Redemption called Iggeret ha-Ge'ulah, which is mentioned by Albo in his Ikkarim. From Albo's quotations we learn of the contents of this tract. All the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah, Galipapa maintained, allude to the period of the second Temple. Dan. 7 refers to Antiochus and the Hasmoneans. The four beasts are therefore not those usually given by commentators, but Babylon, Media, Persia and Greece, all of whom ruled during the second Temple.43 It is clear that this interpretation undermines all the orthodox Messianic speculations which based themselves primarily upon the Bible. 10. Hasdai Crescas (1340-1410) does not include the belief in the Messiah among the six fundamental doctrines of Judaism. He regards it, however, as an essential truth of the faith. He who doubts it is a Min, a heretic. He states the irreducible minimum of the Messianic faith upon which all are agreed. He will be of the stem of Jesse. He will restore all Israel and Judah to the Holy Land and will set up a dynasty which will never be destroyed. All else predicated concerning the Messiah is debatable and a matter of private opinion." All attempts to discover the end are vain, wearisome futilities Both Holy Writ and Rabbinic law frown upon such enterprize. 45 Why is the exile so long? In comparison with the Babylonian its duration is appalling. Crescas suggests various explanations. The secret is with God. We can no more understand it than we can understand "the peace of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous." One must not attempt to compare the length of the exile with the degree of the sin which provoked it. For while the exile was the natural consequence of sin, the Redemption will be a miraculous act of God, dependent altogether upon His will and the merits of the people. And lastly, our present exile may only be a continuation of the Babylonian, which really never ended. For all the people were not 43 Dруn D, Part IV, chap. 42. 448, ed. Wien, 1860, p. 81. 45 אמנם הדבור בהגבלת זמן בואו הוא לאות ויגיעה לריק אם מצד הכתובים שלא פירש הזמן בהם .אבל העירו על העלמו באמרו ואני שמעתי ולא אבין כי סתומים וחתומים הם הדברים עד ועת קץ ואם למה שאמרו רז"ל תיפח רוחן של מחשבי קצין (.Ibid) redeemed at that time, nor did Israel gain full independence then or thereafter.46 11. Joseph Albo (1380-1440), author of the Sefer haIkkarim, goes a step further. He is more outspoken than Crescas. He not only ignores the whole Rabbinic superstructure built on the Messiah idea, but he also denies the dogmatic character of the belief. The Messianic hope is not a "root" principles. It is only a branch."47 A man should believe in the Messiah. "It is a faith held by the nation that every believer in the law of Moses ought to believe in it."48 Also, "It is clear that he who does not believe in the coming of the Messiah denies the works of the prophets and contravenes a positive command; but, nevertheless, the belief in the Messiah is not a principle which, if a man denies, he denies the Torah. A man who denies the coming of the Messiah cannot be called a pу-one who denies the fundamental faith".49 Albo thus takes issue with the orthodox opinion of his day, an opinion which, by the way, had persisted for nigh unto a thousand years. The reason for it may be found in the supreme importance which the subject had assumed in the Judaeo-Christian disputations of his day. Albo participated in the famous disputation held by Pope Benedict XIII at Tortosa (1413-14). He is quoted by Astruc as having replied to the apostate Joshua Lorki by giving the true interpretation of two Messianic passages in the Talmud.50 Lorki essayed to prove from Talmudic sources that Jesus was the Messiah. Albo sought to weaken all such Christian apologetics by denying the dogmatic importance of the whole subject, as far as Judaism is concerned. Albo affirms that the date of the end cannot be known, not even from the definite Biblical prophecies which speak of the end. Biblical apoclayptic passages may very well 46 Op. cit., p. 82. 47 Op. cit., 1.22. 48 Ibid., 1.23. 49 Ibid., 4.42. 50 'pуn D, ed. Wilna, end. be taken to refer to events long since passed. He quotes Hayyim Galipapa, among others, as his authority. 12. There is a denial of Messianic calculation also in the Zohar Hadash. It is difficult to determine when this work was written. It is clearly much later than the Zohar proper. "Rabbi Isaac said: 'It is written, "He was buried in the valley of the land of Moab over against Bethpeor, and no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day." God said: "Fools are they who calculate the time of the Messiah, a thing which I never revealed, as it is written, 'For the day of vengeance is in my heart,' and have not revealed it even to the mouth, and these men would try to discover the end. In this instance (the place of the burial of Moses) I gave three distinct indications, (1) in the valley, (2) in the land of Moab, and (3) over against Bethpeor, and yet men could not discover his burial place, for I did not reveal it. How much less can men discover the end (which I completely hid)..." Hence it is written: "The Burden of Dumah. One calleth unto me out of Seir':52 This is Israel calling unto God from under the heavy yoke of Seir. 'Watchman, what of the night'? Lord of the universe, Thou art the watchman of Israel, we are in this exile which is like unto night, tell us what of the night? When wilt Thou lead us forth from this night? See what follows: "The watchman said: The morning came and also the night.' I brought you out of exile before, but you were not deserving, and so I brought on the night again. 'If ye will inquire, inquire ye,-if ye wish to know the time of your Redemption, when it will be, and when ye will return to your land, 'return, come.' Turn in repentance and it will come immediately. For this is what R. Jehudah said: The end of the exile depends upon repentance only, as it is written: "Today, if you will hearken unto His voice.' Even at the time of the Creation of the world was this great secret hinted at among the hidden things. 'And God said, Let there be light, and there was 51 Deut. 34.6. 52 Is. 21.11. light.' This means, Let it be a secret (1). For and are one and the same thing (=207). 'And God saw the secret, and behold it was good.' It is well that it should be a secret unrevealed to any man, for if it were known many of the indiscreet among our people would go to perdition.”53 That the last exile has no fixt duration is again stated in Zohar Hadash: "R. Eliezer said: 'For all the exiles of the congregation of Israel, God set a time and an end, and Israel always repented; but this last exile has no time or end, but everything depends upon repentance.'54 God is merciful. If only the leaders of the congregations, or if only one congregation would fully repent, God would redeem the whole people. If Israel would but open the door of repentance the width of the eye of a needle, God would open for Israel mighty gates."55 13. Isaac Arama (c. 1420-1494), Spanish Rabbi and philosophic preacher, while not averse to the theosophy of Kabbala, notwithstanding frowns upon all attempts at Messianic computations. This in spite of the fact that his Messianic interest was intense, as witness his commentary on The Song of Songs, which makes of the latter an outright apocalyptic work. 56In his "Akedat Yizhak" Arama attacks all those who calculate the end, and specifically, by name, Abraham bar Hiyya. The latter was wise enough, Arama claims, to make his calculations fit in with events which had already happened, but as to future events, all his calculations went awry. Many worthy men were similarly misled, and unintentionally they spread falsehoods. The hour of Redemption is not contingent upon any heavenly constellation, but upon the free will of God.57 The hour has not been revealed. "The nature and the bliss of the Messianic times we are aware of, for 54 Ibid., p. 37b. 55 Ibid., 37b; cf. Shir R. 5.30. 56 At the conclusion of this commentary Arama writes: bym obwa mai ,See Com. on Song of Songs .בידינו מביאור זאת המגלה המעולה המגלה סוד הגאולה ed. Warsaw, 1911, p. 32. 57 Op. cit., p. 296, par. 'р5. they have already been explained by all the prophets, but the exact day and hour are hidden and unknown."58 Arama justifies this mystery on ethical grounds. Were the time of Redemption fixed and known, men would cease to fight sin and evil and forego the struggle for moral perfection, which must precede the hour of Redemption. Knowledge of the exact day of deliverance would lead to moral anarchy.59 In the last chapter of his Ḥazut Kashah he is drastic in his denunciation of all those who declare that the fortunes of Israel are dependent upon the heavenly bodies. He denounces the writers who would substitute for the providential care of the Almighty the dominion of constellations. Especially is he severe with those who try to delude the people with the idea that their Redemption is contingent upon certain major or minor conjunctions. Such men actually delay Redemption, for they turn the minds of men away from the one thing which can hasten the glorious day-repentance.60 14. Lipmann-Mühlhausen (Austria, 14-15 c.) author of the Nizzaḥon (written in the first decade of the 15 c.), the outstanding polemic against Christianity, which evoked a whole literature of rebuttals from Christian apologists, quite naturally devotes considerable space to the Messianic theme. The author is especially interested in proving that the closing prophecies of Daniel refer to the future Redemption from this last exile and not, as the Christians claim, to Jesus. He adopts Saadia's and Bahya's interpretation of "time, times and half a time." The first y refers to the period from the Exodus to the building of the first Temple= 480 years. The second to the duration of the first Temple =410 years. Half of ry is therefore 445 years. total 1335 years. This will be the duration of the present exile, but no one knows when this period begins.61 58 Ibid., p. 398, par. 'п'. The ויהיה היתר רצועה בעיניהם הבלתי רואים שום תועלת בהיטיב את דרכם ולא שום רע בהשחיתה 59 (ibid). 60 ap niin, ed. Sabbioneta, 1552, p. 29b. 61 , ed. Amsterdam, 1711, p. 102a, par. 331. |