The Ultimate Leader: From Heaven or Earth?

The Jewish Bible is replete with statements concerning te Ultimate Leader that is to appear at the end of days and rescue us from exile.  There seems to be two opposing avenues in reaching this goal: miraculous or natural.  The sages of the Talmud were aware of this internal conflict within the Jewish Bible to the point where they commented on daf 98:a in tractate Sanhedrin.

And behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven whilst [elsewhere] it is written, [behold, thy king cometh unto thee … ] lowly, and riding upon a donkey! (Zechariah 9:7)  — if they are meritorious, [he will come] with the clouds of heaven;(Daniel 7:13)  if not, lowly and riding upon a donkey.

So which is it?  In order to warrant “with the clouds of heaven” we have to have merit within our actions and if not then the Ultimate Leader comes naturally in order to lead us to refine ourselves and the world which will in turn bring us to a truly miraculous future.

Derech Chaim was established to enable all of us together to build Beit David in a real way, hoping for the miraculous, but aware that we have to work in the physical world.

The Mask Has Dropped

I have not written on this blog in some time.  The world seems to have grown increasingly more unstable as the transition between the world of Esav's hegemonic control through the Westphalian System of nation states falls apart.  As the USA recedes the vacuum created is a space of opportunity.  Yet, this is the most dangerous time.  It is a time when the modern Rome can go from just a bystander in future world events to one which attempts one last ditch hope to prove the need for its future existence.

The revelations this week about the scope and breadth of NSA surveillance in the USA should be a message to everyone that the emperor no longer has clothes.  The USA is now transformed into the very nation it always claimed to be fighting against.  All of its claims are now gone.  The mask has dropped and so has the pleasantries.

John Kerry and his ilk have stepped up threats.  MAKE PEACE OR ELSE.  Of course his minions here have continued to support such insane propositions.

Both Am Yisrael and Esav seek boundaries.  Am Yisrael uses boundaries throughout Halacha to create space for holiness or kedushah.  Esav does the opposite.  They seek boundaries in order to rid a space of all holiness.  After all, for the West all boundaries are holy and if all boundaries are holy, then nothing really is holy.

Dividing the Land of Israel at the End of Days is the last hope for Esav as it becomes irrelevant.  Esav hopes now to prove its relevancy by showing that Israel is the same as all other nation-states, but that is where it fails. Israel is more than the boundaries of the State.  Am Yisrael or Malchut Israel exists on a global level.  The boundaries of Eretz Yisrael and outward are just delineations of holiness within the framework of the global Kingdom. Our nation has power as a nation in Eretz Yisrael, but its reach is global for Halacha works within all boundaries, even if each boundary has apparent gradations in holiness.

                                                

So now we are at the End.  Rome is now revealed as evil andas  hypocritical as it's enemies and with its march to irrelevancy, the borders that had been declared post WW1 as sacrosanct across the indigenous regions of the West's former colonies are falling apart.

As the borders around us become meaningless,  the Middle East's indigenous peoples seek to rectify the sin of Western Imperialism.  Within this context our own people have an opportunity to break free of our modern colonial masters.  The war between the forces of Mashiach ben Yosef and the Erev Rav and of course their Western masters is entering it's final phase.

After all, the Tzipi Livni has declared that we must choose between democracy and Torah.  I for one choose the latter. Of course that is the struggle.  The Creator has made our choice simpler, since the West we always admired no longer really exists, if it ever did to begin with.

The Eighth...

Tonight is Zot Chanukah.  It is the Eighth, the point in time where reality meets the divine.  The Maharaal in Tiferet Yisrael likens the Torah  to the Eighth.  The Torah is divine and it is that with which we refine ourselves and the world around us.  In a sense it is this that the Hashmonaim were fighting about.  The Yavanim (Greeks) believed in only what they saw and could rationalize. They believed in an intellect unguided by revelation.  The Torah is beyond that, it  represents the fusion between the divine and the physical.  It is our brit with the Creator which forces us to draw the divine light into reality through out actions. We believe in "Moshe K'Bal Torah M'Sinai." K'Bal...Receive.

Zot Chanukah is the culmination of the increasing kedushah.  It is one beyond the completion of 7 and yet that moment of moving beyond the natural order is more than just a digit, it is one that is complete change.  Ultimately that is the idea behind Moshiach.  He is like us, flesh and blood, but he is beyond.  In a sense his anointment with oil is our anointment, for he is "the heart of the Am."  One moment we are a nation with a heart of stone and the next moment we are one with a heart of flesh.  Redemption is about moving from the seventh to the eight.  We are still here, the natural order is unchanged, but inner clarity is complete and beyond.

