Who Wants Mashiach – Redeeming Prayer

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter.

The fourth of five articles in the “Praying for Mashiach” series.

It is said in the name of the Admor Hazaken, Ba’al Hatanya, may his memory protect us, that the Mashiach whom everyone thinks will come – will never come; the Mashiach that will come will be someone totally unexpected. We are in the fourth article already in a series of articles about the Mashiach, and we have, indeed, clarified the topic from a few different angles in order to clarify what the Mashiach is, what are we looking forward to, and what we are praying for.  

We mentioned that the Mashiach is not a problem-solver; rather, he will publicize Hashem and reveal emuna (faith). We said that Mashiach is not a hocus-pocus phenomenon, but rather a long and deep process. We said that the coming of Mashiach depends on personal work on oneself and on dissemination of Judaism. We also said that one must pray that Mashiach will come with mercy and that all Jews should merit his coming.

According to this, the Ba’al Hatanya’s saying is understandable. Because we think – childishly and mistakenly – that the Mashiach will come in a certain way and expect him to perform certain acts; but he will arrive in a completely different way and will perform completely different acts. And the more one understands the essence of the Mashiach, the more precise – and certainly more effective – one’s prayers will be. 

In this article we will talk about a very central point of the entire topic of Mashiach. It is a point that whoever understands it and lives it can be living in the Yemot haMashiach (the days of the Mashiach) right now! Yes, that’s just as it sounds. Let’s start!

The Melech haMashiach is called “Mashiach ben David,” because he is the direct descendant of David Hamelech; and the kingship that we so much want to come back and rectify the world is “the Kingship of Beit David” – it’s all coming from David Hamelech! 

What is so special about David Hamelech? Why did Hashem yitbarach choose him and his descendants to be the kings and the saviors of the Jewish people? 

And the answer is: David was all prayer, as he says about himself, “And I am prayer.” (Psalm 109:4) 

David Hamelech lived his prayers and taught the entire Jewish People to pray – for all generations. He is the one who left us the wonderful gift known as the book of Tehillim (Book of Psalms). 

It is he who noted the main task of human beings in this world, the task upon which all their personal rectification as well as the world’s rectification depend: Prayer! 

That is why the Mashiach, David’s descendant and continuation, has the mission of inserting into the world the avoda of prayer: strengthening it, teaching all Jews to pray properly; we have already mentioned in previous articles that the name Mashiach comes from siach (conversation), prayer. 

Rabbi Nachman says that the Mashiach will teach all Jews how to pray the Shemonah Esrei without being troubled by alien thoughts. Just like every Jew puts on Tefillin every day now, in Yemot haMashiach, says Rabbeinu, every Jew will spend an hour a day doing hitbodedut. 

So, if you want Mashiach to come, make tefilla (prayer) the focus of your life. As Rabbeinu says: “His whole heart should be focused on it” (Likutei Moharan 49:2) – that’s Mashiach! 

And it’s not only that the mashiach recommends tefilla; it is central to both exile and Redemption. Rabbeinu explains that the whole story of Yaakov and his sons going down to Egypt is actually the story of tefilla going into exile, and to this day tefilla is still in exile, for prayer is called in the Gemara: “Something that is of utmost importance, which people nevertheless treat with contempt.” (Talmud Bavli, Brachos 6b) Rabbeinu says that the exile of tefilla and the hastara (hiding of the face) that rests upon it – that is the main aspect of the galut (exile). 

And Rabbeinu says further, that the main point of the Geula (Redemption) is to redeem tefilla from its galut, and therefore one is obligated to start one’s tefilla (meaning, the Shmona Esrei) immediately after completing the bracha of “ga’al Yisrael” (savior of Yisrael). Because the main point of the Geula is to redeem the tefilla so that the tefilla will be able to take its rightful place and receive its rightful attention, for all creation will understand that tefilla is the loftiest thing in the world.  

That is why Chizkiyahu said about himself, “I did what is right in Your eyes.” I did the thing that is right in the eyes of Hashem. And what is that? Chazal say that that is referring to the fact that he indeed started his Shemonah Esrei immediately upon completing “gaal Yisrael”. Rabbeinu explains that he redeemed the tefilla from its exile, and that caused the spark of the Mashiach to flare, and therefore we can understand why Chazal say that Hashem wanted to make him the Mashiach. 

And even the Beit HaMikdash – its entire essence is “For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations” (Yeshayahu 56:7) – in other words, what we are waiting for so much – the coming of the Mashiach who will build the beit Mikdash – is so that the world will be united around prayer. 

And that is why in all our prayers about tikkun olam (rectification of the world), we pray also about tefilla: “And all of humanity will call upon Your name.” (Aleinu) And so, when we ask for the Geula, we say “The offspring of David Your servant may you speedily cause to flourish” (Shemonah Esrei, Prayer for the Davidic Reign) –   Master of the World, reveal the light of David Hamelech, which is the light of tefilla in the world! 

It is brought in the name of the Arizal that the final redemption will be due not to Hashem’s loving kindness but to merit; the Jewish People will be worthy of redemption, in other words, they will be awakened to pray many prayers, as is necessary, until the Geula will come due to the midda of justice and not that of mercy. 

You can’t say you want Mashiach while continuing to be lax about your prayers. What sort of Mashiach do you want? What do you think he’ll do in the world? 

The Mashiach redeems the prayers, and if you want him to come, start redeeming your own prayers. Anyone who cares about the Mashiach must make sure that prayer is the foremost thing on his mind, as Rabbi Yehuda Halevi says, tefilla is the “seed of time and its fruit,” meaning that prayer is the most important and sublime part of man’s life, of his daily schedule; it is the center of his aspirations. 

When you invest in prayer, you give prayer the power to be free of its exile, as Rabbeinu writes: “When people pray forcefully, that gives the prayer the strength to withstand the wicked kingship and leave the galut.” (Likutei Moharan II 84:2) In other words, the greatest means to bring the Geula closer is to pray with kavana (concentration). Even when you’re not praying for the Geula, you are hastening its coming, because that is precisely the Geula. 

Therefore, the more you invest in tefilla and see it as a supreme goal, the more you are a partner to the Geula and are saving and redeeming prayer from exile. 

It comes out that anyone who truly lives in tefilla and is connected to it, and it is his be-all- and-end-all, and he invests in every prayer and sees it as a supreme goal and is always disseminating and strengthening the matter of tefilla – such a person is already living in Geula, in Yemot haMashiach, and he is also hastening the Geula of all Jews. 

Rabbeinu says that the Land of Israel is all about tefilla, because Eretz Yisrael is the aspect of emuna and tefilla. And when the tefilla is done properly, the holiness of Eretz Yisrael extends out to the exile as well, because when you pray as you should, you are not in exile – you are in a state of Geula! 

And when a Jew really lives his tefilla, it is expressed not only in the routine prayers; he turns to the Holy One, Blessed Be He and speaks to Him every day and at every opportunity in his own words. That is what is called hitbodedut. The Mashiach will simply teach the Jewish people and the entire world to do hitbodedut, and to repent, and to do cheshbon nefesh (make an account) every day, and to make a long and systematic process of rectifying one’s character traits (tikkun hamidot), and to acquire emuna through tefilla. 

Holy Jews! Pray and beseech and ask repeatedly for the Mashiach, but understand well what Mashiach is truly, and what we want and why we are waiting. All this, in light of these articles and the wonderful booklet that we have published, with Hashem’s help, summarizes the topic from a variety of angles. And then Mashiach will surely come with mercy, soon, and will grant the final Geula to the entire world.