The Messianic Age Is Before Us—How Does It Unfold?

[music] Daniel, he miscalculated. Doesn't matter. He Rabbi Singer, welcome to the program. We're right now again in the war of Goumog, which the redemption is unfolding. We're living through Ezekiel 36 and 37. And Ezekiel 37 talks about a time when Judah and Joseph unite. and maybe you can explain to us how this actually is going to transpire. I want to expand that a little bit because this is a very critical element to religious Zionism and it really goes to Tanakh specifically Naveim and this also is the fundamental shish the entire foundation of Rav Taktel who was a giant and he was an Avzden in Hungary who was fiercely anti-Zionist but reversed his position and wrote a very important work before he was murdered by the Nazis called Amhabanum and it's the fundamental theme of Rav Cooko who was the first chief rabbi state of Israel everything ties into um Ezra Nehemia and Ezekiel 36 and 37 and I want to make this easy for the viewers cuz I think people are so um overloaded with information and sometimes I would imagine people go like what is the thinking that uh separates um religious Zionism as expressed by Rav Tartel and Ravk Cook as opposed to other views that not only were seen in the late uh 19th century but certainly early 20th century. What is what does it come down to at the de Gula in the state of Israel? If I expand it that way, I think it'll make it very easy for our viewers to understand what is happening on a granular level. There are two different models that are in view. How does the messianic age unfold? There is one view that people are very familiar with and that is that Torah grows in eras outside of the land of Israel and then the nation that's filled with Torah from different parts of the world from New York this tremendous terra in New York and from Chicago and LA and London and Gates and so on and then Messiah comes and these Torah giants come into the land of Israel and Messiah the messianic age unfolds. The issue with that model is it's not compatible at all. And this is the point of these giants and other giants as well. people no less than the than the nitiv I mean giants was they noticed something that was very very striking and that is exactly the opposite model of what we find in Ezra Nehemia and in the book of Ezekiel you the viewer have no idea how important this is because first of all Ezra is really one book and it really was the church that divided them and I'm not going to talk about why the church would separate them and why it would go along with it. It's not germaine at all. But what is very important is that the kuim and is very unique because in the what's called the writings is a historical narrative of the return of the Jewish people to build the second temple. And why that's germanine is on multiple levels because we have the talumar tell us openly that the messianic age or the information necessary to know when the end would be is found in the kuim famously the gumar and migill and therefore no tarum was made for it because the talmmet itself the garra itself tells us that msiah could have come during that time it's a very important thing Because if the Gmorra is saying in the Gumar in Sait that Messiah could have come during the days of Ezra the context of the Talmud is why do we have the real Nak I know today we call the latter prophets like Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and the 12 that's not the way Khazal viewed it that means the sages of blessed Mary when they said the latter prophets they really talking and Malachi and the Gumar wants to know why did we need prophets for the early Persian period. So the Gmorra says very specifically that Messiah could have come be made Ezra. So no this is not this is all like the foundation for this is so transparent it's like a rock and the garra further tells us that the reason it did not happen why didn't it happen is because Jews because the Jews were and the marsh explains explicitly because very few Jews came from above alter we know the number 42360 Ezra chapter two that's very very clear. So just understand that these giants were looking at Ezra/hemia and they were looking at so in Ezra the overarching issue something that we you and I have spoken about is that the Jews who came to the land of Israel to build the second temple were largely not religious. They were very committed to the land. They had a promise from Cyrus. They had a prophecy from Isaiah/Jeremiah. And they came. But no nephesh benef. And we are told exlessly Ezim goes out of its way in both of these works to tell us that a very significant number of these Jews were not observant. And you have to answer a question. And for you my holy brothers and sisters whenever you're studying the nimsu if you come upon information that you does while gripping and intriguing but why is this relevant to me it's very it's vital to stop and ponder this because it cannot be there. This is like the fundamental laws of thermodynamics. is so fundamental that if you don't understand why it's there, how it is relevant to you, I mean you just don't understand it. So what's happening is we are told clearly that we I mean that the Jews