BESURAS HAGEULO
The Announcement of the Redemption:

Chapter 12

All of the signs mentioned by our sages indicate that we are currently situated at the very end of the period of exile. We have "passed all the deadlines."^[1] We have also performed Teshuvah [repentance, return, a prerequisite for Redemption]. Indeed, my sainted father-in-law, the leader of our generation, declared (several decades ago) that we have already concluded all the service [necessary for Redemption], including the "polishing of the buttons,"^[2] and we now stand ready ("All of you stand ready") to greet our righteous Moshiach.^[3]

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Despite the difficult and protracted final exile, which has lasted more than ^[1],900 years (in stark contrast to the duration of the Egyptian bondage which lasted 210 years), the nature of "the Children of Israel" has essentially transcended exile. Thus, every additional moment we remain in exile is a form "having now come into Egypt,"^[4] "as if they had that very day entered into Egypt."^[5]

The Jewish people, therefore, stand with firm faith and conviction that G-d will immediately fulfill his promise that "I have indeed remembered you"^[6] by bringing the genuine and complete Redemption, especially when hearing from the Moses of our generation,^[7] my sainted father-in-law, the leader of our generation, that we have already concluded all matters of Divine service and are presently standing ready to greet our righteous Redeemer [Moshiach]. This is particularly true now that we have reached the milestone of forty years8 concerning which the Torah says, "G-d gave you a heart to know and eyes to see and ears to hear."^[9] Additionally, we are now situated in the fifty first year [5751], which in Hebrew forms the acrostic (It shall be a year of) wonders which I will show him [Niflaos Arenu].

The Jewish people should, therefore, be encouraged and their spirits uplifted by declaring that G-d says daily, and literally, anew, that, "I have indeed remembered you," and that your righteous Moshiach "stands behind the wall"^[10] and that "this one is coming."^[11] Accordingly we should prepare ourselves to greet him by increasing our observance of Torah and Mitzvos, in consonance with the ruling of the Rambam^[12] (whose anniversary of passing is the 20th of Teves, the night after this Sabbath), that through "one Mitzvah, one can favorably alter the balance for oneself and for the entire world, causing oneself and them salvation and deliverance."

(From the talks of Shabbos Parshas Shemos, 19 Teves 5751)

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1. Sanhedrin 97b.

2. Talk of Simchas Torah, 5689.

3. Cf. Hayom Yom, among others, 15 Teves.

4. Shemos 1:1.

5. Shemos Rabbah, beginning of our Parsha (8:14), Tanchuma, loc. cit. 3.

6. Shemos 3:16.

7. See Bereishis Rabbah 56:7: "There is no generation in which there is none like Moses." See also Zohar 3:273a. Tikkunei Zohar 69 (112, beginning of side a. 114, beginning of side a). Tanya chapter 44. Ibid. Iggeres HaKodesh, elucidation of sec. 27, end.

8. [I.e., forty years since the passing of the Previous Rebbe, a milestone which enables us to fully realize the intention and depth of the teachings that were said forty years earlier. - Translator's note.]

9. Tavo 29:3 [Moses said this to the Jewish people who were about to enter into the Promised Land, explaining that they were now capable of realizing that which they were taught by G-d forty years earlier. Translator's note.]

10. Shir HaShirim 2:9.

11. Ibid 8. See Shir HaShirim Rabbah on this verse (ch. 2:8(b)).

12. Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4.2)