With respect to Gideon, we find that: "In his days the Jewish people were in distress. The Holy One, Blessed be He, sought a person who would find merit in them. When He found Gideon to be meritorious, because he found merit in them, an angel immediately appeared to him, as it says: "And the angel of G-d appeared to him and said to him, 'Go with this power, with the power of the merit you have found in my children.'" "Said the Holy One, Blessed be He, it is within your capacity to find a defense for Israel. In your merit they shall be redeemed."
...The merit which will hasten the Redemption is the following: Even in the Talmudic era it has been said that "all the deadlines have passed." Certainly now that we have endured a lengthy and arduous exile, the duration of which has exceeded 1,900 years, and he has still not arrived... And in regard to Teshuvah ("It depends only on Teshuvah) [repentance, return, a prerequisite for Redemption], they have already done Teshuvah. Indeed, there is no Jewish person who has not entertained a thought of Teshuvah, (not just once, but) several times in the course of his lifetime. This [thought of Teshuvah] can transform "instantaneously" a perfectly wicked person into a perfectly righteous individual, in accordance with the Talmudic ruling that one who would betroth a woman "stipulating that I am a (perfectly) righteous individual, even if he in and of itself should suffice to bring about the Redemption. Moreover, in addition to the finding of merit, the imminence of Moshiach's arrival constitutes a definitive ruling issued by many rabbis and halachic authorities.
Further, since Torah "is not in heaven," this ruling issued by the earthly courts "obligates," so to speak, and affords a unique privilege to, the heavenly courts. And so it will be confirmed!
* * *
In our day and age, after G-d has vented His rage with the destruction of the Holy Temple, and after all of "our deeds and actions throughout the duration of exile," and after all the decrees of oppression and persecution - may Hashem, indeed, shield us and protect us from them - the Jewish people have endured throughout the protracted and arduous final exile, particularly the Holocaust of the very last generation, the process of refinement and purification has, without any doubt, been achieved in full, "enough and even too much." Consequently, the [current] "siege of the Babylonian..."
