Amidst the Darkness: What Merit Does Our Generation Have to Witness the Coming of the Messiah?

It is told of the Gaon Rabbi Chaim of Zanz, of blessed memory, whose son passed away, and the grief was heart-wrenching and soul-piercing. When asked how he could bear his pain in silence, he replied: What is this similar to? To a person sitting on his chair, and someone comes from behind and strikes him with a painful blow. Immediately, he turns his head back in anger to see who the striker is. If it were indeed a stranger unknown to him, certainly the stricken would rise in anger and wrath. However, if upon turning around, he sees none other than his father who came to visit and struck him with a 'blow of affection,' he immediately overcomes his blow, responds with a smile and a radiant face, as to not disrupt the love... The Rabbi continued and said: I received a searing and painful blow with my son's death, but when I turned my face back to see who the striker was, I saw it was indeed Hashem who I love above all else and no one else loves me as much, and if so, for this shall I sever my ties with Him, even with a frown...

The Hiddenness Within Hiddenness

This is explained in the book "Shomer Emunim" on the verse "And I will surely hide," showing a double concealment, as there is one hiding which is the blow itself since all suffering and troubles seemingly stem from His concealed face, the opposite of "May Hashem illuminate His face to you," and similarly "Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven." However, as long as a person knows who is behind the concealment and does not forget that Hashem, the merciful lover, is the striker and it is for his benefit, then he resides in only one concealment, the blow itself. But if it is concealed and hidden from the person who lies behind the blow and he sees the blow as natural and coincidental, then he rises in unparalleled rage and anger and suffers from the curse of double concealment, which is the curse of "I will hide, hide."

Indeed, even if we cannot prevent the first concealment, which is the blow itself, since they are many and evil tribulations decreed upon the generation of the Messiah, we can at least prevent the second concealment by knowing who stands behind the blows we experience. Certainly, knowing changes the essence of the blow, just like being pricked by a needle by an enemy feels different than by a doctor giving a painful injection for medical reasons.

Especially, how alarming are the words of the Gemara (Sotah 48) on the verse "For who has despised the day of small things" (Zechariah 4:10) - Who caused the righteous that their table should be despised in the future? Smallness of faith that was in them. And it is a wonder, are we talking here about the righteous, and yet they are accused of smallness of faith? But as explained, the small tests of faith that occur unexpectedly and provoke us to anger and strictness are very difficult to constantly overcome. From time to time we are defeated, perhaps because we forget His supervision, but we must be prepared and ready for the frequent and common situations that befall people daily, otherwise, our table will be despised in the future.

How easy it is today to fall into heretical thoughts. We are surrounded by people distant from faith, media hostile to faith and religion. Every sentence on the radio explodes with heresy, so that Hashem's name is not mentioned and not heard by them, and all their interpretations follow coincidence and nature. As our sages foretold, especially the "Holy Ohr HaChaim," that in the end of days the struggle will be with the fifty gates of impurity. And it is explained in the words of the Rabbi from Kamarna in his book "Asirit Ha'eifa" and in many other teachings of the world's greats (see the booklet "Balot Hashachar" where we expanded on the words of the great and holy of Israel with their holy spirit on the war of faith in the footsteps of the Messiah), that the fiftieth gate of impurity is heresy and apostasy. The reason we need to contend with the fiftieth gate is because we are standing before the fiftieth gate of holiness, which cannot be achieved unless we contend with the gate opposite it, and in the victory we will merit the judgment.

What Merit Does Our Generation Have to Witness the Coming of the Messiah?

And here we come to elucidate the question asked by most of the people in the world, and it is: How and why does our generation merit to witness the coming of the Messiah more than all the preceding generations? After all, the previous generations were a thousand degrees better than us in their holiness and righteousness, and yet our generation is overwhelmed by impure forces the likes of which never existed?!

And the answer to this: It is this very thing! For on the one hand, we are poor and destitute, our wisdom has faded, our understanding is lacking, we are weak in faith and character - and on the other hand, the trials attack with enormous force that even the early generations could have been frightened and collapsed from such trials. Thus, in our generation, both weaknesses have combined: our weakness and incapacity alongside intense and frequent trials. And if we stand nevertheless, then we are distinguished more than all previous generations, and on the contrary, for us, it is fitting and justified to grant the reward of the vision of redemption, for every small overcoming from us flows from simple and complete faith and from practical self-sacrifice, for our understanding is very poor, and our actions are not from understanding but from our simple faith and our self-sacrifice in simplicity. And this is the most exhausting work of all generations, necessary now before the revelation of the light of redemption.

In one word, Habakkuk the prophet summarized the secret and essence of our continuity in the last generation: "The righteous lives by his faith" (Habakkuk 2:4), as brought in the Gemara (Makkot 24), and as commentators explained: "Habakkuk came and established it on one," which is faith. And not that, God forbid, there is a lessening in the fulfillment of all other commandments, but through our strengthening and focusing on this point, we will naturally fulfill all commandments easily and peacefully.

And the explanation of his words as mentioned: "The righteous," who is called righteous and how can one attain the title of righteous in this generation - who is it that "lives by his faith," that faith is truly his life, clinging to it like air to breath, and in all his ways and steps remembers His supervision, who watches over him in the minutest detail and does everything for his good, he shall be called "righteous" as we elaborated above in the earlier chapters, so the intention is not that one who is already righteous is the one who lives by his faith, for then what shall be with the rest of humanity, but the intention is who is it that will attain the title of righteous - he who lives by his faith, thus this counsel and solution is for every person wherever he is, if he strengthens in his faith and lives with it - by the name righteous he shall be called.

According to the Gemara above, that even the righteous may have their table despised in the future due to their smallness of faith, Habakkuk's verse gains new significance: "The righteous lives by his faith" - that is to say, even one who is righteous and meticulous in commandments, all his "life," that is his future world, which then is the essence of life, depends on his faith. Faith is the measure for the status of the righteous in the next world.

Come and see what is called faith. It is said in the prophet (Isaiah 50:10): "Who walks in darkness and has no brightness, let him trust in the name of Hashem and lean on his God." Faith means: When a person is found in a situation of walking in darkness - seemingly darkness and gloom around him, and not only that but he sees absolutely no reality that can illuminate for him, nevertheless let him trust in the name of Hashem and lean on his God. (Rabbi Yitzhak Levenshtein, of blessed memory)

This article is excerpted from the book "Living with Faith." To purchase Rabbi Yaakov Israel Lugasi's book, click here.