Parashat Vayechi concludes the Book of Bereishit, and at the very same time, it opens a doorway into the Book of Shemot - the Chumash of Redemption. For in our parashah, Yaakov Avinu seeks to reveal the end of days to his sons, and through this, the vast topic of calculations of the redemption opens before us: what was transmitted to us, what was sealed from us, and how we are to relate to all those dates transmitted by the Torah giants throughout the generations.
וַיִּקְרָא יַעֲקֹב אֶל בָּנָיו וַיֹּאמֶר הֵאָסְפוּ וְאַגִּידָה לָכֶם אֵת אֲשֶׁר יִקְרָא אֶתְכֶם בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים - "And Yaakov called to his sons and said, 'Gather together, and I will tell you that which will befall you in the end of days.'"
Rashi explains: He sought to reveal the end. Yaakov wanted to tell his sons what would happen in the end of days and when the end of days would arrive - but the Shechinah departed from him, and he began speaking of other matters: "Reuven, you are my firstborn, my strength and the beginning of my might," and he began distributing blessings to the tribes. The end was not revealed.
From Rashi, it appears that the Shechinah departed from Yaakov. But in the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 98), the implication is precisely the opposite - that the Shechinah appeared to him. This is compared to a beloved friend of the king who was departing from the world, with his sons gathered around his bed. He said to them: "Come, and I will reveal the king's secrets to you." He raised his eyes and looked - and behold, the king was standing before him. Immediately he changed course and said to them: "Be scrupulous with the king's honor." So it was with Yaakov - he raised his eyes and saw the Shechinah standing over him, and said to them: "Be scrupulous with the honor of the Holy One, blessed be He." Yaakov understood that it was not His will to reveal the end, and therefore he did not reveal it.
Indeed, consider for a moment what would have happened had Yaakov Avinu revealed the end some three thousand five hundred years ago, telling his sons that even after three thousand five hundred years the redemption would still not have arrived. What heartbreak, what despair that would have caused! Therefore, Yaakov turns to other matters.
Yet in the continuation of the verses, a difficulty arises. Yaakov says: "Assemble yourselves and hear, sons of Yaakov, and listen to Yisrael your father." What is the meaning of "assemble yourselves"? What is there to assemble? Chazal explain: He hinted to them about the ingathering of the exiles. As if to say, Yaakov tells them: He will gather the dispersed of Israel and assemble the scattered of Judah, and I will gather the outcast. But just a moment ago we said that the King was standing over him and that Yaakov understood it was not His will - so how could he turn around and tell them that he wishes to reveal how the redemption will unfold? That is one difficulty. And the second difficulty: did he actually tell them anything? In practice, he told them nothing of the sort. What, then, changed here? First he realizes it is not the Divine will, then "assemble yourselves," and finally "Reuven, you are my firstborn" as he begins the blessings. The flow is not clear at all.
To understand this, we must speak a little about the very concept of the redemption and simplify the matter. The Midrash states: There are two people to whom the end of days was revealed and then concealed from them once again, and they are Yaakov and Daniel. Daniel, concerning whom it is said: "And you, Daniel, close up the words and seal them." To Daniel, the time of the redemption was revealed, where the timeframe appears as "a time, times, and half a time" (one who wishes may listen to this in our commentary on Sefer Daniel, where we presented several explanations offered to decipher this date). Afterward, he was told to close up and seal the words "until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase" - and only then would they be worthy of knowing when the end would arrive. That is to say, there was a moment of revelation, and afterward he was told to seal it. The matter was sealed, as if concealed from him.
So too with Yaakov: "that which will befall you in the end of days" - the end was revealed to him, and immediately he proceeds to another matter, "Reuven, you are my firstborn." We see from here that Daniel, too, ultimately did not know the end - he possessed the knowledge, but it was concealed from him.
