Tree of Souls
Page 103
Sources:
IFA 6929.
611. THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE MESSIAH
King Messiah will arise and restore the kingdom of David to its former glory. He will rebuild the Temple and gather all the exiles of Israel. All ancient laws will be reinstituted in his days; sacrifices will again be offered; the Sabbatical and Jubilee years will again be observed according to the commandments set forth in the Law.
This statement by Maimonides is quite definitive, except that it does not include the resurrection of the dead, normally one of the three primary requirements of the Messiah. Indeed, in Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Melakhim 11:3, Maimonides denies that the Messiah will bring the dead to life: “Do not think that King Messiah will have to perform signs and wonders, bring anything new into being, revive the dead, or do similar things.”
The two other major requirements of the Messiah are listed here by Maimonides: the rebuilding of the Temple and the Ingathering of the Exiles. Thus Maimonides downplays the supernatural elements in the messianic tradition, viewing the messianic era in practical terms that could be accomplished without overthrowing the laws of nature. Indeed, in 12:1, he states this explicitly: “Let no one think that in the days of the Messiah any of the laws of nature will be set aside, or any innovation be introduced into creation. The world will follow its normal course.”
Sources:
Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Melakhim 11:1.
Studies:
“Jewish Messianism in Comparative Perspective” by R. J. Zwi Werblowsky.
Moses Maimonides’ Treatise on Resurrection, edited by Fred Rosner.
612. THE SOUL OF THE MESSIAH
Like Adam’s soul, the soul of the Messiah is comprised of all other souls. Indeed, the soul of the Messiah contains the souls of all generations. For one who encompasses all generations in his soul possesses the powers of the entire world. And when he repents, he can arouse repentance in everyone.
Some say that the soul of the Messiah has been exiled to a place of desert and desolation where no one walks. A storm wind rose up and created such confusion that the Messiah lost all the signs that were given to him, with which he was to identify himself before the people of Israel. As a result, it became impossible to recognize him, for he had no way of revealing himself. Furthermore, some of the lost signs and marvels of the Messiah were found by false prophets who began to appear, calling themselves by the name Messiah. But once their lies and wantonness were exposed, their false teachings were revealed for all the world to see.
Others say that the soul of the Messiah has been chained and is being held captive by the forces of evil. Not until the chains of the Messiah are broken will the captive soul of the Messiah be set free.
Still others believe that after the Shattering of the Vessels and the Gathering of the Sparks, the soul of the Messiah, which was sunk among the broken vessels, sent forth sparks in every generation. If a generation is worthy, that spark might become the Messiah, and the footsteps of the Messiah would be heard throughout the world.
The soul of the Messiah is described in terms that make it all-inclusive. Like the traditions about Adam’s soul, the Messiah’s soul is said to contain all souls, even all generations of souls. See “Adam’s Soul,” p. 162.
There are various myths portraying the Messiah’s soul as being exiled or imprisoned. One such myth describes it as being held captive in chains. Others describe the soul as being lost in a desert. From the time of Moses there was the tradition that the Redeemer could be identified by a sign. In the case of Moses, the words were I have taken note of you (Exod. 3:16). In the Midrash, Serah bat Asher, who lived from the time of Jacob until the time of Moses, is said to have identified Moses as the Redeemer. Likewise, there are certain signs that are said to accompany the Messiah, and here even these signs are said to have become lost, suggesting a time so chaotic that even if the Messiah appeared, no one would recognize him.
These accounts of exile and imprisonment are meant to explain why the Messiah has not yet come. As long as the Messiah’s soul is being held captive, it cannot descend into the body of the Messiah, and therefore prevents the birth and coming of the Messiah.
One of the myths about the Messiah’s soul derives from a Shabbatean source, the writings of Nathan of Gaza, primary apostle of Shabbatai Zevi, the false Messiah of the seventeenth century. This is a kabbalistic myth, based on the Ari’s myth of the Shattering of the Vessels and the Gathering of the Sparks. For more on the myth of the Ari see p. 122. In this Shabbatean myth, a spark of the Messiah’s soul descends in each generation, and if the generation is worthy, the spark will become the Messiah. This places the onus for the coming of the Messiah on the piety of each generation, and means that the coming of the Messiah will not take place until there is a worthy generation. See “The Chains of the Messiah,” p. 492 and “The Captive Messiah,” p. 498.
