One of the tremendous miracles that happened on the eve of the Exodus from Egypt was the “smiting of the Egyptians with their first born”, when the Egyptians went to war against each other. As we approach the coming of true and complete Redemption, we are once again witnessing this amazing miracle.
This previous Sabbath was the “the Great Sabbath” (which precedes the Pesach holiday). On this Sabbath, as usual, we give thanks to G-d for the “great miracle” that happened on that Sabbath, when the Egyptian first born (fearful of the coming punishment-the death of all first born) came out to fight against the army of Pharaoh, who did not want to let the people of Israel go.
According to our sages, 600,000 Egyptians died in that war!
The Midrash explains that this is precisely the inner meaning of the verse “smite the Egyptians with their first born, for His mercy is everlasting”. In other words, G-d smote the Egyptians by means of their own first born!
During the Gulf War, the Lubavitcher Rebbe SHLITA King Moshiach, explained that the war of the nations of the world against the Iraqi dictator is the modern fulfillment of the aforementioned miracle. According to our sources, just before the Redemption, the Exodus from Egypt will happen again (Micha 7:15): "“As in the days of your exodus from the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders.”
By the grace of the Almighty, this sign of the Redemption is being fulfilled today once again by the wave of turmoils that has shaken the Arab world in recent years. All of them started with a rebellious people, and sometimes even with the involvement of the army, which was supposed to protect the ruling regime, but opposed it and overthrew it.
Let me remind you of the timeline of this series of coups in Arab countries.
Tunisia
They are considered to have begun on the night of the 10th day of the month of Shvat 5771, the day of the ascension of the sixth head of the Chabad movement — the Rebbe RAYATZ. On that very day, the dictator who ruled Tunisia escaped from his country. The events that followed in many Arab countries have undoubtedly led to a great improvement in Israel’s geostrategic position.
After all, most of the fallen Arab regimes posed a serious threat to Israel. For example, Tunisia, for many years, was the headquarters of the PLO (our air force even bombed them there once). In addition, the Tunisian regime was trying to build a nuclear reactor.
Libya
Meanwhile, Gaddafi’s neighboring Libyan regime produced chemical weapons, developed long-range Al-Fatah missiles and financially supported at least 40 terrorist organizations. For many years, Gaddafi has plotted intrigues and hatreds against Israel in an attempt to harm us.
Some of these evil attempts later became public. For example, the Libyans wanted to use a submarine to sink the gigantic Queen Elizabeth, which was on its way to Israel with hundreds of tourists on board. Another time, the Libyans gave Arab terrorists in Italy shoulder-mounted rockets to shoot down an Israeli plane.
Just by the miraculous intervention of the Almighty, the Mossad got the information in time, and the terrorists were captured, with their weapons, right next to the landing area.
In the First Lebanon War, Libyan soldiers were transferred into Lebanese territory. The Israeli air force even had to attack and eliminate a Libyan SAM-9 (“arrow”) surface-to-air missile battery.
For many years, Libya has stated that in case of a general Arab war against Israel, it would throw all its forces against the Jewish state. Israeli intelligence considered that in this situation, it would indeed have to confront a large expeditionary corps. In fact, in the Yom Kippur War, the Libyan armored forces were actually sent to Egypt.
On the festive day of Simchat Torah 5772 (2011), the Libyan regime fell. After that, the huge stockpiles of chemical weapons (which Gaddafi had used, in particular, to carry out his offensive against neighboring Chad) were neutralized as well. At the same time, Qaddafi’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons were finally ruined.
Syria
All of this is even far more true in reference to the Syrian civil war. For years, the evil Syrian regime led the war against Israel. The Syrians supported and guided terrorists, developed chemical weapons (accumulating over 1300 tons). They even built, using North Korean help, a nuclear reactor, the same one that was blown up and destroyed by Israel in 2007.
On the peak of its power, the Syrian army had 4,800 tanks and about half a million soldiers inside the army. Considering that all this regular force was concentrated right on our border, the Syrian threat was extremely serious.
By the grace of G-d, the civil war today has left almost three-quarters of this army gone, so that the threat from Syria has diminished dramatically.
In addition, after Assad attacked the rebels with chemical weapons, he came under tremendous international pressure and was forced to dismantle 43 chemical weapons plants, as well as their storage and development facilities, in the face of the threat of a US-French attack.
Israeli Army Intelligence estimates that about 98% of these weapons were eventually eliminated. The regime managed to retain only a small amount of them (which it occasionally uses against its opponents). Indeed, it is no coincidence that the Israeli Defense Ministry has shut down gas mask production in recent years.
The IDF estimates that about 90% of the long-range missiles that the Syrian regime intended for war against Israel ended up being used against the rebels — in other words, launched at Syrian cities! In other words, the Syrian army is literally at war against its own people — just as it was in Egypt on the eve of the Exodus.
