Who Schleps Us Out?

The adage “G-d helps those who help themselves” is the foundation of our efforts to bring Moshiach. We were empowered to get ourselves out of exile. Let’s do it! Let’s do it!

Transforming Curses into Blessings

Amongst the prohibited marriages discussed in this week’s parsha is the one against marrying a Moabite or Amonite (even after they convert to Judaism. It should be noted that this prohibition applies only to marrying Amonite and Moabite men. One may marry a Amonite and Moabite woman. This was a controversial matter in the days of King David, whose ancestress Ruth was a Moabite convert).

The Torah proceeds to give the reason for this prohibition:

“…because they did not greet you with bread and water on the road when you were on the road leaving Egypt, and because they hired Biliam—the son of B’eor, from Pesor in Aram Naharayim— against you, to curse you. And G-d your G-d, did not want to listen to Bilam, and G-d your G-d transformed the curse into a blessing for you, because G-d your G-d loves you.”

Commentators raise the question as to why the Torah adds the part about how G-d transformed the curses into blessings. How does that explain why we are not to marry the Moabites and Amonites? On the contrary, the fact that the curses didn’t materialize seems to ameliorate the severity of their crime. Even if their intentions were malicious, at least their objective was not realized.

Throw Your Hands Up, but Not in Despair

One answer can be given in light of the discussion in the Talmud about the events that will precede the Messianic Age. The Talmud presents two possible scenarios. One scenario is that negative events will precede the Messianic Age.

The Talmud then proceeds to list some of these tragedies. Strangely, in the middle of its enumeration of those tragedies, the Talmud adds, “we will have no one to rely on except our Father in Heaven.”

On the surface, it sounds like the Talmud is saying, parenthetically, that despite the hardships and the state of helplessness that will prevail in the pre-Messianic Era, we still have our Father in Heaven upon whom we can rely.

However, the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe once observed that, on the contrary, the phrase “we have no one to rely on except our Father in Heaven,” is not really a blessing, but is actually one of the signs of how much we can decline. Before the Messianic Age there can be a scenario in which we will have so degenerated that we will abandon hope that we can change the situation. We will throw our hands up in despair and declare that our situation is truly helpless. Only G-d can get us out of this morass.

When we reach that point where we feel that we cannot do anything ourselves to remedy the situation, that is the sign that we have hit rock bottom. That is clearly not a positive situation.

To be sure, a Jew must always raise his hands upwards to the A-mighty and beseech Him for all that we need. It cannot, however, come at the expense of doing our part to make the necessary changes in our lives and in the world at large.

Bilam’s Curses Transformed

The same is true of the curses of Bilam that G-d transformed into blessings. There are two ways that transformation could have occurred.

Had the Jewish people exerted themselves and worked hard to overcome the obstacles that Bilam placed in their way, and would have utilized their own G-d given energy to transform these obstacles into opportunities and blessings, it would not have been so bad. In truth, it would have been ideal. It would have resulted in the ultimate defeat of evil that would have brought on the onset of the Messianic Age. Thousands of years of exile, with all if its travail, we would have been spared.

Alas, that did not happen. Rather, due to the instigation of Amon and Moab, Bilam’s curses had to be transformed by plan B. It ahd to happen through G-d¸ and by G-d exclusively.

The nations of Amon and Moab had so corrupted the Jewish people by allowing their daughters to seduce them, as recounted in the end of the Book of Numbers, that they no longer possessed the power to transform those curses into blessings. It had to be done by G-d exclusively. And that was a tragedy!

Two Scenarios

There are two scenarios to bring Moshiach. The first is when we reach the bottom and cannot redeem ourselves. G-d would then have no alternative, as it were, and would be “compelled” to intervene and schlep us out of the quicksand of exile just as He did when we were helpless slaves in Egypt. In this scenario, Moshiach comes in spite of us.

This is the scenario our Sages say will happen unconditionally at the designated time. There is a deadline, a due date, when Moshiach must come regardless of the state of the world.

Or, as in the case of Egyptian bondage, G-d liberated them before the designated time because there was no alternative. If they would have remained a bit longer they would have degenerated into the “fiftieth” level, the very nadir of impurity; the point of no return.

When discussing this less than ideal scenario, the Talmud refers to the Biblical description of the Moshiach “as a poor man riding on a donkey.” The simple import of this description of the arrival of Moshiach is that he will come in a time when there is spiritual impoverishment.

But there is another scenario for the coming of Moshiach. It is the scenario that involves our own efforts at transforming the curses of exile into blessings. Every time we go against the prevailing winds of secularism and hedonism to do a Mitzvah, we demonstrate that we are capable of transforming those curses into blessings and thereby bring Moshiach. In doing so, Moshiach comes because of our efforts.

When the Talmud speaks of this scenario it refers to another Biblical verse in which Moshiach will come flying on a cloud. This imagery was meant to suggest that the world will be “flying high” because we have done so much to earn the Redemption.

Where are We?

From all of that which has transpired—recent centuries and decades in particular—it appears that we are entitled to demand the second scenario of Moshiach’s coming. The Jewish people have, as a whole, acted admirably and responded nobly to the unprecedented challenges of the twentieth century and twenty-first century, with its twin onslaught of unrelenting persecution and the enticement of assimilation. We deserve Moshiach and we anticipate his coming because of our actions.

This does not mean that we should rest on our laurels. We still need to do more for a host of reasons.

First, as long as the Redemption has not taken place, every effort of ours will hasten his coming.

Second, every positive deed will ensure that the process will be fraught with less travail. The Redemption will occur with Divine “kindness and compassion.”

Third, the more we do, the better prepared we will be for the Redemption.

Fourth, Mitzvos we do, first and foremost, to fulfill G-d’s will even if it would not yield any positive results. There is no greater thing than to do G-d’s bidding.

Fifth, all the Mitzvos we do now is assumes greater importance because we are now standing on the threshold of Moshiach and are living in the shadow—or more precisely, in the light—of Moshiach. We can already see the sun rising over the horizon.

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Ki Seitzei by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.