Ketz HaGalut

Ketz HaGalut (the end of exile), is the time about which it is said "b'itah achishenah" (in its time I will hasten it), and our Sages explained: if they don't merit - b'itah (at its appointed time), if they merit - achishenah (I will hasten it).

Ketz HaGalut is mentioned in the Book of Daniel. There is a disagreement among the early commentators about what is the time of the Ketz according to the interpretation of the verse. However, all the times mentioned there have already passed.

Pushing the End (Dchikat HaKetz)

In several places, the prohibition against calculating the end [of exile] and pushing the end appears. For example: Rashi in Tractate Ketubot writes that Hashem made the Jewish people take an oath not to push the end, meaning they should not excessively plead for it. Many great Poskim discuss these words and explain why this does not contradict the expectation and request for Moshiach:

• After five thousand five hundred years, it is not considered pushing the end but rather the time of the end.
• Today it is not only permitted but obligatory to increase in supplications, and it is a great mitzvah.
• The prohibition written in the Gemara is pushing the end through kabbalistic actions and the like.

The Work in Ikvesa D'Meshicha

The Rebbe said regarding the "end times" mentioned by our Rebbeim: "All the end times have passed," including also the end times of the great leaders of Israel in recent generations, such as the "end" of the Tzemach Tzedek for the year 5608 (1848), the "end" of the Rebbe Rashab for the year 5666 (1906), and the "end" of my father-in-law the Rebbe for the year 5703 (1943). They also say in the name of my father-in-law the Rebbe also about the years 5701 (1941) and 5704 (1944) - all these end times have already passed.

And what they said that "the matter depends only on teshuva" - the matter of teshuva has already been done, and according to the words of my father-in-law the Rebbe, and also in the name of the Rogatchover Gaon, that a sigh of a Jew is the highest form of teshuva, and if so, it is already the time for the coming of Moshiach.

All matters have already been completed in the generations before us, and for us remains only the work of the "heels" (final stages), and even this work has already been done, and all that remains is a small thing - "a kleinigkeit," and when this is completed - the complete redemption will come.

It should be added that although the work now is only at the level of the heel, in addition to the fact that the completeness of the work of all generations depends on this, one should know that there is a special advantage in the work that is specifically at the level of heel of heel. And as is known that the main advantage is not in the unification of Abba and Imma, but specifically in the unification of Ze'er Anpin and Nukva.

Ruling to Bring Moshiach

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Several times the Rebbe turned to rabbis with a demand to write a ruling that Moshiach must already come. At the meal following Yom Kippur in 5721 (1961), the Rebbe turned to rabbis who had arrived from Israel to rule that Moshiach should come immediately. One of the rabbis answered: "Do we need to agree? Who are we to agree? Let the Rebbe agree!" After a few days, at the meal on the night of Sukkot, that rabbi asked the Rebbe about how those coming to the Rebbe's court should conduct themselves on the holiday, whether they should celebrate the second day of Yom Tov observed in the diaspora. The Rebbe answered: "Second day of Yom Tov in the diaspora? You could have saved that completely!..."

In 5747 (1987), the Rebbe approached Rabbis Mordechai Tzemach Eliyahu and Rabbi Shapira (who agreed).

When the Rebbe approached the great Gaon Rabbi Moshe Stern to write a ruling about the coming of Moshiach, and Rabbi Moshe did not give a clear answer, the Rebbe said to him with pain: "All the end times have passed! Rule that Moshiach should come!"

See Also

• Bringing Moshiach
• Ketz HaYomim and Ketz HaYamin

Further Reading

• Rabbi Shneur Zalman Hertzl, The End, The End of Exile in light of the holy talks of the Rebbe and the words of great Jewish leaders, Sivan 5760, Crown Heights, New York.
• 10 facts about the rulings on the Redemption and the King Moshiach
• A rare expression of the Rebbe Rayatz: 'In my days Judah and Israel will be saved', on the website 'Lachluchiyt Geulatit'