A major principle of the Gaon was that all activities regarding the beginning of the Redemption have to be similar to the activities during the time of Ezra and Nehemia and in the time of Cyrus. Source: http://www.yedidnefesh.com/kaballah/kol-hator/1.htmThe prediction is fascinating and strikingly accurate in regards to the situation the Jewish people are in today. In the time of Cyrus, the nations allowed the Jewish people to return to the land of Israel. In 1948, the State of Israel was created because the United Nations (i.e. nations of the world) allowed the Jewish people to have a homeland and return from all over the world.
Such a parallel between the time of Ezra and today can be made as well. In his time Ezra condemned the rampant spread of intermarriage within the Jewish people. As is read in the book of Ezra 10:10: "And Ezra the priest arose and said to them, 'You have dealt treacherously, and you have taken in foreign wives to add to Israel's guilt'." And in verse 13, Ezra says: "But the people are many", referring to the people who took in foreign wives as “many”. Today in America the rate of intermarriage is extremely high. Since 1985, 52% of Jews who married have done so outside the faith. (Source: Council of Jewish Federations' 1990 National Jewish Population Survey) Many Jewish organizations today are trying to combat intermarriage in any way they can as Ezra did many years ago.
It seems that the circumstances during the time of Ezra and Cyrus can be considered similar to the situations we find ourselves in currently. Hopefully this is a sign that the redemption is coming soon, and with it, an eternal era of world peace.
