in all the 70 nations of the world.” (#6 Toldos) It was this special protection, as promised in the Yalkut Shimoni, which enabled Israel to survive the Scud attacks of the Gulf War with what even the military experts called a “miraculous” minimum of casualties.

   What is left to do?

   To bring about this revelation of Moshiach is our responsibility. Let each one of us double and redouble our commitment to doing everything in our power to bring about the revelation of Moshiach—both in our personal lives, and our “professional” lives, and let us commit to encouraging those we know to do the same. We need to awaken within ourselves the latent yearning for the Moshiach and the “new world” that he will usher us into. This is the awakening from below that itself will enable him to redeem us. The Rebbe told us how to do this, and the key points are:

   * Pushing our boundaries by taking on new mitzvos and doing them in the finest manner (hiddur mitzvah);
   * Learning and teaching others about the subject of Moshiach and Geulah, especially as explained with the insights of Chassidus;
   * Increasing the size and the frequency of giving tzedaka;
   * Excelling in Ahavas Yisroel: the love of our fellow Jews for no other reason than because they’re a Jew;
   * Informing gentiles of the Seven Noahide Laws which G-d Almighty commanded all nations of the word to observe;
   * “Living with Moshiach”, so that we view every event in our lives as a part of the process of redemption, fueling our desire for the ultimate redemption rather than merely a more comfortable exile.

   The sages tell us that Moshiach experiences terrible suffering until he is able to reveal himself to all of Israel: can we really excuse ourselves for making Moshiach suffer for even another minute?

   Together, we can bring about the culmination of the Yalkut Shimoni–Moshiach Now in actuality!

   ______________________________________________________________________________
   Footnotes:

   [i] Note the Rebbe’s statements that “The appointing of David, King Moshiach has already taken place[…]The only thing that is necessary is the acceptance of his kingship by the people.” (Mishpatim 5751); “Moshiach himself is literally present, existing now in the world.” (Vayera 5752); “We find ourselves already in ‘the days of Moshiach.’ We only need to open our eyes.” (20 Kislev, 5752).

   [ii] “Od lachazon mo’ed” is a verse from Chavakuk 2:3. On these words Rashi comments: “In the future, at the end of years, a prophet will arise who will reveal a vision as to when the time of the fall of Bavel and the redemption of Israel will happen.”

   [iii] See Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson’s article: http://www.meaningfullife.com/currentevents/gulfwar/The_Kabbalah_of_Basra.php

9. To Bob,

   It was also the Melitzer Rebbe, shlit”a who said in 2005, “this is the generation of Moshiach.” The Gerrer Rebbe also made a similar statement.

   Go to Lazer Brody’s site: http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2005/06/the_melitzer_re.html

10. #23. I was quoting Harav Shach ztsl. I only quoted him in short. He said as follows (which, if you learn gemoro, you will well understand: when we learn a Mishna, we often think we understand pshat. But then the gemore comes and (because of questions and contradictions from other places) gives a total new pshat, sometimes by adding or altering a few words. Then you think you understand it, but when you look in Rashi, you see he explains it differently than you thought. Sometimes Tosfos or other Rishonim have yet another pshat which once again gives you a total new pshat in the words of the Tanne of the Mishneh. On the Zohar we have no Gemore, Rahi or Tosfos to enlighten you in the real pshat of the Zohar, which is also written by a Tanne. So how can you know what the real pshat in the Zohar is?

    These words are so emmesdig, that once you think about it, it becomes poshut.
    What you are asking that in that case nobody knows pshat in the Zohar? Could be, but i think that if great Mekubolim comes to a pshat with his real Kaboloh knowledge, than that could be what HKBH allows us to understand for the moment. But you can’t pasken lehalochoh from that.
    Kach nireh lefee aniyus daati

11. From Rabbi Lazer Brody, found today at the editorial page of Breslev Israel’s English website:

    “According to Rebbe Yehoshua’s opinion in the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Bo, 210), “Moshiach” (Hebrew for Messiah) will come during the month of Nissan (Rebbe Eliezer disagrees, and says that Moshiach will come in Tishrei). Perhaps that’s why everyone’s longing for redemption reawakens during the month of Nissan, when G-d redeemed the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt.

    Everybody seems to be writing about Moshiach these days and everyone seems to be talking about him. Tamar Yonah (Israel’s Oprah, but a lot more talented) asked for my opinion during one of my recent appearances on her weekend Israel National Radio show broadcast. My answer was a cold sponge on the enthusiam of the Messianic double-guessers: The Gemara curses those who second-guess the coming of the Messiah and says תפח רוחם, or “May they drop dead!” (tractate Sanhedrin, 97B). The Rambam actually codified this curse into religious law (Hilchot Melachim 12:2); in his classic “Thirteen Principles of Faith” (see Rambam’s commentary on the Mishna, tractate Sanhedrin, 10:1, principle number 12), and writes that we must believe in the coming of the Messiah with complete faith, and although he may tarry, we must await his arrival whenever he comes. According to both the Lithuanian tradition (disciples of the Vilna Gaon) and the Chassidic tradition (disciples of of the Baal Shem Tov), we must patiently wait for Moshiach with simple and pure faith. Torah, prayer, and good deeds are what the soul needs, not Messianic speculation.

