A Happy New Year Greeting for the Most Exciting Year in the History of the World

 בס"ד

This is the last of the seven weeks from Tishe B’Av to Rosh Hashanah that are called the time of consolation, a time when Hashem tells us that even though events in the world may be looking scary with great uncertainty for the future, be consoled that the time of exile is coming to an end and the redemption is imminent. The consolation comes with the Haftarah for each of these seven weeks.

As in previous weeks, the message is so clear and timely that we truly can feel good about what is happening now and what is coming up in the very near future. Haftaras Nitzavim that we read yesterday is very indicative of this feeling of consolation. Here is the summary from the Artscroll Chumash:

Haftaras Nitzavim, Isaiah 61:10 - 63:9

The seventh and last of the Haftaros of consolation speaks of the ecstatic time of redemption and also of the years of exile and its final throes. G-d says, "For Zion's sake, I will not be silent," which Targum Yonasan renders as a warning that as long as Israel is dispersed, there will never be tranquility in the world. History bears this out just as it will bear out the rest of the prophecy. Its closing passage describes G-d metaphorically as a Warrior coming from battle, his garments splattered with the blood of Edom the offspring of Esau, ancestor of the Roman Empire, which brought about the current exile. The Haftarah ends with the inspiring words that G-d joins Israel in its exile in all their troubles He was troubled so that Jews knew always that they were never truly abandoned; G-d was watching and preventing the assassins from carrying out their intentions. If one corner of Israel's exile became unbearable, G-d was preparing the way for the next stage in the journey to the Messianic Era, always sharing Israel's travails.

This is so obvious in our present time.  All the chaos and mayhem occurring in the world today as long as we are not all gathered in our homeland, and it is a definite fulfillment of this prophecy.  This week, however, is even more exciting since the Parashah and the Haftarah are full of prophecy that we see happening. They both talk of the end of time as a time of repentance and redemption.

The Parashah mentions the return of the Jews to our home from all places on Earth that we have been scattered. An interesting fact that I have never talked about is that each verse of the Torah is commensurate with a year (it is not the topic here, but it so extensive that historical events are alluded to in the Torah and match the year to the verse perfectly).  The return of the land is the 5708^th verse, which is 1948.

We also see mention of our enemy and how Hashem will take care of them, especially alluding to war that Hashem is fighting throughout the world until we are returned. This is occurring now, but is expected to come to a feverish pitch in the very near future. All is happening and all is with Hashem eliminating the evil and protecting the righteous.

As I have been mentioning for the past 42 months as well as in my book, Nitzavim talks about the necessity of turning to Hashem and following His ways.  The protection, the returning to the land, the redemption and all the goodness that is coming up is all determined for each individual, measure for measure, according to ones doing the right thing.  The more one does, the easier the process of the end times.  All Jews will be redeemed.  How difficult the process will be is determined completely by the individual.  I have mentioned that the craziness of the world, the threat of war, the financial difficulty, the evil leadership, etc will affect each individual or not affect each individual.  The key to happiness and success and getting through the horrors in the world still remains with the individual and how close he or she is with Hashem.  Doing all the commandments is not a nice thing; it is a necessity to survive.  Having complete faith and trust in Hashem is also necessary for surviving, but also greatly lessens the suffering one has to endure these days.  I still get people who are skeptical and write to me with a “we’ll see” attitude.  I can only say we have already been seeing for quite a while.  Skepticism is highly dangerous because it leads to inactivity of doing the right thing.

In Nitzavim we are again offered the blessing or the curse. Hashem is adamant that if you want His goodness and a much easier time in the end, follow His instructions completely, and it is yours for the taking.  If you think you know better, don’t complain about things going wrong in your life and the difficulties of this world.

The coming year, 5776, will be the best and most exciting year in the history of the world.  It is obvious that all is happening in this transition of an upside-down fantasy world of lies to a beautiful world of truth and goodness.  Be totally assured it is happening just as Hashem has told us.  It is so obvious when you see all the world events happening exactly as we were told thousands of years ago.  Use this gift of Torah to your total benefit and do everything you have to for the coming year to be the best for you and your loved ones.  Of course it is setting you and your loved ones up for joy and goodness for eternity – guaranteed in writing.