Thursday, February 10, 2011

It all started from Mitzrayim (updated)

The Pyramids, which the Egyptians forced the Jewish people to build
under conditions of starvation, human suffering and moral depravity,
demoralizing them to the point that they could barely still cry out to God

With regime change underway in Egypt, it's a better time than ever to start looking realistically at what's gonna happen next. Mitzrayim (Egypt) was the first nation nation that subjugated the Jews,  and therefore the redemption is opening with them.

Chabad communities sing the following line every Shabbos and Yom Tov during Mussaf of Kedusha. The Rebbe taught this song to the Chasidim on Simchas Torah 5724-1963. A video of the Rebbe leading the song in 1987 can be seen here (highly recommended!!)


הוא אלקינו, הוא אבינו, הוא מלכנו, הוא מושיענו, הוא יושיענו ויגאלנו שנית בקרוב, וישמיענו ברחמיו לעיני כל חי לאמר: הן גאלתי אתכם אחרית כבראשית להיות לכם לאלקים

He is our G-d, He is our father, He is our King, He is our Redeemer, He is our Deliverer! 
He will deliver us, and redeem us a second time, soon* 
And in His mercy, He will have us hear, in the presence of ALL living things, proclaiming; 
Behold, I have redeemed you 
at the end of time as in the beginning, 
to be to you for your G-d

* the Rebbe instructed his followers to emphasize this part, and that this was more important than the niggun itself

In other words: the final redemption will follow the pattern of the 1st redemption, but it will also be like nothing the world has ever experienced.

NOTE: Thursday Night / Friday day is ZAYIN ADAR, the day of the birth and death of Moshe Rabbeinu, our redeemer, whose all-encompassing soul returns in every generation and who will redeem us now as in the past.

On the ground: Soon Egypt will be cast into a power struggle between Islamists, who will emerge victorious, and reformers, who will give into the Islamists for Egyptian honor and power and unity. Of course since Egypt needs to continue receiving US military aid, this will probably happen in the guise of a 'coalition government' or a power-sharing arrangement, which the Brotherhood will hold the reins of until it steadily comes into their hands, with the help of their satellite chapters in Iran and Syria. 

Isaiah, the prophet who tells of Israel's redemption and comfort, tells us what is in store (I first read the Isaiah 19 connection at Mashiach is Coming). Note: Egypt is also symbolic of the view at large in the West that science governs all and that nothing is more powerful than human genius and innovation, as represented by the facade of all-powerful Egyptian sorcery and divinators. Oh and at the end, Egypt does teshuva.

Isaiah 19

1. The harsh prophecy of Egypt; Behold the Lord is riding on a light cloud and He shall come to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall quake from before Him and the heart of the Egyptians shall melt in their midst.   
2. And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they shall war one man against his brother, and a man against his friend, a city against a city and a province against a province.
3. And the spirit of Egypt shall empty out in its midst, and I will thwart its counsel, and they shall turn to the idols and to the sorcerers and to the necromancers and to those who divine by the jidoa bone. 
4. And I will deliver the Egyptians into the hands of a harsh master, and a mighty king shall rule over them; so says the Master, the Lord of Hosts.
5. And water from the sea shall dry up, and the river shall dry up and become arid.
6. And they shall abandon the rivers; the deep canals shall become impoverished and dried up; reeds and rushes shall be cut off.
7. The well-rooted plants by the stream, by the brink of the stream, and all that is planted by the stream shall dry up, be driven away, and be no more.
8. And the fisherman shall lament and mourn, all who cast fishhooks into the stream; and those who spread nets on the surface of the water shall be cut off.
9. And those who work at flax to be combed and those who weave nets shall be ashamed.
10. And its foundations shall be crushed, all who make dams for still ponds.
11. Indeed, the princes of Zoan are fools, the wise advisors of Pharaoh have foolish counsel; how do you say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the wise, a son of the kings of old."
12. Where then are your wise men who will tell you now, and who will know what the Lord of Hosts planned concerning Egypt?
13. The princes of Zoan have become foolish; the princes of Noph have been misled; they have misled Egypt, the cornerstone of its tribes.
14. The Lord has poured into its midst a spirit of perverseness, and they have misled Egypt in all its deeds as a drunkard strays in his vomit.
15. And Egypt shall not have any deed that either the head or the tail, the branch or the rush shall do.
16. On that day, Egypt shall be like women, and it shall quake and dread the raising of the hand of the Lord of Hosts, which He shall raise over it.
17. And the land of Judah shall be to Egypt for a dread; anyone who mentions it to him, he will dread, because of the plan of the Lord of Hosts, which He is planting against him.
18. On that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing to the Lord of Hosts, one of which will be called "the city of Heres."
19. On that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a monument beside its border, to the Lord.
20. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt, for they shall cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, and He shall send them a savior and a prince, and he shall save them.
21. And the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord on that day, and they shall serve [with] a sacrifice and a meal offering, and they shall make vows to the Lord and they shall fulfill [them].
22. And the Lord shall plague Egypt, plaguing and healing, and they shall return to the Lord, and He shall accept their prayer and heal them.
23. On that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria shall come upon Egypt, and Egypt shall come upon Assyria, and Egypt shall serve with Assyria.
24. On that day, Israel shall be a third to Egypt and to Assyria; a blessing in the midst of the land.
25. Which the Lord of Hosts blessed them, saying, "Blessed is My people Egypt, and the work of My hands Assyria, and My heritage Israel." 


(reprinted from Chabad.org)

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