The Messiah and the Jews: Three Thousand Years of Tradition, Belief and Hope

By Rabbi Elaine Rose Glickman, Rabbi Neil Gillman, PhD and Rabbi Judith Z. Abrams, PhD

A comprehensive, inspiring and fascinating discovery of what Jews believe about the Messiah—and why you might believe in the Messiah, too.

"The conviction that the Messiah is coming is a promise of meaning. It is a source of consolation. It is a wellspring of creativity. It is a reconciliation between what is and what should be. And it is perhaps our most powerful statement of faith—in God, in humanity and in ourselves."
—from Chapter 1, “The Messiah Is Coming!”

The coming of the Messiah—the promise of redemption—is among Judaism's gifts to the world. But it is a gift about which the world knows so little. It has been overshadowed by Christian belief and teaching, and as a result its Jewish significance has been all but lost. To further complicate matters, Jewish messianic teaching is enthralling, compelling, challenging, exhilarating—yet, up until now, woefully inaccessible. This book will change that.

Rabbi Elaine Rose Glickman brings together, and to life, this three-thousand-year-old tradition as never before. Rather than simply reviewing the vast body of Jewish messianic literature, she explores an astonishing range of primary and secondary sources, explaining in an informative yet inspirational way these teachings’ significance for Jews of the past—and infuses them with new meaning for the modern reader, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Feb 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781580237314

Rabbi Elaine Rose Glickman

Rabbi Elaine Rose Glickman is a noted teacher, speaker and author whose work includes the National Jewish Book Award finalist Sacred Parenting: Jewish Wisdom for Your Family's Early Years, Living Torah, B'chol L'vavcha, and Haman and the Jews. Her essays, sermons and poetry are widely published, and she is a featured guest on the syndicated television talk show Daytime. Rabbi Elaine Rose Glickman is available to speak on the following topics: What Does Judaism Teach about the Messiah—and Why Should I Care? What Do Jews Believe about the Messiah? A Brief Introduction for Christians Why You Should Believe in the Messiah—and Maybe Already Do Warriors, Battles and the End of Days: The Apocalypse in Jewish Tradition Women in Messianic Literature Suffering and Redemption in Jewish Tradition A Messianic Map: Sites of Apocalyptic Significance in Modern Israel Is the State of Israel a Sign of the Messiah? The Resurrection of the Dead in Jewish Tradition The Failure of Liberal Jewish Messianism Experiencing the Messiah How to Bring the Messiah Click here to contact the author.

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For Brenner,

for Mo,

for Leo,

and for Eden

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One

The Messiah Is Coming!

Where Is the Messiah Now?

When Will the Messiah Come?

Can We Make the Messiah Come Faster?

How Will the Messiah Appear?

Has the Messiah Been Revealed Before?

How Can We Recognize the True Messiah?

Chapter Two

The Messiah Will Rule Over Israel

What Does Messiah Mean?

Why Must the Messiah Be Descended from King David?

Why Do Messianic Hopes Focus on Israel?

What Is the Ingathering of the Exiles?

What Is the Relationship between the State of Israel and the Messiah?

How Did the Messiah Become Associated with Supernatural Elements?

Chapter Three

The Messiah Is a Warrior

What Will the World Be Like Just Beforethe Messiah Comes?

What Is Apocalyptic Literature?

Against Whom Will the Messiah Go to War?

Who Is the Messiah ben Joseph?

Who Is Hephzibah?

How Will the Messiah Triumph?

Chapter Four

The Messiah Will Change Everything

How Will the Natural World Be Different in the Days of the Messiah?

What Will People Be Like in the Messianic Age?

What Will Society Be Like in the Messianic Age?

When the Messiah Is Here, How Will Judaism Be Practiced?

What Is the Resurrection of the Dead?

What Is the Feast of the Righteous?

Chapter Five

The Messiah Will Establish God’s Dominion

Who Is Elijah?

What Is the Role of the Shofar?

Will the Wicked Be Brought to Justice in the Messianic Age?

Will Everyone Be Jewish in the Days of the Messiah?

How Will We Relate to God in the Messianic Age?

What Is the Connection between Individual and Communal Redemption?

Chapter Six

The Messiah Is Us

Who Is the Suffering Servant?

What Is the Role of the Messiah in Hasidic Judaism?

Who Is Rabbi Schneerson?

What Did Classical Reform Judaism Teach about the Messiah?

What Does Modern Liberal Judaism Teach about the Messiah?

Can We Experience the Messiah?

Author’s Note

Notes

Suggestions for Further Reading

List of Searchable Terms

About the Author

Copyright

Also Available

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Foreword

For reasons that are not totally clear, Jewish eschatology (the study of the end of days) is now in fashion once again. For decades now, Jewish theologians have been thinking about and teaching about the contours of Jewish speculation on what will happen at the end—to the world, to the Jewish people, and to the individual human being. Topics such as the afterlife, resurrection of the dead, return to Zion, the ingathering of the exiles, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple are now very much on the agenda of Jewish thinkers. A new contribution to this now fashionable writing is The Messiah and the Jews by Rabbi Elaine Rose Glickman, a noted teacher and the award-winning author of Sacred Parenting: Jewish Wisdom for Your Family’s Early Years; Living Torah; B’chol L’vavcha; and Haman and the Jews.

It takes a great deal of courage to write one book on Jewish beliefs of the Messiah. Jews have been wondering about the character of this individual—how he (or she) will affect our world, and the difference it makes if we do or do not believe in his (or her) imminent arrival. Rabbi Glickman has assembled a treasure house of traditional Jewish teachings of these topics from scripture to the Rabbinic midrash, through medieval philosophers, mysticism, and Hasidism—up to and including a brief chapter on the messianic claims of Chabad’s Schneerson—to contemporary liberal Reform Jews. Her major contribution is simply to have researched the topics and succeeded in presenting this rich collection of material, largely arranged according to topical considerations. A generous array of footnotes can provide opportunities for further, more scholarly investigation.

Particularly successful is Rabbi Glickman’s treatment of messianic reflection among classical Reform and modern liberal Judaism. This is an area that Rabbi Glickman obviously knows very well from personal experience, which accounts for the serious, sustained but also relatively modest treatment she accords. She deserves a great deal of acclaim for bringing her study up to date with a treatment of both classical and liberal Reform thinking. She even has the courage to conclude the book with an affirmation of the Sabbath as itself a messianic statement. This brings the study to a powerful conclusion.

Though maybe not as comprehensive as a scholarly treatment may have been—the intention was accessibility for a broad audience, Jews and non-Jews alike—Rabbi Glickman has presented us with an immensely useful anthology of Jewish consideration of the meanings of messianic theology and its relevance to our own lives. It is not clear, to this writer at least, which of our contemporaries has a stake in these issues, but if thinking about the end of days is very much in fashion again, then this book should provide opportunities for serious study.

—Rabbi Neil Gillman, PhD

Preface

You know what they say about waiting for the messiah, don’t you? It doesn’t pay much but it’s steady work. It’s an old Jewish joke and like most such jokes, it contains more than its share of truth. Waiting for the messiah in Judaism is, generally, a fruitless and unrewarding task and it’s certainly nothing we bank on having happen anytime soon.

But what we have done, as this volume documents, is turned waiting for the messiah into an art form as well as a vehicle for teaching ethics and spirituality. In other words, it might be a bad thing if the messiah showed up because we’ve made waiting for the messiah such a potent means of exploring what it means to be a Jew. In this volume, the author provides basic information about the Jewish view of the messiah and how that view developed through the centuries. In addition, she covers topics most readers will probably not have encountered before (e.g., the warrior messiah, Hephzibah) and clarifies the roles played by characters such as Elijah in the messianic narrative. Of course, these topics may be of particular interest to those who are interested in Christianity’s definitions of the messiah and his return. Finally, she covers modern messianism (e.g., Rabbi Schneerson) and the response of modern Jewish movements to this ancient concept.

Different Jews, in different eras, had different beliefs about the messiah. For example, some Jews of the Land of Israel (including Rabbi Akiva) wanted a messiah while others doubted he’d come to their rescue:

When Rabbi Akiva saw Bar Kozva, he said: This is the King Messiah. Rabbi Yochanan ben Torta said: Akiva! Grass will grow in your cheeks and the Messiah will not yet have come! (Y. Taanit 4:6, PM 24a)

In contrast, in Babylonia, the sages thought of the messiah not as answer to current problems but as a comforting vision in the afterlife:

The Holy One, blessed be He, will make a great banquet for the righteous on the day He manifests His love for the seed of Isaac. After they have eaten and drunk, the cup of Grace will be offered to our father Abraham that he should recite Grace, but he will answer them, I cannot say Grace, because Ishmael issued from me. Then Isaac will be asked to say Grace, but he will answer them, I cannot say Grace because Esau issued from me. Then Jacob will be asked, Take it and say Grace. But he will reply, I cannot say Grace because I married two sisters during [both] their lifetimes whereas the Torah was destined to forbid them to me. Then Moses will be asked, Take it and say Grace. He will answer, I cannot say Grace since I was not privileged to enter the Land of Israel either in life or in death. Then Joshua will be asked, Take it and say Grace. But he will reply, I cannot say Grace since I was not privileged to have a son.... Then David will be asked, Take it and say Grace. He will reply, I will say Grace and it is fitting for me to say Grace, as it is said, ‘I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.’ (Psalm 116:13) (B. Pesachim 119b)

Many primary texts are provided which may make this volume useful for those intending to teach a course on Judaism and the messiah. Waiting for the messiah will still be something like waiting to win the Powerball Lottery: you may hope for it but it is extremely unlikely that you will win. But reading about the hopes and dreams of those who have shared that experience with you throughout the ages will be a reward unto itself.

