The Mystery of the Shemitah (11 page)

The following represent the majority of the greatest long-term stock market crashes in history, arranged in order of increasing magnitude.

The Crash of 2000–2001

The Dot-Com Crash and 9/11

This stock market collapse began with the “Dot-Com Crash” of 2000–2001. Then came 9/11, which would first paralyze Wall Street and then cause further deterioration. The collapse would continue into 2002. By the time it ended, more than 37 percent of the stock market had been wiped out.

Could there be any connection between the crash of 2000 and 2001 and the ancient mystery?
The Shemitah comes once every seven years. It just so happens that the first Shemitah of the new millennium fell in the period of 2000–2001, the years of the Dot-Com Crash, a deepening recession, the attack of 9/11, and one of the greatest stock market day crashes in history. The Shemitah year took place entirely within the overall financial and economic collapse. Its overlap with the crash of 2000–2001 is thus 100 percent.

The Crash of 1916–1917

First World War

Also known as the “Crisis of 1916–1917,” this stock market crash took place during the First World War. It began in November 1916 and reached its low point one year later in December 1917. What the crash of 1916–1917 lacked in length it made up in severity. By its end, 40 percent of the market had been wiped out.

Could there be any connection between the crash of 1916–1917 and the mystery of the Shemitah?
There was one Shemitah in the midst of the First World War. It happened to fall in the years 1916–1917, the same period of the crash. The Shemitah commenced in September 1916. Two months after its beginning, the stock market collapsed. The Shemitah reached its culmination in September 1917 on the Day of Remission. Three months later the collapse was finished. The Shemitah coincided with the economic collapse for ten of its twelve months—an overlap of over 80 percent.

The Crash of 1973

The Crash of Multiple Crises

It began as a currency crisis and was compounded by the 1973 oil crisis and various other national and international crises. By its end, 45 percent of the market had been wiped out. In the two years from 1972 to 1974 the American economy’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth shrank from 7 percent to a negative 2 percent contraction. At the same time inflation soared from a rate of 3 percent in 1972 to 12 percent in 1974. The repercussions of the crash in the United Kingdom were even more dramatic with the London Stock Exchange losing 74 percent of its value and only returning to the same market levels in 1987. Measured in real terms, it would take the United States twenty years to regain the levels lost in this collapse.

Could there be any connection between the crash of 1973 and the ancient mystery?
The Shemitah began in the latter part of 1972, with most of its course occurring in 1973. Four months after the Shemitah’s beginning, the stock market began to collapse. One of the Shemitah’s definitions and consequences is that it causes the nation’s production to decrease. The GDP represents the nation’s domestic product or production. As the 1972–1973 Shemitah progressed, the nation’s domestic production began to fall. By the end of the collapse it had shrunk by 70 percent. The Shemitah took place simultaneously with the collapse in the financial realm for eight of its twelve months—an overlap of over 66 percent.

The Crash of 1901–1903

The Struggle of Titans

The crash of 1901–1903 was brought on by the struggles of E. H. Harriman, Jacob Schiff, and J. P. Morgan to gain financial control of Northern Pacific Railroad. It caused so much damage that the resulting crisis is sometimes called “the 1901–1903 depression.” By its end, 46 percent of the market was wiped out.

In the midst and depths of the collapse is the biblical Year of the Shemitah, which began in September 1902 and ended on September 21, 1903. Less than two months after its end, the collapse reached its end. The Shemitah’s entire course took place within the collapse—an overlap of 100 percent.

The following three crashes constitute the greatest long-term stock market collapses in modern history.

The Crash of 1937–1938

The Recession of the Great Depression

The crash of 1937–1938 has been called “the Recession of the Great Depression.” By early 1937 the American economy had recovered to pre-Depression levels in the areas of production, wages, and profit. But in the spring of 1937 the economy entered a downturn. It continued through much of 1938. It brought the American stock market and economy back to depths not seen since the days of the Great Depression.

Is there any connection between the crash of 1937–1938 and the ancient mystery of the Shemitah?
The years 1937 and 1938 just happen to be the same period of time in which falls the Shemitah. The start of the economic downturn came in March 1937 in the Shemitah’s approach. The Shemitah’s actual commencement day was September 6, 1937. The very day after the Shemitah began, Wall Street collapsed. Starting with this collapse and continuing over the next nine months, America’s manufacturing employment fell by a quarter, its industrial output by a third, the stock market by half, and profits by over three quarters. By June of 1937 four million workers lost their jobs.

