Currently, Daf Yomi is learning Makkos, where the term “geulah” takes on a sense that we aren’t used to: the go’el ha-dam, the “blood redeemer,” the avenging kinsman of the victim of an accidental murder. In Parshas Behar – and in Ruth as well – “geulah” refers to the reacquisition of familial assets. In Bechukosai, it refers to the desacralization of sacred object. The terminology of geulah is very versatile, both in Tanach and in Chazal.
One common thread among these applications is the sense of taking something marginalized, forgotten, devalued, or abandoned, and restoring its significance.
This brings us to the meaning of geulah with which we are most familiar – the rescue of someone from a dire situation. In Ma’ariv, we quote a pasuk that describes how Hashem “redeemed [Yaakov] from the hand of someone stronger than he” (Yirmiyahu 31:1). Throughout the Nevi’im, Hashem is the past, present, and future redeemer of Am Yisrael, rescuing us from exile and restoring us to our ancient homeland.
Is the founding of modern Israel the “beginning of our geulah?” I don’t have much to say about whether this is or isn’t a messianic moment, but it seems fairly clear to me that the events of the past 80 years can be described as a geulah. Millions of Jews have returned to Eretz Yisrael from all over the world, and this is exactly what the Nevi’im describe as a geulah!
While the question of whether we are witnessing the Geulah, with a capital gimmel, remains open, it seems clear that we are living through a geulah, the likes of which we have not seen for almost 2,000 years.
