For many people, the imminent coming of Moshiach seems utterly irrational. The reason is that they view the world through eyes of logic and reason. It doesn’t work that way…

Blueprint of Events

In the beginning of the Zohar, Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai teaches that the Almighty “looked in the Torah and created the world.” In other words, the Almighty wrote the Torah long before the creation of the universe. Subsequently, the Torah was the Almighty’s blueprint for creating the universe. As such, the events described in the Torah become the template for all future events. What’s more, in our first principle of emuna, we learn that the Almighty is not only the Creator, but the ongoing Director of all creation as well. As He in His Divine wisdom defies logic, so do current events defy logic. Take for example, the juxtaposition of a comic and a Cossack, both in Kiev.

The Megillas Esther Template, Then

The final book of the written Torah is the Scroll of Esther, Megillas Esther. The theme of the “Megillas Esther template” is nahafoch hu – “just the opposite.” Here’s a taste:

Achashverosh was a crude, mafia-type gangster who muscled his way to the thrown of Persia. He was the biggest Jew-hater of his day, even worse than Haman. He married Vashti. She was the granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the First Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Logical match, right? Hold on…

Achashverosh appointed the radical anti-Semite Haman as his closest advisor and right-hand man. Haman was the great grandson of arch Jew-hater Amalek (grandson of Esau). Logical match, right? Hold on…

When Vashti refuses the wishes of her husband, Haman advises Achashverosh to kill her. Not so logical…

Achashverosh, who can choose any of the young beauties from the 127 countries that he rules, chooses Esther as his new queen. Esther is a highly religious Jewish girl, an orphan, and first cousin of the generation’s greatest tzaddik, Mordechai, who raised and adopted her.

A decree is signed to annihilate all the Jewish People around the world, Heaven forbid. Ultimately, the Jews thrive and terminate the Jew-haters around the world.

Haman builds a gallows to hang Mordechai. Achashverosh commands the Haman hang on those very same gallows.

Mordechai the pious Jew becomes the right-hand man of Achashverosh.

Achashverosh and Esther have a son, Darius, who sanctioned the rebuilding of the Second Holy Temple and the return of the exiles to Zion.

The Megilla-Moshiach Template, Now

Ukraine for centuries has been the worst hotbed of anti-Semitism. The notorious Bohdan Khmelnitsky, is a major hero in the Ukraine, to this day. A city is named after him. All over Ukraine, streets are named after him. His statue overlooks a square in downtown Kiev (image above, to the right of President Zelensky). That statue is known as “The Statue of Eternal Glory”. Ukrainians don’t seem to be upset that Khmelnitsky was the Cossack leader who invented the pogroms. He destroyed 300 Jewish communities in the Ukraine. He killed half of the Ukraine’s Jews in 1648-1649, which amounted to a third of European Jewry at the time, over 100,000 Jews. Indeed, he is the symbol of Ukrainian national pride.

Statue of Ivan Gonta, Cossack murderer of Uman’s 33,000 Jews in 1768

The Cossack leader Ivan Gonta is also a Ukrainian national hero. He commanded the total annihilation of Uman’s 33,000 Jewish men, women and children in 1768. His statue stands proudly in downtown Uman.

The same Ukraine that reveres its Cossack roots in general, and Khmelnitsky and Gonta in particular, elected a Jewish president in 2019. Today, they revere a Jew.

Ukraine’s Jewish president Zelensky is a former comedian and gentle individual who never served a day in the military. He, not a Cossack, is the hero who leads the Ukrainian people in their toughest hour. Nahafoch Hu: Just the Opposite…

More Surprises on the Way

No one knows what the future holds. We do know that the process of Redemption and Moshiach has started. The birth-pains of the Messianic arrival are just like a physical birth – there is no reverse and they’ll just get stronger until the happy day comes.

As each day goes by, the ingathering of the exiles from both Russia and the Ukraine increases. Other countries will soon follow suit.

If a Jew can lead the Ukraine and become its new national hero, then believe that Moshiach will be here soon.