Redemption of captives

Pearls and Milestones of the Path

Israel in whom I glory - Redemption of captives

A) Hashem, blessed be He, rejoices and takes immense pride in every Jew, and about each and every one of Israel He proclaims, saying: “Israel, in whom I will be glorified” (Isaiah 49:3). And even the lowliest in Israel is good and precious before Him, more than all the ministering angels (a), for it is revealed to Him, blessed be He, that the interior of his heart is truly pure and beautiful" (b). And this will be revealed in the time to come, when all will see how the Creator, blessed be He, our Father, our King, will be exalted through us for generations upon generations, and will take pride in us for forever and ever.

B) We must walk in the ways of G-d, blessed be He (c), Who sees in every Jew only immeasurable good, without any fault and without any bad deed or anything that is not good (d). And as it is written: “No harm is in sight for Jacob, No woe in view for Israel.” (Numbers 23:21). Therefore, a Jew can always be found righteous in the Heavenly Court.—If his judgment comes from the Blessed G-d and not from the Heavenly Court, as David prayed: “My vindication will come from You” (Tehilim 17:2).

C. At the time of redemption, we will see the light emanating from every Jew - For it is a light unlike any other, and the heart of every Jew will be filled with pure waters, And he will be able to attain knowledge of G-d. And the revelation of this purity of heart comes through the tears of the exile, and the pouring out of the heart like water before G-d in prayer (e) and then it will be fulfilled "For the land shall be filled with devotion to G-d As water covers the sea" (f) (Isaiah 11:9), Like the surface of the sea, which does not reveal the heights and depths hidden beneath it, thus, there will be no distinction between souls, one above and another below, but all Israel will rise upward.

D. When we merit to fulfill in its entirety "You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old" (g) (Levicus 19:32), We will merit the pure fear of God, and the redemption will come, As the verse concludes, "you shall fear your God: I am Hashem". And this includes the matter of internal honor toward every son of Israel, for it is impossible to know how much divine wisdom there is in each person. And when this matter changes in our knowledge, and we contemplate and understand that in truth G-d, blessed be He, is exalted and takes pride in every Jew, and therefore, it is our obligation to greatly honor every Jew, and all wars and all exiles will cease.

E. For the redemption of captives, one must judge every Jew favorably, praise and glorify every Jew, so that he feels that the verse is truly fulfilled in him: "Israel, in whom I glory." And in particular, if one praises the Jews who are in captivity, And find in each one splendor and praise, that he was this way and that way, that through this, his praise is proclaimed in heaven, through this, that Jew will truly be released into freedom, through complete miracles beyond nature

For only when we, G-d forbid, treat each other with contempt, is it possible for Jews to be held among the nations. For the first glory that Hashem, blessed be He, had in complete form was our father Yaakov, in whom the name "Israel" was established. He was the one who called Mount Moriah the "House of G-d," and he passed down the sanctity of Israel in its fullness to each of his descendants until the end of generations, until in the future the nations will say: "O House of Yaakov! Come, let us walk By the light of G-d". (Isaiah 2:5) But the battle of Esau’s minister, the Satan, is to dim the light of the Jew and make him not believe that he is the crown of all creation and that the Holy One, blessed be He, glories in him above all angels. All his power comes when, G-d forbid, there is among us contempt for the value and preciousness of a Jew, but when the entire house of Jacob dwells with a good eye, no force has any dominion over the people of Israel.

(a)

See the book Emet LeYaakov (p. 130), where it is written: “To explain this matter, we must first introduce what is found in the writings of Rabbi Chaim Vital (Shaarei Kedusha, Part III), where he extensively elaborates on the greatness of the souls of Israel, especially the righteous and the great among them. From his words, it is understood that the souls of Israel are called ‘a garment for the light of Hashem’ (which is clothed within the sefirot). And about them it is said in Hashem’s statement: ‘Israel, in whom I am glorified’ — meaning that the light of Hashem is glorified through the holy souls of Israel. In other words, the divine light is clothed, so to speak, in the holy souls of Israel, because pe’er (glory) means a garment.”

(b)

See the book 'Raza de'Shabbat', in these words: "It is found that the root of the souls of Israel is very high, transcendent of the aspect of the external expansion of His Kingship, may He be blessed, because they arose in the primordial Thought, which is rooted in the interiority of the blessed Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) Itself.".

(c)

As is brought in the Talmud (Sotah 14a): "And Rabbi Chama son of Rabbi Chanina said: What is the meaning of that which is written, 'You shall walk after Hashem your G-d'? - But is it possible for a person to walk after the Divine Presence (Shechinah)? Has it not already been said, 'For Hashem your G-d is a consuming fire'! Rather, it means to walk after the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He."

(d)

As is brought in the Yalku"m (Second Part, 17): "It is the way of G-d, may He be blessed, to look upon the good that people do, and even though there is also found in them that which is not good, He does not look upon it, as it is written (Numbers 23): 'He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob' (see Yalkut and Tanna Devei Eliyahu Rabbah, Ch. 1). How much more so is it forbidden for a person to look upon his fellow negatively, to specifically find in him that which is not good, and to search to find flaws in his fellow's [divine] service.".

(e)

As the prophet says (Lamentations 2:19): "Pour out your heart like water In the presence of Hashem!"

(f)

And the Malbim explained: "He says in his poetic language that the awareness of G-d will spread so greatly that even the predatory animals will recognize that the time of rectification has arrived, even though they do not possess the power of intellect. He likens this to the waters that cover the basin of the sea, where there is no barrier to prevent the water from covering it. So too, the physical substance of animals, which is unprepared for intellect, will not stand in the way of the knowledge of G-d which will spread over all flesh. And this is a poetic expression about the change in the nature of animals by the word of G-d" (end of quote). Consequently, it is understood that if the animals will change in such a way, certainly holy Israel will merit immense virtues beyond measure, as per the statement of the Rabbi above..

(g)

It is brought in the book 'Torat HaKaneh' (folio 67): "He said to him, my son, for this old age one must rise because of the honor of the Supernal Old Age, which is the Supernal Crown (Keter Elyon)". See there within the text how he explains in depth the dispute between R' Yossi HaGlili and Issi ben Yehuda regarding the fulfillment of this commandment (Kiddushin 32-33).

*ספר דברי שלמה - ענייני השעה דף כג-כה