Perfected, the cornerstone of Jewish faith and the secret to Jewish survival, is considered extremist, “Messianism.”
She reflected on some of the hastily assembled replacement Messiahs - the Green Line; the Oslo Accords; and others. She lamented her former faith in them and how false and dangerous they turned out to be.
She proclaimed proudly her faith - the Jewish faith - in the imminent coming of Moshiach, a faith unwavering and undying, a belief that is not subject to change and eternal in its essence.
My friends, there are no good replacements for Moshiach. We don’t dream of a Jewish president. We don’t pray for a Jew to win Best Actor. We don’t hope for Jews to win Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes. We don’t long for the day that the United Nations sides with us. These are all half-measures, moral band-aids. We’re not interested. We want Moshiach.
Maybe there was a time when we could persuade ourselves to make the best of the exile. But that time has come and gone. Now, even the best of the exile will not do. It wasn’t good enough for Yaakov and it’s not good enough for us.
Take us out of here. Bring Moshiach. We want Moshiach, we need Moshiach. We’ve experimented with the alternatives and there are none. Accept no substitutes.
We want Moshiach now!
By Rabbi Eli Friedman
Accept no substitutes. Don’t settle - demand the best! Expect the best!
Yaakov’s final years in Egypt were his best years. He had brought great prosperity to Pharaoh, and he knew that he would be accorded the greatest honor at his funeral in Egypt, but he demanded something else: “Unsatani Mimitzrayim!” Take me out of Egypt! Bring me home. He wanted to be buried in Israel.
Take me out of here.
As Yaakov is our forefather and we are his heirs, each of us possesses the strength to do the same. Don’t settle for “pretty good” or even “really good.” Ask to be taken home.
In modern terms, this means simply that we are not hoping and praying for a return to normalcy; we are asking for Moshiach.
The world seems so dark now, we wonder if a world so bruised and evil can truly emerge fully good.
Yaakov’s message calls out: Of course Moshiach is a reality, of course we are headed there, of course it is going to happen. That is the most basic and most lofty of all Jewish beliefs.
On December 20th, an MK in the Israeli Kneset spoke about Moshiach from the podium. She pointed out how absurd it is that this foundational, ancient, righteous dream of a world perfected, the cornerstone of Jewish faith and the secret to Jewish survival, is considered extremist, “Messianism.”
