Dato reasons that inasmuch as a day of God is equal to 2000 years, two-thirds of an hour will equal 55 years, 6 months and 20 days. In other words, the rule of the four kingdoms will last 1944 years, 5 months and 10 days. The rule of Persia began in the year 370 B. C. E.; the rule of the last kingdom will therefore end on the tenth of Adar, 1575 c. E.; the actual Redemption will take place in the year 1608, and the resurrection in 1648.100

Judging from the writings of dei Rossi, the year 1575 was generally regarded by his contemporaries as the Messianic year. "I am aware," he writes, "of a whole group of the 'sons of prophets' who are waiting for the year 1575 as the day of God, in which God will lead forth his people in joy to everlasting salvation." Their calculations were largely based on Dan. 12.12. The 1335 day-years were counted from the year 4,000 A. M., when, according to Talmudic tradition, the 2,000 years of the Messianic epoch were to begin,101 giving the year 5335 A. M., or 1575 C. E.102 It was also found that the Gematria of the last two verses of Daniel was 5335, that of """"" 'r'p's in the last verse was 335, and that of '"'n'D's ''n'o'n102 was also c. 1335. The "time, times and half a time" was interpreted to mean 1335 years. 103 This number is also found in the death-bed prophecy of Jacob:104 "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he shall come to Shiloh." =335.

,ה'ס'ת'ר' א'ס'ת'יר That the Gematria of Shilo, as well as of

yields the Messianic figure 1335 was already suggested by Tobiah ben Eliezer, author of the Midrash Lekah Tob (c. 1100 c. E.), who states, however, that he does not know the terminus a quo.105

100 See also Gedalia ibn Yahya's napn nbbw, ed. Lemberg, 1864,

p. 34b.

101 San. 97a, b. Abraham Halevi also employed the year 4000 A. M. for his starting point (see supra, p. 131). He added the figure 1290 instead of 1335 and obtained 1530 C. E. as the Messianic year.

102 Deut. 31.18.

103 This according to Saadia, Hananeel, Baḥya and others.

104 Gen. 49.10.

105, ed. Buber, Wilna, 1924, I, p. 236; and IV, p. 107.

5. Daniel ben Peraḥiah, who edited Joseph ben ShemTob ben Joshua Hay's She'erit Yosef, also places the Messianic year in 1575.10

Daniel ben Peraḥiah disclaims any desire to calculate the end. His sole wish is "to strengthen the weak hands and make firm the tottering knees, and not, God forbid, to calculate the end. He, too, reckons the 1335 dayyears from the beginning of the fifth millennium; hence 5335=1575 C. E.107

6. Isaac Luria (1534-1572), father of modern "practical" Kabbala, left none of his teachings in writing, so that we have no record of his Messianic calculations. It is clear, however, from the legends which have survived him that he entertained the hope that the year 1575 was the appointed year for the Redemption, and that perhaps he himself would bring it about. He is quoted as having declared that, although the earlier Kabbalists like Naḥmanides and Neḥunia ben Ha-Ķanah did not reveal anything of the science of parzufim (physiognomy), it is permitted to do so now for the day of the Messiah is near at hand.108

Solomon Shelemiel ben Ḥayyim, in his "Shibḥe Ho-Ari, written in the year 1609, narrates (quoting Vital): "At one time near to the hour of his death, we stood with our master Luria by the tomb of Shemaya and Abtalion in Giscala, which is three miles distant from Safed, and he said to us that Shemaya and Abtalion had told him that we should pray that the Messiah ben Joseph should not die. But we did not understand and we did not inquire further. It was not long before our master was summoned on high. . . . It was then that we understood that he spoke of himself, and that he was the Messiah ben Joseph, whose sole mission on earth was to bring about

106 Zunz wrongly attributes this date to Joseph ben Shem-Tob, who died in 1480. The author of the Messianic passage in She'erit Yosef is writing in 1568( n asin nwn ny.qov ns, ed. Salonica, 1568, gate 8). It is clear that Joseph ben Shem-Tob could not have been the author of this passage.

,הכוונה כי חשבון זה של שליה שנים מתחיל מהאלף החמישי שהוא בשנת השל"ה ליצירה 107

108 " y ", ed. Shklov, 1800, Intro. p. 5c.

the Redemption and fill the whole earth with the Messianic kingdom.109 The followers of Shabbetai Zebi regarded Luria as the Messiah Zedekiah.110

At another time, on the eve of Sabbath, he asked his disciples whether they would go with him to Jerusalem to celebrate the Sabbath. Upon their failure promptly to accede to his proposal, he exclaimed in great trepidation of spirit: "Woe unto us that we have not proved worthy to be redeemed. Had you promptly and unanimously replied that you were ready to go, Israel would have then and there been redeemed. For the hour had come, but you were not ready."111

A later version of the Shibḥe Ho-Ari112 adds the following account: "At his death Rabbi Joseph Ha-Cohen was present, and the Master said to him that had the generation merited it, that very year would have been the year of Redemption and the true end . . . the Master then quoted the verse, 'And she again bore a son and called his name Shelah.'"'113 In Gematria Shelah is the year 1575. Evidently there is some confusion here. Luria died in 1572. But the tradition persisted. Moses ben Menahem, too, quotes the tradition that Luria predicted the Messianic era would begin in 1575.114

7. Naphtali Herz ben Jacob Elhanan (end of 16 c.), German Kabbalist and disciple of Luria, author of 'Emek ha-Melek, a treatise on the elements of Kabbala and on the Zohar, repeats in full the Lurianic legend. Isaac Luria was the Messiah ben Joseph. Had he lived three years longer, (i. e. to 1575) he would have brought about the deliverance. But the age was not worthy and so he died after two years' sojourn in Palestine. The year 1575 was the time of grace for that generation. It is implied in Daniel's figure of 1335.

