Below, I've quoted from Conservative (or Masorti) Judaism's statement on "the end times." I put in bold text the part which I believe is most significant -- that it's up to each of us to work hard to make a heaven on earth. I personally believe that this present-day work is more worthwhile than speculation on when exactly "the end times" will occur.
"Since no one knows what will happen 'in the days to come' each of us is free to fashion personal speculative visions of the future. In no other area of Jewish thought is dogmatism less justified and hence more hazardous. Though some of us accept these speculations as literally true, many of us understand them as elaborate metaphors generated by deep-seated human and communal needs and woven together out of Judaism's most intuitive values and commitments. Thus, if Judaism's 'age to come' is an age of universal peace and social justice, it is because our Torah commands that we strive to create that kind of social order in the here and now and because our prophets railed against our ancestors' failure to do so in their own day. To refer to these doctrines as metaphors in no way diminishes their significance, their value or their impact on our lives. No human being can live without a dream. As Conservative Jews, then, we affirm the substance of classical Jewish eschatological thinking. Its central thrust is that in partnership with God, we can create an ever more perfect social order — not inevitably, not steadily, and perhaps not in our lifetimes — but eventually, and with the proviso that we strive to the extent of our ability to help bring it about."
Quoted from Emet Ve'Emunah (אמת ואמונה) "Truth and Faith"
"Since no one knows what will happen 'in the days to come' each of us is free to fashion personal speculative visions of the future. In no other area of Jewish thought is dogmatism less justified and hence more hazardous. Though some of us accept these speculations as literally true, many of us understand them as elaborate metaphors generated by deep-seated human and communal needs and woven together out of Judaism's most intuitive values and commitments. Thus, if Judaism's 'age to come' is an age of universal peace and social justice, it is because our Torah commands that we strive to create that kind of social order in the here and now and because our prophets railed against our ancestors' failure to do so in their own day. To refer to these doctrines as metaphors in no way diminishes their significance, their value or their impact on our lives. No human being can live without a dream. As Conservative Jews, then, we affirm the substance of classical Jewish eschatological thinking. Its central thrust is that in partnership with God, we can create an ever more perfect social order — not inevitably, not steadily, and perhaps not in our lifetimes — but eventually, and with the proviso that we strive to the extent of our ability to help bring it about."
Quoted from Emet Ve'Emunah (אמת ואמונה) "Truth and Faith"
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