Attend the Feast of Moshiach

[muman613]

This afternoon my phone rang and I answered... Immediately I recognized my good Chabad Rabbis voice {the one with whom I spent the entire 2 days of the seders with}. He called to invite me to the Feast of Moshiach. This is a custom which originates from the beginnings of the Chassidic Jewish movement with the Baal Shem Tov {Master of the Good Name}. All branches of Chassidus originated with the Baal Shem Tov including both Lubavitch {Chabad} and Breslov {Rabbi Nachman of Uman}.

The purpose of the feast held on the eighth day of Passover {Passover has eight days in the diaspora and only seven days in Eretz Yisroel} is to help us remember and look forward to redemption by the hand of Hashem by his anointed one; the Moshiach.



http://www.sichosinenglish.org/cgi-bin/calendar?holiday=pesach10456

The Eighth Day of Pesach - The Feast of Mashiach

A Reflection of Mashiach

The Eighth Day of Pesach is traditionally associated with our hopes for the coming of Mashiach. For this reason, the Haftorah read on that day contains many prophecies which refer to the Era of the Redemption.

Among the best-known of these: "The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with a young goat"; [1] and, "He will raise a banner for the nations and gather in the exiles of Israel." [2]

About two hundred and fifty years ago, as the time for Mashiach drew closer, the Baal Shem Tov instituted a custom which underlines the connection between the Redemption and the Eighth Day of Pesach: on that day he would partake of Mashiach's Seudah, the festive meal of Mashiach. [3]

Transforming the Belief in Mashiach into Reality

Mashiach's Seudah is intended to deepen our awareness of Mashiach and enable us to integrate it into our thinking processes.

The twelfth article of the Rambam's Thirteen Principles of Faith is, [4] "I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Mashiach. Even if he delays, I will wait every day for him to come."

Though all believing Jews accept this principle intellectually, for many the concept of Mashiach remains an abstraction.

Partaking of Mashiach's Seudah reinforces our belief in this principle, translating our awareness of Mashiach into a meal, a physical experience which leads us to associate this concept with our flesh and blood.

The Baal Shem Tov's linking of our awareness of Mashiach to the physical is significant because it prepares us for the revelations of the Era of the Redemption.

In that Era, the G-dliness that is enclothed within the physical world will be overtly manifest; as the prophet Isaiah declared, "And the glory of G-d will be revealed and all flesh will see it together." [5]

At that time, "the glory of G-d" will permeate even the physical aspects of the world - "all flesh."

Chassidus explains [6] that the preparations for a revelation must foreshadow the revelation itself.

Since, in the Era of the Redemption, the revelation of G-dliness will find expression even in the physical world, it is fitting that our preparation for these revelations be associated with physical activities such as eating and drinking.

Transforming the Worldly

Mashiach's Seudah, as mentioned above, is held on the Eighth Day of Pesach.

The Torah originally commanded us to celebrate Pesach for seven days. When our people were exiled, however, a certain degree of doubt arose regarding the exact date on which the holidays should be celebrated. To solve the problem of determining the Jewish calendar in exile, our Sages added an extra day to each festival.

In other words, the Eighth Day of Pesach had been an ordinary day, but through the power endowed by the Torah, the Jewish people were able to transform it into a holy day.

When Mashiach comes, a similar transformation will occur throughout all of creation. Even the material and mundane aspects of the world will reveal G-dliness.

Celebration of Mashiach's Seudah on the Eighth Day of Pesach - once an ordinary day, now transformed - anticipates the kind of transformation that will characterize the Era of the Redemption.

Why the Baal Shem Tov?

That the Baal Shem Tov originated the custom of Mashiach's Seudah is particularly fitting.

Once in the course of his ascent to the heavenly realms on Rosh HaShanah, [7] the Baal Shem Tov encountered the Mashiach and asked him, "When are you coming?" The Mashiach replied, "When the wellsprings of your teachings spread outward."

The goal of the Baal Shem Tov's life was to prepare us for Mashiach, and the institution of Mashiach's Seudah was part of that life's work.

The Contribution of Chabad

Like many other teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, the custom of conducting Mashiach's Seudah was explained and widely disseminated by the successive Rebbeim of Chabad.

Moreover, in 5666 (1906) the Rebbe Rashab (the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe) added a new element to Mashiach's Seudah, the drinking of four cups of wine. [8]

During the time of the Baal Shem Tov, the main ingredient of Mashiach's Seudah was matzah. The tasteless flatness of matzah symbolizes selfless humility, a desire to transcend oneself. Wine, by contrast, is flavorful and pleasurable, and thus symbolizes the assertiveness of our individual personalities.

Combining matzah and wine in Mashiach's Seudah teaches us that self-transcendence does not require that we erase our personal identities.

Self-transcendence may be accomplished within each individual's nature.

A person can retain his distinctive character and identity, yet dedicate his life to spreading G-dliness instead of pursuing personal fulfillment.

Once he has fundamentally transformed his will, an individual can proceed to a more complete level of service of G-d in which his essential commitment permeates every aspect of his personality.

This innovation of the Rebbe Rashab exemplifies the comprehensive contribution of Chabad Chassidus to the legacy of the Baal Shem Tov.

The Baal Shem Tov taught each Jew how to reveal his essential G-dly nature and thus rise above his personal identity. Chabad, an acronym for the Hebrew words Chochmah, Binah and Daas ("wisdom, understanding and knowledge"), brings the Baal Shem Tov's teachings into the realm of the intellect, allowing them to be integrated and applied within each individual's personal framework.

The Mission of Our Generation

Our generation has been charged with the responsibility of making all Jews aware of Mashiach - and this includes the custom of conducting Mashiach's Seudah.

This mission is particularly relevant in our day, for the Jewish people have completed all the divine service necessary to enable Mashiach to come. As the Previous Rebbe expressed it, "We have already polished the buttons." [9] Mashiach is waiting: "Here he stands behind our wall, watching through the windows, peering through the crevices." [10]

The walls of exile are already crumbling, and now, in the immediate future, Mashiach will be revealed.

There are those who argue that speaking openly about the coming of Mashiach may alienate some people. The very opposite is true. We are living in the time directly preceding the age of Mashiach. The world is changing and people are willing, even anxious, to hear about Mashiach. It is thus our duty to reach out and involve as many people as possible in the preparations for his coming.

These endeavors will escalate the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Haftorah recited on the Eighth Day of Pesach: [11] "A shoot will come forth from the stem of Yishai..., and the spirit of G-d will rest upon him" - with the coming of Mashiach, speedily in our days.

Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. VII, pp. 272-278; the Sichos of the Last Day of Pesach, 5722


Footnotes:

1) Yeshayahu 11:6.
2) Ibid., 11:12.
3) HaYom Yom, p. 47.
4) This represents the popular, shortened form of these Thirteen Principles as printed in many siddurim. The original version appears in full in the Rambam's Commentary on the Mishnah, in the Introduction to ch. 10 of Sanhedrin (Perek Cheilek).
5) Yeshayahu 40:5.
6) Cf. On the Essence of Chassidus, ch. 4, p. 15.
7) As related in a letter, addressed by the Baal Shem Tov to his brother-in-law, R. Gershon Kitover, describing his soul's ascent on Rosh HaShanah, 5507 [1746]. The letter was first published in Ben Porat Yosef, and appears in part in Keser ShemTov, sec. 1.
8) See Sefer HaSichos 5698, p. 277.
9) Sichos of Simchas Torah, 5689.
10) Shir HaShirim 2:9; cf. Kiddush Levanah in Siddur Tehillat HaShem, p. 239. See also Sefer HaSichos 5699, p. 316.
11) Yeshayahu 11:1-2.

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The significance of the "Feast of Moshiach"

Question:

What is the spiritual significance of the "Feast of Moshiach" with Leviathan and Shor Habar?

Answer:

The Leviathan and the Shor Habar represent two types of divine service.

Our sages in the Talmud describe an encounter between the Leviathan and the Shor Habar, the "wild ox." The wild ox will gore the Leviathan with its horns, and the Leviathan will slaughter the wild ox with its fins. Although this passage in the Talmud has deep symbolic meaning, Maharsha writes in his commentary on the Talmud that the Feast of Moshiach will also take place literally.

The Leviathan and the Shor Habar (wild ox) symbolize two types of divine service. The Leviathan, which lives in the sea, represents spirituality, which is hidden. There are righteous people whose main form of divine service is to separate themselves from this world in order to engage in strictly spiritual pursuits.

The "wild ox" which lives on land, represents the physical realm. There are righteous people who struggle to infuse the physical with holiness. The term "bar," which literally means "wild," shares a root with the Hebrew word "Birur" - refinement. The task of these righteous people is to refine the physicality of the world.

The righteous symbolized by the Leviathan reach superior levels of spirituality. However, the second type, who purify the physical, complete the purpose of creation, which is to refine the physical world.

When the redemption will come, the two classes of tzadikim will influence one another, and each will absorb the special qualities of the other.  In spiritual terms, "slaughter" means to elevate. This is the spiritual meaning of the mutual "slaughter" of the Leviathan and wild ox: Each type will elevate the other to its own stature. Thus, through the combined efforts of the two types of tzadikim, the highest levels of spirituality will be drawn down into the physical world.

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http://www.bethisraelct.org/page.asp?pageID=%7BD428B773-8BB2-403F-8CAA-B0473469C2AD%7D&displayAll=1

The Leviathan, Shor Habar and “reserved wine”

Will the Leviathan, Shor Habar and “reserved wine” be the only courses served at the “feast of Moshiach”?

According to a description of the “feast of Moshiach” by the Kabbalist Rabbi Menachem Azaria dePano, a number of foods will be served at the meal:

They will eat bread, but not bread from the ground.  As the verse in Psalms states (105:40) “He will satisfy them with bread from heaven.”  The feast of Moshiach will be to celebrate the Redemption, which represents the full reparation of the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge. According to one opinion, the “fruit of the tree” was actually wheat.  Since there is a rule that “a prosecutor cannot become a defender,” no bread from the ground will be served at the meal. Rather, the bread will be from heaven.  Also, the vial of manna that was preserved for a remembrance will also be served.

They will eat fruits from the Garden of Eden, in order to fulfill the command given to Adam:  “From all the fruits of the garden you shall eat.”  They will also eat the almonds that sprouted miraculously from the staff of Aaron in the Holy of Holies.

Together with the Leviathan and the giant ox that will be slaughtered for this meal, a giant wild fowl will also be served.

The meal itself will take place in the Garden of Eden.  The meat will be served by the angel Gabriel, and the bread by the angel Raphael, who will heal all our illnesses. The angel Michael will serve the drinks.  These three angels were the guests in the home of Abraham, and it is fitting that they will “repay the favor” and wait on the righteous ones at the feast of Moshiach.

G-d Himself will be present and will teach Torah to all the righteous ones.  Moses will come to the garden and will bless the people.

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http://meaningfullife.com/torah/holidays/7a/A_Speck_of_Flour.php

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A Taste of Future

As we have discussed, the forty-nine-day count from Passover to Shavuot represents the process of refining the seven basic attributes of the heart as each comprises elements of all seven, making for a total of forty-nine traits. This is why the Torah speaks of the count as consisting of weeks (“Seven weeks you shall count for yourselves...”[13]). In our daily count, we, too, emphasize its weeks: on the twenty-fifth day, for example, we say, “Today is twenty-five days, which are three weeks and four days to the Omer [count].” Indeed, Shavuot—the name of the festival that culminates the Counting of the Omer—means “weeks.”[14] For the internal “count” also consists of seven “weeks,” being the refinement of seven attributes of the heart that are each a unit of seven.

Thus, each week of the count is a microcosmic Omer Count of its own, involving seven “days” or sub-traits as they are reflected in the various nuances of that week’s “attribute.”

The eighth day of Passover is the seventh day of the count and the final day of its first week. It therefore represents the point at which elements of each of the seven attributes (as they are present within the attribute of “love”) have been refined and elevated. The eighth of Passover is thus a mini-Shavuot, and shares its leaven-tolerant quality. While outright chametz is still strictly forbidden, we mark this milestone on the road to perfection with the positive use of a chametz-vulnerable element, employing wetted matzah to enhance our festival meal.

This corresponds to another feature of the eighth day of Passover—its identification with the era of Moshiach. The haftorah (reading from the Prophets) for this day (Isaiah 10:32-12:6) describes the coming of Moshiach and the harmonious perfection of a time when “the world shall be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the sea.” Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov instituted a special meal, “The Feast of Moshiach,” to be held on the afternoon of eighth day of Passover, as a time that is profoundly suited to “taste” and experience the divinely perfect world we are creating with our positive efforts—a world in which “the spirit of impurity shall cease from the earth”[15] and everything, including the pride so abhorrent to G-d today, shall be sublimated as a wholly positive and altruistic force.[16]

Therein lies the lesson of the eighth day of Passover: even if perfection seems a far-off goal, you possess the ability to create a “taste” of perfection in the here and now. Start with a single trait of your personality, with a small corner of your community. If you wholly devote yourself to it, you will find in it elements of your entire self, indeed of the entire universe. Your creation of this small model of perfection will serve as the catalyst for its realization on a holistic, and ultimately universal, level.

Based on the Rebbe’s talks on the eighth day of Passover in the years 5727 (1967) and 5737 (1977) and on other occasions [17]

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber

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http://www.mashiach.org/living/shemot/mishpati.html

THE GRAND FEAST

Shemos: 22:30
Sources: Midrash Tehillim 766, Torah Shleimah p.147
 
The Torah warns: "Do not eat flesh torn off in the field by a predator. Cast it to the dogs". (22:30)
 
Rabbi Berachia said in the name of Rabbi Yaacov: "If someone eats animal flesh torn off by a predator, he will be judged by Hashem". But if he keeps this mitzvah, then a grand feast will be prepared for him. When Moshiach comes - He will eat the Livyoson fish and special meat, as it says: "And you will eat food and be satisfied". (Joel 2:26)

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http://www.askmoses.com/en/article/247,2098698/What-is-the-Livyatan-Feast.html

What is the Livyatan Feast?

The Livyatan Feast is mentioned many times in the Talmudic and Midrashic literature: "The Holy One, Blessed be He, will make a banquet for the righteous from the flesh of the livyatan".

Livyatan is a giant fish which was created during the Six days of Creation. G-d created one male livyatan and one female, which never reproduced because He "castrated the male and killed the female and preserved it for the righteous in the future."

The Midrash describes the battle between the Shor Habar (Wild Ox) and the livyatan. The shor habor will batter the livyatan with its horns and rend it, and the livyatan will batter the shor habar with its fins and pierce through it.

Although the livyatan banquet will indeed occur, its mysterious details reflect the essence of the New Age. The livyatan lives in the sea, symbolizing the hidden spiritual worlds that exist in the revealed Divine infinity. In contrast, the shor habor dwells on land, symbolizing the visible lower world. Thus these two creatures represent the two major facets of serving G-d: The spiritual acts effected in the higher worlds through man's actions, and the sanctification and purification of the lower world.

Some Jews resemble the livyatan, aspiring to exalted spiritual heights rather than bringing holiness down to this world. For example, R. Shimon b. Yochai lived in a cave for thirteen years, practically divorced from the physical world; his divine service was spiritual. Other Jews resemble the shor habar, forgoing peak spiritually in order to sanctify the world and prepare it for Divine truth.

