The
final coming of the Messiah is a fundamental belief in Judaism.
It is part of Maimonides 13
Principles of Basic Faith,
and it is recited In the Shemoneh Esrei
prayer, three times daily.
The Jewish Messiah is a God fearing, moral human being, who
is both a great scholar and leader. The Messiah is a direct
descendent of King David (Jeremiah 23:5), and will be anointed
by God as the new Jewish King. In fact, the Hebrew word for
Messiah is Moshiach, which means "anointed one", there
is no source of Messiah meaning "savior." The notion
of an innocent, divine or semi-divine being who will sacrifice
himself to save us from the consequences of our own sins clearly
has no basis in Judaism.
When
the Messiah comes, there will be a universal recognition of
the truth of Torah and the God Who gave that Torah at Mount
Sinai. All Jews will return to the Land of Israel, where they
will throw off the yoke of their enemies and undergo a complete
spiritual revival. They will embrace the faith of their forefathers
and dedicate themselves to God's service forever.
They
will rebuild the Holy Temple, from where the Divine presence
will shine forth, spreading the light of truth, justice, tolerance
and peace throughout the world.
These
days, our society is beset by jealousy, violence, lying, impatience,
deception,fraud and hopefully some love. We are suspicious
of our neighbors and cynical of our leaders. We are factionalized,
and we worship different gods. Rather than cooperate, we compete.
When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, God assured us
of a path back. Statesmen may speak of "peace in our
time," but the Jewish prophet said it best: "The
lamb will lie down with the lion... and young children will
play at the cobra's nest" (Isaiah 11:6).
"Shalom,"
the Hebrew word for "peace," comes from the root
"shaleim," which means complete or whole. "Shalom,"
says the Talmud, is one of the Names of God, for His unity
encompasses all. This "one-ness" is the primary
theme of the Jewish Pledge of Allegiance: "Hear O Israel,
the Lord our God, the Lord is One!" The word "Shalom"
is also part of the name "Jeru-Salem."
How
can we speed up the coming of the Messiah? The best way is
to love all humanity generously, to keep the good-deeds of
the Torah (as best we can), and to encourage others to keep
them as well.
We
also must pray to God to hasten the coming of the Messiah.
The Talmud says that one of the first questions a Jew is asked
on Judgment Day is: "Did you yearn for the arrival of
the Messiah?" Praying for such an event increases our
sensitivity to what we currently lack, and demonstrates our
sincere desire for the Messiah to arrive.
The
Messiah can come any moment. Every generation has a special
anointed Messiah waiting, for as stated, the Messiah is alive
and present in every generation, "He is ready to be revealed
at a moment's notice" (Sanhedrin 98a).
According
to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 97a), history will last only 6,000
years from the time of creation. The Messiah must come prior
to the 6,000-years, and bring us to the next higher spiritual
reality millennium. In the year of 5761 (year 2000) leaving
us only 239 years until the deadline of the coming of the
Messiah.
