Rambam’s Letters (Pt 8) | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz | Jul 1 2025

happened since the last time we met. It's been kind of a a different world and uh as Ravasha Weiss mentioned on one hand we say Shir Hamalos we beseech Hashem for mercy but we should add to ourim mis Marlo soda a a song of thanksgiving. Uh we are not out of danger yet. There are still many many not all of the hostages have been released and we have to pray for them. are still engaged in life-threatening uh missions. So uh this is not a time where we simply say oh bashem mashia is here we don't have to worry about anything uh we're still in a mat of sakana and even Iran itself is very unpredictable and one should have a special file in mind for the many many Jews who are in Iran it themselves whose lives are actually in uh great great danger. essentially Iran is rounding up all sorts of Jews on fake charges or or whatever it is and uh they have an infinite capacity to devise ways of taking revenge uh somehow they never give up on that. So on one hand this is still an ace sah and it's still a time that needs our prayers. One should not forget it. But at the same time one cannot ignore the virtual miracles that hashem has uh enabled us to experience in our lifetime. Uh both in terms of what Israel did in Iran and in terms of what the United States coming in to kind of finish off hopefully the nuclear program there. Uh and again uh it's a time of great great gratitude for these miracles. We hope that it's uh all of this is part of the Mashiach the birth pains of Mashiach and maybe the maybe maybe the worst part of the labor might be over and hopefully maybe we have an easier course. You don't know. We don't know. In fact, we'll we'll be talking about that today in the Garrett Tman itself. So in a sense uh the letter that we're looking at uh is going to be a relevant message uh even for what uh we are going through going through today. Uh again if you remember uh which is also called the opening of hope. Now these name that name was not given by the Rambam but when the letter was translated from the Arabic to the Hebrew so different translators appended different titles to the letter. So Petikva was a title that the translator gave to the letter itself. Uh was essentially a letter of comfort to the Yemenite community uh that was uh subjected to great persecutions, Islamic persecutions. And as I say, they were hit from many many different directions. And the Rambam tries to address each of those directions. First of all, the persecution itself uh in which Jews were not able to keep mitzvot was very very debilitating. Uh the second aspect was a little bit of a correlary. It's slightly different and that is many Jews began to question their own faith because they began to wonder if God really cares about us and if God wants us to keep the Torah then why are all of these negative forces why are they so successful? Why are they mats? And as a result, there were Jews who began to question whether the Torah is even true or whether God even cares or even if the Torah was true, maybe it got superseded, which is actually the claim of Christianity and Islam. And to make it worse, there was a Jewish apostate, a Jewish person who converted to Islam, who was writing pamphlets that were apparently widely circulated, similar to Christian missionaries later in which he tried to prove from the Torah itself that Muhammad will be the great prophet that's going to arise. So, you know, there's a PK that says in which literally means those who destroy you will be expelled from your midst. But in Hebrew, you could translate it, those who destroy you come from you. Come from you. And this would be an example of of that. And the final uh thing that's added to the calculus, there was a guy that was a a Mashiach, a guy who was claiming that he was Mashiach and as a result he was leading people uh to his direction. So you really have like two opposite reactions here. There are Jews who lost their faith and there are Jews who are jumping on a false Messiah who's going to redeem them. And the Rambam has to deal with all of these balls and juggling. And the last time I'm not going to go over this particular point. Uh we looked at the fact that the Rambam was looking at some of the so-called drushots that the Jewish apostate was making. And the Rambam was showing how foolish they were. And the Rambam made the point that even the Muslims don't believe uh the stuff that this person claims is in the Torah. The Muslims claim the Torah may have been forged, right? the ADA story may have been rewritten but nobody says that they see it in the existing text of the Kumash all of these proofs. So at this point the Rambam is now going to turn to the issue of Messianism, the issue of the false