Pesach Sheni:
The Power to Disrupt the Galus and Usher in the Geula is in Each of Us!
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
In the coming week we will celebrate Pesach Sheni. It has already been 30 years since the Chof Ches Nissan where the Rebbe gave us the mandate to bring Moshiach. Many look around and ask: Knowing all my faults, do I have the power to bring the Moshiach? If the Rebbe, after so many years of effort, didn't bring Moshiach 30 years ago how could I with my mitzvah plant the seeds of the geula that will transform galus to geula. Am I in any position to be making demands?
The truth is that this type of thinking is nothing more than our evil inclination putting us down with negative talk, telling us we have too many faults. It can get us down, thinking we’ll never accomplish that which we set out to do. The Rebbe sees the true inner power of the neshama of each Jew. He shows us that we have the power within us to do everything to fulfil the desire of Hashem for creation, to make a dwelling place with the coming of Moshiach. We have the power to break through the walls of golus and we have every right to demand Moshiach.
Pesach Sheni teaches us that despite any personal faults or impurities, we each have the power to demand planted firmly within us. A year after leaving Egypt, the Jewish people brought the Pesach offering in the desert. Some Jews had become ritually unclean and couldn’t bring the Pesach offering. They complained to Moshe and Aaron: “Why should we be deprived of bringing the offering of the Hashem among the children of Israel?” What was their question? They knew they were impure and therefore couldn’t bring it, so what were they trying to say? Hashem saw the heart of these people, their sincerity saying even though we are impure, please don’t deprive us of this. Hashem answered: “If any person of you or your future generations shall be impure or on a distant journey, he shall make the Pesach offering on the fourteenth day of the second month (Iyar).” A Jew who couldn’t offer the Pesach sacrifice was given a second chance a month later. The essence of Pesach Sheni is thus (in the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe): “It’s never too late. It’s always possible to put things right. Even if one was impure or far away, and even when the impurity was deliberate, nonetheless, he can correct it.”
The second pasuk in the Parsha of Kedoshim says that we should be holy because Hashem is holy. Because a Jew has a G-dly soul he is connected with Hashem and therefore everything positive we do has an impact. The only reason we don’t see and feel that impact is because the body and it’s physicality conceals. This however doesn’t change the fact that we have that connection and power to transform galus and geula by learning the Torah and doing mitzvos. The problem we have is that we view geula as a dream and galus as the reality. The Rebbe has the opposite view that Moshiach is the reality and the galus is a dream as the pasuk says: “When Hashem returns the returnees to Zion, we shall be like dreamers..” The way to get out of the dream of galus and connect to and reveal the true reality of Moshiach, first within ourselves and then in the world, is by learning the Rebbe’s Chassidus and about geula. The Rebbe then puts us on the Rebbe’s shoulders, gives us a new vision and goes together with us to the geula.
Pesach Sheni teaches that the Jews demanded and their demand was accepted, and Pesach Sheni was granted. So too with the geula. We are taught that all tumah will be removed and everyone be healed both physically and spiritually from the sickness of galus by the revelation of G-dliness which will follow the revelation of Moshiach.
Thus, it is the duty of every Jew to cry out and demand, Why should we be deprived? Why should we be deprived of serving G-d in the manner He Himself commanded? Why should a Jew be deprived of the opportunity to live out his or her lifetime in grateful fulfillment of Hashem’s desire of being revealed in this lowly world which includes all of our physical and spiritual needs? We ask Hashem to disrupt the darkness of galus. We pray to Hashem to fulfill His promises now. We’ve waited long enough. We want Moshiach now.
A Good Shabbos