31. Not Extra Credit

If Moshiach is the whole purpose of creation, if Moshiach is so central to our lives, why are there so few and indirect references to it in the Torah?

You would think it would be the first thing HaShem would tell us! You would think belief in Moshiach would be the first mitzvah!
And according to R' Yitzchak of Kurbil, (Sefer Mitzvas Katan,) you're right!

How's that?
In today's Torah reading, we read a review of the 10 commandments.
While 9 of them are very clear and direct commands, the first one,  "I am Gd your Gd who took you out of Egypt," is different.

It doesn't even sound like a command!
It sounds more like a statement, a declaration, a fact of life.

But according to the Rambam, it's the 1st of the 613 Mitzvos, and it's one of the only ones we heard directly from HaShem.

So what exactly is the mitzvah?

The mitzvah is to believe that just like you saw Me take you out of Egypt, even though it seemed impossible and you felt you didn't deserve it, so too you must believe that I will take you out in the future and bring Moshiach, even if you can't imagine it or don't think you earned it.

"I'm your Almighty Gd, I've done it before, and I can and will do it again!"

These are the very first words that Hashem chose to tell us as a nation because they are the basis for our whole relationship, for all our Torah and Mitzvos, and for our whole life!

Belief in Moshiach is not extra credit.

(Based on Jewish.tv, R' Ben Tzion Krasnianski)