Another Idea

A couple weeks ago, on the last day of Pesach, we had a “Moshiach meal” and at the meal, Chanaleh made me tremendously proud. She demonstrated deep understanding, and it’s nice to know that she listens to me talk about Moshiach (lately, she’s been proofreading my emails too).

Someone at the meal posed the question, “How can we bring Moshiach?” Without missing a beat, Chanaleh answered, “Once we start living as if Moshiach is already here, then we’ll want it for the rest of the world, and then Moshiach will come.”

The depth of her answer, and her ability to say it so clearly & concisely was inspiring. It really is that simple:

The essence of golus (the time until Moshiach) is the the façade that covers over the truth. The struggle to do what’s right, the blur between right and wrong, the illusion that we are alone and no one is watching (obviously, G-d is watching everything).

The catch though, is that it’s only a façade. The Torah, especially Chassidus, can rationalize to the most skeptic mind how fake the veneer is, and brilliantly demonstrate the truth that G-d is everywhere. Through doing mitzvahs we can poke through the thin film and make the world perfect. Even 50 years ago, you could have claimed that the world didn’t yet have all the tools, and that it was too hard. Now, however as I explained last week (the Rebbe handing Moshiach over to us) we can jump into it at any moment. This is what Chanaleh was saying.

After the meal, she explained to me what I said that brought her to that understanding. It was a story (and some other conversations she overheard).

Reb Mendel Horodoker was a great Chassidic Rabbi in Israel. Once, there was a commotion, and people were saying Moshiach had come. He opened the window, took a sniff of the air, and proclaimed, “Moshiach has not yet come.”

Later on, Chassidim explained that he had to go to the window to smell, because the air of Moshiach was already in his home (otherwise, why couldn’t he discern whether Moshiach had come or not without going to the window?)

We now have the tools to make the leap and live the Moshiach reality, and I hope you’ll jump on board and spread the word to everyone you hold dear.

Finally, there was another special day in Chabad last week. Two Iyar was the birthday of the 4th Chabad Rebbe, the Rebbe Maharash (it also happens to be the yahrzeit of my grandmother, and Natanya’s grandfather). He was known for a saying, lechaitchilda ariber-לכתחילה אריבער- “When faced with an obstacle, the world says to first try going under it. If that doesn’t work, then try going over it. I say, just jump over it in the first place!”

Obviously, the Rebbe Maharash was giving more than hiking advice. It just dawned on me that there’s a profound connection between this birthday, and the day I wrote about last week (the Rebbe giving the job of bringing Moshiach to us).

What’s the way to bring Moshiach? Some people say we need to wait for a process. Some people say it will never happen. Maybe we should start a campaign to create more awareness?

The secret to bringing Moshiach is simple: lechatchila ariber- just jump right over and start living it right now! Try thinking about this, that G-d is right here, behind your screen, smiling at you. All day long, G-d is there with you, and loves you. With a hop and a skip, we can all go about our days making every right choice in personal health, parenting, business, sharing, kindness to others etc.