Messianic Prophecies Are Unfolding NOW — Rabbi Singer Reveals How

Why do we need to build the base of Mdesh? Why do we need to come to Tisel? We know that Msiah is going to come and he'll take care of everything. He'll bring us here. He'll build the base of Mikdash. He'll show us what to do. >> The answer to that question is vital for your survival. It's very, it's transparent that the people return to the land of Israel before Msiah comes. It's explicit. Why is it throughout the Nim that there [music] are so many prophecies, but they're written so vaguely? Did did like Hashem or the prophets themselves not [music] know so much of the Naveim? You open up, you just simply can't understand it. If you read an event in Tanakh and you don't know how this is relevant to you, that means you don't understand it. We're living it in real time now. >> For joining us, Rivtovia, how's it going? >> Hey, doing great. I'm happy to join you. We'll start from like just the very top. Uh the the Tanakh you would think it would be one of the most important in uh in our religion and it got to a point where you know it seems to almost be on the back burner for most ultraorththodox Jews. Uh Gamarra in a certain sense got got promoted to the top. Obviously we have garam but the tarav which is obviously like such a crucial thing um it's it's it's uh whatever it got it got demoted. Can you can you tell us a little bit maybe about the history what you think about what happened? How did how did something so important like tars of exab like the actual written Torah get to the point where so many Jews literally don't even learn it or even those who do learn it maybe will go through it once twice it won't be part of your regular uh religious Jews learning seder and it and most Jews really don't know 95% I think of of the things that it says in maybe in the kish and but but more in like I would say the uh the nim and kuim where'd it go what happened Yeah. So that it's important for our viewers just to understand the magnitude of your question. So you're quite right. Tanakh for those who don't know is an an acronym. It means to Nim refers to Torah Naveim and what you're referring to really is the dir of knowledge or lack of study of the Nim uh the prophets. Uh people are studying Torah for sure. And we are in without question the most literate generation since the days of Hezekiah which a and we have actual instant access to any safer we want in in the ancient world. If you wanted to study the book of Isaiah it doesn't be the ancient world just 700 years ago someone would have to actually write one for you um before the printing press. So we're in the most literate generation, but somehow we've totally dropped the ball on the Naveim means the pro the the part that's called the prophets and the historical very important as Daniel we dropped it. happened there is in the Kazal knew Tanakh backwards and forwards they the Abar Bernel wrote the most important in my view the most important or illuminating commentary on the prophets in history but what happened was with the emergence of the enlightenment the Haskell movement meaning in the let's just say 17th 18th century 19th century [snorts] um the enlightenment movement that emerges essentially is abandoning within the Jewish people. It's not a monolithic group, but among Jews in the let's say from 1800 forward, um there there's an emphasis there on learning Tanakh and Jewish history and abandoning Talmud and abandoning Jewish law. And it's a time of massive assimilation. And if you're a reform Jew, please do not be offended. I think the reform movement today deeply regrets many of the decisions that were made. But the emergence of the reform movement and the emphasis on learning the nim sort of there was a backlash in the in the Ashkanazi religious world in that they were emphasizing uh Talmud over the Nvim the prophets and the term the latter prophets is a complete mistake. It's it it refers to 15 books, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. And the 12 books that are bound together in what's called Treyoso, the 12 um those really um those really were [sighs and gasps] tragically abandoned in the Shiva world. What makes this so painful is our sages of blessed memory tell us transparently that while we can understand what will happen in the messianic age we certainly have massive prophecies like Isaiah 11 Isaiah 2 Ezekiel 37 but it's only mymonities as an example in the laws of kings famously says when criticizing his contemporaries who were spec speculating on dates and what will happen precisely. He said it's only the generation of the redemption, only those people who are living in our time that will truly understand these passages that are in the prophets that are speaking about the messianic age. So this is not just any generation that ought to know the Naveim, the prophets and Ezra. We are the generation that could best understand because after all, we can read through Zechariah 12, which is an end time prophecy. It's the end time war before Messiah comes. Ezekiel 18, excuse me, 38:39. We're actually living in it now. So my monities, who would have given anything to be alive during our time, he was born in, let's say, I think 1135, he passed away in 1204. He lived in the medieval period. He would have given anything to be alive today. He envied us. So here we are. Uh messianic prophet is unfolding now and is our generation. Not everyone the students and follower of the vagon uh devoted themselves to the learning of the nim here and there. So there are many yeshiv that really are studying nim. They get it. But in the larger picture, it's very it was a very it was a damaging decision. And it's not easy to just pick up Isaiah and learn it. I when I was in in Yeshiva, there were guys I knew who I was fairly certain were much smarter than me. And yet when they came started learning uh Naveim and came to the book of Isaiah, within two or three chapters, they just closed and said, "I give up." It's hard. There are some that require a global knowledge of Tanakh to get what they're talking about. So it's a serious matter that you're raising. What would you like what would you say is is really the the from your perspective the damage that has been done uh by you know by this process of of really like you know pushing uh you know the the Nvim uh kind of as a as a side subject like what would you say like especially now as the Jewish people like we're experiencing you know we're clearly experiencing many of the prophecies uh coming coming to And you know, if you know what it says in in the Nvim, you might be compelled to do