Given August 23, 2021
Preliminary Introductions:
What is the sequence of events that take place when the mashiach comes? How can he change the world? In Egypt there was one nation, one dictator—pharoah. Today, the Jews are spread out all over the world which is, in itself, a miracle. No nation is so dispersed. The Jews are one quarter of one percent of the world’s population, assuming the world’s population is about seven billion. There are Jews in Iceland. If you go to Haiti, there will probably be a store on the main drag….(owned by a Jew). How will G-d reach them from all corners of the world for the single greatest event in history, that event that nothing can rival, the grandeur of this event.
Rava says that mashiach will come motzei shmita—after the sabbatical year, this coming year. What is interesting is that we know that shmita begins this September but, after seven of these cycles, (49 years), is the yovel—Jubilee. For Rava, it is the “proclaiming of liberty throughout the land” when many things return to original ownership. Conceptually, it means that that all returns to G-d. Since G-d has given away everything so that everyone can take--whether money or anything else, the money is Mine, G-d can say. Everything is His: The Earth is G-d’s. So, the yovel year, Rava is saying, comes at the end of this shmita when G-d takes back everything. That is the messianic era, when we realize that everything is G-d’s, that He is the boss.
We’ve lost the count of yovel. We count shmita so we know that cycle, but we don’t know which shmita precedes the yovel year. Wouldn’t it be incredible if this were to be the last shmita of the cycle and that taf shin chaf gimmel—5723 (2023 of the Gregorian calendar) would be yovel and mashiach would come? If this is the last shmita, and yovel comes the year after, and mashiach comes, it will start in yovel, and the preparation will begin in shmita.
Current Events
Elul is the prep for Rosh ha’Shana, an erev—preparatory precursor to the sabbatical year when, in some capacity, evil is overthrown. As I already pointed out in my last lecture, right after the month of Elul was inaugurated came Cuomo’s resignation. Ironically, he was pressured to resign based on some accusations of sexual misconduct, groping, which cannot be compared to his complicity, assistance in approximately 15,000 deaths of senior citizens that occurred in the nursing facilities to which he consigned them. That is the first turn-around. That is what we look for, the turn-around from evil to good.
Afghanistan is a destruction of Biden. They look at him with incredulity. He doesn’t have a clue what to do. He holes himself up in his home in Wilmington Delaware. All his support staff are likewise clueless. What was the US doing in Afghanistan in the first place? That is where Al-Qaida was, bin-Laden. Fine. So, what you do, you put a base there. But they tried to “nation-build” in a land of tribes. They spent a trillion dollars for nothing, They should have pulled out a long time ago, gradually, and left the base so it doesn’t become a terrorist stronghold. It is incredible to watch….Biden’s actions are akin to acts of treachery and betrayal. Biden and all his assistants sound like idiots when they speak about it. Biden has lost credibility. This will mar America’s reputation for a long time. Who do you think is laughing?---China, Russia, Iran, North Korea. They’re all laughing their heads off. We should charge them for the comedy show they’re enjoying. That’s a turn-around, isn’t it? G-d has destroyed this administration and the Democratic Party’s credibility to the point where they may have to get rid of Biden because he has become a liability in the elections that are coming up. Kamala Harris is worse than Biden. She will come down with things that are so ridiculous that she could cause a civil war. She is a power-hungry megalomaniac. It doesn’t take much to ignite America right now. There are 400,000,000 weapons (in peoples’ possession) and ammunition is hard to get a hold of.
And it’s happening in Elul.
