MOSHIACH-----why no moshiach campaign

MODERATOR Posted - 31 October 2001 21:24

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The reason our Gedolim have not embarked on a so-called "Moshiach campaign" is the same reason they have not instituted the type of Kiruv programs Chabad does. Namely, it is not what the Torah wants.

The Chabad method of Kiruv, where you send somebody out to live among the Goyim and non-Jews without any Torah community is opposed by the Torah, as we find in Pirkei Avos, that even if you can accomplish a lot in terms of Kiruv by living in a non-Makom Torah, you should not go there, as Rav Yosi Ben Kisma explained.

Regarding the "Moshiach campaign," it, too, is counter to what the Torah wants, and only serves to make sure Moshiach is gets further away from coming, r"l. “Moshiach will not come until people give up hope of Geulah”, the Gemora says (Sanhedrin 97). “Moshiach will only come when we are NOT thinking about him,” it says.

We pray for Moshiach every day, and we are obligated to yearn for his coming, but the specifics about when who and how Moshiach’s arrival will take place, is forbidden for us to ponder, and it pushes the Geulah further away.

The reason is as follows:

When Moshiach comes, it will be the total and final downfall of evil in the world. The Satan therefore exerts all his energies to make sure Moshiach does not come – or to delay his arrival as much as possible – for his (the Satan’s) very survival depends on this delay.

So dedicated is the Satan to Moshiach’s not coming, says the Arizal, that Moshiach’s Neshomah had to “sneak in” to this world in a way that the Satan would not notice – through an act of incest between Lot and his daughters. And then through Rus and Boaz. The Satan and his minions, who are so on the lookout to destroy for anything that has to do with Moshiach, would exert all his energies to prevent the great soul of Moshiach from entering the world. So Hashem arranged it to slip in, in a way that the Satan never expected.

The Yismach Moshe (Chasidic master and Halachic authority, and student of the Seer of Lublin) explains that this is why the Halachah of “amoni vlo amonis, moavi vlo moavis” was forgotten (or: hidden) from the masses until the time came for its application. For this was the Halachah that allowed King David to enter into Klall Yisroel. And King David’s entry needs to remain “under the radar” of the Satan.

We must understand that the Satan and his terrorist groups are lying in wait for Moshiach. Any hint of his arrival will automatically attract the attention of the Satan. Moshiach will be “snuck in” to this world by Hashem in a way that we are not allowed to contemplate. The Satan knows Moshiach is coming. But when how and who must remain hidden from the Satan. We pray and yearn for Moshiach’s coming in general. But maneuvering Moshiach into the world safe from the radar and cross hairs of the Satan is Hashem’s job. Only Hashem can accomplish that. But one thing we know: Hashem must bring Moshiach into the world in a way the Satan least expects it, and is unprepared for it.

“The poor person will not be forgotten forever, but the hope of the poor will be lost forever” (Tehilim 9). Explains the Bina L’Itim: The poor – Klall Yisroel in Golus – will not be lost forever. Moshiach WILL come. BUT! “The hope of the poor will be lost forever” – the way and the vision that we have of Moshiach’s arrival will NOT happen. The Geulah will not happen the way we think it will – it cannot – we don’t know how Moshiach will come, but one thing we do know – he will not come the way we expect him to come.

Moshiach can’t come in an expected way. He was born under the radar and he will come under the radar. Hashem always hid the time of the final redemption from us. When Yaakov Avinu tried to reveal it, Hashem would not let. The prophets told of many things, but nothing about this. One reason given is to hide it from the Satan.

The Tefilah L’Moshe writes that declaring a particular person to be Moshiach violates the Gemora that says Moshiach will only come when we do NOT think about it. Meaning, any time we specify the details of Moshiach’s arrival, we shove Moshiach straight into the crosshairs of the Satan. We need to pray for Moshiach, and to year for him, but the details we may not think about. The more we do think and talk about the details, the more we push Moshiach away and prevent his coming.

(PS – for a more complete treatment of this topic, see Divrei Yoel Naso p. 171-175)