Expecting Moshiach Today

The Previous Rebbe was once approached with the following dilemma: You profess to expect Moshiach’s coming “immediately.” Yet, at the same time, you make long-term plans, as if expecting exile to continue for the foreseeable future?

The Previous Rebbe cited a precedent for this in Torah: While journeying through the desert, the Jews carried the Tabernacle with them, erecting it at every new place they encamped. Some encampments lasted many years, while others were less than a day. In each new place they erected the Tabernacle, with all its components, despite the chance they might leave that very day.

We expect to leave exile today. But every moment we are still in exile, we must proceed with complete enthusiasm, and at full capacity, to make our current “encampment” a dwelling place for G‑d.