if i could only tell them the end is near,
that the end of their suffering is coming.
perhaps, it would offer some comfort.
but i, like them, am left in the dark,
no answers to be found.
my only hope is that you're in this with us.
that our blessings are your blessings,
our pain is your pain.
are you in this? can you feel this?
is the end near?
Parshat Vayehi, December 23, 1949 From what we have discussed above, we can easily understand this Talmud story, because “the child’s blessings are the blessings of his parents.” --and so, the blessings of the Jewish people are the blessings of God. Conversely, when our father Jacob died the Jewish people descended into the depths of suffering, to the point where even the Torah was damaged and wounded -- This, then, is our greatest and ultimate hope: that if our suffering has such an effect and causes damage at such supernal levels, then surely God will save us.
“Our father Jacob wanted to reveal the end of the exile to his children, but it was blocked from.” This circumstance in itself heralds the end of the exile. If this chapter of the Torah text is “blocked off” because our father Jacob was blocked and prevented from revealing the end, which suggests that knowledge of the end was denied him, then the damage was cosmic. Similarly, whenever we see that the troubles have grown so great that the Torah itself and the study halls of the synagogues and the yeshivas are all closed and locked, we can take heart -- for it is clear from these circumstances that the damage is cosmic and reaches the small and the great, and so we can surely trust to God that the end is close.
אבל כנ"ל ברכת הבנים הוא ברכת האב וברכת ישראל ברכת הקב"ה ולהיפך כשנפטר יעקב אבינו וישראל נתנו בצרה גם התורה נסתמה וגם בה נעשה פגם וזהו גם תקותנו אם צרותינו מגיעות כ"כ למעלה וגם במרום הפגם בטח יושיענו ד'.
ביקש לגלות את הקץ ונסתם ממנו אבל בזה בעצמו הקץ נרמז שכיון שהפרשה נסתמה וגם ביעקב אבינו פעל לסתום ממנו הקץ שמשמע שגם ממנו נסתם וכן גם תמיד כשרואין שהצרות מתגברות עד שהתורה ובתי המדרשים וישיבות ננעלות והפגם מגיע לקטנים ולגדולים אז בטוחים אגו בד' שהקץ קרוב לבא
