Tefillah - 044 Redemption Unfolding and The Decree on Torah Jewry

Salvation Is Hidden

ומצמיח ישועה – Hashem “grows the salvation.” Earlier in Shemoneh Esrei, in the first blessing, we also mention how Hashem is our savior, our "מלך עוזר ומושיע". We again mentioned the concept of yeshuah\salvation before in the words "רב להושיע". Here we again mention the concept of yeshuah, of Hashem’s salvation, but we add on a different point: that Hashem is “growing” the salvation.

What does it mean that Hashem is always growing salvation? It seems more like a lofty concept, a matter of esoteric thought, which doesn’t seem to have practical ramifications in our life. A person tends to think that the yeshuah will come eventually, but as of right now, it is of no relevance to today. After all – the yeshuah hasn’t come yet; Moshiach isn’t here yet. Of what relevance is that Hashem keeps growing salvation – מצמיח ישועה?

It is written, “In Your salvation, we await.” We keep awaiting Hashem’s salvation. It is not just that we have faith that the future salvation will come; we await it – in other words, the salvation is always growing. This is the meaning ofומצמיח ישועה. Every second, the salvation is growing and forming. So the fact that Hashem is always growing the salvation doesn’t mean that Moshiach is always coming today; he will only come once, in the future. Rather, the meaning is that our salvation is always being grown.

Before a crop is ripe, it is preceded by a shell. The shell that comes before the fruit is a metaphor for the current rimes, in which we await Moshiach, while the fruit that emerges is a hint to Moshiach’s arrival. Thus, the salvation is really here, but it is hidden and covered over. In the future, the shell will be removed, and the salvation will be opened and revealed. There is always a salvation going on, just we can’t see it so obviously; it is within a concealment. But it is always taking place. Thus, Hashem is מצמיח ישועה – there is always a salvation that is growing and taking place, in the hidden layer of reality, and not in the opened layer of reality that we see.

We can find this illustrated in the following story of the Torah. For 22 years, Yaakov mourned Yosef. As he mourned, the roots of the salvation were taking place. Yosef was imprisoned, and this led to him becoming advisor of Pharoah and eventually kind of Egypt. Yaakov Avinu is mourning him for 22 years, thinking that all is lost, while in reality, Yosef [a hint to Moshiach, whom Yosef is the ancestor of] is really being saved and his redemption is being formed. Hashem was growing the salvation for all those years that Yaakov is mourning over his loss.

Salvation and The Future Redemption, Unfolding

When a person hears about the idea of having a yeshuah\salvation, he tends to think of it as a matter of thought, but not as something that is practically relevant in his life. He thinks that the yeshuah will eventually come in the future, as we know and hope for, but as of right now, can it really be that Hashem is growing forth the salvation…? A person tends to be skeptical.

We must understand the following. When a person plants a seed in the ground, the growth process is of no use to him unless the ripe crop emerges. When Hashem constantly plants the seeds of salvation, though, even the planting of the salvation is already a kind of salvation. We are able to have some degree of salvation even if the total salvation of Moshiach hasn’t yet come. When Moshiach comes, it will be the geulah shelaimah, the complete redemption; but we can still have a degree of redemption in our situations, even if it’s not a complete redemption.

On the outside layer of things, there doesn’t appear to be any salvation going on in reality. But in the inner layer of reality, the salvation is always growing.

When someone lives superficially, all he sees is the external layer of the reality in front of him; he does not see any salvation going on. He might long for the redemption, but as far as he’s concerned, “Moshiach isn’t here.” But when someone lives an inner kind of life, although he lives here on this earth just like anyone else, at the same time, he lives in an inner layer of reality, in a world of inner solitude with the depths of his soul. In that inner place, he can always see how the salvation is being grown. He sees the ongoing salvation as something that not only exists, but as something that is revealed in the reality of his life.

When someone lives superficially – especially in our generation, where superficiality means that a person has no sensitivity whatsoever to spiritual feelings – then he follows the crowd of the rest of the generation, and he simply isn’t sensitive to a deeper meaning of reality. If someone is aware of the inner layer of reality and lives with it, he sees how there is always a salvation taking place; he sees how the light of Hashem is constantly shining.

The Maharal says that in the era preceding Moshiach, there will be a “growth” of a salvation that we first go through. First we see the salvation growing and forming, more and more, until we finally merit the complete salvation, which will be the future redemption.

Jewish Souls Are Being Destroyed Today By The Outside Influences

The Greek exile took place when we were in Eretz Yisrael and we had a Beis HaMikdash. In our times, when we are in Eretz Yisrael, we are also in the midst of an exile - and it is a very bitter one.

There are decrees being made on us. But all these decrees, as terrible as they are, are not even the depth of this exile! The decrees are only the external part of this exile. The real part of this exile is that so many neshamos (Jewish souls) are being burned up [by the secular influence]! and in fact, they have alreadyburned up most neshamos!!

The Chazon Ish said that one shouldn’t be afraid of the decrees they make on religion; if that is what someone is afraid of, he is mistaken, because he is unaware of the main problem. Anyone with a little feeling for holiness can see how most neshamos have already been burned [by the secular influence]!

Most of the neshamos that are being burned up are those who are from the Torah world! This ‘burning of neshamos’ taking place is not only referring to people who live outside the world of Torah. Most people are not aware that Jewish neshamos are being burned - people simply think that it is simply a war being decreed on religion. But it is much worse than that.

Who can’t tell of the burning that is taking place? All of the evil from the outside society has now entered into the Torah world and influencing people.

We Must Go Through A Massive, Internal Change

Do we really want to leave the current lifestyle and return to living an inner kind of life??

It is true that those who are outside the Torah world will have to do teshuvah in order to be saved. But even those who are on the inside [the frum, Torah world] also have to do teshuvah; because the whole way of life now that people are living is wrong!

We are not presenting here a new path to take. We are describing here how we need to follow in the footsteps of our Avos. We need to ask ourselves, “How did our Avos live?” The whole way that the generation lives today needs to change.

The Sages state that the Jews living in Persia were deserving of the decree of death, “because they enjoyed the banquet of that wicked one [Achashveirosh].” Of this entire generation, it can be said that “they enjoyed the banquet of that wicked one.”  People are enjoying the false lifestyle of this generation.

Hashem gives us all the power of free choice. A person therefore can recognize very well what he’s “eating”…

If someone searches for the truth, he must make the following reflection: we are the children of Hashem, as we know from the possuk, “You are children to Hashem your G-d.” In this generation, we have become very distanced from the level of being “children” to Hashem. This exile has confused us a lot and made us forget about our dignified status; we do not realize that we are really the dignified children of Hashem.

Hashem is calling out to each Jew. It is unbefitting for us to wallow in the empty pursuits of this generation.

Returning To The “Desert” Again To Accept the Torah         

We need to ask ourselves: What would any of the leaders of the past do in a generation like this? What would the Chasam Sofer have done?

Parnassah (making a living) should not be the main point of our life…

We have only one true option: we need to choose the right way to live life. We need to accept the Torah again anew, just as the Jews in Persia did after they were saved from Haman’s decree. They returned to their acceptance of the Torah and gave up their previous lifestyle of enjoying Achashveirosh’s party.

When you re-accept the Torah, you need to feel exactly as the Jewish people felt when they stood at Har Sinai in the desert. You have to be willing to go to the desert again and give up your previous lifestyle. You have to be prepared to abandon everything you’re used to – this whole world of falsity we live in.

Hashem wants to take us out of the current lifestyle of this generation. Our main salvation will not be in escaping the decrees that are being made on us. The decrees on us are terrible, but this is not the main evil “decree” upon us; the main evil decree we are going through is that the generation lives a very false kind of life. We must be able to abandon it.

We must abandon this kind of life, of which “having parnassah” has become the main part of life, so that we can reaccept the Torah again, by returning to the “desert” where we stood at Har Sinai. We have to be able to leave behind the current lifestyle that we recognize, which is already in the “50^th Gate of Impurity.”

The Torah World Must Now Make Sacrifices

The main introspection needs to be made by those who are in the Torah world, that we must examine our lifestyle and be willing to undergo an internal change. When we are going through a decree like this, we need to apply the possuk, “What does Hashem ask of you…so that You fear me.”

If a person has even a minimal amount of feelings for holiness, he can hear Hashem calling to us to return, and to leave the crooked way of life that this exile has caused us to live with.

In the prayer of Av HaRachamim on Shabbos, we mention how the previous generations gave their lives to sanctify Hashem’s Name. We are in a time in which we need to be willing to make the sacrifice and disconnect ourselves from the current lifestyle, a generation which is in the 50^th Gate of Impurity.

This is not some kind of extreme chumra (stringency). It sounds extreme only to those who aren’t searching for the truth.

Not only does Hashem want the decrees upon us to end; He wants that we change our lifestyle totally, and return to the true kind of life.

(These days, if a person walks into a beis midrash, he can’t even tell who is a real “Chareidi” and who isn’t….)[1]

In Conclusion

May we merit to live the true kind of life, and to merit a degree of salvation, ומצמיח ישועה – even if we do not merit to see the complete redemption in our times, we can at least merit a degree of salvation, by disconnecting ourselves from the false lifestyle of this generation, and to instead see the salvation that takes place in the inner layer of reality.

Although this will not be a complete redemption, at least it will be a partial redemption to our soul. If we merit even that partial redemption in our souls, we can then merit the fulfillment of the possuk, “The salvation of Hashem can come in the blink of an eye.”