Monday, May 19, 2008

70 Steps - 70 Words

According to Kabbalah, the 70 years of the Birthpangs of Moshiach correspond to the 70 words of Tehillim chapter 20, and the 2nd paragraph of Aleinu Leshabeach (Al-Ken).

The last few words of Tehillim chapter 20 are common in Jewish liturgy:

כ:י - ה' הושיעה המלך יעננו ביום קראנו

20:10 - Hashem, save us, the King that replies to us on the day of our calling

  • Word 65 - Hashem
  • Word 66 - Save us הושיעה
  • Word 67 - The King המלך
  • Word 68 - (that) replies to us יעננו
  • Word 69 - On the day ביום
  • Word 70 - (of) Our calling קראנו

Relation

  • 66 has to do with a Geulah
  • 67 has relation to the rule of Torah upon Am Yisrael
  • 68 is about the Beit HaMikdash, the place of prayer
  • 69 and 70 are related as they are one phrase grammatically, the day we call out is the day of trouble (see the first pasuk of the Perek.

4 comments:

  1. Nice.
    Where is the source that Hevlei Mashiah will last 70 years?
    (I know you don't agree, but I'm looking at the 1939-2009 connection.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Quick answer: Tikkunei Zohar daf 67b, top of the page. שבעין תיבין should be what you are looking for. It is mentioned in the Ariza"l and the GR"A, and I'm sure others.

    I'll see about getting a more in depth answer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I will elaborate on this in a post (hopefully later on today):

    70 years of Galus Bavel are k'neged 70 Shmitot, per the mefarshim, see the end of Divrei HaYamim II, Rashi there, and then the GR"A there on that Rashi. And of course this week's parshah. Then see Daniel 9. If 70 years are k'neged Shmitot, then the other 420 years are k'neged the rest of the time that Bnei Yisrael was not doing right by Hashem.

    ReplyDelete