It was a Sunday afternoon in October of 1991 and the Rebbe was standing in the foyer of Chabad World Headquarters distributing single dollar bills to the thousands who seeked to receive his blessing, advice or simply be in his presence for a few moments. Men, women and children of all stripes were lined up for hours as the Rebbe stood and greeted each one with a blessing and a dollar to be given to charity.
Mr. Gary Tuchman, a fresh new CNN correspondent was in Brooklyn that day with a camera crew to film a story for an upcoming international broadcast. He approached the Rebbe with the cameras running and asked, “Rebbe, what is your message to the world about the Messiah?”
WIthout hesitation the Rebbe responded, “It was already printed in all the press of all the countries: Moshiach is ready to come now, we all must only do something additional in the realm of goodness and kindness.”
“So people should be doing more goodness and kindness for him to come?” Gary followed up.
“At least a little more and then Moshiach will come immediately,” the Rebbe replied and then gave him and each member of his camera crew two double bills for a “double portion of kindness.” (Watch the interview here.)
Tonight begins the final festival days of Pesach known as Shvii Shel Pesach and Acharon Shel Pesach. Seven days after leaving Egyptian slavery the Israelites were chased by their former captors who wished to enslave them once more and were eventually trapped between them and the sea. Then G-d shocked the world with the miracle of the Splitting of the Sea. Humanity stood in awe by this astounding display of divine power and the Jews were forever free from slavery.
The final day of Pesach celebrates the redemption to come. During synagogue services we read a chapter from Isaiah describing the arrival of Moshiach and what will look like at that time.
“The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the young goat… the cow and the bear will graze…”
Today it may seem impossible to happen, but the job description of Moshiach is to usher in an era where former enemies will be allies, competitors will compete no more, and the hunters and the hunted will live together in peace. A world in which “there will be neither famine or war, envy or competition for good will flow in abundance and all the delights will be freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d.”
Here is the catch. Whereas the first redemption from Egypt was solely dependent on G-d, the final redemption depends on us. And whereas the redemption from Egypt was a Jewish redemption, the final redemption will bring peace and tranquility to the entire universe. It follows that everyone needs to get involved in preparing our world for Moshiach.
The Rebbe distilled this reality succinctly in a soundbite tailor made for the world via CNN - “Add in goodness and kindness” - and then inspired the crew to do an act of giving by handing them each two dollars to give to those in need.
As Jews we prepare for Moshiach through increasing in Torah study and doing more Mitzvot, and we have the obligation and pleasure of involving all humanity in this crucial endeavor by inspiring everyone to increase in acts of goodness and kindness.