The Religious Zionism Debate II

I. Early Permission to Return

R. Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer, in his Derishas Tziyon, ma'amar 1 ch. 2 (Etzion 2002 edition, p. 40), quotes from the Ramban's commentary to Shir Ha-Shirim 8:13 (in Kisvei Ha-Ramban, vol. 2 p. 516) that the beginning of the redemption will be with the help and permission of Gentile governments. R. Hayim Dov Chavel, the editor of the Ramban's collected writings, points out in a footnote to this passage that we have merited seeing this literally fulfilled.

R. Kalischer also quotes from R. David Kimhi (Radak)'s commentary to Tehillim (146:3) that, just like the Babylonian exile was ended through the Gentile king Cyrus, the final exile will also be ended through Gentile kings who will send the Jews back to their homeland.

This, R. Kalischer claims, proves that the redemption will begin with the Gentile nations giving the Jews permission to return to the land of Israel. He evidently found these two sources (and a Yerushalmi that we will hopefully address in a future post) extremely convincing, as he repeatedly referred to them and even quoted them in an 1836 letter to Baron Mayer Amschel Rothschild (printed in the Etzion 2002 edition of Derishas Tziyon, pp. 292-293).

R. Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal cites these two sources also, in his Em Ha-Banim Semeihah 1:15 (Mekhon Peri Ha'aretz 1983 edition, p. 131), quoting the Ramban in almost the exact same language as R. Kalischer (which makes me think that he copied them right out of Derishas Tziyon, which is understandable given that he wrote it during the Holocaust and away from his library).

II. Late Permission to Return

R. Yoel Teitelbaum, in Va-Yoel Moshe, Ma'amar Gimmel Shevu'os, ch. 68 (in the Ashkenazi 5760 edition, p. 84), points out that R. Kalischer quotes the Ramban imprecisely. What the Ramban actually wrote was that there will be a preliminary and small return to Israel and then, after the Mashi'ah arrives, the Gentile nations will give permission to the rest of the Jews to return to Israel. This is significantly different from what R. Kalischer understood the Ramban to mean. This is not referring to the beginning of redemption, but later in the process and subsequent to the arrival of Mashi'ah (ben David).

R. Teitelbaum further points to Radak's commentary to Isaiah 66 in which it is made clear that the Radak, too, was referring to permission to return to the land of Israel after Mashi'ah comes and not to a pre-messianic return.

In other words, these two important sources do not prove what R. Kalischer and R. Teichtal say they do.

III. Clarification

What is surprising is that R. Menahem Kasher, in his Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah, 7:1-6 (pp. 116-119), quotes these sources as well, even though he certainly had read R. Teitelbaum's work (he sometimes quotes it, albeit as an unnamed source and in order to refute it). How could he do so after R. Teitelbaum clearly demonstrated that these sources are inapplicable?

The answer, I believe (and after consultation with others, this seems to be the consensus), is that while R. Teitelbaum's comments are entirely correct, they are also entirely beside the point. He is assuming that R. Kalischer et al's proof is from the timeline presented by those scholars: they expect the initial return to be pre-messianic and with Gentile assistance. This, R. Teitelbaum shows, is incorrect. However, that was never the intention.

The Rambam writes in Mishneh Torah, Hilkhos Melakhim 12:2:

...The plain meaning of the words of the prophets seems to indicate that the war of Gog and Magog will take place at the beginning of the Messianic Era. Before the war of Gog and Magog, a prophet will arise to set Israel right and prepare their hearts... There are Sages who believe that Eliyahu will appear before the coming of the messiah.

Nobody knows these things until they actually happen, because the prophets couched these matters in obscure phrases, and even the Sages have no set tradition about them, just their interpretation of the verses. That is why they have different opinions about these things.

In other words, neither the Sages of the Talmud nor subsequent commentators knew the exact timeline of the Messianic Era. They attempted to discern it through analyzing the Bible, but that is not an exact science.

Therefore, R. Kalischer was not basing his view on the exact timeline of the Ramban and the Radak. He certainly did not take their assessments of the order of events leading up to the redemption as authoritative, as the Rambam instructed. His proof, however, was from the concept that both the Ramban and the Radak embraced--that the return to the land of Israel will be with the assistance and permission of Gentile nations. That this can happen before Mashi'ah arrives, he proves from elsewhere. This will, God-willing, be the subject of my next post on this subject. However, he did prove conclusively, and even R. Teitelbaum will agree to this, that the return to the land of Israel, whenever it happens, can be with the permission of Gentile nations. Thus, rather than being disproven, his point on this matter was accepted as correct.

R. Teitelbaum could have answered that he understands the Rambam differently. In a few places in Va-Yoel Moshe, Ma'amar Gimmel Shevu'os (e.g. ch. 61, p. 75), R. Teitelbaum applies the Rambam's above statement only to events after Mashi'ah has arrived. He would not allow it to refer to pre-messianic events. However, this is very difficult because the Rambam begins by applying it to whether Eliyahu will come before or after Mashi'ah, so clearly it can refer to events prior to the messianic revelation.