Tuesday, March 11, 2008

For the Appointed Time is Coming

תהלים קב:יד - אתה תקום, תרחם ציון, כי עת לחננה, כי בא מועד

תהלים קב:טו - כי רצו עבדיך את אבניה, ואת עפרה יחננו

Tehillim 102:14 - You will rise, have mercy on Tzion, for it is the time to cherish her, the appointed time has come (alternatively: is coming).

Tehillim 102:15 - For Your servants have desired her stones, and cherished her dirt.

A Moed, an Appointed Time, is not just a moment in time, a date on the calendar. It is a time in history that certain actions towards the Geulah are most likely to succeed during the process of Geulah that comes in its time. The Six-Day War, for example, could not have occurred at any other time.

In chapter 4 of Kol HaTor, it is explained that the Moed will actually move towards us in time. When will this happen? When the second verse's conditions hold true, namely that Am Yisrael will again turn to desire Eretz Yisrael's stones and cherish Eretz Yisrael's dust.

It makes sense if you think about it.

Let's say that the final possible date for Geulah really is the year 6000. This would be if we do not fulfill this verse's requirement. In such a scenario, the return to Eretz Yisrael would be completely forced upon us, with no Awakening from Below. This is later, more sudden, and overall takes more time.

At a certain point in history, by a certain amount of Am Yisrael's actions in the Awakening from Below, we merited that the Moed moved towards us. The year 6000 is not the deadline any longer.

The lesson here is fairly explicit: How much we must wait for the Moed is intricately related to Am Yisrael's attitude and actions in relation to Eretz Yisrael.

6 comments:

  1. A measure of Achishena can be discerned in the years 5708 and 5727. In a certain sense the moadim were a priori a little later.

    5708 is 2300 years after 3408, a thousand (one day) plus 1300 for Yishmael according to the age of his Mila. But if it is true that we changed the count of the years, Hakamat Bayit Sheni was really in 3409 in our current count, and we waited only 999+1300 years. It appears that the principle of הקטן יהיה לאלך applied even here.

    As for 5727, it seems that a Sod of Parshat Ki Tazria applies:
    ואל המקדש לא תבא עד מלאת ימי טהרה

    These Y'mei Tahara are 33 days, starting at the Brit Mila of the newborn. Am Yisrael had its Brit Mila at Yetziat Mitzrayim. The completion of Y'mei Tahara is 3300 years later - the 2300 of Daniel plus a thousand, or two "days" plus the portion of Yishmael. There were 480 years from Yetziat Mitzrayim to Bayit Rishon, and another 480 to Bayit Sheni. So, we should not have been able to get to the Mikdash until the year 5749 if you take the days as 1000 years, or 5747 if you take them as 999 years. We got there 20 years earlier. I think in the Zechut of the 20 years of Galut Edom that were already spent at Lavan's house, and in the Zechut of Yaakov's Neder at Makom HaBayit, that he would make a Beit Elokim there.

    The שיתין ושית days of Y'mei Tahara after a girl is born are another aspect of this perush.

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  2. Another reason to post: It triggers the sharing of ideas :)

    I don't see much of a contradiction, being that those events were foreseen, as brought in Rav Kasher's notes to the end of the 3rd perek of Kol HaTor. The Achishenah nature was set ahead of time.

    Care to elaborate on the 66 days at all?

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  3. You are right, there is no contradiction. About 66 and the other numbers of Ki Tazria I am a little wary of raising too much dust. But as you know this is related to Daniel also, his 69/70 weeks. The week of Tum'ah before the Brit Mila in case of a boy and the two weeks in case of a girl hint at three other weeks. And the Brit itself counts for three days, or half a week. There is a little more, but here I must stop.

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  4. OK. Mitkabel.

    But please reply to the comments on the other post / the email I sent.

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  5. A very quick note. Won't have time until tomorrow for writing more. I should have added above (not for you) that at שיתין ושית Moshiach ben Yosef appears.

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  6. I had gotten the impression that this was some time after שיתין ושיתand before 67. Are you saying the nafka minah is 1 year earlier?

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