JEWS WHO CLAIMED TO BE MESSIAH

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

 The word “Messiah” (mashiah, in Hebrew) means “anointed.” In the Bible, it is often used for kings and priests. The term took on a different meaning later on. According to the ancient Rabbis, it refers to an individual, presumably chosen by God, who will restore the Davidic kingdom, bring back all Jews to the land of Israel, rebuild the temple of Jerusalem and establish peace among the nations. In Judaism we have had a few contenders to this title. Here below are the most important:

 JESUS

In the genealogy of Jesus in Mathew 1:16, we read: “Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ (“Messiah”).” It is presumed that Jesus was a Galilean Jew, born in Nazareth around 4 BCE. He probably was a Pharisee, and , like other Jews of his time, spoke Aramaic. He most likely belonged to a group of charismatic visionaries who predicted the end of the Roman Empire, causing the ire of the Roman authorities in ancient Palestine who crucified him around 30 CE.

 SIMON BAR KOKHBA

He was the Jewish leader of what is known as the Bar Kohba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE. Rabbi Akiba considered him the Messiah. Other Rabbis disagreed. Bar Kokhba established an independent Jewish state which he ruled for three years as Nasi ("Prince"). However, his state was conquered by the Romans in 135 following a two and half-year war. He died in 135 CE in battle. After the revolt, Hadrian, the Roman emperor (he died in 138 CE), changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina.

 

SABBETAY ZEVI

A charismatic mystical Rabbi from Izmir, today in Turkey, he was born in 1626 .But he was also a manic depressive. He was declared Messiah by one of his followers, Nathan of Gaza. Because of the attention he gathered, the Ottoman Turks first locked him up in a castle and then when things got out of hand, they offered him to test his vocation by summitting to an ordeal. Instead, he accepted to convert and became a Moslem. His followers, who became known as donmes (“converts “in Turkish) did the same, maintaining a dual life-style, Jewish at home but Moslem in the streets. He died in 1676.

  

JACOB FRANK

His real name was Yakov ben Judah Leib Frankovich (1726-91).  He was born in Podolia (then Poland, now a region of Ukraine), the son of a rabbi.  As a young man he traveled in the Middle East, where the Turks gave him the surname Frank.  On his return to Poland in 1755, he founded the Frankists, a heretical Jewish sect. Subsequently, he claimed to be the recipient of direct revelations from heaven and exhorted his followers to espouse Christianity as an intermediate stage in the transition to a future messianic religion. After his death, leadership of the sect passed to his daughter Eve Frank, but the movement was soon absorbed into the Roman Catholic Church. 

Orthodox Jews today still pray for the coming of the Messiah. Reform Jews, like me, do not. In fact, I consider Messianism as dangerous because it promotes false hopes, in as much as no single individual can solve the world’s problems by him/herself. It is better to affirm good will and cooperation by many people and nations.  

SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogapot.com