This week’s parasha discusses Am Yisrael’s redemption from Egypt -- how the process unfolded, the stages, and ultimate redemption. Are we witnessing a similar process today? Are we seeing the signs of redemption? Were earlier generations also convinced that they were witnessing these signs?
Why does spiritual decline often accompany the final stages of exile? Why did the suffering in Egypt intensify after Hashem revealed Himself to Moshe Rabbenu in the sneh, making it seem that the mission had failed? Why did the spiritual state of the Jewish people deteriorate following Cyrus’s declaration?
When does redemption truly begin? What is the purpose of exile? What distortions does it create? What are pekidah and zechirah, and how does the process develop? What is our responsibility at this time?
These questions are the focus of this week’s article.
Current Events
We are living today in strange and fascinating times. Am Yisroel’s situation was never so paradoxical. On the one hand the Torah world is flourishing. On the other hand, tragically, many members of Am Yisroel do not keep Torah and mitzvos. Hostility to Jews and Torah scholars is rampant. Nearly half of the Jewish Nation lives in Eretz Yisroel, and the Land is flourishing: dry, arid soil that yielded no produce has become a blessed Garden of Eden. Even the dry desert produces abundant bounty.
The world is undergoing geopolitical upheavals likes never before, and the Jewish people are always on the news. Are we in the process of Geula? How can we understand what we are witnessing?
Before Moshiach
The Gemara (Sotah 49b) provides the ultimate description of the times before Moshiach (ikvesa d’Meshicha — “the heel of Moshiach,” meaning the final stage of galus):
Brazenness will increase and prices will soar. The vine will yield its fruit in an abundance never before, while the price of wine will rise sharply. Governance will turn to heresy, and there will be no one capable of offering rebuke. Meeting places will become places of immorality. The Galilee will be destroyed, the border regions will be desolate, and the inhabitants of the border will wander from city to city without finding compassion. The wisdom of scholars will decay, and those who fear sin will be despised. Truth will be absent. Youngsters will shame the elders, elders will stand before the young, a son will disgrace his father, a daughter will rise up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. The face of the generation will be like that of a dog; a son will feel no shame before his father. And upon whom can we rely? Upon our Father in Heaven.
The Gemara also tells us (Sanhedrin 98a): “Rabbi Abba said: ‘You have no more revealed sign of the End than when the Land will once again give forth its fruits in abundance, as it is said: ‘And you, O mountains of Yisrael, shall give forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Yisrael.’”
Are We There Yet?
At first glance it seems is that never before have these prophecies been fulfilled more clearly than nowadays. The Land is returning to itself, bringing forth yield like never before; the Jewish people are returning to their homeland, yet seem like a dry body without a soul -- most don’t keep Torah and mitzvos, Torah scholars are scorned and discriminated against, while at the same time the Torah world and Teshuva movement are seeing a remarkable blossoming like never before.
While apparently the signs all point in one direction, as we emphasized in previous articles, we can’t know anything with certainty. As the earlier sages wrote, even Daniel the prophet erred in understanding Yirmiyahu’s explicit prophecy about the end of Galus Bavel.
As for the Gemara’s description of ikveta d’Meshicha, many previous generations have thought they were seeing it themselves. The Yad Ramah (1170-1244) on Sanhedrin 97a writes that he wonders why Moshiach hasn’t arrived in his own days, since all the signs described in the Gemara seemed to be present. He certainly could not have imagined the degree of brazenness and permissiveness that exists today.
The Rambam too, in Iggeret Teiman, writes that he thinks that the troubles and sufferings of his era are the birth pangs of Moshiach. However, tragically, hundreds of years have passed since then.
In recent times, the Chafetz Chaim and many other Gedolei Yisroel hold that we are living in ikveta d’Meshicha. Therefore, after exercising the necessary caution, we may say that our generation does indeed fit the description of the Gemara. As the Abarbanel and the Akeidah write, there are different times that are suited for redemption, and when such a time is properly utilized, Moshiach will certainly arrive. Therefore, we must repent and do everything to return to Hashem so the opportunity is not lost.
In order to understand the process and the era of ikvesa d’Meshicha we draw upon the Ramchal’s Essay on Redemption (“Maamar HaGeula”). We will focus on several points which are comprehensible even to those who have not merited a deep understanding of Kabbalah.
The Two Components of Redemption
The Ramchal explains that every redemption is composed of two parts. One is pekidah, and the other -- zechirah. We will explain these concepts at length.
