Why Mashiach Can’t Come Without Jewish Unity - Rabbi Eli Deutsch

We're going to talk today about the circle dance of Jewish unity. And I think we start off by understanding that really everybody wants Jewish unity. And if everyone would be more like me, we'd finally have it. So that's everyone's attitude. But let's get into it a little bit deeper and hopefully we'll be able to get somewhere towards Jewish unity. All right. One of the one of these sources that I like to call on which is very much uh not known is the Schlahakadosh. The Schlahadosh, one of the great cabalists from a few hundred years ago. He says that when Yakov had all of the tribes around him before he passed away, when he was on his deathbed, we know it says in the Torah, "Gather around and I will tell you what will be in the end of days." The says like this Jacob wanted to reveal the end of days. He wanted to reveal the time of Messiah to his sons and therefore he said to gather around because it's impossible that the end should come. It's impossible that Messiah should arrive when there exists when there exists baseless hatred when there exists baseless division between between the tribes of Israel. Rather, everyone needs to be there needs to be a gathering of the Jewish people. There needs to be a oneness within the Jewish people. And the reason I enjoy this source so much is because people think that this idea began with the destruction of the second temple that we know that they say that the second temple was destroyed primarily because of baseless hatred. That was the spiritual defect by the Jewish people and that's something that we need to repair in order to bring about the third bases much earlier. that need for Jewish unity in order for the third beta mikdash to be here in order for Msiah to come. What is the purpose even of tribes as individuals? If what we want is oneness, if what we want is unity, but we have to understand what unity is. We have to understand the difference between unity and sameness. Sameness means that everyone is the same. Unity implies that there is differences and yet we're able to find a oneness within the differences. And if you think about it, this is really what love is all about as well. Love essentially is that there's an inherent oneness that manifests as more than one. Can we get to that oneness even in a state of tuness, even in a state of multiplicity? This is what love is all about. This is what unity is all about. And we see this even says the maharal. We see this in the word for ead [clears throat] also breaks down to the tribes that we have. We know we talk about the 12 tribes of Israel. But also if you think about it, there are 12 tribes the way we usually talk about it. But also when it comes to dividing up the land of Israel, we calculate it different because the tribe of Ley, the tribe the the tribe of Ley which includes the Levites and the Kohanim, they are their portion is so to speak with Hashem. They don't have a portion in the land of Israel the way the rest of the tribes have a portion in the land of Israel. And so the way it's broken up in terms of the portions of the land of Israel is you have the tribe of Joseph who is the conceptual bore, the conceptual firstborn. He gets a double portion. So he's broken up to Manasha and Aphryim. And then you have the other 10 tribes. And so that's the 12 tribes uh when you're talking about breaking up the land of Israel. Okay? But now if you take the 12 tribes here of of breaking up the land of Israel as well as the 12 tribes the way we usually talk about them, it comes out 13 tribes. if you count lei as well as minasha and aphim and so 13 is gimatria the same numerical value as the word in Hebrew which is one and that's what we're talking about here oneness and also if you look more deeply in that word you find it's spelled alfal and there's a hierarchy so to speak there alf is the the the highest tribe the most quoteunquote spiritual tribe which was which is the tribe of ley And then you have the letter which is eight corresponding to the eight tribes that are born from the mothers of the Jewish people Rachel and Leia. And then you have the dalid which is the numerically valued at four which comes out [clears throat] which corresponds to the four tribes that are born from Bilha and Zilpa. And so [clears throat] and so the idea here is that there needs to be a oneness of these tribes. And then that is going to that is going to lead to or that sets the stage for the return of the beta mikdash. But let's go a little bit further. The Jewish people ultimately they go into slavery. They leave they get out of slavery. On their way out of slavery we find that the Jewish people leave obviously with the 10 plagues. But then also there's the splitting of the sea. And the way we usually think about the splitting of the sea, the way we saw the splitting of the sea on the movies is there's one split going down the sea and all of the Jewish people go out that way. However, the midrash teaches the rabbis teach that actually there were 12 splits going down the sea. And well, let's let's read about it actually. It says in the midr of the teachings of the rabbis which says when the day of the splitting of the sea that the that the that there were 12 paths through the