"The Great Redemption"
The Remembrance: Ch. 1
The Remembrance will be more comprehensive than The Visitation and will
play
itself out in fifteen stages. Let's recap Ramchal's layout of The
Visitation,
though, before we go on, and see how it will lead to The Remembrance since
the
two phases are interconnected.
The first thing The Visitation will accomplish would be to "emend the
first
imperfection of the exile, which was the hiding of the Divine countenance
and
the dimming of the light". That is, it will see to it that the Shechina be
hoisted up out of the dust of exile, and that the lengthy and arduous
process of
reconnecting the Divine Luminaries begins.
But that will only start when, "the Tzaddik (i.e., the sephirah of Yesod)
will descend and conjoin with Malchut (i.e., the Shechina)", its partner
in the
redemption process. And when the Shechina will "derive the ability and
wherewithal to rise up out of the dust" as a result.
The many souls "that (had been) stuck in darkness" for the longest time
we'd
cited before "will be enstrengthened as well and will escape" then, thanks
to
Moshiach Ben Yoseph (who'll foreshadow the ultimate Moshiach). And
then "the
Moshiach" that is, Moshiach Ben David, "will rectify himself and get ready
to
be the redeemer". That will be followed by the first stage of The
Remembrance,
when our people begin to "desire, love, and be faithful to their shepherd
to a
very great degree", as we'd indicated.
The point is that once we start to sense the Moshiach's presence in our
midst
and begin to understand that the great redemption is upon us, once the
souls
sequestered in darkness for so very long come to the fore, and once G-d's
Presence begins to manifest itself more and more palpably as the Shechina
dusts
itself off and prepares to shine -- all that will "then bring about peace
and
tranquility" and set the stage for The Remembrance. Since it's the
combination
of our people readying itself for the Moshiach's arrival and its reveling
in
the sense of the Divine, in combination with Moshiach readying himself to
assume
his role, that's needed most to set it off.
Text Copyright © 2006 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org.
