Rabbi Eliyahu of Izmir, author of Shevet Musar

It was claimed by Rav Yitzchok Isaac Herzog that Rabbi Eliyahu of Izmir said that the three oaths are no longer in force today. The source for this is his commentary on Shir Hashirim called Dana Pishra, on 3:5.

Since the pesukim above are discussing the redemption, Hashem placed an oath again that they should not pray for the redemption in the wrong time, because they will cause destruction with this and they will end up gaining nothing. Rather, they should hope for the time when Hashem wants to bring it.

And we can give a reason for this based on the concept that sometimes a person says prophecy and does not know what he is prophesying (i.e. this posuk contains a prophecy that the exile will last much longer than anyone expected). Why did Hashem place an oath upon us regarding the redemption three times? Because three times in history there was reason to think it might be a good time to pray for redemption. First of all, 400 years after the destruction of the Temple, the exile would have been equal to the exile in Egypt which lasted 400 years.  He therefore forbade them from praying. The second time that they could have prayed was after 800 years, since 800 is double the Egyptian exile. And the third time is after 1200 years, which is three times the exile in Egypt.

But after that, He did not place any oath because the sixth millennium had begun, and the sixth millennium is the days of the moshiach, as Chazal say in Sanhedrin. The Temple was destroyed in the year 3829 from the creation of the world, and 1200 years after that is 5029. All of the sixth millennium is the times of moshiach, only that due to our sins some of it has passed already. But then it is allowed to arouse and pray for the redemption. The fact that they stayed in exile for the fifth millennium, which is also part of the days of moshiach as Chazal say, “Two thousand are moshiach,” that is, the fifth and sixth millennium, was only to complete three times the exile in Egypt. Therefore, from then on it is not forbidden to pray.

It’s not clear why Rabbi Eliyahu distinguishes between the fifth and sixth millennium, since both of them are considered the days of moshiach as the Gemara says in Sanhedrin 97a. In any case, what he is permitting here is only to pray and to beg excessively for the redemption after the beginning of the sixth millennium, but not to conquer the land or make any wars.

There is a big difference between prayer and action towards the redemption. Taking action toward the redemption is tantamount to heresy, but violating the oath through excessive prayer is not, since on the contrary, prayer strengthens the Jew’s belief that Hashem controls all events and only He can end the exile.