Shalom, I am Rabi Jonathan Ginsburg of the Ezra-Habonim, the Niles Township Jewish Congregation, this video is going to attempt to explain what the Jewish conception of the Messiah is. First of all Maimonides the great medieval Rabbi form 1135 to 1204 gave us our 13 principles of faith and these are not creed that all Jews are required to believe but he delineated them and this is representative idea about Judaism. A very famous principle of his faith that he says Jews are belief, he said that he believes with perfect faith and the coming of the messiah, though the messiah terry he still believes.
Now Jews can be described as cautiously optimistic, in fact it said that if you are planting a tree and someone tells you that the messiah is here, you should finish planting the tree and then go see because you know for sure that the messiah, that the tree will do some good. You are not so sure that the messiah will actually be here. In fact every single time someone said to us that the messiah is here. We have founded to be false, we certainly do not believe that Jesus was God and that Jesus was the for runner of the messiah, the world is still is terrible and if messiah came the world should not be that way, we have also have many falls messiahs, Jacob, Franken subtitles V and the late middle ages. Currently we have two groups of Hasidic Jews who claimed there dead Rabi is the messiah. My relatives the Bratslaver believe their dead Rabbi from 200 years ago, certainly many if not all of the Labavits Hasidem believe that there dead Rabbi is the messiah.
Most Jews simply reject that idea in fact we are very nervous about suggesting that any particular person is the messiah. When Rabi Akiva 2000 years ago embraced Barko Siva whose name is changed to Barkakla as the messiah and he led a rebellion against Rome that lead to terrible devastation. We instead prefer to think about the messianic era. In fact the great holiday of Passover has a interesting piece of the say there celebration, we open the door for Eliza in Jewish tradition is the person who suppose to tell when the messiah is here. In fact the section of the bible, the prophet ends with the prophet Malachi saying the God will send Eliza the prophet to announce the great and awesome day of the lord.
Now what would that day be, what will happen in that day, well there are many views but I want to share with you the view Maimonides. And he basically says that we should not speculate about when this will happen, we should not even speculate about how it will happen, whether we have to do something or God will simply bring it. He says all of the biblical illusions that a wolf and a lamb will lie down together are simple figurative, metaphors. There is an old joke about the biblical zoo with all that representative of animals in the bible and they have the messianic cage with a wolf and a lamb on it, although they have to replace the lamb each day until the messiah comes suddenly then it will the view.
There are some Rabbis who thought that literally wolves and lambs will lie down together in the messianic era. But again Maimonides thought it was figurative because the bible says that in the messianic age every person will sit under there own vine and fig tree and no one will make them afraid and that nation will not lift absorb against nation, neither shall they learn more anymore. Maimonides says in his the mission to Torah, the only difference between the present world and the messianic era is our present subjugation to foreign powers, so, we will be free as with all people. And then, he says the prophet in this ages long for the messianic days not in order to dominate the nation of the world nor to all over them, nor to be exalted by them, nor to eat and drink and rejoice but to be free to study Torah with no one oppose or distress them. So basically for Maimonides it was a holy spiritual time of relaxation and be able to worship an unhindered and they draw closer to God in that way.
How can you tell if somebody really is the messiah? Maimonides in this code of law says the following. If a king arises from the house of David, so it has to come from the house of David, a student of Torah, performing good deeds like his ancestor David and prevails upon Israel to reinstate the Torah and to follow his direction and he fights the battles of the lord, he presumably will be the messiah. If he does these things and rebuilt the sanctuary, the third temple on its sight and gather to disperse of Israel, he will certainly be the messiah. Now no one so far has done those things and so we do not have the messiah yet. Some Jews of course do not believe it literally and they believe it is really going to be an era of peace. That when the nation of the world can finally achieve peace with one another that would be the messianic era.
Which ever believed he subscribe to the most important thing is that we all live as if the messiah were already here because if we all live, if the messiah were already here then in a fact it would be. That is why we come back to the central verse of the Torah that we have to love our neighbor as ourselves, enough with the killing, enough with thinking we have to murder innocent people in the greater glory of God, let us live in peace. Israel just wants to be in peace with its neighbors, let is live in peace and pray for the coming of the messiah.
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