This week’s parasha is Bechukotai, infamous for its long list of curses. Tragically, we find that all of those curses have been realized in Jewish history. And yet, we also find that out of each catastrophe comes tremendous blessing. God declares that although He will punish the nation, He “will not despise them nor reject them” for the covenant is everlasting. The punishment serves only as retribution, middah k’neged middah, “measure for measure”, but it also has a deeper purpose to bring forth renewed life. Let’s take three examples from the past two millennia to demonstrate this phenomenon. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Prophecies in the Talmud
Are We in the “End of Days”?
Have the Torah’s Predictions Been Realized?
A major portion of the Tanakh deals with prophecies. While most of the words of the Prophets were already realized in their own days, or in subsequent decades, there are occasional places in Scripture where the Prophets speak of the distance future, or the “End of Days”. Similarly, other Jewish holy texts—including the Talmud, Midrash, and Zohar, among others—make predictions about the future. Have these predictions been realized in the many centuries that have passed since then?
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