Why Is Moshiach Not Coming? Some Mussar For Those Who Can Take It...

For those who can't - skip this one. I need the mussar so I will think aloud.

Maybe Moshiach isn't here yet....

Because Hashem wants us to be happy when Moshiach comes. But the way many people are - if they have nobody to dislike they can't be happy and when Moshiach comes all disharmony will end.

Jews. We can't get along.

That was facetious [although there was a lot of truth to the joke].... More seriously:

People don't really want it. Moshiach means returning to Israel. People don't really want to live in Israel. If they did - they would. Some people have a heter not to come. Others don't. How many people asked a shyla? "Rabbi ... - Should I move to Israel?"

The sin for which the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed was sinas chinam. It is ALIVE and well, even among religious Jews. Even those who don't HATE other people - how much do we really care about other people? How do we treat the nebuch who knocks on our door? How critical are we of people who aren't fortunate enough to live and think like us? How much sleep do we lose at night worrying about OTHER PEOPLE'S problems? How many shidduchim do we try to make for lonely people. I have been told too many times by older singles that nobody seems to care.

When we see a clearly frum person waiting for a bus  - how often do we stop and offer a ride? I don't get it - it doesn't cost anything, takes no more than 10 seconds for him to get in and yet almost nobody stops - even for people asking for a hitch. Far less than 1 percent of cars that pass by hitchhikers stop. זה נהנה וזה לא חסר! The gemara calls it middas Sodom! Why not stop and redeem a person from his suffering?? If someone is afraid that it is an Arab disguised as a Jew - give him a quick quiz. Ask him what we answer to ברכו את השם המבורך. If he knows - he is one of us. Imagine if a JEW had stopped a little over a year ago and given those three boys a ride. Jews drove by and didn't stop. Only the Arabs stopped - in order to kidnap and kill them.

How often do we screen our calls and not answer if we can see no gain that we will get from answering. How immersed are we in ourselves??

Too much.

Are we ready? I am not sure.

Moshiach is a period of pure ruchniyos לא יהיה עסק העולם אלא לדעת את ה' בלבד - The entire world will only be interested in pursuing knowledge of Hashem. How much are we interested NOW in knowledge of Hashem? How much time do we waste on silly nonsense? How much do we care about our obligation to master the entire Torah?? How do people have TIME for Facebook and other nonsense. Don't they realize how short life is, how valuable time is, how it can never be recovered, how the fate of mankind is in OUR hands as Hashem's chosen people. I once in my adult life went to a Knicks game at the Garden [for kiruv purposes - for the record it failed. The Knicks won but the boy is lost....]. Why are there so many kippot and covered hair at the game? If one works during the day the only time to learn is at night. But to instead be in a room with 20 thousand goyim and getting excited over a silly game is beyond my understanding. [Note: I am not against down time, relaxation and recreation. We all need it and should enjoy it. The question is what where who and how].

70 plus years ago we were burned in Aushwitz by goyim for being Jewish. What do we need to assimilate for? We survived and ultimately succeeded in America to make a lot of money. So shouldn't we show our appreciation of Hashem's grace by being more Jewish and not part of the gentile culture? People are VERY COMFORTABLE in the non-Jewish world. We shouldn't be comfortable. It is not our orbit. It should be completely foreign to us as their value system is antithetical to ours. And how do people spend hundreds of dollars on one game? For this we have money? There are no poor people left in Klal Yisrael? No hospitals? No Tomchei Shabbos? Stay home, watch the game on TV, make popcorn, scream at the ref. and send the 500 dollars the game cost to a poor family in Williamsburg. You have to get out? Go out walk around and come home. You got the game, enjoyed popcorn, got out a bit and a family in Williamsburg can make Shabbos. I don't get it. What are people thinking?

I do get it. They are not thinking like me....

There is an explanation. We have strayed because we are human and the world offers us challenges we don't always meet with such success. We are not always aware that we are being challenged. We often "go with the flow".

If someone really cares about the churban beis hamikdash and the galus, he needs to spend the next few weeks pondering his existence, his set of priorities, his level of belief and practice, his generosity and goodness and his love for others. A person can examine how much he is a body and how much a soul. The truth is that the body is just a כלי - a vessel, for the soul [the word גוף comes from the word מגופה which means covering as in מגופת החבית].

All we are left with at the end is our soul. Our body in a relatively very short time is goin' doooowwwnnn. Mine too. I am not excited about it as I like my body but that is exactly the problem. We are too much in love with our bodies. Nobody is expected to be Rav Shteinman and live on almost no food [no cake, no coffee or tea. Almost nothing. Just some crumbs and milk to keep him alive. Really.] and no sleep for ninety plus years but we CAN be a bit more spiritually inclined.

And of course when we are it must be done BI-SIMCHA. Simcha that we are Jews. Simcha that we are a holy people. Simcha that we are not selfish. Simcha that we have a higher purpose. Simcha that every day we are growing closer and closer to Hashem.

If we change our attitude enough then we will make ourselves worthy of the geula ha-shleima. It is up to us. Hashem would LOVE to redeem the world because he LOVES his creatures. But if we are not ready then it is like eating a banana before it ripens. Very foul taste. Who wants a foul tasting geula?

May a sweet, delicious geula come speedily in our days!!