Given: Sep 6, 2022
Pre-amble and Dedication
Somebody asked me about China and I mentioned that China has a distinction. It’s filled with blood. They killed kids if you had more than one or two children. They’d sterilize the woman….whatever. China is known for this. Throughout history, China has long been a dictatorship. There’s been must discord, historically, as with Japan. What Japan did to the Chinese during WW2 is incredible—Nanking. They killed people left and right. They raped women. There’s still been no apology or reparation either. There’s something about the Far East, a streak of cruelty.
But everybody will get what’s called “comeuppance” which is what I want to talk about. It’s termed “nogeiah,” what’s happening today. It’s the concept of evil and what is its “place” in the world. It will explain much of what’s going on, this concept of “evil.”
The shiur should be a merit for the health and success of the families of Regina bas Yosef Reuven, and Yishaya ben Yisrael, for their merit.
Concept of “Evil”
The concept of “evil” is a very strange one. Most don’t understand and ask “why is there evil in the world?” What’s good to know is a good definition. Each person has his own understanding but evil is some type of action that will detract or interfere with the progress and continuity of a being.
We generally consider evil to be something harmful or damaging. There are people who wonder why evil exists. The truth is that evil is a very important concept because, since evil exists, G-D wants man to reject evil. If man rejects evil, that rejection gives him merit. G-D wants mankind to earn its Future World. In order to earn it, man must have merit so G-D creates the concept of “evil” for man to reject and do good. “Good” is the enhancement or promotion of “being.” That is what it means to do “good.” G-D wants man to do acts which are beneficial and constructive to others. When a person rejects evil and does good, he earns zchut—merit and, as a result, it is counted for him as a positive.
So evil serves G-D’s purpose. A person has to cause the Olam Ha’ba—Future World that he receives. This is an inviolate law. I gave an entire lecture of this called “Nehama d’Kesufa”—Bread of Shame.
So, evil is an important feature of this world. Without evil, there’s nothing to reject. With what merit would someone get his eternal Future World? It’s the instrument to get the Future World. What this principle means is that it leads to certain repercussions.
In order to be “fair,” the ability to access good or to access evil has to be equal. If one is more preferable than the other, then one side could say: I didn’t have a fair chance. Therefore, there has to be an equality and that is why it says, by Shlomo Ha’Melech—King Solomon, “This opposite the other, G-D made.” What Shlomo Ha’Melech is referring to is good and evil. G-D creates good and evil and they have to be equal. There has to be equal access to either side or else the inequality will tip the scales in favor of one side and make it grossly unfair if that person inclines toward that particular side. Fairness demands equality of access. That’s a very important idea, that the availability of either must be equal. G-D is always “looking” for that.
Let’s say a man is tremendously evil so he, himself, will tip the scales toward evil but he did it. Therefore, it’s not that G-D made evil easier to access; man did that. That’s not called “injustice” because the preponderance of evil is man’s doing, part of man’s action. This is what Shlomo Ha’Melech said. “Good, as opposed to evil, G-D made.” It’s an important formula. Good and evil both demand equal “showtime,” so to speak. They both demand that they can operate.
If both demand equality of operation, G-D needs to create evil to the same degree as he creates good. G-D has to give mankind the capacity of earning evil or earning good, equal access to both. Evil and good have to present to you the same opportunity. If there’s unequal opportunity of access, then, obviously, it’s not fair.
Many times, it looks as though it’s easier to be evil than to be good. That is always the result of man’s action. If a guy comes back in a gilgul—reincarnation to parents that are real crooks and, obviously, he’s going to learn that from them, we would say that his ability to access evil is much greater than to access good. That’s somewhat true but not really because the reason why he was put in that family is because, in a previous lifetime, he exercised evil so G-D could say: you exercised evil so, in this one, your subsequent incarnation, you will be put into a family which is evil and that’s what they choose so it will be more challenging for you to separate yourself from it.
Even though we don’t understand, because it’s infinitely complex, a person is where he is, in the circumstances he’s in, because of his deeds, not because of the inequality of access to good and bad. It’s always a result of a person’s actions, whether these took place in this incarnation or a previous one. Everything is measured exactly. That’s what it says in parshas—Torah portion “Ha’azinu,” that G-D is “tzaddik v’yashar”—faithful, devoid of injustice. G-D is righteous and fair. In the end, it will be revealed in the messianic era how everything conformed to the concept of justice where everything is truly equal and, if you find doing evil easier, you somehow deserved that. Everything will be justified.
This concept of equality of good and evil leads to some very interesting ideas. Beyond the identical access is both, there is the need for the capacity to do evil. Evil needs success. If a guy wants to be bad, to kill people, rob and assault people, he has to be able to be successful. If he’s not successful due to the lack of equity of the two to be realized, then we’re looking at a system which is out of balance, which is not fair. Justice—retribution, consequence, has its fair claims just as good does, so evil has to be able to be successful.
Birur—Clarity
Don’t be surprised when you see success of people doing evil. How do they get away with this? Evil has a right to be successful, to dominate but, as time goes on, as we get closer and closer to the End, G-D provides the concept of “birur”—clarification. Since evil demands a “showtime,” a success, if a person wants to do evil, G-D creates a climate in which evil can be done, where the evil-doer can actually be successful. G-D allows those who want to practice evil, to do it. We shouldn’t be surprised that we witness horrible things that men do to each other. As we get close to the End, this explains a lot of what’s going on. G-D is allowing evil to express itself and creates the climate for it to do so. In doing so, evil-doers expose themselves as evil people. We realize that G-D does not block them. We realize how evil they are. You realize too that the reason why there is not evident evil is because G-D did not allow them to express it. But there comes a time when G-D says: Okay, you’re allowed to do it in order for them to expose themselves so they may be punished.
This is the purpose, as we see at the End, of the birur—clarification as to who is evil. It becomes more and more evident who these rotten, evil people are—horrendous—who find themselves not blocked, on the contrary. Their characters are fully exposed and then G-D can punish them. This concept is a very important phenomenon. Birur happens when we come to the End and exposure of evil is allowed to happen.
You know where you see this? People wonder why G-D allowed Pharoah to make his decree of straw. He said that the Jews were lazy when Moshe Rabbeinu said to let the Jews go. I’ve spoken about this many times, that justice had its claim because the Jews didn’t deserve to be released. Pharoah said, essentially: no way! Not only can’t they leave, they have to gather straw at night. G-D permitted this because justice had to be satisfied, and part of the reason is also due to what I’m saying about there having to be a birur. Since G-D intended to destroy Egypt, He had to prove, had to display, that Egypt was inherently evil. Imagine G-D is bringing the ten makos—strikes, plagues, and the question can be asked, “Who is suffering as a result of the ten plagues?” It’s Pharoah but it’s really the Egyptian people. One could object saying, “Wait a minute! We didn’t do anything. We’re not denying the Jews freedom to leave. It’s Pharoah! Why are we being punished?”
Egypt was destroyed, not Pharoah. It is said that when the Yam Suf—Reed Sea killed all the Egyptian army “until one,” who is that “one”?—Pharoah. He didn’t die in that flood. He was allowed to live to witness Who G-D really is. The main idea is that the ones who suffered really were the Egyptians.
What stops the Egyptians from claiming their innocence, from saying: what do you want from us? We didn’t refuse to let them go. True. What did G-D do to show, to bring to the fore, the peoples’ evil? How did G-D allow evil people to do their evil? He had to allow Pharoah his decree so the Jews would go around Egypt gathering straw. The chazal—sages tell us that they’d go into somebody’s field to get the straw and the Egyptians who owned the fields would throw them out; they had no mercy whatsoever. They were heartless and cruel to the Jews working in the middle of the night and, as I like to remind you, they had no flashlights. G-D gave the Egyptians the opportunity to demonstrate the same desire to do evil as Pharoah. Therefore, it justified the plagues to destroy all of Egypt. It wasn’t only Pharoah who took satisfaction from the suffering of the Jews. It was the Egyptian people too. That’s a classic case of the people of Egypt suffering justly. This happened at their End. This is the concept of birur. G-d removes His blockage and evil-doers do evil so they would be punished. G-D removes the impediment and shows what evil people do.
You find a similar idea in the “Hallel” prayer where it says that the nations of the world will praise G-D. Why?—because they realize how much G-D protected the Jewish people. G-D’s chesed--compassion was so great for the Jewish people that He, many times, prevented the goyim from doing evil. Why praise G-D? The goyim know exactly the evil they wanted to do but were prevented. Who knows how many times G-D prevented goyim from killing entire communities. That’s the chesed. The goyim can praise G-D for His interactions impeding them because they know exactly the evil they wanted to do except for having been blocked.
There’s a good deal of evil that could be done but is not done because that’s the chesed—compassion of the Ribono shel Olam—Master of the Universe to protect the Jews but that’s only because G-D blocks it but there comes a time when He doesn’t block the evil that goyim want to do. Then, suddenly you see all kinds of terrible things when they are allowed to fully do what they want to do. Examples of that are: The Inquisition, expulsions from countries—England, France, Spain, so many Jews kicked out of every country in Europe—crusades, pogroms, the Holocaust. Imagine living in Russia and, for whatever reason, the Catholic priest comes out with a tirade against the Jews and people get their knives and pitchforks and they’re coming to kill the Jews. Could you imagine living in a country like that? This happened periodically in Russia under the czar. We see a great deal of evil because G-D did not prevent it. G-D doesn’t put it in their minds to do evil; they simply want to do evil but, many times, are blocked.
But there are times called “edan rischa”—a time of boiling when midas ha’din—attribute of justice dominates. G-D could say: I’m going to take away My protection, remove My shield which prevents the Jews from being harmed and, because they sin so excessively, I’ll allow the goyim to do what they want. This is a very important concept.
You have a birur. For example, let’s take the Black Plague when they killed Jews left and right because the Jews didn’t get as sick because they were always washing their hands, going to the mikveh—ritual bath, taking baths—because you have to take a bath before entering the mikveh, right? Before you enter the mikveh you take a bath so you’re clean; you have hygiene. The goyim never did that. They would bathe once every three months whether they needed it or not therefore, of course, they were filthy hygienically. Who knows how many Jews were killed, blamed for the Black Plague?
Evil is permitted to do what it wants to do at specific periods of time to allow goyim to identify themselves with evil.
Then, what G-D will do is crush them after the birur. That’s what happens. It’s interesting but this Sunday is 9/11, twenty-one years’ anniversary. That event in 2001 occurred to coincide with the haftarah of parashas—Torah portion “Nitzavim.” There’s a fascinating prophecy by Isaiah/Yishayahu in which he says that he sees G-D on a horse and He’s wearing war-clothing, red, and Yishayahu felt nervous thinking that this vision meant there would be a tremendous slaughter of Jews because that vision symbolizes G-D in terms of his attribute of midas ha’din. G-D corrected him: no, don’t worry! This red is not because I will allow harm to the Jews; it’s the blood of Esav. I crushed Esav and their blood splattered on Me, on My clothing. If anything, this indicates that din will turn toward Esav/Edom. This was the haftorah of 9/11. G-D crushed them and the splattered garment, the extent of the blood on G-D’s garment, indicates the amount of blood Esav/Edom spilled. So, I crush them to the extent of the evil they’ve perpetrated.
The evil they’ve done is an unbelievable amount of murder. We can’t begin to know how many have been butchered, murdered, slaughtered by mankind, one against the other. Look at Islam and Christianity. Christianity is well-known for its brutality. All for what? So, G-D said: the blood splattered on Me is the blood they spilled on others. That is what G-D said to Yeshayahu. That's the punishment but that comes after a birur. G-D allows a person to commit evil at times—not always, He blocks it—but he allows it to happen at times so they can identify as evil-doers so He can finish then off.
Clarification of Evil-doers Today
When you really think about that, we can understand what’s happening today. It’s something we’ve never seen before. We’ve seen the “woke communists,” this community affiliated with the Democratic Party, the “radical Left,” all these affiliated forces which are destroying America, literally, in many ways. Imagine how much pain they are causing. When you look at stories of chazal and rabbonim, they were intensely sensitive to the suffering of any Jew and took great precautions to prevent the suffering. There was once a rebbe that said: what I’m afraid of is the krechtz of a yid—the moan and groan of a Jew. I’m afraid of that because I hope I didn’t cause it. Imagine how sensitive is that issue for people who are righteous, spiritual. You don’t see this type of acute sensitivity, generally.
I mentioned—I think last week—that 300 people die every day because of the influx of Fentanyl coming into the country. The Chinese manufacture it and it’s shipped to Mexico and the Mexican drug cartel bring it into the U.S. for sale. There are hundreds of tons of Fentanyl coming in. Where is Biden? How does he allow this and yet he went crazy about the 21 people shot in Texas? He doesn’t care about the murder from Fentanyl, murder happening in a country that he has sworn to protect, a constitution he has sworn to uphold. Where’s Congress? How do they allow this violation of the Constitution, the immigration laws, and say nothing?
You are looking at a birur.
G-D is communicating: I’ll not prevent these people from doing their evil because we’re coming to the End. When I come down hard, when I crush Esav, I want everybody to understand why: the murder that’s been taking place in a nation that’s become a “killing nation” with the abortion laws that allow a kid to be killed right up until the moment of birth, the drug addiction problem that could be abated or solved. As I mentioned, the cartels could be stopped simply by declaring them to be terrorists. The army could then be sent to destroy them. But that doesn’t happen because nobody cares. This is murder.
G-D has removed the blockage whereby, in the past, He kept America relatively clean, ethical, moral. He’s removed the blockage so all these people could do their evil—exceptional evil, not only murder—weaponizing the Department of Justice, the FBI, weaponizing the government. They’re hiring 87,000 IRS agents to do what?—to inflict suffering, to afflict the middle class. Do we have any idea how much suffering this will cause when added to the inflation already inflicting damage? Many can’t afford gas or adequate food supplies. This administration decided to reverse policies ensuring energy independence. For what—electric cars? The resources needed to ensure enough electricity for electric cars far outweighs the imaginary savings. California is now restricting the electrification of vehicles; the whole thing is insane.
We are looking at a birur. At the End of Time, like it says in Yishayahu, G-D comes on horseback clothed in red saying: I’ve come from crushing Esav. This is the blood that spurted from the body of Esav. G-D compares the red-splattered clothing to that which would appear on clothing from grapes that have been crushed in a wine-press. G-D says that the wine in spurting on His clothing because that’s the metaphor for the blood from these people. This is what happens in the End.
There’s a Zohar that says that G-D brings back all the evildoers to finish their jobs and to finish themselves off. It’s interesting, I often note, that Saddam Hussein maintained that he was the gilgul—reincarnation of Nebuchadnezar. It’s interesting because, as a Moslem, if he wanted to take pride in who he was, he should have said: I’m an incarnation of Mohammad. Why pick to be the incarnation of an idol worshipper? The answer is that Nebuchadnezzar was probably who he was in a previous life, returning. This phenomenon conforms to the Zohar. G-D will bring back a lot of these people to commit unthinkable evil, to finish the job.
G-D wants to mevarer--clarify who is evil and who is not. He wants to separate them so: I remove My blockage so they can do what they really want to do. The only reason they didn’t do it before is because I prevented it. Now I remove the blockage and they can do what they really are—evil. The dictatorships around the world manned by evildoers, incompetent or corrupt people, is the cause of much of the suffering. Most human suffering is due to the deliberate actions of other humans.
A Beneficent King versus Democracy
What I always say is that the most benevolent means of governance is to have a beneficent king, not a democracy. A beneficent king who is wise, who loves his country and his people, who has common sense, who rules in a just way is the greatest gift G-D can give any country, not a democracy. The problem with a democracy is that most people have no concept of what’s going on. In fact, the Founding Fathers of this country were always afraid of democracy’s potential tyranny, where the democracy in which “the people,” supposedly, rule are evil and it becomes an oligarchy in which an elite groups has the power. The Founders, when they created the government, did so with great wisdom, with the separation of legislative, judicial, and executive operations helping to prevent any one power from dominating any other. But the greatest benefit comes from a king as an absolute authority as long as this king is undoubtedly, genuinely, good and wise and loves his country. You cannot get better than that. The greatest evil to be done to a country is to put in power a person that is evil, self-interested, with no regard for his people. This is what we have overall. The dictatorships that preside all over the world are responsible for the evil that is dominating and there’s no prevention for that and it comes to fruition at the End of Time. Evil dominates and is successful.
