Q&A: Response to Your Lectures on Messianism
Response to Your Lectures on Messianism
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I recently discovered your thought, and it makes me very happy. As a new immigrant, I thought that only abroad was there rationalist thought (even an extreme kind) together with Orthodox observance of the commandments (or more precisely, orthopraxy). I was pleasantly surprised to see that this is not the case.
As for the matter itself, I watched your series on messianism, and I have to say that there is one central thing you never really address: what is the precise definition of messianism and of redemption? In my opinion, this deficiency throughout the whole series makes all the discussions there peripheral, and they do not properly clarify the problematic.
So I am asking here: what is the definition of redemption in your view? Are messiah and redemption synonymous terms? And according to these definitions, is it in fact possible to diagnose our reality and give it a halakhic definition?
Thanks in advance
Answer
Hello.
I didn’t understand the question. When people speak about redemption, they mean the return of the people to the Land, a king, and a Temple. What will actually happen? I have no idea.
If you listened to the lectures, you should have understood that I do not give metaphysical diagnoses of reality. You can also see my column on messianism, one of the most recent ones.
I have to say that if this seemed like a deficiency in the series to you, then you did not understand it at all.