The Signs of Moshiach - Rabbi Sholom Dovber Wolf shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to the “Lema’an Yishme’u” podcast of Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 The laws of King Moshiach in the Rambam, chapter 11, halacha 4: “If a king arises from the House of David who studies Torah and occupies himself with mitzvos, like David his ancestor, in accordance with the Written and Oral Torah; if he compels all of Israel to follow it and strengthen its observance, and fights the wars of Hashem, he may be presumed to be Moshiach. If he acts and succeeds, builds the Beis Hamikdash in its place, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely Moshiach. And he will bring the entire world to serve Hashem together, as it says: ‘For then I will turn the peoples to a clear language, so that they will all call upon the name of Hashem and serve Him with one accord.’” A note: pay attention to the last sentence, “And he will bring the entire world…” As the saying goes, this is a sentence the Rambam wrote after his passing. What does that mean? It means that originally, when the Rambam wrote the work, this sentence appeared later on, as we’ll soon see. Later, when the Rambam discusses Christianity and Islam, which on the one hand are the very opposite of Moshiach, he explains that inwardly, all of this is part of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s plan to prepare the way for King Moshiach. That’s a passage the censors removed in later generations. But remarkably, of that whole passage the censors removed, they left one sentence: “And he will bring the entire world to serve Hashem together.” That sentence is actually from later on, where the Rambam speaks about waiting for the true Moshiach to come and bring the world to serve Hashem, right? Then all the nations will recognize him. And that is why Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought about the whole course of events involving Christianity and Islam: so that all the nations would become connected with the idea of Moshiach and, through this, be prepared for him. Remarkably, the censors removed that entire discussion, but the line “And he will bring the entire world to serve Hashem together” remained and became attached here.

02:06 Speaker 2 Right: “He is definitely Moshiach, and he will bring the entire world…” And the Rebbe, in his sichos, discusses it as though it were part of one continuous passage in the Rambam. In any case, let’s set that line aside for now. The Rambam continues—and this is already a passage the censors removed: “If he has not succeeded to this point, or was killed, it is known that he is not the one promised by the Torah. Rather, he is like all the worthy and upright kings of the House of David who died. Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought him about only to test the many, as it says: ‘Some of the wise will stumble, to refine and purify them until the time of the end, for it is still for the appointed time.’” Okay. So in this halacha, in what we’ve read so far, the Rambam describes the order of Moshiach’s revelation, step by step. It resembles what he said at the beginning of the chapter: King Moshiach will arise, restore the kingdom of David, build the Beis Hamikdash, and gather the dispersed. But there he was mainly speaking directly about the goal, the endpoint—where he is meant to arrive. Here he describes the path, so he mentions stages he had not discussed earlier. “He compels all of Israel” and “fights the wars of Hashem” are phrases that did not appear earlier. Again, at the beginning of the chapter he describes the goal, what Moshiach is working toward. Here he describes the path, step by step. Along the way, he must compel; along the way, he must fight, until he succeeds and wins and reaches the point of building the Beis Hamikdash in its place and gathering the dispersed of Israel, as the Rambam said at the beginning of the chapter. That’s the first point: he describes the order in which it will happen. And since we’re talking about that, the point is that he describes something that, so to speak, is a natural process—a process that fits more precisely within nature, without miracles. A brave, strong king arises

03:57 Speaker 2 and comes and wages war, like Ben Koziva in his time, as I mentioned in the previous halacha. He had begun to do this; he had begun to move along that path. And, generations before him, there was King David, who essentially did just that: he arose, fought, struck the Philistines, built the Beis Hamikdash, and brought about a state in which Torah and mitzvos were fully observed. To sharpen the point, it’s interesting to compare this with something I think we discussed in earlier classes. When the Ramban describes the revelation of Moshiach in various places—in a letter, in his disputation with the apostate, and elsewhere—he describes someone who will come with his staff and his pack to the king of the nations and tell him, “Let my people go.” It seems that he takes Moshe Rabbeinu as his model: just as Moshe Rabbeinu came to Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go; you must now let them leave,” so Moshiach will come to the kings of the nations and tell them to release the Jewish people and send them to the Land of Israel. The Ramban takes Moshe Rabbeinu as a model for Moshiach and describes Moshiach accordingly. The Rambam takes King David, and also Ben Koziva, as models for Moshiach, and that is how he describes Moshiach and the order of his appearance. In fact, he doesn’t just describe the order of Moshiach’s revelation; he also gives us identifying signs. How will we know? If you see him do A, B, and C, you know he may be presumed to be Moshiach. If you see him do D and E, you know he is definitely Moshiach. So we need to pause over these definitions and pay attention to what he is saying. What does it mean that he may be presumed to be Moshiach? What does it mean that he is definitely Moshiach? What’s

05:45 Speaker 2 the difference? Let’s read it again. “If a king arises from the House of David who studies Torah and occupies himself with mitzvos, like David his ancestor, in accordance with the Written and Oral Torah; if he compels all of Israel to follow it and strengthen its observance, and fights the wars of Hashem, he may be presumed to be Moshiach.” What does “may be presumed to be Moshiach” mean? Think about the halachic concepts of a presumption and a certainty. “All Jews have a presumption of being fit to serve as witnesses.” What does that mean? A Jew comes to you. He has peyos and a beard. You know him; he’s from the city and comes to shul every day. He has a presumption of being fit. Can his testimony be accepted? Yes, his testimony can be accepted. It could be that secretly he commits serious sins. But as long as we have not learned otherwise, as far as we are concerned, he is fit. If someone comes and tells us something else—fine, let’s see. If two valid witnesses come and testify, we’ll talk. But until two valid witnesses come and testify otherwise, as far as we are concerned he has a presumption of being fit, and we treat him as fit. On the basis of his testimony, a woman can marry or be divorced, or a person can be sentenced to death. A presumption of being fit. Wait—are you saying it’s impossible that he commits sins? It’s possible. But until we learn otherwise, as far as we are concerned he is fit. If someone comes and proves otherwise to us, okay. I didn’t say it was impossible. Until proven otherwise, I judge him and regard him as fit. If something else becomes clear, then we’ll know. But as long as nothing else has become clear, the presumption that he is fit remains. By contrast, when we say something is definite, certainty is much more than a presumption. For example, witnesses came and testified that a particular person is such-and-such. Testimony

07:30 Speaker 2 That’s something clear, unequivocal, decisive. You’re certain that’s how it is. It’s something we’ve seen with our own eyes; we’re not guessing or assuming, but dealing with an actual, clear reality, visible to the eye. Whether a Jew is kosher or not: you don’t know what he does twenty-four hours a day, so you presume him to be kosher. But there are things you’ve seen with your own eyes. That’s not a presumption; that’s certainty. You know—you saw that it’s so. In our case, when we speak about Moshiach, the Rambam says this: If you see a Jew—“if a king arises,” who “compels all of Israel to walk in its ways” and “fights the wars of Hashem”—we’re still not in a state of Geulah. What, in essence, is he describing here? In the midst of galus, a Jew arises, a king from the House of David, and begins taking actions toward Moshiach’s mission, begins working to bring about a state of Geulah. Has a state of Geulah already come about? Not yet. What is a state of Geulah? As we defined at the beginning of the chapter, it’s the full observance of Torah and mitzvos, for which we need freedom from subjugation to the nations, the building of the Beis Hamikdash, and the ingathering of the exiles. We haven’t reached that yet, but you already see someone working in that direction, someone who wants to do it and is pursuing it with complete seriousness. He “compels all of Israel to walk in its ways” and “fights the wars of Hashem.” You see that’s where he’s headed, says the Rambam. If you see that’s where he’s headed, “he is presumed to be Moshiach.” What does “presumed to be Moshiach” mean? As far as you’re concerned, he is Moshiach unless proven otherwise. Apparently, this is it. Could things develop differently? They could. As the Rambam says later, there could be a situation where “he did not succeed or was killed,” and then “it is known that he is not the one.” It may ultimately turn out not to be so, but as long as that hasn’t happened, the question remains open, and from our perspective he is presumed to be Moshiach. Where does the Rambam get this idea?

09:19 Speaker 2 Seemingly, as Rabbi Wolf writes extensively about this in his books Yechi HaMelech, the Rambam plainly derives it from Ben Koziva and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva used to say about him that he was Moshiach the King. On what basis? What did he see? This is what he saw: someone going ahead with it in complete seriousness. He was going to bring the Geulah. He was setting out and beginning to fight the wars of Hashem, because he wanted to build the Beis Hamikdash in its place and gather the dispersed of Israel, and he was pursuing it seriously, with mesirus nefesh. So what did Rabbi Akiva say? “This is Moshiach the King.” And when he was killed, they knew that he was not. Plainly, this is the Rambam’s example. The account of Rabbi Akiva teaches us something—Torah means instruction—because Rabbi Akiva was right. What does “right” mean? That was what needed to be done. That is the right approach. It turned out that we did not merit it, but until that became clear, that was how one was meant to proceed: “he is presumed to be Moshiach.” “If he did this and succeeded,” and “defeated all the nations, built the Beis Hamikdash in its place, and gathered the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely Moshiach.” Why? Because now it’s a fact, an accomplished fact. If there is a Beis Hamikdash and an ingathering of the dispersed, then there is full observance of Torah and mitzvos. And he has defeated all the nations; no one is interfering with us. So we are already in a state of the complete Geulah of the Jewish people. It’s not a conjecture that he is Moshiach. It’s a fact. The Geulah is a fact, and that he is Moshiach is a fact. He is definitely Moshiach. It isn’t a probability or an assumption, where we treat him as Moshiach. Okay, so if he did this and succeeded and built the Beis Hamikdash in its place, he is definitely Moshiach, because that is, in essence, Geulah in actuality. But that was only one of

11:03 Speaker 2 two possibilities. “If he did not succeed or was killed, it is known that he is not the one promised by the Torah.” So, in other words, you can sum it up this way: What are “presumed to be Moshiach” and “definitely Moshiach”? Presumed to be Moshiach is, in essence, Moshiach during galus: you see someone rise up to redeem the Jewish people. Definitely Moshiach is Moshiach who has brought the Geulah in actuality. In the Rebbe’s sichos, there is the concept of “the Moshiach of the generation,” which the Rebbe brings from the Bartenura and the Chasam Sofer. In every generation there is someone fit to be Moshiach, someone fit to be the redeemer, like Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, of whom they said he was Moshiach: “If he is among the living, he is someone like Rabbeinu HaKadosh.” We need to be careful not to confuse the two. That is not what the Rambam is talking about when he says “presumed to be Moshiach.” That’s something else; this is a further stage. What does “the Moshiach of every generation” mean? Just what it sounds like: there is always someone. Always. What is the Moshiach of every generation? Someone who is fit, who waits, who is ready and awaits the opportunity to redeem the Jewish people. Take Rabbi Yehudah, for example—Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, about whom they said, “someone like Rabbeinu HaKadosh.” He was suited and fit for the role of Moshiach. Did Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi openly do anything directly toward that end? Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi did very great things. He compiled the Mishnah—edited the Mish—arranged the Mishnah, more precisely—and led the Jewish people in an exceptional way, and he had his own special qualities. But did he rise up and announce, “Let’s end the galus and bring the Geulah”? He did not openly do anything like that. Ben Koziva did. He came and said, “Let’s put an end to this. Let’s fight the wars of Hashem so that we can build the Beis Hamikdash in its place.” So, when we speak of the Moshiach of the generation, Rabbi Yehudah

