Given 11/14/2022
Tonight, I'm going to give a shiur about something which America is buzzing about, the aftermath of the American elections which I'm sure has consigned everyone to walking around in a daze. We obviously know that the conservatives, the Republicans and other such forces in America thought that there would be a “red wave.” Some have even said there would be a “red tsunami.” Instead, there was barely a red ripple and everybody's walking around, incredulous. I think it's very important to offer an understanding, at least as far as I'm concerned, as to why this happened and what it means for the Jewish people and, most important, how this development fits into the template of Divine plan of Creation, why it has to happen. Whether you agree with me or not, you'll understand the rationale for the necessity for this happening.
Before I begin, this shiur should be a merit for the health and success of the families of Regina bas Yosef Reuven; and Yeshaya ben Yisrael; and Benyamin Wolf ben Zvi Hersch; and Baruch ben Benyamin Wolf; and Rina bas Sol, for a refuah shlemah.
Introduction: Hashkafa
Let me explain what it’s really all about. What I’m about to tell you explains not only what happened but the hashkafa—eschatological reasoning behind it so you'll understand why it had to happen.
Before I get into what happened, I must go, obviously, into hashkafa. It's like advanced mathematics which must be based on elementary mathematics because the whole structure stands upon basic ideas—same thing. You need the basic principles of the geulah—Redemption in order to understand events, principles that rarely expressed, prerequisite events that must happen to bring the geulah.
The Prophecy to Rivka and the Reciprocal Relationship Between Yaakov and Esav
The first thing to understand is a pasuk—a verse in “Toldos”—very important. We read so fast that we may not appreciate the secret meaning behind it. At the beginning of the chumash—5 Books of Moses in “Toldos,” Rivka was expecting and had twins. We know them as “Yaakov” and “Esav.” It says that they struggled within her, a struggle that was incredible. When she'd go past a holy site, Yaakov would be aroused, seek to come out. When she went past a place of avodah zarah—idolatry, Esav would be aroused, wanting to come out. Rivka had no idea what was going on and needed some type of resolution. She winds up going to the Yeshivas Shem V'Ever, an academy, a “tent” of learning which was a very holy place. They told her a prophecy, a very important prophecy! In fact, they told her the secret of what was going on. They said, “Shnei goyim b'vitneich”—there are two great nations within you and both of them will become great. Then they said, “U’leom milom ye’ematz”—and one nation will be mightier than the other. Then it says, “Rav ya’avod tsair”—the elderwill serve the younger.
The concept of “u’leom milom ye’ematz” means that they'll never really be equal; there will always be that which differentiates them. In other words, one nation—let's say Yaakov—when he is “great,” when life is very good for him and his descendants and they flourish, the other twin, Esav, will be diminished, and vice-versa. When Esav is “great,” when life goes very well for him, then Yaakov will be diminished. They can never be equal. One will always be superior to the other and they'll switch off. That's the “uleom milom ye’ematz”—and one nation will be greater than the other. There’s to be no equality.
What this tells us is that there is some kind of a relationship between Yaakov and Esav in which the mazal—fortune of one will never be the same as the mazal of the other. It's what's termed, “reciprocal.” They're never even. It's like a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. It’s a very bizarre connection that Yaakov has with Esav. The question, of course, is: why? In order to understand this—and, by the way, all this I’m explaining is what you need to know before you understand the American and Israeli elections, both of which are shocking. You must understand that it all begins at the beginning of time with Adam Ha’rishon, the first man.
Primordial Man and What Really Happened in Gan Eden
The Ribono Shel Olam—Master of the Universe created the Creation, obviously. He made everything and He did with by sending forth some type of a shefa—flow of Divine energy. Kabbalistically, we know that “shefa are the ten emanations, the sephiros—without getting into that. He creates, makes everything—astounding, right? Now that everything is made, it has to be sustained so He continues to send forth this shefa, this Divine energy or flow that sustains everything He made. Everything that exists has the Divine flow directly to it. It has its own sort of path, its own “conduit” or “pipeline” between it and G-D. Everything has it.
Adam Ha’rishon, the first man, was commanded not to eat from the tree. Remember, he has his own “pipe” by means of which the shefa that created him sustains him. He is commanded to ignore the advice of the nachash ha'kadmoni—primordial snake who is a sort of “spokesbeing” for the Satan. The Satan, through his mouthpiece, the primordial snake, the nachash, is trying to convince Adam and Chava to go against the command of G-D, to eat from that tree of good and evil which was in the Garden. Adam, ultimately, listens to the nachash which constitutes the first sin; he transgressed the Will of G-D and that created a tremendous number of repercussions.
Keep in mind that, in the beginning, Adam and Chava were to reject, ignore, the advice of the Satan. We know, basically, that, had they obeyed, Adam would have lived forever, would have been—I’ve spoken about this at length—would have been the mashiach—messiah himself and, then on the Shabbat—he sinned Friday afternoon—that Shabbat would have been the Gan Eden and Olam Ha’ba—Future World would have started.
But he took the advice of the snake and, as a result, G-D appears to him and conveys: until now you did not have any kind of evil influence on you. The Satan did not have any influence or power over the human body, or even over the Creation. There was no death because there was no “zohama”—spiritual energy that causes entropy and degradation. It was not in the body of man nor in anything else. That zohama, that pollution of the Satan, was outside of the Creation but, when Adam sinned, G-D informed him that: until now, your job was, simply, to reject the advice of the Satan.
As I explained a long time ago, the Satan wanted him to eat from the tree, luring him—Rashi brings this down—with the argument that G-D Himself ate from the tree and that's how He became G-D! So, the Satan was, basically, saying, via the “mouthpiece” of the snake, that G-D is not the only entity that exists; there's also the tree and it is the power source. The Satanic influence wanted Adam to believe that there are other beings besides G-D.
