Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, the Executive Director of Israel365 Action, recently made a video revealing prophetic references to the US airstrike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Rabbi Wolicki cited Psikta Rabbati, a collection of Midrash on the Bible composed around 845 CE, page 36.
“Rabbi Isaac said, “In the year that the King of the Messiah will appear, all the kings of the nations of the world will taunt one another. The king of Persia will taunt the king of Arabia. The king of Arabia will go to Edom to seek advice from them. The king of Persia will return and destroy the entire world. All the nations of the world will tremble and be terrified and fall on their faces. He will seize them with labor pains like the labor pains of a woman in labor. Israel will tremble and be terrified, saying, ‘Where shall we go? Where shall we come?’ And God will say to them, ‘My sons, do not be afraid.’ The time for your redemption has come. Not like the first redemption, so the last redemption. For the first redemption was for you sorrow and the bondage of (other) kingdoms.’ But the last redemption is for you no sorrow and the bondage of (other) kingdoms.’”
Rabbi Wolicki explained.
“Before the modern age, all the nations of the world couldn’t communicate with each other,” Rabbi Wolicki explained. “This passage describes a type of geopolitical turmoil that can only exist in the modern world, when all the nations are in uproar, and they’re all confused, and they don’t know what to do, and Israel is at the center of it. This describes precisely the period that we are going through.”
Rabbi Wolicki then referred to the Book of Joel, which describes the judgment of the nations in the end times. This scenario is described in the Talmud (Avodah Zara 2b).
“There are only two nations that are described by name,” Rabbi Wolicki said. “Rome and Persia. The Talmud explains that these two nations are mentioned by name because they will continue to exist as powerful kingdoms until the end times. Obviously, Rome doesn’t exist as a powerful kingdom anymore. But in Jewish tradition, Rome is always understood to be a nickname for the West or Christendom, because the Catholic Church, which laid the foundation for Christianom and western civilization, is based in Rome.”
“Persia, of course, is modern-day Iran,” Rabbi Wolicki explained.
Rabbi Wolicki then referred to Tosafot, a medieval commentary on the Talmud.
“Just prior to the coming of the Messiah, Rome will defeat Persia,” Rabbi Wolicki quoted, going on to explain. “In other words, Iran will fall to the most powerful kingdom of the West just before the coming of the Messiah.”
Rabbi Wolicki explained that there is a daily regimen of learning the Talmud called Daf Yomi (daily page). This is coordinated, and tens of thousands of Jews learn from the same page every day. With 2,711 pages in the Talmud, one Daf Yomi cycle takes about 7 years, 5 months.
“The page of the Talmud being studied for Daf Yomi all around the world on the day that the United States destroyed the nuclear facilities in Iran was the page describing Rome defeating Persia,” Rabbi Wolicki said.
“We are living in prophetic times,” he said. “We are living on the doorstep of redemption and the kingdom of God. What a time to be alive!”
While it may be disconcerting for some to equate the US, in particular President Trump, with Rome and Catholicism, some rabbis have done so in a positive context. In a lesson in 2018, Torah scholar and international speaker Rabbi Mendel Kessin laid out his Bible-based case that Trump has a singular role to play in preparing the world for redemption, describing him as a “Messianic figure.”
Rabbi Kessin began his talk by quoting the verse from the Bible that speaks about the two nations that Rebecca had in her womb. One was Jacob, who, through his 12 sons, was the ancestor of the Jewish people.
The other nation in Rebecca’s womb came from Esau, who, as Rabbi Kessin explains, “became Edom, which became Rome, which became Christianity, which became Western civilization.” In Genesis 25:23, it is written, “And the older shall serve the younger.”
The Hebrew word for ‘serve,’ as in “the older shall serve the younger” is ya’avod. In essence, Esau was given the task of assisting his brother Jacob. But according to the Jewish Sages, Esau had a second choice. He could either assist Jacob (ya’avod) or enslave or oppress him, a concept expressed by the very similar Hebrew word ya’aved.
Esau and his descendants were destined to have an important role to play in the process of bringing the world to redemption. But the choice, for Esau and for his descendants, has always been ya’avod or ya’aved: Will they cooperate and assist the Jewish people, or will they enslave and oppress them?
According to Rabbi Kessin, Esau had the potential to be the fourth Biblical forefather, after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He and his descendants have always been part of the process of redemption.
According to Rabbi Kessin, although Esau chose sin and evil, he also had within him the potential for spiritual greatness. This quality is what Rabbi Kessin calls the “tov she’b’Eisav” – the potential for good that was in Esau.
And that potential, according to Rabbi Kessin, is represented today by America.
Trump’s purpose, on a spiritual level, is to turn from ya’aved (oppressing Israel and the Jewish people) to ya’avod (cooperating with and assisting Israel and the Jewish people). This potential has already been actualized with Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his plan to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Rabbi Kessin concluded this portion of his remarks with a spiritual explanation for the virulent opposition to Trump. The hateful rhetoric “is a function of his messianic mission.” He said the source of the extreme opposition to Trump is because Trump is being used as one of God’s instruments in rehabilitating the relationship between the Biblical Jacob and Esau.