12:47 Speaker 2 HaNasi is an example of the Moshiach of the generation: someone about whom people say that if the time were right, he would be the one. If the time were right, he would go and act and do it. But apparently the time was not yet right, so he did not do it. He remained in a state of waiting, awaiting and anticipating the opportunity to redeem the Jewish people. But there was no action here to bring Moshiach. In essence, every generation is supposed to have someone fit for it, who waits and anticipates it. Not in every generation—not in every generation is there someone who goes and does it. Ben Koziva was something unusual: he went and set out to do it. And when the Rambam speaks about someone presumed to be Moshiach, he isn’t speaking about someone waiting. He isn’t speaking about someone who is fit. He is speaking about someone who is doing it, which is an entirely different situation. Seemingly, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi is not the example of what the Rambam says here; Ben Koziva is the example. When you say that Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi was the Moshiach of his generation—“someone like Rabbeinu HaKadosh”—no one said that this was happening. When Rav said of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, “someone like Rabbeinu HaKadosh,” he did not say, “He will be Moshiach.” He said that if we merit it, he will be. But we might not merit it; it might not actually happen. When Rabbi Akiva said of Ben Koziva, “This is Moshiach the King,” it wasn’t an “if.” He said, “Here it is happening. Right now—look, he is going and doing it.” That is something much stronger. And when the Rambam speaks about being presumed to be Moshiach, he plainly means it in that sense: like Ben Koziva, where you say, “Apparently, he is going to be Moshiach in actuality.” Okay, so

14:22 Speaker 2 it’s still only a presumption, right? Seemingly, it’s straightforward, as we said: what does a presumption mean? It means something you act on. Rabbi Akiva didn’t say, “Okay, that seems likely, so let’s wait.” Rabbi Akiva would travel to him, followed him, went out to war. Going to war is no game; it’s a matter of pikuach nefesh. And Rabbi Akiva followed him. So the Rambam says, “He is presumed to be Moshiach.” Follow him, right? Go along with it; move forward with it. And bear in mind that it is still a presumption. With Ben Koziva, too, once he was killed, they knew that he was not the one. And here, too, in this halachah: “If he did not succeed or was killed, it is known that he is not the one promised by the Torah.” Okay, that’s how to understand the general idea of these definitions—presumed and definite. And now the Rambam takes us through it step by step: Moshiach as he acts during galus, and Moshiach as he brings us into a state of true and complete Geulah. The Rambam says—we spoke about there being a presumption and then certainty—and after the presumption, he gives two possibilities. If he did this and succeeded, then he is definitely Moshiach. If he did not succeed, then he is not the one—it is known that he is not the one promised by the Torah. It’s worth paying a little attention here to the Rambam’s words and phrasing. Actually, as I see in the printed editions, it depends somewhat on the textual versions, but seemingly, in the accurate Yemenite manuscripts and in the printed editions, the Rambam’s wording is as follows. To go back: when the Rambam speaks about someone presumed to be Moshiach, he gives him two tasks: “compel all of Israel to walk in its ways” and “fight the wars of Hashem.” Okay? Two tasks: one concerning the Jewish people, and one concerning the nations. Then he continues: “If he did this and succeeded, defeated all the nations, and built”

16:06 Speaker 2 the Beis Hamikdash in its place and gathered the dispersed of Israel, he is certainly Moshiach. But let’s think for a moment about the beginning of that sentence: “If he did so and succeeded, and defeated all the nations.” What does “did so and succeeded” refer to? On a simple level, it would seem to refer to what came before. We said that, to be presumed to be Moshiach, he has two tasks: one within the Jewish people and one facing outward, toward the nations. He must compel all of Israel and fight the wars of Hashem. On a simple level, “if he did so and succeeded” refers to his work with the Jews, and “defeated all the nations” refers to his work against the nations. Because, actually, let’s go back a moment. There’s something else we need to clarify here. The Rebbe doesn’t say this explicitly. It isn’t something the Rebbe says, but it would seem to follow from the Rambam’s words. Notice that when he speaks about someone presumed to be Moshiach, he says, “he will compel all of Israel” and “fight the wars of Hashem.” That describes ongoing action, as Rashi discusses several times. What does that mean? Precisely when he speaks about someone who is certainly Moshiach—“if he did so and succeeded, defeated, built the Beis Hamikdash, and gathered the dispersed, he is certainly Moshiach”—he speaks entirely in the past tense. So for the presumption, he uses language of ongoing action: he studies, he is occupied with the mitzvos, he will compel all of Israel and fight. But for someone who is certainly Moshiach, he speaks in the past tense. Presumably, that’s because at the stage of presumption he is still acting, still in the middle of the process. He hasn’t yet succeeded. “He will compel all of Israel”—not “he compelled all of Israel.” He’s still in the middle. He hasn’t finished compelling them, as I understand it, but you can see that he is reaching out to everyone and is trying to reach everyone. You can see the difference: there’s someone you see working within his own immediate surroundings, someone working in his city or neighborhood, and someone whose work, you can see,

18:01 Speaker 2 is on a broader scale. He is aiming to reach every Jew, but it still says “he will compel,” not “he compelled,” all of Israel. He hasn’t finished. The same is true of “fight the wars of Hashem”: he hasn’t finished the war; he is in the middle of it. That’s the stage of presumption. Someone who is certainly Moshiach has already completed it all: he did so, succeeded, and defeated them. Think about it: when do you declare him presumed to be Moshiach? You can see that it’s enough for him to be in the middle of the process. But to declare him certainly Moshiach, you need to see that the whole process has been completed; it’s all behind us. In any case, that seems to be what follows from reading the Rambam carefully and noticing this change in wording. It seems fairly clear. Back to our point: why am I saying this? “If he did so and succeeded, and defeated all the nations.” The two-part wording seems to follow what he said earlier. At the stage of presumption, he has two tasks: to compel all of Israel and to fight the wars of Hashem. When the Rambam goes on to speak about someone who is certainly Moshiach, “if he did so and succeeded” would seem to mean that he succeeded in compelling the Jewish people, while “defeated all the nations” refers to his war against them. In other words, he completed those first two tasks and moved on to the next ones: building the Beis Hamikdash and gathering the dispersed of Israel. “He is certainly Moshiach.” The Rambam continues: “If he did not succeed to this point, or was killed, it is known that he is not the one the Torah promised.” Again, why the two-part wording, “did not succeed” or “was killed”? Presumably, “did not succeed” refers to his work with the Jewish people, while “was killed” refers to the war. People are generally killed in war; this isn’t a natural death. So he did not succeed with the Jewish people, or he was killed—meaning that he did not succeed in fighting the war. You see that he failed. So

19:54 Speaker 2 he is not the one the Torah promised. Like Ben Koziva, who was killed because of sins, as the Rebbe discusses. There is a dispute about whether the Sages of Israel killed him or the nations killed him. But the plain sense of the Rambam’s words, as discussed in the sichos, seems to be that the nations killed him—the Romans, whom he was fighting. The Rebbe explains in the sichos that this is a dispute about what actually happened, and addresses all the opinions: everyone agrees that, ultimately, in practical terms, the nations killed him. In any case, just as the Rambam writes of Ben Koziva that he “was killed because of sins,” when he writes of someone presumed to be Moshiach, “or was killed,” the meaning is that he was defeated. We’ve studied halachah four, where the Rambam describes the sequence of Moshiach’s revelation—what it should look like, stage by stage, while we are still in galus: we see someone arise and begin working seriously to redeem the Jewish people. What signs do we look for? What do we focus on? Presumed to be Moshiach, certainly Moshiach. But first I want to give a general introduction. Throughout Torah, there is a process of taking things beyond their physical form. To a certain extent, you might say that this is often what the Oral Torah does with the Written Torah. “An eye for an eye” means monetary compensation. Likewise, “a hand for a hand” means monetary compensation. And along those lines, “they shall burn him and them in fire.” The Torah’s punishment of burning conjures up a certain picture. “A fire came forth from before Hashem and consumed them”—Nadav and Avihu—also conjures up a certain picture. What do our Sages say? Two thin strands of fire entered their nostrils. From this they also learn the law of burning as a court-imposed punishment: you

22:06 Speaker 2 don’t make a bonfire, as the wording might suggest. Rather, molten lead is poured into the person’s mouth—a burning from within. It’s a way, you might say, of understanding things in a subtler, less physical sense. To a certain extent, that is what the Oral Torah does with the Written Torah. And certainly in the inner dimension of Torah, and certainly in Chassidus, we take matters in Torah, move them beyond their physical form, and understand them on another level. Not that we reject the plain meaning. One must not read a verse contrary to its plain meaning, G-d forbid. But we do say: let’s understand these things on an inner level. “When a person among you brings an offering to Hashem, from the animals, from the cattle and from the flock...” What does the Alter Rebbe explain? That “when a person among you brings an offering to Hashem” refers to Hakadosh Boruch Hu drawing a Jew’s soul close to Him. The word korban, offering, comes from the word for drawing close. “Brings an offering from among you to Hashem”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu draws the Jew close, awakens him, suddenly gives him an awakening from Above. So what must he do? “From the animals, from the cattle and from the flock you shall bring your offering.” Quickly, seize hold of your animal soul! Sometimes it’s like cattle, like a cow; sometimes it’s like a sheep. It behaves one way or another, and you have to do something with it quickly—slaughter it, draw out its blood, offer it to Hashem. Do something with it. In other words, the Alter Rebbe takes the whole subject of offerings. On the plain level, of course, it concerns a physical animal and a physical offering. But the Alter Rebbe says that there is also the animal in a person’s heart, the animal soul, and understands the whole subject in that sense. And so it is with all kinds of matters, laws, and stories in the Torah: Chassidus takes them, moves them beyond their physical form, and presents them

23:55 Speaker 2 their inner meaning. And what happens besides that? Besides the fact that they suddenly take on a deeper meaning, more and more—and the main thing is that they become more relevant. What does “more relevant” mean? They are no longer limited by time and place. When you speak about “When a person brings an offering” in its literal sense, “you shall bring your offering” in its literal sense, that applies only in Jerusalem and only when the Beis Hamikdash stood. There are quite a few conditions. So if I read Parshas Vayikra today, I say to myself, well, where is this? It doesn’t apply to me now. But when you study Likkutei Torah on Parshas Vayikra, where the Alter Rebbe explains what “When a person brings an offering” and “you shall bring your offering” mean—that it is the animal within a person’s heart—then suddenly it becomes something for now. Not back then and over there, but here and now. “You shall bring your offering.” It becomes relevant. In the Alter Rebbe’s words, we must live with the times, live with the weekly parsha, so that it becomes something alive, something happening now. That applies to the laws of the Torah, and it applies to the Torah’s stories. The Exodus from Egypt means leaving our constraints and limitations. The literal Exodus from Egypt happened in a particular place and at a particular time, not now. But if leaving Egypt means leaving the constraints and limitations of the animal soul, the constraints and limitations of the intellectual soul, the constraints and limitations of the G-dly soul—the Alter Rebbe explains it differently each time, according to the subject, level upon level—then today, in every generation and every day, a person must see himself as though he had left Egypt. Suddenly it all becomes relevant. And the same is true of all matters in the Torah: as soon as you lift them a little beyond their physical form, they immediately become Torah in the sense of “instruction”—something happening

