"The Great Redemption" (73)

"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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73.

I’m now going to inform you of one of the mysteries about the Moshiach which will provide the background behind many things. It’s written, “Your father and your mother will be glad, and she who bore you will rejoice” (Proverbs 23:25). But this seems redundant -- the verse had already said “your mother”, so why would it have to speak of “she who bore you”? But (in order to understand the reason for this) you'd need to recall the fact that the Moshiach is the Yechidah, as you’d heard several times before.

(But first this.) Now, since the Holy Temple had been destroyed it’s said of the Moshiach that “he was wounded because of our transgressions, he was bruised because of our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). (Yet we know that) he’d only left the Shechina for the amount of time (he needed) to do (certain) things Up Above and that the rest of the time he’d invariably be with her at the Gate of Rome, with those who suffer from diseases (Sanhedrin 98A) (-- so how could he be depicted as having expereinced something apart from the Shechina?).

I’ll now explain to you the very great mystery contained here (before I explicate the redundancy referred to above). The Shechina is referred to as “a woman who fears G-d (who) should be praised” (Proverbs 31:30), as she’s a “woman of valor” (Ibid. 31:10) and (she acts as) a “wall” (i.e., a shielding barrier) for the King, in keeping with the mystery of the statement “I am a wall” (Song of Songs 8:10).

She took it upon herself to act as an atonement for the sins of the Jewish Nation and as a cleansing of their blemishes (at that point), because they’d brought about a blemish Up Above (as well), and so the husk couldn’t destroy the world. She wanted to bear this on her own so as to atone for her children, whom are her praise and admiration, and (the object of) her undying love.

(Meanwhile,) the Moshiach had *also* taken the tribulations of the Jewish Nation upon himself, for (he knew that) they couldn’t exist otherwise. And so (we find that) the Moshiach and the Shechina invariably stood together and were never separate, as you’d (already) heard.

Now, once the Moshiach will be revealed -- may that about come speedily and in our day! -- he’ll return to his “Mother”, and many Luminaries will be stirred to grant him and the Shechina as well great crowns then. In truth, the Luminaries will first be granted to the King who’ll then give them to the Shechina, which is why it’s said (above that both) “your father and your mother will be glad”. But when the Moshiach leaves to go where he has to be, the Shechina will become greater and greater, and that is alluded to (by the expression), “I have borne you today” (Psalms 2:7).

The Moshiach will need to be granted even more crowns (then,) which will (have to) be much more illustrious than the earlier ones. (Once that happens) there’ll be a lot of happiness where he does, since he was born there. That's why it’s said (above), “your father and your mother will be glad”. The Shechina had originally rejoiced together with the Father, when she acted as the Mother at the time of relations and conception, and it thus says (of her), “she who bore you will rejoice” because she gave birth to him.

Now, someone who’d give birth to someone so beloved to the King (as that) would (naturally only) grow in stature and be more beloved (to Him). So when the Moshiach will go out into the world to do what he has to do the crowns that had come to him will be renewed, and both he and the Jewish Nation with him will grow strong enough to rule over the other side, to remove it from its source, and to rejoice in the tranquility that will come about in his wake.

(c) 2006 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

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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.
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