something about it as you're watching these prophecies play out. So like what would you say is the um is the uh repercussions of of the fact that we still haven't reintroduced uh tarshav properly into mainstream learning. The consequences are that people didn't recognize that the Jewish people must return back to the land of Israel before the Messiah comes and the very Jews who would come to the land of Israel would many of them would be completely irreligious in an observance. Let me explain how important this piece is. We are told explicitly in trackctate Miguel Natalma that there was no tarum which means a translation. But while an Aramaic translation could be the term used for tarum, a tarum really means a com really refers to a commentary which is in Aramaic which uses a kind of a translation. It's a loose translation but that wasn't permitted for the because in that in the this last part of Tanakh contains the very description of what happens at the end of days. It's very famous Kamar McGiller right in the beginning. So as an example the book of Ezra and Ezra is one book and even the church understood it was one book until the medieval period. It's one safer. We are told very clearly that number one, a non-Jew tells the Jewish people, go back and rebuild the Jewish state. That's how the book of Ezra begins with a his saliloquy of Cyrus who is an idol worshipper. He was he was definitely not Jewish. He's he has prophecy naming him like Isaiah. He tells the Jews to go back to the land. That's chapter one's how it opens. Incidentally uh just soul you know the book of Ezra we are not introduced to Ezra until chapter 7. Chapter 2 of Ezra tells us names all the families that return back to the land of Israel. 42,360 Jews make aliyah. No Jewish agency no nephesh benef. Chapter three is massive which tells us that the Jews come really in the in the month that's ahead of us the seventh month with one people as one person with one heart and they start bringing sacrifice they start bringing offerings and they were terrified of the nations around them. the temple had not yet been built and they're bringing offerings on a misbehad which means that they that they were all unclean but because the this I want to use English word so our all our viewers get it now because this was a tumas which means everybody was a state of uh contamination they were able to move ahead with bring offerings And in Ezra chapter 3, we we see that they're laying the foundation stone of building the second temple in [snorts] verse 9 and 10. 8 9 10 which means they bring offerings on the temple mount in the proper place without a temple. So that's an enormous amount of information which there are many places in the gar which cite this as evidence that you can bring offerings without a temple but you need a misbeh which is been built. I was fortunate enough to watch them build it in mitzvah years ago. Uh we have kohanim. uh these issues have been dealt with in in the 19th century between Rabbi Karen and Michelle Salant addressing the issue of bring for example a carbon pesak a paso offering without a temple what would be needed this is all been so if you're not learning Ezra or you treat Ezra as though this is a history book [gasps] well it is filled with gripping history but it also contains the script for the messianic age so you have You're clueless. And one point I want to share with the viewers that will be very surprised by this. I want you to listen very carefully in the prophets. I want to talk about what's what we call the latter prophets. The 15 books of the what's called the latter prophets. the the criticism that is levied against the children of Israel is almost entirely about how we behave and social justice. So first point is that the prophets will shock you if you haven't studied Isaiah in that Isaiah begins with an explosive chapter just rips apart the Jewish people. It it's the chapter that's read immediately before tishabove and it's not possible to read Isaiah chapter 1 and literally not fall to the ground. And the criticism is that it's not that you're not keeping Shabas. It's not that you're not praying three times a day. It's that that you're not caring for the widow. You're not clothing the naked. You're not caring for the orphan. You're not feeding the hungry. There's no social justice. and I would have destroyed you like Saddam if not the promise that I made. And then Isaiah is saying let's reason together. The key point is in the Naveim in the prophetic part. It is very rare. It is almost it's not impossible. Those of you really study Nvie would know there are rare occasions where Jews are criticized for not keeping Shabas. It's almost unheard of. Okay, that's what I want to convey to you virtually. Now what's striking is that we go to Ezra again one book we are told that these Jews who came to the land of Israel to rebuild we're violating Shabas openly in chapter 10 chapter 13 engaging in in business practices that was forbidden marrying non-Jewish women Ezer chapter 10 marrying so it's very clear [snorts] that the what's called theion a considerable part of those Jews who left Babylon to come to the land of Israel after Cyrus gives the command. So you understand history. Cyrus emerges, the king of um of Persia of emerges about 50 years after Nvadar destroyed the first temple. Just important for you to know. And the Jews who said we loved the land and we're coming to rebuild and came back to nothing. There was nothing here. There were no Jews in the land of Israel for those 50 years. They a great number of them were completely irreligious Jews in terms of their observance. Now there were giants among them for instance. Their leaders like we have a rough cook in had a rough cook in our time the first chief rabbi of Israel. So they had Ezra's nephew Yahua Ben Yhot Sodok. Yahud Saddok was Ezra's younger brother. You had Zuru who was from the house of David. So you had religious Jews among them like you had Mizrai in the early 20th century like you had the Nitv who was a Zionist like you had Raf Cook who's a giant these people knew Tanak cold and that was the difference and therefore they picked up and they understood exactly what was happening and therefore I don't want to talk about um Satmer and all that I I don't want to get into that I'll get into it if you want to but what happened in from worlders they didn't pick this up they didn't understand that the model in Tanakh is Jews returning who are some of them religious but many of them clearly are not and Tanakh goes out of its way to tell us be aware the many of them are are not keeping Shabas incidentally