Many wonder, why are we, today, faced with such horrific impurity, to a degree unknown before modern technology.
Confusing as it all seems, we know that whatever emanates from our loving Father is only beneficial. There must be a reason why Hashem allowed this development.
Think for a moment about how a budding young boxer would go about building up his arm muscles. Not overnight, but gradually he would train himself to lift successively heavier sets of weights. As his strength increases, he faces and defeats ever more challenging opponents.
By dint of Hashem’s testing us with tumah, our ״kedusha muscles״ grow larger and stronger. In order for us to reach greater levels of kedusha, we must successively overcome more difficult challenges.
So has it been since time immemorial. When B’nei Yisrael were in Mitzrayim, they sank to the 49th level of the impurity of the culture that surrounded them. When they left Mitzrayim, they cleansed themselves from these 49 levels of tumah in 49 days, thereby attaining the 49th level of kedusha. They were neither exposed to the 50th level (an absolute low) of impurity nor were they expected to withstand it. The Ohr Hachaim (Shemos 3:8) explains that since this was prior to Matan Torah, they could not have coped with the 50th level of tumah. Therefore, correspondingly, they could not rise to attain the 50th degree (the zenith) of kedusha.
Now at the climax of our history, ushering in the Mashiach era, Hashem wants to present us with the full force of 50 levels of kedusha. We are therefore witness today to an entirely new ball game. Permission has been granted to the denizens of the netherworld to thrust a final fling of the 50th level of pritzus full force into our faces. After Matan Torah, with the Torah as our arsenal, we are able to tackle every last bit of the fight – until we vanquish the reign of evil. With our souls fortified with Torah, we are capable of reaching and receiving the zenith of kedusha.
Now we’re on the last lap of our journey, amidst the ever-quickening pace of Ikvesa D’Meshicha. We hear an unprecedented note of urgency – the corollary being that whoever lets themselves be swayed, even if they survived and succeeded in climbing up the previous rungs, will be caught and trapped by the 50th degree of impurity.
But whoever is determined to combat the mighty pull of the dragnet is thereby hacking down the imprisoning walls of tumah and developing great stamina in the process. This continues until the moment when our spiritually powerful arms will pry open the gates for Mashiach to arrive amidst the full 50 degrees of our hard-earned kedusha.