Silver Lining in Geula Delay
The Haftara we read this week says:
כי מי נח זאת לי אשר נשבעתי מעבר מי נח עוד על הארץ כן נשבעתי מקצף עליך ומגער בך
The Radak points out the variant text of כימי נח - meaning "like the days of No'ah".
The gemara (Sanhedrin 99a) brings a host of opinions as to how long the "Days of Mashiah" will last. One of the opinions is that of Rav Nahman Bar Yitzhak:
רב נחמן בר יצחק אמר כימי נח עד עכשיו שנאמר כי מי נח זאת לי אשר נשבעתי
on which Rashi comments:
כי מי נח. כמו כימי נח
כחשבון השנים שנמצא בידו לאותו זמן
שנשבע ה׳ מעבור מי נח עוד על
הארץ כן נשבעתי כפי אותו חשבון
נשבעתי מקצף עליך ומגער כך שלא
אחריב את עולמי לאחר שיבא משיח
עד שיכלה זה הזמן:
כחשבון השנים שנמצא בידו לאותו זמן
שנשבע ה׳ מעבור מי נח עוד על
הארץ כן נשבעתי כפי אותו חשבון
נשבעתי מקצף עליך ומגער כך שלא
אחריב את עולמי לאחר שיבא משיח
עד שיכלה זה הזמן:
which means that the "Days of Mashiah" will last from the time of Noah's Flood until Mashiah begins. Hashem promises not to destroy the world until that time.
This doesn't really help us now, but if Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak is correct, it will help our descendants. If Mashiah comes this Sunday, then the world won't be destroyed until the year 9882. Imagine if Bar Kochba was Mashiah - then the world would be destroyed in the year 6132.
כל מאן דעביר רחמנא לטב עביד
Everything Hashem does is for the best.
Nevertheless, we still must pray for his coming as soon as possible since we need to worry about now. Let Hashem take care of the distant future.
posted by yaak @ 8/20/2010 04:10:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Please explain (?): " This doesn't really help us now (no, why?), but if Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak is correct, it will help our descendants (?). If Mashiah comes this Sunday, then the world won't be destroyed until the year 9882 (?). Imagine if Bar Kochba was Mashiah - then the world would be destroyed in the year 6132 (?)." thx
from 5770 to 9882 is 4112 yrs.
The Flood was in the year 1656 from Creation or 4114 yrs ago.
Maybe he meant the time from the flood until now will be the amount of time that the world will exist before being destroyed.i.e. 4114+5770=9884 (he's off by 2 yrs) which would be the year 6124 CE.
Bar Kochba was in the yr 135 or the year 3895 from Creation, i.e. the flood had happened 2239 yrs prior. So, 3895+2239 yields 6134 or 2374 CE
I appreciate your positive take, but I understand it differently. The timing of Bar Kochba is according to Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak, indeed. The Keitz of the Shmol (see Zohar Parshat Noach 62b,63a) is 6129 or 6133. The Mabul was 1657, 1656 years after Adam. The middle is 3893/3895, within the Bar Kochba rebellion. After we missed Moshiach at that time, the Shita of Rav Nachman is no longer relevant. The Keitz HaShmol remains what it was, but now the Shita of Rebbi enters: The time for Moshiach is a "year" before the Keitz HaShmol. That is, the number of years before the Keitz are as the days of a year. As an aside, at the time of the Vilna Gaon, Moshiach could have come a "year" (384, 365 or 354 years) before the Keitz HaYamin, which is 210 years before the Keitz of the Shmol (6129 or 6133). Interestingly, when the students of the GR"A arrived in Eretz Yisrael, in 5569, that change was all but over: 5569=6133-210-354.
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