A-7: R' Kaduri Predicted "Natural Calamities" Weeks Ago!

From Arutz-7:

Disaster, Redemption and the Tsunami
Thursday, December 30, 2004 / 18 Tevet 5765

At least one Kabbalist sage predicted "natural calamities" over two weeks ago. He and others call for an increase in acts of kindness, as they try to place the events in universal context.

The venerated Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri, considered Israel's leading Kabbalist rabbi, was quoted in the Yediot Acharonot newspaper on Dec. 12 as saying:

"We are now in the fourth year of what could be the seven-year Redemption period, according to the calculation of the Vilna Gaon. [However.] in the coming three years, uncertainty about the future will hang over our heads, unless we work and strive that the Messiah be revealed. The Messiah is already [here] in Israel. Whatever people are sure will not happen, is liable to happen, and whatever we are certain will happen may disappoint us. But in the end, there will be peace throughout the world. The world is mitmatek mehadinim (lit., becoming sweet from/of strict justice), great tragedies in the world are foreseen, that's the thing of the Jews going to the East. [emphasis added] But our enemies will not prevail over us in the Land of Israel, 'fear and trembling will fall upon them,' in the [merit of the] power of Torah."

Rabbi Kaduri said this week, "What can save the world from calamities is real repentance by Jews, who must increase acts of kindness towards one another... The cry of the many poor in Israel and the expulsion of Jews from their homes shakes the world... It's not for naught that this place was hit, where many of our compatriots went to look for this-worldly lusts."

Rabbi Kaduri has told his students that the current government will be the last one of the "old era," and that the new government will already have leadership of the Messianic era.

Another sage, Rabbi Chaim Kanevsky of Bnei Brak, was quoted in Yediot in the same article as saying that we are verily in the period of the beginning of the Redemption period, and that the Messiah could be revealed at any moment. He called for further outreach "in order to prevent calamities and to bring mercy from the Creator. All Jews must come to the Land of Israel." The Rabbi also called to establish Torah schools in every area, and that "Torah study will prevent calamities – from earthquakes to other natural disasters."

The Kipa website, a Hebrew-language forum for religious youth, features a response by Rabbi Uziel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of the Misgav Regional Council in the Galilee regarding a Jewish approach to the calamitous events. "First of all," Rabbi Eliyahu wrote, "we should pray and ask G-d to remove His wrath from the word, send a complete recovery to the injured, and help and protect everyone in the world, causing sorrow to depart."

Rabbi Eliyahu added that what is happening now was decreed on Rosh HaShanah [the Jewish New Year]: "It was a Divine decree that was issued regarding 'who will be killed by water, and who by fire...'" Our job now, he wrote, is to "pray to G-d, to try harder in studying Torah and fulfilling the Torah and doing acts of kindness and charity. This is an hour of reckoning for the entire world!!!"

Rabbi Eliyahu emphasized that G-d has complete control of nature, and that the Jewish People live "amidst great faith, despite questions that remain open. No question mark can break our strength of great and perfect faith in G-d... This does not prevent us from asking and searching for answers and [logical] explanations, but it all takes place on the solid ground of great faith in G-d... The Bible (Zechariah 14) mentions that in the future, when the Messiah comes, the Mt. of Olives will be split in two... The Messiah can come at any minute, even as you read these lines..."