In the Talmud (b. Megillah 17b), Atchalta De'Geulah (Aramaic: אתחלתא דגאולה; Hebrew: התחלת הגאולה, Hatchalat ha-Geulah; lit., "the beginning of the redemption") is the period of time before the coming of the Jewish Messiah takes place.
In his epistle from 1918 (תרע"ח; Hebrew calendar), he writes: "Atchalta De'Geulah [the beginning of the redemption] is undoubtedly coming about before us.
"His son, Zvi Yehuda Kook, one of the main spiritual leaders of the Israeli settlement movement, following Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel (the "Maharal of Prague"),[1] in his work "Lenetivot Israel", reinforces his Atchalta De'Geulah argument for having an agricultural prosperity, which he views with favour, as is stated in the Gemara: "R. Abba also said: There can be no more revealed end than this, as is stated (Book of Ezekiel, 36:8): But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come.
Haredi Judaism, in contrast to Religious Zionism, opines that the coming of the Jewish Messiah will bring about the redemption of the Land of Israel and its people (whenever this may occur, and in many different aspects).
[citation needed] Israel Eldad wrote in an article in one of the major Israeli daily newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth, about visitng the Lubavitcher Rebbe:[3] "When I tried to bring up the conventional formula of Religious Zionism, that Israel is the Atchalta De'Geulah ... his tone of voice took a sudden turn, he banged on the table with his fist, and retorted: 'Rabbi Kook was wrong ...' It was a separate issue in his mind."