Given 9/12/2022
Introduction
Tonight’s shiur I’ll talk about something which is, probably, the most significant event of the past week, the death of Queen Elizabeth II. She died last week and the whole world is in shock. There’s a lot to say but she, probably, is the most famous woman in the world. People don’t realize how extensive her presence was. People don’t realize what England is. You have England, Wales, Scotland as Great Britain but, really, it’s the UK, United Kingdom, as a group of nations that all recognize Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. There are 57 countries that recognize her, the royalty, as head of state. Her image is probably the most famous in the world. Every commonwealth, Canada, Australia, so many countries that are part of the commonwealth and all have her image on their money, on their official documents and, every law they have is that of “her majesty.”
I want to talk about that, especially as a Jewish person, looking at It as honestly as possible even if the world has its delusions about what all this means. The world has its way of thinking but, as observant Jews, what we always look at is the Torah perspective, the hashkafa perspective, that of the Divine Plan of Creation. How do we view this, the concept of “royalty”. What’s significant about all this? What is it all about? This lecture is about the royalty, the UK, the commonwealth and the demise of Queen Elizabeth !!, what it means, what it could mean, for the Jewish people. It could be very surprising.
Monarchy
I want to mention that, I remember, I watched her coronation. George VI died in, I think, 1953 and she was coronated in 1954. I was a little kid and I remember watching her coronation on television. It was a long time ago. It was filled with pomp and glamour and glitz and steeped in tradition. You saw all the priests—I think it was in Westminster Abbey—and it was fascinating. She was born in 1926 so she was young then. She died at 96-years-old. She had an incredible life.
She wasn’t a “real” monarch in the sense she wasn’t an “absolute monarch” like Louis XIV of France. He became the king when he was 4-years-old. He is considered the longest-reigning monarch ever, seventy-seven years; that’s a long time. He was an “absolute” king. What does that designation mean? It means that, not only can he lead a nation, he can promulgate laws. He can order a person to be killed on his word alone. Queen Elizabeth was a “constitutional monarch” where the laws of England are made by parliament, a legislative body. She has her traditions and the nation looks to her for leadership on certain decisions but not legal decisions.
Her monarchy was studded with royalty. She was royal “up and down the aisle.” Amazing what they pay for this royalty. I think the budget last year for her monarchy to uphold and maintain her royalty—her palaces and castles all over the place, Buckingham in London and Balmoral in Scotland, Windsor Castle in London where I went and you feel the tremendous royalty—was about 190,000,000 pounds. That’s about 250,000,000 dollars. That’s a phenomenal amount of money to maintain this illusion of specialty called “monarchy.” There are many who say: this is ridiculous! What do we need this for? It allows the British to have a sense of self, of greatness, able to say: we have royalty so look at who we are. It’s more an ego stunt than anything else but, whatever it is, it’s full of tradition and goes back a long way.
Most people don’t know this but it starts, if I remember correctly, with William the Conqueror who conquered English in 1066CE, almost a thousand years ago. I think she stems from that. She stems from Germany, the House of Hanover. Her origins are German. She wants all to think she’s of pure British stock but this is who she was. She was the model of royalty and you can imagine the kind of life that is. People called “royal-watchers” spend days, years, watching their every move.
I have certain ideas of what her death means and how it can contribute to the messianic process.
Dedication
This shiur should be for the merit of the health and success of the families of Regina bas Yosef Reuven and Yeshaya ben Yisrael.
History
In order to understand England, you have to go back and have to be honest. You can’t be deluded like so many are. Who is England? What did they do and what do they stand for? When you answer these, you get a feel for what’s going on.
