The People Mashiach Will Call to the Front - Rabbi Hillel Eisenberg

[music] >> This is a video for the [music] people who never get videos. For the people who never get honored. For the people nobody notices. For the people who get eye rolls instead of applause. For the people who secretly think they're failures. This is a video for the teenagers fighting a war with the internet every single day and wondering if there's anything left of their nishamos. This is a video for the Bas Yakov girl who looks fine on the outside but feels absolutely nothing on the inside. This is a video for the people who struggle with Shabbos. Who struggle with Torah. Who struggle with tefillah. This is a video for the divorced man who once had the big house, [music] the family pictures, the dream, and now sleeps on a mattress in a one room basement. This is a video for the 32 year old single woman who smiled through weddings and smiled [music] through Shabbos meals and smiled through conversations while carrying a pain that few can understand. This is a video for the couple in year seven [music] of infertility. The couple that says everything's okay when everything is very much not okay. This is a video for the man who took a job he hates because his family needed him to. [music] The man driving home from work in Delaware sitting in traffic staring through the windshield wondering, [music] is this really my life? Feeling all alone, feeling unseen, feeling unaccomplished, watching old friends become Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Chaburas and Rabbonim, watching others accomplish things he once dreamed of accomplishing, wondering where exactly his own dreams went and yet after a full day of carrying the weight of a family on his shoulders. He pulls into the parking lot of a Beis Medrash, opens a Gemara, and learns. This is a video for the Yeshiva bochur in second year Beis Medrash who can't stand Gemara anymore, but he shows up anyway. This is a video for the baal teshuva who shocked his family at age 18 and [music] became religious. The one who turned his entire world upside down for Hashem. Who became a stranger in his own home. Who sat at a family gathering like a guest, who couldn't eat at his own parents' table, the man who feels like he never fits in no matter where he goes, the man who spent years building a life from scratch, years learning what others inherited, years figuring out alone what others had handed to them, the one who spent a decade searching for a shidduch, the one who spent years and decades of awkward conversations and decades of disappointments and decades of watching everyone else move through life with ease, the one who had every reason in the world to look heaven straight in the eye and say, "Hashem, I gave up everything for you. I left behind my friends for you. I left behind comfort for you. I left behind the life I knew for you, and this is what I get?" And yet he never says it. Instead, he gets up and he goes to daven. He learns, he builds, he keeps believing, he keeps keeps showing up, not because it's easy, not because he's celebrated, but because somewhere deep inside he decided that Hashem is worth serving no matter what. This is a video for him. This is a video for the man who made one terrible mistake, one foolish, stupid decision, and now he sits alone in prison for years and years and years, not one visitor, not one phone call. His wife is gone, his reputation is gone, his future is crushed. And yet every morning he wraps his tefillin around his arm, every day he opens a sefer, [music] every day he cries his way through Shmoneh Esrei. This is a video for him. This is a video for the widow who just buried her husband, the woman staring at an unknown future, the woman who wants to collapse, [music] the woman who wants to scream, the woman who wants to disappear, but instead doesn't just live her life, she gets up and she roars through life, she sings through life, and somehow keeps on going. This is a video for the man who hasn't slept in 3 years [music] because he's drowning in debt and yet walks into shul every day with a smile. This is a video for the man who gets up and walks into seder every morning despite being mocked by his family, the very people who should have been his biggest supporters, where every day he hears, "When are you going to get a real job? When are you going to get a real job?" The man who gets treated like the family failure [music] for choosing a life of Torah, the man who despite the ridicule and despite the insults and despite treating like a disappointment, despite being financially cut off from his family, despite being told he's wasting his life, he walks into seder carrying wounds that nobody sees and he walks in [music] anyway. This is a video for the girl who's downloaded Instagram 100 times and deleted it 101 times. The girl who has made the same kabbalah over and over and over and over again, who has cried the same tears and fought the same battle and fallen into the same pit and yet gets up anyway. The girl who desperately wants to be holy, who desperately wants to be pure, who desperately wants to be the person she knows she can be and despite all the fails and despite all the frustration and despite all the moments she looked into the mirror and felt like a nothing, she keeps on fighting. This is a video for her. This is a video for the bochur who gets compared to his brother every day of his life, the brother who learns better, the brother who davens better, the brother who speaks better, the brother who acts better, the bochur who walked into the base medrish and despite feeling behind and feeling like he doesn't belong and feeling like everyone else gets it except him, [music] he shuts his mouth, he rolls up his sleeves, and he opens his gemara and he tries yet again. [music] This is a video for the husband and wife whose child left Yiddishkeit, who managed to smile through the Shabbos seudah while carrying a heartbreak they never imagined they would have to carry. The husband and wife who simultaneously live in a world of zemirot and Torah and shul and a world of rehab and fear and uncertainty and unanswered phone calls and terrifying phone calls and eyes swollen with tears. The husband and wife who drive hours just to spend a few minutes with their son, who sit beside him in treatment centers and stare at their phones every day hoping his name