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Too Overwhelming

by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

We are limited creatures. We go through life with few really great surprises coming our way.

All the earth-shattering events occur elsewhere, not in our neighborhoods, not in our homes. So we've adapted ourselves to a life of tranquility, of no drastic changes. When a cataclysmic event does occur in a given area, the people are traumatized for months and even years. Imagine being told that UFO's are having an intergalactic convention in our neighborhood!! And this, only infinitely more fantastic, is what we are being told. Moshiach will come and change everything. Though it is a change for the good, it is a message so powerful that some of us cannot deal with it.

As with most emotional situations, the way to deal with the Messianic changes is to condition ourselves to accept the reality of the imminent changes that will occur very soon. The more we think about the changes, the more acceptable and "tolerable" they seem. Even one who is suffering from an irrational phobia is treated by subjecting him, albeit gradually, to the very experience which so intimidated him.

The more we learn and think about Moshiach, the less daunting and overwhelming it becomes.

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