Both Geulas Mitzrayim and the redemption from the Babylonian and Persian Exile were each composed of two stages — pekidah and zechirah. The same will be true for the future redemption: it will have two stages: pekidah and zechirah.
Pekidah of Galus Mitzrayim
When Am Yisroel was in Egypt, as we read last week, they cried out to Hashem, and Hashem “remembered” (pakad) them, revealed Himself to Moshe Rabbenu in the Sne, and commanded him to redeem them. Moshe Rabbenu indeed left Midian for Egypt, announced the message of redemption to the Jewish people, performed the signs, and even confronted Pharaoh with a firm demand to release Bnei Yisroel.
Pharaoh, however, adamantly refused to set them free. Instead, he increased their suffering even more, demanding they gather their own straw for brickmaking while keeping the same production quota. He also canceled the respite they had been granted on Shabbos.
Moshe Rabbenu then complained to Hashem: why had he been sent, if their slavery had only grown harsher and salvation was nowhere in sight? Hashem responded that this was part of the plan, and that Moshe would soon see the salvation.
Indeed, in this week’s parasha we read how the redemption advances to the next stage -- The Ten Plagues. At this point they were gradually freed from slavery.
The next stage, full freedom, came on the fifteenth of Nissan, when they ate the Korban Pesach and left Egypt. And the final stage, Krias Yam Suf, wiped out the Egyptian army and brought the Egyptian Exile to its final end.
The Ramchal explains that the first stage, pekida, was when Hashem revealed Himself to Moshe Rabbeinu and informed him of the impending redemption. The second stage, in which the redemption was actually realized, is zechirah.
Pekidah of the Babylonian Exile
The same pattern repeated itself in the Babylonian exile. At the beginning of Sefer Ezra we read how Hashem stirred King Cyrus’s spirit to set the Jewish people free. Cyrus issued his famous proclamation, instructing the people to ascend to Jerusalem, while those who chose to remain in Bavel were required to contribute to the building.
Zerubavel, heir of the royal Davidic dynasty and leader of Yehudah, together with descendants of the last Kohen Gadol – Yehoshua ben Yehotzedek, Daniel, Mordechai, and other great leaders, returned to Eretz Yisrael along with 42,000 Jews. They resettled and revitalized the land which had lain desolate for fifty-two years, began rebuilding the Beis HaMikdash and offering korbanos.
Very quickly, however, Cyrus reversed his decree and announced that those who had already crossed the Euphrates could remain, but no more Jews were permitted to leave. His successor, Achashverosh, received a letter from the Kuttim penned by Haman’s devious pen. As a result, he ordered to halt the construction of the Beis Hamikdash.
The spiritual condition of those who returned also deteriorated sharply. Intermarriage became widespread, and Shabbos was publicly desecrated. At the same time, the Jews who remained in the Baval experienced a serious spiritual decline as well. They lost hope for the Geulah, a despair that ultimately set the stage for Haman’s wicked decree to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews.
Only after they fasted for three days, prayed, and wholeheartedly repented, reaffirming their full commitment to Torah and mitzvos, did the miracle of Purim take place.
The Gemara (Megillah 12a) refers to Cyrus’s proclamation and the first Shivas Tzion as a “pekidah be’alma,” a preliminary pekidah. The Gemara explains that even Daniel the Prophet erred and believed this was the End foretold by Yirmiyahu. In truth, however, it was only a pekidah, and the full End came eighteen years later during which, from our perspective, the nation deteriorated even further. The Maharsha explains that the sole benefit of this pekidah was the small Jewish presence that once again existed in Eretz Yisrael after fifty-two years of total desolation.
About a year after the miracle of Purim, Achashverosh died, and Daryavesh, the son of Achashverosh and Esther, took the throne. In the second year of his reign, he once again permitted the Jewish people to return to Eretz Yisrael and resume building the Beis Hamikdash. Ezra HaSofer led a large group of returnees, followed later by Nechemiah. Together they brought the Jewish people back: they expelled their foreign wives, stopped desecrating Shabbos (at that time Ezra enacted muktzah to reinforce Shabbos observance), sealed a covenant to observe the mitzvos ha’tluyos ba’aretz, and completed the construction of the Second Beis HaMikdash. This marked the final, full redemption from the exile of Babylonia and Persia.
Once again, we see the principle of pekida and zechira: the stage of “pekidah be’alma”— something akin to a smile from Hashem, after which the hardships of exile intensify and spiritual decline increases. And only then comes the zechirah – the full, final redemption.
The Ramchal writes that this same pattern will occur in the forthcoming redemption, speedily in our days. He then explains at length why the process must unfold in this manner.