weren't keeping Shabas. We find that in they were buying and selling on Shabas and they're being told why didn't you listen. It's also striking to notice that in Ezra Nehemium, they weren't punished very severely when they were taking non-Jewish women. And we have a list of a whole more than a hundred such men in Ezra chapter 10 as a response to intermarriage was nothing like what happened with the Midianite women in the desert. He put ashes on his head. He mourned for it. He said, "Get rid of these women with their children." They were able to bring this is unbelievable. They're able to bring a carbon which is mindblowing. So this is very critical that in the order that we have in Ezra a people come back to the land not all they're led by great people in that case Yahua Ben Sodak who's the nephew of Ezra and Zurubl who was from the house of David they were giants but the people no one knows for sure what percentage was what but the the these holy the author of wants you know there were a lot of irreligious Jews there and one other point my holy brothers and sisters I want to uh italicize this is not the way Naveim spoke meaning in Isaiah as an example Jeremiah as an example you have very little I there's hardly any it would be very hard to find anywhere where the Jews are criticized for not keeping chabas so I want you to at how outrageous this is and the kind you should now be on the floor. Those of you are familiar with NIM Isaiah, it would be very hard for you to come up with an example. It wouldn't be impossible, but you would really have to search the prophets. Meaning, let's just take the 15 from Isaiah all the way to Malachi. You would be very hardressed to find where the Jews are confronted and not keeping Shabas or marrying non-Jewish women. You would be and is all over this. So that should explode in your face. This is like Shi pulling at you. What is happening here? So that means this is all Msiah. Okay. And then what happens following that is there's a there's a lot of turus in Ezra but ultimately there's a spiritual revolution but the second temple was a difficult time for sure but now we go to Ezekiel 36 and 37 we find the exact same pattern so I want to just view this through the redemption process. What is the order that we find in Ezekiel 36 and I beg you the viewer to read the 36th chapter of Ezekiel? It's very easy to understand. I'm going to say you really don't need commentaries. I mean the barbell will help you but you can read right through it. It's not like Isaiah where you have it. There are chapters in Isaiah where you just don't even know what you're reading or what he's talking about. That is not the case here. So don't be afraid. And those of you who got scared in chapter 1 with the divine chariot, don't be afraid. These chapters are very clear. What I want to show you with Ezekiel 36, and this is repeated over in 37, is first the nation is restored. Take a look at Ezekiel 36:2 for example. I will take you out of the nations. I will gather from all the countries and bring you back to your own land. There's no way you cannot understand what exactly is in view there. Right? Okay. Incidentally, for those who don't know, big full disclosure, Ezekiel 34 to 48 is all Messiah. All Messiah. That's just so you know. Okay. Sweet children from who are born from above. Look at the next verse. Then the next verse and this is the whole foundation of Ravtel and Rafuk. They all pointing to Ezra and to Ezekiel. Verse 25 then says I will sprinkle on them clean water on you. You'll be clean and I'll cleanse you from all the impurities from all your idols. So we see Hashem's gathering and then healing them in the land. And that's the same thing. God is gathering in the lost tribes. You talk about Ephraim and and Yehuda on 26 they become one. That's the restoration. And then later on we have the Messiah in verse 24 and 25. Ezekiel 37 is the same deal. And look at 26 27 28. That's the building of the bases and everybody knows the truth. So the gathering in I'm not going to pretend to tell you how is Shvet Ruain going to be identified. I don't have access to that information but we are promised by the prophets of Israel that this will happen and we are witnessing it now. So this does not require a lot of faith. 150 years ago in vill no one figured out how what was he talking about now we see this clearly. Let's continue. So the putting a new spirit is after the gathering and and look at 27. I'll put my spirit in you and you'll follow my decrees and my laws. And following this, God takes a heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh. That happens in Israel. And tragically, the Christian Bible misappropriates this. And you'll keep my decrees and my laws. Therefore, what I want to do is something we have never done before because we have viewed the messianic age and we are part of it. is happening now through a uh in different lenses. We've talked about the the war between Persia and the land of and Israel. We talked about Persia will not be able to stop. We talked about so we're not going to exhaust that. Ezekiel 38:4 he God's going to drag Persia and its yoyam and its proxies with them. They Iran just so you who are nervous Iran is going to save us from ourselves in a sense and you don't I mean they're like all they have to do is stay out leave alone the streets of Hamuz and get rid of the rich man they're not and they're getting pounded to death we're going but we're not going to go there because we've done that in previous shows what's fundamental to everything is that the return of the Jewish people in the messianic age is first a return and in the land will be Torah and therefore something you said to me which is a theme and that is that the grandchildren of great leaders of Clausro they will look if you I remember I think a last show told me about R was uh grandson who told you if he would have known how much ty there is in the land of Israel his view might have been very very different so that's the theme is you're right now in New York and every day you can't wait to see Gracie Mansion's doors open up with your hero Dani coming out. It's Hashem is pushing the Jews out coming here to the land of Israel and here in the land of Israel there's so much tighter and God is sprinkling the water and he's turning the heart of stone into heart of flesh. Heart of flesh means I just want to explain that because this is a theme that comes up in Ezekiel 11 and 36. same words. The theme behind that is listen very carefully. The idea is that essentially that misses really all made for the land of Israel. That's what's very critical and it's all based on this. Now of course tuk I don't need to tell you all hell like Ramban did that living in a mid but no one disagrees that there are mitz you can perform here in the land of Israel that you can't perform perform in far away you know it was a big shock to you that's the way it is but the key for them is the order of events that happen first they come in that's what Raf Cook figured out these men were not inventing their own religion these men were in the case of Rafael a blessed memory Hashem should avenge his blood he turned changed his view 180 degrees but this is the foundation not just living in the land of Israel is a mis but in fact the restoration comes first and then once they're in Israel in the land of Israel then God sprinkles the water and having a heart of flesh means that you have full this is very critical and a heart of stone which is the heart that one has in g is one where you're basically a slave only here are you free to honor Hashem properly when Ezekiel says that these two sticks become one >> does that mean that everybody becomes the same or what identity do the tribes have if we're all one >> okay it means that we're of one purpose like look at um Ezra chapter 3 right how does it end it begins with the nation as with one heart as one man united. It does not mean that there will not be a division of tribes. In fact, this may surprise many of the viewers, the tribes of where they live, what plot of land they're given is reorted in the messianic age. We're not going there now, but I encourage you, the viewer, to look at Ezekiel 46, 47, and 48. So the tribe and the priests will have a special role and the family at Sodok because they're very famous they'll give a special role. They also are given land incidentally which is was not prior to the messianic age. So it's not that somehow we assimilate our ecclesiastical role. The kahana will have a role. The lv will have a role. It's all there. I beg every person should start with Ezekiel 34 and move on. Every yeshiva has to do this now. But it does not mean to diffuse. It only means that the unity of the Jewish people is vital. And if every person who went to Shiva knows the second temple was destroyed because of basil sat. Those of you who have a prefuncter knowledge of Jewish history and you and I, we spoke last time I last week that the entire war with Rome from 66 to 70 there was a civil war. So there has to be a unity of the people and it is true that what unifies our nation is in fact the anti-semitism which doesn't really make sense and that's the view of Tanakh. It's always if you look at the it's always that the nations of the world will pursue you but nevertheless at the end you're going to do chuva the end of Leviticus 26 Deuteronomy 28 is very very hard but ultimately it resolves itself in 29-30 but ultimately it's the non-Jews will give you no peace in the land will you will go Deuteronomy 28 verse uh I think is it's between uh I think is 60 through 65. >> So let's go back to Rabbi Tel. You had mentioned Rabbi Tel um he had what seemed like a novel theory because until Rav and maybe maybe wasn't so novel but for the world that he lived in to tell people that you know the perfect redemption meaning King David uh came from Rus who was a convert who Mahung and Kilon those two boys intermarried and had they not intermarried we would never have King David. Meaning if Lot's wife wouldn't have looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, we wouldn't have Moab and Ammon. Meaning a lot of things in Judaism are specifically designed like the book of Roose to show us precisely that King David does come from a convert. And this unification of the world is somewhat, you know, there's the world unifying, there's the Israelites unifying, and