8 months ago

Open Your Eyes To The Reality Of Redemption

BEGIN WITH A GRIN
A man is in a taxi and the driver is speeding and driving recklessly. “How about slowing down? I’m dying of fright back here…” “Don’t worry; close your eyes and relax, just like me!” • Full Article

BEGIN WITH A GRIN
A man is in a taxi and the driver is speeding and driving recklessly.
“How about slowing down? I’m dying of fright back here…”
“Don’t worry; close your eyes and relax, just like me!”

OPENING THE MIND’S EYE
Parshas Ki Savo is associated by many with the curses, those terrible curses which will befall those who don’t keep
the Torah. What may not be known to many is that after all those curses, toward the end of the parsha, the Torah
reveals to us an interesting and vital fact regarding the Geula.
Moshe Rabeinu, who began (at the beginning of the book of Devarim) his final soliloquy of rebuke, declares (29:3),
“And G-d has not given you a a heart to know and eyes to see and ears to hear until this day.” Moshe is rebuking
them for ignoring the miracles and wonders that Hashem did for them, over forty years, but then he says, “until this
day.” What happened on this day? What changed after so many years? They suddenly got a heart, eyes and ears?
Rashi says, “For a person cannot fully understand his teacher and the wisdom of his teachings until forty years.”
Although we did not get a heart or eyes, we did get a bit of sechel. Yes. That’s how it goes. It takes a person forty
years to get a bit of healthy logic and sharpened senses, to understand and recognize what is going on around him.
As the Mishna puts it (Avos 5:21), “Forty years for binah.”
But the number forty is far more than just a “lucky number” for brains. It’s a significant number when it comes to
Moshiach and Geula. (There’s a reason why “Moshiach” and “Menachem” begin with a mem).
The letter which represents the number forty is the mem, which can be written in two ways, an open mem and a
closed mem. The open mem is usually in the middle of a word, while the closed mem is at the end of a word. This is
true except for two places in Tanach.
In Nechemia (2:13), it says, “וָאֱהִ֨י שׂבֵ֜ר בְּחוֹמֹ֚ת יְרֽוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ אֲשֶׁר־הֵ֣ם (כתיב הֵ֣מ) פְּרוּצִ֔ים וּשְׁעָרֶ֖יהָ אֻכְּל֥וּ בָאֵֽשׁ” (I contemplated
the walls of Yerushalayim that they were breached, and her gates were consumed by fire) with the word “heim”
written with an open mem. In Yeshaya, (9:6), “לְמַרְבֵּ֨ה (כתיב לְםַרְבֵּ֨ה) הַמִּשְׂרָ֜ה וּלְשָׁל֣וֹם אֵֽין־קֵ֗ץ עַל־כִּסֵּ֚א דָוִד֙” (to bring
abundant dominion and to peace without end upon the throne of Dovid) with the word, “l’marbeh” written with a
closed mem.
The first verse describes the exile and the word “heim” goes against the rules and has an open mem. The second
verse describes Yemos HaMoshiach and the word “l’marbeh” goes against the rules and has a closed mem.
Why?
The reason is, in exile the walls of Yerushalayim were breached, like the open mem which is breached. But in Geula,
Yerushalayim will be surrounded by a wall, protected and closed in, which is why the mem is closed.
From a Chassidic perspective, the significance is that in exile, there is a “breach” in the G-dly energy given to the
world, and it is possible for the forces of evil to leach abundance and life. In the Geula, the mem is closed, which

