B"H
THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH OF NISSAN
Dear Friends:
We enter the Month
of Our Redemption, Zman Chaiyrusainu!
As we run through
the seemingly endless details of our lives and the preparations
for Passover, do we have time or ability to contemplate
the idea of FREEDOM? What does it mean? Is REDEMPTION
real? Is MOSHIACH real?
Let's talk about
Moshiach.
Can there be a
Jewish king? Is it realistic to think that there will
come a day when we will live in peace and tranquility in our
Holy Land in a world that looks to us as their spiritual leaders? Is
it realistic to think that one day the children of Israel
will accept a totally pure and dedicated man as their leader?
Will we ever see
Moshe Rabbeinu again? Aaron ha Kohain? King
David?
Will there really
be a Jewish King in the world?
Is this reality
or a pipe dream?
My friends, the
world may act insane but the Torah - lehavdil! -
is true. As we rush through life we should keep that in
mind. Every weekday we say the nineteen blessings of
the Shemoneh Esreh. These prayers, written millennia
ago by the Men of the Great Assembly, have sustained our people
through fire and water for thousands of years! What are
they telling us? What do they say about Moshiach?
The first blessing
in the Shemoneh Esreh says that G-d will bring "a
Redeemer to [the Patriarchs'] children's children."
Who are the "children's
children" of the Patriarchs?
We are! G-d is
promising that He is going to bring a Redeemer to US!
But how?
"For His Name's
sake, with love."
Do you hear this?
Not for "our" sake
because we are "so good," or because we are "so holy" or because
we are so "put together."
NO! G-d is
going to bring Moshiach for "HIS" sake.
I would like to
suggest that Moshiach is coming whether or not we are ready! Maybe
we haven't finished our tax returns; maybe we haven't finished
mowing the lawn. There is a limit to Golus, a limit to
how far G-d's Name can be dragged into the
mud! There
is a limit to the hatred directed against His Holy Nation,
Israel!
ENOUGH!
G-d is
going to save His Holy Name and He is going to save us,
as the children say in hide and seek, "ready or not"!
How do we know?
Because the first
blessing of the Shemoneh Esreh says so!
What else does
the Shemoneh Esreh tell us about Moshiach?
The Fifteenth Blessing
is all about Moshiach. "May You speedily cause the
offspring of Your servant David to flourish.... Blessed
are You, G-d, Who
causes the pride of salvation to flourish."
The word "flourish" in
Hebrew is "tsemach." In English it is of course related
to the word "flower." From a plant comes a flower;
from a flower comes fruit.
Passover is always
in the Spring, the season of hope. It may be snowing
now, but soon the withered branches will sprout delicately
green leaves, the fruit trees will sprout gorgeous flowers,
on which we will make a once-a-year blessing. Our
hearts will expand with happiness as we see the glorious
beauty of new life after the death of winter. G-d is
re-creating the world!
Why are we so happy
at this season, my friends?
Those flowers are
not just flimsy petals. They are heavenly signs that G-d is
transforming the entire world from an ice-bound, sterile
landscape into a garden of life. And not just physical
life: those flowers hint at the spiritual world from which
this physical world arises.
This is "Tsemach
Dovid"; Moshiach is growing in our midst!
No man can stop
the cycle. "Continuously, all the days of the earth,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter,
day and night, shall not cease." [1]
We are flesh and
blood, but the Master of the Universe regulates our world
in all its details. We may not feel ready, but that
does not alter the calculations of Our Father in Heaven
as to when the great Springtime of Our Redemption will
burst forth in our world.
Why does the Shemoneh
Esreh compare the coming of Moshiach to the sprouting and
flowering of a plant?
Plants are not
involved in politics! Plants do not hate each other! Plants
do not fight! Plants respond directly to G-d's commands. At
the moment He wills it, they burst into flower! They
perform His will with alacrity.
And so it shall
be, with G-d's help, that suddenly G-d's Redemption
will burst forth and the face of the earth will be renewed
in perpetual springtime! There will be no more politics,
no more hatred, no more plots, no more darkness and the
bitterness of a world filled with frozen hearts!
No, my friends,
enough is enough! Springtime has arrived. May G-d soon
bring forth Moshiach ben Dovid "for His Name's sake, with
love."
"When G-d will
return the captivity of Zion, we will be like dreamers. Then
our mouth will be filled with laughter and our tongue with
glad song.... He who bears the measure of seed walks along
weeping, but will return in exultation, a bearer of his sheaves." [2]
Let us prepare
to welcome Moshiach ben Dovid and the Final Redemption
of the Children of Israel! Let us live with this
reality in our hearts!
Chag Kasher v'Sameach!
Roy S. Neuberger
I
want to thank my dear friend Rabbi Boruch Lovett Shlita"h
for his
assistance with these thoughts.