another interesting thing is they're not really punished it's weird but these Jews who are not religious not keeping Shabas. They're marrying non-Jewish women. If that happened during the wilderness, I'll tell you what happened to them. Jews who violated Shabas in those 40 years in the wilderness were put to death immediately sleeping with non-Jewish women. We know what happened to them. They'll put to death for it. If you go to their treatment in Ezra chapter 10, so Ezra does put on sackcloth and ashes and he cries out to them. He says, "Send away these non-Jewish women with their children because the children are not Jewish. They have a Jewish father, not a Jewish mother, but they're not punished. They bring a carbon asham like nothing. So you could see that they're treated with kit gloves. They're not punished severely like previous generations. If you're not aware of this, if you're not completely connected to this kind of material as a pathway going forward, you're clueless about what role does the Jewish state have, when the Jewish people supposed to return to the land, the events that occur leading up to the final redemption. And that's a I I really never say such a thing. I will say it now. I've never said this publicly. This is really a miser sudden. This is almost satanic meaning it seems to me I can't come up with anything o any other explanation because this is Tanakh this is the this is the cannon of our faith the whole world looks to it the Muslims and Christians consider it the word of God it it it could only have been in my view this is my view literally Satan's way of holding off the redemption that people would not recognize that the Zionist movement that was responding lar. So although we have in 19th century religious Zionists we have many different groups and the descendants of the the grow the vagon uh time span the vagon lived during the 18th century his descendants his students are coming in the 19th century so they were very aware that this is messianic but other people really were clueless saw this as threatening because the early Zionist movement were made of people who largely irreligious and were responding to anti-semitism in the in in Russia and in in Eastern Europe largely and so on. So they didn't get it. There were some who did. Ruff Cook did and that's why we think of Rav Cook. People think of this giant who we call him a ni a prophet but what he was was a a walking Tanakh. He got it all. He understood it in 3D and he he completely he responded that way because he was very aware of what the core message was. >> Why these are a lot of these questions are things I I talk about on my channel because I also talk a lot about Tanakh and and and and this uh you know similar topics. Um but I'd love to hear these things from your perspective. Why why is the Torah given like the you know the the five books of Moses to why is it written in even though it's got laws and commandments but even those even the laws and commandments everything in in in the Tyra in seems to be given to us through um history like it's not a rule book. We're not given a rule book. were given a story of of Adam, of Noah, Ara, Jacob, all the way down to, you know, Yeshua entering the land, Ezra, every you know, everything all the stories. Um, and within the within the whole stories when we're getting the commandments, even the places even like like these weeks, you know, these parishes, these weeks, you know, and and and all that stuff. Um there's a lot of there's a lot of there's a lot of a lot of rules a lot of laws but even there it's given to us you know like in a story form that that Mosherenu is telling Israel he's giving them pointers on on things that has been through and and then he throws in some why is that why is that the the Torah is given to us as as a history book with all the laws just kind of dispersed throughout. Uh first it should be said because this you're asking very sophisticated questions and I want to make sure that the viewers understand this. If Torah was first conveyed to us orally the oral Torah preceded the written Torah. So whereas at Mount Si all 613 commandments were conveyed [clears throat] to Moses. It was only the book of Deuteronomy as an example. So first of all in the Torah uh Moses is commanded to write it all down specifically in Deuteronomy chapter 34:9 and then verse 24. That's very critical. Moreover, Moses had not revealed all. So the book of Deuteronomy alone covers a span of time of less than six weeks. It's Moses's discourse. And in the book of Deuteronomy, we have well over 70 new commandments that were completely unknown to the children of Israel, but known to Moses. And it's finally revealed as a lot much of it has to do with how to conduct yourself when you enter into the land of Israel. Ye many other things. But the critical point of let's take the book of Genesis because I have a sense I feel a certain sense of confidence that our viewers are more familiar with the book of Genesis than any other book in Tanakh. Um so in the book of Genesis we want to know about Abraham's life and why did God love him? Isaiah 41 verse 89 called him my friend like what was it and why we should how we should emulate the greatest people who will ever live. There are in those who don't know there are uh 55 prophets that were given to the children of Israel. 48 of them men, uh, seven of them women. But we want to know not only of the Jewish law, but how do they live their lives? And we want to make sure that it's recorded properly. And let me give you the a great example, the flood. Genesis chapter uh, let's say 6, 7, 8. Okay? The flood. Now, that's the best example I can give you. Why? because it's something that occurs globally as far as we can tell over the course of 180 days from the 17th of the second month to the 17th of the of the seventh month. Okay? Now, because it was a global event, the eight survivors of that flood will move on. Nations are dispersed in Genesis 11 and they go on to record about a worldwide flood. We actually have that record in almost every culture out there has a record of a of a flood that occurred and a family that was saved on a ship. This is the perfect example because as we would expect because this is a historical event. So everybody who's a descendant of the of the survivors of the flood which means every person walking this planet um has a story about a flood. However, while the similarities are obvious, they're talking about the same event because it's historical. There are really some very important differences like what was wrong with the generation. How did they mess up that would