Moshiach and Geulah

mashiach.org


i am reposting as it was posted in old forum...


The Suffering of Moshiach I



In one of the most famous Talmudic passages concerning Moshiach, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asks Elijah the prophet when Moshiach will come. Elijah tells Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi to ask Moshiach himself. Where is Moshiach? Sitting among the sickly paupers at the gate to Rome, untying and replacing the bandages over his sores.

This passage is followed by the suggestion that Rabbi Yehudah HaNassi, who organized and edited the first part of the Talmud, could be Moshiach because he suffered from illnesses and was completely righteous.

Isaiah describes at length "a man of pains and acquainted with sickness." Many Jewish commentators, such as Ramban and Abarbanel, explain this as a reference to Moshiach.

Many passages in the book of Psalms speak of the sufferings and illness of King David. Our Sages explain these as also a reference to the sufferings and illness of King David's descendent, Moshiach.

The Maharal of Prague, the great leader, philosopher, legal authority and mystic who lived in the 1500's, discussed the nature of and reasons for the pain Moshiach would have to endure.

The Alshich, a sixteenth century kabbalist, explains that Moshiach accepts his suffering willingly, with love for the Jewish people and all mankind, that when Moshiach finally reveals himself, we will realize that he chose to suffer. We will then understand how much effort he invested in bearing the suffering of the generation."

Rabbi Schneur Zalman, the founder of Chabad Chassidism, actually details the nature and symptoms of the illness Moshiach will suffer.

The Chofetz Chaim, in his work on awaiting Moshiach, discusses the concept of the "birthpangs of Moshiach." In fact, this idea, likening the time of Moshiach to the pain and turmoil of giving birth, is found throughout the legal, philosophic and mystical discussions of Moshiach over the centuries. Surely, if the generation in which Moshiach comes will, unfortunately, know great suffering and travail, then Moshiach himself will share in, actually have the greatest portion of, the sickness and pain.

Why? Why must Moshiach, the individual who will bring redemption to the world, undergo illness and pain? We can understand that there may be a period of doubt - perhaps, G-d forbid, rejection by some, unwilling to accept what the Torah tells us or not yet educated in the concepts of Moshiach and Redemption. This part of the process we can accept - reluctantly - because the process of redemption, of pushing away great darkness, begins with just a little light.

But the need to struggle, to teach, to, as Maimonides puts it, heal the breaches, should not require physical illness. Why does being sick seem to be a pre-requisite to bringing goodness and kindness to the world?

There are two basic reasons. The first has to do with the relationship between a leader and his people, more specifically, between Moshiach and the generation that will greet him. There is an intimate connection between them, as our Sages teach, "The generation is its leader, and the leader is the generation." Accordingly, the suffering of Moshiach is for the sake of, and to atone for, his generation.

The second reason for Moshiach's illness has to do with Moshiach himself. As we have explained before, redemption is a process: the potential Moshiach becomes the presumed Moshiach, and then the confirmed Moshiach. Each stage represents a transformation of the individual. In order for Moshiach to move to the next stage, he must, in a sense, cease being who he was. Any change in an individual - the stages of life - creates an upheaval, an imbalance. The sickness of Moshiach, then, is part of the transformation, the process of becoming Moshiach in the fullest sense, the King and Redeemer.

In the next two weeks we will, G-d Willing, talk about each of these explanations at more length.


Moshiach's Suffering II



Last week we presented Biblical, Talmudic and mystical passages testifying that, according to Jewish tradition, part of the process for the revelation of Moshiach includes a period of intense suffering and severe illness for Moshiach. Two basic reasons have been offered by the scholars. This week we will discuss the first, that Moshiach is a leader intimately tied with his people.

We are taught that "The generation is its leader, and the leader is the generation." If there is an intimate connection between any leader and his generation, how much deeper must be the relationship between Moshiach and the generation that will greet him!

There is a famous story about the Mitteler Rebbe, the second Lubavitcher Rebbe. At a private audience, a young man lamented about some youthful transgressions. The Mitteler Rebbe uncovered his forearm and pointed out a section that had shriveled, saying, "See how my skin clings to my bones, and all this from your 'sins of youth.'" The story shows that, despite the Mitteler Rebbe's high spiritual stature, he was so bound up with his followers that one's unsatisfactory spiritual state could affect his phyical health - literally shrinking his skin.

After the Jewish people sinned by worshipping the Golden Calf, G-d said he would destroy them and build a new nation through Moses. But Moses, who had not sinned, who had not even been with the people at the time, replied that he was willing to continue only if G-d would forgive the people. If G-d would not, however, Moses demanded to be removed from the Torah.

Accepting the leadership of the Jewish people means accepting the consequences of their actions, as well. Or, as the Talmud says, just as sacrifices make atonement, so the death of the righteous makes atonement.

The willingness to sacrifice for another, to suffer for another even, especially, when the fault or problem is the other person's, is a natural part of any relationship. Indeed, it may be the most basic, fundamental definition of a relationship. Like a parent for a child, a leader must be so bound up and involved with his generation, that he takes responsibility for, is willing to suffer for, makes atonement for their errors and transgressions. Or, as expressed in the ethical work Mesilas Yeshorim, when someone deeply loves another person, he cherishes opportunities to express that love by coping with hardships for the sake of that person.

That Moshiach not only is willing to suffer, but, G-d forbid, may have to suffer for his people, follows naturally from his relationship, the inseparable bond he has with them. This connection, however, has a reciprocal effect, for the illness and pain Moshiach accepts for our sake must change us as well. When children see a parent sacrificing for them, when soldiers see a commander taking the greatest risk, it arouses a determination to improve, to contribute, to be worthy of what is being done for them. Thus, Ramban explains that the pain of Moshiach will result in our being rectified, "for in his merit G-d will forgive us and we will be healed of our own transgressions."

That Moshiach's suffering results from our transgressions and is not, G-d forbid, Divinely decreed, leads to another, critical consequence. It means we can spare Moshiach his pain and hasten his revelation by increasing our merits. Our actions - our words and thoughts - count in the struggle to bring Redemption. Thus, the sixteenth century mystic and scholar Alshich writes that by their tzedekah and belief in Moshiach, the Jewish people actually fortify and invigorate him. To this, even non-Jews can contribute. "By their acts of righteousness the people increase his strength and by their belief they enhance the power of his merits."

By our acts of goodness and kindness, by increasing our charity and knowledge of and belief in Moshiach, we can achieve the goal of Redemption: an end to all suffering.


The suffering of Moshiach III



The past two weeks we have discussed Biblical, Talmudic and mystical passages testifying that, according to Jewish tradition, part of the process for the revelation of Moshiach includes a period of intense suffering and severe illness for Moshiach. Two basic reasons have been offered by the scholars. Last week, we considered the first, that Moshiach, as a leader, was intimately tied to, responsible for and affected by the actions his people.

The second reason for Moshiach's illness concerns Moshiach himself, how an individual becomes the king and Redeemer of the Jewish people and, after that, all mankind. The process of becoming Moshiach represents a transformation of the individual. In order for Moshiach to move to the next stage, he must, in a sense, cease being who he was. As with any change in an individual's status - whether an alteration in external circumstances or the internal trauma of the stages of life - Moshiach's metamorphosis from simply being a wise and holy man to the actual king and redeemer involves an upheaval, an imbalance.

For this reason, the time of the coming of Moshiach is often referred to as the "birthpangs of Moshiach," for just as the labor and delivery of a newborn involves a tremendous, difficult struggle, so, too the emergence of Moshiach may well require a painful disruption of previous conditions, leading to confusion, agitation and disorder. Naturally, this convulsion would affect both the generation - and Moshiach himself.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman, known as the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad Chassidism, explains, in a brief but insightful discourse, why there is upheaval before Moshiach is fully revealed, and what his illness will be like. The Jewish people are considered one entity, one body - a complete individual. Each and every Jew, he says, has a unique function, a Divine service particular to that person alone, whether of an intellectual, emotional or physical nature. Without each and every individual, the Jewish people would not be whole. What affects one, affects all.

Naturally, however, what happens to the head has the most far-reaching repercussions; and the consequences of , G-d forbid, an injury elsewhere are measured in the head, so to speak. By analogy, what happens to the individual who is the head, the leader of the generation, will happen to the generation itself. And what befalls the generation, will befall the leader. That is, the leader of the generation, but particularly Moshiach, is the microcosmic reflection of the macrocosmic situation and experience of the generation.

Now, when a soul occupies a body, it "dwells," so to speak, in the brain, and from there guides the limbs in an orderly fashion. There is peace between each of the parts. Each organ performs its function, responding to the directions of the soul. But when, G-d forbid, there is a problem in the brain, when the blood cannot flow back and forth properly, this spreads to all the other limbs and their functions and situations become confused. When the head is so afflicted, the limbs of the body cannot respond properly. There is a numbness, an inability of the body and mind to communicate; indeed, though the mind may be active, though each individual organ - heart, liver, etc. - may be healthy and working, nevertheless the individual seems to be in a coma, apparently detached and disconnected from the outside world.

This condition of apparently internal paralysis or bewilderment and outer unconsciousness has a parallel in the state of the Jewish people at the time of greatest darkness and coldness. That is, just as the deepest blackness of the night occurs just before the emergence of the dawn, so too the disarray among the Jewish people - the inability to abide another's Divine service, though performed according to Jewish law, the entanglement of good and evil, is strongest. just before Moshiach.

For, the Alter Rebbe points out, there is sometimes a need for this chaos and bewilderment, painful and difficult as it is for the individual enduring it, or the Jewish people experiencing it. Sometimes when the G-dly light, the Divine soul, needs to shine forth, to be revealed, in a categorically new form and manner, then, just as the darkness thickens before the light, or labor is most intense before birth - just as all attention and effort focuses on the profound transformational struggle - so too, within the individual there will be a great confusion and internal dissension. The transition - the great difference - between the old and the new spiritual status may require a traumatic internal upheaval, and a consequent seclusion and isolation from the outside world.

But after the darkness, there is light. After the birthpangs, there is a new life. And after the transformational sickness, there will be Moshiach, the King and Redeemer, who will harmonize, transform and spiritually elevate his generation, the one that will have knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the seabed.