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Demanding Moshiach by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg
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"What right do we have to demand Moshiach? Isn't it presumptuous and blasphemous to tell G-d what to do?" This question, which, in most cases emanates from the more "frum" community could be addressed in several ways. a) If you don't like the word "demand," don't demand, but ask, beg, implore, beseech, cry, wail, pray. Our problem is not that we're too overbearing with G-d when it comes to Moshiach, but that we put too little emphasis on our requests for Redemption. We've resigned ourselves to Golus and our prayers for Geulah are often said, in a perfunctory manner. At the very least, the emphasis on demanding has raised the consciousness of the Jewish community and of every individual, to take the issue of Moshiach more seriously. b) The entire Siddur, Tehillim, Tanach is replete with the demands of people to Hashem to grant us our requests and to bring the Redemption, as in the Biblical expression: "Ad Mosai!" 1 c) Demanding Moshiach, and all that it entails, is a halachic imperative. The Midrash, cited in halachic sources,2 relates that the suffering of the Jews in the past was because they didn't demand the building of the Bais Hamikdosh. This forms the basis for our "demands" for Redemption in the Amidah service. d) The Chofetz Chaim, who is accepted by the non-Chassidic Ashkenazi community as its Posaik Acharon (a halachic authority whose word is final), states3 unequivocally, that one must demand Moshiach just as an employee must demand that his employer pay him. e) Avraham Avinu demanded of Hashem to spare the wicked people of Sodom. 4 Moshe Rabbeinu complained to Hashem when things got worse for the Jews in Egypt. 5 The Jews were deemed correct when they demanded an opportunity to bring the Paschal offering which had been denied them. 6 f) From all of the above, it is clear that G-d wants our demands, 7 and that they are not a sign of disrespect, but rather a sign that we care for Him and His people. g) Obviously, if we would tell Hashem, either give us what we want or else we will abandon you, G-d forbid, that would be wrong. Our demanding Moshiach expresses the very opposite sentiment. It means that we realize that it is G-d, more than anyone, who wants us to leave Golus and to bring about the Redemption. G-d is the one who asks of us to be able to fulfill the Mitzvos "in accordance with His Will 8 something we cannot achieve in Golus. To want and demand Moshiach, is to want, more than anything else in the world, to be able to comply, with Hashem's Will. 9
1 For example: Zecharya 1:12; Tehillim 6:4, 74:10, 90:13; Daniel 12:6; Tikkun Chatzos Prayer. See Hisva'adiyos 5744, vol. II, p. 986ff. 2 Beis Yosef on Tur-Orach Chayim 188. 3 Commentary on Siddur, sec. 168. 4 B'reishis 18:23ff. 5 Shemos 5:22-23 6 Rashi, Baimdbar 9:7. 7 See Rashi Shemos 32:10. 8 Mussaf Prayer of Shabbos. 9 See Schochet, Mashiach, p. 61-64 for additional sources for the requirement of a Jew to demand Moshiach.
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