Our Course of Study for Mashiach - Class No 1

This course will be a many week course through the words of the Prophets that teach us about the coming of Mashiach. Our Sages teach that this period is called the Birthpangs of Mashiach or Hevlai Mashiach in Hebrew.

Our first question which we will not answer until the end of the series of classes is Why is it called Birthpangs and what is the meaning of Birthpangs? The hint our Sages give us to answer this question relates to childbirth. Women were cursed to have pain in childbirth. Does the Birth of Mashiach also need to come with pain? This series of classes will allow you to answer this question for yourself.

I will be bringing many of the words of the Prophets themselves along with the various commentaries that our Sages have used to explain the words of the Prophets. I hope you enjoy the journey and use this revelation of Light to guide you through this period called the BirthPangs of Mashiach.

Today there are many voices crying out from the Land of Israel telling people this is the last chance to make Aliyah prior to the Armageddon War. What is the Armageddon War? We will come to discover the meaning of this term through the words of the Prophets themselves not through the corruption that has been passed down through the Centuries as supposed truth.

It is important to have a clear understanding of what is a Prophet? And why did HaShem provide this medium to communicate with the Nation? Who was the first Prophet? According to Judaism, the age of Prophecy ended with the construction of the Second Temple. There are some unusual happenings within the ranks of the Prophets prior to the close of the age of Prophecy that we will discuss when we get to them in this process of learning and discovery.

The First Prophet

According to Judaism the first Prophet was Adam and Chava HaRishon. We learn from this that both men and women may be Prophets. Also we learn that any person may be a Prophet. We also learn that HaShem must call to the Prophet while the Prophet must need to be ready for this call.

During the first Temple times there were schools that taught techniques to become a Prophet. These schools taught different approaches to prepare to be a Prophet yet they were similar in that they taught various techniques that were first articulated by Abraham in the Sefer Yetzirah. Many of these techniques are referenced in the Talmud and also in the Zohar.

We learn from these schools, many of the teachings have come down to us orally and through written words of Sages, that the Prophet does not write down his own Prophecies. These written words must be recorded by others, who have heard his words spoken. Why is that? Because the energy of these words are too strong for normal people who have not yet cleansed themselves. As they are written down by the students of the Prophets called Benai Neviim - Children of the Prophets, these words are transformed to a lower level of energy that normal people might hear without losing their free will.

According to Judaism there are 55 Prophets from Biblical Times. There are 48 men and 7 women called Prophets. What did these 55 people do? They prepared themselves, some unconsciously, to receive this "word of HaShem". Then they were "chosen" by the words they heard within themselves that is referred to as "the still small voice within". The coded words from the Neviim repeated to each of these Prophets and recorded by their "children" are "I am HaShem and i want you to speak to the people in my Name and say...."

There were many other Prophets than these 55. Also know that these 55 spoke many other words from HaShem than what is recorded in the Tanach. What is the difference between these other Prophets and these 55? What is the difference between the words recorded and the words los tto posterity?

Know that some of these "lost words" are found in the "pseudographia". Things like the Book of Jubilees and the Books of Chanoch as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yet the major difference is that the words recorded in the Tanach speak to each person and each generation. They are not just being said to the people of the generation who lived at the time of them being said. This is an amazing revelation. Many of the words of the Pseudographia belong to multiple generations but do not belong to each and every generation. Perhaps they belong to our generation as the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in our generation, perhaps not. This is for each and every person to determine for themselves.

The other words also belong to a specific or multiple generations but do not belong to each person in each generation. This is an amazing teaching and is important for those people who study the Bible because it reinforces the words of the Zohar that the Bible is a Metaphor and not to be understood solely as the surface meaning of the words. With this said let us continue to explore.

One of the last principles of Judaism as set forth by Maimonides is "to believe with perfect faith that the Mashiach will come. We wait for him to come with perfect faith." As we explore the Prophets in their words and in the context of their generation we will also explore the meaning of this principle. As a general aside, there are teachings that say the Mashiach does not have to come as a human being. There are teachings that say he must manifest as a human being. There are teachings that say the Armageddon War must manifest and their are teachings that say it does not need to manifest, but the energy can come in a peaceful way. I am leaving the decision to your free will. I hope to present the material for you to determine the truth of these "conflicting" teachings for yourself. Remember the words of the Talmud. These and those are the words of the ever living God which is interpreted to mean these "conflicting teachings" are both true and correct and will manifest. How can that be. That is the study of Kabbalah. It gives you a perception of how to reconcile what appears in the illusion to be irreconcilable. I hope you succeed. I know up till know i have succeeded for myself.

Let us look at the Prophecy of Isaiah Chapter 29. (In the class chanoch will read the Chapter/Prophecy).

Here is a modern commentary from the website of Azamra.org: It may help you understand how it applies to our modern era as well as previous generations. Below that i will give you my understanding for what it is worth.

"Ho Ariel! Ariel!" (v 1): Ariel, literally "the lion of God", refers to the Temple in general and specifically to the Altar (cf. Ezekiel 43:16), because "the fire that came down upon the Altar from heaven crouched upon it like a lion" (Metzudas Tzion on verse 1). The Temple building itself - the back of which was narrow while the front was broad - also resembled a lion (Tractate Middos 37a). The reason why King David is mentioned in this verse is because it was he who discovered the true site of the Altar (see I Chron. 21:18ff; RaDaK on our present verse).

The prophet is grieving over the coming assault on Jerusalem by Assyria , chastising the people because "you add year upon year; the festivals will be cut off" (v 1). He is warning that if they would not repent, the Altar would be destroyed and then their sins would accumulate from year to year instead of being atoned through the daily and festival sacrifices (Metzudas David). Sennacherib would lay siege to Jerusalem, where the people would mourn the many that he would kill in the surrounding towns of Judah . Then Jerusalem - surrounded by the bodies of the dead - would itself be like an Altar surrounded by its slaughtered animals (v 2). The people would have to suffer this because of the insincerity with which they brought sacrifices to the Temple . Only the terrors of the siege of Jerusalem - which the prophet depicts in verse 3 - would humble their hearts, and they would then pray to God in a lowly, barely audible voice like that of a necromancer (v 4).

And as soon as the people would turn to God, "The multitude of your strangers [=the enemy] shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be like chaff that passes away, and it shall be in an instant suddenly" (v 5). Here the prophet foretells the overthrow of Sennacherib's armies, who would be consumed by the fire of God's angel and turned to ashes (Rashi ad loc.). The enemy's vain ambitions of conquering Jerusalem would turn out to be as empty as a passing dream (vv 7-8).

The fact that our commentators relate this prophecy to the overthrow of Sennacherib, which took place over two thousand five hundred years ago, in no way detracts from its relevance in our times, because Sennacherib's onslaught against Jerusalem was the prototype of the destined assault against Jerusalem by the armies of Gog and Magog at the end of days. Then too the people will have to repent and call out to God from a position of abject lowliness in order to merit the tremendous salvation that He will bring about at that time.

Verses 9-12 can be seen to address the bewildered Jews of today who suddenly find themselves confronting a hostility from the nations not seen since the days of the Holocaust, with daily-renewed threats to the survival of their tiny country (Israel). Many seem to be as in a drunken stupor and a sleep, bereft of guidance from true prophets and seers. "And the vision of all this has become to you as the words of a book that is sealed." The vision that applies to our times is indeed contained in these prophecies in this very book of Isaiah, but it has become "sealed" and closed up because of people's inability - or unwillingness - to see its relevance.

