People are once again being beheaded and the animalistic killers identify themselves under the banner of ISIS and proudly proclaim their responsibility for this evil. They behead Christians and even their fellow Muslims who dare to differ with them. May Hashem protect us from them and keep us safe.
The events we are witnessing and experiencing should make us all pause and realize we are living in the period of ikvesa deMeshicha – when the “footsteps of Mashiach” become audible, a period that will be ridden with tribulations and suffering.
The internal condition of our people in the period preceding Mashiach has been foretold as well. I ask you to read the following words carefully and determine for yourself if they reflect our generation.
Chutzpah will intensify. The young will put their elders to shame and address them derogatorily. Daughters will turn against their mothers and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. Sons will have no shame before their fathers and they will treat them with insolence. A man’s enemies will be found in his own family.
Does this hit home? Do you want to hear more? In that generation, admonishment will be lacking. Economic conditions will be debilitating; prices will spiral and people will have difficulty making ends meet. And the face of the generation will be like the face of the dog.
That last prediction may puzzle you. But consider a man holding his dog on a leash as he takes it for a walk. Who is really pulling whom? We think we’re in charge of our lives, but we fail to realize how deeply influenced we are by forces like the media that lead us around just as a dog pulls the man holding the leash.
Understanding the deeper meaning of what we see happening all around us will give us the answers to the questions of what to do and where to turn. In clinging to Hashem and His Torah, may we merit seeing our redemption soon in our day.
To be continued