There was a person who was involved with Chabad. He was a Chabad Shaliach (emissary), and he was in Russia. I’m trying to find his name. Anyhow, his name was Rav Mendel Futerfas. Rav Mendel Futerfas was a Shaliach and was with Chabad in Russia. During the time of the KGB, the system in Russia was that if a Jew wanted to live a life of Torah, then, if they wanted their children to know Torah, they would hire someone to learn with their son. The father would stand by the window and wait to see if someone passed by, while deep inside the house the son would be learning with a rabbi, a teacher. If the father saw someone pass by, he would knock on the window, and the teacher would know to transform the lesson immediately from Torah to math. And slowly they’d be learning math.
So this boy—one boy—in the KGB, behind the Iron Curtain, was learning Torah; he was learning Chumash. He was told, “You cannot tell anybody that you’re learning. You can’t tell any friends, you can’t tell any neighbors, you can’t tell anybody.” He said, “Even the lady next door that lights candles on Friday night? Even the old lady next door that lights candles on Friday night?” The answer was, “You cannot tell anybody. You don’t know, because the Russians might harass that person until they reveal your identity. You can’t tell anybody.”
One day, the rabbi asked this little boy, “Are you excited for Mashiach (the Messiah) to come?” He said, “Yes.” The rabbi asked, “What makes you excited about Mashiach?” Now, if I went into this room and said, “What makes you excited about Mashiach? What makes you excited about Mashiach?” one person would say, “Freedom from our challenges. People will get married. Business problems will go away. Maybe health problems will go away. Mental health problems will go away. We’ll all live in Eretz Yisrael, we’ll rebuild the Beit HaMikdash, Techiyat HaMetim (resurrection of the dead) is going to happen, we’re going to see our grandparents, we’re going to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moshe, Aaron, David, and Shlomo.” Everyone has a different reason.
This boy’s simplicity and this boy’s soul were so wonderful in his response. He said, “You want to know why I’m excited about the coming of Mashiach? Because if Mashiach comes, I’ll be able to take my Chumash under my hand and go to the old lady next door and tell her simply, ‘Today I learned Chumash.’ I just want Mashiach to come to be able to share that today I learned Chumash. Today I was a Jew. Today I learned Hashem’s Torah. Today I saw my soul. Today my Neshama (my soul) did its max.”
How are you living your life? Are you one of those people who have millions in the bank and have no idea of your worth? Are you one of those people acting like a tailor when you really have the strength and the power to be a governor? Are you one of those people spending your time running after lost donkeys and not realizing that what’s in your heart has so much more capability? You could be the king of our people. So many people are so often convinced by the different technologies in their pocket, comments from aunts and uncles and friends, and distractions that the world puts around them that they have to be like everybody else. They don’t have the strength to stand up, get out of the line, and say, “I don’t want to die. I want to live. I want to live for something powerful. I want to live for something important. I want to live for something great. I don’t care if I have a lot or if I’m like Ruth and I have almost nothing. I still want to live like a Jew because I know I have pride in the capabilities of my soul.”