—Rabbi Judith Z. Abrams, PhD

Introduction

I wish that you will make known to me when the Messiah of the Eternal will come, and what will be after all of this.

—from the apocalypse Sefer Zerubbabel

I have been waiting for the Messiah since I was fifteen years old.

I didn’t realize this right away, of course. At the time I was obsessed equally with a guy in my driver’s ed class who did not know my name, how many servings of light ice cream I could eat without exceeding my one-thousand-calorie-a-day limit, and whether I could pull off dramatic eyeliner and dark lipstick (I could not). In my less self-fixated moments I thought about nuclear war, the plight of famine victims, and why some people hit their children.

That was the year I first said to myself: Things have to get better than this.

I thought I was waiting for my driver’s license, or a serious boyfriend, or to wake up super-skinny and perfect. I thought I was waiting for disarmament, or hunger relief, or everyone to be kinder.

It wasn’t until I got to rabbinical school that I recognized what I was really waiting for.

I was waiting for the Messiah.

You might be waiting for the Messiah, too.

ORN

We live in a time when optimism might be construed as naiveté, idealism as gullibility. As I write this, the world’s economies are in crisis, war and genocide and terrorism fester, and millions go to sleep hungry. Global warming is on the rise, along with hate crimes, joblessness, and the child mortality rate. Schools employ metal detectors and security guards. Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. An adorable seven-year-old girl I know aspires to be sexy.

Even among those who appear to be doing fine, depression and anxiety are rampant. There is discontent, unease, gnawing fearfulness that all is not well. Perhaps a seventy-year-old sentiment of Albert Camus puts it most succinctly, and most clearly: Things as they are, in my opinion, are far from satisfactory.... [People] die, and they are not happy.¹

That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? And really, who can deny it? Anyone looking clear-eyed at the world around us has to echo Camus: Things as they are, in my opinion, are far from satisfactory.... [People] die, and they are not happy.

We could probably be forgiven for stopping right there. For accepting things as they are and finding glimmers of joy where we can, or despairing entirely, or trying to duck out of this reality and create our own.

But there is something we can do instead. It’s the same thing our ancestors have done for thousands of years. It’s brave, and defiant, and exhilarating, and crazy in the best possible way.

We can wait for the Messiah.

ORN

Waiting for the Messiah doesn’t mean just sitting around. It doesn’t mean writing off the world as it is now. It doesn’t mean fomenting religious warfare or throwing off the shackles of socially acceptable behavior. And it doesn’t necessarily mean envisioning acts of miraculous deliverance or heavenly rewards for the righteous—although we might be surprisingly moved by accounts of our ancestors who did. Waiting for the Messiah means simply that we believe things will get better than this.

Or maybe it is really not so simple, to believe things will get better than this. To hope is one thing, after all. But to believe is much more difficult.

ORN

I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it was for the first generations who waited for the Messiah. These were the Jews of the Bible, citizens of the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. They saw themselves as bound to God in an eternal covenant: The Land of Israel was theirs forever, the Temple in Jerusalem God’s dwelling place for all time. They would sacrifice animals to God; God would keep them safe.

This system had worked for hundreds of years. Until it didn’t.

In 722 BCE,² the Assyrian army conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and expelled her inhabitants. These became the Ten Lost Tribes; to this day, we do not know their fate. Even more devastating, in 586 BCE, Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians; the destruction of the Temple and the subsequent exile shattered the theology, the practice, and the rituals of Judaism.

Our ancestors could have given up completely. But they didn’t. They started waiting for the Messiah.

From Babylonia the prophet Ezekiel proclaimed:

I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you back to your own land.... I will people your settlements, and the ruined places shall be rebuilt; and the desolate land, after lying waste in the sight of every passerby, shall again be tilled. And people shall say, That land, once desolate, has become like the Garden of Eden; and the cities, once ruined, desolate, and ravaged, are now populated and fortified. And the nations that are left around you shall know that I the Eternal have rebuilt the ravaged places and replanted the desolate land. I the Eternal have spoken and will act. (Ezekiel 36:24, 36:33–36)

The book of Isaiah promised:

[You] shall not grow dim or be bruised till [you have] established the true way on earth ... to free the imprisoned, to rescue prisoners from confinement—from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42:4, 42:7)

Ezekiel and Isaiah expected these messianic hopes to be fulfilled in their lifetime. But they weren’t. Nor would they be fulfilled before the year 70 CE, when Rome razed the Second Temple; or 135 CE, when Emperor Hadrian outlawed the practice of Judaism; or 1096, when Crusaders on the march slaughtered virtually every Jewish community in their path; or 1492, when Spain banished her Jews; or 1944, when Europe turned hers to ashes.

The messianic hope was not fulfilled amid these horrors; but—and here is the amazing thing—neither was

Reviews for The Messiah and the Jews

[tlayton223 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Jesus teaches us about how satanic jewish creatures are over and over again in the new covenant for those who have eyes to see.