Pollard Pleads for Redemption - and Not of Himself

Jerusalem Post: Jonathan Pollard: Restoring Israel to Greatness:

...

In summary, Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world so befuddled by moral ambiguity that it is willing to dishonor its dead, betray its bereaved, and disgrace its citizens for the sake of political expediency.

...

A sovereign state which is capable of dishonoring its dead by freeing their murderers and tormenting their bereaved loved ones has, in essence, discarded all of the moral underpinnings of its own existence.

Nor should it come as any surprise – as any student of history knows – that no country can survive without a clearly defined moral infrastructure.

The Land of Israel is eternal and the State of Israel has temporal stewardship over the land. The corrosive moral ambiguity that has brought us to this dreadful day is relentlessly eating away at the legitimacy of the state’s continued role as legal guardian of the land. The prognosis is dire.

Only a reawakening of national resolve and a rebirth of ethical politics rooted in national self-respect, moral rectitude and courage of conviction can guarantee the future. No political process devoid of these fundamental values will ever end the agony or the fear for the State of Israel.

It is clearly time for an historic restoration.

Cosmic calls Pollard's article "a painful read". And the reason it's painful is because of its truth.

Dov Bar Leib tells us to pay attention to everything he says because he "speaks volumes".

Soul Mazal assigns Mashiah-significance to his words.

As does Mashiach's Wife.

And I agree.

The "corrosive moral ambiguity" is pretty much what our sages have predicted for Ikveta Dimshiha (Sota 49b, Sanhedrin 97a).

I came across an amazing one-two punch of the Targum Yonatan and Malbim on Micha 4:8.  The verse states:

וְאַתָּה מִגְדַּל-עֵדֶר, עֹפֶל בַּת-צִיּוֹן--עָדֶיךָ תֵּאתֶה; וּבָאָה, הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה הָרִאשֹׁנָה, מַמְלֶכֶת, לְבַת יְרוּשָׁלִָם

And thou, Migdal-eder, the hill of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come; yea, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

The Targum Yonatan, quoted by both Rashi and the Radak, explains this verse as follows:

ואת משיחא דישראל דטמיר מן קדם חובי כנשתא דציון לך עתידא מלכותא למיתי וייתי שלטונא קדמאה למלכות כנשתא דירושלם

And you, the Mashiah of Israel, who is hidden due to the sins of the congregation of Zion, to you the kingdom is destined to come, and the original rulership will come to the kingdom of the congregation of Yerushalayim.

We see that the delay of Mashiah's arrival and causing him to be hidden is due to our sins.

The Malbim takes a different approach to this verse, and says that it tells us the stages of history that lead up to Mashiah.  He writes:

ואתה מגדל עדר, מסב פניו אל הר ציון הנזכר, אומר אליו, אתה הר ציון, שאתה מגדל של העדר הלז, שהוא עדר הצאן הצולעה והנדחה, תחלה תהיה כמגדל של צאן, ואח״כ תהיה עופל, שהוא מבצר חזק, ומפרש שזה יהיה בשלש מדרגות, תחלה בת ציון עדיך תאתה שהגליות יתחילו להתקבץ וגלות יהודה ובנימין שהם בת ציון שגלו מציון בחורבן בית שני יתקבצו אליך, ואח״כ ובאה הממשלה הראשונה , תבוא ממשלה קטנה, שיהיה להם קצת ממשלה והנהגה כמו שהיו לישראל בימים הראשונים לפני מלך מלך לבני ישראל שהיה להם שופטים מנהיגים אותם, ואח״כ תבא ממלכת לבת ירושלים יהיה להם מלכות קבוע שהוא מלכות בית דוד, שאח״כ ימלוך המלך המשיח בממלכה קבועה, וכן התבאר ביחזקאל סי׳ ל״ד כ״ג כ״ד, וסי׳ ל״ו כ״ד כ״ה, ועמוס ט׳ י״א , שמלכות בית דוד תתגלה בהדרגה, ותחלה לא יהיה רק במדרגת שופט ויתעלה לאט לאט עד שיהיה לה׳ המלוכה , עיי״ש:

"And thou, Migdal-eder" - He turns His face toward Mt. Zion that was mentioned, and tells it, "You Mt. Zion, who are a tower of that flock, as the returning exiles are like a flock of sheep, first you will be like a tower of sheep and then you will be 'the hill', which is a strong fortress."  And it explains that this will be in 3 steps: First, "the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come" - that the exiles will start to gather, and the exile of Yehuda and Binyamin, who are "the daughter of Zion" as they were exiled from Zion in the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash, will gather toward you. Afterwards, "yea, the former dominion shall come" - a small kingdom will come, which will be for them a little bit of rulership and leadership as Israel had in the days of old before a king ruled over the children of Israel, where they had the Shofetim leading them. And afterwards, will come "the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem" - they will have a set kingdom, which is the Kingdom of the House of David, as afterward, the King Mashiah will rule as a set kingdom.  And this was similarly explained in Yehezkel 34:23-24 and 36:24-25 and Amos 9:11 - that the Kingdom of the House of David will be revealed in stages, and first, it will only be the stage of a Shofet, and it will rise up little by little until the kingship will be Hashem's.  See there.

In the Malbim's prophetic words, stage 1 started in the 1800s and lasted until 1948.  Stage 2 began in 1948, and we are in the last vestiges of it today.  We are eagerly awaiting stage 3, which hasn't arrived yet due to our misdeeds.

Stage 2 is compared to that of the Shofetim.  I'd like to suggest that the first and last verses of Megilat Rut explain where we are and where we want to be.

Rut begins:

וַיְהִי, בִּימֵי שְׁפֹט הַשֹּׁפְטִים

and Haza"l say:

אוי לדור ששפטו את שופטיהם ואוי לדור ששופטיו צריכין להשפט

It is woeful times when a prisoner in the darkness of prison needs to rebuke the leaders of Israel for its misdeeds.  However, the darkest part of night is right before dawn, which brings me to the last verse in Rut:

וְעֹבֵד הוֹלִיד אֶת-יִשָׁי, וְיִשַׁי הוֹלִיד אֶת-דָּוִד

This represents the Malbim's third stage. May it come speedily in our days.