We want Mashi’ach now – Ask the Rabbi
Q. Do you agree with the Chabadniks who say, “We want Mashi’ach now”?
A. Most Jews pay lip service to the idea of the Messiah but are not really that interested one way or the other.
A Christian saint is said to have prayed, “God, make me good – but not yet”. I had a congregant who decided to go kosher but not until she had finished all the non-kosher meat in her freezer.
Some Jews say similarly, “God, send the Messiah if you want, but take Your time – I enjoy my life the way it is!”
When the Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke of the imminence of Mashi’ach he was concerned with the big global issues.
So many massive events had taken place, the Holocaust, the revival of Israel and Jewish identity, the renaissance of Torah, the defeat of great enemies, the Jewish escape from the Soviet Union, the Divine protection of Israel, which taken together denote that history is moving into a new era. Everyone ought to rise up, he suggested, and call to God to send Mashi’ach.
Whether we want Mashi’ach depends on lifting our sights from the petty and mundane.
