BESURAS HAGEULO
The Deeds and Divine Service of the Jewish People
The "deeds and Divine service" of all the Jewish people throughout the generations brought about the culmination and perfection of all aspects of refinement to the world, within the parameters of the world, as my sainted father-in-law was able to publicize that all aspects of the Divine service have been completed. This includes "polishing the buttons," and everything is ready for the coming of Moshiach.
In particular, this process was effected by the revelation of the teachings of Chassidus on the 19th of Kislev, which was the principal beginning of "your wellsprings will spread farther outward.") From that time onward, the dissemination has progressively increased through our Rabbeim and leaders from generation to generation until the leadership of my sainted father-in-law, through whom the wellsprings spread to the farthest corner of the world.
It follows then that now, as long as our righteous Moshiach delays his coming (for utterly incomprehensible reasons), our Divine service is no longer one of "refinement" (since we have already concluded and perfected the service of refinement), but one unique to bringing the revelation into reality in the world.
The uniqueness of our generation is alluded to in the Haftarah of Parshas Vayishlach - "And the house of Yaakov will be a fire and the house of Yosef a flame and the house of Eisav straw... and the inhabitants of the South will inherit the mountain of Eisav... and the exiled... until Tzarfas... will inherit the cities of the South. And the saviors will ascend Har Tzion [Mount Zion] to judge Har Eisav [the mountain of Eisav]."
The "House of Yosef of our generation (my sainted father-in-law, the leader of our generation whose first name was yosef) distinguishes itself in comparison to former generations, even that of the Alter Rebbe ("The House of Jacob.") The innovation of our Yosef is that through him the wellsprings spread to the farthest ends of the world, beyond which there is nothing further, as the country of Tzarfas (France). The times of the Alter Rebbe (and also in the times of our Rebbeim and leaders that followed) the revelation of the wellsprings of the Torah of Chassidus was not so well established in France due to its lowly state (to such an extent that the Alter Rebbe feared it might be victorious...). Precisely in our generation, through "the House of Yosef," the wellsprings were revealed and spread even into France, through the establishment there of the Yeshiva "Tomchei Temimim," as in the city of Lubavitch. Therefore, we have actually reached the time of "they will inherit the cities of the South" and "the saviors will ascend to Har Tzion to judge Har Eisav."
This can be expanded and elucidated through an allusion: "Tzarfas" in Gematria is seven hundred and seventy (770). This is the perfection of the number seven, since it includes ten sevens (70) and a hundred sevens (700) and both of them together (770).
- See Sefer HaSichos Toras Shalom end of p. 112 ff.
- Ovadyah 1:18 ff.
