I turned on my phone in the morning only to see multiple messages reading "Nu, any news?" and "Anything happen overnight?" In fact, for the past two weeks I've been getting daily messages, emails and phone calls like these from friends and family in anticipation of the big day.
My wife and I were expecting our 4th child, and her due date had come and gone. For some reason, this pregnancy was lasting longer than expected, and our friends and family were waiting on the good news. "Is there a mazal tov, yet?" they wanted to know.
But the message that took the cake was from my dear sister-in-law in Israel. She had been WhatsApping me every day for two weeks straight, at which point she wrote in capital letters, "THIS IS NOT NORMAL! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?!"
Thank G-d, our beautiful, healthy princess was born in good time, when she was ready to come out, and not a minute sooner. We named her Shterna Sara.
In this week's Torah portion , the Jewish people's period of exile finally comes to an end, culminating at the splitting of the sea where their Egyptian oppressors drown.
The Chassidic masters compare exile to pregnancy and redemption to birth. The suffering and persecution we experience in exile is called the "birth pangs of Moshiach," and is likened to the pain and discomfort a mother feels during pregnancy and labor.
In the Talmud we read about Yosef, the son of Rabbi Yehoshua, who fell ill, lost consciousness and came very near to death. Today, we would call it a near death experience.
When he regained consciousness, his father asked him, "What did you see 'on the other side'?"
He responded, "I saw an upside down world. Those who are prestigious and superior and honored in this world are looked down upon the in the true world. But those appear lowly in this world are honored and respected in the true world."
His father acknowledged, "You have seen a clear world."
Exile is the upside down world. Pregnancy is likened to exile, which is why the fetus lies upside down in the mother's womb.
We are the ones who see an upside down world. In our world, all you need to do is check out Facebook, Twitter or any magazine to see which people are glorified and why. In the true world, these people are not the honored and admired role models; not at all! And the reasons we look up to them are completely meaningless.
We worship and glorify the dollar bill, we idolize celebrities, we respect the wrong things. Things that are worthless in the world to come.
In truth, we have to ask ourselves every day, "Nu, when it is happening? What's going on? Has anything changed?" We need to experience that same anticipation that my wife and I, and all our friends and family, felt about our upcoming birth. This is how we should feel about Moshiach and the redemption!
Like my sister-in-law texted me, "THIS IS NOT NORMAL!" Our state of exile is not normal. When will we finally give birth? When will the redemption come? When will everything be right side up instead of upside down?
The Jews in Egypt waited 210 years for their redemption. We have been waiting close to 2,000 years and we want it to end now.
So, nu, when will it happen? And what can you do to hasten it?