In Aftermath of the Tsunami

by Rabbi Israel Rubin

Following the devastating tsunami that swept through Southeast Asia, the US has pledged $350 million, Japan promised $500 million, and other countries are sending food, medical supplies and other aid. Citizens and organizations everywhere are donating additional Billions of dollars.

This outpouring of support reflects a new global attitude towards charitable giving. Thanks to improved communication, the suffering of people on the other side of the world is part of our reality. 150 years ago, the Irish Potato Famine killed 1 million people, while the rest of the world did nothing. Such callousness would be unthinkable as we enter a new era of international cooperation and sensitivity. continue »

Moshiach -- Why Now?

by Tzvi Feeman

Some people think Judaism is all about tradition.

It's not.

It's about making a whole new world.

Sure, our tradition is important. It starts with Abraham smashing the idols in his father's house. Moses liberating a people from slavery. Isaiah lecturing a war-hungry civilization on world peace.

It's a long tradition and it's all about one thing: Changing the world, getting it in tune with its real purpose, with what it really is. We've been doing that for four thousand years, with the conviction that it's really going to happen. continue »

The Moshiach in Our Time

If one looks with an unprejudiced eye at the world today, he will see an age where almost all the Jewish prophecies regarding the prelude to the messianic age are coming to pass. Even the most doubtful skeptic cannot help wondering how this could be mere coincidence. The man with clear vision can truly see the hand of God at work.

The ultimate goal of the historic process is the perfection of society. Since everything was created by God, all must eventually be perfected. This is even true of man's mundane world, which was created as an arena for our service toward God. Over the past two hundred years, an unprecedented acceleration in man's achievements has occurred. A man of two thousand years ago would find the world of two hundred years ago different, but not unimaginatively so. But the man of two hundred years ago, if transported to today's society, would find himself in a world beyond his wildest imagination. continue »

Constructive Sadness

There is nothing as whole as a broken heart. — Chassidic saying

Depression is not a sin; but what depression does, no sin can do. — Chassidic saying

Is sad bad? Chassidic teaching differentiates between two types of sorrow: merirut , a constructive grief, and atzvut , a destructive grief. Merirut is the distress of one who not only recognizes his failings but also cares about them; one who agonizes over the wrongs he has committed, over his missed opportunities, over his unrealized potential; one who refuses to become indifferent to what is deficient in himself and his world. Atzvut is the distress of one who has despaired of himself and his fellow man, whose melancholy has drained him of hope and initiative. Merirut is a springboard for self-improvement; atzvut is a bottomless pit. continue »

· More Inspirational articles about Exile/Galut

The Mystery of Jewish Optimism

Some would argue that "hope" is just another tool in the survival kit of homo sapiens, packed into our genetic code along with the instructions for fear and adrenalin, but that it has no rational basis. When, in his Essay on Man, Alexander Pope wrote that "hope springs eternal in the human breast", he was merely poeticizing a function of blind genetic material.

Yet, all of us know from personal experience that sometimes when everything looks bleak and hope a foolish naiveté, the whole situation unexpectedly reverses itself, and hope is vindicated. As the saying goes, it is darkest before the dawn.

In the macrocosm, too, the ups and downs of history itself would seem to support the contention that hope is not just an involuntary response of the human organism, but that there is indeed reason to hope for a better future.

It makes sense, then, to hope. We know from experience that things do have a way of getting better -- at least sometimes.

Of course, history is not over yet, and why should anyone believe that the final outcome will see a triumph of light over darkness? Perhaps it will turn out the other way?

Read more »

Moshiach as a Central Component of Judaism

It is the custom of many congregations to recite a poetic of the Thirteen Articles of Faith, , beginning with the words Ani Maamin—"I believe''—every day after the morning prayers in the synagogue. In his commentary on the Mishnah (Sanhedrin, chap. 10), Maimonides refers to these thirteen principles of faith as "the fundamental truths of our religion and its very foundations."

however, the question arises as to how the Thirteen Principles differ from all the other rules in the Torah? If one must believe in the entire Torah, what makes these thirteen rules so special, and how do they differ from any other Torah law?

Maimonides explains that the Thirteen Principles form the very foundation on which all of Jewish belief and practices rests. A rejection of any of them is not only a rejection of a single tenet of Judaism, but a rejection of the entire structure of Jewish thought.

There is not a single statement or utterance of the Torah that is not in turn related to, and. supported by, one of the Thirteen Articles of Faith. These Thirteen Articles form the very constitution and fabric of Judaism. Not to know them is not to know Judaism, and not to believe in them is to reject Judaism.

Read more »

The Search for Saddam & our Quest for Moshiach

As I followed the news of Saddam's capture, I couldn't help but reflect on similarities between the search for Saddam, and our anxious quest for Moshiach.

