Ramchal’s Essay on Hope: Can Our Generation Bring Mashiach?

Why do we place such an emphasis on the fact that we left Egypt?Ramchal writes that “bereishis” means tikva. Tikva means hope. The root of the word tikva is kav which means a line. The difference between a circle and a line is that a circle stays in its limitations but a line can break all barriers. So long as we are connected to the lifeline that Hashem extended to us, we have hope. The hope is that we can transcend this finite and limited world because we are on a line that connects us to infinity and eternity. When we went to Egypt, we had almost lost connection to our lifeline. When Hashem took us out, he gave us a new line with a fresh beginning. The Jews saw this at the splitting of the sea and they sang with clarity and conviction- Hashem Yimloch Leila Vaed. They knew they would reach their purpose because they were back into the line. Every generation is further down this line. If we are able to still hold on to the same line that our ancestors held onto l, even though we are so far down the line, that merit is ample hope that we can be the generation to bring the Mashiach!