MALKHUT
Objections to tzaddik among those in his generation:
“From the days of the very first leader and shepherd of Israel, Moses, there has generally always been some opposition to the tzaddik-leader. He was not always properly recognized by all in his generation. Oftentimes he arouse enmity, jealous and opposition. This happens not only in terms of plain people … quite frequently the opposition comes also and especially so, from scholars and leaders. … This is part of the Providential design and plan.” P. 116
John 8:48 – Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
And lastly, the tzaddik’s lack of response:
“The true tzaddik however, will not respond to his opponents. His consciousness is of his cosmic mission and purpose and not of personal considerations or petty arguments. He is of those who are insulted but do not insult, hear themselves reviled but do not answer, act through love and rejoice in suffering.” P. 118
Matthew 27:13,14 – Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.
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HIDDEN
Mashiach Revealed, Concealed, Revealed
There is a Torah concept that Mashiach will appear in the world in a way not recognized by everyone, and then will be concealed before he will again be revealed to all. As Rashi writes at the end of Sefer Daniel (12:12): “…our Mashiach is destined to be hidden after he is revealed and to be revealed again. So we find in Midrash Ruth…”
[See also Rabbeinu Bachya, Shemos 4:9: “The reddemer will be revealed and he will again be concealed… for so we find with redemption from Egypt that Moshe was revealed to them and he was again concealed from them. And so says the midrash… so did the first redeemer appear to them and was again concealed from them, and once again revealed to them. The future redeemer (Mashiach) wil be revealed and again concealed” (Chasam Sofer, Zohar Shemos 7a-9b, Ohr Hachama, Arizal].
Many sources describe a dramatic difference between the first time Mashiach is revealed, when “Mashiach will be revealed but they won’t recognize him,” after which ‘he will be concealed, like Moshe, and body and soul” and the final revelation of Mashiach when “after this, he will be revealed completely and all Israel will recognize him and gather to him…” (Zohar Shemos 7a, quoted in Sha’ar Hagilgulim ch.13, Arba Me’os Shekel Kesef, p.68. Ohr Hachama on the Zohar).
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The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabba 11:2) explains that Mashiach will reveal himself and then hide himself, whereupon, before he is definitively recognized, “Whoever believes in him and follows him will be content to eat the root of the broom and leaves of plants.”
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Mashiach is Hidden
On the first day of creation, Hashem created a great and powerful light with which it was possible to see from one end of the world to the other. Foreseeing that there would be evil in the world, Hashem hid this light until the final redemption. This light is called the אור
הגנוז , the hidden light. It is the light of Mashiach who is concealed.
Yosef’s saintliness was undetected by his holy brothers. They even thought him to
have the makings of a dangerous dictator, and therefore sold him in self-defense. Mashiach ben Yosef was hidden from the tribes.
They therefore did not recognize him in Egypt either, as the verse states, ” בראשית מב:ח ,”לא הכרוהו ‘they did not recognize him’. לא הכרוהו is gematria אור גנוז (they both equal 273). They did not recognize him, because he is Mashiach, who is hidden.
Tamar, seeing that Yehuda was not letting her marry Shelah, disguised herself as a harlot and waited for Yehuda at the crossroads. She did this with the purest intentions; with the goal of bringing Mashiach ben David into the world. Yehuda did not recognize Tamar. The verse expresses its dismay “?! בראשית לח:טו ,”ויחשבה לזונה
‘[Yehuda saw the mother of the kingdom of Mashiach] and thought her to be a harlot?!’ How could that be? The answer is, as the verse continues, ” כי כסתה פניה “, ‘She covered her face’. Mashiach is unseen.
