Our generation is usually described as pre-messianic. This era has something in common with the "Dor Deah", the generation that came out of Egypt.

The "Dor Deah", also known as the generation of knowledge was named so because it earned the privilege of receiving the Torah. This lofty achievement could only occur after the entire generation had reached the forty-ninth level of impurity that was prevalent in Egypt.

Rabbi Israel-Yaakov Lugassy explains ​​in his book "Ner Leragli", that the Jewish people could not have merited the forty-ninth level of purity after leaving Egypt,  just before receiving the Torah, had they not withstood the forty-ninth degree of impurity that raged in Egypt.

Likewise, our generation will merit the extraordinary breakthrough that will occur in the Messianic era. However, to rise to the occasion, we must currently face not the forty-ninth level of impurity, but the 50th level of impurity. In other words, a personification of evil, which had never transpired in the history of mankind.

Immorality, moral permissiveness and debauchery have skyrocketed to unparalleled degrees, never witnessed in previous generations. The most upscale technologies and the most developed communication networks are at the service of our most despicable impulses and instincts in a most insidious way. Today, debauchery is at everyone's fingertips, opening the gates of hell with a simple click of the mouse.

Long before this period, our Sages already foresaw what was coming.

The Or Hachaim Hakadosh describes the essence of the fiftieth level of impurity as heresy and the denial of faith. He supports his words based on the promises of happiness and fulfillment made by the Prophets concerning redemption, which speak exclusively about the perfection of knowledge, as described in the following verse: "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as water covers the sea" (Yeshayahu 11,9).

The Rambam expressly states at the end of the laws on Kings (chapter 12, halacha 7): "All the desires that the Sages yearned to merit in the messianic era concern the freedom to devote themselves entirely to Torah study and divine wisdom. And in so doing, merit the world to come."

The Rambam also states (ibid., Halacha 8) that "the whole world will only seek knowledge of God".

This means that the fiftieth gate of purity, which we will merit in the Messianic age, constitutes a very high-level knowledge of Hashem, surpassing by far the levels of our present knowledge. Therefore, the fiftieth gate of impurity which precedes the redemption is defined by a diametrically opposed situation, an antithesis, namely ignorance in the knowledge of God and the denial of faith.

The Ramchal (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato) explains that the peak of knowledge which we will reach in the Messianic era will manifest in the revelation of the unity of Hashem, whose essence we will be able to grasp more intensely than we do today. Simply put, this means that we will be able to perceive the immanence of Hashem through each one of the elements of Creation.

Heresy or debauchery?

Our generation must now endure the fiftieth gate of impurity. According to the words of Rabbi Lugassy, it seems that this impurity manifests as debauchery, whereas the words of the Or Hachaim Hakadosh stress that atheism in all its forms predominates our current era.

Concretely, our current struggles seem to lie in the realm of social behavior more than in the area of faith, since Jews are free to worship God and practice Judaism across most continents. However, improper visual images and sexual incursions transpire almost uninterruptedly in the media, defiling our eyes despite ourselves..

However, it must be known that the predominant struggle against the Yetzer Hara (inclination to evil) relates exclusively to Emunah (faith). Simply, the Yetzer Hara cannot attack the People of Israel directly in the realm of their faith. Indeed, the Jewish people are a holy people, "maaminim bnei maaminim" (believers and sons of believers). Therefore, the Yetzer Hara uses a backdoor strategy that is more likely to allow it to succeed. It is recounted in the tractate of Sanhedrin, 63: "The people of Israel know that idolatry is futile. A Jew will only surrender to idolatry as a prelude to forbidden sexual relations". Thus, the question to ask is: since the Hebrews were utterly familiar with the vanity of idolatry, why did they succumb despite themselves?

The explanation is that forbidden sexual relations corrupt a man's mind and heart, to the point of totally obstructing his better judgment and leading him to turn away from the entire Torah. The Yetzer Hara’s approach follows this plan to the letter: a man desires to have forbidden sexual relations. But he cannot rationally permit himself to indulge in his desires because he is a Jew and he believes in God. Consequently, he will firstly accept a false belief or some form of idolatry, so he can afford to succumb to his sexual deviations within the framework of his newfound ideology with a clear conscience.

What we learn from this is that the Yetzer Hara's fundamental purpose in inciting a man to engage in debauchery is ultimately to eventually bring an individual one step lower into apikorsut (heresy) and to the denial of the thirteen principles of faith as defined by the Rambam. When an individual is tempted by a forbidden sexual experience, the principles of his faith obstruct him from fulfilling his desire, thus clouding the clarity of his judgment. This mental disturbance may bring him to question the basic principles of Judaism, such as believing that the righteous will be rewarded and the perverts will be severely punished. Negating these principles is convenient willful blindness to indulge in the object of his desire.

A Historical Example

The episode of the daughters of Moab (Bamidbar, chapter 25) describes this subject to perfection. Following Balaam's pernicious advice, Balak decides to tempt the Jews by sending in the women of Moab to seduce them through prostitution. But his goal is, of course, to bring the Jews to serve idols, in this case prostrating themselves before Baal Peor.

The women of Moab would not succumb to the advances of the Jewish men unless the latter agreed to practice this idolatrous cult, a cult in which they did not believe in the least.

Our Sages' Reflections on Our Era

We are living at a time which the Tanaim (Sages of the Mishna) feared the most, called Ikveta Demeshicha (pre-messianic days). In the Holy Zohar (Exodus 7), it is written that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai raised his arms to heaven, cried and said:  "Woe to the man who lives in this era!" Rashbi enunciated these words by divine inspiration, allowing him to foresee the troubled times in which we are presently living. But Rashbi concluded with the following words: "Happy is the man who merits living in this time with faith".

The verse:" A righteous man lives by his faith (Habakkuk 2,4) is perfectly compliant with the time we live in. To serenely survive an era such as ours, so replete with difficulties in all areas (marriage, sustenance, children, etc) one must rely on a solid and sincere Emunah. And the sine-qua-non condition to manifest a sincere Emunah is to live a life based on kedushah (sanctity).

Kedushah means one must distance oneself from all sexual prohibitions, as expressed in the verse: "Be holy for I am Holy" (Vayikra 19,2). Rashi comments this verse as: "Keeping away from forbidden sexual relations."

Given that forbidden sexual relations lead man to the worst state of corruption, to the point of inviting him to commit idolatry to justify his behavior, abstaining from these relations is the best guarantee to cultivate perfect and intact faith. When a man's spirit remains crystal clear and unadulterated, he may perceive the splendor and truth of Hashem's Torah.

Thus, we may understand the words of the Reshit Chochma (Shaar Hakedushah, chapter 16), according to which Hashem judges debauchery with utter severity. Because whoever succumbs to this practice uproots his soul from sanctity. This is not the case regarding other prohibitions or faults, no matter how grave.

The Reshit Chochma also affirms that each generation has a different area to repair, as mentioned in the Noam Elimelech: in pre-messianic times, the Yetzer will attack two domains: eradicating Emunah and enticing people to sin in the area of forbidden relations, knowing that this fault is a predominant factor in the eradication of Emunah.

Conclusion

The words of our Sages are crystal clear. Happy is the man who survives our time armed with sincere and ardent faith. He may reach unprecedented levels of closeness to Hashem. Preserving oneself at the level of Kedushah and maintaining purity in marital relations (and abstaining from forbidden relations) is the best rampart to cultivate and protect the authentic faith. May we rise to this level to overcome the overwhelming challenges of our time.