Rabbi Rael Blumenthal

“I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Moshiach; and even though he may tarry, nevertheless, I wait each day for his coming.”

It is one of the Thirteen Principles of Faith; the bedrock of our belief system. We say it, we sing it, we pay homage to it, and we teach it to our children. But if I'm honest with myself for a moment, I have a hard time actually believing that Moshiach might really come at any moment.

Of course, I hope he does. There have been moments over the past few years when we have all genuinely felt like Hashem is preparing us for it. But right now? In this moment? Do we really think he's coming before Tisha B'Av 5786?

Five minutes of scrolling through our feeds is more than enough to convince us that we still have a long way to go.

And so we don't actually anticipate abandoning our homes, our jobs, and our lives to march off and rebuild the Beis HaMikdash. We might anticipate it in theory, but practically speaking, we're not actually expecting Moshiach to arrive at any moment.

This was not true of all Jews throughout history. The Chafetz Chaim famously lived with faith and anticipation. Despite his poverty, he kept a new suit hanging behind his door, ready for the moment when Moshiach would come.

Why don't we do the same? Because even insofar as we believe that Hashem could bring Moshiach, we don't truly believe that He will. We are not expecting that when we turn on our phones this Motzaei Shabbos, the world will be ablaze with the news that the Beis HaMikdash has descended from Shamayim. I mean, it could be. But it won't.

The problem with our emunah is not that we don't think Hashem can, or even that He wants to, redeem us. We simply don't think that our generation is deserving, and we all know why.

It's because of social media. And the secular Jews. And the chareidi draft dodgers. Maybe the liberals as well. Or the conservatives. And don't forget the self-hating Jews.

Naturally, we all know that the fault lies with the Democrats and the Republicans. Those racists who voted for Trump, and the communists who voted for Biden. And of course, it's because of the antisemites. And the Palestinians! Who could forget them? It's certainly their fault too. And Bibi. And the Knesset, which never seems to do what we all know it should do.

The list goes on and on. We have no shortage of people to blame.

Sarcasm aside, and with a little maturity, we all realize that it's none of them. The truth is that it's really because of us.

If we're honest with ourselves, we know that we're not the Jews Hashem wants us to be. This is the basic premise of all the Sifrei Mussar. If we stop deluding ourselves, we should acknowledge that Moshiach isn't coming because of us; because of me, my flaws, and my inadequacies.

So, of course, Hashem won't bring Moshiach. Because we just don't deserve it.

This realization, more than any other, explains why we don't expect Moshiach's arrival in our lifetimes. We don't expect it, even though we wish for it. And we don't anticipate it, even as we sing Ani Ma'amin. We look at ourselves and the world around us and conclude that there is no chance Hashem would find us more deserving than any generation that came before us.

This is the deepest and most destructive Yetzer Hara in the world: the one that says, “I believe in Hashem with all my heart. I just don't believe in myself, my friends, or my generation.”

It's a Yetzer Hara that tells us our world is irreparably broken and that there is no path to redemption. It's a voice that screams, “Maybe one day... but certainly not us, and certainly not now!”

The awful truth, however, is that this Yetzer Hara is ultimately just another form of lacking faith in Hashem. It convinces us to stop dreaming, learning, growing, and believing. It deludes us into mistaking hopelessness for humility, frumkeit, and realism.

Reb Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin (Tzidkas HaTzaddik §154) famously writes:

כשם שצריך אדם להאמין בהש”י כך צריך אח”כ להאמין בעצמו

Just as a person is required to believe in Hashem, so too must he afterward believe in himself.

After 120, when Hashem asks us, “Did you anticipate the redemption?” He's not asking whether we believed that He could do it. Hashem is asking whether we lived our lives believing that we could do it.

In the deepest sense, the belief that we are capable of, and worthy of, redemption is the beginning of the Geulah itself.

R' Pinchas of Koretz (Hakdamah l'Midrash Pinchas) explains:

Moshiach will find merits even in the actions of resha'im. By believing in them, they will return to Hashem and do teshuvah. And through teshuvah, we will be redeemed.

Small tzaddikim have the capacity to love small resha'im. Great tzaddikim can love even great resha'im. Moshiach will be able to love even those who appear to be completely wicked.

Anyone who is melamed zechus – who finds a favorable explanation for another Jew – is a little piece of Moshiach.

We all know this to be true from our own experiences. When our failures overwhelm us, and the fears of an unfulfilled life begin to surface, what we need most is someone to be melamed zechus. We need someone to validate our struggles, to tell us that our mistakes are normal, and that Hashem loves us anyway.

At our most vulnerable and honest, we're not looking for excuses. We're looking for the confidence to move beyond our failure and pain. To give that love, strength, and confidence to another Jew is to be their Moshiach.

Rav Kook (Shemonah Kevatzim 7:201) writes:

שואלים במה זכה דורנו לגאולה. התשובה פשוטה היא, הוא זכה מפני שעסק במצוה היותר גדולה שבכל המצוות, במצווה השקולה ככל התורה כולה, מפני שהוא עסק בגאולת ישראל

People ask, “How will our generation merit the Geulah?” The answer is simple: our generation has occupied itself with the greatest mitzvah of all, the mitzvah that is equal to the entire Torah, the mitzvah of redeeming the Jewish people.

Hashem should help us – the unrefined, inadequate, lowly people that we are – to believe in ourselves. To believe that we can bring this Geulah. That simply by being Jews who continue to hold on, we can catapult ourselves into a world of redemption.

It's not too far away. It's not too distant.

With Hashem's help, may we turn on our phones this Motzaei Shabbos ready to book our flights to Yerushalayim.