Vying for an Existential Force
Adam didn't resist; he accepted, bought into the advice of the Satan and, as a result, sinned. At that point, G-D says to him: you should have rejected the advice of the Satan. Instead, you listened, you bought into that delusion. What was the argument you bought into?--that there are other beings besides Me. You will, therefore, be subject to the influence of the Satan himself. In other words: you have given life to another force. You” created” that force by believing in the Satan's argument. So now the Satan has power over you. You legitimatized the fact that there are other beings besides G-D, namely the tree and, as a result, you'll be subject to that belief that you yourself held.
Then G-D says: so, what's your job now? Since you gave a place in Creation to the Satan, your job now is to kill him, to obliterate him, annihilate him. In other words: you have to undo what you did. You gave him a makom—a place; you gave him existence over you. You need to destroy him, to remove his existence, removing the influence over you that you gave him. That's middah keneged middah—measure-for-measure. That's an exact undoing of what you did.
How to undo it, destroy an angel? How can Adam Ha’rishon destroy the Satan? The Satan is a malach, an angel. You can't just destroy him. What the Ribono Shel Olam did is something very fascinating. He altered the fundamental relationship between man and the Satan. Until now, the Satan was outside the body of man and he’d try to convince man to sin. But with Adam’s sin, the Ribono Shel Olam said: I am now going to give you the ability to obliterate the Satan. How? Consider what I said about the “pipeline,” that Adam Ha’rishon had his own pipeline to G-D through which the shefa flows. The Satan also had his own pipeline to G-D because everybody needs the Divine force, holy energy, to enable them to exist and sustain their existence.
Now, however, what happened was that G-D changed this: I'm now going to reconfigure the “plumbing.” The pipeline will split, like a upside down “Y,” so that one line goes to Adam Ha’rishon and the other part goes into the Satan. It's the same flow; the flow comes down and goes to one side or the other. In a sense, they're now connected. They both vie for the same existential force. And the problem is that there is only enough to sustain, supply, energize one side. Therefore, it comes out that it's combat, that Adam Ha’rishon struggles against the Satan to deserve this Divine force and to whichever side it goes, that side will flourish. To whichever side it's denied—because it's going to the other side—that side will be diminished. This is the relationship that Adam now has with the Satan. Because of this unique relationship, each side can be yonek—nourished, sustained by the flow through that conduit. When it goes to one side, that side will flourish and the other side will diminish.
We're looking at combat, but the struggle is not merely to be more powerful; it’s existence itself because, were Adam able to take all of the Divine energy for himself, the Satan will die. So, the Satan’s main endeavor, his intent, is to seek to be yonek, to nourish, from the source of the Divine flow in order to survive.
This became the relationship. Notice that this is reciprocal, like a seesaw. When Adam Ha’rishon is “up,” meaning he's getting the energy, he flourishes, he prospers and the Satan dies or weakens, the exact opposite of what happens to Adam. If the Satan takes the energy, then he flourishes and gets strong and Adam weakens and could perish.
That's called a “reciprocal relationship.” This explains the origin of the relationship that we have with the Satan. It is a battle to the death. We don't even realize how serious this battle really is. It determines history and we will see how.
This then is the relationship of Adam Ha’rishon and those who supplanted Adam Ha’rishon, the first of which was Avraham Avinu or Avraham Ha'Ivri—the Hebrew, the Jew, and all the Jews have the exact same relationship to the Satan as Adam and Chava had in the beginning of time. Therefore, we are in a perpetual battle with an angelic figure, the Satan. Who will survive, flourish, and prosper? I'm going to focus on what this question implies.
The question is: how does Adam bring the Divine energy to himself, or how does a Jew do that? And the answer is: by listening to G-D. If the Jew does the Will of G-D, which is the mitzvot—commandments, then all that energy goes to him and, therefore, the Satan begins to weaken, diminish. Were all the Jews to perform all the mitzvos, then the Satan dies, literally. If, however, the Jew sins, then the Satan can be yonek, can divert that energy to himself, grow powerful, and give that power to the goyim to destroy the Jews. This is a fundamental relationship that the Satan has with the Jewish people.
The important thing to remember is that we determine what he gets. If we do the Will of G-D, he does not get anything or very little. He has no choice in the matter. The only thing that the Satan could try to do is tell us, tempt us, to go against the Will of G-D. That's how he gets the energy. He can't take it by force; we have to sin. So, he tries to tempt us, persuade us to sin. That's an important nekudah—point, that he's not the boss. We are the boss as to where the flow goes but he can convince us to sin and, when we do, we are denied that force and he gets it.
In many ways—it’s always interesting to compare—it’s like a football. There are two teams, each one trying to take the football and get it over to its end zone, right? They both vie for this little egg-shaped thing called a “football.” It's the same thing. The Jewish people vie for this little thing called “the sparks of holiness” and we vie with the Satan for that. The battle with the Satan is like a football game or a basketball game. Anyway, that's for those people who are into sports.
Esav and the Satan
Esav eventually sinned so grievously—without getting into all that—that he now has a malach—angel. Who is his angel?—the Satan himself. We know this because, when Yaakov fought the malach, the angel—if you remember, “v’ya’avek ish imo”—and there wrestled a man with him enroute to meet Esav, battling with that angel all night. That angel was the “angel of Esav” and Rashi says who the angel was, the Satan.
The reciprocal relationship we have with the Satan is the exact relationship we have with Esav because the malach of Esav is the Satan. What does that mean? If we do mitzvot, we are yonek and we take all the kedushah—holiness and the Satan weakens. Therefore, Esav—whoever represents Esav on this planet at any given time—weakens because they derive their energy from the Satan who derives his energy from the pipeline he shares with the Jewish people. Esav depends on the Satan, and the Satan depends on the Jews. That's why he must get the Jews to sin.
