The Hand of Hashem in Plague of Darkness: In Final Redemption, “No Jew Remains in Exile”

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Commentary;

This Parsha HaShevua by Levi Chazen of Yeshivat HaRa’ayon HaYehudi seems a fitting companion for this author’s vort earlier this week; Parsha Vayechi 5768: The End of Corruption and Etrogization Begins With Us in that it continues where this author left off by presenting a chilling parallel between the Plague of Darkness and the prelude to the Ge’ula Shlaima.

The call is worth heeding and taking with deadly seriousness! MB

Vayechi: A Lesson Still Not Learnt, by Levi Chazen (Israel National News)

“… All of the ones who tried to remain in Egypt were killed by the hand of G-d in the plague of darkness, so, too, in the Final Redemption no Jew will remain in the exile.”

Excerpts;

The Midrash teaches us: “Pakod yifkod – HaShem will surely visit you” – Jacob informed them of two visits. The first time referred to the time of Moses, the second time, to that of the Messianic king. The last exile and its Redemption will be like the first one from Egypt. Just as in Egypt, when the time of reckoning came, G-d did not allow Israel to remain in the exile, the same will be true of the Final Redemption. And just as in the time of the redemption of the Jewish people from Egypt, all of the ones who tried to remain in Egypt were killed by the hand of G-d in the plague of darkness, so, too, in the Final Redemption no Jew will remain in the exile.

The Vilna Gaon (the GRA) writes in Kol HaTor: “It says, ‘In Mount Zion and Jerusalem there shall be those who escape… and among the remnant those whom the L-rd shall call.’ (Joel 3:5) According to the Midrash, the word Zion is equated with Mashiach ben Joseph, for whatever happened to Joseph happens to Zion.” Our master, the GRA, hinted at this also through the words “among the remnant,” which is equal in numerical value to the name Joseph, for according to the GRA, the ingathering of the exiles will occur though him. There will also be an increase in Divine prosecution of those who do not support the ingathering of the exiles (i.e., those who do not come) since the Redemption will start through it, for then there will be survivors in Zion and Jerusalem and from the remnant. The GRA worried about this greatly.

Just yesterday, news of Israel’s arrival spread to Pharaoh’s palace, and in a very short time HaShem had turned the hearts of Egypt to hate His people. Just yesterday, King Pharaoh said: “Bring your father and their families to come and I will give you the very best land in Egypt.” What follows? Israel lived in Egypt and they took possession of it and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. The land became full of them, the theaters and circuses were filled with them.

“To the GRA, the ingathering of the exiles will occur though him [Mashiach ben Joseph]. There will also be an increase in Divine prosecution of those who do not support the ingathering of the exiles (i.e., those who do not come) since the Redemption will start through it [ingathering of exiles]…”

A Jew… wrote about the horrible situation that the Jewish people are going through today in France. He writes:

“Nowhere have the flames of anti-Semitism burned more furiously than in France. In Lyon, a car was rammed into a synagogue and set on fire. In Montpellier, the Jewish religious center was firebombed; so were synagogues in Strasbourg and Marseilles; so was a Jewish school in Creteil – all recently. A Jewish sports club in Toulouse was attacked with Molotov cocktails, and on the statue of Alfred Dreyfus in Paris, the words ‘Dirty Jew’ were painted. In Bondy, 15 men beat up members of a Jewish football team with sticks and metal bars. The bus that takes Jewish children to school in Aubervilliers has been attacked three times in the last 14 months.

“According to the police, metropolitan Paris has seen 10 to 12 anti-Jewish incidents PER DAY in the past 30 days.

The most obvious answer is looking him right in the face and telling him (although unfortunately, this has not even occurred to him) to come home to Israel. This is the only real answer for the Jewish people, but as we learned from this week’s parsha, HaShem had to literally force the Jews out of old Egypt-land. Amazing, but after all of these years, still the lesson as not been learnt.

Levi Chazen is the Director of the English Division of Yeshivat HaRa’ayon HaYehudi in Jerusalem. He has been working tirelessly over the years in the yeshiva’s many charitable projects in Jerusalem and nationally.