{"id":68899,"date":"2020-01-22T13:38:20","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T11:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=68899"},"modified":"2023-08-16T10:35:11","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T07:35:11","slug":"enabling-the-messiah-in-waiting-among-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/enabling-the-messiah-in-waiting-among-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Enabling The Messiah-In-Waiting Among Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[643,402,500],"acf":{"old_id":"68899","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"400","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Focusing on the \u201chow,\u201d for now","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we conclude the Book of Isaiah and reflect on the sixty-six chapters alternating between rebuke of misbehavior and God\u2019s promise of redemption and the Messianic era, we once again ask, \u201cWhat does God really want from us?\u201d; \u201cWhat can we really anticipate in the times of Messiah?\u201d; and \u201cWhen will that be?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To the first question, God gives us a very precise and elegantly simple answer, but first, He tells us what\u2019s not important. It\u2019s not temples and sacrifices, for God\u2019s presence already fills the physical and spiritual universe. God asks, \u201cWhat house could you possibly build for me (66:1)?\u201d on which Rav Shimon Schwab expounds that the Temple was never intended as a \u201cresting place\u201d for God where people would visit, go through the motions, and then leave to carry on in whatever manner they wished. Rather it was intended to be the place that is dedicated to God\u2019s ideals, \u201cfrom where people are to take these ideals home with them and put them into practice.\u201d So, what <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">does<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> God want? He distills it down to just one all-encompassing word in verse 2 \u2013 humility. God wants us to be a nation that cares about His words and strives to meaningfully act on them, in terms of both our relationship to God and to each other.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To the questions about what to expect in Messianic times and when to expect it, Maimonides (in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hilchot Melachim, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Laws of Kings) cautions us that since no one really knows what those days will look like until they happen, we should refrain from spending too much time considering it. Rather we should focus on what we can do now in order to get there. Likewise, fifteenth century commentator Rav Isaac Arama said in his Torah commentary, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Akeidat Yitchak,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that by trying to pinpoint the precise time of the arrival of Messiah we abrogate our current responsibility to bring Messiah. So, in effect, the harder we try to understand the \u201cwhat and when\u201d of Messianic times, the farther away from us it gets. Rather we need to continually focus on the \u201chow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our tradition is to believe that in every generation a potential Messiah is born. So, it\u2019s not really the Messiah that we\u2019re awaiting. The stumbling block is our own readiness to recognize the righteous leadership among us and seize all opportunities to follow their lead and bring ourselves closer to God. Then the Messiah-in-waiting can lead us to our destiny.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":68900,"id":68900,"title":"is66-hourglass","filename":"is66-hourglass.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is66-hourglass.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/enabling-the-messiah-in-waiting-among-us\/is66-hourglass\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is66-hourglass","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":68899,"date":"2020-01-22 11:38:05","modified":"2022-12-04 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