water corresponding to the 12 tribes. So these water these paths ways of water were standing up as if it was almost as if it was frozen. There were as if there were walls and between each between each one of these there were paths of land and within those walls of water there were windows windows so that each tribe was able to go down a certain a certain path. Each person was able to go down a certain path and they were able to see I'm going down this path. I'm going towards the end and they were able to see though through those windows they were able to see that there's also another path through here. We're going all to the same destiny, but we have different paths in order to get there. Fast forward, the Jewish people arrive at Mount Si. And it says by Mount Si, it says that the Jewish people encamped in the desert. And the Jewish people encamped there opposite the mountain. Except over here this time it uses the word instead of in Hebrew that means that it's really means and he encamped there it's saying it in singular and the rabbis teach that the Jewish people were like one person with one heart. The Jewish people were like with the Jewish people were like one person with one heart. Meaning to say that the Jewish people on the one hand [clears throat] on the one hand they're many but on the other hand they're one. And let's understand this a little deeper. A lot of people give have heard that divor but the zora comments and says that it's actually much deeper than this. If we look um and I'll give you over a teaching from the zohar I'll translate it into English and this is brought also by raim by vital student of the rial in his book share kadusha in the second section. He says like this and I'll translate it into English for everyone. Each each prophet and each person is huneed is carved from a spiritual limb. His soul is created and made up of that limb. There are souls from the head of the king from the strands of the hair from the eyes, ears, face, nose, mouth, neck, hands, spine, which is the body, shins, thighs, legs, circumcision, brain, heart. What does this mean to say? It means to say that each soul there's each soul is is connected. Each soul is here to radiate to manifest just like we have a body right and we have a soul and the soul makes certain decisions and the soul can express itself in certain ways. I can do certain things with my hands based on the decision of my soul and I can do certain things with my legs based on the decision of my soul. In a similar way we are that quote unquote for Hashem. Big fat quote unquote here of course but we are that for Hashem. We manifest Hashem in this world in different ways. There are going to be people who are more connected to head oriented things. There are going to be people who are more connected to hand oriented things. There going to be people who feel that their relationship with Hashem is happening more with head oriented things. Let's say learning Torah. There are going to be people who feel more connected to Hashem based on let's say mouth oriented things perhaps prayer, right? Other people hands maybe people you know people are working and they're maybe giving charity. So people feel their relationship with Hashem more based on the unique soul that they are. They can feel it in different ways. Right? Let me give you an example of this. The Talmud teaches the Talmet teaches a story says a story about Rabi Yohanan and Rabi Khanina. And let's just be clear Rabi Yohanan was the teacher and Rabi Khanina was the student. And I'll read you the story here today. Misa Rabi Misa Torah Benzaki Khan went to learn Torah by Rabi Benzak again Rabi Yohan is the teacher Rabi Khan is the student Benzakai and the student of Rabi Benzakai got sick now if the Talmud tells us that someone got sick it doesn't just mean they had a cold it means that he was on his deathbed he was very he was close to death he was in ser serious dangerous situation So, pray for my son. Pray for my son. Ask for mercy for my son that he should live. And so he put his head between his legs meaning he went into a fetal position which is a way of prayer and he prayed and the son of Rabi got better. the son of lived. Then said, he said, "If Ian had had put my head in between my knees, meaning if I entered this fetal position, if I would have prayed all day long, I would not have been listened to. I would not have been paid attention to." So, we have an obvious question here. Why is it that Rabi Khanina gets listened to Rabi Khan's prayers are answered where Rabi Yohan's prayers were not going to be answered. After all, Rabi, we would think Rabbi Yohanan is the teacher. Rabi Khan is the student. We think Rabi Yohkan is kind of higher up is kind of closer so to speak in his relationship with Hashem. Of course, Rabi Yokohan would be listened to if Rabi Khan would be listened to. But Rabi Yokohan tells us no, he wouldn't have been listened to. Why? So there are a number of answers that are given to this. I want to give you one answer and that is that perhaps very simply Rabi Yohman was a quote unquote head soul and Rabi Khan was a quote unquote mouth soul. Right? So when it comes to studying Torah Rabi Khan goes to Raban. But when it comes to prayer, when it comes to matters of the heart, when it