The Midrash says points out while Moshe was the seventh, it was David who was the eighth and it is David who will reign at the end.  More than complete, a fusion of the divine and physical, a clarity of our covenant, and renewal of our Kingdom.

The Western Downgrade

The West is collapsing...tomorrow? No, but it is on a downward trend and forecast is it will get much worse.  China seems to be rising, but without desire to rule the world.  The 70 nations are trembling, because without their money they are powerless and so that is what is happening.  A part of us is going down with them.  We are connected somewhat with that world, a world physical pleasure and yet deep down inside we know that we want and need to be free.  Our Nation is the hand and sword of the Creator in the world and our weapons are the mitzvot and prayer.  The more we do and the more plead and connect with the One source of creation, the more we can will bring the redemptive light into the world.

The Nation of Israel is the collective Moshiach and it is with this light that we can will repair our world.  The Western crash is for our own good.  It releases us from our the captivity of physical prison and allows to achieve our true purpose.  Emunah is the light of the Creator and the true Tzaddik is the messenger and catalyst for the activation of this light in each one of us.  The more we connect and yearn for it the more we can express this light, this essential truth to the world.  In order to do this we must break free of our shackles, our constraints.  If we won't do that, then the Creator, the blessed holy one, the one source of being and creation will and is doing it for us.  Hold on to your seats, what ever crash the markets have had and what ever uneasiness about the world you have had...its only just beginning!

No More Sadness

From America to Afghanistan, China to Rothchild the world seems to be careening out of control.  The truth is we have been in this situation for a while now.  When the World Trade Center collapsed into a fiery inferno, the world shook and has been shaking ever since.

We are hours away from Tisha B'Av and we seem to be entering another level of chaos.  America "our friend" is in clear decline.  The Middle East is quaking and the disgruntled "masses" are making Woodstock Tel Aviv style.  With all of this going on fear and uncertainty are growing.  And despite all of this we are ignoring the simple solution to our problems and that solution is to know with perfect and complete belief that the Moshiach is here with us.  The answer to our problems is not QE3, government entitlement, better military, but the full and complete revelation of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash.

Reb Nathan of Breslev points out that the purpose of the Beit HaMikdash was to remind Am Yisrael and the nations of the world what the true purpose of life is about.  We forget that this world is part of , many worlds above and that our spiritual galut is one where we are disconnected from birth with our source.  Geulah is the revelation of our true connection above.  The only thing that can guide us properly is a clear focus and goal in life.  The Beit HaMikdash reminds of that goal and with impending Geulah and the realization that all is for the best we will once again be sad no more because we and the whole world will know the truth and live by it.

Default, Downgrade, and the Redemption (Part 3)

A Post Gog U Magog World

I have been of the opinion that George W. Bush was Gog.  Now you are going to ask: What about the invasion of Israel and division of Jerusalem as Yechezkel fortold?

It is very important to understand that Yechezkel’s timeline of events of the Redemption starting in the 36^th chapter are very allegorical.  It is clear they are written to convey deep points about the end of days and the process that unfolds.  In chapter 38 Gog leads the nations of the world against us in fact he is called Nasi (Prince or President). 

When one looks at the events surrounding George Bush he clearly fought wars against the Arabs and Muslim world as most commentators suggest will happen at the end.  These same commentators then say that at the end they will join forces against us. 

When was that you might ask.  That was at the Annapolis Conference on the 27^th of November in 2007.  The nations of the world gathered together to divide Jerusalem and Israel.  Our government was led by Ehud Olmert and Shimon Peres (with of course Livni and Barak in toe) probably the most revealed and public members of the Erev Rav.  Yet we made it through.  Even the Toldos Aharon Rebbe predicted that everything would fall apart from then on out.  He used the word Naphal because it is the root of the word Annapolis.  Nov. 27^th was right before the economic crash of the Western World and America.  George Bush came to Israel twice in 2008 and both time with a large entourage.  The economic collapse was well underway by his second trip and even more so after it. 

The Kingdom of G-d

The Kingdom of G-d comes not from the four kingdoms, but in place of them as Daniel describes it as a stone which comes smashing the statue of the four kingdoms to pieces.  Essentially what is happening is the fall of the New World Order and the Four Kingdoms.  This is happening financially and directly after the events against Israel in 2008.  The world has been in a tailspin since then and the world economy has been unraveling.  At the end of this process which is being sped up now with the very real possibility of a default and downgrade in the USA will be a world without the coverings and restraints and what we will see is a full revelation of HaShem’s light.

The Weapon of Moshiach

Rebbe Nachman states in the second Torah of Lekutei Mohran: “The essential Weapon of Moshiach will be prayer. “ All the events we are witnessing are coming about now because the Moshiach is here and is praying for the unraveling of the “Evil Empire” and the revelation of the Creator’s light.  He is fighting the “Wars of HaShem” with his mouth and we are witnessing the outcome in reality.  At the end of the break down he will be revealed and he will teach us how pray with nothing holding us back. We know that according to the Rambam that he goes in the way of Torah like King David his father.  King David was the master of prayer and that is the Torah and Weapon of the Moshiach.

Default, Downgrade, and the Redemption (Part 2)

Gog U Magog and the New World Order

In the introduction of Netzach Yisrael the Maharal titles Gog U Magog a kingdom.  To understand this point further and of course to acclimate ourselves with the identity of this Kingdom and its function at the end of days we can use the Arizal who points out that the Gematria of Gog UMagog is 70.  This mirrors the 70 nations of the world.  These 70 nations have sought for the entire world’s existence to control and run things, yet have failed due to their infighting. Rebbe Nachman in Torah 36 of the Lekutei Mohran points out that it is these 70 nations which our souls descend into as they are the dark side of the 70 souls of the collective “House of Israel.”  Rebbe Nachman points out that the primary weapon that the 70 nations use to pull us down is sexual indecency. To understand where we are in relationship to the events of Gog U Magog we must understand the concept of Exile and Redemption.

To Reveal G-d’s Light

The concept of Redemption is actually a lifting off or removal of the control of the 70 nations.  This control or covering has been ongoing since the exile into Bavel (translated as confusion).  Since then there has been 4 central Kingdoms in history as pointed out in the prophecy of Daniel.  These four Kingdoms are Bavel, Persia, Greece, and Rome.  Each was built on the ruins of the other and in prophesying on them Daniel uses the image of a giant statue. It is this statue and the apparatus that has been built around it which has smothered the light of the Creator in the World.  Redemption requires a removal of this statue and world control in order for HaShem’s light to shine forth.

As Rome in its current visage as the Western World has realized that it’s power is diminishing it has tried to set up what many have called the New World Order.  This began to come into existence shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union and the 1^st Persian Gulf War.  This New World Order has spread through the world by way of finances and humanistic global education.  Moral relativism and political correctness have reigned supreme in the ensuing years and with a rise in a lack of traditional morality and family. 

This is Gog U Magog and the goal is to cement the “statue of the four kingdoms” onto the Earth.  The midrash in Esther Rabbah says that the Kingodom of Gog U Magog tries to do what all the other enemies of the Nation of Israel failed to do and they do it by trying to cut our connection with the Creator. 

Yet, despite all the issues surround us, there is hope and oddly enough it rests with the obvious collapse of the New World Order and the Western hegemony over us.

Default, Downgrade, and the Redemption (Part 1)

There has been much clamor made on the many Geulah and Moshiach forums about the cosmic mincha gedolah.  Of course there seems to be some discrepancy on which date it is supposed to be.  Most gedolim have held that it is the first of Av of this year and a minority have suggested it is the 25^th of Tammuz.

I want to first say that I believe the date has significance, but that we shouldn’t be caught up with trying to find out what “climactic event” occurred on either of those two days.  Our emunah is based on HaShem running events the way he sees fit and not trying to impress on them what we want.  Meaning, trying to pigeon hole the tremendous and transformative events of our time period into predefined time frames can be a downer.

That being said I want to focus on what I believe is the significant event or series of events happening over this period of time.  Everyone has watched and seen how the real possibility of an American default and downgrade has increased in the past few days.  A seeming sense of insanity has rippled through Washington, D.C. as the divisions have only grown.  I for one have believed it was going to go this way for a few months, but it has grown apparent to all in the last few days.  Yet, what does this mean for Geulah/Redemption?

These are the issues I want to tackle in the coming posts:

•         Gog U Magog
•         The Four Kingdoms
•        New World Order
•         The Weapon of Moshiach

Each of these could be a post unto itself, but I will break it down into two posts following this one.  Before I close with this introductory post I want to reiterate what the Tzaddikim have said about what we are going through and that ultimately we need Emunah.  It will get scary for all of us but we must know that everything is for the best and for our own good!