The Twentieth Century
Think about the 20th century; how much evil has been done with two world wars, world-wide death. I once read that 56 million died in WW2 because Hitler lived. Imagine 56 million! Then there’s the concept of “communism,” and how many suffered under the Soviet regime, these crazies. How many suffered from poverty, depression, anxiety from 1917 until 1991 when that regime fell. It affected hundreds of millions of people during its tenure.
When justice catches up with them, it will be like the blood-spattered garments. What is so tragic is that they have no idea—the government of America and other countries—how much evil they are doing and what the retribution will be. America has now become the “beacon” for LGBTQ—and some other letters, whatever—having made the world immoral. Such perversion destroys the world.
It's just like Egypt when midas ha’din finally happens and G-D says: enough is enough. Then He comes, like He did in the portion of “Yishayahu” and crushes them like grapes underfoot and their blood soaks the garments of G-D. That’s how severe it will be when justice catches up with them.
On a note of hope, the Gemara of Rosh Ha’Shana says, quoting Rebbe Eliezer, that the Redemption will happen in Tishrei. Not only that, it was on Rosh Ha’Shana that Yosef ha’Tzaddik was released from prison. Maybe that’s the forerunner, the end of the judgement against Mashiach ben Yosef, a kapporah—atonement for klal Yisrael. It’s also motzei shmitta—post-Sabbatical year. On Rosh Ha’shana, shmita ends, technically. It says the mashiach comes on motzei shmita. So maybe this motzei shmita will see the coming of Mashaich ben Yosef. Then, in seven years—2029 or 2030—which, as the Zohar talks about, is Mashiach ben David.
It’s very possible that we are right up against the messianic era. That is one of the reasons we are seeing such incredible amounts of evil, successful evil. G-D must clarify who is evil and who isn’t so, when the hammer comes down, it comes down on the right people for all to see. In a sense, it’s tragic because these people who allow all the evil to happen, Biden, the House, the Senate, evil-doers everywhere, have no idea what’s about to hit them when middas ha’din is activated.
Q & A
Participant: My first question is, since Ha’Shem knows our thoughts, why is there need for exposure?
R’Kessin: That’s a good question. G-D doesn’t need anything really. Obviously, He knows everything down to its infinite detail but what He always wants is to justify what He does to people. He could do whatever He wants based on his knowledge. He doesn’t have to consult anybody but, in terms of demonstrating that everything that happens is deserved, He justifies His actions as a G-D of incredible justice. He doesn’t do it for Himself but for us. Why do you think that, by the Egyptians, Moshe says, “You will see them today and never see them again.” Why? He could have just drowned them all. You don’t have to see their bodies. But G-D wanted their bodies to be seen because the Ribono Shel Olam could say: don’t worry, justice will be done. You will see their dead bodies.
It’s very important for mankind to realize that, in the end, justice triumphs. It’s not that there’s a pleasure in people being killed but a pleasure in knowing that G-D really is just and that everyone who will be destroyed deserves to be destroyed, to set the world right, and that this is the ultimate plan of everything’s that’s happening. That is why He brought all the bodies up. Only then did they begin to sing “oz yashir” because they realized that, not only were they saved, but that whatever G-D does is just, and they were all able to see it. They saw that all those guys that afflicted them were dead.
Participant: So, all the injustice we’re seeing now is in order for Ha’Shem to show us the justice in the future?
R’Kessin: Right. That’s the birur.
Participant: You were saying that,, right now Ha’Shem gives good and evil equal opportunity, so is that why we’re seeing such an influx of books coming out from rabbis, books hidden in previous generations, books that weren’t translated into English or all the Torah that’s learned on the internet and so much availability…is that the good? We know the equal opportunity of the evil but what’s the opportunity of the good?
R’Kessin: As it gets “darker,” G-D must make it easier to learn or else that’s the end of Torah. Imagine that we can sit and learn; we have electric light and air-conditioning, have a beautiful beis medrash. They didn’t have this five hundred years ago. They learned by candlelight and so on. G-D does that because he has to make it easier as it gets darker and darker.
