Rabbi Tovia Singer: This Is What Must Happen Before Messiah Comes - Living Inspired

[music] >> We do not have monopoly on suffering or oppression. We don't. The uniqueness of the Jew is that when we endure vicissitudes, it [music] causes us to unify as nothing else. >> Rabbi Singer, welcome to the program. >> Great being with you. >> Thank you for joining us. Tonight starts the three weeks. This is a morning period over the temple. It's also a time of redemption. Zechariah 8:19 says that this one day will be hug, like I think your grandfather Aaron Ha Cohen might have said, "Hug LaShem Machar." And this will one day will be a holiday. And I wanted to know if you could expand on the significance of the 17th of Tammuz and what this period actually means as far as the Geulah unfolding. >> It's very very striking because as you mentioned, this comes up this and the other three fasts aside from Yom Kippur comes at the book of Zechariah. The context really begins in the chapter prior, chapter seven, where Zechariah, who was the most influential of his generation, in that people came to him with many many questions. And the question, imagine this, did the Jews have to still fast on the ninth day of Av given the second temple's being built? And he he's not happy with the question. He says, "God doesn't care if your stomach is empty or is full." And in fact, there explodes into a an extraordinary prophecy of Geulah redemption. Chapter 8 begins with that the streets will one day old men and old women will walk on the streets. Children will play on the streets of Yishlaim. And then further on the chapter, as you said, uh these days that are days of mourning return to days of festivity. And verse 23 that caps off the chapter is probably the most famous Messianic verse in Tanakh. And that is 10 Gentiles of different languages will grab the shirt of a Jew and say, "Nelcha'yem kishmo'chem ki shama'nu Elohim imachem. Let us go with you cuz we've heard that God is with you." This day, the 17th of Tammuz, the 17th day of the fourth month, is the day in which the walls of Jerusalem of the second temple were breached. It's a very We can touch on it, but as it turns out, the first temple the the walls of Jerusalem were breached on the ninth day of um of the fourth month. Which is very striking, but the catastrophe of the destruction of the second temple far exceeds what happened in the first temple. But just as a a point in the war with Rome, and the war went on for 3 and 1/2 years, from the century from '66 to '70, and it was just something absolutely catastrophic. Moreover, if you asked a secular historian who destroyed the temple, the second temple, he would say to you that it was the Roman Empire. If you asked a religious Jew, he would say it's because of our own sins that our temple was destroyed and we were expelled from our land. And as it turns out, the entire period from '66 all the way to the ninth day of the fifth month, Tisha B'Av, which is in 3 weeks from now, there was a civil war between Jews. An explosive where Jews were killing each other in Jerusalem, and it went on until the destruction of the temple. But the walls are breached on the 70th day of Tammuz. Talmud also provides other events that occurred on this auspicious day. But, this is the one we're focusing in on. And, we're told explicitly that it's this baseless hatred between the Jews that brought this about. And, something very striking happened last year. And, that is one of the world's leading historians, Barry Strauss, a professor at at Cornell University, >> [snorts] >> and he specifically studies this area of history, military history, the Roman Empire. I don't know how many books he's written. He actually posits that if the Jews had not been fighting among themselves, with many different groups, by towards the end of our three different factions of Jewish groups that are fighting each other, not the little fighting where people are pushing each other on the streets. I don't I'm not talking about that. So, people act state killing Jews killing each other. Jews slaughtering each other. Op- hot war all the way to the end. Never stop. The civil war among Jews never stopped. Professor Strauss posits in his book that in fact, if the Jews had been unified, they could have either, in his view, could have defeated the Roman Empire. And, we're talking about the Roman Empire, that was the golden age of the Roman Empire. That was the term That was the term they used uh Rome was at peace. It was 3,000 miles stretched from east to west. It was massive. Or, at the very least, uh the Jews could have forced the Roman Empire into some sort of concession, negotiated settlement in which the temple would not have been destroyed. This is academic um uh viewpoint. So, therefore, now, the 17th day of Tammuz is when the wall was breached. That part of the war, meaning we switch 166, actually began on Passover of that year. Which means it began months earlier from basically, let's say from April of the year 70 until August of the year 70, the Romans were trying to figure out how to breach the wall. On the 7th day of Tammuz, when the Roman Empire unbelievable, what Titus did was he actually built a wall around the walls of Jerusalem in order to breach it. It was very, very complicated. It cost the Empire a tremendous amount in manpower and and materials. Mind-blowing. But when they breached the wall, the key point occurred that essentially, until that moment there was