Gog & Magog: Postwar Fallout
Are Gog and Magog really dead? Many tzaddikim say that the physical part of the war is over, but there’s still a danger in the spiritual aftermath...
Here’s the good news: many tzaddikim say that there won’t be any more push-button nuclear wars because the physical part of the Gog & Magog war is over.
Yet, we can’t yet celebrate: from the unfortunate experiences of nuclear explosions around the world, we’ve learned that post-explosion fallout is no less perilous than the explosion itself. Years after an explosion, high levels of radioactivity remain in the soil, distorting and causing sickness to flora, fauna, and man alike.The Melitzer Rebbe shlit’a explained to me – in the exact words that he heard from the holy Rebbe Aaron of Belz of blessed memory – that the murder of 6,000,000 Jewish martyrs in the Nazi Holocaust was the pinnacle of Gog and Magog’s attack against Am Yisrael, the people of Israel. As a result, a third of the Jewish people were destroyed.
Gog and Magog are dead. The Almighty no longer hides His holy countenance from us, as He did in the Holocaust. In 1948, He helped a handful of farmers, factory workers, and concentration-camp survivors defeat the combined standing armies of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. In 1967, He again delivered Israel from her enemies. In 1973, when according to all military logic Israel should have been destroyed, The Almighty turned the tables around in Israel’s favor. Don’t be mistaken – the Syrian and Egyptian commandos are superb soldiers; at the time, their armies boasted state-of-the-art Russian weaponry. Defeating them was a major miracle.
Twice, in the Gulf Wars of 1991 and again in 2003, The Almighty fought Israel’s battles for her by removing Saddam Hussein. Saddam’s Scud missiles could have reached all of Israel’s major population centers.
The Almighty, only 19 short years ago, dismantled the USSR without firing a shot. Why? He promised long ago that before the coming of Mashiach, He’d bring all of the dispersed Jews home to Israel.
Enough miracles? How about all the miracles that are going on right now under our very noses?
In 1945, Torah and Judaism were almost dead. The renowned Lithuanian and Chassidic communities of Eastern Europe were wiped out. Anyone who visits Israel, and sees what’s going on in Jerusalem, Bnai Brak, Ashdod, Beitar, Kiryat Sefer, Elad, Arad, and Kiriat Gat can’t believe their eyes. Torah and the communities of its faithful are alive, vibrant, and growing from day to day.
Fallout. Gog and Magog, the pogroms and the Holocaust, have left a terrible aftermath. Nuclear fallout is radioactivity, which threatens bodies. Spiritual fallout is epikorsis, the denial of faith, which kills souls. Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, just about 200 years ago, warned that epikorsis would be a bigger threat to the Jewish people than any physical calamity. A large number of Jews around the world – including Israel – die spiritual deaths while falling victim to epikorsis and assimilation every day. The damage is a thousand-fold worse than the combined damages of the Intifada and world terror.
Mashiach. We are now facing the final test of faith before the coming of the Mashiach, our messiah, and the redemption of our people. The world is now like a blanket; The Almighty is giving it a tremendous shake, and only those who hold on tight – by clinging to their faith in Him – will stay aboard. Therefore, now is the time to strengthen our faith, to wash our eyes from the materialism that blinds us, and to see Hashem’s miracles, which are now out in the open for everybody to see.
Bnai Noach Movement. Who would have believed that thousands of non-Jews around the world would be categorically accepting the absolute truth of Torah? These are the very bright people who have developed a keen sense of spiritual awareness, and want to share in the glory of redemption. One Ben Noach, a regular Breslev Israel reader and close friend, wrote me an email saying, “Anyone who can’t smell Mashiach on the way needs an ear, nose, and throat specialist!”
Teshuva Movement. The Teshuva Movement in Israel alone has long surpassed six figures. Never – in the entire 34 centuries of Jewish history since Mount Sinai – has there been such a phenomenon of spiritual rebirth.
Emuna – the pure and complete faith in Hashem – is the prime garment of the soul. Blemished emuna is tantamount to wearing a blemished garment. Even worse, with no faith, the soul is rendered naked, and exposed to untold ridicule and shame. The palace guards certainly won’t let those with blemished garments see the King, much less someone who’s unclad altogether.
Now’s the time to rectify; if the world were a baseball game, then we’re now in the bottom of the ninth inning. Little time remains, but mark my words, the faithful are going to be the big winners.
When the smoke clears from the postwar spiritual fallout, those who cling to their faith will find themselves in the Inaugural of the third and everlasting Holy Temple in Jerusalem, soon in our time, amen!
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