"The Great Redemption" (1)

"The Great Redemption" by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

-- A Discourse on The End of the Exile and the Beginning of the Great Redemption

Translated by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
_____________________________________________

1.

The verse that reads, “Do not rejoice for my sake, my enemy! For though I fell, I arose; when I sit in darkness, G-d (Himself) is my light!” (Micha 7:8) divulges the secret of the Jewish Nation’s confidence in and anticipation of its total redemption, (which we pray will come) quickly and in our lifetimes, Amen!

But as those sages who have trod the paths of wisdom and come to recognize its veracity know, many mighty and prodigious things will have to transpire and a lot of preparations will have to be made before the redemption can come about. Still and all, once wisdom will spread about the world, everyone will see and know for himself that “G-d has wrought great miracles for us” (Psalms 126:3).

For while the Jewish Nation might have thought that G-d was hiding His countenance from them or had forsaken them, He was actually preparing goodness and blessings for them (all along)! For each and every moment He was preparing immeasurably far-reaching and vast storehouses for them, while setting priceless, precious, and captivating wealth and kingly treasure troves within those storehouses. In fact, they were being filled more than the mouth could enunciate, the ear could hear, or the heart conceive of.

And they’ll be opened up in the great halcyon days to come, when all sorts of exquisite things will cascade out of them and be handed over to the Jewish Nation in recompense for all the arduous things they had to do in exile.
For as it’s said in regard to this great mystery, “(G-d,) have us rejoice as many days as You afflicted us; as many years as we’ve seen wrongdoing” (Psalms 90:15).

All the light that didn’t shine upon the Jewish Nation for all the years they were in exile, that was to have shone, had never vanished. G-d stored it all in those storehouses. And it will pour out in one fell swoop once they’re opened. The Jewish Nation will then experience a degree of joy unlike any other, and the world itself will be rectified (and enjoy) a state of tranquility and calm then, and there’ll be no more sorrow.

But should you claim that the verse (" ... have us rejoice as many days as You afflicted us; as many years as we’ve seen wrongdoing”) only refers to the number of years (we’re to be in exile) then know that there aren’t enough years left to the world’s (allotted) 6,000 to equal the number we’ve been in exile.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )

********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has translated and commented upon "The Gates of Repentance", "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). And his new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available from Judaica Press.
His works are available in bookstores and in various locations on the Web.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled "Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal".