Everyone’s curious about the future. Maybe that’s what brought out so many students and guests to Parkfest last week, JK. Kidding aside, even with all that science has so much figured out these days, it’s still very difficult to predict the future. Even the weather can be dicey to forecast, never mind the complexity of people’s lives and relationships and the ever-changing world we live in.

Much of Passover is focused on the Jewish past and present. We go back in time to the slavery and Exodus from Egypt, we revisit the ten plagues and the splitting of the sea. True, Chassidic teaching insists that we relive the Exodus in the sense of our personal Egypts, our current modern-day limitations and boundaries, but that’s still only the present, and not the future.

The Baal Shem Tov taught that the 8th day of Passover is focused on the future. He learns this from the Haftorah of this day which speaks of when the lion will dwell with the lamb, when a great banner held by the root of Jesse will lead the ingathering of the exiles. The Baal Shem Tov instituted a “Moshiach Meal” during Passover’s final hour on the 8th day, to look forward to the future redemption.

In that spirit, and guided by Jewish texts and teachings, I’d like to share with you 3 important things about the future. No – I can’t tell you who you will marry, or how fast you’ll find a job or where you will live when you are thirty, but these are important things about the future nonetheless, that can apply to all of us.

HERE

There’s a fundamental concept in Chabad Chassidus called “Dirah Tachtonim” which emphasizes the G-dly mission to this world, and the importance of the physical reality in the Divine plan. Science fiction authors think the future may be in outer space, some Jewish philosophers think of the Messianic era as a ultra-spiritual time – but not Chabad, which is focused on fusing the spiritual and physical, and revealing the hidden G-dliness to be found within our physical world. So according to this – the future is right HERE.

US

The Passover miracles were all done by G-d, the Jewish people were mostly passive observers, watching in wonder. G-d did all the heavy lifting. Tanya (the classic text by the first Chabad Rebbe) insists that the final redemption will be different. It will depend on our good deeds and efforts throughout the length of the exile. The future redemption depends on us! It is built upon what we do…

MAKE EACH DAY COUNT

This 3rd lesson about the Jewish future, we learn from the daily counting of the Omer, from the second Passover Seder until Shavuot, one day at a time. Some people would like to send off a resume, snap their fingers and have things work out. But it very rarely works that way. The future is built one day at a time, making each day count. Even if you are in between things or waiting on a response, don’t just wait around! Make each day count, be productive, don’t let the days slip by.

So, there’s a lot about the future we don’t know. It can be hard to predict tomorrow! But I’d like to share with you these three things about our future I know from classic Jewish texts: It’s going to be here, it depends on us, and it comes one day at a time.