THE BIG DAY HAS ARRIVED!

Answer

You remind me of the story of poor Yankel, the unluckiest man in the Shtetl. Yankel could never succeed at anything. He had this special touch, any work he tried, he failed. Poor Yankel just couldn’t get anything right.

The townsfolk felt sorry for him, so they offered him a job he couldn’t possibly get wrong: he would be the Moshiach Watcher. His responsibility would be to sit on top of the town hall and look out for the arrival of the Messiah, with a bugle at the ready to alert the town as soon as Moshiach appears. He would be paid a generous daily wage for his services.

Yankel heard the job description, and politely declined the offer. “It’s a great job, but I’m worried. What if Moshiach does arrive? I’ll be out of work again…”

Let’s not worry about what might happen when Moshiach comes. That will be the end of all of our worries. And anyway, the new shul will come to great use, even once we all return to Israel.

The Talmudic sages taught that when Moshiach comes, all the shuls around the world will be transported to Israel, and become extensions of the Temple in Jerusalem. This means that what we have built is not temporary, it is one stage of the ultimate and eternal building project of Jewish history, rebuilding Jerusalem.

Some understand this idea as a metaphor rather than a literal transportation of a building. The atmosphere of our local shuls, the air and the holiness they generated, will come along to Israel with us and contribute to the holiness of the Temple.

But others take it quite literally. The Third Temple will be surrounded by all the shuls of the world. But the question is why? If we have the Temple, what will we need shuls for?

The Chassidic master Rabbi Moshe of Kozhnitz explained: Every shul is like a miniature Temple. When we attend services now, we are preparing ourselves for the bigger and holier version we will experience in the real Temple in the future.

But not everyone goes to shul. For many and varied reasons, there are Jews who never step into a shul. They are wonderful people and do many good deeds, but haven’t connected to shul yet.

When Moshiach comes, truth and goodness will prevail. All resistance will fall away, and all reasons not to go to shul, valid and otherwise, will disappear. Even those Jews who refused to go to shul will want to come to the Temple.

But the light of the Temple will be too intense for someone who didn't do the basic training by coming to shul, the miniature Temple. So before they can experience the holy light of the Temple, they will need to enter the shul they didn't go to. The shuls will serve as antechambers to the Temple, where you can acclimatise your soul to the even greater light that shines from the Temple.

So let's not wait. Let's right now make our shuls a taste of next year in Jerusalem, where everyone feels at home, where each person can grow, and every soul can connect on their level.

And let’s pray that Moshiach should come already. We will still have a shul, Yankel will be out of a job, and there’ll be nothing to worry about.