A cryptic message by the most prominent Kabbalist of this generation has finally appeared: when there are elections but no government is selected, the Messiah is right around the corner.
Forty years ago, Rabbi Eliyahu Merav was a young man and searching for his path to serve God. Rabbi Merav frequented the court of Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri, a rabbi and Kabbalist from Baghdad noted for his utter devotion.
“It is very important to understand such things in context,” Rabbi Merav told Breaking Israel News. “Rabbi Kaduri spoke very little so it was very important to understand precisely what he intended. One day, he was taking questions and someone asked when the Moshiach (Messiah) would arrive and whether there were signs the would precede his arrival. The rabbi answered, ‘When there will be elections but there will not be a government’.”
Rabbi Merav noted that at the time, this statement was very confusing.
“It seemed contradictory,” Rabbi Merav said. “How could there be elections but no government? If there are elections, there will be a government. That is simply the way things work. No one understood him at the time but this is really how it is with prophecy; you don’t understand it until it happens.”
Rabbi Merav continued in his service, taking great inspiration from the teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, an 18th-century Hasidic master who emphasized faith and meditation. Rabbi Kaduri passed away in 20o6 at the age of 108, leaving Rabbi Merav to ponder the meaning of his cryptic message. For forty years, politics in Israel ran its natural course.
In April, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party won 36 seats. The right-wing bloc was the clear majority and, as per Israeli law, President Reuven Rivlin gave Netanyahu the mandate to form a coalition that would have Netanyahu heading the Israeli government for an unprecedented fifth term. Netanyahu had 28 days to form a coalition but due to complications encountered in negotiations, he requested and received a two-week extension. Netanyahu encountered an unexpected impasse; Avigdor Liberman, the head of Yisrael Beiteinu, refused to come to terms. This development was shocking as Liberman and Netanyahu were long-time political allies with Liberman serving as the Minister of Defense until last November. For the first time in Israeli history, a second round of general elections was necessary to choose a government.
“The primary goal of every politician is to stay in power,” Rabbi Merav noted. “It goes against their nature to want to campaign a second time. What is happening now in Israeli politics is not only unprecedented, it is counter-intuitive.”
“As strange as things are, I realized that it was precisely the situation that Rabbi Kaduri described 40 years ago,” Rabbi Merav said. “There is a mitzvah (Torah commandment) incumbent upon every Jew to anticipate the arrival of the Messiah at every moment. I certainly strive to perform that mitzvah but we are not the kind of people who are always seeking signs for the end of days. There is a lot of work to do without that. Serving Hashem is not easy. If there are signs that the Messiah is imminent then these show us that even more than usual, it is time to focus on doing Hashem’s will.”
“I live the geula every moment,” Rabbi Merav said. “I live my life as a Jew, as a man, but in my consciousness, I anticipate the blowing of the final shofar at every moment. And if the Messiah doesn’t appear tomorrow, the main thing is not to become confused. The end is known and it is clear. If not tomorrow, then the day after.”
