My whole life I lived in fear of the end of the world. I was raised in a fundamental Christian group who believed emphatically in the rapture or 'second coming'. As a little girl I constantly worried about being 'left behind', not being good enough, or making a fateful mistake right before this hoped for, yet dreaded, event and being deemed unworthy of redemption. This was especially scary, because we were taught that those who were 'left behind' had to suffer through a three and half year long bloody war and then they got to go to hell.
When I left Christianity, I no longer believed in the 'end of the world' or the rapture because I no longer believed in JC and since at that time I had no idea what to believe, I just chose not to think about it because the whole idea still freaked me out so much.
Therefore when I came to Judaism and started my conversion process, the absolutely hardest thing for me to accept was the concept of Messiah and the 'redemption', which for me sounded a whole lot like the 'end of the world'. Because I knew so little of the Jewish concept of the redemption, it really sent me into a panic. I didn't want to have to spend every moment of the rest of my life once again waiting for the world to be turned upside down. I talked to my Jewish friends about it and they explained that the Jewish concept of the 'end of the world' was not even comparable to the Christian view. First of all Messiah's not G-d and the world doesn't actually end. This was hard for me to grasp, but over time it began to sink in and little by little I became less afraid, but I still didn't quite understand.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of hearing a Katrina survivor tell her story. And her story has given me an entirely new perspective of the coming of the Messiah and the 'redemption'. She spoke of a concept I hadn't quite connected to the redemption. I know it has been mentioned and my whole life I've heard the scriptures of how the messianic age would usher in peace between everyone, 'the lion will lay down with the lamb', etc. But it just hadn't clicked yet exactly what that meant. But when I heard a real life story of a recent event that actually was for her a taste of the redemption, it finally became something that I can REALLY look forward to.
This lady had already lived thru the world being turned upside down. There was literally complete darkness, no electricity, no water, no food, no safety. Murders over gas shortages. Horrors beyond human belief. If that doesn't sound like the end of the world, I don't know what does. And it was the end of the world for those people. It was the end of their world as they knew it. They can rebuild, but it will never be the same. Many people will never return. Those who do return have to start all over. But at the same time, this lady (she is the Rebbetzin of a Chabad shul in New Orleans) said that although she never wanted to go thru something like that again, she would not trade this experience for anything in the world. I was amazed at this statement. It sounded like hell, how could she say this? Then she explained that in the experience she had seen a glimpse of the redemption. In the midst of all the chaos, people came together. They risked their lives to rescue others. A curtain was pulled back and life's true priorities were brought into clear focus in the light of seemingly meaningless disaster. Communities became valued over individual ideals and people were valued over possessions. Families were bound tightly together and strangers became family.
Her story brought tears to my eyes. Finally I understood what the Jewish people mean, when they beg for Messiah to come, for the redemption to come. Sure it will be ugly. It will probably even be dangerous and we may have to wait a little longer and pray a little longer and be patient a little longer, but in the end we will all know why we are really here on this planet and the peace won't come from a magical wand that gets waved over the 'ashes of the wicked'. We still have to work it out ourselves, with the help of G-d. And we will. One day we are going to 'get it'. We are going to come together just like we were always supposed to..... and that will truly be Redemption.
May it be today!
