Comments to Rabbi Avraham Feld: "Is Redemption Here?" (27 May 2022)
re
Leah Altmann
bs"d {by the Help of God] Yes, we're in the Redemption process, but the closer we get to the final steps, much like the perils of boulder fields, glaciers, increased exposure (meaning huge drop-off's where the trail is narrow, and to stumble, faint, or step off the trail means to tumble down or go into free-fall for thousands of feet), and difficulty in obtaining oxygen, found near the summit of a mountain, which seems ever more distant the closer one gets to it, as the size of the boulders one has to climb there is finally revealed and it's not just a cute grey or white cap on top of a bluish distant mountain, the harder it is. Ikvesa d'Meshicha [Footsteps of Messiah], the birthpangs of Moshiach. Can be painful. Sometimes birthpangs cannot be survived, so this is a suspenseful situation. The RaMChaL says in "Essay on Fundamentals," at the end of "Derech HaShem," [i.e. the book, "The Way of God"] that in any event, by no means can the coming of Moshiach delay past the year 6000 [from the Creation], when Hashem will return and reveal Himself unmitakeably, judge all people, and bring Techiyas HaMeisim [Resurrection of the Dead]. He says a few Jews will not be redeemed. Lubavitch says all Jews will be redeemed. Both acknowledge that Righteous Gentiles will be redeemed. Those who opposed Hashem's work on this world in the First Tekufah [First Age] will be judged and annihilated. Davidiy sheyichyeh [May he live] gives us a great gift to help us understand where our lost brethren went. He helps me understand why sometimes I feel a closer values-orientation commonality with some Gentile individuals than with some mainstream Jewish individuals who are able to trace their lineage way back to before the time of the First Temple. As we are seeking, in Galut [Exile], not only to find our lost brethren, but to redeem the sparks Adam HaRishon [the First Man] dropped around the whole world (he was strong and long-lived, so I've heard he traversed the whole world) it seems possible that the exile, long migrations, and extensive intermarriages of the Ten Tribes are part of Hashem's plan to enlist help from many and diverse people and nations, in liberating the sparks Adam HaRishon dropped around the world, after the Fall and the Expulsion from Gan Eden [Garden of Eden]. I am encouraged by this video's speaker's [i.e. Rabbi Feld] inspirational style, but I had to comment, as we're not home free yet. We must mechazek [strengthen] each other, thousands of miles distant, for the last struggles, which will be the hardest. Luzzatto (RaMChaL) says that when 6000 comes, the time of striving for perfection will have ended, Each person will have, in the time to come, what he/she earned, with no way to improve it further. This is what allows me to welcome the struggle, and yet try to survive it, because I know that once I pass, I am unable to do anything more, until I awaken to the judgment of what I earned or did not earn. So, if I have a hard struggle and can overcome those challenges, then, I really could get a worthwhile situation, in the coming time. I am grateful that Davidiy clarifies which Gentile groups may have which talents in assisting us in the struggles of Galut [Exile], and, that he will help those for whom the Jewish [Israelite] spark is more important than the Gentile aspect of their ancestry, to find their way to a Jewish [Israelite] future, if indeed this is the choice of some of them, or at least to help them find the worth of respecting and living according to the Sheva Mitzvos [Seven Noachide Commandments], as they will know that some of their ancestors, at least, were present at Har Sinai [Mount Sinai where the Torah was given] when those Laws were made enforceable.
Editorial Note:
RAMCHAL:
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707 - 1746)), also known by the Hebrew acronym RaMCHaL (or "RaMHaL" ), was a prominent Italian Jewish rabbi, kabbalist, and philosopher. Born in the Jewish ghetto of Padua, Republic of Venice. Possessed vast knowledge in religious lore, the arts, and science. His writings demonstrate mastery of the Tanakh (Bible), the Talmud, and the rabbinical commentaries and codes of Jewish law. Author of the Mesillat Yesharim ("Ay of the Just," 1740) which today could be considered the primary Jewish work of Spiritual Correction and Self-Improvement by Stages; also "Derekh Hashem" (The Way of God) - a concise work on the core theology of Judaism. It is probably the most widely accepted strai\ght-forward outline of basic Jewish Therology as now accepted in Rabbinical circles. These are the works the RAMCHAL is best known for but he also authored numerous other works. From Italy he moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Rabbi Luzzatto left Amsterdam for the Holy Land in 1743, settling in Acre, near present-day Haifa. Three years later, he and his family died in a plague.