The End Approaching [#15746]

1) In a recent booklet from the late Rav of Tehillos Yisrael, HaTzaddik Rav Aharon Tzvi Rumpler zt”l said (a few weeks before he was niftar, which was shortly before the coronavirus began), “From the year 5760 until 5780, it is already 20 years that have passed [since 5760, which the Leshem said is the final time that the Geulah can come, which the Leshem explains can really extend for another 20-30 years after that as the time for the Geulah], and I can’t fathom that things can continue like this anymore for even another year, 2 years, or 3 years. But the preparations for the complete Geulah have certainly begun.” These words were said on Hoshana Rabbah 5780, a few weeks before he passed away and shortly before corona began. The question is: According to Rav Rumpler’s words, 2 years have already passed, so there can only be 1 year left in which Mashiach has to come in his preordained time of arrival. Does that have to be the case? Or can Mashiach be prevented from coming chas v’shalom even after this year, and then chas v’shalom there may be a situation of the dreaded curse of chaimah shefuchah (“outpouring of wrath” which can supersede any of the previous troubling times), chas v’shalom?

From the year 5780 and onward, a his-porerus (crumbling) of the world has begun. The root of this is because Chazal said that the world will be for 6000 years followed by chad charuv (lit. 1000 years of destruction), of being destroyed, and since we are very close to the time of chad charuv, the world is already beginning to be destroyed. This is because we are past the cosmic “9th hour” of Erev Shabbos and close to the time period of “plag minchah”, and that is why everything is beginning to crumble. Any sensible person can see that more and more things are falling apart and being destroyed.

QUESTION:

Now that all the possible times for Mashiach’s arrival have already passed (as Rava said in the Gemara Sanhedrin 97b, “All the ends have already finished”), is it permissible to think about what will be in the end and to talk to others about this? Shouldn’t we at least be telling people that Mashiach is coming soon and therefore we need to be prepared for his arrival and do teshuvah? (Maybe a message such as “Mashiach is coming so soon! Maybe this week, maybe tomorrow, maybe today! Do you want to remain with your smartphone and still have your Internet connection when Mashiach shows up??”).

ANSWER:

A person has to search for the truth and keep to it simply because it is the truth, and this has nothing to do with Mashiach coming soon or not. Sometimes a person can use the fact that Mashiach is coming soon as an incentive of believing that he might be coming today, but a person cannot build base his entire perspective on this. Rather, we must simply await for his coming every day.

QUESTION:

3) The Rav has said in several responses that we should not be thinking of when Mashiach can be coming. But what I don’t understand is, don’t we need to know what he is coming so that we can properly prepare for his arrival? So that we can prepare personally and collectively? If we would know that Mashiach has to come by a certain time this year on a certain date, then all of Klal Yisrael would be motivated to prepare for Mashiach and to stop living superficially. It’s true that that we need to await Mashiach every day, but don’t we see that people aren’t truly awaiting his arrival as much as they should be? If we would know the time when Mashiach is coming then it would be so much more likely and easier for everyone to do teshuvah in order to greet Mashiach properly!

ANSWER:

HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn’t want us to know when Mashiach is coming. Instead, “Suddenly the master will come to his sanctuary.”