RABBI MOSHE SHTERNBUCH: WE HEAR THE FOOTSTEPS OF MOSHIACH
Last week it was the Gerrer Rebbe. More of our spiritual leaders are talking about Moshiach and Geula, especially with the new month of Nissan - the month of Geula - beginning tomorrow night.
Grand Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch of the Eda Charedit (above image, right), a great grandson of the Gaon of Vilna osb"m, said this past week that the times of the Moshiach are here. His source is the Vilna Gaon himself.
Rav Shternbuch received a closely guarded secret that came to him from Rabbi Yitzchak Chever zatza"l, who received it from Rabbi Chaim of Volozhyn zatza"l, who received it from the Gaon of Vilna himself, who revealed it shortly before his death: “When you hear that the Russians have captured the city of Crimea, you should know that the times of the Messiah have started, that his steps are being heard. And when you hear that the Russians have reached the city of Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), you should put on your Shabbat clothes and don’t take them off, because it means that the Messiah is about to come any minute.”
According to the above, we owe a note of thanks to Russian president Vladimir Putin (above, left) for helping to bring Moshiach a step closer.
What does all of this mean?
Rabbi Eliezer says that we shouldn't delay doing teshuva (see tractate Shabbat 153a), for one never knows if he or she will get another chance. The three commodities that we all need to stock up on today are teshuva (penitence), emuna (faith), and kedusha (holiness) - once Moshiach comes, everything else will be worthless.
And if there will be a war of Gog and Magog, who will survive? We're about to see big miracles, very soon. We live in historic times, so we must make the right choices. Without emuna, things will be really frightening. But with emuna, they'll be exciting - wait and see.