The Essence of Galus
In order to clarify this further, the Ramchal explains what exile really is. Exile, he explains, wreaks damage on four different levels, each one leading to the next.
Hashem created the world and continuously sustains it. Optimally, Hashem’s blessing and flow of life should flow directly from Him to the world. This flow is called light. This holy light generates wisdom, prophecy, and a yearning for closeness with Hashem. It brings blessing and goodness into creation, both spiritually and materially, and it is the source of all joy and pleasure.
In Galus, the following four damages occur:
- Hester Panim (Concealment of the Divine Presence):
The flow that had descended through the holy portals of the Beis HaMikdash and Am Yisroel’s service of Hashem ceases, and the light of blessing no longer shines. Rightfully, the world should be destroyed, but Hashem keeps it going through circuitous lights that descend through “small windows and narrow openings”. Though them, only the most minimal light flows – only what is absolutely necessary to enable the world to exist. This is what the pasuk in Sefer Devarim (31:18) means, “And I shall surely conceal My face on that day.”
As a result, as the navi states (Yeshayahu 29:14), “The wisdom of its wise will be lost, and the understanding of its discerning ones will be concealed,” and as Eichah (2:9) laments: “Her king and her princes are among the nations; there is no Torah, and even her prophets find no vision from Hashem.” Without a living connection to the light and wisdom that come from Hashem, our grasp of Torah and its depth is like a shadow of what it was. Prophecy ceased, and what we now call Torah and wisdom is, in comparison to what previously existed, only a faint and dry imitation.
At the same time, sorrow and grief increase. When the reality is reduced to the bare minimum, genuine joy becomes impossible, for joy is born of abundance.
This diminishment results from the heavenly order of influence. Exalted angels and celestial ministers who were once charged to convey Divine blessing directly, are removed from that role. The minimal flow is passed instead through lower agents, and the quality of blessing is diminished. The Ramchal demonstrates this from the Gemara that tells us that since the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, fruits no longer have flavor. Fruit represents surplus and abundance — something created purely for pleasure. When the Beis HaMikdash stood, fruit possessed a richness that uplifted the spirit; since its destruction, that depth of flavor has been lost. What we now call “flavor” is only a pale shadow of what once was, because all of creation has lost its capacity to give genuine satisfaction and delight.
- The Power of Impurity Rules the World:
Because blessing no longer arrives through its proper portals, i.e. kedushas Yisroel via the Beis HaMikdash, the minimal sustenance flows through the nations of the world. They have power and dominion, and Am Yisroel is influenced by them and subjugated to them, forced to receive their needs from their hands.
This idea is alluded to in the pasuk (Yechezkel 26:2): “I shall be filled, she is ruined,” which the Sages expounded (Pesachim 42b): “If this one is full, that one is desolate.” When Jerusalem is filled, the power of Edom and Esav is desolate; and, Heaven forbid, when Edom is filled, Jerusalem is desolate. When the power of holiness weakens, the powers of impurity get stronger. And they do not weaken until holiness rises up against it and vanquishes it.
- The Shechinah’s Exile in Impurity:
As a result of the rising powers of impurity, the Shechinah is exiled and forced to dwell amongst them, and is cast down to the dust.
Why is this, and how does it play out in real life?
Hashem never abandons us to our fate. Therefore, since we are exiled, He is, so to speak, exiled along with us. This exile expresses itself in the restrained and circuitous flow of blessing. Hashem so-to-speak goes into hiding, and His Guiding Hand is hidden. Therefore, from our perspective, we do not see how prayer, for example, has an effect, or how Torah study uplifts the learner and recreates him into a sublime, spiritual human being, akin to angels. We don’t see the result of our mitzvos, nor do we feel the effect of our spirituality. Indeed, our own neshama goes into hiding.
In this state, impurity becomes the world’s default state. This is the meaning of “the Shechina falling into dust” -- dust represents the inert, lowliest element. The Ramchal defines this condition with the pasuk (Koheles 10:7): “I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants upon the earth.”
- Poverty, Evil Decrees, and Suffering:
The last level, which flows from the previous one, is what we call “galus” -- all the pain and suffering we have endured over close to two thousand years, both in the most harsh and oppressive periods, and in times that were relatively calmer, yet were always far, far removed from what we truly deserve.
What Happens at the Pekidah
The Ramchal explains that pekidah only touches upon the first level of damage, not the three subsequent results. And the first stage, too, is transient -- it comes, and then withdraws.
The essence of the pekidah in Egypt is expressed in the pasuk (Shemos 2:25): “And G-d saw the Bnei Yisroel, and G-d knew.” Knowing signifies connection, as in “And Adam knew Chavah his wife”— the deepest connection is “knowing”. After the hester panim in Parashas Vayechi, when “the eyes and hearts of Yisrael were closed and the End was concealed from them” (Bereshis 47:28, Rashi), the connection was renewed: the blessing and light begin to once again flow into the world in the revealed direct manner as it is supposed to – through Am Yisroel.
The first expression of this was Hashem’s revelation of Himself to Moshe at the sne. Prophecy returned; flow and light arrived from their direct source.
Then something else occurred: all those windows and narrow openings — the channels of abundance and mercy that Hashem had opened in order to sustain Am Yisroel and enable us to survive the exile — closed. They were no longer necessary.
This led to an intermediate stage, in which light and blessing had already begun to transfer through the direct portal, but intermittingly appearing and disappearing. At the same time, the windows and narrow openings to which we had grown accustomed during exile -- were starting to close. Therefore, precisely during this period, Am Yisroel experience the pain of exile much more intensely. This was apparent in Egypt, when Pharaoh intensified their suffering, and in the eighteen years between Cyrus’s declaration “a mere pekidah” and the full redemption, the zechirah.
Pekidah and Zechirah in the Psukim
Although we cannot fully grasp the deeper essence of the psukim quoted by the Ramchal, we will present here several examples to allow us to connect to the ideas and gain at least a taste of their meaning.
In Michah (7:8) the pasuk tells us: “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; though I sit in darkness, Hashem is a light to me.” The Ramchal explains that from the moment of the pekidah, the process has already begun, and the Jewish people can say to their enemies: stop rejoicing. However, at the time of the zechirah, we will tangibly see how all the suffering and darkness were the cause of the great light, as it says (Tehillim 90:15): “Gladden us according to the days You afflicted us, the years in which we saw evil.” This does not mean that the number of years of exile will be equal to the number of years of redemption — there are not enough years for that until the end of the sixth millennium. Rather, it means that suffering is like seeds sown in the ground, from which salvation will sprout, and we will experience a joy so concentrated that it will correspond to all the years of suffering and darkness combined.
The pasuk states (Yeshayah 52:2): “Shake yourself free from the dust captives of Yerushalayim … loosen the bonds from your neck, captive daughter of Zion.” At the time of the pekidah, the bonds of captivity are still upon our neck — yet the Shechinah has already begun to rise from the dust. The Shechinah is awakening, reconnecting, and forming a bond with the Jewish people; Jerusalem is already “sitting,” even though we don’t yet see it. Only when the zechirah arrives will we merit seeing the bonds of captivity removed as well.
Similarly, the pasuk states (Yeshayah 60:1): “Arise, shine, for your light has come” — this refers to the time of the pekidah; “and the glory of Hashem has risen upon you” — this refers to the time of the zechirah.
Another pasuk states (Shir HaShirim 5:2): “I am asleep, but my heart is awake.” I — the Jewish people are still slumbering deeply in exile. Yet my heart is awake: the Shechinah is already awake and the redemption has begun. As the pasuk continues, “The voice of my Beloved is knocking”—knocking (dofek) is the same letters as poked. The Ramchal goes on to explain the entire pasuk as explaining our mission in the intermittent period between the pekidah and the zechirah.
Sequence of Events
Here the Ramchal adds an interesting note: the order of events in the upper realms is the exact opposite of how they play out here, on earth. In the upper, spiritual realms, the zechirah precedes the pekidah. However, here in the earthly world, the pekidah comes first. Only afterward is the zechirah. Therefore, in the Torah we read first (Shemos 2:24): “G-d heard their groaning, and G-d remembered His covenant.” Only afterwards (Shemos 2:25): “G-d saw the Bnei Yisroel, and G-d knew.”
Summary
The world news keeps changing. Am Yisroel’s situation is perplexing. On the one hand we see developments that we never saw before — open displays of the Shechina’s closeness. Is this a pekida? We don’t know. Nonetheless, we have merited greater levels of awareness and connection. We see that the Shechinah is engaging with Am Yisroel with increased intensity.
Everything around us seems bleak and dark. The winds of materialism and G-lessness are raging, and all seems lost. Precisely now is the time to take a step closer to Hashem -- increase our Torah study, our kavana in davening; to reaffirm our commitment to the mitzvos precisely as halacha mandate them, to work on improving our middos. Through this, we will merit that the connection be a true pekidah, and we will bring closer the transitional period between the pekidah and zechirah.