    Throughout Jewish history, whenever a false messiah or an expected “moshiach” arrival date became a disappointment, many people lost their faith.

    I once heard a very sharp joke that the big tobacco companies finance the messianic movements, because whenever a messianic movement is proved wrong – either when the messianic candidate fails to save the world or when the speculated due date expires – then many of the movement’s members, former Sabbath observers, begin smoking on the Sabbath, and tobacco sales increase.

    My esteemed teacher, the Melitzer Rebbe shlit”a, told me the following story: In 1860, rumors spread like wildfire that the Messiah will be coming that very year (1860 in the Jewish calendar is 5620, and 620 is the numerical equivalent of כתר, “keter”, which means “crown”, an allusion to Moshiach and the kingdom of David). In the prayer house of the great Chassidic master Rebbe Yechezkel of Shinova, the son of the renown Rebbe Chaim of Tsanz, the chassidim were all whispering Moshiach conjectures during a prayer service. Rebbe Yechezkel banged on the podium with his fist – bringing the services to an abrupt halt – and roared, “I promise you – Moshiach will not come this year!”

    Maybe speculation about the coming of the Messiah would make interesting betting in Las Vegas, but it adds nothing to a person’s love of G-d, fear of G-d, Torah scholarship, soul development, and/or spiritual awareness. So why speculate? Why give yourself a broken heart by being disappointed when your expected Moshiach due date becomes just another day?

    Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches us that the only way to safely make it through these times is with simple and innocent faith. I strongly suggest that we all follow his advice.

    Again, my apologies for the damp sponge, but one must extinguish a fire when it burns in the wrong place. A candle-light of simple faith is always better than the fire of messianic conjecture; the latter – unfortunately, destroys everything in its path.”

12. Moshiach is here! We just have to open our eyes.

    Re dream: i found a video on youtube you may be interested in watching. Rav Benayahu Shmueli, a Rosh Yeshiva in Jerusalem speaks during a shiur where he mentions the dream about the Choftz Chaim.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i437Mte_YDI

13. I’m definitely not doing any Teshuva until every last item on that list is verified to be absolutely true.

    If any one of them is false it’s clearly proof that Moshiach is not coming.

14. I’ll just add to what others have said that Iceland isn’t covered by ice; it just has a few glaciers. (Its banking system did recently “melt down”, however.)

    Nothing against tshuvah, but we should get our facts straight!

15. Do you dismiss the possibility of understanding zohar without a rishon’s pirush? Why is that? Is a possibility of a mesorah or true ruach hakodesh beyond the pale?

    I’m confident that there are those among us that understand exactly what is in the zohar.

16. At the time of the Yom Kippur war (1973) there were many rumours going around Israel that there were sections in the Zohar saying that Moshiach would come immediately after a war Sukkos time at which a new comet would be visible too. Lo and behold a new comet (can’t remember which one) was visible just then. I clearly remember Rav Shach ztsl speaking up against such rumours, pointing out that even if we would understand the Zohar properly (which, as he pointed out is unlikely seeing that there is no Rashi or Tosfos, nor any other Rishon on the Zohar), we couldn’t pasken like it as it was “Daas Yochid” (the opinion of an individual Tanna). If we want to know when Moshiach comes, he said, we have to look in Halocho. And he opened the Rambam and read out the halocho: “Moshiach will come if we do tshuvoh!”

17. Ummm, Obama just announced his possible pick for Chief of Staff. The guy’s name is “Rahm Emmanuel.” Those are Hebrew words, by the way,a s i’m sure you will easily perceive.

    I’m not saying this necessarily means anything of any significance whatsoever. I’m just saying, inrteresting how history kind of provides these little tiny minute trends/ glimpses/whatever you call it in little places here and there.

    Emmanuel is a former Clinton appointee who is well known as a policy maven. so this is more evidence of Obama governing from the center.

    He seems so far to be running with many major aspects of Clinton’s approach. But he seems to have more of a genuinine social and economic mandate and consensus than i think Clinton ever had.

18. From what I see and understand here is that Mashiach could be in our midst right now but we are not noticing him because we are refusing to see the forrest through the trees.

    What a shame for us
    how can we save ourselves from, ourselves?

19. Am Yisrael is in distress and beleaguered by enemies. The basic idea behind these stories is the we have the power to increase MERIT (zchus). I don’t see any in saying that we should hope (and even pray) for Geulah, increase merit, learn Torah, do mitzvos, do tshuvah. No one ever thought that the role of being Goel Yisroel would be simple and obvious. It wasn’t obvious to Shmuel haNovi before he picked David.

20. If everyone were as “overenthusiastic” as Lubavitchers are about moshiach, regardless of his identity, he would have been here long ago.

21. Assuming Rambam’s criteria, this person would probably need to have influence right now in order to do what he has to by 2009. However, I can’t think of any influential Jew alive that I could see being moshiach.

22. Even if there were sudden melting of all ice caps and glaciers, raising the sea level drastically, it would not flood the entire planet. Hence, it would not be a mabul.