25:44 Speaker 2 here and now. That’s what Chassidus does all the time, with every subject. And of course, this does not negate the literal meaning of Scripture, but this inner meaning is an inseparable part of its Torah meaning. When we speak about Moshiach and read that halachah, “A king will arise from the House of David,” here too the Rambam describes a particular scenario. We picture it in a certain way, like Ben Koziba in his time—a form that, let’s put it this way, we are still waiting for. But throughout the Rebbe’s sichos, we consistently see the Rebbe doing something else. Let’s call it lifting the words a little beyond their physical form, understanding them in a more inward, essential way. There are many levels to doing that: you can move far from the plain meaning, or you can stay close to it while understanding its inner meaning. That is the first point. The second is that we see the Rebbe saying: this already exists now. Parshas Shemos 5752—I believe 20 Teves was the Rambam’s yahrzeit. The Rebbe speaks about him in the sicha, about the Rambam’s work and the Laws of Kings and Moshiach, and then concludes the sicha. “May it be Hashem’s will”—after the Rebbe quotes this Rambam. The Rebbe quotes this Rambam in thousands of sichos and expresses the wish that what is written here should already be fulfilled. But in that sicha on Parshas Shemos 5752, the Rebbe says: “May it be Hashem’s will that, since there is already a king from the House of David who is presumed to be Moshiach, he should immediately become Moshiach with certainty, if he has done these things and succeeded,” and so on. The Rebbe is speaking very clearly. You can read it without noticing what

27:44 Speaker 2 the Rebbe is saying. But when you read it word by word, it is very clear: the Rambam spoke about being presumed to be Moshiach and being Moshiach with certainty. Regarding the presumption, the Rebbe speaks in the present tense: “There is already a king from the House of David.” The Rebbe folds that into the words of his wish, but it is clear that he is not speaking of it as a “May it be Hashem’s will.” It is a fact: there is already a king from the House of David. “May it be Hashem’s will that, since there is already”—he should immediately become Moshiach with certainty, that we should move on to the next stage. In other words, the Rebbe speaks of someone presumed to be Moshiach as something that already exists. We read this halachah and ask: Wait, where exactly is this? Where is “he will fight the wars of Hashem”? Where is the king from the House of David? Where is the king? Where is “he will compel”? Where is “he will fight”? And seemingly, this brings us back to the point we discussed earlier. If we lift the words a little beyond their physical form and study their essence and meaning, I think it becomes much clearer what the Rebbe means when he says there is already a king from the House of David who is presumed to be Moshiach. What does that mean? Let’s go through it line by line. “If a king arises from the House of David.” When we read that, what picture comes to mind? A king arises from the House of David—a king. Well, we picture a robe, a crown, and probably a scepter, like David or Shlomo, or [unclear]. But a king does not necessarily need a physical scepter or crown. Kings in recent generations have not even had those adornments. Still, in the plain sense, a king is someone with a kingdom, someone with an overt position of leadership. There are countries; his is one of the countries. He is a king among kings. That is the straightforward, natural reading, at the level of basic reading comprehension. If

29:41 Speaker 2 we speak in halachic terms, the Laws of Kings, chapter 1, begins: “A king is appointed only by a court of seventy-one and by a prophet.” So if the Rambam is speaking of a king from the House of David, it would seem that there must be a Sanhedrin and a prophet to appoint him and establish him. A king who succeeds another king does not need a prophet, but an initial king, when kingship is being renewed after an interruption, needs a Sanhedrin and a prophet. So it would seem. What else does it say? “He will compel all of Israel to walk in its path.” We spoke about this earlier. What does “compel” mean? To compel people, you need police. “He will fight the wars of Hashem”—to fight, you need an army. All right, so clearly a king has police and an army. If you see a king with police and an army, who compels all of Israel and fights the wars of Hashem, then he is presumably Moshiach. First of all, “a king arises.” This appears in letters a number of times. It is interesting how often, in letters, the Rebbe consistently quotes this Rambam as “A man from the House of David will arise,” or “A person from the House of David will arise.” That is how it appears throughout the sichos and letters. Someone—Yehoshua Mondshine—asked the Rebbe about it, and in a handwritten reply the Rebbe wrote: “Of course, you are right that the Rambam wrote ‘a king will arise’...” And the Rebbe adds in parentheses, “So far, I have not found another version.” It sounds as though the Rebbe was looking for another version. But the Rebbe says, “So far, I have not found another version.” That is what the Rambam writes. Yet the Rebbe says it is clear that the intent is not a king in the full sense of the term. Rather, the Rebbe gives the example of what the Rambam writes about “Ben Koziba the king” in the preceding halachah—that Rabbi Akiva was the armor-bearer of Ben Koziba the king. Ben Koziba was not a king in the full sense of the term. If he had been, he would have been a rebel, and certainly not

31:33 Speaker 2 He had a beis din of seventy, but he did not have a prophet. Right, certainly no prophet appointed him. So what does it mean to call him a king? The Rebbe says that, clearly, when the Rambam writes, “A king will arise from the House of David,” he does not mean a king in the fullest sense of the term, but a king as that term applies under the circumstances. After all, what are we talking about here? Someone rises up in the midst of exile and begins to bring about Geulah. We are not talking about a situation where the Jewish people are in their land and have their own government, so the Sanhedrin can come and appoint a king. We are talking about someone who rises up from within exile and rebels against exile. And that is why the Rebbe is precise, why he keeps writing, “A man will arise,” “A person will arise”—to rule out this mistake. People should not imagine that they need to look for a king with a crown, a prophet, and anointing oil. No, that is not the point. A person will arise, a man will arise. He may look completely ordinary to you, like everyone else, with no special appointment. So in what sense is he a king? The Rebbe does not go into Chassidus here, but the question seems to be: If he is a person, a man, what does the Rambam mean by calling him a king? And this is where someone who studies Chassidus can, as we said earlier, get to the essence and meaning of things. What makes a king a king? Is it that he has an army? That he has a police force? That he has territory under his rule? What makes him a king? What is the essential point? Where does it begin? It does not begin with an army, a police force, or a piece of land. Those are relatively technical matters

33:17 Speaker 2 . The heart of it is that kingship is something within the person. What does that mean? Someone who is exalted and set apart, who has inner strength; someone “a head and shoulders taller than all the people.” And “there is no king without a people.” What does “without a people” mean? He has a people who are with him, who are connected to him and to whom he is connected. And what kind of connection do they have with him? Slonim Chassidus explains that the relationship between a people and a king is one of kabbolas ol, of setting aside one’s own self. It is not the relationship between a teacher and students. With a student and a teacher, the central point is not setting aside oneself or kabbolas ol. There is, of course, “The awe of your teacher should be like the awe of Heaven,” and so on. But in a teacher-student relationship, the teacher explains, and the student listens, understands, connects with it, and acts on it. The student may not always understand everything. There may be things he does even without understanding them because he trusts the teacher. But kabbolas ol is not the central point there; setting aside oneself is not the central point. With a people and a king, it is. A teacher may be much wiser than the student, but he is not set apart from him. A king is set apart, elevated above all the people—[unclear]—something altogether different. And so the people’s relationship to him is one of setting aside themselves. That is how it is on the people’s side. On the king’s side, he gives his life for them. Just as they devote themselves to the king, the king devotes himself to the people. That is a mode of leadership; it is the inner essence of a king. And this fits so naturally with the language of Chassidus and Kabbalah, which speak of the sefiros: the sefirah of malchus has its root in keser and is itself called a crown. The crown of kingship is a crown above all the sefiros. When Chassidus explains what a king is, it connects very closely

35:05 Speaker 2 with that. The root of kingship is in the essence of the soul. The people’s bittul reaches the essence of the soul, because the root of malchus is in keser, and within keser itself, in reisha d’lo isyada. The way Chassidus describes a king’s inner state, his inner essence and his bond with the people—that is what makes him a king. That is the point. If he has that, he is a king. If he does not, he is not. If he has it, he is a king. Does he have an army with guns? Not necessarily. Does he have police with handcuffs? Not necessarily. Does he have a piece of land under his control, recognized by the UN? Not necessarily. Those are not what make him a king. What does? An inner exaltedness that is inherited. As we discussed, it is an inheritance of the House of David, passed down from generation to generation through the crown of kingship that David merited. What is this crown of kingship? The Rebbe explains that it is the exaltedness within the soul, together with the principle that “there is no king without a people.” He leads—all of the Jewish people, or at least a group within the Jewish people through whom he addresses all of them. And the way he leads them is the way a king leads: they are batel to him. Their own selves are set aside, and he leads them forward. That is what it means. When the Rambam says, “A king will arise,” the Rebbe is apparently saying that “king” has this meaning. Again, not the Sanhedrin, not a prophet, and not anointing oil—all of which are relatively external halachic matters compared with the essence of the thing. And certainly not a crown, a scepter, or a piece of land, but kingship within the soul. To make this easier to grasp: In the maamar “Vayigash,” on Parshas Vayigash, the Rebbe speaks about Yehudah standing before Yosef. Yosef sets a trap for them, a maneuver

37:00 Speaker 2 in which he holds Binyamin as a bargaining chip and says, “You may go in peace, but Binyamin will stay here.” Yehudah will not accept that, and he stands before Yosef. As our Sages describe it, he does so with full force: “I will kill you and your master.” In “Vayigash,” the Rebbe asks: Wait—who is really the king here, Yosef or Yehudah? Yosef has stature and power. He sits on the throne and has an army. Yehudah is alone, with no throne and no army. He is caught in the trap, inside the palace of the ruler of Egypt, not knowing that the ruler is Yosef. Yet he is undaunted by anything. He stands alone before Yosef and all his guards and threatens him without any fear. The Rebbe says this is an exaltedness beyond nature. And it is from Yehudah that the House of David descends; from Yehudah comes Moshiach, a king from the House of David. This is an exaltedness that does not depend on external circumstances. It comes from within him, like the crown of kingship that David merited. So when the Rebbe says, “A man will arise,” “A person will arise,” you look at him and see no crown or certificate. But he is a king in his very essence. And we see that when the Rebbe speaks about our Rebbeim—particularly the Rebbe Rashab and the Frierdiker Rebbe—he explicitly connects them with kingship. They are not only our teachers who teach Torah. When we think of our Rebbeim, what do we see? Righteous Jews who teach the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah. So, apparently, they are teachers. If there is a teacher, there is a king—but at first glance, our Rebbeim appear to be teachers. The Rebbe says no: our Rebbeim are kings. A teacher is someone on a level you can relate to. The Rebbe is someone beyond

39:00 Speaker 2 your level. With a teacher, you learn, understand, and engage with what he says. With the Rebbe, it is not simply a matter of learning, understanding, and engaging. The Rebbe gives instructions and commands, issues decrees, and we follow him with mesirus nefesh. This is everything the texts explain about setting aside oneself, and so on. The king devotes his life to the people, and the people devote their lives to the king. That is what the bond between chassidim and their Rebbe is like. It is not simply a teacher-student relationship. That aspect is there too, but there is also the relationship of king and people. The Rebbe cares about every single Jew, and, like a king, the entire Jewish people are close to his heart. That is not necessarily the defining concern of a teacher. For a king, it is: the entire Jewish people are close to his heart. And the Rebbe cares that every Jew should fulfill mitzvos, like a king does. His task is to see to it that everyone fulfills the mitzvos. That is a king from the House of David. If you are looking for the external form of monarchy, perhaps that comes later. There is an interesting point that perhaps the Rebbe Rashab expresses along these lines. There is the well-known letter of the Rebbe Rashab, also concerning Zionism, in his Igros, volume 1, page 314. The Rebbe cites it there and calls it “his well-known letter.” He says that some statements of our Sages speak of David coming once Jerusalem is built. It sounds as though David will come after Jerusalem is built. But if this means Moshiach, how can Moshiach come after Jerusalem is built? The Rambam writes that Moshiach builds the Beis Hamikdash and gathers the dispersed Jewish people. So the Rebbe Rashab says that the straightforward meaning is indeed that Moshiach will do it all—but consider what happens when he begins to do it all. Let us picture it in the simplest terms: when Moshiach rises up from within exile to do all this, he does not have an established kingdom. In a sense, he is a partisan. He is a rebel, rebelling

40:45 Speaker 2 In exile, yes. The nations hold power. There is no established, settled kingship here. After he defeats the nations and builds Jerusalem, then “David comes”—meaning his kingship. Once the people gather, once the flock of Israel gathers, he will have a place of his own and the Jewish people will gather to him. Then there will be a kingship as it should be. So when our Sages say, “Once Jerusalem is built, David comes,” they mean that his kingship will become established after Jerusalem is built. But he is the one who did everything in the first place. You see this in the words of the Rebbe Rashab too: don’t expect to see an established kingship right from the outset. We also discussed this on another occasion in connection with Shaul and David, as the Torah describes them. When you read the stories about Shaul in the Book of Shmuel—Shaul, who essentially began kingship among the Jewish people—you see that it wasn’t an established monarchy. There was no palace, no seat of government, no hierarchy. There wasn’t the whole administrative apparatus that you see more clearly under David, and even more under Shlomo: officials everywhere, and the whole orderly structure of a monarchy. With Shaul, you don’t see all those things. It seems like a much simpler form of leadership. Shaul began kingship among the Jewish people, but it did not yet have the full force and settled character it later acquired under David, and even more under Shlomo. So it stands to reason that the same applies to Moshiach himself. When a king from the House of David arises during exile, facing the nations, he has to fight and set the whole process in motion. Don’t expect a monarchy with all the trappings right then. This also seems to connect with the Rambam’s words in chapter 12, although the Rambam is discussing a completely different subject. He is talking about what will happen in the days of Moshiach—

42:29 Speaker 2 During the days of Moshiach, Moshiach will determine the lineage of all the Jewish people by tribe, through ruach hakodesh: who is a kohen, who is a Levi, who is from Reuven, who is from Shimon. That is what the Rambam is discussing. But how does he begin? “In the days of King Moshiach”—let’s read chapter 12 for a moment—“when his kingdom is established and all Israel gathers to him, he will establish everyone’s lineage by means of the ruach hakodesh that rests upon him.” How does he begin again? “When his kingdom is established and all Israel gathers to him.” In other words, he is saying at the outset that it takes time for his kingdom to become established. When will that happen? When all Israel is with him, there will be an established kingship. But while the Jewish people are scattered throughout the world, don’t expect to see an established monarchy. The Jewish people are under subjugation. And this seems to return to the point the Rebbe makes repeatedly: “A man from the House of David will arise.” A person from the House of David will arise. He has the powers of a king, the inner disposition of a king, the bearing of a king. But outwardly, what you see is a man, a person. What else does the Rambam write? “He will compel all Israel to walk in its ways and fight the wars of Hashem.” Now, as we said earlier, “compel all Israel” sounds like police, and “fight the wars of Hashem” sounds like you need an army. But we see in the Rebbe’s sichos—and we spoke about compelling earlier—that the Rambam also says Moshe Rabbeinu was commanded to compel all the inhabitants of the world to accept the seven mitzvos commanded to the descendants of Noach. The Rebbe explains the inner point of “compel.” Why does the Rambam use that particular word? It is not about violence or force. If someone refuses—if there is some foolish non-Jew who won’t understand—but we are also talking about an intelligent non-Jew who understands and knows that this is good for him. Yet the instruction is to “compel”

44:23 Speaker 2 “the inhabitants of the world.” Why? Because they must accept these mitzvos not because reason dictates it, but because Moshe commanded them. A mitzvah has to be observed with kabbolas ol. We must compel the inhabitants of the world to accept the seven mitzvos—to tell them: accept the yoke, the yoke of Heaven. That is how the Rebbe explains it in Likkutei Sichos, volume 28, Parshas Yisro. There is a whole sicha on the seven mitzvos in this context. And it would seem that the same applies here to “compel all Israel to walk in its ways,” right? Certainly when we are talking about observing mitzvos, there is an element of compulsion, of kabbolas ol. And that is what we see the Rebbe doing in practice. When the Rebbe sends out shluchim—he spoke about this in explicit sichos and wrote it in explicit letters—you don’t go to Jews and merely suggest things to them or start by explaining everything. As we see in practice, what does it mean? You approach a Jew, and the first thing is: put on tefillin. Before explanations, before speaking to him about “the foundation of foundations and the pillar of wisdom: to know that there is a First Being,” and before speaking about Torah from Heaven and all kinds of explanations—the first thing is: put on tefillin.

45:25 Speaker 3 What does he have to go on?

45:26 Speaker 2 Why? He hasn’t understood anything yet. He doesn’t need to understand; he needs to do it. Why should he do it? Kabbolas ol. Why kabbolas ol? Because a Jew is someone who lives with kabbolas ol. “He will compel all Israel.” If we’re talking about external coercion, then yes, let’s look for that. But if we’re talking about the inner meaning of compulsion—giving a Jew kabbolas ol of the Kingdom of Heaven—that is what the Rebbe does all the time. And let’s sharpen the point again. What is the goal? The goal is for him to reach a state of observing Torah and mitzvos. That is what he needs to work toward; that is where he needs to get. If external force is needed for that, then that too is needed. And seemingly, once his kingdom is established, that too will be there. But if we are talking about the present situation, while we are still in exile, then the “compelling” takes more of this form. Maybe we could put it this way: Chassidus takes everything in a gentler direction. “Not by might and not by power, but by My spirit.” The Rebbe explains that “might and power” here mean moralizing and rebuke. Not violence, not moralizing, “but by My spirit”—through the study of Chassidus. Chassidus always approaches things more gently. I’m saying that from the perspective of the revealed dimension of Torah, “he will compel all Israel”—when you read the plain meaning of the Rambam, there seems to be room for compulsion in the literal sense. Police, yes, like... there are officers, and you appoint them. There are also officers who compel people. But Chassidus takes everything in a gentler direction, and it approaches the Rambam that way too: it places greater emphasis on the Torah’s ways of pleasantness. Even the “compelling” is done in ways of pleasantness. It takes the inner, essential meaning of “compelling.” The same applies to the matter

47:10 Speaker 2 of “fighting the wars of Hashem.” Here too, war is fought with weapons. People are killed in war. When Bar Koziva fought, it wasn’t child’s play. It was an adult war—a real war, with bloodshed. King David fought real wars, with real weapons. But in a sicha on Chayei Sarah 5752, the Rebbe says this: “We see in practice that he fights the wars of Hashem and is victorious, specifically through a war of peace.” So now we have a “war of peace.” This actually comes from... that is the source there. Perhaps this relates, at any rate, to what the Rebbe discusses concerning “He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me.” A battle would seem to mean war, yet “He has redeemed my soul in peace.” The war is waged in a peaceful way, not as a literal war. Yes, one can wage war and kill, but there is also a war of peace. What is the Rebbe referring to here?

48:15 Speaker 2 Because we can already see “he will fight the wars of Hashem and prevail,” specifically through a peaceful kind of war. In simple terms, as we hear from the rest of the sicha—and certainly from other sichos—the Rebbe is speaking about Russia. We said: What does “he will fight the wars of Hashem” mean? On the most straightforward level, when we read this halachah in relation to the nations of the world, it means that when they do not allow Jews to observe Torah and mitzvos, Moshiach fights them so that they will allow it—so that they will stop preventing Jews from studying Torah and observing mitzvos. And if we look broadly at our generation, the last place where there were decrees against Torah and mitzvos, where Jews were not allowed to study Torah and observe mitzvos, was Russia. And... yes, that system fell apart and came to an end. It fell apart without a war, but, as the Rebbe says, through a peaceful kind of war. And the Rebbe explicitly says that these are the actions of Moshiach. That is what the Rebbe says in the sicha of Chayei Sarah, and in the sicha of Mishpatim: that all this came as a result of the actions of goodness, justice, and integrity in the world, brought about and still being brought about by the leader of the generation, the Moshiach of the generation. The Rebbe says this is “he will fight the wars of Hashem,” and in several respects, because the victory is already here. But before we—before we talk about the victory, let’s first talk about the war itself. Ah, right, this also connects to “he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he will put the wicked to death.” Yes, the story about [unclear], where the Rebbe says, “77 is evil.” Purim 5773. Later it turns out that [unclear] died. Ah, okay, so here too it seems that the Rebbe takes the Rambam’s concept of war. You can understand it the way Bar Koziva understood it, the way you would understand it when Bar Koziva did it. But the Rebbe takes it specifically as a peaceful kind of war. You can

50:04 Speaker 2 take it differently, and seemingly, from all these things, what emerges is that—again, as we said, as the Rebbe says—“there is already a king in the position of kingship who is presumed to be Moshiach.” You see someone going and doing this. You see someone bringing this about, working toward a state in which Torah and mitzvos are observed in their fullness through all the... So he is not necessarily doing it in a physical way, right? External coercion, an external war—but rather, all these things are happening on a more inward level. The result is actual and tangible, right? The result is that Jews observe mitzvos. That is not just on an inward level; it is actual and tangible. Yes, Jews put on tefillin. “He will fight the wars of Hashem”—the result is actual and tangible. No one is interfering or stopping it. Russia is not standing in the way. The way it happened was inward, spiritual—but the thing itself is actual and tangible. And seemingly, that is the sense in which the Rebbe says, “There is already a king in the position of kingship who is presumed to be Moshiach.” We spoke about the signs of Moshiach, and especially the signs of someone presumed to be Moshiach, which the Rebbe speaks of as something that is... already happening. “There is already a king in the position of kingship who is presumed to be Moshiach.” Broadly speaking, to understand where the Rebbe sees this—where the Rebbe sees a king who compels and fights—I think, in one sentence, it is when you strip these things of their physical form and look at their inner essence, as Chassidus explains in particular: What is a king? What is compulsion? Then you understand; then it is much easier to see before your eyes the king who compels and fights, and who works through inward means to bring about the full observance of Torah and mitzvos. And regarding—okay, but that concerns the one presumed to be Moshiach, whom the Rebbe is speaking about. That already exists; it is actually happening. As for one who is definitely Moshiach, in that same sicha the Rebbe

52:05 Speaker 2 speaks in the future tense: “that he will immediately be definitely Moshiach.” What does “definitely Moshiach” mean? “If he did so and succeeded, built the Beis Hamikdash, and gathered in the dispersed of Israel.” The truth is that there too, the concept of definitely Moshiach—yes, definitely Moshiach—is essentially a state of true and complete Geulah. For that, the Beis Hamikdash must be built in the literal sense in Jerusalem, so that offerings can be brought there. After all, as we discussed, what is the soul of the Beis Hamikdash? That one can bring offerings, in order to bring offerings and fulfill the mitzvos associated with them. A Beis Hamikdash must be built in Jerusalem in accordance with the commandment to the Jewish people, in the literal sense. Fine, that is a state of Geulah. That is a future state: “that he will immediately be definitely Moshiach.” We see that the Rebbe also treats this as something present, this too. Where do we have that now? As we said, seemingly there is a point here: in Chassidus, everything is brought into the here and now. The Exodus from Egypt is today; the Giving of the Torah is today. “Every day, they should be in our eyes as new.” [unclear] because it is the same thing. The creation of the world is today, anew every day. The destruction of the Beis Hamikdash is as though it were destroyed today. Yes, everything is happening now, everything. Usually we say this about things in the past. Moshe Rabbeinu is here with us. Mordechai the Jew—it is all here in the soul. The Moshe of the generation, and the Moshe in the soul, the Moshe within each person. Yes, it is all here and now. And when we speak about things in the future and things concerning Moshiach, that too—it is all here, all here and now, all today, all right here. So even if the thing itself, in its literal sense, belongs to a particular time in the past or the future, when you strip away some of its physical form, it is all essentially here. And when we speak about definitely Moshiach, the Rebbe takes that too. Yes, that too.

53:52 Speaker 2 The Rebbe takes these points too. The Rebbe also takes what the Rambam says about someone who is definitely Moshiach. Where do we have that? Where do we have that among us now? In the well-known kuntres Beis Rabbeinu Shebebavel, the Rebbe explains that Beis Rabbeinu Shebebavel is, in fact, a kind of—yes, a miniature sanctuary, the principal miniature sanctuary during the time of exile. Every shul is a miniature sanctuary, but Beis Rabbeinu Shebebavel is the principal one. Beis Rabbeinu is thus the miniature sanctuary. It is a reminder of the Second Beis Hamikdash, which stood and was destroyed, and it is also a preparation—primarily—for the Third Beis Hamikdash. So Beis Rabbeinu Shebebavel is the principal preparation for the Third Beis Hamikdash, and the Rebbe connects this with the Rambam’s words, “and builds the Beis Hamikdash in its place.” The Rebbe asks: What does “in its place” mean? That wording is an emphasis. It is a point the Rebbe dwells on a few lines earlier. What is the word “in its place” meant to emphasize? He builds the Beis Hamikdash; the Beis Hamikdash must be built. It must be built in accordance with all the requirements and all the rules, as in the laws of the Beis Habechirah. It says precisely how to build it and where to build it. So what does this particular detail, “in its place,” add? He builds the Beis Hamikdash as it must be built, where it must be built, at the required height. Yes, exactly. Why emphasize “builds the Beis Hamikdash in its place”? Is it to rule out building it somewhere else? Would you even imagine that? So there are places where the Rebbe says that one could suggest this is actually part of the signs. The dimensions of the Beis Hamikdash—no special wisdom is needed to build to those dimensions. It says a hundred amos by a hundred amos. But identifying the place—that does require knowing, knowing how to determine precisely where the site of the Beis Hamikdash is. That does require something new; it could be a kind of sign and proof.

55:39 Speaker 2 An additional indication that he is Moshiach is that he not only builds the Beis Hamikdash, but also knows how to identify its location. There is a letter in which the Rebbe says something along those lines. But in Kuntres Beis Rabbeinu, the Rebbe explains “builds the Beis Hamikdash in his place.” Yes, the Rebbe says this by way of an allusion: “It may be said that ‘in his place’ alludes to Moshiach’s place during the exile”—not the place of the Beis Hamikdash, but Moshiach’s place. While Moshiach is still in exile, awaiting and anticipating the Geulah of the Jewish people, he builds a sanctuary as preparation for the future Beis Hamikdash. So clearly, the plain meaning of the Rambam is that he builds the Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem, in its place in Jerusalem—a Beis Hamikdash where offerings are brought and where the mitzvos connected with it can be fulfilled. In the sanctuary in Moshiach’s place, offerings cannot be brought, as mentioned in that sicha about the rooftops. It is called the roof of the Beis Hamikdash, because the rooftops were not sanctified. Yes, what does it mean that the rooftops were not sanctified? You cannot slaughter offerings on the roof of the Heichal, because it does not have the sanctity of the courtyard. So the Rebbe says that Beis Rabbeinu is called the roof of the Beis Hamikdash, but, as in the Midrash, the rooftops were not sanctified. Fine, offerings cannot be brought there. So what does that do for us? We are looking for the full observance of Torah and mitzvos. But if this is an allusion, what have we gained from it? What is the point of showing such an allusion? It is all the same point: everything is here and now. The giving of the Torah is today; the Exodus from Egypt is today; the Beis Hamikdash is here; Moshiach is here—everything. So he “builds a sanctuary in his place.” True, the plain meaning refers to something in the future. But it may be said that it also alludes to us, here and now, as preparation for the real and central matter. In Hilchos Beis Habechirah, the Rambam writes: “It is a positive mitzvah to make a house for Hashem, as it says, ‘They shall make Me a sanctuary.’” That is how he begins, and he continues with

57:32 Speaker 2 this subject. Then he says: What does “They shall make Me a sanctuary” refer to? It was said about the Mishkan in the desert. But the Rambam treats it all as one continuous process. They built the Mishkan in the desert. After that they came to Shiloh and built there, then to Nov, then Givon, then Jerusalem. All of that is “They shall make Me a sanctuary.” Yes, from the outset, the mitzvah was for the long term—in every place and every generation, according to its circumstances and what was possible in that generation. So, “They shall make Me a sanctuary.” Okay. Then the Rambam says: “They came to Shiloh and built a house of stone there.” They came to Nov and Givon and built—yes, they came to Nov and built a sanctuary there; they came to Givon and built a sanctuary there. And then they arrived—yes, “from Givon they came to the eternal House. Once the Beis Hamikdash was built in Jerusalem, all other places became forbidden,” and so on. If you look closely, you see that he calls the building in Nov a sanctuary. It was no longer the Mishkan. It was not wood and curtains. It was apparently a house. So he says, “They came to Nov and built a sanctuary there; they came to Givon and built a sanctuary there.” “Once the Beis Hamikdash was built in Jerusalem”—the Beis Hamikdash, as a specific place, as though that is the one in Jerusalem. But “a sanctuary” does not necessarily mean Jerusalem. It could be Nov or Givon: “They shall make Me a sanctuary.” Even the Mishkan in the desert is called a sanctuary. “The Beis Hamikdash” is in Jerusalem—the specific Beis Hamikdash. That is how it appears in Hilchos Beis Habechirah, right at the beginning, in the opening halachos. When you look at it there and pay attention, it seems very clear and straightforward. Interestingly, here too, in Hilchos Melachim, chapter 11: “The King Moshiach will arise and restore the kingdom of David to its former state, and build the Beis Hamikdash.” Yes, he needs to build the Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem, the known Beis Hamikdash. But when the Rambam speaks about the signs of Moshiach and the order of his revelation, he says, “If he did this and succeeded, and built a sanctuary in its place”—which the Rebbe says alludes to Moshiach’s place

59:20 Speaker 2 during the exile. Yes, wait: you might have expected it to say, “he built the Beis Hamikdash.” We are talking about the Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem. But the Rambam does not write, “he built the Beis Hamikdash”; he writes, “builds a sanctuary in its place”—a sanctuary without specifying which one. Perhaps this connects to what the Rebbe says: there is an allusion here not only to the Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem, not only to the known Beis Hamikdash, but to a sanctuary in a broader sense, including the sanctuary along the way. Okay, but in any case, this is clearly by way of an allusion. As the Rebbe says in the sicha, while Moshiach is still in exile, awaiting and anticipating the Geulah of the Jewish people, he builds a sanctuary as preparation. He is not yet certainly Moshiach. That is not the “certainly Moshiach” the Rambam is speaking about. He is awaiting and anticipating it. Yes, he may be presumed to be Moshiach, or it may even be before that, but he builds a sanctuary as preparation. That is alluded to in the Rambam’s words. Okay: “If he did this and succeeded, built a sanctuary in its place, and gathered the Jewish people, he is certainly Moshiach.” But the truth is also... Okay, so what is the significance of building a sanctuary in his time? Look at the Rebbe’s sicha: there is an allusion here to where this is happening for us. Because regarding the anticipation of the Jewish people, the Rebbe also says that we see in practice a gathering of Jews to Eretz Yisroel. The Rebbe speaks about the immigration from Russia and connects it with gathering the dispersed Jewish people and with the ingathering of the exiles. There are sichos in which the Rebbe emphasizes that this is only a preparation, not a beginning—not even the beginning of the beginning. That is what the Rebbe says in Parshas Va’eira 5751. In Parshas Vayakhel 5752, the Rebbe does seem to... Well, let’s set aside for a moment this question of whether it is a beginning. There are sichos in which the Rebbe uses one expression, and sichos with other expressions. Let’s not get into that now; we can do it another time. Let’s stay specifically with the Rambam.

1:01:09 Speaker 2 But yes, clearly the Rebbe speaks about a gathering that is taking place. Yet, seemingly, for him to be certainly Moshiach, and for the gathering and the Geulah to be complete in practice, there must be the observance of shemitah and yovel. That is the point of the gathering: the full observance of Torah and mitzvos. That is the direction, and that is what we are waiting to see. As the Rebbe says, we are waiting for him to be certainly Moshiach immediately. We are waiting for that to happen—for the gathering to be complete and for shemitah and yovel to be observed, not just for the gathering to begin. Okay, but in any case: “If he did this and succeeded, built a sanctuary in its place, and gathered the Jewish people, he is certainly Moshiach.” The Rambam continues: “If he did not succeed to this extent, or was killed, it is known that he is not the one promised by the Torah. Rather, he is like all the worthy and upright kings of the House of David who died.” We heard earlier that, seemingly, the example of this is the story of Ben Koziva, who was killed because of our sins. Once he was killed, they knew he was not the one. Yes, he was defeated because of our sins. “Hashem only caused him to arise in order to test the many, as it says, ‘Some of the wise will stumble, to refine, purify, and cleanse them until the time of the end, for it is yet for the appointed time.’” What is this verse referring to? It is a verse in Daniel. The Rambam interprets it as referring to such a situation: there is a worthy, upright king who appears to be Moshiach, but in the end is not. “Some of the wise will stumble.” Rabbi Ulfa [unclear], in Yad HaMelech, discusses these halachos at length. He says that, seemingly, according to the Rambam, “Some of the wise will stumble” refers to Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues. They are “the wise,” the true sages. And there was, seemingly, a stumbling here: in the end, they learned that he was not the one. “Hashem only caused him to arise in order to test the many.” Yes, a kind of test.

