My father-in-law, the [previous] Rebbe said that we are “now going towards Moshiach tzidkeinu”; being that he was a successor of his forefathers, up until the Alter Rebbe, the baal hasimcha, so his words have the force of a .Having said that, we must prepare for Moshiachs coming in an appropriate manner.
To preface: The order of how soldiers prepare for a military “parade”: the arrangement is not that the Commander in Chief arrives first and after him come little by little the ranking officers, and all the enlisted men, but its just the opposite: first of all, the ranking officers gather all the enlisted men, in all their ranks, the “privates”, corporal, sergeant, etc [the Rebbe stopped and said: if there is anyone here who served in the Military, he can list the higher officer ranks...]. And when they see that all the soldiers are standing ready, with their polished uniforms, etc., in a way that would please the Commander in Chief , they then notify the chief officer that all the soldiers are ready, and then the Commander in Chief comes out and the parade of the soldiers begins, to the satisfaction of the commander who expresses “thanks”. And satisfaction.
However, when is this the case, that all minute details are required to be in tip top shape, that is by healthy soldiers who are on duty; but a soldier who was wounded in battle and is hospitalized, and still needs to return to his former health, that he even cannot wear his uniform and he cannot stand on his feet for a long time – he also participates in the parade, but he follows after the Commander in Chief, but even when his body is wounded, and needs to recuperate to gain back his strength – nevertheless the soul, his attitude and interest is that he stands in that state of kabolas ol which the Commander in Chief demands from all the healthy soldiers
All of the above and the entire vision – is also regarding us: Being that the Rebbe said that we are going towards Moshiach tzidkeinu, we need to prepare for the event that the great king will come and will inspect all of the “Tzivos Hashem” the entire Jewish people.
Therefore: those who are “healthy”, as the passuk says “tomim tiheye im Hashem Elokecha” (Shoftim 18;13), which means that he is complete in the fulfillment of the 248 positive mitzvos which correspond to the 248 limbs of the body, and he is whole in his keeping of the 365 prohibitive mitzvos which correspond to the 365 vessels in the body – (these healthy ones) stand in the precise formation of the parade and every detail of their precision is demanded with all the nuances and “pitshevkes” that they be worthy and deserving of Moshiachs coming.
But when there is someone who was “wounded” by the sitra achra (the enemy) in one of his 248 limbs or 365 vessels – also then he should not despair and not lose hope being that we have the promise that “no one will be left behind” and the Torah assures that eventually all people will do Teshuva – which “brings healing to the world” (Yoma 86a) – from him it will not be demanded to arrive before the Commander in Chief s review and to stand for hours with a polished uniform without moving an arm or a leg... but consideration will be given to his situation, being that he is imbedded in such a harsh condition, in addition that there is also the nisayon of “much influence is done by bad neighbors” (Sotah 7a), (and similar reasons which a person must use to justify the actions of others); for these reasons he will be given many “leniencies”, even to the degree that he can wait for the Commander in Chief to come out to the parade, and only after that will he be taken out... as we find by mattan Torah that Hashem arrived first and came to the Jewish people “and He found them sleeping” and he needed to awake them from their sleep in order to receive the Torah.
But in any case, everyone should know – those who are perfect, and those who are in a situation of “shokul” (in the balance), half merits and half sins, and also those who are on a lower level – that to the “parade” everyone must participate...
(Yud-Tes Kislev 5714)
