A Chassidic saying: When an orphan eats everyone sees, but when he cries no one sees. God, have mercy on an orphaned generation!
No generation is ever totally orphaned; there are always teachers of God's way. Mashiach will come in a generation that appears orphaned.
The sages said that the generation of Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria was not an orphaned generation. He was the 10th generation from Ezra.
We are the 10th generation from the Ba'al Shem Tov. Our generation appears to be orphaned. This is the time for Mashiach to come.
A generation without a teacher is an orphaned generation. A generation that does not heed its teacher's teachings is a rebellious generation.
Sometimes it's hard to tell if the generation is orphaned or rebellious. Who's to blame, the teachers or the people?
One of the sages, Rabbi Yehoshua, first thought that the generation was orphaned, but in the end concluded that it was just rebellious.
The generation that at first appears orphaned but in reality is just rebellious is the generation in which the Mashiach will come.
A rebellious generation demands more of its teachers than they are capable of giving. It will settle for nothing less than the Mashiach.
The sages say that although the Torah speaks of a rebellious son there was never one in reality. Rebellious children are not what they seem.