Mashiach. And part of the guy's case and why a lot of people followed him was that they had engaged in messianic calculations and they came up of course you kind of find what you look for. They came up with the idea that this is the kayamin this is the end of days based on various messianic calculations. So here the Rambam engages in a very interesting and important discussion regarding the topic calledish which the Talmet already discusses. Hakets is an attempt to calculate the precise time when the Mashiach will reveal himself and bring redemption to Claw Israel. Now the primary source forets has been various interpretations in the book of denil in safer donal. Now remember Denal is uh in the Babylonian exile uh the 70 years after the Kurban by Reishon. Donal is towards the end of that actually is actually towards the beginning of that period and Donal particularly the second half of the book of Denal he is given various visions and the visions express the time of redemption in very enigmatic ways. I think if I remember I think I once gave a shir to uh the ou on this uh I'm not going to go over all the calculations but suffice it to say the calculations are very very enigmatic. It talks about 1,290 days which can mean years actually. It talks about 1335 1335 days. It talks about a time times and half a time, right? So this is, you know, you ask me when will Mashiach come? Oh, very simple. Mashiach will come when a time, times, and half a time have passed. So obviously you can see the problem here. Number one, what is a time and and once you know time, you can then figure out times and half a time. So number one, what does that mean? And number two, where are you counting it from? That's another thing. Even if I came up with a number that it's x number of years from when so Hashem's message at the end of all of those messianic calculations to denil was write these, you know, write down these words, but keep them secret and unexplained. And indeed it's not even clear that Donil himself understood. This is important. Sometimes a Navi does not always understand the full implications of his nava. But what happened was many of the earliest mafarium on the book of Denal in order to give the Jewish people comfort in the time of gave various interpretations to what a time times and a half a time might be and what's the 1290 and what's the 1335 and when are you counting it from and there's actually another puk that talks about uh evening and morning for 2,300. So look, look at all the numbers here. 1290 1335 a time times time and a half and then there's a 2300 figure. Is that days? Is that years? Is that means seven year sevenyear cycles? That could also be the case. You multiply everything by seven. So the maforim tried to give some type of quantification of all of this. uh starting I'm not sure if he's the very first one but starting with Ravaja Gon Ravajon who actually wrote an Arabic commentary on all of Tanakh uh actually in his commentary to Saber Danil uses various messianic calculations and of course typically the way these work is it's almost always like 50 to 100 years ahead of where you Siron came up with a date 100 years from now is going to be ga now I don't I don't mean to be cynical at all and I'm not suggesting there was any conscious motivation but you understand that that's kind of a very convenient way of conveying it because on one hand you're giving people comfort by saying it's not so far only a hundred years from now on the other hand they're not going to be alive when that comes. So as a result, they're not going to be disillusioned. So again, one of the aspects of giving comfort to people is to give a messianic date that is beyond their lifespan but not too much beyond their lifespan. Of course, what happened was that date came and went and then we have other attempts among them Rashi. Rashi in safer denil mentions Rafajigon's calculations and he says they have passed but I will suggest another calculation which is also 50 to 100 years uh ahead of him and that passed as well and then kind of the messianic calculation kind of got out of vogue and they commentaries stopped doing it but the last attempt was none other than The Malbin, the Malb was in the 19th century. The Malbin was in the 1880s and he made kind of a lastditch attempt to give specific dates for the coming of Msiah and once again it was around 50 years ahead of him, the 1920s and the like. So the book of denil has been a fertile fertile source of various messianic calculations and although we're not given the calculation of this particular guy in tman but apparently this particular guy had his own messianic calculation to indicate that now is the time. So the Rambam feels constrained to address the issue of and he actually quotes the Gomorrah. The Gomorrah