Translation:

“anointed one” (Heb. Mashiach)

Definition:

Despite all the tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, a remarkable and noticeable worldview is that Jews look towards the view, not back to the past. Of course, communal and personal memory is important, but in Judaism the best is yet to come, and all Jews work towards that perfect day. This perfect time was to be heralded in by an individual, an “anointed one” (Heb. Mashiach) – the Messiah.

While it was generally seen as prohibited to speculate about the World to Come, a number of Rabbis did at least speculate on the coming of the Messiah, which was seen to be the first step in a process of the resurrection of the dead and of the ultimate perfection of the world. There are so many texts about the Messiah that this is a mere introduction – for a more in-depth exploration, please contact your local Rabbi.

The Messianic Age is one which is entirely beyond our understanding. Isaiah (11:1-9) talks of it being a time in which the wolf shall live with the lamb, and in which the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw. If one takes the Biblical verses literally, then there are a number of things which shall happen when the Messiah arrives – death shall cease, the righteous dead shall all rise from the grave, war will be ended and so on.

The book of Ezekiel (11:17) talks about God promising to gather in the scattered peoples to Israel and there are many texts (e.g. Talmud: Megillah 17b) that suggest that the Jewish view of the world was that there would be six thousand years of normal human history followed by this ingathering as a result of the coming of the Messiah. This would not be a pleasant transition, though – it would be accompanied by a great war. Certainly as Jewish communities became involved in wars (for example, the revolt against the Roman Empire, or even the Second World War), belief in the impending arrival of the Messiah increased.

Some Rabbis tried to calculate the exact arrival of the Messiah. Even though one commentator (R. Yehudah heChasid, 1150-1217) said that anyone who prophesies about the Messiah is either engaged in witchcraft or demons since no-one can know the coming of the Messiah, others dared to venture a date – Meir Loeb ben Yehiel, for example, said in 1868 that the Messiah would come in 1913. There have, unfortunately, been a number of false Messiahs, most notably Shabbetai Tzvi whom many thousands of Jews were convinced was the Messiah until under the threat of death he converted to Islam.

Most Rabbinic texts regarding the coming of the Messiah focus not on a specific date, but on particular actions, for example, the Messiah will come when all Israel repents, or when all Israel observes one single Shabbat properly. Although a generalisation, it is perhaps fair to say that most Reform Rabbis do not engage in speculation about the coming of either the Messiah as a figurehead or the Messianic Age. Instead, the focus is on perfecting the world so that the perfection of the world comes about soon in our days. As Maimonides said, “I believe in the Messiah even though he may tarry.” It is the belief in the Messiah, or in a Messianic Age, which compels Jews to look forward and to strive for a better society.

Sources:

• Everyman’s Talmud, Abraham Cohen, Schocken Books, New York, 1995
• The Messiah Texts, Raphael Patai, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1979

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