Redemption: Part I
We remember that redemption twice a day:
מַלְכוּתְךָ רָאוּ בָנֶיךָ. בּוקֵעַ יָם לִפְנֵי משֶׁה. זֶה אֵלִי עָנוּ. וְאָמְרוּ: ה' יִמְלךְ לְעלָם וָעֶד:
וְנֶאֱמַר. כִּי פָדָה ה' אֶת יַעֲקב. וּגְאָלו מִיַּד חָזָק מִמֶּנּוּ: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה'. גָּאַל יִשרָאֵל:
Translation from Mishkan T'filah
All this we hold to be true and trustworthy for us. You alone are our God, and we are Israel Your people. You are our Sovereign and Savior, who delivers us from the oppressors' hands and saves us from tyrants' fists. You work wonders without number, marvels beyond count. You give us life and steady our footsteps. You performed miracles for us before Pharaoh, signs and wonders in the land of the Egyptians; You led Your people Israel out from their midst to freedom for all time. When Your children witnessed Your dominance they praised Your Name in gratitude. And they accepted Your sovereignty - Moses, Miraim and all Israel sang to You together, lifting their voices joyously: Who is like You, O God, among the gods that are worshipped? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, working wonders? Your children witnessed Your sovereignty, the sea splitting before Moses and Miriam. "This is our God!" they cried. "Adonai will reign forever and ever!" Thus it is said, "Adonai redeemed Jacob, from a hand stronger than his own." Praised are You, Adonai, for redeeming Israel.
And we dream of the next redemption three times a day:
Ge'ulah Prayer from Amida, Mishkan T'filah
Centrality of Messiah to bring Redemption:
From where does this promise come?
So, who will be the Messiah?
(ד) וְאִם יַעֲמֹד מֶלֶךְ מִבֵּית דָּוִד הוֹגֶה בַּתּוֹרָה וְעוֹסֵק בְּמִצְוֹת כְּדָוִד אָבִיו. כְּפִי תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִּכְתָב וְשֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה. וְיָכֹף כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵילֵךְ בָּהּ וּלְחַזֵּק בִּדְקָהּ. וְיִלָּחֵם מִלְחֲמוֹת ה'. הֲרֵי זֶה בְּחֶזְקַת שֶׁהוּא מָשִׁיחַ. ם עָשָׂה וְהִצְלִיחַ וּבָנָה מִקְדָּשׁ בִּמְקוֹמוֹ וְקִבֵּץ נִדְחֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הֲרֵי זֶה מָשִׁיחַ בְּוַדַּאי.
(4) Now, if a king should arise from the House of David who is versed in Torah and engages in Commandments, as did David his forefather, in accordance with both the Written and the Oral Torahs, and he enjoins all of Israel to follow in its ways and encourages them to repair its breaches, and he fights the Wars of God then he may be presumed to be the Messiah. If he succeeds in his efforts and defeats the enemies around and builds the Temple in its proper place and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Messiah.
Great! But when is he coming?
And Rabbi Yoḥanan says: The son of David will come only in a generation that is entirely innocent, in which case they will be deserving of redemption, or in a generation that is entirely guilty, in which case there will be no alternative to redemption. He may come in a generation that is entirely innocent, as it is written: “And your people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever” (Isaiah 60:21). He may come in a generation that is entirely guilty, as it is written: “And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no intercessor; therefore His arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness, it sustained Him” (Isaiah 59:16). And it is written: “For My own sake, for My own sake will I do it; for how should it be profaned? And My glory I will not give it to another” (Isaiah 48:11).
בעתה וכתיב אחישנה זכו אחישנה לא זכו בעתה
If they merit redemption through repentance and good deeds I will hasten the coming of the Messiah. If they do not merit redemption, the coming of the Messiah will be in its designated time.
We have no idea when he's coming!
אם היתה נטיעה בתוך ידך ויאמרו לך הרי לך המשיח. בוא ונטע את הנטיעה (ואח”כ צא והקביל).
Midrash Avot Derabbi Natan, Version B, Chapter 31
If you had a sapling in your hand and were told that the Messiah had come, first plant the sapling [and then go out to greet the Messiah].
Jewish Literacy, Joseph Telushkin, page 600-601
An old Jewish story tells of a Russian Jew who was paid a ruble a month by the community council to stand at the outskirts of town so that he could be the first person to greet the Messiah upon his arrival. When a friend said to him, "But the pay is so low," the man replied: "True, but the job is permanent."
If he does come, what will he do?
והתועלת הגדול אשר תהיה באותם הימים הוא שננוח משעבוד מלכיות שהוא מונע אותנו מעשיית המצות כולם, ותרבה החכמה כמו שנאמר ”כִּ י מָ לְ אָ ה הָ אָ רֶ ץ דּעָה ]אֶת ה‘ כַּמַּיִם לַיָּם מְ כַסִּים[“, וישבתו המלחמות כמו שנאמר ”]וְ כִ תְּ תוּ חַ רְ בוֹתָ ם לְ אִ תִּ ים וַ חֲ נִ יתוֹתֵ יהֶ ם לְ מַ זְ מֵ רוֹת[ לֹא יִ שּ ָׂ א גוֹי אֶ ל גּ וֹי חֶ רֶ ב ]וְ לֹא יִ לְ מְ דוּ עוֹד מִ לְ חָ מָ ה[“, ויהיה נמצא בימים ההם שלימות רב ונזכה בו לחיי העולם הבא.