The prophet's rebuke is directed not only against those who do not observe the Torah at all. Even more, he castigates those who give the outward appearance of piety while in truth being far from true devotion. "For this people draw near with their mouth and with their lips do honor Me, but they have removed their heart far from Me and their fear of Me is like a commandment of men learned by rote" (v 13). Each one of us must seriously consider how this rebuke applies to us and how we can correct what we must correct. For the mindless, mechanical repetition of our prayers out of mere habit without inner feeling and devotion leads to the loss of wisdom and understanding (v 14).

It is a terrible mistake when people believe they can hide behind an outer façade of piety while "secretly" following the devices of their own hearts, as if God is unaware of their deeds. How can a mere creature imagine that He who created him does not understand what is in his heart? (vv 15-16).

The people's complacency will lead to the complete overthrow of the world order with which they are familiar (v 17), and only at that moment of supreme crisis will the "deaf" finally hear the message of the books of the prophets and the eyes of the "blind" see (v 18). The redemption that will sprout through the repentance engendered by the attack on Jerusalem will bring joy to the meek and humble (v 19) while the wicked will be destroyed (vv 20-21). canoch adds: Remember each verse applies to you and me in this generation.

The sight of the Children of Israel repenting at the end of days will be to the glory of the patriarchs, whose descendants will again display heroic devotion to HaShem just as their ancestors, bringing about a great sanctification of His Name (vv 22-24).

My own understanding, for what it is worth of this Prophecy and its Verse, is the word Ariel repeated at the beginning is Israel without the Shin. The letter Shin represents the left column of the Tree of Life. It represents fire, power, and passion. This prophecy is speaking to those who go through motions as expressed by Azamra.org without truly exhibiting a true desire to be close to HaShem.

Our Sages have interpreted this Prophecy to relate to the leaders and the people of our generation. It implies that the leaders will be wise in Name only. If this is a true understanding of this Prophecy it is incumbent on each and every person to learn Torah for themselves and learn to hear the Still Small Voice Within that is speaking to them and them alone. I hope you will take this to heart and do so.

To learn about the Hevlai Mashiach we need to read an essay from the Sefer Chesed Avraham written by the Kabbalist Sage Rabbi Avruham Azulai who lived in Chevron during the 1600.s The words i am teaching come from the Nahar (In this context it means section or chapter - In Hebrew it means river) 55. Why Rabbi Azulai chose to call his sections rivers will wait until his reincarnation if necessary (i do not think so) or the Resurrection of the Dead when we can ask him ourselves.

i am paraphrasing Rabbi Azulai's words: When HaShem created the physical world he bonded the physical world to the higher worlds through the creation of Adam HaRishon. This means that the highest potential of Humanity is to reach God and perhaps become GodLike. (The last phrase is chanoch's only. Yoy must decide for yourself.)

The human race is connected to HaShem through the Shecinah which is translated as the Divine Presence or the Indwelling of HaShem.

Let's understand what is the Shecinah? There are many metaphors i can use to explain this term. At its lowest level there are atoms and atom components that make up the physical world. How does an electron or a Proton know where to be and what to do. There are forces - some even not yet identified by science - that tell it what to do and what it is. To know that an electron is attracted to a proton but not all succeed in that endeavor. This is what differentiates between compounds and elements in the periodic chart. How does a fetus which starts as one impregnated egg become billions of cells and how does these cells know to become a heart muscle or a liver or a spleen or skin or an eye? That knowledge is HaShem. That knowledge is the consciousness of HaShem. That knowledge is the indwelling of HaShem. That knowledge is the Shecinah.

This consciousness has the power to impact and effect Time and Space. The two levels of our three dimensional world which is what science has measured. Consciousness can change Time and Space. Of course this occurs at the unconscious level. We need to learn to do this at the conscious level. That is what is taught in our Sefer Yetzirah class.

All mystical traditions and experience demonstrate that the physical world is an illusion. The ultimate teaching of Torah as expressed by Rabbi Azulai is to peer through the illusion and manifest the true reality into our physical world. We do this by bringing our unconscious level of the Shecinah to our conscious level of the Shecinah.

