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Shortly after receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai 3339 years ago Moses instituted that it be read publicly at least once a week in order that it not be forgotten or changed.
And this week, Thank G-d, we begin for the 3339th with,
‘The Spirit of G-d was hovering on the waters‘. (Gen 1:2)
And the Rabbis explain; this is the ‘Spirit of the Moshiach (Messiah)’ (see Ber. Rabba 2:4, Tik. Zohar #30, Baal HaTurim 1:2) .
What is this ‘spirit of Moshiach?’ And why is it such an important issue in the beginning of creation?

First a short preface:
The Torah is totally incomparable to the bibles of any other religion.
1) The Torah was given publicly by the Almighty Creator to the entire Jewish nation who personally saw and heard G-d ‘speak’ at Mount Sinai. While the other ‘bibles’ were the testimony of one or a select few people the Torah was given witnessed by millions.
2) The Torah has commandments while other religions have rituals, customs and holidays the Torah has precise directions for each Jew.
3) And Jews have kept these for thousands of years through impossible obstacles and opposition from the world.
4) Every word and even letter of the Torah is Divine and precise while the other bibles contain only inspiring ideas.
5) The Torah is concerned almost solely with this world (here will be built the third Temple and will occur the Raising of the Dead). Heaven and Hell are not mentioned in the Pentateuch. While the other ‘bibles’ are focused on the afterlife; going to heaven and avoiding hell.
6) The Torah is the only book that tells us exactly when and how this world began and how we can use the world now.
So why does it begin with the Spirit of Moshiach?

