The Iran Deal: Silver Lining in the Mushroom Cloud?

4 Menachem Av 5775

UPDATES BELOW

The whole world knows by now that the United States signed a deal with Iran last week that basically leaves the latter to do whatever they want regarding nuclear weapons. It doesn't take a prophet/ess to figure out what comes next: Who wants to bet that Iran is not at this very moment on the fast track to showing that it in fact has them and is ready to use them?

First, on Israel...

When the threat is formally announced, those who have one will take out their Isaiah (Yeshayahu) volume of Yalkut Shimoni and read yet again that oft-quoted passage:

א"ר יצחק שנה שמלך המשיח נגלה בו כל מלכי אומות העולם מתגרים זה בזה, מלך פרס מתגרה במלך ערבי והולך מלך ערבי לארס ליטול עצה מהם וחוזר מלך פרס ומחריב את כל העולם וכל אומות העולם מתרעשים ומתבהלים ונופלים על פניהם ויאחוז אותם צירים כצירי יולדה, וישראל מתרעשים ומתבהלים ואומר להיכן נבוא ונלך להיכן נבוא ונלך להיכן נבוא ונלך, וואומר להם בני אל לתתיראו כל מה שעשיתי לא עשיתי אלא בשבילכם מפני מה אתם מתיראים אל תיראו הגיע זמן גאולתכם, ולא כגאולה ראשונה גאולה אחרונה כי גאולה ראשונה היה לכם צער ושעבוד מלכייות אחריה אבל גאולה אחרונה אין לכם צער ושעבוד מלכיות אחריה

Rabbi Yitzchak said: 'In the year in which the Messiah-King appears, all the nations of the world are provoking each other. The King of Persia provokes an Arab king and the Arab king turns to Aram for advice. And the King of Persia goes back and destroys the entire world. And all the nations of the world are in panic and distress and they fall upon their faces and are seized with pains like those of a woman giving birth, and Israel are in panic and distress and asking 'where shall we go? Where shall we go?,' and He says to them 'my sons, do not fear; all that I have done, I have done only for you. Why are you afraid? Do not fear, your time of redemption has come, and the final redemption is not like the first redemption, because the first redemption was followed by sorrow and servitude under other kingdoms, but the final redemption is not followed by sorrow and servitude under other kingdoms. (emphasis mine)

(Thanks to this Gil Ronen article from 2011. I don't know whether he translated this himself or, if not, where he got it from.)

We need all the reminding we can get in advance of, and during, this terrible moment. (I don't have a hard copy of this collection, but anyone who wants could print out this post!) Whether or not this is midrash or prophecy or both (see this post on R' Josh Waxman's Parshablog for an interesting discussion between him and R' Yeranen Yaakov, 9 April 2015), we are, so to speak, poised on the edge of a cliff we may not be able to back away from.

So, we (I most certainly do include myself) might as well take a look at the good hidden in the situation (waddayameanbydat?!?!?!?). I welcome your advice on any points I may have missed or got wrong! 

1. First, we must take a deep breath or two and remember that the One who created the world still runs it. Neither the leaders of Iran nor the US know what's on His mind. Hint: Better take a look at those 10 Commandments the US state supreme court of Oklahoma has been working on declaring unconstitutional and taking down lately.[1]
2. We Jews who take our Torah seriously know that everything He does is for the sake of Eretz Yisrael (the land and the people who rightfully belong on it). That's right, Nations of the World. Everything you have tried has turned out good for us, no matter how hard you sought to make it.
3. We in Israel have a chance to participate in a recreation of the battle between Avraham Avinu and the 4 kings, where we're way outnumbered but win anyway, just as our Patriarch and his 318 soldiers did so long ago. And what about the War of Independence and the 6-Day War? This time, the nations just may stay out of our way (I pray!).
4. Iran wants a war to bring the Muslim version of the Mashiach, the Mahdi. He won't have much to rule over if they succeed in destroying far more than G-d intends, so I think they'll not be so happy about the results. After all, it is a frank admission that they can't rule a population of billions, even though they want to rule the whole world.
5. The same goes for the Esavian/pagan New World Order folks; they intend to depopulate the world as well. See the book of Ovadyah (Obadiah). They still don't realize this book is all about them.
6.  Those non-Jews who live among us in Israel may not want to die among us in one fell swoop. Iran will likely promise Arabs that they will be able to return here to a Jewless country; and Xians know that no one but the government of the Jews defends them in this part of the world (just try to find a church, let alone a neighborhood in Nazareth or Bethlehem, now Muslim enclaves); one way or another, they will leave.
7. Those Jews whose motives for living in Israel deliberately oppose their Creator's expectations will likely find it not worth hanging around to be bombed to smithereens. Included are those who take part in beating down their fellow Jews physically and legally for defending themselves against their blood-enemies, stepping foot and living anywhere in their country they please, and being a free people in its own land. These sons of Jewish mothers (which would be a good thing, if they weren't our very worst enemy!) also accuse us and our ancestors of thievery from neighboring Arabs, who squatted in this land only as long as they could survive. Well, guess what - it turns out that these Arabs require our presence[2] to live in this land. These Jews, who decided that Israel was born in sin, might be better known as spiritual children of the Erev Rav. Without them, well...we might...actually breathe easily, as we were supposed to when we got here fresh from the European ghetto, Nazi holocaust and Muslim dhimmitude and deportation[3] alike.
8. It takes a lot of emunah to stick it out, but those who have it, Jew and non-Jew alike, will have front row seats (and even be on stage?) for the Final Redemption of Creation, may that come speedily in our days, yea, even this very hour!

Here's A Torah Prespective on Iran and Aharith haYamim (the End of Days) by Rav Yitzchok Fingerer, to help us keep our heads on straight while this is all going on.


May we merit to see the crowning of our righteous Mashiach even before any of these terrible things happen, has v'shalom; even before the fast of the 9th of Av (held over to the 10th because it's Shabbat) so that it will immediately turn into the feast it was always meant to be!

Notes:
1 Interestingly, the Governor has taken issue with this. We'll see how it ends. If badly, how long before the rest of the country follows suit?
2 That's why we silly Israelis keep sending supplies over to a Gaza that these people created by an operation then called "The Disengagement" at this very time of year 10 years ago. If the Gazan Arabs could survive on their own as a real country, they could make, grow or create most goods themselves. What, they still can't grow food there after the Jews of Gush Katif proved it could be done?
3 This sounds kinder, but take a look at this blog for a better understanding of how Mizrahi Jews had it under the Muslims.

UPDATE: Now that it is obvious that the crowning of Mashiach has not happened yet, here is another article to read: How Obama Got to 'Yes' on Iran: The Inside Story.
UPDATE: 24/11/15 Another development: US State Department:  Iran Deal is Not 'Legally Binding' and Iran Didn't Sign It: How does this affect the timing of Iran's acquisition of finished nuclear weapons?