To the first chapter:
http://stage.co.il/Stories/404904
3: Mashiach, Mashiach
"But who said we may 'play god' and bring the Messiah by
ourselves?" I asked Horev. It was our third morning. He
would always talk with me in these morning hours, and then
disappear for the rest of the day, returning late at night
and sleeping until the morrow.
"My grandpa told me about someone, one Joseph De La Reina,
who tried it a couple of hundred years ago. The results were
not good."
"We must try," Horev explained to me for the who-knows-what
time, patience turning to stubbornness. "Otherwise... You
know the state of Israel cannot withstand by itself against
the opposing forces, who gnaw at it from without and within.
Even in your time the Jews are a minority, and the Observant
ones are a minority-within-minority. In our time the
situation only worsens. Our analysts predict that unless we
make an effort to bring the Messiah now, in our time-point,
in the next generation it will be already too late to save
the situation."
"Don't you rely on Hashem?" I asked.
"Hashem helps those who help themselves," was the answer.
I spent the rest of the day in attempts to find the opening
through which I entered, or any other exit.
On the next day Horev said to me: "Today you will come and
meet our spiritual leader, Rabbi Shalom Mordechai Elyashiv.
Perhaps he may manage to convince you."
He took out a flashlight and shone it on a small square in
the wall. The wall rolled sideways and revealed a tunnel,
wide and easy to walk in. After a few feet we came out into
a green lawn, and at its edge stood something that looked
like a two-seater motor-cycle. Horev helped me climb the
side seat and himself entered the driver's seat. "Strap
yourself," he muttered. I did.
A shield of a semi-transparent plastic-like material
enveloped me on 3 sides. The ride reminded me of a
helicopter flight, just like the one I took in the amusement
park last summer. After half an hour we arrived at our
destination.
The elder was clad in a white toga and wrapped in a
Tallit
and
Tfillin. He explained to me that in every generation
there were the elect few who strived to bring the Messiah,
and that it is the duty of every Jew who is requested to
assist it to do so.
He said: "The true purpose of the existence of the human
species is to raise the Shekhina from its ashes and restore
the Kingdom of David to its proper place. The holocaust
happened because the Jews sank into the exile and most of
them refused to join the Zionist-spiritual effort to build
the Third Temple."
Horev served me cold juice while the elder continued
speaking.
"After many generations of
Kabalah study and prayer, the
secret of the redemption was revealed to my grandfather,
Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, a descendant of the author of 'Leshem
Shevo Ve'achlama.'
"The Messiah is a person gifted with supreme powers and
tremendous technological knowledge, who arrived from the
Future. With his help we can bring about the True and
Complete Redemption and raise the
Shekhina from its ashes
and restore the Kingdom of David to its proper place.
"But we have factors who oppose us, and they wish to bring
mankind to its ruin. To that end they have imprisoned the
Messiah behind barriers impassable by time-travel.
"Impassable to us, that is. You have earned the privilege to
be the agent of the High Providence to cross these barriers
and bring the Messiah. Will you accept the task?"
I was convinced. It seemed he knew what he was talking
about.
Anyway, it won't hurt to try. Besides, it looked like this
was more interesting than the
Talmud lessons by Rabbi
Hershkowitz in School.
To chapter 4: http://stage.co.il/Stories/423108