Iran, Gog and Magog & the Final War Before Messiah — What Does Prophecy Reveal? Rabbi Hajioff

There is going to be an individual who is going to appear right before Mashiach ben David is revealed and he is real evil. Armilos may work alongside Gog and Magog and its one goal is to take over and kill all the Jewish people and his main target is Mashiach ben Yosef. Aleph Resh Mem Yud Lamed >> [music] >> Vav Samech comes to 347, the king of Rome. >> Welcome back to the podcast. My [music] name is Aaron Sokol and you're watching Parsha Inspired. My guest today is Rabbi Lawrence Rabbi welcome to the podcast. >> Thank you so much Rabbi Sokol. It's a pleasure to be back on your show. One of the more mysterious figures [music] in Jewish eschatology is the figure of Armilos and I think that there's something very important that the audience needs to know. So who is Armilos? >> Okay, thank you so much. Well, this is a character if you ask most Jewish people even observant ones who learn and study Torah even Kabbalah they've never heard of this individual. However, pretty mainstream. We know that we pray for the coming of Mashiach in the 18 now 19 blessings that we say three times a day and half of it almost is almost us praying for the coming of Mashiach. I want to read you one of the blessings and there's a little addition that's added into many many sidurim which people miss. And the blessing is asking God in the middle of the Amidah to help us build Jerusalem. Tishkon betoch Yerushalayim. We ask God to put his Shechinah, his holy presence back into Jerusalem, our holy city, the capital of Israel and the entire Jewish people. Ir Chah, it's your city God. Vechi sei David avdacha and please the throne of King David may your servant Meheira very quickly betochah tachin may it set. You'll see at this point this little parenthesis in many siddurim that say Y'chaven at this point a person should palal pray al Mashiach ben Yosef. For Mashiach ben Yosef? This is not Mashiach ben David. This is Mashiach ben Yosef, the descendant of Yosef, the son of Jacob through his son Ephraim. Sheyichyeh, that he should live. V'lo yamut, and he should not die. Al y'dei Armilos Rasha. Through Armilos the Rasha. That is what the siddur is telling us to think while we say these words about the building of Jerusalem. And yet we see this character called Armilos that the siddur is saying, "By the way, be wary of this individual." And who is he? So we have written in a few places. Probably the main one is Rav Saadia Gaon. Rav Saadia Gaon was one of the great leaders of the Jewish people, and the Gaonim literally means the geniuses, but it's actually a time period before the Rishonim. The Rishonim are from the 1100s, 1200s. So this actually right precedes that time. And he writes about this in one of his books, Emunot v'Deot. And he says that there is going to be an individual who is going to appear right before Mashiach ben David is revealed. And he is real evil. This individual and the army that he controls is not like Gog and Magog. Gog and Magog, as we spoke of before, is a political, maybe a strategic movement that is going to come from either Russia, we can talk about, definitely Paras, Persia. But Armilos may work alongside Gog and Magog and is pure thorough evil. And its one goal is almost like the Nazis, to take over and kill all the Jewish people. And his main target, says Rav Saadia Gaon, is Mashiach ben Yosef. So, who is Mashiach ben Yosef? And what exactly is the challenge over here? So, the Gemara in Sukkah tells us 52a discusses the potential death of Mashiach ben Yosef that we already just spoke about that we're praying should not happen. We're praying to God that Armilus should not kill Mashiach ben Yosef. Mashiach ben Yosef could be an individual, but it could well be a movement, a national revival of the Jewish people in the land of Israel. So, Armilus is making a direct threat to Israel, to the Jewish people in Israel, and actually trying to bring down all of Am Yisrael and Klal Yisrael through very evil machinations. That is who Armilus is. They are trying They are part of the um destruction of the land of Israel. Now, I want to share with you cuz I'd take a bit of a deep dive into this. The gematria of the name Armilus, aleph, resh, mem, yud, lamed, vav, sameach, comes to 347. And one of the Kabbalistic sources I found late last night when I was looking preparing for this is that it's the same as Melech Romi, the king of Rome. There seems to be some Roman connection. When we say Rome, we mean Rome being the center of the Catholic Church, the Vatican, which we can speak about as well. And there's a lot of problems that are stirring up from that place. So, Armilus also represents false Messianism. That is how other uh writings talk about it. So, there's some evil force that exists in the world right now, as represented by Armilus, which we pray to God every single day, three times a day, should not come and hurt the Jewish people specifically in the land of Israel. So, Yehezkel the prophet tells us, chapter 38:10, "For shashavta machshevet ra'ah." Gog and Magog has many evil plans. So, there are people out there today which we both follow and listen to who clearly identify Gog and Magog as coming from Russia. And they believe that Putin seems to signify the vision of Gog and Magog. It could be. There are a few things that we know, according to Yehezkel, Ezekiel the prophet, chapter 38:12-13, that Gog's objectives include a number of things. Number one, tell taking wealth and possessions, something which Putin seems to do with abandon. He's probably, I mean, the wealthiest individual in the entire world, mostly through his uh taking of other people's possessions and their wealth. Conquering territory, that seems to be something that Gog and Magog are very adept and very much want to do. Acquiring political and military power is something that Gog and Magog are into doing. And this is most important, exploiting nations that appear vulnerable. They seem to go for the weak nations that seemingly, when they at least initially attack them, don't have much way to protect themselves. That is why Gog is described as they have terrible um machshavot, thoughts, about bringing destruction into the world. They seem to be some kind of imperialist nation is how uh we want to who want to uh acquire wealth, territory, but world dominance. There are those that say that Armilus is the military wing that actually connect together with Gog and Magog. So, Gog and Magog may not actually, as going to sound weird, be after the land of Israel and the Jewish people. They're just doing