In the book Imrei Binah (Hebrew/Aramaic text or English translation), the years 5719 and 5768 are mentioned in relation to the Geulah, because they are the 2 Yovel years which encase the 48th Yovel cycle. Imrei Binah asserts that the halachah is like Rebbi Yehudah, that Yovel years are multiples of 49 years after 3416. Why is the 48th Yovel significant? It is because the Gematria of the word Yovel is 48. Therefore, the 47th Yovel, which is the 1st year of the 48th cycle, marks the beginning of Am Yisrael's movement towards the Geulah, whereas the end of the cycle, on the 48th Yovel itself, will bring Am Yisrael's return to its land, with the arrival of Moshiach. We now stand after this 48th Yovel cycle, and we can see that the events did not materialize as the text has said explicitly. With the combined counting system mentioned above, the beginning of the 48th cycle is the year 5727, the year of the Six-Day War, with obvious implications. The year 5719 is given dual significance by Imrei Binah:
The year 5727 has a similar nature:
At the time of the End of Days, according to the hours of the day, at the time that the sun shines, from the 6th Day, at the time that is ready according to the count of years, of Yovel and Shmitah together, which is רע"ד (Ra'ad, 274 in Gematria) from the 6th Day... Shmitah and Yovel fell together in 5727. The reason that 5727 is called Shmitah is explained here. Notice that the Zohar gives a confirmation of the calculation (like a checksum): It is 274 years from the end of the 6th day, or 6001 - 274 = 5727. It is 6001 and not 6000, for the Zohar counts using the system of Seder Olam Rabba, which is one year lower than our count. (This can be shown also from the Introduction to the Tikkunei Zohar 4b, wherein the author implies that that the 2nd Beit HaMikdash was destroyed in the year 3828, which accords to the Seder Olam Rabba.) The end of this same passage of the Zohar Chadash makes it clear that it is describing the events surrounding year 60, which as Zohar VaYera 119a tells us, is the Pekidah, a rocky beginning to the Geulah Shleimah, and is indeed the second of the 4 individual redemptions. It appears that the first redemption was in 5708, the year of Israel's War of Independence. If the Zohar defines 5727 as year 60, let us try to complete the picture. Imrei Binah says that the following Yovel, Yovel number 48, brings the arrival of Moshiach. The Zohar in VaYera says that in year 66, Moshiach will be revealed in the Galilee. This next Yovel, in 5776, is also the 66th Yovel counting from Yehoshua's time. That is to say, counting the 16 Yovels before the destruction of the 1st Beit HaMikdash, the 2 during Galut Bavel, and then the 48 more Yovel years from Ezra until 5776, for a total of 66 Yovel years. We must remember that the revelation of Moshiach, per the Zohar, is in 66, whereas the Zechirah, which brings the Geulah, is after another half time. This too is hinted at in Imrei Binah, where the author refers to the Dome of the Rock as the desolate abomination. A total of 1335 years after its construction brings us to a period shortly after the 48th Yovel, 5783-5786. Nonetheless, it is no wonder that the Yovel year brings such advancement in the Geulah process, for this is already taught in Kabbalah that the Geulah comes from the aspect of the Upper Yovel. Previous Chapter: Chapter 3: A Yovel of Yovels |