109 See ' ñ'rivoпn nirbo, ed. Warsaw, 1923, II, p. 231.

110 See "Letter of Nathan of Gaza," in Kahana's o'yinn jax, ed. 1913, p. 69.

.212 .p ,ספרות ה"ה 111

112 Found in 1' 1"1787 17'$ 770, Constantinople, 1720,

Since that year God raises up a righteous man in every generation who may become the Messiah, if the people merit Redemption by their repentance. We are still waiting for his coming. The year 1648 will be another one of these Messianic periods of grace which began with the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

66

Rabbi Naphtali quotes the Zohar and the customary Biblical passages which allude to the year 1648, especially Lev. 25.13 and Psalm 132.14: Ty Ty '''' '(This [=1648] is my resting place forever"). In Gematria '''''''''n (then taken as 50) = 408. But whether the Messiah will come that year or not will again depend upon the people's merit, for God hath sworn that the people shall not be redeemed unless they repent.115

It is of interest that the 'Emek ha-Melek was printed in Amsterdam in the year 1648, and carries on the title page

116. בשנת היובל ה'ז'א'ת' תשבו איש אל אחזתו,the chronogram

("In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession").117

8. Eliezer Ashkenazi ben Eli Rofe, (d. 1586) author of an homiletical commentary on the Pentateuch, called Ma'ase Adonai, which contains both in the chronogram on the title page and in the colophon, Messianic verses, offers the year 1594 as the Messianic year.

He, too, does not wish to be accused of calculating the end. "But it is apparent," he writes, "that the prophecies in Daniel show that we are very near to the Messianic times."118

There are two Messianic dates given in Dan. 12.12-13. The one that of 1335 day-years-points to the year 1404 c. E. (1335 years after the destruction, which, according to the author, took place in the year 69 c. E.). The other is found in the word 'r'p (verse 13) and points to a date 190 115 pу, ed. Amsterdam, 1648, pp. 33a, b.

116 Lev. 25.13.

117 On the mystic significance of the word n see Joseph Gikatilla's (13 c.) DD, ed. Offenbach, 1715,, p. 16a, b; and

Amsterdam, 1719, pp. 17b and 39a, b (пx xx 'n' x3 Sm¬w' niptidi).

118

pл, ed.

ולא לחשב קיצין אני אומר: אמנם לפי המשך הכתובים בדניאל יראה היותנו קרובים אל ישועת יהוה

(see wуp, Venice, 1583, p. 181b).

years later=1594 c. E. He finds his Gematria in Deut. 31.10: "In the set time of the release ('''' =5354

=

C. E. 1594 C. E.), in the feast of the Tabernacles, when all Israel will come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he hath chosen.119 The author is writing in 1580. He is therefore fourteen years removed from his Messianic year. He finds a pleasing Gematria for that, too: "May God say unto our sufferings, it is enough.' "T=14.120

9. Gedalia ibn Yahya (1515-c. 1587), in his Sefer Shalshelet ha-Kabbala, after reviewing many Messianic calculations, suggests the year 1598 as his own Messianic year. "But I, though young," he writes, "have bethought me to tell you in connection with this matter (the Messianic calculation) what occurred to me, and I swear to you that my words are true. On the night of the seventh day of Passover in the year 1555, being unable to sleep, I began to reflect on how long it will be to the end of the wonders. After a long time I fell asleep, but in the morning, behold, there was an olive leaf in my mouth.121 (An idea occurred to him which gave him a promise of a solution.) The verse any ('I see him but now)122 came to my mind. I found that the numerical value of the entire verse was 5358. Actually the value of the verse is 5312, which is equal to the Gematria of "”'n,

He hath) השיב את חמתי מעל בני ישראל ,suggesting the verse

turned My wrath away from the children of Israel').123 Add to this figure the number of letters in the verse Num. 24.17 from the words 1 777 to the end of the verse (omitting the Waw, which is silent) =46 (which incidentally suggests '"'—Elijah), and you have the year 5358, or 1598 c. E."124 Yahya finds support in Targum Onkelos. The latter, too, finds in this verse a Messianic reference.125

119 Op. cit., p. 181c.

120 Ibid., p. 181d. 121 Gen. 8.11.

122 Num. 24.17.

123 Num. 25.11.

124 See пap nbbw 0, ed. Amsterdam, 1697, p. 36b.

.(.Loc. cit) ויתרבא משיחא מישראל125