Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83 based; site homxa.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!houxm!homxa!bds From: bds@homxa.UUCP (B.STERMAN) Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish Subject: Re: The concept of Messiah Message-ID: <482@homxa.UUCP> Date: Wed, 7-Nov-84 17:39:50 EST Article-I.D.: homxa.482 Posted: Wed Nov 7 17:39:50 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 9-Nov-84 06:32:54 EST Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 144 > How can one pray for the coming of the Mesiah? This Messiah business is a difficult concept, but a crucial one to Judaism nonetheless. Allow me,if you will, to air my views on the nature of this notion of 'Messiah'. It also has something to do with this week's parsha , so, consider it a small D'var torah. Maimonides records thirteen principle beliefs that he considers to be the axioms of Judaism. The twelfth of these is paraphrased as follows. "I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and though he may tarry still I wait for him that any day he might arrive." Folklore is replete with stories of those great sages who slept with a packed suitcase next to their beds in constant anticipation of the Messiah's arrival. This idea, however, is a very strange one. There is no mention of the Messiah in the Pentateuch, and, in the rest of the Bible the references are vague and inconsistent. Philosophically, there seems to be nothing in Judaism that so critically requires the belief that one man will one day come and redeem the world. Practically, this type of miraculous event is difficult to imagine and the obligation to accept it is taxing to one's faith. Perhaps one out of fifty involved, devoted modern Jews, honestly believes that the Messiah could come tomorrow. Is this then the case, that the overwhelming majority of dedicated Jews are to be considered heretics (according to Maimonides), especially when the belief itself is based on ambiguities? Allow, if you will, an alternate explanation. According to the tradition the Messiah will come from the house of David. Examination of the ascribed genealogy of David might afford a clue as to the nature of the Messiah himself. David's grandmother was Ruth, a Moabite. The Bible records the circumstances surrounding the birth of Moab. When Sodom and Gemmorah were destroyed, Abraham's nephew Lot was saved along with his two daughters. His daughters, witnessing the destruction of their world, assumed that they were the sole survivors left on Earth and took it upon themselves to repopulate the world. They got their father drunk and took advantage of his condition to become pregnant with his seed. One of the children born of this union was Moab. Another story in the family history of David is that of Yehuda and Tamar. Yehuda's son married Tamar and then died. His second son married Tamar and died. Yehuda told Tamar to wait until the youngest son had grown up and then they would be married. As time went on, however, Tamar realized that Yehuda had no intention of marrying off his son to her. She decided to take things into her own hands and dressed up as a prostitute. She waited for Yehuda to come by and when he did she played her part and Yehuda impregnated her without realizing who she was. Later, when Tamar became noticeably pregnant and was sentenced to be killed as an adulteress, she showed Yehuda the staff he had given her as payment. Yehuda admitted then that Tamar was not at fault. She ultimately gave birth to twins from whom came David and the Messiah. The Bible chooses to record these stories in order to teach us something about the Messiah. Tamar and Lot's daughter had something in common. They both wanted children to such an extent that they were willing to compromise even their morality to get them. In Tamar's case, she put her life on the line to accomplish her goal. The desire for children is not necessarily strange. What is so unusual is that they wanted children in spite of their past histories. Lot's daughter had just seen her world destroyed. The town she grew up in was leveled by fire and brimstone. In fact, the town itself was a place of debauchery and sin. Lot's daughter had no reason to assume that the future would be any different. The nature of the people she had known was basically evil, and, as far as she could know, future man would probably be the same. Even then, the possibility of utter destruction was ever-present in her mind, that God might destroy the future world as he did her past one. Yet, in spite of the overwhelmingly pessimistic prospects, Lot's daughter chose to bring children into the world with the hope and the faith that the future would be brighter. Tamar as well had every reason to doubt the benevolence of fate. She lost both her husbands. In her grief and despair she was abandoned by their family and dismissed with the unfulfilled promise that they would one day remember her. Nevertheless Tamar had an unyielding passion to bear children, to bring another soul into the world with the dream that her child's life would be better. Tamar believed in the future so, that she was even willing to risk her life for it. This concept is at the root of the entire idea of Messiah. The belief in the future, that history has direction and purpose, and that the individual must constantly act to bring about the fulfillment of that goal is at the very core of Jewish thought. (Incidentally, the messianic idea in Judaism has strong ties to bearing children. The Medrash says that the Messiah will come when all of the potential souls have been born. This is one of the reasons why religious Jews are into having many kids.) Judaism, as opposed to other religions is concerned primarily with this world. The goal of Christianity or Islam is personal salvation. The goal of Judaism is to make this world a better place. LeTaken olam bmalchut ShaDY. Sitting back and presuming that someone else will come and change the world utterly defeats the purpose of religion to the Jew. The Bible says "And you shall walk in His [God's] ways." The medrash tells us "Just like He is merciful, so you should be merciful... Just like He creates worlds, so you should create worlds." This concept is found in detail in great Kabalistic writings. Messiah may or may not be an individual. Fundamentally, however, Messiah is the personification of a concept, a time, a cosmic situation where the world exists at peace and in harmony. Defining Messiah in those terms we can reread the statement of Maimonides' principle by putting the comma in a different place. "And though he may tarry, nevertheless I wait for him every day, that he might [eventually] come." Not that I wait for him because he'll be here tomorrow, but rather I wait for him, I prepare for him, I spend each day trying to perfect the world, so that ultimately, one day, that goal will be realized. This dream is a characteristic of the Jew even among those alienated from the religion. Jews are disproportionately involved in community organizations, civil rights groups, and almost any cause that claims to be working towards a better life. Perhaps the greatest example of a messianic movement is that of secular Zionism, where many of the founders didn't even believe in God. The true Jew is obsessed by this notion and constantly acting according to this imperative, namely, doing all that one can do to make this world a better place. I would appreciate comments on this idea. Baruch ihnp4!homxa!bds (201)949-3821