ויחשבה לזונה is gematria המשיח בן דוד (they both equal 429). Mashiach can be so hidden, that its matriarch can be mistaken for the lowest of the low. כי כסתה פניה is gematria אור מלך המשיח (they both equal 660). The light of Mashiach is hidden; it is the .אור הגנוז
‘My beloved is like a gazelle’, as the gazelle appears and then disappears, so the first redeemer appeared and then disappeared. R. Berekiah in the name of R. Levi said: Like the first redeemer was, so will the final redeemer be. The first redeemer was Moshe, who appeared to them and then disappeared. . . The final redeemer will also appear to them and then disappear . . . For he will disappear from their sight and will then again appear to them…”
Numbers Rabbah 11, Soncino Press Edition
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At this point, Moshe Rabbeinu, the Redeemer, appears as an “Egyptian,” and concealed himself in the land of the Gentiles,
“Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their fathers flock. The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, How is it that you have returned so early today? They said, ‘An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.”
Exodus 2:16-19
The Midrash Rabbah comments on this passage,
“Was then Moses an Egyptian? No, he was a Hebrew but his dress was Egyptian.”
Exodus Rabbah 1:32, Soncino Press Edition
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There is a Torah concept that Mashiach will appear in the world in a way not recognized by everyone, and then will be concealed before he will again be revealed to all. As Rashi writes at the end of Sefer Daniel (12:12): “…our Mashiach is destined to be hidden after he is revealed and to be revealed again. So we find in Midrash Ruth…”
[See also Rabbeinu Bachya, Shemos 4:9: “The reddemer will be revealed and he will again be concealed… for so we find with redemption from Egypt that Moshe was revealed to them and he was again concealed from them. And so says the midrash… so did the first redeemer appear to them and was again concealed from them, and once again revealed to them. The future redeemer (Mashiach) wil be revealed and again concealed” (Chasam Sofer, Zohar Shemos 7a-9b, Ohr Hachama, Arizal].
Many sources describe a dramatic difference between the first time Mashiach is revealed, when “Mashiach will be revealed but they won’t recognize him,” after which ‘he will be concealed, like Moshe, and body and soul” and the final revelation of Mashiach when “after this, he will be revealed completely and all Israel will recognize him and gather to him…”
SOURCE: Zohar Shemos 7a, quoted in Sha’ar Hagilgulim ch.13, Arba Me’os Shekel Kesef, p.68. Ohr Hachama on the Zohar.
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“The definition of Jewish belief is that which is written in Torah. That defines Jewish belief. This possibility – that Moshiach comes, and after his coming and revelation there’s an interruption, and then he completes the process – this is found in a number of places in Torah. Let me just mention a few. One is Midrash Rabba Shir HaShirim 2:22, on the pasuk “Domeh dodi l’tzvi.” And the Midrash says, just like a deer is revealed, and hidden, and again hidden. I guess it means that when it runs, it runs between the trees – you see it and then you don’t see it. That’s what happened with Moshe Rabbeinu in Egypt. He came, and then he was concealed for a few months – there are different opinions how many months – and then he was revealed again and took the Jews out of Mitzrayim. The Midrash concludes the same thing will be with Moshiach: He will be revealed, then he will be hidden, and then he will be revealed again. In fact, the Midrash says that when he will be hidden, it will be a very difficult time. There will be people who will stop believing in him because of that, and that ultimately he will come. This message is also in Rashi, in Daniel 12:12. The pasuk says, “Ashrei ha’m’chakim” (fortunate are those who will wait for Moshiach). Rashi says this is not just talking about people in general who wait for Moshiach…fortunate are those who will wait for Moshiach after he is revealed, and then he will be hidden, and then revealed again. In that in-between time: fortunate are those who persevere in their emuna. In fact, Rashi says this is brought down in the davening, in the siddur, the “Yotzer” for Parshas HaChodesh. Anyone can look it up. It’s in the Rav Yaakov Emden Siddur. It says the same thing: Moshiach will come, be revealed, then he’ll be hidden, and revealed again. It’s also found in this week’s parsha, Parshas Shmos. Rabbeinu Bechaye, at the end of the parsha, says, “Moshe Rabbeinu came, then he was hidden, and then he came back to take the Yidden out of Mitzrayim.” And he writes that the same will be with Moshiach, as it says, “Kimei tzeis’cha m’Eretz Mitzrayim ar’enu niflaos.” This redemption will be similar to the redemption in the times of Mitzrayim. The Chasam Sofer, one of the greatest masters of halacha in our recent generations, also wrote in his seifer, Toras Moshe, on this parsha, Shmos. At the end of the parsha, he says that the fact that Moshe was gone for six months was a very big test. The same will be b’yimei Moshiach Tzidkeinu, yinelam achar nisgaleh (in the days of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, he will be concealed after he is revealed), and we will need special assistance from Hashem to stand up to this test. As mentioned before, the Arizal in Seifer Shaar HaGilgulim also says the same thing – that he’ll come, and like Moshe Rabbeinu, he will disappear, go away, we won’t have him. Then he’ll come back and take all the Yidden out of Galus.”