We know that Esav, the brother of Ya’akov Avinu, became Edom and the Gemara says that Edom became Rome. Rome changed, becoming Christianity, and Christianity became Western Civilization. Western Civilization is really Esav. Like the Torah says, we are under the galus—exile of Esav. I’ve also mentioned that Esav has three characteristics. The first is gaiva—arrogance, conceit, hubris. The second characteristic is mirma—fraudulence. Esav is an imposter, pretending to be something he isn’t. He pretends to be righteous but, really, he’s very evil. It’s all a cover-up. The third characteristic is taiva—hedonism. He’s best known for being immersed in zima—lewdness, gneiva—thievery, retsicha-murder. These traits describe Western Civilization. Most of the exile of the Jews has been in Western Civilization.
Therefore, Edom is divided into three nations that have these characteristics.
Gaiva, the arrogance, is characteristic of Russia, particularly under the Soviet Communist regime and the Russian Orthodox Church. The mirma, the fraudulence, is characterized by Europe with its pretense of righteousness. Its Christian pretensions of piety and universal love prevailed despite its being engaged in wars for all of its history, wars among France, England, Spain, Italy, etcetera with millions dying as a result.
The essential aspect of Europe has been Britain, France, and England which was a world power for a long time. Today, it’s reduced relative to what it was, though it’s been said that “the sun never set on the British Empire.” I think the statistic is that England controlled, during the 19th century, about 25% of the land mass of the planet. That’s how many countries were controlled by England, particularly during the reign of Queen Victoria. An essential aspect of Esav is England. This identifies England biblically, in terms of who they really are.
Look at what England did; I want to go through some of it. It was into colonization which involved enslaving country after country and proclaiming their actions in the name of “His Majesty.” This doesn’t even include America which, in 1776, rebelled against England. As colonizer, they were brutal. In order to take over a country and make it a vassal state, you have to kill people. People aren’t going to just let you walk in and take over their country. So, England was engaged in an enormous number of wars and wars, as we know, means killing people, means murder, which is a terrible sin. What gives them the right to walk in and try to take over by force? It’s murder; it’s Essv. It’s the classic case of Esav engaging in his popular pastime of murder. That’s England. They like to think of themselves as the “glory of His Majesty,” the English colonies, the tremendous number of countries they controlled such as India, and even China until it was reduced to Hong Kong, Australia, so much of Europe, parts of Africa and the American colonies. The way they got there was by killing people. Not only were they brutal in conquest of countries—these weren’t takeovers to facilitate modernization—it was done for the glory of “Her Majesty” or “His Majesty, ” particularly Queen Victoria. She was queen for sixty-three years. What we’re looking at, if we’re being honest, is a queen that is a head of state that represents a murderous nation, one engaged in bullying people, making them suffer, killing people, making wars. Is this something to be proud of?—of course not!
If I remember correctly, at the end of late 1800’s, England took over China and what they did was something astounding. They saturated China with opiates in order to sell them opium. The whole of China was drugged. It resulted in the “Boxer Rebellion” of 1900 which tried to drive out all foreign imperialistic influence but was eventually crushed in an eight-nation force led by Britain, a murderous country filled with evil. And who is the head-of-state?—their “Majesties.”
In the last hundred years what England has done is terrible. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration was pronounced and this declaration said that His Majesty views the Jewish people right to have Palestine—as it was called then—with favor, that the Jews should have a land of their own which is very nice; that’s great! So, the League of Nations, which was the forerunner of the United Nations, held a conference, the San Remo Conference, in Italy in 1920. It was proclaimed that a Jewish homeland would be established in Palestine. That included not only the territory of what Israel is today but also Jordan. This was the totality of the area designated for it. So, England was given the mandate to carry out what this lawful international body of “League of Nations” proclaimed.
A book was written about this, a now-famous book by Joan Peters called “From Time in Memorial” in which she goes into the history of Palestine those days before Israel became a state and she documents what the British did in carrying out their mandate. What she uncovers, and what is amazing, is that the problems we see now in Israel—all the wars with the Arabs—can be directly laid at the door of England. They’re the ones responsible. How?
At about 1934, oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia and the Brits wanted to curry favor with the Arabs so they made a deal with them. Even though they had the mandate to help Jews get Palestine, a mandate resultant from a legal declaration recognized by the entire world, they, instead, made a deal with Abdullah—I think that’s his name, the father of Hussein of Jordan—taking away eighty percent of the territory deemed for the Jewish state, making it Jordanian. This was done to give England access to oil and create other favorable situations at the expense of the Jews. It was a violation of the agreement reached by the League of Nations. They created a Jordan that did not exist until then.
Having done this, they allowed Arab immigration to abound what with Arabs escaping poor conditions and economic hardship in their lands in favor of migrating to Israel which was doing well economically even though it wasn’t really considered a state. The Arabs wanted to go to Israel because that’s where the money was. England was in charge of immigration and permitted Arabs entry. There were no qualifications. If you sought entry, you were in! That was illegal. The Jews were not given the automatic right to enter. Where did the British come off allowing people from other countries, especially Syria, to immigrate into Israel without any real justification or qualification? Most of the Arabs living is “Palestine” in the 1920’s-30’s were there due to England’s sanction.
Another terrible act on the part of Britain occurred at the time of Kristallnacht when Germany declared that the Jews have to be punished. At that time, November 1938, many synagogues were destroyed, Jews were murdered, Jewish businesses were shut down. It was horrendous slaughter. The persecution of Jews escalated greatly from this point. A conference was held—I think in 1938—in which nations expressed their disallowance of Jews to emigrate to their respective countries. Hitler saw that nobody cared about the Jews so he knew he could get away with the murder of Jews that he planned. Having known this, England should have encouraged emigration to Israel, it being their country as proclaimed by the League of Nations and for humanitarian reasons. England should have welcomed Jews to their shores and encouraged immigration to Palestine.
A third thing Britain did, which was absolutely terrible, occurred after Kristallnacht, after the Évian Conference held in France in 1938 which addressed the problem of German and Austrian Jewish refugees wishing to escape Nazi persecution in Germany. What did Britain do? They issued their “White Paper of 1939” forbidding Jews from going to Palestine. This was life and death. Could anyone believe this? Imagine that Jews are being slaughtered by the Nazis and, finally, in 1942, another conference for the “Final Solution” is held and, still, Jews had no place to flee. Who knows how many Jews died at the hands of the Nazis—yemach shemom—because because they had no place to escape to! No country would take them and they were barred from Israel because Britain gave the Arab powers in Palestine, the discretion to determine how many Jews, if any, could enter. There are many stories about this.
We should view this also in the context of recognizing that the bible, which Christianity acknowledges as legitimate, says clearly that G-D gives the Land of Israel to the Jewish people. The first commentary by Rashi in “Bereishis”—Genesis speaks of this. That’s why the Torah starts with Creation story to show that the world is G-D’s and He can give Israel to whomever He wants. It authorizes and legitimizes the fact that Israel belongs to the Jews. So, England, notwithstanding that the Jews have no place to flee, notwithstanding the League of Nations mandate, bars their way. Who knows how many Jews were stuck in their respective countries. Then, of course, Germany would take over different countries and the first thing the Nazis did was round up the Jews and shoot them. Given all this, England forbade entry.
England is responsible for untold number of deaths of Jews. You have to ask yourself: where’s your king? The one who was king at that time was George VI. Where was this guy? How do you allow your country to issue decrees, to enact policies, which translate into the deaths of thousand, perhaps millions, of Jews? And this was perpetrated by the country mandated to help! Where was this guy?—nowhere! If he ever said a word about any of this, even if he doesn’t want to involve himself in politics because England is a constitutional monarchy, it wouldn’t be an utterance about politics; it’s life and death. This is His Majesty’s will? How could he allow this to happen? How do you think G-D looks upon this? Do you think G-D is fooled by the fact that these people call themselves “king” or “queen” or whatever?—of course not! This is what’s going on and this is what is being honored and cherished.
I don’t know Queen Elizabeth. She appears to have been a decent woman. She had an incredible life but did she ever issue a public apology for what England did to the Jews during the Holocaust, for the many that died due to British policy with their White Paper? I don’t recall such a thing. Maybe I’m wrong but where was the queen? How could she not say anything? Again, we’re not talking about political statements. This was about life and death. This is people dying due to an illegality, of them violating a mandate! Did she ever make a statement about her nation’s contribution to the Holocaust, to the deaths of Jews? It’s incredible.
This is why I believe G-D punished England in several ways: England is no longer one of the great nations of the world. Her influence in the world is gone. Even if she’s a first-world nation, she’s nothing compared to what she was a century ago. That’s the first diminishment of her power and status. The second—Dunkirk. The Nazis almost killed thousands at Dunkirk and, by a miracle, they survived. What we begin to see is murder, what England did. Even if George didn’t contribute to it in the sense that he was responsible for that White Paper, he was the king. Where is your statement, Your Majesty? The responsibility to condemn murder, and yet not to, is an incredible betrayal to the League of Nations. It’s the same responsibility Queen Elizabeth II had. Did she ever make a statement?—I don’t think so.
I do know one thing. I heard that she visited, in her 70-year reign, 120 countries. She never once visited Israel—not once. She visited many Arab countries more than once. What is that supposed to convey? It’s amazing. Even more amazing is that Prince Philip’s (her husband) mother—I think she was of Greek royalty and is considered an ahavas Yisrael—righteous among the gentiles, one who sheltered, harbored, protected a Jewish family from the Nazis, I think in Greece, when the Nazis were hunting Jews there—is buried in Israel. Yet the queen never visited the grave of her mother-in-law as far as I know. This is her husband’s mother! What is that supposed to mean? I find this astounding.
We have to view this honestly. We’re not talking about making a bad trade deal with Israel. We’re talking about not only the slaughter of Jews and the protracted time it took for Israel to become part of the Jewish people. We’re talking about denying Jews a place of refuge, and this was after Kristallnacht when it became apparent what the Nazis intended to do to the Jews. Britain shut down Israel to the Jewish people.
G-D Doesn’t Forget and the Big Picture
Man forgets. Man overlooks because he has self-interest but I want to tell you something. G-D does not overlook and G-D does not forget. The life of one Jew is unbelievably precious, infinitely valuable, right? To cause the death of one Jew, especially when it’s in the context of breaking the law, when it is an illegality and contributes to murder, who can believe what the punishment is to be for this country? I can’t believe it is, in any way, honorable for a woman to represent a bunch of murderers and that’s what they’ve been for hundreds of years, and not only to Jews. Their brutality was inflicted upon many lands which they conquered and dominated, and they prided themselves on this conquest, on the greatness and glory of England, of His Majesty or Her Majesty, or whatever. G-D doesn’t forget.
If you want to delude yourself and tell yourself: well, the monarchy is royal, and so on, that’s just delusional. Again, the queen might have been a decent and nice person, a charming person, and I don’t take that away from her, but I’m looking at the big picture.
America is being destroyed by the Democratic Party of which Biden is really a representative, though their puppet. Hopefully, this November, he will be slaughtered in the polls—hopefully. What we’re looking at is the fall of Esav, the ra she’b’Esav—the evil of Esav. His dominance will come to an end and an entirely new era will emerge, is emerging. The messianic process is unfolding. That’s the hope.
It’s very possible that the death of Queen Elizabeth II indicates the fall of another major nation that is the embodiment of Esav because, when a monarch falls, it is symbolic of the beginning of the diminishment and the fall of the country, and Britain, as I’ve shown, represents the evil of Esav and, believe me, they fulfill that to a tee. So, it’s very possible that the death of this representative of Britain represents the beginning of the fall of the evil of Esav. It’s interesting that, together with America, the evil of Esav is falling.
More interesting is that Britain has a new Prime Minister who met the queen two days before she died. The whole government is at a standstill and they have great problems with inflation and energy prices, labor shortages. Their economy is doing badly. It seems to me that this is an indicator of Esav’s/Edom’s diminishment.
