Rav Meir Kahane Delivers The Bad News... And The Good

What the coming year portends...

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Not an easy post to write.

So let’s skip right to it.

There’s a tradition that apparently emanates from the GR”A that every pasuk in Chumash corresponds to an actual gashmi year here on earth.

Accordingly, ‘In the beginning…’ (Bereshit 1:1) corresponds to year number one, the second verse to year number two, and so on.

According to the Hebrew calendar, that brings us to 5785 (the current year, 2024/2025), and nearly the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, the final book of the Torah.

Well, let’s see…

A quick scan of the last century reveals, for example, that Deuteronomy 29:28 –

‘The hidden things are for Hashem, our G-d, but the revealed are for us and our children forever…’

corresponds to 1943/44, when the chilling horror of the Holocaust first became known, and the incomparable cruelty of that experience was uppermost on every Jew’s mind.

Just a few verses later, however, comes the following [Deuteronomy 30:3,4,5] –

‘Then Hashem your G-d will bring back your captivity and have mercy upon you, and He will return and gather you in from all the peoples to which Hashem, your G-d, has scattered you.  If your dispersed will be at the ends of heaven, from there Hashem, your G-d, will gather you in, and from there He will take you.  Hashem, your G-d, shall bring you to the land that your forefathers possessed and you shall possess it…  

Astonishing!

These verses correspond precisely to the years after World War II and the European Holocaust, 1946 through 1948, years of mass immigration to Israel, her declaration of statehood and the subsequent War of Independence.  The verses directly address that reality!

Moving forward to Deuteronomy 31:3, we read the following:

‘Hashem, your G-d – He will cross before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall possess them; Joshua – he shall cross over before you, as Hashem has spoken…’ 

This verse corresponds to the year 1966/67, in which Israel’s stunning six day victory over the combined forces of seven Arab armies and the capture of the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip are all clearly indicated!

Note, however, that last year, a year of great pain for the nation of Israel, when we were overrun by mobs of Yishmaelites and suffered almost daily barrages of missiles from Lebanon, corresponds with Deuteronomy 32:30 —

How can one [person] pursue a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their [Mighty] Rock has sold them out, and the Lord has given them over?

Rashi explains the meaning of the verse as follows:

“How could one [person] of us [the enemy] pursue a thousand of Israel?!  unless their [Mighty] Rock has sold them out, and the Lord has given them over i.e., has sold them out, and given them over into our [the enemy’s] hands…

In other words, Hashem was behind the happenings of Simchat Torah — as all believing Jews already know. But the language — that he sold us out — is fierce. The commentaries are quick to point out that this is a reversal of longstanding tradition, so to speak, whereby Israel normally prevails over her enemies, with one of us (Israel) pursuing a thousand of them.

In his Perush HaMaccabi, page רצה, Rav Kahane ZTZ”L HY”D writes:

In the past, when Israel did the will of heaven, Hashem was ready to give them victory. But even so, how can we understand how a single Jew dared pursue a thousand?! Isn’t it more logical to flee from a thousand than to provoke them?

The answer is that with an obligatory war (milchemet mitzvah) one is obligated to go out in faith and to battle without fear. But all this was lost. What an orphaned generation is this last generation (before mashiach), that not one of our leaders understands this. On the one hand, they don’t understand that simply by keeping the mitzvot they can succeed; and on the other, those who are shomrei mitzvot don’t have any faith or trust in Hashem! This is what [the Sifri] was referring to (שכב) when it stated: “Not one of them can see that just yesterday one of us chased a thousand goyim…”

AND WHAT ABOUT THIS YEAR — 2024/2025 [תשפ”ה]…?

The pasuk, Deuteronomy 32:31, reads:

For their rock is not like our [Mighty] Rock. Nevertheless, our enemies sit in judgment.

Again, Rashi—

For their rock is not like our [Mighty] Rock  The enemies should have understood all the above, that the Lord gave Israel over [to them], and that victory must not be attributed to them or to their deities. For until now, their deities have achieved nothing against our Rock. Because their rock is not like our Rock….

nevertheless, our enemies sit in judgment  Nevertheless, now our enemies are judging us. It must be then, that our Rock has given us over to them.

The holy Perush HaMaccabi further elaborates on the matter (passim, רצב-רצג), saying —

…when the goyim see their victory, they’ll grow arrogant and claim… “not like our strength is the strength of the G-d of Israel, for look! we’ve overcome them”… they will see in Israel's destruction or their ongoing collapse and downfall proof of the non-existence of G-d, chas v’shalom.

The goy views his success over Israel as a sign of his invincibility, or of the righteousness of his cause or the superiority of his gawd. It doesn’t even enter his thinking that this might be a temporary punishment inflicted by Hashem on His people.

It appears, good Jews, that the Jewish nation — as a nation — will suffer some setback this year (2024/2025) and be judged by our enemies. Whether that means we sit in the docket with our fate literally in the hands of others, we can’t say. But certainly something approximating that should be expected.

At the very least, the diplomatic war against Israel and Jews will be front page and constant, with the guilt of our people decided, and only the punishment left to be determined by our accusers.

Those of weak constitution will be shaken thoroughly and will seek solace by aligning with our enemies.

Only the most steadfast will laugh in the face of the Jew-haters’ arrogance and continue to trust in Hashem.

Expect it.

And stand fast.

A gut gebensht yor.

Dean Maughvet