hope. And the moment the walls were breached all hope was dashed. And then it was a simple matter of the Empire going in and slaughtering everyone. It was an absolute It was a complete churban, everything destroyed. And the Jews, unlike the first temple, I don't want to tell you that the first temple's destruction was a cake cake or chos v'cholila, it was not. But there was no mass slaughter with thousands of thousands of Jews were slaughtered. That did not happen. Happens to be Ezra's father was a kohen, he got killed in the process. The Jews went as a unit to Babylon, meaning to southern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. Almost all of them. When they left, just to compare the two, when they were exiled in the first temple, they knew they had a prophecy that it would only be 70 years. They knew that. When they came to Bavel, there were institutions, great yeshivot, that were already established by prophets who were exiled earlier, like Yechezkel. That means they went to a place where Torah flourished. When the second temple was when Jerusalem was breached and then destroyed, the Jews were slaughtered. It was a bloodbath and the Jews were exiled to lands unknown and they were sent to slaves on ship. It was just something I was a I don't want to ever use the word Holocaust, but it was something of un one of one of the most catastrophic moments in Jewish history. >> Addressing going back to what we originally started that comes Maybe you hinted at it was how the redemption unfolds specifically through this period of time or does it? Because it does seem like there's going to be a switch and I wanted to know if you could expand on that. >> Well, let's think about this. If the second temple, according to all views, this is a absolute consensus, not often that the academic world and the Jewish religious world actually agree on things. But this is an absolute consensus. Everything we're talking about the the sources on are endless. If the second temple was destroyed because of sinat chinam, baseless hatred. And again, I think people are under the impression that there was a civil war, but then the Jews at the end sort of fought in united. That's not true at all. They were Jews were killing each other while the Romans were killing Jews. It's something so horrible. It's really hard to wrap your mind around it. But if that's the case, so what would solve What would solve that? What would solve it is the very opposite. What would What would solve the problem bring the redemption is a unity among the children of Israel. And we see that explicitly and we see where this is going, meaning So, this is very um intriguing. But in we first we're told in the Talmud I should lay this out in track tape Megillah right in the beginning and uh Dov Gimel that the whereas there was a Targum a Aramaic translation done for the Torah and for the Nevi'im for the prophets the Ketuvim the writings the last section there was no um commentary {slash} Targum allowed because it would give away the time of the end which is counterintuitive. You would think the time of the end is somehow in Jeremiah and Isaiah which have these soaring prophecies but we're told actually it is the Ketuvim where you should be looking at you should be looking very carefully at. And what we find is very striking in the book of Ezra. Although the book of Ezra is called this we actually are not introduced to Ezra until the seventh chapter but I want to like focus on chapter three. What happens that the Jewish people were told immediately that the children of Israel come to land of Israel and they come as one people together. That's how it opens. That's uh under the leadership of two people Yehoshua ben Yehozadak was the high priest he was a nephew of Ezra his father was younger brother of Ezra and Zerubbabel who was Malchus Dovid from the house of David. And it tells us explicitly that verse three that despite the fears there's no temple yet. This is very very critical. Please read it for yourself. This it says explicitly despite there was no temple and despite they were terrified of how the nations around them would respond they start they built an altar and they started bringing offerings immediately. We do not have the building of of the temple or its even foundation until verse 10 9 and 10. So, it says explicitly that the people came as and built a mizbeach and brought offerings according to the Torah Moshe, according to the Torah Moshe. And then verse 6, it says there that they the found It says explicitly they will bring offerings even though the foundation stone of the temple was not even laid yet. And it's This happens in the really Rosh Hashanah, which means on the first day of the seventh month. So, the text goes out of its way to tell us that the Jewish people must be united. This is not like us waxing poetic and saying we have to be united in some sort of This is very much in text. And this then works perfectly with like what we need to do next, given that in order to, as an example, bring a a carbon Pesach, a Passover offering. So, this question has been uh addressed by people like the Chasam Sofer in the 19th century. It would require a mizbeach, an altar, which we have, but it would require, most importantly, and the most difficult part of it is not the priests, not the parah adumah, not the temple. The issue really is a complete unity and consensus of the Jewish people, which very much then everything is like solved for why. If