SHABBAT CHOL HAMOED PESACH 5786

Why do Jews celebrate Passover? To acknowledge and give thanks to Gd for redeeming us from the servitude of ancient Egypt. But there’s another theme for Passover that is at least as important. Woven into the text of the Haggadah are prayers for our future redemption:

-Prayers like V’hi Sheh-amda that tells us that although every Jewish generation will have its attackers, “Gd will rescue us from their hands.”

-Or L’shana haba biY’rushalayim, “Next year in Jerusalem.”

-Or opening the door for Elijah where we sing, “Eliyahu hanavi, Elijah the prophet … Speedily in our day, may he come with Mashiach the son of David [to redeem us].”

Well, my good friends, it seems like the future redemption for the Jewish people that the prophets promised at the End of Days just may be at hand. I’ve been reviewing lessons from Rabbi Tovia Singer, Rav Moshe Shapira, and others who have clearly shown that our prophets—especially Isaiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah—predicted this war in Iran as part of Gd’s End of Days scenario. I think it’s truly amazing! And so today, in the middle of Passover—as we move closer to the last days of Passover that call for our future redemption—I’d like to share with you some of what I’ve found. I only hope you’ll be as astounded by it as I am.

Let me start off with Ezekiel, chapter 38, which is all about the End Days. It begins: “The word of Hashem came to me saying, ‘Son of man direct your face towards Gog of the land of Magog…’” Who is Gog? Many commentators teach that Gog is from the Hebrew gag, which means “roof,” rendering it the people of the roof that trust in physical protection who war against the cloud people—the people who trust in Gd.

In this chapter Ezekiel describes a future invasion of Israel by a coalition led by … Let’s read verse 5: “Persia, along with Cush and Put, all of them with shield and helmet.” In other words, Persia—today’s Iran—will be the chief enemy of Israel in the End Days and have proxies fighting with her, proxies like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

It’s important to point out that Persia becoming our implacable enemy at the End of Days would have been completely counterintuitive in the ancient world because Persia—of all the major empires—was the most benevolent toward the Jewish people. In fact, the prophet Isaiah called Cyrus the Great of Persia a Messiah—as he allowed the Jewish people to go back to their land and rebuild the Temple.

In our time, Israel has no border with modern-day Iran—so there are no land disputes the way we have with Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. The people of Persia/Iran are not even Arabs—so no ancient rivalry between the sons of Ishmael—the Arabs—and the sons of Jacob—the Jews. Egypt is the largest Arab country in the world—a place where most of its people don’t like Jews. So why not Egypt? Why Persia/Iran?

Rabbi Singer suggests Gd will use Iran in the End of Days because its leadership is different than its people in that once you destroy its leadership the people—who don’t hate Jews—will then do what the nations are supposed to do in the messianic age and turn to the people of Israel and the Gd of Israel. To that he adds: “And we owe them one. After all, 2500 years ago, Cyrus allowed the Jews to rebuild the Temple. This is prophetic poetry at its highest level.”

Ezekiel 38:4 tells us more about why Iran is involved in the End of Days war with Israel: “I will lead you astray, and I will place hooks in your cheeks and bring you out with your entire army…” What does “hooks in your cheeks” mean? It tells us that Gd will force the enemies of Israel out to make war even if they are reluctant and it takes hooks to do so.

Ezekiel 38:8-9 literally prophesizes that the Jewish people will return from great wars and return to the land of Israel—the land they had been expelled from like after WWWI and WWWII.

Chapter 39:23 tells us why the Jews were expelled: Then the nations [of the world] will know that because of their iniquity the House of Israel was expelled, because they betrayed Me and I hid my face from them and delivered them into the hand of their enemies.

This is not a prophesy that whitewashes anything. It doesn’t hide the sins of the Jews. That’s why they were sent into exile. That’s why the land was without Jews and desolate for 2,000 years. But in the end, the Jews will come back. Does this sound familiar? It should, it’s Jewish history!

I want to say something to Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. They believe in Replacement Theology that maintains that the Biblical promises made to the Biblical Israelites were spiritually inherited by the Christian Church. In other words, the Christians REPLACED the Jews as Gd’s people. To this they add that modern Jews are NOT the direct biological descendants of Biblical Jews and so are NOT the people the prophets said should come back to Israel. Can you believe this? I say to them, “Read Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.”

Let’s read Ezekiel 38:10-11: It shall be on that day that ideas will arise in your heart, and you [the invaders of Israel] will conceive a wicked design. You will say, “I will advance against a land of open towns, I will come up against the tranquil people who dwell securely—all of them living without a protective wall with neither bars nor doors.” Remember, Ezekiel 38 is all End of Days prophesy. “Open towns, tranquil people without protective walls,” this sounds a lot like Oct. 7^th, does it not?

And so it says in verse 18-20: “My raging anger will flare up … they will quake before Me.” In other words, Hashem will bring Israel to safety and destroy all its enemies.

Maimonides (Hilchot Melachim uMilchamot 12) taught that only the generation of the End Days will be able to understand these verses. For example, Ezekiel tells us Persia/Iran will go to war with its proxies in the north and in the south. Now since Oct. 7^th, we know the proxies of Iran in the north are Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Syrians. Now we know it is Hamas and the Hutis that are the proxies in the south. The key is that Gd will bring Israel to safety and destroy all its enemies.

A pivotal part of the war in Iran is controlling the Strait of Hormuz through which 20% of the world’s oil flows. Rav Moshe Shapira introduced me to an amazing obscure 400-year-old commentary on Isaiah called Kli Paz by Rabbi Shmuel Laniado of Aleppo.

Isaiah 34:6 reads: The sword of Gd is full of blood, greased with oil … Gd is making a sacrifice at Botzrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

Rabbi Laniado comments: There is a country far from Babylon named Botzrah, between Asyria, Persia and Edom [Jordan]. It is called Hormoz and is today [remember he writes this 400 years ago] controlled by the Arabs. Blessed is he who knows the secret of the matter. Perhaps the war at the End of Days will be there.

The next verse (Isaiah 34:7) reads: The R’eymim will go down with them, and bulls and fatted bulls; their land will be sated with blood and their soil enriched with fat/oil. The oil we know about—it’s all over that area. What are R’eymim? Rashi tells us that “These are the mighty Empires.”

So according to Isaiah, in the final war which will take place in Hormuz, there will be an assault of the mighty Empires coming down from the skies. They be assaulted with bulls and fatted bulls? Rabbi Laniado tells us: “These are giant projectiles the size of mighty animals!” Wow!

So here we are 400 years later. We hope that what we are seeing with our own eyes is fulfillment of these verses. The question is why does Gd do this? Back to Ezekiel 39:21: I will manifest My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see My judgment that I have executed and My hand that I have placed upon them. In other words, Gd is doing this so that the whole world will see it and know Who is Gd—that what is happening can only be from Gd.

Let me point out something amazing that should be obvious—but I missed it—about why this prophecy can only be speaking of our time. If Gd is doing this—as Ezekiel tells us—so that the whole world will see it and know that Hashem is Gd … but in the ancient world, if there was a war in Asia, the people of Europe couldn’t see it. In fact, most of the world would never know about it because they had no way of hearing about it.

It is only in our time that these words of Ezekiel can be understood. It is only now that the whole world can see it as it’s happening simultaneously on our screens.

My friends, Passover is the holiday of redemption—both in the past and now, in our time. I, along with many great Torah lights, feel we are literally in the End Days. We are where our great grandparents could not imagine we’d be in their wildest dreams. May we merit to see the coming of the Messiah very quickly in our time. May eternal peace come to Israel and to the world. Amen!