28 NISSAN REDUX

What is the “straightforward path” (the easiest and fastest among all the paths of Torah) that all the Jewish people, who have concluded their service, should choose to realize the revelation and coming of Moshiach?

Dear Reader sh’yichyeh

We are all familiar with the words that the Rebbe said on 28 Nissan 5751: From what has been said previously about emphasizing the subject of Redemption (especially) at this time – emerges the absolutely incredible: how is it possible that notwithstanding all these things – we have not yet accomplished the coming of our righteous Moshiach in actual reality?!… Something completely beyond comprehension!

Equally incredible – that when ten (and many times ten) Jews gather together, and in a worthy time with regard to Redemption, and nevertheless, they don’t create an uproar to cause the coming of Moshiach immediately and instantly, and it’s not inconceivable to them, G-d forbid, that Moshiach won’t come this night, and also tomorrow our righteous Moshiach won’t come and also the day after tomorrow our righteous Moshiach won’t come, G-d forbid!

Also, when they cry, “Ad Masai” it’s because they were told to. If they meant it and desired it and cried sincerely, with absolute certainty Moshiach would have already come! What more can I do so that all the B’nei Yisroel should create an uproar and cry sincerely and cause Moshiach to come in reality, since all that was done until now, has had no effect, and the proof is, that we find ourselves still in exile, and most essentially – an inner exile in Divine service. The only thing I am able to do – is to turn the matter [over] to you: do everything in your ability – things that are in the nature of lights of Tohu, but, in vessels of Tikkun – to actually bring our righteous Moshiach immediately, instantly, in reality.

This Sicha sent waves throughout the world and all Chassidim were mobilized and energized to take this mission seriously. They just were not sure, what new thing – that they had not done until then – was the Rebbe demanding from them. 

A few weeks later – Shabbos Tazria-Metzora 5751 – the Rebbe made it very clear: The question is: Since we’ve already completed “our actions and service throughout the duration of exile” – what is the “straightforward path” (the easiest and fastest among all the paths of Torah) that all the Jewish people, who have concluded their service, should choose to realize the revelation and coming of Moshiach?

… The increase in learning the Torah concerned with Moshiach and Redemption (“Malchus Sh’b’Tiferes”) is the “straightforward path” to actually cause the revelation and coming of Moshiach and Redemption.

I would like to point out, that this is not the first 28 Nissan that the Rebbe expressed such a deep yearning and desire for Moshiach. On 28 Nissan 5714, the Rebbe taught the famous Niggun “Tzama Lecha Nafshi.” The words of the niggun are a few P’sukim in T’hillim (chapter 63) which translates as, “My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You, in a dry and weary land without water. So may I look for You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory.”

This powerful Niggun describes the powerful thirst for spirituality that one feels when finding oneself destitute—the thirst that everyone, whether scholar or layman, feels on his or her own level.

Prior to teaching the melody, the Rebbe explained the verse as follows: When there is a thirst for G‑dliness, the actual thirst for spirituality quenches, in part, the spiritual desire to connect to a Higher source, for as the founder of chassidism, Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov, said, “‘In the place where a person’s will is, there he is found.” As such, the one who thirsts to be in G‑d’s presence is already in fact there.

These P’sukim actually express what our desire for Moshiach is all about. It is not about physical pleasures and benefits, rather a desire to connect our Neshama to Hashem in this physical world. In the words of the Rambam (Hilchos T’shuva 9:2) “For these reasons, all Jews, their prophets and their Sages, have yearned for the Messianic age so they can rest from the [oppression of] the gentile kingdoms who do not allow them to occupy themselves with Torah and mitzvos properly. They will find rest and increase their knowledge in order to merit the world to come.”

Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim on Inyanei Geula u’Moshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com.