The nations that represent Esav today—and we know who they are as I've spoken about them many times as per what the Torah tells us—are derived as follows: Esav became Edom; Edom became Rome; Rome became Christianity; Christianity is Western Civilization. Western civilization is divided into three parts: Russia, which used to be the Communist Russia, Europe, and America. The different characteristics of Esav are represented by the attributes expressed by these nations, which explained this in previous lectures. It makes sense that, when the Jews are up, when the Jews do the will of G-D, Esav suffers. Why?—because the Jews are taking all the kedushah, the holiness, away from the Satan and he’s being diminished. When he’s being diminished, he has less Divine energy so doesn't have enough to give it out to his major agent, Esav, so the nations that are Esav diminish in power and that's the way it works.
What happens if the Jews sin? The Satan gets the energy that the Jews should have gotten by doing the mitzvos. He gets the sparks of holiness and, therefore, the nations flourish, become powerful. That’s the seesaw relationship between the Jews/Yaakov and the nations that represent Esav.
To Flourish: Tiferes and Oz—Beauty and Might
Another very important idea is derived from the question: what happens when the Jews flourish? What does it mean, “to flourish”? It means they become holy, become spiritual. “Holiness” implies two very important characteristics: tiferes and oz. “Tiferes” means “beauty” and “oz” means “might.” Jews have that. In fact, there are two brachos--blessings in the morning by shacharis in which we say, “ozer Yisrael b'gevurah”—Who girds Israel with might and strength and “oter Yisrael b’tifara”—Who crowns Israel with beauty.
What are “beauty” and “might”? “Beauty” is chochmah--knowledge, wisdom; that's what beauty is. It is to have an incredible affinity for wisdom; that's beauty. The Jewish people have tremendous chochma, the chochma of Torah in its beautiful form. They also have might. “Might” means hatzlacha—success, that whatever they do, they are successful and are to be reckoned with. These are the two gifts, two characteristics, of the Divine energy, tiferes and oz.
When the Jews sin, however, their tiferes and oz is diverted to the Satan and he gets what we should have gotten because we are both nourished from that common Divine source. The tiferes and the oz, the beauty of chochma and the might, the success that characterizes a flourishing existence of the Jewish people, goes to the Satan when they sin. In fact, we say that in “Tachanun”, in shacharis. We say, “Ad mosai ozcha v’tifartcha b’yad tzor”—how long will Your might be in captivity and Your beauty be in the hands of the enemy. We, initially, had them; we have them, that’s ours but that’s in the hands of the enemy which is the Satan because he is being yonek, taking this from our kedusha, because that's the reciprocal relationship and that’s when we go down. He gets these gifts and gives them to Esav. When we win, we get the tiferes and oz. When we lose, he gets it and, thereby, nations of the world get it.
Now you understand a very important concept, the relationship between the Jewish people and Esav which, today, is Western civilization. You now understand this, our relationship with the world and what happens when the Jews sin and when they don't.
Looking today at Western civilization—I’m not referring to third-world countries—but, certainly, the first-world and second-world countries, the industrialized nations, there's an impressive beauty to them, and apparent success. I refer to Europe, even to the previous Soviet regime, Russia, and America. These industrial nations have enjoyed “beauty and wisdom,” as science, technology, and wealth. You walk the streets of their cities and they're magnificent, the structures, the buildings, the parks and public spaces, the grandeur of their cathedrals, the stately edifices, the culture of Esav. It's not only beauty of the natural world; the manifestation of their civilization betrays their might and beauty.
What has been happening recently, at the End? We know that, before the messianic era, justice has to be satisfied and so the nations are successful. I’ve mentioned that one of the factors that brings mashiach is the world’s status, including that of the Jewish people, being at the mem tes shaarei tumah—49th level of pollution, of defilement. G-D, therefore, conveys: I must bring the mashiach because the world will not survive.
But, the Satan says: You can't bring mashiach simply because of that; they don't deserve the messianic era.
So, G-D says: you're right and, therefore, I will bring them “up to speed” to satisfy your just claim, satisfy justice. I will bring atonement to the Jewish people. Suddenly, evil flourishes. That's what we're looking at today. That's why you find, in the Gemara and the midrash, and so on, mention of the era before the mashiach, saying how terrible will be the evil, the poverty, the friction, the wars. This provides atonement for the Jewish people to deserve the mashiach. To understand this is very important.
The truth is that, someday, this has to end, when justice will be satisfied and G-D stops the dominion of evil and begins the turnaround which is the Redemption itself. “Redemption itself” means the following ideas:
1: End of the exile
2: Building of the Beis Ha’Mikdash, the resurgence of the Temple itself
3: Return of the Divine Presence, the shechinah
4: Entrance of the mashiach for the Jewish people and the world
It has to begin sometime because that's the Redemption. Basically, what we're waiting for is a turnaround indicating when justice has been satisfied and the Jews will have, in a certain sense, paid their debt. Then, the geulah can begin. It will begin gradually, like the sunrise. If you’ve ever woken up at 5 a.m., taken a look at sky beginning to turn blue, you see the progression. First, it's dark, then it turns toward blue getting brighter and brighter. Then you have what's called “dawn.” You don't see the sun, but you see the effects of the sun as it gets higher and higher as the day begins. Then, all of a sudden, the sun breaks through at the horizon and you glimpse the top of the sun, the orb itself. It slowly rises until midday where it's at the meridian, its zenith. That's the way the geula will happen.
So what we're waiting for is ha’shachar—dawn, when night begins its end and the sky begins to lighten. That's what we're waiting for. Once that happens, it's unstoppable. Once the earth reaches a point where the sun begins to rise, you cannot reverse it, right? It's the same thing with the Redemption, so that's what we've been waiting for.
Today
We have witnessed two remarkable things. We can look at them as the world sees them, according to tevah—nature, politically, sociopolitically, in terms of mainstream media and news but they don't understand what's really going on. We are now in the month of Cheshvan, and Cheshvan is a messianic month which I mentioned in last week’s shiur. On Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan—first day of the month of Cheshvan, there was a solar eclipse. A solar eclipse is bad news for the goyim because they reckon time, their calendar, by the sun, so an eclipse of the sun is indicative of bad tidings for the goyim and a very good sign for the Jews because Cheshvan is a Messianic month and a solar eclipse in Cheshvan is tremendous for the Jewish people.
What happened? The Israeli election in Cheshvan, right after Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, was astounding. Why? Until now, the Eirev Rav—who I described in depth last week—have had dominion over Jews in Eretz Yisrael, have had the power, making it incredibly difficult for the Jewish people to observe the Torah, Shabbos, kashrus, marriage, divorce, conversions, education, and so on.
The result of the election has been that, for the first time, as far as I know, that the Eirev Rav have completely lost. They will have no influence anymore. In fact, even the parties that really are evil are now sitting together in the opposition. They have no say whatsoever, really, because the haredim together with Likud and Netanyahu are able to put together a coalition and rule without any of the detractions of the Eirev Rav. In fact, there's no Meretz; it never happened before. Labor, which always used to be the main party, is down to four seats. Lieberman, who's an incredible enemy of the Jewish people, of haredim, the religious, is down to six. Lapid, even though he has 24, is, regardless, gone from the government.
The “religious-Right,” together with the Likud, now has a government without influence of the Eirev Rav. It’s never happened before. They can now make laws to strengthen Judaism, strengthening Shabbos and marriage, divorce, conversions, kashrus, education. I keep mentioning this; are you aware that 1.5 million kids in public schools in Israel receive barely any Jewish education, hardly anything? The one in charge of Jewish education is the Reform movement and its curriculum, the “Hartman Institute” curriculum. It's just an unbelievable tragedy! When you think about the chumash—5 Books of Moses where nearly every other pasuk—verse is Moshe Rabbeinu saying, “And you will observe the laws, the chukim, the mishpatim', the statutes...” and so on, how many times?—thousands of times, right? And here you have an education system of 1.5 million kids getting hardly anything in terms of Torah education? It's shocking!
Now that the government is religious-Right, devoid of Eirev Rav influence, they can change the laws to make a state friendly and inviting to religion for those who choose to observe it. They won’t coerce people. Whoever wants to be religious can now be religious in a meaningful way.
Turnaround in Cheshvan?
G-D has now made the Israeli government religious-Right. Somebody told me that, now, more than half of the Knesset is shomer Shabbos—Sabbath observant. What does that mean in terms of the Divine plan? It would seem that Israel has arisen, that the tiferes and oz of the Jewish people is now rising; that's interesting. Could it be that we are now witnessing the turnaround, in Cheshvan? That's what seems to be happening, that the dominion of the Eirev Rav, which is an expression of satisfying justice, seems to be over, so the question that we have to ask is: does this mean, right now, that this is the turnaround? If that’s the case, that's incredible news! That's what it seems to be because this has never happened before, where there is no EIrev Rav, whatsoever, in the government.
Now, it is true that the Likud is the Eirev Rav, but Netanyahu is a different type of person. He's not anti-religion. Whether or not he, himself, is religious, I don't think so, but he's not “anti.” Netanyahu is, basically, an opportunist so he goes with whatever flow provides him power. Right now, he needs the religious sector. Sixty-four seats will be in the coalition. Likud has thirty-two and the religious Right, which is UTJ, United Torah Judaism, and Shas/Religious Zionism have, together, thirty-two. So, Netanyahu will now work together with the haredim, with the religious Right; he has to, because they will supply his coalition. Without them, that's it; there's no coalition and Netanyahu will go down and they would, probably, remove him totally, deny him any access to becoming prime minister having failed multiple times to put together a government, five times in four years, or whatever.
Therefore, he’s especially beholden to the religious Right. That’s unbelievable news for the Torah world, the religious world. So, if there is a turnaround, as it seems, then we have to consider the other side. We know that when religiosity, when Torah, goes up, then Esav goes down. We know that because that's the seesaw, right? That means the Satan is no longer being yonek, that perhaps 98% of the sparks of holiness is now in the hands of the Jews, of the religious, therefore he's dying. If that's the case, he's running out of energy which automatically will mean that Esav also, basically, is dying.
Is that what’s happening? if one side of the equation “happens,” then its reciprocal repercussion must also happen. Guess what?—it is dying. When you take a look at civilization, you can't believe what's happening. In other words, the tiferes and the oz, especially that of America, are departing. That's what we see and is exactly what can be predicted in terms of the relationship between Esav and Yaakov. Isn't that astounding!
So, Esav, really, is down. Think about that! Russia is now a persona non grata, forcibly divorced from “civilization.” The dominant western nations denounce Putin in terms of what he's doing. Ukraine is a destroyed country, right? The inflation is killing Europe and they say many Europeans are going to die because there's no oil being shipped to Europe to compensate for the shortage. Then consider America, at rampant crime in so many cities, unbelievable! You're looking at inflation. You're looking at open borders with five million people coming over without any type of accountability. Then there is the issue of the gas prices, the heating-oil prices, the food prices. America is now going through terrible, inflation.
But, not only that; there’s tremendous corruption. America has become a nation of entrenched hashchata—corruption, with marriage “equality,” LGBTQ—dominated thinking that tyrannizes others and dominates the cultural scene. The power-that-be insist on educating the kids in kindergarten and early grades about transgenderism, sexual education that features what has long been regarded as perversions. It's unbelievable what's going on in the public schools! America has become Sdom. I like to joke around and say the USA is no longer “United States of America.” It's the “United Sodomites of America” because America has become Sdom in so many different ways, I don't want to dwell on that.
As a result of this degradation, the Ribono Shel Olam has decided that, since the Satan is dying, his agents will also be dying. That's why the world is going through such terrible situations, the perversions, the gas prices, and grocery prices, the corruption in the highest echelons of power.
Before the Ribono Shel Olam “shuts the lights” of a country, He’ll warn them. That's what the Ribono Shel Olam does. Before He destroyed the world with the mabul—Flood due to their sexual perversions and other crimes which I mentioned which sealed the decree of the mabul, He warned them. He had Noach build that tevah—ark for 120 years. He warned paroh _ pharoah as to what He was going to do to him, right? He warns because the Ribono Shel Olam just doesn't want to take out a civilization.
He's warning America. How? In Egypt there was a problem because the Egyptians could have said: why are you punishing me/us with the ten plagues? It's paroh that doesn't want to release them.
So Ribono Shel Olam responds: I hear what you're saying, but I will show the world that you are as evil as paroh. The midrash—exegetical commentary tells of paroh making a decree that the Israelites would have to gather their own straw to make the required quota of bricks. Unfortunately, terribly, tragically, the Jews had to stay up all night gathering straw. During the day what did they do?—make the bricks. Could you imagine what kind of life that is? It was one of unbelievable suffering. Now we know why, to satisfy justice. Meanwhile, when they’d go into the fields to try to get straw, the Egyptians threw them out of their fields. They didn't have rachmanus—compassion on these people. They simply threw them out or beat them and then threw them out, and so on. Therefore, G-D claimed: you see? This proves that you are the same as paroh in wanting to abuse the Jewish people. This justified G-D’s destruction of Egypt, its pharoah and the general public.
Well, guess what! The Americans could make a similar claim as the Egyptians: we're not the ones supporting and introducing LGBTQ; it's not us. It's the crazy Democratic Party! They're the evil, they and the Progressives, the Liberals, the radical Left, the Congress, the Supreme Court. What do you want from us?
So, G-D says: okay, I hear your claim and I'm going to give you a chance to do teshuva—atone. How can America convince G-D that it is penitent?—elections. G-D employs what's called a “birur device,” a device that will clarify whose side you’re on. G-D, ostensibly, says: I'm going to give you a chance to reject all the incredible hashchasa, the corruption, denigration, moral decay, moral debasement, the “woke agenda,” everything! I'm going to give you a chance by means of an election. Let's see what you do. Show that you don't want this. Kick out the Democratic Party because that is the root of incredible evil; that's what they are. They have destroyed the moral fabric of America, have corrupted America.
When the time for their retribution arrives for what they have done to America—the beacon to the whole world—by introducing and reinforcing extreme moral decay, you don't want to be around when G-D avenges the Democratic Party’s evil acts, what has been done to mankind. Right now, He's giving America a birur device. Okay, “Who is on G-D's side?” like Moshe Rabbeinu said by the Sin of the Golden Calf. “Mi Hashem elai?”
Here's your chance: who are you going to vote for? Unbelievable! It's hard to believe, right?
Everybody has been expecting a red wave, a red tsunami, in which everybody would reject the Democratic Party. Does that happen?—no! It's beyond belief! G-D made it even easier for people to choose to reject the Democrat Party and their incredible moral decay, debasement, and corruption. Do you know how? He had the Democratic Party do crazy things. It made energy scarce to create the inflation, fomented the increased crime rate in thirty cities, twenty-seven of which are run by democratic governors and mayors. They're the ones destroying America.
G-D motivated voters to choose to do teshuva, to elect Republicans in order to get rid of the Democratic Party that is destroying America by prompting them to instigate policies which are insane. They don't care about the crime or the inflation; they cause the inflation! Biden causes the inflation. What does Biden care about crime? It's beyond belief what the Democratic Party has done. It's contrary to logic! G-D could say: I'll make it so easy for you to reject the Democratic Party. It’s obvious that they are morally bankrupt and their behavior is insane! Their decrees are insane! It's against your self-interest to vote for them.
Therefore, the elections are really a birur device. It's a chance for America to do teshuva and throw out the Democratic Party. Instead, what happens? I'm telling you, it's beyond belief! Not only did they not reject the sexual perversions, the insanity of the education system, they supported the Democratic Party even against their own self-interest. Is America crazy?
Do you have any idea what the crime rate in New York is? So, they vote for a woman who is completely incompetent and, anyway, is a crook—Hochul, right? Against Zeldin who would have helped the yeshivos, who would have tried to straighten out America, instead, they vote for Hochul. Do you believe this? They're committing suicide because it's going to get much, much worse. Hochul will do nothing and so New York is going to die, millions more will flee to Florida and Texas, North Carolina, wherever they're running. She's going to destroy New York. And isn’t New York the tiferes and oz of America? Of course, it is. New York has been of the greatest cities on the planet. It's the city that has long symbolized beauty, chochma, might and grandeur, tiferes and oz.
Where then is the tiferes and oz? It is now going to Israel. There was a chance that America could have preserved some of the tiferes and oz in New York by rejecting Hochul and all the nonsense. Hochul is a woman that is enthusiastically pro-abortion. It's infanticide to kill little kids, right? And New York also champions the whole concept of “marriage equality,” LGBTQ. In fact, they pride themselves on being among the first, if not the first, to embrace such rights. Instead, they vote for a woman who’ll destroy the beauty and the oz of New York. Millions will run away.
It's astonishing to look at what America just did. They had a chance to do teshuva, be able to say: you see, I'm on G-D's side; I voted to reject the Democratic Party. Instead, they blew it. On the contrary, the Democratic Party can't believe their mazal, how much they won. That's very bad because it shows that, fundamentally, a majority of America does side with the Democratic Party, with the evil of the party, with the demoralization that the party conveys. How in the world does someone like Hochul win, with her record? It's incredible! I'm not even talking about the bribery she takes.
Take a look at Pennsylvania where Fetterman won against Oz. Does this make sense? He wants to empty the jails, stop fracking, destroy Pennsylvania. Then you have Gavin Newsom who wins with ease in California. People are running away from California. I heard that they lost more people than those who’ve been coming into California. People are fleeing these places because of the crime, the homelessness, the drugs. It's beyond belief what is happening.
The quantity of drugs coming into this country is incredible. I just heard that some guy got caught—I think he was in New York—with 20,000 pills of Fentanyl. What was he going to do with 20,000 pills? He's not going to take them by himself; he's going to sell them, right? They charged him, not with possession in order to deal, but with mere possession, which is a far more lenient accusation. Are they crazy? This guy is going to sell Fentanyl which is killing a 140,000 Americans every year, and nobody does anything because of the cartels.
So, something incredible has happened. The Ribono Shel Olam has given America the chance to do teshuva by rejecting the Democratic Party but rather than express: you see? I'm on G-D's side, instead, the majority is voting for a continuation of the corruption and destruction, the Democratic Party. They are actually voting for a party that is destroying them, destroying their tiferes and oz which is very bad news.
Obviously, we're watching the Jews go “up.” There's no more Eirev Rav to influence the government so Torah is going to go up and, hopefully, that means there’s to be a turnaround for Torah and for Judaism.
America has now reinforced its incredible corruption and depravity which will spread, already has spread, to the rest of the world. I believe that, in a certain sense, this has been the test. It's called the “birur device” with which G-D said: okay America, I'm going to give you one more chance to do teshuva because you're destroying My world.
America is going to have a very, very difficult year, but it's not just America. I believe we are now at the turnaround and the Ribono Shel Olam wants to bring the mashiach, wants to end it and before He does that, just like He did with Egypt and the mabul, He gave them a chance to do teshuva and it's staggering how they all failed. Paroh failed, the world failed to listen to Noach, and they failed to reject the Democratic Party. The world repeatedly fails to understand the propitious opportunity to remove the terrible damage of the Democratic Party—Esav.
Remember what the Democratic Party is. It is the evil of Esav. So, we certainly have to hope that the Ribono Shel Olam will have rachmanus—compassion on America, because He can easily destroy America. People do not understand the power of G-D. He can easily make a recession that's going to go into a depression that will create terrible difficulties for America. I already hear that companies are beginning to fire tens of thousands. Amazon said it’s gonna fire ten thousand people. That could be the beginning of a real recession and, if G-D wants, it could go into a depression.
Something else that’s interesting which I want to point out is the tremendous struggle between the Torah yeshiva world and the education department of New York State. They want to secularize the yeshiva system, to insist they institute secular education, the equivalent of public schools. They want to curtail their independence and control yeshiva education.
The insanity of this, the irony, is that the reason G-D has rachmanu--compassion on New York State is precisely because of the hundreds of thousands of Jews that learn Torah. They don't realize that it is the Torah of the youth, all the Jews learning Torah, all the yeshivos, all the Beis Yaakovs, all the daf yomis, that protect, that saves, New York State. You want to stop that, too? These entities are self-destructive. If they war with the yeshiva system by trying to introduce more secular education, they will be removing the only mitigating factor that can salvage New York State.
The good news, of course, is that Eretz Yisrael is going to change, become conducive for people to enhance their religiosity and return to G-D Himself.
We have to hope that this is the turnaround but, in any case, what we have just witnessed is a spectacular opportunity to atone, one that America squandered. Each person could have done teshuva because each person can vote, could have said to the Ribono Shel Olam: we stand against what the Democratic Party is doing to our country so there could have been not a red wave, but a red tsunami. I believe it would have saved America from whatever the decree was, would have mitigated it or cancelled it.
We have to hope and pray that the Ribono Shel Olam saves the Jews because, in the end, America has accumulated much merit. What is that?—the amount of Torah it has supported and perpetuated over many years. America is a free country. Not only is it free, it also allows people to have freedom, basically, of religion, to practice one’s religion, and there's an enormous amount of Torah that is learned in America.
America has also done great chesed, acts of compassion which has positively affected so much of the world. In the end, even if the Ribono Shel Olam intends to punish the evil of Esav—we don't know how—will mitigate it because of the good-will traits of America, the chesed, the kindness that America has done with charity, the fact that it allows freedom of religion, allows Jews to learn Torah despite the current battle in New York. America has been, in many ways, a decent country even if now there is moral debasement, moral decay and perversions that have proliferated to dangerous levels.
Q&A
Participant: The messianic process has to start through Israel first?
R’Kessin: Yes, because that's the see-saw. Israel determines how the see-saw goes, right? Then Esav follows because Jews determine who is being yonek, who is nourishing from the Divine Presence, the Divine force, the sparks of holiness. If Israel goes down, then Esav will go up. If Israel goes up, then Esav will go down because we're the ones who determine the flow.
The Israeli elections happened first which means that the Jews went up. Then, because of that, USA went down. Right after the Israeli elections were the American elections which, I believe, was that incredible opportunity for America to reject the Democratic Party. What an act of insanity they did!
Participant: Even if it looks as if, in America, the evil is going up,...in the end, if you juxtaposed it to Israel, they're really going down. Is that what you're trying to say?
R’Kessin: Right, oh yeah. They are going down.
Participant: Okay, but the Jews that are in America, we’re in the crosshairs.
R’Kessin: We are, right. That's what happens when you live in America, when you live in Esav. Let's put it this way; really, we're in the wrong neighborhood.
Participant: So now what do we do? I mean, we're here now. Now, what do we do?
R’Kessin: Like I said, what we do is answer for ourselves: who is with G-D? People who want to reject the Democratic Party, in some way, G-D will spare them the greater difficulty because they did reject the Democratic Party. We have to strengthen our resolve to be part of the Ribono Shel Olam's “team,” to do Torah mitzvos, be careful with shmirat ha’lashon—guarding our speech; that's all we can do, basically.
Participant: Okay. Is that a protection?
R’Kessin: Yes.
Participant: Let's say G-D does have His wrath and He does bring the recession and a depression, everything you're saying; let's say it does come true. The people who stood by G-D, are they going to have a different course as everyone else in America?
R’Kessin: G-D enacts justice. If they truly were not part of the continuation of evil, then whatever has to happen to them will constitute justice but does that mean they won't suffer?—maybe not, maybe just a little. We don't know but whatever does happen to them, and especially since they did the right thing, (what they experience) will be in conformity with justice.
Participant: What if a lot of people did vote Republican? What if a lot of people did, but somehow there were things that the Democrats have done that would take that vote away from them? If you had seen the amount of people that went to vote... I just think there was a lot of foul play in it, that's all.
