The Significance of Invisibilty

Jews are likened to the moon. But to which phase of it - the new moon or the full moon? During the new moon, when it "renews" itself, we cannot see the moon, or just a speck of it. During the full moon, it brightens the sky in all its glory.

You might therefore be surprised that when they pray monthly to sanctify the moon, Jews wish
"... that they will be renewed like the moon."
שהם עתידים להתחדש כמותה

This prayer references the periods of rule under King David and King Solomon when the Jewish kingdom reigned supreme in the world. The Era of Redemption soon to render its full impact will outdo the former periods of Jewish heyday, even outdoing the experience of Jewish souls when they were still fused with God before the world's creation was even considered - impossible as that is to conceive.

Why should renewal of the moon suggest a bright era Jews would yearn for? After all, during its renewal, the the moon is concealed from view? Wouldn't the full moon serve as a better metaphor?

Imagine this: You discover a beloved of yours, whom you haven't seen for very many years, is coming to visit you. In your ecstasy, you can hardly wait to meet that person. Meanwhile you cannot make contact with that person for a protracted time because of the individual's long flight and traveling to and from airports.

Now I ask you: Will you not be utterly excited during this entire waiting period? Your connection with that cherished individual - now - is immense. Not because later with that beloved you will feel great, but because now, even as you cannot be with the person but only feel his or her presence, your essential bond with that person reverberates and almost overwhelms you.

Similarly with Jews and the moon. During the new moon, the essence of that feature, in that it symbolizes the Era of Redemption for world Jewry, is best felt, because during those protracted hours, you know, by virtue of its invisibility, that soon it will be seen.

The bright shine of a full moon will grace the sky, but knowing the new moon has now been born is the essence, the root, of this progressive phenomenon. All that will occur later is as if it's included in its birth.

The Era of Redemption has arrived for world Jewry - said the Rebbe of Lubavitch. That we cannot yet visualize it in its full glory will not discourage us. On the contrary, trust the Rebbe, anticipate it and recognize it in its bloom, and ponder all that now transpires - transpires for the sake of the Jewish nation's ultimate redemption, and much more.

Later, once the world has been elevated to its more sublime existential nature, (to one higher yet than experienced by Adam and Eve), then will the true supernatural aspects of this universe become palpable. But meanwhile, for a protracted, relatively brief phase, as the Era of Redemption unfolds before our very eyes, the world still appears to follow all the "natural" laws.