Exile & Redemption: Where Do We Stand?

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]Shalom aleichem.

[00:00:02]And welcome.

[00:00:04]Today is Yod b'Iyar, the 10th day of the month of Iyar, the second month of our calendar. The year is tav shin peh vav, corresponding to the 27th of April, 2026.

[00:00:18]And today is the 25th day of the Omer.

[00:00:23]And with me once again, uh my friend [clears throat] Rabbi Michael Friedman, who is also a mental health expert. Shalom. Shalom u'vracha.

[00:00:31]Today, as I just mentioned, is the 10th day of Iyar, Yod b'Iyar, which means that 5 days ago, last Wednesday, was heh b'Iyar, the fifth day of Iyar, which I prefer to refer to as Yom Ha'Atzmaut.

[00:00:49]Yom Ha'Atzmaut, the word Atzmaut comes from the Torah explicitly, which means uh to to uh v'holech etchem komemiyut, Hashem promises if we follow the Torah, we will be we will walk upright and proud and and uh free and sovereign.

[00:01:07]And we will not be under the thumb of other nations.

[00:01:15]That is the meaning of the word komemiyut, from the shoresh, from the verb, the root, lakum, kum. Kum means to rise up and and to to be uh upright.

[00:01:28]Now, it is my practice, as it is the practice of many many people, but not all people, as you know, to recite uh Hallel on this day.

[00:01:39]Now, I want you to say a few things about this.

[00:01:42]First of all, I wanted to point out that I recite Hallel davka, davka on that day, heh b'Iyar, not on any other day.

[00:01:56]This year happens to be an unusual year, rather rare occurrence, in fact, due [snorts] to all kinds of calculations and considerations, so that this day, which is also known as everyone knows as Yom Ha'Atzmaut, the Independence Day, which I a term I do not like, for the simple reason uh one of one reason at least is that Bulgaria, Zimbabwe, and and uh New Zealand also have Independence Days. So, uh I think New Zealand has an Independence Day. I I >> [laughter] >> I cannot recall exactly.

[00:02:27]Um but uh Bulgaria, I'm sure it does, and Zimbabwe, I'm sure it does, and uh I'm sure also do the Seychelles. So, is not there's nothing particularly uh Jewish or meaningful or significant about the word independent the term Independence Day.

[00:02:42]We we must have a better term than that.

[00:02:45]And and the term Yom Ha'Atzmaut, I suggest, is the best and most correct and most precise term, based on a promise of us by Hashem to us in the Torah that if we act according to the Torah as a nation, then we shall exist in a state of komemiyut, of of upright, proud, sovereign national existence, which is an essential part of the Torah, because we are supposed to be as an upright, proud, sovereign nation.

[00:03:18]Mamlachet kohanim v'goy kadosh, a nation of uh a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, as we have mentioned more than once in the past.

[00:03:27]So, I'd like to relate, first of all, the following story.

[00:03:33]As I've mentioned many times before, I studied in Yeshivat Merkaz Harav for approximately 10 years.

[00:03:41]And after having been in that Yeshiva for perhaps 3 years or 4 years, something like that. I think probably 3 years.

[00:03:53]>> [snorts] >> I asked um and I and I looked into this surya, into this halachic question of reciting Hallel. Why do we recite Hallel on this on this particular day? As I said, I say on this particular day, heh b'Iyar, because that is the relevant date.

[00:04:09]The fact that the state of Israel, for various reasons, celebrates or the general public celebrates this day most years either on gimel or dalet or vav b'Iyar, the third, the fourth, or the sixth of Iyar, and not on heh b'Iyar, so it doesn't run into Shabbat in any way, which is an a correct and proper consideration.

[00:04:30]Halachically, we are required, in my view, to recite whatever it is that we recite. If you recite something on that day, uh on heh b'Iyar, on that particular on that specific day, whether it's on Shabbat or any other day of of the week, makes no difference.

[00:04:44]And the halachic basis for this is actually very simple. It's exactly like putting the surash in Yerushalayim.

[00:04:51]When uh tet vav b'Adar, the 15th day of Adar, falls on on a Shabbat, we do not read the Megillah on Shabbat, lest it be carried b'reshut harabim.

[00:05:03]We read the Megillah on yod dalet, on Fri- Friday, like everybody else.

[00:05:07]But we do not recite in Yerushalayim in we do not recite Al Hanisim, for example, on the Friday, on yod dalet. We recite it on tet vav, on that day where it should have when it should have taken place, were it not for some special Shabbat-related consideration.

[00:05:23]The same is true here.

[00:05:25]We also read from the the relevant parasha, reading from the Torah Vayavo Amalek, on the Shabbat and not on Friday, etc. Okay. So, when I began to look into this surya, I was perhaps 20 years old.

[00:05:42]Um I realized that most people in the national religious world, the non-Haredi world, shall we say, do not actually know why they recite Hallel on this day.

[00:05:57]And I do not know the actual halachic reason. Maybe they they imagine in their minds a certain reason, but they don't have know the halachic reason, the Torah reason, the Torah rationale.

[00:06:08]And I put this theory of mine to test. I simply went up to a few people, literally in the corridor of the of the dormitory in my room. I just went out and asked a few people, "Why why do you uh recite Hallel on Yom Yom Ha'Atzmaut?"

[00:06:23]That's what that's what they call it.

[00:06:25]So, that's what the term I used at the time.

[00:06:27]And without fail, each one responded in the following manner. The answer to the question was, in Hebrew, lama tomir Hallel b'Yom Ha'Atzmaut? And the answer was, mishum she'yesh lanu medina.

[00:06:39]Because we have a state.

[00:06:42]That was the answer.

[00:06:44]And at that moment, I successfully proved to myself, at least, that these people did not know why they were saying Hallel, because there is no halachic uh definition or category >> [snorts] >> based on any surya, anywhere in any Talmud or any Chazalic source that suggests that when you have a medina, you when when the Jewish people have their own state, they recite Hallel.

[00:07:12]And when they don't, they presumably do not recite Hallel or something like that.

[00:07:18]That is not not true.

[00:07:20]The reason given in the Talmud, both in Masechet Pesachim and in Masechet Megillah, is that the Jewish people were in a state of existential danger and or threat >> [snorts] >> to their very physical existence, or alternatively, they were uh threatened with subjugation and slavery and and being denied their national sovereign existence.

[00:07:51]The two the terms used by the Talmud are either either me- me- met l'chaim, that when the Jewish people were in a situation they may have ended up literally dead, because they had enemies who wished to destroy them, and they ended up surviving and and being saved from that danger.

[00:08:08]Or m'shibud m'avdut l'cheirut, m'shibud l'cheirut, when the the other possibility is that they may be conquered and and subjugated by a foreign power, another nation, and they are saved from that situation, we recite Hallel in order to thank Hashem.

[00:08:28]That is the halachic definition.

[00:08:34]Now, why why is this relevant?

[00:08:42]There are many many people, many uh Torah-oriented Jews of different stripes, who as part of this debate, is of- it's often connected to the question of how you relate to Yom Ha'Atzmaut or Yom Ha'Atzmaut, but it's a a broader, more general question, namely, in what historic period are we living at the present time?

[00:09:09]Are we living are we living in a a state of in a reality of galut, which literally means exile, >> [snorts] >> which is a curious thing to say when you're living in in in Yerushalayim or in Bnei Brak or or Ariel, in Eretz Yisrael, but that's what how how some people view our current situation. This is what in the Haredi world they all That's the that's the standard uh formulation. We are in galut. We are living in a state of galut.

[00:09:44]On the other side of the of the uh demarcation line, in the more Zionist-oriented uh circles, they say, "No, we're living in a in a reality of geulah, beginning Or and a term they like to use, the beginning of the redemption.

[00:10:03]I will [snorts] add here parenthetically that when I was still studying in the when I was close to a certain rather that time and I once was speaking to him about this and other matters and he mentioned to me that in the year which is 1955 had you said seven a gallon of yourself seven a tremendous who was shall we say not of a persuasion and he's he's he wrote many books with many of which are very well known and and like to this day he attended so this rather informed me he attended the what's called the the gathering after in the evening of Yom Kippur Yom so called he came to the and spoke at this event and to this day this event is well known many people that go like to attend and hear whoever it is that comes to speak and he said that we are not that we are we are in the middle of the that's what he said it's a bold statement yes another bold statement I'm not familiar with with anyone else I'm not I'm not aware that anyone else made such a statement either before or since but this is what this rather told me no I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I take back what I said I have to be more precise I don't remember now what he what he said to me rather than got up and spoke and said we are this is a time this period is of this is the the beginning chapter of the of the redemptive process in other words this implies obviously that that the redemption is a process not a one time one moment event and something that unfolds historically and we are living in the opening chapter of this event I have the ruler I should point out again parenthetically that this term appears only a couple of times in in in this term at the ruler and it's never defined so is there a definition a clear definition of what the ruler means no the answer is no there's no definition which is a problem because in we discuss things that are defined things which which can be quantified right you have to eat on how much is a how much how much is a so and so so if you're interested it's 3 cc not what people tell you which is a very small amount that's just a very small piece that size so when you discuss any concept in the Torah and you really have no working definition you you are already living in a in a in a vague never world where where the concepts the terms that you're using are unclear but anyhow it's used once or twice in this term it has no clear definition this this this term does not appear in the doesn't appear in the doesn't appear in the doesn't appear in the tool does not appear in the because there's no as as I'm about to explain it has no significance it has no actual real world significance at all but the story that I'm relating is that rather than got up and spoke and said we are living in a period of okay afterwards I love to see the cook that time who was the of and the son of cook the first of that time >> [snorts] >> stood up and he it's he who said sorry I take back what I said before it's he who said we are not living we are living we are in the middle of the okay okay that's the story and my point is that this this entire discussion in my view is spurious misguided and misleading I remember as a as a young youngster when I first arrived in that time I was I was 18 and I knew I had interactions with the other from other some of whom were you should some of which some of those tell me were people from you studied in you should not as you studied in other so called national religious Zionists religious Zionists and this was the this was the hot topic always in our discussions is this period of is this or is it not and of course each person would try and quote this source or that source or some argument to prove to prove or disprove this claim and I cannot tell you how many hours I heard discussions I was either either participated in such discussions or at least heard such discussions from various points of view yes it is no it's not how do you know what's the proof and these discussions had no end and this this was the case until at some point I realized I don't recall exactly when this was that they're all wrong they're all mistaken because there is absolutely no way to know whether this what how to define this present historical reality this period of history which we live there is no way to know and to define with any certainty with any confidence how how we should view this period of history it's unverifiable yes I think it is and that's fine and it that shouldn't make any difference to us that's my point it should not make one iota of difference to us and as I will continue to I will explain but the discussion is spurious and misleading and misguided why because it is you are trying to define something which to know something which you cannot know only knows if it is or if it is not whether and if it is if it's the ruler or or shall I say the ruler who's to say how would you possibly know such a thing first of all the the concept of of redemption of the Jewish people is also it is definable at least according to certain sources such as the which we can look at >> [snorts] >> but that would be incorrect to to suggest that the position on this matter is the only position I don't claim that's that's be the case in the same way I could I could tell you in other words if I can show you if you learn certain in the and you see what the had to say about some of these matters you see that the had a different position there's no way around that is a fact it's written there in front of you black and on white >> [snorts] >> so that these are two different appreciations two different approaches and understandings of the very term how or how that will come about and what it will involve exactly and what will how will the world even look at that time these are not ideas about which all of Israel agreed unanimously it would be simply incorrect to make such a claim that's number one number two even if you are of the opinion shall we say based on what it says in the beginning of the time of the you will show me that the two were walking the famous quote they were walking somewhere not in the near >> [clears throat] >> a place called a bell and they saw it was late night early morning and they saw the beginnings of the dawn the light coming up in the east and we all know this is a a gradual process the light begins to appear appears and then it increases and slowly the darkness recedes etc okay so that's a a process it's not something that happens in a moment it doesn't go you don't switch from night to day in a flash so one said to the other you should know that is how the will also be it will be a process okay even there are other sources in which you can quote which do not imply that which imply something different that it's something much more sudden and something much more black and white okay but that's that's precisely why we have these different different views but even if you adopt that position which is clearly the position of which I can go on to explain and I would I would add also the position of the view that the way in the Kuzari and uh one could mention others as well.

[00:20:04]Even if you adopt that position, if you exist in a particular historical context and you see certain events and you try and look at the situation of the Jewish people at this point in history, you cannot know for a fact whether this is part of that process referred to in that Haggadah in the Talmud Yerushalmi about a an historical gradual evolutionary unfolding of the Geulah, or whether this is an episode in the in the Jewish people's history.

[00:20:43]Um when you do not actually know exactly what what Hashem has in mind and whether whether where where to plot this point in history on the on the on the on the graph or the map of Jewish history. You don't know you don't know. For example, after the first Galut, after the first exile, destruction of the first Mikdash, and the exile of the Jewish people from their land, after uh 70 years, the Mikdash was rebuilt as prophesied by Yirmeyahu.

[00:21:21]And a small portion, very at that point a very small portion of the Jewish people returned to Eretz Yisrael. And over time, their numbers grew until they became the the center once again the center of the Jewish world.

[00:21:37]And that's why from that period and what preceded from that initial return to Eretz Yisrael, Shivat Tzion, we we have the Torah Shebaal Peh as we know it, for example, the Mishnah, Talmud Yerushalmi, the Tosefta, etc. etc. Midrash Haggadah and Halakha.

[00:21:56]Essentially, it's only the Talmud Bavli that was created in in Galut.

[00:22:06]So, who's to say that our current situation, our our current historical context, is not one more Bayit Sheni second Temple type reality?

[00:22:21]Who's to say that it's not so? I also remember hearing that, but again, when I was a young bochur yeshiva, I remember hearing from more than one person who had heard Rav Soloveitchik zt"l speak about these things and and I think one of them claimed he heard it directly from Rav Soloveitchik, that um the current situation is uh the most we can know is that it's similar to Bayit Sheni. It's similar to the the early period of of the return of the Jewish people at the beginning of the second Temple period, 2 and 1/2 thousand years ago.

[00:22:57]And we can't say with certainty what it is and where it's going.

[00:23:03]Uh okay, so that's Now, I I think I think that understanding is correct. That approach is correct.

[00:23:11]Because there are things in the Torah and in reality in life that the Torah does not address directly.

[00:23:19]The Torah tells you what's how to live your life, what to do. This is assur, this is mutar, this is required, this is not required.

[00:23:26]But the Torah does not give you some kind of road map. You should know if you see this, this, and that happening, you're in a period of Geulah, and if there's something else is going on, you're in a period of Galut, or some some other definition or or terminology. The Torah doesn't provide you with that.

[00:23:46]And it doesn't nor does the Torah tell you, if you're in this situation, if you've decided you know that this is, let's say, a period of Geulah, then you should behave in this way, and if it's not a period of Geulah, then you should behave in another fashion. There's no Where is this written? In the Mishnah?

[00:24:02]In the Talmud? In the Tanakh? Where?

[00:24:05]I can I can answer that question, but simplistically, such a thing doesn't exist, and that is why we have something else in the Torah, which is not the Torah, which is beyond the Torah, which is Nevuah, which is prophecy.

[00:24:18]Why do you have We should ask ourselves, why do you do we need Nevi'im? Why do we need prophets?

[00:24:24]>> It's a good question. We have a Torah.

[00:24:26]It's a good question.

[00:24:27]Yeah. We have a We have a Torah. The Torah tells us what to do. The Hakhamim expounded on what the Torah says explicitly or implicitly, and we we have a we have a clear set of instructions and and formulations what to do and what not to do and how to do things.

[00:24:52]So, why do you need a Navi? The Torah itself answers this question.

[00:24:57]I'm going to probably give this to you over in Hebrew and go into more sources.

[00:25:01]But here, I'll limit myself to just quoting uh without opening up the the sources themselves.

[00:25:08]The Torah says explicitly, if uh you wish to know about things in the future or you wish to know things that you cannot know in the normal way of of human experience, then Akim lekha Navi. I will establish, I will set up, I will ensure that there will be people who are very special, unique individuals known as Nevi'im, as prophets, who will And this is said to Moshe Rabbenu, that you, Moshe Rabbenu, will not live forever, but there will in future generations there will be people similar to you in in that they will be able to receive communications directly from me, and they will tell the people things that they don't know, or things that they need to know.

[00:25:55]Now, the problem with that, of course, is that we haven't got Nevi'im at this time at this point in time.

[00:26:00]So, what happens then? Then you have people, some of whom are Hakhamim, some of whom are perhaps less so, who decide that, well, if there are no Nevi'im, we'll just step in and do the the job for them.

[00:26:13]If they're not here to help us out, we'll help ourselves.

[00:26:16]And that's a mistake.

[00:26:19]You're not a Navi, you don't know.

[00:26:21]You You simply do not know.

[00:26:24]That's not the kind of black and white answer that most people want.

[00:26:29]That's the reality. Most people like a yes or a no. Yes, it is Geulah, or no, it's not Geulah. Yes, it is Galut Galut, or no, it's not.

[00:26:38]But to hear something that is, well, we don't know, we're not sure, and it's impossible to know right now.

[00:26:46]That is not something that most people really are enthused uh and interested in. Right? They're not enthused by or interested in. So, [snorts] my point is that we do not know and we cannot know uh how to define this period of Jewish history with with certainty.

[00:27:08]And the And that And And And also, as I said before, the reason to to recite Hallel or not recite Hallel is not because we have or do not have a Medina.

[00:27:20]For example, if that were the reason, for example, then why would why would we still be reciting Hallel eight days of the year during Hanukkah to commemorate events that took place 2,200 plus years ago?

[00:27:34]If it were true that First of all, the historical events are that there was a revolt led by the Hasmoneans against the Greco-Syrian foreign occupation force, etc., which resulted in uh victory, temporary victory, because [clears throat] the fighting and [snorts] the struggle continued for another 30 years, but uh most people are not aware of the history, but that's the fact.

[00:28:04]And yes, it's true, in the fullness of time, after many years, a what what Hazal referred to as Malkhut Beit Hashmonai, that is to say, a revived, resuscitated Jewish sovereign existence began to take shape in Eretz Yisrael, which lasted for about 80 or so years.

[00:28:27]Some might say 100 years, but not more than that really in in real terms.

