651. THE GOLDEN GATE OF THE MESSIAH
At the End of Days, God shall lower the heavenly Jerusalem to take the place of the earthly Jerusalem that was destroyed. The Temple will be established, and a pillar of fire shall burst forth from inside the Temple as a sign to all who witness it.
Then, at God’s command, two angels shall recover the Golden Gate of Jerusalem from where it is hidden under the earth, and they shall raise it back to its original place. Abraham shall stand to its right and Moses and the Messiah shall stand to its left, and all Israel shall come forward through the gate.
The Golden Gate is another name for the Gate of Mercy in Jerusalem, which has long been covered over. Here God restores it to its original place, and it becomes the gate that Israel passes through to enter the new world created at the End of Days. The Gate of Mercy is also linked to the Shekhinah, who is said to have left Jerusalem through this gate after the Temple was destroyed, and who will one day return to Jerusalem through that same gate. See “The Wandering of the Shekhinah,” p. 55.
Sources:
Ma’aseh Daniel in Beit ha-Midrash 5:128.
Studies:
“The Gates of Righteousness” by Julian Morgenstern.
652. THE DESCENT OF THE HEAVENLY TEMPLE
In the End of Days the celestial Temple will descend from on high and come to rest on four golden mountains, as it is said, In the days to come, the Mount of Yahweh’s house shall stand firm above the mountains (Isa. 2:2). Its height will reach to heaven, to the stars and to the wheels of the Chariot. And the Bride of God will fill it, and God’s glory will fill its hall, and inside each angel will be busy with his work, Gabriel and Michael and their myriads. And at Zion’s restoration, the very mountains will burst into song. The mountain of the Lord’s house will lead in the singing, and the lesser mountains will answer.
The Holy of Holies of the future Temple will be built of twelve onyx stones. The radiance of the Holy of Holies will illuminate the entire world and ascend to the Throne of Glory.
How will people go there? They will fly like clouds and like doves. In this way great multitudes will enter the Temple to be blessed with eternal life.
In some myths all of the heavenly Jerusalem descends to earth, coming to rest on three or four mountains. In others, such as this myth, it is the Temple alone that descends upon the mountains. Here the image of the Temple dominates the upper world, while the Temple itself is filled with God’s presence, both His Bride, the Shekhinah, and His glory.
In Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 21:4 it is said that God will bring three mountains, Sinai, Tabor, and Carmel, together and build the Temple on top of them.
In 1860, Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer, an early Zionist, defined his anti-mythological view in Derishat Zion : “God will not suddenly descend from on high and command his people to go forth. Neither will he send the Messiah from heaven in a twinkling of an eye, to sound the great trumpet for the exiles of Israel and gather them into Jerusalem. He will not surround the holy city with a wall of fire or cause the holy Temple to descend from heaven.” Here we find a list of supernatural events that were traditionally expected to occur in the time of the Messiah, including the descent of the heavenly Temple. But Kalischer dismisses all of these, writing instead that “the redemption will come through natural causes by human effort . . . to gather the scattered of Israel into the Holy Land.”
Sources:
Pirkei Mashiah in Beit ha-Midrash 3:69; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 21:4.
653. THE CREATION OF THE THIRD TEMPLE
At the End of Days, the Ingathering of the Exiles will take place, the Temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and the footsteps of the Messiah will be heard. Even now, God is secretly building the third Temple far under the earth. When the days of the Messiah are upon us, the third Temple will rise up from below, with the Dome of the Rock balanced on top of it.
One of the primary requirements that the Messiah must fulfill in order to demonstrate that he is indeed the true Messiah is to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. This requirement appears impossible at this time, since the Dome of the Rock has been built on the Temple Mount, on what is commonly regarded as the place where the Temple once stood. Indeed, some messianic groups in Israel have plotted to blow up the Dome to pave the way for the Temple to be rebuilt. But such a reckless act could inflict a disaster on Israel.
Under these circumstances, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (1924-) has offered this ingenious myth, which resolves the problem of how the third Temple can be built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is a peaceful solution to an otherwise unresolvable dilemma.
Sources:
Oral teaching of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, collected by Howard Schwartz.
654. REBUILDING THE TEMPLE
In the hour of the Redemption, when God remembers His covenant with Israel, the Temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt. God will say to the Shekhinah, “Rise from the dust,” and she will answer, “Where should I go, since My house is destroyed and My Sanctuary is burnt to the ground?” Then God will say, “Do not grieve, for I Myself shall rebuild it, a perfect structure.”
Some say that God will then bring the mountains of Sinai, Tabor, and Carmel together and rebuild the Temple upon their peak. That is the meaning of the verse And nations shall walk by your light, kings, by your shining radiance (Isa. 60:3). Then the Temple will sing aloud, and the mountains will answer the song. So too will Jerusalem serve as a beacon to all of the nations, and they will walk in her light.
Others say that God will raise up the Temple from the dust and renew it, and its gates, which are buried in the earth, will rise up, every one in its place. And God will reestablish the Sanctuary, and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. Then the Shekhinah shall arise and shake off the dust and the Ingathering of the Exiles shall begin.
One of the key events of the messianic era will be the rebuilding of the Temple. This is one of the requirements that must be fulfilled prior to the return of the Shekhinah from exile. It is understood that this Third Temple, of divine origin, will be eternal, and will never be destroyed. An extensive description of the future Temple is found at the end of the Book of Ezekiel, chapters 40-48, beginning with a vision: The hand of Yahweh came upon me, and He brought me there. He brought me, in visions of God, to the Land of Israel, and He set me down on a very high mountain (Ezek. 40: 1-2).
In one version of this myth from Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, it is said that God will bring three mountains together and build the future Temple there. In most other sources, the rebuilding of the Third Temple takes place in Jerusalem. And as soon as the Temple is rebuilt, the Shekhinah will return from Her exile at the time the Temple, Her home in the world, was destroyed.
In Pesikta Rabbati 31:5, God describes the covenant between Himself and Israel, where both are responsible for bringing about the End of Days: “My Torah is in your hands, and the End of Days in Mine. Each of us has need of the other. If you need Me to bring the time of redemption, I need you to keep My Torah so as to hasten the building of My Temple and Jerusalem. And just as it is impossible for Me to forget the time of redemption, so you must never forget the Torah.”
Sources:
Pesikta Rabbati 20:3, 28:1; Pesikta de-Rabbi Eliezer 51; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 21:4; Zohar 1:134a, 2:7a.
655. THE MESSIANIC SPRING
In the future, when the voice of the Messiah proclaims salvation from a high mountain, waters will rise up from under the threshold of the Temple, as it is said, A spring from the house of Yahweh will go forth and water all the valley (Joel 4:18). Every field and vineyard watered by those streams will yield fruit, even those that had never yielded fruit before. And everyone who is ill who bathes in those waters will be healed, as it is said, The water will become wholesome (Ezek. 47:8). Those waters will generate all kinds of fish, and those fish will ascend in that stream as far as Jerusalem, where they will leap into the nets of fishermen. And those fish will be as sweet as manna. Floating above that spring, the Temple court will appear to b
e a small vessel, as it is said, Behold water from a vessel (Ezek. 47:2).
Some say that spring will branch into twelve streams, one for each of the twelve tribes. Others say that it will form a river that will cleanse every impurity, uncovering treasures that have been hidden for centuries. Even the Angel of Death will not be able to cross it.
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer identifies the Dead Sea as the place where the waters will heal, and gives the prooftext from Ezekiel 47:8.
There is a parallel tradition about a river that cannot be crossed—the River Sambatyon, which is said to flow wildly six days a week, trapping the Ten Lost Tribes on one side of it, and only ceasing to flow on the Sabbath, when they are not permitted to cross. There is also a parallel tradition about a place where the Angel of Death cannot enter—the city of Luz. Therefore all the inhabitants of that city are immortal, as long as they do not leave the city. See “The City of Luz,” p. 476. For another account of a miraculous spring, see “The Healing Spring,” a Hasidic tale about the Ba’al Shem Tov, in Gabriel’s Palace, pp. 207-298.