says shall that literally means they should blow up. They should explode. Meaning those who try to calculate uh the they should be blown up. uh it's forbidden to calculate ketamin of course we believe in mashiach we believe the gul will come and as the the 12th says the famous song as well [Music] even though there seems to be a delay I await for him every day by the way there's an interesting is how you translate the phrase this is interesting So what is the going on? Meaning is there a requirement that we believe Mashiach will can come any day? In other words, or no, does it just mean every day I yearn that that Mashiach will come? Meaning I don't have to believe Mashiah will come today. I can believe Mashiah will come in 100 years from now, but every day I have that yearning for Mashiach. In other words, is referring to or is the low? But be it as it may, I think I've mentioned a number of times the uh the ani mammons which are the 13 principles of faith that are based on the Rambam are not the Rambam's own. The Rambam did not write the bun all of those things. Rather the 13 am which include of course Mashiach and are not uh are found in the Rambam's commentary to the Mishna his introduction to what is in argamor is the 11th peric of Sanhedrin in the Rambam's gear the 10th peric of Sanhedrin that's called perk that's the famous perk that says which sounds really good. It says every single Jew has a inab. Right? So if you just read the first line, you're really excited. Then it goes on and says and the following people don't. So the Rambam discusses there he uses it as kind of almost an excuse to elaborate the fundamental principles of faith that allow a person admission to olhaba. And he and he he artic he articulates in per the 13 amuna but not in the anim language. The anim language is really by an anonymous author. We don't know who did that and uh who and when it was done but at some point in the middle ages uh a person adapted the language of the Rambam to make it simpler uh and in a way that people could actually profess every day. Many people say an imam after chakras I mean it's not part of the regular sitter but regular chakras but in every sitter the animmons are are afterwards. And you'll also uh know that Yigdal, the poem Yigdal, Elohim Kai, which some people say every day and some people say Friday night. Uh and in the yeshiva world, it's never said at all, but for whatever reason. Uh but Yikdal is essentially a poetic rendition of the 13 principles of faith. Uh and because 13 is an odd number, that is why the last right ydal is a couplet, right? So uh you know each line is one. So 1 2 3 4 5 6. So you're left over with 13. And that's why in the of that line has to be repeated although without hashem's name being said twice because in 13 is an odd number. So in order to have your um seven full stanzas you got to make it a 14line poem. So is repeated in the of ydn. Yeah. phone, right? So the Rambam is going to address it. The Ramb So the Rambam makes the point that it's impossible for us to know the exact date of Mashiach even in the book of Denal and he proves it. The very text that you're using, the very text that you're using which gives you messianic calculations said keep these matters secret and obscure. So the Rambam says it's very paradoxical to use the book of denil to calculate messianic calculations when that very book says that this is unknown and this is obscure. But the Rambam says there is a prediction in the book of Denal that this is going to happen. In fact, it's very interesting. He interprets the p the opposite uh of how you'd read it. It's a bigish to me. I I was not until I saw Garethman I was not aware of this. At some point says as we get closer and closer to Gahula it says many will swim will wander around. Now means and knowledge will increase. So what does it mean knowledge will increase? So it seems to suggest people will get greater clarity. The Rambam has a very innovative. He says the word dot does not mean knowledge or wisdom but dot should be read as if it said deot there will be it's a bigish there will be a multiplicity of opinions. It's not describing a point of greater clarity. is describing the opposite of how you would read the verse. Uh it's describing a point of greater confusion dot. It's an unusual use of the word dot but the word dot here is interpreted to be deot opinions views. So on one hand don tells us sum concealment. On the other hand it says people will be speculating. That's part of the prediction of what's going of what's going to go out. Now, why is it so bad to try? Yeah, I didn't hear you. Uh, deot. Well, uh, he doesn't he doesn't say, but but I guess that would be implicit. When you have multiple opinions, there will tend to be Marlo Lopez. By the way, you