23. “This post is hilarious in light of its glaring omission of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s repeated predictions of the imminent coming of moshiach. This is easily the driving inspiration and ikkar of every single day of his leadership.”

    Er, the post is about recent statements or events. Since the Lubavitcher Rebbe passed away 14 years ago, his proclamations don’t belong on the list. However, he is relevant to the discussion as an illustration of the dangers of overenthusiastic messianism.

24. My son has a video of Rav Zohn that was taken this summer when heas in EY. In it, Rabbi Zohn clearly says that Moshiach is coming.

    However, after 911 there were signs on the bulletin board at a local Beis Medrash that Moshiach was coming immeninently.

    I”H, it’ll be true. The year 6000 is getting very close.

25. It is clear from the interview that the talmid, Rabbi Zohn believed it to be a “genuine dream” and that he felt obligated to publicize it. I just pulled this quote which might be relevant to the post.

    Q: It is known that the Chofetz Chaim had
    a special set of clothing that he saved
    for greeting Mashiach. Are you also
    preparing for his arrival?

    A: What kind of question is that? We
    have always been prepared for it.

26. I’m not saying that Mishpacha thought it was a dream, I’m saying that it’s up to the reader to decide but at least you get to hear what it is that talmid had dreamed.

27. If they thought it was just a dream, why run as one of the three major stories?

    I was surprised and a little disappointed that they ran it and it caused me to re-evaluate my assessment of the magazine. I still enjoy Rabbi Horowitz and Rabbi Rosenblums columns.

    I’m not a huge fan of an apocalyptical view of world events.

28. I have no problem with Mishpacha running the story for two reasons:

    1. They actually interviewed the talmid who had the dream;

    2. Just because someone had a dream that the Chofetz Chaim appeared in doesn’t mean that it was anything more than just a dream.

    Before the article appeared, I had heard the story from numerous people. The actual story as told through the interview was vastly different than what I had heard from various unrelated people. This highlights the point that people change the story as they pass it from person to person.

29. This post is hilarious in light of its glaring omission of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s repeated predictions of the imminent coming of moshiach. This is easily the driving inspiration and ikkar of every single day of his leadership.

30. David, What’s your take on Mishpacha running the Chofetz Chaim dream story?

31. I have several problems with these these types of emails and stories:

    1. They are generally unverifiable;
    2. They are often riddled with errors, embellishments and speculations;
    3 If they turn out to be untrue, they diminish the credibility of the Rabbonim being quoted (mostly misquoted); and
    4. They provide fodder for ridicule.

32. An appropriate response is to ignore such speculation and concentrate on loving your fellow Jew, doing (other) mitzvos, and learning Torah.

    I’m sure moschiach will let us know when he gets here…

33. We should always try to strengthen our attachment to HaShem through Torah and Mitzvos. The fact that HaShem really wants us to do so should be compelling, regardless of when He will send the Mashiach.

    The downside of basing our self-improvement on speculation about the Mashiach’s time of arrival is that any apparent delay in arrival can lead to disillusionment and worse.

    Speculation about the identity of the Mashiach and the identity of Gog/Magog is also unproductive at best.

34. Clearly there are questionable sources in the email. Mishpacha ran the talmid of the Chofetz Chaim story.

    I’ve personally heard from what I consider reliable sources, that Roshei Yeshiva both here and in Eretz Yisroel have been increasingly talking about the coming of Moshiach. My Rav feels that the Torah guides us on how to live whether Moshiach comes imminently or not. Of course we need to hope and pray for his arrival, but our basic observance remains unchanged.

    But what if you knew for sure Moshiach was coming imminently. Would you do anything differently?

35. And I would question the entire email — the Chazon Ish is not R’Chaim Kanievsky’s grandfather — he is his uncle. It is not clear when someone claims to have spoken to R’Elya Svei but he has not been well for quite some time and it is unlikely, given his condition, that he is making statements like this. Finally, Hashem never promised that there would be no partial flood. Even if the ocean waters rise by 20 feet, there still would not be a flood. Look back the tsunami a couple years ago that given a tremendous number of people — no one argues that was in violation of Hashem’s promise not to flood the world because it was only partial. These inaccuracies/questionable statements are in addition to the bircas ha-chamah point made by the Wolf.

    Of course, though, we should all do teshuvah. We have a much older source that Mashiach can and will come imminently — Hayom — im be-kolo tishma’u!

36. And 360 years ago, it was widely believed (by Christians and Jews) that the arrival of the Messiah was imminent. All sorts of justifications as to how the day was at hand were found.

    The result for the Jews was Sabbatai Tzvi.

37. You might want to ask whoever sent you the email to check their facts.

    Birkas HaChamah does NOT come out on the first day of Pesach… it comes out Erev Pesach. Birchas HaChammah is always said on Wednesday, but the first day of Pesach this year is on Thursday.

    Secondly, Bircas HaChamah was not said in the year of the Exodus or the year of Purim. You can do the math yourself to confirm this.

    Thirdly, assuming the person meant ‘Erev Pesach’ instead of ‘the first day,’ he’s still wrong. Birchas HaChamah came out on Erev Pesach as recently as 1925.

    The Wolf

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