The Prophecy About Our Generation | What Is Our Special Role in the Time of the War of Moshiach?

00:00 This week, Thursday, 28 Cheshvan, is the birthday of the Rebbe Rashab. I want to share with you a wonderful sicha that I was privileged to hear from the Rebbe exactly forty years ago, on 28 Cheshvan 5745. I think this sicha is truly important and very, very relevant to our generation, to our time, to these very days. We all know that the Rebbe Rashab founded the holy yeshiva, Tomchei Temimim, the first Chabad yeshiva, where young men study day and night, dividing their day between the revealed teachings of Torah and Chassidus. The Rebbe Rashab founded this yeshiva in the town of Lubavitch exactly 127 years ago. Now, that number is also very significant. By Divine Providence, this week we are learning the Torah portion, Parshas Chayei Sarah: “And Sarah’s life was one hundred years, twenty years, and seven years.” And this year we are celebrating that exact number: 127 years since the founding of Tomchei Temimim. When the Rebbe Rashab founded the yeshiva—it was in Elul 5657—he said that by founding this yeshiva, where young men would study both the revealed teachings of Torah and its inner teachings, Chassidus, and would devote hours each day to studying the inner dimension of Torah and serving Hashem according to the guidance of Chassidus, he was kindling the lights to prepare the world for the coming of Moshiach. In other words, the inner purpose of founding Tomchei Temimim, the yeshiva where hundreds and thousands of young men were educated to study both the revealed teachings of Torah and Chassidus, was this: As the Rebbe Rashab said, every student who studies in the yeshiva is a lamp to give light. He illuminates the world. His purpose is that, when the time comes, after years of preparing himself through Torah study and serving Hashem according to the guidance of Chassidus, he will go out to illuminate the world and turn the

02:26 world into a place of Torah, a place of light. Over the years, the Rebbe Rashab himself worked to develop the yeshiva and guide both its teachers and its students in the unique path of Chassidus. On Simchas Torah 5661, the Rebbe Rashab delivered a special sicha. In time, that special sicha proved to be nothing short of prophetic. I remember exactly forty years ago, on 28 Cheshvan, at a farbrengen—it was just like this year: in 5745, too, 28 Cheshvan fell on a Thursday. The Rebbe held a farbrengen that day, followed by another farbrengen on Shabbos Parshas Chayei Sarah. Both were truly wonderful farbrengens. The Rebbe spoke about that remarkable sicha of the Rebbe Rashab and related the following: It was Simchas Torah 5661. Simchas Torah is always a joyful day, a great day. In Lubavitch, among Chabad chassidim, besides the dancing and hakafos on Simchas Torah, there were, of course, also holy farbrengens. The Rebbe would lead a farbrengen. There were many farbrengens, and things were said that were not said throughout the rest of the year. With such great joy, there were special words, too. That year was the third year since the founding of Tomchei Temimim. As we said, it was 127 years ago, in 5657, 5658, and this was Tishrei 5661. Three years had passed since the yeshiva was founded, and the Rebbe delivered a sicha. He began with a teaching of our Sages: “Anyone who went out to fight in the wars of the House of David wrote his wife a bill of divorce.” The Gemara tells us about the soldiers of the House of David and their wars. This refers, of course, to King David. We all know that King David fought wars, and he was, as the Rambam calls him in his book of halachos, the first Moshiach. He fought the wars of Hashem, was victorious, and succeeded in bringing peace from all the enemies,

05:04 the enemies surrounding the Land of Israel. He prepared the ground so that the Beis Hamikdash could later be built by his son, King Solomon, a man of peace. The soldiers who fought those wars were the soldiers of the House of David. And about them our Sages say that those who went out to war wrote a bill of divorce, because they did not know whether they would return and did not want their wives to be left agunos, unable to remarry, and so on. With all the halachic details involved, they would write their wives a bill of divorce, and when they returned from the war, they would marry again. That is what the Gemara says. On the basis of this teaching of our Sages, the Rebbe Rashab delivered an extraordinarily powerful, wonderful sicha, with profound and wonderful messages for our generation as well. The Rebbe Rashab explained that when we speak of the soldiers of the House of David, we are not speaking only of something that happened in the past. It exists now, too. After all, Moshiach is called Moshiach ben David, and Moshiach, too, has wars. Just as King David waged wars to bring about peace, to bring tranquility to the Holy Land, and to bring about the revelation of the light of Moshiach ben David, there, too, are wars of different kinds. One kind of war we are talking about now is the spiritual wars in the world, particularly in the generations before Moshiach’s coming. The Gemara in Tractate Sanhedrin, and also in Tractate Sotah, says: “If you see one generation after another blaspheming, look forward to the footsteps of Moshiach.” At the end of Tractate Sotah, and also in Tractate Sanhedrin, in the chapter that begins “All Israel has a share in the World to Come,” the Gemara speaks about all sorts of difficult things that will happen in the world before Moshiach’s coming. All sorts of signs, things that will happen in the world, which we are witnessing today, seeing them come true one by one. And among those things,

07:17 the Gemara also says this: If you see one generation after another blaspheming—two generations, one generation in which there is a kind of disgrace, in which people insult and blaspheme Hakadosh Boruch Hu—look forward to the footsteps of Moshiach. And the Gemara cites the verse: “Your enemies have taunted, Hashem; they have taunted the footsteps of Your anointed one. Blessed be Hashem forever, amen and amen.” This verse is in chapter 89 of Tehillim, the chapter that speaks about Moshiach’s coming. By Divine Providence, we also mentioned this chapter in the previous lesson: “I have found David, My servant; with My holy oil I have anointed him.” It is a chapter about King David and the generations of kings from the House of David, up to the coming of Moshiach. At the end of the chapter it says that such a situation will arise in the world: “Your enemies have taunted, Hashem; they have taunted the footsteps of Your anointed one.” One generation, a generation that blasphemes. The Rebbe Rashab explained at length that these are not merely two generations, but two kinds of people who taunt. There is “Your enemies have taunted, Hashem,” and there is “they have taunted the footsteps of Your anointed one.” There will be a generation in which many people will disparage, insult, and scorn Hakadosh Boruch Hu, may Heaven protect us. And then there will be the next generation, which will “taunt the footsteps of Your anointed one”: people will disparage, insult, and scorn those who believe in the coming of Moshiach. The Rebbe Rashab explained at length, saying: I see that a time is coming. When you read the sicha, it can truly send shivers down your spine to see how he foresaw the future and said: I know that a time is coming now when there will be a generation of “Your enemies have taunted, Hashem.” A generation will arise that mocks and scorns everything holy to the Jewish people and to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and disparages the Creator of the world. And afterward another generation will arise, one that “taunts the footsteps of Your anointed one,” a generation that will disparage and cool people’s faith in the coming of Moshiach. Every Jew believes; by the nature of his soul, every Jew believes. We all believe

09:42 Children of believers. We have thirteen principles of faith. A Jew believes in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, from the first principle—faith in the Creator of the world—to the final principle, faith in the coming of Moshiach and the resurrection of the dead. Every Jew believes in all thirteen principles of faith. But there is the state of exile, the darkness of exile, and, as he explains there, a sea of ice. In other words, there is a state of ice. The world enters a kind of faint, a state of ice, of cold, of terrible chill. That ice causes people to lose their sensitivity, to lose the warmth and the natural, burning faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu that every Jew has. Because of our surroundings, because of the situation, because of the atmosphere in the street, that cold begins to enter us, to seep into us. This is “Your enemies have reviled, Hashem.” And it can lead to an even worse situation: Jews who observe Torah and mitzvos, who believe in Hakadosh Boruch Hu and keep Torah and mitzvos, but whose faith in the coming of Moshiach has grown cold. They believe in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, believe in Torah and mitzvos, and observe them too. But when people speak about the Geulah and the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, they say: Not now. Certainly, I believe; I say so. Some even say it every day—“I believe”—but it remains mere words. In practice, to say that Moshiach will come today seems unthinkable. It doesn’t look that way; it’s not on the horizon. One day it will happen in the future. And more than that, when people speak about it, they try to cool the enthusiasm, saying: It’s impossible, it can’t happen, it isn’t supposed to happen, we aren’t ready for it, and so on. All kinds of expressions, all kinds of language. And this, the Rebbe Rashab said on that historic Simchas Torah, is the task. The task of the yeshiva students, the soldiers of the House of David, is for the young men educated in the spirit of the yeshiva. There must

11:59 be Torah study—not only the study of the revealed Torah, halachah and Gemara, but also the study of the inner dimension of Torah. At the time, he invoked the verse: “Not by might and not by power, but by My spirit, says Hashem of Hosts.” The battle fought by the House of David is not a battle of might or power, not one of noise and tumult, but a battle waged “by My spirit.” Study Torah, including its revealed dimension, with the awareness that it is Hashem’s Torah. The Rebbe always explained that the great innovation in the approach to learning at the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva is that even the revealed dimension of Torah must be studied with that same fear of Heaven, with the sense that this world has a Master. Study Torah with a feeling of fear of Heaven, knowing that the Torah is the wisdom and will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as the Alter Rebbe explains at length in Tanya. There is the wondrous union that takes place when we study a subject in Gemara and delve into what the Divine will is. And, on the other hand, we must study Chassidus, the inner dimension of Torah, as we study a subject in the revealed Torah: delve into it, examine it closely, want to understand, not merely believe. Understand the greatness of Hashem as Chabad Chassidus explains it to us. It is precisely with this wonderful strength, the strength received in the yeshiva, that we can go out and warm the sea of ice in the world. Every student who studies in the yeshiva, the Rebbe Rashab said then, is a soldier. A soldier must be brave. A soldier must be steadfast. Eisan, “steadfast,” is a name for Avraham Avinu. The Midrash says that Avraham Avinu is called Eisan: “A maskil of Eisan the Ezrachite,” which, according to one explanation in the Midrash, refers to Avraham Avinu. The Rambam also uses that name for him in his halachic work, calling Avraham Avinu Eisan. Why? Because he stood firm as flint, fighting resolutely for his faith—Avraham Avinu on one side and the entire world on the other. Avraham Avinu stood firm as flint, with steadfastness and resolve. Not only did he himself

14:19 believe, but he proclaimed that faith and brought it to the entire world. “And he called there in the name of Hashem, G-d of the world.” Do not read “he called,” but “he caused others to call.” He proclaimed it; he publicized it. He brought others to call in the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu as well. This is the special strength we have all inherited from Avraham Avinu, and this is the task of the soldiers of the House of David: to fight these battles. This is the real battle of the House of David against these two things: a generation that reviles, and those who revile the footsteps of Your Moshiach. When each and every one of us stands firm in this battle, we will truly reach “Blessed be Hashem forever, amen and amen,” and reveal Moshiach ben David. These are words the Rebbe Rashab spoke, as we said, on Simchas Torah in 5661, nineteen hundred. Then, forty years ago, in 5745, nineteen eighty-four, at a farbrengen on 20 Cheshvan, the Rebbe revisited points from that sacred sicha. And here the Rebbe said something remarkable. The Rebbe said: At the time, when the Rebbe Rashab delivered this sicha, he spoke in Lubavitch. He spoke to a particular group, the students of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Lubavitch, the first group of students with whom he began and founded the holy yeshiva. Now, the Rebbe said, after more than eighty years have passed, we see how the Rebbe Rashab’s prophecy is being fulfilled so powerfully, so fully. We see both sides. We see the generation that reviles. We see the state of the world, the darkness in the world, the great challenges there are: both those who revile Hashem and those who revile the footsteps of His Moshiach. That is one side. On the other side, we also see the wonderful, tremendous strength of the students with whom he founded the yeshiva. After eighty years, we can already see that strength,

16:30 we can see the results. Thousands upon thousands of Jews studied in these yeshivos and then went out and became rabbis, shluchim and mashpi’im throughout the world. They brought, and continue to bring, the light of holiness, the light of Yiddishkeit, with pride and resolve. They stand firm in every city, every town and every place in the world, publicizing the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and bringing the light of Yiddishkeit everywhere with strength and resolve. But today, the Rebbe said, this no longer belongs only to a particular group. Today, in our generation, in our time, every person in our generation belongs to the soldiers of the House of David. Every single Jew who has heard—or is only now hearing—about this mission must know that these words are addressed to him. It no longer belongs only to a small, particular group of yeshiva students. Every Jew who has the privilege of studying words of Torah, both the revealed Torah and its inner dimension, has both the privilege and the obligation to become that steadfast person, that soldier among the soldiers of the House of David, to go out and fight this battle and bring about the revelation of Moshiach. When the Gemara says, “He writes his wife a bill of divorce,” of course it means this in a spiritual sense. Chas veshalom, we do not mean it in the physical sense. Rather, we mean what it represents spiritually, as the Zohar says in Parshas Chayei Sarah: husband and wife also represent the soul and the body. A “bill of divorce for his wife” means withdrawing from, divorcing oneself from, the pursuit of materialism, the pursuit of physical things. That is what is meant by a bill of divorce. In other words, for a person to be able to devote himself truly to this work, to this special and wonderful task now, in the extraordinary days in which we find ourselves—at the very end of the time of exile, its final moments, as we prepare the world, at the footsteps of Moshiach, the heels. This is the generation that will bring the Geulah through Moshiach; this is the time for each and every one of us

18:55 One needs to write a bill of divorce. That means one needs to break away, to detach oneself from the pursuit of material things. Of course, everyone needs to be healthy, look after their health, eat, earn a living, and do what needs to be done. But it is the pursuit, the warmth, the enthusiasm for material things—that is what these sages mean. He writes his wife a bill of divorce. It means devoting ourselves to the special mission of the soldiers of the House of David. We need to know that in our generation, in our time, this is the task placed upon each and every one of us. We need to know that we are in the final moments of exile and soldiers are needed. Every Jew must take on this mission and become one of the soldiers of the House of David: to go out, conquer the world, illuminate the world, stand firm and warm up a cold world; to bring the message, to bring the Divine light of Torah and mitzvos, of the revealed Torah and the inner dimension of Torah, to the world. And through this will come victory in the true war, the great war that we are nearing the end of—a war in which we will see the victory of holiness, the victory of the Jewish people, the victory of Divine light, and the entire world will become a place where the light of Hakadosh Boruch Hu shines. So may Hashem help us have the understanding and wisdom to connect with and take part in this special mission, to be part of the group, the special army that the Rebbe Rashab founded in his time, and that the Frierdiker Rebbe, and then the Rebbe, carried forward. The Rebbe took each and every one of us and educated and taught our generation that we are all soldiers of the House of David, and that this mission rests upon us—especially now, in these final moments: to reveal and bring it about, to stand firm with trust and faith, to spread faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu and faith in the coming of Moshiach, and to prepare the world for Moshiach Tzidkeinu. May we merit to see him speedily in our days, amen.