I don't know whose idea it was to popularize Kabbalah for the masses, but it never made sense. People who can't read a pasuk in Chumash have a bizarre fascination with the most esoteric spiritual secrets and think they can grasp them. I wonder if they studied calculus before learning to count their fingers and toes.

When I come across kabbalistic teachings I generally gloss over them. Sometimes, however, a down-to-earth message is readily apparent, even if a deeper understanding is out of reach to the uninitiated.

The Zera Shimshon at the end of his commentary on Haazinu provides one such message. He writes that Gog Umagog is the time of tikkun (spiritual rectification) of the entire world, when the kedusha (holiness) will be separated from the klipos (impure forces that contain the holiness). The klipos will fight with all their strength to hold onto what they have, and will wage war against the holy forces. This war will spread out over all the nations.

If you want to know what all this means in spiritual terms, first master the revealed Torah, perfect your character, then learn Kabbalah from one who is truly qualified to teach it. It's certainly not something the average person needs to dwell on. But even if we can understand this only in metaphorical terms, it's clearly what is happening today, like never before.

We are witnessing a worldwide separation of the human population into two groups: those who side with God, imperfect as they might be, and those, when push comes to shove, who don't. We don't know the exact timetable of the redemption, but clearly Hashem is shaking up the world and bringing things to a climax. The evil forces are waging an all-out war to keep everything that is good and holy under their control. It's going to be an epic showdown, there is going to be unfathomable destruction across the world, and finally the holiness will be released from the confines of the evil forces.

We don't have to understand what's going on in the heavenly sphere. If we were meant to know this, it would be revealed to us. What we need to do on the most basic level is recognize that this really is the ultimate war between holiness and impurity – and stay on God's side.

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On that note...

There is a delicious hint in Yirmiya 30:6:

שאלו נא וראו אם ילד זכר מדוע ראיתי כל גבר ידיו על חלציו כיולדה ונהפכו כל פנים לירקון

Inquire now and see if a male can give birth. Why have I seen every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all the faces have turned pale?

This prophecy deals with the frightening period before the final salvation. The first six words of the pasuk add style, but nothing would be missing without them. The pasuk could have started with the rhetorical question why every man is helpless and everyone is afraid.

The commentaries are not bothered by this because, on a pshat level, there is no difficulty. However, there are no superfluous words in Tanach, and there are deeper messages everywhere.

For the first time in human history, the “enlightened” parts of the world are pretending that a man can give birth. Even a year or two ago we would not have imagined that such a notion could be seriously discussed, yet here we are. These seemingly superfluous words, “Inquire now and see if a male can give birth”, are not just rhetorical, they are mocking the empty shells pushing this notion in our days.

Not coincidentally, at the very same time the proud and mighty men of the world are standing helplessly while tyrants strip away their freedom, and everyone is pale with fear.

We can be strengthened by knowing that what is happening now was foretold long ago – even the crazy claims that men can give birth – and everything is under Hashem's control.

I can't say for certain that these seemingly superfluous words are a prophetic hint, but the parallel to our time like no other is striking.

What follows? Open up the sefer and learn it yourself.

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On that note...

The end of the song of Haazinu foretells what will happen at the end of days. Devarim 32:36 states as follows:

כי ידין ה' עמו ועל עבדיו יתנחם כי יראה כי אזלת יד ואפס עצור ועזוב

For Hashem will judge His people and change course for His servants, for He will see that their power is gone and there is no one to help them.

The final pasuk in the prophecy is Devarim 32:43:

הרנינו גוים עמו כי דם עבדיו יקום ונקם ישיב לצריו וכפר אדמתו עמו

The nations will sing the praises of His people when He avenges the blood of His servants. And he will take vengeance on His enemies, and His land will be an atonement [cleansing] for His people.

Millions of Jews have returned to our Land, and the country is officially in our hands, yet we are living under genocidal tyrants and corrupt gangsters who have seized all our power. There is no one to help us. Not Trump, not the United States, not our “friends” around the world, not the Israeli government (God help us), not even the vaunted IDF. The rabbinic establishment has discredited itself, and is complicit with those who wish to destroy us.

There is only Hashem. That's the way it always was, but now it's obvious for all to see, if they don't slam their eyes shut. If Hashem is going to fulfill his guarantees – and of course He will – He must step in very soon.

The final words of the prophetic song, “וכפר אדמתו עמו”, are ambiguous. One of the ways we can understand them is that the Land will be an atonement for the Jews who are in Israel during the times of Gog Umagog, in absence of other merits. We chose to be here, in spite of the false glitter and security of exile, and we choose to remain here. When Hashem unleashes His fury upon our enemies from without and within – which has already begun – He will protect us because our Land provides us a special atonement.

This conclusion to the ancient prophecy of Haazinu is fitting encouragement for our time, and it seems most likely that it will be fulfilled very soon.