FIRE OF GEULA

Large clouds flew through the air, bringing many Jews to the third Beis HaMikdash.  “Finally, the sweet dream came true,” I thought to myself as I observed Yerushalayim from on top of a fluffy white cloud.

Near me stood Shmuely, my good friend, who was as fascinated as I was at the impressive sight of masses of Jews going up to Yerushalayim.  Every now and then we would hear someone expressing his amazement.

I was reminded of what we learned in school, the prophetic promises of the Geula.  Back then, it all seemed distant and imaginary.  Now it was happening before our very eyes.  The Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach was revealed to all, the third Beis HaMikdash descended already built from heaven, and all the Jews were going up to Yerushalayim on clouds with the global gathering of the Jewish people.

Within a few minutes we had landed in the vicinity of the Beis HaMikdash.  We jumped off the cloud easily and landed on the soft earth which was full of diamonds, pearls, and other precious stones.  Shmuely looked at all the wealth and said to me, as though reading my mind, “It says, and all the delicacies will be available like dust.  Do you remember our teacher talking about that? There must also be candies growing on the trees …”

We noticed that nobody was paying attention to the diamonds.  Everyone was rushing toward the Beis HaMikdash, yearning to see Hashem’s house in its glory and the “king from the house of Dovid” – the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.

We followed behind a Jew who, when he noticed us, said, “Dear children, now Hashem is revealed in the world.  The period of concealment has ended and now it is also physically enjoyable to keep Torah and mitzvos.  Neither food nor money is lacking, and all there is to do is serve Hashem.”

“One minute,” I said.  “What about the promise of kings being your nursemaids and their ministers being your nurses, that the nations of the world will serve the Jews?”

The nice looking man pointed and said, “Over there, you can take servants, as your heart desires.”

I wanted to see for myself the amazing sight of the nations of the world standing at the service of the Jewish people.  I hurried over in the direction he pointed, pulling Shmuely behind me.

As we approached, we saw non-Jews from all the nations.  There were Japanese, Russians, French, Turks, Americans, Englishmen, Africans, and Chinese.  It was a mixture of nations who stood humbly, waiting for a Jewish master to take them.  They yearned to fulfill their purpose, to help the Jews in their service of Hashem.

Shmuely wanted to take a few servants.  He started calculating how many servants he deserved considering the number of strings and knots on his tzitzis, but in the end, we decided to come back later.  We wanted to hurry over to the Beis HaMikdash because we heard that the Rebbe MH”M was saying Divrei Elokim Chayim.

We were so excited! In another few minutes we would see the shining, holy face of the Rebbe! With every step my excitement increased and without realizing it, we both began to run.  A minute or two passed as we ran and then, with no prior warning, I woke up.

Of course, Shmuely wasn’t there.  When I raised my head off the pillow, I saw that the time was 7:15.  “Wow! What a fantastic dream.”  I stretched after I said Modeh Ani and washed my hands.

“What a pity that I woke up just then before seeing the Rebbe,” I thought disappointedly.  “It’s late.  I have to be in class in another three quarters of an hour.”  I rushed to complete all my morning tasks and soon I was standing at the bus stop near our house in the Haifa area.  I waited for the bus to take me to my school on the other side of the city.

The day passed with me feeling not my usual self.  The special dream I had had was on my mind and it gave me the feeling that something unusual was about to happen.  And then, in the afternoon something happened.  A dense cloud of smoke began to waft through the city and we soon learned that a huge fire was raging in the Carmel forest not far from us.  If the firefighters would not be able to put it out, it was possible that some of the residents would have to evacuate their homes.

The school building is located in an area far from the fire so we were able to continue learning in the hopes that by evening, the fire would be extinguished.

When I returned home, the fire continued to burn.  It had been months since rain fell and the trees were absolutely dry.  And the wind that blew during the fire spread it within seconds in every direction.

I sat in my room at home and wondered: what did the fire come to tell us? How did it lead to the Geula and the revelation of Moshiach? I went over to the window and looked out at the reddened sky.  I saw planes with the name of a different country written on each one: Greece, Turkey, US… I watched the planes trying to extinguish the fire with powerful streams of water and remembered the question I had asked in my dream.

“One minute, what about the promise of kings being your nursemaids and their ministers being your nurses, that the nations of the world will serve the Jews?” I could visualize the details of the dream, the rows of gentiles waiting to help every Jew in his service of Hashem.

Yes, I thought, as I watched the firefighting planes.  That is the answer.  The nations of the world came to our aid in fighting this fire to remind us that in a little while the true and complete Geula will take place.  The promise of kings will be your nursemaids and their ministers your nurses will become everyday reality, the reality of Geula.

Note: The Mount Carmel forest fire was a deadly forest fire that started on Mount Carmel in northern Israel, just south of Haifa. The fire began at about 11:00 on 2 December 2010, and spread quickly, consuming much of the Mediterranean forest covering the region. The fire claimed 44 lives, making it the deadliest in Israeli history.