Sources:
Sippurei Ma’asiyot, 1973 ed., pp. 276-277; Tzidkat ha-Tzaddik 159; Be-Ikvot Mashiah pp. 17-22.
Studies:
Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah by Gershom Scholem.
613. THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH’S SOUL
The soul of the Messiah lives in a palace in heaven. There is a potential Messiah born on earth in every generation. That person, known as the Tzaddik ha-Dor, the most righteous of his generation, has both an earthly soul and a heavenly soul. If the time is right for the Messiah to come, then the heavenly soul will descend and fuse with the earthly soul, and the days of the Messiah will have arrived.
In recent times some members of the Lubavitch Hasidim came to believe strongly that their Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, was the Messiah. In addition to a public campaign for “Messiah Now,” Lubavitch theologians searched the existing messianic traditions for evidence that the Rebbe, as he was universally known, was the Messiah. Here they encountered two apparently contradictory traditions. One holds that the Messiah is a divine figure, who makes his home in a heavenly palace. The other tradition holds that the Messiah will be the Tzaddik ha-Dor, the greatest sage of his generation—a human being. These were originally two separate messianic traditions in Judaism, but they were eventually linked. The earthly, human Messiah was
identified as Messiah ben Joseph, who was said to pave the way for the heavenly Messiah, known as Messiah ben David. However, this myth held that Messiah ben Joseph would lose his life in the process. Before the death of the Rebbe, Jacob Immanuel Schochet, a prominent Lubavitch scholar, often lectured on the subject of the Messiah. There was no doubt that his descriptions of the qualities of the Messiah were intended to refer to the Rebbe. In these lectures, Schochet presented a new messianic theory, combining the myths of Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David into a single myth. Here, rather than having one Messiah prepare the way for the other, the figure of the Messiah was simultaneously human and divine. This was made possible by the descent of the soul of the heavenly Messiah into the body of the human one. Thus, in the Lubavitch view, the heavenly Messiah himself will not descend, but merely his soul, which will fuse with the soul of the human Messiah. This made it possible to explain how a human, such as the Rebbe, could fulfill the role of Messiah ben David, the heavenly Messiah.
Sources:
4 Ezra 12:32, 13:25-26, 51-52; Lubavitch, oral tradition related by Jacob Immanuel Schochet.
614. THE ENTHRONEMENT OF THE MESSIAH
In the future, God will dress the Messiah in garb whose splendor will radiate from one end of the world to the other, and place the Messiah at His right hand. And Abraham will be at His left. Abraham’s face will turn pale, and he will say to God: “Is my son’s son to sit at Your right and I at Your left?” And God will reply, “Your son’s son is on your right, and I am on your right, as it is said, Yahweh at your right hand” (Ps. 110:5).
What role will the Messiah play after he initiates the messianic era? In this myth, the Messiah comes to sit at the right hand of God. Thus the Messiah receives the kind of enthronement found in other myth
s about Adam, Enoch, Jacob, Moses, and King David. What is unusual is not only that Abraham sits at God’s left hand, but that the arrival of the Messiah means that the figure who receives enthronement will be one of a trinity rather than a duality. This is surely significant and might indicate the influence of the Christian concept of the Trinity.
Sources:
Yalkut Shemuel 162; Midrash Tehillim 18:29.
615. THE MESSIAH WILL DESCEND FROM THE SIDE OF EVIL
For reasons known only to Him, God caused events to occur whereby the Messiah will be born from the realm of evil, for the Messiah will descend from the House of David. And King David was descended from Ruth the Moabite, and Moab was the son of one of the two daughters of Lot. After the destruction of Sodom, Lot, who was intoxicated, committed incest with his daughters. Thus when God said, “I have found David” (Ps. 89:21), where did He find him? In Sodom. Thus the soul of the Messiah is descended from such a place.
