F(E)AST DAY
Moshiach transforms the somber fast day, the 17th of Tammuz, into a brilliant celebration and feast. All our days will be yomim tovim, days of celebration and joy.
Moshiach transforms the somber fast day, the 17th of Tammuz, into a brilliant celebration and feast. All our days will be yomim tovim, days of celebration and joy.
Once upon a time, a simple Jewish farmer in an Eastern European village decided to take his eight-year-old son with him one weekday morning to shul for Shacharis. “At least he’ll learn how to daven,” the farmer thought.
Is the concept of Armageddon, mass destruction, consistent with Torah. Should I take out a mortgage on an underground bunker? * “G-d’s compassion extends to all His works,” to all His creations! Why, in a world of revealed good and G-dliness, would there be any room for suffering and annihilation?
Bilam, the heathen prophet, was on his way to curse the Jewish people at the behest of Balak, the Moabite king, who was terrified as they approached his land on their way to the Promised Land.
The message conveyed here about the redemption is about the special quality and perfection of the redemption unto itself, the redemption in its purity
Bilam, the heathen prophet hired by the Moabite king Balak to curse the Jewish people, was riding his donkey on the way to meet Balak. Suddenly his donkey stopped in the road and would not move a step farther. When Bilam struck the donkey G-d opened its mouth. It exclaimed, “What have I done to you that made you hit me these three times?”
From Chapter Fifteen of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros, Volume 2.
Balak, the Moabite king, hired Bilam, the Heathen prophet, to curse the Jewish people. Balak sent messengers to Bilam, promising him great honor and everything he would care to ask for. Bilam replied: “If Balak will give me his houseful of silver and gold, I cannot transgress the word of G-d…”
The message conveyed here about the redemption is (not about the correction for the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and exile per se, but) about the special quality and perfection of the redemption unto itself, the redemption in its purity. * From Chapter Six of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros (Underlined text is the compiler’s emphasis.)
Now begins a new stage in the ongoing avoda of Yosef, extending to future generations – “And Yosef saw Efraim’s children of the third generation.”
The connection between t’shuva and the advent of Moshiach is in the sense that the whole point of Moshiach is to bring about innovation, resulting in an entirely new existence. * Inspiration for t’shuva in the month of Elul.
In times of darkness, which is the state of exile, it is difficult for a person to appreciate this unity. Even the simple meaning of G-d’s unity that negates other forces can be a challenge to some in exile due to the multitude of competing forces that vie for our allegiance.