Experience it, Celebrate it, Hasten it. - Pesach (2) 5785

 Happy Chol Hamoed (the intermediate days of Pesach.)

There is an age-old custom that was originally secret and known only to great Kabbalists.  The Baal Shem Tov revealed it to the community, and over the years it has become increasingly popular.  This custom gradually spread throughout the Chassidic world over the generations, and has now been accepted amongst a broad range of Jewish communities.

I am referring to the Feast of Moshiach, celebrated at the end of Pesach, this year on the coming Sunday in the early evening.  I can't think of a more moving and inspiring way to end this beautiful holiday.  We eat Matzah and drink four cups of wine, similar to the Seder at the very beginning of the holiday.  What is the meaning of this celebration and why are we having a meal for Moshiach who has not yet been revealed?

As we know Pesach is the holiday of liberation, when Hashem sent Moshe to us and took us out of the bitter Egyptian exile.  This was followed by the giving of the Torah, building the Mishkan (sanctuary) and then entering and inhabiting the Holy Land.  Chassidic tradition teaches that while the focus of the Seders and  the first days of the holiday are on the Exodus, the last two days of the holiday also focus on the future redemption by Moshiach.

We see this in the Torah readings of the seventh and eighth days of Pesach.  On the seventh we read the story of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds (AKA the Red Sea), that happened on the seventh day of Pesach. At the time of that great miraculous event, the “heavens were opened” and the hidden light of Hashem was revealed on earth.  This was a “preview” of how the world will be after the coming of Moshiach

On the eighth and final day of Pesach the Haftorah (reading from the Prophets) is all about Moshiach.  Isaiah tells us what kind of person he will be, how he will transform the world, and the lofty state of the world after redemption.  This portion of Isaiah is read on this day,as taught by the Baal Shem Tov, because the last day of Pesach is associated with the future redemption.   

Egypt was the first exile of our people and set the tone for all the later exiles.  The redemption by Moshe, although thousands of years ago, is considered the gateway to the future redemption by Moshiach.  (The details of this concept are too much for this writing.)

What will happen in the future redemption mirrors what happened at the Exodus.  Hashem will send Moshiach to redeem us from our suffering, and the spiritual and physical darkness that it entails.  He will teach us new mystical insights into the Torah that have never before been revealed.  Moshiach will build the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and gather all the exiles from around the world to return to the Holy Land.

The question remains however, how can we celebrate a feast of Moshiach before he comes.  Here also we look at parallels between the two redemptions, one in the past and one in the future.  The Haggadah tells us that in every generation each of us is obligated to see ourselves as if we personally left Egypt.  The many customs of the Seder are designed to get us to feel that personal freedom - the wine, the Matzah, the leaning while eating and drinking them, the recounting of the Exodus story, and the atmosphere of the Seder itself.  While we sit here in exile, we create an experience that helps us really feel the redemption that our forefathers enjoyed, and that impacts us every day in our own lives.

The Feast of Moshiach is designed to put us into a mindset that celebrates Moshiach and the redemption even before we see it with our eyes.  We may be in exile, and as the Haggadah tells us, the bitterness of the exile and attempts to wipe us out are in every single generation, we look beyond the pain and the darkness with full faith that the redemption is close.  More than that, we envision the redemption and “see it” as a reality.  

The truth is that the world was created and is constantly sustained directly by Hashem, it’s just hidden from us, and what we experience is purely the physical, with all its problems.  If we were able to see the truth as it is, beyond the superficial, we would see Hashem’s energy in everything.  Until Moshiach comes, that reality is hidden and there is real darkness and real exile.  Moshiach will change all of that and reveal the true essence of the world.

So as the holiday of redemption draws to a close, after we have celebrated and personally experienced something that we don’t physically see - an event that happened in the past, we celebrate and experience an event that we can’t yet physically see - an event that will happen in the future.  The additional benefit of this feast is that envisioning and experiencing the future redemption itself helps bring Moshiach’s actual redemption, because it lifts us to a higher spiritual level, which in turn lifts the world around us.

We are now on the threshold of Moshiach.  We see that in all the prophecies and predictions in the Prophets’ words, in the Talmud and the Midrash.  This is why the Feast of Moshiach has become so widespread in our generation.  The event is closer than ever, and the celebration is greater than ever.  May we celebrate Moshiach’s Feast this year with Moshiach himself.