"The Great Redemption" (36)

"The Great Redemption" by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

-- A Discourse on The End of the Exile and the Beginning of the Great Redemption

Translated by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
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36.

I’ll tell you as much as I can about this mystery, which is so shrouded and sealed-off.

The truth of the matter is that the Higher Yichud would shield him, (as it’s said) “And Benayahu Ben Yehoyada” was the “son of a living man” (2 Samuel 23:20). That was due to all the mighty Yichudim (consolidations) he brought about. The power of the Higher Yichud stood by him and strengthened him enough for him to “slay a lion in a pit in the time of snow”. But let me explain this to you well.

He would be able to strike the evil lion that claws and roars thanks to the power of his great and mighty deeds when the lion unites with the empty pit, his impure mate. For Moshiach Ben Yoseph will strike him there, and it’s there he’ll subjugate that lion “in the time of snow” -- the day that great Judgment is to assert itself.

Let me tell you how snow indicates Judgment, though. In truth we do speak of “a (leprous) spot as bright as snow” (Mishna, Negaim 4:7), but the secret import of it is that (while) snow is white, and whiteness derives from Kindness, the fact that it’s solid and immobile indicates that Judgment has overtaken it, since (ordinarily) water flows and doesn’t stay in place.

But since the white snow is nonetheless solid we can determine that the degree of Judgment is so very harsh that it will overpower Kindness rather than submit to it.

Nonetheless it’s certain that if there wasn’t even this degree of Kindness that the world would be destroyed. So Benayahu Ben Yehoyada will be able to slay the lion even on such a day, as I’d mentioned, thanks to his great strength and might, for he was a “son of a living man” who had “done many things”.

But know that everything in the world is necessary; nothing is in vain. Both rain and snow have things to do unique to them, and the earth needs them both. Now, rain is Male Waters while snow is Female Waters, and hence it’s written, “For He says to the snow, Fall to the ground” (Job 37:6), since it’s part of the ground. But rain is male, which is why it’s referred to as “reviah”, since it fertilizes the ground (since “reviah” implies both raining and copulating; see Ta’anit 6B). For as the end of the verse reads, “... the light rain and the heavy rain”.

Consider the implications of this (for yourself).

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )

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