The Nightingale Owns a Pruning Shears

 Yes, it has been a very hard year.  So I was looking for some really good news that would seem to conform with a hard and fast Geulah circumstance that would confirm that we are approaching successfully the end of the Mashiach ben Yosef stage of our long and storied history.  Suddenly last week after almost all of the Erev Rav Generals from 7 October 2023 have handed in their resignations or have been fired, a new Ramatkal was hired either on the 6th or 7th of Adar.  His name is Eyal Zamir (אייל זמיר).  I bring this up because the verse from which we know that Sefer Kol HaTor is about the process of Mashiach ben Yosef, we have the verse from Song of Songs chap 2 v. 12

 יב  הַנִּצָּנִים נִרְאוּ בָאָרֶץ, עֵת הַזָּמִיר הִגִּיעַ; וְקוֹל הַתּוֹר, נִשְׁמַע בְּאַרְצֵנוּ. 12 The first buds appeared in the Land; the time of the Nightingale (songbird) has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land;

There are several verses dealing with the Rise, Work, and Completion of Mashiach ben Yosef in Song of Songs that precede this verse including two verses related to the Sanctification of the Moon:

ח  קוֹל דּוֹדִי, הִנֵּה-זֶה בָּא; מְדַלֵּג, עַל-הֶהָרִים--מְקַפֵּץ, עַל-הַגְּבָעוֹת. 8 Hark! my beloved! behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

ט  דּוֹמֶה דוֹדִי לִצְבִי, אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים; הִנֵּה-זֶה עוֹמֵד, אַחַר כָּתְלֵנוּ--מַשְׁגִּיחַ מִן-הַחַלֹּנוֹת, מֵצִיץ מִן-הַחֲרַכִּים. 9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh in through the windows, he peereth through the lattices.

Rav Hillel Rivlin was a student of the Gaon who made Aliyah to Yerushalayim in 1809 at the behest of his teacher the Vilna Gaon before he died.  In The Sefer Kol HaTor, by Rav Hillel Rivlin of Shklov in chap 1 records that his teacher the Gaon of Vilna tried to make Aliyah when he was growing old in the year 1782 because according to the calculation of the Gaon, the 12 hours of the 6th days daylight hours can be divided into the last 500 years of the 6th Millennium from Adam's expulsion from the Garden of Eden.  The first 500 years (5001-5500) or 1240 to 1740 of the 6th Millennium corresponded to the nighttime hours of the 6th Day.  So beginning with the year 5501 beginning in 1740, the daylight hours of the 6th day commenced.  Dividing the last 500 years amongst the 12 daylight hours, one gets 41.67 years per Creation hour on the 6th day of Creation starting with Sunrise.  According to the Talmud in Sanhedrin 38b, the 12 hours are divided thusly:

Rav Yochanan ben Chanina said, The day on which Adam was created consisted of twelve hours. During the first hour his dust was gathered; the second hour it was made into a shapeless mass; the third hour his limbs were stretched out; the fourth hour a soul was placed in him; the fifth hour he stood on his feet; the sixth hour he named the animals; the seventh hour he was paired with Chava; the eighth hour they had two children; the ninth hour he was commanded not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge; the tenth hour he sinned; the eleventh hour he was judged; and the twelfth hour he was banished from the Garden of Eden and went on his way (Sanhedrin 38b).

So the Vilna Gaon darshaned that the beginning of the Mashiach ben Yosef period of World History would begin 42 years after the beginning of the 2nd half of the 6th Millennium in the year 1782 specifically at the point of the 6th day of Creation after the dust of the earth had been gathered and had been lumped into a Golem, a shapeless mass.  So he started to come on Aliyah, something which Kol HaTor records, but for some reason he got as far south as Prussia and was forced to turn back.  From the available evidence, he may have turned back when his wife Chana got very ill while in transit and then passed away the following winter.  The Gaon himself was 62 in 1782 and lived another 15 years.  Kol HaTor does not record why he was forced to turn back, just that he tried to make Aliyah in 1782 because it was the beginning of the 2nd hour of daylight on the 6th day of Creation.  In the words of many Rabbeim who came later, it was understood that the Baalei Emunah and the Mitzvot observing Jews would have about 100 years to come before the many Kofrim amongst the Bnai Yisrael would also begin to come about 100 years later.  In order to get ahead of the curve and to philosophically control the direction and leadership of the Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael, a critical mass of frum Jews needed to come between 1782 and 1882.  Failing to achieve that critical mass, the Redemption would proceed with the Kofrim taking the lead.  As recorded on this blog in other places, EXACTLY 100 years later in 1882, five agricultural Yishuvim were founded (Mazkeret Batya, Rishon LeTzion, Zikhron Yaakov along with the Refounding of Rosh Pinah and Petach Tikvah after they had been destroyed by Arab terrorists and a Malaria epidemic respectively).  HaShem had Rachmanut on that first Aliyah where a majority of the Jews who came were G-d fearing.  By the time of the 2nd Aliyah in 1905, though, the Communists and Socialists took control of the Yishuv leadership as predicted because the critical mass of G-d fearing Jews did not come in the 19th Century.  The failure of the G-d fearing to take the lead in Aliyah in the 19th Century dramatically affected how the Redemption would proceed in the 20th Century.

One of the important things to note is when the Sefer Kol HaTor discusses the pasukim of its namesake it says the following:

 צפנת פענ״ח. באתחלתא דגאולה בהגיע עת לחננה שהיא ע״י משיחא דאתחלתא מתחילים גלויי הרמזים שבתורה וחז״ל ולהבין ע״י זה את דרכי האתחלתא ועקבות משיחא המרמזים על ״יעודים מועדים ומיועדים״ עפ״י הכתוב ״הנצנים נראו בארץ עת הזמיר הגיע וקול התור נשמע בארצנו״ ועפ״י הכתוב ״ישרו בערבה מסלה לאלקינו״. כמבואר להלן פרקים ג־ד. ורבנו נחית משמיא לגלות רמזי התורה בעקבות דמשיחא בסוד צפנת פענ״ח ולהורות לנו על־פיהן את דרך המעשה בעקבות משיחא. (ראה לעיל סעיף ד׳ ולהלן פרק ג׳). 

[g]. Tsofnat Paneach. At the beginning of the redemption when “it is the time to favor her” [Ps. 102:14], which will occur through Mashiach of the beginning of the Redemption, then hints in the Torah and in the works of our Sages of blessed memory will begin to be revealed. Thereby, people will begin to understand the ways of the beginning of the Redemption and the footsteps of the Mashiach hinted at in the words, “designated deeds, times and emissaries, ” as is written: “the buds were seen on the land, the songbird’s time has arrived, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land” [Song 2:12]. Also, according to the command, “make straight in the desert a highway for our God” [Isa. 40:3]. As explained below in chapters 3 and 4, the Gaon came down from Heaven in order to reveal the hints of the Torah regarding the footsteps of the Mashiach, hinted at in Tsofnat Paneach, and accordingly to instruct us how to act during the period known as the footsteps of the Mashiach (see above section 9 [d], and below Chapter 3).

What is says above is that in analysis of Shir HaShirim 2:12 above, (The Nitzanim or first buds that would be seen in the Land) would be the Greening of Eretz Yisrael mostly through Agricultural Aliyah.  This happened in actuality in 1882, a full 100 years after the Vilna Gaon hoped to achieve it.  It seems that we are often a dollar short and 100 years too late.  In this case the Edmund James deRothschild helped fund many of these five Yishuvim along with Gardens in honor of his father and mother.  So they were bankrolled, but perhaps there should have been far greater efforts 75 years earlier to initiate the process.  Either way Sefer Kol HaTor calls that part of the pasuk the ייעוד, or the process or deed of Designating the Redemption.  It follows that the Mo'ed (מועד) or the Time of the Redemption is עֵת הַזָּמִיר הִגִּיעַ.  And the Main Emissary (המיועד) is Mashiach ben Yosef called here the Turtledove.  In symbolism from the Covenant between the Parts from Genesis, we see that the Tor or the Turtledove is Mashiach ben Yosef and that the Ben Yonah (Male Dove) is Mashiach ben David.  Since this section of Shir HaShirim concerns itself with Mashiach ben Yosef, the focus is on the Turtledove.

So what I have found fascinating during the past 2 weeks is that a full 142 years have passed since the founding of those "first buds", the five agricultural Yishuvim in Eretz Yisrael, and for most of that 142 year period, the steps of Mashiach ben Yosef have been checked step for step by the Erev Rav.  When the Erev Rav check your steps, miracles are hard to come by, for they darken the path and simply make the process more difficult by 1000 fold.  Derekh HaTeva, G-d withdraws from the Erev Rav Qlipot that they represent, and as we have seen during the past year, many righteous people die because the Erev Rav are mainly an impediment to filling the vessels of Redemption with light.  And they are relentless and never cease to slow down the wheels of Redemption by pouring piles of mud before the wagon of Redemption.  Slowly over the last year, we have seen the Erev Rav Generals resign, quit, or being fired.  Every step is like sloshing through mud when carrying such dead weight.  And by their resistance and their effort to darken what is righteous, the progress forward seems interminable.  And even now, they seek to destroy the progress that has been made from Brothers in Arms, Attorney Generals, and incessant trials of the Prime Minister for what purpose?  But to destroy what is G-dly.  What other world leader in the history of Mankind had to fight a national existential war and fight off a media driven Supreme Court that calls passing legislation in order to get good PR from a hostile media a "Bribe"?  And to spend three days of every week in court in trials that never end.  Really, has this ever happened before in the history of the world?   Suddenly when all the Erev Rav Generals are resigning or being fired month after month, a ray of light finally shines through as the mudslingers have their numbers reduced, and his name happens to be the name from Sefer Kol HaTor signifying the Mo'ed of Redemption.  After all is said and done, the new Ramatkal, may G-d bless him, is Eyal Zamir.  And both his first and his last name are in the Pasukim above.  

דּוֹמֶה דוֹדִי לִצְבִי, אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים; הִנֵּה-זֶה עוֹמֵד, אַחַר כָּתְלֵנוּ--מַשְׁגִּיחַ מִן-הַחַלֹּנוֹת, מֵצִיץ מִן-הַחֲרַכִּים.

עֵת הַזָּמִיר הִגִּיעַ  (The time of the Zamir has arrived.)  Zamir is a double entendre.  It can mean a nightingale or a pruning shears to destroy bad growth on grapevines.

Is this just a huge coincidence?  I have been looking at these pasukim for years and wondering how this will unfold.  I find the apparent "coincidence" that the Name is right out of the Pasukim rather remarkable and not a coincidence at all.