This symbolism explains why the livyatan will slaughter the shor habar and vice versa, for each attitude will "slaughter" the other in the ritual sense, i.e., they will render each other fit, with one perfecting the other. That is, those Jews who chose the livyatan approach to serving G-d will elevate the Jews who employed the shor habar method, and vice versa.

SOURCES: Talmud, Baba Batra 75a; Maharsah ibid.; Likkutei Torah Parshat Tzav.

Republished with permission from www.moshiach.com

[muman613]

Shalom,

I just got home from our Feast of Moshiach. It was a very nice little get together were we first davened mincha and then did the Torah service for the day. Baruch Hashem I was the tenth man at this minyah and the Rabbi even gave me a honorable aliyah.

Here are some videos to remind us of our mission, and our belief that Moshiach can come at any moment:

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Lubavitch Rebbe talks about Bringing Moshiach:




Sorry... I originally posted the wrong link..

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Here is todays Haftorah which we read:


http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/pesah8_haft.shtml

Haftarah for Eighth Day of Pesah

Isaiah 10:32 - 12:6
This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh

Chapter 10
32 This same day at Nob
He shall stand and wave his hand.

O Mount of Fair Zion!
O hill of Jerusalem!
33 Lo! The Sovereign Lord of Hosts
Will hew off the tree-crowns with an ax:
The tall ones shall be felled,
The lofty ones cut down:
34 The thickets of the forest shall be hacked away with iron,
And the Lebanon trees shall fall in their majesty.

Chapter 11
1 But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse,
A twig shall sprout from his stock.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall alight upon him:
A spirit of wisdom and insight,
A spirit of counsel and valor,
A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord.
3 He shall sense the truth by his reverence for the Lord:
He shall not judge by what his eyes behold,
Nor decide by what his ears perceive.
4 Thus he shall judge the poor with equity
And decide with justice for the lowly of the land.
He shall strike down a land with the rod of his mouth
And slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.
5 Justice shall be the girdle of his loins,
And faithfulness the girdle of his waist.
6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard lie down with the kid;
The calf, the beast of prey, and the fatling together,
With a little boy to herd them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
Their young shall lie down together;
And the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw.
8 A babe shall play
Over a viper's hole,
And an infant pass his hand
Over an adder's den.
9 In all of My sacred mount
Nothing evil shall be done;
For the land shall be filled with devotion to the Lord
As water covers the sea.

10 In that day,
The stock of Jesse that has remained standing
Shall become a standard to peoples —
Nations shall seek his counsel
And his abode shall be honored.
11 In that day, My Lord will apply His hand again to redeeming the other part of His people from Assyria — as also from Egypt, Pathros, Nubia, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands.
12 He will hold up a signal to the nations
And assemble the banished of Israel,
And gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.

13 Then Ephraim's envy shall cease
And Judah's harassment shall end:
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14 They shall pounce on the back of Philistia to the west,
And together plunder the peoples of the east;
Edom and Moab shall be subject to them
And the children of Ammon shall obey them.
15 The Lord will dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea. — He will raise His hand over the Euphrates with the might of His wind and break it into seven wadis, so that it can be trodden dry-shod. 16 Thus there shall be a highway for the other part of His people out of Assyria, such as there was for Israel when it left the land of Egypt.
Chapter 12
1 In that day, you shall say:
"I give thanks to You, O Lord!
Although You were wroth with me,
Your wrath has turned back and You comfort me,
2 Behold the God who gives me triumph!
I am confident, unafraid;
For Yah the Lord is my strength and might,
And He has been my deliverance."

3 Joyfully shall you draw water
From the fountains of triumph,
4 And you shall say on that day:
"Praise the Lord, proclaim His name.
Make his deeds known among the peoples;
Declare that His name is exalted.
5 Hymn the Lord,
For He has done gloriously;
Let this be made known
In all the world!
6 Oh, shout for joy,
You who dwell in Zion!
For great in your midst
Is the Holy One of Israel."