As the month of Elul begins and we stand thirty days from the universal judgment of Rosh Hashanah, the Torah portion of Shoftim and its Haftarah from Isaiah 51 call us with urgent clarity. “I, I am He who comforts you,” declares Hashem.¹ We have paid for our sins through centuries of exile, suffering, and faithfulness.

The arm of Hashem is visible in our days. Jews and their descendants—whether of known lineage or the hidden ones returning—carry a lifelong obligation to the Torah. This is not optional culture or ethnic identity. It is the covenant sealed at Sinai. It was witnessed by those who heard the Voice. In addition, it is preserved in the Hebrew letters that form the very blueprint of creation.

The Alef-Bet: How Jewish Children Know Hashem

One of the primary reasons Jewish children know Hashem is the Alef-Bet. The twenty-two letters are not mere symbols for communication. They are the instruments through which Hashem spoke the world into being. “By the word of Hashem the heavens were made” (Psalm 33:6).

The Sages teach that the Torah preceded creation and served as its blueprint.² Every letter, every combination, every root carries creative force. When a child learns to form the letters, to sound the vowels, to read the words of the Living God, that child is being initiated into the architecture of reality itself.

This is why the Hebrew language remains holy even when spoken imperfectly. It is why the return of the language in the Land is itself a sign. Christianity and Islam, for all their claims, stand on the outside of this reality. Both systems treat the Jewish people as having been replaced—two sides of the same replacement coin. They assert that the covenant has been superseded. They claim that the “old” Israel has been set aside for a new spiritual body or a final prophet.

Yet the Jewish people still possess the Book handed down from those who saw and heard “the words of Hashem.” We remain His witnesses, as Isaiah declares: “You are My witnesses… and My servant whom I have chosen” (Isaiah 43:10).³ No later claim can erase the testimony of those who stood at Sinai.

This Shabbat: Shoftim and Isaiah 51

Parashat Shoftim opens with the command to appoint judges and officers who will pursue justice. It continues with the laws of kings, prophets, cities of refuge, and warfare. The portion insists on righteousness in the land and fidelity to the Torah.

The accompanying Haftarah (Isaiah 51:12–52:12), the fourth of the seven Haftarot of Consolation, answers the cry of exile with divine comfort. Jerusalem will rise, the cup of trembling will pass from her hand, and Hashem will bare His holy arm before the eyes of the nations.⁴

We have paid. The long exile, the pogroms, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and the ongoing war against the Jewish people have exacted their price. The righteous among our ancestors prayed that their descendants would live to see Hashem’s arm revealed in these days. Some of us are the answer to those prayers. I am one such descendant. The obligation that rests upon us is therefore not abstract. It is personal, generational, and irrevocable.

The Lifelong Obligation of Jews and Their Descendants

Every Jew and every descendant who discovers Jewish roots is bound to the Torah for life. The covenant is not a temporary contract that can be annulled by history or theology. Deuteronomy repeatedly warns that the commandments are neither too hard nor too far away. They are in our mouth and heart to do them (Deuteronomy 30:11–14).

The return of hidden Jews, crypto-Jews, and those whose DNA or family memory points back to Israel is part of the same process. Isaiah 56 speaks of the foreigners and the eunuchs who join themselves to Hashem, keep the Sabbath, and hold fast to the covenant. The obligation is lifelong because the relationship is lifelong.

Kol HaTor: The Voice of the Turtle Dove and the Seven Things That Must Happen

The Vilna Gaon and his disciples taught that the beginning of the Redemption unfolds through the “footsteps of the Mashiach,” guided by the principle of Mashiach ben Yosef. The book Kol HaTor (“The Voice of the Turtle Dove”), attributed to Rabbi Hillel of Shklov, a disciple of the Gaon, draws its title from Song of Songs 2:12: “The voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land.”⁵ The Gaon saw in this verse the signal of the awakening from below. There are designated deeds, designated times, and designated emissaries working together.

According to the teachings preserved in Kol HaTor, the beginning of the Redemption rests upon seven major pillars or principles:⁶

Seven Pillars: Seven Days of Creation

1. Gathering in the exiles – the return of the Jewish people to the Land, including the awakening of the Ten Tribes.
2. Building Jerusalem – the physical and spiritual reconstruction of the holy city.
3. Eradicating the impure spirit from Eretz Israel by planting the Land and fulfilling the commandments dependent upon it. The Talmud already notes that the land bearing its fruit is one of the clearest signs of redemption (Sanhedrin 98a).
4. Setting up people of truth in order to redeem the truth and sanctify the Name of God.
5. Promoting the spread of Torah from Zion.
6. Waging war against Amalek – in the heart (the evil inclination), in the spiritual realm, and against the physical forces that seek Israel’s destruction.
7. Healing Zion – the restoration and consolation of the Land and people.

