Gog and Magog: Characteristics of the End of Days - Part 1 - Rabbi Yirmiyahu Ullman

for the week that you guys are here and for the number of sessions that we'll have together what um i was asked to do is a series on some of the more metaphysical teachings in judaism so what i'm recovering is the general flow of events from the end of days then the period which we call armageddon or the wars of gog the words of armageddon and then moving into the tourist teachings on the world to come what that means and possibly we'll get into the discussion of resurrection as well so that's generally the direction that we're taking the end of days the wars of armageddon the world to come and resurrection today we'll be talking about the first part of this kind of flow events which is the end of days the end of days in the uh more talmudic literature is called okay the end of days the rabbidic literature calls it which means the period which is on the heels of the coming of mashiach so it's actually referring to the period up to and even including at least part of the period of mashiach after that period after coming in and the resolution of things in a more positive way we would call that more the period associated with the world to come the period of ichibas or let's say the end of days in general is divided into basically three three periods the first period is the period which is the warming up of the world towards the coming of meshiach the second period would be the period which could also be very tumultuous just before and even during the actual appearance of meshiach those would be the first two phases and then after that you've got this period of the world to come so it is really referring to or or let's say put it this way according is referring to all of those periods if she's referring to the first the first two the characteristics of this version are spelled out in great detail in our sources and that's part of what we're going to go through the sheets that i gave you is a list of specific descriptions of the shiva which we'll be talking about later on at the very end of the towards the end of the talk today but before we actually get through the specific list of description or this this this list of specific aspects of of the exponential we have to understand some of the background information first of all very important qualification we have to remember is that when we're talking about the types of cataclysmic world-changing tumultuous events that are described in our sources as taking place during this period the final period approaching the period of redemption it doesn't necessarily have to happen in that grandiose cataclysmic uh tumultuous type of a way it can happen a much more pleasant and smooth and fluid beneficial point as well it really all depends on us and we'll see more about that as we go along to extend to which we merit the redemption or to extend to which god has to impose that redemption on the world if we merit it of course things will be much more fluid and otherwise it could be potentially much more difficult the um sources for example in the book of daniel talk about and give us an indication that the the suffering that might be as a result of getting the world prepared for the coming of meshiach and the resolution of this whole question about whether god exists and what does he want from us the description in daniel describes a scenario which is understood by the commentaries to be much worse than anything the jewish people ever experienced much worse than the exile in egypt much worse than the destruction of the first temple or the second temple and arguably even worse than god forbid the most tragic event that's happened to the jewish people in recent times which is the holocaust although there are some people who say that the actual event of and the suffering the jewish people of the holocaust represented the actual crescendo the pinnacle of this period of ich mizrashicha and from that point on it's really all in the position in the movement of getting better and better it's hard to know for sure where the holocaust fits into the way things are going to play out but in any case um the the sources describe that this period of ikla mishika which are on the heels of the coming of meshiach is not going to be an easy period at all the um the gomorrah in sanhedrin actually records one of the sages of the talmud saying as follows let it come but let me not be there to witness it meaning i certainly want the events of the world to come into fruition and so that all the prophecies will come true and all of the tension the spiritual tensions in the world will be resolved but it's going to involve so much calamity so much dissonance that let it come but i don't want to be there it's too much there's too much suffering the vilna gone actually describes it to labor pains saying that just as labor and the difficulties of labor or let's yeah of of pregnancy increase towards labor and then within labor itself as birth approaches the labor pains become greater and greater and more frequent so too when the world is this new situation of redemption is birthed into the world the period preceding it is going to involve labor pains and those pains are going to be more and more intense and more and more frequent as we get closer and closer to the birth once that birth occurs meshiach arrives and the world starts to become resolved of all these tensions there will be a great relief but until then right it's going to cause great pain great suffering and people might even be crying out even though they're looking forward to the realization of the birth of redemption but while they're experiencing it it's going to be very very difficult jewish sources reckon when this end of days is going to be right when it's going to be it's important to know that even though throughout jewish history different jewish commentators gave different appointed times for ephesus and the coming of the meshiach none of them so far have come true any estimate of when it would be has already passed that doesn't mean that the uh gamora's discussion about when it will be or commentators kind of extrapolation about when it would be would be wrong what they were doing is they were seeing times junctures in time which would be propitious for the coming of meshiach and all of this process at the end of days that's going to be going to happen if it didn't happen in those appointed times it's not because they were wrong because they were really forecasting times which were propitious for this process what happened was we the jewish people did not merit the redemption taking place at that time in which case it passed but but but but just as they predicted times in the past which didn't occur there there will still be an appointed time sometime in the future for these events that take place that being said the jewish sources the the mourinho hadron in particular talks about a specific time period where within that framework within that spectrum it's most likely for these events to start happening and the the explanation basically as follows that there are two thousand years since creation which are described as tohu uvo does anybody know what that means what's that it's actually a word in english if you check it out in the english dictionary you'll find tohu it's one of those words which in hebrew was accepted as an english word it's in the dictionary literally in hebrew means like void it's the description of the world before it was actually created it's a term in the creation story and the before god crystallized creation creation was in a state of toe it was discombobulated existence fluid without any specific form so the gomorrah says that the first 2 000 years from the time of creation is actually an extension of this period of toho what does that mean we're certainly talking about 2000 years when the world existed as it does now why was it referred to as tohu the reason is because it's based on a teaching which says as follows in the creation story there's a verse which says it was the sixth day and god created all of they have the heavens and earth and all that they contained okay the gomorrah notes a grammatic point in creation it says x y and z happened day one x y and z happened day two the same thing with day three day four day five however on the sixth day of creation the torah says not day six but the sixth day it's from here that our our sages teach the following teaching that when god created he created creation on condition that what that the jewish people should at some time in the future receive the torah on what day the sixth day the understanding of the torah's use of the term yom ha-shi-shi is a reference to the sixth day of the month of sivan which was earmarked for the time when the jewish people would receive the torah and god said if the jewish people will receive the torah on that sixth day of sivan mutav wonderful everything will be great but if not because of course they had free will they could have chosen not to accept it then god says everything will be reverted back to to a state of non-creation meaning the whole purpose of creation was in order that the torah should be part of the world either among humanity in general and if humanity in general forgoes it at least within the jewish people so that they can catalyze it's spreading to the rest of the world but in any case torah is a precondition for creation therefore these first two thousand years from the time the world was created until the torah was given are described as tovo because the world was like in limbo will the jewish people receive the torah or they not will it yes or will they not until they received it we didn't know what the answer was and therefore the world was tantamount to being in a state of toe of oh non-created that's the first two thousand years this first two thousand years is described as being a time where meshiach and akris the end of days is not likely to happen and we know it didn't why is it not likely to happen because there's no instruction yet about how things should be done so i haven't been given it so that brings us to the next period the next 2000 years which is described as the 2 000 years of torah these two thousand years of torah are reckoned from the time of abraham avraham avinu until destruction of the second temple from the time of avram who started to promulgate the teachings of godliness into the world that represented an introduction on a mass scale of the teachings of torah into humanity and avraham was named avraham because he was he became an av a father of many nations abraham is a spiritual father for many many nations how so the jews even though we don't represent very many but he's also a spiritual father for islam christianity which preceded islam and then islam yeah millions billions of people across the world are spiritual recipients of the teachings of avram so that avraham actually catalyzed the second 2000 period which referred to as the period of torah and this was the period in which the the belief in god is to is to be spread and proliferated and that's how it was done through judaism enlightened to the nations which ignited the interest in god among christianity and then islam it's all there the next two thousand years this is already a period where the world could come to its fruition things could come to the conclusion if humanity accepts the existence of god and the sovereignty of god then that art is moving the world in the right direction if they don't it's also a time in which god could start imposing right the resolution into the world as well so this would also be this would be the first period the next 2000 years when uh when that could happen however it did not happen and that period that period closed according to the ramban it closed appear approximately around the time of the destruction of the second destruction of the second temple rambam makes an interesting point that christianity and islam were actually either tolerated or perhaps even inspired by god in order to wean the non-jewish idolaters away from idolatry and to prepare them for the belief in one god and the rambam actually writes that through the teachings of christianity and islam humanity is asking questions like is there a god is there a mashiach if so who so rambam says that that christianity and islam are actually engaging humanity with a dialogue about belief in god in order to wean them away from idolatry and prepare them for the coming of the mashiach so then you have the next the third three thousand the third period of the two thousand years the third period of the thousand years is called the period of mashiach now meshiah could have come earlier it didn't but beside will come at some time during this last two thousand years we don't know exactly when it will be but according to jewish sources it will certainly be within this last period of 2000 years like you mentioned we're in the year yeah according to jewish sources mashiach has until the year 6 000. how many years do we have left okay 225 years left you guys are good at math yeah a little over 200 years left a lot has got to happen in those 200 years if it's gonna happen okay but the time appointed is going to be that now the uh um the sources say that uh regarding the redemption that it's going to come in what's called in the verse in its time i will bring it speedily the gemara notes that this verse is contradictory i will bring it speedily in its appointed time if it's not at a point in time it can't be sped up and if it's something can be sped up then it doesn't have an appointed time so the one actually explains what this means is there are two ways that it can happen it can happen if we merit it it'll be sped up and brought as soon as possible and that will be beneficial for everybody however even if we don't marry it it doesn't come about on our own accord there is a final appointed time beyond which things cannot continue as they are the world as we know it will change and that would be the year six thousand two hundred and twenty five 225 years from now yeah um when's the last time that you predicted yeah so there were times which were predicted in the past you know there are different calculations different rabbis made different calculations about what those years would be yeah but uh you need this calculation what's that who made this calculation which one oh this is the talmud the talmud says you know the talmud says that the final time where it's promised to happen is the year six thousand if it doesn't happen by then what is it but what if it doesn't happen then what right we'll see yeah but but until that point yeah until that point right we're dealing with that we want we want somebody so we won't have to deal with that problem yeah if it if it doesn't happen god forbid yeah so whoever's living that is gonna have to deal with the theological implications if it's not happening but until that point the jewish sources say that it will happen sometime before the year six thousand sometime before the year six thousand it will happen haven't there been six thousand periods in the past it expired without us meriting the arrival of machia do you mean other cycles previous cycles yes yes you could say that so why why is this cycle different from motorcycles where are we so sure the machine will come with your 6 000 if he didn't you know yeah that that's that's a good question that's a good question if the world was created and destroyed created destroyed you know i'm not saying that's necessarily the case but it's a possibility there's an idea which was out there according to that then you know then they had a period where they could have merited this resurrection this this this this um redemption and they didn't but here within this six thousand cycle we are told that mashiach will arrive and the world will come to this resolution sometime between six thousand years we hope it will be sooner because we married it even if we don't it will be imposed upon the world that will be the scenario that is described in this yummy these final days which are not described in the most pleasing terms but what is going to be some what's going to be the description of these these final days and let's see whether that corresponds to anything that we're experiencing nowadays the um one of the uh well there are basically two general characteristics about the period of the end of days which our sources describe and one of it is a rampant belief in a rampant lack of belief in god and jewish sources whether it be the prophets or whether it be the talmud talk about how towards the end of days there is going to be a mass departure on behalf of the jewish people away from a belief in torah the rambam in his famous iguara teman writes the following he says our sources have already revealed to us that toward the end of the exile as a result of our suffering many jews will come to doubt be led astray and eventually abandon their religion and all this will be because of our lowly position in the exile and the elevated status of the non-jews but a few will still remain loyal and not become confused i thought it was the way around where whatever i always say like if like if every no because we're saying if every jew were to keep shabbat or to touch a bosom then mashiach would come but the point is the description of the jewish people the time of the end of days is not really conducive to that is that in the days the days before yes basically when everybody like stops keeping faith in judaism and everything goes to hell that's when it's not the opposite to where everyone's keeping shabbat so what that teaching is saying is that if everybody at any time in history were to do that yes then it would come but but even that statement even that statement resonates with the origin with the other teaching that we're dealing with why because that's assuming a situation where people are not keeping shabbat and if everybody were to keep shabbat then would be shiv would come so it actually right it's actually in line with what we're saying here the prediction is that towards the end of days the jewish people are going to be by and large lacking a belief in god at that time if something were to stir them to a great level of observance and everybody would keep the shabbat simultaneously in the name of god in the shabbos so that would be a way of catalyzing the coming of a mashiach in a good way but it's not going to necessarily it's not just gonna happen that way it's conditional do you think it's gonna be kind of reproached and you shouldn't should basically follow this piece of paper no we want them to come earlier this is like if yeah yeah you came in you came in a bit late five nine nine nine four five nine nine yeah so you came in you came in a bit later let me just read at the point and then i want to go on which is that the prediction of things happening in a non-pleasant way is a result of the jewish peoples not observing but they certainly have the option at any time to turn back to god in which case the redemption will take place in a much more fluid and pleasant way so it's on condition yeah so it could happen that we bring in early just because we're doing the right thing or if it doesn't happen then it's going to turn to this where it's like it's going to hit the bottom yes yes yes that's the idea yeah at its point of time i will speed it up which is this which is uh which is um which is self-contradictory all right so why wouldn't we just yeah why wouldn't what well yeah why wouldn't we just if we could speed it up by doing the opposite and then flipping it around spit over doing opposite which we could speed it up through observance let's get yeah if this is the prediction why don't we speed up this prediction as opposed to the other no because you're not going to bring it about any faster by being worse on the contrary right being worse is just going to delay it the way to speed it up is by returning to god returning to god will catalyze god's returning in full to the world what the problem the problem with the the what this teaching is saying is the promise which is even if the jewish people do not return to god and even if they reach the lowest of the low god still guarantees that he's going to do a restart on the world right but that restart is going to you know involve shutting things down and and and you don't want to shut off your computer unnecessarily yeah but you might have to override everything press the restart button yeah but but that will happen that's the point it's a guarantee that even if we don't deserve it it's going to happen in some final time but when it happens in that way it's actually going to be imposed on the world against its will and that's not going to be pleasant yeah um why do so many people believe in uh false messiahs and why do so many people believe in foster science yeah like why do like one billion plus people actually believe jesus was like messiah so this this this gets back to the point that i was saying in the name of the rambam where uh in preparation in preparing the world to make the choice to receive the meshiach god has an intermediary stage of weaning the idolaters away from their idolatrous beliefs and introducing them to the ideas of monotheism and christianity and islam according to the rambam is about uh doing that introducing the teachings of monotheism into the world even if it means an intermediary stage where they're lacking clarity but they do believe in the concept of mashiach at some point it will be clear that who the messiah really is but but in the meantime christianity and islam are like vehicles through which monotheism being spread into the world in order to get all of humanity on board with the questions about is there god or is there not what does it mean that there's one god what does it mean that the world should be something the world can be rectified and should be and we have responsibility in doing so and that this will ultimately come into fruition through mashiach and the revelation of god in the world these are all things that christianity and islam are engaged with and engaging humanity with as well so would you rather be if someone wasn't jewish would you rather than be a developed christian or muslim rather than non-jewish rather than a dieter yes but not but but you'd rather them be you'd rather than be a noahide you know which is somebody who is a uh a who believes in monotheism as strictly defined by the torah for non-jews that would be the ideal yeah but but the point is that rama says that god is actually using christianity and islam as a way as a vehicle through which humanity is being brought back to the state of eden which is where it started we do find you know you're talking about believing in believing in false messiahs i wasn't sure exactly what you meant but we do find that in modern times the human desire and yearning for redemption has taken the form of believing in false messiahs most of them ending with the term ism socialism communism nationalism capitalism yeah all of these winds of isms that are blowing through the modern world at a very fast rate are all about this type of thing it's like an expression of humanity's developing yearning for a reference rectification of the world putting their belief in some type of messiah but since these are false messiahs it can actually end up in a very destructive belief for example the combination of nationalism and socialism national socialism which wasn't very good for humanity but the point is all of these winds of isms are being stirred by this period of history approaching the coming of mashiach where the world is approaching its fruition where things are coming into right into a preparation for mashiach another uh general category categorizing in our sources of this period is not only a lack of belief on the part of the jewish people in god but also a lack of commitment to the torah in mitzvot and we see yeah 2000 years ago our sources already predicted the period that we live in where most jews across the globe do not believe in god and if they do believe in god it's only a very weak and tenuous belief and even those don't really believe in the torah being divine or if they do that the torah that the mitzvahs are relevant which means that by and large the majority of the jewish people nowadays unfortunately do not believe in god do not believe in the torah are not committed to the keeping of the mitzvot and this was all predicted thousands of years ago by people who did believe and were committed to performing the midfield so in their prophetic wisdom they already gave us an insight to the period which right to our period which seems to fit the description of the end of days in which case right we should be looking more closely to see whether uh whether in a more specific way our period somehow should indicate to us that we are approaching this period of the end of days which was in fact asserted by many of the scholars of the modern period um starting with scholars from before world war one in between the two world wars and certainly after world war ii but one other introductory comment is based on the villenegon's explanation of the famous story in the torah which talks about how jacob when returning from exile when he was serving lavan you remember right the father of his two wives rachel and leia on his return from his sojourn in exile with lavan he comes into the land of israel and he encounters who his brother asaf yeah and we're told in the story we're told we're told in the tour there that what happened is that yaakov sent his two secondary wives with their children before asav and they bowed down to him and then he sent leia with her children in front of asav and they bowed down to asap and finally he sent rachel and her son and they bowed down before asav at that point right the power of asav was negated and yaakov continued on his way into the land of israel and established the jewish presence there but the vildegon makes the following comment that there's a there's a there's a general rule of thumb the torah masse things that happened to our forefathers were like spiritual prototypes of things that would happen to the jewish people throughout history and he says that this whole story of jacob's returning to the land of israel encountering asav is actually portends what's going to happen to the jewish people upon their returning from the longer exile into the band of israel which is happening right now in our times the jewish people are leaving the exile and returning to the land of israel but first they encounter the forces of asad asav represents the powers in the world which are opposed to torah opposed to belief and what the villenegon says is that that all of the jewish people yeah are going to become subjugated to this outlook of life which is asav and asov generally in jewish sources indicates the modern well not necessarily modern but represents the uh the influence of the european nations on the world and we know that modern history is really a result of western imperialistic uh divving up of the world on part of the european powers and all of the mess that we have in the world today in international politics comes about because of colonialism all of that was because of aesop's voracious desire to consume and be done and be indulgent in the physical world that messes up the jewish plan for things because while judaism records that recognizes the importance of physical of the physical world ultimately the purpose is that it is subjugated to a spiritual end aesop is not about that it's about this worldliness and therefore the the the villenegon says that this story in the torah pretends a time when all of the different groups of the jewish people are going to be subjugated bowed down to the forces of the european influence in the world not only the more peripheral jews which would represent to the secondary wives and their children will bow down to asap not even the more integral jews meaning the jews are closer to belief in practice corresponding to leia one of the primary wives and her children that would refer to the believing and practicing jews but even the jews that correspond to rachel and her son or her sons well joseph and she was pregnant with binyamin representing the believing toward jews that are the believing jews who are also torah learners they will all be subjugated to assad and ultimately just as yaakov had this wrestling throughout the night with the angel of god and that that angel was the angel of the nation of asav the result of that wrestling match between jacob and asov was that asov harmed yaakov where you know the story on the thigh his leg okay and the the the the the jewish sources say that this is an indication that at some time in the future meaning the end of days the main way in which asov is going to disable the jewish people is by harming their legs what are the legs the legs are the parts of our body which support us and this represents the powers that support torah torah is supported upon two pillars the two pillars are number one our children and number two the wealthy people who support torah learning this is indication he says that towards the end of days the jewish people jacob is going to become crippled their support is going to become weakened because asav is going to have such significant inroads into those two pillars upon which the jewish people are supported their children and think about what a problem we're having with jewish education young jewish people wandering away from judaism no longer interested in judaism or the jewish identity more interested in non-jewish culture resulting into intermarriage the children are leaving unfortunately leaving judaism in mass that's the one thing and secondly those who are wealthy are not observant and even observant jews don't find enough reason to support those who are studying torah it's not considered to be important enough for the preservation of the jewish people and for those two reasons right towards the end of days even rachel and joseph which represent the pillar of torah among the jewish people is going to become weak and crippled these are the kind of general um descriptions of the end of days which we actually see unfolding before our very eyes a departing in mass of the jewish people from belief in god a lack of commitment to the mitzvot and in particular right a weakening of commitment on the part of the children on a part of those who study torah and it's for this reason that uh that we're having such a problem with intermarriage and and people departing and choosing other other other other options you know aside from from the jewish options this is kind of the um the overview of the general period of the end of days now let's go into more specific descriptions one by one of the teachings regarding um what the events of or what the what the mellow of the end of days is going to be like so this is where you have this package now this um sheet does anybody have one does every anybody not have so this is based on a teaching in the gemora in sota page 49b and the gomorrah there in sota enumerates descriptions characteristics of the end of days let's go through them one by one the first one is insulins will increase insulins will increase what does this mean this universal hedonistic materialistic self-indulging approach to life which really characterizes the modern world a voracious insatiable appetite to devour and to consume and to please and to receive pleasure right this is what's going to increase in the world secondly educated children have no interest whatsoever in spirituality it's all about material benefit getting the grade in order to get into the school in order to get the job in order to get the money in order to have the greatest income in order to what go on and on and on join the rat race the evidence cycle of earning money but so many of these wealthy people are so poor they're so unhappy in life why because they're constantly running after something which is essentially ephemeral and fleeting but this is going to be one of the main characteristics of the end of days which is this insolence will increase people are going to be interested only in hedonistic self-fulfilling self-fulfillment and indulgence after a material type of a lifestyle i don't think we see any culture like our own where advertising and money and marketing is emphasized so greatly in order to call upon and stir up people's desires billboards are full of right tempting tempting ads yeah take a sip of this yeah whether this is a beverage whether this is a woman whether this is a vacation whatever millions and millions of dollars right go into advertising in order to make sure you buy what they want you to want and they market it and they produce it and they sell it and you consume it in a way which makes sure you're going to come back for more and more and more and more and if there's something new you've got to get it and soon that will become old you've got to replace it or you've got to upgrade it more and more and more and more and that's what we find nowadays why because people are lacking the true perspective of the value of a spiritual life as well again i'm not saying materialism is not important but it's only important so far it is subjugated and uses and serves the the path towards spirituality there should be a marriage between the two but when spirituality is divorced from the material quest that results in insolence increasing the second characteristic is the man of virtue will become perverse the warrant in hedren says that in the time which the son of david meaning mashiach will come the generation will become extremely brazen and a man of virtue will become perverse rash explains right what this means is that people who otherwise should be honored will be despised but the swindlers the ones who should be least respected of all are the ones who are elevated in order to emulate and that's exactly what you find nowadays anybody's making a buck it doesn't matter even it's in an ingenuous way everyone wants to know why how did he do that wow that's great look how much power he has look how much wealth he has amassed yeah and therefore the people who are not necessarily the greatest people in the world are nevertheless the ones who are the most respected why because they are successful in a world which is hedonistically oriented which means they have the key of power which in that part which in that society is money or it's wealth or it's belongings or it's would you say women yeah women yeah yeah and therefore right a pimp yeah somebody's done another pimp yeah because like greatly respected wow that guy's really got the great life right he's part of the jet set he drives around with a lamborghini changing the person in the front seat every day or a few times a day wow that's great what an accomplishment yeah what are you going to say oh i'm going to say also like well i was thinking john gotti like in the 90s but i was also thinking like maybe somebody not just money and fortune but something like that like fame somebody like bruce jenner who does something and people and then he gets like an aspie award for it yeah sure yeah i mean uh-huh when people when like young girls have cancer and they you know and they're the ones who deserve the spirit like don't get it right right right right and even we find even the jewish world my people are honored for the contribution to promulgating jewish values in the world and they themselves are not jewish or married to non-jews it's like a farce yeah why because we are why because the person happens to be a successful actor yeah or very wealthy patron and therefore right this would represent the type of thing that we're talking about that the uh the man of virtue will come perverse what this means is that a person who is truly a man of virtue will be despised by others while a person is truly despicable will be admired the third thing is the vine will grow its fruit yet wine will be expensive the vine will grow at sprut means there's going to be plenty of material bounty and according to the laws of supply and demand everything should be cheap but the problem is despite the material bounty everything's going to be artificially much more expensive why because again the wisdom behind the marketing finds ways of making you part from your money in the best way possible which means that you should be spending as much as possible as frequently as possible so that what is in your pocket should be in mine right yeah so therefore there's gonna be plenty of bounty plenty of blessing look at all the advertisements look at all the billboards look at all of the consumptions they're in blades look at all these great stores yeah yeah but all of it is all for the purpose of generating ways and mechanisms to get the money out of our pockets and into somebody in somebody else's another explanation here is that prices will be artificially jacked up because despite the plenty food for example will be artificially wasted in order to keep prices up there's plenty of food to provide for the poor even for free or for very cheap but in order to sustain the market the food is intentionally destroyed in order to keep the prices artificially high and that's considered to be a a a voracious form of materialism which is which is which is going to characterize this period of agriculture um the fourth the fourth is the government will turn to apostasy the government will turn to apostasy this is referring to jewish government in particular right even though the jewish people should be re-ruled by torah-believing jews and jews who are observant and who are regulating society jewish society according to the teachings of the torah the jewish society and the leaders in particular the government will turn to apostasy and what this is referring to is the prediction that at the end of days when the jewish people return to the land of israel uh as as yaakov himself returned to the land of israel initially they're going to be ruled by a government of non-believers and unfortunately as we know that the early zionist movement and it's the position of most of the positions in zionism today is to uproot the jewish people from the torah any jewish or torah aspects of israel are basically concessions but not something which is actually tolerated or even desired and therefore unfortunately we see that the government of the returning jews to the land of israel at the end of days before the period of the coming of is predicted as being this non-jewish excuse me this non-religious is not observant this non-uh believing government of israel and the gomorrah says that mashiach cannot come until the apostasy of this non-observant government is removed and the laws which are antithetical to the laws of judaism should be nullified yeah is that why you see a lot of very religious and observant jews that are anti-zionist yeah that's true yeah yeah that's true i mean they're anti-zionists in so far as they uh they oppose the fact that many aspects of the zionist movement are about uprooting jews from judaism yeah they're not against the return of jews to israel they're not against living jews living in the land of israel but but things are better now than they were initial than they were initially but but but many programs and agendas of the early zionist movement were outwardly directed towards uprooting jews jews from jewish observance and the immigration of jews from the eastern countries was part and parcel with removing them from torah removing them from the traditional form of lifestyle in order to amalgamate all of the jews worldwide into the new israeli devoid of any religious belief or practice you know and and uh and sometimes this happened in in in very ugly ways children were even kidnapped from their families in order to be taken to be raised in ways which were against the tort against the way of their parents and i know this firsthand i know this firsthand and it certainly happened and it's been documented happening among the the the yemenite communities in israel as well again i'm not it's not my intention to entirely deface zionism i'm just saying that that that this is also part of the prediction that towards the end of days the period that we're living in the jews will return to israel but initially they're going to be governed by a a a non-religious non-observant government which actually has a an agenda of of non-observance yeah what's the point of the return to israel if you're not going to be observant and follow are you asking on the torah's point of view tj's point of view or or or or that zionist movement point of view ask the zionists yeah here we're in yeshiva but uh i get you know the i mean certainly uh certainly on another level these people were reacting on the one hand to uh anti-semitism and they felt like the return of the body of the jewish people in the land of israel would be a way of solving the jewish problem independence of just physical security independent of jewish observance so this would answer why for example a jew might justify returning to the land of israel even though he's not going to observe the torah because he's looking for a safe haven for his people so they have strong feelings about the jewish people like many jews have nowadays yeah but but they're not interested in jewish observance but this will represent kind of like the first the physical redemption of the jewish people making a jewish renaissance by bringing the body of the jewish people back into the land of israel even if it's not observant for the purpose of ultimately preparing the jewish the body of the jewish people for the next stage which is to infuse that body with the soul the soul being the spirit of belief and practice and therefore this is also part of the divine plan in preparation for the end of days god of course is behind directing the worldwide return of jews to the land of israel even if it's under the guise of zionism without torah the purpose is to prepare the jewish people for um being infused with this this the soul of redemption through a lot of these they might sound ridiculous but they all sound like from like islamic state kind of thing right now a lot of these values and things right are happening right now yeah the only difference is that um it would be our position that the implementation of belief and practice would not be in a perverse and violent way we're not talking about like beheading people i'm not talking about like man of birth should become perverse in like a funny way like they are growing their fruit but things are becoming costly because they're not enforcing things like things yeah oh you mean to say that the negative is proving this uh-huh does it mean to say i i misunderstood you you mean to say that they behave all these things literally okay very good so that's also a possibility i'm i'm directing the criticism more towards the prevalent kind of western culture that's spread out through the world but uh if you see similarities in that respect then that's also possible let's do the fifth one there will be no admonition what this means is that in people's pursuit of physical pleasures they are not going to be open to any rebuke you're not allowed to tell anybody what you're doing is wrong that's politically incorrect let everybody do what they want let everybody fulfill their hearts desires let everybody fulfill whatever it is that they want to do and don't get in their way why because life is multicolored life is a rainbow let people do what they want yeah don't get in their way don't admonish nowadays you can't open your mouth if you say anything against anything right then you become public enemy number one you should be able to say anything as long as it's not expressing a religious point of view yeah that you can't do quiet number six the house of the wise will serve prostitution what does this mean the house of the wise will serve prostitution two explanations one explanation the house of the wise meaning the governments the places in which the chosen of the people reside they will serve prostitution governments will serve all of this type of all of this type of of consumption another explanation of this is that the why excuse me the wisest people in society their intelligence will be harnessed for what for the purpose of prostitution like we said before wise people will not be harnessed to contribute positively to society as much as the greatest minds in the generation to be used to figure out all of these platforms and all of these mechanisms and venues through which we can exploit other people so the house of the wise is going to be used for prostitution the seventh one is the galilee will be destroyed and israel's borders will be desolate in our times we see that the northern part of israel is attacked again and again by hezbollah and by all the other terrorist organizations we now have isis as you mentioned on the borders in the north think about what's happening there in syria there have been times in the not too distant future when thousands of jewish inhabitants vacated their homes in the galilee in the north of israel to come temporarily settle in the middle of israel to get out of the missiles range and we find the same thing happening in the south people vacating the villages and the towns and the mosham and the kibbutzim in the south because of the barrage of missiles coming from the gaza strip so all of these border inhabitants are being moved removed from their homes yeah and the places are left to be desolate why because nobody is settling there number eight the border inhabitants will roam from city to city and no one will pity them this seems to be a very clear reference to the fact that those jewish inhabitants that were encouraged to settle in all of israel including the area which is called the gaza strip were forcibly removed from the government promised that they would be recompensed and receive homes within israel and to this day there are still inhabitants who were coaxed to leave their homes in order to give them over to the enemies of israel under the promise that they would receive housing in israel and all types of grants to help them become reintroduced into israel designing and they're roaming from place to place they got nowhere to go number nine the wisdom of the scholars will come odious and those who fear god will be despised what is this reference to anybody who's observant all the more so somebody who learns torah is despised in the eyes of the general populist he's a parasite he's not contributing anything positive to the world he's just a drain and a strain on society nobody cares and recognizes the value of torah and therefore people despise what torah scholars and observant people in general have to contribute to society the tenth thing is the men of truth will flee this is a reference to the fact that people who do want to espouse torah teachings they will be ostracized and removed and find a need to depart from society why because they have no place there they have no um they have no way of feeling at home there there are quite a few other of the things on the list here i don't want to go through all of them but one in particular i do think we should go before we break is we'll read through quickly youth will insult the elders and the aged will stand before the youth who we see even nowadays that uh in the old days people would stand or give their chairs for older people now elderly people stand why the young people sit and even elderly people buy into it by worshiping youth and and and every second old man is taking viagra in order to contin extend his youth into his old age right this youth worship is practiced even by the elderly the son will dishonor the father the daughter the daughter is i but the mother right sons don't care about the admonition their fathers anymore they openly do whatever they want and the father the father can't say anything about it and usually that's because the father does the same things so he's going to tell the son not to do what the father is doing or a mother a daughter won't won't accept the admonition of her mother when she says preserve yourself guard yourself protect yourself she's mom you're you're outdated right it's old news the uh thirteenth thing is a man's enemies will be members of his own family think about nowadays children plot the death of their parents in order to receive the inheritance while the parents are still alive and you have all types of internation challenges and competitions between people in order to demand and families are destructed as a result of that yeah i'm sorry that kind of thing happened in like royal families as well yes that's true yes yes yes that's true yeah that's true that's true but but it's also a reference to the way in which the general family fabric has has just deteriorated and even in times of old uh there might have been those types of things but the general family structure was intact and nowadays there's really a little left of it uh 14 the face of the generation will have the appearance of a dog what this means uh is that um that the consumption of non-acceptable non-kosher things will make human beings much more animalistic so that their faces become dog-like and they'll no longer have the special unique human glow that is that is particular to human beings and different than animals that's one explanation another explanation is that um when you see somebody walking his dog it looks like the dog is leading the owner because the dog is walking ahead but you don't realize the dog has a way of ever so subtly looking back to see which way the master is going and it adjusts its course accordingly so too the leaders of the generation have the face of a dog meaning the leaders look like they're leading the generation but they're actually being led but they're actually being led by their followers so that the generation is looking behind to see what the constituents are saying and as a result of that they are making their decisions and the third explanation what it means about the generation having the face of a dog is that when you throw a stick at the dog the dog bites the stick it lashes out against the stick but not the one who threw it so too in this generation god is sending us all types of messages in the form of throwing sticks at us wake up you're going the wrong way and what we do is we lash out at the sticks and we say this is happening for that reason or this reason or the other reason i don't realize like a dog that really these are sticks being sent to us by god to tell us hey you're going the wrong direction wake up readjust your path the 15th and the final of the things which are listed here is the son will not be embarrassed in front of his father and we mentioned that not only will the son not honor the father not only will the son not hearken or take into consideration the opinions of the father because of course the father is closer to being in a neanderthal but really he is going to not be embarrassed in front of his father and the most brazen way do things uh in front of his very own father things which would generally be considered unacceptable but in now a day's age of openness of tolerance of being politically correct of it being impossible to uh castigate anybody trevor man anybody the son is open to do whatever he wants and he's not embarrassed about his father at all and i mentioned a key reason for that might where he will be because the father himself is doing those very same things that the son is doing so the son says what are you telling me not to do it you yourself do it what's your father going to say yeah but i'm 38 and you're only 18. what's the song going to say what's the difference if you can do a 38 i should be able to do 18. and he goes ahead and he does it so these i think are a list of 15 things which our sources say will indicate the period of ich bazar mishika the type of orgy astic uh indulgent materialistic non-spiritual approach towards the end of days things which we see coming into fruition in our very times this sets the stage for the next period of the end of days which is the wars of armageddon and the next time you meet that's what we're going to talk about armageddon and the wars of gog and magog okay you