            WAS RABBI KAHANE'S MURDER AN INDICATION OF
                  REDEMPTION "IN ITS OWN TIME"?
                        January 28, 1991
                      by Gary M. Cooperberg

       I have been doing some serious thinking about recent events and the meaning of our
loss of Rabbi Kahane, z"l, H"yd:
       One thing he taught us is that nothing happens in this world, no one so much as pricks
his finger, unless it is the Will of G-d.  Because he knew and accepted this axiom, he never took
any security precautions.  If HaShem didn't want him to die, no power on earth could kill him.  
       Rabbi Kahane continually taught us that redemption can come in one of two ways: if
we are worthy it will be a speedy and glorious one with great and wondrous miracles; or, if we
are not worthy, it will come any way, but with much suffering and with miracles that are explained
away as natural events.  The Rabbi spent his life trying to get us to take the kind of actions which
would bring a speedy redemption.  It could be that Rabbi Kahane was our last chance for a speedy
and glorious redemption, and our time ran out.  We were unworthy of his efforts.  One of the
reasons HaShem takes Tzadikim from us is to spare them from seeing tragedies.  He did not
deserve to see the suffering we are about to endure.  
       The present Gulf War, which has seen world powers assemble in the Middle East and
begin a war which can easily blow up into an uncontrollable world conflagration, may just herald
the events spoken about by the prophet Jeremiah.  What yesterday may have seemed extremely
farfetched, today is obviously quite plausible.  Is it really so hard to imagine the nations uniting
against Israel?  
       Is it also hard to believe that as this war becomes more bloody, as it most certainly will,
the Jew will, once again, become the scapegoat as Americans blame their Jewish neighbors for
the death of American soldiers there, and begin horrible pogroms and hate campaigns similar to
and maybe even more violent than what happened in Nazi Germany?  There are terrible and
difficult times ahead of us as the geula progresses IN ITS TIME, which the Rabbi tried so hard
to prevent by trying to make us worthy of a speedy one.   The only hope for us now is to be good
Jews and live our lives by our Torah.                                 
       Our best hope for a speedy redemption was taken from us.  In the absence of
leadership, G-d creates events which force us to do His Will.  We are in store for terrible times
as the redemption unfolds with miracles that seem to be natural events, as we already can see.  
       There is no replacement for Rabbi Kahane, z"l, but we can still benefit from his wisdom
and love for us.  The purpose of his very last effort; his last plea to us all was to make immediate,
emergency plans to come home.  He sensed the urgency of the moment, and, as usual, events have
already proved him to be right.  Time is rapidly running out.  Don't worry about Israel.  G-d
Himself watches over us here.  Rabbi Kahane told us many times that Israel simply cannot fall a
third time.  Nothing can stop the redemption which has clearly begun.  The time has come for all
Jews to just come home.
       
       
                                   