their own dominance to take over the world. But Armilus, some say the word Armilus is connected to Romulus, right? The original founder of Rome. He says that it could be that um Armilus is specifically within Gog and Magog right now, targeting and trying to take over and kill the Jewish people. And it's important because the whole war of Gog and Magog, from our perspective, is attacking the Jewish people in the land of Israel specifically around Jerusalem. So, it could be, and this is my conjecture, of course, it could be that the Persian Empire that we're seeing today, these Ayatollahs who are controlling uh the Persian people, right? The Iranians, are actually the military wing who are dead set, hell-bent on destroying the Jewish people in the land of Israel. And all of their activities around, and by the way, this is happening right now. We're hearing on the news every single day, lo leinu, shouldn't happen, please God, that they are planning on attacking the land of Israel again and restarting this entire war. We say that's Gog and Magog, which I believe it is. However, I think that they could well be the Armilus section within Gog and Magog. >> When the prophet said that I create good and I create evil, God was saying that I evil is not a separate entity, and it is simply a a way of testing our faith. >> The Jewish concept of the of the Satan of Satan is very different to how the Christians look at it. We don't see it as some independent entity that is fighting against God. Heaven forbid such a thought. It's so so diametrically opposed to everything we believe as a Torah-observing Jews. Satan is something that God uses in order to invoke a response from us to help us become better people. It is what God uses to test us and to bring out potentially the best within us. So, there are evil forces in this world. There's no doubt about it. Like, evil does exist. We're not People who say, "Ah, there's It is good in everything." Ultimately, there is evil and it needs to be eradicated. Now, there is free will. These people, these nations have a choice to make when it comes to either fight against the Jewish people or not. It could be nations. It could be individuals. People People who we see online all the time, the Tucker Carlson of this world, who have made an absolute deliberate free choice decision to attack the Jewish people and to bring harm to our nation. These people will be punished severely for what they're trying to do. There's no doubt about it. And yet, at the same time, it's God who allows them to have free will and to act against us. So, yes, they do represent evil in this world. However, really it comes from God and all these are challenges and opportunities for us. God is is leading history. He's giving us a chance to respond, which we need to do. That's important. We should just sit back passively and take punches and be like, "Ah, this is what God wants." There are those who've taken that approach. It doesn't work. It didn't work during World War II. It hasn't worked in Israel and it's not working right now. There needs to be a response, a strong response to evil in this world. People are given free will. They make decisions. So, yeah. If this is very reminiscent, by the way, of um Abraham, Abraham was told that his descendants would be slaves among a nation. And that nation is not identified. We end up knowing who that nation is. It's Egypt. And we lived in Egypt for hundreds of years and suffered greatly under their hand. Why doesn't God tell Abraham who that nation is going to be? That would have been helpful. He could have probably avoided the country rather than trying to actually go there, which he did. It was Mitzrayim. And the answer is because at that point, it could well be that that nation had not actually stood up to identify itself, to volunteer. There were various nations who could have been the ones who hurt the Jewish people and made us into slaves and tortured us and killed us. But it was the Egyptians in those days who took on that role. It's the same thing today. There could be various nations that make up Gog. Could be various individuals that make up our Milas. There could be various people that make up Amalek. And yet, some of them might be like, "I'd rather not do that right now. This is not who I want to be." And they can improve their ways. So, God doesn't specifically identify a nation that's going to hurt us. Instead, he allows them to have free will and decide whether they want to or not. So, the nations of the world have free will. No one is set up. The fact that we have to go through challenges that comes from God. But who's going to volunteer, put their hand up, be like, "Me, me, choose me. I'll end up hurting the Jewish people." That is in their hands. So, everyone can decide whether they become a Satan or a Malach, an angel. >> Talmud in Sanhedrin 95b says that the same number of people that came up against Avraham Avinu were the same number that came up against Hiskiyahu with Sanhedrin's army and are the same number of people that come up in Gog u Magog. And what's the connection? So, what I think is is that when Abraham was promised this land, immediately these people came up and said, "They are protesting God's chosenness of the Jewish people." And that essentially, I think, and maybe correct me if I'm wrong, is what Gog u Magog is. And that's the correlation. >> Oh, absolutely. Without a shadow of a doubt. They You know, we hear stories, which I was in Israel for October 7th, 2023 and I've heard countless stories. I've introduced them myself, met them live as well, of their stories what happened. But there's something I'm seeing right now and hearing this more and more. And they say that when they went into the homes in Gaza, whether it's hostages or as soldiers to free the hostages, to release our our kidnapped soldiers and friends and families, they saw that every house had a picture of Har Habayit, of the Golden Dome, which is actually colonizing our Temple Mount. They know what they're after. They understand. They know better than we do. It's upsetting that they have a better vision, a better hope, a better future in their own minds. Of course, it's not reality. That that mount belongs to them and they want to settle it. And there are stories, and it's hard to even say these words, that while they were hurting and torturing Jewish people during these these years that they held them captive, they would be like, "Yeah, this is for Jerusalem. This is for Temple Mount." They understand. They always have. We, however, have become blind to our own vision, our own future, our own holy mountain and Jerusalem. And King David is telling us, "Don't forget. Talk about Jerusalem all the time." When you say Birkat Hamazon, after you finish eating bread, right? We bench, we say we talk about Jerusalem. What? I'm having a sandwich in New York. What does that got to do with Jerusalem? What is the connection? Every time you eat bread, the staple of your diet, think about Jerusalem. Pray about it. Tehillim, Psalms is full of it. Jerusalem is Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds of times in our scriptures, not mentioned once in the Quran. So, obviously, it's such a major part of who we are. We always put our eyes when you pray, we face towards Jerusalem. And I think I had reason I can't remember who said it, but I heard beautifully that if you don't know which way to face in Jerusalem, turn around. And when you feel yourself getting excited, that's the way to go. Was that with you? Someone mentioned that to me that you can always figure out which way so you can always have in your leave, put your heart towards Jerusalem. This is where we need to put our efforts. This is where we are right now. We're hearing certain politicians in Israel starting to put Jerusalem, the building of Jerusalem, I don't just mean the buildings, that's important. Wait, and that's one of the signs the prophets tell us the Messiah is close when even and Rashi says this, walking around Jerusalem becomes so tight, right? And so squishy that you know Messiah is close. That's one of the signs that we are populating the holy city of Jerusalem. Right now, I must tell you something I I I hadn't informed you of this. I'm in the process together with a small group of us to build a Jewish learning center in Jerusalem that focuses on these teachings. All right, we found a property in the center of Jerusalem, and we're actually uh building it right now. It's formed. Going to take another year and a half or so till it's finished, and we are going to make this Torah learning for all people from all over the world who come to Jerusalem, in the center of Jerusalem, to make this Torah learning of Tanakh and the future and building Jerusalem into our vision of our Jewish future. If you want more details, people can reach out to me, but this is where we are going. This is the future of Am Yisrael, Klal Yisrael, build the land of Israel, become part of Jerusalem. So important, and this is what King David really downloaded, and the Anshei Knesseth HaGedolah, those people who wrote the Siddur were always telling us to pray for Jerusalem, think about it, face it no matter where you are in the world. This is the time. >> Genesis, which we read this week, 11:31, says that Abraham, on his own, left Ur Kasdim, the place of idol worship, and decided to go to Eretz Canaan. But yet, two verses later, which we're going to begin reading next week, God comes to them and commands them to go to the land of Canaan. So, which one is it? Did Abraham go on his own accord and just decide, "I am attracted to Eretz Yisrael" or did he need God to command him? Cuz they both seem to be true in the text. >> Fantastic. Such a great question. So, we know that Abraham was tested with 10 tests. And the first of the 10, according to most opinions, is lech lecha, you have to go. And he doesn't tell him where he's going. Sound familiar, right? You got to just go. Get on the plane, make your way to the land of Israel. And while he's on this journey, he is told the final destination. It's almost as if, say the rabbis, the destination is not so important as it is the journey. What gets even more complicated is once he gets there, there's a famine and he has to leave in order to survive. Israel, Jerusalem are gifts. They're gifts that are given to the Jewish people. And they're one of the three things that we have to acquire with tremendous challenge and difficulty. Any gift that is worth its weight in salt always comes with great um responsibility, with great challenges, but once we are able to overcome it and to acquire it, it becomes ours forever. All the difficulties that Abraham went through in order the faith he had to put into, the just the journey itself, the arrival, the leaving, going back again. All of this was fought for us, his descendants, to finally acquire absolutely the land of Israel and Jerusalem, Israel and Jerusalem specifically. Right? That's why the Akedah, right, the the binding of Isaac took place on that mountain, on the future side of the first and second temple. So, no coincidence. There were many mountains that could have been chosen by God for that to have happened. And yet, Har HaBayit was chosen as if to say, "This place is acquired through sacrifice, but not death. We don't want death because he wasn't killed over there, but the desire to sacrifice one's own thought process, one's own sometimes sanity, just to get close to that place is intrinsic in the spiritual DNA of all the Jewish people from the days of Abraham Avinu right until Messiah. And so, yeah, it's difficult to exactly know how could it be? Why was he not told where he's going? And yet it seems like the journey is as important, if not more important, than the destination itself. I must mention one thing. Sorry, I hope you don't mind, but it just came to my mind. Now, I want you to imagine Abraham Avinu, right? These are the parashah we're talking about right now. Abraham is walking around his entire life telling people don't kill your children for God. How do most people in those days, right, the pagans? They were sacrificing their children, right, to their quote-unquote small g gods. That's what they were doing. And comes along God, and he tells Abraham Avinu, "I want you to go, take your son, Isaac Yitzchak, and take him up to that mountain, and bring him up as a sacrifice." Imagine what Abraham is thinking to himself. He must think to himself, "What? Are you Are you out of your mind? I've been telling people for decades, don't kill your children for God, and here I am going to do it. Can you imagine that journey that he took which I saw with my own eyes, right, leading up, and he's moving up through Jerusalem, and he's making his way, and people are coming up to him like, "Abraham, where are you going?" He goes, "Well, just going for a walk." "With your your son Yitzchak, yeah?" "To do what?" "Go to that mountain." "What are you going to do?" "I have to kill him." "Sorry, who told you to do that?" "God did." "The same God that you've been telling us has been saying don't kill your children, now telling you to do this?" What would Abraham Avinu have to say? I was wrong. Every single belief that he has been proposing to humanity for decades and decades with his wife Sarah, he's now going to have to admit it. Now, he wasn't wrong like cuz in the end God told him to stay his hand and not kill him. So, for us, it's a lesson. We don't kill our children for God. Something that the other nations need to learn and need to understand. We don't want to kill our children for God. And but for Abraham, it was a test of faith. And he won it and he overcame it and it's considered his 10th and final test. So, the first test is Lech Lecha, to go, and the 10th test was the binding of Yitzchak, of Isaac, and that brought him full circle. And these 10 tests, say the rabbis, exist within us all the time. And actually, say that in Sifsei Chaim, that your entire life is actually divided up into 10 tests, just like Abraham had had. There's the Lech Lecha test to move, to go, to grow, and then there's the final sacrifice. Something that has to actually almost defeat your logic. And you have to overcome that intellectual test as well. That's all part of God. Is that the Satan? God forbid. That's God himself testing us in order to bring out our greatness. >> There's another test that's happening right now here in Israel, which is a test of unity. The test as Israel rises up, there are new realities that are happening and right now there there seems to be a a division which uh was actually right before October 7th, not many people remember the divisiveness that was within the Jewish community. Um I I want to play with you a 1-minute clip up for a second by Rabbi Breitowitz, Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz. >> the whole idea that the Noach versus the Avram, the self-preservation versus the need to give and share. It's really a conflict that we face in our own lives all the time. All the time. A Yid has to give. A Yid has to share. A Yid has to be involved in helping others in all sorts of ways. But at the same time, there also needs to be kind of a break, an internal break that one does not get corrupted, one does not get degraded, and and the like. And where you strike the balance, well, to a large degree, uh it's one of the major issues in religious society, particularly in Israel, but also in other countries as well. Meaning, how much do I get involved? God forbid I absolutely not want to uh get involved in any politics, but um I'm sure you're aware well, elections are coming up, obviously, and I'm sure you are aware of the the new Haredi party that's on the ground, uh which is a very very very interesting development. Officially, it's Haredi, but they also want to be involved in a constructive way uh with creating national service options, uh with creating opportunities for economic advancement. Very very It's really it's very exciting. And I My reaction, and I can tell you it's mirrored by some very very very Haredi people, is you know, we probably will vote for the party, but we can't say that we will. Uh I'm willing to, you know, put up My My reputation is shot, so I can say it, but uh but I know people who are really really very very high uh in the structure, and they absolutely love what this party represents for the Haredi world, but it is an anti-establishment party in the sense, and therefore it's a bit of a risk for people's reputations to openly endorse it. So, I'm not here to give you an endorsement. You can vote for any anyone you want to, and like you can vote for non-religious parties if you want. I'm not telling you what to do. Uh but what I'm saying is part of the issue that this party is involved in is the issue of openness versus insularity. And then that's the big conflict. To what degree do we need to be the Noah's of the world? And get away from that evil water of secularism. And to what degree do we need to be Avram's who engage? >> What's your thoughts? >> [laughter] >> Great clip. Big big fan of Rabbi Twersky. I used to go to his classes 30 years ago when I was in Yeshiva in Israel. So a very very big fan. Um I have an opinion. Um an interesting distinction. I think what he was saying for those people to understand is Noah was known as being a great tzadik, but he was alone. He didn't convert people. He didn't bring anyone else into the boat with him. He saved his own family. And the rabbi seemed to criticize him while he was a great tzadik and not doing more to engage the world in order to save the people. He just kind of like did his own thing. He was passive in terms of his self-preservation. And then we have Avraham Avinu, the diametric opposite who arrived 10 generations later who spent his entire life engaged with people, helping every single person, bringing them under the kanfei hashchina, under God's holy wings. There is no doubt about it in my mind. And that is we are in the generation of Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu is the one who came to the Jewish people. He's the one who created the Jewish people. He's the one who focused on Israel and Jerusalem. We are in the days of Avraham Avinu. Maybe there were times in history there were Noah generations. I don't know. They don't interest me. They don't have any longevity. They're not focused on us, our people. We are nowhere near the Noah generation. We are the people of Avraham Avinu. This is who we are. These are the words Avraham Avinu, our father. He's called Avinu because everything he represents is being like a father figure to all of us. He's also called ha Ivri. Ivri. Avraham ha Ivri. Hebrew. What does the word Hebrew mean? Hebrew means la'avor. He was on the other side. The entire world was speaking against him. It was like him, Abraham and his wife Sarah as a team against the entire world. Sound familiar? The Jewish people Israel against the entire world, against Gog and Magog, the United Nations and all the nations who are coming against us and boycotting us and attacking us and hurting us. We are in the generation of Abraham Avinu. There's no time for Noah. Those days have, excuse the pun, sailed away. We need to become Abraham Avinu. And if that involves some people being involved in politics, then so be it. But you've got to do something for the Jewish people. Look at all these celebrities. Here in America, in New York and definitely LA, and they use their Judaism as a tool to make funny jokes and make a great living and let's be honest, some of the jokes are funny. When it comes to taking care of their people, having a connection, talking on behalf of their people, even against anti-Semitism, like the most easy basic thing. Think of all those Jewish celebrities who haven't made a single contribution to talk about the stain