Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

BEGIN WITH A GRIN

A squirrel was sitting in a tree when it suddenly saw a cow try climbing up.

The cow tried to jump, got tangled up in a branch, fell, and tried again. After four jumps and many scratches, the cow succeeded!

The cow sat next to the squirrel, breathing heavily.

The squirrel looked at the cow in shock and asked, “Cow, what are you doing?”

“I came to eat nuts.”

“But this is not a fruit-bearing tree!”

“That’s okay. I brought some in my bag.”

NATURAL VS. SUPERNATURAL

This week, we will read parshas Bechukosai which completes the book of Vayikra. At the beginning of the parsha, the Torah makes great promises as a reward for keeping the Torah, such remarkable promises that they have not yet been fulfilled…

In Toras Kohanim it explains some of these promises as a future reward that we will get in the Geula. For example, the verse says (26:4), “the tree of the field will give its fruits,” is explained as a Geula prophecy. “From where do we know that even the fruitless trees will give fruits in the future? ‘and the tree of the field will give its fruits.’”

These and other prophecies that promise supernatural reward in the Geula seem to contradict the Rambam’s psak (Laws of Kings 12:1), “Do not presume that in the Messianic age any facet of the world’s nature will change or there will be innovations in the work of creation. Rather, the world will continue according to its pattern.” The Rambam maintains that in Yemos HaMoshiach there will be no change in the world; rather the nature of the world will continue as usual, albeit in a better way without war, stealing and corruption, envy, hate or competition. The question is, what will the Rambam do with all the verses and medrashim from which it is manifestly clear that there will be major changes in the way the world is run?

In a lengthy and complex sicha, which is based on a series of talks that went on for a whole month, the Rebbe cites and analyzes many answers to this difficult question, which was addressed by many of the great commentators over the generations. Finally, he presents one comprehensive explanation which puts that mind at ease and resolves all the contradictions.

We will present a few answers which the Rebbe rejects and conclude with the Rebbe’s view.

1-Perhaps we can say that the Rambam maintains that these promises are metaphorical as he himself explains the verse, “and a wolf will lie with a lamb and a leopard with a kid,” “The interpretation of the prophecy is as follows: Israel will dwell securely together with the wicked gentiles who are likened to a wolf and a leopard.” If so, perhaps even the verse in our parsha can be understood as a metaphor too. The Rebbe rejects this for two reasons. First, verses can be explained as metaphors but it’s very hard to explain the Gemara and Medrashim as metaphors. After all, since when did the Tannaim and Amoraim speak in riddles?

Aside from this, these Medrashim also appear in the Gemara at the end of meseches Kesubos, as part of a sugya that discusses halachos which, of course, need to be understood (and done) literally, and within an entire series of material promises which must be interpreted literally.

2-Radvaz’s explanation – he maintains that there is a significant difference between Eretz Yisrael and other lands. In Eretz Yisrael, all the verses will be fulfilled literally. What the Rambam says about the world continuing in a natural way refers to the rest of the world. Sounds good… only in Eretz Yisrael will life be good, while the rest of the nations will continue to suffer from life in exile (in a more wholesome way)… they deserve it… But this explanation is also not satisfactory because the Rambam says that nothing will change from the usual way of the world, and if in Eretz Yisrael the entire natural order will change then that’s a significant change in the nature of the world and this is definitely considered as changing the usual way of the world!

Furthermore, in the time of Ben Kuziva who, according to the Rambam, was fit to be Moshiach, we didn’t see any changes in the ways of the world even in Eretz Yisrael!

3-The mekubal, Rabbi Meir ben Gabbai, author of Avodas HaKodesh, explains that “all things in creation will remain as they were when they first came into being,” i.e. the nature of the world will revert to what it was at the beginning of creation, before the sin of the Eitz HaDaas, when “the trees of the field (all of them actually) gave forth their fruit.” Therefore, it won’t be considered a cancellation of the natural order because this is the real nature of the world from when it came into being.

However, this explanation also remains somewhat troubling because: 1) How do we know this is how the world was before the sin of the Eitz HaDaas? 2) From the Rambam’s wording, it’s clear that he is negating not only a novelty in creation but even a change in the ways of the world, and certainly these prophecies are a huge change in the way the world operates. Even a ben chameish l’mikra understands that these prophecies cannot be construed as the world following its customary pattern.