Iran
The Iranian allies, Hizbollah, which came to Assad’s aid and is deeply entangled in the swamp of this war, has so far lost more than two and a half thousand of its fighters killed and at least eight and a half thousand wounded. And that’s not counting the numerous deserters.
At the same time, two radical Sunni groups, ISIS and al-Qaeda, have declared an all-out war on Shiite Hizbullah, managing to inflict enormous damage on it.
Turkey
About four years ago, Turkey, too, invaded Syria and also sank into the swamp of the Syrian civil war. Turkish forces have already suffered heavy losses, both from rebel groups and in several clashes with units of the regular Syrian army. Erdogan’s Turkish regime is hostile to Israel. Therefore, its involvement in the Syrian civil war has certainly been a benefit to our people.
Egypt
Similar events took place in Egypt as well. Just to remind you, the Egyptian regime of Mubarak had already fallen at the very beginning of the Arab uprisings. And that, too, was good for Israel. After all, Mubarak was preparing, G-d forbid, for a war with the Jewish state, despite the “peace treaty” by purchasing huge quantities of high-quality American weapons, even though these expenditures were directly worsening the already miserable situation of tens of millions of impoverished Egyptians.
Mubarak also absolutely refused to block tunnels through which Hamas smuggled thousands of rockets from Iran. These were the rockets that Hamas then used to bombard Israeli cities. In contrast, El-Sisi, the successor to the Muslim Brotherhood regime that overthrew Mubarak, launched a merciless war against them, their ally Hamas and other Sunni extremists, even destroying (flooding with sewage) all the tunnels.
By the way, the terrorist organization ISIS, which is fighting, in particular, against the current Egyptian government, has also suffered many blows in recent years, having lost more than 47,000 of its 50,000 fighters, according to American intelligence reports, in addition to freeing about 99% of the territory seized by these terrorists.
The civil wars that shook Sudan and Algeria overthrew the tyrants who had ruled there for decades. In Yemen, this war is still going on.
Finally, the civil war in Iran has been going on for six months now. And this is in spite of the most brutal repression by the ayatollah regime.
The fulfillment of the prophecy
All of the above events are a new and far-reaching fulfillment of the exact prophecy of the Egyptian first born, the predictions of our sages and prophets (see, for example, the book of the prophet Chaggai (52) and the book of the prophet Yechezkel (38) — “Man by the sword of his brother” or the book of Zechariah 14:13), as well as the holy words of the Rebbe SHLITA, who said over and over again that the Redemption will come in goodness and mercy to the people of Israel even in our generation, through the clashes of enemies and haters among themselves, which will ultimately lead to their collapse.
Moreover, according to our holy Torah, the Lubavitcher Rebbe SHLITA King Moshiach himself is the one who defeats the haters of Israel, and he does so by the power of his supreme holiness, as the Prophet Isaiah says (11:4): “And he shall judge the poor justly, and he shall chastise with equity the humble of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall put the wicked to death.”
RAMBAM explains that it is King Moshiach who fights in the wars of G-d. In doing so, one of his main tasks is to eradicate the seed of Amalek. It seems that we see the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophecy in the current wars of the haters of Israel among themselves.
In one of his holy conversations (dedicated to the chapter of Toldot in 5750), the Rebbe SHLITA said that the turmoils occurring in the world are obvious signs of Redemption. It is said in the prophet Chaggai (2:22): “And I will overthrow the throne of the kingdoms, and I will destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations... each one by the sword of his brother.” The meaning of these words is that just before the coming of the Redemption the world will be shaken by many revolutions. It is told also in the holy book “Zohar”: “At that time I will overthrow the governments of the nations of the world... Israel in turn will be freed from exile.
In other words, all these turmoils, changes of regimes, and uprisings are simply the signs of the coming Redemption.
In his holy conversations, Lubavitcher Rebbe SHLITA King Moshiach also explains that the acceleration of technological progress, which is specific to our generation, was also predicted by our holy sages in the book “Zohar” (in the commentary to the chapter “Noah”) as a sign of the coming Redemption. According to what is written in the book of the Zohar, just before the Redemption “the gates of wisdom will be opened above, and the springs of wisdom below”.
In this way, the world will be prepared for the Redemption. Indeed, it is exactly at this generation that the revelation and distribution of Torah is unfolding on an incredible scale, especially the inner aspects of Torah — the teachings of Chasidism (wisdom above — the wisdom of the Holy Torah), as well as large-scale technological developments (wisdom below — the wisdom of the natural sciences — belonging to the worldly and materially inferior world).
The latest technology makes it possible, among other things, to connect all parts of the world together, both for commerce and for personal communication. In this way, the world is getting ready for the revelation of infinite unity of the Almighty in the coming Redemption.
The fulfillment of all the holy prophecies of Lubavitcher Rebbe SHLITA King Moshiach should lead us to the understanding that we are on the starting point of Redemption, coming to us in goodness and mercy through many miracles — just as the Rebbe SHLITA promised. We must be ready and strive to meet the Rebbe SHLITA, King Moshiach, in the very near future in full and true Redemption.