Also interesting to note is the incredible levaya—funeral she’ll have. It heightens greatly an awareness of malchus—kingship, royalty. She’s the empress of a kingdom, of the British empire so, with her funeral, she increases the awareness of kingship because that funeral will be incredible. Is it possible that G-D wants to make the world aware of what a “kingdom” is? Why? Maybe it means that we are about to see, very shortly, a kingdom of the mashiach—messiah and so G-D would seem to be saying: let Me show you what a kingdom is. By watching the funeral, the pomp and tradition, how they honor their dead, I will bring the malchus of the mashiach’s kingdom and its singular greatness which will far exceed any royalty that’s ever existed.
There’s a chazal—commentary of the sages that says “l’olam hevei ratz”—always run to see a king of the nations of the world, a goyishe--gentile king. Why?—so you can see what a king really is and then you will realize that kingship, the kingdom of the mashiach, will be a million times greater than what you’re looking at. Can you believe what that chazal are saying? You can’t rely on your supposed ideas about what a king is. You must see the honor, the prestige, the glory, the glamour with which he is appraised and then, look at this, the mashiach’s kingship, and think: that was nothing compared to melech ha’mashiach, the kingship of the messiah. When he comes, his kingdom will be astounding and we cannot imagine it from our current perspective but, if our rabbis tell us that we should “run to see” their kings, it is to begin to imagine what “majesty” really is, what it will be, a thousand times more glorious, far greater.
Maybe we are very close to the messianic era, which I believe we are, and, therefore, G-D wants to make the entire world aware of what “kingdom” means. When you consider what a kingdom is, you can realize what every Jew will be. He will be a king, the equivalent of a king. How many Jews really are there? There are almost eight billion people on the planet—that’s a lot of people—and only about fifteen million Jews. That’s less than one quarter of one percent of the world’s population. In the messianic era, every Jew will be of the same status as Queen Elizabeth, but even greater. We gawk at the honor accorded this woman yet far more honor and glory will be accorded every Jew when the messiah is revealed. So, to understand the status of a Jew at the End of Time, during the messianic era, watch the funeral. Look at it and then think: this is nothing compared to the melech ha’mashiach—kingdom of the messiah. His kingdom will be astounding to watch and more glorious than anything we can imagine. Maybe that’s why she died now rather than another couple of years. Phillip died last year at age of ninety-nine. I’m wondering if G-D took her because she never expressed regret for her country’s actions during the Holocaust. As I said, to learn more, get a hold of Joan Peter’s book “In Time in Memorial.”
Q & A
Participant: I was reading today that the queen connected herself to King David. She thought she was somehow descended from David Ha’Melech.
R’Kessin: Yeah, right…I mentioned that she is really of German descent. She’s not English even. They didn’t want to advertise it. They don’t even descend from (that which is native) British; she’s from the House of Hanover. Her thinking she’s descended from King David is delusional thinking. Everyone wants to think they are descended from David Ha’Melech, even Yeshu (Jesus). G-D says, in “Yishai,” that King David is where My kingdom will come from.
Participant: Then why did Israel acknowledge her death?
R’Kessin: They have to, politically. Britain is a major country, a first-world nation. So, purely, for political diplomacy, you have to acknowledge what she did. She became queen in 1953 or 1954. She never had a hand in the killing en masse. My grievance with her is that she didn’t acknowledge what the British did. The world continues to think that the Arabs (should) have a say in Israel but, of course, they shouldn’t. Most are from Syria, let in my the British illegally. There were very few that actually lived in Palestine before the British allowed them to immigrate. Nobody wants to admit this. A form of anti-Semitism today is the sentiment for the destruction of Israel, a “two-state solution.” It’s insane! There is no such thing. The original occupants are the Jews, not Arabs. I’m not even talking about the religious idea that G-D gave Israel to the Jews. The Jews are not occupiers, of course not! They were always there. To think otherwise is a lie promulgated by Abbas and all the other anti-Semites that want to use this argument as a way of destroying Israel. There’s no such thing as a “two-state solution.” The whole thing is a fiction. When you read that book “In Time in Memorial,” you realize what the truth is.
It's the height of chutzpah—audacity that England has caused so much misery to people all around the world having colonized so many places, and did so brutally. I’m incredulous that Britain walks around as though they’re G-D’s gift to the world. My gripe is that they never took responsibility Instead of bowing their heads in shame, admitting what they did but, instead, strut around thinking they’re something special. Israel’s acknowledgment was political. You have to play along like everyone else.
Participant: There was a big rainbow, a double rainbow, on the day she passed away. It was completely over Buckingham Palace. It was humungous. It’s in all the news headlines.
R’Kessin: That’s very interesting because there’s a chazal—I don’t remember where—which says that, before the mashiach comes, there will be a double rainbow. So, you’re saying that the day she died, there was a tremendous double rainbow over Buckingham Palace?
Participant: It’s in every news headline across the world, the pictures.
R’Kessin: Amazing! So maybe what I’m saying is correct.
Participant: If Esav has three characteristics, do all three nations emblematic of whatever nation the characteristics represent have to fall in order for mashiach to come?
R’Kessin: Yes. Soviet communism fell. Europe, in a certain sense, has fallen because they are now united as a European Union. The individual nations have “fallen” and, besides, Christianity in Europe is dying. I heard a statistic that the church of England is attended by only one percent of the population. That’s the death of Christianity. People may profess to being Christian, but they don’t go to church. What does that all mean? The United States is falling because of Biden but Trump is changing the United States. We are watching a change.
Participant: The temptations, the taiva, represents the United States?
R’Kessin: Yes. America is a pleasure-loving country but also a medina shel chesed, a country that has, historically, given over tremendously to charity and good works. America is into the “good life” and not into killing people or colonizing. Overall, America has been a good country but it’s being destroyed by the Democratic Party.
Participant: That double rainbow was over Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and the Victoria Memorial. It was over all those three places all at the same time.
R’Kessin: Sounds like it hit it right on the head! I wasn’t aware of that. Amazing!
Participant: What does a double rainbow mean?
R’Kessin: The rainbow itself is to stave off the mabul—Flood, to “remind” G-D, to prevent His destruction of the world. The double rainbow means not only not to destroy the world, but a permanent way of conveying: I will not destroy the world because there will be a Redemption.
Participant: When is this Redemption starting, exactly?
(laughter)
R’Kessin: Well, I think it’s a Zohar that says that, before mashiach comes, there will be a double rainbow, and the fact that it was over her castles, the seat of her power, on the day of her death, is unbelievably symbolic, a sign.
Participant: Is there a reason why the second rainbow has its colors in reverse? When you look at it, the red is on the bottom, not the top. The first rainbow is regular and then, if you look at the top one, the colors are in reverse.
R’Kessin: I’ve never thought about it but I would imagine that it’s almost as if the Redemption will be in such a way…the arguments in favor of Redemption will be total either way. There won’t be any kitrugim—prosecutorial challenges. It’s like saying: the arguments (in favor) of Redemption are conclusive, either way you look at it.
Participant: The rainbows appeared as they were lowering the Union Jack, when it was being lowered to half-mast. I don’t know what a “Union Jack” Is.
R’Kessin: The Union Jack is the flag of Britain.
Participant: So, as they were lowering it, that’s when the rainbow appeared.
R’Kessin: Where does it say that?
Participant: I’m reading it in the news on the internet.
R’Kessin: That’s amazing. That is messianic.
Participant: The Daily Mail. So, bottom-line, you think she died to indicate that her reign is gone and it’s the entering of the mashiach because you can’t have two kings at the same time?