These are not abstract ideas. They are the practical work of the beginning of the Redemption, carried out modestly, step by step, through human effort that draws down heavenly assistance.

The Gaon insisted that the process begins from below, as it did in the days of Cyrus. In addition, Mashiach ben Yosef’s mission includes materially strengthening Israel so that Mashiach ben David can complete the spiritual redemption.

The Letters to the Ten Lost Tribes

The disciples of the Vilna Gaon did not merely study these ideas. They acted. In 1830, Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov, one of the Gaon’s close students and a leader of the Perushim community in Safed and Jerusalem, composed and sent a letter to the Ten Lost Tribes.⁷ The letter informed them of the state of the Jewish people, the development of halakhah, and the urgent need for their return.

A Cry For Help To The Ten Tribes

It called upon them to come and help—specifically to participate in the restoration of a proper Sanhedrin of ordained judges, which the Gaon’s circle believed was necessary for the beginning of the Redemption. The letter is filled with longing and fraternal appeal. Reading even a short portion of it moves the heart. The cry of a remnant calling to its brothers across centuries is unmistakable.

The Gaon and his students understood that the full ingathering includes both Judah and the House of Joseph. The awakening of the Ten Tribes is not a side note; it is one of the prerequisites. Today we see fragments of that awakening in the growing number of people discovering Jewish roots, returning to Torah, and identifying with Israel’s destiny. The process is unfolding exactly as the Sages and the Gaon described. The Land is being rebuilt and bearing fruit; Jerusalem is being restored; Torah is spreading from Zion. Moreover, the battle against the spiritual and physical heirs of Amalek continues.

The Call of This Hour

Elul is the month of return. Thirty days remain until we stand before the King. The Alef-Bet still teaches our children Who created the world. The Book is still in our hands. The witnesses have not been silenced. Replacement theologies have not nullified the covenant. The Voice of the Turtle Dove is being heard in the Land.

The Hidden Ones From Sinai – Nitzavim

Jews and their descendants—known and hidden—carry a lifelong obligation to the Torah. That obligation is not a burden to be escaped but the very reason our ancestors prayed we would be here: to see the arm of Hashem and to take our place in the work of redemption. The seven pillars stand before us. The letters to the lost brothers still echo. The time to act is now.

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Footnotes

1. Isaiah 51:12.
2. See Genesis Rabbah 1:1 and related midrashim on the Torah as blueprint.
3. Isaiah 43:10–12; see also Isaiah 44:8.
4. Isaiah 51:12–52:12; the fourth of the Sheva d’Nechemta.
5. Song of Songs 2:12. The title Kol HaTor is drawn from this verse.
6. Kol HaTor, Chapter 6 and related sections, listing the seven pillars of the beginning of the Redemption: gathering the exiles, building Jerusalem, eradicating impurity through planting and land mitzvot, establishing the people of truth, spreading Torah from Zion, waging war against Amalek, and healing Zion. English translations and discussions appear in various editions and studies of the text.
7. Letter to the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel by Rabbi Yisrael ben Shmuel of Shklov, Safed/Jerusalem, 1830. Available on Sefaria and in collections of Eretz Israel letters (e.g., Yaari, Igrot Eretz Yisrael).

Selected Books and Sources

• Kol HaTor (The Voice of the Turtle Dove), attributed to Rabbi Hillel of Shklov (various Hebrew editions and English translations).
• Letter to the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov (Sefaria; also in Yaari, Igrot Eretz Yisrael).
• Isaiah, Chapters 43, 51–52, and related prophetic texts.
• Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 98a (on the land bearing fruit as a sign).
• Studies and discussions of the Vilna Gaon’s messianic teachings and the Aliyah of his disciples (historical works by Aryeh Morgenstern and others).
• Classical midrashic collections on the Torah as blueprint of creation (Genesis Rabbah and parallel sources).

May Hashem open our eyes to see His arm in these days, and may we fulfill our obligation with joy and faithfulness.

Hazan Gavriel ben David

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