– Rabbi Majeski, A Preface to Moshiach: Setting the Record Straight, Moshiach & Geula, BeisMoshiach.org
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KLIPPOT
TOPIC: Mashiach in the Klippot
Citing a passage in Tikunei hazohar (Zohar hadash, tikunim, 112d-113a), the Ramchal wrote that what was meant by Pharaoh’s decree that all newborn males were to be cast into the river, and by the concealment of Moshe in ‘the ark of bulrushes’ (Exo.1:22; 2:3), was the retention of ‘the light of the Torah’ and ‘the spirit of the Mashiach’ in Gan Eden (Adir bamarom, 27-9). This surprising exposition (‘into the river’ = to Gan Eden, ‘cast him’ = conceal the secrets of the Torah and the Mashiach in Gan Eden) has no support in the passage in the Zohar on which it is alleged to be based or in Luzzatto’s lame explanation of the subject matter of the exposition. (Zohar hadash, tikunim, 98b; Tikunei Zohar, tikun 21, 53b – the casting into the river is made to apply to the degradation of esoteric secrets; that is to say, Pharaoh’s order ‘Cast him into the river’ is understood as alluding to the decree that the decree that the secrets of the Torah should be cast out and besmirched in exile. None of the three passages contains any reference to ‘Gan Eden’). But it contains the key to the understanding of his TRUE INTENTION, which he declared he had purposely obscured. What he really meant by ‘the river’ was the abyssof the kelipot – the evil spirits known as the husks – and since the secrets of the Torah and the soul of the Mashiach were being held captive in the prison of the Sitra Achra for so long as the Temple lay in ruins and Israel was in exile, it was said of them that they were cast ‘into the river.’
As for the kabbalistic scholars who sought to attain a knowledge of the mysteries hidden in the river of the husks, they, too, must cast themselves into it in order to extract those mysteries. ‘The son that is born’ is the Moshe-Mashiach, by which designation is meant that ‘when the Temple was destroyed, truly the Mashiach was born, as is well known.’ Contained within the spirit of the Mashiach were secrets of the Torah and holy powers whihc had to be known and understood in order to bring about the Redemption, but the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed that during the Exile ‘the transmission of the divine spirit to the Mashiach will be blocked, and he will be unable to draw the emanation downt into Israel as he should, but will be cast into the river.’ Thus, so long as the Mashiach and the secrets of the Torah he carried within him remained plunged in the river of the husks of evil, the Exile would continue, and therefore ‘the reapers of the field’ [kabbalists] were given the ability to attach themselves to them and all to be contained within the spirit of Mashiach… and to hold strongly to him, so that they should all be cast into the river; and that is the tikun which I am expounding to you… and so they will receive there what is proper for them to receive and afterwards bring it down, and will be called maskilim [‘enlightened’ or ‘enlighteners’] … and the reason that the Scriptural expression tashikhuhu [‘cast him’] has become taskiluhu [‘enlighten him’] is that they are perfected through the mystical action of [the sefirah] Yesod, so as subsequently to bestow this bounty on others.