The false leads: Throughout the war, reports that Saddam was dead or seriously injured were quickly challenged by his own recorded messages. And throughout our history, especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, there have been numerous imposters claiming to be Moshiach, but the high hopes they stirred were gradually replaced with bitterness and despair.

The shrug-off: As the futile search went on for months without result, US officials, started avoiding the word "Saddam" and public statements on the status of the search all but ceased. As our long galut (exile) stretched on, some Jews began to prefer to avoid the subject of Moshiach for fear of arousing the skeptics from within and without.

The unexpected news: Word of Saddam's capture came when the objective of capturing him was already receding from our consciousness; it was already off the headlines. Our sages tell us that Moshiach will come b'hesech hadaas, when our minds are off the subject...

Read more »

Signs of Moshiach in Iraq

It was Sabbath afternoon, Jan. 19, 1990, when the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, devoted a large part of his public address to the war against Saddam Hussein. The Rebbe viewed Saddam - a person who chopped off the ears and noses of dissidents, tortured children in front of their parents, gassed thousands to death and craved the death of Israel - as a truly evil person.

The Rebbe saw him as a scion of the great anti-Semites of old, professing the legendary brutality and Jew-hatred of Nebuchadnezzar (ancient king of Iraq and Babylonia, arch-hero of Saddam), Amalek, Haman and Pharaoh.

The Rebbe knew very well of the ulterior motives accompanying so many American foreign-policy decisions. Yet he felt America and its values of freedom and individual liberty were a blessing for mankind, and that its war against a monstrous tyrant was a moral act, one that would save and liberate countless innocent lives.

I recall vividly how during his address on that Sabbath, the Rebbe encouraged the American armed forces to finish the job they had successfully begun. "Seventy or 80 percent of the work has been accomplished already," the Rebbe stated. "The job should be concluded 100 percent."

Read more »
• News about Saddam's capture (Google)

Details on the Resurrection of the Dead

Who will merit the resurrection?

What about those who have numerous identities (through Reincarnation)? Which one will be resurrected?

What will it be like?

Who will be resurrected first?

Will everyone die before the Resurrection?

Will there be a Judgment Day?

Find out »

• More articles about the Resurrection of the Dead
• E-book: To Live and Live Again


Jews & non-Jews: Dual Roles in Preparing the World for Moshiach

In this age of egalitarian and liberal thinking, how can Jews still promote what is to many intellectuals a shameful and vainglorious sentiment of being the chosen nation? How can Jews preach to the world that they are better than everyone else?

Why will Moshiach be Jewish?

Why does Judaism discourage converts?

What is the role of non-Jewish nations and cultures in preparing for Moshiach?

Find out »

Is the World Really Getting Better?

by Tzvi Freeman

Question: You are always talking about how the world is ready and prepared for the Age of Moshiach. I don't see it. It looks like a pretty awful world to me. Looks like we've got a long way to go.

Answer: That's because you don't see where it's coming from, what it used to be and how much it changed.

Let me illustrate: Nowadays you can call anywhere from anywhere. Imagine a call to the past. Say you called up your great-grandparents.

"Hi, great-grandma, great-grandpa! This is your great-grandchild calling from a hundred years later!" Continue »

Also see: Signs of Moshiach amid Terrorism by Chana Weisberg

Story: The Clock

In one of his travels, chassidic master Rabbi Dov Ber of Radoshitz occasioned to stay the night at a wayside inn. In the morning, he sought out the innkeeper.

"The clock," he asked excitedly, "the clock you have hanging in my room -- where is it from? Where did you get that wonderful clock?"

"Why," said the surprised innkeeper, "it's quite an ordinary clock. There are hundreds like it hanging in homes throughout the country."

"No, no," insisted Rabbi Dov Ber. "This is no ordinary clock. You must find out for me where this clock comes from."

Read the story »

Living in a Cave

Imagine that you have lived your entire life in a dark tunnel. Your parents and grandparents lived there too, and so did their parents and grandparents. You have grown accustomed to the darkness and developed the necessary skills to survive. You move through life, sometimes staggering in the dark, at other times feeling your way along. You are totally resigned to the fact that this is what life is, and that it will continue to be so.

But you have been told or have read in some ancient books that long ago, your ancestors lived in a very different, well-lighted place. You have heard that there is indeed a light at the end of this tunnel, that you don't necessarily have to spend your entire life in darkness.

Does G-d Give us Candies?

The Torah is replete with descriptions of the rewards that G-d will bestow upon us if we follow His commandments, and the punishments that shall befall us, G-d forbid, should we forsake them. "If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them; I will give your rain in due season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit." Etc., etc. Surely we're more sophisticated than that. Are we not capable, as Maimonides puts it, of "doing the truth because it is true"?

Also included in this issue of Moshiach for Dummies: The World to Come in Jewish folklore; When bad things happen to good people; and the least you need to know about reward and punishment according to Judaism.