Let's
Welcome
Moshiach!
*
Compiled by Mrs. Z. Okunov
Edited by Mordechai Staiman
*
Published 1994 by
International Moshiach Center
About Moshiach
When Moshe led the Jews out of Egypt, it was hard for them to believe that
they were actually free. Even after all the miracles and wonders they had
seen during the ten plagues, the Jews were still full of doubts. And when
Pharaoh and the Egyptians were chasing after them, and they were trapped
between the Egyptians and the Red Sea, everybody started to argue.
Group 1 said, "We must fight until the death with the Egyptians."
Group 2 said, "It is better to commit suicide, to kill ourselves, than to
die by the swords of the Egyptians."
Group 3 said, "Let's go back to Egypt. At least we'll stay alive. At least
then there is hope that Moshiach will come."
Group 4 said, "Let's pray to G-d. He took us out of Egypt, and he will take
us out of this situation, too."
Everybody had a different opinion.
Only Nachshon remembered that they had to just keep going toward Mount Sinai.
So he jumped into the Red Sea. He went deeper and deeper until the sea split
and then everyone went across.
So, too, today. We all feel that the Redemption is surely at hand; everyone
must know that it's in the air--but how is it going to happen, and
what are we supposed to do? The answer is, we have to learn from Nachshon
to remember our direction. We have to do the commandmants sincerely, learn
Torah with extra care and attention, learn about Moshiach, help out another
Jew in need, behave with love and consideration for others, protect others,
and help them--and hold on tightly to our belief that the Redemption could
take place any day, any minute, for the prophecy has been announced by the
Rebbe, that "The Time For Your Redemption Has Arrived."
* * *
After many years of being slaves in Egypt, Moshe Rabbeinu came to the Jewish
people and told them that the time had come for them to leave and be freed
from all their hard work. Did you know that some Jews did not want to leave?
They died during the Plague of Darkness.
When Moshiach comes very soon to tell us that the time has come for us to
be freed from all our problems and go to Eretz Yisroel, no one will
be left behind. It will not be like in Egypt where some Jews died. When Moshiach
comes, every Jew will be a part of it. Every Jew will see the
Third Bais Hamikdash; then every Jew must help in making this
happen faster. Every man, woman, boy and girl must learn lots of Torah
and do lots of mitzvos to make Moshiach come faster!
* * *
There was once a very holy Jewish man who rented his house from a non-Jewish
person. Every year the Jew would go to this man and give him all the rent
money for the next 12 months.
One day, the Jewish man became very old and could not travel anymore to pay
his rent. So, he asked his son to go instead of him.
The son did not like the idea of traveling so far every year. Do you know
what he did? He gave the man enough rent for the next three years. Do you
think his father was happy about that? No way! This is what he told his son.
"My dear boy. We know that Moshiach is going to come very soon. Why did you
pay the man for three years' rent when Moshiach might be here any day? You
wasted our precious money for nothing!"
We must believe and feel that Moshiach will come any minute, just like the
holy Jewish man from this story.
* * *
When G-d sent a big flood to the world for 40 days and 40 nights, Noah built
a big ark (ship) to save his family and seven of every kosher animal (and
two of every non-kosher animal). Noah had to wait for G-d to tell him when
to go into the ark and he also did no leave until G-d told
him to.
Did Noah hang around in his ark after 40 days (that the water had started
to dry-up) doing nothing, waiting for G-d to give him the go-ahead to leave?
No! He sent a beautiful bird called a dove out to see if the water had gone
away. Noah did not just wait around, but did something on his own to see
if the water had dried up completly and if the world was ready to live on
again.
We must be as smart as Noah. We know that we cannot build the Bais
Hamikdash until G-d tells us. However, we should not just wait around
for this to happen. We must do whatever we can to help Moshiach come faster,
such as learning Torah, doing mitzvos and loving our fellow Jews.
We must do our part (as Noah did by sending out the bird) to help the world
get ready for Moshiach. That way, he will come even faster!
* * *
When we had the Bais Hamikdash, only certain Jews could work inside
it. They were called kohanim. But, there was a very special holy place
in the Bais Hamikdash called the Kodesh Kedoshim and only one
Jew was ever allowed in there. He was called the Kohein Gadol. He
had to wear a special robe with golden bells hanging from the bottom. Everyone
would know when the Kohein Gadol came into the Bais Hamikdash
because they could hear the jingle-jangle of his bells.
What lesson can we learn from the noisy bells of the Kohein Gadol?
Today, even though we do not yet have the holy Bais Hamikdash we can
still make our homes into a mini-Bais Hamikdash. We do this by making
sure all our food is kosher, that we have lots of Jewish books in
our house, that we daven and say brochos. Of course, we must
remember to tell all our family and friends that Moshiach is on his way!
We cannot do this in a quiet, shy way because then nobody else will know
about it. We want everyone to learn about Torah and mitzvos, to know
about G-d and realize that Moshiach will be here any minute! We must be as
noisy as the Kohein Gadol was with the bells on his robe. Everyone
knew when he was coming and everyone should be able to hear us, too. We will
tell the whole world that Moshiach is coming and that all Jewish people will
be a part of it!
* * *
Did you know that G-d gave all the Jews who are alive today the same
neshomas as the Jews who were freed from Egypt?
