When I lived in the Old City of Jerusalem
it was a joke amongst the residents how many messiahs we had
in our midst. In every corner of the city you could find someone
claiming to be the messiah. A clinical psychologist explained
to me that when a person has a terrible self-image, the reality
is so difficult to deal with that the person slips into a fantasy
of being someone great. For some it’s Napoleon, for others
it’s the messiah. I guess deep down inside some people
would really like to be the messiah.
Actually, who wouldn’t want to bring peace to the world,
cure cancer, AIDS, and feed the poor? Every one of us would
like to, we just can’t figure out how to do it. That desire
to perfect the world is a part of the soul. The soul is a source
of unbounded goodness. It desires only perfection and closeness
to God, and therefore wants desperately to see the world in
a better state. We all have the potential to be the messiah
because we all have that desire inside us. Only one person,
however, will be able to tap into that desire, and help the
rest of us tap into what’s laying dormant within us.
Peace and harmony are the way things are supposed to be. God
put this potential into the world, but we’re not actualizing
that potential. How much time does each well-meaning individual
you know put into creating more love and peace? A study was
done in Washington D.C. that came to the conclusion there is
a 1:1 ratio of food to people in the world. This means that
God makes it possible that no person on the planet goes hungry,
but we’re not getting the food around. If we’re
not going to bring the world to a more perfect state, God will
have to - by bringing us a messiah.
Of course we don’t define who God is and what He does,
but it would be inconsistent for a wise and good infinite being
to allow this world to exist in a flawed state. The concept
of the messiah is therefore part of our belief in God. It’s
not a separate commandment to believe in the messiah, because
it’s already included in the very first of the Ten Commandments.
As a point of philosophy it is a separate principle as indicated
by the list of thirteen principles of Jewish thought, enumerated
by Maimonides. We are waiting, hoping, praying and anticipating
the coming of the messiah.
Because we have the tools to make a more perfect world, there’s
no need for the Messianic Era to be miraculous or other worldly,
as it says in the Talmud, “There is no difference between
this world and the Messianic Age, except with the regard to
our subjugation by other governments” (Tractate Berachos
34b). The writings of the prophets are filled with references
to the Messianic Era; many of them being metaphoric or poetic,
like “the wolf shall live with the sheep,” or “the
lion shall eat hay like the ox.” Some refer to a war of
Gog and Magog, or to Elijah the prophet returning to introduce
the messiah. Many of the exact details of the Messianic Era
are difficult to discern. It seems we weren’t meant to
know everything.
Several aspects of this Era, however, are well known. The
exiles will return to the land of Israel, the high court will
start to function again, prophecy will reappear, and the Holy
Temple will be rebuilt. A normal human being who is a direct
descendant of King David will emerge as a leader of the Nation
of Israel, and cause a resurgence of enthusiasm for the tradition
and observance of all the laws of the Torah. God-consciousness
will permeate the world as it says, “All the world will
be filled with knowledge” (Isaiah 11:9) and “nation
shall no longer lift up sword against nation” (Isaiah
2:4)
Since the messiah can be almost anyone, a number of potential
messiahs have gathered a following over the course of history.
Some were holy and wise, some not. To name a few, Bar Kochba
was a military leader that had a following as the messiah in
Talmudic times, the Christian movement claims Jesus as messiah,
in the 1600’s a man named Shabbatai Tzvi had a large following,
and in recent times Rabbi Shneerson was believed by his followers
to be the messiah. The only way to tell if someone really is
the messiah or not is if they accomplish the mission. If they
don’t return the exiles, inspire us to follow the Torah,
and build the temple, they weren’t the messiah, as it
says, “He shall not fail nor be crushed until he has set
right the world” (Isaiah 42:4)
Years ago it sounded surreal to talk about global consciousness,
but now the World Wide Web spreads ideas all over the globe
with ease. When you combine this fact with the long awaited
prophecy of the ingathering of the Nation of Israel into the
Land of Israel, you come to the conclusion, as most sages have
come to, that we are witnessing the beginning of the Messianic
Era.
Our tradition says that the messiah has a fixed period of
time in which to emerge. There are only 238 more years left
in this time period. He can come at any moment, but he doesn’t
have much time left.
The stage is set; all we need now is the star of the show.
