When Will Moshiach Come?

We mourn for the next three weeks the destruction of Yerushalayim and subsequently the Beis Hamikdash.

When will Moshiach come? My thoughts.....

There is one person who loves you more than anyone else in the world, who would do anything for you, feels all of your pain together with the joy of your successes, someone who always has time for you. Someone who would never look at his phone if you would call and not answer because you weren't important enough for him. Someone who dreams for you what you dream for yourself. Someone who you can trust will never abandon you and will remain faithful until the very end.

Who IS this special person??

You. [BUM-MER!]

The question is - is there anybody else like that?

A disturbing observation I have made: There are very few people who can be what I described for someone else. Let's take parents for instance: When one is a child so many parents are just not there for their children, be it emotionally, or that they are too busy, or that they super impose their own preconceived notions on their children or so many other parental failings which all amount to the fact that the child feels distant, abandoned, unloved or misunderstood by his mother/father or both. I have observed this countless times in the innumerable youngsters I have met over the years. When the kids get older they often live their own lives so distant from their parents both geographically and emotionally. There is an old expression: One mother can take care of ten children but ten children can't take care of one mother. People are self absorbed. "Go to Florida, Mom". They don't want to be bothered. [Of course there are many exceptions but I describe a common reality].

What about siblings? When they are young they often quarrel, when they get older they move apart [again] both geographically and emotionally. So many family politics and personal hurts and scars.

Spouses: I know so many couples that live together in the same structure we call a "house" but the hearts are not one. Big topic that requires expansion.

Friends: What can I tell you sweetest friends, it is hard to find friends who you are assured love you and will always be there for you and vice versa. A friend who you can call at 2am because you need to talk and s/he will groggily pick up the phone and say "I am so happy you called". Someone who you can borrow 20k [if you need it] and you know that he is sooooo happy to help and he knows that you will pay him back because your friendship is an eternal covenant based on mutual trust. A person who will come to your simcha and stay from beginning to end because your simcha is his simcha - and you to his. Somebody whom you could tell that you are offended and you don't have to worry about it turning into a fight because he loves you and getting defensive is never an expression of love.

My point - there are so many barriers between people. Not only strangers but even people close to us. Parents and children. Siblings. Other relatives. Friends. Talmid and Rebbi. So many barriers. Does it sound like this pains me??

One of the deficiencies [how on earth do you say chesronos in English??] of the written word is that it cannot adequately express feelings as well as one can do so orally, or at least I lack that skill. So I can't express how much it pains me.

An anecdote I have repeated many times: When Neil Armstrong reached the moon, a journalist asked Rav Kahaneman, the Ponevitcher Rosh Yeshiva, what he thought. He answered that man can get all the way to the moon but לב אל לב לא נגעו - peoples hearts are so far from each other.

What is Eliyahu Hanavi going to do when he finally comes to tell us about the geula? Give a shiur klali on the topic of מיגו נגד עדים or classify different categories of רוב? No. Those are lovely endeavors but Eliyahu has a much more important job.

והשיב לב אבות על בנים ולב בנים על אבותם - to bring parents and children together and to make peace in the world [please see the Mishna in Edyos 8/7 and the Maharal in Netzach Yisrael Ch. 43].

Maybe he is waiting for us to take the first step.......