Obama, Gog, Trump and Geulah Berachamim in 5776

It's been a long time since I've written anything on this blog, besides for posting my Parsha Podcast. And for good reason. There have been numerous times where I've wanted to write, but made the decision not to. There have been many times that I've seen something written in the Moshiach blogosphere and I was on the edge of saying something.

But I chose not to.

With the close of the Obama presidency, however, the remarkable nature of what has transpired is just to great to ignore. I hope that what I write will give pause to the many writers and many more readers of the Moshiach blog world.

One of the things that brought me out of my skepticism (for a very short time) of this world that I used to be a part of was the fantastic near death experience that was spread far and wide about a year ago. It put Obama as Gog and said 'this is the year!' Although we'd all heard that one before (think autistics and other false messiahs), it confirmed something that I really believed, and so did many of you - that Obama was the man - Gog. And that this was the time.

Because I believed that 5776 would really be the year of Moshiach. I had felt that already five years ago when I stopped writing for this blog. I had a lot of different thoughts and ideas and a really strong gut feeling that pointed in the direction of 5776. Even amazing gematriahs (as if they didn't exist for any other years)!

But, once again 5776 came and went. Another Moshiach year has bitten the dust.

Or has it?

I want to present to you with a theory that is both exciting and boring. It is a precise prediction, but it leaves open when Moshiach comes. It is absolutely true and completely questionable.

I still believe that Obama was Gog. And I believe that there was some truth in what the autistics and the near deathers etc. etc. etc. have predicted. A little bit of truth. And a lot of falsehood. Because it is so important to understand that the world is not two dimensional. It is not just a world of judgment where anyone who wears a wig is going to burn eternally. And where a soul is dipped into 7 levels of fire, which can be named because someone was just there.

That description - the description that the Moshiach Blogosphere is used to talking about and describing - is the side of judgment - din.

And it is interesting that that young man experienced and saw all these things during his near death experience time in the space of judgment - which is where a soul goes immediately after death. It is called the world of Z"A - which we don't even pronounce as its component words (Z'er Anpin) because it denotes extreme judgment, which we don't want to call into play.

The world of Z"A is where they speak from. But there are other worlds - the world of Beriyah - above Z"A - crowning Z'A and Nukva. It is transcendent and there is no evil there. It is the world of the throne, the world of the souls where no evil can penetrate from our realm.

But even our realm is not the world of Z"A - we do not live in a world of pure judgment. We live in a world where there is a balancing act between Din and Rachamim, between judgment and mercy.

And in the real world, there is no such thing as unmitigated judgment.

Many of you might be familiar with the fact that the Gemara in Succah speaks about Moshiach ben Yosef, describing the great mourning that occurs after his death in the war of Gog Umagog.

But the Gra's opinion is that Moshiach ben Yosef will not die. The Gemara itself hints to such an opinion when it refers to the same mourning as NOT being for Moshiach ben Yosef (but for the Yetzer Hara). The Gra's opines that MBY won't die, because the reason he was meant to die has already been atoned for by the length of the exile we've endured.

Moshiach does not have to arrive with death, destruction and mayhem.

And I still believe that Obama was Gog, and that something amazing is unfolding right in front of our eyes. Because if Gog could not do anything more than create an ineffective UN resolution, then we are looking at Geulah Berachamim - redemption with mercy.

I believe that we experienced the judgment 70 years ago with World War II.

And that now is the time for redemption with mercy.

If you listened to my most recent podcast, you heard what the war of Gog Umagog is about - it is about a claim to Jerusalem. It is about a claim to being the spiritual conduit of Hashem. Which is an exclusive right of the Jewish people. Gog comes to Jerusalem to try to remove the Jewish people's claim to Jerusalem; to deny the Jewish people's chosen status. To claim that other religions and peoples have replaced us as the conduit of spirituality into the world.

But on the day that the greatest of the 70 nations of the world moves its embassy to Jerusalem, it is the greatest statement that Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people.

I don't want to say too much more, but a parallel is spoken of between the Purim story and the future redemption. It is why Iran/Persia is part of the story. And it is hard to ignore the people who have been in the life of the incoming president before this story started.

I haven't written and haven't wanted to predict, because I have not wanted to say things that look silly within a small amount of time.

But I'm writing now, because I think it's time to start seeing that things are turning. We may look back in a couple of years and see in hindsight that 5776 was a significant year in the coming of Moshiach Berachamim.

Clothing of Geulah and Cosmic Friday's Mincha Gedolah

In the parsha podcast a few weeks ago, I mentioned the interesting point that when Yosef comes out of jail, he immediately receives a change of clothing, which is referred to as שמלות. Similarly, when Yosef finally reveals himself to his brothers, he gives them each a change of clothing - חליפות שמלות. This reference to clothes as שמלות comes in contrast to previous references to clothing as בגדים (e.g. when Potiphar's wife grabs Yosef's clothes). The chiddush that I said then was that the difference between a בגד (beged) and שמלות (Semalos) is that the root of the first comes from the word 'to rebel' - an indication of the clothing's function after the sin of Adam Harishon, to cover up his rebellion. After Yosef and his brothers achieved their complete rectification, they each earned their שמלות. Since the first letter is the letter 'sin' and it is interchangeable with the letter 'samach,' it could be explained that the concept of שמלות represents the concept of a סמל - something that represents. Whereas the בגד betrays who the person is, the שמלה represents properly who the person is. Thus, they received a change of clothing - now that they rectified their previous blemishes - clothing that reflected their true greatness.

As the ba'al korei read the parsha this past week, I had to smile as I saw that when the Jews left Mitzrayim, they 'borrowed' gold and silver - as well as שמלות! At the very moment which represented the final rectification of the Galus of Mitzrayim, just as at the first moment of the tikkun, the Jews got new clothes - שמלות.

What I didn't mention in the podcast was something else I noticed about the word שמלות. In the Torah, it is actually spelled חסר, without the ו"ו. Thus it is written שמלת. The Gematria of the word is תש"ע - the year we currently stand in. Thus, the very word which represents the completion of the rectification has the same value as this year.

What is also interesting is that when the Jews leave Egypt, the passuk says that they borrowed gold, silver and clothing. There the word is with the extra ו"ו which means 'and.' This brings the gematria of the word to be the same as the year תשע"ו which is in six years from now.

Thus, if there is any significance to this observation, it could be said that there is a significant rectification that might be accomplished by the leaders of the Jewish people in our current year (5770). Perhaps the rectification of the entire Jewish people is hinted to as being set to occur in the year 5776. It must be noted that the year 5776 is a yovel year, and the last one was in 5727 (1967) when the six-day war occurred. It is worth checking out Keitz Meguleh's post, entitled "Geulat Mitzraim to Yemot Hamashiach" which speaks at length about the significance of these dates. Also, see his online book on Yovel and the year 5776, which is fascinating.

It is also significant to note that in this year we also reach an important point in time on the sixth day. What I am referring to here is that each thousand years of history corresponds to a day. The period of 6000-7000 is Shabbos. Thus, we are in the second half of Friday. 1990 marked חצות - midday - of Friday. There is no question (and I have seen this in completely secular books) that the year 1990 marked a new chapter in the annals of mankind. Russia and Communism fell, and we began a new age of computers and internet. (Stephen Covey refers to this age as the 'knowledge-worker age.') The world today is vastly different from the world of the 1980s.

The sefer Kol Hator notes that if we divide 1000 years into 24 (hours of the day), each hour corresponds to 41 2/3 years. This would mean that the year 5500 was daybreak of the sixth day, and 5750 was חצות (as we saw). This year (5770/2010), we hit 12:30, which is 20 5/6 years (half an hour) since 5750. This occurs on Rosh Chodesh Av. The time 12:30 is referred to as Mincha Gedolah - the first time you can daven Mincha. It is also the time that the daily afternoon Tomid offering was brought. This time is also known as the time when the walls begin to darken as the sun is no longer directly overhead. It is also the time that the sun begins to lean towards the west. Interestingly, this time is referred to as בין הערביים - between the eves. This is because the word ערב (normally translated as eve) means 'to set.' This is the first time the sun sets, as it has passed its peak and it begins to head downward. The second time the sun sets is at shkiah - sundown. Thus, Rosh Chodesh Av is the beginning of the suns descent on erev Shabbos.

Now, as in the past, I am reluctant to make any predictions, but I think it is safe to say that when we look back at this year, we will be able to note a very significant point in history, just as we do when we look back at the year 5750 (1990).