If so, how is it that throughout all generations we have seen great Torah leaders attempt to decipher the calculations in Sefer Daniel? There we find a wide variety of calculations. Rav Saadia Gaon made a calculation, which Rashi cites in Daniel. The Ramban calculated and arrived at the year 5118. The Abarbanel also calculated, as did the Chasam Sofer. The Malbim calculated and arrived at the year 5673 - the date according to his approach, about a century ago. In the book Masa Ba'arav by Rav Shmuel Romanelli of Mantua, he calculated the year 5727. In Kuntres HaYechieli by Rabbi Yitzchak Alfiah, and similarly in the book HaTekufah HaGedolah, they calculated the year 5750.
They even found an allusion to this, for those who recall that period: "The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil" (Amar oyev erodof asig achaleik shalal) - the five words beginning with the letter aleph represent the five thousandth millennium (the year 5000), and the initials of the subsequent words, timla'eimo nafshi... yield Tav-Shin-Nun (5750), as an allusion to the words of Kuntres HaYechieli and Sefer HaTekufah. And when the redemption did not arrive in 5750 - they did not despair: they added the next letter, from arika ("I will draw [my sword]"), yielding Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph (5751). They believed that this was the time of redemption. Yet even then, the harvest passed, the summer ended, and we were not saved.
Rashi writes concerning the calculation of Rav Saadia Gaon: "And once it passed, it became known that he was mistaken in his expositions, and whoever comes after him will search and expound in a different manner." If the time passed, the calculation was evidently mistaken, so calculate anew and seek another deciphering of the secret of the end in Sefer Daniel. What do we learn from this? On the one hand, "close up the words," yet on the other hand, we attempt to decipher them; and Rashi says that if we deciphered them in one way and it did not materialize, we will decipher them in another way. We therefore understand that the end of days can be explained in several different ways and through various possibilities. Daniel initially knew the correct interpretation, and afterward it was concealed from him; this is the meaning of "close up the words and seal the book until the time of the end; many will roam about, and knowledge will increase" - only when knowledge increases will the true time become clear, because there are many times that are inherently auspicious windows of opportunity.
It is written in a verse in Michah: "As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders." The future redemption is destined to mirror the first redemption, the Exodus from Egypt. And what is the parallel? Let us consider: in the redemption from Egypt, the Holy One, blessed be He, established a timeframe and a date in advance: "Your seed will be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and they will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years." Here we have an explicit timeframe. Yet what do we assume - that when a timeframe is written, we truly know how to decipher it? In Sefer Daniel it is written, "a time, times, and half a time," and we do not know what "a time" is, what "times" are, or what "half a time" is, and the entire discussion revolves around that. But here it explicitly says four hundred years. True - but from when does the counting begin? At what point are we considered to be in exile?
The Midrash states (Shir HaShirim Rabbah): When Moshe came and said to Israel, "In this month you are being redeemed," they said to him: "Moshe Rabbeinu, how can we be redeemed when we have completed only two hundred and ten years? For Yaakov said to his sons, 'Go down (redu) there,' and redu in gematria equals two hundred and ten. You say that the time of redemption has arrived? We have a date, handed down to us from our forefather Avraham, of four hundred years, yet we have been here in Egypt for only two hundred and ten! Moshe, there must be an error in the calculation, or Hashem did not send you - something here does not add up." He said to them: "Since He desires your redemption, He does not look at your calculations, 'for they sought out many calculations.' As it says: 'The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills' - there are mountains of calculations for the end, but the Holy One, blessed be He, leaps over them and hastens the redemption, even though according to your calculation there is still so much time remaining."
In other words, already in the redemption from Egypt we saw that there was a date, there was a timeframe, and we thought we understood it - yet it turned out that we had no true grasp of it at all. After all, the tribe of Ephraim also miscalculated the end. They left Egypt early because they believed the four hundred years were counted from the Covenant Between the Parts (Bris Bein HaBesarim), so according to their calculation the time had already arrived much earlier. They arose and left - and we all know they were struck down and killed by the men of Gat, as Rashi cites in Shemos. There was a calculation, but the calculation was mistaken: who said one was meant to count from that point? And by the way, it is fascinating to note that those sons of Ephraim were the very ones whom Yechezkel resurrected in the valley of Dura. The dead whom Yechezkel revived - Chazal say (according to one opinion) that these were those sons of Ephraim who left prematurely and were killed, and they were the dry bones Yechezkel brought back to life.
