EMET II: Messianic, Pragmatic, and Satanic: Three perspectives on Zionism and the State of Israel.
The Gemara explains: That verse is necessary for that which was taught by Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, who said: Why are these three oaths (Song of Songs 2:7, 3:5, 8:4) needed? One, so that the Jews should not ascend to Eretz Yisrael as a wall, but little by little. And another one, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, adjured the Jews that they should not rebel against the rule of the nations of the world. And the last one is that the Holy One, Blessed be He, adjured the nations of the world that they should not subjugate the Jews excessively.

However, nowadays when G’d’s displeasure with us has become manifest seeing we are still in exile, we must not provoke a war against our enemies as is evident from Song of Songs 2,7 השבעתי אתכם בנות ירושלים וגו', “I have made you take an oath o daughters of Jerusalem, etc.” One opinion in the Talmud Ketuvot 111 understands the oath as an undertaking by Jews in exile not to rebel against the local rulers and try and recapture the land of Israel by force of arms.

נִשְׁבַּע לְיִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁלֹא יִמְרְדוּ עֹל הַמַּלְכֻיּוֹת, וְנִשְׁבַּע לַמַּלְכֻיּוֹת שֶׁלֹא יַקְשׁוּ עֹל עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל, שֶׁאִם מַקְשִׁים עֹל עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵן גּוֹרְמִין לַקֵּץ לָבוֹא שֶׁלֹא בְּעוֹנָתוֹ.

He made the Jews swear that they would not rebel against the nations and the nations have sworn not to oppress the Jews severely. If the nations violate this oath, they will cause the redemption to come quickly.

שנים שנשבעו לעשות דבר אחד ועבר אחד מהם על השבועה השני פטור ואינו צריך התרה

Two have sworn an oath to each other, should one violate their side of the oath, the other party is no longer bound to their arrangement.

(ו) שְׁנַיִם שֶׁנִּשְׁבְּעוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת דָּבָר אֶחָד, וְעָבַר אֶחָד מֵהֶם עַל הַשְּׁבוּעָה, הַשֵּׁנִי פָּטוּר וְאֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ הַתָּרָה.

If two people made an oath to do a certain thing, and one of them violated the oath, the other is exempt from the oath, and doesn’t need hatara.

§ Rav says: All the ends of days that were calculated passed, and the matter depends only upon repentance and good deeds. When the Jewish people repent, they will be redeemed. And Shmuel says: It is sufficient for the mourner to endure in his mourning to bring about the coming of the Messiah. Even without repentance, they will be worthy of redemption due to the suffering they endured during the exile. The Gemara notes: This dispute is parallel to a dispute between tanna’im: Rabbi Eliezer says: If the Jewish people repent they are redeemed, and if not they are not redeemed. Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: If they do not repent, will they not be redeemed at all? Rather, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will establish a king for them whose decrees are as harsh as those issued by Haman, and the Jewish people will have no choice but to repent, and this will restore them to the right path.

All of the prophets commanded concerning repentance; Israel will not be redeemed save by repentance. Indeed, the Torah long since assured us that in the end, at the close of the period of exile Israel will turn to repentance and be momentarily redeemed, even as it is said: "And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessings and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt bethink thyself among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God had driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and hearken to His voice according to all that I commanded thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee" (Deut. 30.14).3Yoma, 87b. C. G.

אל תבטחו. אין ביד האדם להושיע חבירו מצרתו כי לה' לבדו התשועה והוא יסובבנה על יד בני אדם המו שסיבב תשועת גלות בבל על ידי כורש, וכן לעתיד יסבב גאולת ישראל על ידי מלכי הגוים שיעיר את רוחם לשלחם כמו שכתוב שהביאו את כל אחיכם מכל הגוים מנחה לה' וזה יהיה לפי שבטחו ישראל בגלותם באל ית' לבדו:

Bold: So to at the end of days, the Jews will be exiled through the non-Jewish nations sending them to Israel.

But regarding all these matters and similar, no one knows how it will be until it will be. For these matters were unclear to the Prophets. Even the Sages themselves did not have a Tradition regarding these matters and only could attempt to understand the verses. Thus, there were disagreements in these matters. Nevertheless, neither the order that these events will occur nor their details are fundamental to the religion. Thus, a person must never busy himself with the Aggadohs and not dwell on the Midrashim regarding these matters or similar issues. He must not make them dogma141Or, the essence, a tenet. For these do not result in either love (for G-d) nor fear (of sin). Similarly, one should not calculate the Ends142Of a) the Exile, and b) when the Messiah will come.. Our Sages have said that the spirit of those who calculate the Ends will expire143I.e. They will die. Rather, one is to (simply) wait and believe in the principle144And not contemplate the details. of this matter, as we have explained.

The Gemara continues: And why did they see fit to institute to say the blessing of redemption as the seventh blessing? Rava said: Since there is a tradition that the Jewish people are destined to be redeemed in the seventh year of the Sabbatical cycle, consequently, they fixed redemption as the seventh blessing. But didn’t the Master say in a baraita: In the sixth year of the Sabbatical cycle in the days of the arrival of the Messiah, heavenly sounds will be heard; in the seventh year there will be wars; and upon the conclusion of the seventh year, in the eighth year, the son of David, the Messiah, will come? The redemption will take place not during the seventh year but after it. The Gemara answers: Nevertheless, the war that takes place during the seventh year is also the beginning of the redemption process, and it is therefore correct to say that Israel will be redeemed in the seventh year.
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