The Redemption Can Come Any Time The pasuk in Shir HaShirim says, Behold the sound of my Beloved is coming [2:8]. The Medrash there cites the following narration: Moshe came to the Jewish people and told them that the current month would be the first of months for them, for this was the month in which they were about to be redeemed. They asked, How will we be redeemed -- we have no good deeds to our credit? Moshe responded, Since He wants to redeem you, He will not look at your evil deeds. This Medrash is revealing an amazing insight: When G-d wants to bring about our redemption, he will not stop to worry about our evil actions. There is a pre-ordained time, when G-d has made up his mind that redemption will arrive, regardless of anything. We can not ask How can it be that redemption did not arrive in the generation of the Rambam or the Vilna Gaon or the Chofetz Chaim and yet it might come in our generation? This Medrash is saying that when G-ds pre-ordained time for redemption arrives, redemption will come. Rav Pam quotes from Melachim II, Chapter 14: Yeravam ben Yoash was a wicked King. The prophet testifies that Yeravam did not deviate from the sins of (his namesake) Yeravam ben Nevat, who caused Israel to sin. He promoted idolatry, he sinned, and he caused the nation to sin. And yet, the Navi says that he extended the borders of Israel from Levo Chamas until Yam HaAravah. This wicked King was successful in extending the boundaries of the Land of Israel far beyond those enjoyed by his predecessors. The pasukim there explain how it was that he was able to accomplish this despite his wickedness: For HaShem had seen that Israels suffering was very severe, with none surviving and none remaining, and there was no helper for Israel. Things were so dark and so bad that HaShem saw the redemption had to come. Through whose hands did it come? It came through the hands of Yeravam ben Yoash. Rav Pam said that this chapter must be a tremendous source of inspiration and solace for us. We look around and see the status of the Jewish people -- intermarriage rates, anti-Semitism, and a host of other problems. There is none surviving and none remaining! We ask the question that the Jewish people asked thousands of years ago: How can we be redeemed? We have no good deeds to our credit! What is going to be with us? As the Medrash points out, since G-d wants our redemption, he will not look closely at our deeds. When the Master of the World wants our deliverance to come, he will bring it about, not because of who we are, but despite who we are. We can never say that the situation is spiritually hopeless and therefore we are doomed. It is no worse than it was in the days of Yeravam. When G-d sees that the situation is hopeless, He knows that He must bring the redemption -- may it come speedily in our days.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 17:15:00 +0000
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