It is a commonplace among “religious” Jews, reinforced but not invented by Chabad, that we are supposed to accelerate the coming of the redemption. Every day I ought to ask myself: what did I do bring on the redemption? What did I do to bring the Moshiach?
This was not always thought to be an obligation, a commandment, a must-do. True, the Sages in Sanhedrin 98, in a homily on Isaiah 60:22, remarked that the redemption will come at its appointed time (no matter what), but if Israel is worthy, it will come sooner. I don’t think, however, that they wished to imply that it is a duty to make it come sooner. Moreover, they didn’t specify just what sort of worthiness will accelerate the coming of the redemption.
With this in mind I call attention to Hallevi’s remarks at the beginning of I, 115, which I translated here from the Judaeo-Arabic: “If we had borne this exile and tribulation for God’s sake (fī dhāt Allāh), as it should be, we would the pride of the generation that is awaited, along with the messiah, and we would bring closer the moment of the awaited redemption.” This remark is found near the beginning of the final speech of the haver in part one, capping a dialogue that begins in I, 111, where the haver says that even though Jews enjoy a certain superiority, they do not deny that people from any nation will be rewarded by God for proper behavior. The Khazar king has pointed out the lowly status of the Jews and the persecution and violence that they endure. The haver replies that the first Christians and Muslims also endured suffering and martyrdom, and they are proud of it; so why should this not be a source of pride for the Jews as well? The Khazar king retorts: because you are forced to endure it? Were you ever victorious, you would kill!
In [115] the haver begins by conceding: yes, on the whole you are right, most of us endure persecution because we have no choice, but “if we had borne this exile and tribulation for God’s sake (fī dhāt Allāh), as it should be, we would the pride of the generation that is anticipated, along with the messiah, and we would bring closer the moment of the anticipated redemption.” In other words, there is a purpose to the persecution: it offers Jews a chance to endure it with the proper intention, meaning to maintain some consciousness, some internal will, while being killed and tortured, that it is all for the sake of heaven. To do this would bring the redemption nearer. Is it too much to say that Jews ought not to resist or flee, but rather firmly endure persecution, all the while focusing their minds on the meaning of it all. I am suffering for God’s sake, and by doing so, I am bringing on the redemption.
I find this extraordinary, and one of the earliest references to doing something in order to bring on the redemption.
The same ideas come up, even some of the same language is used, in IV 22-23, but the idea of bring on the redemption by suffering does not feature there.
Notes on the Cuzari 