the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good. so the Lord will rejoice over you 15 to cause you to perish." "In these words is found an intimation concerning the end of the exile." This verse is to be taken in connection with Dan. 12.11: "And from the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken away there shall be 1290 days." The exile will last as long as the period of rejoicing lasted. The period of rejoicing lasted from the sojourn in Egypt (where they multiplied) to the destruction of the first Temple, i. e. 1290 years. Hence the exile will last 1290 years. The other figure given in Dan. 12.12, 1335, which is 45 years later, refers to the complete conquest of the world by the Messiah, which will take place 45 years after his first appearance. "But we do not know when the period of 1290 years begins, or we would know exactly when it will end. . . . It may begin with the taking away of the continual burnt offering in the days of Hyrcan and Aristobulus . . . or it may begin with the reign of Herod, who was not fit to be king over Israel, or perhaps at an even later date, i. e. with the expulsion.17 At the time of the end when the Messiah will come it shall become clear when the period actually began."'18

The same computation is quoted almost verbatim in the Sefer Hadar Zekenim, another Tosafist Biblical commentary of the fourteenth century,19 which concludes with the statement: "If the period of the exile (1290 years plus 45 years) is to be counted from the expulsion, then the Messiah will come in the year 5163" (i. e. 1403 c. E.).

An additional calculation is here given. The world, according to the Rabbis, is to last 6,000 years, and then it will be destroyed. The 6,000 years include the millennium or the universal Sabbath. The 6,000 years correspond to the six days of Creation plus the seventh day of rest. In other words, the 6,000 years equal the seven days. In the eyes of God a thousand years are equal to

17 This last would place the Messianic year in 1358 c. E.

18 Op. cit., ed. Amsterdam, 1698, p. 63a.

19 D'ap 7770, ed. Leghorn 1840, pp. 72c-73, top.

one day, plus a watch in the night.20 A day is then equal to 85714 years, and six days to 5,1426 years. The seventh day, or Sabbath-the Messianic day-will then begin in the year 5143 A. M., or 1383 c. E.21

Isaac Halevi also attributes to the Gan the Messianic interpretation of Deut. 31.18; no no

("And I will surely hide"), is in Gematria 1335 (not counting the Aleph of лos), which is the number given in Dan. 12.12. "When these (years) end, the son of David will come. God will hide His face for the length of time implied in Daniel therefore said, "Blessed is the man who waits until these years are past. There is an indication of the end here.22

הסת"ר אסתי"ר the words

Isaac Halevi quotes Joseph ben Isaac Bekor Shor23 in substantiation of his belief that the exile would last 1335 years. Bekor Shor finds his clue in the letters of the alphabet when taken in the reversed order. The first eight letters of the reversed alphabet ‚D"уx p′′¬wn, amount to 1300. By that time the Messiah will have "reigned" ten years The next four letters, "", amount to 34. This gives you a total of 1334. On the 1335th year (1403 c. E.) joy will come (" "), i. e. the fish (Leviathan) will come for the feast of the righteous.24

. (נמל"ך)

3. Abraham Abulafia (1240- after 1291), who in 1284, in Sicily, announced himself as the Messiah, prophesied that the Redemption would come during his own lifetime. In his Sefer ha-Ot, written in 1285-88, he proclaims: “And the time of salvation and the day of Redemption is come, and no man today pays any regard to this fact."25 Abulafia wrote his prophecies during the stirring times when the Christian power was breaking before the onslaught of

20 Ps. 90.4. See Rashi, ad loc..

21 See supra., p. 70.

22 Op. cit., p. 64a. This was also known to the author of the пp3 w¬70, (c. 1100). See ed. Buber, Wilna, 1924, IV, p. 107.

23 See supra., p. 66.

24 Op. cit., 64a. Of the last two words the text says: 1100 101 λAOTOS

haps a pun on 15 (Gen. 30, 11: "fortue has come").

-effervescent wine, per=ובארג perhaps ובאדן שפירוש לשון תענוג .luscious wine=

in Graetz וקץ התשועה ויום הגאולה בא ואין איש אשר ישים לבו היום לדעת זאת 25

Jubelschrift, a пy, p. 79, See also p. 68, y'n pп yp, and p. 69,

Mohammedan forces in Northern Africa, in Syria and in Palestine, and when the Mongolian hosts in the East were threatening the power of the Mohammedans and Christians. Thus in his Sefer ha-Ot he speaks of "the three kings who will arise in the three corners of the earth, each pursuing a different faith, and who will wage war upon each other." The king of the South (Mohammedan) will slay the king of the North (Christian) and will in turn be defeated by the king of the East (Mongolian). The Messiah may then be expected.26

This mystic, whom Jellinek regards as exceptional among all the pseudo-Messiahs on account of his extensive scholarship, unselfishness and sincerity, was so obsessed by his mission that he actually tried to convert Pope Nicholas III.

The Christian world was not unreceptive to adventist ideas at this time. The thirteenth century was one of great spiritual ferment and mystic exaltation. It was the century of St. Francis of Assisi. Italy and Southern France were especially affected by this mystic mood.

Toward the close of the twelfth century Joachim of Floris had announced that the last of the three ages-The Age of the Holy Spirit-would begin in the year 1260, basing himself on the 1260 days of Rev. 12.6. Preceding it would be the period of great tribulation when the Church would be overthrown by Antichrist.

The views of the Joachimites and the Spirituals had tremendous vogue in the thirteenth century and Apocalyptic hopes were, therefore, very intense and vivid in the second half of this century. The Flagellants appeared in 1260. "The mystic panic spread like wild fire; all men lost their heads, confessed, restored what they had stolen, embraced their enemies and composed canticles. The end of all things seemed to be at hand."27

Abulfia was not unaware of these conditions which prevailed in the Christian world and he was not averse to

26 Op. cit., pp. 83-85.

27 See Gebhart, Mystics and Heretics in Italy, p. 196.

turning to Christendom for support in his Messianic enterprize.

Failing to impress the Jews with his Messianic hopes, Abulafia carried them to the Christian world, which was duly impressed but which preferred to rely upon the efficacy of arms in the conquest of Palestine rather than upon Abulafia. "God commanded him (Abulafia) to speak to the Gentiles of the uncircumcised heart and flesh in His name. He did accordingly and spoke to them and they believed in the message of God. But they did not return unto God, for they put their trust in their sword and bow."'28

Abulafia claims to have studied Biblical and Talmudic lore, grammar, logic and the natural sciences, philosophy and medicine, and to have had acquaintance with the works of Saadia, Baḥya, Abraham ibn Ezra and Maimonides. These studies brought him knowledge but not the gift of prophecy. It was the mastery of the mystery of the alphabet and numbers that led him to the heights of revelation: "But when I reached to the Names and untied the seal bands, the Lord of all revealed Himself to me and made known to me His secret, and informed me concerning the end of the exile and the beginning of the Redemption through the blood-avenger."29 Abulafia regards himself as a prophetic Kabbalist, a degree higher than the ordinary Kabbalist. Rising above the conventional themes of Kabbala-En-Sof, Sefirot and 'Ibbur (transmigration of souls), etc.-Abulafia points to the mystery of letters, vowels, numerals and the Tetragrammaton as the highest subjects for speculation. By means of these the whole universe may be controlled. Israel suffers in exile because it has forgotten God's true name,30 and only by means of the knowledge of the true name of God will the Redemption be brought about.31 Adret denounced such extravagant

28 Op. cit., p. 76. Abulafia may be referring to the last Crusade which took place in 1270.

29., Letter of Abulafia, contra Solomon ben Adret, in Jellinek's Auswahl kabal. Mystik, II, Heb., p. 18.

Jellinek's Philosophie und Kabbala, I, pp. 21-22.

in שבע נתיבות התורה See also his

.80 .p ספר האות 30

.79 .ibid., p) ואין תשועה כי אם בשם ידוד וגאלתו איננה לאשר לא ידרשוהו על פי שמו 21

methods of Biblical interpretation and called Abulafia ba, "the scoundrel," but "the 'scoundrel" stirred his age profoundly. . .

It is likely that the rumors of Abulafia's proclaimed Messiahship, reaching by devious routes the Jews of Germany, contributed in a large measure to the great emigration of Jews, headed by Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, for Palestine in the year 1286.32 There were also rumors of a Messiah who arose in Syria at that time.33

In Abulafia, as in the case of the pseudo-Messiahs of the seventh and eighth centuries, we find a recrudescence of anti-Rabbinism. He did not, however, abrogate any Rabbinic law, nor did he challenge the method or the authority of the Rabbis. He denounced the barrenness and the inadequacy of the Talmud. He bitterly criticized the Rabbis for ignoring the higher and holier study of Kabbala and the mysteries of the divine name. A passionate craving for prophetic freedom which he sought to discover in the world of theosophy and letter mysticism, as well as the relentless persecutions to which he was subjected at the hands of the Rabbis, led him to declare that the Mishnah is "the graveyard of law and judgment." The Rabbis are apes and only the Kabbalist can be called truly a man. "The difference between a Talmudist and one who knows the science of the Tetragrammaton is as vast as the difference between a Talmudic Jew and a learned non-Jew." 1134 With Abulafia and the Zohar, which appeared about the same time and belongs to the same school of thought, the long-drawn out conflict between rigid legalism and fanciful, erratic mysticism begins.

4. The Zohar (c. 1290), the great textbook of medieval Kabbala, gives various Messianic dates, probably reflecting the age in which each successive part to the Zohar was written.

(1) The Zohar, Par. Wayyera,35 basing itself on the 32 Graetz, V, p. 166.

33 See ibid., p. 379.

34 See J. Günzig, R. Abraham Abulafia, Cracow, 1904, pp. 24-25; and Graetz, V, p. 186.

35, ed. Amsterdam, pp. 116b-119a.