And Ya'akov Went on to Sukkot...(Gen. 33.17)

Normally one does not pray for war. Usually in war the righteous in this incarnation of their lives suffer with the wicked. It is a messy business. Those who build networks of chessed institutions suffer with those who plan parades of homosexuals. Those who vote for kindness to their fellow Jews suffer with those who vote for Kadima. At first glance it seems that war is bloody and unfair. Of course, according to Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato's classic The Way of HaShem, the righteous suffer often to perfect their souls because of sins done or imperfections fostered in previous lives. Sometimes they just suffer for the sins of the generation so that the world itself will not be destroyed by those sins. Be that as it may, War is usually Hell.

The upcoming war that is the final battles of Gog UMagog that will probably take place some time between tomorrow, the 29th of Sivan, and when Gog W. Bush leaves office in January 2009 (Winter 5769) will be no exception to this rule. It will be bloody, lo aleynu, maybe even the bloodiest war in all of history, may Heaven spare us. Yet, the Talmud in several places tells us that in the seventh year there will be war, and when we daven the shmonah esrei (18 blessing prayer), the seventh blessing is a blessing for redemption. Why is this the case? This is so because the war in the seventh year of Gog UMagog is really the beginning of the redemption process even though Mashiach does not show up until the eighth year. The only question becomes how do we know which year of the eight year process we are in now in the year 5767. The Al Aksa Intifada began a day and a half before Rosh HaShana 5761, and Israel was condemned by the United Nations for defending itself by a vote of 92 to 6 on Hoshana Rabba 5761. See my article on The South Asian Tsunami . It was the beginning of Israel's agony of the last generation, our Gog and Magog agony, before Gog W. is elected later that Fall. Counting seven years leads to the conclusion that our seven years are up this summer of 5767, a year which ends in a seven. The more classic interpretation, though, of the word "shvi'is" describing the seventh year is the Shmittah (sabbatical) year which is next year 5768. Rav Kaduri ztl. is quoted as saying that the Gaon of Vilna's iterpretation of the word shvi'is is just that, the sabbatical year. The Gaon according to the Saintly Rav Kaduri even said that the seven years of Gog U Magog would begin on Hoshana Rabbah (the seventh day of the Feast of Booths) in the first year of a shmittah cycle and would conclude in the eighth year, which is the first year of the next Shmittah cycle. The seventh year would be the year of the war. The eighth year would be the year of Mashiach's timely arrival. Therefore it is no accident that while 9/11 was a week before Rosh Hashana 5762 and while 9/11 itself was therefore on the 23rd of Elul 5761, Gog launched his air war against the Taliban in Afghanistan on Hoshana Rabba 5762, the first year of a Shmittah cycle.

I have decided to write and publish in spurts. Check as often as you like to see when I write more. I have time to write often but in spurts.