Moreover the Gemara says that most Jews won’t be redeemed by Moshiach, the real Moshiach.
Qwerty, you don’t stop with this attack. You claim that trying to bring all Jews to do teshuva is worthless and contradicts a clear Gemara. You have made this claim on many occasions, and with vicious, angry tones. For example:
1. “There are serious questions with regard to Rabbi Schneersohn himself. He espoused views that contradict the Gemara. For example, he said that every Jew will be redeemed by Moshiach, with no exception, while the Gemara in Sanhedrin 111a states that only 0ne of 300,000 will be redeemed.”
2. “How could the Rebbe contradict an explicit statement in the Gemara, to wit, only one out of 300,000 Jews will be redeemed by Moshiach? According to the Rebbe all Jews, including Bernie Sanders, Woody Allen and the like will be redeemed.”
3. “For 2,000 years people learned the Gemara which said that just as only 2 of 600,000 Jews left Egypt and came to Israel, so too only 2 out of 600,000 Jews will be redeemed by Moshiach. No one ever questioned this until the Rebbhe decided that he knew the real Pshat and all Jews will be redeemed.”
And many, many more.
You go on to call a great talmid chacham “kofer” (r”l!) because you don’t understand what he said.
I will try to enlighten you:
The Rambam writes (Hilchos Teshuva 7:5) “וּכְבָר הִבְטִיחָה תּוֹרָה שֶׁסּוֹף יִשְׂרָאֵל לַעֲשׂוֹת תְּשׁוּבָה בְּסוֹף גָּלוּתָן וּמִיָּד הֵן נִגְאָלִין” – “The Torah has already promised that the Jewish people will do teshuva at the end of golus and immediately be redeemed.”
The Baal HaTanya (Tanya ch. 3 & Hilchos Talmud Torah) understands this to refer to every single Jew, as it states לא (בלתי) ידח ממנו נדח – “no one who was banished from Him [by his sins] will remain banished.”
So, when the Rebbe said every Jew will be redeemed and we should try to reach every Jew for teshuva, he was just following the Baal HaTanya.
You may ask, how does this fit with the Gemara that you keep quoting from Sanhedrin 111a?
Well, if you would look at any other part of the page other than that one line, you would realize that what you are quoting is ONLY the opinion or Rava, but does not fit with the other opinions on the page!
I will explain:
The posuk says that at the time of redemption, “two thirds will be wiped out and one third will remain.”
Thirds of what?
Resh Lakish says that only one third of the Jews (Arpachshad ben Sheim’s descendants) will survive, all others will die.
R’ Yochanan says, “Hashem is not happy with you saying such a thing” – that so many Jews (or non-Jews, depends on which meforash) will die! Instead, one third of Sheim’s descendants will survive. i.e., ALL the Jews and many non-Jews will survive.
Even according Resh Lakish (who said something that “Hashem is not happy with”), at least a third of Jews will survive, which disagrees with Rava’s opinion that only 2/600,000 will survive. Certainly R’ Yochanan, who says that all Jews will survive, argues with Rava.
Next section on the amud of Gemara:
Resh Lakish says, Hashem will only redeem the tzaddikim; one Jew from every city and two from every household.
R’ Yochanan says, “Hashem is not happy with you saying such a thing” – that most of the Jews won’t be redeemed! Rather, he explains, the merit of one tzaddik will cause his entire city to be redeemed, and in the merit of two, their entire household.
[Rav and Rav Kahana had the same machlokes, with Rav admonishing R’ Kahana.]
Finally, after all of this, comes the statement of Rava that only 2/600,000 will survive.
I can’t understand why, from this entire sugya, someone would specifically choose the opinion of Rava that most Jews won’t make it, while ignoring all the other opinions?
R’ Yochanan would definitely say about you “לא ניחא לי’ למרייהו דאמרת להו הכי” – Hashem is not pleased that you speak this way!
Even the statement of Rava needn’t be understood literally (that most Jews will not be redeemed). Meforshim explain that the majority of Jews who won’t be present at the Geula refers to the many PREVIOUS generations of Jews from before the Geula. These people will rise for techiyas hameisim and greatly outnumber the group of Jews who were part of the generation that was present at the actual time of Geula. [See footnotes in Artscroll, referencing Maharal and Yaavetz.]
Conclusion: Even if you consider yourself among the greatest tzaddikim, in the top 2/600,000 of the Jewish people, and you aren’t interested in seeing the millions of other “lowly Jews” join you in the Geula, choosing to accept Rava’s (literal) opinion that most Jews won’t be redeemed — that still doesn’t give you the right to repeatedly label a great talmid chacham as a kofer and a liar (r”l) for following the views of the Baal HaTanya, R’ Yochanan, Rav, and even Rava himself, as understood by many meforshim.
Qwerty, I hope you will either refute my points or do some serious teshuva for denigrating a tzaddik so many times with the arrogance of your ignorance.