comes to matters of the lips, when it comes to matters of speech, when it comes to speaking with Hashem. So for that, Rabi Yohan turns to Rabi Khan and and [clears throat] ask Rabi Khan specifically to pray for his son that he should live and Rabi Khan is successful. And so we should have to understand and this is so important in terms and so central in terms of Jewish unity that different there there are different strokes for different folks and different roles for different souls and people can connect in different way and that means to say within Judaism we have two aspects we have bottom line bottom line Jewish law that is universal that applies to everyone equally and evenly but then on top of that there's personal preference on top of that there's okay how do I feel like I'm connecting where do I feel that my aod hashem my spiritual service my connection to hashem where do I feel that really happening in my life where do I feel success there and connection there so once we have accomplished once we have done once we've performed the bottom line thing that is upon us to do Jewishly so then if I want to go ahead and go above and beyond that then go where do I go ahead and put my personal emphasis right and we can see this in other areas in life as well think about it in terms of athletics or sports. So in general, most people who are involved in in in uh in sports, they need to have a certain level of general athleticism altogether. But then hold on a second. Based on the position I play and the sport that I play, I might want to emphasize a certain thing. Think about baseball, right? Okay. In general, we want anyone who's playing need, you would assume more or less needs to be athletic. But a pitcher is going to be working out his arm differently than other positions. Other positions will be focused on other things, right? And so just like we have this in the physical side of our lives, what we're saying is like we always say is that the physical is a parallel to the spiritual. So just like we have this in our physical lives, it's a parallel to our spiritual lives as well. And so we need to have a there's a bottom line what is upon us to do as Jews and that is universal. And then on top of that, okay, how do I want to emphasize? What do I do with this additional time that I have, this additional yearning that I have to connect with Hashem and Judaism and Torah and mitzvot? And so, [clears throat] and so this is further emphasized by a teaching from the Benabit of one of the great and prolific masters. And he says like this once again I'll read to you uh in the English here. He says like this. He says that the 12 tribes of Yeshuin, the 12 tribes of the Jewish people, [clears throat] the 12 tribes of the Jewish people correspond to the 12 combinations of the name of Hashem Y and Vanh. Each is a unique gate and path to the service of Hashem. Yet each one leads to one place which is alignment with Hashem and bringing Hashem into this world. And that's how it was the fact that we have 12 tribes and he says that's how it is in every generation as well because we are all the branches of those roots and we are connected and the same thing applies to these the sadikim the righteous people in every generation as well. And so he says that upon seeing the ways of a righteous person, if a person, a particular individual follows a particular sadik, a particular righteous person or a particular path and they think that that person or that path is particularly sweet and they connect with it, but then they also in their mind look at another path or another righteous person and put that person or that path down in their eyes. So he says he has a line for that. He says, that person does not have a brain in their skull. Right? And he says, "God forbid to think like this about these righteous people of Hashem's holy nation because all of these paths within Torah and mitzvot within authentic Torah and mitzvot go to one place and from each one goes praise to Hashem." And he says here as well, go and learn from the tribes of the Jewish people, from the tribes of Yeshir, each of which were on a unique level. And it is through all of them that the shale that the complete unification, the complete alignment with Hashem and manifestation of Hashem in this world is done by way of the Jewish people and by way of ultimately like the original by way of Yakov. And so he says as well that in every generation there are unique paths of serving Hashem. Meaning to say there are some people who are going to emphasize ser serving Hashem's through joy. There are some people who are going to emphasize th serving Hashem through yera and awe. There are some people who are going to emphasize silence in their service of Hashem. There are some people who are going to emphasize speech in their method of service of Hashem. It all goes to one place. And God forbid to speak negatively about any path of uh of Hashem, right? And of matter of fact, all the more so, the fact that people have different paths within the service of Hashem within Torah and mitzvot is because each person must walk the path that is the inheritance of their their fathers, their tribe, their soul roots. And it is through this that a person will achieve ultimately his relationship with Hashem.