An ancient tradition about a third and final return, and the population numbers that suggest it’s already happened.
Q. Is it possible that Zionism is just another false messiah? Especially with the nuclear threat from Iran, shouldn’t we be worried about another exile?
Our rabbis cite an ancient tradition that Israel will not return to the Holy Land until the third and final redemption. The first was from Egypt, the second from Babylon, and the third will be the last (Tanchuma Shoftim 9). If those 42,360 Jews from Babylon were considered a “return”, so how much more so, today, when more than 100 times (!) that number have come home (7,300,000), that we are undoubtedly witnessing the third, and accordingly, the final return, and that we’re here to stay. Elsewhere, the number mentioned in the final return is 600,000 army-aged men (Yalkut Shimoni, Hoshea 518), and we passed that number in the Six Day War, when 670,000 men participated.
Our rabbis actually deal explicitly with the modern threat which you mentioned, and tell us not to fear (Sanhedrin 106a). To the contrary, Iran should start worrying: “Woe to the nation who tries to prevent the Father from redeeming His son (Israel). Woe to the fool who interferes with the Lion (G-d) who wishes to mate with His beloved lioness (Israel, after such a long 2,000 year separation)!”
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