Through Yaakov informing his children of the redemption, the Jewish people would have gone directly into a redemptive state, instead of the thousands of years of painful Jewish history.
Yet, though Yaakov had positive intentions, it is clear that the Almighty still did not allow him to reveal this time to them.
Instead, G-d prevented him from revealing the time for Moshiach’s arrival, either by means of the Divine Presence leaving Yaakov or through the actual date being hidden from him as well.
The reason that G-d held Yaakov back from revealing the date of Moshiach’s arrival is because He wanted the Jewish people to merit the Messianic time on their own accord.
Would the Jewish people have known the date of Moshiach’s arrival, this knowledge would serve as the impetuous for their service of G-d, and not be meritorious in their own right.
The idea that a person’s own service is of paramount importance is illustrated through the following Talmudic adage:
Text 8
A person desires one portion of his own, rather than nine portions of his fellow.
Talmud, Bava Metziah 38a
In order for it to be said that an individual is truly accomplishing anything, it must be specifically when he achieves on his own.
True, all of a person’s success is impossible without G-d’s assistance, yet, there can be variant ways that G-d’s interventions manifests:
- A) The individual is assisted by the Almighty during their actual service of G-d to enable greater success. An example of such an assistance are the days of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, where a person has a G-dly inspiration in his service of G-d.
- B) One receives inspiration from G-d, which motivates him to accomplish his G-dly service afterwards, yet the actual service which follows is through his own efforts.
This is the reason that Yaakov was not given permission to reveal Moshiach’s appointed time to his sons.
Yaakov’s intent in revealing this secret was for them to quicken and strengthen their efforts in becoming “worthy” for the redemption, and thus hasten its coming.
G-d, however, removed the Divine Presence from Yaakov. The Almighty wished that redemption should come through their own efforts and not through external intervention.
A deeper dimension
On a deeper level, the reason that Yaakov was prevented from revealing the date of the redemption was because in order for a true redemption to come about, it must come through their own efforts.
It is for this reason that the redemption can be brought about only during a time of concealment of G-dliness and through the Jewish people’s own service. This type of service is imperative in causing an everlasting redemption.
In order for the redemption to be eternal, the manner of service in which the Jewish people bring about this redemption must transcend vicissitudes as well.
When a person’s service of the Almighty comes through some divine assistance, and not through his own toil, his service cannot be everlasting.
For, the moment that the inspiration leaves, the person will plunge from the level that he attained—G-d forbid.
Specifically when his service of G-d comes through his own arousal, can it be an everlasting service and consequently cause an everlasting redemption.
The other way around
According to this new viewpoint, what could have possibly have been Yaakov’s reasoning in wishing to reveal the time of Moshiach’s coming?
Were Yaakov to have made known the appointed time of Moshiach’s arrival, not only would it not have helped bring about the ultimate redemption, but on the contrary, it would have impeded the arrival of the true and ultimate redemption!
According to Chassidus thought though, this can be understood.
It is known that Yaakov’s spiritual level was that of the world of Atzilus—a spiritual plane which is completely in tune with divine unity. This same level will be the reality of the world during messianic times.
Since Yaakov was holding in a post-messianic state—revealing the time of Moshiach’s arrival would have been for him, merely an additional level in his G-dly service and would not have caused hard as he had nothing further to accomplish.
Misunderstanding their level
Yaakov wished to reveal the time of the messianic era to his children as well.
Yaakov assumed that his children too, were holding at the same spiritual level that he was.
However, when, as a result of his attempt, the Divine Presence left him, Yaakov realized that the level of his children was not the same as his own.
Resolving the two scenarios
According to the above, it is understood the two opinions as to whether the appointed time of the redemption was hidden from Yaakov as well, or only from his children.
According to the Medrash, the time of the redemption was hidden from Yaakov as well, so that he could relate to his children’s manner of serving G-d.
G-d wished for him to be able to appreciate this type of personal service, and thus be able to teach his children the benefits serving G-d in a state of G-dly concealment.
The view of the Talmud however, is that this information was not hidden from Yaakov himself. Since, for Yaakov, whose divine service was already complete, the benefits of the concealment of G-dliness wasn’t necessary.
Revealing the redemption
Although the Almighty prevented Yaakov from revealing the time of Moshiach—being that Yaakov was a conduit for G-dly expression—and he wished to reveal it—on some level, it must have been congruous with G-d’s will as well.
In addition, since a tzadik’s words come into fulfillment in some way. It is clear therefore that Yaakov’s desire to reveal the time of Moshiach somehow positively influenced the world.
Furthermore, since Yaakov’s desire is written clearly in the Torah—stemming from the word “hora-ah” (instruction)—there must be something for us to learn from this as well:
Yaakov’s wish to reveal the date of the redemption affected within all of the Jewish people the ability to have this revelation of the redemption to some degree.
This enables each Jewish person to reach a level of the redemption where they are free from the exile and the evil inclination.
The lesson
The above imparts a message for each Jewish person.
Every person must desire to reveal the time of redemption. When we know that Moshiach is on his way, this itself gives us extra energies in our service of G-d.
When another Jew is told that “Moshiach is coming,” or that “We want Moshiach now,” it causes him too to add extra care to the way he conducts himself and to act in a way that will not hold back the redemption G-d forbid.
In our days specifically, we know that all the appointed times of Moshiach have already past. Now all we must do is return to the Almighty. With one turn to the Almighty, it will bring about immediate redemption. As it says, “In one moment...and immediately they will be redeemed.”
(Based on Likkutei Sichos 20, Vayechi 1, reworked by Rabbi Dovid Markel. To see other projects and to partner in our work, see: www.Neirot.com.)
