Demand Our Rights

We have the right to demand that the Moshiach should arrive now despite our failures.

We have the right and the obligation to demand our own rebirth without travail, without pain.

We have already stared darkness in its face; we have marched through its tunnel in a holocaust across the sea. We have passed enough tests. We have polished enough dark buttons until they glisten brightly.

There is, after all, a halachah: A workman is not due his pay until he submits his bill.

If so, all that is left is for us to demand that which is due. Long due.

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From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. Subscribe and get your dose daily. To order Rabbi Freeman’s latest book, Wisdom to Heal the Earth, click here.

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Wisdom to Heal the Earth »

By Tzvi Freeman

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Wisdom to Heal the Earth is a revolutionary new look at Tikun Olam based on the teachings of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.

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Anonymous Dallas July 28, 2015

This gentleman is correct and could not be more right. I am a Gentile per your common usage. I have always found that if something I desire does not appear the cause is not outside me but inside me.
This particular Rabbi was truly gifted with the spirit . His faith and understanding has been an inspiration to mankind. Not all in the past or present have had his clarity of spirit or love for their fellow man.

Thank you for sharing. This is very courageous. Reply

Tzvi Freeman July 28, 2015

For Corey Corey, I appreciate your sentiments. But let's do a little history first.

When the Jewish People finished constructing the mishkan in the desert, the Shechina still did not come to rest upon it. They came to Moses and said, "Moses our teacher! All the labor that we have put into this, and still the Shechina is not here!"

And then, Moses did what had to be done and the Shechina rested upon the mishkan. But only once the Jewish People had come and made their demand, on the merit of their labor.

Now, think of us here now. There should be half a billion Jews—there are only 15 million. We are the remnants of the remnants—the children of those who stuck it out through persecution and assimilation for two thousand years, because they refused to allow themselves to be torn away from the G-d of Israel. Add to this the atrocities of the last century, when G-d gave us every excuse to abandon Him—and yet we still hold strong.

Such a people—don't we deserve the right to demand an end to galut? Reply

Corey US July 27, 2015

Demand your Rights

I have to respectfully disagree.

We have the right to ask, plead, pray, do teshuvah, etc., to earn the arrival of Meshiach, but, to demand of G-d; not lowly mortals.

Who has the right to demand of G-d, anything, know body that I know.
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K. July 24, 2015

Deeply moving comments .. and so relevant for Tish B'Av.

There are certain schools of thought that are overwhelmingly about pragmatic acceptance of the here and now; worldly "liberal" values, earthbound wisdoms. But to say and declare a sort of Bill of Rights for the spiritual devotee; the jewish soul, is an important rite of passage. That the spiritual soul learn that its' most intimate wanting of Divine union is possible, reasonable, just....

i think of Job and his travails. Not glossing over the story for the juicy, harmonious ending ... not giving in the quest by teaching that somehow some way Joseph dragged himself out of the pit by himself, for instance, ...i.e not taking for granted an ecstatic ending without a victory over a significant amt . of struggle. Some balance there. What overwhelmingly shines through for me is chabad's outstanding commitment to quality jewish education. For this i am truly thankful. Reply

Anonymous July 24, 2015

Amen. Reply

Anonymous Arizona, USA March 13, 2013

Demand Your Rights I ask Hashem, blessed be He, to bring me back to my people. My heart return have been fulfilled by His grace, but the gathering, denied. Why? Should I pay for the sins of my ancestors? I refuse to continue life in ignorance through which I was born and raised. I have the right to my return. As a human being and as part of a member of the tribe of Yisrael. I have renounced my past. The turmoil, and chaos of a life without truth. The truth of the Living G-d. Now I am free, to live, and to die with Him, and in Him!!! Reply

Emily Brown South Carolina August 29, 2012

I want I want that this be true, and I have heard from the Rebbe and my own Rabbi that our dues are all paid up. I have heard that a negative prophecy does not have to come true. I want that the Messiah should come without Gog and Magog, without the women of Jerusalem being ravaged, without Electromagnetic traumas or nuclear events. I just wanted to express that. Reply

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