Is Mashiach Still Coming this Year?
What happened to the promise that last Rosh Hashanah was the last without Mashiach? There are only a few weeks left to Rosh Hashanah again – what’s going on?
Dear Rachel,
Is it possible to get clarification from the Rav–He seems to be ‘retracting‘ his statement from earlier this year based on his visit where he got an update that things are looking different than what they were looking like before last Rosh Hashanah? A lot of people are asking me too – what should I tell them?
-O.S., Lakewood, NJ, USA
Regarding Mashiach – tell people to be patient, do teshuva, and pray for ahavat Yisrael, to love everyone! Quote them the famous tzaddik who said, “The Mashiach that’s coming you don’t want, and the Mashiach you want – isn’t coming!”
We all have been taught all sorts of imaginations of Mashiach, and most of people wanting Mashiach is actually half the problem! “Bring Mashiach now!” essentially tells Hashem, “Do teshuva! Why are You withholding from us the good life?!”
Guess what – Hashem wants to bring Mashiach more than we want him! In fact, Rabbi Arush says that Hashem is angry at us for not doing more to improve our spiritual lives and do a daily spiritual accounting, not strengthening our emuna, and especially becoming only more steeped in promiscuity of dress and manner, and increasing the hatred, lashon hara (evil speech), and in-fighting within the Jewish people daily.
So, G-d isn’t bringing Mashiach yet because we aren’t ready. Rabbi Arush says that if Mashiach comes one second too early – he’ll come with rivers of blood, G-d forbid.
If you want Mashiach – stop complaining and get ready! Get rid of all forms of unfiltered Internet. Get rid of the human-hair, custom-made wigs*. Do a real accounting of what you CAN do to slowly increase the holiness in your life on whatever level you’re starting out on.
Start doing a daily spiritual accounting of at least 30 min so you aren’t living life as if the world is owner-less and there is no judge and no judgment. Rabbi Arush says that if you truly recognized that there IS a Judge and Judgement, then you wouldn’t wait for the Judgment to fall on your head! You would repent first! IE every day! And not only do you then stop the Judgment, but you even get a huge reward! If you believed it, you’d be a fool not to do it. So, you must not REALLY believe that there is a Judge and Judgment…). Start connecting to and listening to tzaddikim like Rabbi Arush, who are going to teach you the real truth!
And of course, Rabbi Arush said the key to the Geula that we’ve all been waiting for is praying 30 minutes a day for ahavat Yisrael. Rabbi Arush says, “Finally, finally we have hope! We have a solution for the problem of baseless hatred that has plagued us for 2,000 years!” Of course, someone who is literally helping to bring the Redemption with mercy will be showered with miracles and everything will be taken care of for him. Rabbi Arush spoke further about our active involvement in bringing Redemption mercifully in his article Will the World Ever Really Change?.
Mashiach is not coming to rid us of all our troubles and let us indulge in more unbridled physicality. Just the opposite – we can enjoy physicality without it harming us only when we are holding on the highest levels of emuna and spirituality! So start investing in what will reap the real dividends!
We have to at least be willing to WANT to live by the truth and try our best to change slowly – but we can’t just say, “Oh it’s fine, Hashem understands.” We just read in Eicha (Lamentations) – “we sinned and did not consider the consequences.”
Long and wide clothing that doesn’t cling to or reveal the body, in colors that don’t attract attention, a real cloth head covering and not a wig, and guarding the eyes aren’t OPTIONAL. Without them, we negate the most basic aspects of holiness! In fact, I just re-posted a summary from Rabbi Kanievsky shlita’s book which states that the beard is also a basic part of kedushat Yisrael and all the “heters“ to shave purported by the same “Rabbis” who say wigs and the rest of the shebang are all okay are also a sham.
This is part of why it is so crucially important to pray every day to come close to a true tzaddik like Rabbi Arush, who teaches the real truth and not the lies. We are literally in the stage of the “birth pangs of Mashiach” and therefore the lies are paraded around as truth, while the truth is trampled upon and mocked - just like the Gemara said it would be. Being connected to tzaddikim and receiving the truth from them, and trying our very best to implement it, is everything! It’s literally the line between helping to bring Mashiach and delaying him G-d forbid.
In fact, if I’m unsure of the truth, that’s my standard – whatever everyone is saying and doing, the Gemara promises it’s a lie! And what everyone is mocking, that’s probably the truth!
As someone who knows the truth on many, many subjects from the tzaddikim – I personally testify to you that it’s an excellent rule to follow on every subject, from Jewish law (halacha) to what is being discussed in the media today!
It was very, VERY hard for me to accept this reality because it’s scary and painful but when I could finally come to grips with it, I was finally free to live the truth without caring about what other people thought about it!
“Strength and glory are her clothing, and on the last day – she is the one who will laugh.” King Solomon promises us – on the last day (when one leaves this world and is judged in Heaven, or when Mashiach is fully revealed), who will be the one laughing? (Eshet Chayil).
And who will cower in shame?
And which one do I want to be???
(*) The synthetic wigs are a real discussion. Many poskim forbid them also because they look far too real, but it is possible to get a heter to wear a synthetic wig under certain circumstances. Even the best ones – generally you can tell that it’s a wig, versus real hair wigs. Another determining factor is the length – there is NO heter for a long wig (below the shoulders) under any circumstances. Again, generally the synthetic wigs are much shorter.
That being said, regarding synthetic wigs – there are strong debates between the ikkar hadin – the basic, dry ruling according to Jewish law – and the sod, the ruling according to Kabbalah. Even those who permit synthetic wigs under specific circumstances and many rulings say that synthetic wigs require a specific heter, a specific permission for a specific situation and the average woman does not have blanket permission to use them.
However, the tzaddikim with ruach hakodesh who rule according to what they see in Heaven and not specifically by halacha, discuss the various punishments meted out to women wearing even synthetic wigs because of the immodesty of attempting to look more beautiful, and specifically unmarried, outside the house! This includes even women who wear a hat on top of the wig which clearly signifies that they are married, women whose wig consists of just a bit of fake hair coming out of a hat, and even some Chassidishe women who wear a scarf, but put a small piece of brown MATERIAL – not even synthetic hair, just brown cloth – to make it look from afar AS IF their hair was showing out the front.
The reason why is that the entire idea is incorrect. A married woman showing hair is forbidden. There is also a law that says that you are not allowed to do anything that even LOOKS forbidden. Hence, the Gemara says that almond milk served at a meat meal must have almonds in it to prove it isn’t dairy! In our days people assume it’s non-dairy milk but when that was rare, it had to be proven. And here a woman is going OUT OF HER WAY to look as if she’s doing something forbidden?! And often in order to look more beautiful or more “normal” outside of the house, which is also against the principles of modesty – and sometimes even to fit in among the non-Jews easier and not be easily identified as a Jew, which is also against the principles of holiness!
***
Rachel Avrahami grew up in Los Angeles, CA, USA in a far-off valley where she was one of only a handful of Jews in a public high school of thousands. She found Hashem in the urban jungle of university. Rachel was privileged to read one of the first copies of The Garden of Emuna in English, and the rest, as they say, is history. She made Aliyah and immediately began working at Breslev Israel.
Rachel is now the Editor of Breslev Israel’s English website. She welcomes questions, comments, articles, and personal stories to her email: rachel.avrahami@breslev.co.il.
11/13/2022
Oy vey. As I understand it, Chabad women wear wigs specifically because the Lubavitcher Rebbe said they should, because you will not be tempted to push your wig back a little to show some hair. Chabad is doing so much for the Jewish People. Thank you to all the Chabad soldiers out there who live and breathe avodas Hash-m and ahavas Yisrael.
8/02/2021
It's a good question. There are many stories of people who in various ways were taken to Heaven and the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l told them to scream to the public that in no way did he permit these wigs and they are desecrating his memory wearing such wigs "because he said so."
Here is an example – A quote from the Rebbe Likkutei Sichos, vol. 13, p. 188: "When a Jewish woman walks in the street without a hair covering, there is not a discernible difference between her and others. However, when she wears a wig, one can tell that here is a Jewish religious woman."
These fabulous real hair wigs did not exist in the Rebbe's time. Clearly the Rebbe cares that the woman can be discerned as being Jewish and covering her hair with a wig. Does it make sense that the Rebbe would also permit a wig that specifically HIDES that she is a religious Jewish woman because you can't tell that it's a wig? A wig that many women use to hide their Jewishness? One rule about heters (leniencies in Jewish law) – if all the conditions in which the heter was given are not the same, the heter cannot be used. So clearly this ruling to wear a wig no longer applies to real hair wigs, and only applies to a wig that it is CLEAR that the woman is wearing one.
Similar story to many places where the Rebbe insists that it is better to wear a wig lest the woman TAKE OFF THE SCARF ALTOGETHER. That is the reality he dealt with then – but it doesn't apply to the average religious woman today.
I've never heard a story about it, but I can only imagine that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt"l is probably screaming the same thing in Heaven about his supposed "heter" to show 2 tefachim of hair which is again a gross mis-appropriation of a specific heter that suddenly has been taken to become a blanket permission to do something absolutely forbidden (such as wear a scarf but position it as to show just a little hair in front). Again, read it for yourself! The Torah forbids showing more than 2 tefachim (about 2 fingers) and the Rabbis forbid less than that. To display just a bit of hair is to flaunt the Rabbanical prohibition without a specific heter. You might as well be prepared to eat less than a kezayit of pork (about 2 bites) because that's also forbidden "ONLY" by the Rabbis!
Ultimately the key is this – each person has to learn the halacha and the truth for himself.
However, we don't JUDGE anyone else. Their judgement in Heaven is not my business!
It's impossible to point such an accusing finger at a Chabad Rebbetzin who thinks she's following her Rebbe and hardly sleeps in order to bring Jews back to Torah while raising her own family. Can you and I judge if Chabad is holding up the Geula more or less than some other group? Perhaps the outreach outweighs everything?
I just wrote Is Mashiach Still Coming This Year? discussing the huge mistake in "we want Mashiach now" and surely we can say that these real hair wigs are immodest and there is no good reason to assume that the Rebbe would permit these wigs under the circumstances of his already religious followers today. Such reasoning might very well apply to women they teach who are just becoming religious, for whom a SYNTHETIC wig is clearly seen as preferable to nothing, especially since the wig enables them to do the mitzvah while still feeling a bit "normal" and such a woman indeed might just take the scarf off in public in the right circumstances. This is TRUTH. But we stop there and leave the JUDGEMENT "they are holding up the whole thing" – that we leave to Hashem. Who are we to know how all their merits and sins are weighed?
I say all this as someone who myself specifically showed a bit of hair in front of my scarf, had a real hair custom wig with an adjustable part designed to look like scalp with the same zig-zag part my friends knew me for, wore Lycra and shells and skirts barely to the knees and see through skin colored stocking and the whole shebang. I myself know how hard it is to learn the truth when everyone else is doing it and saying its fine. And I also know how much I truly wanted to serve Hashem, and thought I was, while dressing that way. Surely, they all feel that way too!
So, the key is – Know the truth and despise the action while LOVING THE JEW. Recognizing that this is a Jew led astray by others. Pray for them to learn the truth too and not judge them because Hashem judges a person against himself – not against a specific standard in a way that's impossible for us to do because we lack all the information about where this person came from, their childhood, their past lives, etc.
This is part of why it's SO important to pray for Ahavat Yisrael – otherwise, everything we learn and achieve becomes something else to be arrogant about. ("Now I am so modest and they aren't!" for example). We must both recognize the sin for what it is, while recognizing that the world is in terrible darkness right now and this unfortunate Jew is simply trapped in it. Focus on the neshama that still burns somewhere in there, love that GOOD, love the fact that every Jew deep down wants to do good and be good, and pray for the person! You must hold both sides at the same time.
8/01/2021
It's a good question. There are many stories of people who in various ways were taken to Heaven and the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l told them to scream to the public that in no way did he permit these wigs and they are desecrating his memory wearing such wigs "because he said so."
I've never heard a story about it, but I can only imagine that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt"l is probably screaming the same thing in Heaven about his supposed "heter" to show 2 tefachim of hair which is again a gross mis-appropriation of a specific heter that suddenly has been taken to become a blanket permission to do something absolutely forbidden (such as wear a scarf but position it as to show just a little hair in front). Again, read it for yourself! The Torah forbids showing more than 2 tefachim (about 2 fingers) and the Rabbis forbid less than that. To display just a bit of hair is to flaunt the Rabbanical prohibition without a specific heter. You might as well be prepared to eat less than a kezayit of pork (about 2 bites) because that's also forbidden "ONLY" by the Rabbis!
Ultimately the key is this – each person has to learn the halacha and the truth for himself.
However, we don't JUDGE anyone else. Their judgement in Heaven is not my business! It's impossible to point such a finger at a Chabad Rebbetzin who thinks she's following her Rebbe and hardly sleeps in order to bring Jews back to Torah while raising her own family. Can you and I just if Chabad is holding up the Geula more or less than some other group? I just wrote an article Is Mashiach Still Coming This Year? discussing the huge mistake in "we want Mashiach now" and surely we can say that they shouldn't be wearing wigs. This is TRUTH. But we stop there and leave the JUDGEMENT "they are holding up the whole thing" – that we leave to Hashem. Who are we to know how all their merits and sins are weighed???
I say all this as someone who myself specifically showed a bit of hair in front of my scarf, had a real hair custom wig with an adjustable part designed to look like scalp with the same zig-zag part my friends knew me for, wore Lycra and shells and skirts barely to the knees and see through skin colored stocking and the whole shebang. I myself know how hard it is to learn the truth when everyone else is doing it and saying its fine. And I also know how much I truly wanted to serve Hashem, and thought I was, while dressing that way. Surely they all feel that way too!
So the key is – Know the truth and despise the action while LOVING THE JEW. Recognizing that this is a Jew led astray by others. Pray for them to learn the truth too and not judge them because Hashem judges a person against himself – not against a specific standard in a way that's impossible for us to do because we lack all the information about where this person came from, their childhood, their past lives, etc.
This is part of why it's SO important to pray for Ahavat Yisrael – otherwise, everything we learn and achieve becomes something else to be arrogant about. ("Now I am so modest and they aren't!" for example). We must both recognize the sin for what it is, while recognizing that the world is in terrible darkness right now and this unfortunate Jew is simply trapped in it. Focus on the neshama that still burns somewhere in there, love that GOOD, love the fact that every Jew deep down wants to do good and be good, and pray for the person! You must hold both sides at the same time.