cause that bring about that destruction? God's decree upon man's lifespan which comes up immediately in Genesis 6 as the beginning of the flood. So, we could use just using that as an example. We want to make sure that the text is conveyed in a cannon with with every single letter is there. It was given over to Mosher Abenu. It's vital for the viewers to understand that Moses of blessed memory, our teacher, had no creative input into the five books of Moses. He wrote whatever Hakesh told him. Other prophets received revelation and then recorded it in their language, their style, and they have a very distinct style. But Mosha wrote down every word. But it's vital for us to know exactly what went wrong. That's Genesis chapter 6 as an example. These men who are very powerful just raped weak women and forced them to have babies. That's not available in Gilgamesh and other kind of texts out there. So he wanted affirm what exactly did Abraham do right like what made him the progenitor of the Jewish people who as I mentioned God says my friend nobody is called my friend besides Abraham. Well what exactly did he do? Well, we're told, we're introduced to Abraham in chapter 11 when he sought to perpetuate the memory of his dead brother by marrying her daughter, his daughter who couldn't even have children, which means Abraham. So, I just going to do this and I'm not because we couldn't do a show for five hours, but I just want to take one piece, the progender of the Jewish people. So Abram technically wasn't Jewish, but we could the word Jewish wouldn't have existed then, but we're just using these terms generically, but he's the father of the Jewish people. So he's So what exactly do Abraham do, right? And why does he come up in chapter 11 of Genesis? And it's interesting there are two stories, two prickies in Genesis 11. The first is the generation that tried to build a tower, a dora, but God then dispersed them all. Why did they want to build a tower? This is very critical. This is why you need a Torah for this. It has to be written down precisely. They wanted to build a tower to really perpetuate their own name. They wanted to build a monument to themselves. That's what comes across in the and then God disperses them throughout the world. Okay, that's part one of Genesis 11. Part two of Genesis 11 is a story about Abraham. And as it turns out, many of the stories that we know about him in the tomud are not there about him uh being willing to die for his faith. Nimro throwing into fiery firm. That's not the Torah is very interested in one very important thing. Abraham was interested in preserving the memory of his dead brother by marrying his daughter and thus perpetuating his memory with no hope of having kids with her. Meaning we're given Sarah's medical record. She was in Nakuro and therefore Abraham the story of a this this very important event in Abraham's career as a as a giant is that unlike the generation of the tower of Babel who sought to perpetuate their own name. Abraham was not looking to perpetuate his own memory and rather somebody else's. And then God said to him in Genesis 12, "You know what? you're the kind of person I can work with and you weren't looking to build a name for yourself rather than somebody else. Therefore, in your name all the nations of the world be blessed. So that is an explosion and that's why we need a cannon to preserve these events and to juxtapose these two stories that seem dissimilar that happened. There's quite a distance between the generation of the tower of of Babel and Abraham. But the Torah places them side by side. So we must have a cannon that preserves precisely that. So we say, "Ah, now I understand what Abraham was. He wasn't he it wasn't that he was a great person and refused to worship idolatry and broke all the idols in his father's store, which doesn't come up in Tanakh." That Abraham's father was an idol worshiper does come up in Tanakh, but not that he had the store. that comes from other oral literature. The key what the Torah wants you to know is Abraham was not looking for a name for himself. Ah that's why we need a written Torah. We need the country precise to the letter everything must be exact and therefore we can learn out Jewish law directly from the text itself. >> So no my you addressed it partially. My I my question was was more I mean we can't really answer for God but like why do you like why do you what what benefit was there that you that you can see to teach like if you were writing a a book of rules for a company you have you have workers and you want to give over all the all the rules and regulations um and the laws for your company to the workers. So instead of giving them a rule book where it says you know 1 2 3 4 you know each each each law you give them a story book and within the story book there are all these all these laws and rules dispersed throughout the story. Like why do you my question was more like what benefit did it provide for the Jewish people to to learn how to serve Hashem through a story rather than giving them just a book of laws because the story the narrative preserves the national corporate memory the Jewish people and therefore if we were simply given laws as we are Exodus chapter 20, the ten commandments famously. But if the Torah preserves the history and record of the Jewish people, then we understand why God made a covenant with the children of Israel. And it was in the merit of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What kind of people were these people? What made them stand out? And why does God work with um with Isaac rather than his brother Yeshu? But Ishmael somehow figures it out towards the end. And but Asov is utterly corrupt and God hates him. Well, what about Asv was detestable? What could we learn from the uh from the life of Jacob? And what could we observe through the detestable life of Asop as an example? So we seek to emulate them and preserving it in a history of our people is vital. And as it turns out what I said you you no one is going to push back. As it turns out you and I could say with confidence that our viewers are more familiar with the book of Genesis than any other book with any other work in Tanakh. Let's just we'll call Genesis separate book for for the purpose of this discussion. That means as it turns out we can say with with almost certainty that our viewers who span a wide range of education know more about the book of Genesis any other book in the Hebrew scriptures because it's conveying everything through a narrative. And of course these are the the the primordial narratives of our people, how the nation was formed or how the royal family was formed through events. And moreover like what kind of person was Judah? Why was he so praiseworthy that all future uh the the future members of the children of Israel will call themselves Jews? Why why would what what was made Judah so unique? After all, he made very serious mistakes and miscalculations in life. But like you go to the end of Genesis 38, no doubt the most embarrassing chapter in the Torah. No question. Yehudin Tamar is like you read it and go, I can't believe this happened. Right? But what is so powerful about that story, which would be lost if it would just be a code of law, is Yehuda's there. his the woman who he had slept with who pretended to be a harlot in order to bury his child's about to be executed. This must have been in incredibly embarrassing to him and she's set to die with his dirty secret. She doesn't turn him in but just puts down his personal effects. I'm taking the most outrageous chapter in the Torah by any standard. It's the most outrageous story. She um she puts down his personal effects. Any normal woman about to die would say he did it. She didn't. Conversely, Yehuda is watching this. He knows it's him. He now sees what's there. And he goes, he announces she's innocent. Listens to this. I not only I'm the one who got her pregnant. Moreover, he says, I forced her to pretend to be a prostitute by depriving her of my third son after my first two children, my first two sons died. So, it's not on her. It's on me. Wow. We can then go, okay, okay, okay. We don't have a Jesus. We don't have a Muhammad who are sinless, who make no mistakes in other Abrahamic religions, lav. No, our leaders are great heroes are people that made mistakes, but at the end they came forward and said, I'm I blew it. And as it turns out, it is not a coincidence. So that's the great story of the Torah. Most embarrassing story for sure. What happens later on is in fact they they will have a great grandson David who is very prominent in Tanakh. as I mentioned his name is mentioned more frequently the other name and he too engages in behavior that's highly it's just horrible it's a nightmare but when he is given a jeritical parable by the prophet Nathan the rich man and the poor man I'm not going to go into it now rather than deny he goes when he's told that he's the man because he took he slept with BVA it was an illicit relationship ship. He says two Hebrew words. 2 Samuel 12:13, I've sinned before the Lord. So if you have a greatgrandfather like Judah, you're going to have a great grandson like David. So what we're trying to do in the Tanakh is not we're not looking for people who don't make mistakes. Our greatest heroes make mistakes. Some of them incredibly embarrassing. But what is conveyed through the story is how do they handle their mistakes? In contrast, take Sha, the first king of the Jewish people, anointed by Samuel, the last judge of the Jewish people. Sha was a giant. But Shaul, when confronted with his mistake, which one could easily argue is a lesser mistake than David made. It's certainly at first blanch it what David did is worse by any measurement. But when Sha is confronted also kind of like a jeritical parable which asks him why do we hear the bleeding of the sheep? Why you know like it's indirect. So what Sha does unlike David is he kind of makes an excuse I was saving these animals of malik to make offerings out of them. That's why David and Sha Avugim, they're couples. There's that's why the text and the story is so critical. You could never get this kind of a teaching through just a a codified law. So now we know the difference between Sha and David. So whereas Sha when confronted with his sin, he makes an excuse and doesn't own it immediately, David in contrast when he's confronted with this very grave sin. He rather says, "I sin before the Lord." Oh, really? That's the kind of person I can work with and I'm going to make a covenant with him. This is why the narrative is vital for our survival and our ability to worship God in truth. Why is it uh throughout the Nivea that there are so many prophecies that uh you know many of them quite crucial I would say uh but they're written so vaguely that um you know like like like you talk about sometimes you know there there's some there's some there's some chapters in yesah or that are very are very clear you don't need to know too much you can read them you understand them and then like you see some there's in some of the later chapters in Yeshu uh it's extremely vague, extremely difficult to understand. Why is it that that uh there are so many prophecies that are written in a way that I mean did the did did like Hashem or the prophets themselves not know that they're going to like so much of the Naveim you open up you just simply can't understand it and then you what you end up with is you have different uh interpreters who are giving their input as to how to understand it. So many of them disagree with each other as to who a certain prophecy is talking about what age is is it something that already happened you know during the times of of uh you know 2 and a half thousand years ago. Is it something that didn't happen yet? And you know it kind of almost makes a lot of the uh the prophecies somewhat uh partially useless I guess because we because we're not sure what it means. It's hard for us to act on it or understand what we should take from it because we don't really know who it's on and what it's about. Like why why do you think that that that is? >> I am interviewed on average daily and no one ever asked me that question before that I can recall and I've admired you for time. But I want you to know this and then I'm going to address your question. I don't know if anyone said this to you today but I love you. I love you my dear brother. I really love you and I waited perhaps my life for someone to ask that question. So again, I just want to clarify for our viewers because the answer to that question is vital for your survival. So the question essentially is I mentioned earlier like the book of Isaiah 66 chapters of it 90% is poetry. Just just know that. That means there's only one, two, three, four, five chapters that you could read and just understand what it's talking about. It's read as a narrative. The rest of it is all poetry. Some of it's easier than other. When I say poetry, I mean is biblical poetry. There's no parallel to Isaiah. And in fact, people who are I was fairly sure in yeshiva who were smarter than me when they came to Isaiah, they just couldn't do it and walked away. So why is Isaiah written that way and why is it so difficult? And Jeremiah's is a longer book although it has fewer chapters very long chapters some of it it's a easier but there's a difficult Ezekiel all right why okay so let me and conversely what are called in the mishronm like Joshua judges Samuel kings those are easy to read okay those [snorts] are just they're they're a basic narrative using standard pros just standard language like and it's the chronology and incidentally they they are written somewhat in chronological order. I actually want to retract the word somewhat. For the most part they're in chronological order and I know all of our viewers who are scholars who went to yeshiva know that well the Torah is not necessarily in order. Well, it is in order but sometimes the Torah will change the order. it to make a very important point but generally speaking it is an order uh there can be there are exceptions but that is an exception so here's what I would like to do with you and I would like to actually persuade you the viewer that is the opposite is the case and that is Isaiah Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the 12 are much easier than what are called the earlier prophets it's really quite the reverse and you say what are you talking about Isaiah is so difficult and I assure you, you pick up Isaiah, you'll get chapter one. That's when say it's easy. It's painful, but it's easy. You know what he's talking about. But I don't know exactly even what period. Like when is Isaiah expressing Isaiah 4 and five and so on. Like as it turns out, by the way, Isaiah 6 chronologically is the earliest chapter, the book of Isaiah. Why? I'm not going into that now. Isaiah 6 happens first. Let's just we'll leave it there for right now. Just take my word for it, okay? I he Isaiah chapter 38. Those who are interested, by the way, I'm teaching Isaiah 38 in two weeks in Jerusalem, September 7th. Um, so Isaiah 30 Isaiah 38 happens before 36. It's completely out of order. Completely. There's no even attempt to keep it in order. It's just w out of order. But I am want I want to convince you. I want to persuade you that Isaiah is much easier than reading the book of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. And you're going, Rabbi Singer, knock yourself out. I want to be persuaded, but this seems seems impossible. So, let me show you what was preserved in the cannon of Tanakh. Why is that there? After all, uh there were according to our tradition approximately 1.2 2 million prophets in Jewish history, but the vast majority of them, their prophecies were never preserved in the canon. And really, just a tiny number of the teachings that were given to the children of Israel are preserved in Tanakh. That means how what what determined what went into the canon, what didn't go in. So this is very very simple. So obviously everything that the Nims expressed was the word of Hashem if they got it from Hashem. Incidentally there are times that Naveim spoke without having Nva and they were wrong and it's recorded in Tanakh and that's for us to say but he was the god of laora. How could he be wrong about anything? There were nim there were prophets who were wrong. They meant their best but they got it wrong. That's another topic. I don't want to I don't want to stress you guys out, but it's very important to understand. But he was a great rabbi. How could he have misunderstood what was happening? Well, we had great rabbis in Tanakh who miscalculated. Stay with me on this is very important. Everything that's preserved in Tanakh means that it was uh preserved for all future generations. Then we're to read it and we are to un and it is na to all generations that would follow. This is the critical point. It means when you're reading the Hebrew scriptures those texts are as alive today as they were when they were preached. Isaiah, Micah as an example lived at the same time here in Jerusalem. Uh they preached here. um the their message is preserved because it's Isaiah is relevant to us today as the time it was given. Okay? Same thing for Joshua and Judges. Now, here's the part that's counterintuitive. The prophets like Joshua, [sighs] uh Judges, Samuel, and Kings, there the stories are gripping. I mean, you just can't get enough of it, right? But what is challenging, my brothers and sisters, listen carefully, like you never listen in your life, is what am I supposed to do with that story? Okay, great story, powerful, sometimes very violent, something very critical in Jewish history. But how is this like how is this relevant to me? What does this have to do with me? And the answer is in most cases you're going to sit there and bang your head into a wall and you don't know because you don't know how. Okay, great story in the book of Jo. What is Yifak the story of of Gideon? What does it have to do with me? Problem. You got it? So I would posit that the what's called the Nimon of the early prophets are easy to understand in terms of they follow a a uh a a chronology they're in generally in order and they're using standard pros mean just standard language senses predicates the whole thing right standard language the problem is that you read a story in Tanakh in the early prophets it's a story that you think is easy you have to now figure out how is that relevant to me? Oh, you got a big big problem. And I want to tell you this, my brothers and sisters, if you read an event in Tanakh and you don't know how this is relevant to you, that means you don't understand it. Now, conversely, this turns everything on its head. I grant you that when you read Isaiah 4 or 5, you may not know which king Isaiah is addressing. You may not get it right away. It doesn't matter. You pick any whatever chapter you want. Chapter 10 doesn't matter. Doesn't you may not know you would know a 10. But the point is, but what's the message? You definitely know. That means there's no question that in the chapter of Isaiah, he definitely thinks you're an idiot if you're praying and putting on films and keeping Shabas, but you don't you're not caring for the widow and the orphan and you're building your homes wide and your your property line is then being moved into the public area leaving no room for other people to live. So the beauty of Isaiah the reason it's so easy is it is true that you may not know the storyline like when to which generation did he was he addressing now that is very important I don't want to say that it's not important it's very important to know Jewish history and to study this and our sages are all looking at this I always recommend to you my friends the Abrael who makes everything that was very difficult very very easy but putting that aside the key of why Isaiah is so easy to understand. It's all counterintuitive. You may not know exactly when it happened. Like Isaiah 6, the time of the earthquake in the days of Uzioo in the 27th year of Uzio. Like what happened? Like the walls are falling in. Holy, holy, angels are flying up and down. A kaduca comes in there. Well, what's the story? Go to 2 Chronicles 26. You can know the whole story. In fact, in 2 Chronicles 26, it tells if you want to know the whole story, go to Isaiah. I'm not kidding. It's so beautiful. So delicious. So what my holy brothers and sisters who are born from above, not from beloved, listen carefully. Isaiah is much easier than Joshua. Isaiah is much easier than Judges. Much easier. Why? Because when you're reading Isaiah, you may not know the exact chronology of when it was written or who he's addressing. You definitely know what the message is. And that is your behavior is deplorable. Turn it around. And that's why Isaiah is delicious. It's mamishly maly. Easy, easy, easy, easy. Ezekiel is easy. It's not easy in the sense that I know exactly when Ezekiel wrote it to who was he may not. But what is he conveying to you? Definitely you get and that's why the so-called latter prophets so-called because it's really an error in Kazal meaning in the ancient world the latter prophets only refer to three books but we'll use it because it's everyone's used to it. The latter prophets are much easier than the earlier prophets, the nimish. Why? Because you may not get when it happened and in what order, but you definitely get the message. And after all, Tanak is not a history book, but rather it's using history to convey eternal oracles. [laughter] What an answer, tell. Wow. Holy, that's awesome. >> That is so simple yet so deep. It's really true. It's really true. It's really true. Unbelievable. Um, >> you know, I just say this to my my holy brothers and sisters. If you're reading a story in Tanakh and you don't know why it's in Tanakh, why is it negating me? Means you don't understand it. >> I got you. Okay. Um, yeah. As as you're talking, I ask so many more questions. I'm going to ask you one more question because otherwise uh we're going to be going really long. So, and most people don't don't like to watch two-hour podcasts. I do, but a lot of people don't. Um my last question, my most important, my favorite question that I want to ask you is [sighs] um I speak with a lot of people who uh the the you know I try to promote gula oriented subjects and try to talk about it and the the most common push back and response that I get from your standard uh from your standard uh you know Lakewood Brooklyn Jew, whatever it might uh would be why do we need to build the base of Mikdesh? Why do we need to come to we know that Msiah is going to come and he'll take care of everything? He'll bring us here. He'll build the base of Mikdash. He'll show us what to do. Now, you know, I am I I I've you know, you're the you're the expert on Tanakh. So I want to ask you from what I've seen just you know from my reading of of Tanakh I kind of feel like there like I want to be able to tell uh my fellow Jew like it's clear it's clear in the Nim that that um uh that we come to Israel the keeps gullies then gathering of the exile comes first building the base of mdash might even come first and then Mashiah might come now there are proofs to this there are places in Tanakh where it does seem to imply by this in the order that it talks about it. There are gumaras, midrashim that talk about this. But there are also places in Tanak where it seems to be that the way it gives the order at least the way the sukim are lined up and say it is that is that sometime sometimes it it it mentions the the the uh the engathering of the exile before Messiah. Sometimes it mentions Messiah and then the in gathering of the exile. I I think I'm I don't know. Maybe I'm mistaken. But is am I correct that sometimes it implies the order in one way and sometimes implies the order the other way? >> There are two and this is a good way to uh observe this your your very important way. There are two models that religious Jews, God-fearing Jews have about how this thing happens. One view which is you refer to Lakewood in Brooklyn and I we all get it. Nothing disparaging meant here. There's one model that says that the nation could be at its peak outside of Israel and only come to the land of Israel once it happens once the the Messiah is here. The other model and that is the model of religious. model that the nitiv understood. Rashiva, they all un what did Rafk cook understand is that the people come into the land and then the almighty works of the people that are broken both physically and spiritually and raise them up. And when we look at Tanakh, and that's why it's not the order of verses. I hope I persuaded you in the answer to the earlier question. If you're looking at the order of verses, you're in a lot of trouble. It's very it's transparent that the people return to the land of Israel before Messiah comes. It's explicit. And I want to use just the mo the a very clear chapter probably most clear in. And I want to choose Zachchariah. Zacharai is in general a hard safer fact I rashi a blessing the memory he the only book that he wrote that he wrote that he authored an an introduction a haktoma is to the book of Zechariah he didn't write introductions others did that was not his job but in Zechariah he admits that Zechariah is a very hard safer because it it begins with eight visions that are not easy they're not hard I don't want to scare you. They're not incredibly difficult. It's not nuclear, you know, chemistry, but it you just got to really figure out what what's going on here. Okay, set that aside. The the key point is Zechariah 12, you would need no commentary at all. Nothing. Nothing at all. I just I assure you, the viewer, if you're watching this show, it's because you care about our shamros. What are you doing watching this? You can go watch reruns of the Flintstones. So, Zechariah 12 as a n is so easy to follow. The nation returns to land who are kalash and who are broken people and Jerusalem is now in the hands of of the Jewish people. Jerusalem we are told explicitly becomes a heavy burdensome stone to all the nations who attack Israel over the status of Jerusalem. is all very explicit. Incidentally, you could read Zechariah 8, which also is very I'm going to use this word generous. I don't really mean it that way. We have to have this copious information or else we wouldn't know what to do. So, it's vital that Zechariah 12 is written a way that anyone could understand it. There's war still going on and Messiah is not here yet. How do I know that? Because when Messiah comes, the war comes to an end. See Isaiah chapter 2:3 and 4. It is so simple. The nation comes to Schlime is now in our hands. Nations are unhappy with that. And why they are is another show, another conversation. And they go to war and it's us that triggers everything. The nation Novi says Zechariah 12 verse 78 really critical. God takes a people who are broken. We now know why the people of Israel broken. He says God even takes the mo the most broken of them and he gives them such strength that they they fight like King David even like the angels of the Lord of hosts. Says it openly in love. Mashiah is not here yet. Verse 9. It'll be in that day. She's not here yet. Oh, I translate. It'll be in that day that I will destroy all the nations that come up against Jerusalem. All the enemies of are utterly destroyed. And then there's now Mashiah is not here yet. Zechariah 12:10 we introduce Mashia. We're not going to go into on this show another show. There's a cataclysmic trauma and attack against the Jewish people between these two points which causes and I am I feel very confident this is October 7th. It causes a massive mourning among the Jewish people because of this attack and the children of Israel mourn. It's interesting the Novi says that men and women mourned separately. And it's interesting before October 7th, the battles, the inner internal problems of Jewish people were played out in the streets of Tel Aviv where they just wanted to put a makita for the high holidays went to the Supreme Court. The only source for a mis separation between men and women in all of Tanakh, the only reference to it is right here in Mashiach Bose in Zechariah 12 and 11. Mind-blowing. This happens before Mashiah comes. After all, Mashiach is the one who gives rebuke to the nations, judge among people. They'll listen to him and they'll put down their swords and spears and turn them into plowers and pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation. That happens after it. So therefore, this is very transparent and that fits. You know, Tanakh is like b like everything works like math. It works seamlessly and that's what we have in Ezra. It's not hard to learn, but if you read Ezra chapter 3, Ezra chapter 3 verse one, what we're told is that on the on the seventh month, which is tish, that's like rash time, the nation comes to here where we are. And they're one as one person with one heart completely united. Hello. And they start bringing kabundas. And these are Jews who we will find out were not completely observant but they were in love with the land. And then the bid is built after that in um Ezar 3 8 9 10. Please look up everything I'm saying. It's very easy. So therefore the the what Rafuk understood completely and that's why he's the great visionary. what he first of all he knew Tanakh cold he was a gift that Hashem gave us coldly understood it to others they now I want to just put in a point here not to offend I understand any rational person will understand why people will be scared religious Jews would be frightened of Herzel who was not a religious Jew would be frightened of the many of the early Zionists who generally were not religious Jews I understand why they were concerned after the trauma of other movements that had taken Jews away from Torah. They would look upon this with tremendous suspicion. However, so I wouldn't just say this unlike people that didn't know they were concerned about the well-being of the Jewish people who were opposed Zionism in the early stage. Don't make fun of it. But we know much more. And if great people and I heard this from the grandchildren, if great people then would know how much there is in now they would have responded differently but they were not the key point is the framework we're given explicitly clearly transparently and is the nation comes to the land of Israel they're not perfected at all and then the nation rises up and then ty rise up and then is the coming of Messiah that follows that with the bam mikdash Now do not ask him comes from B. No way in the world. I mean, for example, we're introduced to the temple in Ezekiel, very famously in the last three passages of Ezekiel 37. It's Messiah we're told about in verse 24 and 25 37. That's by the way the valley of dry bones. Everybody knows that chapter. No commentary necessary. Incidentally, now you won't hear that from any Orthodox rabbis, but you could read Ezekiel 37. You know, Ezekiel is its own commentary. It doesn't mean I'm telling you don't read commentary but you really can read to it and understand because he see is explaining himself like you got to know this to survive. So 37 is very easy. It ends verse 26 27 8 28 the last three verses with the my sanctu be in your midst forever and there will be peace in the world and all the nation will know the truth. Full stop. That's it my friends. That's it. So the bas mikdash the building of the temple itself which we we know exactly we built comes at the same time as Messiah and the universal knowledge of God and a worldwide peace explicitly where again Ezekiel 37 again the whole chapter read it in context all Msiach uh but the last three passages and then Ezekiel then launches into the the war of gagumo 38 and 39 so he sort of back trace facing it, the leadup war. Why? So the world will know. Ezekiel always is your buddy. Meaning Ezekiel is always saying, um, let me explain to you why this is going to happen. He's very generous that way. He's always saying, let me tell you why. So it's there. It's not hard. It was hard to imagine 150 years ago as a Jew living in the pale of the settlement in Western Russia. You had no how could Jews do this? Now we know. We can see it with we're living it in real time now. I mean, after this broadcast is over, you and I will very likely look at the news at some point and find out who knows what happened in in Iran. And in any case, so Ezekiel is always generous with information why it happens. And that this point, we should just understand this that Messiah, the building of the temple, and world peace and the go knowing are all happening at the same time. And this is very critical, very critical in the text. That's what you need to know. So therefore, Jews come in, they're not perfect, but what emerges is absolute perfection. Thank you so much for having me on. May we be to see the true Mashiach quickly in our time. Thank you so much for really really appreciate your time. >> Always. 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