People forget that the Mongols had a direct impact on the Jewish people when they conquered Baghdad and brought down the caliphate, and with it the Exilarch. Since then, we have had no orderly tradition regarding the descendants of the House of David. Maybe if we had a messiah instead of a president, the question of appointing judges would be simpler.

As for the matter itself, the holiness of Jerusalem depends on the existence of an inheritance, meaning the kingdom of the House of David (even if only potentially) — “for you have not yet come to the resting place and to the inheritance.” If the dynasty of the House of David is definitively lost, then does the holiness of Jerusalem also lapse, since there is no inheritance here?

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Was there some question here? I didn’t understand a word of this. And especially not the connection to the question raised here.

Rabbi Michi, I didn’t understand the end of your answer (“It seems to me that nobody does”). How can one say that? Among Hasidim and Lithuanians, isn’t the messiah an actual person? In the case of Chabad followers, they can even name him. Among Zionists, isn’t Zionism an expression of the messianism of Messiah son of Joseph?

I said that nobody has any idea. That doesn’t mean nobody thinks they have an idea and makes declarations about matters they know nothing about. The world is full of people who are mistaken and who mislead others.

But there is a plain meaning in the Prophets, isn’t there? What is wrong with accepting the messiah as a person?

There’s nothing wrong with it, but there’s no necessity either. The Prophets are full of metaphors and things that are not interpreted literally.