Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

The concept of “Moshiach sheb’chol dor” — that there must be in every generation a person who has the potential to be the redeemer of Israel — is one the Rebbe discussed many times throughout the years of his nesius, especially in the later years and particularly in the winter of 5752, when the Rebbe declared that the Moshiach of the generation was given the mission to take us out of galus and now what remains is “Kabbolas pnei Moshiach Tzidkeinu.”

We present here a special letter of the Rebbe on this topic which was discovered relativity recently and appears here for the first time translated to English:

28 Nissan 5725
Mr. ______ ‘יש

Greeting and blessing!

In response to your letter from 24 Nissan … and to your questions [included therein]:

… b) You have heard from the rabbi of your shul that in several generations, including ours, there lives a man who based on his character is befitting to be Moshiach Tzidkeinu etc. However, in your opinion — and that of many more in your area — Moshiach can’t be at all a human being born to a mother.

This opinion of yours comes to me at great wonder, as it negates that which is explained in many sources, [starting with] the Written Torah, [including] the Oral Torah and finally in an unambiguous halachic ruling by the Moreh Hagadol, the great teacher the Rambam, worded in his meticulous style. His words are these: “A king will arise from the House of Dovid who diligently contemplates the Torah and observes its mitzvos […] as Dovid his ancestor … he will compel all of Israel to walk in it [the way of the Torah] (Laws of Kings, Chapter 11 Halacha 4).

At the beginning of that very chapter, [he writes that] “[reference to Moshiach is also made in the portion of Bilaam who prophesies] about two Moshiachs: the first Moshiach, Dovid … and the final Moshiach who will arise from his descendants and save Israel.” Previously in the same clause, he writes that “anyone who does not believe in him or does not await his coming, denies not only the statements of the other prophets, but those of the Torah and Moshe Rabbeinu etc.”

As to the first portion of your question, [namely] “that in several generations, including ours, there lives a man who, based on his character etc.”:

This idea is necessitated also from the text of the “Ani Maamin,” also known as “The 13 Principles of Faith”, and especially the 12th Principle which calls for “I await his coming every day” which is only possible if he is already born and has matured several years prior.

Since everything is b’hashgacha pratis, I have the duty and the privilege to arouse you to the great necessity of setting times for studying  Torah every day and to do so in larger measure on Shabbos which is a day “holy and dedicated to Hashem.” [This study ought to include] both the revealed realm of Torah as well as its inner realm, which in our generation was revealed in the teachings of Chassidus.

With respect and blessing,

***

In the sicha of Simchas Torah 5746 (1985), a sicha the Rebbe personally edited, the Rebbe spoke of the identity of this person in the generation in unambiguous terms which can only be understood in one way:

“Moshiach” refers to the Nasi of the generation. When the Nasi charges his emissaries with their mission they become his messengers and when they commit their ten soul-powers and dedicate themselves to fulfilling their mission, they affect the revelation of the sender, the Moshiach (358).

Why is the Nasi equivalent to Moshiach? First of all the simple meaning of the term Moshiach is “anointed one,” which personifies the Nasi, who was chosen and anointed to be the Nasi and Shepherd of Israel.

[See the facsimile above where the Rebbe added with his own handwriting after the words “Nasi HaDor” “Der Rebbe der Shver — the Rebbe my father-in-law.]”

But I will have no complaints if you were to translate Moshiach simply — Moshiach Tzidkeinu. That is the truth — the Nasi of the generation is the Moshiach of the generation.

The role of every generational Nasi and Shepherd of the Jewish People is to be the “Moshe Rabbeinu” of that generation. As the Zohar teaches:

An emanation from Moshe is present in every generation. So much so, that every genuine Torah scholar is also called a Moshe.

173