of anti-Semitism here in America. Forget Israel, just in America. How could this be? They use their Judaism to advance their lives and their thoughts and their jokes in Hollywood, but they're not willing to say one word to talk about their people and of Israel. What have they done for the Jewish people? If I could talk to these people, I've spoken to a couple of them, I would say, "What have you done? What have you done for your people? You're so quick to use your Jewish faith in your Jewish culture, whatever that is, all right, to promote your own careers, but you can't stand up with your people. So, you may not want to go to involve in politics. I don't like politics. I mean, I have a degree in political political science, but it's not who I am. All right, I always say politics is made up of two words, poly and ticks. Poly is many, ticks are blood sucking creatures. Okay, it's a good joke. But in the end, what do we want to do? We want to engage our people, to promote our people. Was Abraham Avinu a political figure? No. He was military. He took military action as a king cuz he was the king of his day and we know that Messiah is going to be a king. You know, everyone has this vision of Messiah being this old rabbi with a long beard, like shuffling along, you know, being the holy Messiah. Could be. I wouldn't have a problem if that's what Messiah is, but it's unlikely. It's more likely Messiah is going to be a political and definitely religious scholar, but his job, even according to the Rambam in the laws of kings, he's going to be a military leader. And actually one of the proofs that he is Messiah is that his military leadership as king is going to help protect Israel and attacks against Jerusalem. That is our vision of a Messiah, of a king. We have room for scholars. We have room for politicians, but we also have room for political, spiritual, religious leaders who are involved in the military sphere. And so I would say that when it comes to the vote between being a Noahide Abraham, it's not 50/50. It's 100% 101% being an Avraham Avinu and a Sarah Imenu today 2026. >> On November 2nd, the Noahides Congress are coming to Jerusalem and they're going to announce that they're with the Jewish people, the representatives of continents around the world. Today, the Noahides as described in Isaiah 54 that we read this week in synagogue and 55 is that nations that you've never heard of will come to Jerusalem and announce So, these Noahides today are are becoming the Noahides of Avraham Avinu. These are the Noahides who this prophet describes as being the ones who are the And it literally says that these are coming from places that you've never heard of. And aid last verse of we read in Isaiah 55 is And a we've never heard of heard of you're going to call out to the guy lay the a guy who you've never heard of a letter the man of sham they're going to run to you in God's name and we're literally witnessing this prophecy alive today. The the guy am I coming they're organizing and what's interesting about this is that they're all different people and I was speaking to Rod Bryant who's ahead of TV in Houston Texas have a pretty good conversation. We talk almost daily sometimes weekly but he is one of the leaders of the Houston Texas and this is an organization called the TV and what they do is they are trying to not come up with a like laws or how long of what you know because if you ask every different Rabbi they're going to tell you know I can do this you can't keep you can keep this type of everybody's got a different opinion. They're not coming to make the law book but they're coming to do is to announce that they're with the Jewish people and they have a common goal and despite all their difference and all their communal customs just like we have Ashkenazim we have you know all different types. They also have all different types but they're all saying let's make a charter of what we agree on. And I think it's time that with today's technology and communication we can agree on most things. >> Yeah. Um I've mentioned it before. I've spoken about it for years. I've just been too busy dealing with the own Jewish people who are disconnected to bring them back. So that's me personally. I'm actually going to be on a podcast on Monday with one of these Noahides who has a very large audience. I think first of all and this is most important thing. We have to say thank you to them. Let's have some gratitude. Most of all has gone against us and these individuals are coming forth to show us that they are part of our people in a sense. What a beautiful thing. So tremendous gratitude to these individuals and they're coming to Israel and they're standing at a time of potential war, you know, shoulder to shoulder with us, the Jewish people. And they're not Jewish, and they don't want to be Jewish, they don't need to be Jewish. And yet they're standing together with us as the as the people who've accepted the true one God of Israel. Right? They can really say "Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad." Now, those words are important. We say them all the time, but most people don't understand what they even mean. Here is our God, he's our God, but Hashem Echad, he is one. When? In the future. When Mashiach comes, the entire world is going to speak safa berura, one language that there is one God. They are doing that right now. Such an important group. We are so grateful for their friendship. And I believe, and this is my prediction, over the next year or so, this group is going to blossom and grow and become a major force within not just Israel, but the entire world. What a beautiful vision of the nations for the future. So, when Isaiah says that the Jewish the the nations of the world are going to stream to the house of Jacob, come up to Har Habayit, and be part of the third and final temple, it's talking about them. Those are the people he's talking about. The Noahides, no one else. Those people who accept the seven laws of Noah, the seven laws that we're going to speak about this this Shabbat. We have Noah and Lechu Neranena, all part of the same thing. They are becoming part of a movement, and they're spearheading it. And there are I thought there were tens of thousands. I'm hearing there are hundreds of thousands of throughout the entire world who've left the church, who've left avodah zarah, and who are really engaging in a process of support for the Jewish people and the Torah. It's not just an Israel thing. It's a Torah thing. It's very important. It's an is a very important distinction. There are groups out there, the evangelicals and others, who do some wonderful work, who are supporting Israel. These people are supporters of the Torah. That's the key. >> I think it's time that we have such a mission from Jewish communities, from even non-religious Jewish communities, because I don't believe that Judaism is a religion. I think it's a it's a culture. And this culture could be could include all levels of faith, and people can come and stand with Israel and say that you your people you are I am your people, just like you know it needs to happen, because ultimately we need to choose sides. Once once Messiah comes everything is is clear, and everybody cries either from happiness or from sadness, as as the Talmud in Sukkah that you quoted so eloquently before says. So I I think that would also be an opportune time to >> No doubt about it. Again, we are not a religion, we're never described as a religion. The Jewish people are an um we are a nation. One nation under God. They got it from somewhere. Absolutely. We are Am Yisrael, and that's why people can join our nation. That's why people can become part of it. All right, these people are supporting our nation, the Noahides. That's a very very beautiful thing. I would love to see that. You know, someone pointed out to me recently, I think it was Rabbi Nachman Kahana mentioned in a shiur I heard of his a few years ago. He said the Jewish people aren't a religion, we are a relationship. Relationship with God, relationship with each other, relationship with the land of Israel. It's a beautiful description, and it's very very accurate. So there are cultural aspects, but in the end we are Am Yisrael. That's who we are. A nation who serve God ideally, and definitely in the future in the land of Israel, and there's no doubt that that's where we are going. And the more support we can get for that reality through the political sphere or elsewhere is greatly appreciated at this time. >> Do we have time for one more clip? Or okay. >> We don't know much about Gog. He's not necessarily when I say he's kind of like a villain, he's not necessarily a villain. He's not described as some kind of like embodiment of evil or anything satanic. That's not it at all. There's another figure who has that called Armilus, which is different than Gog. And so Armilus is the one that's associated with Satan and with kind of like those kind of evil impure forces. Gog is more of a political figure. He's a political figure who for political and economic reasons attacks Israel at the end of days. And he has a connection to Israel. I pointed out that the only other person named Gog in Tanakh, there is one more person in Tanakh named Gog, and he's actually a Reubenite. He's from the tribes of Israel. He's a descendant of Reuben. So Gog is not presented as like this evil wicked person necessarily. It's more like he has self-interests. And he's allied with, it says, Iran is his first ally and then other places including Cush, which is in Africa, and other names that are mentioned there. And it says that he attacks Israel for basically for financial reasons first. And when we look at what the state of the world that we're in today in the last few years especially, we see that the the political figure that's kind of in the background has worked to undermine Israel is probably Vladimir Putin because for him, and again, it's not because this is the embodiment of evil. This is not like a satanic force. It's a political thing. In the lead-up to October 7, what we had was all over the news Israel and Saudi Arabia about to close a peace treaty. And included in that peace treaty was a pipelines from Saudi Arabia through Israel across the Mediterranean to Europe. And Vladimir Putin wouldn't like that because his main his main source of income is oil and gas and so he needed to do everything he could to stop that pipeline being constructed to kill that Israel Saudi peace deal among other reasons. And October 7th played right into his hand was very beneficial for him because it killed the the Israel Saudi peace deal, killed that pipeline. Russia still has their kind of choke hold on the oil and gas and also it got the world's back off of Russia. Cuz until October 7th all the attention was on Russia's aggression in Ukraine. Ukraine was getting all the world's support, all the protests were for Ukraine, all the billions of people's donations going to Ukraine and as soon as October 7th hit now the villain's Israel again. All the world's attention's on Israel. The university campuses are shutting down because of Israel. Billions of donations are now going to Gaza. The world's foreign aid is going to Gaza and you have Ukraine and Zelenskyy complaining about this like saying like October 7th kind of killed it for the Ukrainians cuz everybody forgot about Ukraine. And now the world's attention is all on Gaza. So October 7th was very very highly beneficial for Putin and for Russia and you'll find you can look this up as soon as it happened literally days after October 7th Putin's the one that's inviting Hamas to Russia. He invited Hamas's leaders to Russia on a couple of occasions in just that month in October. And of course Russia does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization unlike most of the western world where Hamas is designated organization. They are not in Russia and they're welcome in in Russia. And also Assad shortly after in the basically the aftermath of this war the Assad regime collapses and where does Assad >> Okay, I'll stop it there but he does he does mention that Putin's birthday interestingly enough is October 7th. >> Yeah, I did say >> What's your thoughts on this? >> Okay, well first of all um I mean I received this clip from a vast amount of people. Seems to me the prophet disagrees with him quite clearly. Russia is evil, but so is Gog and Magog. The we told Ezekiel the prophet chapter 38:10 tells it very clearly that we're dealing with an evil. Now, there's no doubt about it. It also says it's going to come from the north and Russia is definitely north, so it could well be that Russia is Gog. However, it says clearly in Ezekiel 38:16 Valtiha al aritz. See, I'm going to he's going to come up against your land. So, whoever this Gog and Magog is, they're coming into Israel and they're there to destroy the Jewish people. So, he seems to think there's some kind of like evil force in the world and they are it could well be, but they haven't reached Israel, thank God. So, they are definitely evil force and they're very potent and they're after the Jewish people. However, the real challenge today is Iran. Now, are Russia financing Iran? Are they behind a