The Harbinger, page 16
“Seventy was the number of Sabbath Years not kept?”
“Correct.”
“But now, with the land lying still for seventy years, the law of the Shemitah would be fulfilled, even if not by choice.”
“Correct again.”
“It’s ironic. In the pursuit of prosperity the people drove God and the Shemitah out of the land. But now it was the Shemitah that drove the people out of the land . . . and their prosperity . . . nullifying all their gains and increase.”
“And it was the Shemitah,” he said, “in which was hidden the mystery of the timing.”
“The timing?”
“The timing of their judgment—seventy years for seventy Shemitahs.”
“So the Shemitah is meant to be a blessing, but for the nation that once knew God but has driven Him from its life, the Shemitah becomes a sign of judgment.”
“Correct,” he said. “So now let’s piece the mystery together. In order to do that, we must first identify the pieces. Record this.”
“I’ve recorded everything,” I replied. “The machine’s on.”
“I don’t mean that. You have your notepad?”
“Yes.”
“And a pen?”
“Yes.”
“You’re a writer, Nouriel . . . write.”
So I jotted down the next part in shorthand as he dictated:
The effect and repercussions of the Shemitah extend into the financial realm, the economic realm, and the realms of labor, employment, production, consumption, and trade.
Over the course of the seventh year:
The nation’s production is severely decreased as its fields and vineyards lay fallow.
The nation’s labor is greatly reduced or comes to a cessation.
Its fields become, in part, the possession of all.
The buying and selling of the land’s produce are restricted.
The fruits of labor are abandoned.
Credit is canceled and debt is wiped away.
For the nation that attempts to rule God out of its existence, the Shemitah changes from a vessel of blessing to a vessel of judgment—the judgment of a nation’s prosperity.
“Did you get all that?” he asked.
“Yes. But what does it have to do with America? America has never had a Sabbath Year.”
“That’s correct. It was only commanded for one nation. But the issue here isn’t the literal observance of the Shemitah or any requirement to keep it.”
“Then what is the issue here?” I asked.
“The issue here,” he replied, “is its dynamic, its effect, and its consequence.”
“And what does that mean?”
“The issue is the Shemitah as a sign.”
“The Shemitah as a sign . . . ?”
“The sign of the Shemitah, given to a nation that has driven God out of its life and replaced Him with idols and the pursuit of gain. The issue is the Shemitah as a sign of judgment, the sign that specifically touches a nation’s financial and economic realms.”
“I still don’t see how it connects with America.”
“Behind the collapse of Wall Street and the implosion of the American and world economy, behind all of it lies the mystery of the Shemitah.”
“Tell me.”
“The economic collapse of 2008 was set off by a series of trigger events in early September. At that time, about half of the American mortgage market was owned or backed up by two corporations: the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.”
“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”
“That’s right,” he said, “and by early September, both of them, along with the mortgage and housing markets, were teetering on the edge of collapse. On September 7, in one of the most dramatic economic interventions since the Great Depression, the federal government seized control of both corporations, placing them under government conservatorship.”
“In effect, nationalizing them.”
“Their seizure caused global alarm. And then, just as the mortgage market was reeling from their collapse, an even more economically cataclysmic collapse was about to take place.”
“The fall of Lehman Brothers.”
“At the start of the twenty-first century, Lehman Brothers stood at the pinnacle of the world’s leading financial firms. But when the subprime mortgage market began to disintegrate, Lehman’s standing and assets began to collapse. When the news spread that a deal to rescue the ailing firm had fallen through, its shares plunged along with the stock market. The following day Lehman Brothers announced a loss of nearly four billion dollars. The day after that, the firm’s stock plunged another 40 percent, and news spread that it was seeking a corporate buyer. In the following days, a flurry of emergency meetings took place between the Federal Reserve and the leaders of Wall Street in a frantic effort to prevent Lehman’s end. But the effort failed, and on Monday morning, September 15, 2008, one week after the first collapse, came the second, and this time with no safety net to break the fall. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy—the largest bankruptcy in American history up to that date. It would be called the collapse heard around the world. The fall of Lehman Brothers would, in turn, trigger the collapse of Wall Street and the global financial implosion.”
“The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” I said. “But what does it have to do with the mystery of the Shemitah?”
“In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, with Jerusalem lying in ruins and the people taken away in captivity, the key that held the timing of the nation’s judgment was hidden in the mystery of the Shemitah.”
“So there’s something in the timing of the economic collapse that’s significant?”
“The collapse of Lehman Brothers and the American economy took place over the course of one week. It was the anniversary week of another American calamity . . . ”
“9/11.”
“Yes, 9/11,” he said. “The collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac happened on September 7. The collapse of Lehman Brothers began two days later on September 9 when it lost 45 percent of its value. It was on September 10 that it announced its loss of almost four billion dollars. The following day its stock took a second precipitous plunge.”
“September 11.”
“It was that second collapse on September 11 that Lehman’s death knell sounded throughout Wall Street and Washington DC. It was then that the Federal Reserve set in motion a series of actions and emergency meetings that would end in the fall of Lehman Brothers, triggering the implosion of the American and global economy. It was also on that September 11 that a second fall reached its critical mass and a second alarm was sounded as the chief executive of AIG alerted the Federal Reserve of New York that his firm was, likewise, in critical danger of collapsing. Two alarms of the coming collapse, both sounding on September 11. So as the nation was commemorating the calamity of 9/11, a second calamity, one that would ravage the economic realm, was just beginning.”
“And the time separating the two events . . . ”
“Seven years,” said the prophet. “There were seven years between the two.”
“Seven years—the biblical period of time that concerns a nation’s financial and economic realms.”
“Yes,” he replied, “and that concerns the judgment of those two realms. Seven years between the first and second shaking. And what happens, Nouriel, at the end of seven years?”
“At the end of the seven years comes the remission.”
“‘At the end of every seven years, you will have a release, a remission, a canceling of debts.’ So it was a remission of what exactly?” he asked.
“Of credit and debt,” I answered.
“And what did all these collapses have to do with?”
“Credit and debt,” I replied.
“So not only did the collapse of 2008 take place at the seven-year mark from 9/11, but it specifically concerned the principle of the Shemitah. The collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Lehman Brothers all concerned the issue of credit and debt. In the case of the first two, the government intervened. It was a bailout. The two corporations were relieved of their debts of over five trillion dollars.”
“A remission of debt.”
“The remission of debt,” said the prophet, “whether temporary or permanent, a form of Shemitah.”
“And in the case of Lehman Brothers . . . ?”
“In the case of Lehman Brothers, the remission took on a different form. The government refused a bailout and the corporation went bankrupt. And by declaring bankruptcy . . . ”
“Its debts were wiped away and its loans were canceled.”
“Another form of Shemitah,” he said, “another remission of debt.”
“So the American and global financial collapse was triggered by the dynamic of the Shemitah . . . ”
“Yes, and not only triggered by it.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Stock markets are built on investment. Money is given on the assumption that the investment will generate a return. In that sense it follows the outward form of credit and debt. Beyond this, the investments come not only from individuals but also from banking institutions, the funds of which represent loans, credit, and debt.”
“But in the year of the Shemitah credit and debt are nullified.”
“Exactly. The fall of Lehman Brothers set off an avalanche of financial collapses from Wall Street to Asia. It would continue to cause the convulsion of stock markets around the world for several months, plunging them to ever-new lows. Massive fortunes were wiped out overnight. The crashing of stock markets across the world meant that the funds invested had vanished and would not be paid back, at least not for the foreseeable future. Both credit and debt, trillions of dollars worth of credit and debt, had, in effect, been canceled. ‘Every creditor who has made a loan to his neighbor will let it go, will cancel it’ . . . a Shemitah.”
“How far back did it go,” I asked, “the cancellation of debt in the Shemitah?”
“Back to the end of the last Shemitah,” he replied, “to the last remission of debt.”
“So the Shemitah would wipe away all the debts of the previous seven years?”
“Yes.”
“And when the stock market crashed in September 2008, how much was wiped away?”
“All the gains of the past seven years, and then some.”
“And it touched the entire world.”
“It touched the entire global economy in the form of collapsing markets, vanishing investments, government bailouts, corporate and personal bankruptcies, and foreclosures . . . each of which was, in effect, a financial nullification.”
“So, in each case, whether by bankruptcy, by aid, or by vanishing accounts, the burden was remitted . . . released . . . each becomes a form of Shemitah.”
“Not only each,” he said, “but all . . . the whole. The global economic collapse was, itself, one colossal Shemitah . . . made up of countless smaller ones.”
“How far does the cycle go,” I asked, “every seventh year in the past . . . and into the future?”
“The subject is for another time,” he said. “The point now is the Shemitah as a sign of judgment.”
“You spoke of a specific day when financial accounts had to be wiped clean, when credit and debt had to be nullified. ”
“The twenty-ninth day of Elul, ‘the end of every seven years,’ the Shemitah’s final and climactic day, when all remaining loans, credits, and debts had to be nullified.”
“So does the twenty-ninth of Elul have a part in the mystery?” I asked.
“With the fall of Lehman Brothers, the stock market would plunge more than 499 points. Over the next several weeks, the world’s financial markets reeled wildly from the impact. In response, the United States Congress worked frantically to come up with a plan to reverse the implosion. The result was a bill proposing the largest government bailout in American history. In a surprise turn of events that shocked most observers, the bill was defeated. That morning, September 29, the New York Stock Exchange began its session with what many saw as an omen—the opening bell wouldn’t sound. When news reached the stock market that the rescue plan had been defeated, Wall Street collapsed. In a single day it plunged more than seven hundred points. It was the crowning day in the first stage of the global collapse and, in terms of point loss, the worst day in the history of Wall Street. One financial analyst would sum up what happened on September 29 this way:
“It was this event more than anything else that shattered market confidence. Over the next two weeks, the Dow fell close to 2,700 points, a decline of almost 25 percent . . . the damage had been done.6
“It was the climactic moment of the global implosion and the greatest single-day stock market crash in Wall Street history. Why did it happen?” he asked. “Why did it happen just when it did?”
