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Maamar VIII: On Redemption. Chapter 1. The Eighth Maamar: On the Redemption.
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Our Lord, mighty and exalted, has informed us through His prophets that He will deliver the community of Israel from the situation in which we find ourselves, and gather our scattered ones from the east and the west of the earth.
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He will bring us to His holy city and settle us there, making us His chosen and select — as it says: "Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the setting sun; and I will bring them back, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem…"
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The prophets elaborated extensively on this theme and recorded many passages about it. And this knowledge did not first reach us through the later prophets — rather, it is from the messenger Moses our teacher that we first became acquainted with this promise.
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For he says in the Torah: "And the Lord your God will restore your fortunes," and the rest of what he says in that passage to its end. And they brought us signs and proofs for it, and we accepted it.
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I undertook to examine this matter and this chapter by way of rational investigation, and I found nothing in need of further elaboration once its argument is correctly formulated — except for one point, which I will mention at the midpoint of this maamar.
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The obligation of the Redemption rests on several grounds. Among them: the truth of Moses's signs, who first spoke of it; and the signs that stood for Isaiah the prophet and other prophets who brought tidings of it; and that their Sender
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— is beyond doubt, as it says: "Who confirms the word of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers."
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Among them also: He is just and does not act unjustly — and this nation has been put through a prolonged and severe ordeal; some of it is doubtless punishment for us, and some of it is a trial for us.
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Each of these two states has a finite duration — it cannot be without end. When it ends, it is necessary that the punishment of the one cease and the compensation of the other be paid.
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As it says: "For she has paid for her iniquity; she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins."
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Among them also: He is true to His promise; His word stands firm and His command endures — as it says: "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever."
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Among them also: we measure these promises by analogy with His first promise, when we were in Egypt — where He only promised us two things: that He would judge our oppressor, and that He would give us great wealth.
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That is His words: "And also the nation that they serve I will judge, and afterwards they shall go out with great wealth." Our eyes have seen what He did for us: the splitting of the sea, the manna, the quail, the standing at Mount Sinai, the stopping of the sun, and similar wonders.
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How much more, then, when He has promised us the great and encompassing things: blessing, happiness, glory, might, and honor — which He has made many times greater than the humiliation and suffering we endured,
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As it says: "In place of your shame you shall have double; in place of disgrace they shall rejoice in their portion…" What passed over us was like the blink of an eye, while what He will compensate us is a vast mercy — for He said: "In a brief moment I abandoned you,"
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"and with great mercy I will gather you." Based on this trial and based on analogy with what has passed — He will do to us multiplied multiples beyond what He promised.
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— in a measure we cannot quickly enumerate in full, as He says: "And He will do good to you and make you more numerous than your ancestors." For this reason, the remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt is repeated for us in many places in the Torah, reminding us of what we witnessed.
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And if something promised in the Egyptian redemption was not explicitly mentioned for this redemption, it falls under the verse: "As in the days of your going out from the land of Egypt, I will show you wonders."
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That is why you find us patient and waiting for it — without doubt, without distress, without constriction of heart — rather we grow ever more fortified and firm, as it says: "Be strong and let your heart take courage, all who hope in the Lord."
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Whoever sees us in this state is either amazed at us or considers us foolish — only because he has not experienced what we have experienced, and has not believed as we have believed.
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He is like one who has never seen grain sown — if he sees someone throw it into furrows of earth to grow, he considers it foolish; but at harvest time, when every measure yields twenty or thirty, it will become clear that he himself was the ignorant one.
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Scripture uses exactly this image for us: "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy."
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Similarly, one who has never seen a child raised mocks the person who is raising a child and enduring all that comes with it, saying: what does this person expect? But when the child grows and acquires knowledge and wisdom and becomes a king who leads armies — that mocker realizes he himself was the one who was ridiculous.
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Scripture uses this image, saying: "Before she went into labor she gave birth; before her pangs came she delivered a son."