For millennia, Jewish hopes have centered on an idyllic and everlasting time to come. This era, characterized by freedom from physical and spiritual oppression, the return of our people to the Holy Land, and the rebuilding of the third Temple in Jerusalem, is the focus of much of our daily prayer and practice. But the Jewish people have been redeemed twice before—once from Egyptian servitude and again from Babylonian exile. So what is it about the current dispersion that assures us the next redemption will be a permanent homecoming?

A passage from Yalkut Shimoni (a compilation of Midrashic teachings on Tanach by Rabbi Shimon the Darshan) on the verse from Isaiah, “Arise, shine for your light has come,”1 addresses the question of G‑d’s eternal promise. There, he elaborates on the metaphor of light and dark that is associated with the redemption of the Jewish people:

The Jewish people said before The Holy One, Blessed be He: We made a Menorah for you when we were commanded during the days of Moses following the Exodus from Egypt, and its light was extinguished when the Menorah was hidden away. Again, in the days of King Solomon, the Menorah was rekindled in the Beit Hamikdash, and it, too, was extinguished with the destruction of the Temple. From now on, we await solely for Your light that will shine eternally with the new Menorah of the Final Redemption.

To this, G‑d responds: The Final Redemption will not be like the first redemption from Egyptian bondage. For the first redemption was followed by your suffering and enslavement to other kingdoms. The Final Redemption will not be followed by suffering and enslavement to other kingdoms. Rather, eternal serenity and independence will reign.2

Jewish Deja Vu

This Midrash contrasts the Final Redemption with the Exodus from Egypt. Let us take a look at the dynamic from a historical perspective:

The redemption from Egyptian slavery marks the birth of the Jewish nation. G‑d liberated His beloved people from foreign rulership, gave them His code for living—the holy Torah—and granted them sovereignty in the Land of Israel. In this process, He endowed them with the essential mission of imbuing G‑dliness into the world and being a light unto the nations.

Yet, unfortunately, the nation's journey as G‑d’s ambassadors on earth was met with its first major setback with the destruction of the first Temple in 423 BCE, and the Jews were exiled from their land. A more cataclysmic and far-reaching dispersion of the Jewish people ensued after the destruction of the second Temple (70 CE).

Today, after almost 2,000 years in exile, with countless incidents of persecution, attempts of annihilation, expulsions, inquisitions, and a Holocaust, the Jewish nation remains standing and steadfast in the belief of the fulfillment of their ultimate redemption.

The Yalkut Shimoni addresses the deja vu of Jewish history repeating itself with a firm promise from G‑d—Never again! The redemption yet to come will be irreversible. While the prophetic vision is clear, the question remains: Historically, no salvation has lasted forever. Why will the future redemption be any different?

Ohr Hachaim, a commentary on the Torah by prominent Moroccan Talmudist and Kabbalist Rabbi Chaim Ben-Attar (1696-1743), provides an answer by bringing to light a glaring contrast between the Exodus from Egypt and the Final Redemption:

That redemption from Egypt, which was a product of G‑d’s mighty hand, did not endure, for it was followed by the destruction of the Temple and their exile.

However, the future redemption, since it will be the result of the Jewish people’s merit by virtue of the challenges associated with the prolonged exile and the occupation in Torah study throughout this period, will be the redemption that lasts eternally. 3

Irreversible Change

A chronic overspender receives a text message from their bank alerting them to a huge overdraft fee. Compelled to pursue a few months of careful spending, they slowly replenish their account. Will the bad habits reappear? If good spending habits were merely motivated by circumstance, the bad habits are likely to return. Were they to address their tendency to overspend, however, examine what led them to go broke in the first place and implement new, positive habits, they may be rehabilitated for good.

If we juxtapose the underlying cause of each redemption in context, Ohr Hachaim posits, we can understand why only the final one is everlasting.

Jewish history, full of challenges and setbacks, failures and triumphs, has facilitated the Jewish people’s contact with the nations of the world. While the magnitude of Divine intervention prompting the Exodus from Egypt was unparalleled, it only subdued the forces that opposed G‑dly influence, it didn't transform them, rendering the redemption reversible.

What the Exodus did provide, however, were the tools to embark on a mission with a promise of permanence in the future. In these last centuries of persecution and dispersal, we have channeled our fortitude and efforts to successfully instill the fabric of creation with G‑dliness and the Torah’s lessons.

Our adherence to Torah and mitzvot even during prolonged exiles and displacements, along with our determination to remain a light unto the nations, has transformed the Diaspora into a fertile environment for G‑dly consciousness. These accomplishments, “the people’s merits,” as the Ohr Hachaim puts it, are irrevocable.

Initiation vs. Culmination

Nevertheless, one cannot disconnect the Ultimate Redemption from the Exodus.

The Exodus from Egypt remains eternally relevant as the point from which the Complete Redemption begins.4 Every stage of partial or temporary redemption in the transformational journey of the world is another link in the long developmental chain from that moment. G‑d's mighty hand gave His people the strength and confidence to implement ground-up change that not only subdues, but also inserts the Creator into creation, transforming the darkness of the world into beacons of G‑dly expression.

The Future Redemption is thus defined as the culmination of all the relentless Torah-directed activity over the extended period of exile. The cumulative Torah study and mitzvah observance of the Jewish people in the face of unimaginable difficulties, including the challenges of modernity, act as the irrevocable means of everlasting spiritual change. It is a redemption initiated by G‑d, but derived and driven from within.