Mystical Aspects of Redemption: The Shechina and the Neshama
The Redemption is mystical. Many people think geula is political, economic, medical. That is not what it means. What was the essential idea in Egypt? Yes, it was about liberation from slavery, but the essential idea was matan Torah—giving of the Torah to observe it. If the Jews observe it, He will come back. That is the tikkun, the rectification. But it can only be done through the Torah. There is no other purpose for Redemption. It is nice to release the Hebrews from slavery but Redemption is mystical. If it was true then, it is true now also. Jews were removed from the exile for what purpose?—so that G-d can reveal Himself, totally. Of course, it is connected to other benefits like having perfect health and having a secure livelihood but that is not the aim. The aim is to have time to think, to involve oneself with spirituality. Each person will involve himself at his own level. That is why t’chiat ha’meitim—resurrection of the dead takes time. The Zohar says it will take 210 years. Many think everyone gets up right away. No. Everyone gets up eventually. Why does it take 210 years? Some get up right away. They were involved in spirituality so they get up to enjoy, to immerse themselves, in spirituality of the messianic age. Those who lived and breathed Wall Street, that was all they did. Or they pursued having five cars and four houses, or whatever. Immersion in the physical world makes them intolerant of the messianic era. Their purification takes longer so they need to lie in the ground a hundred years. Only G-d knows to what extent a person can tolerate the tremendous level of spiritual power of the messianic era. Everyone eventually gets up because that is the plan.
We know about the concept of the shechina. How does G-d get to this world? G-d creates the sefirot, the spiritual forces that acts as a conduit, a pipeline, through which He comes down. Sounds like I’m a plumber. The shechina gives the power to that conduit to create the neshama—Divine soul. We are really a direct product of the sefirot. The neshama is the greatest of all in Creation. We rise above the melachim—angels.
The Five Spiritual Dimensions
Then G-d creates the spiritual worlds comprised of many different components, among which are the angels. Reality has five dimensions. We exist at the lowest: Asiyah--world of action. Above us is Yetzirah—world of formation. Above that is Beriya---world of creation, which has its own inhabitants. Above that is Atzilut—world of emanation. The highest is Olam ha’Ba—Future World.
You can look at something with different views (vantage points). If you stand up close to someone, your view of him is one way. But what if you step back? The perspective changes. What if someone steps between you and places a barrier, a lens? That figure is distorted. What if there are two lenses in between? Proximity is critical. How close or far are you? G-d is the same in His relationship with man. You can stand close to G-d or stand a thousand miles back. You’re looking at Him but the difference is a result of proximity. The greatest thing you can imagine is your close proximity to G-d. Everything else is irrelevant because He is the source of all existence. When you are close to that source—wow! The further back you get, the harder it is. He created levels of intensity of His image, of the shechina. The greatest of all dimensions, all realities, is Olam ha’Ba—Future World. In that dimension, the proximity is unparalleled. Below that is Atzilut where G-d presents himself to human beings but His presence is relatively diminished, however it is still an incredible view. We, in this world, have almost no view of G-d. We have the barrier of physicality.
Imagine if you could stay in this world and have a view of Him one world above? It would be incredible. Is it possible? Could we be in this physical world of Asiyah and view the world above, of Yetzirah, inhabited by angels, and experience G-d the way they do? Yes. Not only that, it is possible to see into the world above that. How? The neshama.
The soul has five parts corresponding to the five spiritual dimensions:
Nefesh—animal soul is your link to this lowest world of Asiyah. It is the portion that connects the neshama to the physical body. The neshama is “looking out” through the physical body via nefesh thinking itself a physical being, but that body is like clothing one is wearing.
Ruach—spirit is connected to that second dimension of Yetzira making that dimension accessible were the blinders of ruach to be removed.
Neshama—contemplates Divine energy in the world of Beriya.
Chaya---connected to Atzilut, the fourth dimension.
Yechida, were it unobstructed, perceives Olam ha’ba—Future World
We also see that when the shechina enters the universe though the sefiros, the sefiros enter via the neshama. The neshama is a portal through which the Divine Presence enters the world. How do we know this? There is a verse wherein G-d commands us to build a mikdash—a Temple, a dwelling place, saying; v’shocahnti b’tocham—and I will dwell in them. It could have said “v’shochanti b’tocho—I will dwell in it. The entry of G-d into the world is through the neshama of a Jew. We are its entry point. From us, it goes to the mishkan—the Tabernacle. Though G-d instructs the building of the mishkan, we are the portal to its dwelling in the Tabernacle.
