Deep Dive into the Messianic Era

Part 1: Why Do We Need a Maschiach?

The twelfth principle of our thirteen principles of faith is the belief in the coming of Mashiach and the Messianic era, and, as Rambam explains, “that is to believe and to confirm that he (Mashiach) will come and not to think that he is late.” We sing a version of this principle in Yigdal every day in davening:

יִשְׁלַח לְקֵץ הַיָּמִין מְשִׁיחֵֽנוּ, לִפְדּוֹת מְחַכֵּי קֵץ יְשׁוּעָתוֹ:

He will send our Mashiach at the end of days, to redeem all who await His final deliverance.

Here, we will delve into a number of questions surrounding Mashiach: What is the source of Mashiach? Why do we need a Mashiach? When will he come? What will he do? How can we recognize him?

What is the source of Mashiach?

Rambam (Melachim u’Milchamot 11:1) explains that the following pessukim in Devarim (30:3-5) testify to the coming of Mashiach:

Then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and take you back in love. He will bring you together again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.

Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there, the LORD your God will gather you, and from there, He will fetch you.

And the LORD your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers.

In addition, we find prophetic insights about the Messianic age in many of the books of the Prophets. The Rambam explains that anyone who does not believe in Mashiach or does not await his coming denies not only the statements of the other prophets but those of the Torah and Moshe.

Why do we need a Mashiach?

Jewish tradition holds that the arrival of the Moshiach will bring about a spiritual awakening, a restoration of the world to its ideal state, and it will be a time of great peace, as the passuk says (Yeshaya 2:4) “Nation shall not take up sword against nation; They shall never again know war.” There will be a universal recognition of Hashem, his chosen people – the Jewish nation, and our God-given right to the Land of Israel. As a result, Am Yisrael will be able to dwell in Israel in peace, and this, in turn, will mean that we will be better able to learn Hashem’s Torah and keep His commandments since there will be nothing to hold us back. As we will explain below, the Messianic period will also mark the completion of history both in the sense of time and in the sense of its spiritual realization.

When will he come?

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 97b) writes:

May those who calculate the end of days be cursed, as they would say once the end of days that they calculated arrived and the Messiah did not come, that he will no longer come at all. Rather, the proper behavior is to continue to wait for his coming, as it is stated: “Though it tarries, wait for it.”

We do, however, believe that Mashiach will come before the year 6000. Just as Hashem created the world in six days, with the seventh being Shabbat, Jewish tradition teaches that the whole of time adopts this same pattern. In other words, the beginning is a microcosm of the whole. Time in this world is a journey leading us to an ultimate destination, and that destination is the Messianic era.

Thus, since we no longer live in an age where we have prophecy, it is not within our ability to calculate when Mashiach will come or what his coming will look like. We cannot read into current geopolitical events and make any definitive conclusions.

Though it will only be decided upon by Hashem when Mashiach will come, we can and do try to hasten his coming by fervently praying for it – especially in times of trouble.

How can we recognize him?

In Hilchot Melachim u’Milchamot 11:4, Rambam lists a number of criteria that Mashiach will have to fulfill. These are as follows: 1) Mashiach will need to be a descendent of the House of David, 2) he will be someone who diligently contemplates the Torah and observes its mitzvot as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law, 3) he will compel all of Israel to walk in (the way of the Torah) and rectify the breaches in its observance, 4) he will fight the wars of God. If he does all of these things, we may consider such an individual Mashiach.

What will he do?

Rambam continues,

If he succeeds in the above, builds the Temple in its place, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Mashiach. He will then improve the entire world, motivating all the nations to serve God together, as Tzephaniah 3:9 states: ‘I will transform the peoples to a purer language that they all will call upon the name of God and serve Him with one purpose.’

He also writes (ibid, 11:1) that Mashiach will renew the Davidic dynasty, restoring it to its initial sovereignty, He will build the Temple and gather the dispersed of Israel. “Then, in his days, the observance of all the statutes will return to their previous state. We will offer sacrifices, observe the Sabbatical and Jubilee years according to all their particulars as described by the Torah.”

The Rambam also explains (Melachim u’Milchamot 11:3)

One should not presume that the Messianic king must work miracles and wonders, bring about new phenomena in the world, resurrect the dead, or perform other similar deeds.

Thus, the Gemara (Berachot 34b) explains, “The only difference between this world and the days of the Messiah is with regard to servitude to foreign kingdoms alone [While in the days of the Messiah, Israel will be independent and free from enslavement to foreign powers, the world order will remain otherwise unchanged].”

In the coming articles, we will look more into the period of time we are currently in – the time of Chevlei Mashiach – the birth pangs of Mashiach, and then we will look at what the features of the Messianic age will be.