Editor’s note: On Thursday evening, Nissan 27, 5751 (April 11, 1991), the Rebbe issued this impassioned call to his followers and to the entire Jewish and world community. This unusually strongly worded message, and the anguished voice in which it was delivered, shocked and roused his chassidim to a heightened initiative in the Rebbe’s campaign to bring the world to an awareness of and preparedness for the Redemption.
How is it that Moshiach has still not come? Why are we still in a state of galut (exile)? Why is our world still a place in which evil and suffering still prevail?
Why is it acceptable that the Redemption should not come tonight, nor tomorrow, nor the day after, G-d forbid? The Jewish nation are “a stiff-necked people.” Were there to be found even a few individuals who would adamantly insist on bringing Moshiach, he would have certainly long arrived!
What more can I do? I have done all I can to bring the world to truly demand and clamor for the Redemption. But it seems that all my efforts have been in vain. We are still in exile and, more significantly, in an internal galut of clouded vision and distorted priorities.
I have done all I can. I am handing over the task to you: Do everything in your power to bring our righteous redeemer, immediately!
It is not sufficient to mouth slogans. You must take action. It is my fervent hope that amongst you there will be found one, two or three people who will figure out what to do and how to do it.
I’m leaving it to you. It is up to each and every one of you to bring about the Redemption. It is in your hands to bring Moshiach.
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber