Rabbi Roodyn

The Seforno says that this chapter is referring specifically to קיבוץ גליות, the ingathering of the exiles at the time of Moshiach, so that the Jewish people themselves can return to Hashem with Teshuva

The events of this time are predicted by the prophet Yechezkel 36:23-28. This passage is both powerful and beautiful and has been a source of great comfort to the Jewish people during the last 2,500 years. Wherever we have been we have always kept one eye on  the present to navigate the issues of the day, but we have kept one eye on the future.

וְקִדַּשְׁתִּי אֶת שְׁמִי הַגָּדוֹל הַמְחֻלָּל בַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר חִלַּלְתֶּם בְּתוֹכָם וְיָדְעוּ הַגּוֹיִם כִּי אֲנִי ה’ נְאֻם ה’ אלקים בְּהִקָּדְשִׁי בָכֶם לְעֵינֵיהֶם: וְלָקַחְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִן הַגּוֹיִם וְקִבַּצְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִכָּל הָאֲרָצוֹת וְהֵבֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם אֶל אַדְמַתְכֶם: וְזָרַקְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם מַיִם טְהוֹרִים וּטְהַרְתֶּם מִכֹּל טֻמְאוֹתֵיכֶם וּמִכָּל גִּלּוּלֵיכֶם אֲטַהֵר אֶתְכֶם: וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב חָדָשׁ וְרוּחַ חֲדָשָׁה אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וַהֲסִרֹתִי אֶת לֵב הָאֶבֶן מִבְּשַׂרְכֶם וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב בָּשָׂר: וְאֶת רוּחִי אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וְעָשִׂיתִי אֵת אֲשֶׁר בְּחֻקַּי תֵּלֵכוּ וּמִשְׁפָּטַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם: וִישַׁבְתֶּם בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם וִהְיִיתֶם לִי לְעָם וְאָנֹכִי אֶהְיֶה לָכֶם לֵאלֹקִים:

And I will sanctify My great Name, which was profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord-is the declaration of the Lord God-when I will be sanctified through you before their eye. For I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you to your land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean; from all your impurities and from all your abominations will I cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you and bring it about that you will walk in My statutes and you will keep My ordinances and do [them].            Then will you dwell in the land that I gave your fathers, and you will be a people to Me, and I will be to you as a God.

We have absolute confidence that the day will come when this prophecy will be fulfilled and the Jewish people will be redeemed both physically and spiritually. As we enter into Shabbos which is מעין עולם הבא a taste of the world to come, we leave the mundane behind us and focus on what life is really about, we look at out goals and realise that to be a Jew is to have one foot in the present but one foot stepping forward to realise our personal and national destiny.