In honor of the 9th of Av 5773:
Every Jew wonders, what will bring the redemption, the building of the Temple and the Moshiach.
I would like to suggest an answer:
We are waiting for Moshiach, but maybe Moshiach is waiting for us?
So what would he be waiting for? For us to begin waking up the aspect of moshiach within ourselves.
All Israel are Tzddikim. Rebbe Nachman teaches that this means that each of us is an aspect of the Tzaddik, that is of the eternal soul of the Moshiach.
And what is the Moshiach? The Moshiach is the desire for redemption, the building of the Temple and the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. But the Moshiach is not waiting for someone else to do that. He wishes to do that himself.
Well, the same is true with the moshiach within you. That power of moshiach is not waiting for another moshiach to save him. The moshiach within you wants to bring out this power within you yourself.
When the redemption arrives the Knowledge of God will flow like water, says the prophet. The moshiach within you thirsts for this Knowledge.
We need to ask ourselves honestly: do I truly desire to be a moshiach? to save myself? to receive the ultimate Knowledge of God?
The answer for several thousands of years has been “No.” If it was: “Yes,” Hashem would have brought the redemption. Isn’t that obvious?
If we truly had this desire, wouldn’t it mean that we were prepared to receive this power and wisdom? On Mount Sinai, we were not ready. We thought we were going to die when Hashem revealed Himself and spoke directly to us. Do we truly want this same test again? Well, this is redemption. Do you want it?
We must be honest and admit that it is tremendously fearful. How can we stand a test that our ancestors could not stand?
It is very difficult and that is why Hashem wants us to prepare for this test.
We prepare for redemption and rebuilding the Temple, by first beginning the redemption and the rebuilding of the Temple within ourselves. We do this by seeking out the truth of our own lives and challenges, and our own fears. It is through this process of seeking truth and confronting fear (and building faith) that we can truly draw the presence of Hashem into the world; and indeed, this is the very purpose of redemption and creation -- the revelation of Hashem's presence.
We hope and desire that Hashem will show His tremendous mercy and bring the redemption immediately. We can do our part as well and begin the building of the Temple in our own lives.
More details to follow...