Gimmel Av

“Whew, I’m glad that’s over,” Bluma said to her friend Shoshi.  They had just spent an intense week studying for finals.  Now the tests were all behind them, and summer vacation was about to begin.

“You know, this is going to sound weird,” said Shoshi, “but in a way, I’m going to miss finals week.”

Bluma looked at her friend in astonishment.  “Are you serious?  What is there to miss about staying up late night after night studying like crazy?  Do you really mean that you want to go back to all that?”

“No, not exactly,” replied Shoshi.  “I’m also glad that summer vacation is here.  But at the same time, doing all that learning felt very satisfying.  Now, the pressure is off, but I’m still going to miss that feeling of accomplishment.”

The Rebbe Rashab said in a sicha that when Moshiach will come (speedily in our time, Amen), we will really miss the days of galus.  Can you imagine this?  What can there be to miss about galus?  The Rebbe explains that we will miss the accomplishments that we could have had through our hard work in galus.  We will feel disappointment at not having worked as hard as we could have.  We will feel the deep pain caused by our lack of avoda.  These days of galus are days of avoda, to prepare ourselves for the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our days, amen.