Haredi Leader: Vina Gaon Said When Russia Invades Crimea, Moshiach Will Come

The number two rabbi in the haredi umbrella group Edah Haredit says that his ancestor the Vilna Gaon promised that when Russia invades Crimea, the Redemption has begun. The problem? Russia invaded Crimea during the Gaon's lifetime, and the messiah did not come.

 

Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch: "When one hears that the Russians have invaded Crimea, one should know that the time of the Ge'ulah has already begun."

The problem?

In 1783, during the Vilna Gaon's own lifetime (1720-1797), the Russian Empire invaded and annexed Crimea from the Tatar-governed Khanate of Crimea.

So Sternbuch's "deep secret" makes little sense.

Please claick to enlarge:

 

[Hat Tip: D.O.]

Comments

[anuran]

Well, Joseph Smith was born just twenty years later. So maybe he was right after all :)

[shmuel]

If the geulah has begun can we now finally be zionists and support the Jewish state?

[Franklin Clinton]

"Haredi Leader: Vina Gaon Said When Russia Invades Crimea, Moshiach Will Come"

I think you meant Vilna (Vilnius), Vina in Hebrew is Vienna.

[Barry]

The only 'deep secret' I know about Catherine the Great, Empress of all the Russians does not involve her annexation of Crimea in 1783, the Vilna Gaon or the Messiah, but rather (as told to me by Beis Ya'acov seminarian) involves a stallion, the failure of a lifting harness and her death in 1796.

[Barry]

There is in fact a link between Catherine the Great and the Messiah (or Messiach'tenista to be more precise).

Jacob Frank, the claimant to the position of Jewish Messiah in the 18th century claimed that he fathered his daughter (who was born in Bulgaria, then part of the Ottomon Empire) by Catherine the Great!

Eve Frank (having been named either Rivka or Rachel at birth in 1754) received the name of Eve in 1760 upon the conversion of her family to Catholicism. For much of her life, she accompanied her father during his travels and after the death of her mother in 1770, the then 16-year-old Eve was declared to be the incarnation of the Shekinah, the female aspect of God, as well as the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary and thus became the object of a devotional subcult herself in Częstochowa, with some followers keeping small statues of her in their homes.

Jacob spread the rumor that Eve, who was often called "Eva Romanovna" at that point, was an illegitimate child of Catherine II of Russia

Upon the death of her father in 1791, Eve became the "holy mistress" and leader of the cult. Frank and her two younger brothers, Josef and Rochus, assumed responsibility for the direction of the court. Many people continued to go up to Offenbach am Main, to Gottes Haus, as the believers called it.

In 1800, the Franks sent "red letters" (in red ink) to hundreds of Jewish communities encouraging conversion to Frankist Christianity. However, the Frank siblings had neither the stature nor the strength of personality required to keep the cult going and as time went on, the number of pilgrims and supply of money diminished drastically. Nonetheless, her followers continued to exist well into the middle of 19th century; among these were the parents of Louis Brandeis, the US Supreme Court Justice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Frank

Its somewhat ironic that Sternbuch's 'secret' may have originated from Frankist 'black propaganda' linking the recently deceased Vilna Gaon with Eva Frank . It is however no surprise that Zalman Teitelbaum's Der Blatt falls for this nonsense seeing the whole Yoellish cult originates from similar circumstances and foundations as the Frankist cult, that is the exploitation of a superstitious frenzy of a desperate population by it clerical 'leadership'.

[Franklin Clinton]

"The only 'deep secret' I know about Catherine the Great.. involves a stallion, the failure of a lifting harness and her death in 1796"

Oy vei, I hate to beat a dead horse.. but that is a urban legend..

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/100/is-it-true-about-catherine-the-great-and-the-horse

Too good to be true....

[jancsibacsi]

And when the rebbe says such narishkeit then moshioah will never come

[jancsibacsi]

Franklin Clinton--"I think you meant Vilna (Vilnius), Vina in Hebrew is Vienna."
Vien not vina in yiddish,is vienna Austria.

[Jeff]

Brandeis' parents were Frankists?

[NeverFrum]

Maybe the Easter bunny will come instead.

[Yochanan Lavie]

So, is moshiach coming or Gaon?

[Jeff]

Notice it's never something like, "When Toyreh scholars separate themselves from the community and refuse to fight for their land, it will be the time of Ge'ulah."

[soso]

But they already did, at least twice, before, in the 18. century and before wwII... and during wwII again...

[Barry]

As was very typical of the children and grandchildren of prominent Frankists, Brandeis' parents had very mixed emotions about those they were descended from. On the one hand being liberal, they abhorred what Brandeis' mother called 'the crazy beliefs' of the cultists, but on the other hand they had a certain elitist pride in being descended from the Frankist nobility who she felt justifiably rebelled against rabbinic orthodoxy.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Y1o7i04l2nkC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Chapter 2 of this book describes the Brandeis family's background and can be read online.

[Fleishike Kishke]

"So, is moshiach coming or Gaon?"

That was Mamish a good one. :)

[Alter Kocker]

Once again, witch-doctors and shamans making up black magic pronouncements to sucker the ignorant into providing them with a living.

[Rodin]

Moshiach, Moshiach, Moshiach oy yoi oh yah ya yoi. He is here. He jut doesn't know where to appear first. If he showed up in Israel, he would be labeled a zionist and ridiculed by the Satmars. If he arrived at 770 Eastern Pkwy, he would be a laughing stock and accused as a phony, becaure the real Moshiach is already in Queens. So let's say he goes Monroe, and he arrived on a donkey, but no shtreimel. Have you ever tried to ride a donkey with a shtreimel on you head? He would be stoned and perhaps set on fire. So, i suggest all the gedolim of today (oxymoron), should hold a conference and decide on Moshiach's arriving location, publicize this location in all the major Jewish papers. Then we can all just sit back and relax. And wait. And wait...

[jancsibacsi]

Rodin--Wait and wait until the sun goes supernova:)

[m]

nonsense , nonsense ......how many more b.s can we keep reading ?

I love to come on failedmessiah , bc that's the funniest blog , ever !

[m]

the moshiah comes and goes through their bird's head , .........just passing .

[Jeff]

Fascinating, Barry. Thanks.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

Indeed, moschioch voz about to come last week. Then he saw Shternbukh and told the Abisher, fevget it, he turned around and run away horrified!

[shari]

Rodin--Have you ever tried to ride a donkey with a shtreimel on your head?
Apparently, it's even more difficult if you try to sacrifice it while riding it with a shtreimel on your head.

[anton]

Why not to hide and don't show at all because no wants or want to believe moshiach even he shows in same island....like cuba

[Dovid E.]

I cannot see the second half of the statement made by The Gaon of Vilna which said that the invasion of Crimea would be followed immediately by the invasion of of Istanbul. Was this also done in the past and in this order?