The Churva and Redemption

A few weeks ago I found myself sitting in the Old City of Jerusalem next to the rebuilt Churva shul.  It was an amazing feeling to sit next to the beit knesset that was built a third time.  I remember first coming to Israel and seeing the ruins and the arch that was all that was left from the original structure.  Seeing the building in all its glory reminded me of the tumult that was made upon its completion.  There was a known prediction made by students of the Vilna Gaon concerning the redemption beginning with the third building of the Churva.  This prediction was really made in connection from a dream they received from their master.

The Churva is Built Again and no Redemption

So the rebuilding and dedication took place and yet nothing happened.  Where is Mashiach?  Where is redemption?  One must understand that the Vilna Gaon was considered the light of MaShiach ben Yosef by his student Rav Mishkelov who was the author of Kol HaTor.   The redemption unfolds in a natural way and the building of our national sovereignty and the strengthening of our control of the Land of Israel and our capital Jerusalem not only furthers the redemptive process but is an expression of our National salvation and redemption in and of itself.  The Nation of Israel is a reflection of the Creator.  The more we succeed the more the Creator is revealed in the world.

Exerting Sovereignty Through the Churva

In Siman 150 of Orach Chaim, the Mehaber writes that we are obligated to make the beit knesset the tallest building in the city.  Both the Rem"ah and the Magen Avraham point out that if we are living in a city where we fear the non-Jews we are exempt from this. The Churva rests on the tallest hill in the Old City and so with its rebuilding it became the tallest structure (taller than any mosque not counting minerets or church) in the Old City.  By its very rebuilding it established and cemented the Nation's sovereignty over Jerusalem thus revealing the Geulah process is well under way.  This is perhaps what the Vilna Gaon and his students meant by the redemption will begin with the Churvah's third rebuilding.