Participant: He makes it more comfortable but he doesn’t make us wiser.
R’Kessin: He doesn’t, right. That is the ultimate Redemption when we will become wiser, not just have more seforim—books. That’s what’s missing. There’s a thing called “Otzar ha’Chochma”—treasury of wisdom online that has 120,000 volumes, which is astounding. That means that, anybody who doesn’t have a library, can have 120,000 books at his disposal that would have cost a million dollars in the old days but now can be accessed on the computer. So, we have access and availability but does that mean we know more?—of course not. That’s the ultimate Redemption, to actually know more. That has to be a revolution in consciousness. That’s missing. That, ultimately, will happen and the Jews will know their Torah.
Participant: That revolution of consciousness happens when Yosef is released?
R’Kessin: Yes, that’s the turn-around. Something has to turn around.
Participant: When you were saying how we’re hoping that, because on Rosh Ha’Shana Yosef was released from prison then, hopefully, Yosef will be released from the klippa and that, eight years later, ben David…great! But then you said that we need eight years before ben David could come because we need the time in between or…
R’Kessin: It’s two shmitas because the Gemara says, “eyn ben David bo”—Mashiach ben David doesn’t come except motzei shmita so maybe it’s referring to ben Yosef and then, in another seven years, which is what the Zohar says, that’s the 210 years before the End. Mashiach will come, maybe, the next shmita so the transition will have started in 2022, תשפג for ben David. So, ben Yosef will take seven years to clean up the mess because his main job is to bring down the Beis Ha’Mikdash and wipe out the goyim or to enormously subdue them. That’s the hatzlacha of Mashiach ben Yosef, the karnei re’em—horns of the re’em, and so on. That takes seven years but it doesn’t make a difference because that’s messianic already. Once Mashiach ben Yosef is released, we’re home. It’s over. That’s what it needs, his release and that’s the beginning of the End which, as I’ve mentioned, is irrevocable and unstoppable. That’s what we’re waiting for. When does he get out of prison? So, maybe….maybe this Rosh Ha’Shanah. Who knows?
Participant: Israel bombed Aleppo airport. Could that be the beginning of mashiach? They bombed it a couple hours ago.
R’Kessin: No, that’s not what it is. That’s a political war. The war of Mashiach ben Yosef, fundamentally, is the war against ignorance. That’s really the problem. Mankind is ignorant of G-D.
Participant: Did you hear about the scandal with the glatt kosher Chinese restaurant in Manalapan (NJ) that was serving treif—unkosher? I ate there. Everyone from Lakewood…it just came out that he was serving treif meat.
R’Kessin: Wow. So, how did he elude them (the kashrut authorities)? This happens every once in a while.
(Inaudible details)
Participant: What should someone do if they ate there not knowing…?
R’Kessin: Well, it’s a shogeg—unintentional transgression. They didn’t know. So, you do teshuva. Be careful. I wasn’t aware of this.
Participant: Shuls order food to be delivered.
R’Kessin: That’s what happened in Monsey. People used to have the food for a bris or whatever.
Participant: Could you remind me again what exactly is his (MbY) job just so I understand because, if he needs seven years….I’m just curious as to what he needs to accomplish in those seven years. I know the Beis Ha’Mikdash has to come down but what else?
R’Kessin: A lot of what he does is contend with goyim. That’s what he does and it takes time.
Participant: He’s gonna be in the news?
R’Kessin: Definitely. He’s a person that slowly becomes known and he becomes more and more famous. It doesn’t take much for G-D to make him famous. He’s sort of “discovered.” He grows. He himself must come out of the klippa. He has to educate 15 million Jews; that takes time.
Participant: When you were explaining about how G-D removes the blockages to restraint on evil, the laws are removed in America so were the laws used as blocks and now they’re removed?
R’Kessin: Yes, G-D has removed those blockages to restrain evil allowing evil to do its thing. The Congress, the Senate, the president, the White House are all engaging in tremendous evil and inflicting suffering and supporting immorality. Look at the Supreme Court. It has destroyed the country’s morality.
