Yearning for the Final Redemption, Am I? - Part 5

(3) The Temple is an object of affection to God because the Universe was created by one hand — as it is stated, (Isaiah 48:13) “Yea, My hand hath laid the foundation of the earth” — whilst the Temple by two hands, as stated here. And when will it be rebuilt by God, with the two hands? At the time when “the Lord shall reign for ever and ever”: at that future period when all the kingdom will be His (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:17:5).

(4) It is, therefore, necessary for every man to behold himself throughout the whole year in a light of being evenly balanced between innocence and guilt, and look upon the entire world as if evenly balanced between innocence and guilt; thus, if he commit one sin, he will overbalance himself and the whole world to the side of guilt, and be a cause of its destruction; but if he perform one duty, behold, he will overbalance himself and the whole world to the side of virtue, and bring about his own and their salvation.., escape⁵Kiddushin, 39b–40a. C.

(120) If one will say: "who am I, and what importance am I that I should pray on the exile and Jerusalem? Will the exiles be ingathered and the salvation sprout because of my prayers?!

(121) The answer to him is near [his question], as we learned: "Thus man was created alone, so that each person should say: 'for my sake the world was created' " (Sanhedrin 37a). Already it brings gratification to G-d, that His children desire and pray for this. And even though their request may not be fulfilled, because the proper time has not yet come or for some other reason, nevertheless, they have done their part and the Holy One, blessed be He, rejoices in this.

(122) On the absence of this, the prophets complained saying: "And He saw that there was no man, and He was astounded for there was no intercessor"(Yeshaya 59:16) and "I looked, and there was none to help; and I was astonished that there was no one to uphold" (Yeshaya 63:5). And it is stated: "it is Zion; no one inquires after her" (Yirmiyahu 30:17), which our sages expounded: "this implies it needs inquiring after" (Sukkah 41a).

(123) Thus we learn from here that we are obligated in this matter, and cannot exempt ourselves due to our lack of power. For on all such matters, we learned: "It is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but neither are you free to abstain from it" (Avot 2:16).

Just as one is required to trust in Hashem, so, too, he must believe in himself. That is to say, [one must recognize] that Hashem is concerned with him, and that he is not like a useless worker ‘who lived [one] night and perished after one night’ (Yonah 4:10) - [that is, he is not] like the animals in the field, who upon their death are gone and are no longer [relevant]. Rather, he must believe that his soul is from the Source of Life, Hashem, and that Hashem derives pleasure and delights in [his soul], when he performs His will.