The Book BESURAS HAGEULAH – The Announcement of the Redemption is a collection of excerpts of the talks of the Rebbe SHLITA Melech HaMoshiach. These excerpts, which contain the Rebbe’s pronouncements that “The time for your Redemption has arrived” and that “Behold Moshiach is coming,” represent some of the most riveting statements made over the last few years (5750-5752), and have been edited by the Rebbe personally, with the special request that they be publicized throughout the world.

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It is well known that Moshiach assured the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidism, that the Redemption would come when the Baal Shem Tov’s wellsprings were disseminated outwards – to the farthest corners of the earth. It has been the task of the Baal Shem Tov’s students, successors and disciples to undertake the task of spreading the wellsprings. The Lubavitcher Rebbeim have always been at the forefront of this effort, starting with the Alter Rebbe and continuing through each generation to our own. Indeed, in our own times we have seen an unprecedented outpouring of Chassidic teaching, which is literally transmitted to the ends of the earth.

Surely, part of the process of the “spreading the wellsprings” includes making the teachings available to all Jews, in whatever language they understand. While facility in Hebrew and Yiddish enables one to understand not only the content, but the original style of a sicha or maamar, nevertheless the very act of translating helps fulfill the directive to “spread the wellsprings.”

Since the publication of “Besuras HaGeulo” – The Announcement of the Redemption – there has been a tremendous demand for a translation into English. We are pleased to present this translation to the English-speaking public. The importance of these selections will be obvious immediately.

The mere existence of such a book – a translation of Chassidic thought into the vernacular of the day, is evidence that indeed the wellsprings have spread forth. And since the topic of this book concerns the very Redemption itself – the coming of Moshiach promised to the Baal Shem Tov – it seems appropriate to ask – that we should see, literally, the fulfillment of the Rebbe’s prophecy, of “L’alter L’geulo” – The Immediate Redemption!” immediately, and “behold, here comes Moshiach.”

It should be noted that, as in all translations, there is the possibility of inadvertent errors. These are of course solely the responsibility of the translators and editors, Rabbi Yisroel Heschel Greenberg and Dovid Yisroel Ber Kaufmann, Ph.D.

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It is our fervent wish that we will imminently merit the immediate and complete Redemption, at which time we will hear the Torah Chadashah, the new dimensions of Torah from the mouth of Moshiach. Amen.

Va’ad L’hafotzas Sichos

18th of Elul, 5758
300 Years from Ba’al Shem Tov’s Birth
Brooklyn, NY