UPDATE March/3/21: What follows is a tiny drop in the vast wisdom & deep ideas propounded by Rav Schwartz. If the following leaves you with more questions than inspiration, feel free to explore further on the website set up by some of his students, which contains the English translations of the transcripts of Rav Schwartz's lectures:
https://eng.bilvavi.net/
https://eng.bilvavi.net/
In the Bilvavi issue for Parshat Ki Tisa, Rav Itamar Schwartz reveals intriguing insights regarding the Geula and the current War of Gog & Magog:
http://www.bilvavi.net/files/Bilvavi_179_Ki.Sisa_Turning.Directly.to.Hashem_5781.pdf
The whole thing provides essential reading in only 4 pages (so it's very worthwhile & fascinating to read the whole issue).
Certain passages really struck me in the Q&A, like this one (page 3):
http://www.bilvavi.net/files/Bilvavi_179_Ki.Sisa_Turning.Directly.to.Hashem_5781.pdf
The whole thing provides essential reading in only 4 pages (so it's very worthwhile & fascinating to read the whole issue).
Certain passages really struck me in the Q&A, like this one (page 3):
QUESTION:
What level of teshuvah and emes (truth) is needed in order for one to experience the Geulah?
ANSWER:
One needs a genuine ratzon (will [desire]) to do the will of Hashem, no matter how many various ups and downs he has been through.
Please note that the answer isn't "one needs to be an exalted tzaddik" or "a multi-tasking baalas chessed" or "the best boy in yeshivah" or "the best girl in school" or "a lamdan" or "a masmid" or "tamid b'simcha/eternally happy" or "one who never eats too many brownies" or "one who never gets persnickety" or anything else superlative (although if you are these things, then that can help a lot and...yashar koach on achieving such wonderful accomplishments!).
Rav Schwartz even acknowledges that the Geula-experiencer can endure both ups AND downs.
However, a basic SINCERE desire to fulfill the desire of Hashem needs to exist.
That's it.
Here's another on why we need to do teshuvah now, even though Mashiach ben Yosef and then Mashiach ben David will come & fix everything anyway (page 3):
Rav Schwartz even acknowledges that the Geula-experiencer can endure both ups AND downs.
However, a basic SINCERE desire to fulfill the desire of Hashem needs to exist.
That's it.
Here's another on why we need to do teshuvah now, even though Mashiach ben Yosef and then Mashiach ben David will come & fix everything anyway (page 3):
Because doing teshuvah draws the Redemption closer.
The more that a person fixes with teshuvah, to that extent will a person merit the spiritual benefits that will come from the two Mashiachs, on his own level and to the degree that he does teshuvah.
Because even when Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben Dovid will arrive, not everyone will merit to equally partake of the spiritual benefits that they will bring.
It's a sobering thought, but very similar to what Rav Avigdor Miller always said: Your future enjoyment depends on your present investment.
Also, please note his emphasis on YOUR OWN LEVEL and what DEGREE you do teshuvah.
For example, someone can be very frum as a product of upbringing and never invest much thought or effort in inner frumkeit.
In other words, it's questionable whether they ever did any serious teshuvah or even a thoughtful chesbon hanefesh (self-accounting).
Another person could have been born into the 50th level of tumah and managed to drag themselves up to the 40th level with every intention to keep on going.
Yet another person may have seemed very frum, suffered a massive fall, and is now on the way back up again.
Externally, they look a lot less frum than the first example, but they are doing teshuvah on their own level to a very high degree.
So that's something to keep in mind.
In yet another instance, a person may have been born into a very frum family, yet decided to push himself even higher despite there being no external pressure to do so. He looks like a regular frum person, but is actually doing so much more.
Only Hashem sees what's really going on inside.
Also, any teshuvah you do brings the Geulah/Redemption closer.
And that's a very good thing. We should all be grateful to each other for that.
In another answer, Rav Schwartz emphasizes how we are already in the middle of the War of Gog & Magog.
(The first time I heard this, I actually found this somewhat reassuring. Instead of dreading the unknown looming of an upcoming disaster, I felt relieved to hear we're already in the middle of it. Is that a weird reaction?)
Anyway, the questioner wished to know whether the internal/spiritual aspect of this War will materialize as an actual physical war?
Here is Rav Schwartz's answer (page 3):
Also, please note his emphasis on YOUR OWN LEVEL and what DEGREE you do teshuvah.
For example, someone can be very frum as a product of upbringing and never invest much thought or effort in inner frumkeit.
In other words, it's questionable whether they ever did any serious teshuvah or even a thoughtful chesbon hanefesh (self-accounting).
Another person could have been born into the 50th level of tumah and managed to drag themselves up to the 40th level with every intention to keep on going.
Yet another person may have seemed very frum, suffered a massive fall, and is now on the way back up again.
Externally, they look a lot less frum than the first example, but they are doing teshuvah on their own level to a very high degree.
So that's something to keep in mind.
In yet another instance, a person may have been born into a very frum family, yet decided to push himself even higher despite there being no external pressure to do so. He looks like a regular frum person, but is actually doing so much more.
Only Hashem sees what's really going on inside.
Also, any teshuvah you do brings the Geulah/Redemption closer.
And that's a very good thing. We should all be grateful to each other for that.
In another answer, Rav Schwartz emphasizes how we are already in the middle of the War of Gog & Magog.
(The first time I heard this, I actually found this somewhat reassuring. Instead of dreading the unknown looming of an upcoming disaster, I felt relieved to hear we're already in the middle of it. Is that a weird reaction?)
Anyway, the questioner wished to know whether the internal/spiritual aspect of this War will materialize as an actual physical war?
Here is Rav Schwartz's answer (page 3):
Certainly.
It cannot “spread” to the outer world – it is already going on!
There have always been wars taking place in the final years of our world.
But all of these wars are just the final outcome of something deeper and more internal.
All of these wars have been the result of the internal “wars” that have been taking place inside people’s souls.
The war of Gog and Magog will be revealed outwardly [in our world] as it will be, and it should make no difference to us how it will happen.
If a person is busy thinking about it, he is wasting his time.
So what we see in the outside world emanated from our inner world.
Also, it helps to know not to focus on this so much. Priorities help us aim our energies in the right directions. Again, it's the inner work, the teshuvah that matters.
Then there's this gem (page 4):
Also, it helps to know not to focus on this so much. Priorities help us aim our energies in the right directions. Again, it's the inner work, the teshuvah that matters.
Then there's this gem (page 4):
This is the third world war which the Chofetz Chaim spoke about – and we are currently found in the intense part of it, and there have already been many casualties, mainly in the spiritual sense, Rachmana Litzlan.
It mainly affects people on a soul level, and very little on a physical level.
Here are 2 quotes from war experts that describe what's going on now:
"In wartime,
truth is so precious that
she should always be attended
by a bodyguard of lies."
– Winston Churchill
This is where we find ourselves now: "Protected" by a "bodyguard of lies."
It's aaaaaaaaaaaaall for your own good, darlin'! Dontchya know?
It's aaaaaaaaaaaaall for your own good, darlin'! Dontchya know?
"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."
– Sun Tzu
I wish I could quote this as being from the Yetzer Hara rather than Sun Tzu, but I suppose it's all the same.
Either way, we see this all over the world now.
People want everything that's bad for them because it's easier, feels better (at least temporarily), tastes better, and makes life easier (at least temporarily).
So they actively seek out everything that's bad for them.
They've been subdued without fighting.
Fighting back really does feel pointless at this juncture.
That may not be the right attitude, but it's an understandable one.
Either way, we see this all over the world now.
People want everything that's bad for them because it's easier, feels better (at least temporarily), tastes better, and makes life easier (at least temporarily).
So they actively seek out everything that's bad for them.
They've been subdued without fighting.
Fighting back really does feel pointless at this juncture.
That may not be the right attitude, but it's an understandable one.
This is War...Now THAT Explains Everything!
I find this idea helpful for down times because this means it's not really me (or you!) that's the problem.
There's a war going on.
It's a war against your mind, heart, and your soul—but NOT in the way other religions perceive it.
(Meaning, there isn't some idolatrous battle between God & a devil. No one can fight God. That's ridiculous.)
And the down times, the times of despair or depression, are battle wounds, shrapnel, and so on.
The people you see walking around spiritually bereft are casualties of war. (This includes people who, conversely, may look fine & frum, but feel & behave spiritually bereft privately.)
And maybe you sometimes feel like you're going in that direction too.
(Hopefully, you don't feel that way. On the other hand, some people struggle in such impossible, never-ending situations, it's understandable if they feel like they're sinking under.)
Tragically, physical causalities result from this spiritual war when people harm themselves into oblivion via drug overdoses, disease-inducing food habits, eating disorders, reckless behavior, intentional suicide, and so on.
The main thing is to connect with Hashem (even for just a few minutes a day) and try your best to do teshuvah on YOUR level.
Let's end with a couple of quotes from Rav Schwartz from pages 4, 3, 2:
There's a war going on.
It's a war against your mind, heart, and your soul—but NOT in the way other religions perceive it.
(Meaning, there isn't some idolatrous battle between God & a devil. No one can fight God. That's ridiculous.)
And the down times, the times of despair or depression, are battle wounds, shrapnel, and so on.
The people you see walking around spiritually bereft are casualties of war. (This includes people who, conversely, may look fine & frum, but feel & behave spiritually bereft privately.)
And maybe you sometimes feel like you're going in that direction too.
(Hopefully, you don't feel that way. On the other hand, some people struggle in such impossible, never-ending situations, it's understandable if they feel like they're sinking under.)
Tragically, physical causalities result from this spiritual war when people harm themselves into oblivion via drug overdoses, disease-inducing food habits, eating disorders, reckless behavior, intentional suicide, and so on.
The main thing is to connect with Hashem (even for just a few minutes a day) and try your best to do teshuvah on YOUR level.
Let's end with a couple of quotes from Rav Schwartz from pages 4, 3, 2:
Repeat to yourself the emunah peshutah, the simple belief, that Hashem does everything and that there is nothing in the world which has any power, other than Him: Ain Od Milvado...[There is none but Him.]
Each person, at his own level [should work on whatever he can do].
One should set aside a few minutes to talk to Hashem, simply and earnestly.
This is the revelation we can come to in the Acharis HaYomim [End of Days]:
To uncover our power of directly connecting to Hashem, through having a very real relationship with Him.
We need to simply talk with Him, no less than how we talk to a friend...
May we please all merit to survive this War completely intact—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually!!!
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