Geula Update from Rav Fish - Hayei Sarah 5774

From Rav Fish's newsletter last week:

• Earthquakes in Teveria
• We find in Yalkut Shimoni (Yeshaya 429) [and Rosh Hashana 31a-b]:

  [It says:] יַשְׁפִּילֶנָּה יַשְׁפִּילָהּ עַד-אֶרֶץ, יַגִּיעֶנָּה עַד-עָפָר [laying it low, laying it low even to the ground, bringing it even to the dust.] Ribbi Yohanan said: The Sanhedrin was exiled 10 exiles:
  

  1. From the Lishkat Hagazit to Hanut
  2. From Hanut to Yerushalayim
  3. From Yerushalayim to Yavneh
  4. From Yavneh to Usha
  5. From Usha to Yavneh
  6. From Yavneh to Usha
  7. From Usha to Shefar'am
  8. From Shefar'am to Beit She'arim
  9. From Beit She'arim to Tzippori
  10. From Tzippori to Teveria

  And Teveria was deepest [or lowest] of them all, as it says: וְשָׁפַלְתְּ מֵאֶרֶץ תְּדַבֵּרִי, וּמֵעָפָר תִּשַּׁח אִמְרָתֵךְ [And brought down thou shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust] ... Ribbi Yohanan said: And from there [Teveria], we are destined to be redeemed, as it says: הִתְנַעֲרִי מֵעָפָר קוּמִי שְּׁבִי, יְרוּשָׁלִָם [Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem].  [The next verse after the first verse quoted is:] תִּרְמְסֶנָּה, רָגֶל; רַגְלֵי עָנִי, פַּעֲמֵי דַלִּים [The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.] Ribbi said: Teveria will pay it back during the days of Mashiah, as it says תִּרְמְסֶנָּה, רָגֶל; רַגְלֵי עָנִי and it also says: וְהוּכַן בַּחֶסֶד כִּסֵּא [And a throne is established through mercy].

  
  We see that the future Redemption will start in Teveria, about where it says הִתְנַעֲרִי מֵעָפָר קוּמִי [Shake thyself from the dust]. And this week, Teveria felt 5 earthquakes to hint to the "shaking of the dust" in Teveria. And we also see that Teveria is connected with the return of the Sanhedrin - and the earthquakes occurred during harsh turbulence of the disagreements between Gedolei Yisrael, Hashem should have mercy.
  
• We also find in Megilla 6a:

  Why was it called Teveria? Because it sits in the belly [טבור] of the Land of Israel

  
  And the word טבור is connected to the Sanhedrin, as the Mishna (Sanhedrin 36b) says:

  The Sanhedrin was shaped like a semi-circle.

  And the Bartenura there says:

  As the verse says: שָׁרְרֵךְ אַגַּן הַסַּהַר [Thy navel is like a round goblet] שררך אגן - this refers to the Sanhedrin, which sits in the belly of the earth and protects the entire earth.

• And we find a connection between Teveria and the Kingdom of the House of David, as it says in the Zohar (Shelah 175b)

  The color of the Techelet comes from a fish in the Lake Kinneret ... and this Kinnor of David plays by itself...

• Also, the Likutei Torah by the Ariza"l (Ekev p. 248) says that כנרת has the gematria of תרע"א, which is the gematria of the Milui of א-ד-נ-י, which is the aspect of Malchut.
• Earthquakes from Tzion
• The Zohar Hadash (Rut 76a) says that when HKB"H wants to get the world mad and shake its foundational pillars, He does it only from Tzion.  As Ribbi Shemuel says in the Yerushalmi, earthquakes come from a break in kingship (מלכות).  And since Tzion is the root of kingship in the world, when there is turbulence and a break in the kingship, and especially when there is Mahloket in the kingship, it causes a quake from Tzion.  
• Rav Tzion David Siboni adds that the word Haza"l uses for earthquakes - זוועות is the gematria of מלכות.
• Earthquakes due to Exile
• We also find in the Zohar (Shemot 9a) where Ribbi Shimon Bar Yohai linked an earthquake that occurred in Teveria to Hashem's being pained due to the exile: 

  Ribbi Shimon lifted his hands in prayer to HKB"H and prayed his prayer. After he prayed, Ribbi Elazar his son and Ribbi Abba came and sat before him. Before they sat before him, they saw one light of the day turn dark and one stream of fire sink in the sea of Teveria, and that entire place shook. Ribbi Shimon said: Definitely, now is the time that HKB"H remembered His children and lowered 2 tears into the Great Sea, and when they went down, they met up with this stream of fire and they both sunk together in the sea. Ribbi Shimon cried and the rabbis cried.

• More about Teveria
• We also find in the Yerushalmi Shevi'it 4:7 where it says that Ribbi Hiya Bar Ba was מִתְעַגל בהֲדָא אֱלִיסוּס דטְבֶרְיָא and the Penei Moshe explains this to mean that this is an area of Teveria and he rolled himself around on the ground because of his love of the holiness of the land of Israel. [YY - Incidentally, Yedid Nefesh translates this differently - as "splashing around in the swamp of Teveria".] We see that Ribbi Hiya felt a special holiness on the land of Teveria that caused him to roll around on its land and wasn't satisfied with merely kissing the dust to show his love of the land. This can be explained according to what we said that Teveria has the aspect of Malchut, which is the aspect of "land", which is why there is special holiness to the land of Teveria.