The 9/11 attacks took place 22 years ago, forever changing America, and according to one end-of days expert, marked a major turning point in the process of redemption.
On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, 19 Islamic Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners. Two planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the tallest buildings in the world at the time, causing them to collapse less than two hours later. A third plane flew into the Pentagon, leading to a partial collapse of the building’s western side. The fourth plane initially was steered toward Washington D.C., but crashed into a field after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers.
The attacks killed 2,997 people and injured over 6,000 others. 343 firefighters and 72 policemen were killed in the aftermath.
In an interesting parallel, Judaism has its own version of 9/11. To Americans, 9/11 signifies the eleventh day of the ninth month. In Israel, the day is written before the month, so 9/11 becomes the ninth day of the eleventh month. In the Hebrew calendar, 9/11 is Tisha B’Av, the day of mourning when the two Temples were destroyed.
As significant as the attack was for America, Rabbi Winston, an end-of-days expert and prolific author, believes the 9/11 attacks were even more important as a turning point in the geula (redemption) process. Rabbi Winston explained that the year 2000, or 5760 in the Hebrew calendar, was predicted to be the year of redemption according to Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, the preeminent Torah scholar of the 18th century known as the Vilna Gaon.
“Everyone was expecting that something significant would happen,” Rabbi Winston told Breaking Israel News. “The non-Jews were excited about the end of the millennium. It didn’t cause the changes people expected, but it was clear that in the minds of men, something significant was meant to happen.
“God does let man know his plans, even if it is subtle and subconscious. Though the geula clearly did not take place, a major event in the process did.”
The rabbi presented an unusual theory connecting 9/11 to geula, rooted in a complex Kabbalistic understanding of the number 11, which, using Biblical numerology, equals the value of the name of God representing the knowledge of the divine hidden in nature.
That type of “impure” knowledge is in contrast to a second type: the “pure” and “revealed” knowledge of God, he continued. These two types of knowledge have Biblical counterparts: twin brothers Yaakov and Esau. Yaakov represents a pure knowledge of God, while Esau is impure.
Rabbi Winston said that “impure” knowledge of Esau’s type, associated with materialism, had become rampant in modern times. He cited Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yehiel Michel Wisser, a 19th-century rabbi better known as the Malbim, who wrote that in the end of days, “Jews will be so happy with their wealth and by being accepted by the non-Jews that they will confuse that with the redemption.”
These Jews, attached to Esau and materialism, or impure knowledge of God, will remain in exile, Rabbi Winston continued.
The teachings led Rabbi Winston to a surprising conclusion.
“The World Trade Center was the pinnacle of materialism, and it was unmistakably in the shape of the number 11. When that was destroyed, a powerful aspect of knowledge was destroyed and now people are free to think whatever they want,” he said.
Rabbi Winston said this is responsible for many of the false beliefs that have entered the public narrative.
“After the destruction of the 11, the destruction of that symbol of false knowledge, there was no more fence-sitting,” Rabbi Winston said. After the 9/11 turning point, people are required to choose where they stand in the coming times of redemption, he explained.
“People now have to make the final choice: Esau or Yaakov, true knowledge of God or fake knowledge.”