[00:28:33]So, the and that and that eventually was also quashed by the Romans when Pompey decided to invade Eretz Yisrael to uh assist the Sadducees against the Pharisees in the civil war that was taking place here at at that time.

[00:28:56]We're talking about 63 year 63 BCE, the common era.

[00:29:02]So, all that all the all the achievements of the revolt of the Hasmoneans and the Jewish people, of course, the majority of the Jewish people who supported them and who fought alongside them, all that was lost within a few generations.

[00:29:26]And yet, we continue to say Hallel to this day. If it were the case that we say Hallel because of the the uh new newly revived Jewish sovereign entity in Eretz Yisrael that that began to take root at that time, then we should have ceased saying Hallel when when uh that ceases to be the case.

[00:29:50]But let's not say we thank Hashem for that which was, even if it is no longer relevant to our current situation. And and there was, uh, a miraculous outstanding chain of events that led to the victory of our forefathers over our enemies and over the the foreign invader and occupier.

[00:30:11]And we thank Hashem for that. That's That's the reason that we recite hallel for eight days every So, this up to this time uh, for eight days every year.

[00:30:23]So, to return to the the point at hand, the reason we say hallel is not because we have a medina.

[00:30:32]Not [clears throat] that that's a bad thing. It's a very good thing. It's very important. But a medina is, in truth, a potentiality.

[00:30:39]It is something which allows the Jewish people to actually get down to the job of fulfilling their historical, divinely ordained role and purpose, which is to be a mamlacht kohanim v'goy kadosh.

[00:30:55]Without a medina, if you have nothing, shall we say, if you go back in in time 150 years, then you have nothing even to begin to work with.

[00:31:10]If 150 years ago you spoke to Jews around the world and suggested to them that, um, we should return to Eretz Yisrael and establish and bring the Geulah or reconstitute Malchut Bet David, the Davidic dynasty, or we should, uh, establish a Jewish state, anything like this.

[00:31:34]You would have been by the vast majority of people, you would have been considered to be a nutcase.

[00:31:41]It was so completely removed from reality on every level that no one would have taken such an idea, or almost no one would have taken such an idea seriously. There were, of course, a few exceptions, right? Like, uh, Rav Alkalai and, uh, and and Rav Kalischer and what have you, but >> [snorts] >> practically, by and large, no one saw such a thing as as reasonable or or feasible.

[00:32:10]And that is exactly why the Jewish history was, as it were, hijacked by by he who, um, Rav Kook referred to as a tinok shenishba, a gadol, a tinok gadol shenishba, referring to Herzl.

[00:32:30]Because because Herzl was an assimilated Jew, but he retained a some convoluted and and and difficult to to almost impossible to define, but nevertheless real affiliation and fervor affiliation with and further further for the Jewish people as a nation.

[00:32:54]And he came up with this idea, and he began to act in in a manner calculated to bring about this change. And and it worked.

[00:33:03]As everyone knows, or everyone should know, in his personal diary, Herzl wrote in 1897 after the first conference in Basel, Zionist conference, he wrote, Hayom yisadeti et hamedina haivrit o hayehudit, I don't remember the exact term.

[00:33:22]I don't think it was really written in in in Hebrew at all. I think it was written in German or something else, but the point is, exactly 50 years later, in 1947, the UN decided on the establishment of a a Jewish homeland.

[00:33:36]I'm not saying that we owe anything to the UN. I'm just saying that's the fact.

[00:33:39]That's the historical fact. He was correct about the timeline.

[00:33:42]And [snorts] he was correct that it was feasible.

[00:33:45]I think he said, is it correct Is it correct Is it correct he said within 50 years there will be Now, no one understands that what I have I have established today, the Jewish state, but in 50 years' time, people will understand. That's what he wrote.

[00:34:03]Amazing. Prescience. No, so what happened? Why did it have to take place?

[00:34:09]Why did such a an historical process have to be set in motion by someone so assimilated and and essentially bereft of Judaism, such as Herzl, or his his associate, who was also a very, uh, problematic individual, shall we say, on many levels, Max Nordau, who was married to a a non-Jewish German or or Swiss, I can't remember, something like that, a woman.

[00:34:41]>> [snorts] >> Also highly assimilated, very very nothing to do with Judaism, but somehow the Dreyfus affair essentially, uh, some some light went off in his head as a result of the Dreyfus affair. The the reason for this is that some Jews misunderstand the the nature of the Torah, the the essence of the Torah. The essence of the Torah is that it is always in effect. All of the Torah at all times are operative and relevant and obligatory and binding.

[00:35:15]But some Jews in our present day, that usually no one is chareidi, they don't see it that way.

[00:35:22]They view uh, they they imagine that some parts of the Torah, as a result of the galut or something like that, uh, cease to be op- operative and operable and relevant and meaningful.

[00:35:35]This is the what underpins the the well-known statement by Rav Shach uh, 50 years ago or something like that, when he said, "We managed without you, Dan Shomron, for 2,000 years, and we can manage without them for another 2,000 years." This is something actually said.

[00:35:53]Now, what How can you say such a thing?

[00:35:57]Because according to his understanding, there are parts of the Torah that go into a kind of deep freeze, that that are somehow deactivated.

[00:36:09]There's some mechanism. I'm not familiar with this mechanism. I don't think it exists, but in in his mind, there is such a mechanism. There was such a mechanism by which the parts of the Torah, that is to say, much of the Torah, in fact, it goes into a uh, kind of, uh, hibernation.

[00:36:29]And it only becomes relevant again when it is reactivated.

[00:36:34]When the when the the bear comes out of hibernation, it once again becomes active. So, the Jewish people are, as it were, in hibernation, and it's not relevant to talk to me about Bet Hamikdash, Eretz Yisrael, or anything like that.

[00:36:47]That is why you go to many people and you say, "What about a korban Pesach? Why aren't we doing a korban Pesach? Why aren't you at least demanding a korban Pesach?"

[00:36:57]Or Mikdash, or anything at all like that, and they'll they'll look at you again. Many will look at you as if you're off your rocker.

[00:37:05]Because they somehow have convinced themselves, completely spuriously, this is not based on anything real, that the Torah parts much of the Torah, most of the Torah, in fact, is in a state of hibernation.

