Now, More Than Ever, We Are Worthy of Redemption

00:00 In these difficult days, we are all praying. Each and every one of us prays to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We ask for peace in the Land of Israel. We ask for the safety of our soldiers fighting on the front lines. We ask that all the hostages come home safe and sound. We ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu to have mercy on each and every one of us, to protect us all—not only in the Land of Israel, but throughout the world, wherever we may be. We are all full of prayers. We pray for everyone in difficult circumstances, for the wounded and the sick to recover. We ask for miracles. We ask to return to peace and security. But there is a prayer, a request, that should really be our deepest, most heartfelt prayer. It is a prayer that contains all our other prayers and requests in the deepest and most wonderful way: the request we all make for the complete Geulah. You can feel in the air that we are living through a very unusual time. It feels as though all the verses of the prophets—the prophets who spoke of the Geulah—and all the teachings of our Sages and Midrashim about the days of the Geulah, the days before it, the birth pangs and suffering of exile, and the final moments before the birth, are right before our eyes and coming to pass in these days. As we stand and pray now, asking Hakadosh Boruch Hu, we need to be wise and not settle for small requests. We should not ask merely to go back to how things were before Simchas Torah 5784. If we settle for that, we are settling for too little, and of course we are not seeing the whole picture. That is not what we want. We do not want to return to a situation where we can only live in temporary quiet, with a moment’s respite that lasts another few days, a few weeks, or a few months. As we can see, the eyes of every Jew, wherever in the world they may be, have been opened. We understand that the very existence of the Jewish people is at stake. We are dealing with enemies of

03:00 Israel who want to destroy us. That is their very nature. We cannot go back once again to arrangements of political peace, momentary peace, peace for the sake of appearances before the nations of the world, to find favor in their eyes. There is no one whose favor we need to seek. These things are clear and obvious to everyone today. So when we pray to Hakadosh Boruch Hu now, what are we asking for? What should we be asking for? Where should we put our energy? We are all Jews, believers descended from believers. Our prayers have tremendous power. But sometimes we settle for too little, for small things, and fail to notice the bigger picture. We need to use the wonderful, tremendous power each and every one of us has. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is truly waiting for our prayers. So today we will talk about the power of our prayers, particularly prayer for the Geulah. Sometimes people think that asking for the Geulah is too big a request. They think that the great tzaddikim, the holy people, the great sages throughout the generations, the great tzaddikim among us—those are the ones who ask for great things. “But I’m an ordinary person. I ask for little things: a livelihood, health, a wife and children who are alive, healthy, and well. That’s where it starts and ends for me.” But the truth is that if we settle for only that, we miss the point. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is waiting and hoping for each and every one of us to pray and ask for the Geulah. Let’s talk about that a little. First, let’s begin with a teaching from the Baal Shem Tov on this subject. The Baal Shem Tov speaks about the verse in Tehillim, chapter 102: “A prayer of the poor man when he is overwhelmed, and before Hashem he pours out his plea.” What is the verse saying? It speaks of the poor man’s prayer. The poor man is miserable and hungry; he has nothing. “When he is overwhelmed”—he is enveloped in his hunger, enveloping

05:24 himself in his prayer. And what does he ask for? “Before Hashem he pours out his plea”: he pours out his plea, pours out his heart before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Then the verses continue. But the Baal Shem Tov says there is a much deeper message here. He gives a parable about a king who announced to all the people of his country: “This is a time of favor.” The king was in a joyous mood, a time of favor, and he said, “I will give something to anyone who comes and asks.” Thousands of people then lined up. Each one went in and made his request. One asked for help with his livelihood. Another asked for help with his health. One asked for help with problems he was having with his neighbors, or with building a house. Each person came and asked for the things that troubled him, that bothered him, that he needed. Then one man came in and said, “I don’t want anything for myself. I’m not asking for anything personal. I want only one thing: to be able to stand before the king. That is my request—to stand face to face with the king.” “A prayer of the poor man when he is overwhelmed.” The poor man stands before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “When he is overwhelmed”—he wraps himself, envelops himself in prayer. What does he ask for? “Before Hashem he pours out his plea.” That is his request. He has just one request: “Before Hashem he pours out his plea.” All I want is to be able to stand before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, face to face. I am not asking for the small things. I am asking to stand before Hashem and pour out my plea. The Baal Shem Tov adds that “when he is overwhelmed” also means that he wraps himself together with the community. He does not make specific, private, personal requests just for himself. He wraps himself together with the entire

