Two great ideas have been contending with each other in the religious consciousness of the Jew during most of the millennia of Jewish history. The first one maintains that geulah (redemption) is wholly the act of God, and man is nothing but a passive observer and the lucky beneficiary of His guidance of history. Man may hope for redemption, but not work for it; pray for it, but not precipitate it; await it, but not anticipate it. It is, as we would put it in today’s vernacular, all God’s show; He is the only actor, and man merely the appreciative audience.