5776 - Transfer of Power

I. Two Kingdoms

The first several verses in Micha chapter 4 talks about the End of Days, but one verse stands out in particular to tell us about the period we are in:

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.

As I explained previously,  the Malbim tells us that the ממשלה הראשנה refers to a small rulership which will be followed by ממלכת לבת ירושלים - a formal kingdom of Mashiah.  In hindsight, it seems that the prophetic words of the Malbim refer to the State of Israel.

The beginning of the verse: וְאַתָּה מִגְדַּל-עֵדֶר, עֹפֶל בַּת-צִיּוֹן--עָדֶיךָ תֵּאתֶה has the gematria of 2411.  If we subtract 2411 from 5708 (when the State of Israel was born), we get 3297, or 41 years before the destruction of the first Beit Hamikdash.  This was approximately when Yirmiyah Hanavi started prophesying about the destruction, which was, in fact, the beginning of the destruction.  This tells us that for that period of time, we were considered Migdal-eder - עדר from the word נעדר (hidden).  We had no sovereignty and for the short periods we did, the world powers didn't approve.  In 5708, we regained a measure of sovereignty and the world miraculously approved of it.


II. MBY and MBD

Let's look at the previous 2 verses in Micha:

בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם-יְהוָה, אֹסְפָה הַצֹּלֵעָה, וְהַנִּדָּחָה, אֲקַבֵּצָה; וַאֲשֶׁר, הֲרֵעֹתִי

וְשַׂמְתִּי אֶת-הַצֹּלֵעָה לִשְׁאֵרִית, וְהַנַּהֲלָאָה לְגוֹי עָצוּם; וּמָלַךְ יְהוָה עֲלֵיהֶם בְּהַר צִיּוֹן, מֵעַתָּה וְעַד-עוֹלָם

In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven away, and her that I have afflicted;
And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a mighty nation; and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from thenceforth even for ever.

"Her that halteth", according to the Malbim, refers to the ingathering of the 10 tribes while "her that is driven away/cast far off" refers to the ingathering of those exiled from among Yehuda.  The 10 tribes were mainly led by the children of Yosef.  It follows, therefore, that verse 8 which mentions the ממשלה הראשנה refers to a Mashiah Ben Yosef (MBY)-like rulership, whereas the ממלכת לבת ירושלים refers to a Mashiah Ben David (MBD)-like kingdom.  From the fact that the State of Israel gathered in many Jews from throughout the globe, many rabbis nowadays (disputed by others) consider the State of Israel to have the aspect of MBY.


III. Asking for "Life"

It says in Tehillim:

חַיִּים, שָׁאַל מִמְּךָ--נָתַתָּה לּוֹ; אֹרֶךְ יָמִים, עוֹלָם וָעֶד

He asked life of Thee, Thou gavest it him; even length of days for ever and ever.

I explained previously that the gemara in Sukkah 52a learns from this verse how MBD asked for life from Hashem, where the simple understanding implies that MBD is asking for his own life, but the Gr"a and Ariza"l say it's referring to MBY - asking for his life so that he shouldn't be killed by Armilus Harasha in the first place. See the Mashiach Awareness blog how to read that interpretation into the gemara.

We could add that what he asked was for MBY to have חיים - i.e. the gematria of חיים, which is 68.  In other words, he asked for 68 years after 5708 to be given over from pure Galut to the state of MBY, i.e., the State of Israel, the ממשלה הראשנה.  This will culminate in 5776.