WHO DO YOU EXPECT THE MOSHIACH TO BE ?
Do you expect him to come dressed in a schtreimel and kapote with a belly
projecting far beyond his black shoes ? Will you recognize him by his black kippah or a colorful knitted
kippah ? Will you judge his piety and holiness by his style of praying ? Will he demonstrate the perfection of halachah and
talmudic verse ? Will he have a famous rav or rebbe as his study partner ? Will he be comfortable with the style of life
in our culture of Torah observance ?
It is our belief that the consciousness of the Moshiach is animated by
the Divine Intent and the Spirit of God. It is logical then that he will see that our lifestyles are more or less materialistic
and that what passes off as worship and observance is little more than lip service rather than the Divinely inspired transformation
of our culture to a culture which incorporates God's agenda.
A key indicator to the Moshiach of our failure will be that fear of God is
discussed rather than lived. He will see that our leaders are more afraid of one lord or ruler or another rather than
God. He will see that as the danger level rises, the leaders of the people again choose fear of some temporal power rather
than fear of God. He will hear the often repeated adage, "Ain lismoch al hanessim",(don't rely on miracles). And he will
know that we have transformed our apostasy of cowardice into an established institution which includes a dictum which
contradicts the essential purpose of the creation of the nation of Israel in the first place. Will the moshiach blame the
gentiles for the punishments which befell our people throughout history or will he blame the leaders for leading us astray
and then covering up their mistakes by issuing dictums that essentially say that we cannot count on God to take care of us.
Let me wager to declare that the moshiach will see clearly that we have gone
astray. The very fact of our exile and dependancy cries out our guilt. Israel was in fact created to demonstrate to a world
in confusion that there is a way to obtain God's intervention on one's behalf. The Torah was God's gift to the people
of the world. It is our instruction manual for obtaining blessings for everything. If Israel is not Shalem, i.e., fully
and completely blessed in everyway, it is clear that Israel is not complying. If leaders tell us of our righteousess while
explaining that "bad things happen to good people" and that we should not rely on miracles - which are blessings - these leaders
are simply lying. They may believe their lies, but they are still guilty of leading the people deeper into a confusion which
leads to punishment and not to the blessings God wants to bestow upon us.
So the Moshiach will reeducate our people so that they understand their genuine
Torah obligation. He will bring us up to speed so we know what the true laws state and we will learn to fear our God. We will
be transformed by our new experiences which are miraclulous interventions on our behalf resulting from our compliance with
the written Torah and our fear of God and love of God with all our might.The Jew who fears temporal powers will become a fossil
of the age of exile. And that Jew, who fears God alone and who demonstrates that his life results from God blessing him for
his faithful compliance, will become a beacon to the rest of his community. Fearlessness and love of God will become the cultural
norm. And the revamping of our observance will have as its hallmark, the true incorporation of God's laws and the concommitant
miracles with which the nation becomes blessed by a Creator whose faithful servants have learned that they can certainly rely
on God's miracles.
