Thursday, May 15, 2008

Is Now The End of Days? You Decide.

Talmud Tractate Sotah 49b When the footsteps of the Messiah can be heard...

Chutzpah (insolence) will increase;

Inflation will soar;

The vine will yield its fruit, but wine will be expensive;

The dominant power in the world will promote the denial of G-d;

No one will be able to reprove another [for everyone will be guilty of the same transgressions];

The meeting place (of Torah scholars) will be used for immorality;

The Galilee will be destroyed, and the Gablan will become desolate;

The people who live on the border will go around begging from town to town and will not be pitied;

The wisdom of the Torah scholars will rot, and those who fear sin will be despised;

The truth will be hidden;

Young people will shame the elderly, and the elderly will stand up before youngsters, a son will degrade his father, and a daughter will rebel against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

A man's enemies will be the members of his household;

The face of the generation will be like the face of a dog;

A son will not be ashamed before his father;

With the footsteps of the Messiah presumption shall increase and dearth reach its height… the wisdom of the Scribes shall become insipid and they that shun sin shall be deemed contemptible, and truth shall nowhere be found. Children shall shame the elders, and the elders shall rise up before the children, for “the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.” The face of this generation is as the face of a dog… (Mishnah Sotah 9:15, citing Micah 7:6).

And about those days, the Sages said: "Let the end of days come, but may I not live to see them", because they will be filled with so much conflict and suffering."