[00:37:22]And only the Torah with which we are familiar in the galut, Shabbat, Talmud Torah, kashrut, etc., bet knesset, only that is relevant and doable and required, and and we should only focus our energies on those things. And that is why this this, uh, process of Geulah referred to Yerushalmi kima kima, a slow evolutionary process had to be put set in motion by people who were very far removed from Torah. Because almost all people connected to the Torah had begun to view the Torah in that fashion, which is mistaken.

[00:38:04]And this is something that, uh, I I will presently endeavor to prove in very very simple, straightforward fashion. The truth is that all parts of the Torah are always in force and always binding and always relevant. There are only two questions.

[00:38:24]Are you able to to perform this to perform to actualize this part of the Torah, this this piece of the Torah, this mitzvah, this inyan, whether it's, shall we say, uh, yerushat Eretz Yisrael, whether it is binyan Bet Hamikdash, whether it is hakamat, uh, melech, whatever it is, any any mitzvah which has to do with the true, uh, national uh, existence of the Jewish people as delineated in the Torah, are you able to do it? Do the Does Is the historical context such that you are able to do such something about this, or are you truly in a state where you're anus, you're unable? In which case, it's not that the mitzvah no longer exists, it's just that you're unable to do it.

[00:39:16]L'maaseh val domeh, similar to what a Jew living in Siberia in the some far furthermost reaches of Russia, where you cannot grow etrogim, right?

[00:39:29]So, every year you have sukkot and you're supposed to have an etrog. What are you supposed to do if you don't have an etrog growing in your garden? Here, you can have an etrog growing in your garden, and I know people who do.

[00:39:40]But, um, and if you don't, someone else does.

[00:39:43]But, it's not hard to get. Not not difficult to obtain.

[00:39:47]But, if in many parts of the world, it was impossible to obtain.

[00:39:52]So, that you would send you would order a year in advance, half a year in advance, it would be sent from Israel from or from Italy or from Greece where many gentiles also grew these the the etrogim in order to sell them to Jews.

[00:40:06]And either it arrived or it didn't arrive.

[00:40:08]There were many times. That's why you have the expression in Yiddish as many people will be familiar with something that arrives late after when it's no longer relevant as to it's it's it's beyond the the use by date.

[00:40:23]Uh, when something is arrives very late and is no longer useful, in Yiddish it's it's referred to as something which is you know, this is useless.

[00:40:32]The etrogim of Sukkot, like etrogim that arrive after Sukkot.

[00:40:36]Wow. Because it happened in various parts of the Jewish world, particularly in Eastern Europe, that an etrog was sent to people, was sent to communities.

[00:40:45]Very often was only one or two per community.

[00:40:47]Wow. Um, but they arrived late for various reasons.

[00:40:53]And then it's not very helpful at all.

[00:40:54]In fact, it's of no value at all. And an etrog is a is a piece of fruit which you can you can eat or make into jam or what have you, but it's not it's not helpful in Jewish terms after Sukkot. So, the expression Yiddish is that something is as worthless as this the etrogim of Sukkot. So, the two questions, are you able to do something about it? So, are you able to perform the mitzvah of the arba'ah minim with an etrog on Sukkot this year or you not able because you happen to be in a place where you haven't got one. You tried. You're honest, you can't do it.

[00:41:26]The other question is whether you actually want to do it.

[00:41:30]Whether you understand that you need to want to do this thing.

[00:41:33]If you are not motivated to get to even order an etrog, then you certainly won't receive it before Sukkot. Correct?

[00:41:41]And the same is true of everything else.

[00:41:42]If you're not motivated to do something about changing the circumstances, the condition of the Jewish people as a nation, and even your own personal condition, leaving the galut, coming to Eretz Yisrael, and being part of a national effort, or at least an effort conducted by many many Jews together with yourself in order to change the reality, the circumstances of the Jewish people, then if you're not motivated to do that thing, then you won't do it.

[00:42:14]Even if you are motivated, you may not be able to do it. That's the that's the that's the other point. So, there are these two points always. But, it's not that the mitzvah doesn't exist.

[00:42:23]The mitzvah of korban Pesach exists exists today as it did in the past. As the mitzvah of etrog exists today as it did in the past. The mitzvah of Shabbat exists today as it did in the past. And the mitzvah of of yerushat Eretz Yisrael and yeshivat Eretz Yisrael and yeshuv Eretz Yisrael, all these things exist.

[00:42:40]And if if anyone has any doubt, you can look up in the Shulchan Aruch of Shabbat and you can see that you are allowed to tell a non-Jew on Shabbat to draw up a contract to purchase a piece of land or a house in Eretz Yisrael on Shabbat, which is normally a sin to do, to tell a non-Jew to do something that you cannot do on Shabbat, if it's for the purpose of a Jew acquiring a piece of land or a home in Eretz Yisrael. The reason given by the Talmud and given by in the Shulchan Aruch is mishum yeshuv Eretz Yisrael.

[00:43:10]That mitzvah exists at all in all times, at all in all historical periods.

[00:43:15]>> [snorts] >> And the Shulchan Aruch has as well known, um, uh, is not a handbook of halacha only for some redemptive period of history, but for all the the period of history when it was written, 500 years ago. In other words, in the galut.

[00:43:39]So, the Jewish people are always uh, metzuvim u'muhzarim.

[00:43:46]We are always commanded to to, um, implement and bring to into reality all aspects of the Torah.

[00:44:02]We have to know that it's that do so, and we have to want to do so, and we have to have the wherewithal. It the So, that that the second part is already in the hands of Hashem to some extent.

[00:44:14]Whether you're in a position in a historical situation where you have any chance of doing anything about it right now or not. To sum up what we've been discussing, in order to another important point to to to stress is that in order to perform any part of the Torah, to understand anything in the Torah, or to implement any part of the Torah, to perform any mitzvah of the Torah, any mitzvah, Shabbat or korban Pesach or Eretz Yisrael or Malchut Beit David, you do not require nevu'ah. There is no need for prophecy. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Again, I'm not going into all the sources right now, but the sources are plain and well known and clear.

[00:44:53]Nevu'ah is not required for limud Torah, for understanding the Torah, and for implementing the Torah.

