2: The Length of the Exile
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The residents of Eretz Yisrael distanced the Babylonians and rejected them. The Babylonians must remain in exile, wandering among the nations, once they rejected the cherished land. We ask: After how many years of wandering would the Babylonians be welcomed in Eretz Yisrael with open arms? Research into this question will aid us in concluding what can be concluded from the rejection of the Babylonians and how this is relevant to us.
A clear answer to the question is found in the midrash of Chazal: The length of time is 1000 years. There is a set time for the length of exile that can be learned from the prophets’ allusions; when that time-period passes there is no need to be in exile, and all the people in exile are expected to return. Here are the sources:
For the reign of these 4 kingdoms is only one day of the days of the Holy, blessed be He… as it says: “He made me desolate, faint all day long” (Lamentations 1:13).[1]
One day of the Holy, blessed be He – 1000 years –[2] is allotted for the reign of the 4 kingdoms. This on the basis of what is written: “faint all day long,” one day and no longer. The exegesis is mentioned in the book of Zohar as well:
“Until the day breaks” (Song of Songs 2:17)… was said about the exile of Israel, that they will be subjugated in exile until that day of the reign of the nations will end, as we learnt that Rabbi Yitzchak said: “1000 years is the reign of all the nations together over Israel”… the nations don’t have dominion over Israel except for one day, which is the day of the Holy, blessed be He, which is 1000 years, as is written “He made me desolate, faint all day long”, one day and no more. Said Rabbi Yose: “If they were to be subjugated more, it isn’t according to the King’s decree, but only since they don’t want to return to Him.”[3]
The end-time of 1000 years is mentioned also in the following midrash, but not explicitly – apparently due to caution about revealing the end-time, one of the things forbidden by force of the oaths:
Whoever knows how many years Israel worshipped idols, knows when the Son of David will come; and we have 3 verses aiding us, one: “And I will visit upon her the days of the Baals to whom she burnt incense” (Hosea 2:15) – the same number as the days of the Baals; second: “And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen” (Zechariah 7:13); third: “And when your people say, Why has Hashem our God done all these things to us? then you shall answer them, As you have forsaken Me and have served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours” (Jeremiah 5:19). Rabbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish both say, Rabbi Yochanan says: “Because, and only because” (Leviticus 26:43) – measure for measure; Resh Lakish says: “Strangers devour your land in your presence” (Isaiah 1:7) – corresponding to [the years of] your presence [therein], strangers devour your land.[4]
Let us attempt to solve the riddle. If we will know how many years Israel worshipped idols, we will know the end predicted in this midrash. This can be solved through the means of another midrash; from it we can learn that here, too, the intention is to 1000 years.
An expression similar to this mysterious expression – “Whoever knows how many years” – is found in another midrash:
“Jacob said: Then sell me today your birthright” (Genesis 25:31). He said to him: “Sell me one day of yours.” Said Rav Acha: “Whoever knows how to calculate – for one day did our father Jacob dwell in tranquility in the shade of Esau.”[5]
The intention here is to 1000 years, a day of the Holy, blessed be He, as is explicit in a parallel to this midrash:
“Sell me today,” said Rav Acha: “One who knows how to calculate properly, Israel took in this world only 1000 years” – for a day of the Holy, blessed be He, is 1000 years.[6]
What are these 1000 years that Israel took in this world? They are the years of prophecy, the era of Hashem’s revelation to us and our knowing Him, from the Exodus from Egypt until prophecy was sealed. The calculation is mentioned by Rav Saadiah Gaon and the Raavad, author of the Sefer Ha’Kabbalah:
Prophecy was extant in the midst of our nation… for 1000 years.[7]
And that is the year 1000 from the Exodus from Egypt… at that time… prophecy left Israel.[8]
The Exodus from Egypt is considered the beginning of the prophetic era in Israel, when Hashem was revealed to the Nation of Israel and dwelled His Shechinah in our midst. These sources attest to the cessation of prophecy in the year 1000 to the Exodus, in the year 40 of the Second Temple:
He is Alexander of Macedonia who ruled for 12 years. Until here there were prophets who prophesied with the holy spirit; from now on – tilt your ear and listen to the words of the sages.[9]
Prophecy accompanied the people of the Second Temple for 40 years, through the elders that merited the aid of the Shechinah that was in the First Temple, for inherited prophecy departed with the Shechinah’s departure.[10]
To the cessation of prophecy which is the beginning of Alexander’s reign.[11]
Forty years after the building of the temple, vision was sealed.[12]
The 1000 years that Israel took in this world, living in tranquility in Esau’s shade, are none other than the years of prophecy; and it seems that they are those years that “Israel worshipped idols,” from the time they left Egypt with the graven image of Michah[13] until the eradication of the inclination to idolatry by the Men of the Great Assembly.[14] For the inclination to idolatry corresponds with prophecy. We won’t delve into the profound concept of the connection here; instead, we’ll suffice with quoting two sources.[15] Rabbi Yehudah the Pious wrote:
There is no holy spirit in the world for there to be prophets in the world during the Second Temple, for in the Second Temple the inclination to idolatry was slaughtered.[16]
The Gr”a wrote the same:
Once they killed the evil inclination, prophecy ceased.[17]
The years of prophecy are the very same years of idolatry.
It emerges that the calculation in the obscure midrash about the sum of the years that Israel worshipped idols matches the calculation explicit in other midrashim. A calculation would yield that Israel worshipped idols for 1000 years – in those 1000 years that Yaakov took from Esau. Consistent with this, Rav Acha said (the same sage who said the statement about the day of Yaakov) that the anger of the Holy, blessed be He, lasted for one day, meaning a day of the Holy, blessed be He:
“That Hashem brought on me in the day of his fierce anger” (Lamentations 1:12). Said Rav Acha: “One day was [the duration] of the fierce anger of the Holy, blessed be He.”[18]
With this, we can reach an understanding of Resh Lakish’s opinion regarding calculating the end-time. While Rabbi Yochanan derived from “Because, and only because” that the Children of Israel were punished measure for measure to be in exile for the number of years that they worshipped idols, according to Resh Lakish they will lose their land for the same number of years that they remained in their land. “Strangers devour your land in your presence” – corresponding to the years of your presence therein, strangers devour your land. This is problematic: This doesn’t correspond with the number of 1000 years mentioned in other sources, nor the 3 sources quoted at the beginning of the midrash that match the years of exile to the years of idolatry. For there isn’t an absolute synchroneity between residence in Eretz Yisrael and idolatry, since the Children of Israel didn’t reside in their land for the full 1000 years that they worshipped idols: Deduct from them the 40 years in the desert and the 70 years of exile in Babylonia, and the total is only 890 years!
It would seem that we can reconcile the two opinions such that everything comports. It can be assumed that in the calculation of the years of dwelling in their land, the first 40 years of the beginning of the Second Temple Era are not included, since the Children of Israel were then subjugated to Persia, as is written regarding the people of the Second Temple: “But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces” (Nehemiah 9:36). If these years are not part of the number, we are left with 850 years from entering the Land until the destruction of the First Temple. These are the years of dwelling in the Land of Israel. The years of punishment corresponding to these years begin – so it would seem – 150 years after the destruction of the Second Temple. The years of punishment begin only after the end the Second Temple Era, since although the Children of Israel didn’t dwell in their land with as complete owners during the days of the Second Temple, they also didn’t lose their land, not throughout the days of the Second Temple, nor immediately after the destruction of the Temple. What then is the turning point that fixes the beginning of the period termed “Strangers devour your land”? Can the moment be located? It seems correct to say that it began when Rav came to Babylonia, in the year 530 to the document system, 150 years after the destruction of the Temple. This significant event marks the beginning of the ascent of Babylonia and the end of the centrality of Eretz Yisrael, as they said: “We have made ourselves in Babylonia like Eretz Yisrael… from when Rav came to Babylonia,” and Rashi stressed: “The people dwelling there increased, due to his Yeshivah.”[19] From that time, Babylonia began to take center stage in Jewish history, such that a second “Eretz Yisrael” was formed – Babylonia like Eretz Yisrael.[20] That is when the period began in which Eretz Yisrael was considered lost from us, strangers devouring it.
The 850 years of strangers devouring Eretz Yisrael commence 150 years after the destruction of the Temple, but the 1000 years corresponding to idolatry beginning from the moment of the destruction: Corresponding to the years that they worshipped idols, the worship in Hashem’s house was suspended. It emerges that the calculations of Rabbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish comport with each other.
After 1000 years passed, the Babylonians were invited to return, and there wouldn’t be opposition to them. Did something happen then, 1000 years after the destruction of the Temple? About that matter we will see more in the next chapter; for now, let us complete the discussion about calculations of end-times with the words of the midrash about a sign for the impending feet of the Messiah:
If you see benches in Eretz Yisrael full of Babylonians, hope for the feet of the King Messiah. Why? “He spread a net for my feet [and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all day long]” (Lamentations 1:13).[21]
The exile is like a net spread for the feet of Israel. Once the Jews of Babylonia were caught in it, they remained trapped, not invited to return. When they do succeed to escape, that is a sign that the exile which endures for the length of the full sad day, i.e., 1000 years, has ended.
The calculations are over; now, on to halacha. We will consider what is the halacha that we can learn from this subject, and as we shall see, the calculations that we arranged regarding the Word of Hashem – which is the end-time – will aid us in clarifying the Word of Hashem – which is halacha.
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[1] Pirke d’Rebbe Eliezer, chapter 28.
[2] See Bereshis Rabbah 19,8.
[3] Zohar v. 2, 17a.
[4] Eichah Rabbah, introduction 21.
[5] Genesis Rabbah 63, 13.
[6] Tanchuma Yashan, Toldos 4.
[7] Sefer Ha’Galui, Yehoshua Blau and Yosef Yahalom edition, Jerusalem 2019, introduction. See there in the second gate: “And it was when 1000 years were filled to the gift of God from the days of Moshe, the man of God, when the rest of the prophets ended in the kingdom of Medea and vision was sealed, in the 40th year to the building of the Second Temple, with few people.
[8] Sefer Ha’Kabbalah, Philadelphia 1967, pg. 11.
[9] Seder Olam Rabbah, chapter 30.
[10] Kuzari, 3:65.
[11] Introduction of Rabbi Nissim Gaon to the Talmud.
[12] Commentary on Song of Songs, attributed to Nachmanides, 5:6.
[13] See Exodus Rabbah, 41, 1: “To us is the shame, and to You the righteousness: Israel was passing through the sea and the silver of the graven image of Michah was passing through the sea… and the sea split before them. Thus: “To You, Hashem, the righteousness, and to us the shamefacedness” (Daniel 9:7); Sanhedrin 103b: “’And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea’ (Zechariah 10:11)… this refers to the graven image of Michah”; see also Leviticus Rabbah 7, 1, regarding idolatry that began “from the day Israel left Egypt.”
[14] As described in Yoma 69b.
[15] For a concise explanation, see below, chapter 5.
[16] Sefer Hassidim, sec. 544.
[17] Commentary of the Gr”a to Seder Olam Rabbah, chapter 30.
[18] Eichah Rabbah 1, 40.
[19] Bava Kamma 80a.
[20] As they said, Kesubos 111a: “Whoever resides in Babylonia is as if he resides in Eretz Yisrael”; see above sec. 2 chapter 3, and sec. 4 chapter 5.
[21] Song of Songs Rabbah 8, 13.