Broadly speaking, Episode Seventy-Eight, “WINGS OF REDEMPTION” shares a common weave with the fabric of the past seven Episodes. Yet in fairness, at the same time, this presentation is also unique and may be appreciated as a standalone.
Our first port of departure is a euphemistic description of Exile attributed to Eliyahu HaNavi (the biblical Elijah) as documented by our Sages. In the parable a banished child yearning to be reunited with his parents illustrates our exilic odysseys. (See Episode #71 “Can’t Wait!” for a detailed elaboration on that Talmudic teaching).
From the Talmud we sail upstream into the biblical era, as redacted in the Book of Psalms, where the Psalmist channels prophetic voices reverberating from the desert dawn of our People – to give ear to a melodic lamentation of our [then] future Galut.
One thing that songful prose makes abundantly clear is that ambivalence about Moshiach’s coming is unacceptable for a Torah Jew who finds himself in exile.
Another is that the long-awaited age of Geula is not – even for a moment – merely a vehicle to flee exilic suffering, rather about the restoration of our rightful and true home. In other words, it’s not about escaping Galut gore, but about seeing the glorious fulfillment of being where we belong!
Listen carefully as King David’s cries fowl about Am Yisrael’s moving violation.
In his righteous appropriation of the song first sung in the depths of a fiery hell by the original “Grateful Dead,” here the “Sweet Singer of Israel” provides us much needed clarity about why we should constantly plead with Hashem to send Moshiach to lead us back to Eretz Yisrael and Tzion. Forever.
The moving melodies of a shepherd turned sovereign redacted in Sefer Tehillim represents the biblical Divine truth, conveyed in exquisite poetry of scriptural syntax. And they embody the nature of how our yearning in Galut is supposed to sound.
This Episode comprises the Seventy Eighth offering of our ongoing study series about the (final) Redemption, referred to as the Coming of Moshiach (Messiah); bringing us practical guidance and instruction of how to get us there faster!
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