The Chosen Ones! Who Me?

We are the Chosen Ones. What does it mean to be chosen?
My wife wasn’t feeling well the other day and when I left to drop my son off at a play date, I told my daughter she was in charge while I was gone. She immediately said, “Then I’m the boss,” so I explained to her that it meant that she had to take responsibility while I was away (45 minutes), not that she could boss anyone around.
A leader leads by example, not by decree. And that goes the same for a people (the chosen ones). We have to take responsibility for what’s happening all around us and to personally work to fix it, without telling anyone else what to do.  If we can then inspire them to voluntarily help us, we will then be leaders.
We haven’t done that.  Moses did.  King David did.  The Baal Shem Tov did.  And a long list of tzaddikim understood that and did it on a smaller scales. But is anyone today doing it? Is anyone ready to step up?
The Geula (final redemption) will happen for those that are ready and have accepted the Tree-of-life reality, but for the majority it won’t, just like at Mt Sinai, as we’ve explained in numerous articles already. G-d provides cosmic windows for things to happen and either we’re ready and prepared for them, or we’re not.  No one can just appear and do the work for us.
Think about it, if that we’re the case, why make us wait? If we weren’t going to change on our own anyway, why wait until now, the year 2500 would have been just as good a time.
It’s not about waiting for Moshiach (the Messiah) to come; it’s about becoming like the Mashiach.  Those that have consciously accepted and prepare themselves for the Tree-of-life reality will step through it when the cosmic window opens.
But how do we reach the millions that don’t realize that, and are waiting for someone to do it for them? And if we don’t try to reach them, what does that say about whether we’ve fully embraced the Tree-of-life consciousness or understood the essence of the Torah, with its over-riding principle to love they neighbor as thyself.
We’ve been told Moshiach Ben Joseph will come first. Will he? It depends on us.  Any one of us can stand up and become the leader that the world needs.  If he steps up and takes responsibility, and inspires many others to follow and to take responsibility themselves, who would argue that he wouldn’t be Moshiach Ben Joseph.
Then the way will be paved for Moshiach Ben David to take us the rest of the way.
As the cosmic window of opportunity opens for us, someone needs to fulfill that mission, if not the 50^th gate will close again.  Back at Sinai, in 2448, we were at the 49^th gate, which not coincidentally was the 49^th jubilee year (50-year Biblical period) since Adam.
As we finish our 5769^th 9^th of Av, we are reminded of the destruction of the First Holy Temple in 3338, 66.6 jubilee years after the sin of Adam, and are reminded of the darkness that comes from choosing the Tree-of-knowledge-of-good-and-evil over the tree-of-life.  Now, 66.6 jubilee years after the revelation and opportunity at Sinai, we face the choice again.  5778, the year known to the tzaddikim, is just around the corner.
When that 50^th gate swings open will we go through as a tiny group, or as a whole people? Will we go through at all?
The First Holy Temple was destroyed in –422 BCE, and as readers of “The Divine Calendar” know, 422 is the gematria value of   “Seventy(70).” The Second Holy Temple was destroyed in 70 CE.  In 5778, the nation of Israel will be 70 years old, the age that King David died; will we go through the gate as a nation, or let fear, doubts, and hatred grip us as in the past?
We each have a choice to make.
It’s up to each of us to take responsibility and to step up, and for one of us to take it to heart and step higher, inspiring the rest of us to follow in his beautiful footsteps. Let’s all take that first step, and then the second to make it easier for him—9 years is not much time to work with and we all have a long way to go.
Let’s not waste anymore time.
Shabbat Shalom
Ezra