expresses the idea that the breaches of exile will be closed and the world will be protected on all sides from any
possibility of evil and impurity!
But it doesn’t end here. Just as the purpose of the open mem is for us to close it, through our work in bringing the
Geula, likewise, the purpose of the closed mem is to be opened up.
EYES WIDE OPEN
What does that mean? How can we open the closed mem, and how does this help?
Rabeinu Bechayai (at the beginning of Vayechi) quotes the Medrash which says, “When the ‘walls of Yerushalayim’
are closed which are now open and breached, in the time of Geula, the ‘dominion’ which was sealed off, will open.”
That means, that in the Geula, the hidden qualities in the heart and soul of every Jew will be revealed. Furthermore,
in the Geula, Moshiach will reveal “the hidden things” (as the Rambam puts it) which were hidden from us
throughout the years of exile, the secrets of the Torah, the wonders and secrets of creation, etc.
An interesting hint to this is seen in that when you divide the closed mem diagonally you end up with two dalets,
which alludes to Moshiach who is ben Dovid.
In Ohr HaTorah of the Tzemach Tzedek, there is an original parallel to this shown from a Gemara in connection with
the birth of a baby. Exile is compared to a fetus, and Geula to birth. During pregnancy, the mouth of the fetus is
closed while its navel is open (Nidda 30b). The Gemara says that at birth, that which is open is closed (the navel
closes) and that which is closed is opened (the baby begins to cry).
The wondrous G-dly revelation of the Geula will bring with it a blessed conclusion. The verse from Yeshaya continues
with the words, “and to peace without end.” That means, as a result of opening the closed mem, i.e. as a result of
the G-dly revelation of things that were closed, there will be endless peace, world peace which will include not only
human beings but animals too. In the Geula, wild animals will make peace with domestic animals as the prophet says
(Yeshaya 11:6), “And a wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a kid; and a calf and a lion cub and a
fatling [shall lie] together, and a small child shall lead them.”
This tranquility will be a direct result of the revelation of G-dly knowledge, because the prophet himself concludes
that prophecy with the words, “for the land shall be filled with knowledge of Hashem as (mayim) water covers the
(yam) seabed.” By the way, “mayim” and “yam” are also associated with the open letter mem and the closed letter
mem.
So, the time has come for us to open the closed mem, as the Rebbe says, “Now we just need the ‘heart to know’ to
open, and ‘eyes to see’ to open, and the ‘ears to hear’ to open … to learn pnimiyus ha’Torah as it has been revealed
in the teachings of Chassidus, and fulfilling the hora’os of our Rebbeim, including learning inyanei Geula in a way
that the heart, eyes and ears open, so that we understand, see and sense the true and complete Geula in the
physicality of the world.”
TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY
We will end with a story about opening eyes. Danny Finkelman related:
When I was seven, one morning, right after I got up, I wasn’t able to open my eyes. I ran to the bathroom in a fright
and tried to wash my eyes but it didn’t help. My eyelids were closed like they were glued.
My father, himself a doctor at Hadassah medical center, took me to the emergency room and after a series of tests
they discovered I was suffering from a rare eye disease in which I was allergic to the rays of the sun. Every morning, I

had to rub creams and medication on my eyes. I had to get up at six in the morning so my eyes would be opened by
seven-thirty. I had to wear special glasses and wherever I went, the shades had to be closed to darken the room as
long as I was in it. The doctors we went to were no help.
My condition deteriorated until, at age eleven, I was told I would lose my sight!
In the meantime, my father was offered a position in the US and in Iyar 5749 we emigrated to the US. The first
month after we arrived, we spent with a good friend of my father’s, Meir Rhodes, who was living in Crown Heights. I
remember how Meir told my father, “Your son needs to meet the Rebbe on Sunday morning.”
That Sunday, I asked the Rebbe for a bracha that my eyes not hurt and that I grow up to be a talmid chacham, and I
asked for a bracha for health and success. “Amen,” said the Rebbe. Then he added, “May G-d grant that you succeed
in everything, everything, everything, and that you grow up to be a Chassid, yirei shomayim and a lamdan. Bracha
v’hatzlacha!”
A week later, the following Sunday, I got out of bed and for the first time in years I was able to open my eyes right
away. I was stunned. I ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My eyes were open and I wasn’t blind. I went
outside and took off my glasses. I didn’t feel any pain. I was healed! The only explanation for the sudden change was
the Rebbe’s bracha.
The Rebbe opens the closed mem and enables us to see what nobody else (yet) can see, the true and complete
Geula!
Good Shabbos!