There is a secret agreement between past generations and the present one. Our coming was expected on earth. Like every generation that preceded us, we have been endowed with a weak messianic power. The myth of progress has made the working class forget both its righteous anger and its spirit of sacrifice, for both are nourished by the image of enslaved ancestors rather than by the ideal of liberated grandchildren. 
The Jews were prohibited from inquiring into the future; the Torah and the prayers instruct us in remembrance. This does not imply that for the Jews the future became homogeneous, empty time. For, each second is the small gateway in time through which the Messiah might enter. There is no moment that doesn’t carry revolutionary opportunity.
 


haggadah Section: Bareich
Source: Walter Benjamin