WE WANT MASHIACH NOW.
As a child, just before my bar mitzvah I learned those simple words. They are also the most powerfully cosmic-shaking words, as they are asking (demanding) Hashem for imminent world change.
NOW.
It was the fall of 1980, and the Rebbe had just launched the special children’s movement called Tzivot Hashem
The Rebbe would encourage the children as they would sing for him their theme song: We Want Moshiach Now
It seemed that it was the children who were able to identify with and express the Rebbe’s passion to bring the world to peace and goodness.
The simplicity and innocence of children allows for a refreshingly untainted naïveté attitude to life. When they sing that they want Mashiach, they really mean it.
I would like to ask you an adult-to-adult question.
Do you want Mashiach now?
In a vulnerable moment I turn the question inward and ask myself ‘do I want Mashiach now’?
As we are now in the ‘three weeks’ marking the destruction of the Temple and our descent into exile, we are doing things to try and bring Mashiach. Adding in Torah study (see below about our Torah Study Week in Bangkok), increasing our giving Tzedaka and being more diligent in prayer.
It is a great time to reflect on this topic.
Here is what I mean.
I know a couple that is married for many decades and while the man is in generally good health, he can’t get out of the house much. I met his wife who came to do some pre-Shabbat shopping and asked about her husband and sent regards.
She shared something with me that has me thinking.
‘My husband is in good overall health and while he can’t get out of the house much, he is very busy at home’. I asked with what he is busy, thinking that perhaps he had an online occupation. ‘He is busy fixing things in the house’ she replied.
I jokingly suggested that perhaps when everything is fixed, they should move home and then there will be more work for her husband.
‘My husband says I don’t have enough time to do all the things in need to do, as things are always breaking’. ‘There will always be things to fix’ she concludes.
Many of us will chuckle when we read this story.
It dawns on me that this line of thought may be more common than that is evident.
Are we (secretly) relieved when something breaks so that we will have something to fix?
Do we try and raise our children to be reliant on us so that we stay relevant as parents.
How about our relationship with our students? Are we fearful that our students may know more than us?
And the question of all questions, the way it relates to the individual viz a viz himself.
Most of us will tell you that we would like to be successful.
If we look more deeply and analyze ourselves, we may be surprised.
Are we really open to achieving our stated goals? Or do we have an inner fear of success which presents the greatest barrier to actually succeeding?
If you achieve your financial goals, are you worried about what will get you out of bed in the morning?
Do we really want Mashiach in our personal lives?
I mean the personal redemption that can be ours before the cosmic redemption. That would mean living in a space where all our issues are solved and we are living a stress-free life.
Do you really want to be problem free?
Are you ready to start living a lifestyle that echoes and mirrors redemption in terms of state of mind?
My guess is that you may be a tad fearful.
You may question whether or not you will have relevance if you are not needed to ‘fix’ anything.
Here is a radical presentation of what living life in ‘exile’ can look like.
The story of a man who goes to the shoe store to buy a pair of shoes, comes to mind. After the shoe salesman measures his feet for size, he asks to buy a pair of shoes half a size smaller than his foot. When the salesman raises his eyebrows in amazement, the customer explains.
‘When I buy a small pair of shoes, I am assured of a wonderful feeling at the end of the day. For whatever may have transpired during the day, disappointing as it may have been, the feeling of relief that I get when I take off my shoes at night is euphoric’.
How sad when the only thing one can look forward to is taking off tight shoes at night.
Even more tragic, is the mindset of being anchored in failure. To the extent that in advance, they prepare a self-inflicted pain in order to provide a pleasure to indulge in.
(This is the challenge and tragedy of addiction.
When relief is achieved by indulging in something that one self-creates dependency on.
One is not born craving the substance or experience that they are dependent on.
After creating dependency, the struggle of addiction becomes acute. The absence of the substance is painful; the indulgence brings the pleasure of relief.
In no way am I intending to minimize the struggles of addiction by overgeneralizing. Just using it as an angle for self-awareness.
May Hashem give the strugglers the strength to overcome).
The Rebbe said that we are living in a time when the coming of Mashiach is so so near.
Even the kids sing ‘We Want Mashiach Now’.
As adults we have to stop being scared of not having something to fix.
It is time to mature to a place of wellness.
To find meaning in our role as G-d’s agents on earth.
Not just to be fixers and saviors to problems.
Not to live with a dependency on accolades and feedback from others.
Rather, to live with positivity and optimism.
(The first building block of the Code of Jewish Law is ‘do not be shy or stifled in the face of cynics and scoffers’.
This means that we have to maintain our mitzvahs and values even if others poke fun at us.
Perhaps it is also telling us that we have to think of one thing and one thing alone.
I am in the presence of G-d. It is He who has created me. It is a relationship with Him that is the reason for my being. The fact that He created me and placed me on earth is the greatest validation I can get. Nothing else is of any consequence of interest to me).
This weeks parsha has a recipe for living in a redemptive way.
There are some offerings in the Bet Hamikdash that are periodical. Like the Shabbat and Holiday sacrifices.
Or reactive. Like the sacrifice brought after one has a life-saving miracle.
Then there is the proactive constant offering.
The daily offering. In the morning and in the afternoon.
Rain or shine.
Happy or sad.
Holy or mundane.
On Yom Kippur or on a regular Wednesday.
This represents our constant attachment to Hashem.
Symbolically it tells us about connecting to Hashem in whatever state of being you may be.
In the morning. Meaning, when the sun is shining brightly and my mood is up, I may not feel the need for a dependence on G-d.
I acknowledge that all comes from Him.
Bring an offering and connect to G-d – the morning prayers.
At the afternoon. When the sun is setting and I may be feeling down and despondent and questioning whether there is even any point to trying. Am I even relevant to Him?
Bring an offering and connect to G-d – the afternoon prayers.
Remind yourself that He created you and is waiting to hear from you.
In our health system, we are working hard to get to the Mashiach’s times. We yearn for the day that we will overcome the major health challenges of our generation.
What will doctors do when there are no more sick people to heal?
They will be busy with wellness. Preventative medicine.
Can you imagine when there will be no more anti-semitism?
We won’t need to expend energy and resources on fighting that scrounge, we will be able to allocate all of our talent and resources to learning and teaching about G-d and His Torah.
The coming of Mashiach will mean peace, prosperity, stress-free living, and all problems solved.
It is scary to imagine. Especially if you get your relevance from fixing things.
But it is G-dly and goodly. We await, we embrace it and we yearn for it.
Let us take that leap and together scream out loudly and clearly, to ourselves and to the world around us:
WE WANT MASHIACH NOW!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yosef Kantor