know, uh, people are circulating. I very much dislike this um some uh some video I think it's a seven minute video about the aviv rav that is within Kali Israel some of you might have seen that um I just want to put in my my two cents for what it's worth maybe it's only worth two cents that uh the idea of particularly at this time of sending out videos or giving shorter lectures of how bad other people are within the Jewish people is not really the avoda that Hashem wants us to engage in at this particular time. It's very very easy for a person to sit back and look at others and talk about how bad they are and why they are ma the gulah and why they are the spiritual successors of the aivra that left mitzim and why they are contaminating us and they are dragging us down. Uh that's a pretty easy exercise actually because that allows me to say you know I'm ready for Msiah and I'm worthy of Mashiach but they whoever they are are holding us back. So this whole endeavor of trying to look at other people and blame them uh for whatever it am Israel is facing I think is the he uh from the aas is and the unity uh that we actually need during an a didn't hear you say it. Oh yeah, that that that's very very true. That that is very very true. In fact, this material has I'm aware of that. It has been misused by uh anti-semites even by by Muslim uh nations and terrorists and and and the like. So one has to be very very careful. Um the truth is uh if you if you need to you know identify so we look into ourselves and we see what it is even then you shouldn't be too hard on yourself either because a person needs a self-esteem but uh the critical eye should be turned inwards rather than than outward. I mean somebody sent me something yesterday and yes I guess very very I mean I didn't even I mean I just listened to the first 30 seconds and I saw where it was going. uh I didn't you know I didn't want to waste my time uh looking looking at it uh but things like calling other Jews forgive me for lecturing calling other Jews Amalecch calling other Jews avo this is not Aravod in this particular part of time but the Rambam then addresses what is so bad about trying to calculate the messianic times so the Ram says very very simply he says given the fact that fundamentally we don't No, it's not even good to guess because if you give dates and those dates pass, people get disillusioned and people stop believing. They tell a story with Ryako Kineski, a relatively modern story about um there was a a man when Raako Kineski when after when he came from Europe before he became Roshiva of Tora Vidas uh was a Rav in Toronto. Toronto was his first stellar in the United States. Um there's still some very old people who remember of Vaku Kametski as the rub of Toronto. And uh there was a a Jewish store owner in Toronto who was keeping his store open on Chabas. You know he was he was one of those guys who would go to Schul on Chabas. He was like he was raised from in fact you know the hashkama right shs in America have early minanim. So usually the way it works is the early minyan are the more from people the more yeshivisha people who want to learn after ding and don't want to hear the rabbis dra so they go to a hashkam minion okay that's why some rabanim don't like what whatever it would be or some rabbis actually give a drussa at the hashkam minion which kind of defeats why there is a hash minion but okay uh but I I used to like to remind people do you know what the historical origin of the hashkama minion in the United States was it was Not the from Ben yeshiva. It was the balabatim who would go to schol shabas but they had to open the store by 9:00. So they had to have an early minion so they could open their business. Again I'm not blaming people. The conditions of of employment and survival were very very very difficult and none of us can boast that we would be OMED bin. I'm not judging. But lice these are people who went to work in chas. So this was a person who had a store open in Chabas. So one of of Yakov's congregants had this brilliant idea. The guy was very stark in his amuna in Hashem and a little bit kind of superstitious as well. So they went to him and said you know Mashiach can come tomorrow and what's going to be Sunday Mashiach comes and you're a mal shabas. Do you wanna be a mal shabus when Mashiach comes and then who knows what's gonna happen to you? So the person was so scared of Mashiach coming that he immediately closed his store. So the person went to Yakov and kind of boasting you know I got this guy to close the store and Vakov said what did you tell him? I says Mashiach can come tomorrow. S of Yakov said you go back and tell him we have no idea when Mashiach is coming because what's going to be you tell the guy Mashiach is coming tomorrow or Mashiach is coming within the month and Mashiach doesn't come he's going to drop the little bit of amuna that he still has and that's going to be worse than even keeping his store open on Shabas. Survive Jacob said, "You go back then and say we have no idea when Mashiach is coming." Listen, it's good for you not to open. I mean, it's good for you to keep Shabas, that's for sure. But we're not going to say because Mashiach is coming, you know, tomorrow or whatever it is. And the truth is, I don't know if Rey Jacob got it from here, but the Rambam makes this very point. The Rambam says there's a devastating impact on people to raise their hopes and then have their hopes smashed. One has to be a realist. We don't know. Now and of course and that's why he quotes the shash. So obviously the question becomes what about Rafson? Rajon was very very great. The Rambam had tremendous kavot for sajone. Of course Rashi later did the same thing. Uh how could they be mash? So here I have to confess I'm a little confused because the Ramba now adopts an opposite Sorah that Ravaj Jewish population were so belleaguered with that his heart induced him to offer them a comfort and the Rambam says I'm not going to blame him because his heart was in the right place although rationally it was not the right decision. You know, it's a fascinating thing. On one hand, you offer auakets to give people comfort, but then the Rambam warns us that's not a good idea actually because yeah, it'll give them comfort until the date comes, but when the date comes and it passes, it's going to have the opposite effect. Essentially, it's a short-term placebo. It's a short-term placebo that may work for a short time and then it could have devastating impacts. Now sometimes just like a parent sometimes a situation is so dire that you feel you have to give this short-term placebo even though you know there may be negative consequences and the Rambam basically says was in error he says but we're not going to blame him because he acted out of Israel and a desire to help people and therefore we're not going to blame him. There is a Rambam does not quote this but there is a that says which basically means love can sometimes distort your judgment. You can make a mistake because of the love that you have for for Khloe Israel and the like. So the Rambams therefore says the whole idea of doesn't make sense. Um, and then he points out an interesting analogy. He says, "Even when the Tyra explicitly gives you termination dates, we often don't know what those termination dates mean until they happen." And he gives two interesting proofs. One is at the Brisbar, the covenant that Hashem made with Abraham when he cut up the animals. So, Hashem gave him the prophecy that the Jewish people will be slaves in Mitz. Remember the famous you shall know. Your children shall be your descendants your seed shall be strangers aliens in a land that is not theirs. And they will be enslaved to that nation. And that nation will oppress them sh 400 years. But the nation that they are enslaved to I will eventually judge and afterwards your children your descendants shall leave with great wealth. Now it says your children will be strangers and slaves and be afflicted 400 years. Now in reality we know if you calculate from the kish itself we were only in mitim from the time that Jacob Vainu came to Egypt until Mosher Rabenu took us out of Egypt. Just add up the numbers. It's well known it was only 2 10 years. And the actual years of slavery did not begin till theatim died which was 70 years after that. So what is 210 minus 70 is what? 140. Yeah. So we were only slaves for 140 years. Now the Rambam writes there was a lot of confusion how to calculate the 400 years. There were Jews in Mitraim who actually thought we have to be 400 years in Egypt and that's why some of them didn't want to go out and they died in the plague of darkness. There were other Jews that said we count 400 years from the time that God gave Abraham this nua. Now again remember Hashem gave Ara the navua when Ara was 70 years old. So 400 years from the Brisbane Absurim is uh 30 years. Well well okay let let me give you the final answer. The final answer is as Rashi explains, we count the 400 years from the birth of Yitzk. From the birth of Yitz till Mitzim is 400 years. But how old was Ara when Yit was born? 100. So the brisbar was 30 years before the birth of. So if you calculate the 400 years from the birth of that corresponds to the 210 in Mitraim. But if you calculate the 400 years from the Brisbane Absarim that would create an ex an exodus date that is 30 years earlier. And indeed the medish tells us that Shvet Ephen calculated that the time of the Exodus was 30 years before Mosher Rabenu and they left Mitzim. They rebelled and they were killed