The 5775 Hope for Geula - Part 1

We are coming up to the year 5775, and I think it would be a good idea to review the relevant statements by the great rabbis of the past and present who connected this year with our coming Redemption.

Of course, I must clarify for the public that no year is a definite year and certainly no date is a definite date.  The following is a compilation of what makes the year 5775 an auspicious one for the Final Redemption and what makes it a special year.  One should continue to expect the Geula every day no matter what happens.

Thanks to A.K. and A.M. for their ideas for this post.

• 1) Rashb"i in Zohar Hadash (Balak 65d)

The Zohar mentions a sad, bitter sound that will be sounded in the End of Days at the daylight hours when the sun is shining from the 6th day - in the year that Yovel and Shemita come together, which is 274 from the 6th day.  The year 5775 is exactly 274 years from the beginning of daylight hours, which started in the year 5501.  Also, 5775 is a Shemita year, and there is a theoretical calculation made by Gilui that would make 5776 a Yovel year (see the explanation here).

• 2) The Ariza"l in Etz Hayim (Sha'ar 50, Perek 3)

(With Rav Fish's explanation - see here) The Ariza"l takes Shemot 38:28 (וְאֶת-הָאֶלֶף וּשְׁבַע הַמֵּאוֹת, וַחֲמִשָּׁה וְשִׁבְעִים, עָשָׂה וָוִים, לָעַמּוּדִים) and applies the "one thousand" in that verse to the exile of the fifth millennium.  He also explains that the sixth millennium (which is the Sod of Vavei Ha'amudim) is mixed with good and evil.  The implication is that at the year 775 of the sixth millennium, the good will separate from the evil to make a filtered world.

• 3) The Ba'al Hatanya

• 3a) Konanta Me'az (p. 225) - Story with the Ba'al Hatanya #1

As I translated here:

I heard from my grandfather, the pious, famous Rav Yehuda Aryeh Leib Tziviak ZT"L, who told over when he was living in Warsaw that he heard from the elders - the Hasidim of the Rasha"b - ZY"A, who told over about a Hasid who received an Aliya to the Torah by the rabbi, the Ba'al Hatanya ZY"A on Parshat Pekudei, and the rabbi was reading the Torah. When he reached the verse וְאֶת-הָאֶלֶף וּשְׁבַע הַמֵּאוֹת, וַחֲמִשָּׁה וְשִׁבְעִים, עָשָׂה וָוִים, לָעַמּוּדִים [And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars], he heard from the holy rabbi that he said in a whisper that the year [5]775 is the time that the coming of Mashiah will quickly be revealed. And afterwards, the Hasid related [to the rabbi] what he had heard from the rabbi's holy mouth. And when the Ba'al Hatanya heard this, he was insistant in the matter [and was not happy that this matter got revealed] and the other man did not finish the year [alive].

The Konanta Me'az continues (my translation):

And the year that the holy rabbi the Ba'al Hatanya talked about was the year 5775.  And this is hinted to when they say, "טהורה לתשעה חדשים וכנגדה באילן זית" [lit. "For a large animal, if it is Kosher, its gestation is for 9 months, and similar to it is the olive tree"], that means that the world will be purified from the impurity of exile in the year תשע"ה 5775 - and similar to the olive tree - as it says "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives".  That is our righteous Mashiah, who will stand on the Mt. of Olives and resurrect the dead, speedily in our days, Amen Selah.

• 3b) R' Leibel Groner - Story with the Ba'al Hatanya #2

The following comes from the Hezbos blog (also found this story here)

A discussion is brewing online within the Groner family, שיחי''ו (Rabbi Leibel Groner was one of the Rebbe's secretaries).

The story is that the Alter Rebbe was once reading from Pekudei 38:28, which mentions the sum of 1775 talents collected.

ואת האלף ושבע המאות וחמשה ושבעים

Instead of reading the "hei" of "ha-elef" (the thousand) with a "patach", he read it with a "tzeirei" (which turns the letter "hei" into 5).

When the Alter Rebbe read it as “5775” his Gabbai corrected him. The Alter Rebbe then said again “5775”, to which the Gabbai once again corrected him. This repeated itself 4 times. Thereafter the Alter Rebbe went into deep meditation. When he quit his meditation he opened his eyes and whispered to the Gabbai that “5775” had something to do with the coming of Moshiach.

Rabbi Groner verifies the authenticity of the Rebbe previously revealing this story to at least one of his secretaries.

It is believed this story's source comes from an as yet unknown "Polish" sefer.

•  3c) Rav Yosef Berger - Story with the Ba'al Hatanya #3

Kaduri.net (my translation):

The Ba'al Hatanya ZY"A once entered his Beit Midrash and saw one of his students learning in Parshat Pekudei the verse וְאֶת הָאֶלֶף וּשְׁבַע הַמֵּאוֹת וַחֲמִשָּׁה וְשִׁבְעִים עָשָׂה וָוִים לָעַמּוּדִים וְצִפָּה רָאשֵׁיהֶם וְחִשַּׁק אֹתָם.  The Ba'al Hatanya lifted his voice and said, "Oy!  When will we merit this already!  When will we see this already!"

The student of the Ba'al Hatanya ... understood that his rabbi didn't mean the 1775 pieces of silver, but had something more important in mind.  He thought and thought and didn't understand until it was sparked in his mind that his rabbi, the Ba'al Hatanya, meant the time of the Keitz, the end of the exile, and the Complete Redemption with the coming of Mashiah.

How is this possible?

... ואת ה-אלף means 5000 years.  ושבעה מאות וחמשה ושבעים means the year 5775 - the 775th year of the 6th millennium from Creation.  Then, we will merit that there will be ווים לעמודים for the Mishkan of Hashem.

And on this, the Ba'al Hatanya groaned, "When will we merit this already..."  Will we merit to see the moment of Redemption?  Will we see the coming of Mashiah in the year 5775?!

• 3d) Ma'amarei Admor Hazaken (Pekudei pp. 419-423)

The Ba'al Hatanya himself writes that the verse ואת האלף should be used to calculate the Keitz.  He uses the calculation to mean the year 5603, which is 1775 years from the Destruction of the Beit Hamikdash.  One may think that this calculation should be used to undermine the use of all the stories of the Ba'al Hatanya to mean this year.  Not so.   He calculates it to mean the year 5603 because he used 172 years of exile from the 4th millennium in the calculation.  However, if we start the calculation from the beginning of the 5th millennium, which start the 2000 years of ימות המשיח, as per the gemara on the bottom of Sanhedrin 97a, it comes out to 5775.

• 4) The 278 Shemitot

As I recently translated from Rav Fish's newsletter:

I [=Rav Fish] heard from Rav Yosef Morsiano Shlit"a, based on what is brought down in Targum Yonatan on Shemot 12:40 that every Shemita is called "שנה" [lit. year] and every year is called "יום" [lit. day]. And if we calculate from the time of the Destruction of the Second Beit Hamikdash in the year 3828 until the Shemita year of 5719, there were 270 Shemitot, which hint to the 270 days of pregnancy which correspond to exile. And the year after the Shemita year of 5726 - in 5727 was the Day of Birth. Therefore, it was a Time of Acceptance of Prayers with the Six Day War. However, we had not yet been redeemed at that time since we need to add another 7 Shemitot to complete the 8 days until the Berit Mila, at which time we will connect to Hashem completely in the Sod of Redemption. And this comes out to the year 5775, when on Motza'ei Shevi'it, Ben David comes.

Or the alternative explanation:

R' R. Z. explains [it a little differently - ] that we should calculate from the time of the second Beit Hamikdash that was destroyed in 3828 until Shemita of 5726 and there are 271 Shemitot, which is the gematria of הריון [meaning pregnancy, a very famous gematria mentioned by the gemara Nidah 38b] that corresponds to exile. And Motza'ei Shemitta - in 5727 - corresponds to the day of birth. And from then begins the next 7 Shemitot, corresponding to the first 7 days of the boy, culminating in 5775, upon which it says וטמאה שבעת ימים, and Motza'ei Shevi'it of 5775 [5776] corresponds to the 8th day, when the Orla will be circumcized and Mashiah Ben David will come, speedily in our days Amen.

To be continued... here