Healing Well of Miriam

When we look at the events of our time alongside the words of the Prophets, it is very important to get an idea of where we are on the Cosmic Clock.  The Vilna Gaon, among other sages, taught that the millennia of history correspond to the days of Creation.  Understanding time in this way, we see that we are in the “afternoon of the sixth day” going up to Shabbat.  Just as Hashem rested on the Seventh Day, the Seventh Millenium is the time of rest.  We are currently in the Hebrew year 5784 (2023-2024), which means we are 216 years from the beginning of the Seventh Millenium—the Hebrew year 6000 (2239-2240).  There are several highly significant things about this timing. 

A model of this is the preparation for Shabbat in a Jewish home.  In different seasons sundown, and therefore Shabbat, comes at different times of the day.  In winter it is earlier than in summer.  By noon the family is in high gear to ready the house for bringing in Shabbat—food is cooked for all the meals, the table is set, the house is cleaned, the candles are set for lighting 18 minutes before sundown, all the family is dressed up, etc.  Even so, as we look at the cosmic clock, we see events running up to the Seventh Millenium as preparation for that time.  The world is preparing for the Cosmic Shabbat.  This is the ultimate Redemption—Shabbat rest of the Seventh Millenium—so,  the world IS in the process right now…just like any Jewish family is in the process of Shabbat preparation on Friday afternoon.  All of this is vastly important to remember as we look at the events and the timing. 

The number 40 is mentioned in the Bible over and over.  The Flood of Noah resulted from rain that lasted 40 days and nights.  Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days. The People of Israel wandered the desert 40 years.  This number can be seen associated with a time of judgment.   This period of judgment is a time of accelerated tikkun (repair), leading up to another stage.  The intensity of this 40-year period serves to prompt acceptance of Heaven’s Will in preparation for the next (higher) stage.

Another highly significant number is 210.  This is the number of years the People of Israel were enslaved in Egypt.  Together, 210 years and 40 years is 250 years.  From the year 1990 (5750) this brings us to the Seventh Millenium (6000).  So, what is going on during this 250 years preceding  the Cosmic Shabbat?  Why is this 250-year period seen as two separate time periods—40 years and 210 years?  This subject is elaborated by the Leshem (Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, zt”l), a student of the Talmudic and Kabbalistic teachings of the Vilna Gaon. 

The Leshem taught that the Resurrection of the Dead will last 210 years, ending with the Seventh Millenium.  This number parallels the years of the Egyptian slavery.  If the Seventh Millenium begins in 2240, the Resurrection of the Dead will begin in 2030.  This period will not only be resurrection of the dead, but also be a time of healing and restoration for all of Creation.  Indeed, resurrection of the dead is the ultimate of healing!  Before that though, is a 40-year period, paralleling the wandering in the wilderness.  The Leshem said this 40-year time period is called  Kibbutz Galiut (ingathering of the exiles from the four corners of the world).  He said this period could begin in 1986 or 1990, but it would last at least 40 years.  If we count from 1990, this brings us to the year 2030.  Then the process of the Resurrection of the Dead begins, each one depending on the level of rectification his soul had accomplished.  It takes 210 years, because different people require longer time in the grave to complete their rectification.  Just the fact that we are so close to the year 2030, although still in that first 40-year period, shows us that we are living in the time of Redemption!

What is significant about this 40-year period?  Just like the Biblical periods of 40 days or years, this period is full of chaotic events, filling hearts with fear and uncertainty.  However, it is also full of incredible events that are clearly demonstrations of Hashem’s care.  Like the Leshem said, there have been waves of aliyah, ingathering of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel from all parts of the world.  A spiritual shift has suddenly awakened Jewish people all over the world with an overwhelming desire to move to Eretz Yisrael.  At the same time, the Bnai Noah movement, officially recognized in 1990 by the rabbis of Israel, has grown and spread all over the world.  These people also experienced that spiritual shift and suddenly awoke to “take hold of the corner of the garment of a Jew and say, ‘You know God; let us go with you!’” (Zechariah 8:23).

Another thing that happens in this 40-year period is the War of Gog and Magog.  This is the final lashing out of evil, resisting the end of its domination.  This is the Messianic War, coming in several parts.  The first two main parts were World War I and World War II.  The Final World War, as I understand it, is a series of battles over the 40-year End Time period.

