We should lose that temptation, which, in any event, has never worked out well for us in the exile. All of history, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks has written, is “a movement from acts done by God for the sake of human beings to acts done by human beings for the sake of God.” It is a story of the progression from the redemption of Pesach to the redemption of Purim. Our generation is both blessed with capabilities and uniquely placed to move Jewish and world history to its majestic culmination.
This still begs the question: if Jewish history is a progression from the redemptive modality of Pesach to that of Purim, then why must “[one] redemption be juxtaposed to the [other] redemption”? It should be enough to celebrate Purim, the redemption of our time!
The answer is that, indeed, in the future redemption “the end of our subjugation to the nations [i.e., the rebirth of Jewish sovereignty] will be primary and the exodus from Egypt secondary” (Masechet Berachot 12b). But the problems of the world will be so enormous and the depth of the brutality and evil so extraordinary that divine intervention will be necessary.
“As in the days when you left Egypt, I will show you wonders” (Michah 7:15). The era of open miracles will again dawn, just like Pesach. If we do our share with determination and without fear, we will be worthy of eliciting the Divine response that will bring about the complete redemption in our days. “In Nissan we were redeemed and in Nissan we will be redeemed” (Rosh Hashanah 11b).