then there's the tribes unifying. So maybe you could speak about that. >> When it comes to the redemption of the children of Israel, it is not a a fellow learning in Panovich and a girl who's who's the best girl in no class in Basu. Let's talk about the most embarrassing chapter definitely in the book of Genesis in the safer bacius. He's chapter 38. That's pretty embarrassing. Well, you didn't that story. You can't even believe what you're reading until you get to the end of the chapter. You have to hang on. Then you realize what's happened is that uh Tamar the she's waiting to die. She does not embarrass Yehuda who impregnated her and Yehuda confesses at all. That's really that's really a rather uncomfortable ch like who would have invented that? You know there's a criteria if you know that the text is if if an event recorded in ancient Americal a major criteria is called the criteria of embarrassment. And there are many scholars often say that the Torah is so embarrassing that no one would have invented it had to be true. Like who would have come up with that story? Like who would have invented that? It has to be historical. But the key is in every point with D with David is like I mean this doesn't even require explanation. So in every case where there's a uh the redemption is what you do not expect and one thing this will surprise you and fits seamlessly into our conversation and that is that when we find in Tanakh where I have to be very careful when you listen to me when prophets who were not receiving nva at the moment but were asked a question about redemption and made a mistake and the novi records it. Daniel chapter 9, Daniel misread two passages in Jeremiah. I'm not going into it now, but you'll look it up on your own time. Daniel Jeremiah 25:12 was conflated with 29:10. It's two different 70-year periods that overlap by 50 years. We're not going to talk. The point is he made a mistake. He was one of the greatest people that ever lived. and I pray to I should merit to greet him in the in the resurrection of the dead. And the angel Gabriel very sweetly explains to him his mistake after he prayed to God to uh to not uh prevent the Jews to return. But why we have to know that a holy person like Daniel who was just using the best that's why there's a big mistake out there and that is if someone made a mistake in calculation therefore they're wrong and they're defective as giants. I I'm saying this for a reason that people think that how could somebody who was a great Torah scholar be wrong and if he's wrong then does that diminish from him? Do you know I want to say this? We've never said this on air and we're going to do it now for a moment. Do you know that when Daniel miscalculated, meaning he conflated two prophecies, which is easy to do, do you know that Hashem sent Gabriel to tell him to correct him, which he does, but you know Daniel soarses into a prayer. It's one of the great prayers in Tanakh. Daniel thought that the return of the building of the second temple was was delayed seven times the sin. So instead of a 70-year exile is all you have to know. Leviticus 26:18, he applied it and thought it would be a 490 year exile. That's all you need to know. I'm not going more on that. You want, you can look up other lectures I do in Daniel 9. The key is that Hashem was enjoying Daniel who had made a mistake. This is why you have to rethink that this rabbi can't be wrong. If you say that and equate that, you are going against the Nvi. You know what Hashem does? I just need to say this cuz you need to fall in love. It's about time. No, Hashem holds back the angels. I mean the angels already launched to go to tell Daniel to correct him. But Hashem and you look up all on this. Hashem said, "Wait, let him finish his prayer. I want to hear the whole thing." And that's why Gabriel says at the beginning of your prayer, I was already given this message to tell you. And because you are beloved Hashem. So sweet children who are born from above not from below. The Daniel was aim and hashem loving him. He miscalculated. Doesn't matter. He loved him. So this is a false equation. Same thing with Natan. When he told David do to build the B mikdash, she wasn't speak. That's all. So that that solves for everything. And there this is very deep and I'm glad that you're pointing me in this direction because you need to because this is a blocker and that is this is dash terra it's more dy than Daniel more dyra than than this can't be and why is the ni saying this why is this na to me that Daniel miscalculated the the time when they would return well mashia could have come the reason is for our purpose today this for everything. It's really very very magnificent. >> Last time we spoke you uh the RV had mentioned that had and I think we we we touched on in the beginning of the interview that had the Jewish people in the times of the destruction of the of the second and first temple had had unity particularly in the second temple then we probably could have defeated the Romans. And I kind of think that that's what's happening today. That and I think you've touched on this before that had the Jewish people had unity, we could assemble the Jewish people