"Clothes for the Messiah"

There is an classic rabbinic  tale from the aggadah, retold in Rabbi Pearl's "Theology in Rabbinic Stories,"  as "Clothes for the Messiah," (Jer. Ber. Sa; Lamentations Rabbah 1:51). about a Jew being told the Temple had just been destroyed.  It turns out that, inevitably, the Messiah  is born that same day.

The point being that

 Messiah always arises and appears when grief ascends.

And that:

"The proper course of action for the Jew is to continue working--even in the apocalyptic times of the Messiah...Only on that basis could they hope that the tragic national experiences would be overcome and that the Jews would face the future with the courage and determination whuch would eventually bring them to a happier period...the emphasis is on the
pursuit of the normal...-Pearl, p. 150