Overview
The Talmud describes the period immediately before Moshiach, known as Ikvot Meshicha (the "footsteps of Moshiach"), as a time of significant upheaval. The sages list a series of conditions: nations provoking and fighting each other, economic instability, a decline in moral leadership, and widespread anxiety.
These descriptions are understood not as cause for despair but as "birthpangs" — the difficult transition before a new era. The Midrash compares it to the darkest moments of night that come immediately before dawn. Jewish tradition teaches that these challenges are bearable "only in anticipation of the bliss that follows them."