because they made a mistake in the calculation of the K. So the Rambam's making a point that the exact meaning of the 400 years was not known until Mosher Rabeno came and gave them the signs. The Bane misinterpreted it that it was earlier than was the case. Other people thought it would be later. Now the Rambam then addresses the obvious question that everyone asks it. I mean, you know, you say, well, wait a second here. Uh, 400 years from the birth of Yitzk, but the Pussk says they will be enslaved for 400 years. They were not enslaved during Yitzk's lifetime. So, the Rambam adds a very interesting point here, very important point. The PK does not say they will be enslaved for 400 years. And the puzz does not say they'll be in Mitzim before. It doesn't mention Mitsay rather it mentions this is the Rambam's interpretation. It mentions three stages. They will be strangers. They will be slaves. They will be persecuted. Three stages. Got a Rambam says the Nva to Ara says that for 400 years your children shall suffer three stages of persecution. being an alien, being a slave and then even active persecution above the slavery. Now the Rambam says even from the birth of Yitzk is the beginning of the gay roots the the alien because even in Erit Israel Yeitzk was treated like a stranger like an alien right the Philistines filled up his wells and the like. So the gayus abdus enoi will take place over a period of 400 years but the actual the actual stay in mitran will only be 210 and the actual slavery will be 140 and the actual persecution about throwing the babies in the Nile is the latter stage of that. So there's gayus abdus enoi and the enoi is only a small part of the 400 years. Yeah. Says they were in Egypt before. Yes. Yes. Yes. So now this explains another p that's in paras that when they left mitim it says mosha ba mitim uh is 430 years. What does that mean? So both the Rambam and Rashi explain that is 430 years from the brisar. So it doesn't mean they were again this is a bit of a doak in the interpretation it does not mean they were in Mitzim 430 but it means they were there until the expiration of 430 years. So again just to summarize this because this is actually important general knowledge there are three numbers associated with uh Galot Mim and Yas Mim 430, 400 and 210 are the three primary numbers. Uh 430 is it was 430 years from the covenant the Brisbane Absurim until Mitraim. It was 400 years from Jacob au coming to Mitzim I'm sorry from the birth of Yitzkak until Yas Mitraim and it was 210 years from the time Yakov came to Mitraim till the Jews left and then we can add some other numbers it was only 140 years of slavery and there's a even a shorter period of around 70 years of enoi of actual genoc genocide and and the like. Okay. So, the point of all of this is the Rambam is making a point that even when the Torah gives you expiration dates, there is uncertainty how to apply it. And we only know in retrospect where we calculate it from. In other words, how do In other words, basically, how do I know that I calculate the 400 years from the birth of Y? Because when Mosher Rabenu took us out, it was 400 years from the birth of Yeh. Meaning this was not known prospectively. This was not known ahead of time. This was known after the fact. So the Rambam says the messianic redemption is going to be exactly the same thing. You can't predict it because they couldn't predict it. Bafria made a mistake because they have this foreign. Now then he gives another example which is an interesting example from the Torah. Uh this is in parasan and uh this is well we read it parasan of course but it's also uh theor of morning right this is really a para in the Torah that talks about when you have children and grandchildren and you've been in the land a long time and you will do a veros and I Zorah. So then it goes on, it's a very appropriate reading for Tishab. It goes on and says there will be there will be there will be and then in your gulus you will eventually do chuva and come back to God. So even on tish we do have these verses of comfort and Hashem will bring you back. But but it but it does it does go through all of the awful things that will befall the Jewish people inherit Israel if they abandon the Torah. And of course these things have happened. Now Rashi brings a very again from Kazal a very interesting gamatria on the word vin no shantim. I always forget. Let's just add it up here. Uh VV nun VV one second is right. Okay. 56 62 362 and 50. Okay. One second. One second. One second. 