I often wonder if people in other times of history really felt that things were so bad as they are in our era. The stock market plunge is still making its effects felt in all areas of the economy and the rise of stocks seems to belie all of the job losses and closed stores in the malls.
The threat of terrorism is constant and is spread throughout the world. Not a week goes by that I don’t hear of a synagogue or a Jewish center vandalised. The shooting at the Holocaust Memorial last week was as chilling as it was unexpected. And Iran plans to eradicate Israel (G-d forbid) with its nuclear weapons.
These great fears are tempered with a message from the Lubavitcher Rebbe that Moshiach (a Jewish leader who will lead the world into an ideal era) is here, we merely need to open our eyes. It seems that with all of the problems arising in the world, how can it be that the ideal era is not only right around the corner but actually co-existing with the bad.
Is there some utopia floating over our heads that we can’t see? The Lubavitcher Rebbe said the idea era is unfolding now and it is just a question of how to open our eyes to see. He noted that the Hebrew word for Redemption (geulah) and exile (Galus) differed only in that the word Geulah has an extra letter Aleph. The letter Aleph represents G-d.
If we add an Aleph into the exile of our lives with an additional good deed, learning something about holiness or working on our character traits, and appreciating the good in our lives, perhaps our eyes will open to see what the darkness is trying to obscure.
And then maybe we will see the darkness for what it really is…not an existence, but only a shadow.