the second temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred, so what is required to initiate that process is the restoration of the offerings, which has to be on the mizbeach, on the altar. The altar must be in the place of the altar. We have an altar built They're ready to go. There are people who study this. We have kohanim, we have Of course, we have We have their clothes We have that all set up. So, then we actually This solves everything. We have to undo the sin of the past. >> We have 10 weeks coming up until Rosh Hashanah which will be entirely devoted to the destruction and the rebirth of of the Jewish people. And the one of the five things that you mentioned I think was we stopped having the carbon tamid. The walls were were broken down. Today the walls have been rebuilt and we have the possibility of bringing the carbon Pesach perhaps. We are in a in a moment in history where these things are beginning to look more and more real. Historically I think this division in the Jewish people is probably the most ancient uh sin since the the sale of Joseph and the reunification of the Jewish people in the land will be the fulfillment of you know the rectification of that sin. So maybe you can speak how how this looks. What's next? >> For people who've not studied Ezra chapter 1 Cyrus says I have a navua prophecy hath a fulfill. A non-Jew and idol worshiper says go go build. It's really mind-blowing. Chapter 2 we're told about who the Jews were who left Babylon their families. That's what chapter 2 is. Chapter 3 begins this way. It tells us that in this on the on the seventh month the children of Israel came usful am ish echad el Yerushalayim. It says that explicitly that the nation came like one person to Jerusalem. Period. Full stop. Why is that there? And I would encourage the viewers to ask the question why is this of interest to us today? That means it's very important that Tanakh is not a history book. It is in fact it's nitladoris for all future generations. So how is this nigea how is this relevant to me today? Well the answer is that this is a road map for the future. And then as I said, we have the two leaders of Jewish people, namely the high priest, who was the nephew of Ezra. Ezra is back because of his rabbi back in Babel. Not important. And they have Zerubbabel. So you have the high priest and the Zerubbabel was not a king, he was a a general. There was no king during this No legitimate Davidic king during the Second Temple period. And look at verse three. It says the s- spite the terror, the fear that they had. And you have to read Ezra and Nehemiah about the problems they would encounter, with tremendous problems. I mean, you had a group in Eretz Yisrael, I'll tell you straight away, in the land of Israel, they they were not authentic to the land. They were rather brought there by the Assyrian Empire years and years earlier. They're called the the Samaritans. See 2 Kings chapter 17. And they claimed they were the authentic people. And they wanted a Now, you can't be It all comes up here. So in case you think there's anything that It all matches perfectly. In fact, by the way, Purim is going to happen in between. But the key point is that despite the fear that they had of everyone around them, they built an altar on its foundation, and they brought all sorts of offerings. For each day, they brought sacrifices. New moon, they brought offerings for Sukkot. It's there. And then when you get to verse nine and 10, so then they're going to start building the Beit Hamikdash. So why is this in there? Now, some of you saying we need a um a red heifer. We would like We would want a red heifer, and maybe we'll have it. But as it turns out, if the whole For those of you are not aware of this, if the whole seaboard, the whole congregation, we all are in a status of impurity, then we can bring a Passover offering as an example without the parah adumah, without the red heifer. Normally, in the time of the Beit Hamikdash, if Kohanim were selected, they had to have they had to be Kohanim muchzakim. They had to have a certain documents demonstrating they really were direct descendants of the proper lineage. But, in a time such as this, we have families that we really do know, but that would all be fine. People who say we can't go on to the Makom Mikdash, the place where the temple was, but to bring a korban pesach you can. Means we need the big day, the garments of the priest, they we have them. Altar stones have been cut by lasers that's sitting here in Jerusalem. We have an It's all done. The only thing we really don't have, we really don't have, is a consensus and you're going to ask me who are these people? So, even Maimonides in his laws of course says it appears to me. So, he's how could this happen? But, it's very clear that we would need a consensus of the sages of Israel to go ahead with this project. And that's it. So, therefore in materially, we have everything. If someone say here's the Har Habayit, the state of Israel say here's the Israeli police don't care. The reason why the Israeli police are concerned about anything is they don't want a war exploding on the Temple Mount. And they say it openly, we're just concerned about security even though the High Court has said that Jews can go on Temple Mount. So, clearly the police don't care. So, if there was a consensus among the children of Israel, I mean, it's all here. Uh we could then we could move ahead. So, it's this is so