QUESTIONS: The Gemara cites a Beraisa that teaches that before Mashi'ach comes, "the Galil will be destroyed, Gavlan will become desolate, and the people of the Gevul will wander from city to city with no respite."

The "Galil" apparently refers to the northern part of Eretz Yisrael. Rashi writes that "Gavlan" is the name of a place. The people of "Gevul" refer either to the people living within the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael, or the members of the Sanhedrin in the Lishkas ha'Gazis.

The second Gavla is in Eretz Yisrael. This is evident from the Gemara in Kesuvos (112a) which describes the gargantuan proportions of the fruit of Gavla as an example of the outstanding qualities of the fruit of Eretz Yisrael.

RAV YAKOV EMDEN points out that there is a third place by the name of Gavla in the north, near Har ha'Levanon, as mentioned in Yehoshua (13:5), Melachim I (5:32) and Yechezkel (27:9). That Gavla was not captured by Yehoshua and did not become a full-fledged part of Eretz Yisrael.

It seems that Rashi also has the Girsa of "Gevil." "Gevil" is synonymous with the word "Gazis" (see Bava Basra 2a), and thus Rashi understands that "Gevil" refers to the Sanhedrin that convened in the Lishkas ha'Gazis of the Beis ha'Mikdash. (It seems that a printing error was made in the emendations of the VILNA GA'ON here, #2. His change should read "Gevil.")

QUESTION: The Gemara divides the 6,000 years of the world into three parts. The first 2,000 years are "Tohu," the following 2,000 are "Torah," and the final 2,000 are "Yemos ha'Mashi'ach."

Why does the Gemara say that there are only 2,000 years of Torah? Certainly the years of Torah will continue even in Yemos ha'Mashi'ach!

ANSWER: RASHI (DH u'Shnei Alafim) explains that the Gemara limits the years of Torah to 2,000 merely in order to parallel the other historical eras.

The VILNA GA'ON (Likutim, end of Safra d'Tzeni'usa) explains that after the 2,000 years of Torah, if the Mashi'ach does not come, then the world returns to "Tohu" and the secrets of the Torah are kept hidden again from the world. During the following 2,000 years, we must work to uncover the secrets of the Torah in order to bring Mashi'ach.

The Vilna Ga'on's intention seems to be that at the end of the 2,000 years of Torah, there is a tremendous revelation of Torah she'Ba'al Peh to a degree unsurpassed since the time the Torah was given. This point in time concurred with the time of Rebbi Akiva, who lived approximately 120 years after the Churban. The Gemara in Menachos (29b) describes how Hash-m showed Moshe Rabeinu an image of Rebbi Akiva teaching Torah, and Moshe Rabeinu did not understand what Rebbi Akiva was teaching because of the depth of Rebbi Akiva's knowledge of Torah she'Ba'al Peh. The Gemara says that Rebbi Akiva was able to derive Halachos from every part of every letter in the Torah.

The Gemara in Bava Basra (8a) teaches that through learning Mishnah (Torah she'Ba'al Peh) in times of Galus, the Jewish people will merit the Ge'ulah. Perhaps this is why Rebbi Akiva wholeheartedly supported Bar Kochba's revolt and declared him to be Mashi'ach (see RAMBAM, Hilchos Melachim 11:3). However, Rebbi Akiva's students failed to properly learn the teachings of their mentor, and 24,000 students died in a plague (Yevamos 62b). As a result, Bar Kochba's revolt also failed. The Gemara in Yevamos describes the state of the world -- after the death of Rebbi Akiva's students -- as "desolate" ("Shamem"), until Rebbi Akiva found five new students to whom he imparted his teachings. These students were Rebbi Meir, Rebbi Nechemyah, Rebbi Yehudah, Rebbi Shimon, and Rebbi Yosi (as mentioned in the Gemara in Yevamos (see Insights there), and in the Gemara in Sanhedrin 86a). They rejuvenated the study of Torah she'Ba'al Peh.

RAV YITZCHAK ISAAC CHAVER (in a manuscript quoted by Rav Moshe Shapiro shlit'a) finds an allusion to these five Talmidim in a verse in Parshas Balak. When Bil'am sought to curse the Jewish people, he took Balak to "Rosh ha'Pe'or that overlooks the plains of the Yeshimon" (Bamidbar 23:28). Rashi explains that Bil'am brought Balak to that place because it was there that the Jewish people were destined to be punished for their sin at Pe'or (Bamidbar 25:3). Rav Yitzchak Isaac Chaver explains that the word "Yeshimon" alludes to another time at which the Jewish people would suffer -- the time at which the Talmidim of Rebbi Akiva died. At that time, the only ones who would survive to perpetuate the Torah in the world would be the five Talmidim whose names form the abbreviation, "Yeshimon" -- Rebbi Yehudah, Rebbi Shimon, Rebbi Yosi, Rebbi Meir, and Rebbi Nechemyah. ("Yeshimon" is spelled with two Yuds and no Vav. The word "Yeshimon" itself is related to the word, "Shamem," "desolate," which the Gemara here uses to describe the desolate state of the world until these Talmidim learned Torah from Rebbi Akiva.)