1:03:06 Speaker 2 that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives us. Yes, as we said, the Rambam does not say they were mistaken. The Rambam derives a ruling for all generations from this: if you see such-and-such, he is presumed to be Moshiach. Yes, that is what you have to say. If not, then it was a test with which Hakadosh Boruch Hu tested us. But yes, that was the failure of the wise men—as if that was how they were supposed to act, and how we are supposed to act, when we see a Jew conducting himself in that way. That is one point. The second point is, notice the wording: “did not succeed thus far, or was killed.” I’m saying, “did not succeed.” What does that mean? “Failed or was killed”? The Rambam does not say “died”; he says “was killed,” as we said, like Ben Koziva. What does “was killed” really mean? It means he was defeated. He tried to do it and was killed. That is a kind of not succeeding: he wanted to, but did not succeed. He went to war, and instead of winning, they defeated him. In effect, he failed. So, in other words, if he failed, then it became known that he was not Moshiach. Fine, so apparently he is like all the worthy and righteous kings of the House of David who died, and one has to wait, so to speak, for the next opportunity. But plainly, when we look at our situation and see all the Rebbe’s activities, we see that “he will compel” and “he will wage wars” are continuing. And the soldiers of the House of David whom the Rebbe Rashab established continue to work with dedication in every area and every matter, drawing on the strength and boundless devotion to the Rebbe’s activities, to bring the Rebbe’s revelation into actual reality. So obviously this is something entirely different. That is not the point or the issue at all; there is something else here. Before, I mean, before getting into all the definitions and deeper explanations, explaining it this way or explaining—

1:05:06 Speaker 2 it another way. But the first thing I’m saying is that this is the opposite of what the Rambam is discussing. The Rambam is talking about a situation where, G-d forbid, he did not succeed and was defeated. We are talking about an entirely different situation, where all these matters endure and continue with ever greater strength and vigor. From this we understand and see that the Rebbe himself is eternal, and that this continues with ever greater strength and vigor. So regarding the Rebbe’s statements that there is already someone presumed to be Moshiach: we continue to follow what the Rebbe said, that there is already someone presumed to be Moshiach, and wait for him to be confirmed as Moshiach immediately, for the Geulah to become a reality, and for him to prepare the whole world to serve Hashem together. Earlier we studied the Rambam, Hilchos Melachim, chapter 11, halachah 4. The subject actually begins in halachah 3, where he speaks about Ben Koziva, whom Rabbi Akiva and all the sages of his generation believed to be King Moshiach, until he was killed because of sins. From that story, the Rambam goes on to say that this Torah, its statutes and its ordinances, stands forever. If we see a Jew following the path of Torah and working to bring the Torah to its fulfillment, we must say that he is presumed to be Moshiach. If not—if he did not succeed—then it is known that he is not. In connection with this, the Rambam cites the verse, “Some of the wise will stumble.” As we mentioned, Rabbi Wolf writes about this halachah that, seemingly, “some of the wise will stumble” refers to Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues. There was a test from Hakadosh Boruch Hu here, involving the wise men. There was a failure, but the Rambam derives from them a ruling for all generations about how to act: the whole concept of someone presumed to be Moshiach. The Rambam continues later in the halachah, in the section we discussed that was omitted by the censor. The Rambam says: “Even—

1:07:08 Speaker 2 Jesus the Nazarene, who imagined he would be Moshiach and was executed by the court, was already prophesied about by Daniel, as it says: ‘And the lawless among your people will exalt themselves to establish a vision, but they will fail.’” This resembles the previous verse, but it is the opposite. The previous verse spoke of “some of the wise will stumble”—the righteous and the sages. Here he speaks of “the lawless among your people,” the wicked, who will exalt themselves to establish a vision, and they too will fail. So the first verse, “some of the wise will stumble,” apparently refers, according to the Rambam, to Ben Koziva; the verse about “the lawless among your people” refers to the Nazarene. Why does it say “they will fail”? The Rambam says: “Is there a greater failure than this? All the prophets spoke of Moshiach as the redeemer of Israel, who saves them, gathers their dispersed, and strengthens their observance of the mitzvos. But this one caused the exact opposite: Jews were killed by the sword, their remnant was scattered and humiliated, the Torah was replaced, and most of the world was led astray to worship gods other than Hashem.” So that is what Daniel means by “they will fail”—the greatest failure, the opposite of everything Moshiach is about. But then the Rambam goes on to tell us a great secret, something we might call an inner, Chassidic idea, something beyond reason. As the Rambam begins: “But man has no power to grasp the thoughts of the Creator of the world.” The Rambam speaks about this a great deal in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah. A person is limited, bound to a body, and his understanding is limited. A person has no power to grasp the mind of the Creator. So he says: “But man has no power to grasp the thoughts of the Creator of the world, for our ways are not His ways, nor are our thoughts His thoughts.” And although man has no power to grasp them, the Rambam nevertheless gives us something here, revealing something beyond human understanding: “All these matters concerning Jesus the Nazarene and the Ishmaelite who arose after him serve only to prepare the way for King Moshiach and to set the whole world right to serve Hashem together, as it says: ‘For then I will transform the peoples to a pure language—

1:09:17 Speaker 2 so that they will all call in the name of Hashem and serve Him with one accord.’” He is saying that it is all part of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s plan; He knows exactly what He is doing. How so? What is the connection? Just a moment ago, the Rambam explained that this is the opposite of what Moshiach is about. Yet he says that it all prepares the way. How? “The whole world has already become filled with talk of Moshiach, of the Torah, and of the mitzvos. These matters have spread to distant islands and among many nations of uncircumcised hearts, and they discuss these matters and the mitzvos of the Torah. Some say: ‘These mitzvos were true, but they have now been abolished and do not apply for all generations.’ Others say: ‘There are hidden meanings in them, and they are not to be understood literally; Moshiach has already come and revealed their hidden meanings.’ But when the true King Moshiach arises, succeeds, and is exalted and raised high, they will all immediately return and know that their forefathers handed them a false legacy, and that their prophets and forefathers misled them.” So, in simple terms, the Rambam is saying: listen, before the Nazarene and the Ishmaelite, what was the world like? Who knew about the Jewish people? Who knew about Torah, mitzvos, or Moshiach? The Jewish people and those immediately around them did. But many nations and distant islands worshipped idols and knew nothing about any of this. What happened specifically through the Nazarene and the Ishmaelite? The whole world became filled with talk of the Torah and the mitzvos. The Tanach reached the whole world. And what does the Tanach say? “For Hashem chose Yaakov for Himself, Israel as His treasured people.” That is what it says there. And it contains the words of the Torah, the mitzvos, and Moshiach. These matters spread through them—I mean, through them they spread throughout the world. And in effect, although the Rambam does not say it, from our perspective, relative to us, what happened was not good: Jews were killed by the sword, and most of the world was led astray to worship gods other than Hashem. That is, compared with what should have been. But compared with what had existed before, what did most of the world—

1:11:22 Speaker 2 Served? They served Hashem before that, then worshipped idols, and these came and changed that. There is a sicha from around 5737 in which the Rebbe says that here we have the Christian and the Muslim. The Christian—the Rambam rules that Christians are idol worshippers. They believe in—yes, and at the very least there is certainly an association of another power with Hashem, and plurality. They believe in plurality, they believe in such an association, and they have practices that are outright idol worship. The Muslims, by contrast, believe in one G-d, in the oneness of Hashem, and they have no idol worship. So the Rebbe, around 5737, speaks about a process here, stage by stage, to prepare the way for King Moshiach. First came Christianity; several hundred years passed, and then came Islam. The world became still more prepared, and more filled with these ideas. As the Rambam writes, the world became filled with talk of the Torah and talk of Moshiach, and so on. Essentially, it is all to prepare the way for King Moshiach, so that when the true King Moshiach comes, the world will understand what he wants and what he is talking about, and it will happen in a more natural way, let’s call it that. Okay, that is what the Rambam says. Now let’s sharpen a few points about it. First, there is a very Chassidic point here, as we said earlier. The Rambam gives us what you might call an outer appearance and an inner reality. On the surface, this looks like the very opposite of the whole idea. As the Rambam begins: “Could there be a greater stumbling block than this?” Moshiach is supposed to do this and that, and he did exactly the opposite. But the Rambam comes and says: The truth is that it is all being directed; Hakadosh Boruch Hu runs everything, and everything leads to one single point, to its purpose. There is a story from the years in Russia, when the Communists rose to power and those were the hardest years. From day to day, everything deteriorated and grew harder and harder; one thing fell apart, and then another. Reb Chatzkel Feigin was then the Frierdiker Rebbe’s secretary. A Jew came to him and asked, “Chatzkel, what will be? What will be?” Reb Chatzkel Feigin told him, “I’ll tell you. I can tell you exactly what will be. What will be is exactly what will be.” He said, “What arose in the primordial thought—that is exactly what will be.” What did he mean? He did not know what would happen, but he did know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu was running things. No part of the plan had gone astray. What arose in the primordial thought is exactly what will be. That primordial thought knows what it is doing, and everything leads to one single goal. That is what he said, and that is essentially what the Rambam says here: “The thoughts of the Creator of the world are beyond man’s power to grasp.” Everything leads to one single point.

1:13:19 Speaker 2 In the Rebbe’s sichos, this point comes up a great deal: that inwardly, in galus, the nations of the world actually help the Jewish people. Inwardly, the descent of galus itself contains an ascent. There are all kinds of statements like that, and you want to understand what they mean in plain terms. What are they referring to? So this remarkable statement of the Rambam is very much like that. Let me put it this way: Today, when we read it, we are sitting here free, baruch Hashem, unafraid of either the Christian or the Muslim. We sit and learn Torah in peace and read the Rambam: yes, it all prepared the way. But we have to remember that when the Rambam wrote this, Jews throughout the world were suffering either under Christians or under Muslims. They were deep in galus, in the full force of galus. And the Rambam comes and says, “[unclear], Jews, don’t be alarmed. It is all part of the plan. It is all to prepare the way for King Moshiach.” It is truly astonishing to say such a thing. If we can speak this way—excuse the expression—there is a phrase used by our Rebbeim, though I don’t remember it exactly: not to “correct” the Rambam. Perhaps the expression is gentler than that. When the Tzemach Tzedek studied Moreh Nevuchim with the Rebbe Maharash, there was a kind of clarification involved. He explained Moreh Nevuchim to him according to Chassidus, because it contains things that, on their plain reading, do not fit so easily with Chassidus and seem closer to outside philosophy, as many had argued about the Rambam. Our Rebbeim showed and taught how to understand the Rambam’s words in a way that accords with Chassidus. But here the Rambam himself says something that is not philosophy at all, right? This is a very inward, very Chassidic Rambam: “The thoughts of the Creator of the world are beyond man’s power to grasp.” That is one point.

