Besides being more stories of wondrous miracles of the Rebbe, there is another common thread in both of these stories: Two individuals, both (apparently) not “card-carrying” Lubavitchers, were so filled with pure emuna in the words of the Rebbe (and even in what they (erroneously) believed to be the words of the Rebbe), that they were prepared to go out of their comfort zones to access these brochos.
In the first story, you see the young Poylishe chosid sit humbly, submissively, while some Lubavitchers (who seemed to be in a state in which they had difficulty getting the words of birkas kohanim right...) held their hands on his head and sang through the whole birkas kohanim (and he had to correct them a few times).
In the second story, the individuals gave up on their principles and views in order to be worthy of the Rebbe’s brocho; - truly a “lech lecho meiartzecho umimoiladetecho umibeis ovicho”, which brings in its wake the ואברככה ואגדלה שמיך והיה ברכה וגו.
Of course, any chosid would surely have the same level of emuna with something important to us. Right? Like, if the Rebbe told us we have a hundred million dollars coming to us, all we need to do is to spend a few hours a day engaging in uncomfortable activities, I don’t think any of us would think twice. Or, if we understood from the words of the Rebbe that our health, or that of a loved one, is dependent on us going out of our comfort zone, doing what we previously considered the impossible, most of us wouldn’t hesitate.
Or would we?
Let’s think for a moment. There is something more valuable than $100,000,000, more dear than our health, something that we all want with all our hearts and souls (I think).
And that is Moshiach. The complete and final Geula. NOW!
And the Rebbe told us (not by way of hint, not with our making inferences, or with עד מפי עד מפי עד but) clearly and unequivocally that what we have to do to bring Moshiach is learn inyonei geulah and Moshiach. Study about the subject of Moshiach, in Torah, in Chazal, in halacha, in Chassidus and in Likutei Sichos. Sounds simple enough, no?
Of course we’re all learning inyonei geulah uMoshiach in some way or other. We listen to the announcement/proclamation/speech after davening every day (for anywhere between a few seconds and a few minutes). We must be participating in some shiurim about the subject of Moshiach now and then (some of us to really learn, and some of us to get good food, enjoy the company and check our phone messages...)
But are any of us (or many of us) going out of our comfort zone, like the individuals in the story? Are we treating this as the means to get us what we really really want, what is very very dear to us, for which we are prepared to go to any length to achieve?
In truth, learning about Moshiach, really learning about Moshiach, by very definition, is going out of our comfort zone. We’re comfortable with golus. That’s what we’re accustomed to, it’s what we’re used to. To be sure, we want Moshiach now, we yearn for Moshiach, we anticipate the geula. And so on and so forth.
But to learn the subject, really delve into it, to get our minds to wrap around the concept of a new world order? That’s difficult! It’s much easier for us, it’s much more comfortable for us, to retain our golus mindset. It’s much more appealing to us to sit on our golus armchairs or recliners and discuss the future era of Moshiach, even wistfully, while munching on popcorn, licking an ice cream and sipping a whiskey on the rocks.
We need to, however, put ourselves in the shoes of the individuals in the stories. We could imagine wanting something very badly, like a child, for example. Then, if we got an indication from a tzaddik, a Rebbe, that there is a behavior that will bring us what we desire, - why, we would, presumably, be engaging in that behavior with our entire being, not merely paying lip service.
Well, we all want Moshiach very badly, don’t we? And the coming geulah is likened, in various nevuos, to childbirth. So we need to ask ourselves: is our reaction to hearing what we can do to bring it about, fitting? Are we (all of us/most of us/many of us/any of us) really immersing ourselves in the study of inyonei Moshiach in a way that expresses the sense that our future redemption depends on it, so that we disregard hardship and inconvenience (and laziness), in the same way the guy in the story disregarded his inborn inhibition against participating in Israeli elections?!
Of course, there is a difference. The hope for a child (or for an additional child) is a realistic and tangible hope, therefore, it is easy to see a particular practice as a vehicle to bring it about. But the coming of Moshiach, after all these years wallowing in golus, as much as we talk about it etc. is still very far removed from our mindset (which is one of the explanations of Moshiach’s coming being described as being בהיסח הדעת, regardless of how much we speak about it). And because of how abstract it is, it is much more difficult to see our behavior or actions as bringing about, realistically, the coming of Moshiach, than it is to see them being the cause for other physical or material brochos.
And this is, perhaps, where Shabbos Chazon comes into the picture. On Shabbos Chazon we are shown the third beis hamikdash, we have a vision of the state of geulah. True, it is something we are shown from the distance, but still, we are shown in a tangible way the era of Moshiach, of the third beis hamikdash, as part of our reality.
It’s still up to us. This vision is from a distance, and we can easily choose – ch”v – to focus on what is more familiar to us, - on our swimming pools and amusement parks (or on Trump and Putin and Kim Jon Un), and not take notice of the special vision. But if we choose, the vision of this Shabbos can help us see the third beis hamikdash as something accessible, something tangible, and something, subsequently, that we are prepared to go to any lengths to acquire.
Let us, then, truly take advantage of this Shabbos to truly focus on the third beis hamikdash, so that we can relate with it as something tangible and realistic. And the way to know that that happened, is when we truly pursue those activities that we know, because of our belief in the Rebbe’s words, that they will be instrumental in bringing it to us. Beginning with learning about Moshiach.
Ask yourself: How many of the sugyos in geula and Moshiach that were elucidated by the Rebbe are you fluent in, meaning that you know well the subject, the chiddushim of the Rebbe in it, and the ideas behind it? How many shiurim do you have every week in inyonei geula and Moshiach? How many hours did you devote this week or last week to studying in depth about Moshiach? How many of the sichos of nun aleph and nun beis did you learn this year, as in, learn the entire sicha and understand properly what you can take out of it?
We can all figure out in what way we can increase in inyonei geula and Moshiach, each one לפום שיעורא דילי. All that’s needed is the focus. Let us take advantage of the vision we are shown this Shabbos to refocus on what we are supposed to focus on, and let us learn from the chassidim in the two stories to do whatever it takes to get what we really want. And through our actions, the vision of the beis hamikdash will replace the vision of golus, and this tisha b’Av, the yum huledes of Moshiach, will be celebrated as the greatest yom tov, as ששון ושמחה ומועדים טובים!!
L’chaim! May we all take advantage of the vision we are shown this Shabbos to strengthen our yearning, and with it all of our activities for the ziruz hageula. And may the Eibishter show us the true vision this year, one in which we see the real beis hamikdash hashlishi le’einei bossor lematoh meiasoroh tfochim with the immediate revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu TUMYM!!!
Rabbi Akiva Wagner
