Where’s Mashiach Already?

I’ve gotten asked the question a number of times already. Frankly, I asked the question to myself as well: 

“Hey wait a minute – didn’t Rabbi Arush say that Mashiach was supposed to come last year? And the year before that? What’s going on?” 

The very simple answer to the question, Rabbi Arush himself already gave. He said that he was simply repeating what was told to him by a huge tzaddik. The tzaddik told him that Mashiach was coming last year, so he repeated it. 

But I would like to share with you a few deeper thoughts and ideas that I shared with those who asked me the question. These are the ideas that I tell myself, that help me to keep going when I feel like I want to just give up already. I warn you – they are only that: ideas, trying to piece together a puzzle of pieces I heard from Rabbi Arush. 

What Mashiach IS Coming? 

The first piece of this puzzle is understanding that Mashiach coming is no piece of cake. We WANT Mashiach to come only with mercy, exactly as Rabbi Arush prays and instructs us to pray: that Mashiach should come with great mercy – without war, without terror attacks, without earthquakes, without atom bombs, without pandemics, and without suffering. 

I don’t know about you, but to me that list is dang SCARY. 

That’s Mashiach NOT with mercy, G-d forbid. Rabbi Arush once joked about those foolishly saying, “We want Mashiach now.” He said point blank, “You want Mashiach now? If Mashiach comes now he’ll have to search for a minyan to daven with.”  

Do you understand? There are always 36 hidden tzaddikim in the world. If Mashiach has to look for a minyan then not even the perfectly righteous will survive!!! So forget about normal people like you and me surviving; we’re dead.  

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want that! I don’t think you do either. 🙂 

Rabbi Arush said on another occasion that only Hashem knows the exact moment that Mashiach can come, because if he comes one moment sooner, then he comes with rivers of blood. 

There was another tzaddik who once said, “The Mashiach you want, is not coming. And the Mashiach that is coming, you don’t want.” 

I think about that all the time. We all have these nice pipe dreams that Mashiach will come and fix all of our problems for us, but it’s not going to work like that. As Rabbi Arush once joked, “People want Mashiach to come so they will be able to pay off their debts.” We THINK that Mashiach will solve all our problems, but it just isn’t true.  

And let’s just say that Eliyahu Hanavi came first and promised that you’re going to be one of the lucky few who would make it. Let’s just say. Would you be happy? Do you want to wake up one day to be a survivor of a destroyed world? Even more, Rabbi Arush once explained that it isn’t ahavat Yisrael – loving your fellow Jew as yourself, to want Mashiach now. Even if we had such a promise that we would indeed survive, we should never want to be so selfish as to want something that would be good for us while others die. We want a Redemption that we all make it, together! No one left behind! 

Rabbi Arush said once that he is holding back the Redemption until it can come with mercy. That’s it – no, we do NOT want Mashiach now!  

Suffering – or Death? 

Now that I’ve hopefully popped a bunch of bubbles, let’s put reality in perspective. 

Everyone is suffering. Like crazy. Overwhelming suffering. Beyond comprehension. Beyond our ability to cope.  

So many people are sick, it’s devastating. I spoke to someone in our community who called it “catastrophic.”  

Add to that the money problems, work, singles, divorces, and and and. Insert your bucket list here. 

I was sitting with Rabbi Arush translating for one woman a few months ago who was pouring out her suffering to Rabbi Arush. She said, “Harav, I just can’t take it any more!” Rabbi Arush responded, “Every day I pray that today Mashiach is coming. Today! We can’t take the suffering anymore! We can’t take it anymore!” He was closing his eyes, with his arms up, while saying this. 

It just begs the question: “Wait, so do we want Mashiach now, Harav, or not???” 

I posit that the answer is simple –  we want the suffering to be over, but only when the end of the suffering is going to be a merciful redemption, and not death and destruction. 

Our options aren’t yes suffering, or no suffering. Our options right now are suffering, or death. I don’t know about you, but I choose suffering! 

The suffering is still really hard but thinking about it this way gives me strength to continue, and I hope it helps you too. 

So When IS Mashiach Coming? 

Rabbi Arush also said once that Hashem is all merciful. He is not going to wait to bring Mashiach with mercy until everyone does perfect and full repentance (teshuva) and be perfect in their emuna. All we need to do is get to a point where we have so tipped the scales, that it’s inevitable that everyone is going to return in repentance. Then, Hashem will bring the complete redemption immediately! 

Rabbi Arush also said that when Mashiach does come, he will come with The Garden of Emuna in one hand, and Say Thank You and See Miracles in the other. That means, that the daat of Mashiach – the knowledge and teachings of Mashiach – we already have it NOW. He’s coming with books that are already published! You don’t have to wait for Mashiach to come to learn it, and start living a life of emuna, a life of happiness and Paradise on Earth. 

If you’re reading this article, then chances are that you’ve got some connection to Rabbi Arush and his teachings on emuna. So spread them to your family, your friends, your co-workers, people in the elevator, the cab driver, the check-out lady! All we need is enough people to know emuna and be learning emuna and spreading emuna, that it’s inevitable that eventually everyone will learn it, and then we have Mashiach and the full Redemption with mercy!  

As Rabbi Arush pleaded with his listeners once, “I cannot do it myself! I don’t know your circle of people. I don’t live in your country, or speak your language. YOU have to spread emuna!” That being said, know that not only do you have Rabbi Arush praying for your success, but the merit of spreading emuna is like no other. I personally know of tens of stories of salvations that came to people who distributed Rabbi Arush’s books and booklets, or sponsored others to do so for them. 

Now I’m also going to assume that if you’re taking the time to read this article, then you care that Mashiach should come as soon as possible, as well.  

So what are you waiting for? It’s up to YOU to bring Mashiach now!  

To buy emuna materials at bulk discounts (plus shipping at cost), call Freida (she speaks English): +972-54-224-0696 

To sponsor others to distribute emuna materials for you, contact me directly at rachel.avrahami@breslev.co.il 

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Rachel Avrahami grew up in Los Angeles, CA, USA in a far-off valley where she was one of only a handful of Jews in a public high school of thousands. She found Hashem in the urban jungle of the university. Rachel was privileged to read one of the first copies of The Garden of Emuna in English, and the rest, as they say, is history. She made Aliyah and immediately began working at Breslev Israel.   
  
Rachel is now the Editor of Breslev Israel’s English website. She welcomes questions, comments, articles, and personal stories to her email: rachel.avrahami@breslev.co.il.