Q&A: Messiah
Messiah
Question
Wishing you a good and blessed year, and congratulations on the new design of the site.
In the Talmud, the opinion appears that “there is no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah except subjugation to foreign kingdoms alone.”
Is it permissible to believe that the Messiah is a metaphor for the State of Israel, where in fact the world follows its normal course except for the fact that the Jewish people have a government of their own and are not dependent on other nations as in exile, or must one believe that the Messiah is a specific person who will rule over us?
Answer
You can believe anything. The question of whether it is permissible to believe something is not relevant. If that is what you believe, then the fact is that this is what you believe. It is impossible to forbid, permit, or obligate a person to believe something.
As for your actual question, it is clear that the Messiah does not have to be a person, and the descriptions of him are metaphorical and not always well-founded. But the mere fact that in the State of Israel there is no change from the normal way of the world is not a sufficient basis for that conclusion. In the US too there is no change from the normal way of the world.
In short, there is no way to answer the question of whether this is correct or not.