Ma'amar HaGeulah (The Remembrance, Ch. 7)

Ma'amar HaGeulah

-- "The Great Redemption", a reworking of Ramchal's "Ma'amar HaGeulah"

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman's series on www.torah.org

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"The Great Redemption"

The Remembrance: Ch. 7

So much of what will begin to happen at this stage can only be termed supernatural. For all sorts of celestial beings will begin to emerge, since "all the ministering angels and their legions whose service and assignments were no longer in effect" in the course of the exile "will return to their assignments" by now (see para. 41).

The very fact of their reappearance touches upon a major theme of The Remembrance. For as Ramchal words it, "everything that had been impaired in the exile will be emended and repaired" (Ibid.). What that means to say is that all wrongs will be made right, all losses will turn to triumphs; and the heavens, the world at large, and the Jewish Nation specifically will witness all sorts of wonders as a consequence. And the greatest wonder will be the great redemption itself, fullblown.

The verse that reads, “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad with her, all who love her; rejoice for joy with her, all who mourn for her” (Isaiah 66:10) will come alive. For, “G-d will console Zion ... and He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the G-d's garden (i.e., the Garden of Eden)" (Isaiah 51:3), for all sorts of "joy and gladness will be found there" -- as a consequence of all the light and pleasantness on exhibit then. And the call of "thanksgiving, and the sound of song” that Isaiah spoke of there will become manifest then as well, since the angels spoken of above will begin to sing out.

One could hardly imagine the richness of the songs that angels sing and the great joy they'll elicit! Their songs must somehow replicate the sweet stillness of the moment of creation, or echo the click-clacks and varooms of Heaven. Indeed, "the joy then will be very great and ... blessings will grow greater and greater" by the moment as a consequence (see para. 42).

That blessedness and bestowance will also manifest itself in a most unique sort of way, in that time itself will implode, if you will. "A lot of time won’t be needed in the future" to accomplish things after the redemption, as Ramchal puts it, for "everything will be done instantaneously" (Ibid.). Hence, “(a) woman will conceive and be in labor at one (and the same time)” (Jeremiah 31:7), for example.

The implications of that are staggering. First off, it could help to explain the contemporary urge for rapid results and instant-everything as a sign of impending redemption (please G-d). It could also clarify why people who are more attached to the physical tend to be mired in processes that always take time, while those attached to the spiritual seem to be above time.

Other consequences of the new reality will be that the angels will constantly and instantaneously change "assignments" (i.e., their spiritual standing), and "they’ll always and forever be renewed" and enjoy more and more emanations, which will entertain and "keep the Jewish Nation happier than any light (could)" (Ibid.).

The angels will hear "the calls of Malchut (i.e., the Shechina) that will sound throughout the worlds" (which must be even more unfathomably lovely than the angels' own songs), and they'll "gather together in song and praise" G-d as a consequence. And "things will always be favorable" by that point, for "emanation will be constant, and (Divine) judgment will forever be mitigated" (Ibid.).

(c) 2006 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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

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