transparent of what's happening. And again, I want to repeat this. This issue comes up in the 19th century as a question on just two names of who's the asking and asking is Rabbi Akiva Eger. No question, the the greatest Talmudic giant of the 19th century. I mean it just a giant of as Orthodox like this is not and he's asking it of his son-in-law the Chasam Sofer who was the greatest I say the greatest there was some giants but this was no doubt the greatest of the Halachic mind. And he is addressing in the 19th century when there was not an empire and he's explaining that you need permission from the Ottoman Empire and you would need a consensus you'd have to know the place of the mizbeach. It has to be on the exact spot. There is a difference of opinion and so on. There's an altar that's built now that covers all So really the only issue I'm saying this and it sounds but this is all mainstream is that all you would need is a consensus among the sages of Israel. I do not know the answer to the following question but I can assure you just like today we see among Jews in Europe or Jews living in New York City who are looking at their mayor who today or it is reported as having conversations with a former vice president of the United States Ms. Harris Mamdani names if we don't figure it out on our own so then things will occur around the world that will force Jews to have to create a consensus. That you can be sure of. Our enemies will always protect us from ourselves. >> You know you mentioned in the introduction you mentioned the 10 10 gentiles hanging on the hem of the shirt of the Jew and you know one of the parts of bringing the Jews together is bringing back and I'm really taking a really sharp left turn now and if that's okay the 10 tribes the 10 lost tribes We started with the the Ethiopian Jews and there's even Pakistani Jews. Um there's a book uh Don Hadani who um is mentioned. And these people in the Noahide movement, I even saw in Afghanistan um the the Pashtun uh tribe um which would seem like secretly they all say they're Benei Israel. >> Ezekiel 37, "Take two rods in your hand." God instructs his prophet. One of them write for Judah and his companion Ephraim who is the lead tribe of the northern kingdom. Um and his companions, put the two rods in your hand and they will become one. One thing I say to the leaders of the children of Israel, it's vital to now to the in your yeshivas to be studying uh Ezekiel 34 through uh 48 because there you have very explicitly this is the restoration of the children of Israel. If you read these chapters, incidentally you have the Passover being celebrated during the time of Mashiach. It's in Ezekiel. And he davka he very specifically mentions Passover in Isaiah 45:21. This is not and the end of Ezekiel like from 46, 47, it's the division of the land, the re-division of the land according to all the tribes that are present. That's why the people who claim that Ezekiel's vision is the second temple, they're way Well, for a thousand reasons, well one of them is that the presence of all the tribes and just like all our our redemption occurred, it's something that you and I have talked about repeatedly, just like the um the cease and desist from the Exodus a major happens stages. Did Hashem need really 10 plagues? Like one wasn't enough? Did he need Pharaoh's permission? So, all this is in Tanakh where there's an order of events. Why is there an order? So, this we don't have to guess. We don't have We can guess why fish need fins and scales. That's fine. That's That's reasonable. Why sharks are not But this is not a guess. We are told explicitly this order of events wakes up the world and everyone realizes what's going on that Hashem is Lord. And then we would expect and anticipate that that we would discover that the nation of Israel would rise up like a valley, imagine, of bones bleached out. And what's very intriguing is that when Ezekiel witnesses this valley of dead It's not dead bodies, just bones that are bleached by the blazing sun. When he when the Almighty, blessed be His holy name, asks Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?" So, if if it was you or I, we would say, "You're God, you could do anything, right?" Ezequiel does not answer in an intuitive way. He says, "Only you know." And this is a very important theme that binds all of Ezekiel. That's essentially three sections, but all of it is the resurrection of the nation of Israel that happens in stages is the sign that God of Israel is the only true God. The when they're traveling in a chariot from chapter 1 all the way to the end when they're restored. Look at Ezekiel 48, last verse. It The God's name is restored back. It's all about the restoration of the children of Israel, the 10 tribes. And we would expect to see it in stages, and there's no guessing. It says explicitly. And interesting, I want to adjust verse if I may Ezekiel 39 verse 21 says that the reason why this war occurs at the end of days so that the nations will know the truth. And look at verse 22. I'm not kidding. Cuz people go, "Ah, the they don't know anything. We know, right?" I beg you, my holy brothers and sisters, children who are born from above, not from below. Look at Ezekiel 39:22. Please. It says there so that the Jews will know that I'm God. That means the Jews need to be convincing convinced. That means the Jews need to see these monumental events. Please look it up yourself so they will understand this is a