Rav Kessin: G-d Is Hitting the Restart Button

Illustration: Beaulieu River by Jim Champion - Own work [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia; Pointing Hand [CC0 public domain] via Piqsels

In Rabbi Kessin’s recent and exhilarating shiur, he uses hashkafa, the Judaic world-view, to explain the rapid-fire events of the last five years and the instability they have brought, particularly to America.

Speaking from home isolation, the rabbi briefly reviews several principles discussed in previous shiurim , which help viewers interpret the meaning of world events since Trump’s 2015 announcement of his candidacy for the presidential election, using a mystical vantage point incorporating kabbala.

These core principles of the rabbi’s approach to current history include: the teshuva (repentance) of Esau in the End of Days; Trump’s role in bringing to fruition the prophecy given to Esau’s mother that the elder (Esau) will serve the younger (Jacob); the prosecutions going on in the Heavenly Tribunal as expressed in satanically-driven events; and, finally, the Noahide Flood as the analogue for the breathtaking upheaval we are experiencing.

The rabbi, who received smicha (ordination) from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, points out the Kabbalistic understanding of water as the analogue of ohr mashiach (messianic light) as described in the Torah in the first chapter of Genesis. The Flood that destroyed civilization 4,000 years ago was meant to be a flood of Light — of messianic consciousness. The ten generations of mankind following the sins of the primordial Adam and Eve, were to have rectified the ten spiritual forces of Creation, the sefirot, that had been marred through their sin. When that failed to happen, G-d “hit the restart button.”

Today’s barrage of violence and virulence that has been deconstructing civilization is indicative of a new and final Flood, says the rabbi. What is to be made of the unprecedented hatred of Trump and efforts to destroy him and his administration? What of the ensuing pandemic destroying economies and livelihoods and creating confusion and the breakdown of law, order, and traditional morality, culminating in the 2015 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage — as well as the most recent decision to prohibit sexual discrimination even if based on self-designated orientation and not biological designation? And, with scarcely time to draw a breath, what is the meaning of the anarchy and blatant lawlessness that has swept through America and spread beyond its shores?

This, the rabbi explains, is a Flood, not unlike that as in the days of Noah, except that this “restart” is of an entirely new order and no longer expresses itself as water. G-d has, once again, pressed the restart button, but this time it is Redemption itself.

Rav Kessin's complete shiur can be viewed here:

Anyone seeking further clarification and explanation of current events and the messianic process is invited to visit Rabbi Kessin’s website, torahthinking.com, for the complete “21st Century” series of video lectures along with 300 shiurim which deal extensively with the hashkafa of the Ramchal. His videos can also be found at https://www.torahanytime.com and on Torah Thinking on YouTube. He can be followed on Facebook at Rabbi Mendel Kessin.