Tish’a BeAb and the mourning for Jerusalem are behind us. Now the Jewish people begin a period of happiness and especially consolation. This mood of comfort began even before the end of the 9th day of Ab. Indeed, this past Sunday, while we continued fasting and still dressed in mourning, we read some beautiful verses linked to the final redemption and the Messiah, for whom we usually pray so much. Following this same direction I would like to write a few lines about the Jewish Messiah, not only because it is the ideal timing, but also because it is one of the topics about which I constantly receive questions.
DISINFORMATION ABOUT THE MESSIAH
The problem with the topic of the Messiah is not lack of information: it is rather misinformation. Ideas coming from other religions that have “seeped”, so to speak, into our own religious vision, without us realizing it. The best example I can think of is the meaning of the word “Messiah”. If we ask an average man or woman, non-Jewish, or even Jewish (I did!) what “messiah” means, they will probably say that “Messiah” means “savior”, “redeemer”. But that is not the literal nor Jewish meaning of Messiah. The Hebrew word MASHIACH, משיח, does NOT mean “savior”. In Hebrew, “savior” is called moshi’a, and it is a term that in our Tefilot —prayers— we use exclusively in reference to God, not to another human being! As we say in the Amida מלך עוזר ומושיע ומגן. “God… Helps us, SAVES US (moshi’a) and protects us.” The association between Messiah and savior is not Jewish, but 100% Christian.
MASHIACH MEANS KING
In Hebrew, the word mashiach means “anointed”. In Biblical times (see Mishne Torah, Kings, 1: 7) the official coronation ceremony of a king was performed by pouring oil (in Hebrew: limshoach and shemen hamishchah) on the monarch’s head. The word mashiach then literally means “anointed” in the sense of “officially crowned king.” And why is it important to clarify that this leader of Israel will be an “anointed” king, and not just saying that he will be “a king”? Because there have always been impostors or charlatans who proclaimed themselves to be the leaders of our people. When we say “mashiach” then, we are clarifying that this will be the “official” leader, anointed / crowned, and accepted by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court of Justice. Any other leader who would not have this validation cannot be considered a legitimate Jewish monarch. The Messiah, then, is not a prophet or a miracle worker or even a rabbi. He is above all a political ( in the good sense of this word!) figure whose mission will be to lead the Jewish people to live again in their land, Israel, and follow the laws of the Tora, including the Mitsvot of the Bet. haMiqdash. The Mashiach simply said, will restore the Jewish monarchy, which it should be defined as a “semi-monarchy”. Why? Because in the nation of Israel the monarch of flesh and blood, even the Messiah, is a king with lower case “k”. And his role consists mainly of enforcing the laws of God, and crowning Him as The King with a capital “K”. This is, for example, what king David did.
MAIMONIDES AND THE REQUIREMENTS TO BE THE MASHIACH
In his monumental work Mishne Torah, in the penultimate of its 1,000 chapters (sic.) Maimonides explains that there are five conditions or requirements for a Jewish individual to be considered as the Messiah.
Of these five requirements, three are a priori and two a posteriori.
Let’s read Maimonides, Mishne Tora, Sefer Melakhim, Chapter 11, Halakha 4. (I added numbers and parentheses for better understanding YB)
“If a king (1) arose from the House of David who (2) diligently studied the Tora and observed its mitsvot as prescribed by the Written and Oral Torah, as David, his forefather did, and urged all the people of Israel to follow the path of Tora and correct the gaps in Tora observance [ie: fix what the Jewish people are doing wrong in terms of religious observance], (3) and would wage HaShem’s wars , this individual could be considered as the Mashiach. If he meets all of the above, and additionally (4) builds the Bet haMiqdash [=Temple] in its place [=Har haBayit, Jerusalem], and (5) gathers the scattered Jews in the land of Israel, then it can be affirmed without a doubt that he is the Messiah”.
REQUIREMENT NUMBER ONE
As we just explained, the true Jewish Messiah is a man, ”the future king of Israel.” Now, the Jewish monarchy was granted by God exclusively to the descendants of King David. The official title of the Jewish Messiah is “MELECH MASHIACH BEN DAVID”, “The anointed king, descendant of David”. This requirement, for example, would automatically exclude anyone who is Cohen or Levi, since David belonged to the tribe of Yehuda.
To be continued