will appear. The husband and wife who never stop worrying and never stop loving and never stop waiting. The husband and wife who sit at a simcha and wonder if he's okay. They sit through a Shabbos meal and wonder where he's sleeping that night. The husband and wife who have become experts at hiding pain, who learned how to smile while their hearts are breaking, [music] who learned how to say baruch Hashem while carrying questions they cannot answer. Who they walk into shul and hear others discussing their children's accomplishments while they sit at home while silently wondering whether their own child is even alive. The husband and wife who have shed oceans of tears that nobody knows about and despite all the fear and despite all the disappointment and despite all the embarrassment and the endless ache they keep showing up for Hashem and serving with pride. This is a video for them. This is a video for the ger who left behind his entire world, his family, his friends, his [music] comfort, his everything and wonders if anyone understands what that cost. This is a video for the woman battling [music] anxiety so intense that getting out of bed feels like climbing a mountain and yet she gets up and she gets dressed and she shows up to life without anyone realizing what she conquered that morning. This is a video for her. This is a video for the [music] parents whose child has special needs, the parents who never get a day off, who never get a break, who never get applause, but keep carrying the load anyway. This is a video for the man sitting in the back of the shul because he's embarrassed by what he's become. And this is also a video for the man sitting in the back of the shul because he's embarrassed about what he didn't become. This is a video for the person who has davened to Hashem for the same thing for 40 straight years and it keeps [music] on dominating. This is a video for the people who cry in their car before walking into a simcha. The people who cry in the shower. The people who cry into their pillows. This is a video for the people fighting battles that nobody can see. The people battling ADD and ADHD and anxiety and depression and OCD and PTSD and bulimia and anorexia. The people with lists. The people who stutter. The people battling obsessive thoughts. The people battling panic attacks. The people battling loneliness. The people battling addictions. The people battling grief. The people battling memories that they wish they could forget. The people battling minds that refuse to give them even one minute of peace. The people who wake up exhausted before the day even begins. The people from whom getting out of bed is already a victory. The people who spend all day fighting a war that nobody around them even knows exists. The people who hear, "You seem fine." when they're anything but fine. The people who smile and show up and function and perform and produce and then [music] collapse the moment nobody is looking. The people who have every reason to quit and every reason to give up and every reason to surrender and yet don't. They wake up every morning and they pick up their sword and they march right back into the battlefield, bruised and bleeding and exhausted, but still fighting and still believing and still serving Hashem with strength no one sees. This is a video for you. Because when you imagine Mashiach coming on that long-awaited day, when Klal Yisrael floods the streets and we're all craning our necks to get a glimpse of our long-awaited Mashiach, you probably picture yourself in the back. Behind the Rosh Yeshiva, behind the Rabbanim, behind the Gvirim, behind the people who seem all successful. Behind the people who seem all put together. Behind the people everyone assumes will be front and center. And you tell yourself, "They're the ones who will greet Mashiach first, not me." Like Mashiach isn't coming for me. Me? The guy struggling online? Me? The girl who hasn't davened in years? Me? The guy who works while my brothers are still learning? Me, the divorced guy who is embarrassed to walk into shul? And slowly you see yourself where you always place yourself, in the back of the crowd if you're even invited at all. But what if I told you you've misunderstood the entire story? What if I told you you may be in for a surprise? What if heaven has been keeping score differently than you have? What if the people carrying the heaviest burdens are the people Hashem has been watching most closely? What if the people who thought they were in the back of the room were actually standing in the front all along? What if the people who spent their entire lives feeling like disappointments are among [music] heaven's greatest success stories? What if I told you that on that day, the day all of Klal Yisrael gathers together, the day the tears of thousands of years finally come to an end, the day Mashiach arrives, the day every question finally receives [music] an answer, the day every hidden battle is finally revealed, Mashiach will ascend a stage and the world will fall silent. And Mashiach climbs up on that stage and clears his throat and makes the first announcement [music] and he says, "Anyone who lived by the words Kavod Hashem ha lev, please step forward. Anyone who served Hashem through heartbreak, please step forward. Anyone who had full bitachon in Hashem even while their hearts were shattered, please step forward." And suddenly, from the back of the crowd, a widow takes a step. [music] And a divorced father takes a step. And a single woman carrying years of disappointment takes a step forward. And a couple [laughter] carrying the pain of decades of infertility takes a step forward. "Anyone who lived by the words l'fom tzara agra, please step forward. Anyone whose avodas Hashem was heavy, who had to fight through every mitzvah, who had to crawl when others could run, please step forward." And suddenly the crowd turned to the back and a teenager [music] fighting the internet walks to the front of the crowd. And a girl with severe anxiety steps forward. [music] And a man who battled addiction his whole life takes a step. And a bocher who learned in Yeshiva and then kayl for years with a severe stutter comes to the front of the crowd. Anyone who lived by the words Rachmana Liba Bayi, please step forward. Anyone who came broken but came anyway, please step forward. Anyone who came from a dysfunctional household and