NATURAL AND/OR SUPERNATURAL

The question on the Rambam becomes stronger considering the Rambam’s view about the ultimate reward in the World to Come and the Resurrection of the Dead. The Rishonim differ over whether “Olam Haba,” when we are going to receive the ultimate reward for the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos is the Resurrection of the Dead (souls in bodies) or whether it will happen in Gan Eden (souls without bodies). According to the Raavad and Ramban (and this is the psak in the teachings of Kabbala and Chassidus), Olam Haba is the Resurrection of the Dead. That means, the perfection of “this world” will be in Yemos HaMoshiach and then, at a later stage, after Yemos HaMoshiach, will be Olam Haba and the Resurrection of the Dead.

But according to the Rambam, the Resurrection of the Dead will happen earlier, in Yemos HaMoshiach, as part of the script of this world, because according to him, the Resurrection of the Dead is not the ultimate reward and afterward everyone will rise up to Gan Eden where there will only be souls without bodies. According to this, the contradiction is even present in the Rambam’s own words! How can the Rambam say that in Yemos HaMoshiach the world will continue normally when he himself says the dead will arise then? Is there a bigger change in the nature of the world than this?

This question led the Rebbe to an astonishingly novel insight. According to the Rebbe’s explanation, the Rambam maintains that in Yemos HaMoshiach there will be two eras! At the beginning of Yemos HaMoshiach, things will carry on as usual, but after this era, there will be another era in Yemos HaMoshiach in which many changes will definitely take place like the promise about the trees giving forth fruit that appears in our parsha, as well as the Resurrection of the Dead, and so on and so forth.

According to the Rebbe’s explanation, we need to differentiate between two types of prophecies and promises. The verses in the Torah and Kesuvim about Moshiach himself, what he will do and what will occur in the world following his coming, need to be explained metaphorically. Therefore, he interprets the verse about the wolf and the lamb as a metaphor for the wicked of the nations of the world and the Jewish people, as this verse appears in Nach as a continuation of the coming of Moshiach, “and a shoot will come forth from the stem of Yishai.”

In contrast, the verses and statements of the Sages which do not speak in terms of a direct continuation from the coming of Moshiach but various prophecies about the future, the Rambam understands literally, but he maintains that they will occur at a later time.

The Rebbe continues to explain some more big questions which the commentaries of the Rambam struggled with, but we’ll suffice with this for now.

The Rebbe ends his amazing explanation with a very important declaration. The description of the Geula in the Rambam is a halachic description of the coming of Moshiach. The world of halacha is a clear, defined world, a world which is not dependent on the spiritual state of the Jewish people or their conduct. Therefore, Rambam explains the Geula in the most literal way there could be, on the halachic plane. Of course, events in the world, like the coming of Moshiach, will be greatly affected by the Jewish people’s conduct. That means, it is very possible that if the Jewish people are on a higher spiritual level, “meritorious” as the Gemara puts it, there will be spectacular miracles that transcend nature even at the beginning of Yemos HaMoshiach. Rambam merely lays out the halachic reality that even if the Jewish people will be on a low level, “not meritorious,” the Geula will still come, but it will be dressed up in the garments of nature.

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

This unique perspective of the Rebbe about every Jew wherever he may be at, that even if the Jewish people are on a low level, they deserve the Geula, and the Geula  will come, is what leads to the following story.

A certain vice president of a prominent college was known for generously volunteering his time on behalf of Jewish education, which was one of the Rebbe’s deepest concerns.

Specifically, he used his experience with the local bureaucracy to assist Jewish institutions by preparing the necessary applications for state and federal funding. Over the years he received much satisfaction from seeing numerous schools and institutions awarded necessary funding on account of his efforts. However, at some point he began noticing a marked drop in his success rate. After looking into matters, he discovered that his applications had not even reached the federal offices. In fact, they were regularly being flagged and disqualified by a Jewish state clerk who deliberately sought petty flaws in every application.

One Sunday afternoon, while receiving a dollar from the Rebbe for tzedaka, he briefly described the situation. In fact, he became so agitated in the course of his retelling that he blurted out: “In the past, when a person stood in the way of benefiting the Jewish People, our leaders would intervene ‘on High’ to make sure they could interfere no longer. This is what I am asking regarding that clerk…”

The Rebbe listened patiently and then responded: “Even if one considers another person to be ninety percent lacking in goodness and merit, one must nevertheless remember that he still maintains ten percent of positive virtue.”

Good Shabbos!

57