Machshavaמחשבה

The Shelah on Redemption and Geulah

The Shelah explores geulah (redemption) through multiple spiritual lenses: the sanctification of Jewish family life as a microcosm of the Beit HaMikdash, and the role of deepening Torah study—particularly its mystical dimensions—as preparation for the revelation of hidden wisdom in the messianic age.

וזו המחשבה עמוקה ומתגלית בקצת בסוד הבינה

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What the sources say

The redemption, according to the Shelah (Torah Shebikhtav, Vayishlach, Torah Ohr), will come specifically as a result of repentance, as grounded in the pasuk ובא לציון גואל ולשבי פשע ביעקב — "the redeemer will come to Zion and to those in Jacob who have repented their iniquities" (Yeshayahu 59:20) — and will culminate in the conquest of Mount Se'ir.

Underlying this vision of redemption is a deep kabbalistic framework: the Shelah (Toldot Adam, Beit HaChochmah) connects the process to the secret of the fifty gates of Binah, noting that Moshe Rabbeinu attained forty-nine of those gates but did not attain the fiftieth — suggesting that the full revelation awaited by geulah lies at that unreached gate.

The Shemot itself, described in the Shelah (Toldot Adam, Bayit Ne'eman) through the pasuk אני יוצא בתוך מצרים (Shemot 11:4), serves as the paradigmatic model of divine redemptive manifestation — where great supernatural demonstrations cause it to appear, as it were, as though God "descends" into the world, just as at Sinai (Shemot 19:21)).

Source 1 · Acharonim

Verified

Shenei Luchot HaBerit – Bayit Ne'eman

שני לוחות הברית, תולדות אדם, בית נאמן

Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Toldot Adam, Bayit Ne'eman

Toldot

The Shelah discusses the Jewish home and family as a microcosm of the Beit HaMikdash, teaching that building a faithful house (bayit ne'eman) through sanctity in marriage and family life is itself a form of hastening the redemption by recreating the divine dwelling below.

וזה ענין (שמות יא, ד) אני יוצא בתוך מצרים, כלומר שעל ידי מכת בכורות שבה היה המבחן בין טיפה של בכור לשאינה בכור, ידמה כאלו האל יתברך יוצא בתוך מצרים. ומזה (שמות יט, כא) וירד ה' על הר סיני, עם היות מלא כל הארץ כבודו, עניינו שעל ידי המראות הגדולות שהיו באותו המעמד הנבחר נראה שירד שם ענין אלהי.

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Source 2 · Acharonim

Verified

Shenei Luchot HaBerit – Beit HaChochmah

שני לוחות הברית, תולדות אדם, בית החכמה

Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Toldot Adam, Beit HaChochmah

Toldot

The Shelah describes wisdom (Torah and Kabbalah) as the blueprint of redemption, explaining that deepening in Torah study — especially the inner dimensions of Torah — prepares the soul and the nation for the light of geulah, when all hidden wisdom will be revealed.

וזו המחשבה עמוקה ומתגלית בקצת בסוד הבינה בנ' שערים, בסוד מ"ט פנים טהור, ומ"ט פנים טמא, שהשיג משה רבינו ע"ה ולא השיג שער הנ'.

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Source 3 · Acharonim

Verified

recovered from “Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Toldot Adam, Beit HaMikdash”

Shenei Luchot HaBerit – Beit HaMikdash

שני לוחות הברית, תורה שבכתב, וישלח, תורה אור

Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Torah Shebikhtav, Vayishlach, Torah Ohr

Vayishlach

The passage explains the mystical prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve (gid hanasheh) through kabbalistic symbolism, connecting it to the 365 sinews of the upper realms, the nine days of Av, impurity, and Jacob's struggle with Esau's angel, while describing how consuming it spiritually harms the soul and prevents one from serving God.

ומעשה דרבינו הקדוש במסכת כתובות פרק הנושא (קג, א) שהיה פוטר אשתו ובני ביתו בקידוש מעלי יומא דשבתא. וכן ר' יוסי הגלילי שבא לביתו בכל ערב שבת וב' תלמידים עברו ושמעו קולו שהיה שונה בתורה כו'.

This condition will prevail until the prophecy that we will conquer Mount Se'ir will be fulfilled. The redemption will come as a result of repentance, as we know from: ובא לציון גואל ולשבי פשע ביעקב "The redeemer will come to Zion and to those in Jacob who have repented their iniquities" (Isaiah 59, 20).

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