The Suffering Moshiach

The verse Yeshaya 49:7

כֹּה אָמַר-יְהוָה גֹּאֵל יִשְׂרָאֵל קְדוֹשׁוֹ, לִבְזֹה-נֶפֶשׁ לִמְתָעֵב גּוֹי לְעֶבֶד מֹשְׁלִים, מְלָכִים יִרְאוּ וָקָמוּ, שָׂרִים וְיִשְׁתַּחֲווּ--לְמַעַן יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר נֶאֱמָן, קְדֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּבְחָרֶךָּ

and Chaggai 2:23

בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם-יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אֶקָּחֲךָ זְרֻבָּבֶל בֶּן-שְׁאַלְתִּיאֵל עַבְדִּי, נְאֻם-יְהוָה, וְשַׂמְתִּיךָ, כַּחוֹתָם: כִּי-בְךָ בָחַרְתִּי, נְאֻם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת

share an idea. Hashem chose him, Moshiach ben David, Zerubavel. Chaggai stops here, but in Yeshaya he continues. Having called out to the Jews of Bavel (Yeshaya 48:20)

צְאוּ מִבָּבֶל, בִּרְחוּ מִכַּשְׂדִּים

they stayed, by and large, where they were. Therefore, in Yeshaya 50:6, he has a different message

גֵּוִי נָתַתִּי לְמַכִּים, וּלְחָיַי לְמֹרְטִים; פָּנַי לֹא הִסְתַּרְתִּי, מִכְּלִמּוֹת וָרֹק

detailing the insults he suffered in Bavel, which end in Yeshaya 53. Moshiach ben David, the one chosen by Hashem, becomes the suffering Moshiach, Moshiach ben Yosef. Who would believe our report? To who is the arm of Hashem revealed? Through Yeshaya 54, it gets clarified. With the help of Heaven, Moshiach ben Yosef will accomplish a Tikkun in the human heart.

On The Name

In Shemot 3:13-15,

וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל-הָאֱלֹהִים, הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי בָא אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתִּי לָהֶם, אֱלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶם; וְאָמְרוּ-לִי מַה-שְּׁמוֹ, מָה אֹמַר אֲלֵהֶם. וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה; וַיֹּאמֶר, כֹּה תֹאמַר לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֶהְיֶה, שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶם. וַיֹּאמֶר עוֹד אֱלֹהִים אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, כֹּה-תֹאמַר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם אֱלֹהֵי אַבְרָהָם אֱלֹהֵי יִצְחָק וֵאלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב, שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶם; זֶה-שְּׁמִי לְעֹלָם, וְזֶה זִכְרִי לְדֹר דֹּר

appears what can be seen as an old Perush, probably by RJE, as it is necessitated by the merge of E and J. The name revealed in this E fragment, skipping the bold part, is יְהוָה, and in the E context it makes perfect sense. In the J text, however, Hashem's name always was יְהוָה, and therefore the fragment, without the bold part, is quite incomprehensible to readers of the combined text of E and J. In their eyes, Moshe must have been asking for something deeper, for the meaning of the Divine name. And the answer is given in the bold part: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה. Read more here.

In Shemot 6:2-4,

וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים , אֶל-מֹשֶׁה; וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, אֲנִי יְהוָה. וָאֵרָא, אֶל-אַבְרָהָם אֶל-יִצְחָק וְאֶל-יַעֲקֹב--בְּאֵל שַׁדָּי; וּשְׁמִי יְהוָה, לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם. וְגַם הֲקִמֹתִי אֶת-בְּרִיתִי אִתָּם, לָתֵת לָהֶם אֶת-אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן--אֵת אֶרֶץ מְגֻרֵיהֶם, אֲשֶׁר-גָּרוּ בָהּ

it is claimed, in a text that seems to come from H, that the name יְהוָה was not known to the fathers. A similar deep problem would seem to arise. The name was known to the fathers! One did not see the problem: P follows the H fragment as a literal instruction. He uses the name יְהוָה only after this fragment, and uses אֵל שַׁדָּי and אֱלֹהִים before. It must be that P wanted to rewrite the Torah without J, and without J there is no problem. The later editor, R, does not relate to the problem. One could maintain that R's answer would be similar to the answer of RJE. The fathers knew the meaning of אֵל שַׁדָּי but they did not know אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה as the meaning of יְהוָה.

Ramchal's Tikkun 57

By all the strong hand, see, the faithful shepherd comes, and starts to speak: Rabbi, rabbi, Yisrael certainly stands against several challenges in the Galut, and they gave themselves over to death. And come and see, the Sin of Adam caused death to exist in the world. But the Sin of Kain caused how many Tzaddikim from Yisrael to be killed at the hands of the nations, idol worshippers. But, come and see, Kain himself, what caused him to sin? It was because his sacrifice was not clean, and thus is written: Because of this, he got more corrupted, and the Sitra Achra became stronger on him, and he killed Chevel. At the same time, the left arm became impaired by him, surely, as Kain was dependent on that arm. Because that impaired arm, they had to die. And the secret of the matter: Who die at your hand, Hashem (Tehilim 17:14), that is the left hand, which got impaired. After all, because of this hand, many from Yisrael had to die.
[Gog is the master of antisemitism. Kain killed his brother; the first Mashal of antisemitism. The first time that Gog came to the gate of Yerushalayim, he killed many, but not Moshiach ben Yosef in Zion, who will defeat Gog in the end; see also the Mashal of the waters of Noach.]

And the secret of the matter: Who is clean by way of his mother, he goes up {Chagiga 15b}. Hence is the secret: Who wants to go up one level higher, when he is not clean, he surely gets more corrupted. This is what happened to Elisha, the "other" (Chagiga 14b,15). And this is the secret: Every word of God is refined {Mishlei 30:5}. Who merits, his jewels will be towards life; who does not merit, his jewels will be towards death. In the future, Kain will become clean. In those days, I will clean their blood, which I did not clean (Yoel 4:21). They are who are murdered by the nations, which will all return to their place, and the above arm will receive a proper Tikkun, and that is the strong hand. By all the awesome power - that is Moshiach ben Yosef, because he is invited to achieve this Tikkun, in its entirety.
[Therefore, Moshiach ben Yosef still has a crucial task to do, to destroy the baseless hatred of the other, in the human heart, which is the base of antisemitism, and then to defeat Gog.]

My translation [and my comments]

Yeshayah 54 ++

“Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit— a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.

When Gog comes to the gate of Yerushalayim, see it is because a accusation woke up, because of the sin of Kain. When he comes the first time, a strong fire will appear, between the Heavens and the Earth, for three days. And Gog will stand outside, opposite the gate, and Melech Hamoshiach will be inside. The fire will separate them, they will not harm each other. When he will see that he cannot cause damage, he will go back to his place. “This will be to me the waters of Noah. Just like I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth, so now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.“

And after that, he will return a second time, and then strong darkness will appear, and how intense will be the anger in the world, and some great mountains will be split. Then he will retreat. “Though the mountains be shaken, and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.

But come and see, the evil one will think to become stronger, as time goes on. Just like Pharaoh the evil one used to do, as is written about him: and Pharaoh saw that there was a break, and he made his heart heavy. For he imagined that his mazal could become stronger, perhaps not today, but then after a while. Come and see, that is Gog the evil one, he will come a third time, certainly. But before he will come, The Holy One, blessed is He, will rise, and will obliterate the sin of Kain from the world. It is a secret: He will sit, melting and purifying. And when the evil one will come, the sin can already not be found. It is a secret: Why do nations gather, and regimes talk in vain? In vain, certainly, while they thought to use the sin to be stronger, see, the sin is no longer. For the same reason, the side of holiness gets stronger, with certainty.

By all the strong hand, two times when the sin is still not removed. By all the awesome power, He will melt to refine, before he will come the third time. And when he will come, it will be said about him: the righteous one is removed from affliction, but the evil one comes in his place, really. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.

English Standard Version + Ramchal's Tikkun 60 + minor changes

The Waters of Noach

I was kind of critical of Yeshaya 54:9-10, the passage referred to by Ramchal, in his description of the second attempt of Gog,

ואחר כך יבוא פעם שניה, ואז חושך חזק יראה וכמה כעס יהיה בעולם, וכמה הרים גדולים יבקעו, שנאמר לגביהם: ההרים ימושו והגבעות תמוטינה. ואז: חסדי מאתך לא ימוש וכו'. ואז ישוב אחורה

because it refers to the waters of Noach, a thing that never was. Moreover, it was not in the Torah at the time of Yeshayahu! Hence, I deemed the reference to the waters of Noach a copy error.

However, Yeshayah 54 is a prophecy of Deutero-Yeshayah, and at the time of Deutero-Yeshayah, the Torah did have the story of the waters of Noach. It could even be that the story of Noach was included in the Torah by Deutero-Yeshayah himself. This would be the "first" story of Noach, translated here.

The question is what would be the Perush? The waters of Noach represent the Galut, and the promise is that there will be a remnant, even after the Shoah, after what the Ramchal describes as the first attempt of Gog. This remnant is the State of Israel, and inside of Eretz Yisrael, or if you want, the ark, Gog could not do harm, but outside there was a disaster. Then, Hashem said, this will be to Me the waters of Noach (Yeshayah 54:9). Never again!

Therefore, I withdraw my assessment that the waters of Noach in Yeshaya 54 must be a copy error.

The Law and The Truth

Gog has backed out for now. As the Ramchal said in Tikkun 60:

ואחר כך יבוא פעם שניה, ואז חושך חזק יראה וכמה כעס יהיה בעולם, וכמה הרים גדולים יבקעו, שנאמר לגביהם: ההרים ימושו והגבעות תמוטינה. ואז: חסדי מאתך לא ימוש וכו'. ואז ישוב אחורה

Strong darkness, and anger in the world, how apt is the description of the Islamic barbarism, which has distracted Barak Obama, and which Donald Trump has vowed to remove from the world.

And we, we have the time to remove something else from the world, the sin of Kain, the hatred among ourselves, antisemitism. And, religiously, to do the Tikkun, to accept the truth without fear. Mind you, the truth is not orthodox, as the orthodox have it that the truth equals the law, the Halacha. Would that the entire people of Hashem were prophets, if Hashem would put His spirit on them.

In the end, the rule of Law, will be, subjugate to the Truth.

Yeshayah 66:1-16

Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. “He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig’s blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.” Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy’; but it is they who shall be put to shame. “The sound of an uproar from the city! A sound from the temple! The sound of the Lord, rendering recompense to his enemies! “Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?” says the Lord; “shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?” says your God.

“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.”

For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies. “For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

Translation: English Standard Version

Whiter than White Wine

The texts

בָּאתִי לְגַנִּי, אֲחֹתִי כַלָּה--אָרִיתִי מוֹרִי עִם-בְּשָׂמִי, אָכַלְתִּי יַעְרִי עִם-דִּבְשִׁי שָׁתִיתִי יֵינִי עִם-חֲלָבִי; אִכְלוּ רֵעִים, שְׁתוּ וְשִׁכְרוּ דּוֹדִים

(Shir HaShirim 5:1)

אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ

(Shemot 3:8, 3:17, 13:8; Vayikra 20:24; Bamidbar 13:27, 14:8, 16:13,14; Devarim 6:3, 11:9, 26:9, 26:15, 27:3, 31:20)

אֹסְרִי לַגֶּפֶן עִירֹה, וְלַשֹּׂרֵקָה בְּנִי אֲתֹנוֹ; כִּבֵּס בַּיַּיִן לְבֻשׁוֹ, וּבְדַם-עֲנָבִים סוּתֹה. חַכְלִילִי עֵינַיִם, מִיָּיִן; וּלְבֶן-שִׁנַּיִם, מֵחָלָב

(Bereshit 49:11-12)

have something in common; the word חָלָב. According to Rav Reuven Margoliot (Hamikra Vehamesorah (Jerusalem, 5749), 62-64; first published in Hahed 12, (Jerusalem, 5696)), the meaning of חָלָב in the contexts of the first two texts is not "milk," but rather "white wine," and the meaning of דְבָשׁ is not "bee's honey," nor "date honey," but "fig nectar." I think the same meaning, of חָלָב, applies to the third text, as it is all about wine. Ya'akov's final words to Yehudah, חַכְלִילִי עֵינַיִם מִיָּיִן; וּלְבֶן-שִׁנַּיִם מֵחָלָב, thus mean "eyes darker than (dark) wine and teeth whiter than white wine." The Septuagint translates the difficult word חַכְלִילִי differently, making Yehudah a cheerful man, who shows his teeth: "eyes more cheerful than wine and teeth whiter than white wine."

The Origin Of Man

This is the where the phylogeny tree for the human Y-chromosomal stands right now. This is pure DNA, and the tree is solidly rooted in Africa. This supports that man arose in Africa. Do not forget to click on the haplogroups at the right, such as this one and this one, and to take a look at the core list of 417 branch-defining Y-SNP markers. I cannot explain it better than they do and they do. Look at the references per haplogroup, where the mutation happened, and what is the oldest human fossil with the particular haplogroup.

Noach, supposedly living a mere 4,100 years ago, the inventor of wine, was not the Y-chromosomal Adam. The bigger picture is that there are some 10 million mutations of nucleotides (SNPs) in all human chromosomes together. Only 1-2 million mutations are contributed from outside of Africa, i.e., from Asia and Europe and the rest of the world. The message is clear, I hope. These are small percentages of the 3,000 million nucleotide base pairs in the human genome, but they are way too big for Noach.

There are more contributors to human genetic diversity. There is the gene-flow from the Neanthalers in Europe, from the Denisovans in the far East, and from extinct species in Africa. Our past is ancient and complicated. To know it is of the essence. The knowledge of the human genome, a self-awareness of a kind, is a crucial step in the revolutionary ascent of man. Study it.