R’Kessin: Yes, maybe. Whoever voted to reject the Democratic Party did the right thing. They were just outnumbered or outrigged, whatever. G-D will deal with them in a just way. He's not going to punish them if they, in fact, want to reject but a lot has to do with why they're rejecting the Democratic Party.
What the Ribono Shel Olam wants is not just the rejection of the Democratic Party because they created inflation. That's not what G-D wants. Inflation is not the problem that G-D has with America. Abortion is; LGBTQ is; transgenderism is. It's the fact that they want to teach little kids all about transgenderism. This is the problem. So, a lot depends on intent. If the reason why they want to get rid of the Democratic Party is because they oppose inflation, because of crime, because they're shipping in migrants, okay, but that's not the key to the teshuva. That's not teshuva. That's trying to survive in a reasonable way, fine, but that's not what's destroying America. Like I said, what destroyed the world by the mabul wasn't the fact that there was probably a lot of theft going on. That was part of the problem because (with rampant theft) a civilization cannot survive. What sealed the decree, like I once said, was the codification of perversion. If a guy wanted to marry another man or an animal, he would have to write a ketuba—marriage contract. That's what sealed the decree. It was immorality, not theft or crime.
I would imagine G-D takes that into account, even if someone voted against the Democratic Party. Destruction of the moral fabric of marriage is a threat to civilization. Is that the most critical factor or because you don't want some guy mugging you? That makes a difference. Kavanah—intent is a very important part of teshuva.
Participant: We always look at Egypt and how they were redeemed. Now, are we at the part that—like you said about the recession and the depression—could be like the ten makot—blows, plagues?
R’Kessin: Probably, yeah. COVID is an equivalent. People were dying left and right; nobody was working. These are modern-day versions of the plagues. We're not looking here at locusts or frogs; that's not the way ten plagues will happen. Ten plagues are going to happen again because those are the ten sephiros destroying the world. It's going to happen in its modern-day form. Certainly, poverty, inflation, unemployment, psychological problems, economic depression, recession are the modern-day equivalent to the plagues. That's really what COVID is. It's certainly a modern-day expression of one of the plagues.
Participant: The plagues didn't affect the Jews and they were living in Egypt, so that's a little hope for the Jews that are living in America that, if they're (harboring) the right intentions, they won't get affected.
R’Kessin: Yes, that's certainly possible. Look, in Egypt it didn't affect them because they had satisfied justice, so why should they be affected? The miracle was that they were not affected. It was just incredible! No Jew was harmed in any way by any of these supernatural makot, plagues. So, if this is what happens in America, then, as it is, my feeling is that there will be a great many supernatural events that happen by the geulah. It has to be that way; there is no other way. When it says that G-D is going to “take back,” and “will gather” all the Jews and bring them to Israel, how can that happen in a natural way? It has to be supernatural.
Participant: Rabbi, you know how you said the voting was a birur device to get us to show Ha’Shem which side we're on? There were rabbis who don't follow politics who said: we don't follow politics, we've never done this, but they, literally, were going around and telling everyone: it's pikuach ha’nefesh—self sacrifice; you have to vote.
R’Kessin: Look, I have no idea what they're thinking but that doesn't mean that they understand that the elections were a birur device. It simply means that: if you don't get rid of the Democratic Party, then we're gonna have a lot of problems living as a civilization.
Participant: I don't think that they understood it.
R’Kessin: I would say you're right. I don't think they understood that.
Participant: Maybe they had the idea. I don’t know if it was like ruach hakodesh—holy spirit or they just had a strong feeling to tell everybody to vote. They have never been forward (assertive) like that.
Participant: No, they had to save the yeshivot; that's why they did it because, otherwise, the're going to have a lot of problems in the yeshivos, so all the rabbis came out because they wanted to say: listen, if you don't do this, we're gonna have a lot of issues teaching your children the knowledge of Torah, so go out there and make a difference because we need you to vote.
R’Kessin: Right. What I'm saying is a whole different thought, that G-D is trying to save America.
Participant: I think it's connected.
R’Kessin: What's connected is the behavior; they also want you to vote but that's not the essential idea.
Participant: Ha’Shem wanted them to feel that, to get them to vote, to get everybody to drive the votes up, because Ha’Shem wanted to see the votes up.
R’Kessin: But it's not the Jews; it's the goyim. The teshuva G-D wants is from the goyim and, unfortunately, from Jews who are into LGBTQ. Most Jews, I hope, are not in that. So, the concern of G-D is America. Elections are an American necessity; it's the whole of America, 330 million people or whatever the vote is. I'm saying that this is just like G-D’s warning to paroh, which means warning Egypt. He warned the world by Noach and (warned) Ninveh by Yona/Jonah and so on. G-D does send warnings when He's about to clobber a nation. They don't realize and that's what I'm worried about. They don't realize what can clobber America. They have no concept that when the din is unleashed because Esav is dying, what suffering G-D can bring. I’ll just bring one (example): Facebook is firing 11,000 people. I heard that Disney World is now firing people because their stock just went down. Amazon is firing 10,000 people. We are watching the beginning of a recession that can easily become a depression.
Participant: The price of housing is going down.
R’Kessin: Of course. How many people can afford a 7% interest rate? It's interesting that all of this is happening when the opposite is happening to Torah and Jews in Israel. We don't realize it's a miracle. There is no Eirev Rav in the government except Likud which is what's called the “Eirev Rav Light.” It's a miracle and it’s never happened before. The Left were all expecting to win; it's gonna be great and all this stuff. Lapid was hoping to be the Prime Minister again and all this nonsense. They were kicked out; all of them sit in the opposition. They have no say whatsoever in any of the law-making which will now be authorized by the Haredi. It’s a nes—miracle.
Participant: Do you think that, because of that, it'll be much easier for Jews to move to Israel? It used to be very difficult to make aliyah.