440 490 790 796 and 6 is 802. Yeah, it's 852, right? Is that correct? The gamatra of Venosantem if you count the VV is 852. So this is a prediction that if the Jews remain in a state of sin and they've been in the land for 852 years aan an awesome will take place now here's the question we actually know how many years the Jewish people were in Ar is until the B mikdash we know this and we know this from a very critical chronological bit of data that's in the book of Malik which is actually one of the lynch pins for biblical chronology and that is when Schlommo built the BA mikdash it says the BA mikdash was started at least 480 years after the Jews left mitime this might be actually the the importance of this puss for calculating Everything cannot be overstated. This is actually a foundational p. So built began to build the bas mikdash 480 years after mit. Now since we wandered in the desert 40 years we know that we were 440 years in Erit Israel before the base of mikdash was built. Right? So it's 440. And we also know by calculating the kings, the reigns of the kings that the first B mikdash stood 410 years. So do the math. 440 plus 410 is 850 years. So what's the calculation from the time Yahosua bin crossed the yard till the Bikdash is 800 and 50 years. I the Torah says vinant which is 8 52 years and even though it's true Gamatria actually has a rule you can ignore one differences of one if if you're only one short that's okay for Gamatria uh but if you're too short you got a problem so Rashi says from that this is a Hashem brought the mikdash two years earlier than he should have brought it. Why is that? Because if you read the it says when you're and you do idols I will utterly destroy you by making the a little earlier. Hashem and didn't have to keep that part of the p. In other words, this is interesting. You would think, oh, making the mikdash two years earlier is a punishment. It was actually a because it gave Hashem, whatever this means exactly, an excuse not to fulfill the full severity of that verse. Now the Rambam points out that this gamatria was certainly totally unknown until after the fact. Meaning after the base of Mikdash is destroyed and we then see oh 850 oh and was 852. Now we have an interpretation but they didn't know ahead of time that the B mikdash should be be destroyed at 850 or 852. So again the Rambam is using this as two proofs. Again, I mean the the proofs themselves are very interesting and that's why I'm elaborating on them. But the basic point is a relatively simple point and the simple point is that even when termination dates are given in the kh itself we don't really understand what they are until after the fact and is going to be true for the kates and therefore the whole idea of say I'll say again this is this is all of this is really just an elaboration on the statement of that those who try to calculate the messianic end uh they should explode. Now by the way I want to point out that uh particularly uh in this day and age uh this is actually a very popular pastime. Uh Christians have been doing it a long time. Christians are have always been into this thing because they actually have their own the Havdale parallel book to the book of Denal and that's their book of revelations which has its own you know spirious messianic mysterious calculations. So Christians have always been doing it. Uh Jews it comes and goes. Uh meaning they're different to kufot where people get involved in this and there are times they don't. Uh well uh this is a time I think where a lot of people are doing this. If you look at different websites, they're all trying to do this. But, you know, you go back, I mean, in a way, it gets it gets tiresome after a while because I remember going back to the six day war, you know, Msiah is coming and that's because and they give you a calculation and then the then the Scud missiles with Iraq, right? So, this constant barrage of messianic calculations uh is frustrating and again the Rambam tells us not to get involved in it. Okay. Now he then says, talk about cognitive dissonance. But you know, yeah, not supposed to do it. Totally wrong. Disillusions people. But I want to share with you a tradition that I got from my father who got from his father all the way back. Other words, after the Rambam says not to do it, he then says, "I'm going to do it and I'm going to do it anyway." But he's writing again, it's a little stranger. Let me remind you was written to a particular rabbi. This is a letter to one person. But at the end of the letter, the Rambam says, "I want this letter to be read publicly in Schulz." But at this point in the letter, he says, "I'm going to tell you something, but don't tell anybody else." Now, how does that so to speak? How does that correspond with the idea that he says, "Read the letter. Does that mean skip this line?" I mean, I'd like to know. when the letter was read publicly did they give this remed but but at least at this point the Ram says I'm going to give you a tradition that was kept in our family and it