1:15:11 Speaker 2 A second point on the same subject: What is the Rambam actually saying here? Hakadosh Boruch Hu arranged all this to prepare the way for King Moshiach. Wait—what does it mean to prepare the way for King Moshiach? What would have happened otherwise? If it had not happened, what then? Moshiach would have come and…? What would have been missing? I’m simply trying to understand what the Rambam means. The Rambam is describing this: Moshiach needs people who will recognize him, people who will know what he is talking about. If people know what Moshiach is, Moshiach has someone to speak to. If they do not know what Moshiach is, he has no one to speak to; he has to start from zero. Essentially, the Rambam is saying that Moshiach needs preparation. And what is that preparation? That people be familiar with the concept, that they know what it is about, so that when he comes they can connect with him. But if they are unfamiliar with the concept and do not know what it is about, then… This would seem to connect with the point we discussed in halachah three: that Moshiach’s revelation in the world takes place in a way that connects with the ways of nature.

1:17:09 Speaker 2 The Rebbe speaks about this on 19 Kislev 5746, the day of the revelation of the teachings of Chassidus. The Rebbe explains that it is connected with “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea”—a preparation, a foretaste, a beginning. So the Rebbe connects this with the Rambam. The Rambam says that Moshiach comes by way of nature. But what does the Rebbe say? In nature there are no surprises, no sudden explosions, no leaps. It is not that one day the whole world suddenly turns upside down. In nature, things take time. In other words, by way of nature, preparation is needed. Things do not happen in a single instant. You want Moshiach to come suddenly? Okay, there must first be steps that make the world ready for it. The Rebbe says this regarding 19 Kislev, the revelation of the teachings of Chassidus. The Rebbe says: The Rambam speaks of “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” Do you think that will happen in one day? Through a miracle, it could happen in one day. But the Rambam says it will connect with the way of nature, and for that to happen, there has to be preparation beforehand. So the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe reveal knowledge of G-dliness in the world, and it continues to spread and become known. That is how it proceeds. When Moshiach comes and fills the world “as the waters cover the sea,” it connects with something already present in the natural world. It is not a sudden event that happens all at once, which would be miraculous. That is what the Rebbe says, again, on 19 Kislev 5746, regarding “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem.” And seemingly, that is what the Rambam…

1:18:51 Speaker 2 He’s saying this about the whole matter of Moshiach. There’s the fact that the Rambam himself writes in Iggeres Teiman and in his Commentary on the Mishnah about the signs and wonders Moshiach will show, which will strike fear into all the nations, right? So that’s something beyond nature: how he can transform the entire world all at once. But as we’ve seen, it’s not only beyond nature; it has to connect with nature. Connect with nature, right? The world has to be a vessel for it, ready for it. In simple terms, people have to understand what this is about, understand what is being asked of them. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu works things out. Hakadosh Boruch Hu sets in motion a long process that lasts two thousand years, preparing the way for the idea of Moshiach to spread throughout the world. The concept may not spread in its full, true form; it may be hidden behind the scenes. But ultimately, everything prepares for the real thing. Connecting these points is interesting. What the Rambam says here ties in closely with what he says in Iggeres Teiman. There, too, the Rambam speaks very strongly about belief in the coming of Moshiach, and he begins to speak about it as something immediate and near. The Rambam gives a date for the return of prophecy: “At this time it will be said of Yaakov and Yisroel what G-d has wrought.” Bilam says that, right? The Rambam interprets it as referring to the return of prophecy. Bilam lived in the year 2488 from Creation; double that and you get 4976. So “at this time,” when that same span of time has passed, prophecy will return to the Jewish people. “At this time it will be said of Yaakov and Yisroel what G-d has wrought”—because prophecy will return. That’s how the Rambam interprets the verse. He says it’s an interpretation he received from his ancestors, and there is no doubt that the return of prophecy precedes Moshiach. The Rambam himself lived only a few decades before

1:20:40 Speaker 2 that date. The Rambam tells them: the time for prophecy to return is indeed arriving, and that precedes Moshiach. It’s close. That’s what he writes to them in Iggeres Teiman. Then the Rambam begins telling them about false messiahs. He tells them that thirty years earlier something like this happened in one place, and forty or fifty years earlier something similar happened somewhere else—all sorts of stories about false messiahs. And the Rambam asks them: What does this mean? Why am I telling you these stories? He says it isn’t random; these things don’t just happen. He cites the verse in Shir Hashirim: “I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, not to awaken or arouse the love until it desires.” The Rambam explains it in relation to what we’ve been discussing: King Shlomo is placing the Jewish people under oath. He knew that this nation longs for the Geulah, and he knew that when the time of the end approached, they would long for it even more. Their yearning would awaken, and he was concerned that it might happen too early and go in the wrong direction. So he places them under oath not to awaken it before its time. Wait for the real thing. The Rambam then says that this is why false messiahs appear: as the real thing approaches, the nation begins to stir. It’s as though there’s a bit of a breaking of the vessels before the real thing—a little tohu before tikkun. But the Rambam explicitly says that the phenomenon of false messiahs is false, yet at its core it happens because we are approaching the real thing. That’s what the Rambam writes about false messiahs, and it would seem to connect with what he writes here about the Christian and the Ishmaelite. Those are, in fact, the greatest false messianic movements, the greatest falsehood, the very opposite. But the Rambam says that they are talking about the subject because it is connected to the real thing. At its core, it’s all part of it. His thoughts are not our thoughts,

1:22:32 Speaker 2 nor are His ways our ways, and at a deeper level everything will [unclear]. Perhaps we could say that, according to these words of the Rambam, we are in... Our Sages use the expression “two thousand years of the days of Moshiach.” Two thousand years of tohu, until Avraham Avinu; two thousand years of Torah; and two thousand years of the days of Moshiach. The two thousand years of tohu ended with Avraham Avinu, when the preparation for Matan Torah began. Uh, the First Beis Hamikdash, the Second Beis Hamikdash. Okay, the two thousand years of the days of Moshiach begin, I think, 172 years after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash—after the destruction of the Second Beis Hamikdash. The destruction of the Second Beis Hamikdash was toward the end of the fourth millennium. The wording is that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed “at the heel” of the fourth millennium. And then, yes, the two thousand years of the days of Moshiach begin. What does “two thousand years of the days of Moshiach” mean? As the Maharal and others explain, it’s like “the rainy season”: those are days suited to rain. It doesn’t necessarily rain every day, but by their nature those days belong to rain. In the same way, those two thousand years are already the time of Moshiach, though Moshiach has not yet come in actuality. After all, Moshiach was born on the day the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed. What does that mean? There are explanations of this, whether literally or on an inner level. But either way, the point is that there has been a reality of Moshiach in the world, a concept of Moshiach in the world, since the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. And it would seem that what the Rambam writes here connects with this. He says, “The world will be filled—the entire world will be filled—with talk of Moshiach.” Since when? Since that period, since the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. That’s when this process began, the spreading of the idea until the entire world would be filled with talk of Moshiach. From that time on, throughout the two thousand years of the days of Moshiach, the concept of Moshiach began to be revealed and to spread through the world. Okay? It connects with the Rambam’s words. Now, another thing

1:24:27 Speaker 2 the Rambam writes in Iggeres Teiman also connects closely with this. As we said, in that letter the Rambam speaks very—whereas here, what the Rambam says sounds almost like a theoretical account: there’s Bar Koziva, there’s the Christian, there’s the Ishmaelite, and there’s the true Moshiach who will come at the end. It sounds fairly abstract, as though its immediate relevance isn’t emphasized here. But when you read Iggeres Teiman, the Rambam speaks about Moshiach as something immediately relevant. Right? The year 4976, the return of prophecy, the precursor to Moshiach; and the reason false messiahs have appeared now is that the real thing is approaching. Then the Rambam brings a verse from—I don’t remember; I think it’s from Zechariah—also a prophecy connected with the Geulah, where the prophet mentions someone riding a donkey and someone riding a camel. The Rambam interprets the donkey rider and the camel rider as referring to the Christian and the Ishmaelite: Christians ride donkeys and Ishmaelites ride camels. He interprets it to mean that the prophet is saying that after the donkey rider and the camel rider, he sees the true Moshiach. So what the Rambam means is: here we are. We’ve already had the donkey rider and the camel rider, right? That stage has already arrived, and now the time has come for the true Moshiach. That’s what the Rambam writes in Iggeres Teiman, and it connects very closely with what he says here. The two passages complement each other. Here he explains the idea: why do we need the donkey and the camel, the Christian and the Ishmaelite? He explains that they prepare the way. There, in Iggeres Teiman, he emphasizes the connection with the verse about the donkey rider and the camel rider, and says, “Look, this is what’s happening right now.” And you can actually see, as it were

1:26:15 Speaker 2 Here too, he says, “The whole world has already been filled with talk of Moshiach.” What does “already been filled” mean? Wait—if it has already been filled, then that’s it: he can come. When the king comes, the world will already be ready. That’s in the Rebbe’s style. Okay, all this is in the Rambam, who is really describing how everything—let’s take it more broadly; here he spoke about Christians and Muslims, but let’s broaden it—how everything is moving toward one single point, the purpose of the exile and of Moshiach. Even things that look like the very opposite are, in truth, the most—yes, because in the ways of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, they are preparing the way for King Moshiach. Everything is heading there, and the world is preparing itself for it step by step, stage by stage. We have already reached a point where the world is ready. And when you read it like this, hear it like this, it naturally sounds very much like things the Rebbe tells us in this style. If the Rambam, in his time—what is the Rambam really saying? The world is already ready. Everything that looks like exile is, inwardly, Geulah, and now the world is ready for Geulah. That is what the Rebbe tells us throughout the sichos: the inner dimension of exile is Geulah, and the world is now ready for Geulah. Yes, and much more so than in the Rambam’s time. We are in an entirely different situation from the one the Rambam was speaking about. As the Rebbe explains in all the sichos, it is not only that, inwardly, these things help—though one has to understand Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s plans. Rather, openly, in practice, we see how the nations of the world help Jews study Torah and fulfill mitzvos, as the Rebbe discusses in many sichos. So it connects very strongly with the Rebbe’s words. When you think about it, it is very easy to see how the Rebbe’s words connect with and continue what the Rambam says

1:27:52 Speaker 2 here. That’s one point. And a second point, yes? [unclear] 5752, [unclear]. We have to prepare to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu. How? By explaining Moshiach’s role as set out in the Written and Oral Torah. What is the connection? At first glance, the Rebbe’s statement is very similar to what the Rambam says here. Moshiach—what does that mean now? Moshiach has to appear, right? He won’t just come out of nowhere for people. He has to come to people who are waiting for him, people who are ready for him. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu arranges for that to happen: the whole world has been filled with talk of Moshiach. And when King Moshiach actually arises, they will say, “Ah! Yes, this is what we meant, this is what we were talking about. This is the truth.” So that is what the Rambam says. What has to be prepared? Hakadosh Boruch Hu is preparing the world to accept Moshiach Tzidkeinu, explaining Moshiach’s role to all the nations of the world, so to speak. But that happens indirectly, with elements of concealment, so that the truth of it is not yet visible. After that, [unclear], the Rebbe says: the true Moshiach is here, so all Jews need to be ready. In this sicha, the Rebbe is speaking mainly about Jews: they should be ready to accept him, by having Moshiach’s role explained to them. Yes, because when King Moshiach immediately arises and succeeds, and is exalted and uplifted, he won’t just spring it on the Jews: “Accept my kingship, starting today, right now.” Jews need to be ready for it, to be vessels for this great thing. Just as Hakadosh Boruch Hu is preparing the whole world—though that was done in a somewhat hidden way—now the time has come

1:29:38 Speaker 2 to do it openly: to explain to all Jews that this is what is going to happen. Then, when the Rebbe is revealed immediately, they will all respond at once, “Ah, this is what we learned about, this is what we talked about, this is all we were waiting for.” Let’s connect this halachah with everything we said earlier. Again, the line the Rebbe follows in Likkutei Sichos, volume 18, Parshas Balak, from beginning to end, is this: the complete fulfillment of the mitzvos—that is Moshiach. When the Rambam describes Moshiach, when he defines what Moshiach has to do at the beginning of the chapter, he lists several things: he builds the Beis Hamikdash and gathers the dispersed. And the Rebbe says it all leads to one single point. We come back to everything we said before: with the Beis Hamikdash, there will be offerings; with the gathering of the dispersed, there will be shemittah and yovel. The point is that all the mitzvos of the Torah will be fulfilled. That is how the Rambam begins. Then the Rambam discusses how Moshiach does not have to perform miracles. Why, says the Rebbe? The same point: the complete fulfillment of the mitzvos must happen specifically within the natural order—a dwelling place for Hashem in the lower realms. We mentioned how the Alter Rebbe wanted to recite Kiddush Levanah with the guard seeing the moon, not through a miracle. So Moshiach, too, must act within the natural order, because the point is the complete fulfillment of mitzvos within the natural order. And when the Rambam reaches this halachah and gives us the sequence of Moshiach’s revelation and the signs by which to identify him, what signs does he give? Signs connected with this point. Let’s make it sharper: Moshiach will be a great prophet. The Rambam himself wrote that in Hilchos Teshuvah. But here he does not say a word about it. He does not say, “If you see a prophet, you’ll know he is Moshiach.” He does not set that up as a test. And what else did he write in Hilchos Teshuvah? That Moshiach will be wiser than Shlomo. He does not write that

1:31:26 Speaker 2 here either. What does he write? “If a king arises from the House of David, immersed in Torah and occupied with mitzvos according to the Written and Oral Torah, and he compels all Israel to follow its path and fights the wars of Hashem, he is presumed to be Moshiach.” The Rebbe asks: What are all these things? First, a king from the House of David. Of course, Davidic kingship must be restored to its former state. And we discussed how the whole matter of Torah and mitzvos—the fulfillment of mitzvos—rests on kingship. The king’s role is to have the power to compel the people to follow the Torah’s path. On a deeper level, he gives the people a sense of kabbolas ol before the majesty of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who is the true King and who decrees the laws of Torah and mitzvos for us. That is why we fulfill the mitzvos as servants serving a king: because He has commanded us. The king can give the people that feeling, that kabbolas ol—“that his awe be upon you”—and the acceptance of the yoke of Heaven. So the entire matter of the complete fulfillment of mitzvos rests on a king from the House of David, as we discussed. Okay, and what about the king himself? First of all, he is immersed in Torah and occupied with mitzvos. It does not say that he has to be a great sage. It does not say that he has to be a great prophet. He studies Torah and fulfills mitzvos. Why? Because, again, what is the goal here? The complete fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos. So naturally, he himself is the test and the standard. First of all, he has to be someone who is immersed in Torah and occupied with mitzvos. And that is an interesting point. At first glance, being immersed in Torah is something the Rambam did not necessarily have to include. If he does not go into his being a great sage, and does not go into his being a great prophet, why does he go into his being immersed in Torah

1:33:09 Speaker 2 Does that come into it? Yes, that it says he is engaged in mitzvos. Yes, a king needs to fear Hashem, to read the Torah. And apparently, broadly speaking, what the Rebbe explains is that the Torah gives him the strength for this. Yes, it is not about Torah study for its own sake, about being a great scholar who will become a great rabbi. The Torah says about a king, too, “It shall be with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life.” As the Rambam writes, Hakadosh Boruch Hu bound him to the Torah more than all the people, “so that he may learn to fear Hashem his G-d.” Ultimately, Torah and mitzvos cannot be separated. Prophecy and mitzvos are two things that do not depend on each other. Fulfillment of the mitzvos does not depend on how great a prophet I am or how great a scholar I am, but it does depend on how connected I am to Torah study. Even though they are not necessarily the same thing—there are people who emphasize mitzvos and people who emphasize Torah, two different emphases—ultimately every Jew needs both, and they depend on and are connected to each other. You cannot separate Torah study from fulfilling mitzvos. Even if the subject here is more about fulfilling mitzvos, it has to begin with being immersed in Torah. The king, too: “It shall be with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life.” He needs to be connected to Torah. In any case, that is the first thing when the Rambam describes him: immersed in Torah and engaged in mitzvos. What is the second thing he does? How does he lead the people? “He will compel all of Israel to walk in its ways.” That is the role of a king, and specifically “compel.” The Rebbe says this specifically in connection with the mitzvos of the Bnei Noach, where the Rambam uses the same expression: “Moshe Rabbeinu was commanded to compel all the inhabitants of the world to observe the mitzvos commanded to the Bnei Noach.” So the Rebbe focuses on

1:34:46 Speaker 2 this in [unclear], Parshas Yisro. Why “compel”? You could explain it to them, persuade them—why use force? On a simple level, when you read it, you might say: Well, not everyone wants to do it, so you have to make them. Just as a practical matter. But the Rebbe explains that there is a deeper point here, along the lines of what the Rambam himself writes about the seven mitzvos of the Bnei Noach: they must observe them not because reason demands it, but because Moshe commanded them in the Torah. The non-Jew should not come and say, “Listen, it makes sense, it’s right, I understand it, I connect with it.” No—not because reason demands it, but because Moshe commanded it in the Torah. What does that mean? It stands in contrast to the demands of reason. “Moshe commanded it in the Torah” means kabbolas ol of the Kingdom of Heaven. Moshe commanded it, and the Torah and G-dliness transcend intellect: do it because you were commanded, and that’s that. That is what it means to observe the seven mitzvos of the Bnei Noach because Moshe commanded them—not because you understood that they are right or because they make sense to you, but because there is G-dliness here that transcends intellect, through kabbolas ol. That is what the Rambam writes about the seven mitzvos, and on that basis the Rebbe explains “compel”: to compel all the inhabitants of the world to observe, to accept, the seven mitzvos. The point of “compel” here is not violence; it is not about using force. It is about coming to people and telling them, “Listen, there is an obligation here. Moshe commanded it, and you must do it.” That is how the Rebbe explains the seven mitzvos of the Bnei Noach, and it would seem to fit with what the Rambam says here: “He will compel all of Israel to walk in its ways.” If a non-Jew is told to observe his mitzvos with kabbolas ol, how much more so is that what we tell a Jew: he needs to observe his mitzvos with kabbolas ol.

1:36:30 Speaker 2 And when Moshiach comes to the Jews and tells them to observe mitzvos, he “will compel all of Israel.” That does not necessarily mean external coercion. If it is needed, there is external coercion, but as we will see shortly, that is discussed further on. Here there is an inner form of compulsion. It is like when the Rebbe sends us out on mivtzoim and says: Go to Jews. Don’t explain to them why it is good and worthwhile and nice to put on tefillin. Tell them that Jews need to put on tefillin. Jews are obligated to put on tefillin because Hakadosh Boruch Hu commanded it. You are not grabbing someone by the hands and forcing him to put on tefillin, but you tell him in the clearest terms: a Jew is obligated. And since kabbolas ol is part of the nature of our souls, as the Alter Rebbe writes in Tanya, chapter 41—it is in the nature of every Jew’s soul—or in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words, “A Jew is a kabbolas ol person, and a kabbolas ol person is a Jew.” You cannot separate a Jew from kabbolas ol. So when you come to a Jew, that quality just needs to be revealed. Even when you see a Jew who has thrown off the yoke and does not conduct himself according to the Torah, it does not mean he lacks that natural kabbolas ol. It means it needs to be awakened, because the powers of the G-dly soul can lie dormant, and you need to awaken them and reveal that power. When you come to a Jew and say, “Listen, you are a Jew, and you have an obligation; Hakadosh Boruch Hu demands something of you,” you are aiming to awaken the kabbolas ol within him, so that he will compel himself. That is the yechidah. Okay, we have gotten caught up here on that word, “yechidah”—specifically the point of kabbolas ol. But the general idea connects with what we discussed earlier. What roles does the Rambam

1:38:14 Speaker 2 give Moshiach? What is the test? What is the yardstick? The fulfillment of mitzvos. He observes mitzvos, he tells Jews to observe mitzvos, and he fights for the sake of mitzvos. What does that mean? The nations of the world do not allow Jews to observe Torah and mitzvos, so Moshiach fights them so that they will not interfere. If you see someone whose whole concern is this, who is occupied with creating such a situation—what is the Rambam describing here? Someone working to bring about the complete fulfillment of mitzvos—then you know he is presumed to be Moshiach. “If he did so and succeeded, built the Beis Hamikdash in its place and gathered the dispersed of Israel”—then what has happened? If he has built the Beis Hamikdash in its place, this connects with what we discussed at the beginning of the chapter. If he truly defeated all the nations, Jews are free to observe Torah and mitzvos as they should, and he succeeded in compelling everyone, then what remains? To build the Beis Hamikdash in its place so that we can offer the korbanos, and to gather the dispersed of Israel so that we can observe the laws of Shemitah and Yovel. If he has done that, he has brought about the complete observance of Torah and mitzvos. That is Geulah. “He is certainly Moshiach.” In other words, all the signs the Rambam gives here are a test. They are all measured by the same yardstick, the same point: the complete observance of Torah and mitzvos. And as we said explicitly, there are qualities of Moshiach that he does not mention here. He does not mention that he will be a great prophet or a great scholar; he writes that elsewhere. Signs and wonders that he will perform—he mentions those elsewhere too, but not here. He is saying that this is not what he is being measured by. That is not what we are discussing right now. Right now

1:39:51 Speaker 2 we are examining whether there is someone who brings about the complete observance of Torah and mitzvos. You do not need to be a prophet for that. You do not need to be a great scholar for that. What do you need to be? A king from the House of David: someone who has kabbolas ol toward Hakadosh Boruch Hu and brings all of Israel to kabbolas ol toward Hakadosh Boruch Hu.