The following is a Torah thought by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple.
By the time of this week’s reading the B’nei Yisra’el have well and truly left Egypt and are at Mount Sinai, en route for the Promised Land.
The Midrash relates an aspect of the story about which most people are unaware. It says that 30 years earlier the tribe of Ephraim “forced the hour” and started out before the appointed time, and when the rest of the people finally left, they found the bones of the Ephraimites in heaps along the way (Sh’mot Rabba chapter 20).
In Jewish history there were countless occasions when Jews wanted to take the law into their own hands and get away from a nightmare before the destined time of dawn. This certainly applies to the coming of Messiah, which never seemed to arrive even though we could hardly bear the waiting.
The Meshech Chochmah, commenting on a statement by Rashi, actually speaks about an early coming of Mashi’ach. Parashat Shof’tim (Deut. 19:9) has a verse about three extra “cities of refuge” for those who commit homicide without intent; Rashi says this applies to the days of Mashi’ach. The Meshech Chochmah says Rashi denotes the Mashi’ach coming before the set time.
If Israel lead such committed lives that God sends the Mashi’ach early, it will take time to finish eradicating sin, crime and murder. The Mashi’ach will lend his weight to the effort, and once it is complete the days of perfection predicted by the prophets will finally arrive.
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The Gog ben Gog Bush, Jr. Shmittah cycle was the b'itah Achishena Shmittah cycle. Everything could have happened in a kinder, gentler way as Gog Bush Sr. was often fond of saying. But his son's Shmittah cycle came and went. And at the beginning of the next Shmittah cycle in 5769, rather than being buried in the Valley of HamonGog, he went back to his ranch in Crawford, Texas. We had missed a "Biblical" opportunity to include all Jews and bring Mashiach in a very pleasant way. But alas we were given a simple test in common decency in the year 5765 to see if Mashiach would actually appear in the Galilee in 5766 (as is in the Zohar VaYeira 119). All we had to do was not to uproot 10,000 holy Jews from their homes in Gaza and the Northern Shomron. Well, we knew that the irredeemable Erev Rav was salivating at the mouth to do this evil deed even if they were doing it for just 48 hours of applause from the rest of the world. Yet, in order to get this accomplished they needed a G-d fearing partner without whom the enterprise could not be enabled. So they found one who enabled Sharon's government and sent the entire Geulah process spinning into the next Shmittah cycle, the one in which we find ourselves. The Ba'al Shem Tov warned of this that the Rabbis would delay the Geulah. And the test had been a basic test in common decency. So now we are fully within b'itah, and there are no more collective tests, but there are tests on those who had enabled the dastardly deed back in 5765 to see if they would do it again. Instead of Gog, our number one nemesis is the half Xtian (iron) and half Muslim (clay) 11th horn dude from the Book of Daniel, the Obamanation that makes desolate. Back over 8 years ago now I prayed so hard that we would collectively merit the sunlit path to Geulah, but now I see that we have collectively decided on a more difficult journey. I accept b'itah and pray for Rachamim for those who have truly repented for what for me became a 7 year long spin into the darkness. I personally have recovered, and I am glad that in this Shmittah cycle, we will not be dependent on those who added a full 7 years onto the Galut. The Geulah is coming whether they want it to or not. G-d bless.
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