lot of it? Yeah, but I don't think ideologically. I think Putin doesn't care about Israel. It's not really part of his He just wants to create alliances that going to increase the size and the power and the influence of the empire which was lost and he's trying somehow to recapture. They are not focused ideologically on the land of Israel. Iran is. So, I respectfully disagree and I believe that Iran is the main potent evil force that is funding They're definitely getting funding from various places, but their goal is Jerusalem. That is what they're after and that's what the prophet says makes up Gog. Gog and Armilos are after the Jewish people in order to bring us down. So, we can talk about, you know, Russia all we want and even the word Russia means evil person, there's no doubt about it. So, it's like in the name like the clue is in the name for Russia itself. However, it's Iran. And it's Iran who are focusing and if Iran wasn't trying to take out uh Israel and uh get it all of its axes of evil to attack us, I don't think it would be happening. And Paras is mentioned, Persia, Iran, specifically among the prophet. So, I respectfully disagree with the rabbi. And I would say that maybe Russia is an evil force in the world as many evil forces in the world. They're doing many atrocities everywhere, but the real problem for us the Jewish people, our focus is Iran. Iran is the center of evil. They are Gog and Magog. They're after they're coming for us. They're going to use money and resources from other nations, including Russia, no doubt about it. But their goal is us and our Mielus is coming via either them or forces within the Christian world who are really out to uh destroy us specifically in the land of Israel. >> Something interesting about Moshe Rabbeinu that people don't realize is that Moshe Rabbeinu grew up in Paro's house and he actually grew up on Paro's knee and Paro would sing to him lullabies and he was trying to kill him, but he didn't actually know the irony of that, like the poetic justice of God to actually raise Moshe in Paro's house. I don't know if people actually understand like that would be like the adopted son of Khomeini end up being Messiah. So, just give you like some framework when we think about who Messiah might be. And the Torah reveals that Avram Avinu also according to some opinions was an idol worshiper for most of his life. And and both of these people God reveals to them at a later stage in their life. They're both midlife or towards the end of their life when God reveals them and they really had no clue or no idea that this was about to happen. I think that that that cannot be ignored. The Torah narrative of this completely mysterious figure who is actually raised in the palace of the arch enemy. >> Yeah, it's like I always put it like the um the solution to the problem is the problem itself. Within the within the question comes the answer. >> It's so in the Yakov Avinu Avishalom that there's >> Right. Exactly. That's where comes all the challenges. Um itself could be the source of the of the of the rescue of the redemption, right? From the makah comes the refuah, right? From the smack comes the actual refuah, the healing itself. Yeah, it could well be. Again, I point out to people countless times, if you look at the lineage of Mashiach, it's very murky. It's not clear. It's not what one would expect, whether it's dealing with Yehudah and Tamar, David Amelakh and Batsheva. Um Lot and his daughter, Ruth the convert. It doesn't make sense. It's so murky, everything that's happening. Rabbis tell us it's there to, you know, hold off the Satan, you know, so he doesn't come and interfere with the lineage of of Mashiach, but it's not clear. It's not pure. David Amelakh was not the first choice or the second second, he was the eighth choice of the prophet Shmuel after meeting his David's father Yishai. Remember, he met all seven sons. >> would even add to that that even who actually built the temple was a daughter of Batsheva who was who was where David had sinned and admitted his sin, and God said that that the daughter of that relationship, the son of that relationship will actually build the temple with with that stain of sin and repentance. It's actually it's the the light of repentance that God is revealing how how there's nothing we could do to mess up. >> Yeah, I don't think we're all looking for some angelic Messianic figure to come and fix the Jewish people. You know, one of the reasons the Jewish people did not accept Jesus was, you know, after it was written many years after his death, was it was just too perfect. Son of God? No redeemer of the Jewish people needs to be and won't be some um magical son of God who's going to come from the sky and fix all the problems. Going to be a regular person, married, children, have to deal with uh dating getting married and his kids. This is what we want. We want real life individuals. He's going to be a political military leader and that is not easy. It's a challenge. You know, I've led many trips to Israel and just taking 30, 45 Jews around Israel for a couple of weeks is enough problems, right? When you're like, "Oh my goodness." You know, just dealing with El Al is enough. It's not what you think it's going to be and I think it's going to come from a place where one would not expect it. Remember, even Moshe Rabbeinu took time. The great Moshe Rabbeinu, the great king of the Jewish people, took time for him to be accepted and even demanded of God to give him signs that he would succeed. And even he started to speak lashon hara. That's why his hand turned to leprosy, a sign of lashon hara, right? When he spoke about his people, God, are they going to really accept me? Is this going to happen? It took time and let's remember, not everyone joined. 