The Residences of the Shechina and the Models of Creation
The truth is that the Jews don’t really need a mishkan at all. One can ask: If G-d resides in me, why must I go to a place? I am the beis ha’Mikdash. We are the Temple. I could experience Him within myself. Before the sin of the Golden Calf, that was, indeed, the situation. Every Jew could experience the Divine Presence. But G-d wants His presence to also be accessible outside the self so that gatherings can foster unity of experience, communal experience. G-d wanted the Jews to come together, to be a collective. G-d wants to be experienced personally and collectively. After the Sin of the Golden Calf, in order to experience G-d, one had go outside oneself. Even though one must go outside oneself, the entry point is still the neshama. If you ask yourself: who am I? the answer is: I’m the beis ha’mikdash.
How many mokom shechinas—places where the shechina resides are there? How many have there been throughout history? Most people don’t realize that the first trace, other than in the neshama, was located at the Burning Bush. Moshe came to observe the miraculous burning and heard a voice telling him to remove his shoes because the ground upon which he stood was holy. Holy ground? It is a place. Moshe was experiencing the Divine Presence outside himself. That was a mokom mikdash—a residence for the shechina. It only lasted about a week, but it was the first place.
The second place was the mishkan. The Torah devotes much to its construction: components, measurements, etc. The mishkan is actually a model of Creation, mirroring the Creation itself. If you study its details, you can discover exact parallels to aspects of Creation. The RaMChaL wrote an entire work on this subject—Mishkan ha’Elyon--studying the mystical aspect of it, studying its aron--ark, the table, the menorah. Each is a representation of aspects of Creation. In the beginning of the book of Vayikra, the Malbim’s commentary goes through a detailed understanding of the mishkan’s parallelism--very kabbalistic.
The second model for Creation is the human body which is why we are called “tzelem elokim”—image of G-d. Every organ, blood, every part parallels some aspect of Creation. That’s why in the old days, you could go to the Ari ( Rabbi Itshak Luria, known as the “Ari” or “Arizal,” born in Jerusalem in 1534, known as “Prince of the Kabbalists”) with a complaint, a pain and, depending upon which organ was involved, he could know which sin you did which is blocking some ohr--Light in that aspect of Creation and so tell you what to do teshuva on. That would be the medicine. Removing the blockage means that the Creation can now shine into that organ and you would be cured. I don’t know how the AMA would look at that now, but then, the mekubalim--Kabbalists could do it. Sins block energy to the organs because the body is a model of Creation. All disease is the blockage of that energy.
The third residence of G-d is the Holy Temple. That was destroyed, so the second Temple was built by Ezra. Remember, the beis ha’Mikdash too was a parallel of Creation so that whenever you did something there—bring a sacrifice or whatever—you were triggering that energy that the Temple represented and that energy would come to you as some form of blessing. Therefore, the Jews are able to relate directly to Creation and influence it.
It is much deeper than just a building. But we should know that each beis ha’Mikdash represented Creation as it was then. What about after the tikkun and the mashiach comes? The next Temple will represent a Creation that has been rectified. Yehezkel talks about building the Third Temple. After the Second Temple was destroyed, G-d told Yehezkel to describe the details for the building of the Third Temple. Yehezkel’s response was: You just destroyed the Second Temple. Why give me the plans for the Third?
G-d told him that the one just destroyed represented only the reality of Creation to that point in time and that there will be rectification or there couldn’t be a Third Temple. Studying the plans for the Third reveals the features of a rectified Creation.
“Mini-Quiz”
R’Kessin: Where is the shechina today? We know that it never left.
Participants: Everywhere? In a marriage?
R’Kessin: Where is an actual place?
Participant: Synagogue? The Wall (Kotel)?
Nevuah--Prophecy
R’Kessin: Yes, the Kotel. People don’t realize that the shechina never left. It moved because we moved. We went into exile so it went too. We went all over the entire planet. The shechina doesn’t leave the beis ha’Mikdash so it went to the outer wall. The Kotel ha’Maravi is the Temple. If you go there, you aren’t feeling a wall but a presence albeit one that is severely reduced because of sinning. It has moved, but it never leaves. We are the ones who left. That result is referred to as the “galus ha’shechina”—the exile of the shechina. The location and condition of the shechina mirrors the state of the exile.
If you have a soul that is connected to all the dimensions, five parts of neshama to five spiritual dimensions, the problem is that your ability to be conscious of the upper four is blocked. You can only be conscious of this world via nefesh, but G-d made it possible to see into every world via prophecy. There are different levels of prophecy. It is important to know about this because it will all be restored. What is nevuah—prophecy?
A prophet would go through a program. He would close his eyes and be seized in a trance, unable to move, paralyzed. Only his brain, imagination, and intellect would work. G-d would then feed his mind images, understandings, which conveyed messages, information. The great prophets, Yishayahu, Yirmiyahu, were able to see into Beriya. Beyond belief! They were able to “turn on” the neshama and, suddenly, the blockage was removed. They would be standing in Beriya but could look into Atzilut. They could see how He revealed Himself in the intensity of Atzilut. Shmuel ha’Navi….Moshe Rabbeinu…what did he see? The others saw it in a trance but Moshe was conscious! He stood in Beriya but had one lens already in Atzilut, right at the border so he could peer into that dimension with the greatest clarity ever given to a human. He had to have that clarity because he received the Torah. He was standing, so to speak, at a glass door. He had to have such clarity in order not to distort the Torah.
After Moshe, there was a degradation. Prophets could stand in Bria but they didn’t have that clarity. Depending on who they were, prophets after Moshe weren’t standing right up against a glass door; they were a mile back, two miles back. Back then, there were schools. You could register to be navi. You had to have certain personal qualities and characteristics, and follow the program. If you devoted yourself to the discipline, meditated on Divine names, automatically you could do it in a state of being conscious--not asleep--but paralyzed. The paralysis would minimize from the distractions of the body.
Why would a guy want to be a navi other than the extraordinary experience itself? The reason was to get at all the Divine secrets. Only about 48 prophets predicted the future (48 male, 7 female=55 total). Chazal tell us there were over a million prophets in Israel—not just 48—doing this. Imagine the registration in yeshivas! (laughter). Desire for prophecy was not only to experience d’veikus-- attachment to Him. The Divine secrets fed to you as information in your imagination and intellect were unbelievable, astounding, all the secrets of the Torah. That is why they did it even though they were never appointed to go out and speak to the Jewish people to tell them to repent, etc. Only 48 did that. Nevuah was available to anyone. Prophetic experience is the greatest experience you could ever have, to see the highest world while standing in the spiritual world right below it.
As time went on and the First Temple was destroyed--this was Yechezkel---prophecy diminished. Yechezkel was an inferior prophet. Since the Temple was destroyed, the Divine Presence receded. What does this mean to a prophet? It means you have to go down from Beriya to Yetzira. Yechezkel stood one down, but he also could look into Atzilut, but he was a hundred miles away! He wasn’t even in Beriya! He was in a much lower world but he could see into Atzilut. His prophecy was inferior to the others but he was still a navi.
After the Second Temple was destroyed, you couldn’t even do that. There was no prophecy any more but what did you have? A prophet could stand in Yetzira and speak to malachim—angels cause that’s where they are. That is ruach ha’kodesh—Divine inspiration. That’s the real ruach ha’kodesh. You can be conscious of Yetzirah, the world just above this one, and speak to the angels there because that’s where they are. There were Tana’im (sages whose views are recorded in the Mishna, who lived after the destruction of the Second Temple period) who could do it. We find this with Rabbi YIshmael at the end of the avoda--service on Yom Kippur regarding the beis Ha’mikdash---about Hadrian who wanted to kill ten Tana’im, so they requested that he “go up” to ask if this decree can be rescinded. He did, and we speak of it on Yom Kippur. He purified himself and went up. Went up? They didn’t have an elevator. He accessed olam Yetzira and asked an angel—mamash, speaking to a malach because he was conscious of that world---if the decree were reversible or not. The angel told him—no, as I heard, it is not. Those became the ten martyrs. Once there was no longer a Red Heifer, you could not remove the tumah—impurity so you cannot experience that ruach ha’kodesh.
