People are different in their nature and their are many levels and styles of cooperation and partnerships, but what truly is a selfless team and what is just self interests? And which balance is needed for those who truly want to bring moshiach?
There's a Yiddish saying called "יוצא זיין" which refers to someone who does something just to be able to say he did it, but he has no intention or care if said action will actually manifest, he just did his part for himself and not "for the team".
One of the main works of Chassidus is to bring a person to a place where he will not rest until the will of hashem is manifest in the world, even if it is at the expense of him "sinning" in other words, the end result of Hashem's plan manifesting is more important than his own "success".
Chasidim spoke of the French soldiers who laid down in the river so that napoleon could be able to cross the river and the chasidim debated which soldier where more loyal, the ones who sunk to the bottom of the river or the ones who napoleon's horse walked upon, the chasidim concluded that the soldiers at the bottom of the lake had more "selflessness" as they were ready to die for napoleon even if they were erased from this world and never seen, but the soldiers who were on the top level perhaps survived and could later run their mouth and speak of great stories they were involved in...
In today's world, the level of "self sacrifice" otherwise known as מסירות נפש of the erlier generations, is not necessary, in today's day the rebbe tells us that the self sacrifice demanded of us is in the work of controlling the animal soul. But many corner-store stories of Chasidic traditions create the foundation of the moshiach team, loyalty trust and a bond of brothers only chasidim could speak of.
The previous rebbe of Chabad rabbi yosef Yitschak Shneorson obm had ten chasidim sign that they would do all in their power to preserve Judaism and chassidus in the USSR to the point of "self sacrifice" most of those chasidim truly were killed in the process of fulfilling their promise.
The Rambam brings in Torah law that women cannot be in any lead capacity, the torah states "you put upon yourself a king" - a king and not a queen, we know in torah that "woman their actionable wisdom is light" or easily changed... Therfore putting them in a leadership position harms those they lead and themselves.
A woman's job is to support her man no matter what, to strengthen his side to the best of her ability, she needs to trust her husband and place her trust in him, this will give her man the support to make the right decisions for her and his family.
Likewise it is important that men take the lead in their home and not leave important responsibilities to their woman to decide, a man should be as involved as possible in the decisions of his home to conduct it in a manner that would reflect the will of the creator.
There are others who are distracted by "how others will see me" and they spend unnecessary time trying to do things not for g-d and not for themselves but just to make an impression that others will say, oh him? Yeah, he's a great guy, he does everything right....
Truly this is a struggle between the selfish and the selfless, a cup that is full has no room for anything new, so too a person with ego has no room for Hashem.
Love you fellow as yourself and what you don't like done to yourself don't do to others are basic guidelines for us.
For normal people It's sometimes easy to confuse the selfish person from the selfless, they seem to do the same things, as it is only the intent that really is different. The selfish person will give charity, but the WAY he does it can tell us a lot, if he does it in front of others and makes a lot of noise doing it, and does not care what the other needs but rather DECIDES for them.... These might be signs of a selfish person, why? Because he doesn't trust the other and is not trying to build a long term relationship nor does it matter to him what the other truly needs, this "show of charity" is for HIM to feel good. And has less to do with making the world a better place.
On the other hand, one who builds relationships, is honest with his fellow man, talks to his fellow people in a fair way and as a friend, one who helps those around him and asks for nothing in return, one who is happy in the success of those around him and sad in their pain, these are signs of a healthy person who is in touch with hashems plan.
When it comes to the ever complex mission of manifesting moshiach in all its intricate details, the Team, crew, unit or brotherhood is extremely important, negative toxic energy, lack of faith and selfish attributes need to be avoided as much as possible.
Some might wonder, but what is one to do when everything seems to be going wrong? What if my situation is not allowing me to be successful? In that case we need to only do these things, remember that everything is from hashem and is for the best. Remember that we are only expected to do our best nothing more nothing less. And that even if the situation looks bleak, it is perfect, it's just that we don't see hashem's full plan as of now.
We also need not be lazy or give up, so long we have air in our lungs we are victorious against the evil in the world, and we carry hashem's blessing, we need to keep working, slow or fast, to make this world a better place in every moment we find ourselves.
Also the story of the Kosak horse which gets out of river and than reenters the raging waters to save one of his friends - this horse demonstrates not only strength but also loyalty.
Boldness in the service of hashem together with healing from our exile experience should be our focus to bring our work closer to the redemption manifesting work.
Much blessings and success to our Moshiach team and may you all see happiness and prosperity in your lives.
Rabbi Yosef Edery