07:31 Jewish people. His request is the request of the Jewish people. This is not my personal prayer, something I am asking for myself. There are moments when a Jew stands in prayer as a representative of the entire Jewish people. In fact, every Jew has the ability to stand in prayer together with the entire Jewish people and then make one single request of Hakadosh Boruch Hu: to stand before Hashem and pour out our plea, to be able to stand face to face with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is really the request for the complete Geulah. For then “they will see eye to eye”; Moshiach will come, and we will all stand face to face with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Then we will all see His face, and that will be the source of every blessing. As the Baal Shem Tov continues, the king said that this man, who had not made any personal request for himself, had asked for the deepest and most essential thing—the source of everything else people had requested: to stand face to face with the king. So he would be granted the chance to stand before the king, and as a matter of course, he would have everything there: health, livelihood, peace, tranquility, and rest—everything he needed, and everything in abundance. That is the heart of our prayer and the power of our prayer: a Jew needs to ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu for the Geulah. There is a wonderful Midrash in Midrash Tehillim, chapter 17. This Midrash is also quoted by the Radak, Rabbi David Kimchi, one of the great early Torah commentators, who lived roughly a thousand years ago. The Radak cites it in his commentary at the end of Shmuel. There we are told of a plague in the time of King David, and the Radak brings this striking Midrash. He asks: Why did so many Jews die in the plague in King David’s time? The Midrash says, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says: Because they

09:44 They did not ask for or demand the building of the Beis Hamikdash. King David’s generation was the generation before the Beis Hamikdash was built. As is known, Hakadosh Boruch Hu commanded us to appoint a king, wipe out the descendants of Amalek, and build the Beis Hamikdash. King David was the king, the first king of the House of David, the eternal dynasty. He fought the Amalekites and all the enemies around them. The time had come to ask for the Beis Hamikdash, but the Jews did not ask for it. The Midrash continues: If this was true before there was a Beis Hamikdash, how much more so for us, after its destruction, living in exile among the nations. How much must we ask, pray, and plead for the Beis Hamikdash to be built! This, in fact, is our power: Hakadosh Boruch Hu looks forward to and waits for a Jew to ask and pray for the Geulah. The Midrash therefore says that this is why our Sages, when they established the structure and wording of the prayers, included several blessings in the Amidah, the Shemoneh Esrei, in which we ask for the Geulah every day, three times a day. A large portion of the blessings of the Amidah are requests for the Geulah. This is based on that Midrash, on what happened in King David’s time. A Jew needs to ask for the Geulah. That is why, in the Amidah, we ask for Jerusalem to be rebuilt; we ask, “May You speedily cause the offspring of David Your servant to flourish,” for the coming of our righteous Moshiach. There are several such blessings, including “Sound the great shofar.” A large portion of our requests in the Amidah are requests for the Geulah. The same is true of Birkas Hamazon. Among its requests is “Have mercy, Hashem our G-d,” where we say, “And rebuild Jerusalem, the holy city, speedily in our days.” These are requests for Jerusalem to be rebuilt and for the restoration of the Davidic monarchy. The Midrash is cited in works of halachah as well.