It’s funny, they talk about Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakaneh experiencing ruach ha’kodesh and he was “out of it” and someone needed to ask him something or talk to him so, what do you do? The one seeking contact with the rabbi took an article that was tameh--impure and touched him with it and he immediately became tameh and woke up. You cannot be tameh and walk into Yetzira. Funny how he got the rabbi out. It wasn’t recorded what he said when he got pulled out (laughter). This experience is worth a million bucks. If you could do it to people today, what would you charge them? I’m not talking about getting people high on some chemical—that’s nonsense! When you take opiates and all that, that changes the brain’s chemistry. You can do that, but I’m talking about the real mcCoy. You can go there, to Yetzira and speak to angels. It’s beyond belief! Jews did this for a thousand years! It ended with the end of the Red Heifer.
But there are still things you can do today, believe it or not. Eliyahu can still appear to you, prophetic dreams. The main idea is that these are the different availabilities to those who really yearn for spirituality. This shows the love of G-d because why else would He allow this? You could be stuck on Earth yet actually see into another dimension. You don’t just believe in G-d, you know G-d, see Him, talk to the shechina. All this will be restored in the Messianic Era. And the beauty of it is that it will be restored eternally! Even if you don’t go to Jerusalem, you can do it internally. You can do it in place—"shelter in place,” as they say. You can speak to G-d in the messianic era. This is important to understand because it leads me to go onto the next topic which I will cover in the next lecture.
The Third Temple, a Conduit
Those ideas involve the question: What does this have to do the mashiach and how does all this come about?—through The Third Temple as a conduit. The Third Temple is what restores all of this. That is the messianic era. It is not just a Temple but the means to the restoration of internalizing G-d in you. “V’shochanti b’tocam”—and I will dwell in them becomes operative! The Third Temple appears and it must appear because it is the gateway to olam Yetzira.
I know it is a little heavy….my goal is that you shouldn’t be confused. My goal isn’t to talk about things that are simple and light, things that you know anyway. That is the problem with many lectures. Maybe the speaker brings another pasuk-- verse. Ninety percent of what you hear, you already know; this is part of the problem. Most don’t realize what the Third Temple is. It is the conduit to get back into olam Yetzira. I’ll leave you one haunting thought: the Third Temple is the Temple in Yetzira which is brought down to earth! It is Jerusalem shel maila—the Jerusalem from above. What happens if you take that Third Temple in olam Yetzira and it becomes physical. It still maintains its property as a gateway. Olam Yetzira pours out of that Temple into this world.
Q & A
Participant speaks about studying about the Third Temple.
R’Kessin: The merit of studying it is what brings it down! We have to do everything. G-d waits for us. He is in the shadow. He waits. When you study it, you build it brick by brick. Then it manifests what you did.
Participant: What book do you recommend we read?
R’Kessin: There is a book written by “Chaim Clorfene” (The Messianic Temple)….there are models of the Third Temple you can buy. I have one. But the problem is that it is only cut-outs. I never put it together.
Participant: What is the name of the book?
R’Kessin: The Messianic Temple: Understanding Ezekiel’s Prophecy. That is why the Third Temple is part of the messianic process. It’s the only way to bring down olam Yetzirah. You don’t have to go to Yetzirah. It comes down here. The energy, the presence of G-d, the shechina, the way He appears there comes here! This is why the messianic era is hard to understand. The universe runs by different rules, different regulations. It’s not the same universe. It is the universe of Yetzirah inhabited by angels. What is it? We don’t know. People don’t understand what is about to happen. It isn’t just that there’s no wars and nobody gets sick.
Participant asks about sleep, where the soul goes, wondering if that isn’t like visiting another dimension.
R’Kessin: That isn’t ruach ha’kodesh but a natural part of sleep. The soul goes away, probably to Gan Eden. Sometimes, depends when, you could go, speak to an angel unbeknownst to you. Then you return to your body when you wake up. Ever have a prophetic dream? You went up, spoke to an angel, were given information and then woke up with that information and don’t know how you got it. That is a prophetic dream.
Participant: What about when you remember the whole dream and wake up really, really crying?
R’Kessin: Then you wake up with the emotion; that is a high level of spirituality. Usually, you wake up with the information but lack the emotion component.
Participant: Can you revisit what you were saying about resurrection over a period of time, the people who need more time to come back?
R’Kessin: It depends on how rooted you were in this world.
Participant: I would think those people needed to see more, to be woken up spiritually so they don’t repeat….
R’Kessin: You would be right except that there is no repetition, no sinning. In fact, there is no free will so there is no avoda—service of G-d, only reward. That is why you have to be ready. The awakening is part of the reward.
When you are looking for ha’Shem, where he resides, they were all correct because He isn’t in only one place.
R’Kessin: You can see Him, His products, what He can do, the miracles He can perform, the verse about “His Works.” I’m talking about the real presence; that’s different.
Participant: We always pray that the shechina should dwell in our homes, dwell in our marriages….so what aspect of the shechina are we praying for in those instances?
R’Kessin: Good question (thank you—participant). Looking at the words for “man” and “woman”--- “ish” and “isha.” Both are rooted in the word “esh”—fire. “Man” is alef-yud-shin; woman is alef-yud-shin-heh. What that means is this: G-d creates the sefiros, the conduit through which He flows, and those sefiros have the ability to create realities so the neshama is connected to the shechina. To what extent does the neshama feel that? A man and his wife are very spiritual but to what extent are they cognizant that they’re connected to the shechina? The neshama is connected to the shechina but to what extent it feel that depends on its acts. The terms “ish” and “isha” indicates that they are connected as a team to G-d, but can they experience that connection or not? That depends on their acts. The yud and heh shows this connection (yud and heh being two letters associated with G-d’s name).
Participants: How to explain when you go somewhere and you feel the presence of the shechina, feel the holiness? What are we experiencing like if you are at the Western Wall?
R’Kessin: You’re experiencing the Divine Presence within you.
Participant: Igniting it within yourself.
R’Kessin: Correct. Even though you feel an external presence, you are still feeling it within yourself and attributing it to that place. Really, it’s you. The Kotzker Rebbe was once asked “Where is G-d” and he always had these incredible answers. He said, “Wherever you let Him in.” What does that mean? He’s already in you. You just need to let him into your conscious mind. When you experience Him, it is really because He’s in you. “I will dwell in them,” is a profound statement.
Participant: There are no places higher than other places, like at the Western Wall?
R’Kessin: There are places that allow you to experience it in yourself more than others.
Participant: That creates a portal, one more open than others?
R’Kessin: That’s right. We’re looking for portals, gates. The greatest gate of all is the descent of that Third Beis ha’Mikdash. For each person it would be different and for some there is a minimum but even that minimum is beyond belief. You don’t have to cry about the fact (that your experience is less than others may be). Some great tzaddik—righteous pious individual will experience more because he was closer to G-d all his life. Remember, this is a time of reward. The interesting thing is that every goy will have to come to you, a Jew, and beg you to share something of what you’re feeling. The goy doesn’t have all four parts—only the nefesh. That is why a goy cannot ascend. The nefesh itself is in five parts so it’s as though he can get the nefesh of the nefesh, can experience it somewhat. He will, immediately upon being in your presence, (the Jew’s presence) feel an incredible rush of divinity that he has never experienced before. You’ll have guys hanging you like you wouldn’t believe.
Participant: Since the shechina is connected to all neshamot, is that why all the neshamot need to be down here (in this world of Asiyah)?
R’Kessin: In order to do the job (of rectification), every neshama needs to have been born. If one has a portion in the job but hasn’t been born, the tikkun isn’t complete. That is why everybody will have had to have been born to complete the task by doing mitvahs etc. Then mashaich can come.
Participant: Let’s say a soul dies and it takes a full year to find its place in shamayim--heaven. Since the year after next is yovel, how do we explain that those who die, let’s say now, can come back in time for mashiach to come? Each person will have had to complete (their part of the tikkun). They don’t have to be here, down. They just have to have finished their tikkun and then they come back.
(cont.) You said that the presence of the shechinah is reduced at the Kotel. Didn’t we say that when the pekida happens, the mashiach is released from the klippa and that is a form of the shechina released from its klippa too. So how will that be felt by us if the beis ha’Mikdash isn’t here yet? Will we feel it more….
R’Kessin: The mashiach must contend with evil first. When I speak about the beis ha’Mikdash,
coming down, it will come down after he is released and can bring down that holiness. He will have been released and destroy evil, as it says in the Torah, “And he will gore the nations.”
The beis ha’Mikdash will be built before Mashiach ben David. So, we’re talking about ben Yosef in the first stage with him vanquishing the nations. Then it comes down and, after that, you have the war of Gog u’Magog because, once the beis ha’Mikdash comes down, everybody goes crazy because they realize that their way of life is ending. It comes in stages.
Participant: You say that there is preparation like the month of Elul is the preparation for Rosh ha’Shana. And this coming shmita year is a preparation for yovel. So, are we going to have a preparation where we start elevating to get the shechina?
R’Kessin: I believe we will, and the answer lies in mishnayos, which I’ve talked about and will talk about more next week. I want to bring this topic more in context. G-d wants to restore the Torah to the Jewish people, restore their greatness. That is a motto of mine. I believe it can be done with the study of mishnayos b’iyun--Mishna in depth. It is the totality of the Oral Law. People underestimate what that is. As I’ve said, if you study the Oral Law, it is as if you’ve fulfilled it. I brought you the chazal who says, “The exiles can be gathered only from the merit of learning mishnayos.” This has to precede the mashiach. G-d will not bring a being of that stature to a people who are steeped in evil, corruption which, tragically, the Jews are involved in.
The Jews are vanishing. There will only be a certain number of Jews….It’s a problem and there is much to be said about how to solve that. The Jews are degraded. Go to Manhattan or L.A. Most are gone. We know what goes on in L.A. with homosexuality. Every fifth man you talk to wants to become a lady. Unbelievable! What is this? We are at the mem-tet sha’arei tumah—the 49th level of defilement. I gave a whole shiur—lesson/lecture on that. G-d says enough is enough. Now that it is constitutional and you cannot discriminate against their program, it is irreversible. Some boy says “I wanna be a girl” and there needn’t be parental consent for him to do it (get surgery). Let’s say there’s a boy with four sisters. Sure, he wants to be a girl because his sisters are getting all the attention. What does he know? You have no idea of the evil of that. Abortion is now legalized murder. You can end the baby’s life within 24 hours after birth. They are all murderers. How long will G-d tolerate this? And America is supposed to be a showcase for decent values. Everywhere else it is probably worse.
Participant: Is it the beginning of the End or the end of the End?
R’Kessin: It is the beginning of the End. It is when G-d decrees, I’m ending it. I think it will be quick. (Participant mentions that it will be scary) Scary is right!
Participant: It’s not like you can go anywhere. Everywhere it is all the same or worse…they oppress, persecute people everywhere.
R’Kessin: It will get much worse, much worse. How much longer can G-d look at this? They’re gonna destroy His world.
Participant: There are floods, fires…. earthquakes….I’ve heard it called “birth pangs”….
R’Kessin: They will have a rude awakening.
Participant: It will be worse on the stage of the global world. What can we do to stay grounded and see clearly, have G-d to fuel us through this time, to live though it with a smoother ride?
R’Kessin: As long as you learn Torah you are connected to the message, the consciousness of what things are really about. Then you can hang on. In any form, learn Torah! It is the greatest of all thoughts. Torah is the greatest of all portals. The Hebrew word “mishnah” has the same letters as “neshama.” Its letters can also be the word “mishaneh”—change. You change the neshama so it experiences G-d’s name at the 50th level of holiness. It is so powerful that G-d says, were the Jews to abandon Me, they should not abandon My Torah because its Light will restore them. The Torah itself will reignite the spark of the neshama. The Torah is a part of Him. Learn it at whatever level—stories, chumash tanakh….whatever. That is the only way to maintain your attachment.
Participant shares the notion of “eye of the storm,” that Torah places you in the eye of the storm so no matter what turbulence swirls around you, in the eye it is peaceful and beautiful.
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