20% of the Jewish people left, 80% said, "We're not interested." It has to be that in the final days every Jew is going to have to come and join the Jewish people. So, it's going to be a process, right? It's not going to be an overnight reality. There's a process of revelation that takes time and this messianic figure is going to have to really prove his metal in order to get the Jewish people to join him. >> At the end of days there's a song that everybody sings that Mashiach will stand on the roof of of the Beit Hamikdash and call out, "The time of redemption is here." And people won't believe him. People won't believe him after it's built, they still won't believe him. And it's really a question of like, what do you think we could be doing right now if we know the end that there will still be people who don't believe after it's built, which is hard to understand, cuz Ezekiel 37 uh 28 ends that all nations will know that I am God when my temple and sanctuary is amongst them. So, it seems to be like even that part of it seems to be like a a process. It seems like you know, there there there stages and Moshe Rabbeinu, as you mentioned, also he he he was told and then he he went to Paro and Paro said, "Get out." and he made it much worse and Paro went and Moshe went back and he came back at a much later time. He tried bringing his children, they they got stuck at a hotel, there was an angel trying to stop him and it they had to send the kids back. It It wasn't simple for Moshe and literally had people trying to kill him. It This was like it was not just like a once and done thing that he came in and and why did Paro need to send him out? Why didn't he just do a miracle and just miraculously >> Amazing, right? >> Yeah. >> It's like Avraham had to struggle to do this and Sarah had to struggle just have a child and Moshe Rabbeinu had to struggle, you know? And Yaakov had to struggle, right? With his whole financial situation living outside of Israel before he could get back. And Mashiach is going to have to struggle as well? Who says everything has to be nice and easy? Who says the road has to be paved with gold in order to get us back to Jerusalem? The struggle is it and it's a process. I know that as children we're told Mashiach comes and we we're going to open the window and oh, Mashiach is here. It's not what it's going to be. This is part of the challenge of Mashiach, the pre-Messianic era right now. God, as it were, and the Rabbis tell us it's like we're all holding onto a rope and God is shaking the rope and you've got to hold on. This is the time to hold onto your faith, to your emunah. This is time to be active. This is time to become an Avraham Avinu. There's no time for Noach nowadays. We are the Avraham Avinu people. We have to get out and talk and speak about Israel, Jerusalem and if that means for some people getting involved in talking against anti-Semitism, then so be it. But it has to be within a Torah framework. The Torah for us, the Jewish people, is our guidebook. It's our hora, it's our teaching. Any form of discussion needs to be based upon Torah principles. So important. >> There's something our listeners don't know Rabbi Lawrence you have that you in fact are Messiah. >> I don't know what you mean. I I'm not Messiah. But your name is Messiah. Isn't it? Okay. So yeah, I was I was named after my grandfather blessed memory. I was one of the last grandchildren and he requested to have one whole grandson so his name could pass on. There is a tradition in my family. We are of Persian heritage that Messiah be passed down. People say to me, "Wow, your mother had high hopes for you with a name like that." No, it was passed down as so the name was used I should go by my English name Lawrence because you know it freaks people out and all. >> Iranian. You do come from Iran, you know. >> That is correct. My family go back hundreds of years in the in the country of Iran, of Persia as it was called. I I consider myself a Persian Jew for for centuries as far as we know. And my name is actually Messiah Abraham. Which I met a great cabalist many years ago when I was a teenager. He approached me and he asked me my name and he looked at me and we spent long time talking. I wasn't so observant or so I was in Yeshiva but I wasn't so you know into my Jewish learning. He looked at me and he said, "Learning and teaching about Messiah and Abraham Avenu is going to become your thing. That's your mission." And I'm thinking, "What is this dude talking about?" I couldn't even like process that that concept. I wanted to you know work in television at that time in media which I did for a year or two, you know, when I finished college. And he said, "This is going to become your mission. You are someone who's going to Messiah is Messiah. Messiah is to speak about Abraham Avenu, right? And our heritage." That's what he said to me. It took a long time for me to figure out what he was talking about and to make this into my life mission which Baruch Hashem it did become. Um but yeah, that is my Hebrew name. But let me very clear, I do not into Mashiach. And by the way, you don't want to be Mashiach. It is the most difficult, challenging job you could ever imagine. When people say to me they think they are Mashiach which I hear a lot from, I think I'm probably I get more messages from people figure the Mashiach than anyone else in the United States. Probably more Jews in Israel get it, rabbis in Israel. Um I said to them you don't want to be Mashiach. It's such You want to support him and talk about him and get the world to want the redemption, but you don't want to be it. It's an extremely challenging job to control and be the Mashiach of the Jewish people. It's going to take a lot of effort, a lot of time, a lot of wars unfortunately, uh until we get to the final redemption the Geulah. >> Rabbi Lawrence Hadjioff, Rabbi Lawrence Mashiach Avram, uh uh Hadjioff Hadjioff, thank you so much for joining us. If you could lead us out with a blessing, >> Um my blessing is as we say in the Amidah every day that God should build the city of Jerusalem and all of Israel should become a light a beacon and we are the Or Lagoyim. We are the light to the nations. What a beautiful way for the prophet to describe us. We bring light where there is darkness. And you know we have a dark room, just a little bit of light can just change the entire room and give us clarity. So may us through the Torah and the mitzvot and our love of Israel and the Jewish people, may we continue bringing the light and thank you Rabbi Sochko, for allowing me to become one of your partners on this beautiful channel of yours that I don't I'm not just on it, I watch all the videos as well. You know that as well. I'm so involved in this and you're bringing such an important light and Or Lagoyim to all the nations of the world and may you continue and may all those who who follow us and watch us, I I wish you all tremendous success and blessings and God willing we'll be able to rise up and go to third and final temple in Jerusalem on Har HaBayit Bimhera Veyamenu, Amen. >> Amen. Uh listeners, if you're not subscribed to either of our channels, please do so. Um this helps helps us promote this. If you want to support this message and you can't financially, just click subscribe button on both of our channels. You'll be updated, and this will definitely help increase God's name in the world. Uh thank you so much. >> [music]