In August of 1990 Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and the first battles of the Gulf War began in earnest the following January.  Up until the American coalition air strike on Baghdad, Saddam Hussein insisted that, should the Americans attack, he would fire scud missiles at Israel with sarin gas in the payload.   The very next night following the beginning of the air assault the first missile was fired at Israel.  He had threatened to completely burn Israel.  Obviously, this was utterly frightening to the people of Israel, mostly because they did not know what to expect.  The question was asked: Is this Gog and Magog?  With an international coalition gathered for war in the Middle East, it was a valid question.  My thought at the time was that it might have been a foreshadowing of Gog and Magog.  Since then, I have realized that it was a beginning of a series of End Time battles that would dominate the 40-year period. 

Be in pain and groan like a woman in childbirth, O daughter of Zion; for now you will leave the city and dwell in the field; you will come to Babylonia and there you will be rescued; there Hashem will redeem you from the palms of your enemies. ~Micah 4:10          

The Arizal, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, said in the End of Days all the friends and enemies of Israel would come back onto the stage of world history.  This would be a time when Heaven would execute final judgment on all the enemies of Israel.  Babylon was the first empire to conqueror Israel and carry the people into captivity.  Nebuchadnezzar also destroyed the Temple and looted the Temple vessels and treasures.  So, it would stand to reason that the war of the End of Times would start with Babylon—Iraq.  An additional note of interest is that Saddam Hussein claimed to be the reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar.   It is also very interesting that Gog’s allied nations named by the Prophet Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39 do not include Babylon.  Could that be because Babylon has already been defeated in the battle before the final assault on Israel?  This opening battle—Desert Storm—began the process of Redemption…”THERE you will be rescued; THERE Hashem will redeem you from the palms of your enemies.”  According to Midrash Tanchuma 3 on Parshat Noach, the doubly emphasized term “there” hints that the process of Redemption begins THERE—Babylon.  A further hint of this was that the Gulf War ended in 1991 on Purim.

At this time, in 2023, Israel has been facing horrendous attack from Hamas and Hezbollah, terrorist groups that are backed by Iran—Persia.  While Babylon is not mentioned in Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog prophecy, Persia most certainly IS.  It is debated whether this will blow up into a broader war, possibly nuclear (God forbid).  Some are saying, no, no, it is not Gog and Magog, intimating that far worse is yet to come.  Others are saying it is.  Let’s suppose this is Gog and Magog.  If we are talking about a total of 40 years, will it go on and on for years from now, or stop and start up again and again?  The terrorists’ war of attrition in Israel has already lasted decades, with no foreseeable end!  Israel could not last through a prolonged intense war; life in the country could not continue; even now normal life is impossible.  The last of Ezekiel’s prophecy describes the burying of the dead, saying it will take seven months.  With the current massive casualties, even now the burials in Israel are overwhelming.  Could this be the beginning of the burying of the dead Ezekiel foretold? 

The War of Gog and Magog is the execution of the judgment of Heaven on the Nations.  Even at the time of my writing this today, Israel has called for the resignation of the United Nations chief following his unbalanced speech, refusing to strongly condemn Hamas’s horrific attack of Israel on October 7, 2023, even excusing their brutal actions as resisting oppression, while castigating Israel as an “occupier.”  Pro-Hamas demonstrations, with Palestinian flags and Nazi symbols on full display, have been held all over the world.  Shocking anti-Semitic slogans are being shouted, including:  “Gas the Jews.”  All at once, it seems, evil has completely unveiled its face in a way not seen since the rise of the Nazis in 1933. 

 It is very interesting that Bnai Noah was officially recognized in April of 1990, the same year Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.  Yes, the Nations will be judged, but the individuals of the Nations are already being given the opportunity to come out of their Nations and be accounted separately from the whole of their birth nation.  What will be the outcome of all this?  Again, this comes from Israel’s Prophet Micah.

It will be in the end of days that the mountain of the Temple of Hashem will be firmly established as the most prominent of the mountains, and it will be exalted up above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.  Many nations will go and say:  “Come, let us go up to the Mountain of Hashem and to the Temple of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His paths.  For from Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of Hashem from Jerusalem.  He will judge between many peoples, and will settle arguments of mighty nations from far away.  They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives; nation will not lift sword against nation, nor will they learn war anymore.  They will sit, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none will make them afraid, for the mouth of Hashem, Master of Legions, has spoken. ~Micah 4:1-4