I didn’t answer. He paused before revealing the answer.
“The greatest single-day stock market crash in Wall Street history took place on the twenty-ninth day of Elul—the critical and crowning day of the Hebrew Shemitah.”
“My God!” I exclaimed. It was the only thing that could’ve come out of my mouth at that moment.
“The day when financial accounts must be wiped away,” he said.
“When credit and debt are nullified . . . and it all happened on the exact biblical day on which it was ordained to happen.”
“On the exact biblical day specifically ordained to touch a nation’s financial realm.”
“And the timing . . . you said that the Shemitah holds the key to the mystery to the timing of the judgment.”
• • •
“Did you verify it,” Ana interjected, “everything the prophet told you . . . the facts?” There was now an unsteadiness in her voice.
“I did,” he replied.
“And it was all true?” she asked.
“It was all true.”
“It’s mind-boggling,” she said. “The biggest crash in Wall Street history and the collapse of the global economy—all the manifestation of an ancient mystery. It’s mind-boggling.”
“I told you it would be.”
“That you did.”
“And there’s more.”
“Go on,” she said.
• • •
The prophet spoke of the number seven. “The Shemitah,” he said, “revolves around the number seven—it’s the seventh year. It begins and ends in the month of Tishri, the seventh month of the biblical year. It’s a mystery of sevens. So could there be a mark left by the Shemitah . . . a sign of the mystery in the number seven?”
“I’m not getting it,” I replied.
“The greatest stock market point crash in Wall Street history took place on the last and crowning day of the Shemitah. That evening, as the sun went down, it was the beginning of Tishri, the seventh month of the Hebrew year. What triggered the crash was the rejection of the largest government bailout in American history . . . a sum of . . . ”
“ . . . seven hundred billion dollars,” I said.
“And how much of the stock market was wiped away that day?”
“Tell me.”
“That which was wiped away added up to 7 percent. How many points did that 7 percent amount to? How many points were wiped away in that largest crash in Wall Street history?”
“I don’t know,” I replied.
“Seven hundred seventy-seven points were wiped away that day.”7
“Seven, seven, seven.”
“On the final day of the seventh year.
“Do you realize,” I asked, “how many things would have to be in place for that all to happen . . . to come out like that? All of Wall Street, the entire American economy, the entire world economy, every transaction, every stock bought and sold, everything . . . everything had to be in its exact position for it all to happen exactly as it did, at the exact time, and to that exact number. Who could have orchestrated all that?”
“God,” he replied.
“I guess He’s the only one who could have.”
“Everything I’ve told you thus far, Nouriel, concerns the end of the Sabbath Year. But what about the beginning? Did anything happen to signal the beginning of the Shemitah?”
“Good question,” I said. It was a rare opportunity to say such a thing to the prophet.
“The years leading up to the Shemitah were fat and prosperous. Buying, spending, investing, the stock market, the housing market, the credit markets—everything was booming. But as the Shemitah Year drew closer, more and more signs of economic danger began to surface. The rate of loan failures and housing foreclosures began to rise. The financial institutions backing up those loans and mortgages now found themselves in crisis. But the first definitive sign of what was yet to come took place a year before the global economic collapse. It happened in Britain, but as a repercussion of the failing American housing and credit market. In early September 2007, Northern Rock, Britain’s fifth largest mortgage lender, collapsed. It was the first British institution to suffer a bank run in over a century. By the end of the crisis, Northern Rock would be nationalized.”
“The remission of debt.”
“It was the first such collapse in the growing credit crisis and a foreshadow of the failures, the collapses, and the interventions that would soon overtake the American and global economy.”
“A first Shemitah.”
“The fall of Northern Rock happened on September 13, 2007. September 13, 2007, on the Hebrew calendar, was the first day of the month of Tishri. The first day of Tishri is the day that begins the Shemitah Year. So the first major sign of the Shemitah took place on the exact day on which the Shemitah begins.”
“So then, the day of Northern Rock’s fall to the day of the greatest stock market crash in history should mark the beginning and end of the biblical Shemitah.”
“And so it does,” said the prophet.”
“The exact beginning and end?”
“The exact beginning and end.”
“And what happened in between?”
“In less than a month from the start of the Shemitah, the stock market, which, for the previous several years, had been rising, reverses its momentum. By early October, its long ascent comes to an end. It begins to fall. As the Shemitah year progresses, the stock market continues its descent, a slow motion crash. Billions and billions of dollars are wiped away.”