Sources:
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 51; Sefer Eliyahu in Beit ha-Midrash 3:68-78.
656. A MAGICAL TREE IN JERUSALEM
When the third holy Temple is built, a magical tree will grow in Jerusalem. Some say that the leaves of that tree will cause the dumb to speak. Others say that the leaves of that tree will cause barren women to bear children.
The image of the magical tree is well known in Jewish folk and rabbinic texts, although it is usually associated with the Garden of Eden, especially with the two trees in the center of the garden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. The image of the tree is also closely associated with that of the Torah, because of the verse She is a tree of life to those who grasp her (Prov. 3:18).
Here the tree is associated with the building of the Third Temple, which will only take place at the time of the coming of the Messiah. This demonstrates an important parallel between the story of the Garden of Eden and the messianic era—in both enchanted trees can be found. Indeed, there is a direct parallel in Jewish myth between the prelapsarian world and the messianic era. Thus one function of the coming of the Messiah is to restore the world to its pre-fallen state. This parallel is an implicit part of the myth of the Ari. See “The Shattering of the Vessels and the Gathering of the Sparks,” p. 122.
The theme of healing leaves is found in world folklore. See, for example, “The Wonderful Healing Leaves,” a universal fairy tale of Jewish origin, in Elijah’s Violin, pp. 163-168. This theme is found in Jewish lore as well. Abraham is said to have collected
leaves from the Garden of Eden and Sarah to have crushed them on the eve of the Sabbath and scattered their powder into the air, creating the spice of the Sabbath. See “The Spice of the Sabbath,” p. 316. For a Hasidic tale on this theme, see “Leaves from the Garden of Eden” in Gabriel’s Palace, pp. 134-135, where a man finds enchanted leaves on his bed when he awakes after a dream in which a stable boy who has died brings him leaves from the Garden of Eden to heal the man’s sick daughter. Her mourning over the boy’s death provoked her illness, and his miraculous assistance heals her.
Sources:
B. Sanhedrin 100a; Likutei Moharan 1:60.
657. THE PLEADING OF THE FATHERS
In the hour that Israel was exiled, the fathers of the world, along with the mothers, were raised from their graves in the Cave of Machpelah and brought up to the firmament and began a great mourning before God.
God joined them from the highest heaven and said, “Why are you mourning?”
They replied: “Master of the Universe, what sins did our children commit that You did this to them? Are You not going to have mercy on them? Are You not going to show compassion?”
God replied, “Because of their wickedness, they were punished by exile.”
The Fathers said, “But will You remember them in their exile among the nations of the world, or will You become oblivious to them?”
God answered, “I cannot now save them from their exile, but I swear by My name that I shall never forget them, and one day their exile shall come to an end.”
These words of God greatly comforted the fathers and mothers, and they returned and lay down in their tombs. That is why, when the Messiah comes, he will go to the Cave of Machpelah to wake them first.
Here the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives gather before God to plead for their children, Israel, who have been sent into exile. Because of their elevated roles, the patriarchs are able to speak their mind to God. In effect, they give voice to the sense of injustice felt among Jews in the Diaspora. The plea of the patriarchs and matriarchs moves God, who assures them that one day—the day the Messiah comes—their exile will come to an end.
This myth finds its source in Jeremiah’s vision or imagining of Rachel haunting her tomb and weeping for her exiled children: A cry is heard in Ramah—wailing, bitter weeping—Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, who are gone (Jer. 31:15). (According to 1 Sam. 10:2, Rachel’s tomb was located near Ramah.) Indeed, Jeremiah’s account of Rachel weeping is the biblical source for all subsequent myths about biblical figures reappearing to comfort Israel.
This myth is also parallel to those found in the Zohar in which the Shekhinah, the Bride of God, confronts God over the destruction of the Temple and the exile of Israel. This myth also explains why the patriarchs and matriarchs will be the first to be resurrected in the messianic era.
In the version of this myth in Seder Gan Eden, there is a less consoling ending. The angel Michael, the prince of Israel, weeps in a loud voice, “Why, O Lord, do you stand aloof” (Ps. 10:1). See the following myth, “Waking the Fathers,” as well as “The Patriarchs Seek to Comfort Jerusalem,” p. 420.
Sources:
Pesikta de-Rav Kahana p. 464; Seder Gan Eden (version B) in Beit ha-Midrash 3:131-140.
658. WAKING THE FATHERS
Why were the patriarchs buried in the Land of Israel? Because the dead of the Land will be the first to come to life in the days of the Messiah.
In the hour that God crowns the Messiah, Israel will say to him: “Go and bring the glad tidings to those who sleep in the Cave of Machpelah, so that they shall be the first to arise.”
Then the Messiah will go to the Cave of Machpelah and say to the Fathers: “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, arise! You have slept long enough.” And they will reply and say, “Who is it who uncovers the dust from our eyes?” And he will reply, “I am the Messiah of the Lord. The hour of salvation is near.” And they will answer, “If that is really so, then go to Adam, the first man, and bring the tidings to him, so that he should be the first to arise.”
Then the Messiah will go to Adam and say, “Arise, you have slept enough!” And Adam will reply, “Who is this who drives the sleep from my eyes?” And he will reply, “I am the Messiah of the Lord, one of your descendants.”
At that instant Adam will stand up, along with his generation, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the righteous and all the tribes and all generations from the beginning of time will arise and chant psalms and songs of jubilation.
Tradition holds that the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, known as the Avot or Fathers, and their wives, are buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. Midrashic legend also recounts that Adam and Eve are buried there. The initiation of the messianic era will herald the resurrection of the dead, beginning with Adam, the first man, and the patriarchs.
This myth is almost certainly based on a talmudic one (B. BM 85b) about the visits of Elijah to the synagogue of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi. Elijah is the key figure in heralding the Messiah, as it is said that he will blow the great shofar that announces his coming. This talmudic tale sets the pattern for the waking of the patriarchs at the time of the coming of the Messiah. See “Forcing the End,” p. 496.
The previous myth, “The Pleading of the Fathers,” also explains why the patriarchs will be the first to be awakened
when the Messiah comes.
Sources:
Pirkei Mashiah in Beit ha-Midrash 3:73-74; Sefer Eliyahu in Beit ha-Midrash 3:68-78.
659. THE FATHERS ADDRESS THE MESSIAH
In the month of Nisan the patriarchs will arise and say to the Messiah: “Our true Messiah, even though we came before you, you are greater than we because of all the suffering you have endured for the iniquities of our children. You were shut up in prison, sitting in thick darkness, your skin cleaved to your bones, your body as dry as a piece of wood, and your eyes dim from fasting. Your strength was dried up like a potsherd, all because of the sins of our children. Now the time has come for you to come forth out of prison.”
The Messiah will reply: “O Fathers, all that I have done is only for your sake and that of your children, for your glory and for theirs, so that God will bestow abundance upon Israel.”
Then God will make seven canopies of precious stones and pearls for the Messiah. Out of each canopy will flow four rivers, one of wine, one of honey, one of milk, and one of pure balsam. And God will put a garment upon the Messiah whose splendor will stream forth from one end of the world to the other. And God will summon the north wind and the south wind and say to them: “Come, sprinkle all kinds of spices from the Garden of Eden before My true Messiah.” Then God will embrace the Messiah in the sight of the righteous and bring him within the canopy where all the righteous ones, the mighty men of the Torah of every generation, will gaze upon him.
After that God will lift the Messiah up to the heaven of heavens, and cloak him in His own glory.
This myth, taking place in Paradise, portrays the Messiah as a divine figure whose time has finally come to fulfill his destiny and initiate the messianic era. Here the patriarchs address him as an equal, and speak to him with great gratitude and affection for his long suffering. God then provides great rewards for the Messiah, embracing him in the presence of the righteous. The purpose of this myth is to reaffirm the centrality of messianic belief in Judaism and to demonstrate that the role of the Messiah is to be regarded as equally important as that of the beloved patriarchs. For more on the Messiah’s suffering, see “The Suffering Messiah,” p. 489.
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