[The Rebbe continues to quote statements of Chazal that say that Hashem wants to stay in exile and wait for the redemption at a time only He will determine. We need both moshiach and teshuva, as shown in the previous siman. Therefore, we must not follow a redemption without moshiach such as Zionism, and we must also not follow a messianic claimant when there is no teshuva.]
The Sifri on Haazinu, quoted in the Yalkut Shimoni on Tehillim, section 865 says:
When the Holy One, blessed is He, created His world, He created it with speech, not with an oath. And who caused Him to swear? Those lacking in trustworthiness caused Him to swear, as it says (Tehillim 106:26), “And He lifted up His hand to them…”
The Sifri goes on to say that that oath refers to exile, as the following verse in Tehillim says, “to scatter them in the lands.”
[The words “mechusrei amanah,” lacking in trustworthiness, are found most notably in Bava Metzia 49a, where the Gemara presents a dispute as to whether a person must keep his word in a business deal. According to one opinion, the person who goes back on his word is considered “mechusrei amanah.” Here too, Hashem knew that simply commanding the Jews to stay in exile, as He commanded the world into existence, would not be enough. They could not be trusted, so He had to impose an oath.]
Another reference to the oath of exile is found in the Gemara, Bava Basra 74a, where it is related that Rabba bar bar Chana heard a Divine voice proclaim, “Woe is to Me, for I have sworn, and now that I have sworn, who can annul it for Me?” We see here that the holy Divine Presence laments over that oath that prolongs the exile, and the whole reason for the oath is because of those who lack trustworthiness.
[The Gemara says that Hashem wishes someone would annul His oath so that He could end the exile early. It seems that without an oath, Hashem would have had more leeway, so to speak, in ending the exile, but due to the unreliable nature of the Jewish people, He had to impose an oath.
In Siman 72, the Rebbe will say that according to Rabbi Chaim Vital, one of the Three Oaths refers to Hashem’s oath not to bring the redemption before a certain time. Accordingly, one could understand the oath in Bava Basra 74a as a reference to that oath – not the oath placed on the Jewish people. However, apparently the Rebbe here in Siman 43 is saying that it does refer to the oath placed on the Jewish people because of their untrustworthiness. It could be that the Rebbe only wrote Siman 72 according to Rabbi Chaim Vital, but here he is going according to the standard understanding that there is no such thing as an oath on Hashem. Alternatively, it could be that he held that even Rabbi Chaim Vital would agree that the oath in Bava Basra is the oath of the Jewish people.]
However, unfortunately, for those who deny the Jewish faith completely, even an oath does not help. They don’t care even about Hashem’s oath, and they make a redemption for themselves.
In the Yalkut Shimoni on Parshas Bo, section 191, says:
Who saved you from Madai? Mordechai and Esther… Who saved you from Greece? The Chashmonaim, who offered two tamid offerings each day. Who will save you from the fourth kingdom? Natruna, as the Torah says, “It will be to you for waiting.” “Do not eat of it raw” – do not request it undercooked.
The Zayis Raanan commentary, written by the author of the Magen Avraham, says that the word “natruna” means that we must be patient and wait. “Do not request it undercooked” means that we should not try to eat it when it is only lightly singed by the fire, before it is fully roasted. We see from this that in this final exile, the fourth, there is no one who can fight them for us to bring the redemption except for the merit of “natruna,” to watch and wait, and fulfill the verse, “Do not eat of it raw” – before the proper time.
Unfortunately, now that the time of our redemption is near, many have stumbled in this, transgressing the prohibition to eat of it raw. They have joined in this bitter feast and thus prolonged the exile, unfortunately. Woe to us for we have sinned! They do not believe in what Hashem promised (Midrash Rabbah on Shir Hashirim 2:7), “When the time arrives, I will bring it on its own with great fanfare; I will not delay.” They do not believe in Hashem’s oath that everything is in His hands and the redemption depends only on our teshuva; this is complete heresy, may Hashem spare us.
[The book Aloh Naaleh cites a Rabbi Tzvi Green who accuses the Rebbe of deliberately misquoting this Zayis Raanan. The full quote is “’Do not request it undercooked’ means that we should not try to eat it when it is only lightly singed by the fire, before it is fully roasted – meaning before the sins of the non-Jewish nations have reached their full measure.” Thus he argues that the Midrash’s answer to the question “who will save you from the fourth kingdom” is not the merit of waiting, but rather the fact that the non-Jews’ sins will lead to their downfall and, automatically, we will be redeemed.
However, this Rabbi Green is actually restating the Zionist belief that the redemption or some part thereof can come without our teshuva. Therefore, he finds it reasonable that the catalyst for redemption should be only the sins of the nations. The Satmar Rebbe, on the other hand, having proven from the Rambam that there must be teshuva before the redemption, would never explain the Zayis Raanan as did Rabbi Green. He obviously held that two things are necessary: the nations must fill up their measure, and we must have the merit to be redeemed. Therefore, if we can wait till the nations fill up their measure, we will have both things. If we cannot wait and instead we create our own state, we will still need a large amount of merit even after the nations fill up their measure. He thus omitted the reference to the nations filling up their measure because that is merely a description of the amount of time we have to wait; the catalyst for redemption still remains the merit of our waiting.]
tags: