Instant Gratification
Our prayers are replete with requests for G-d to bring an end to suffering and misery; and end to the exile. These prayers are punctuated with an urgency. The word “speedily” appears in many of these requests. When we deal with a mission that will affect the entire world, there is not luxury to delay. Every minute the process of Redemption is delayed; there is more misery and suffering in the world. Simple sensitivity demands that we demand that G-d bring us Moshiach immediately.
Eliezer’s Presumptuous Behavior
Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, was sent by his master to the city of Charan to find a wife for his master’s son, Isaac.
When he arrived there he prayed to G-d that he would be successful. But Eliezer was not content to be successful, he asked G-d to grant him success “today!”
One can raise a question about Eliezer’s behavior. We can easily understand his prayer for success. After all, success is in G-d’s hands. But why did he pray that it happen that very day? Wasn’t it presumptuous and brazen on his part to ask for, what amounted to, instant success?
The answer to this question lies in a better appreciation for the value in performing a Mitzvah. Eliezer was carrying out what amounted to one of the most pivotal missions in the history of the world. Eliezer was the one who made the match between Isaac and Rebecca—the very first Jewish marriage in the Torah. Indeed, it is the very first Jewish marriage period. Abraham was married to Sarah before he was circumcised; before G-d made a special covenant with him and established him as the father of a new nation. This marriage represented the continuity of Abraham’s ideal, without which there would not be a Jewish people.
One can now gain some appreciation as to the weight that Eliezer ascribed to his mission. If Eliezer had not realized this fact himself, he surely became aware of it when Abraham gave all that he possessed to Isaac for the purpose of his marriage.. If this had been an ordinary marriage, Abraham would not have given everything away. Since this was the paradigmatic marriage of the Jewish people, he invested all his material and spiritual resources that it succeed.
We can also better understand why the Torah devotes so much space to the story of Eliezer. This story is the very foundation of the Jewish nation and deserves to be presented in vivid and exciting detail.
We can now also understand why Eliezer was so eager to realize success that very day. This was not an ordinary mission for this was not an ordinary marriage; it was an event that the world had waited for from its very creation and would have repercussions for all of the future.
Union of Two Dynamic Souls
Moreover, in the writings of Kabbalah we are taught that the union between Isaac and Rebecca was representative of the union of two dynamic spiritual energies. This is a most powerful spiritual combination, so much so, that it unleashes the energy needed to bring about the ultimate Redemption.
Eliezer, sensing the seriousness of his mission could not afford to waste a day. Every day the mission is completed, the world would be a day closer to realizing the purpose for which it was created — to cultivate a Jewish nation that would accept the Torah and serve as a light unto all the nations, leading inexorably to the Messianic age, when all nations will live together in harmony.
Thus, Rashi comments on Eliezer’s monologue: “And I’ve arrived today..,” that Eliezer miraculously arrived the very same day that he left. Why was it so important to have this miracle occur?
No Time to Waste
In light of the above analysis it is clear that G-d was the one to have signaled to Eliezer as to the crucial nature of his mission; there was no time to waste. Eliezer, took his cue from G-d and the miracle of arriving the same day he left, to ask G-d that his mission be completed in one day. There was simply no time to waste.
Our prayers are replete with requests for G-d to bring an end to suffering and misery; and end to the exile. We implore G-d to bring Moshiach who will restore the Temple and bring justice and peace to the world. Yet, these prayers are punctuated with an urgency. The word “speedily” appears in many of these requests. Why the need to put a “rush” order on our desire to have Moshiach come?
The answer is that when we deal with a mission that will affect the entire world, there is not luxury to delay. Every wasted moment means that someone’s life is far from being what it ought to be. Every minute the process of Redemption is delayed, there is more misery and suffering in the world. Simple sensitivity demands that we demand that G-d bring us Moshiach immediately.
We Want Moshiach Now!
We live in a generation that can get everything instantly. While some of us might decry the need for instant gratification, instant access to the Internet etc., there is a reason why our generation has the capacity to do things instantly and without much delay. We are living in the age when the need for Moshiach is one that demands immediate attention. It behooves us to utilize the desire for instantaneous considerations of our needs for the accessing of that which is good and holy. Yes we should be impatient when it comes to even one single person’s suffering, how much more so when it is the suffering of millions.
We can now appreciate the slogan: “We want Moshiach now!” It is our modern world’s way of saying, if I can have my TV go on with the flick of a switch, as well as so many other things, then it is time for us to see the imminent revelation of G-d through his righteous leader-the Moshiach. May we see his coming, imminently, now!
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Chayei Sarah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