If the Messiah were to descend from a righteous person rather than the incestuous Lot, no enemy would have been able to prevail against Israel, or cause them to be forced into exile. God ordained things to happen this way, although no one knows why. David wanted to banish the evil side from which he had been born, eliminating it from the world, but he was unable to do so, for he had no power over the side of evil, since he had been born from it.
In the Zohar and later kabbalistic and Hasidic commentaries, the incestuous union of Lot and his daughters (Gen. 19:30-38) is identified as the source of the power of the Yetzer ha-Ra, the Evil Impulse. This leads to the mysterious conclusion that the Messiah will descend from the side of evil. The key concept here is that the Messiah’s soul is closest to evil, possessing great intensity. But in the messianic era the evil soul will be transformed, by a process of tikkun—repair or restoration—into the good.
Sources:
Genesis Rabbah 41:5; Zohar 1:109a-112a; No’am Elimelekh, Likutei Shoshanah, p. 101a; Tzidkat ha-Tzaddik, no. 111.
616. A WAR IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH
Near the time of redemption, a great and boundless war will break out in heaven, and there will be a corresponding war on earth. Eternal beings and mortal beings will battle one another. Destructive angels will attack the Jews, and seek to destroy and eradicate them. Evil will expand its dominion and strive to intensify the exile. It will be a time of great confusion, and some will be tempted to abandon their faith. But the people of Israel must persevere and hold fast to their faith. Only then will the time of redemption be fulfilled and there will be peace and tranquility, rest and calm.
This is an apocalyptic vision describing a war in heaven as well as on earth. It is clearly intended to refer to the war of Gog and Magog, which, it is said, will precede the coming of the Messiah. However, while the war of Gog and Magog is usually described as an earthly conflict, this myth presents it as one that will take place above and below.
Sources:
B’rit Menuhah 21b, attributed to Abraham of Granada.
617. THE PALACE OF THE MESSIAH
From the beginning the Messiah was hidden in a heavenly palace known as the Bird’s Nest. That is a secret place containing a thousand halls of yearning, where none may enter except for the Messiah. It is there that the Messiah waits for the sign to be given that his time has come at last.
The palace is known as the Bird’s Nest because of the wonderful bird of the Messiah, which has its nest in a tree near his palace.
On New Moons and holy days and Sabbaths, the Messiah enters those halls of longing, lifts up his voice, and weeps. Then the Garden of Eden trembles and the firmament shakes until his voice ascends all the way to God’s throne. And when God hears his voice, God beckons the enchanted bird, and it flies from the Garden of Eden and enters its nest and begins to sing.
Now the song of that bird is indescribably beautiful; no one has ever heard a music so sublime. Three times the bird repeats its song, and then the bird and the Messiah ascend on high, to the very Throne of Glory. There God swears to them that He will destroy the wicked kingdom of Rome and will give His children all the blessings that are destined for them. After that the bird returns to its nest and the Messiah returns to his palace, and once again he remains hidden there, waiting.
The longing and weeping of the Messiah are common images in Jewish lore. The Messiah weeps out of his own frustration, as well as out of his awareness of the frustration of the Jewish people that the messianic era still has not come. This mutual waiting is portrayed in a legend about Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, who is said to have had an encounter with the Messiah (Ma’aseh de-Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi in Beit ha-Midrash 2:50). The Messiah said to him: “What is Israel doing in the world from which you came?” He replied, “They are waiting for you every day.” As soon as he heard this, the Messiah lifted up his voice and cried.
Sources:
Zohar 2:8a-9a.
618. A THOUSAND PALACES OF LONGING
There is a secret and unknown place in the Garden of Eden where there are concealed a thousand palaces of longing. No one can enter there except for the Messiah, who dwells in the Garden of Eden. On new moons, feasts, and Sabbaths, the Messiah enters there to find solace in those palaces. On the night of Rosh Hodesh, when there is a new moon, the Messiah wanders through those palaces lifting up his voice and weeping. For the Messiah longs for the days of redemption as much as the children of Israel. Only then will his waiting come to an end.
