mystic value of the Tetragrammaton, sets the date as 1300 c. E. When Israel was exiled the letters of God's name () were separated; the He was separated from the Waw. As long as this separation lasts Israel will lie prostrate in the dust. The He means 5000 years, the Waw 6000 years. When the fifth millennium will end and the sixth begin (i. e. when the two will be joined), and that will take place in the 60th year of the sixth millennium (5060 A. M.=1300 c. E.), the hour of Redemption will begin. The number 60 is arrived at by multiplying the letter Waw (6) by Yod (10), which is their highest common multiple. Every 60 years thereafter the letter He will ascend by degrees and gain in potency until the year 5600 A. M.=1840 c. E. is reached, when the gates of wisdom will be opened from above and from below, and the world will be ready for the seventh millennium.

(2) Another calculation based on the mystic value of the letter Waw sets the date of the Messiah's coming as 1306 C. E. The Waw in the name py, in the sentence, “And I will remember my covenant with Jacob,"36 is the key to this computation. The act of remembrance will occur in the year 60 of the sixth millennium (1300 c. E.). God will redeem his promise to the children of Jacob. "In the 66th year of the sixth millennium (1306 c. E.) the King Messian will appear in Galilee."37 These two dates, 1300 and 1306, are probably the conjectures of the original compiler of the Zohar himself-Moses de Leon-who died in 1305.

(3) Still another calculation is found in Par. Shemot. The twelve tribes represent 1200 years. "Twelve hundred years after the destruction of the Temple (1268 c. E.) the night will darken on Israel." This night will last 66 years (until 1334 c. E.). At the end of that time the Messiah will appear and wage warfare; 66 years later (1400 c. E.) the letters in God's name will appear inscribed in the lower and the higher perfection; 132 years later, i. e. 1532

26 Lev. 26.42.

87 Op. cit., p. 119a.

C. E., the dead of Palestine will arise; 144 years later, i. e. 1676 c. E., the dead of Israel in all other lands will arise.38 (4) The Ra'ya Mehemna gives a series of dates. There will in reality be four redemptions, just as there are four cups of wine prescribed for the Passover-the Feast of Redemption-celebrated by Israel scattered to the four corners of the earth. The twelve tribes represent 1200 years. The first redemption will take place 56 years later, i. e. in the 1256th year = 1324 c. E. (based on the numerical value of =256, Jer. 31.7); the second in the 1260th year = 1328 c. E. (based on Gen. 46.26, SI, "all the souls were threescore); the third in the 1266th year = 1334 c. E. ("and six"; ibid.); and the fourth in the 1272nd year = 1340 c. E. (based on Lev. 25.3, w yn; “Six years thou shalt sow thy field."39

,כל נפש ששים

(5) The Midrash ha-Ne'elam gives still another date. "In the sixth millennium, in the 408th year thereof (1648 C. E.), all the dead will arise." He gives as his authority the Gematria of nn, the children of "Heth," 40 which is equal to 408, and that of n" "this," which is equal to 408. "In this year of jubilee you shall return every man to his possession." The Redemption will take place 40 years before the resurrection, i. e. in the year 1608 c. E. The righteous will be resurrected 210 years before all others, i. e. in 1438 c. E.42 The date of the Zohar, 1648 c. E., was frequently quoted in the great Messianic movement which spread in the seventeenth century and culminated in Shabbetai Zebi.43

.pp. 9b-10a,פר' שמות 38

39 See on pp. 251b-252a.

40 Gen. 23.7.

41 Lev. 25.13.

42 pп' ', pp. 139a-b.

43 The Midrash ha-Ne'elam seems to attach great significance to the number 40. Forty years is a fixed period of suffering. Israel wandered in the wilderness 40 years; the rain of the Flood lasted 40 days; the time of the

זמן גאולת של ישראל בשנת הארבעים, :Redemption will be in the 40th year

Elijah Ha-Kohen (d. 1729), author of л, finds it difficult to explain the last statement, and conjectures that it must mean that beginning with the sixth millennium the Messiah may be expected either at the end of the first 40 years of each century, i. e. 5040 A. M., 5140, 5240, 5340, etc., or at the end of 40-year periods, i. e. 5080, 5120, etc. (ibid., s. v.; mbini).

5. Sefer ha-Temunah, a Kabbalistic work of the thirteenth century, attributed to Neḥunia ben Ha-Kanah (1-2 c.), teacher of Ishmael ben Elisha, fountainhead of Kabbalistic thought, contains a Messianic calculation. This book gave great impetus to succeeding Messianic speculation along the lines of the mystic value of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; for this pseudepigraph combines the whole Kabbalistic system of Sefirot with the mystic system of letters.

The secret of the Redemption is suggested in the letter Samek (D): "In this letter all the redemptions are indicated."44 In form this letter is made up of the two letters' Kaf (and Waw (D).

,כנסת ישראל The Kaf stands for

"the household of Israel"; the Waw (the sixth letter of the alphabet) stands for the sixth millennium. The Redemption will take place in the sixth millennium, i. e. after 1240 C. E. A more specific suggestion is contained in the phrase ("the mountain of God"),45 where the revelation of the first redemption (from Egypt) took place. The He means 5,000; the Raish ('9) means 200; deduct the value of ', which is equal to 91, from 200, and you get 109; add 60, which is the value of the redemptive letter Samek, and you have 169. The Messiah will come in the year 5,169 A. M., which is 1409 c. E. From that year until the year 5400 (which is 6000 minus 600, i. e. 1640 c. E.), all the soul-purifications and all "spiritual" redemptions will take place."

The Yalkut Reubeni, written by Reuben Hoshke (d. 1673), quotes this Messianic prophecy of the Sefer haTemunah but gives another version. According to this version the value of on, which is 91=N" =10(9+1), is to be deducted from the number 200, giving 190. The Messiah will come in 5190 a. M., which is 1430 c. E. The symbol for this date is "p'n (the end), which is equal to 5190.47

According to the author of the Sefer ha-Temunah, the exile lasts as long as it does in order that the souls of men may become thoroughly cleansed of all their sins before they appear before God.48

6. Levi ben Gershon (1288-1344), the philosopher, like Naḥmanides before him, takes the trouble to explain that Daniel alone was forbidden to reveal the secret of the end, lest its very distant date might dishearten the people. That prohibition, however, does not any longer apply to the men of these later times. Commenting on Dan. 12.4, "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased," he says that Daniel alone was commanded not to expound further on the matter, but others following him may (i. e. "many shall run to and fro in search of this truth until such time when the truth will be discovered). He explains why he could not agree with Ibn Ezra, who maintained that Daniel himself did not know the time of the end and that the date was unascertainable.

Gersonides maintains that there is clear reference to Rome, to the final Dispersion, and to the final Redemption in the closing chapter of Daniel. The definite date is given in chapter 12, verse 11. Twelve hundred and ninety years will elapse from the destruction to the Redemption; the destruction was in the year 3828 A. M.; the Redemption will therefore be in the year 5118 A. M=1358 c. E. The figure given in the following verse, 1335, which is 45 years later, refers to the end of the Messianic wars against Gog and Magog.

The calculation is quite simple, says Gersonides. The reason why previous calculators went astray was due to the fact that each one tried to bring the Messianic date as close to his own time as possible.49

7. Bahya ben Asher (d. 1340), pupil of Solomon ben Adret, and Darshan at Saragossa, offers Messianic calculations both in his commentary on the Pentateuch and in

his Kad ha-Kemah. He is more reserved in the Kad haĶemaḥ, which is a book of discourses and sermons intended for popular consumption. In the three dissertations on Redemption50 he contents himself with the expression of steadfast faith in the coming of the Messiah. He interprets homiletically many Scriptural passages to reinforce this faith. The Messiah will appear when men most despair of his coming. The prescribed years of the exile are already over; nothing detains his coming but the want of universal repentance.51 At the close of his third dissertation he intimates the subject of calculating the end. He is commenting on Is. 64.3: "And from of old they (the Gentiles) have not heard (of the wonder which God performed for Israel in the past). Neither hath the eye (of the Gentiles) what he will do (at the latter end) for him (Israel) that waiteth for him." This refers to our future Redemption, concerning which it is written: 52 “Happy is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, three hundred and five and thirty days." And it is well known to all who understand that in the case of our present exile three dates were set for it, even as in the case of the Egyptian exile."53

seen

In his Biblical commentary, which is intended for the learned, he goes further and indulges in outright Messianic computations. There are two such: one in Par. Bereshit54 and one in Par. Bo.55

1. The calculation found in Par. Bo. is the simpler one. His reasoning is as follows: the Bible gives three figures for the duration of the Egyptian exile: 210, 400 and 430 years. The duration of the present exile will also have three terms. They are enumerated in the Book of Daniel: 1150,56 1290,57 and 1335.58 All three figures are correct.

50 пpп, ed. Warsaw, 1870, pp. 21b-23d.

51 Ibid., p. 22a.

52 Dan. 12.12.

53 Op. cit., p. 23d.

54 Op. cit., pp. 20b-21b.

55 Ibid., p. 35a.

56 Dan. 8.14. 2300 mornings and evenings, hence 1150 full days.

57 Dan. 12.11.

58 Dan. 12.12.