The Mashiach is Coming

6 Tishrei 5769

I'm not sure how the view is from Chutz La'Aretz, but over here in Eretz Yisrael it's becoming plainer and plainer that the ימות המשיח is around the corner.

Just recently, an old tzaddik in Yerushalayim - almost 100 years old, an actual talmid of the Chofetz Chaim - told his talmidim that the Chofetz Chaim appeared to him in a dream, telling him that the משיח is coming. I know Jews who have met this fellow. In addition, it was supposedly in a recent issue of Mishpacha magazine, but I didn't see that myself.

That would be a cute story, if there wasn't an accompanying rumor to it. Supposedly, Rav Shach recently came to Rav Chaim Kanievsky, שליט"א, in a dream and told him the exact same thing. As I heard the story, Rav Shach came to Rav Chaim once, and Rav Chaim dismissed it as שטויות. Rav Shach came a second time, and Rav Chaim dismissed it as שטויות. Finally, Rav Shach came a third time and said, "What is this about שטויות? The Mashiach is coming, really soon!"

Rav Yaakov Moshe Katz supposedly tells his talmidim not to worry financially about the long-term future. He feels that yes, a talmid should acquire money for the short term, but there is no point in worrying about three, four, fives years down the road because things are going to be totally different very soon.

Okay, so these are cute stories. But if one takes a look around at the world, there are clear signs that the Mashiach is coming.

My favorite is an idea pointed out by a Ben Miller, a chaver of mine over here in the Kollel. If you haven't heard, the government is building an enormous train throughout ירושלים. Upon completion, it will travel from Tel Aviv to Yerushalayim, stopping at various points in Jerusalem and winding back around and up north again. For those of us living here, it's an enormous pain - they're building the train to travel straight down Rechov Yafo - literally, right in the middle of town - and it's wrecking havoc with traffic in the City Center. (Would you ever build a train right down 5th Avenue? Of course not.) If you haven't seen the picture of the enormous suspension bridge, check it out - the thing can be seen literally for miles, stretching upwards and spreading out in a harp-like accordion, holding up the bridge that winds the train around the Tachana HaMerkazit (Central Bus Station).

For the government to break even with this endeavor, they have calculated the necessary population on the train - 75,000 people, each day, for 10 years. In the most optimistic of predictions, city officials assume that at most 25,000 people a day will use the train. Now I ask you - what event could cause the number of people travelling to Yerushalayim to triple in size? What would demand a mass-transit system that could take the place of cars and cabs? (Imagine the number of cars in Yerushalayim tripling - if you think we have bad traffic now, forget about it). What could possibly require the building of a train that literally weaves its way through the most popular streets in Yerushalayim, stopping right in front of the Old City, and moving on to every other major neighborhood within reach?

Furthermore - what event would necessitate the building of a brand-new airport in Tel Aviv, four times the size of its predecessor? What event would necessitate a new Tachana HaMerkazit, which allows Jews to travel the country with the greatest of ease? If you have taken a bus outside of Yerushalayim, you know it's the easiest thing in the world to do. I don't know if you remember the old Tachana - it was still in use during my Shana Alef - it was a dump! A small parking lot near Gan Sacher! There was no way it could hold a big increase in volume. What could be the reason for all these mass transit upgrades in the past seven years? Why would a poor city build a $300 million bridge, when its purpose could be attained with a few well-placed cement beams?

The answer, my dear dear friends, is clear as day. There is Someone Else calling the shots. The government is not thinking along this line of reasoning - it is being put in their heads. We have a new airport to handle the future immigration of thousands of Jews. We have a new Tachana to allow Jews to travel their homeland with ease. We have a huge bridge that points to the sky so that Jews in literally every corner of Yerushalayim can see something that reminds them of their Father in Heaven.

My friends, when this train is completed, it is not going to travel from Tel Aviv to Yerushalayim.

It's going to travel from Tel Aviv to the Beis HaMikdash.

(More on this tomorrow.)