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| Art by Kurt Wenner |
The Gemara [Sotah 49b] states that one of the tragedies that will occur during the pre-Messianic era is that "the face of the generation will be like the face of a dog".
The Chafetz Chaim explains in the name of R' Yitzchak of Volozhin that if one throws a stone at a dog, it will pounce on the stone, not understanding that it was not the stone that hit him but the person who threw it at him.
Similarly, people will blame various causes for their distress, failing to understand that everything comes from Hashem.
The thing is, its way way worse than that. It's the face of EVIL. Rampant everywhere, interwoven in the fabric of society, and manipulated by its orchestrators.
ReplyDeleteLook, I know there are lots of tales of inspiration. But how on earth are people supposed to feel inspired within such a dystopian world? That would require shifting schizophrenically between a world of chaos, and a world of "la-la land" where miracles and good timing always fall into place, because this one or that one acted like a tzaddik at just the right time, thereby meriting this or that miracle & good timing.
M.M.
You need to be inspired by the fact that it is so bad, like Rabbi AKiva laughing at the fox on the Temple Mt. It's supposed to be this bad before Moshiach. That's the only inspiration you can get from this.
ReplyDeletebs'd thank you MM for your question, and more, Devorah for your answer... batya
ReplyDeleteDrake's ( he's Jewish) upcoming album is entitled: For All the Dogs. His 5 yr. old son drew the cover for the album.
ReplyDeleteI see, Devorah. Speak of R'Akiva, note that i was extremely shocked when i read recently that R'Akiva had stated he saw someone tie up his own father, and then let his dog eat his father. Uncannily, practically simultaneously, I heard J.Kelly (l'havdil) mentioning that in 20th century Soviet Union, they used to ship people to a devastated island where there was "nothing" there. The low-lifes on that island would tie up the weaker people (such as females) and do the same which R'Akiva had long ago witnessed. Speak of"eiver min hachai"!
ReplyDeleteSo you see, evil was there during R'Akiva, and also manifested centuries later in the USSR. Not =just= before Moshiach's times. How much worse can it get than eating human "eiver min hachai"? Or the very similar oppression of that girl in Sedom (bees) and much later of Americans in the Philipines (fireants)? The latter was also told by J.Kelly.
See, people have a way of buffering themselves; they hide their heads in the sand. J.Kelly dispenses with that, by warning how bad it can get. On a smaller scale, consider all the neglected people in "care" centers, who are in pain, yet subjected to "uncare" by WELL-PAID low-lifes.
That's the "evil" which i was referring to in my above post, and it seems like i'm the only one within the frum world who is articulating truly harsh realities. Not glossing it over. Just imagine - frum males are constantly learning the sort of anecdotes such as about R'Akiva and that dog. They're also plenty aware of all the neglected people of nowadays. Yet they're not SCREAMING to the sky - WHY??? They're not twiddling their MUSCULAR thumbs to change the situation of nowadays?? So I ask all frum males (and females for that matter) with the means to do so - how can you be so callous as NOT TO SCREAM WHY in ongoing articles in frum publications, or to practically try changing things for the better? I'm so utterly disillusioned.
M.M.
That's really depressing and horrific MM. Who is J Kelly? All I get when I google that name is an Australian rugby player.
ReplyDelete