[00:45:03]It may sometimes, um, it is true that a certain chacham may have a very high spiritual level that we can refer to as ruach hakodesh or something along those lines, which shall we it's sort of like a a mind-expanding drug, so that you can perceive things that another person doesn't perceive, but it's not nevu'ah.

[00:45:24]No if a navi says, "This is the halacha because I received this as a nevu'ah in my dream last night." Such a person is a navi sheker and he's chayav mitah.

[00:45:34]He's to be executed for for lying and misleading in the name of Hashem.

[00:45:38]If we understand these things, then if we choose to act in a certain way, if we choose to, uh, uh, set settle Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel. If we choose to work towards rebuilding the Mikdash, the Temple, and having a korban Pesach and other korbanot, and other aspects of the Mikdash that that are missing in our lives at the present time, or anything along those lines, if we wish to, uh, establish some kind of truly Jewish Torah-based form of Jewish governance in Eretz Yisrael, these are all mitzvot in the Torah.

[00:46:19]And we have to know that these things don't happen by themselves. They will not happen by themselves. They do not fall from heaven. None of these things.

[00:46:26]Not the Mikdash and not and not Malchut Beit David or anything of the sort. And this is what I want to, uh, show you right now. So, we have to know that we live in a period when when we cannot say conclusively, definitively in what historical period we are living.

[00:46:43]What is the what is the meaning and what is the, uh, correct terminology and and definition.

[00:46:50]On the other hand, that's the bad news.

[00:46:51]We don't know.

[00:46:52]The good news is that we don't need to know.

[00:46:56]It's not important. It's not really that important at all.

[00:46:59]And Rambam says so explicitly himself, uh, as I'm about to show you. I will share this with you. You should be able to see it now, I hope. Rambam says this is in Hilchot Melachim u'Milchamot, perek 11, and then I'm discussing here how the yemot haMashiach and the ge'ulah will come about.

[00:47:20]And Rambam, when he gets down to discussing the practicalities of how this actually takes shape, he writes here as follows. Right where I mark out, I read. U've im ya'amod melech mibeit David, if a king, a descendant of King David, shall arise as a king, he will be the the physical, political, real-world leader of the Jewish people. Not some, uh, not a not a teacher of Torah and not some kind of a rebbe or what what have you. No, a real-world leader of the Jewish people in the in the, uh, political, down-to-earth sense. Im ya'amod melech mibeit David, ohev baTorah v'osek b'mitzvot. He has to be a Torah true Jew.

[00:48:11]K'David aviv, similar to his his forebear, David haMelech.

[00:48:19]And then he does A, B, C, and D. Then you can begin to assume harei zeh b'chezkas shehu Mashiach.

[00:48:25]Then you can begin to assume that this might this is possibly the the the leader of the Jewish people and that, uh, the nevi'im referred to, and this is, uh, the beginning of a new period in in Am Yisrael's history.

[00:48:39]Which is broadly we can term as the ge'ulah or yemot haMashiach.

[00:48:46]And if he's successful in all the things that he does, and he achieves certain things, not just A, B, and C, but also D, E, and F, which things we we can discuss another time, then harei zeh Mashiach b'vadai. Then you can be certain certain that this this is the historical figure that the nevi'im referred to.

[00:49:07]But, before you continue this discussion, before we continue to learn in in this perek of the Rambam what he says and how things will be, or how things should be, let us ask ourselves a question. Im U've im ya'amod melech mibeit David, okay, what does that mean?

[00:49:24]Rambam doesn't say uh, if uh, many Jews are sufficiently convinced that this is at chotam dig'ulah, and then they go ahead and appoint someone as their king, then the following applies. He doesn't say that.

[00:49:48]In fact, he doesn't say he doesn't even explain to you where this king comes from. In other words, how do you appoint a king? Where do you appoint a king?

[00:49:55]First of all, where?

[00:49:57]In In In Rambam's time, there were very few Jews living in Israel.

[00:50:01]You could almost say uh a certain communities. But general In In broad terms, uh a handful.

[00:50:10]The majority of the Jewish people were not in Israel. So, when Rambam wrote this 850 odd years ago, what did he have in mind?

[00:50:21]A king shall arise where? In Germany? In Switzerland? In In In where Rambam lived, in Egypt? No.

[00:50:30]Obviously, he's referring to Israel. If a a Jewish king arises in Israel, that's clear. Correct? It's not It cannot happen anywhere else. 100%. There isn't any requirement for the Jewish people to establish a king anywhere else. And it's never going to happen. Why Why would it happen? Where are the Jews are going to decide to establish uh some kind of a Jewish monarchy or or a commonwealth um in the middle of Europe or Asia or Eurasia or who knows or who knows? Go and conquer Australia and and and set it up as a as a new Jewish state in Australia. No. That's not what's being discussed. When a king arises means if a large number of Jews return to Israel, a sufficiently large number number, a critical mass of Jews return to Israel, and the historical context and realities are such that that they that they are in a position to to establish their own Jewish leadership. They In other words, they they are essentially in in charge of themselves.

[00:51:43]They're They're not being ruled by others. If someone else is in is in control, if it's the Ottoman Empire or the British Empire or the Roman Empire or what have you, then this is not going to be a practical a relevant discussion. This can only be a relevant discussion when all the other factors, all the other political entities somehow dissipate and disappear.

[00:52:09]And now the Jewish people find themselves in a situation, which is exactly what happened in the wake of the First World War. The Ottoman Empire collapsed. The British Empire took over. Eventually, they also uh had to leave with their tail between their legs.

[00:52:24]Now the Jewish people have a have a the possibility of establishing what what as should have We should have established what it says over here, a a king, a leader who is a an authentic Torah-true Jew who learns the Torah and the way that you have to learn the Torah and the oral Torah and will force all of Israel to live according to the Torah.

[00:52:50]And will fight the wars of the Jewish people against their enemies. Then such a person is a a likely candidate for being the the Jewish leader known as the Messiah that the prophets referred to, because the word Messiah does not appear uh in this context and this with this meaning in the Torah at all.

[00:53:11]The Torah describes a situation in which the Jewish people are sent into exile because of their conduct and eventually they return. But doesn't the word Messiah doesn't appear in the Torah. The word doesn't something along those lines referring to a particular person refer is referred to by many of the prophets.

