Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Moshiach Imminent: The Clearest Sign Below



I visited Chevron this week. With all the rain (may it continue) we have gotten this winter the Land of Israel is greener than I ever remember seeing it. Also a few weeks ago I looked out from Ramat Beit Shemesh to a deep green valley that looks like it belongs in Scotland, not Israel. Indeed the gemera in Sanhedrin 98a teaches us:

"R. Abba also said: There can be no more manifest [sign of] redemption than this: viz., what is said, But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come."

Rav Abba is quoting from Yechezckel 36:8 and Rashi explains it as follows:
When Eretz Yisrael becomes so very fertile, Moshiach's advent is near, and there can be no clearer sign than this.

We are also taught that Chevron - agriculturally - is the worst part of land.

The best land in Chutz la'Aretz is Egypt - "As the garden of Hashem, as Egypt"; the best area in Egypt is Tzo'an - there they raised kings; The worst part [agriculturally] of Eretz Yisrael is Chevron - it was used as a burial site - and still, it was SEVEN TIMES BETTER than Tzo'an ... (Kesuvos 112a)

The photo above was taken - in the worse part agriculturally of the Land of Israel - the cemetery and see for yourself how lush the ground is even there!!! Today we can now understand what the gemera in Kesuvos meant by Chevron being "seven times better than Tzo'an" and surely we can see in green and greener that Moshiach's arrival is imminent.

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