remained faithful, please step forward. And suddenly, from the back of the crowd, all the people who never received aliyahs take a step forward. And all the people who never received awards take a step forward. And all the people who no one cared about and no one thought about and no one looked at step to the front of the crowd. Anyone who lives by the words Layv Nishbav Nidvav Galuy Kim Lay Siruv Zay, please step forward. Anyone whose tears became tfilos, whose pain became a korban, [laughter] who served Hashem without family or societal pressure, please step forward. Anyone who served Hashem in jail or rehab centers, please step forward. And suddenly, in the back of the crowd, the mother crying in the laundry room steps to the [music] front of the crowd. And the father crying in his car takes a step. And the prisoner crying in his jail cell into his sitter takes a step forward. And the teenager who had to run from his family and got caught up in the wrong crowd and lived on the streets for years and yet still somehow TRIED HIS BEST TO KEEP SHABBOS, he steps forward. Anyone who lived by the words Shaarei Dimah Leinyanalu, please step forward. Anyone who thought nobody saw their tears and nobody cared about their cries and nobody saw their darkness and still served Hashem with sincerity, please step forward. And suddenly, from the back of the crowd, [music] the people who cried in hospital rooms, the people who cried in therapist's office, the people who cried after everyone else had gone to sleep, the people who cried because they missed a child or missed a spouse [music] or missed a dream or missed the life they thought they would have, they all step forward. And they walk [music] to the front of the crowd. Messiah says, "Anyone who lived by the words please step forward." And suddenly from the back of the crowd, the baal teshuva who never fit in, he steps forward. The baal teshuva who reads Hebrew funny, he steps forward. The baal teshuva [laughter] who couldn't get his kids into school, he steps forward. The baal teshuva who lived an entire life of awkwardness and disregard, he steps forward and walks to the front of the crowd. "Anyone who fell 100 times and got back up 101 times, please step forward. Anyone who refused to let their failures have the final word, please step forward." And suddenly from the back of the crowd, the girl who deleted Instagram 100 times takes a step forward and the boy who spent years and years and years fighting a private war with the internet takes a step forward and the MAN WHO SPENT 20 YEARS REBUILDING A LIFE HE ONCE THOUGHT was beyond repair, he takes a step forward. And the woman who endured setback after setback after setback after setback since somehow never stopped believing, she takes a step forward. Messiah says, "Anyone who felt abandoned but kept davening anyway, please step forward. Anyone who felt nothing in their Yiddishkeit, nothing, yet keep showing up anyway, please step forward. Anyone who walked into shul carrying a broken heart, please step forward. Anyone who learned Torah while carrying a pain that nobody else knew about, please step forward. Anyone who smiled while silently falling apart, please step forward. Anyone who spent years believing they were disappointing Hashem while heaven was marveling at their courage, please step forward." And at that exact moment, there's movement back in the crowd and slowly dozens and dozens and dozens of people begin stepping forward, the unnoticed, the overlooked, the struggling, the lonely, the exhausted, the people who spent their entire lives convinced they were religious failures, the people who thought they were barely hanging on, the people who never in their wildest dreams imagined that their names would be called. They all step forward. And the world stands frozen in stunned silence as the hidden heroes they're ushered to the front as a hush falls over all of creation and generations of assumptions and preconceived notions come crashing down and from one end of the world to the other end the words I am a free easy are spread across the heavens. So to every struggling warrior out there listening to this, stop apologizing for who you are. Stop measuring yourself by people who have never fought your battles. Stop waiting for people to understand you or to appreciate you or to validate you. Some people will never understand your fight because they've never had to fight it. They have no idea what it takes for you to get through a day. They have no idea what it costs you to keep showing up and quite frankly, who cares? Because history is never changed by the people sitting in the stands. >> [music] >> History is changed by the people in the arena. The people bleeding. The people sweating. The people fighting. You think heaven is impressed by people who had easy roads? Heaven is impressed by people who struggle and do not give up. Heaven knows exactly how much [music] weight is on your shoulders and heaven knows exactly how far you've carried it. So let people talk. Let people judge. Let people roll their eyes. Let people misunderstand you. Tune it all out. Keep moving. Keep fighting. Keep building. Keep dragging your feet forward if that's what it takes. Because one day the world is going to discover [music] something that will shock them. And that the people they thought were fail falling behind were actually carrying the entire generation. The people they thought were weak were the strongest among them. The people they ignored were the people holding the line. So lift your [music] head high and keep on marching because I also cannot afford for you to quit. We need your scars. We need your resilience. We need the strength you earned in places that nobody saw. you're not carrying a burden, you're carrying a banner. The banner of resilience, the banner of loyalty, [music] the banner of a Jew who refuses to quit. So, hold your head high and walk with pride because one day, when the shofar will sound, when the exiles [music] will gather, when all the tears come to an end, when the heroes of Klal Yisrael will finally be revealed, and when the march to Yerushalayim begins, you won't be scrambling for a place in the back of the crowd. You'll be right at the front with the flag of Hashem in your hands and the third Beis Hamikdash before your eyes and all of Klal Yisrael marching behind you as you triumphantly lead the way. >> [music]