[00:53:28]So, we have to ask ourselves, how did it come about that a sufficiently large number, a critical mass of Jews were all of a sudden in Israel and then they found themselves in in a situation, in a reality where they [snorts] could establish their own sovereign Torah-based uh Jewish gov- system of governance. In other words, establish a state for the Jewish people in their land.

[00:54:03]And the leader of this state of this kingdom would be A, B, C as we read over here. How did this come about? The Jews are in The Jews are in They're not in How did they get to Israel?

[00:54:15]Why did they come to Israel? Why would Why did they not, for example, wait like good Jewish boys and girls in In In the Why did they not wait for the Messiah to arrive and inform them that I'm here, I have arrived, and please follow me now to Israel. This is the conception. This is how most Jews imagined it would be.

[00:54:37]Rambam did not think it would be so.

[00:54:40]Rambam tells you, no, it's not going to happen like that.

[00:54:45]Um Rambam tells you, the Jews will return. Many Jews, maybe not all of the Jews, but a a significant number of Jews will return of their own volition to Israel without the Messiah, without a leader, without necessarily any formal organizational or or movement.

[00:55:10]But many Jews will return to Israel and if they find themselves in such a situation and establish them for themselves a Jewish state with a Jewish leader, and this person does A, B, and C as described over here, then he's a likely candidate for being the Messiah.

[00:55:29]But why did How did they get here in the first place?

[00:55:32]They came here in the first place because it It's always the explicit and implicit message of the Torah that the Jewish people belong in in Israel.

[00:55:44]That That is the uh straightforward, obvious message of the Torah.

[00:55:51]That is the thrust of the Torah throughout all of the Torah, the prophets, the writings, the written Torah, the oral Torah.

[00:56:00]The Jewish people belong in Israel. The Jewish people have always remained faithful to that underlying, fundamental message of the Torah. That is why the Jewish people Show me another example where in history a people that went into exile rem- remained faithful to and maintained and remembered and studied their language and even if they did not always all all of them everywhere speak it as as a daily vernacular day to day, but the language never disappeared. It was always maintained and it survived. They maintained their connection to Israel and they always yearned to return to Israel because they knew that this is this is our destiny and this is what we need to do.

[00:56:53]And any Jew who was in a position to do something about it would be motivated to do something about it. Unless they've been so bamboozled by others that they're just so dumbed down or so numbed by the that they no longer have any idea what they're supposed to do or what they should want. Which is unfortunately the reality of many many Jews, including many many rabbis of different stripes and different different flavors.

[00:57:25]But a real Jew knows we we of course must return to Israel.

[00:57:30]And when we return to Israel, we are required to live according to the Torah.

[00:57:35]The Torah says You have to establish a Jewish state with a Jewish a proper head at at the head of that state, a king. That's That's the the basic formulation and description of the Torah.

[00:57:49]There are various opinions on the matter with regards to details and what have you, but we won't go into that now.

[00:57:57]And therefore, it will at some point of necessity be the case that a significant number of Jews will return to Israel by in one manner or another, by way of all all manner of historical convolutions and and uh processes that that shift populations and and people around the world, the Jews will eventually enough of them will return to Israel. And then they will act according to the Torah. That's what they should want to do. That is what they must do. Why? Because the Torah is is always obligatory and always binding and always relevant. It's not hasn't been deactivated. It's not in the deep freeze.

[00:58:45]And therefore, they will want to do this and they will establish such a leader.

[00:58:49]So, Rambam's entire description of how the redemption becomes a reality is based on this understanding.

[00:59:00]Not that a Messiah appears out of thin air or that the Temple falls from heaven, which Rambam doesn't accept for one moment, uh this that idea, and and and the redemption just sort of occurs overnight in some supernatural way. Not at all. Rambam says exactly the opposite.

[00:59:20]Uh As Rambam says also later on in the same chapter, we cannot know God's workings and his plans and how the world works, and how everything will happen.

[00:59:37]So, we cannot know in advance how things are going to happen. And even as they're happening, we don't really understand necessarily what's happening before our eyes. With hindsight, we we will know perhaps what what actually took place. Maybe that maybe generations after the event. Certainly, it might be many years after the event.

[01:00:00]So, Rambam's entire description and and and conception of these things is based on the understanding then the process is is is now in play.

[01:00:15]The ball has been kicked kicked into play.

[01:00:18]And that can only be that can only happen because the Jewish people know what they're about and wish to do the right thing.

[01:00:26]In other words, as we said before, there were two questions. Do you know what the right thing is, and do you want to do it? And B, do you have the possibility, the wherewithal, to do it? And that that is partly up to you how much you really want it and how much you're willing to what kind of efforts you are willing to invest.

[01:00:46]And B, it depends on on Hashem running the world, and we don't understand Hashem's running of the world.

[01:00:54]Whether you you are in a position to do something about it in in real world terms.

[01:00:59]And when the Jewish people find themselves in that situation, then they have to act as Rambam says here. And they will establish a Jewish state and a Jewish leadership and as described here in detail.

[01:01:15]So, we have to understand that the Jewish the correct approach to the to all these things is that not that we can define what the historical period in which we live is, and we don't know how to label it, we don't know how to define it necessarily.

[01:01:35]Nor is it necessary that we that we do these things. As as Rambam says over here in the same paragraph.

[01:01:46]The main thing to know, Rambam says, is as follows. This Torah is immutable and is everlasting as it as it is. And therefore, it applies in in all situations equally. So, there's no no mechanism by which parts of the Torah simply become inoperative and not relevant and non-binding. And at some future time when the Messiah comes or something like that, then they once again become relevant. There's no such thing.

[01:02:20]That that entire mindset is completely spurious, completely wrong. And that that is what the Jewish people many within the Jewish people have to have to understand and and internalize.

[01:02:35]And when that happens, then then we'll we will find ourselves having understood this then we'll be then we'll be able to understand and act upon it.

[01:02:48]Yeah, that's that happens when you understand that all of the Torah is in your hands and you are commanded to do it. So, go ahead and do it. Do what it whatever you are able to do.

[01:03:00]That's uh is what I wish to to convey today.

[01:03:06]Extremely compelling, and you've certainly opened up a new way of understanding the Torah and the nature of our responsibility through this Rambam. I'm very grateful.

[01:03:17]I believe there's a psychological obstacle to internalizing these messages. And that's echoed in the Ibn Ezra that the Rabbi quotes frequently, which also made a big impression upon me, about our inability standing at the Yam Suf, the Sea of Reeds, to see ourselves as a free people and be willing to take the practical responsible steps in warfare and in maturation as individuals and as a nation. And I think we're reliving that in our time. It is easier to abdicate our responsibility into a fantasy of a Messiah figure doing the job for us as opposed to taking the difficult, sometimes emotionally painful, steps to perform those actions ourselves, in my view.

[01:04:11]It's always uh more straightforward and and easier and more pleasant if someone else does the work for you.

[01:04:20]If someone else does the heavy lifting, right?

[01:04:23]So, if there's a Messiah or there's some cosmic machine that Hashem has to press the button, and once that machine starts working, then the things just take care of themselves.

[01:04:35]And uh you just spectate and enjoy what's happening and reap the the rewards.

[01:04:43]That is uh a fantasy. That is a it's a pleasant fantasy, and it's a childish fantasy.

[01:04:49]It's not real.

[01:04:51]It never was real, and uh it's it never has happened in our history, and it never will happen.

[01:04:58]That's it. And and this is very very relevant because um there are so many people in the Torah world from Jews, well-intentioned Jews, God-fearing Jews, whom we all have to love and respect and and work with and and interact with, who need to understand that they have been misled. They have been bamboozled by this and often it's even it's not even explicit, it's implicit, it's unspoken.

[01:05:29]It's just a general atmosphere and a set of assumptions um that GMJ, Galut May Judaism, is is what we know and what we are good at and what we've practiced for a long time.

[01:05:46]And this is what is incumbent upon us.

[01:05:50]Anything beyond that it's in the hands of Hashem. The Messiah will take care of it or something along those lines. Nothing could be further from the truth.

[01:06:01]And a lot depends on many people in the so-called Haredi, ultra-Orthodox, world reaching these conclusions, achieving these realizations, because that will change uh their their whole conception and and appreciation of of Jewish life and existence and of the Torah.

[01:06:25]I agree 100%. It seems to me that every confrontation that our nation has with one of the galuyot, one of the civilizations that takes over and inverts our role in the Israel role in history, whether it was Babylonia, Persia, ancient Greece, or Roman, or could be even now the Islamists attempt to take over, it seems to me that there are spiritual lessons, moral lessons, and I believe deep emotional lessons that were meant to draw from every confrontation with these powers and these societies and these cultures. And they're meant to further refine us in our development to become who we're meant to be on a collective level.

[01:07:18]Yeah, abso- absolutely. Once again, we we don't know how Hashem we don't understand all of Hashem's plans and his workings, but we we do understand that all the various historical uh events and developments contribute to the unfolding of of Am Yisrael's destiny and and purpose in the world.

[01:07:42]And if I may suggest, our current confrontation here in the Middle East is with an Islamist enemy and it is of a very harsh Middle Eastern value system and and I I believe that if we don't turn those parts of the Torah back on that are falsely under hibernation, then from a purely practical geopolitical way of existing, we we can't function in the Middle East with our fantasy view of the Torah. And I believe on an extremely practical level a maybe a message in our confrontation with the the world powers right now, whether they're Middle Eastern values of our enemies who are our neighbors, or whether they're Western values that have gone away from the Torah, we can't have a in my view, we can't have a functioning commonwealth in the Middle East if we don't wake up those parts of Torah and become who we're meant to be.

[01:08:54]100%. No question about that.

[01:08:58]And that that is why on the one hand the Haredi world has to as it as it were wake up and smell the coffee. They have to be willing to to learn and internalize that their view of Torah up to this point has been sorely lacking and and inaccurate and misleading.

[01:09:27]And that the entire Jewish people uh depend on on the on this awakening.

[01:09:32]That's with regards to the Haredi world.

[01:09:34]With regards to the Tilo me, the national religious of the religious Zionist world, they also have to wake up.

[01:09:40]And they they have to wake up to the fact that um as as Rambam said here, will say good good of you.

[01:09:53]In other words, the leader of the Jewish people has to be a Torah Jew.

[01:09:57]That's the most That's the most obvious and fundamental uh perception and and and demand that that all Jews, all Torah oriented Jews should uh be making and and and enunciating loudly, vociferously.

[01:10:20]And this is a great shortcoming of the the national religious or the religious Zionists that they they have come to terms, many of them, not all of them, obviously.

[01:10:34]Many of them have come to terms with the not only with the historical fact that people like Herzl and Nordau set the Zionist movement in motion, as we discussed, that that's unfortunate, but it's a reality and it was, there's nothing to do about that now. And we also explained generally why it had to happen uh in that fashion.

[01:10:55]But, it doesn't mean that it has to remain that way. And it it certainly doesn't mean that it must remain that way. In other words, that was the beginning, that's how things were were set in motion.

[01:11:07]But, the the nature of this Jewish commonwealth, the its characteristics, its direction, it its uh raison d'être has to be completely uh changed. It has to be completely swapped out and something else put in its place.

[01:11:27]That, whereas many religious Zionists have come to to accept and and be quite entirely comfortable with the with the present present situation. And that is unacceptable. There is no possible way to to uh accept that, to be comfortable with that.

[01:11:47]And not even, I would add, not even simply to say, "Well, yes, it's all a process. Kima kima, everything takes place slowly."

[01:11:54]That That is also a cop-out. Because if that's all you really have to say, and that is what most people say, most many religious Zionists will quote that to you ad ad nauseam, and they will con- console themselves with that statement. Yes, it's a long process.

[01:12:09]But, often that is an excuse for cowardice or lack of lack of vision and lack of dynamism in in bringing about real world change. It's not going to heaven by itself. You have to make it happen.

[01:12:28]That's That's the message.

[01:12:32]Tough, we'll end here for today.

[01:12:36]Thank you very much.

[01:12:37]Thank you for our conversation.

[01:12:41]Are you below him?

[01:12:43]Shin is getting off Adam Adam off Adam Israel mala mala. Amen. Shalom on the sofa.

[01:12:51]Cultive Cultive.