The word "Yeshimon" appears again in Parshas Ha'azinu (Devarim 32:10), where the Torah says that Hash-m built up the Jewish people from "nothingness, wailing, desolation" -- "Tohu Yelel Yeshimon." This verse clearly associates "Yeshimon" with "Tohu," which alludes to what the Vilna Ga'on says: when the Torah of the Ge'ulah does not accomplish its goal, the world returns to "Tohu" and desolation.

The mission of the Jewish people during the 2,000 years after the time of Rebbi Akiva, after Rebbi Akiva restored Torah she'Ba'al Peh through his five new students, is to reveal all of the secrets of Torah she'Ba'al Peh and bring the Jewish people back to the level at which they may merit the Ge'ulah. This is accomplished through learning the Mishnah and Midrashim that Rebbi Akiva and his students redacted. The greatest of the Talmidim of Rebbi Akiva was Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai, who proclaimed that his teachings were "the best of the best" of Rebbi Akiva's teachings. He also compiled the Zohar, teaching the secrets of the Torah that he received from his teacher, in which he states in a number of places that through learning the Zohar the Ge'ulah will be hastened. (Based on the words of RAV MOSHE SHAPIRO shlit'a.)

OPINIONS: The Gemara presents a number of predictions as to when Mashi'ach will come. In Sefer Daniel (chapter 12), at least four descriptions are given with regard to when the Ge'ulah will occur. The Mal'ach Gavriel tells Daniel that the Galus will end, "l'Mo'ed Mo'adim va'Chatzi" (Daniel 12:7; this means literally "a time, times and a half," and it is also mentioned earlier in Daniel (7:25) in its Aramaic version, "Ad Idan v'Idanin u'Felag Idan").

When Daniel asks for further explanation, he is told that from the time the Korban Tamid is stopped (that is, from the time of the Churban of the Beis ha'Mikdash) 1,290 years will pass until the Ge'ulah (12:11). The Mal'ach then adds (12:12), "Happy is the one who waits and reaches 1,335 years" (because that is when the Ge'ulah will occur).

Earlier in Daniel (8:14), it says that the Galus will last "until evening and morning, 2,300."

The Rishonim suggest a number of ways to interpret these verses and to predict the time of the arrival of Mashi'ach based on these verses.

Generally, the predicted times are within a hundred years of the time that the prediction was made. The reason for this is probably because of what the RAMBAM writes in IGERES TEIMAN. The Rambam explains that it is unproductive to calculate when the Mashi'ach will come (as the Gemara says, "Tipach Atzman Shel Mechashvei Keitzin"), since, if Mashi'ach does not come at that time, the calculation will only cause disappointment, and if he does come at that time, such a calculation is unnecessary. Why, then, do some Rishonim (including the Rambam himself) predict when the Mashi'ach will come? The Rambam writes that there have been times when the Jewish nation was suffering terribly and needed a boost of morale so that they would continue to serve Hash-m with devotion. For that reason, the Gedolim found allusions in the verses for the imminent arrival of the Ge'ulah.

The Yad Ramah adds that, alternatively, one may multiply the actual time span which the Jewish people spent in Mitzrayim (210) by three and a half, which comes to a total of 735 years, and count that number of years after the Churban of the second Beis ha'Mikdash. This would be the year 803 C.E. As Rashi points out in the end of his comment, these times have already passed, although they would have been relevant during the times of the Tana'im and Amora'im who discussed these times.

However, the Malbim arrives at two other dates based on the verse that mentions "l'Mo'ed Mo'adim va'Chatzi" (12:7), and the verse that mentions the number 2,300 (8:14). The years he arrives at are 1913 and 1928, respectively. He suggests that the Ge'ulah will begin in 1913, which is when the seven years of the Shemitah cycle will begin, as the Gemara describes, and seven years of the war of Gog u'Magog. The building of the Beis ha'Mikdash will begin three years before the final Ge'ulah of 1928, which is why this verse gives a date of 1925 (which he says was 60 years from the time that he was writing this calculation).

(It is interesting to note that the VILNA GA'ON, in his commentary to Safra d'Tzeni'usa, presents veiled hints to the year of the coming of Mashi'ach. RAV MOSHE AHARON STERN zt'l related that this tradition was passed down to the Vilna Ga'on's student, Rav Chaim of Volozhen, who passed it to Rav Zundel Salant, who passed it to his student Rav Yisrael Salanter, who passed it to Rav Naftali Amsterdam, who moved to Yerushalayim towards the end of his life. At one point, Rav Naftali accidentally revealed the date and immediately made those around him promise that they would never reveal the date to anyone else. Rav Moshe Aharon Stern knew one person who heard the date from Rav Naftali, and once he and his friends pleaded with him to reveal the date. After much pleading, the man finally said, "I will not tell you the date. But I will tell you that these children that you see over there -- they will merit to be soldiers in the army of Mashi'ach!" Those children were already forty years old at the time that Rav Moshe Aharon related this incident, which was around the year 5747.)