12:13 The Beis Yosef also cites it in the laws of Birkas Hamazon: a Jew prays in Birkas Hamazon and asks for the Geulah, just as we do in our prayers. This is our power. In the merit of our requests and prayers for the building of the Beis Hamikdash and the coming of our righteous Moshiach, we will indeed merit to see it happen. There is also a wonderful explanation from the Chida. The Chida was one of the great Torah sages of about 250 years ago. He was a student of the holy Ohr Hachayim. Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai was one of the sages of Eretz Yisroel. The Chida wrote many books, important works on halachah, aggadah, mussar, and Midrash. In his book Midbar Kedemos, under the entry “Hope,” he brings a wonderful point. In the prayer we say every day, we say: “May You speedily cause the offspring of David Your servant to flourish, and may You raise his glory through Your salvation, for we have hoped for Your salvation all day long.” We ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu to speedily cause the offspring of David—Moshiach, who comes from the House of David—to flourish. “A shoot will emerge from the trunk of Yishai,” from King David’s royal line. “And may You raise his glory through Your salvation.” Then we say, “For we have hoped for Your salvation all day long.” The Chida asks: What does it mean, “For we have hoped for Your salvation all day long”? Because we hoped? Is that why Hashem should bring Moshiach? Whether we hoped or not, Hakadosh Boruch Hu must bring Moshiach, because this is one of the foundations of our faith, one of the promises Hashem made to us in the Torah. The Prophets and Writings are full of it, as the Rambam writes. Hakadosh Boruch Hu promised us that the day of Geulah would come. So what does it mean? “May You speedily cause the offspring of David Your servant to flourish.” Why am I asking for this? “For we have hoped for Your salvation all day long.” The Chida gives a wonderful explanation, also citing a Midrash on Tehillim. The Midrash says that in the merit of the Jewish people’s hope, trust, and prayers—as they hope and look forward

14:43 to the Geulah—we will merit the Geulah. This is also stated in the Midrash regarding Egypt, the first Geulah. It says that in the merit of the Jewish people’s trust and faith, their waiting and looking forward to the Geulah, they were redeemed in that first Geulah. The same is true of the final Geulah. This is the meaning of the prayer we say three times a day on weekdays: “May You speedily cause the offspring of David Your servant to flourish.” We ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu to hasten the coming of the redeemer, “and may You raise his glory through Your salvation.” Why? What is the reason? Are we worthy of it? “Because we have hoped for You all day long.” Because of our hope, because we hope for it, look forward to it, long for it, and pray for the Geulah. That itself is the reason Hakadosh Boruch Hu will bring us the Geulah. I remember that I was a young bochur in 5746. That year I merited to come to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I stayed to study nearby, and I merited to attend many farbrengens. I merited to spend an extended period with the Rebbe, several years. I remember that in Cheshvan 5746, the Rebbe spoke about this subject at farbrengens. I remember a farbrengen, I believe on 7 Cheshvan, at which the Rebbe spoke with great passion about looking forward to the Geulah. The Rebbe spoke about how a Jew must use every opportunity to ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu in prayer for the Geulah. The Rebbe then quoted the words of the Chida that we just mentioned, and also the words of the Radak that we mentioned, these two teachings based on Midrash Tehillim. The Rebbe then made a very special request. He spoke about how we were living through a very difficult time, and how we could sense in the air that Moshiach was about to arrive. All the signs described by the Gemara in Sanhedrin, in the chapter “All Israel Have a Share in the World to Come,” and by the Gemara at the end of Sotah, which describes what the state of the world will be and the things that will happen—we can see those things coming true in full. We are living in the time of ikvesa d’Meshicha, the “footsteps of Moshiach,” as the Gemara calls it. We can already sense the footsteps of King Moshiach, the approach of the Geulah. The sound of the shofar, the great shofar, is already beginning to be heard. So this is our time to wake up, strengthen ourselves, and begin preparing for the Geulah.

17:24 One of the most important things placed in our hands to hasten the Geulah is prayer: a Jew must pray and ask for the Geulah. The Rebbe then made a very special request: that each of us try to share this with a group of people. The Rebbe spoke of a minimum of ten people. This was a time before we had all the technological means we have today. Even a telephone was hardly available. Today there are many more ways to spread things. The Rebbe was simply speaking about reaching another ten people, telling them what the Midrash says, what the Radak says, what the Chida says, and spreading the message. A Jew should know that his prayer has a special power. The Gemara in Yevamos, page 64, asks: Why were our ancestors, the fathers and mothers of our people, unable to have children? We see that for Avraham, for Yitzchak, and for Yaakov and Rachel, having children did not come easily. Why did this happen? The Gemara says: Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu longs for the prayers of the righteous. Of course, the Patriarchs were truly righteous—righteous on the level of the Patriarchs. But the truth is, the Rebbe said, “the righteous” also refers to what is written in Pirkei Avos: “All Israel have a share in the World to Come, as it is said, ‘And your people are all righteous.’” Every Jew is called righteous in that verse from Tanach quoted by our Sages: “And your people are all righteous.” When we say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu longs for the prayers of the righteous, it means

19:50 Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves, is moved by, takes delight in, and treasures the prayer of every Jew. When we pray for the Geulah, we bring the Geulah closer. Every time a Jew prays for the Geulah, the holy Shelah writes, he brings about a measure of Geulah in the world. That Geulah may take effect in specific things, in small things, in ways we do not yet see on the grandest scale. But every prayer of ours for the Geulah brings it closer. Of course, we want a complete Geulah, an absolute Geulah, a true Geulah—one in which the physical world tangibly sees the full Geulah of the Jewish people, our redemption from exile. The true Geulah we are all waiting for, when there will be no more subjugation by other nations. A Geulah in which we can all stand face to face in the light of Your countenance, enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah, and receive all the wonderful promises the prophets made to us. “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,” and all the other verses of consolation, the wonderful verses in the Book of Yeshayahu and the other books of the prophets. I want to share with you a farbrengen I was privileged to attend with the Rebbe in those years, in 5747. It was Shabbos Parshas Vayigash. It was a very special Shabbos, because at that time, in Lubavitch, Chabad was celebrating a particularly great victory. There had been a very difficult court case over books that belonged to the Rebbe’s library. Some people had wanted to take them and turn them into a business, and so on. It caused the Rebbe a great deal of anguish, and the court case was long and difficult. In those days, the case was won: the judge, who was a non-Jew in America, ruled that all the books, possessions, and other items belonged to Agudas Chassidei Chabad. That brought tremendous joy. Chassidim came

22:31 from every corner of the world. 770 was packed. The joy was sky-high; people danced and celebrated for entire nights. For anyone who was not there, it is hard to describe the magnitude of the joy and excitement around the Rebbe in those days. That Shabbos, Shabbos Parshas Vayigash, 770 was filled to capacity. The hall at 770 is very large, and it was packed from corner to corner. Thousands of guests had come in addition to the local residents, and it was something wonderful. The Rebbe’s farbrengen on Shabbos afternoon went on for hours, until after Shabbos. On Shabbos, the Rebbe spoke without a microphone or loudspeaker, and that day he spoke with tremendous passion. To this day, I remember the emotion and the fervor with which the Rebbe spoke and cried out from the depths of his heart: we are now at a time when Moshiach is about to arrive. We are in the final moments of exile. The Rebbe explained that wherever you look, you can see it—in what is happening in the world and what is happening among the nations. “Kingdoms will provoke one another,” as our Sages say; that is one of the signs of the Geulah. We see so many difficult things happening in the world, alongside so many wonderful things. Both sides. On one hand, wonderful developments are taking place around us, both spiritually and physically. On the other hand, the terrible things our Sages said would happen before Moshiach comes are also unfolding before our eyes. We are at the moment when Moshiach is about to come, the final moments of exile. The Geulah should have come long ago. I remember the Rebbe crying out, “Long ago!” He spoke and cried out with such passion, from the depths of his heart, with tears in his eyes. We are already in the stages of the Geulah. What is still left to do? Hundreds, thousands of years

25:05 of exile; thousands upon thousands, countless mitzvos, good deeds, and the spreading of Torah, Yiddishkeit, and Chassidus throughout the world. What more is lacking? Tremendous things have been accomplished. The Rebbe spoke about our generation, the generation after the Holocaust—may such suffering never happen again. After all the terrible events our generation went through, the survivors managed to rebuild the Jewish people in such a wonderful way. What more does Hakadosh Boruch Hu ask of us? Then I remember the Rebbe crying out: There is just one thing. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is waiting for one more Jew to pray from the depths of his heart and ask Him, “Ad mosai? How long?” The eternal cry of the prophets. How long? How long will we remain here in exile? This cry, this plea for the Geulah—when a Jew says in the Amidah, “May You speedily cause the offspring of David, Your servant, to flourish, and raise his power through Your salvation,” he should say it with feeling, with warmth, with intention. Or on Shabbos and Yom Tov, the plea, “May our eyes behold Your return to Tziyon in mercy.” The Rebbe said: Hakadosh Boruch Hu desires the prayers of the righteous, and “Your people are all righteous.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu is waiting for one more Jew to cry out from the depths of his heart and ask for the Geulah, and at that very moment, Moshiach will come immediately. I remember those words: “He will come immediately.” The Rebbe ended one of the sichos with that cry: “He will come immediately.” The crowd cried out together with the Rebbe. Following those words, everyone—thousands of people—stood and cried out together for several long minutes, “Ad mosai?” I remember the Rebbe wiping tears from his eyes at that moment. But immediately afterward, the Rebbe turned it into joy. He did not leave it as only a cry of bitterness; with a motion of his hands, he immediately signaled for the singing to begin. Then, with great fervor, for a long time,

27:33 everyone sang, and the Rebbe encouraged the singing and the joy. Because as chassidim, we were taught that even prayers coming from the deepest place, prayers born of bitterness, are offered with joy. Joy breaks through barriers, breaks through all the partitions, and that is what brings the light. That was one of the sichos at the farbrengen. I remember the Rebbe saying that what he was saying was not addressed to any particular group or community. It applies to every single Jew, wherever they may be. Every Jew, by virtue of being a Jew living in our generation, needs to know that this is our task. This is our task: one more prayer, one more plea of “Ad mosai? How long? How long will we remain in exile?” A heartfelt prayer asking for the Geulah. This is the reward for hoping, for “We have hoped for Your salvation all day long”; through this, we will merit the Geulah. I remember that after those niggunim and all the joy that followed, as we described, the Rebbe began the next sicha. That was the order at the Rebbe’s farbrengens: a sicha, a niggun, a sicha, a niggun. That was how the farbrengen unfolded. In the next sicha, the Rebbe said something very interesting. Some people, the Rebbe said, will hear what we are saying now and say, “That’s it, then. If so, Moshiach is already coming. Wow, we are at the moment of the Geulah! What joy, what excitement!” Then they will pack their suitcases and stand by the door, ready. “We’re already ready for the Geulah. That’s it; there’s nothing more to do. Moshiach is coming, after all. Look at what’s happening in the world. Look at the situation. We’re at the moment of the Geulah. So that’s that.” But the Rebbe said: No, that is a very big mistake. That is not the way. What is the way? The Rebbe then told a story about the Frierdiker Rebbe, from a time when this subject came up.

29:57 On the one hand, we say that a Jew must be ready for the Geulah to come today: “For we have hoped for You all day.” A Jew expects the Geulah not tomorrow, but today. It’s like the well-known story the Gemara tells about Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. He met Eliyahu Hanavi, who brought him to Moshiach. He asked Moshiach, “When are you coming?” Moshiach answered, “Today.” He didn’t give him conditions. Today. Only afterward, when the day passed and Moshiach had not come, did Eliyahu explain that the world was not yet ready: “Today, if you heed His voice.” But his first answer was “Today.” Why? The Rebbe explained this at another farbrengen. I remember once hearing the Rebbe speak about it at a Simchas Torah farbrengen. Moshiach had answered him, “Today.” He wasn’t deceiving him. He meant that a Jew must live with this genuine faith: it’s today. A Jew doesn’t begin with excuses. A Jew doesn’t start listing conditions: Moshiach will come today if we all become good people; Moshiach will come today if the world is worthy. No. A Jew must have pure, wholehearted faith and complete trust that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is going to bring Moshiach today. Not tomorrow, not the day after. Today. Today is the time. There is not another moment to wait. What happened, then? The day passed, as it did in that story, and he didn’t come. Then we look for explanations: perhaps something was lacking. But in a Jew’s faith, today is the time. So let me return to the farbrengen on that special Shabbos, Shabbos Parshas Vayigash. The Rebbe said that people had once asked the Frierdiker Rebbe this question: How can we make plans? How can we think about how we’ll run the school, the institution, and the other things they were discussing at that meeting, when the Frierdiker Rebbe had gathered with the chassidim to talk about