We learn a lot from this! The Jews who were in Egypt were slaves and then
G-d sent them Moishe Rebbeinu to take them out to Eretz Yisroel and
be free people! Since we now have the same neshomos we will also be
taken out of all the countries that we live in to Eretz Yisroel with
Moshiach very soon!
* * *
Do you know that when Moshiach comes, all the people who died will be brought
back to life again? Isn't that exciting? You'll be able to meet people like
Avraham Avinu, Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbi Akiva and the Previous Rebbe (Reb Yosef
Yitzchok). Wow! You will even be able to get to know your great-grandparents.
Every single Jew who ever died will be brought back to life again. No one
will miss out. G-d will make sure that each and every Jew ever created will
greet Moshiach!
* * *
It is important to ask G-d for Moshiach not only in Hebrew, but in all other
languages as well.
Why can't we just ask in Hebrew?
Here are two (2) reasons:
1. If we ask for Moshiach in every language of the world, then everyone will
know that we are ready for him right now.
2. There are many Jews who cannot speak and do not understand Hebrew. We
want every Jew to know about Moshiach and to ask G-d to send him, so, we
ask in all the languages that the Jewish people speak.
* * *
A child and his father were once walking through the forest and came to a
beautiful-looking tree with lots of yummy apples on it. The boy asked his
father, "Daddy, Daddy, can I please have an apple?" His father would not
give it to him. Do you think the little boy gave up there? No! He was very
clever and quickly said the brocha on the apple. His father had
to give him the fruit because we cannot say G-d's name for no reason.
We can also do the same thing with G-d. We daven and pray for Moshiach
every day and are very happy because we know he's coming very soon. G-d has
to listen to our davening as we cannot say His name for no reason.
G-d must send us Moshiach now, just as the father had to give the little
boy the apple.
* * *
Dovid Hamelech was a king of the Jewish people and used to fight wars against
those who wanted to hurt us.
Once, a lot of Jews died during a war. Why did G-d let this happen? They
did not ask and demand that the Bais Hamikdash be built.
We can learn something from this. We must ask G-d all the time, every day,
to give us Moshiach. It is our job to demand that he comes. This is what
G-d wants to hear: We Want Moshiach NOW!
* * *
Not so long ago, the President of the United States of America said that
less money would be used for building guns and weapons and more money will
instead be used to give food to the poor people.
This shows us just how close we are to the coming of Moshiach. When he comes,
no one will need guns anymore because there won't be any fighting. Instead
we will use the metal to make machines to help grow lots of food for all
the people.
This is already happening now!
* * *
Since the beginning when G-d created the world, He has wanted Moshiach to
come. It is our job to believe that he will be here any day and to demand
that G-d send him right now!
* * *
Did you know that there are many, many mitzvos that we cannot do now
because we do not have the Third Bais Hamikdash yet? We must show
G-d how sad we are and let Him know that we truly want Moshiach to come now.
Then, we will be able to do all of G-d's mitzvos.
* * *
We, the Jewish people, are commanded to:
1. Believe in Moshiach.
2. Wait every day for him to come.
These are two great mitzvos from G-d!
* * *
Why was the Bais Hamikdash destroyed? We are told that there were
Jews who hated each other for no reason. This is called sinas chinom.
We must show G-d that this will not happen anymore. Then, we will deserve
the Bais Hamikdash being built again. We must love each and every
Jew, even if we don't see any reason to do this. Loving all the Jewish people
will bring Moshiach faster!
* * *
We learn from the Torah that we must think about Shabbos not only
on Shabbos, but also during the week. For example, if we find a special
yummy food on a week day, then we should not eat it right there, but save
it for Shabbos. By doing this, we remember about Shabbos even
when it's not Shabbos!
We must prepare for Moshiach as we prepare for Shabbos. We must remember
and think about his coming every day and even every minute of every day!
* * *
When G-d created the world, He made a huge fish called the
Leviathon and then He put it away, saving it for when Moshiach comes.
What will G-d do with this big fish?
First, He will make a gigantic sukkah with its skin. Inside this special
sukkah will sit all the holy Jewish people (tzaddikim) and
G-d will make them a big, beautiful meal from the rest of this fish.
Also at this meal, G-d will serve delicious meat from an animal called the
Shor Habor. This animal is so big that it can swallow a whole river
in one gulp!
Do you know who will lead the bentching (grace after meals) at this
special feast? Dovid Hamelech! This meal will be called the Meal of Moshiach.
* * *
Every mitzva that we do brings Moshiach closer, but there are some
special things that we can do to bring him even faster.
These special things include learning about Moshiach and also learning
what the world will be like when he comes. We must remember to think about
Moshiach all the time so that when our brain is filled with it, our
heart will feel how much we really need Moshiach right now!
* * *
Each of us has a neshomo, which only wants to do G-d's Torah and
mitzvos. At the same time we all have a body as well and the body
wants to do many other things--eating lots of ice cream, playing games, having
fun. Sometimes the neshomo does not get a chance to do exactly what
it wants because the body is busy with other things.
Just as all the Jews who are spread around the world will be gathered and
united through Moshiach - so, too, all the different things we do will be
united by the neshomo, because they will all be done the way our
neshomo wants.
That way, G-d will be proud of us! |