If you live in Sydney, you know what a rain bomb is. We've had rain bombs all through winter and now again we are living through another one.
One of the first things I ever learnt about Moshiach, many many years ago, was when the Lubavitcher Rebbe said that "before Moshiach, they will not be able to predict the weather".
Roads have turned into rivers, awnings are falling from shops due to the amount of water collecting on the roofs, and it's generally very upsetting for those people who once again have been flooded out of their homes.
I don't live in a flood area, but I do feel for the innocents who do.
At the time when the closest Chabad House to the International Date Line was in Sydney, the Rebbe famously said that it would be the Australians who would first be aware that Moshiach had come. Now that they intend to open a Chabad House in Tonga, right on the date line 3600km to the east, it is the Tongalese cannibals who will first hear of Moshiach!
ReplyDelete"Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea" (Yeshaya 24).
There's only one person I know of who could have written that comment :)
ReplyDeleteYes the Rebbe did say that, about Sydney, but he had a twinkle in his eye when he said it so was he joking? Do Tzadikim even make jokes about Moshiach? I don't know, I guess we will find out soon enough.
You would think why would the Tongalese who seem to be, c'v, cannibals, be worthy to be aware of Moshiach's coming, unless they will be the first to be swallowed up by the flood.
ReplyDeleteWe pray for H's Chesed & Rachamim.
I don't think they are cannibals now. That practice died out [pun intended]. I've been to Tonga actually, the people are lovely and friendly. They don't want to kill you, they just love to meet tourists. I have never actually heard of a Chabad in Tonga, but I do know there are Islanders who say the Shema, and I also know there are Islanders who think they are Jews. I have a close friend who is one of those people. She says her cousins were taught Hebrew and her grandmother was a Jew. So who knows?
ReplyDeleteDo Tzadikim make jokes about Moshiach? The Baal HaTanya in 1808 said "The Moshiach will be a Misnaged" i.e. that he will be a non-Hassidic non-Chabad man! This used to be taken as a joke. But some took it seriously enough that the last Rebbe was compelled to write a whole sichah on the subject! The preface to Artscroll Tehillim 53 (p.675) states: "Like his ancestor David, the Messiah will suffer persecution at the hands of sceptics and scoffers, who will refuse to recognize his sovereignty and will scheme to assassinate him to destroy his monarchy"! These assassins will includes Jews, even Orthodox Jews. Will Chabad accept a literally Misnagdic Moshiach? Or will they join the attempted assassins when they realise he is not their man?!
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