Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Halakhah for Sanhedrin 195:5

אמר רבי חנינא אין בן דוד בא עד שיתבקש דג לחולה ולא ימצא שנאמר (יחזקאל לב, יד) אז אשקיע מימיהם ונהרותם כשמן אוליך וכתב (בתריה) (יחזקאל כט, כא) ביום ההוא אצמיח קרן לבית ישראל

as it is written, Great peace have they which love thy law,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. CXIX, 165. ');"><sup>8</sup></span> 'There [shall] be no peace on account of the affliction.' Samuel said, 'Until all prices are equal.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This is a difficult passage. Rashi explains it as meaning either that the prices of all commodities, e.g., wheat, wine, oil etc. shall be alike, or that all commodities shall be equally dear. But it is difficult to see how this explains' neither was there any peace etc. Maharsha therefore connects this verse 'to him that went out or came in' with Ezek. XLVI, 9: But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate&nbsp;… Accordingly he interprets: until all gates are alike, i.e., all people, whether entering or leaving the Temple — an idiom denoting 'without exception' — will suffer. ');"><sup>9</sup></span>

Chofetz Chaim

And, in truth, not against Him (G–d forbid) is our plaint, but against ourselves; for it [the redemption] is not beyond His powers, viz. (Isaiah 59:1-2): "Behold, the L–rd's hand is not too short to save, and His ear is not too heavy to hear. But your sins have made a separation between you and your G–d, and your transgressions have hid [His] face from you, from hearing." And we find (viz. Sanhedrin 98a) that in the days of R. Yehoshua ben Levi he was told (viz. Tehillim 95:6) that the Messiah would come "today, if you hearkened to His voice" — even though the time of the exile decreed for Israel (one thousand years, corresponding to the one thousand year "day" of the Holy One Blessed be He, had not yet passed [viz. Chida, Petach Eiynayim, Sanhedrin, Ibid.]) In spite of this, the power of repentance would have annulled the decree. How much more so, more than eight hundred years after the end of that [one-thousand-year] "day", [should the Messiah come if we repented]! The fault is ours alone — that with our many sins we do not allow Him to repose His Shechinah in our midst.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Previous VerseFull ChapterNext Verse