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Geulah b’Rachamim Program, Volume 3 – By Pinchas Winston
HISTORY CHANGED FOR the Jewish people in 1987. It had been moving in that direction ever since the war in Lebanon in 1982, called “Operation Peace for Galilee.” That’s when a well-known, mainstream America weekly magazine questioned the Israeli initiative by citing, for the first time, that the Holocaust cannot be a justification for every Israel defensive maneuver. It was clearly the beginning of the end.
The end of what? The Post-Holocaust reprieve. The Holocaust did not snuff out anti-Semitism, far from it. But it did cut the Jewish people some slack for a couple of decades as they struggled to build a homeland amidst ruthless enemies committed to its complete and utter annihilation. There was some sympathy in some parts of the world, and some people were at least indifferent to what the Israelis were doing to survive. A lot of people STILL expected Jews to just go away.
Then came the Intifada, the Arab world’s attempt to take from Israel through “diplomacy” what it had thus far been unable to take through war. Their “hand puppet” was the very Palestinian people they themselves had previously rejected, but the hand inside was clearly that of the Arab world.
Until that time, the Palestinians had used guns and terror as their way to fight their way against the “Zionist Regime,” but that didn’t always go over so well in the American press. So, they re-marketed themselves to the world, trading their machine guns and bombs for slingshots and stones, recasting themselves as the new David fighting against a modern Goliath, the Israeli people.
Anyone who truly understood the situation should have stopped the scheme in its corrupted tracks. Anyone interested in truth and facts should have undermined the Arab attempt to use the “Plight of the Palestinian People” as a way to win the hearts of the Western world, and to turn them against the Israeli people. But few such people existed anymore, and instead the ploy not only worked, it received help and encouragement from the Western media.
Overnight the true “David” become a false “Goliath,” and the real “Goliath” became a contrived “David.” It was the new cover story, the new angle to Middle-East politics, and the media jumped all over it. It became fashionable to despise the Israelis and to criticize their every move, justifiable or not. From that point onward, the Israelis could do nothing right.
The “fire” was just getting started. If there had been any momentum in the direction of the support for Israelis, it shifted to the Arabs instead. Within a short time, the new anti-Semitism, camouflaged by the term “Anti-Israelism,” spread across the Western world, especially across college campuses and liberal Jewish organizations. It even became dangerous to profess pro-Israel support in places that were once proud of freedom of speech and diversity of political opinions.
The Jewish people, once again, were isolated. So much of its resources had to be redirected to combat anti-Israel propaganda. Whatever the Arabs did in the name of separatism was considered justified. Whatever the Israelis did for self-defense was considered to be aggressive and unacceptable. It began to seem that even complete destruction at the hands of the enemy would not bring Israel any world sympathy or understanding. It felt like drowning.
That is interesting, because there is a midrash in the Talmud that, until 1987, seemed to have NOTHING to do with the End-of-Days. Now the story, with the help of a later commentary, seems to have predicted current events with uncanny accuracy.
The Talmud says:
Rabbah bar Bar Channah said: I was once on a boat and saw a fish upon whose back grass was growing. [Since] we thought it was an island, we disembarked, and baked and cooked upon it. When the back of the fish became hot it turned over, and had the ship not been near, we would have drowned. (Bava Basra 73b)
Did this story really occur, at least as recorded? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. But, does it really matter? This is the Talmud talking, and the Talmud comes to teach ultimate truths, with either fact OR fiction. The only REAL question is, what does this story teach us?
The Talmud was recorded in 499 CE, and many have provided interpretations of Rabbah bar Bar Channah’s little fish story. This one is far more recent:
Rabbah bar Bar Channah saw with Ruach Hako-desh that in the End-of-Days, Israel will rule over a people. Israel will assume that this people has no hope of ever overcoming them, and will therefore subjugate them. When this “people” have suffered much, they will “turn the plate on its mouth” and resist Israel. If Moshiach is not close at hand, they will drown from the many problems that will arise. (Emes L’Ya’akov)
This commentary was written in the 1800s, LONG before the Jewish people returned to their land and declared nationhood once again. Still, to predict that it would eventually happen does not take Divine inspiration, only faith, and many have done it over the last few millennia.
However, to predict that the Jewish people will also rule over another people is going out on a limb. No one else has ever said that. To say that the Jewish people will subjugate this people, and that this people will eventually rebel is going further out on that limb. Why go so far? Finally, to say that the Jewish people will “drown” from the problems this people will create if Moshiach is not at hand, well, that is going right to the very thin and very fragile end of the branch.
Snap!
And yet, here we are, witnesses to the truth of this very incredible prediction, and ALL of it uncannily came true! The Jewish people got their land back. They ended up ruling over another people. This people were subjugated, at least as far as they were concerned, and rebelled. Moshiach did not come to save the day, and the Jewish people have been drowning in all the consequences of the Intifada. How’s THAT for RUACH HAKODESH!
If so, then it should be pointed out that this makes the Intifada an END-OF-DAY’S event. It is not just another Middle-East political uprising, but ANOTHER important sign that we are indeed at the end of history as we know it. It’s not the whole End-of-Day’s story, but it is certainly an important part of it.
Perhaps, then, there are additional clues to glean from this otherwise off-the-wall Talmudic account? After all, why a fish disguised as an island? Why cook on it to make it turn over? Why the boat? Certainly each detail of the story was handcrafted to add important information for the generation that would find itself at the very heart of the story itself.
