Eiding the Geula

A horrific tragedy in Mina, Saudi Arabia:

On 24 September 2015, a stampede resulted in the deaths of at least 769 people and injuries to 934 others during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.

We are not joyous at the downfall of others - even our enemies.  However, we can be joyous at what this possibly represents - vengeance against the nations - as it says: יִשְׂמַח צַדִּיק, כִּי-חָזָה נָקָם [The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance].

Hat tip commenter Elliot on the Tomer Devorah blog, who started me off with this.  Subsequently, Devash posted her own thoughts on the subject.

We know from the Ramban in Ha'azinu that the Song of Ha'azinu contains within it the entire history of mankind from beginning to end.  It stands to reason, therefore, that we will find everything that occurred in history in the song if we know how and where to look.  Some things are more difficult to find than others, but this event - if I'm reading it correctly - seems abundantly clear.

The verse in חמישי of Ha'azinu (Devarim 32:35):

לִי נָקָם וְשִׁלֵּם, {ר} לְעֵת תָּמוּט רַגְלָם: {ס} כִּי קָרוֹב יוֹם אֵידָם, {ר} וְחָשׁ עֲתִדֹת לָמוֹ.

Vengeance is Mine, and recompense, against the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that are to come upon them shall make haste.

The word "Eidam" has a double-meaning: 1) Their holiday - as it was "Eid al-Adha" or 2) Their calamity.

Ironic that their holiday became their calamity.

The verse refers to Hashem's vengeance when the time that their foot slip (תמוט רגלם).  When a stampede occurs, people slip in a way that they cannot stand straight and end up getting trampled upon.

And this occurred on Thursday, or יום חמישי, of Parshat Ha'azinu, corresponding exactly to the Aliyah in which the verse is written.

All this occurred with Yishmael, of whom the Ba'al Haturim says when Yishmael will fall at the End of Days, the children of Yitzhak (i.e. the Jewish people) will flourish.

And then, the leader of Esav, the Pope, stumbled as he was boarding a plane from New York to Philadelphia on Shabbat at around the time when many synagogues would be reading the words לעת תמוט רגלם.    And it seems like the verse is mainly speaking about Esav, as it says in Pirkei DeRibbi Eliezer:

מה עשה הב"ה יעקב אחז בעקבו של עשו להפילו שנ' ואחרי כן יצא אחיו וידו אוחזת בעקב עשו מכאן אתה למד שאין בני  עשו נופלים עד שיבא שריד מיעקב ויקצץ רגליו של בני עשו מהר שעיר שנ' כל קביל די חזית וכתוב אחר אומ' לי נקם ושלם [לעת תמוט רגלם]

In other words, Yaakov held onto the heal of Esav to symbolize that his downfall will occur when Yaakov will cut off the feat of Esav. We can possibly add that even the event in Mecca is a blow to Esav since Yishmael is included in Edom like Rav Saadia Gaon says on Daniel, and therefore, any punishment to Yishmael is like a punishment to Edom.

Getting back to our verse, we can add that the word לעת can refer to בעתה and the word וחש can refer to אחישנה - and in fact, both the Rashbam and Da'at Zekeinim refer to the verse בעתה אחישנה in their commentary on the word וחש.

Also, the Or Hahayim Hakadosh says that לעת תמוט רגלם refers to the period of Ikveta Dimshiha, and וחש עתידות למו tells us that when the vengeance is taken against evildoers, immediately thereafter, Hashem will fulfill the consolations and promises to the righteous.

We can therefore interpret the Pasuk to mean the following:

Hashem's vengeance will be paid at the time of בעתה - when the stampede will cause people's feet to slip - since the day of the holiday which caused their calamity has approached, and He will now speed up all future positive events for the Jewish people.

Rabbeinu Bahye makes this even more interesting.  First of all, he says that the word "לעת" of לעת תמוט רגלם is referring to the verse in Daniel כִּי-סְתֻמִים וַחֲתֻמִים הַדְּבָרִים, עַד-עֵת קֵץ [for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end].

Even more interesting, he then says that the word "למו" in this verse in Ha'azinu is a סימן ורמז לגאולה - a sign and a hint to Redemption.  The footnote in the classic Rabbeinu Bahye quotes R' Shimshon of Ostrepoli ZY"A as saying that למו is Rashei Teivot for לְמוֹעֵד מוֹעֲדִים וָחֵצִי - [for a time, times, and a half].  Perhaps, we can say the following: If a "time" is a 19-year cycle, then 3.5 x 19 years = 66.5 years.  If the starting point was 5 Iyar, 5708, then the עת קץ was last Heshvan (Heshvan of 5775).  However, we needed to reach a Yom Kippur to rid us of our sins before anything occurred, so things got delayed for 11 months.  The day after Yom Kippur, things started to occur - starting with the vengeance upon the nations, a prerequisite for Redemption.  Alternately, it needed to wait for Yom Kippur as Devash said - since it needs to be after כי ידין ה' עמו - the Judgement Day that is solely for the Jews is Yom Kippur.

Or, perhaps we can say more simply that Rabbeinu Bahye's hint of למו is its gematria, which is 76, and telling us that in 5776, things will start to occur.

Or, perhaps the hint and sign is in the gematria of למו times itself, as 76 squared equals 5776.

As I recently brought down from Rav Hayim Palachi:

And would it be so that the sparks of Redemption should start to sparkle from Motza'ei Yom Hakippurim.

May the Redemption continue to flourish toward its fulfillment, speedily in our days, Amen.

חג שמח