Geula Update from Rav Fish - Ki Tetze 5774

Introduction to this week

This week, Rav Fish quotes extensively from the Imrei Bina, written by Ra'avad I.  Exactly 6 years ago, this work was the biggest thing in the Geula-blog world, as it seemed to imply a 5768-9 Geula.  See the first bullet of this old post, Dreaming of Moshiach's post, and treated extensively over at Hakeitz Hameguleh - see his Table of Contents post for links.  Alas, it was not to be then, but there are other ways to interpret this cryptic Sefer, as we shall see below.

[Dikduk Note: I'm calling it the Imrei Bina for consistency even though according to my normal transliteration style, it should really be called "Imrei Vina", as per Mishlei 1:2.]


From Rav Fish's latest:

• More on the 278 Shemitot (see last week's contribution for background) 
• מתשי"ט [from 5719] has the same letters as שמיטת [Shemita of] since then is when the Shemitot of pregnancy end.
• R' R. Z. explains [it a little differently - ] that we should calculate from the time of the second Beit Hamikdash that was destroyed in 3828 until Shemita of 5726 and there are 271 Shemitot, which is the gematria of הריון [meaning pregnancy, a very famous gematria mentioned by the gemara Nidah 38b] that corresponds to exile.  And Motza'ei Shemitta - in 5727 - corresponds to the day of birth.  And from then begins the next 7 Shemitot, corresponding to the first 7 days of the boy, culminating in 5775, upon which it says וטמאה שבעת ימים, and Motza'ei Shevi'it of 5775 [5776] corresponds to the 8th day, when the Orla will be circumcized and Mashiah Ben David will come, speedily in our days Amen.
• And the matter is inferred in the words of the Ra'avad in Imrei Bina 8b-9a [all Imrei Bina English quotes use Gilui's translation]:

  and on Tishah B'Av on the 1st year of the Shmitah cycle, the 2nd Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, and they stopped to count (for the duration of) 277 shmitah years that weren't counted. The secret of that is "and is it not hidden with Me?" (The commentary there says gematria of part of this expression taken in a certain way is 277) ...
  
  And at the beginning of the 49th Yovel cycle, the freedom of the 48th Yovel, ... it is the Great Yovel, and the holy nation will return to its inheritence.

  That is, that 277 Shemitas were not counted, but for the 278th Shemita, we will already be able to count it from Biblical law.  And therefore, the Ra'avad connects the 278th Shemitta to Yovel, as we brought down from the Zohar Hadash Balak 68b [which I translated earlier]

  [On the verse אראנו ולא עתה - "Rabbi, Rabbi! How hard is the matter? How long is the time? How many troubles upon troubles are prepared for the Jewish people in exile? How many beasts will rule? How many will roar to tear Israel asunder in every era until the End of Days?" At the time that will be prepared according to the counting of years of Yovel and Shemitta together - which is 274 from the 6th day. A sound will be awakened from the highest heights of the heavens, a bitterly sad sound, that which never existed before from the day that the worlds were created. ... And that sound will be soft and quiet, with bitterness and sadness, going down and going up, going up and going down. And it also says, "A lovely impala you were to Me from the early days, but you were forgotten from Me. I had everlasting love with it. I remember that the seal of its image was sealed upon My heart and was sealed upon My arm, and its love was strong inside Me, and its flashes of flames burn inside Me." At that time, HKB"H will strengthen Himself and appease His impala with many appeasements, and will strengthen it, and will raise it from the dust - He and no one else.

  And we see that the Zohar mentions 274 years from the morning of the Sixth Millenium, meaning 5774 [YY - or alternatively, if counting from 5501, then it's 5775]. And we see from the Zohar that the time is connected to Shemita and Yovel.
• And it's also brought down in the Imrei Bina (beginning):

  Sidra Kadma’ah – At Mount Sinai, a voice went out and said “In this Yovel year, you will return, each man to his inheritance”. At (the time of) 1938 years after the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (which was in 3829, which makes a total of 5767), each man will return to his inheritance, and the year after these years will be the Great Yovel, and Yovel releases at the beginning, therefore at the beginning the holy nation will return to its inheritances.

  The Ra'avad says that 1938 years after Destruction of the Beit Hamikdash - and another year - will occur the Great Yovel, within which its first Shemita, the Geula will come. And here, he is speaking about the Shemita that occurred in 5768, which he connects to the Great Yovel. In the first Shemita of this Yovel, the Children of Israel will return to their inheritance - and this could occur until the end of 5775.
• R' R.Z. also explains that the Ra'avad in Imrei Bina [YY - actually, the quote is in the same book, but from a different work contained there called "Shir Yedidot"] prophesied exactly the Holocaust and its date, which were the punishment of the Gog Umagog War, and the Ra'avad is speaking about the year 5704, as we will explain.  And from then, we start to count the 72 years of Hevlei Mashiah, which concludes in the year 5776, which is Motza'ei Shevi'it when Ben David comes.  Let's bring down his words (p. 16b) [my translation with Rav Fish's explanation in parentheses]:

  With the 7 words from "היתה תהו" until "פני תהום" (gematria equalling 1871), He covered the earth (He covered the Sefira of Malchut, also known as ארץ, with these 4 Kelipot [Tohu, Vohu, Hoshesh, and Tehom]). He gave a limited time and destruction to the flood of the proud waters (of these 4 evil kingdoms). With its measure being: (i.e., how do we measure this? From which year did their rulership start?) from the time they made an upheaval of "but the latter hath dealt a more grievous blow" (i.e., from the time of the Destruction of the 2nd Beit Hamikdash, which the prophet calls האחרון הכביד - in other words, we should calculate the measurement of time for being subservient to the nations from the time of the Destruction of the Beit Hamikdash and add 1871 years like the aforementioned gematria). And when this calculation is complete, He will flood (the world with punishment) and He will remove (the sins of) the guilty (of His people and remove our subjugation to the nations).