in Israel, we can develop technologies for people to move here quickly and easily. We can all these things just require the will of the people and how that like you know when the Jews became together. Unfortunately, as you mentioned just now in the show that the war has always brought and anti-semitism has always brought unity. Uh unfortunately after October 7th, there was a tremendous unity in the Jewish people. Uh and uh we we somehow uh I don't want to speak badly about the Jewish people. How do we retain that? How do we how do we hold on to that >> that idea that secular historians hold? We talked about Barry Shrauss's epic work on this his I want to make clear I don't want people to misunderstand the Roman Empire in the first century was the golden age of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was about 3,000 miles east and west. So when we you're going to hear Gurav and I speak about what the Jews could have done if we would have been unified the the this is a very strong view and this man Barry Strauss is a giant I mean a giant as a historian um what they mean is that the Roman Empire as I said about 3,000 east to west but how their their standing army is very impressive about 300,000 th000 we have a lot of a lot of sources for about 300,000 men but they were so thinly stretched that if the Jews would have been unified so he feels most likely is that the Roman Empire would have been forced to just make concessions the temple would have stood that is something that's could they have actually defeated the empire so that could have been but at least the empire would have to pull back from the whole deal in fact when will war with the empire 60 years later they will the empire was losing they had to bring in their best best general from Britain in order to hold back to Bakuro when Jews are unified there's nothing to stop them if they're in Burough Park then up the non-Jews will come cross McDonald Avenue God help those yeshiva boys but once they're unified in the land of Israel there's something very unique about them we're the opposite of the Italians >> [laughter] >> Italians could hit you in the nose in Flatbush, but you put them in the army, it's a different story. So, this is a very critical point. Who was a and this is his topic. He's in his lane, meaning he's a historian of military. I don't even know he wrote probably wrote more than 40 books in his life. So, that's critical is the unity of the Jewish people. And I beg you, the viewer, please, Ezra is easy to read. It can't be any easier. Ezra 3:1, just read it. It tells us we came to the land of Israel to this project as one man with one heart. Can't have anything better than that with these people who are all very very religious. It's very transparent that Nhemia and Ezra want us to know that they're deeply problematic as I said and just so you know you have to solve a problem and that is Isaiah chapter one which we're going to read in the haftur before tishov I mean it's coming right up if you read it if you can hang on to that ha it's tough but what are the what are we told there God is saying when you come into the temple you trample my course and you bring me I don't want it. I won't listen to you. I don't want your holiday. I don't. It's disgusting to me. Why? Because you're not treating each other properly. There's no social justice. Okay. And verse 27 of chapter 1, just so you know, it's all in context, is that only that Jerusalem will ultimately be saved, Zion will be redeemed through uh uh justice and repentance. Just clear. So look at that. And contrast that with where the whole book is going on with problems problems problems of people who are shabas and you don't find that in the I know it's a big statement for me to make it would be very hard for you to find anywhere in the corpus of the prophets with the you by the way it's not impossible you could find in Jeremiah where the Jews are warned by Jeremiah that they're not allowed to carry from a you do have that. That's Jeremiah 17. I don't want to say it never happens, but it is rare. Okay. So, I know those of you who are learning, you will be able to find, but as is loaded. It's it's as though I want to say this, this is critical. That's the point. like when that the Jews were not observant on issues of shabas and issues of marrying out of the faith. It was a rampid problem in the naveim. It's very hard to find. Most of them are slanted all they're all slanted in social justice the issue and if you're not there's no social justice I don't want the rest of it. And that's why my friends that's why Isaiah chapter 1 is so hard to read. You're going to hear it in the tune of a it's a it's a lament. It's so powerful. Even you know the the the donkey, the ox and the donkey are loyal to their master. But a peop and God speaks of the Jews in third person like I don't want to talk to you. It's really horrible. It's terrible. He said I can't even talk to you in the you know in second person. He talks about the Jews in third person this nation. So that's what it is. So think about the difference between the two and we should be to see the basically in our time. 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