Moshiach is not delayed by our shortcomings

The concept of making a "just account" of one's service has a unique relevance in the present year. We are living in an era when, to borrow an expression from the Previous Rebbe, "the buttons are already polished" and all the service necessary to bring the Redemption has been completed. Ultimately, then, the just account we make must lead to the conclusion that Mashiach must come immediately.

Every individual may realize that his own service is lacking and, in need of correction. This, however, does not affect the status of the service required of the Jewish people as a whole over the course of the generations. In the latter context, we must be conscious, as the Previous Rebbe stated, that all the service necessary has been completed and we are "ready to receive Mashiach." There is no explanation why his coming is being delayed.

Therefore, even if there is a particular dimension of service which is lacking and which is delaying the coming of the Redemption, this does not diminish the fact that as a whole, our service is complete and we are ready for the Redemption. Although these particular elements of service must also be completed, this does not detract from the service of the Jewish people as a whole. On the contrary, the fact that as a whole, we are prepared for the Redemption makes it easier for us to complete all the individual elements of our service and to do so with happiness.

To explain the concept in an analogy: When a person is healthy as a whole, if he has a small ailment in one of his limbs, it can easily be cured. Similarly, since as a whole, our service has been completed, teshuvah which is described as "healing" can cure all the particular difficulties of the Jewish people.

This is particularly true when taking into consideration the influence of the present year, shnas niflaos bah, "a year imbued with wonders" and shnas niflaos bakol, "a year of wonders in all things." Included in these wonders will surely be the wonders that will accompany the Redemption, "As in the days of your exodus from Egypt, I will show you wonders." For all the appointed times for Mashiach's coming have passed, and we have already turned to G-d in teshuvah. Now the matter is dependent only on Mashiach himself.

Sicha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, parshas Noach 5752 (1992)