For the source text click/tap here: Sanhedrin 97
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In the generation when the son of Dovid [the Moshiach] will come, the number of Torah scholars will decrease.
And as for the rest of the people, their eyes will become worn out through grief and anxiety. Numerous troubles and harsh decrees will be constantly appearing anew. Before the first trouble is over, a second one will hasten to appear. The following Baraisa describes the seven-year cycle preceding the Moshiach’s arrival: The Rabbis taught in a Baraisa: The seven-year cycle when the son of Dovid will come.
In the first year, this verse will be fulfilled: I will bring rain on one town, and on one town I will not bring rain, i.e. there will be a sufficiency in some areas and famine in others.
In the second year, the arrows of famine will be sent forth, i.e. there will be a limited famine in all areas.
In the third year there will be a great famine; men, women, and children will perish, and so will piously people and people of good deeds; and Torah knowledge will be forgotten by its students.
In the fourth year, there will be a sufficiency but not a complete sufficiency.
In the fifth year there will be a great sufficiency; people will eat, drink, and rejoice, and Torah knowledge will return to its students.
In the sixth year there will be sounds.
We explore the eschaton and the Gaon’s speculation of the end days.