It’s interesting how G-D has removed the block by removing Trump. Trump was a block against evil. He didn’t prevent it all but he certainly blocked a lot of it. So, G-D removed him and put in somebody who’s an incredibly evil person. An amazing thing is that nobody does anything. Nancy Pelosi and others just sit back and do nothing while Biden destroys America and causes untold suffering.
Participant: When Mashiach ben Yosef is released from his klippa, G-D-willing then—given that good and evil has equal opportunity now—does evil have less opportunity?
R’Kessin: Yeah, that’s the beginning of the end of the domination of evil. That’s how it slowly begins to die.
Participant: Let’s say—I’m giving a silly example—but let’s say that Lee Zeldin who’s a republican running for governor of New York. You’ll see him win and then, little by little, you’ll start seeing it flip towards the good, like that?
R’Kessin: These are very evil people, Kathy Hochel, for example. They’re either very evil or completely incompetent. If Hochul wins, it’s very bad news. It would mean that G-D wants to take out New York. That is what G-D is doing, as I mentioned last week or the week before, the concept of “tiferes” and “oz,” its beauty, it’s splendor, and it’s might, how America is losing these as indicated by the terrible conditions in many cities with the crime, homelessness. I heard there are fifteen people murdered in Philadelphia over the Labor Day weekend. Can you imagine what’s going on in that city? Nobody cares. Chicago and Missouri are incredible—the murder rate, the assaults, robberies, rapes. And nobody cares. Hard to believe that this is America. So, the tiferes and oz is leaving America. We don’t know how far it’s going to go.
Whether Hochul wins or not, it’s already bad because Eric Adams, who’s an absolute incompetent, has no concept of what to do; he’s too busy partying at night. He’s into the glamour and the glitz. If Hochul wins over Zeldan, that’s a bad sign for New York, very bad; you never know what’s going to happen.
That’s the problem with democracy though it seems better than other forms of dictatorship but, in and of itself, it’s poor because most people aren’t competent and they’re too busy earning a living. They haven’t the time to check out these guys. The media used to be the watchdog, the guardians. Today, they’re just a propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. That’s what they’ve become, incredibly evil. Hopefully, Trump will return.
Participant: Let’s say Mashiach ben Yosef is released. How will we know?
R’Kessin: You won’t know. He will know, and he will begin to be successful in his desire to raise ruchnius—spirituality; he’ll be successful.
Participant: We won’t feel anything?
R’Kessin: You may feel something because it’s a tremendous moment in the briyah—Creation that, all of a sudden, the Redemption begins. Creation has been waiting for this for 5783 years but you won’t, necessarily, know. You may know there’s a turn-around but, eventually, you will know. Initially, it’s like Moshe Rabbeinu at the sne—Burning Bush; nobody knew. He had to come to Egypt for people to begin to find out who he was. Takes time. Evil has to have its due. People don’t realize the necessity of evil to provide merit and the necessity for fairness to have equality of availability and access. In order for a person to truly deserve the Future World, it’s complex.
Participant: You once said, if I remember correctly, that Mashiach ben Yosef is in Edom, or comes from Edom?
R’Kessin: Yes, you see that from the Gemara where it says, “Pischei Romi”—at the gates of Rome and those gates are New York. That’s the nation that he will overthrow. As I quoted last week, “The moshi’im”—plural—”will arise from the Mountain of Zion to judge the Mountain of Esav.” You see that from other midrashim--commentaries too. He’s born in America; he’s not born in Israel although eventually he goes to Israel. You see that clearly in the pirkei of Rebbi Eliezer. It says that mashiach will watch as Ishmael and Esav fight and then he goes to Eretz Yisrael. It says that clearly. He’s American; what can I tell ya.
Participant: It is more likely to feel a shift, if there is one, because he’s closer to us (in America)?
R’Kessin: Probably, yes, because, when the transition starts, it will undoubtedly start in America. Same with Moshe Rabbeinu. He was born in Egypt and lived in the palace of Pharoah. He was on a higher level of ruchnius and one could see that while in Egypt when he was young, 26 years old, not when he was 80. So, yes, what you say is probably true.