  And since the Ra'avad on p. 8a holds that the Destruction occurred in the year 3829, if we add 1871 years to this, we reach the year 5700, which is when the Holocaust began.
• And it's also brought down in the Imrei Bina (7b) [my translation with Rav Fish's explanation in parentheses]:

  When the 2nd Beit Hamikdash was destroyed, like the gematria of הית"ה [which is 420 years that the Beit Hamikdash stood] etc., there will be 4 kingdoms living, which end in the value of אש"ם [standing for] אלף שמונה מאות [which equals 1800] and 75 [altogether 1875] ... when S"M and his mate will be destroyed from the world. And "all the sons of Seth" [ש"ת is gematria 700] refers to the year 700 in Sixth Millenium [i.e. 5700]. Plus 4 extra years (i.e., that which he wrote "1875" - even though the gematria of the verse of תהו until תהום is 1871 - and also, it brings us to the year 5704) which hint to the 4 kingdoms who arose ... (In other words, he counted in his count another 4 years to make 1875, which comes to the year 5704 - in the middle of the Holocaust - because they correspond to the 4 kingdoms themselves which are the Kollelim of the 4 words "Tohu, Vohu, Hoshech, and Tehom" as he explains)

• And he [=R' R.Z.] wants to bring a proof that the beginning of the 72 years of Hevlei Mashiah began in the year 5704 and not 5700, as we find in the gemara (Shabbat 118a):

  Ribbi Shimon Ben Pazi says in the name of Ribbi Yehoshua Ben Levi in the name of Bar Kappara: Whoever fulfils [eating] 3 meals on Shabbat will be saved from 3 punishments: the birthpangs of Mashiah, judgment of Gehinnom, and the Gog Umagog War.

  We see that Hevlei Mashiah and Gog Umagog are 2 separate things. And since the punishment of Gog Umagog occurred during the Holocaust - since during the 3rd part of this war, we're already expecting miracles, wonders, and Redemption - we must say that the 72 years started after the Holocaust and the Holocaust is not included in them.
• And the matter still requires more scrutiny since it is known that the Gedolei Yisrael of that generation, including the Hazon Ish and others, pointed to the Holocaust as Hevlei Mashiah - even though they knew the words of the Hafetz Hayim that the Holocaust would be Gog Umagog Part 2 - because it is very possible that the punishments that relate to that time period connect together.  And for example, the famous words of the Steipler ZT"L that at the time of the Holocaust, we already suffered the majority of Hevlei Mashiah, that means that the punishments of Gog Umagog joined together with the punishments of Hevlei Mashiah during the Holocaust.  And as a result of this, they suffered less than 70 years of Hevlei Mashiah because we already had our fill of it during the Holocaust.  If this is the case, also regarding the time aspect, the Holocaust years should count for both.  וצ"ע.
• R' Yosef Morsiano adds that שבוע שבן דוד בא בו [the seven years wherein Ben David comes in it - from Sanhedrin 97a] plus the letters, words, and Kollel equals 775 [corresponding to the year 5775, the Shemita year].  If you just add the letters, you get 769, corresponding to the year 5769, the year that the seven-year cycle began.
• Another 5775 gematria
• R' Avigdor Aharonson adds that זה זמן גמר הבירור [this is the time of the end of the filtering] is gematria 775.
• R' Tziyon David Siboni adds that משיח בן דוד [MBD] is the gematria of הבירור [the filtering].
• 17 Elul
• [YY - Rav Fish wrote earlier this year: 

  Zohar Hadash (Balak 55d) talks about 274 years after the sixth millennium (which can be understood as the morning of the sixth millennium, which would mean 5774 [YY - although it could also mean 5775]). Rav Fish says that the Zohar implies this starts Shavuot of this year. The Zohar says to add 70 days and another 32 days and then another 12 months of wars. R' A. H. adds that the date of 70+32 days after Shavuot falls out on the 17th of Elul, which is when WWII broke out.

  ]
• R' Moshe Levinger adds that this comes out on Friday of Parshat Ki Tavo this year.  [Friday corresponds to the sixth Aliya of Ki Tavo, which is the Tocheha.]
• שעה
• It's brought down in the Roke'ah (Shir Hashirim 8:4) that it says the phrase האהבה עד שתחפץ three times in Shir Hashirim, and this phrase has the Rashei Teivot שע"ה.  This hints to the fact that the Gog Umagog War is to last 3 hours.  
• It appears that we could add that there is also a hint to the Shemita year of תשע"ה, which is when the Gog Umagog War is expected.
• Rashei Teivot from Tzuk Eitan
• [YY - Wikipedia English explains that a ממ"ד [Mamad, or Merkhav Mugan Dirati] is a reinforced security room.  See more there.]
• A true ממ"ד that saves lives from חבל"ה [lit. terror] is מקרא משנה דרך ארץ, as the Mishna (Kiddushin 40b) brings down:  כל שישנו במקרא ובמשנה ובדרך ארץ, לא במהרה הוא חוטא [Whoever involves himself with Scripture, Mishna, and proper conduct will not sin so quickly].
• Request from Rav Fish
• Closer to Rosh Hashana, Rav Fish plans to publish a comprehensive essay on the subject of the 6000 verses in the Torah corresponding to the 6000 years of the world.  Anyone who has information or Hiddushim on this topic - or has a tradition regarding the number of verses (whether according to Ta'am Elyon or Ta'am Tahton, etc.) - is requested to email him.  (His email can be found on the bottom line of page 10 of the pdf.)  He thanks you for giving merit to the public.