Painting of the Messianic Temple by American Jewish artist Elisheva Rubin

The Jewish world was stunned on September 15, 2005 when the Israel National News posted the following article titled, “Kabbalist Urges Jews to Israel Ahead of Upcoming Disasters.” It stated that Israel’s leading known Kabbalistic Elder, 108 year old Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri sent a call to worldwide Jewry to return to the land of Israel because natural disasters will threaten to strike this world.

Senior Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri

As reported on Arutz Sheva (Israel National News):

Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri - “This declaration I find fitting to issue for all of the Jews of the world to hear. It is incumbent upon them to return to the Land of Israel due to terrible natural disasters which threaten the world.

In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will bring about great disasters in the countries of the world to sweeten the judgments of the Land of Israel. I am ordering the publication of this declaration as a warning, so that Jews in the countries of the world will be aware of the impending danger and will come to the Land of Israel for the building of the Temple and revelation of our righteous Mashiach (Messiah).”

Kabbalistic Elder Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri

During this profound meeting Rabbi Kaduri made further revelations concerning what he called the "secret and revelation" in the world. The date of this meeting was on September 14, 2005. The Jewish year of 5766 (October 4, 2005 to September 16, 2006) was only three weeks away. At this time the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashannah heralded in the fall festival holiday season, the Jewish Year of 5766 and the final “Shemittah”z” or seven year Sabbatical season that started on October 4, 2005.

According to Rabbi Kaduri, the initials (rashei teivot) or the numerical Hebrew abbreviation for 5766, taf, shin, samech, vav gave insight into the nature of the upcoming year. As he spoke:

The Year of Secret and Revelation

(“tehiyeh shnat sod v’gilut”)

Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri - "This will be a year of secret (or sod, from the letter samech) and revelation (or v’gilut from the letter vav).

Who is Sephardic Orthodox Rebbe Yitzchak Kaduri

Sometime before the year of 1895 in an Ottoman Turkish vilayets in either Baghdad or Basra (modern Iraq), the young Yitzhak began his life in the Jewish life of Torah study. During his early years after his bar mitzvoth at thirteen he became a student in the yeshiva (Torah college) of the famed Jewish wise sage Ben Ish Chai. While his friends were playing games, young Yitzhak was studying the immense depth and breadth of Torah studies. One of the most profound moments of his life was when he was blessed by the Wise Rabbi of Baghdad with the prophetic blessing that “he would live to see the revelation of the Mashiach.” When the Torah sage died in 1904, Yitzhak Kaduri, still in his teens saw a great mentor pass from his life.

In the mid to late 1930s and into the 40s, the pogroms against the Jewish people in the Arabic countries rose extensively. It was in those same years that the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt collaborated with Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany in seeking to bring about the “Final Solution” for the Jewish people. This collaboration was documented in the BibleSearchers article, “The Mufti of Jerusalem and the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Leading what was called a tenuous lifestyle in the old land of Babylon, masses of Jewish people immigrated from the land of Babylon in the 40’s until the 70s. The remaining Jews were forced to leave by illegal points of exit from the land of Iraq via the mountains of the Kurdistans. As the 2004 Gulf War loomed on the horizon, only a dozen Jews were left the land of their Babylonian exile.

Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri

According to an article on the Sephardic sages, Rabbi Kaduri, shlita immigrated to Israel during the 40s and began to teach at what is believed to be the oldest Yeshiva in the Land of Israel. It was started 3700 years ago by Avraham Avinu (the Patriarch Abraham) at Bethel (Bet-El) as written in the Genesis (Sefer of Bereshyit.)

Genesis 12:8 - "And he (Abraham) removed from there to a mountain East of Bet-El, and he pitched his tent...and called upon the name of Hashem"

Reestablished in 1978, Yeshivat Bet-El was located about 20 minutes drive north of Jerusalem in a suburb of Bet-El (the Biblical Bethel). The patriarchal presence of the rabbi blessed the Jewish people in that town. His intervention for peace in the world, led to a personal friendship between Rabbi Kaduri and King Hussein of Jordan in 1998 following a message from the rabbi to the king to become involved in bringing peace to this world.

A special road was built to the burial site of Aaron the High Priest especially so that Rabbi Kaduri could visit the shrine of Aaron, the ancient father of the Hebrew high priests. As a personal guest of King Hussein, the rabbi was flown on the royal Jordanian helicopter, met the king at the airport in Jordan and was taken to pray at the gravesite of Aaron.

The recent meeting and declaration by Rabbi Kaduri was featured live on Arutz Sheva Israel National Radio show, “matchilim MiBereishit” by the show host Yehoshua Meiri. Here begins our present study on the rabbinic interpretation of the coming of the Maschiach of Yisra’el (Messiah of Israel).

When Rabbi Kaduri made his declaration, it was typed out by Yehoshua Meiri and given back to the elderly rabbi to proofread and sign as it being the truthful declaration of his message. That same night, emissaries were quickly dispatched to the residence of the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, just before he departed that same evening to America. He asked the Prime Minister to call upon the American Jewry as part of the Jews of the Diaspora to immigrate or make aliyah back to Israel.

Senior Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri

Further pronouncements were soon coming with increasing frequencies that many devote Jews were beginning to doubt their reliability and veracity. The week earlier, Rabbi Kaduri stated in an interview the following.

Rabbit Yitzhak Kaduri - "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 (New Orleans) was hit, where many of our compatriots went to look for this-worldly lusts."

During the month of Elul, the days that came before the fall festival season of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Succot was in the Jewish world a month of repentance. This repentance is called tshuva. The call to the Great Judgment Day of the Lord was preceded by the sounding of the Great Shofar reflected in the Book of Revelation as the 7^th and Final Shofar (Trumpet) of the Lord, it will be followed by ten days of awe followed later by the Great Day of the Lord and the Final Judgment of all mankind in this era.

The sounding of the shofar on the prior Jewish Year 5764 on September, 2004, and the act of judgment by the Lord of hosts was followed by the Great Tsunami on December 26, 2005. This catastrophe of epic and Biblical proportions has been studied by the sages of Judaism over the past year in light of the future prophecies of the prophets of old. In grand unison, they are pronouncing that the coming of the messiah of Israel is near. To them, it is very soon.

Rabbi Kaduri, as the senior and most respected of the sages of Israel is reflecting these opinions that were formerly shared in secret and forbidden to be written down. They are now coming out boldly for the world to hear and understand. As spoken in private in his own yeshiva and given to his students, in his learned opinion, the Sharon government will be that last Zionistic government of the “old era.” Global disasters will herald the redemptive process that will culminate in the arrival of the Maschiach of Yisra’el. Very soon, another wave of natural disasters will strike this planet earth heralding the culmination of this redemption process. As reported, on Israel National News:

Baruch Gordon with Israel National News – “He is on record as saying that Sharon will be the last prime minister in Israel, and that the new government will already have leadership of the Messianic era.”

Kabbalistic Elder Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri

If the announcement during his seminary session on September 14, 2005 with his students was not startling enough, Baruch Gordon with Israel National News on October 19, 2005 wrote the following article called, “Leading Kabbalist Urges Jews to Israel - More Disasters Coming” which gave the following account.

During the ten days of awe just preceding Yom Kippur, the Day of Judgment on October, 2005, the grandson of Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, Rabbi Yosef Kaduri, held a private audience with his grandfather the elder Rabbi. This meeting was witnessed and documented by a journalist from Arutz-7, who had close ties with the Kaduri court. During this session, Rabbi Yosef Kaduri posed the following question to his grandfather, "Not many Jews are coming from overseas. Why should they come?" Rabbi Kaduri responded:

Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri - "Because of impending danger." …."Be extremely protective of your lives." (Deuteronomy 4:15)

During this meeting the elder and the younger Kaduri discussed the esoteric concepts referred to by the elder Kabbalist as the "struggle between the oceans." The large oceans called the Haokeanus hagodol would strike the world.

Kabbalistic Elder Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri

This “struggle” began in 2004 with the four hurricanes that plowed into the State of Florida: Charley (145 mph winds), Francis (over 105 mph winds), Ivan (maximum 165 mph winds) and Jeanne (120 mph winds).

Part of this striking was a warning to the Jews in America. They were to take note of the hurricane disasters in 2005 as Hurricane Katrina (highest winds at 175 mph and the costliest cyclone of all time at > $75 billion) hit New Orleans on August 31, 2005. Then came the catastrophe of Hurricane Rita (maximum 175 mph winds and the strongest hurricane of all times with peak gusts at 235 mph) in eastern Texas on September 24, 2005. This was followed by Hurricane Wilma (175 highest sustained winds and the most intense hurricane in the Atlantic, Gulf or Pacific at 882 mbar pressure) that hit Miami, Florida on October 24, 2005. The portents that are to follow will only be of greater catastrophic proportion.

According to the elder Rabbi, the catastrophes are not over. “Another wave of natural disasters will strike the world.” As the session closed, the elder Rabbi Yitzhak told his grandson, Rabbi Yosef that on Yom Kippur more would be revealed.

It was on Yom Kippur, the students of Rabbi Kaduri were sitting in his class at his Jerusalem Nachalat Yitzhak Yeshiva Seminary in the Bucharim neighborhood of Jerusalem for the afternoon Mincha prayer. The Kabbalist scholar surprised his students and those that were worshipping with them with additional “secrets relating to the coming of the Mashiach.”

Estimated to be between 104 to 116 years of age, this Sephardic rabbinic sage sat with his head bowed for over forty five minutes in a deep mystical concentration between the Mincha (afternoon) and Ma’ariv (evening) prayers. The students and attendants were beginning to get concerned fearing for the Rabbi who covered his eyes as though he were reciting the Sh’ma prayer but they could not hear but only see his lips moving. Fearing a seizure or some sort of a neurological attack they tried to communicate with him but the visionary depth of concentration could not be broken.

When he raised his head and looked around the room at his students and other worshippers, he gave a broad smile to them. This beam of delight was a signal to his disciples that he had received a revelation. In Hebrew he spoke, 'Hit'abra bezrat hashem nishmat mashiach b'adam m'yisrael'.

Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri - "With the help of G- d, the soul of the Mashiach has attached itself to a person in Israel"

Rabbi Elijah Ben Solomon, the Vilna Gaon

The attendees were heard murmuring in the surrounding room as the elder rabbi spoke. It was then repeated for those who could not hear him. For years, this esteemed Sephardi Kabbalist sage had instructed his students concerning the Final Redemption. The prophetic insight from Kaduri’s teachings comes from the calculations of the Vilna Gaon and his views concerning the final redemption which appear in the Gaon's writings. These writings are considered by Jewish rabbis to be cryptic and very difficult to decipher.

According to the writings of the Vilna Gaon, a “Sign of the Gog and Magog War” began when the American War on Terror against Afghanistan broke out on the Jewish holiday of Hoshana Rabba (the 7th day of the Sukkot holiday), just after the conclusion of the 7th or shemittah agricultural sabbatical year.

America’s War on Terror –

Final Seven Years when the Messiah is Revealed

What does this mean to Christian prophecy watchers? Most of us are quite aware of the Jewish festivals and the great celebration at the time of Succot. During this Festival of Tabernacles, the Jewish celebrate that future day when the Messiah will come to “tabernacle” or to dwell with them.

The 7^th or final day of this festival over the centuries has been the anticipated day for the beginning of the Gog-Magog War. This was prophesied by the Jewish prophet Ezekiel living in the land of Babylon.

On September 24, 2001, thirteen days after the destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon in Washington D.C., Channel One Israel TV broadcasted a program on what the Torah mystical sages were stating about the 911 attack in America. Arutz Sheva’s show host Yehoshua Meiri, a close confidant in the Kaduri court was explaining to the Hebrew speaking TV audience what Rabbi Kaduri understands of the prophetic calculations of the Vilna Gaon and how they related to our present geo-political world. He stated the following on the broadcast:

Yehoshua Meiri on Rabbi Kaduri - "On Hashanah Rabba, the actual war of Gog and Magog will commence and will last for some seven years."

[ Click here to view the Channel One clip in Hebrew - Rabbi Kaduri's prediction communicated by Meiri at the 1:40 minute mark.]

Thirteen days later (broadcasted on September 24, 2001) on October 7, the celebrations of the Jewish holiday Hoshana Rabba, the 7^th day of Succot, began. Precise to the minute as the sun was setting in the western horizon, the eve of the festival day began, the US and British forces began an aerial bombing campaign against the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan and the War against Terror was begun.

At sea aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Nov. 1, 2002 -- Lightning strikes on the horizon light up the bow of the aircraft carrier during a storm in the Arabian Sea. Lincoln and Carrier Air Wing Fourteen (CVW-14) are on a regularly scheduled six-month deployment conducting combat missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Southern Watch. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Aaron Ansarov.

On Rosh Hashanah on September, 2001, that day, the sabbatical year of seven years called “shemittah”z of the Jewish years 5743-5761 (1994-2001) were based on the Hebrew agrarian economy ended at Rosh Hashanah in the Jewish year of 5761 (2001). On that day, a Jewish new sabbatical year cycle began. It will end on Rosh Hashanah, 2008)

The Final “Shemittah”z” or Seven Sabbatical years before the Revelation of the Messiah

Jewish Sabbatical years of 5743-5761 (1994-2001) ended on September 18, 2001

Jewish Sabbatical years of 5761-5768 (2001-2008) began on September 18, 2001

The Bush Presidential War on Terror began on October 7, 2001 and the

Final Seven Sabbatical Years before the revelation of the Messiah began

According to the calculations of the Vilna Gaon, as interpreted by the Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, during the 7-years count from that Hoshana Rabba on October 7, 2001, a major revelation associated with Maschiach will be given.

According to the Kaduri court, the fall of 2005 was the 5th year of this redemption process (Geula) began. During this time the Maschiach of Yisra’el (Messiah of Israel) will be revealed.

Rabbi Lazer Brody’s Confirmation of Rabbi Kaduri’s Statement

Israeli Commando Brody

The Orthodox Chabad Rabbi Lazer Brody is one of the central funnels of messianic news on his Lazer Beams website. A former Special Forces commando, he is today affectionately called “Rabbi Rambo.” He is recognized as one of the only Chassidic rabbis in Israel who can identify and speak the language of the various types of Jewish believers; Orthodox, Conservative and Reformed Jews plus the Jewish soldier, the kibbutzniks, Israeli settlers, Christian militia in Lebanon and even Islamic Arabs.

A veteran of two wars, tens of anti-terrorist commando missions and twice to receive citations of honor, he received his rabbinical ordination in 1992 after nine years of intensive studies in the Torah, Talmud, ethics and legal studies. A pioneer in spiritual rehabilitation for Israeli inmates, he is now renowned as a leader in high-stress situational counseling. As proclaimed by Rabbi Ovadiah, “he oozes brotherly love.”

Spiritual Awareness Counselor (SAC) Rabbi Lazer Brody

Interview by veteran journalist Susan Silverman in an article for Jewish Magazine titled, “Rabbi Rambo”, she wrote:

Susan Silverman – “Brody is an emotional and spiritual bomb squad. His warmth and sincerity combine with his professional skills to diffuse explosive situation. During the course of our interview, he fielded telephone questions about handling a wife with post-natal depression, calming down a child who'd seen a car accident, and making peace between an irate longshoreman and his wife. My head was spinning just from listening. "How do you do it?" I asked. "I'm nothing," he replied modestly. "I close my eyes, and ask Hashem to put the right solution in my brain."

The pronouncement of the elder Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri has sent ripples of excitement and consternation throughout Judaism. Like Christians, it is easy to speculate or prognosticate about the return of the Messiah but to accept it in literal time and the urgency that is included in that acceptance puts one’s mind on a different level of My Photo understanding. The spiritualizing now becomes literal.

Rabbi Lazer Brody, “Rabbi Rambo”, investigated the pronouncement of Rabbi Kaduri in September, 2005 and filed this report on September 19, 2005 titled, “Rav Kaduri Statement Confirmed.” Many in Jewry were alarmed that a scam or agents speaking for the aged rabbis were using his name to present ideas that were foreign or against his will.

Rabbi Lazer Brody (Rabbi Rambo)

The first contact with Arutz 7 (Israel National News and Radio) was with Yehoshua Meiri, who served as the personal aide and press secretary to Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri between the years of 1993 to 2001. As editor of the Kaduri website, he stated that the report by Baruch Gordon was “very accurate. I confirm the report.”

Concerning the article that came out in the Arutz 7 website with the declaration for the Jews to return to the Land of Israel, it was first publicized on the weekly Hebrew radio late Tuesday evening on September 13, 2005 and the quote was logged in at 1:31:19 on the dictation tape. As stated above, the Rav Kaduri declaration was then written out, presented back to the Rabbi who then signed his approval of the declaration.

If Rabbi Kaduri is so esteemed by the Jewish people of all persuasions, where did this legendary regard come to him? Is he esteemed because he is now the oldest Kabbalist rabbi in the world? Is he esteemed because he has proven his great wisdom? [The Ben Ish Chai] Maybe both! Let us look back at the Jewish sages that have affected his life.

Chacham Yosef Chaim (Ben Ish Chai 1832-1904), mentor of Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri

Chacham Yosef Chaim (Ben Ish Chai) in Baghdad

Chacham Yosef Chaim was born in the city of Baghdad in the present country of Iraq in 1832. There his father was a Rabbi and died when he was twenty four years old. He was early given the title Chacham, or “Wise Man” commonly given to Sephardic rabbis who taught with uncommon wisdom. So, Chacham Yosef Chaim became the Wise Rabbi of Baghdad in 1856.

His wisdom and counsel were providential to the Jews of Baghdad and his fame spread throughout the Middle East. He was respected for his opinion on the legal issues of Jewish law called the halachah. Thousands of Sephardic Jews from the surrounding communities followed his teachings and rabbis outside of the Sephardic Jewish circle came to seek his spiritual counsel and religious advice.

Chacham Yosef Chaim wrote several books on Jewish law (halachah) and esoteric topics on the Talmud called the agadah. Yet he is most famous for his book, Ben Ish Chai, which was written on the weekly Torah cycle with a discussion of the Biblical texts and the implication to Jewish law. Today, a reference book read yearly in the Torah yearly cycle by Jews around the world, Rav Yosef Chaim is known to many not by his name but by the name of his book, Ben Ish Chai.

The young Yitzhak Kaduri, at the reputed age of 13, became a disciple under the renowned Chaim Yosef Chaim (Ben Is Chai) in Baghdad. During this time of study in the Baghdad Yeshivah of Ben Is Chai, the aging “wise” rabbi, during one of his blessings, told his young student Kaduri that “he would live to see the revelation of the Messiah.”

Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson-“King Messiah” and the Rabbi

The late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson was the leader of the largest Hasidic Jewish organization in the world, the Chabad Lubavitcher organization in the Brooklyn, New York headquarters called “770.” He was a close friend of Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri. Though Rabbi Kaduri and “The Rebbe” had met many times before in Brooklyn, the communication between the two Rabbinic giants is unknown but the video below does depict a little of the affirmation that the two rabbis had with each other as they met in 1990 when Rabbi Kaduri was visiting the city of New York.

Video of Rabbi Kaduri meeting with Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson in Brooklyn, New York in 1990

According to the in-depth biography of Menachem Mendel Schneerson in Wikipedia, it states:

Wikipedia – ‘Schneerson's activities spread to many far flung areas of the Jewish world. Since the time of the Rebbe Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, Chabad had been involved with the Sephardic world. Schneerson was revered by Rabbis Israel Abuhatzeira (known as Babba Sali), Meir Abuhatzeira, Yitzchak Kaduri and Mordechai Eliyahu (a former Chief Rabbi of Israel).”

During this visit in 1990, Rabbi Kaduri was also told by Rebbe Schneerson that he would live to see the coming of the Messiah. This affirmation was in confirmation of the prophetic announcement about eighty five years earlier when Kaduri was a youth by Ben Ish Chai (Chacham Yosef Chaim that he would live to see the Messiah.

Earlier this Jewish year, Rabbi Kaduri predicted great tragedies in the world. Just two weeks before the devastating tsunami in southeast Asia, Rabbi Kaduri was quoted in the Yediot Acharonot newspaper as saying:

Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri - "We are now in the fourth year of what could be the seven-year Redemption period, according to the calculation of the Vilna Gaon. In the coming three years, uncertainty about the future will hang over our heads, unless we work and strive that the Mashiach be revealed. The Mashiach is already 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 A photo of Schneerson in his youth end, there will be peace throughout the world. The world is mitmatek mehadinim (or becoming sweet from strict justice). Great tragedies in the world are foreseen, that's the thing of the Jews going to the East. But our enemies will not prevail over us in the Land of Israel, 'fear and trembling will fall upon them,' in the power of Torah."

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson in early adult life

Born in Nikolaiev, Ukraine on April 18, 1902, Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s education was mainly secular and private. Enrolled at 16 for a part time study in mathematics at the secular Yekaterinoslav University, the town where his father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneerson, a renowned kabbalist who served as the Chief Rabbi of Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk) from 1907-1939 remained his primary teacher in Talmudic studies, rabbinic literature, Jewish mysticism from the viewpoint of Hasidic Judaism and Kabbalah. In 1920, he married a distant cousin, Chaya Mushka Schneerson in 1929 and went to live in Berlin, Germany. Moving to Paris in 1933, they lived in France while he studied and received his license in electrical engineering only having to flee for their lives eight years later from France in 1941 on the Serpa Pinto, the last boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean before the German U-boats began their oceanic blockade.

In Brooklyn, he joined his joined his father-in-law Joseph Isaac Schneersohn in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. There at the international headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism which was a form of Haredi Judaism, he became director of the educational and Hasidic Jewish outreach international empire in the United States, Canada, Israel and Northern Africa in 1941 after a brief stint at wording at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The Haredi Jews are called the ultra-Orthodox Judaism, the most theologically conservative form of Orthodox Judaism. The word, Haredi, חֲרֵדִי, comes from the Hebrew Harada meaning fear and anxiety or "one who trembles in awe of God." These Jews firmly believe that their belief system and religious practices are part of the authentic Jewish covenant that has remained in an unbroken chain back to the prophet Moses and when the Torah was given to the Israelites from Mount Sinai. All other non-Orthodox denominations are considered to be corruptions and unjustifiable deviations from authentic Judaism.

Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer as the Ba’al Shem Tov

The Hasidic branch of the Haredi Orthodox Jews comes from the Hebrew word, Chasidut חסידות, which means "pious" and the Hebrew root word chesed חסד which means "loving kindness.” So the Hasidic Jew is recognized as the pious ones who live a life of loving kindness. The leader of this movement was Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1760), who was lovingly known as the Ba'al Shem Tov.

During these days the Jewish people were in great persecution and the European Jews had turned inward into the study of the Talmud study in a day when they felt that Jewish life had become so "academic" that there was no longer had any emphasis on spirituality or joy. The Ba'al Shem Tov set out to improve the situation. Early in the life of the movement the Hasidism met with opposition from several contemporary leaders, most notably the Vilna Gaon of Lithuania, united as the mitnagdim (Hebrew: "opposers").

Understandably so, for the Eastern European Jews in the 16^th century were in a deadly struggle between the traditional rabbinic Judaism of the north-eastern provinces in Lithuania, and in White Russia and the entry of radical Messianic mysticism of Sabbatai Zevi in the 17^th century. This Cabbalistic movement corrupted Lurianic Jewish Kabbalah eventually into an anti-Torah, anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-Jewish’s God of Israel movement. To the Sabbateans, salvation was gained by moving through Judaism into Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and all other religions. To the Sabbateans, during the age of the messiah, instead of fulfilling all the precepts of the Torah, all the commands of the Torah could be broken. This was liberation theology at its best.

The traditional Lithuanian was called the “Litvish” and their social culture is reflected of Judaism in densely populated cities where rabbinic academic culture called yeshivots flourished. The sons of the Lithuanian “Litvish” today predominately found in Jewish politics include: Menachem Begin, Israeli Prime Minister from Brest-Litovsk, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister whose original family name was Milikowsky and Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minister whose original family name was Scheinerman.

In the southern regions of Eastern Europe in the Ukraine, the Jewish people lived in more isolated villages that were not appealed by rabbinic formalism. This formalism in traditional Judaism adopted forms of Kabbalah into its own ritualism and practiced by the asceticism of the “practical kabbalist” in fasting, penance and spiritual sadness. Yet the majority of Jewish people did not flourish in this environment.

A photo of Schneerson in the 50's

A photo of Schneerson in the 50's

After the Cossacks' Uprising (1648-1654) under Bohdan Chmielnicki and the “deluge, the 17^th century wars” that left Poland in ruins (1648-1660), southern Ukrainian Jewry was shattered while the Northern Lithuanian Jewry remained intact. Into this spiritual void, rose the ministry of the founder of Hasidism, Israel ben Eliezer. He was called by the title of the "Master of the Good Name" (the Ba'al Shem Tov, abbreviated as the Besht). As he moved from village to village his fame as a healer spread not only among the Jews but also among the Polish peasants and nobles. They became the most representative of the Judaism that was to represent the spiritual model, “Let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

The Baal Shem Tov became admired as a local prophet, but most notably was characterized by a life of extraordinary sincerity and simplicity. He sensed with dramatic insight the spiritual needs of the masses, Jewish and non-Jew. To the people, he taught that true religion consisted not of religious scholarship and rituals but consisted of a sincere love of God. This was portrayed in the warmth and care of a faith and belief in the Almighty. This life was a life of prayer, a simple faith in the Almighty One of Israel who was open to the prayers of the peasants whose prayers came from the heart rather than the formal prayers of the Jewish observant. The rich and the poor, the peasants and the scholars that were not satisfied and blessed by Jewish scholasticism and ascetic Kabalah, found themselves attracted to the Besht (Baal Shem Tov), who finally settled in the Podolian town of Miedzyboz in 1740.

The disciples of the Baal Shem Tov spread all over central Europe and Hasidic Judaism became the way of life for most Jews living in Ukraine, Galicia and central Poland plus large movements in Belarus-Lithuania and Hungary. In the 1880s, Hasidic Judaism moved to Western Europe and then to the United States.

The Lithuanian branch of the Hasidim Jews was followers of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. It was he who founded Chabad dynasty within Hasidism. He was a student of Dovber of Mezeritch. In his most pronounced written work, Tanya, he influenced profoundly Hasidic Judaism. The work is predominately mystical like the Zohar, called the Splendor of Light. Recognized as a posek (rabbinic authority in Jewish law), his most authoritative work on Jewish law is known as the Shulchan Aruch HaRav, cited often in important Jewish texts such as the Mishnah Berurah and the Ben Ish Chai. The names "Schneersohn" and "Schneerson" began as patronymics by Shneur Zalman's descendants.

The Chief Rabbi of the Lubavitcher Jews has been a descendant of Rabbi Shneur Zalman since 1745. According to the prophecies within the Chabad, after the seventh Rebbe of the Chabad, the Messiah will return and reveal Himself.

Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1812), was the son of Rabbi Boruch of Tulchin, the grandson of the Baal Shem Tov.
Rabbi Dovber (1773–1827), son of Shneur Zalman.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel “Tzemach Tzedek” (1789–1866), grandson of Shneur Zalman and son-in-law of Dovber, known after this work Tzemach Tzedek.
Rabbi Shmuel (1834–1882), son of Rabbi Menachem Mendel.
Rabbi Sholom Dovber (1860–1920), son of Rabbi Shmuel.
Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn “The Previous Rebbe or Rebbe Rayat”z” (1880–1950), only son of Sholom Dovber.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson “The Rebbe” (1902-1994), was a cousin of the Schneersohn branch (the difference in the "h" of "...sohn" and sixth in paternal line from Rabbi Menachem Mendel, and son-in-law of Joseph Isaac.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel became quickly a leader with a vision. Since his first entry into the leadership of the Lubavitchers in the education department of their organization, he was tireless in the development of one of the most effective Jewish outreach programs around the world to help Jews of all branches to become observant Jews. He trained thousands of young Chabad rabbis and their wives as shluchim (emissaries) sending them all around the world to oversee and promote Jewish themes of observant Judaism in festival celebration, kosher eating, observing the Seventh day Shabbat, in the study of the Torah, the wearing of the tefillin, writing new Torah scrolls and more than any other group, keeping the light shining of the coming of the Messiah of Israel.

They built Chabad houses as college campus center, Mitzvah tanks, mini-synagogues, Sukkah-mobiles and other methods to reach the secular and alienated Jews in major city populations and the gentiles who observance of the Noahide Laws. The relationship with the national leaders of the United States including the President to the leadership of the House of Congress was curried. The 11^th day of Nisan, the birthday of “The Rebbe” was established as Education Day in the United States.

Schneerson in later life

The corporate acts of the Chabad included placing advertising in the mass media which included full page ads in the New York Time urging all mankind to contribute their part to hasten the coming of the messiah’s imminent arrival by increasing their good deeds. The passion of “The Rebbe” was to hasten the coming of the Messiah. All the activities of the Chabad was focused on serving mankind with acts of “goodness and kindness” which he felt were the ingredients to bring forth the messianic era. As he stated in 1991, three years before his death:

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson – "I have done everything I can do to bring Moshiach (the Jewish Messiah), now I am handing over to you (his followers) the keys to bring Moshiach."

When a stroke hit him as he was visiting the grave of his father-in-law, he refused to leave the “Seven-seventy” headquarters and a full time hospital suite was designed there for him. Looking over the main synagogue from a balcony, he was able to pray with his followers and participate in the Rosh Hashanah services and other meeting with his followers by being carried to the balcony. During these balcony appearance a chant, which would soon become a very controversial “mantra” with the Lubavitchers would echo across the synagogue: Yechi Adonenu Moreinu v'Rabbeinu Melech Hamoshiach l'olam voed! - "Long live our Master our Teacher and our Rabbi King Messiah forever and ever!"

Since the death of “The Rebbe”, there has been no successor appointed. According to the Chabad tradition that the Messiah would come after the seventh Rebbe, the Chabad Hasidim believe today that there is no successor to Rabbi Schneerson. There are many Chabad Jews who believe that Rabbi Schneerson will return again as the Messiah of the Jews. Other Jews claim that he has not died and refuse to put the classical Jewish titles of honor for the dead after his name such as zt”l. (Zecher Tzaddik Livrocho which means, “may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing” Instead they quote from the Talmud:

Talmud Ta'anit 5b – “Ya'akov avinu lo meis ("our forefather Jacob did not die")

During these last few months many of the Chabad began to accept “The Rebbe” as the “King Messiah” and the cultic following lasts to this day with many accepting him as the messiah of Israel. There is reason for this precedent in that Rabbi Schneerson was a member of only three families in the entire world, the Charlap/Levihe, the Davan Family and the Schneerson Family, who can trace their genealogical lineage back to King David without a break in the male line. Any one of these male descendants could qualify to become the royal family of Israel and be recognized as the “Prince of Israel.”

Jewish Rabbis and Other Announcements Concerning the Coming of the Messiah

“Baba Sali”, the esteemed HaRav Yisrael Abuchatzeirah, ZT””L

One of the close friends and confidant of Rabbi Kaduri was the Moroccan Sage, HaRav Yisrael Abuchatzeirah, ZT’’L, the revered rabbinic master called “Baba Sali.” This sage, whom many felt was gifted by the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), was born in 1890 (Jewish year 5650) into a renowned rabbinic family of kabbalists.

Portrait of Rav Yisrael Abuchatzeirah ZT’’L as the revered Rabbi at Yavneh, Israel

While the other children were playing games, the Rav from his childhood was studying Torah. Very early in his life, the Jewish youth flocked to see the young Rav Yisrael. They sought his blessing for their family, health and prosperity. From the consistent life of prayer and seeking blessings on behalf of the local people who sought his spiritual guidance, he soon was given the name, “Baba Sali” which means “our praying father.”

When it became known that the prayers of this precocious child rabbi did produce “miraculous” results, his father, a teacher in Kabbalah at the local Moroccan yeshiva, instructed him to spend the rest of his life blessing people and saying good things about them.

Young Rav Yisrael Abuchatzeirah ZT’’L as the “Blessing Rabbi” in Morocco

As a young man, Rav Yisrael assumed the mantle of his father as the head of the yeshiva, the community rabbi, a lecturer of Kabbalah and soon became renowned as a Torah Sage. The fame of “Baba Sali” soon spread throughout the land of Morocco as Jews traveled miles to seek his guidance and blessings. By the age of nineteen, he was inducted as the Rosh Haveshiva, the judge in the local rabbinic court called the beis din. Here his “holy penetrating eyes” gave wisdom in counsel and stability to the people in the land.

When the migration of the Jewish people began in earnest in the early 60s from Morocco, Baba Sali followed the Moroccan Jewry and made his aliyah (return) to the Land of Israel and eventually settled in Yavneh, the home of the Great Sanhedrin after the destruction of the temple of Herod in 70 CE.

When Rav Abuchatzeirah arrived at the port of Acre, north of Haifa on the coast of Israel, his reputation as a Torah scholar and the miracle working blessing rabbi preceded him. Not only the ordinary people but the great Torah teachers, scholars and rabbis came to greet and learn from him.

It was in one of these conversations with the rabbis that on one day, they were sharing experiences of the great teachers and Tzaddikim (righteous men of Israel) that the name of Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidim came up. A local rabbi began to deride and evoke contempt upon this rabbinic founder of the Chassidim movement. Without a word of contempt, the Baba Sali got up and excused himself from their presence, called his family together and with their personal belongings packed, left the city with the only word of advice to the local people.

Baba Sali – “I cannot dwell together in the same city with Rabbis who show contempt for our sages and teachers.”

Understanding fully the reverence that the Jewish people give to their teachers and sages underscores the influence these mature minds, seasoned with the thousands of hours of meditation and Torah study, have upon their children of Jacob. This respect comes with their contact with the Divine and their participation in being the servants of the Holy One of Israel. The following “Story on the Baba Sali”, written by David Rossoff in his book, the “Land of Our Heritage, Safed: the Mystical City, gives a visual illustration of the power of the Spirit of God that was lived out in the lives of one of the “Holy Men of Israel.”

The Baba Sali Visits Safed

“In 1921 CE, a member of the illustrious Abuchatzeirah family of Morocco visited Israel. It was his first trip to the Land of our forefathers, and Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzeirah was especially excited about visiting the mystical city of Safed. Known as the Baba Sali, the young thirty-year-old prince of Morocco traveled to the Holy Land with a personal attendant. When he reached the city, well-wishers, rabbis and children came to greet him. After settling down, he went to officially to meet with the rabbis of the town, especially the saintly Rabbi Eliezer Shlomo Elfandari ZT"L.

Israeli Stamp commemorating Baba Sali

We can imagine how the Baba Sali reacted to the report of the haunted Ari Sefardi Synagogue. "Impossible!" he uttered. "Demons in control of the holy synagogue in which the saintly Ari Zal prayed! Never!" But the facts were real. Anyone who entered there did not leave alive. After a few mysterious deaths of this type, the beadle of the synagogue had locked and bolted it closed indefinitely.

A Time to Act

Rav Yisrael Abuchatzeirah, fully aware of the danger which awaited anyone who dared to enter the synagogue, sent his personal aide straight away to the gatekeeper's house to implore him to open the synagogue for him. In the meantime, Rabbi Yisrael walked down to the Ari mikve (ritual immersion pool) and immersed in the cold spring water pool.

The old gatekeeper flatly refused the aide's request. "Don't you know," he told the young man sternly, "how many corpses lie inside? It is impossible to remove them." With a sad look in his eyes, he concluded, "I cannot give the key to you or to anyone else. I will not be a party to certain death." The Baba Sali's personal attendant persisted, "My Rebbe, the holy Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzeirah, is not an ordinary sightseer, nor is he foolish to endanger his life without due reason. Surely, he has a special mission to accomplish here in Safed by redeeming the holy synagogue from the grip of these demons. It is your duty to open the shul. Don't fear. My Rebbe's blessing shall be upon you." Slowly, the beadle acquiesced to the Baba Sali's request. A time was set to meet in the courtyard of the synagogue an hour later that very afternoon.

Standing by the huge doorway to the synagogue, the gatekeeper again reiterated his reluctance to open the door. "Therefore," he said with a heavy, nervous tone in his voice, "I must ask you to please tie this rope around your waist. If, Heaven forbid, you do not come out, I shall be able to pull....." "It is unnecessary, my dear friend," said the Baba Sali. "Fear not! In another few minutes you will be inside with me, alive and well."