Dancing for Simcha: Bringing Mashiach
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Many years ago, in Lakewood, New Jersey, there was a young man who had been dating for many years but couldn’t find the right shidduch. Everyone around him was getting married, and he was starting to feel the pressure of time.
One day, back in the era of payphones, the payphone outside the Lakewood Beit Midrash began to ring. A man picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me,” said the voice on the other end.
“What’s going on?”
“I just got engaged!”
The man on the line was stunned. Engaged? Finally?
“I’m driving down Route 9,” the voice continued. “I stopped to get gas and I’m calling from the payphone at the station. I’ll be there in 20 minutes. Tell everyone—it’s a big simcha!”
Word spread quickly throughout the Beit Midrash. By the afternoon, about 200 people were learning Gemara, when the young man finally walked through the doors. The excitement was uncontrollable. The learning benches were pushed aside, the Gabbai stopped chanting, and everyone began to sing and dance in celebration.
In the middle of the dancing, the front door of the Beit Midrash swung open. Out ran Revach Folgel, the Mashgiach, carrying a suitcase. He ran straight to the chatan, asking, “Where is he? Where is he?”
The room fell silent. Everyone stopped dancing. Revach Folgel reached the chatan and said, “It’s you. It’s really you!”
The mashgiach had thought the commotion in the Beit Midrash was the arrival of Mashiach. The sight of everyone dancing with such joy was so profound, so filled with simcha, that it seemed like redemption had arrived.
The brilliance of the story lies in the metaphor: the mashgiach always kept a suitcase ready in his office—a Mashiach suitcase. We can imagine what might be inside it—ready, packed, waiting for the moment of revelation.
The lesson is simple yet profound: we bring Mashiach into our lives through our joy and faith. When we act with emunah and embrace simcha, we hasten the coming of Mashiach. Each act of mitzvah, each moment of heartfelt celebration, each leap of faith—it all contributes to this divine mission.
When the Beit Midrash danced that day, they weren’t just celebrating a shidduch—they were symbolically dancing for Mashiach. And that’s a reminder for all of us: our simchas, our faith, and our dedication have the power to bring Mashiach into the world—even in our lifetimes.