This week's reading always precedes Rosh HaShanna and contains perhaps the most powerful prophesy in the Torah:
"And you (Jewish people) will return to G-d your G-d ........ and G-d your G-d will gather you from all the nations where He dispersed you. Even if you are scattered to the ends of the heavens G-d your G-d will gather you. G-d your G-d will bring you to the land of your fathers etc. and G-d your G-d will circumcise your heart to love G-d your G-d.” (30: 2-6)
Maimonides brings these sentences as proof that Moshiach; a wise and royal Jew from the seed of David, will bring all the Jews to observe the Torah in the land of Israel and bring peace and prosperity to all mankind. (Hil. Melachim 11:1)
But at first glance these sentences are problematic.
- What does it mean G-d ‘YOUR G-d’? Has everyone got their own G-d? Doesn't Judaism believe in ONE G-d?
- Why is the phase “G-d your G-d” repeated so many times?
- How do these Torah sentences imply Moshiach? They mention only the Jews and G-d?
- Why does the Torah say G-d will 'circumcise our hearts' and what does it mean?
- The paragraph opens by saying that we will return to G-d and only afterward does it say that G-d will circumcise our hearts. Isn't a 'circumcised heart a prerequisite for 'return'?
- What has all this got to do with Rosh HaShanna?
A Story of Faith and Redemption
To understand this, here is a story.
A young doctor living in New York by the name of Zev Zelinko (ob’m) told me this personal story when he came to learn in our yeshiva.
He was born in Russia and brought up in a typical non-religious home. His parents moved the family to the U.S.A. where he excelled in school and decided to become a doctor but while in medical school he attended a few Shabbat meals at the local Chabad House and it awakened his Jewish soul.
He learned for a while in a beginner’s Yeshiva in New York and then traveled to Israel where he enrolled in our Yeshiva; Ohr Tmimim in Kfar Chabad where he was encouraged to go out every Friday to encourage other Jews to do commandments.
After learning here for a year or so he returned to New York received his degree, got married opened a practice and every Friday he and his wife drove to a place in New York called Brighton Beach to speak to the Russian Jews on the boardwalk about Judaism.
Our story begins as one Friday they approached an elderly lady, asked her if she was Jewish and when she replied yes offered her a packet of Shabbat candles to light at home before the onset of Shabbat but she told them it wasn’t necessary because she had been lighting candles for about twenty years, since she was sixty, 'since the miracle' but she took them anyway.
The Zelinkos were a bit puzzled why a sixty-year-old woman would begin lighting candles and what she meant by 'since the miracle' but they soon got their answer.
In the packet were two candles and a small card with a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on one side and the blessing for lighting candles on the other.
"Oh, this is the Rebbe" She said, holding up the picture, "I know him. He is the Moshiach! (Messiah)"
Dr. Zev and his wife looked at the woman incredulously; was she being sarcastic?
"Sure, he's the Moshiach all right" she continued. "No doubt about it! I'll tell you how I know. He did the miracle!"
Zev and his wife sat down next to her and she began:
"Over twenty years ago when I came here from Russia I was alone. I had to leave my daughter and her family behind because they didn't get visa permits from the communists. So without them it wasn't easy for me; I didn't speak English and had no friends or family here.
"But G-d is good. I got a job cleaning a house for this really nice religious Jewish family in Crown Heights in Brooklyn that spoke Russian and they made me feel at home. In fact, we got along so well that after a year or so, they asked me to spend the Shabbat at their home.
"At first I refused. I was ashamed. I was never religious or kept the Sabbath or any commandments all my life and I didn't want them to see how stupid I was. But they were so nice and they even said they didn't care if I knew nothing, so I agreed.
"The Shabbat I had with them was delightful but then after Shabbat was over the lady of the house had an idea. She said that tomorrow would be Sunday, the Lubavitcher Rebbe gives out dollars and I could sleep over at their house and get a dollar and a blessing.
"She explained that the Rebbe is a very wise and holy Jew something like King Solomon and he stands for hours in front of his office every Sunday and hands out single dollar bills and gives blessings to thousands of people to encourage them to give charity,
"I didn't really understand what she meant but I had nothing better to do so I agreed. I stayed the night.
"The next morning, we were standing in this huge, long, winding line of thousands of people in front of this big reddish building and as I got closer to the end I began to get nervous. But my hostess told me that the Rebbe is very friendly; he would just give me a dollar and a blessing and I don't have to say anything. So I shouldn't worry. But I did.
Then suddenly I was standing in front of him face to face. It felt like I stepped in some sort of vacuum where there was no time or anything, just him and me. I wondered what he would say. He just looked at me with the kindest eyes and said in Russian "What's wrong?"
"I just looked at him and said, also in Russian, 'I am here and my family is' ... and I pointed with my thumb back over my shoulder 'back there'.
"The Rebbe became very serious; took several dollars from the stack he had on the table before him and began handing them to me one at a time;
"'This is for your daughter' he said. 'And this is for your son-in- law. This is for your granddaughter. This for your other granddaughter, this is for your grandson and this is for your aunt. G-d willing you will be able to give this to them before Shabbat."
"I thanked him and walked away in a total daze. He never saw me before. How did he know each of my relatives in Russia? And how could he be so sure they would get out? It was almost impossible to leave Russia!!
"He was some type of human being that knows everything. I felt like I was in a dream.
"In any case, that was Sunday. Two days later, I get a call from my daughter.... From Vienna! They all got out of Russia!!
"She explained that on Monday (the day after I was by the Rebbe) she got a phone call from the Russian Visa office that the papers for her, her husband, their three children and even for aunt Zlota were ready!
"It was exactly as the Rebbe said! All six got out!
"She asked me where I thought was best for them to go; Israel or to America? I told her that I am alone in America, they should come here first and then we'll talk about Israel. And that is what they did. That Thursday, just two days later, I went to meet them at the airport in New York!!! We were so happy! Especially when I gave them the Rebbe’s dollars."
That is why I say the Rebbe is Moshiach!
The Deeper Meaning of 'G-d YOUR G-d' and Moshiach
This answers the above questions about “’G-d YOUR G-d’ and Moshiach.”
Moshiach is the goal of Judaism. Only he will finally manifest our G-d given motto: "Listen Jews G-d is OUR G-d, G-d is ONE and convince all mankind how much G-d loves them (Deut. 6:4. See Rashi there).
But he'll do it in a way that each individual can understand and relate to in his/her own personal life. That is the meaning of 'G-d OUR G-d'.
It's not enough to just believe that G-d exists ... rather we must feel His love as OUR personal creator and He cares about each of us personally - like the Rebbe did with the woman in our story. That is why she said he is Moshiach.
And that is why the Torah says it here so many times; for different people (the seven repetitions refer to seven kabalistic 'midot' and seven basic types of people. See Tanya chapter 3 and Lekuti Torah-Bhaalotcha).
That is 'Circumcising the Heart' to teach us that just as the foreskin is natural and is G-d's creation but must be removed... so also we must remove some natural traits that G-d created. As in our story the parents’ tendency to ignore the Creator and their daughter’s natural affinity to idolatry.
But there is also a type of ‘circumcision’ in the time of Moshiach that only G-d can do.
Namely; AFTER we have repented and returned to Him .... G-d will reveal in us a sensitivity to the truth that has never existed in the history of man; A sensitivity that only Moshiach will bring.
When the world will be filled with the knowledge, meaning and blessing of G-d like water fills the ocean (Isaiah 11:9) and all mankind will recognize the truth of the Torah (i.e. for the gentiles 7 Noahide laws).
Rosh HaShanna and the Universal Mission
And this is what we Jews pray for on Rosh HaShanna:
"Prepare the light of Moshiach speedily etc. All creation will bow to You (G-d). Everything made will know that You made it and every formation will recognize that You formed it etc. Every living thing will say 'the G-d of Israel rules all'"
Rosh HaShanna is the date that G-d created man and finished the creation of the universe. And the Jews are the only religion, race or nationality that celebrates it (or even knows or cares when it happened); because G-d put the welfare of the entire creation in their hands.
Moshiach will awaken the Jews to this. And as the Lubavitcher Rebbe says; this should happen at any moment.
We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish hopes, prayers and suffering. Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can bring the Geula.
Then the 'Great Shofar' will be sounded. All hearts will be circumcised and all mankind will truly celebrate Rosh HaShanna with....
Moshiach NOW!!
Wishing all our readers a happy, healthy, successful, sweet NEW year!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel
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