QUESTION: "What does Kabbala say about the current Terrorism and Iraq War? Does Kabbala indicate we are in the times just preceding Mashiach?"

ANSWER: If you click to our "Kabbala and Society" section from the left menu on any page of our site and then click on "Current Events", you will see several articles on this topic.

QUESTION: "What is your view on the 'Galut' or exile and the current State of Israel? Are we still in a state of exile with 'the state' being illegitimate like Satmar, Neturei Karta and many other Haredi Jews say, or is "the state" the fulfillment of the prophecy that G‑d will bring all Jews to Eretz Yisrael and a legitimate Torah correct entity?"

ANSWER: We accept the "middle" position, as championed by Chabad and other "haredi" groups:
On the one hand, the exile is still in force; Mashiach has not come yet, the Temple is not yet built, and most of the Jews are not yet in the Holy Land. Only after all that happens will the Davidic monarchy will be restored and will there be a true Jewish state.
On the other hand, it is naive to deny the functioning of the state and the support of it by the current Jewish inhabitants of the land. Citizenship comes with responsibilities as well as privileges.

QUESTION: "How can Kabbala help bring World Peace?"

ANSWER: We have a Jewish tradition:

  • Before you can heal the world, you have to heal your country.

  • Before you can heal your country, you have to heal your state.

  • Before you can heal your state, you have to heal your city.

  • Before you can heal your city, you have to heal your neighborhood.

  • Before you can heal your neighborhood, you have to heal your family

  • Before you can heal your family, you have to heal yourself.

The more you are a good, moral, kind, compassionate person, the more you will be healing your environment at every level including the global. Especially important is to do deeds of kindness for others, at least one each day.

QUESTION: "Your article, The Final Battle with Ishmael (click here) is very interesting. Does Kabbala, etc. indicate the duration of time for this conflict? Is there a connection between the War with Ishmael, and the '40 year rule of the Erev Rav [Mixed Multitude]'?"

ANSWER: There are hints, but of course there are differing (and sometimes conflicting) interpretations of these hints. I'm sure that after it ends, it will suddenly be obvious which clues should have been interpreted in which ways. In the meantime, there are no certain dates.

QUESTION: "Do you know if today we have a criterion for how to determine who Amalek is or is not?" The Nazis? The fanatic Muslims?

ANSWER: Since the time of Nebuchadnezzar and his scrambling of the populations, none of the nationalities have been clear - not the Egyptians, not the 12 tribes and not Amalek.
It is said that the Sages had a tradition by which to recognize an Amalek individual. I heard a story that the last one to know these physical signs was the Rosh (Rabbeinu Asher, 1250-1328), who, after executing a Amalekite, decided it was too risky to pass on the signs to the next generation, who might not be trusted to do this mitzvah with proper elevation. But I have also heard that more recent sages, such as the Vilna Gaon, did know them. The latter, by the way, 200 or more years ago said that Germany was Amalek! The Nazis certainly seem to fit the description, in that they killed Jews even when it was to no benefit for them or even harmful - from pure simple hatred. The Arabs, whether descended from Ishmael or not, do not seem like Amalek to me, because their reasons for hating Jews are to some extent politically and nationally based, and thus my be considered rational, to what ever extent you can call the sick behavior of the terrorist murderers rational.

QUESTION: "Is it true that in one of the volumes of the Zohar talks about 1) the destruction of towers of a major city and 2) that the one who is responsible for the major problems afterwards is a non human with a name similar to 'bin laden' ?"

ANSWER: 1) There is a translation of it on our site in the Kabbala&Society/Current Events section. See Great Walls Will Fall (click here).
2) The second is presumably a reference to a completely different section of the Zohar, where it says: There is a "Beladen" who has the face of a dog. This is a reference to Amalek, the eternal enemy of the Jews. Some see a relationship between Beladen and Bin Laden.