R’Kessin: Right. Israel is a backward country. No matter what you think about Israel, it's a very difficult place to live. The regulations, the bureaucracy, the cost of living, the cost of buying real estate because (of the policies) of the Land Ministry—they withhold land—you can't even buy a piece of property, can only lease it. They took a poll. Tel Aviv, I think, was voted the third most expensive city in the world. That's crazy! How can a Jew move there? Why?—because there's no competition. Ten families control the economy of Israel. Do you know how long it takes to build a house, to get legal permission to build a house? Then you look at the cost of living; it's insane! Why? This has been the government; they don't care. This is the problem.
There's a tremendous housing shortage—tremendous. Couples get married and have nowhere to live. They would have to rent somebody's basement or store room. This is insane. If you go through Israel, most of Israel is empty. I had an idea: Do you people remember the Homestead Act? Do you remember the conquest of the West? Well, they conquered the West and there was the Louisiana Purchase and all that stuff. How were they going to settle it—three thousand miles across the United States? Most of America was empty. They did a very smart thing: free land! If you agreed to go out West, we will give you—I don't know how much, let's say an acre—we’ll give you free land! The condition, of course, is that you have to build on it and develop it. There were a lot of of people that took advantage, right?
That's what they should do in the Negev. The Negev is empty so they should say: we’ll give you two dunam (900 sq. meters) of free land on condition that you build a house and create cities. I'm sure a million people would love to do that because it's free land. They should do it also in the Galil. That's how you settle a country, but they don't do this. Look how many years it took to build a decent transportation system. That should have been first. That's why nobody moves to the Negev, because there's no transportation. If they had made a bullet-train from Eilat to Metula, a bullet-train that goes two-hundred miles per hour, you can travel the whole of Eretz Yisrael in an hour and a half which means you can live in Tverya and work in Tel Aviv. It's only thirty minutes to Tel Aviv if you have a high-speed train. That's what they do in China and Japan.
There are solutions to this but these guys, for some reason, don't think about this. They're primitive. Israel’s modernity has been, in many ways, a socialist country and still is. I just hope that the present-day government understands because millions and millions of Jews cannot move to Israel. There are not enough jobs, no place to live, insufficient opportunity for growth.
Participant: Does the mashiach have to come, or appear, before we start seeing the downfall of America?
R’Kessin: I believe, yes, because the entry of the mashiach is the turnaround.
Participant: ...because the Jews in America are going to need, like the Jews in Egypt needed, Moshe, had him to turn to, I feel like the Jews in America and all around the world, besides Israel, are going to need that figure.
R’Kessin: Yes, I believe that turnaround is like the sneh—Burning Bush by Moshe. That was the turnaround. Then it took time until he got to Egypt, and so on. I believe, yes, that's all part of the turnaround, the beginning of the end, because it's the warning to America which is the beacon for the entire world that: you’d better cut this out, because, as it is, you're falling. I don't want to crush you. I want to give you a chance, the opportunity, to get rid of the evil, cancer in your midst which is the Democratic Party. You have to get rid of this cancer destroying America.
And boy, did they fail! That is what's so frightening. America failed...
Participant: ...miserably, terribly, except Florida.
R’Kessin: ...and Texas, I think—whatever. It’s terrible that the Senate is back in Democratic hands. Are they crazy? The hope was that the Republicans would be able to take the House. Imagine that, a week after the elections, they still don't know where the House is? What kind of country is this? They're playing around; they're probably counting the votes and trying to find out: where can we get more votes? There seems to be a lot of rigging going on, the same thing all over again. We can’t know for sure. It’s conjecture.
Participant: No one trusts in the system anymore; it's like a joke.
Rabbi: Exactly. Think of this; 75% of America, as the polls say, is heading in “wrong” direction. If that's the case, how in the world did the Democrats win the Senate again? How did Hochul win, or this guy Fetterman? Did you ever look at this guy? He looks like Frankenstein. He won? What are they, crazy? And that's after a stroke!
Participant: He can’t even talk.
R’Kessin: People voted against their own self-interest; that's the unbelievable thing. The question is: why did they do that? That's the birur, the clarification that comes now, because they are trumpeting that they want to maintain the freedom for sexual perversions, to maintain that. They're afraid that Republicans are going to tamper with that. They want to maintain infanticide, abortions. They're nichah—satisfied with this. That's exactly why G-D gave an opportunity to end it but they want to maintain....How in the world could people vote for Fetterman? I'm telling you, it's the greatest stunt! You have to laugh at this! And he wants to stop fracking in Pennsylvania? And he wants to release murderers, wants to empty the jails. This guy is crazy! As it is, Philadelphia is riddled with crime and drugs.
Participant: And he wants to run for president. We have another Dumbo in there. (laughter)
R’Kessin: You can't even make this stuff up. It is so contrary to logic.
Participant: Even in New York City, I think 82% voted for Hochul and 18% voted for Zeldin. It doesn't make sense and that's where the most crime is, the most problems. It's all from Manhattan and they all vote for her. It doesn't make sense.
R’Kessin: Do you know why? I believe that underlying all of this, is their insistence on maintaining freedom against morality; that’s what lies underneath. Republicans, the conservatives, would have said no more LGBTQ, no more abortion. These libertines want to maintain the rebellion against G-D. I believe that's fundamentally why they do this.
Participant: That was the first thing pharaoh said, “I don't know Ha’Shem.”
R’Kessin: Right. Think about California. California is a dying state. People are fleeing in droves. The amount of homelessness and drugs and all this kind of stuff is unbelievable in California, in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It's really very, very bad. We have to pray that the Ribono Shel Olam is not going to crush America, which He can easily do. It's very easily done.
Participant: There's a solar eclipse coming in April. It's going to be a total solar eclipse in 2023, this coming April, on Nisan 29th, one week after the last day of Pesach.
Participant: They say it’s April 20th.
R’Kessin: That's Rosh Chodesh Iyar. I think that on April 8th 2024, there's going to be a total solar eclipse that can be seen over New Jersey and New York—total! That would be incredible! And it's to be on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, in a year-and-a-half. It's the thing to look out for.
Comments