How To Save Yourself At The Time of MaShiach?

1:07He uses a Gemara in Masechet Sanhedrin, page 57, that states the suffering will not halt and will flow like a river. Then he continues by saying that, apart from this, they will grow worse from day to day. His proof comes from last week's Parashat Ki Tavo. Last week's Parashat Ki Tavo is the parasha of the rebuke that Moshe Rabbeinu wrote to us before he died, telling us that if we go against Hashem, this is what will happen. He tells us all of these curses, all of these horrific things, all of which happened during the Holocaust, all of which happened several times actually throughout history, including the worst one, in my opinion, which is that mothers will eat their own kids from starvation. This happened in the Holocaust, and it happened during the many other tragedies we experienced among Am Yisrael. But then Rav Elchonon Wasserman says there's a verse in Parashat Ki Tavo, chapter 28, verse 67, which says:

2:20In the morning you will say, who can give back last night? In the evening you will say, who can give back this morning? This means that the nightmare will be so awful that in the morning you're going to say, oh, I can't believe we're living this. Even though yesterday was bad, it was better than today. That same day, when you get to the night, Now, you see, the morning was horrible. Why? Because you wished for yesterday's tragedy. That same day, Hashem yishmor, a person gets to that night, he's going to wish for the morning's tragedies. Rav Elchanan Wasserman says this is what's going to be. Now, don't worry, we're not only full of bad news. There is good news. There is fantastic news. We'll get to that in a moment. Rav Dessler, alav hashalom, writes. He was the menahel ruchani in Yeshivat Ponevezh, and he authored a very famous sefer called Michtav MeEliyahu. He quotes Rav Elchanan Wasserman in one of his ma'amarim that is called "Ya'asok BaTorah uVigmilut Chasadim."

3:43deal with Torah, toil in Torah, and be involved with an overwhelming kindness, chesed. He says that Rebbi Haneh Wasserman brings this particular book, and he says that the times before Mashiach are going to be like birth pangs, that the tragedies and difficulties will flow like a river. And the Rav from Ponevezh, he writes, I'm sorry, the Brisker Rav, the Brisker Rav, once told a story that he witnessed firsthand, where someone came to the Chafetz Chaim. And as the Chafetz Chaim spoke, what do we do about the tragedies we had at the time of the Chafetz Chaim, which was World War I? What do we do? There was anti-Semitism, not quite like World War II, but still, there were a lot of problems then. What should a person do in order to be saved from the birth pangs of Mashiach?

5:08And the Chafetz Chaim cried out and said to them, "What do you mean? What should he do? Isn't it clear? Isn't it clear what Rabbi Eliezer HaGadol, Rabbi Eliezer Ben-Horkenos, the Rabbi of Rabbi Akiva, said in the Gemara Masechet Sanhedrin about what to do?" Isn't it clear what it is? He said, toil in Torah and do overwhelming kindness. That's what he said. Do you know what that means? The Chafetz Chaim said. And the Brisker Rav witnessed this whole thing. He says, do you know what that means? That means that if you brought together all of the Rishonim, the greatest sages we had in the last 900 years, all of the Geonim from a little over a thousand years ago, all of the Amoraim from the time of the Gemara, fifteen to sixteen hundred years ago, and all of the Tanaim like Rabbi Akiva, Abaye, and Rava, and you sat them all down in a room, not a single one of them would give you an answer that contradicts Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkanos.

6:16Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes, all of them, and if you sat them all down in a room, not a single one of them would give you an answer that contradicts Rabbi Eliezer Ben Hyrcanus. All of them would agree. Rabbi Eliezer said the only way to be saved at the time of Mashiach is to toil in Torah and to do chesed; that's it, that's the halacha. It's in this world halacha; it's in Shamayim halacha. No one will ever say a different thing. There is no machloket here. And they think that Yisrael Meir, which was the Chafetz Chaim's name, can say something different? They want Yisrael Meir to say something different? Rabbi Akiva wouldn't say something different. If Rabbi Eliezer Ben Olkanah said it, surely that's what it is. And the reason why Rav Dessler explains that Torah is not enough, like if you're a Talmid Chacham, you're in yeshiva, you're in a kollel, you're learning, it's not enough to save you. Why? Because at the time of judgment, Hakadosh Baruch Hu evaluates everyone with the measure-for-measure principle.

7:30When there's a decree on the world, HaKadosh Baruch Hu judges the world measure for measure for everyone. If there's a horrific decree in the world, it's measure for measure for everyone, both the good and the bad. So Torah in itself, Rav Dessler says, is not enough. Usually, Torah is everything. But at the time of a decree, it's not. It's not enough to save a person. You need something to help you. You get special kindness from Hashem to be treated differently from everybody else. Why? Because surely there are the tzadikim. Other good people learn Torah, but you all want to be different from everybody else. You want to be saved; you want to be unique. You want to be put in some type of spiritual bunker where there could be Scud missiles shot at you, but they're missing you by miles because you are different. You want something different. Who says you have to be different? Why? There's a decree in the world. Yeah, I learn Torah, okay. There are a lot of other people who learn Torah.

8:41So Rav Dessler explains, he says, that's where the chesed comes. Because it's measure for measure. When you do chesed for other people, by helping other people do teshuva, by helping other people get closer to Hashem, first and foremost, you become a partner with the Creator Himself. You become a partner with the Creator Himself. Second of all, you do something that's beyond your normal nature. It's not normal for you to go spend X amount of your money or X amount of your time, X amount of your energy to go help a bunch of strangers. It's not a normal thing. Yeah, maybe you like to do it when you get time, But that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about doing it regularly. Every month, you're giving a certain amount of yourself. Every month, no questions asked—good times, bad times, good economy, bad economy, lots of money, little money, lots of time, little time, marriage problems, no problems. We will make a difference. This is part of me, just like breathing is part of me, just like eating is part of me. Helping people do teshuva, that's part of me. When you do something like that, it's not a natural thing.

9:54It doesn't come to you naturally. So you acted beyond your nature; the measure-for-measure reward for that, Rav Dessler says, is for you to be treated differently, in a supernatural way. That's why Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus said, if you want to be saved at the time of Mashiach, it has to be Torah and Gemilut Chassadim, not just one or the other. Because just chesed by itself is not enough. Just Torah by itself is not enough. Why? Because you want something unique in a very unique time. So here we see that despite the horrors that tell us that during the time of Moshiach, the agony and the pain in the world will not end. At the same time, we have a beautiful chiddush from Elchanan Wasserman, which is elaborated by Rav Dessler. That, yes, that is what's going to happen, but for everyone except maybe you. For everyone in the world except maybe you. Why except maybe you? Because you just learned, oh, take it out. Why maybe? Whether you choose it or not. Whether you elect it or not.

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