Thursday, July 13, 2006

"The Great Redemption" (77)

"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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77.

I’ll now divulge another principle with which I’ll end my discourse. It’s about the statement, “I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in judgment, and in mercy; and I will betroth you to me in faith” (Hosea 2:21). The three instances of “I will betroth you to me” correspond to the three Patriarchs. Allow me to now explain the significance of this.

They’re secret lies in the mystery of the three (basic) colors of the rainbow that will shine brightly, which is alluded to by (the verse), “I will recall My covenant with Jacob, and likewise My covenant with Isaac, and I will likewise recall My covenant with Abraham” (Leviticus 26:42). The point is as follows. (Full universal, Divine) governance will be achieved by the Shechina, and it will come about through the secret import of the Patriarchs who represent (the Luminaries known as) Kindness, Judgment, and Mercy. The merging of the Shechina (with those three higher Luminaries) is to be termed “Shabbat”, since she (i.e., both the Shabbat and the Shechina) is an only “daughter” (i.e., the only feminine offspring of the entire Sephira amalgam), and she’ll be merged with the Patriarchs. That's alluded to by the letter “shin” (i.e., the four-pronged shin found on one side of tephillin in contradistinction to the usual three-pronged one found there and everywhere else).

The emanation of light will be comprehensive when that comes about, thanks to the great illumination that will occur. For the Shechina will be very strong, she'll exhibit a lot of glory, and (there'll be) great joy (in the world then,) the likes of which had never yet been experienced.

It’s written about that time that “flowers ( -- in the plural --will then) appear on the earth” (Song of Songs 2:12), which alludes to the three Patriarchs, as I indicated. For it’s (only) in conjunction with them that the Shechina will merge together and govern all of creation; for as long as she’s not merged with them, her governance is incomplete. So they’ll indeed be merged with her at that time, with a great deal of light, since as I said, she’ll shine then, and “the time of the singing bird (will have) come” (Song of Songs 2:12).

But know that among the three Patriarchs, Jacob is the strongest, since he’s the Husband of Knesset Yisrael, but the two others will join with him, which is why it’s said “the voice of the turtledove (-- in the singular --will be) heard in our land”, since he (i.e., Jacob) is the strongest one, as I said.

I have thus explained the whole matter of the redemption to you outright according to the order of the emendations that will come about to complete the success of the Jewish Nation, as well as the emendation of the entire world (which will come about) through the emendation of the Divine Luminaries.

May it be G-d’s will that this come about speedily and in our days, Amen!

(c) 2006 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*!
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Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). His new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"

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