And so it was with the redemption of the Second Temple. Achashverosh made a feast - why? Because he calculated the seventy years. After all, it was explicitly stated that after seventy years they would return to the Land, seventy years corresponding to the seventy sabbatical years: "Then shall the land appease its sabbaths." What could be simpler? Yet from when does one count seventy years? The exile did not happen all at once: first Gad, Reuven, and the half-tribe of Menasheh were exiled from the eastern side of the Jordan; later Samaria (Shomron) went into exile; and later Jerusalem was exiled. He made his calculation and brought out the vessels of the Beis HaMikdash - and he erred in his calculation. We see that even when a calculation is given to us, it is by no means certain that we understand it correctly, nor is it certain that we know the starting point being referred to.
This is what we mean when we say that the Holy One, blessed be He, "calculated the end" (chishav es hakeitz). "Calculated" - meaning it is not as straightforward as one might think; it requires careful computation. You may imagine you know, thinking this is the time and this is the date - but no. The Holy One, blessed be He, calculated the end. "As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders": so too with the future redemption, it must be calculated.
If so, what are we to say about all those calculations? Did spiritual giants, the greatest luminaries of the generations, propose dates only for them to be faulty errors? That is very difficult to accept. Rather, we must understand a fundamental principle, which can be illustrated through two parables.
The first parable is that of a savings plan. A person wishes to withdraw his money, but he is told that if he withdraws it now, he will forfeit fifteen or twenty percent. Why? Because there are designated exit windows: every three years funds can be withdrawn, and at the end of fifteen years the entire sum can be withdrawn in full. If you withdraw beforehand, you incur a penalty. What does this mean? At any other time withdrawal is impossible, yet it does not guarantee that the money will necessarily be withdrawn after three years; one might withdraw after six years, or after twelve. It is an exit window - let us call it an auspicious opportunity. In the same way, there are auspicious times for the arrival of the redemption. When the great sages of Israel calculated the end, they did not err; their calculations were precise. They formulated dates based on the computations of Sefer Daniel, which is closed and sealed, meaning that matters are not absolute and there are multiple potential windows for the redemption. Every date they designated was an auspicious time during which the redemption could have arrived, a time when the Holy One, blessed be He, waited and watched to see if the Jewish people could be redeemed.
The second parable: from time to time, a municipality announces to residents that they have a window of time to settle their debts - property taxes, parking fines, and the like. Similarly, the police offer amnesties to pay overdue fines, and the army allows anyone who "forgot" military equipment at home to return it with no questions asked. An opportunity. However, usually, after the municipality offers an opportunity to settle the debt without interest, anyone who comes after the deadline pays a very heavy price. And the logic is simple: you were given a chance, you were given an opportunity, and instead of seizing it, you treated it with contempt - and that invites punishment, doubling the fine and increasing it.
The two parables complement each other: the bank account teaches that there are windows of opportunity to exit, and the account with the municipality teaches that if one does not exit in time - woe to him. Then come fines, lawyers, legal fees, and interest, and everything becomes far more complicated.
Let us examine this: regarding all the dates calculated by the early authorities, anyone who examines them historically sees that they were times uniquely auspicious for redemption, periods of great shifts in the world. Yet because we did not rectify our deeds and were not truly worthy of the arrival of the redemption, that very time - which was meant to be an era of abundance - generated terrible destruction and immense devastation.
Consider an example from a familiar historical reality. It is written in the Zohar in Ra'aya Meheimna, and this is discussed at length in Mishnat HaGilgulim, where there is an entire discourse on Noach and his reincarnations in Moshe: Moshe Rabbeinu was supposed to receive the Torah in the generation of the Flood. The generation of the Flood was the generation in which the Torah was meant to descend, and Moshe Rabbeinu was the one destined to receive it and transmit it at the very beginning of world history. For consider: why did so much time have to pass before the Torah was given? Why wait nearly two thousand five hundred years, until the year 2448, for Matan Torah? The answer is that the Torah truly was meant to be given much earlier.
However, that generation was wicked, and this is what is written: "My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he also [beshagam] is flesh" (Bereishit 6:3). Beshagam, the Gemara notes, has the numerical value of Moshe (345). This means that that era was an auspicious time. In the words of the Zohar: "The Holy One, blessed be He, planted Moshe in the generation of Noach, but it did not succeed." And who was Moshe in the generation of Noach? Noach himself, for Noach possessed the soul of Moshe. Moreover, Moshe appears once in Tanach with a suspended nun as "Menashe" (Shoftim 18:30), which forms an acronym for Moshe, Sheit, Hevel, Noach. The literature on this elaborates on many of the remarkable parallels between Moshe and Noach.
Rav Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin states an awe-inspiring principle: when there is a time propitious for ascent and a person fails to seize the opportunity, on the contrary, instead of the great elevation he was meant to attain, he suffers a catastrophic fall. It is not that one simply remains where he was; rather, he plummets far lower. Because there was an opportunity to ascend and he did not ascend, the descent is into a deep pit. The Maharal brings an example from what occurred in the generation of Noach: the Torah was meant to descend, and to what is the Torah compared? To water. Moshe Rabbeinu ascended Mount Sinai and brought the Torah over forty days and forty nights. Yet that generation was unworthy of the giving of the Torah - it was a generation of wicked people - and what did they receive? Forty days and forty nights of a deluge. Rav Tzadok explains: so it is. When abundance is poised to descend and we have prepared no vessels, the abundance does not manifest as blessing, but as affliction, disaster, and ruin - a flood that washes over the world.
The same holds true regarding the redemption. When there is a time when we are capable of redemption and we do not act properly, that tremendous abundance - Hashem's desire to redeem us - arrives through heavenly accusation. An auspicious time represents an opportunity to be seized; when we fail to awaken, it incites the Sitra Achra to prosecute the Jewish people: "Master of the Universe, they are already at the doorstep, needing only a single step, yet they did not take it!" This terrible accusation causes that very abundance to descend through wrath and fury.
Let us examine this further. One of the dates noted by early authorities - cited in Keitz HaPela'ot, chapter 4, in the glosses of Berachah VeYeshu'ah, sub-section 9 - is the year 5408 (1648) as a time auspicious for redemption, and this finds support in the Zohar. The holy Zohar states that the time destined for redemption was hinted at in the verse, "With this [bezot] shall Aharon enter the Sanctuary" (Vayikra 16:3) - zot (zayin, alef, tav) equals 408, referring to the year 5408. The Zohar further states: "In this [hazot] jubilee year, each man shall return to his ancestral holding" (Vayikra 25:13) - which year? "Hazot" - 5408. This was the time when, according to the Zohar, the redemption was meant to arrive. Instead, what happened? The horrific massacres of Tach ve-Tat (1648-1649), in which vast multitudes were slaughtered by Chmielnicki and his hordes - truly horrific tragedies.
Incidentally, this is also hinted at in Megillat Esther. In the Megillah, as is well known, the small letters in the names of the ten sons of Haman hint at the ten Nazi war criminals executed at Nuremberg, a topic addressed in a dedicated discourse elsewhere. In contrast, there are two large letters in the Megillah: the tav in "Vatichtov Esther" (Esther 9:29), and the chet in "Chur karpas utchelet" (Esther 1:6). Combining them yields Tach (408). These were the decrees of Tach ve-Tat, horrific catastrophes. It was an opportunity for redemption that the Jewish people did not seize, and entire communities were wiped off the face of the earth.
And earlier still: from the verse in Iyov, "When the morning stars sang together" (Beran yachad), they anticipated the year 5252 (1492) as the year of redemption. And what took place in 5252? The Spanish Expulsion, five hundred years ago. And even earlier, they anticipated the year 4856 (1096), based on the verse, "You shall grant redemption [ge'ulah titnu] to the land" - Titnu (4856) as the time of redemption. And what took place? The Crusades, rivers of blood spilled throughout the Jewish world and across the globe in the year 4856.
In the sefer Iggeret LeKetz HaYamin, it is cited in the name of the Kabbalists that the year 5700 (1939-1940) would be the year of redemption - and in 5700, World War II broke out. The Malbim anticipated the year 5673 (1913) as the year of redemption - and in the very next year, "and the earth trembled" (vetiraad ha'aretz, a play on 5674 / Tarat), World War I erupted. This pattern is systematic and striking: a year anticipated as the time of redemption either brought, or was immediately followed by, disaster and tribulation. In the sefer Massa Ba'arav, which we mentioned, the year 5727 (1967) was anticipated - and there is no need to elaborate: the Six-Day War. They foresaw it many years in advance as a year of redemption, but we were not worthy. Baruch Hashem, it ended relatively well, but one can imagine what might have happened otherwise. Rabbi Yitzchak Alfiah, in Kuntres HaYechieli, anticipated the year 5750 (1990) - and we all remember 5751, the Gulf War and the missiles fired at the State of Israel.
We understand, then, that the time of redemption is an opening, an opportunity, a potential to be seized. And if it is not seized - woe unto us.
It is cited in the name of one of the tzaddikim that each of the great leaders throughout the generations who anticipated a specific date was actually perceiving in his mind's eye a tremendous spiritual light descending at that moment, and in light of that perception, he found support in the Book of Daniel. However, he did not take into account that by the time that designated moment arrived, the Jewish people would experience further declines and become less worthy. It emerges, then, that redemption depends on two factors: the date itself, and our readiness when that date arrives. If we are prepared at those exit stations, the redemption truly arrives; but if not, it is postponed again and again to subsequent exit stations.
And so it is written that had Israel merited it, Moshe Rabbeinu would have been Melech HaMashiach, and likewise King Solomon and King Chizkiyahu. In Moshe's era, had we been worthy, he would have been the Messiah. In Solomon's era, the same was true. And Chizkiyahu - had he recited shirah (song of praise), the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to make him Melech HaMashiach. These were opportune eras when, had we only exerted ourselves, we would have been redeemed - but alas, there was a spiritual flaw; there was a deficiency.
This has been compared to a sinking ship. A ship is divided into watertight compartments so that if water enters, it will not flood the entire vessel. It has closing bulkhead doors, and once they seal shut, there is no way out. Rabbi Mordechai Neugroschel once illustrated our situation through this imagery: the door is descending lower and lower, leaving only a narrow gap, and we are bending down, trying to pull one more person through - to drag another soul from the flooding section into the compartment of those who will survive. What is the urgency of bringing a fellow Jew to teshuvah? What is the purpose of outreach? 'My friend, you are in the sinking section! Give me your hand, let me pull you through, just moments before it is too late.' But he replies: 'What are you talking about? Look how pleasant the weather is out here; over by you it is hot and there is no air conditioning...' He does not realize that Gehennom is far hotter. He has complaints about why religious people act this way or do that - failing to understand that we only wish to help him realize his predicament: soon the bulkhead will seal, and then nothing more can be done.
And this is what Yaakov was conveying to them: "Gather together," "assemble yourselves" - know that everything depends on your deeds. There is no point in transmitting fixed dates. From the very beginning, whenever dates were given, misunderstandings arose; even with the four hundred years of Egyptian exile, the date given was misunderstood; and from Daniel, the vision was sealed. Therefore, there is no purpose in providing dates - instead, I will tell you the path to bring about the redemption in every generation.
Yaakov Avinu sought to reveal the end of days, but it was concealed from him; similarly with Daniel - it was revealed to him and then resealed: "Keep the words secret and seal the book." From this we see that all the calculations of the end made by the Torah giants throughout the generations were not mistakes, but rather auspicious times, exit stations at which the redemption could have arrived. And as we have seen with all those dates - 5408, 5252, 4856, 5700, 5673, 5727, 5750 - divine abundance for which proper vessels have not been prepared descends like a deluge, and a missed opportunity is not mere stagnation, but a devastating fall. Redemption, therefore, depends not only on the appointed time, but on our readiness when that time arrives. May the Holy One, blessed be He, help us rectify our deeds and improve our ways, and may we merit not only to reach the time when we witness the arrival of the Redeemer, but to be worthy and fit to welcome the countenance of Mashiach, Amen and Amen.