What is all of this about. Why am i bringing this teaching here? The answer is that in order to relate to the Prophecies completely we need to expand our consciousness and bring more of the Shecinah of the unconscious into our conscious world. Understand this to understand these classes of the Prophets. Remember the daoist buddist teaching. I dreamed i was a butterfly and it was so real i did not know if i was a butterfly dreaming i was a man or a man dreaming i was a butterfly. Which is the truth for you?

There are two brains in our head. One called "lawyer" and one called "artist". It is only the artist that ultimately can connect to the unconscious Shecinah. Then and only then can the lawyer deal with the physical world.

Rabbi Azulai explains that this world of illusion is constantly falling lower and lower deeper and deeper into the negative control. This is the plan of HaShem who will ultimately bring his Mercy to bear and change the end. This is referred to Kabbalistically the end of the Right which will come with Mercy.

Let's understand Mercy. Towards the end of WW2 the US military was planning an invasion of Japan which was estimated would cost over a million American men to die. It was estimated it would take over 10 years to complete and the Japanese dead would be on the order of 20 million. That is one path that the world could have gone. President Truman ordered a shorter more merciful path called dropping Atomic bombs. Today we do not consider that merciful because we have forgotten the mentality and consciousness of the day. When it comes to understanding God's Mercy it may not be Human Mercy. It will be sharp and immediate and cause a quick turnaround to this process of falling. It will be merciful but only in the context of God's Mercy not necessarily Man's Mercy. We can bring Man's Mercy as well. Only if we cause our unconscious to be brought to the level of conscious. Only if we start this process ASAP. I bring this discussion to help you understand that it is important for you to do this spiritual work on your own. Stop depending on your leaders that no longer fill the capacity of "wise" men. You must become your own "Wise" Person.

The Gemara states that Mashiach will come in a Generation that is either completely Good or Completely evil. This needs to be understood in the concept of the Tree of knowledge good and evil. We can only go so far down into evil until good comes to rescue us from ourselves. Or we can rescue ourselves by manifesting good ourselves. In either pattern the world changes overnight. One person at a time changes overnight. Until enough one person's changes manifests in a complete change of the physical world. May it happen soon it our time and let us say AMEN

We are taught that the first Redemption from Egypt came when we reached the 49th gate of Negativity and then HaShem rescued us before we could go into the 50th Gate of Negativity. Rabbi Azulai is teaching that we should measure where we are with respect to the gates of evil in order to know how soon the Final Redemption. He teaches that we should look to our society and leaders. The religious and the secular both show signs of the same spiritual diseases. Pedophilia in the churches and synagogues. Murders and Rapes and other negative actions caused by the Gates of evil. The control of the world by the evil side. Look at our society and its values. Hedonism Greed selfishness. What could be worse. Are we in the 48th the 49th or have we entered the 50th Gate. Could it be worse? The Prophecies say that the West (Edom) will fall. Islam will control Jerusalem for at least 1 year and then they 2 will fall to an Army of Angels, which will be God's Mercy manifesting like the Atomic Bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Can it be different? Yes, if we change ourselves. When we stop seeing the western world as the goal. And start seeing the spiritual connection as the goal. At the least this path will be our individual protection shield as the Zohar tells us. Of course we may actually bring about the change prior to the 50th Gate of Negativity. Assuming we have not reached it yet.

Rabbi Azulai continues in the Nahar 56 explaining the Birthpangs of Mashiach. Those who have adorned themselves with Good Deeds. Doing so with the full consciousness of the Mitzvot will be protected, as the Zohar teaches. Those of the level of the Mekubal will not have to experience the Birthpangs. They will not have to have this chaos. They will not have to be tested. This testing is only for those who are at the level of Peshat. Study the Zohar. Listen to our recordings of the Zohar.located on our website at http://www.yeshshem.com/zohar-recording-links.htm

This is a good place to end this class and we will pick it up next week.