New on the site: Michi-bot. An intelligent assistant based on the writings of Rabbi Michael Avraham.

The Rabbi’s Concept of Messiah and Redemption

שו”תCategory: philosophyThe Rabbi’s Concept of Messiah and Redemption
asked 6 years ago

As a person who tries to keep his head on the ground as much as possible and do his duties to the Creator without getting too involved in mysticism (speaking about myself, not the Rabbi), as part of a personal-rational tendency and perhaps also from a perspective on history, any movement that aspires to utopia will probably fail.
The messianic theme – that is, the days of the Messiah in Judaism – sometimes raises a question for me – at first glance at groups like extreme messianic Chabadniks or yeshivots like Har Mor that are 100 percent sure that everything is already ready and we are a second away – this of course makes me doubt them and perhaps even mock them from the end because all of Judaism suddenly, according to these groups, is suddenly based on the promise that in a short amount of time – we will all be redeemed. And on the other hand, I say to myself, my friend, in the end, according to the plainness of Scripture, it is written so! There will be a supernatural process that will redeem us all – and who said it is not now?
Personally, I tend to think that supernatural processes do not happen today, and things like the establishment of a messianic kingdom, the return of the entire nation to repentance, and the resurrection of the dead – these are things that will happen naturally, slowly and without experimentation (and probably in a few hundred years, not today).
 
I wanted to ask the Rabbi’s opinion out of curiosity. Are you satisfied with the existence of the coming of the Savior and future mystical promises such as the resurrection of the dead? Do you attach importance to the fact that, according to the plainness of the Scriptures, something of this kind is supposed to occur for another 225 years at most (the seventh millennium, etc.)? Do you see this as the state being established in a period “close” (relatively) to these dates?
And a small halachic-papulian question to conclude (actually two):
1 Speaking of Messianic groups – there is a rather entertaining and interesting organization called Brit Olam that is preparing for the day when all the nations will soon ascend to Jerusalem and is already preparing communities for them and giving them guidance on the “commandments of the children of Noah.”
In fact, when I once came across a lecture on the subject by Rabbi Sharki on YouTube, he claimed that the view that gentiles have only two paths, conversion or acceptance of only 7 mitzvot, is incorrect, and in fact there are opinions that hold that there is a kind of “conversion in wine” in which a gentile can commit in a court of law to fulfill a number of mitzvot of his choosing (and even the majority of them) and from that moment on he would be obligated in them, even though he did not enter the Jewish people.
The most puzzling and interesting thing to hear is what he quotes from the Gemara:
But what kind of resident alien is a resident who eats nevilot – who has undertaken to fulfill all the commandments stated in the Torah except for the prohibition of nevilot – I did check and remembered that such an opinion exists – I wonder what the meaning of this opinion is. Is it really possible, according to this very extreme opinion in the Gemara, for a gentile who is even a scholar to teach Torah in public (my extreme) and the only difference between him and a Jew is his permission to eat nevilot?! – and what is the difference between this and a righteous alien? (Is there a reasonable explanation for this confusion? An excuse? Or is it simply another one of the puzzling opinions that are singular opinions in the Gemara that were simply rejected)
 
2 In connection with the issue I raised about my skepticism about the processes of the coming of the Messiah, this reminds me of an article I wrote a long time ago about prayer: If we do not believe that God intervenes on a daily basis, prayer is actually meaningless to the people. In the Rabbi’s opinion, would it be possible to change in the future prayers that refer to messianic processes if the general perception of Judaism regarding this changes?


Discover more from הרב מיכאל אברהם

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 6 years ago
I don’t know about future promises, and it doesn’t seem important to me either.
  1. See 12:11-12. But there is no such halakha.
  2. If you come to the unequivocal conclusion that God does not intervene, then you cannot say the prayer that deals with His involvement, without any connection to questions of authority to change. Statements that you do not believe in are worthless and there is no point in saying them. See Yoma 72.
 

Discover more from הרב מיכאל אברהם

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

Back to top button