The "Sign" Revealed

B"H 29 Adar 5767


Here it is---Erev Rosh Chodesh Nissan.

I remember when we arrived at Erev Rosh Hashanah 5761 and I was wondering if anything dramatic would occur in the very last hours to fulfill the words of the rabbis about the year 5760. We were making all our last minute holiday preparations and reports began to come in of disturbances in the Old City and on the Temple Mount. We had to close the computer and radio for the chag, so we did not know what happened after that.

Then, the next day, in shul, we heard rumors about trouble from the security people. We had barely sat down to dinner at a friend's home when their phone began to ring. Everybody froze. Who would call on Rosh Hashanah? In Israel, even wrong numbers are Jewish and no one would be calling on the phone. It stopped and everyone breathed again and then it began immediately to ring again. This happened a total of seven times. The ba'al habayit did not answer. He said it must be the army calling for his son and since his son was not at home, he saw no reason to pick it up. But if the army was calling people up, then....

And now, we can look back six and a half years and see where it all went. I will never come to Pesach and not remember the Pesach of 2002. I was doing last minute shopping at the shuk and suddenly it began to hail like mad. Everyone was marveling at the hail and then in a few minutes news began to spread that there had been an attack in a supermarket. A security guard was killed preventing a woman bomber from entering in to kill many others. The details are too sad to recount. A few days later, we sat down to begin our seder and suddenly we heard a deafening sound of heavy hail falling on the roof. Only after Pesach was finished did we hear about the Pesach massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya. Again, too sad to talk about. So many sad, tragic stories and we in Israel know every one and can tell the stories of every one, so many...too many.

As I understand the Ramchal, the purpose of the Pekidah stage of redemption is to cause us to cry out to Hashem to deliver us. When Zechirah begins, Hashem responds to that call by sending us the Redeemer prepared since the foundation of the world. Ramchal says that just prior to the transition from Pekidah to Zechirah, "there is a spiritual awakening in the world." I and others of my aquaintance and still others that I have only heard of have been experiencing what could be termed a spiritual awakening, things similar in character to what Nava describes in her blog.

Now, to return to our focus here. If Hashem is going to get about completing our redemption this Nissan, he is also going to close down the exile for good. That means the Jews MUST return home or risk sharing the fate of the goyim. The prophets are clear that the nations will be punished. It stands to reason that America will go down first, because she has presumed to be Israel's patron and treated the renewed nation of G-d like a vassal. Many, many Jews and non-Jews alike truly believe that were it not for America, Israel would cease to exist. This kind of thinking must be corrected and it will be! We are forbidden to rely upon anyone other than Hashem alone.

Hashem is just. Whether one is willing to admit it or not, everyone who saw the first sign---the collapse of the twin towers---has had seven years to get himself and his family, parents, children, etc out of America and over to Israel. Every Jew has had that chance...save ONE.

Yes, I am talking about Jonathan Pollard.

One of our commenters suggested that it wasn't really fair to American Jews that they had not suffered as other Jewish communities in the world and throughout history. As a result, they were very much unaware of the need to make aliya. I suggest to you that Jonathan Pollard did the suffering on behalf of his community and they should have taken the lesson from what happened to him. And if not him, then what happened to Rabbi Kahane in 1990 or to the WTC in 1993 or the Murrah Federal Building in 1995, right up to the events of 9/11/2001.

The travesty of justice that was allowed to stand in the Pollard case was a flashing neon sign telling the Jews that USA 1986 really wasn't so far removed from 1890s France. Jews may think of themselves as Americans first and Jews second, but to the goyim, they will ALWAYS be a Jew FIRST.

I know it is politically correct to pay lip service to the goyim and say, oh yes, he broke the law and deserved to be punished, but then base a legal appeal on the basis that he has already paid the price for his "crime." However, I believe that when it comes to saving Jewish lives, it would have been a crime against Heaven not to have acted as he did. But, this is all irrelevant to the point at hand. If you are familiar with the case, you must concede that there are too many oddities for Heaven not to have its own hand in it.

I have believed for many years that Pollard stood as a warning to the Jews of America and the day that warning was no longer going to be of any further use, i.e. "time's up" then he would go free. I've watched years come and go and now THIS year, I've felt the best possibility for this to happen and that was before I knew about the end of 6 1/2 years of Pekidah or thought about the end of forty years since the Temple Mount was returned to our hands.

In any case, in Shevat there came a burst of activity on Pollard's behalf, unlike anything I have seen at any previous time and I sensed that a lot of spiritual energy was being invested in this and that it held great promise of success. On Ta'anit Esther, I personally experienced something which further supported that assumption, enough so to go public with an urgent warning to watch for it. I am convinced that he will go free at a predestined time in order to be a banner to the Jews of chu"l that the last moment to leave has arrived.

How would knowing this change anything for anyone there, especially if it is already too late to make arrangements for passports and the like?

This is what I think. I think that a situation may develop in the wake of this event that might put Jews in danger and at some very near point, an emergency evacuation might be offered, either by the US government or the Israeli government or through private means in cooperation with the government or who knows? There is danger inherent in this scenario, too. It is definitely worthwhile to get out on your own beforehand if at all possible. But I do believe that there will be a last opportunity in the wake of Pollard's leaving. It will not be pretty. It will not be fun.

The most important point to be made here, I feel, is summed up in an old adage: "Forewarned is forearmed." Those who know that something is coming are better prepared to face it than those who do not know. My sense is that once that threshold is crossed, events will escalate rapidly. "In it's time, I will hasten it." Even for redemption "in its time," I will hasten it.

I hope that I have adequately summarized the key points here. I will not be at my computer for the next two days, but your comments and questions are always welcome. I do not currently see any reason to continue posting here. I've said all I can think of on the subject. Now we wait and see and continue to prepare.

Do teshuva every minute!

And like the Rambam: "I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Mashiach. However long it takes, I will await His coming every day."


I thought this post was finished, but just when I completed it and went to see the news which I had not read since early this morning, look what I found:

Nationwide Activities for Pollard Continue

"... a yeshiva high school class is setting off on a three-day march to Jerusalem this week, calling for [Pollard's] release.

...We'll be starting out on the first day of the month of redemption - Nissan; there is no reason that Pollard should not be home in time for the holiday of redemption, Passover, which falls in the middle of Nissan." "The students feel that it seems now to be an et ratzon - a time of good will - given the several projects that are underway on Pollard's behalf," Rabbi Golan said. "Now is the time to wake up the country to demand that our government submit an official request to the US for his release."

...The high school march, entitled "From Bondage to Freedom," is scheduled to begin near Petach Tikvah, and will end 85 kilometers (52 miles) later, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Ken, yehi ratzon!!!!!


[Note: I will be away the next two days serving Hashem and my People. Please be patient and I will try to answer everyone's letters and comments after that time. Also, if I have offended anyone, I assure you it was purely unintentional. I beg your forgiveness.]