In those palaces of longing the Messiah can see the patriarchs visiting the ruins of the House of God. When he sees Rachel with tears on her face, and God trying to comfort her, but Rachel refusing to be comforted, the Messiah too lifts up his voice and cries. Then the whole Garden of Eden quakes, and all the righteous who make their home there cry and lament with him. So too are the supernal hosts seized by trembling, until it reaches the Throne of Glory. Then God proclaims that He will avenge Israel through the hands of the Messiah. And only then does the Messiah return to his place.
This is a beautiful, melancholic myth about the immense longing of the Messiah to fulfill his destiny and initiate the End of Days. The Messiah is described as living in the Garden of Eden, in a palace hidden in a thousand palaces of longing. He retreats to this secret palace on holy days, when his longing becomes most intense. Nor is the Messiah passive in this view, but petitions God with his tears, until God reaffirms His vow to bring the messianic era. For a variant myth, see “The Palace of the Messiah,” p. 488.
The portrait of the heavenly Messiah that emerges here is of a deeply emotional figure whose relationship with God is as close as that of a child to his parent. And all of the righteous souls of Israel are described as supporting the plea of the Messiah to hasten his coming. Thus, above all, this myth mirrors the intense longing for the coming of the Messiah among the Jewish people, which was often in such an expectant state that pious men often kept a white robe and staff ready, to take up the moment the coming of the Messiah was announced.
Sources:
Zohar 2:8a.
619. THE SUFFERING MESSIAH
God decreed that the Messiah would suffer for seven years before the time of the Redemption. During that time, iron beams will be brought and loaded upon his neck until his body is bent low. Then he will cry out, his voice rising to the highest heavens, saying to God, “How much can my spirit endure? How long before my breath ceases? How much more can my limbs suffer?”
God will reply, “My Messiah, long ago you took this ordeal upon yourself. At this moment, your pain is like My pain. You, like Me, suffer for the sake of Israel. This I swear to you—ever since My Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, I have not been able to bring myself to sit on My throne.”
At these words the Messiah will say, “Now I am reconciled. The servant is content to be like his Master.”
After that Elijah will comfort the Messiah in one of the halls of Paradise. He will hold the Messiah’s hands against his chest and say, “Bear the suffering God has imposed upon you because of the sins
of the Jewish people until the End of Days. Have courage—the end is near.” And when he hears this, the Messiah will be comforted.
The Messiah suffers pains over the sins of Israel, and here, in the seven years before the initiation of the messianic era, God decrees great suffering for the Messiah, who accepts it as part of his burden. The theme of the suffering Messiah obviously recalls the passion of Jesus, and Jewish tradition may in this case have been influenced by Christian tradition. See “The Creation of the Messiah,” p. 483.
Sources:
Pesikta Rabbati 36:1-2; Rashi on B. Sanhedrin 98b; Midrashei Geulah 307-308; Tzidkat ha-Tzaddik 153; Likutei Moharan 1:118.
Studies:
“Midrashic Theologies of Messianic Suffering” in The Exegetical Imagination: On Jewish Thought and Theology by Michael Fishbane, pp. 73-85.
620. THE LADDER OF PRAYERS
The Ba’al Shem Tov was once praying with his Hasidim. That day he prayed with great concentration, not only word by word, but letter by letter, so that the others finished long before he did. At first they waited for him, but before long they lost patience, and one by one they left.
Later the Ba’al Shem Tov came to them and said: “While I was praying, I ascended the ladder of your prayers all the way into Paradise. As I ascended, I heard a song of indescribable beauty. At last I reached the palace of the Messiah, in the highest heavens, known as the Bird’s Nest. The Messiah was standing by his window, peering out at a tree of great beauty. I followed his gaze and saw that his eyes were fixed on a golden dove, whose nest was in the top branches of that tree. That is when I realized that the song pervading all of Paradise was coming from that golden dove. And I understood that the Messiah could not bear to be without that dove and its song for as much as a moment. Then it occurred to me that if I could capture the dove, and bring it back to this world, the Messiah would be sure to follow.