Over the centuries, some of the greatest Torah scholars and Jewish leaders have made predictions regarding when the Redemption will occur, when the Mashiach will come, despite the opposition voiced against this by one of the Talmudic sages.
As we will see, there was a relatively well-known calculation made by the Alter Rebbe based on the above verse. Studying his prediction can offer us clarity about why predictions are necessary.
Taking Advantage of the Prediction
We are now at the outset of a very special year, 5775. In the Chasidic tradition, from the Alter Rebbe and on, this year was predicted to be a year in which the Redemption would occur. Such a year is known in Jewish lore as a “year of the end” (שנת קֵץ), or a “kaytz,” since the Redemption is meant to end our exile. Knowing that the year 5775 is a kaytz is important because every such prediction is meant to awaken us to the fact that there is a special opportunity, and we should take advantage of it. Thus, this year has a special potential which can be actualized and the kaytz—the end of exile and the beginning of redemption—alerts us to this potential.
Still there is a difference between a regular year, and as such, every year has the potential of being the one in which the exile ends and a year that is noted as a kaytz. The latter is regarded as a year in which the Redemption comes “in due time” (בעִתָּהּ), without requiring too much of our intervention. In a kaytz year, the Almighty may bring the Redemption even if we are in state of “undeserving” (לא זכּוּ). This is in contrast with a regular year when the Redemption may come “speedily” (אֲחִישנה), the product of our involvement, requiring us to be in a state of “deserving” (זָכוּ) the Redemption. Nonetheless, even for Redemption in a kaytz year, there is some awakening on our part that is required so that we may be judged “deserving” Above.
The source of the kaytz in the year 5775 is in the verse from our reading, “The silver of those of the community who were recorded came to 100 talents and 1,775 shekels by the sanctuary weight.” This verse was pointed to by several tzaddikim as a verse that implies a kaytz. What is the verse discussing? The Israelites were commanded to each give half a shekel of silver. From the silver that was collected, 100 talents were used to make the bases of the Tabernacle walls and there were 1775 shekels left-over.
Now the number the verse mentions with reference to the left-over silver is 1775. How does this become the year 5775?
Six Thousand Years of History
The sages state that our present reality will last for 6000 years. These are divided into, “Two millennia of chaos, Two millennia of Torah, and Two millennia of Mashiach.” These six millennia correspond to the six emotive faculties of the heart that are also referred to as the “six extremities” (שש קְצָווֹת).
The first millennium corresponds to loving-kindness (chessed), because “His loving-kindness is everlasting” (חַסְדּוֹ לְעוֹלָם כִּי); the beginning of Creation was marked by God’s loving-kindness, which allowed for the extended lifespan of those early generations.
The second millennium corresponds to might (gevurah), God’s attribute of judgment, most strongly associated with the flood and the restart of humanity.
The third millennium corresponds to beauty (tiferet) associated with Torah. It was in the year 2448 that the Torah was given on Mt. Sinai, in the very middle of the that millennium.
The fourth millennium corresponds with the sefirah of victory (netzach) and in it both the First and Second Temples were constructed in Jerusalem. Jerusalem (and the site of the Temple in it) is associated with the Hebrew word for “victory” (נֶצַח) as in the phrase, “And the netzach is Jerusalem.” The Second Temple was destroyed just before the end of the fourth millennium, 172 years before, and the Alter Rebbe explains in an essay what the significance is that that was the time in which the exile began.
The fifth millennium is paradoxical. Even though it begins the two millennia of Mashiach, as above, it also is when the deepest darkness of the current exile took place. Indeed, the fifth millennia corresponds to the sefirah of “acknowledgment” (hod), which can also be translated as “splendor” and the upheaval in splendor is alluded to in the verse, “My splendor has turned against me to destroy me.” So on the one hand, this is a time predestined for Mashiach and on the other hand, it allows for negative and dark forces to act against us. The fifth millennia in particular is connected with another verse, “From above He sent a fire, down into my bones. He spread a net for my feet, He hurled me backward; He has left me forlorn, in constant misery” (מִמָּרוֹם שָׁלַח־אֵשׁ בְּעַצְמוֹתַי וַיְּרַדֵּנִי פָּרַשׂ רֶשֶׁת לְרַגְלַי הֱשִׁיבַנִי אָחוֹר נְתָנַנִי שׁוֹמֵם כָּל־הַיּוֹם דָּוָה). The final word in this verse, translated as misery (דָּוָה), permutes to spell the Hebrew name of the sefirah of acknowledgment (הוֹד).
After the fifth millennium, we did not yet merit something different and entered the sixth millennium, which corresponds with the sefirah of foundation (yesod). Currently, we are deep into the sixth millennium. Foundation represents the covenant of procreation, which is why so many Torah scholars identified the blemish of the covenant as the reason for the lengthening of the exile, which the fifth and sixth millennia had the potential to end with the coming of Mashiach. It is for this reason that especially since the Ba’al Shem Tov, we say that the Redemption depends on rectifying our covenant by attaching ourselves to the tzaddik of the generation.
1775 Years into the Two Millennia of Mashiach
Currently [2015], we are in the sixth millennium and the year is 1775 years after the beginning of the fifth millennium. Thus, this year 5775 (2015) has the potential of being a year of “In due time,” a description of Redemption that occurs as we said, depending on our awakening from below.
The phrase, “in due time,” comes from the verse, “I, Havayah, will speed it in due time” (אֲנִי הוי' בְּעִתָּהּ אֲחִישֶנָּה). The plain meaning of this prophecy is that when due time comes for the Redemption to occur, God will make it progress swiftly. When a kaytz arrives, like this year, then we must do all in our power to make it progress swiftly.
Instilling Hope
Did the Alter Rebbe actually mention the year 5775 in his essay on this verse? If he would have, it would have been very surprising, because 5775 is so far in the future from when he spoke about this verse. Even Maimonides, who was a completely rational person, when he is beside himself and speaks about a year of a kaytz—a prediction about when the Redemption will occur—does so out of his inner drive and urgency that Mashiach should come “Now.”
It is questionable if a scholar who does not wish for “Mashiach Now” can be considered a great leader of Israel, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe stressed. It is not fitting for a leader to openly state that the Redemption might come in 200 years. The leader must be intent on strengthening the Jewish people, strengthening their faith in the Redemption, and ensuring that they do not despair of it. As Maimonides’ principle of faith states, “Even if he tarries, I will wait for him to come on any given day.”
Thus, when the Alter Rebbe taught this verse from our parashah as alluding to a kaytz, he did not mention 5775. The notion that 5775 is a special year is not explicitly mentioned in that essay. Still, there is a secret tradition in Chabad (which the Rebbe gave permission to make public) that the verse does allude to 5775. But in the Alter Rebbe’s essay, he identifies the year 5603 (1843) as the year that is a kaytz.
Once more, discussing a kaytz is an absolutely extraordinary thing for the Alter Rebbe, and for Chabad in general, just as it was for Maimonides. Still, a prediction was given. As we know, the Mashiach himself is considered “extra-ordinary,” which is why the Talmud refers to him as “Caesar,” an “emperor,” suggesting that he is like a child who is born by a Caesarean procedure and is taken out of the wall of his mother’s belly. The Mashiach is an extraordinary individual and so we find extraordinary discussion of his appearance.
(from a class given on 7 Tishrei, 5775)