Rambam on the Mishnah, Sanhedrin 10
The great benefit which will be in those days [of the Mashiach] is that we will rest from our subjugation to the non-Jewish governments, which is what prevents us from fulfilling all the mitzvot. Wisdom will increase... War will cease, as the verse states, “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war any more”. In those days there will be ultimate perfection and we will merit the life of the World to Come.
הַמֶּלֶךְ הַמָּשִׁיחַ עָתִיד לַעֲמֹד וּלְהַחְזִיר מַלכוּת דָּוִד לְיָשְׁנָהּ לַמֶּמְשָׁלָה הָרִאשׁוֹנָה. וּבוֹנֶה הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וּמְקַבֵּץ נִדְחֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. וְחוֹזְרִין כָּל הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים בְּיָמָיו כְּשֶׁהָיוּ מִקֹּדֶם. מַקְרִיבִין קָרְבָּנוֹת. וְעוֹשִׂין שְׁמִטִּין וְיוֹבְלוֹת כְּכָל מִצְוָתָן הָאֲמוּרָה בַּתּוֹרָה. וְכָל מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מַאֲמִין בּוֹ. אוֹ מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מְחַכֶּה לְבִיאָתוֹ. לֹא בִּשְׁאָר נְבִיאִים בִּלְבַד הוּא כּוֹפֵר. אֶלָּא בַּתּוֹרָה וּבְמשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ.
The King Messiah will arise and re-establish the monarchy of David as it was in former times. He will build the Sanctuary and gather in the dispersed of Israel. All the earlier statutes will be restored as they once were. Sacrifices will be offered, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years will be observed, as commanded in the Torah. Anyone who does not believe in him or one who does not anticipate his coming not only denies the Prophets, but also the Torah and Moses our Teacher.
Sounds good. Anything else? Anything mystical?
At that time there will be no famines and no wars, no envy and no competition. For the Good will be very pervasive. All the delicacies will be as readily available as is dust. The world will only be engaged in knowing God. Then, there will be very wise people who will understand the deep, sealed matters. They will then achieve knowledge of the Creator to as high a degree as humanly possible, as it says, “For the Earth shall be filled of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).
Woody Allen
And the lamb and the wolf shall lie down together, but the lamb won't get any sleep.
Do we really believe this stuff?!
Adapted from: The Messiah and the Jews: Three Thousand Years of Tradition, Belief and Hope
Traditional Jewish views on the Messiah could not, Reformers believed, withstand the changes of Emancipation. Reform Jews prized an intellectual outlook on Judaism and valued religious tenets that could be upheld even in a rational, secular milieu. They did not, therefore, embrace traditional messianism – rooted in complicated Scriptural allusions and folklore, filled with images of apocalyptic battles, a superhuman deliverer, and even a physical resurrection of the dead. And with its emphasis on Jewish triumph over the enemies of Israel, messianism also sharply contradicted Emancipation tenets of equality and universalism. Finally, traditional Jewish messianism expressed a yearning to return to Zion, to rebuild the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, and to restore rule over Israel to the descendants of King David. Such hopes undermined the Jews’ new status as loyal citizens of Germany.
Perhaps the most powerful reason to jettison traditional messianic belief, the Reformers argued, was that it was simply not needed anymore. Human beings – guided not by a Messiah but by their own intellect – had already begun the work of redemption. Reformers believed that the principles of Emancipation would inspire every nation and bring liberation to the entire world. Spreading from Germany and taking especially strong hold in the United States, Reform Judaism abolished the concept of a divinely-sent Messiah and promised instead that humanity would accomplish its own redemption.
Pittsburgh Platform, 1885
5. We recognize, in the modern era of universal culture of heart and intellect, the approaching of the realization of Israel’s great Messianic hope for the establishment of the kingdom of truth, justice, and peace among all men. We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the restoration of any of the laws concerning the Jewish state.
Commentary on the Principles for Reform Judaism, October 27, 2004
Messianic age. The 1885 Pittsburgh Platform rejected the traditional Jewish hope for an heir of King David to arise when the world was ready to acknowledge that heir as the one anointed (the original meaning of mashiach, anglicized into “messiah”). This firgure would rule in God’s name over all people and ultimately usher in a time of justice, truth and peace. In the Avot, the first prayer of the Amidah, Reformers changed the prayerbook’s hope for a go-el, a redeemer, to g’ulah, redemption. Originally this idea reflected the views of George Friedrich. Hegel and the French positivist philosophers that society was growing ever more enlightened. The cataclysmic events of the first half of the 20th Century smashed that belief, and most Reform Jews saw the messianic age as a time that would probably be far off. Still, we renew our hope for it when we express the belief that Shabbat is mei-ein olam haba, a sampler of the world to come, when we sing about Elijah, herald of the messiah, when Havdalah brings Shabbat to a close, when we open the door for Elijah late in the Pesach Seder, and when we express the hope in the first paragraph of the Kaddish that God’s sovereignty will be established in our days.
Rabbi Arthur Green, Seek My Face, Speak My Name
Instead of bringing about the onset of redemption, messiah will herald its completion. The actual work of redeeming the world is turned to us in history, and is done by all of us, day by day. Messiah has been waiting in the wings, as it were, since the very beginning of history, ready to come forth when the time is right. According to one legend, he sits among the lepers at the gates of Rome–today we would be likely to find him in an AIDS hospice–tending to their wounds. Only when redemption is about to be completed will messiah be allowed to arrive. Rather than messiah redeeming us, we redeem messiah.
How can we "redeem the messiah"? How can we help to bring about the messianic age?