The last moments of exile are referred to in the Talmud as the “birth pangs of Moshiach.” There is more to be said about this analogy, though. The Vilna Gaon said that all the days of exile are like the stages of labor, but the final stage is comparable to the birth pangs immediately prior to birth.
The “Chofetz Chaim,” Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, elucidated this concept in his work Shem Olam (the following is a translation by Rabbi Moshe Miller, Targum Press):
When a woman is in labor and no longer has the strength to bear the pain, the midwife comforts her with the fact that her travails will soon be over. She tells the suffering woman that the pain itself is a sure sign of imminent birth. This concept applies in our case, too. For if the hardships were not so overwhelming, we could see ourselves bearing the pain for a prolonged period. Moreover, the fact that these hardships abate from time to time is a part of the “birth process,” just as labor pains subside and return.
However, when the hardships become so overpowering that we can no longer bear them, we can certainly assume that G-d will reveal the Redemption. As the verse clearly indicates, “’Will I bring on labor and not open the womb?’ says the L-rd” (Isaiah 66:9).
The Jewish people have experienced an interminable labor. Certainly G-d will make good on His promise and deliver the Redemption immediately!
