The blessing right after the Shma, and right before the morning Amidah is a plea for redemption. It concludes with the words, “Rock of Israel, rise in defense of Israel, fulfill Your promise to redeem Judah and Israel.”
But what exactly does that redemption look like? Over the course of time, our people has faced many battles. In some cases—King David vs. the Philistines, the Maccabees vs. the Syrian Greeks, modern Israel vs. Arab armies—we have achieved incredible victories, often against all odds. In other cases—Judah vs. Babylonia, when the first Temple was destroyed, Judea vs. Rome, when the second Temple was destroyed, Bar Kochba vs. Rome when an exile that lasted nearly two millennia began—we were defeated with disastrous consequences. To this day, we mourn those defeats on Tisha B’av, which we will be commemorating on Monday night and Tuesday.
The ongoing pendulum swing between victory and defeat must mean that the victories, however miraculous, still don’t qualify as “geulah,” “redemption.” So what makes redemption redemption? The answer can be found in a close reading of this blessing. Referring to the Exodus from Egypt, the prayer reads, “You split the Red Sea, the arrogant You drowned, Your let Your cherished ones cross over, the waters covered their enemies…” and here comes the crucial part, “not one of them remained. And for this Your beloved sang hymns…”.
In other words, the crucial aspect of redemption is its totality. When it’s over, it’s over. Instead of having to play Whack-a-Mole with one imperial enemy or terrorist horde after another, when redemption comes our people will truly and permanently know peace.
We ain’t there yet, in case you hadn’t noticed. That’s one reason we need to pray, to be reminded that however far we have come, the redemption is not yet complete (even with the reestablishment of Israel in our days—Israel is “reshit tzmichat geulateynu” “the beginning of the flowering of our redemption”). It’s also, importantly, a reminder of what’s possible. In spite of the ugliness we see around us (file under Gaza), which could lead a sane person to despair, our prayers are an assertion that redemption is possible—in fact inevitable.
And finally, this prayer is also the reason that I urge people to echo the word “Mashiach” “Messiah” when we daven. With Mashiach (in whatever form Mashiach comes) comes redemption.