Towards the end of chapter 12 of Daniel, an angel tells Daniel that Moshiach will come, “In a time, two times and a half.” And he continues, “These words are covered and sealed until the time of the end. They will [then] be clarified and whitened, and many will be purified, and the wicked will pervert [them], and all the wicked will not understand, but the wise will understand.”
The Alter Rebbe explains this last sentence as a description of the times of Moshiach. That the people will be clarified and cleansed, the wicked will be perverted, and the wise will understand.
Based on the Alter Rebbe’s interpretation, the Rebbe explained some of the events taking place in the world. The Cold War was at its height and the world was tottering near a nuclear war which would have led to total obliteration of the planet.
The Rebbe explained that one of the signs of Moshiach’s imminent coming is the clarity, the separation of the good and the bad, the righteous and the wicked. That clarity comes not only when the good becomes obvious and clear, but when the bad becomes obvious and clear as well.
The coming of Moshiach’s times means that the time of clarity has arrived. As stated in the verse, at the time of Moshiach, “They will be clarified and whitened.” The time when true characters will emerge, people’s inner selves will be revealed, and it will become clear who a person really is.
Today this applies just as strongly. The world is in chaos with terrible atrocities taking place in many countries around the world; atrocities that come from the worst nightmares. Violence, suffering, and people acting from the depths of depravity. How are we supposed to understand this, to make sense of all this emerging evil?
Yet, this evil, these terrible actions that we did not expect, is not inconsistent with the imminent arrival of Moshiach. On the contrary, amazingly, this itself is one of the very signs that Moshiach is almost here!
For when these people behave in such a way, they are making clear which party they belong to, and are participating in the clarification that takes place at the coming of Moshiach’s times.
We constantly say that Moshiach is on his way and point to the many signs of his coming; signs drawn from Gemara, Midrash, and other sources. Yet, there are some times when it looks as if we have fallen farther from Moshiach. How can we really say that the world is becoming a more refined place if these incidents are allowed to take place?
But it is actually a part of the process of Moshiach’s arrival! By clearly defining evil, we are able to separate the world into those that are good and those that are wicked. It is part of the clarity that will happen with the coming of Moshiach, and the start of the times of the End of Days.
Adapted from Derher, based on the teachings of the Rebbe
As a safeguard to the prohibition of priests offering sacrifices while intoxicated, our Sages forbade the priests scheduled to serve in the Temple on a particular day from drinking wine that day. Moreover, our Rabbis maintain that even after the destruction of the Temple, this prohibition is relevant. For at any moment the Temple may be rebuilt and the priests will be called upon to perform their sacrificial service. Accordingly, they argue, it would be appropriate to forbid priests from drinking wine at any time, for at any moment, Moshiach may come and cause the Temple to descend from heaven. Thus they might be intoxicated when they are called on to serve in the Temple.
Ultimately, the halachah does not follow this argument. But the fact that there is such an argument communicates an important message. Our Sages did not consider Moshiach’s coming and the rebuilding of the Temple as an abstract wish of the far-off future, but a real factor, affecting their lives in the here and now. They understood Mashiach in the present tense and were willing to consider making decisions in Torah Law that reflect the immediate possibility of his coming.