goes all the way back to the time of the Quran and the Rambam apparent remember although the Rambam spent his life most of his life in Egypt remember the Rambam was born in Spain Cordoba uh and the Rambam which is Safar and the Rambam brings a Pakovaja which talks about I shared with Saratu with Sparat which actually means if you interpret again it's it's always difficult to know what the biblical names correspond to but if you assume as the Rambam seems to assume that Sarat and Safarat mean as they mean in modern Hebrew, France and Spain. Apparently, there were Jews who settled in those countries as early as the destruction of the first B mikdash. And the Rambam seems to intimate that his family goes back to the Galot Aerisad and they have this tradition. And here is the tradition. The tradition comes from the prophecies of Bum, right? Bum. We're going to read in the Shabas after this coming Shabas. So, Bum was hired by Balok to curse the Jewish people. And as we know the story, every time he tried to curse them, Hashem changed the clala to Abraa. But then the last time Bam kind of uh addresses Ben Israel uh he has messianic visions. He has messianic visions about Mashiach. And in that me in that messianic vision uh it says a time will come. It will be declared to the Jewish people. Ma pal kale. Actually, it's a famous in English. What has God wrought? This is a very famous verse because when Morris invented the telegraph, this was the first message that he sent. So, here's what the Rambam says. co in a time like this. So says the Ramba Bum is prophesying when the number of years from now from where he is will equal the number of years from Bria to Olm to Bum meaning when a time like the time that has already elapsed from creation shall come. Now it's not it's not a messianic prophecy but Mapo alo God will restore prophecy to the Jewish people and the Rambam says it's obvious that the restoration of prophecy is a direct precursor to the coming of Msiah. So here's the Kushban. I'll mention it quickly. I'll I'll go over it in more detail next week. How many years of creation passed or how many years from creation until bum? So here is the kashman. There's one date that we know, a very fascinating date. Araina was born in the year 1948. Fascinating meaning 1,948. When Ara was 100 years old, Yit was born. So Yitz was born in the year 200 48. Okay, we know Mitzim was 400 years after the birth of Yitzk. So what year was it? 2448. Understand this matriam was 2,448 years from Bri to Bum was year 40 in the desert. So add 40 years. So Bum was in the year 204 and 888. So, Bum is saying when you add 2,488 years from his braha, prophecy will come back to Israel and then Mashiach will follow. So once again, so you just add 2488 to 2488 and that gives you what? 16 the year again that happens to be in the 1200s it's around 50 years I I have to you can calculate it I don't have the calculation here but that's around 50 years ahead of the Rambam he says prophecy will return to AmI Israel and when prophecy returns to AmI Israel that'll be a precursor to Mashiach. So the year, the Hebrew year would be 4,000. Everyone understands that the arithmetic here 4,976. Suffice it to say, of course, that that date also passed uh without this thing happening. But you see, I think the Rambam himself, his description of Sajjon is describing his own problem here. In other words, he remember how we justified. He says he shouldn't have done it, but he was so desperate to offer some comfort to the Jewish people that he did it out of his love for Israel. I think the Rambam, if I could say it, may be guilty of the very thing that he's accus I mean, it's such a strange thing. After he tells me, don't do this, he almost can't can't hold himself back, but I got to do this. And he does it. And this is his interesting REM again. It's not a direct message. Maybe that's his out actually. Maybe Well, listen. I didn't say Mashiach would come. I said prophecy would come and mashia comes soon after. But what's soon? Maybe soon is 500 years. Okay. Maybe maybe he has an out that he was not directly mash. But he did indicate when would come back to to Ami Israel which which it did not unfortunately. Okay. So this is the now the next thing he's going to talk about which we'll we'll deal with next week is the role of astrology because this false mashiach also indicated that he's the one because of the stars and we will talk about the Rambam's view on astrology. Um it's interesting also here too we have a little bit of a double message here. On one hand the Rambam disparages it. He says it's garbage but then he demonstrates his very detailed knowledge of how of astrology. So it was not something he simply ignored. Apparently he knew astrology very very very well but nevertheless uh dismissed