As Israel fights a multifront war for its existence, speculations that this is the beginning of the pre-Messiah War of Gog and Magog abound. This raises grave concern as the final battle is described as coming from the north and being fought in Israel, devastating the land. But one major spiritual leader predicted that thanks to the merit the Jews have earned from faithfully performing the Torah commandments, the borders of this final battle have been moved further north.  

In October 2015,  Rabbi Shalom Berger, the spiritual leader of the Mishkoltz sect of Hasidic Judaism, gave a Torah lesson at the end of the holiday of Simhat Torah in which he made predictions regarding the imminent arrival of the Messiah.

“Whoever merely tries to look truthfully at what is going on around us understands that God is bringing us toward the revelation of the King Mashiah and our Redemption and the redemption of our souls,” Rabbi Berger said. 

“This winter,” continued the rabbi, ” there will continue to be uprisings throughout the world – and everything is for Israel’s benefit!

“My heart tells me,” concluded the rabbi, “that God has mercy on the nation of Israel and, despite what the prophets have prophesied – that the Gog Umagog War needs to be within Jerusalem. Nevertheless, God sweetened this and is currently making it in Syria. And the proof is that it is brought down in Sifri (Devarim 1) that the gates of Jerusalem are destined to reach until Damascus.”

“If that is the case, instead of the war being in Jerusalem with the inhabitants of Israel suffering from it, God widened Jerusalem so that it reaches as far as Damascus so that the great war will be there, as we saw when Russia entered with powerful forces into Syria.

In chapters 38 and 39 of the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet describes a great war that will occur at the end of days. Gog of the land of Magog from the north will lead a host of nations in battle against Israel and God, a war that will bring about the final redemption. God’s wrath will come down upon the invaders, who will die in a series of supernatural plagues.

While the current identity of the nations of Gog and Magog are unknown, Israel is currently fighting a war in the north against Hezbollah, which is firmly entrenched in Lebanon and aligned with Syria. 

It can also be that Russia’s will take a leading role in the War of Gog and Magog, as hinted by Ezekiel (38:2) when he refers to the Hebrew word for ‘chief’, which is רֹאשׁ (Rosh). Many have interpreted this to refer to Russia.

This is also hinted at by Russian President Putin’s first name, Vladimir (ולדימיר), which has a value in gematria (Hebrew numerology) of 300. This is equal to the value of the name Nimrod (נימרוד), who, according to Jewish mysticism, was a previous incarnation of Gog. 

“This will be the beginning of a Third World War with the US and its neighbors and tremendous bloodshed until they destroy and annihilate each other,’ Rabbi Berger concluded. 

“All that remains for us now is the task of being united among ourselves and to be careful to stay away from arguments and speaking slander because the Messiah is already here and hears everything…”

In Jewish tradition, there are two forms the final redemption can take: a redemption that is “Be’itah” – i.e., one that is set at a predetermined time. The Talmud (Tractate Avodah Zarah 9a) states that the world will last 6,000 years. The Messiah must come at the end of the 6,000 years, even if mankind has not prepared itself.  The current (2023/2024) Hebrew year is 5784. By this calculation, the start of the 6000th year would occur at nightfall of 29 September 2239 and the end would occur at nightfall of 16 September 2240

The other form redemption can take is “Ahishena” – i.e., one that will come earlier than its set time. The Jews can bring redemption early based on the merits of performing God’s commandments.

The main differences between the two forms of Redemption are the time it will take and the amount of suffering the Jewish people and the world, in general, will endure until it occurs.

An “Ahishena” Redemption is a Redemption that comes suddenly, miraculously as the world has already reached its correct fulfillment and purpose.

A “Be’ita” Redemption is a Redemption that a long and arduous process precedes it, full of suffering and tests for the Jewish people and for the world in general, which concludes with the terrible death of about two-thirds of the world, in addition to those among the Jewish people who, according to God’s calculation, are not fit to be redeemed.