What Did the Rebbe Mean That We Only Need to Open Our Eyes and Welcome Moshiach?

Transcription

What is Moshiach?

That’s the question of all questions. And I guess the most appropriate day to address it — the very fact that for thousands of years Jews are talking about it, not once a day, not twice a day, but dozens of times every day, in good times and in difficult times, in challenging times and in blessed times — just demonstrates to us how intrinsic Moshiach is to our entire perspective of what existence, history, and Judaism is.

In fact, the Midrash says that when you study the opening story of creation — the beginning of Bereishis, the beginning of Genesis — and it speaks about the fact that there was darkness on the face of the abyss, and there was a spirit of the Divine hovering above the dark waters — the Midrash says that’s the spirit of Moshiach.

The Inner Truth of Existence

And it really tells us what Moshiach is. Moshiach is the Jewish internal belief that we were all conceived in love and that the entire world is really oneness. We are all derivatives of infinite consciousness. Everything we see, every person we encounter, is a manifestation of divine energy.

Yet life is filled with so many blockages and so many obstacles and so many concealments. We often live in a place of egotism, a place of wounds and trauma and divisiveness and hatred and pettiness and smallness.

Moshiach is really when the inner truth, the inner music of all of existence, will emerge — when the outer shells will open up and we’ll really be able to experience ourselves and each other as part of infinite oneness, as part of the oneness internally. Moshiach means when our own darkness will be transformed into light.

The Work Begins Now

And that’s why the work of Moshiach begins now — when each of us confronts our own blockages, our own wounds, our own survival mechanisms, and we really allow ourselves to live with our broadness, with our infinite consciousness, with our divinity. That is creating an individual microcosmic element of Moshiach in our own lives.

There’s also something very important to understand about this. The prophet Isaiah says Moshiach comes, and the Jewish people are going to look at history and say, “Thank you Hashem, thank you God, for everything we experienced.”

Now I have a question: is there anything any one of us can imagine will happen in this world that will justify all of the darkness, the pain, the persecution, the savage suffering that so many Jews and other people went through for so many years? What can already happen?

That means that there’s something about the revelation of Moshiach that we actually have no clue of how powerful it is. There is going to be such a level of infinite divine bliss in our consciousness and the world that you and I and all of us will be able to look back and say, “Aha, wow — that’s why I went on that journey. Wow. Thank you.”

Why Now?

What’s going on now in the world, especially in Israel and all around the world — why is it so important, and is now more an auspicious time to hope and pray and expect Moshiach to come in our times?

Jews say they’ve awaited Moshiach every single day, but today we’re living at a time in history when so many of our greatest leaders and sages over the past half century and even before have said that according to all the signs in the Torah, in the Talmud, the Kabbalah, and all of the works of Midrash and Jewish mysticism and Jewish ethical works — this is the time.

We also see in the world such an intense explosion on one hand of technological revolutions and developments — even a few years ago we couldn’t imagine. Also, there’s a new age of consciousness dawning upon humanity.

The Rebbe’s Words

I heard from the Rebbe himself — this is right before his illness, this is 1992 — and he says anyone who studies the universe now could see that the energy of redemptive consciousness is already in the world. However, we need to open our eyes. The words that he used were — I still remember — the work of trying to figure out which is good, what is evil, because of the mixture — that has been done. Now our duty is, and our privilege is, to actually accept the energy and the experience of Moshiach.

And I always thought, what is that supposed to mean? He didn’t know about all the evil in the universe?

I think part of what he meant was: after thousands of years of history, in our individual lives, it becomes obvious that there are parts in us that are toxic and poisonous. There are parts in us that are divine. We look at all the parts with a lot of empathy and compassion. But our deepest choice now is to be mekabel Moshiach in our own life — to be able to accept the truth: I am divine, I am good, I’m awesome, I’m amazing.

Accepting the Moshiach Inside of You

What is the hardest thing for people? That entanglement that we have — I’m enmeshed and entangled with all of my different parts and I don’t know who is me and who’s not me. So today there’s an opportunity to actually look at all your parts, accept all of them, because each one is serving a purpose and each one is here for a particular reason — and then, can you accept the Moshiach inside of you? Can you accept that you are a real agent of redemption in this world?

Every Person Is an Agent of Redemption

What the Rebbe was really telling people is that every single person is an agent of redemption. And it’s not just a fantasy or a theoretical thing, but every person ought to and could see themselves as an ambassador — an ambassador of love, of light, of hope, of healing, of divine consciousness, and of redemptive consciousness.

And one’s attitude to it should not be passive. People should take leadership, take action. Realize you are an indispensable note in God’s symphony. You are an indispensable part of the mission to bring redemption to the world.

Some people look at themselves — “I’m just a small, regular guy. I don’t have money, I’m not brilliant, I’m not talented, I’m not famous. I’m just a regular guy trying to make ends meet and support my family.”

The Rebbe didn’t see it that way. He’s like: “Ker a Velt!” — turn over the world! There’s a little corner in the universe that belongs to you. There’s a reason you are here in history. Nobody will ever be able to do what you could do — nobody before you and nobody after you. Every person has a unique mission in this world. There’s something at stake in your life, in your existence, that is unique to you.

Ker a Velt — realize that this is your world, this is your redemption, this is your opportunity. מי יודע אם לעת כזאת הגעת למלכות.