RETURNING TO AUTHENTIC JUDAISM

Regarding the times of Moshiach, the Rambam (Hilchos Melachim 11:1) writes: “In the future, the Messianic king will arise and renew the Davidic dynasty, restoring it to its initial sovereignty. He will build the Temple and gather the dispersed of Israel. Then, in his days, the observance of all the statutes will return to their previous state. We will offer sacrifices and observe the Shmita and Yovel years according to all their particulars as described by the Torah.”

The simple meaning of the Rambam’s words “the observance of all the statutes will return to their previous state” is that we will be able to practice all 613 Mitzvos. With the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and the Jewish people’s dispersion into exile, we cannot fulfill most of the Mitzvos. These include all laws pertaining to the Korbanos or Shmita, etc.

GUARDING THE TRUTH 
OF THE TORAH

Yet, there is an additional meaning as well. There are many Mitzvos that were set up to be done a certain way, yet because of a group called the Tzidukim, the Sadducees, our Chachomim changed the customs. Who were these Tzidukim? They were members of an ancient Jewish group of priests and aristocrats who accepted the literal interpretation of the Torah – Torah Sh’Bichsav – but rejected Oral Law and belief in the afterlife.

The following are some examples of changes that the Chachomim made because of the Tzidukim:

1) The Rambam writes (Hilchos Kiddush HaChodesh 2:2): “According to the law of the Torah, there is no need to be precise regarding testimony about [the sighting of] the new [moon]. For even if the new moon was sanctified on the basis of the testimony of witnesses, and later it was discovered that those witnesses had perjured themselves, [the new moon] remains sanctified.

“Accordingly, in the early generations, testimony regarding [the sighting of] the new [moon] was accepted from any Jew [without further enquiry], for any Jew can be presumed to be an acceptable witness unless one knows with certainty that he is unacceptable. When the Tzidukim began conducting themselves in a debased manner and would hire people to testify that they had seen the moon when in fact they had not, the court decreed that it would accept testimony regarding [the sighting of] the new [moon] only from witnesses whom the court knew to be acceptable. Moreover, they would examine and question their testimony.”

And (Ibid 3:8), “Originally, when the court would sanctify the new moon, they would light bonfires on the mountaintops to notify the people in distant places. When the Tzidukim began conducting themselves in a debased manner and would light bonfires [at the wrong times] to confuse the people, [the Sages] instituted the practice of having messengers journey to notify the people.”

2) The Rambam writes (Hilchos Yom Kippur 1:7): “In the era of the Second Temple, heresy erupted in Israel, and the Sadducees emerged, may they speedily perish, who did not believe in the Oral Law and who maintained that the incense offering of Yom Kippur would be placed on fire in the Sanctuary outside the Paroches and when its smoke rose up, they would bring it into the Holy of Holies.

“Their rationale was that they interpreted the Torah’s phrase in Leviticus 16:2, ‘For in a cloud I will appear on the Kaporet,’ as referring to the cloud of the incense offering. In contrast, according to the Oral Tradition, our Sages learned that the High Priest should place the incense on the coals only in the Holy of Holies, before the Ark, as Leviticus 16:13 states: ‘And he shall place the incense on the fire before God.’

“Since in the Second Temple era the Sages suspected that the High Priests would tend towards such heresy, they would have him take an oath on the day preceding Yom Kippur. They would tell him: ‘My sir, the High Priest, we are agents of the court and you are our agent and an agent of the court. We administer an oath to you in the name of He Who causes His name to dwell in this House that you not deviate at all from what we told you.’

“The High Priest would turn away and cry because they suspected him of heresy and they would turn away and cry, because they placed suspicion on a person whose conduct was unknown. Maybe he had no such thoughts in his heart.”

3) The Rambam also writes (Hilchos T’midim 8:10): “They would tell [the priest] who would pour the water libation: “Lift up your hands,” because once [a priest] poured [the water] on his feet, and the entire nation stoned him with their esrogim. For they said: ‘He was a Sadducee,’ for they say that there is no water libation.”

A RETURN TO 
TRUTH AND TRUST

The Lubavitcher Rebbe writes (Likkutei Sichos Vol. 39 pg. 339) that in the times of Moshiach, when the truth will be revealed to all and “They will all return to the true faith and no longer steal or destroy” (Rambam Hilchos Melachim 12:1), we will be able to return to the way things were done originally. There will no longer be any fear that there may be those that will try intentionally to go against the oral tradition.

Many of you may be wondering: How can we be discussing how the laws of Kiddush HaChodesh, the new moon, will take place in the times of Moshiach, if everyone knows that that in times of Moshiach that “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun” (Yeshaya 30:26) and there will be no renewal?

The Rebbe (Acharon Shel Pesach 5744) discusses this question at length. The Rebbe explains that according to most opinions, the fulfillment of that prophecy will only take place in a later era of Yemos HaMoshiach.

Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim on Inyanei Geula u’Moshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com.