In freeing the captive secrets from dominion of the husks they would also liberate the soul of the Mashiach and help him to complete the Redemption, ‘for the Mashiach is called tzadik [‘righteous’], as in the allusion in Scripture: “he is righteous and saved” (Zech.9:9), and those who hold fast to his strength are called tzadikim.’
[Messianic Mysticism, Isaiah Tishby, pg.70,71]
REVEALED
The Anointing the anointed one.
Anointing a king was necessary only when a new dynasty began or some uncertainty in succession occurred.
“A king who is the son of a king does not require anointing unless his right to the throne has been challenged” (b. Kritot 12b).
Because of the long delay because of the exile and the dispute and controversy regarding the Mashiach, he too will require a fresh anointing to instal the king. The commentary (Yismach Mosheh – Yalkut Moshiach: Ki-Tisa, 153-154;86) points out that, on the surface, it seems unnecessary to anoint the son of David because the Talmud states that a “a king who is the son of a king does not require anointing” unless his right to the throne has been challenged . Yismach Mosheh explains:
“It is difficult to explain why he needs to be anointed at all. After all, he is the son of David, and as the son of David, he receives his kingdom by inheritance…the Gemara states that we do not anoint a king the son of a king.”
The difficulty is resolved by a Midrash on Psalm 2:7, “You are My son, today I have begotten you” (Yismach Mosheh cites Midrash Shocher Tov). The Midrash explains this verse to mean, “At the hour that you made me [Mashiach], the Holy One, blessed be He, made a new creation.” That is to say that HaShem makes the Mashiach into a new thing that has not been seen in creation before. He places the Mashiach higher than the malachim, even giving him an angelic body (a body from the Resurrection), but the result is that Israel will not recognize him as a legitimate son of David:
“This Midrash (Ps.2:7) implies that they will not recognize him or know him, or else they would honor him, but because they will not recognize hi, how will they know that he is the son of David? Therefore he needs to be anointed. This resolves the difficulty that we do not anoint a king that is a son of a king… He will become a new creation that has never before been seen within the human species, which makes it appear that he is not from the seed of Adam or from the seed of David, therefore he needs to be anointed.” (Yismach Mosheh)
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The Mashiach dwelling outside the land of Israel is symbolic of the transfer of power from the nations to the Jewish people. Many commentators maintain that Mashiach actually lives in the Diaspora, outside the land of Israel, as part of the larger Jewish community. It states in Hoshea 2:2: “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head; and they shall rise up out of the land.” According to the RaDaK (Rabbi David Kimchi, 1160-1235) and the Targum Yonathan, “one head” refers to King Mashiach; “and they shall rise up out of the land” means “from the land of their exile they will come to their own land.” Mashiach is thus currently situated in the Diaspora, from where he will lead the Jewish people back to Israel. Similarly, Targum Yonathan renders the verse in Song of Songs 8:1, “O, that you were as my brother” as “And at that time, Mashiach will be revealed to the Jewish people, and they will say to him, ‘Come and be as our brother, and together we will go up to Jerusalem.” Rabbi Aryeh Carmell writes:
“But the first to predict the rise of a secular Jewish state as prelude to the coming of the Messiah is Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel of Prague (1525-1606) also known as the ‘Maharal’, in his discussion of the rise of the Kingdom of Messiah’: Maharal affirms that the coming Messiah is not, as often thought a sudden event, it is a process. The ‘Holy kingdom of Israel’ – Maharal’s term for the reign of the Messiah will emerge from an earlier, non-holy kingdom. The Midrash states: Just as Moses, who was destined to break the power of Pharaoh, was brought up in Pharaoh’s palace, so the Messiah, who is destined to settle accounts with Edom, will live with them in their city. The ultimate failure of the empire of Edom will give rise to a new and different kingdom – the Kingdom of Messiah…”
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