Sponsored by David Frankel commemorating the yahrzeit of his father,

Benyamin ben Avraham z”l

Each Shabbat, Religious-Zionist synagogues all over the world recite Avinu She’bashamayim, the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel:

Our Father in Heaven

Rock and Redeemer of Israel

Bless the State of Israel

The first flowerings of our redemption

If we look as Yechezkel 36:8-12, in his prophecy of comfort, we see that some of the revelations of the redemption are taking place in our lifetime:

But you, O mountains of Israel, shall yield your produce and bear your fruit for My people Israel, for their return is near. For I will care for you: I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. I will settle a large population on you, the whole House of Israel; the towns shall be resettled, and the ruined sites rebuilt. I will multiply men and beasts upon you, and they shall increase and be fertile, and I will resettle you as you were formerly, and will make you more prosperous than you were at first. And you shall know that I am the LORD. I will lead men—My people Israel—to you, and they shall possess you. You shall be their heritage, and you shall not again cause them to be bereaved.

The concluding prophecy of Amos which is also a prophecy of comfort (9:13-15) rings true today as well:

Behold, days are coming declares the Lord, when the plowman shall meet the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; and the mountains shall drop juice, and all the hills will melt. I will return the captivity of My people Israel and they will rebuild desolate cities and settle them; They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; They will cultivate gardens and eat their fruits.  I will plant them upon their Land and they will never again be uprooted from the Land I have given them said the LORD your God.

According to Radak, the produce will be so abundant and plentiful that before the harvest is finished, it will again be time to till the soil. Before the grapes have been sufficiently trodden to squeeze out their wine, it will be necessary to replant their seeds for the next year’s growth.

Rashi points out that Amos’s prophecy parallels and even exceeds the promise in the Torah, Vayikra 26:5: “And your threshing shall overtake the vintage and the vintage shall overtake the plowing.”

Radak continues: So much blessing will be bestowed upon you with so little effort on your part, that it will seem like the mountains themselves drip with wine- as well as the juices of the other fruits growing upon them. And the hills will be so saturated with milk from the flocks of sheep grazing upon them that they will appear to be melting into liquid.

This is a fulfillment of the blessing of “A land flowing with milk and honey.”

The Modern State of Israel is flourishing with produce. Jews from all over the world are returning. We are resettling and rebuilding the Land and the population is growing. We have many vineyards that produce countless types of wine and an abundance of different types of fruits as well as milk which provides a variety of dairy products.

In the Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a, Rabbi Abba says: You have no more explicit manifestation of the end of days than the phenomenon stated in Yechezkel 36:8. When produce will grow in abundance in Eretz Yisrael, it is an indication that the Mashiach will be coming soon.

Chag Atzmaut Sameach and Shabbat Shalom from Yerushalayim,