Is it Time to Turn On the Pressure?

There needs to be some "trigger" for the Redemption to take place that will finally get all Jews aboard the bandwagon wishing to see that era materialize. Because as of now, plenty of Jews are just fine with WHERE they are and with WHAT they are doing and with HOW things are going rather smoothly for them. These Jews cannot be bothered with a quaint mystical concept heavy on the spirituality but light on physicality. They cannot deal with a prospect that trivializes secularity and holds the same prognosis for money as it does for dust. The magnificence of that utopia attracts them much as would a doomsday.

We can learn something about that "trigger" if we reflect upon the 10th of Tevet, when the Babylonians set a siege around Jerusalem - which then led to the breach of its walls, the burning of Jerusalem, the 1st exile of the Jews, the Second Temple's lesser status and the final, longest exile ever, which exists until today.

The Rebbe explains how Hashem brought the cure of the plague even before He brought the plague. The cure was the siege itself of that day. The siege should have served to promote unity among Jews. Furthermore, it could have provided an atmosphere imbued with holiness.

Being surrounded should have spawned unity and free love among fellow Jews, and the fear of heaven could have supplemented their unity with sacred worship.

The plague was the breach into Jerusalem and the awful sequel of events, that propagated until our present day. Had they behaved in a desirable way, the exiles could have well been eliminated.

In other words, because they were surrounded and had no place to go but stay within the city's walls, and because the atmosphere in Jerusalem gave tangible expression of God's presence, the situation was actually quite ripe and amenable to express to another Jew your brotherly love. And because the first Beit Hamikdash stood in all its glory, in a city that reverberated with fear of God, that brotherly love could have been enhanced with religious activity.

Like when Hashem first just made it rain, hoping the people would abandon their evil ways, before turning on the faucets full blast to bring the Great Flood. The siege should have been enough of a signal and incentive to turn away from transgression, but alas here we are today yearning for another chance to commune with Jews and God in a holy union.

Perhaps then, because many Jews are outside the circle of this yearning state, and that includes many of us who express that yearning more from the lips outward than from within, God will create a situation that will force us to rethink our desire to stick it out in exile.

Just how that will manifest I have no idea, but a situation may well come about to strongly hint to us that we must abandon the exile mentality and be ready to pack our bags. Instead of just a hint, Hashem may even begin twisting our arms.

However Hashem creates this trigger, the sooner the better.

By the way, the Previous Rebbe speaks of this "turning up the pressure" phenomenon as the logistics involved in bringing about the Era of Ultimate Redemption - here.