R’Kessin: Right, yeah. It’s symbolic. That’s the end of the malchus—kingship of Esav. In fact, at the end of the parasha—Torah portion right before “Vayeshev,” it says. “These are the kings that reigned in Edom before there reigned a king in Israel.” It goes through seven kings so that has s lot of kabbalistic meaning but what you see is that the kingdom of Esav ends and then there will be a king of Israel. This could be the classic example. She dies, symbolic of the end of the reign, the rule, of Esav, and now we can look forward to the kingdom of mashiach. That’s what it says.
Participant: What do you think King Charles’s role will be in the Divine Plan?
R’Kessin: I don’t really know much about Charles. He was full of scandal. In 1997, when Diana died…they were both adulterers. He was with Camilla and she was running around with some Egyptian Arab. What can you say about that?
Participant: She was divorced when she was with Dodi.
Other Participant: She had been with other men before him.
R’Kessin: I don’t know if she was still married—I think she was—yeah, she was. There were plenty of scandals. The royal family is filled with scandals, Diana, Charles….If you go back to many of the incidents reported in the newspapers, many people laughed at the royals (scornfully). What kind of family is this? They’re either philanderers or jet-setters without responsibility. They didn’t have good reputations. What can I tell you? I don’t view Charles as anything serious.
Participant: But not do with his son, William.
R’Kessin: Yeah, I don’t recall scandal with William.
Participant: I just want to tell you something. I’m back in Montreal. I went to a sheva brachos and I was telling someone there what I’ve been learning with you and I didn’t tell her your name and she said, “Is that Rabbi Kessin?”
I went, “How do you know?”
She said, “I listen to him all the time.” So, I just wanted to tell you.
R’Kessin: Okay. Thank you. Thanks.
Participant: Is there anything coincidental that it’s the month of Elul?
R’Kessin: Yes. There’s an argument in the Gemara as to when the Redemption is going to happen. Rabbi Eliezer says that the geula will happen in Tishrei—that’s number one. We are less than two weeks from this date (the beginning of Tishrei, Rosh Ha’Shana).
The second thing is that Yosef ha’Tzaddik was released from prison on Rosh Ha’Shana. This means that the gzera--decree against the mashiach ends on Rosh Ha’Shana. The third thing to remember is that this Rosh Ha’Shana is motzei shmita—period post-shmita. The Gemara says that the Mashaich ben David comes at the end of shmita. So, you have three ideas as to why it’s possible that this Rosh Ha’Shana, Tishrei, can be a messianic time. Also, the year taf-shin-peh-gimel / תשפגstands for “t’hiye shnas perek geula.”—it will be a year of Redemption. Even the roshe tevos—abbreviation is interesting in that sense. There’s no question that we’re getting very close.
Participant: One rabbi said that the abbreviation means “t’hiye shnas parnassa g’dola”—it will be a year of wealth.”
Laughter
R’Kessin: I’ll go along with that. The “gimmel” could be “geula.”
Participant: I’d rather it be “geula.” I’ll take your version.
R’Kessin: Right, because, with geula, there will be a “parnassa gedola.” The main idea is that I don’t know who the queen really was, what her personal stance was, but, as the head of state, where was this woman? What a tremendous betrayal of the mandate and the Jewish people! All the people who died, and for what? They wanted oil from the Arabs therefore people have to die for that? We cannot even begin to understand the evil of that country, what they did.
Participant: They’re going to get majorly punished when the messiah comes, no?
R’Kessin: Of course. Right. Yeah. The Jews were expelled from England anyway, several times.
Participant: How is it that Rabbi Jonathan Sacks never had a meeting with the queen to tell her or to….
R’Kessin: I would imagine that, when you’re in such an environment of pomp, diplomacy, chivalry, all that kind of stuff, it’s very hard to berate a queen. You don’t feel it’s your place. I can imagine it’s not easy to confront such a woman. You’d have to be tremendously defiant and courageous. I also believe it’s a punishment to Elizabeth that she will not see the messianic era. That’s because so many Jews died and she said nothing. She’s a symbol of Esav.