Q:
Why didn’t Moshiach come yet?
A:
The answer is that he wants to give you a chance to accomplish something in life. You should know, that when Moshiach comes, most people won’t be able to accomplish anything. It’s right now, before Moshiach comes, that you have the great opportunity to accomplish and make something out of yourself.
Here; you walk in the street – you have a beard, you have payos and a black hat. Everybody hates you. They look at you with disgust. It’s wonderful! It’s really wonderful. You ignore them and you fortify yourself in the knowledge that you are serving Hashem. The more they despise you, the bigger the reward. It’s such an opportunity. You walk in the subway – as soon as you walk in nobody wants to look at you. Everyone hates you. Boruch Hashem, it’s a wonderful thing.
But that’s in this world. When Moshiach comes, you’ll walk into the subway and everyone is going to get up for you. There’ll be no more schar. There’ll be no more reward for being a good Jew when it’s so easy. Li’fum tzara agra. The reward is according to the difficulty. Now it’s difficult, so now is the time when we want to live. What’s the hurry for Moshiach? Of course, he should come and we won’t stop him from coming. We won’t be able to help ourselves. But enjoy life right now. It’s so good to walk in the street and be a frum Jew today – to be loyal to Hashem when faced with all of our detractors.
And it happens to all of us. I was walking across the street and an Italian bum was sitting in his car waiting for the red light to change. So in order to frighten me he causes his car to jerk forward quickly and then make a short stop. To frighten me! This happened to me recently. I looked at him and he was acting as if he didn’t see me – making believe. And his wife is sitting next to him and she is laughing. So I said quietly to myself, “Ribono Shel Olam. I don’t want to do any harm to him. His foot should come off just above the knee – that’s all. More than that I don’t want. What could he do? He has a goyishe head. So just above the knee it should come off. That’s enough.”
And I want to tell you something: He’d be lucky if it happens because if he waits for Gehenim it will be a pity on him. It would be a very big chesed for him if he loses his foot right now.
TAPE # E-239 (July 2000)