Messianic time. I didn't write it. It's in your book. It's in your safer Ezekiel. It says it explicitly. Cuz we it is true that in Tanakh the Messianic age is about the redemption of the world, not just Israel. In contrast to the Exodus, which was really about the redemption of the children of Israel alone, the Messianic age is about the redemption of the world. So therefore, like we said in Zechariah 8:23, the 10 Gentiles will grab the shirt of a Jew. We're reluctant. We've been 2,000 years. They've been not treating us very well. Like, what do you want from me? No, tell us. It's really mind-blowing. That's why they grab us What are they grabbing a shirt for? They're grabbing tzitzit. They recognize that we're the true Jews. Really a blind cuz of tzitzit is only mitzvah is only commanded upon Jews, not upon non-Jews. Really, that's what Rashi says there. It's really brilliant. But the tricky point is, my holy brothers and sisters, look at Ezekiel 39:22. It says there as if the So that Israel will know that I am. That means they will The Jews have to understand what's going on, or else they're stuck in a completely different galus mentality. They don't understand what's happening to them. This incidentally echoes perfectly with your permission of Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42 is this is an outstanding chapter. I don't know if we discussed it about the servant Israel that's really blind and deaf. And it does not mean there that blind and deaf like the spiritually blind and deaf that they're sinful. No, they just don't Where do I go? How do I go? Hashem says, I'll grab you by the hand. I was silent for a long time, but now like a woman on the birthing stool giving birth, I'm going to scream out. And that's what Ezekiel 42 Isaiah 42 is about. It's about a people that just don't know where to walk. What what What do we do now, Lord? Like we know something's out. What I'm going to grab you. And 43 continues verse 4 5 6 that the waters will not harm you. The flames will not harm you. The Listen up, children of the most high. It is the survival of the children of Israel throughout history. Despite the vicissitudes, that alone demonstrate that Hashem is God. Full stop. >> The day the base of Migdal was destroyed created the possibility for Messiah. You mentioned we need to have ahavat chinam to get together the Jewish people to have unity and to have a a shared mission. So, what other suggestions that we can do practically today to help bring Messiah? >> Right. So, it's very clear from Tanakh that what triggers our self-awareness is our enemies. One of the things that is ubiquitous regardless of who you speak to is the hatred for the children of Israel makes no sense. And that drives us to unify, to be together as one. And it's very very clear that we're living in a remarkable time. The person you were on October 6th, 2023, and I was, and the people viewing us, I could say with full confidence those people don't exist any longer. We're different nation. We've emerged out of this and How does this a a complete transformed nation? And today we are unified and prophecies are unfolding right before our eyes. And the key point of the children of Israel is to restore back to a complete unity and in awareness. And to come back to tonight because as I said, it's so critical that when we have this movement of Jews to build the second temple, the text goes out of its way that they came to Jerusalem as a herd, like one man, unity. And that's what we have to focus on. They have to do possible not to hustle with them. Um fight with each other. Now, I want to just say this, I know everyone's thinking this, but there are There are things going on. This is all very bad. It was terrible. What happened before October 7th? There was fighting in the streets of Tel Aviv over whether there should be a mechitza, as we talked about in the area of Zechariah where where there's any mention of women men and women's morning separately is exactly where uh the Shekhinah is mentioned. But in the second temple they Jews were were literally killing each other, which is really very striking. But the key point as you read through Ezra and Nehemiah, which is really one book, one safer, it's all about a complete unity of the Jewish people that brings about the full redemption of the Jewish people, a uniting of the Jewish people, and in turn then the nations will come to the children of Israel and say, "We're with you. The sons of them that afflicted you will come to you." Isaiah chapter 60, verse 14. That's the critical point of Mashiach, complete awareness in the world and a unity in the world under the um leadership of Mashiach. And may we see the coming of the Mashiach quickly in our time. And as you referred to, uh that the on the day the temple was destroyed, the Messiah was born. It doesn't mean that literally necessarily. It might be is born on Tisha B'Av. But the key point is out of the depth of despair, hope is born. Uh b'damayich chayi, we live by our blood. And it's from the trauma that comes the healing, as Jeremiah tells us in chapter 30, verse 7, Jacob's trouble. Mee umimenu yivashea. Trauma causes the Jewish people to unify. We do not have monopoly on suffering or oppression. We don't. The The uniqueness of the Jew is that when we endure vicissitudes, it causes us to unify as nothing else. This is very striking about the Jewish neshama. May we see the Geulah quickly in our time. >> Amen. Thank you very much.