The Place of Belief in Yemos Hamoshiach in Avodas Hashem

Last week we spoke of the absence of messianism messianic considerations in the Rav's support for Medinat Yisrael. Tonight we'll attempt bezrat Hashem bli neder to speak briefly but more broadly about the place of belief in yemot hamashiach within avodat Hashem. Of course it constitutes the 12th of the Rambam's 13 ikarei emunah, the 13 fundamental elements which comprise emunah. What exactly does it consist of? In Hilchos Melachim the Rambam writes as follows. He opens with in perek yud aleph with a description of what the Melech Hamashiach is going to do, what he's going to accomplish and then the Rambam writes

וכל מי שאינו מאמין בו או מי שאינו מחכה לביאתו לא בשאר נביאים בלבד הוא כופר אלא בתורה ובמשה רבינו שהרי תורה העידה עליו שנאמר ושב ה' אלוקיך את שבותך וריחמך ושב וקיבצך מכל העמים אם יהיה נדחך בקצה השמים משם יקבצך ה' אלוקיך ומשם יקחך והביאך ה' אלוקיך ואלו הדברים המפורשים בתורה הם כוללים כל הדברים שנאמרו על ידי כל הנביאים.

The Rambam's hard to understand in at least two respects. Number one, the Rambam quotes pesukim in Nitzavim that don't mention the Melech Hamashiach.

ושב ה' אלוקיך שבותך ושב וקיבצך מכל העמים אם יהיה נדחך בקצה השמים משם יקבצך ה' אלוקיך

but where's the allusion to the Melech Hamashiach in those pesukim? It's not obvious and the Rambam doesn't elicit it for us. When the Rambam quotes the pesukim in parshas Balak, he darshens the pesukim for us

אראנו ולא עתה זה דוד אשורנו ולא קרוב זה המלך המשיח.

That's question number one. Where does the Rambam how is this the proof text for Melech Hamashiach? Number two, what does the Rambam mean אלו הדברים המפורשים בתורה? These explicit verses in the Torah include, they encompass everything that you find in the Nevi'im. What does that mean? It's just satum, what he has in mind. Later in halacha beis the Rambam continues

אף בערי מקלט הוא אומר בפרשת ערי מקלט ואם ירחיב ה' אלוקיך את גבולך ויספת לך עוד שלוש ערים על השלוש האלה.

In addition to the three in Ever Hayarden and then the other three which they establish in Eretz Yisrael, the Torah says that אם ירחיב ה' אלוקיך את גבולך when Hakadosh Baruch Hu will expand the borders there'll be another three arei miklat. ומעולם לא היה דבר זה and this hasn't happened yet ולא ציוה הקדוש ברוך הוא לתוהו. This is a reference to what's going to happen biymot hamashiach. Also, what's the raya to the Melech Hamashiach? It's clear that we sometimes make the mistake of too narrowly defining what the yesod hashneim asar is of the Rambam's yud gimmel ikarim. The yesod hashneim asar, the Rambam actually says this beferush, is not narrowly defined in terms of the Melech Hamashiach. It's rather that there's going to be a yemot hamashiach, now central and indispensable to that for what now is a vision and what will be a reality of yemot hamashiach. The Melech HaMashiach is the Melech HaMashiach. So the Melech HaMashiach is absolutely a part of the Ikar Hashneim-Asar, but it's not, it's not all about the Melech HaMashiach. It's about Yemos HaMashiach. And Emes is the Rambam says this befeirush. If for each of the Yud-Gimmel Ikarim in the Hakdama to Perek Chelek, the Rambam initially has a word or phrase that that encapsulates what the Ikar is and then he elaborates it. Hayesod Harishon metzius habore yishtabach and then comes the ve-hu, the elaboration. Hayesod Hasheini achduso yisala, then comes the elaboration. Hayesod Hashneim-Asar, Yemos HaMashiach. So the the Hayesod Hashneim-Asar is that there's going to be an Achris Hayomim, there's going to be a Yemos HaMashiach, a utopian era and again at the center of which, indispensable to which, is the Melech HaMashiach. The Melech HaMashiach is absolutely a part of the Ikar Hashneim-Asar. We don't pasken like Rabi Hillel who thought there can be a Yemos HaMashiach without a Melech HaMashiach, but it's not exclusively the Melech HaMashiach. And that's what's reflected in the Rambam in Perek Yud-Alef Hilchos Melachim also, when the Rambam says that the pesukim in the שערי התורה העידו עליו. So the Torah was mei'id about Yemos HaMashiach and then the Rambam says ואלו הדברים המפורשים בתורה, these, this general schematic depiction which the Torah provides, everything that the Nevi'im say are details, is a further detailed exposition of the Torah's vision. So one of the details that the Navi provides is ויצא חוטר מגזע ישי ונצר משרשיו יפרה, that there's going to be from Dovid HaMelech, the Rambam points out also he's not just going to be from Dovid, but Dovid and Shlomo, that ויצא חוטר מגזע ישי. Okay, so that Ikar is the Melech HaMashiach as at the center of a Yemos HaMashiach, but the Ikar is broader than just the Melech HaMashiach. What what does the belief entail? What does it mean to believe? So the Rambam writes וכל מי שאינו מאמין בו ומי שאינו מחכה לביאתו. The phrase mechakeh leviaso is from the pasuk that the Rambam quotes in the Yud-Gimmel Ikarim from Chavakuk of אם יתמהמה חכה לו. So one has to not only be ma'amin, but also be mechakeh. What what does it mean? Many years ago a story circulated, I can't vouch for its authenticity, I don't have any reason to doubt it, that in the summertime in some camp, there was a breakout for color war. And the way they decided to have the breakout for color war was that they announced that Mashiach had come. There was amongst the campers a girl who was a yasom and when she heard this, so she believed it and she thought that techiyas hameisim was imminent and that she was about to be reunited with the parent that she had lost. And one can only imagine the devastation that she experienced when she realized what was going on. So obviously that's heart-rending, but what the story illustrates is not gullibility. But that her belief in Moshiach was real. It wasn't just a belief in something that's so remote, so distant in the future that it had no relevance to her life. No, her belief was real. Mechakeh to wait, it reflects expectation. It's not just a belief in a distant remote event, era, which obviously has no potential immediate or imminent relevance. In the Peirush Hamishnayos the Rambam writes היסוד השלושה עשר ימות המשיח והוא להאמין ולאמת. Vel'ameis to that it should be real. A person can believe but if what a person believes is he considers so remote it's not real. That's why in the hemshech here the Rambam then quotes from the Gemara in Sanhedrin ואין לקבוע לה זמן, one is not supposed to engage in speculation as to when Moshiach is going to come,

ולא לפרש המקראות כדי להוציא מהן זמן בואו. אמרו חכמים תיפח תפוח דעתן של מחשבי קיצין.

So we generally assume that Chazal's criticism of those who are mechashevei kitzin is because if a person predicts that Moshiach is going to come in such and such a year, a person will predict that Moshiach is going to come in four years and then Rachmana litzlan he doesn't come by that point, so then it can chas v'shalom undermine people's belief. And that is correct, but the flow in the Rambam, you'll take a look, suggests that there's an additional additional fallout. If a person calculates in quotation marks that Moshiach is going to come in four years, so then the belief is not so real or relevant for the next day, the next week, the next month, the next year. He's not expected if you're having a dinner guest in four years from now, he arranges he's coming for Shabbos in four years, okay, so you know a few days before then, so you'll begin focusing and and it will become relevant. That's the mashmaos. To understand what the implications are and are not, or the applications and reverberations of this belief, and again a belief of mechakeh l'vi'aso, that it's real, that it's real, the possibility is real. So let's again let's circle back to the context of Medinas Yisrael. And let's pose the question, but l'mayseh, so the Rav's support wasn't predicated upon any again messianic considerations, but the question still stubbornly persists, are we living through, are we witnessing aschalta d'geula? Are we? So in halachic terms the answer is halevai, but it doesn't make a difference. doesn't make a difference. What does that mean doesn't make a difference? On one level it doesn't make a difference. So let's say let's say a person is wrestling with a question of whether he should be moving to Eretz Yisrael or remaining here. So if halachic considerations dictate that he should remain here, I don't know, let's say he's the Rav of the community and if he leaves his position, he leaves his rabbanut, he thinks given the heterogeneity of the membership of the shul that maybe the next Rav won't be able to hold the line on certain issues or have the same hashpa'ah, so then he shouldn't go. And even if what we're witnessing is aschalta de'geula, he shouldn't go. You know, there's an extraordinary he'arah from Rav quoted beshem Rav Velvel from the Gemara in Eruvin. Gemara in Eruvin is discussing whether or not tchumin exist lemala mi'asara. So a person is not supposed to go outside of the tchum Shabbos, but let's say he elevates himself, let's say there are lamp posts and he'll jump from lamp post to lamp post, so he'll be lemala mi'asara. So does tchumin govern lemala mi'asara? So tashma, הריני נזיר ביום שבן דוד בא. A person takes a neder nezirut, either it means on the day that Mashiach actually comes or on a day that's ra'ui for Mashiach to come, I'll be a nazir. So the braita says, מותר לשתות יין בשבתות ובימים טובים. So on Shabbos and Yom Tov he can drink wine because there's no chance that Ben David is going to come on Shabbos and Yom Tov. However, ואסור לשתות יין כל ימות החול. But on any weekday, on Sunday through Friday, he's not allowed to drink wine. Says the Gemara, אי אמרת בשלמא יש תחומין, if you'll say there is an issur tchum lemala mi'asara, so that precludes Mashiach from coming because even if he'll come al yedei kfitza, jumping lemala mi'asara, there's an issur tchum. But אי אמרת אין תחומין בשבתות ובימים טובים, if there's no tchum lemala mi'asara, why can't he come? So says Rav Velvel, Mashiach is ready to come. He's ready to come. Everything is all set for Mashiach to come, but it's Shabbos or Yom Tov and there's an issur tchum, so he's not coming. Everything is going to be put on hold. Bi'as ha'Mashiach doesn't override anything in halacha. If there's an issur tchum on Shabbos lemala mi'asara, so Mashiach is not coming. He's not coming until after Shabbos is over. If al pi din a person makes a cheshbon that he shouldn't be going to Eretz Yisrael, that he should be here, the fact that we're living during aschalta de'geula wouldn't docheh that. Me'idach gisa, if there's no reason that he shouldn't go and you have the Ramban's מצות ישוב ארץ ישראל and even if you don't have the Ramban's מצות ישוב ארץ ישראל, you have mitzvot hateluyot ba'aretz, you have all the ma'alot of Eretz Yisrael, he should go. It doesn't make a difference. אין ישראל נגאלין אלא בתשובה. Should someone who has the koach hanefesh for it and this would be the best use of his koach hanefesh, should he be involved in kiruv? He has that koach hanefesh and that's the best use of his koach hanefesh, even if it's not aschalta de'geula, of course he should be involved in kiruv. כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה. Of course the person should be involved in kiruv. He doesn't have those kochot or maybe Even if he has those kochos, the other responsibilities that he should be attending to. So even if it is atchalta d'geula, he'll apply his kochos elsewhere. So that's what we were saying. On a certain level, it doesn't make a difference. Does it give a lens through which one can say, if this is atchalta d'geula, then that's the significance of what's happening? It does, but it doesn't make a difference. On one level, it doesn't make a difference. That's why when you learn in the Rambam, so the only thing the Rambam says to do, the only thing the Rambam says to do in terms of bringing about Yemos HaMoshiach, so the Rambam says, continues after saying not to m'chashev kitzin, he says להאמין בו מן הגדולה והאהבה ולהתפלל לבואו. And we're supposed to daven. We're supposed to daven. One last comment. The premise that we're living through atchalta d'geula, halevai that's true, and that that has practical implications logically doesn't have to, but empirically sometimes does give rise to a mindset that since that's the process that's unfolding, and the assumption that again that it does impact halacha l'maaseh, it gives rise to a mindset which is again as illustrated by this Gemara in Eruvin which is totally antithetical to halacha, that the ends justify the means. And things which shouldn't be done are done. And again, it doesn't have to arise out of that mindset. Again, there's no logical hechrech to come to that conclusion, but l'maaseh, we know history attests to the fact that that mindset of that the geula is unfolding and we're supposed to be pushing it, can and sometimes does have a very wrong.