Gen. 49.1 also yields Yahya the figure 5358. "Gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days" ("'"'"). The He means 5000. The numerical value of ' taken simply and integrated (100+200) is 300. The vowels and the Dagesh of the word (?) give you the two Waws and three Yods=12+30=42. Add to this the number of letters in the word ' (=5) with the number of letters of the same word when integrated (11)=16, and you will have the number 358 (300+42+16). Yahya adduces also the verses in Ex. 15.2, 15, which, by the device of Gematria, yield him the number 5358. He also brings Num. 25.48, 49, where the five forms of -Redemption—are used, which lead him to discover in them a Messianic allusion, as well as the Messianic year 5358. In this he finds support in Jacob ben Asher, who also believes that these verses are Messianic in character. 10. David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra (1479-1589) wrote a mystic interpretation of the alphabet under the title Magen David, which Moses ibn Jacob Ḥagiz (1671-1750) edited in Amsterdam, 1713. He is strongly under the influence of the Sefer ha-Temunah. He, too, attached redemptive virtue to the letter Nun. The letter Nun is the jubille letter, "the place of all redemptions, celestial and mundane."126 It is the "mistress of Redemption." The letter Samek specifically represents Israel in exile. It upholds (pp) them when they fall, and raises them up when their time of Redemption is come.127 The letter is a combination of 5, and 1. The Kaf represents the congregation of Israel, nos; the Waw is the channel through which the redemptive potency of the Nun descends and enters into the Samek. In this letter is hidden the time of the Redemption and in the future it will redeem them.128 He quotes the Sefer ha-Temunah, which likewise 126 717 1, ed. Amsterdam, 1713, p. 35a. 127 See Ps. 145.14 Cf. Na'py 7 II, on the letter Samek, ed Wertheimer,, I Version, pp. 44 ff., also supra, pp. 93 and 104-5. והנה הסמיך סומכת את ישראל בגלות ובהסתום זמן הגלות ולעתיד היא גואלת אותם 128 (op. cit., p. 38b). maintains that the letter Samek alludes to the Redemption, and that the Kaf refers to Israel and the Waw to the sixth millennium. The final Redemption will transpire 600 years before the close of the sixth millennium=5400 A. M.= 1640 c. E. David Zimra accepts this figure and justifies it. The Messiah will undoubtedly come in the fourth century of the fifth millennium (1540 to 1640). We do not know exactly in what year of that century. The people's sins may delay his coming, but the Messiah must come within that century.129 He defends the practice of calculating the end. The Rabbinic imprecation upon calculators applies only to the men of the type of Elisha ben Abuya, who despaired and left the fold when their calculations proved false, but not to those who remain faithful unto the end, whether their calculations come true or not, the men who would remain steadfast even if there were no Messiah. Calculating the end does not necessarily mean "forcing the hour." It helps to strengthen those who grow weary of the long exile. 130 11. Joseph ben David ibn Yahya (the fourth, 14941539), in his commentary on Daniel, advances the Messianic year to 1931 c. E. Like Zemaḥ Duran, he projects the date to a far distant future, in order to discourage early anticipations, thereby sparing the people sad disillusionment. He holds cheap all calculations, his included: "We chatter like a swallow or a crane."131 Nevertheless he would essay a calculation even if it is only guess-work. He finds the key in Dan. 8.14: "Until 2300 evenings and mornings shall the sanctuary be victorious." The prophecy was delivered in the reign of Cyrus, which was in the year 3391 A. M. The Redemption will take place 2300 years later 5691 A. M. 1931 c. E. This would give the children of Israel about 300 years of Messianic times in which to dwell in joy before the end of the world, which would be 129 David Zimra's teacher, Joseph Saragossi, announced in Safed that the Messiah was to appear in 1512 (see Zunz, Ges. Schr., III, p. 229). 130 Op. cit., p. 39b. 181 Is. 38.14. ushered in with the seventh millennium. This date, too, is contained in "time, times and half a time."132 y==1000 years. y=2000 years; half of 17y=500 years. The total is approximately 2300 years. 133 יום עדן 12. Samuel ben Judah Velerio (second half of 16 c.), physician and Biblical commentator, who lived in the Greek archipelago, wrote a commentary on the Book of Daniel called Ḥazon la-Mo'ed, which was printed in Venice in 1586. After giving the current explanation as to why the hour of Redemption was not revealed to Daniel, the author, with profuse apologies, proceeds to suggest a date. The "time" is 400 years (the length of the Egyptian exile), "times" is 800 years; total, 1200 years. "Half a times" 1200 2 00); = 600 is 600 years exile will be 1800 years. The second Temple was destroyed in the year 3828 A. M. The end of the present exile will therefore be in the year 5628 A. M.=1868 c. E.134 He wishes his readers to know that it is not his intention to claim that the Messiah will without fail come on that date. Only that the verses in Daniel would be understood as he understands them if the Messiah would come on that date.135 Like Joseph ibn Yahya, he too sets the date in the distant future, and for the same reason. hence the full length of the C. PSEUDO-MESSIAHS 1. Asher Lämmlein, a German Jew, the first of the pseudo-Messiahs or forerunners of the Messiah whom the catastrophies of the last decade of the fifteenth century projected into Jewish life, appeared in Istria near Venice in 1502. He announced that the Messiah would come that year. Abarbanel's Messianic year was 1503. Lämmlein was undoubtedly swayed by the Messianic writings of Abarbanel, which first made their appearance in Venice 132 Dan. 7.25. 133 See his commentary on Daniel, ed. Bologna, 1538, pp. 109b-110a. .ed. Venice, p. 110a ,חזון למועד 14 אבל כוונתי היא לאמר שאם יבוא באותו זמן יבוארו הפסוקים על האופן ההוא 135 (ibid., p. 110b). in 1496-97. Perhaps, too, Abarbanel's suggestion that the Messiah would appear in the West, in a Christian country, did not pass unnoticed by Lämmlein.136 Lämmlein may have also been aware of the Messianic prophecy of Bonet de Lates (15-16c.) who in his Prognosticum, published in Rome in 1498, predicted the coming of the Messiah in the year 1505.137 Lämmlein was the first Ashkenazi Jew to pose as the Messiah. David Gans (1541-1613), in his chronicle Zemaḥ David, throws some light on the Lämmlein affair. He recounts some personal reminiscences: "In the year 1502 Rabbi Lämmlein announced the advent of the Messiah, and throughout the dispersion of Israel his words were credited. Even among the Gentiles the news spread, and many believed him. My grandfather Seligman Ganz smashed his oven in which he baked his matzzot, being firmly convinced that the next year he would bake his matzzot in the Holy Land. And I heard from my old teacher, Rabbi Eliezer Trivash, of Frankfurt, that the matter was not without basis, and that he (Lämmlein) had shown signs and proofs, but that perhaps because of our sins was the coming of the Messiah delayed.138 The historian Joseph Ha-Cohen (1496-1575) adds the information that even leaders in Israel believed in him, and that they had decreed fast days and days of penitence in preparation for the great day.139 Tobias Cohn adds that that year (1502) came to be known as the "Year of Repentance."140 Sebastian Münster (1489-1552), Christian Hebraist and disciple of Elijah Levita, in a work called Ha-Wikkuaḥ, written in 1530, which is cast in the form of a dialogue between a Jew and a Christian on the subject of the 136 ונלו בזה שני דברים גדולים עתידים האחד שיולד המלך המשיח בארצות הנוצרים אשר .(p. 23b ,ישי משיחו see) במערב הנמשכים לדת רומי 187 Zunz, Ges. Schr., III, p. 228, and J. E., III, p. 305. 138 717 M, ed. Warsaw, 1859, p. 29b. 139 pay, ed. Letteris, pp. 109-110; see also his '' '727, ed. Amsterdam, p. 53b. 140 "wy, ed. Venice, 1707, p. 26a. Messiah, makes the Christian say: "And it happened in the year 1502 that the Jews did penance in all their dwelling places and in all the lands of exile in order that the Messiah might come. Almost a whole year, young and old, children and women (did penance) in those days, the like of which had never been seen before. And in spite of it all there appeared neither sign nor vestige, not to speak of the reality itself (i. e. the Messiah)."141 The author of Shalshelet ha-Kabbala adds that numerous conversions followed the death of this pseudo-Messiah.142 2. David Reubeni, (c. 1490-d. after 1535), possibly kindled by the writings of Abarbanel, Abraham Halevi and others, capitalized the Messianic interest of his day in a most remarkable fashion. He appears upon the scene in Nubia, Egypt, in the year 1522, hailing from Khaibar in Arabia. He curries favor with Christian, Jew and Mohammedan alike. To the Mohammedan he is a descendant of the prophet, newly come from Mecca, bringing blessing, absolution and the promise of a place in Paradise to his Mohammedan hosts, 143 To the Jew he is the brother of King Joseph, who reigns in Khaibar over 300,000 members of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh, engaged in a secret mission to effect the emancipation of the Jews in the Diaspora and their restoration to Palestine.144 141 וזה היה מעשה בשנת רס"ב לפ"ק שעשו היהודיים תשובה בכל מושבותם ובכל הארצות בכל הגולה איך משיח יבא. כמעט שנה תמימה נער וזקן טף ונשים אשר לא נעשה מעולם תשובה זו שעשו בימים ההם. אפילו הכי לא נתגלה להן אפילו אות אחת או רמיזה אחת כ"ש ממשות וימות האיש ולא בא משיח וגלגל המרות גדולות כי בראות הפתאים שמשיח לא בא מיד המירו 142 mɔ”ın, ed. Basel, 1539, p. 19a, b. p. 34b. See also Graetz, Geschichte, Leipsig, 1897; IX, p. 506, note 3. 143 See his Memoirs, 1877 717 7150, in Newbauer's Med. Jew. Chron., II, pp. 134 ff. לא אמות מזה החולי עד אשר אקבץ ירושלים ואבנה המזבח ואקריב הקרבן .13 .Ibid., p 144 ובאתי ממזרח למערב בעבור עבודת יתברך שמו :187 p. 154); see also pp. 179 and) ובעבור ישראל לקבצם מכל המקומות להביאם לארץ נושבת בירושלים עיר הקדש. Dr. Mann has published (R. E. J., LXXIV, pp. 148 ff.) a Genizah fragment telling of the mythical army of this king Joseph ben Solomon, which, according to the author, was already encamped at Ancona, Italy, ready to march on Rome. Dr. Mann says this fragment is perhaps one of several false epistles broadcast by Reubeni and his henchmen as part of their propaganda. |