To understand all this, here is a story I heard years ago from the accomplished educator, writer and translator Rabbi Eli Touger.
This story occurred some forty years ago in New York as Mr. Fogel (fictitious name) a middle-aged Chabad Chassid was listening to a tape of one of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s speeches while driving home late one evening from work.
He had heard this particular one tens of times but for some reason suddenly one sentence really struck him. It was as though the Rebbe was speaking directly to him:
“The Baal Shem Tov said that a soul can come into this world and was given seventy, eighty years just to do a favor for someone, especially a fellow Jew.”
Suddenly Mr. Fogel became lost in thought. ‘Could it be that I could live my entire life and never fulfill my purpose! Could such a thing really happen? After all who knows the secret ways of G-d if not the Baal Shem Tov?’
His eyes filled with tears and he spoke to G-d. ‘Please, HaShem, guide me to do what I’m supposed to do, I don’t want to miss my purpose!’
Deep in thought he began to imagine the hundreds (today there are thousands) of Chassidim all over the world going ‘out of their ways’ to wake up Jews. Nothing is more important … nothing! But what about him?!
When he came out of his reverie, he realized that he was in a strange place and it took him a few seconds to figure out that he had passed his exit on the expressway and mistakenly exited several stops after his. Now was in some district of Brooklyn that he didn’t recognize.
He was looking for a place to make a U-turn when something caught his eye; to his right was an older man standing before a stalled car with its hood open at the side of the street.
Mr. Fogel slowed down, rolled down his right-side window to take a better look. The fellow looked up at him and signaled. It didn’t look suspicious so he pulled over and asked what was wrong.
“Ahh! What rotten luck! I can’t figure it out.” The fellow yelled. “The thing just died on me! Now I’m really stuck!! A tow-truck stopped about ten minutes ago but they wanted six hundred dollars to tow me home! In advance! Six hundred! I don’t have that much cash. And I only live fifteen minutes away!”
Mr. Fogel pulled his car even closer and the fellow continued.
“And I’m stalled in a no parking zone. Look at this! Even if I caught a taxi… if I leave the car here … they’ll tow it away.”
“Fogel pointed to a spot about fifty yards ahead and said. “Just don’t worry. G-d will help. Here, look over there! About a hundred feet away is a place you can park. See! I’ll push you. Get in your car and I’ll push you. Then you can take a taxi home.”
“Thanks!” he yelled back as he walked to open the door to his car. “But I’ve been waiting here for a long time and not one taxi has passed… look! The road is deserted. But I guess you’re right. Worrying doesn’t help.”
Mr. Fogel was totally convinced that this fellow was telling the truth. So after pushing him to the parking place and watching the fellow lock his car up, he offered to take him home. After all it was only a fifteen-minute ride.
The old fellow couldn’t stop thanking him. He got into Fogel’s car and kept talking. “Wow! Thanks a million! I really appreciate this!! Now all we have to do, my wife and I that is, is order a cab.” He looked at his watch, “Whew! It’s really late! I hope we don’t miss our plane. We’re flying to Florida to visit our daughter and the plane is leaving in an hour.”
“Listen” said Mr. Fogel “It’s no problem. You know what. I’ll take you to the airport, after all it’s only a half hour drive and my wife won’t worry. Just don’t ask questions. As soon as we get to your house get your wife and suitcases and let’s go! You have no time to waste.”
The old fellow tried weakly to protest but realized that this Chassid was right, so in no time he and his wife were in the car and in thirty minutes they were at the airport.
“I can’t thank you enough” said the old man as he pulled his suitcase from the trunk. “Listen, you got to let me pay you! Here, do me a favor. take a hundred dollars.” He pulled a bill from his wallet. “Nu! It’s the least I can do. Just take it!
But Fogel would have no part of it. “Sorry, my friend! First of all, thank G-d, I have money, so I don’t need the money. Second, it was a favor so I don’t want the money. And third it was no big deal; the whole thing took less than an hour and I enjoyed it, so I don’t even deserve the money.”
But the old man insisted, even took another hundred out and kept pushing it at Fogel saying “Just take it. Nu! Don’t argue. Just take it.”
Until finally Mr. Fogel said. “Excuse me but you’re Jewish, right?” the fellow shook his head yes. “So, listen, if you really want to pay me then, you know what? Put on Tefillin. Do you put on Tefillin? Do it every morning for a month.”
The man shook his head no. Little did Mr. Fogel know it but this it was exactly what his passenger did not want to hear. “Tefillin?! No way!! Not me!!! I’m not doing no mitzvos! No MITVOS! Not me!”
“Alright, so then don’t put on Tefillin.” Fogel replied. “You were the one that wanted to pay. As far as I’m concerned you don’t owe me anything but if you want to pay, this is what I want. Nu? What do you say? Just buy yourself a pair of Tefillin and put them on when you can… Okay? You know what, If you want, I’ll buy them for you. I know where you live, right? I’ll bring them when you return. You can pay me back if you want.”
The old fellow looked at Fogel with foggy eyes for a second, shook his head reluctantly and said …”All right. I’ll do it! I’ll buy them in Florida. I’ll put them on.”
Then he half-heartedly shook Fogel’s hand, looked at his watch and ran to get a luggage cart.
As soon as he was far enough away, his wife approached Fogel with tears in her eyes, dabbed them with a small kerchief and said, “Thank you! G-d just sent you!”
She spoke in a low voice, keeping an eye on her husband to make sure he was involved with the cart and didn’t hear but, although she tried to hide it, she was crying.
“You don’t know what you just did. It was a miracle! We are holocaust survivors. We met after the war, got married, moved here to New York and agreed that we wouldn’t do anything Jewish. Nothing. We were mad at G-d, you know.” She started crying again.
“But as we got older, I began to yearn for the things from my mother’s house. You know, like lighting candles before Shabbat. But each time I mentioned it my husband said ‘NO MITZVOT!! Now our children got married, we are alone in the house but he still says ‘No Mitzvos’!!’
“So, yesterday I felt so bad … that …. I did something I haven’t done since the war…. I prayed.
“I begged G-d to send some miracle to change my husband’s mind. And now you came …. You are a miracle!!
“I’m sure that this Shabbat we will have Candles.”

This answers our question about the ‘spirit of Moshiach’.

The Moshiach will be a great leader; a king that will awaken the soul connection of all the Jews to the Torah. Something like what Mr. Fogel did to the old couple and what the Rebbe did to Mr. Fogel.
This soul connection is called the “Spirit of Moshiach” and it was there before the world was formed.
It is the spark of Jewish identity in every Jew that makes us realize that we are the ‘sons’, ‘servants’ and ‘chosen ones’ of G-d. Chosen to bring blessing and meaning to the world. (See the first Rashi Gen. 1:1: The world was created for the Torah and the Jews)
It’s called ‘Spirit of Moshiach‘ because only Moshiach will be able to arouse it completely just as only Moses could bring the Torah.
This was the job of the Baal Shem Tov and the movement of Chassidut he began.
Indeed, the Lubavitcher Rebbe said many times that each of the Chabad Rebbes was the Moshiach of his generation as Mr. Forbes discovered; the Rebbe directed him to his purpose in life.
So the Torah here is telling that the spirit of Moshiach is in each of us. And soon, very soon, the King Moshiach will awaken it. The Temple will be rebuilt so all the Jews can do all the Commandments and all mankind will see that G-d is creating the Universe and His Torah is the only true way to serve Him with true Joy.
It’s up to us to do everything we can.
We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish faith, hopes, prayers and suffering. Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even good thought, can tilt the scales with Moshiach NOW!

Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel

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