Q&A: The Exile of Ishmael
The Exile of Ishmael
Question
Hello,
Is the Rabbi familiar with the concept of the Exile of Ishmael? Is it accepted by all the rabbis of Israel, or is it an attempt to explain reality after the fact?
Answer
I’m not familiar with the term. I also don’t understand what it means to “recognize the concept.” Either there is such an exile or there isn’t. That is a factual question. What difference does it make what this exile is called?
And why does it matter whether all the rabbis of Israel agree about it? The question is whether it is correct or not. And why is it important whether this is an attempt to explain reality after the fact or not? If the explanation is good, then good; and if not, then not. Do you have something against explanations of reality? Or do you want reality to be explained before it happens?
Discussion on Answer
I answered.
The question comes from the fact that I haven’t been exposed to many Talmudic sources (I haven’t gone through the entire Talmud, books of Kabbalah, and so on), and therefore when there is agreement / recognition among many rabbis in the Land of Israel, I can assume with a higher degree of probability that the topic does exist, and that it isn’t just something that sounds good but whose source is not in the Torah.
As for the question of timing, I asked it in order to understand whether this is a new concept in the Torah world or whether it has existed for a long time, unlike, say, the other exiles (which are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible).