The daily strengthening from our teacher, the holy gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a — We are in the process of the Geulah; when is the final Geulah?

“Let me take revenge for one of my two eyes from the Philistines” (Judges 16:28)

Friday, 28 Adar 5785 — “The time of Gog and Magog is still far off”

These are his holy words:

Until the end of the sixth millennium, it is written that up to 28 years before the end of the sixth millennium (we are now in 5783), we have sovereignty in Eretz Yisrael.

The Zohar says that the final Geulah will only be in the year 70 of the sixth millennium. Until then, leadership will be divided: nine months there will be Yishmaelites here, and nine months there will be the children of Edom here. They will come from the Vatican; Russia will come; Putin will come.

Putin says: If you tell me not to wage war in Ukraine, I will conquer all of Eretz Yisrael for you. You tell me to give back Ukraine? Why did you conquer the Golan? They claim that everything is occupation; we are (in their claim) a state of terrorists.

But until 28 years before the end of the sixth millennium, they have no control—right now we are in the temporary Geulah of 200 years, from 5708 (1948) until 5908.

The Rambam says 5908 in the fourth millennium. The Rambam makes a calculation from Creation until Bilam, and then from Bilam until our time—and from Bilam until our time comes out to 5908.

That is seven years after the passing of the Rambam. The Rambam was meant to be Moshiach. No one can write a work like the Rambam wrote (Mishneh Torah of the Rambam, also called “Yad HaChazakah,” is a monumental halachic work written by the Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) around the year 1175 (4935). The work is one of the most comprehensive, organized, and influential creations on Halachah in particular, and on the Oral Torah in general, in all Jewish history. It is distinguished by a strict order that was not typical until its time, and it was written in clear, refined Hebrew. In it, the Rambam creates an innovative catalog of all Halachah, dividing all the laws in a very orderly way). This is not a human hand—it is impossible. It is 14 volumes; it encompasses all the halachos in Sifrei, in the Tosefta, in the Yerushalmi—every halachah. Wherever there is any halachah, everything is arranged like a computer, as if a computer organized it for you.

So here, in chapter 28 (in the Rambam), it is written that 28 years before the end of the sixth millennium is called “two-thirds of an hour.” If you divide a thousand years by 24, it comes out to 41 years and 8 months; that is called 42 years—Shem Mem-Beis (the 42-letter Name). Shem Mem-Beis is three times Yud-Daled (see Likutey Moharan, Torah 46).

So, two-thirds—twenty-eight years before the end of the sixth millennium—Yishmael will come to conquer the land, and then we will all need to flee, like they fled (in the time of Chanukah). Now we explained (at the beginning of the lesson) why there is truly no trace of victories—because there were no victories!

The Greeks did not give up; every year they came with a new army—so many generals. When Nicanor arrived, he came with a thousand elephants and one hundred thousand soldiers.

“We are very far from Gog and Magog”

In Tractate Nedarim 32 it is written that the same number (of soldiers) came against Avraham and against Chizkiyahu (the army of Sancheriv), and that same number (of soldiers) will come in the future in Gog and Magog. Gog and Magog will only be in the sixth millennium; in the (new) Zohar, Balak, it is written that it will only be in the month of Cheshvan in year 70. Right now we are very far from Gog and Magog.

When Moshiach is revealed, it will be in year 70 of the sixth millennium; only then will Gog and Magog be. Moshiach will come in a chariot of fire; on horses of fire he will descend from the heavens. Before that, he will disappear for nine months, and people will need to run to the desert. And after the nine months, Melech HaMoshiach will come from Gan Eden with a chariot, with horses of fire.

The war of Gog and Magog—and then Shimshon will also come. Shimshon the mighty came and said: I am only taking revenge for one eye (“Let me take revenge for one of my two eyes from the Philistines,” Judges 16:28). He brought down an entire building and killed three thousand people out of a million who were there. The three thousand were only on the edge of the roof; altogether there were a million people there. There were surely several million there—only on the edge of the roof were those who were watching Shimshon; everyone pressed in to see, because they were making a mockery of him, harnessing him there to the millstone.

Shimshon said: Now, for one eye, I am taking revenge. The fact that I brought down an entire building—with 3,000 people on the edge of the roof and a million people inside—was only for one eye. For the second eye he will take revenge together with Melech HaMoshiach; Shimshon will come with Melech HaMoshiach.