Emuna: Irreversible - The Certainty of Redemption Part 2

 by Rav Sh. Yosef Veitzen yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Response to the first challenge: Everything is foreseen yet freedom of choice is granted

We began a series last week entitled "The Certainty of Redemption," discussing the three main approaches towards the national-historic process that the Jewish Nation is currently experiencing. One holds that the fact that Jews from all over the worldhave left the Diaspora and gathered in the Holy Land is not significant from the standpoint of Redemption, because the current State of Israel is not run by a Torah regime.

Another approach states the opposite: that the State of Israel is in fact the fulfillment of many Biblical prophecies, that G-d is not toying with His people, and that we are most definitely on a one-way trip, of undetermined length, towards Redemption. 

And a third view is that the current situation is certainly an opportunity for Redemption, but its fulfillment depends on our national and personal behavior.

In this and upcoming articles, Rabbi Veitzen presents challenges to the second approach, that which holds that the State of Israel is unquestionably a critical station on the way to certain Redemption. The first challenge is this: 

"The approach of certainty appears to contradict the fundamental concept of Free Choice. If we say that even if we sin, the Redemption is still on its way and that we cannot thwart the process, how does this jibe with the Rabbinic teaching, 'A man is led along the path he wishes to go' (Tr. Makkot 10b), meaning that his own deeds determine his fate? If we don't believe that we can mess up, then why should we believe that we can improve our ways?"

To this, Rabbi Veitzen responds in three ways. 

• The more general and world-embracing a process is, the lower are the chances that people can change it.

The concept of Free Will does not mean that the entire world is run and determined by humans. It is a core Jewish belief that G-d did not only create the world, but also continued ever since then to supervise it, run it, and make sure that it attains its destiny. Rav Kook explains that the more all-encompassing a network is, the less room there is for man to improve or ruin it.

For instance: Up until the Great Flood during the times of Noah, man's actions determined the future of the world – for they led to the flood. But once G-d forged a covenant with Noah and his sons, the world was guaranteed to continue running, no matter what deeds or misdeeds mankind would perform. 

The same is true for the eternal existence of the Nation of Israel. No matter how we act, our nation will continue to exist. This has been true ever since G-d forged a covenant with Moshe Rabbeinu after the Sin of the Golden Calf, in which G-d guaranteed never to forsake His people. As Maimonides wrote in his Book of Mitzvot (Mitzvah 157): "G-d promised that He would never totally eradicate the signs of the [Jewish] nation."

Our Sages relate to Jewish history as a general event, not an individual one. That is, it does not run according to our deeds, but rather according to a Divine order in which G-d controls the events of the Exile and Redemption. The very first verses of the Torah are understood in this manner: 
"The earth was chaos and nothingness, and darkness on the abyss" – [these four element stand for] the Four Kingdoms, and "the spirit of G-d hovered upon the water" – refers to the spirit of Messiah. 

That is, the very basis of the existence of the world is already imprinted with the message that G-d constantly leads the world steadily to its ultimate purpose. The route to the desired End of Days passes through the history of the Jews, who were exiled by four kingdoms. The Maharal of Prague explains often how Jewish history is not dependent upon a given sin. And certainly the future Redemption will not arrive in a happenstance manner; its process is the most all-encompassing thing that will ever happen to the world.

• There is a stage in the Redemption process from which where there is no return; it cannot be stopped, Free Choice notwithstanding. 

Whoever is familiar with the prophecies of consolation of Isaiah, Jeremiah and others, knows that one of the fundamentals of Redemption is that there will come a final and last stage, totally independent of anything other than G-d's desire to bring it about. At that point, no individual Jew will be able, in any manner whatsoever, to stop the Redemption; it will come! No one will be able to negate the wondrous relationship between Israel and its Father in Heaven, and certainly not to detach the eternal bonds between them. One might be able to detach himself from the process and from Israel by his sins, but he will not be able to derail the national train. 

As an example, here is one of many prophecies from the Prophet Yeshayahu, a passage from our "Uva Letzion" in our daily prayers: "A redeemer shall come to Zion… My spirit that is upon you, and My words that I have placed in your mouth, shall not move from your mouth or from the mouth of your seed and the mouth of your descendants' descendants, said the Lord, from now and to eternity. (Yeshayahu 59,20, and see also Yirmiyahu 31,32)

Do these prophets not believe in Free Choice?! Obviously they do! Of course, the interplay between Free Will and G-d's foreknowledge is one of the profound questions that our greatest Torah thinkers have dealt with. But in the end, there is no contradiction; as R. Akiva formulated it in Pirkei Avot (3,15): "Everything is foreseen and permission is granted."

• The reason for the Redemption is not necessarily connected with our deeds.

We see from the words of the prophets above that there will come a stage in the Redemption process at which the Redemption will be irreversible, and at which point it will be clear that the time for Redemption has truly come! When that happens, no entity in the world will be able to delay, impede, or reverse it. The question is just: When is this point and how do we identify it?  

Let us first emphasize that the Prophet Yechezkel has a message for the "Redemption refuseniks" of his generation (chapter 20): "And that which you considered [to be like the gentiles] will never be… I will rule over you… I will gather you from the lands in which you were dispersed and I will be sanctified through you before the gentiles."

Some have said that only when mankind's nature changes and he no longer has an Evil Inclination that urges him to sin will it be possible to say that from then on, the Redemption is 100% certain. But this does not jibe with the view of the Rambam, who ruled like the Talmudic sage Shmuel that "there is no difference between This World and the Messianic period other than the [abolishment of our] subjugation to the nations."

The same Shmuel also holds that the Redemption will happen naturally and not necessarily miraculously – but even he agrees that there will be a time at which the Redemption will begin regardless of Israel's spiritual state or deeds. The Gemara states that "it is enough for the mourner to stand in mourning" - meaning, as Rashi explains there, that G-d will stand "idly" by for only so long, and that afterwards will come a time when He will take action to redeem us.

The Prophet Yechezkel explains the Redemption process at length – including, notably, the reason why the Redemption will come:

"I [G-d] scattered them among the nations… I punished them in accordance with their ways and their deeds. And when they came to those nations, they thus desecrated My holy name, in that it was said of them, “These are G-d's people, yet/and they left their land.” I had concern for My holy name… [and so,] not for your sake will I act, O House of Israel, but for My holy name… And the nations shall know that I am G-d, when I manifest My holiness before their eyes through you: … I will gather you from all the countries and I will bring you back to your own land."

We thus see that the Redemption will come or be delayed not because of our deeds, but because of a Divine decision regarding the desecration of His name. It would therefore seem quite clear that a return to Exile today, Heaven forbid, after all that the State of Israel has accomplished and undergone – would that not be a renewal of the desecration of His name that He long ago decided was no longer acceptable? This is certainly proof that the current process is a one-way trip to Redemption, with no turning back. 

Next week's article will deal with a second challenge that has been offered to the "certainty of this Redemption" approach.