Bridging Present and Future

In the Maimonides' 13 Articles of Faith it states that the Messiah's arrival should be eagerly awaited for he may come any day. Yet, there's a passage in the Talmud which seems to dampen that approach a bit. It advises that if you are planting a tree and you heard that the Messiah arrived, keep planting. 

Obviously, these statements are not contradictions of basic belief. However, they may be seen as representing contradictory sentiments. Does one place one's full heart in the arrival of the Messiah or into the projects of life at hand? Does one pack a suitcase and live in a hovel waiting or does one build a business and a mansion where one is? 

The simple approach is to instruct that humans sometimes needs to compartmentalize.  We need to adopt an approach which prepares us for multiple possibilities. In the course of Jewish history, this approach has paid off and there have been a few reports of the Messiah's arrival which have proven to be false alarms. So, yes a Jew must believe. However, do not allow that belief to distract from progress in one's life on pre-messianic terms.

As wonderful as this approach seems as an initial step, I think it's possible for one to grow into a more integrated approach, one which blurs the lines of the compartmentalization; weakens their bold form, maybe even erases them. 

The more integrated sentiment doesn't see as sharp of a line between the periods of the pre and post-messianic. It's possible to bring the light from the future into the present. It's possible to access the light of the Messiah and use it to ensoul present conditions; changing their texture and overall feel. 

So yes, one is not necessarily being asked to ignore the news of the Messiah's arrival to plant a tree. In the integrated approach one is beckoned to use the news to place more soul and vitality into planting the tree; to imbue the planting with one's personal access to the light of the Messiah at the upper reaches of his or her soul. 

Ensouling the pre-messianic with the post-messianic is very precious and transformative. However, let's say the news was correct and the Messiah has indeed arrived, what will be with the tree, i.e. all projects of goodness one invests oneself in on pre-messianic terms?

Plenty of times, the Lubavitcher Rebbe assured that unlike the exodus from Egypt, we won't flee from the present pre-messianic conditions. We will somehow glide into the messianic era much more gently than what happened during the redemption from Egypt. Therefore, whatever we do now, whatever trees we plant, should somehow be part of the messianic future; even if we cannot imagine how in the present. Furthermore, this seems to fit well with the Maimonides' description of the messianic times as one when the natural world continues as it is. The differences will be mainly religious, political, social and economic. Therefore, much of what was positive before can continue on into the future or at least, may have positive ripple effects into the future.

--------------------O------------------