Question:
1) The Sfas Emes says that the hatred of the nations for the Jewish people actually doesn’t stem from the nations, but it begins from within the separateness within the Jewish people. Based on this, would it make sense that instead of blaming the evil people in the world and instead of just assuming that our avodah is to daven to be saved from them, our avodah is really to fix ourselves ?
Answer:
Yes, that is very true.
Question:
2) What is the main tikkun and the main teshuvah that Klal Yisrael needs now? Certainly as the Rav has been saying, the root of all the tragedies today is because of the “50th gate of tumah” (non-kosher internet use) that’s all over the place, and the Rav always says that our avodah in the era preceding Mashiach is to separate ourselves from the 50th level of tumah (internet) but what would be the avodah for those who don’t have internet-devices and who are already separate from it? What is their avodah and what is the teshuvah that Hashem wants to see from them? Understandably everyone knows what they need to work on but are there any general aveiros that every person needs to focus now on fixing, i.e. sinas chinam, lashon hora, jealousy, etc.? Or saying Tikkun Kelali? There isn’t enough time and energy to start fixing every aveirah. Is there any tikkun we can do that will take care of all the problems? Or should we just daven for the Geulah?
Answer:
The 50th level of kedushah is where opposites are integrated. It is the innermost root of ahavas Yisrael: loving another Jew even when he’s the opposite of me (as long as this stays within the parameters of kedushah). That is the inner root of the tikkun. The branches of it are all the other parameters of the Torah.
Question:
3) In these times where Mashiach’s arrival is so close, should a person just be immersed in in-depth Torah learning and not be reactive to anything that goes on in the world? After all, when a person learns Torah he can forget about the world as if it doesn’t exist, and the Torah is where our life is, the Torah is what reveals Ain Od Milvado, the true reality. Would it make sense to say that all the fear and suffering of the birth-pangs before Mashiach are all to awaken those who aren’t immersed in Torah, but those who are immersed in Torah learning don’t need to be afraid of chevlei Mashiach?
Answer:
During the time that one is learning Torah, that is possible. But every person has times in which he must be involved with the world around him [so he also has to have the proper perspective on how to view the times we are in].
Question:
4) I found in the Rav’s unpublished writings that in our generation the tzaddikim are like Noach who don’t lead the generation and don’t daven for them. Is that true about the Torah world as well [that even the Torah world doesn’t have a tzaddik today who leads them and davens for them]?
Answer:
That is a very subtle and sensitive matter which not everyone will be able to understand.
Question:
5) Does every person today have to be a yachid (individual) because there are no leaders of the generation to turn to? Or are we certainly able to find tzaddikim in our times whom we can turn to for advice on what to do in these End of Days?
Answer:
One needs to very much build himself as an individual, and in addition one should also join with tzaddikim.
Question:
6) If this is the generation that is going to greet Mashiach – with Hashem’s help may that happen quickly – what does that tell us? The souls of this generation are called the “heels” and most of the generation contains Erev Rav traces in their souls, yet the Geulah is going to come precisely through us, meaning that even the lowliest generation, the generation on the lowest possible level, is going to be the generation in which Mashiach will come?
Answer:
“Their end is wrapped in their beginning.” The Maharal says that the final generation will be completely in a state of heh-dair, “emptiness”, and there is always a heh-dair, an emptiness or an absence, which precedes the havayah, the existence of something. Thus, the heh-dair, the emptiness which precedes the existence of something, is really the beginning of the havayah/existence of that thing. Thus it is the lowliest generation which is entirely heh-dair/empty which is the generation that will quickly be zocheh to Mashiach – Amen and may Hashem will this to be.
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