The stock market’s downturn overlapped with the first half of the Shemitah year. Its deep crash began the day after the Shemitah’s beginning. The Shemitah overlapped with the financial collapse for six months or 50 percent of its duration, and with the economic collapse for nine months of its duration or 75 percent. The extreme economic plunge took place entirely within the Shemitah’s parameters.

The Crash of 2007–2008

The Great Recession

The crash of 2007–2008 is known as the “Great Recession,” “the Global Financial Crisis,” and “the Second Great Depression.” It was the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. It wiped away trillions of American dollars, threatened the collapse of several major financial institutions, helped trigger the European Sovereign-Debt Crisis, and launched a global recession that would last into 2009. By its end, more than half of the stock market had been wiped out.

Is there any connection with the collapse of 2007–2008 and the ancient mystery?
The stock market had been in a continual period of expansion for several years, but less than thirty days from the Shemitah’s commencement in September 2007, the momentum began to change. The stock market began to collapse.

The Shemitah reached its climax one year later in September of 2008. The crash reached its greatest intensity the same month. Its repercussions continued into the spring of the following year. The ancient economic remission and the crash of the Great Recession took place simultaneously. The overlap of the Shemitah to the Great Recession is 100 percent.

The Crash of 1930–1932

The Great Depression

The long-term collapse which began in 1930 and lasted until 1932 would constitute the worst economic and financial crisis in modern history—the core of the Great Depression. Even after the great stock market crashes of 1929, there had been an upward turn. In fact, within six months of the initial crashes, the stock market had returned to early 1929 levels. But in 1930 another downturn began, this time involving a collapse of global trade. Even with this, the market eventually stabilized. But in April of 1931 a downturn began that would bring the world into the depths of the Great Depression. By the end, in July 1932, the amount wiped out of the market was 86 percent. It would take until 1954 for the market to recover its precrash levels.

The years 1930 and 1931 were marked by several key events and developments that would usher in the depths of the Great Depression. In 1930 there would be another stock market collapse as well as the passing of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in mid-June, which would lead to a collapse in global trade and a further descent of the stock market. By late 1930 the world economy began a deep and steady deterioration.

And yet the year 1931 would prove to be even more pivotal. It has been called “the year that made the Great Depression great.” In April 1931 a much longer and steadier crash began that brought Wall Street to its lowest levels of the century. The year 1931 was also when a deflationary spiral began, bringing the American and world economies into paralysis.

Could there be any connection between the Great Depression and the ancient mystery?
Were it not for what happened during the years 1930 and 1931, the initial recovery could have continued, thus averting “the Great Depression.” But it was then that the Shemitah came. The Shemitah took place in 1930–1931.

More specifically, the Shemitah began in late 1930—the same time the world economy began its steady deterioration. In April 1931, the center of the Shemitah year, the stock market began a long-term crash that would bring Wall Street to its lowest levels of the twentieth century and to the depths of the Great Depression.

The seventh year reached its climax with the approach of Tishri, the month that manifests the Shemitah’s financial repercussions. On September 19, 1931, an event of seismic proportions took place in the financial world: the British Empire made the decision to discard the gold standard upon which its currency rested. The decision resulted in a worldwide panic that triggered the largest monthly percentage drop in stock market history and plunged the nation and the world into the lowest depths of the Great Depression. When did this global financial cataclysm happen? It took place on the fourteenth day of Tishri, the once-in-seven-year Tishri, the month of the Shemitah’s financial repercussions—its climactic autumn wake.

The ancient Shemitah and the Great Depression proceeded simultaneously. The Shemitah fell entirely within and at the core of the Great Depression. Thus the overlap of the Shemitah to the Great Depression is 100 percent.

The Ancient Mystery Behind the Greatest Collapses of Modern History

We have now looked at the majority of the greatest long-term collapses in stock market history and found an amazing thing: The majority happen according to the timing of the ancient Shemitah. And the connection is not minimal. Rather, the average overlap of the Shemitah to the collapse of the stock market is 85 percent.

If we alter the parameters to include the greatest long-term collapses from the time of the Great Depression onward, the results are just as striking. Of these, over 70 percent of them happen according to the timing of the Shemitah. Of the top five of these crashes, 80 percent of them take place according to the timing of the Shemitah. As for the top two greatest crashes, it becomes 100 percent.

We have opened up the first mystery, a mystery of two realities: the greatest stock market collapses of modern times and an ancient ordinance from Scripture. The two realities would appear worlds apart. How could they possibly be joined in any way? And yet they are bound together, strangely and inexplicably.

Now we will look at the cycles of the modern financial world, the greatest heights and turning points, and the cycles of the ancient mystery.

Chapter 11
The CYCLES of SINAI