31:56 various plans for the coming school year? Wait a moment—we believe Moshiach is coming now. Why are we making long-term plans? What for? None of it will matter anymore. Moshiach is coming, and everything will change. So the Frierdiker Rebbe said: When the Jews traveled through the desert for forty years, the Torah tells us that they traveled with the Aron Kodesh and the Mishkan, moving from place to place through forty-two journeys. In Parshas Behaaloscha, the Torah tells us that whenever the cloud came down, signifying the Shechinah, it meant they were to stop there. And wherever they stopped, they had to build the entire Mishkan from the ground up, putting every part in place as though they were going to live there for years. Even though at some stops they stayed only a few hours—it made no difference. The Torah says it could be one day, two days, a week, two weeks, or years. Those journeys ranged from one extreme to the other. At some stops they stayed eighteen or nineteen years, and at others just one day. But wherever they arrived, “At Hashem’s word they would camp, and at Hashem’s word they would travel.” When you are here, you are here completely. You aren’t here just in passing. You don’t say, “We’re in a hurry, so we’ll do half a job.” No. When you are here, you do your work fully, with your whole inner self and all your strength. That is what the Frierdiker Rebbe said, and the Rebbe repeated it at that farbrengen. On the one hand, a Jew must truly live, deep down, with the conviction that Moshiach Tzidkeinu is coming today. That is what we pray for, and we must genuinely believe that our prayers have the power to bring it about—that Moshiach will actually come today. At the same time, a Jew must carry out his day-to-day role, knowing that every day must be a full day, filled with action and activity. I need to plan the week, the month, the year, and the

34:06 following year in an orderly way, not leave everything up in the air. You can’t say, “Moshiach is about to come, so it no longer matters what happens.” You have to plan every detail. That is one of the farbrengens etched in my mind and heart. What an approach, a way of looking at the world, a way of life—how a Jew should live in these days, these moments, these hours. So let’s sum it up and take the point to heart: What are we supposed to do? We need to recognize the extraordinary power of our prayers. We need to know that every single one of our prayers matters greatly, and not use that power only for small, basic, simple, self-centered things. We should make use of this eis ratzon, this auspicious time. We are now living through an extraordinary eis ratzon. On every side, we see all the prophecies connected with the Geulah being fulfilled. So let’s not return to the small, narrow outlook we had before. That is not what we should be asking for. A Jew must ask for something great. A Jew must ask for everything: “A prayer of the poor man when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his plea before Hashem.” Our prayer, our request, should be: “May You speedily cause the scion of David, Your servant, to flourish, and raise his glory through Your salvation.” Our prayer should be: “May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy.” And we must know that the prayer, the cry of “Ad masai—how much longer?” is the deepest prayer Hakadosh Boruch Hu is waiting for. It isn’t chutzpah. On the contrary, the greatest delight for Hakadosh Boruch Hu is to hear a Jew cry out from the depths of his heart, asking for the Geulah. So may Hakadosh Boruch Hu help us truly use the strength we have to offer one more prayer for the Geulah, while also filling our day with activity, each of us doing what we can: finding another Jew to put on tefillin with, another woman to light Shabbos candles, another deed, more Torah study, another verse, another act of goodness

36:22 and kindness. It is precisely through this that we will bring light into the world, and precisely through these actions that we will merit, speedily in our days—today, this very day—to see the great light of the complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu.