Working Toward Moshiach
By Roy S. Neuberger
Shepherd Books
One of the fundamental concepts in Torah Judaism is our collective redemption. Hardly a day passes that we do not find ourselves pleading with God to send Mashiach. And this is happening with more and more urgency as worldwide events become increasingly chaotic and frightening. But many of us remain confused and perplexed about what “sending Mashiach” really means.
What is Redemption all about, for the Jews and for the world?
In Working Toward Moshiach (Shepherd Books), author Roy S. Neuberger opens new vistas in understanding what Redemption really means. Neuberger is the consummate raconteur, captivating the reader with scintillating narratives of his extensive travels across America, Israel, and Eastern and Central Europe, he spotlights the human power to rise against all odds and the remarkable process by which Jews who were formerly distant from their tradition have returned to their ancient heritage. Additionally, the book offers profiles of remarkable personalities, who – despite political, religious, and cultural adversity – have ignited their souls in ways that were hitherto never thought possible.
It seems Neuberger, whose pre-Yom Tov front-page essays have become a Jewish Press fixture, is telling us that the way to hasten Mashiach‘s arrival, and save ourselves in the process, translates into attaching ourselves to God through sincerity in prayer, learning Torah as an act of personal lifesaving, and actualizing the unity of the Jewish people through mutual acts of kindness.
Neuberger peppers the book, his fourth, with quotes from the Torah, the Psalms, the Prophets, and other classic Jewish sources to buttress his thesis that biblical prophesies and the words of the rabbis are referring directly to our times.
Full disclosure is something that comes naturally to the author, who recounts the fears that engulfed him in the wealthy, secular lifestyle of his New York City childhood. With great fervor he tells of his battles to make sense of life; his realization that the secular values of his youth were not values at all; his journey, accompanied by his devoted wife, through lifestyle after lifestyle, culminating in the day – actually the middle of the night – that he finally realized he needed to believe in God in order to survive.
That realization led, years later, to Newburgh, New York, where he and his wife were introduced to Torah Judaism by the legendary Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis. They became regular attendees at her Torah classes and aided in her outreach work.
“I remember the relief,” he writes, “when we came back to Torah. Every action in our lives was suddenly under the trustworthy direction of the Master of the Universe; nothing was left to chance.”
Neuberger and his wife wanted ” to speak to others about what we had experienced” and so they became sought-after speakers, crafting their addresses to diverse audiences around the globe.
Each person we meet in Neuberger’s compelling book serves to catapult us to the loftiest of levels. Whether it be Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, Rabbi Yaakov Hillel, or Rabbi Naftali Jaeger, or Jews in Odessa, Kiev, Vilnius, or Tbilisi, we glean an unshakable hope that Mashiach‘s arrival is imminent. We seem to hear him knocking at the door, waiting for us to let him in.
Neuberger’s passionate voice also gives us a deeper appreciation of the greatness of God, offering insights into the physical beauty of our planet and especially the Land of Israel. On these pages you can read about encounters with a rooster, a wild boar, and about the glory of a mountain range.
The stories in the book leap off the pages and into the heart and soul of the reader. Readers will find themselves keeping it close at hand, referring back to its prescient words as we all prepare for the advent of Mashiach, soon – we hope – in our own day.