On Friday night, Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein, the rabbi of Ramat Elhanan and a leading halachic authority, addressed doctors and rabbis at Mayanei HaYeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak after his regular class. Participants told him the public was confused by President Donald Trump’s sudden shift, alongside arrests of yeshiva students, and asked for words of encouragement.
Zilberstein answered that such developments may signal the approach of the Messiah. Citing Deuteronomy 28:34, he said, “We are all seeing strange and incomprehensible things, and the verse is being fulfilled in us, ‘You shall be insane from the sight of your eyes that you shall see.’” He explained that it feels as if people are “crazy from what our eyes see” when a former ally who strongly backed Israel, even after his daughter converted, suddenly turns against it.
He later referred to Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman’s writing in the introduction to “Ikveta DeMeshicha,” where Wasserman described the present era as one of unprecedented events, rapid upheavals, and deep confusion, echoing the same biblical phrase.
When asked whether the reversal could be connected to persecution of Torah study, with some claiming there is no divine protection because yeshiva students are being pursued, Zilberstein said, “Everything could be true, we need to ask the great leaders of the nation.” Asked for a halachic ruling that would bring immediate salvation, he replied, “It is clear, it is written in the Torah, ‘You shall be insane from the sight of your eyes.’ This is the time, and certainly salvation will come.” He also reportedly rebuked someone who cursed Trump over the Iran deal, saying he would not accept such language because Trump had done many good things for Jews and deserves gratitude, even if his conduct has now changed in a puzzling way.
