"The Messiah will come and the great age of salvation will dawn (for the pious)”- Eric Eve
[Moderator]: “Any other questions?”
[Audience]: “Pardon me for asking this question, but, earlier you talked about the Resurrection and you mentioned about the scriptures, where like in the Hindus scriptures they talk about the Kalki Avatar who will come for the Resurrection, and for the Christians, I know they talk about the return of Christ and all the religions talk about this Resurrection and the belief in the coming of the Messiah. So I just want to know since you say you are going to give the Resurrection to us, what is your station?”
Shri Mataji: “In Russia?”
[Audience]: “And are you the promised Messiah? Shri Mataji, are you?”
Shri Mataji: “I see now. I am not going to tell you anything about myself, to be very frank. Because see Christ said He was the Son of God, and they crucified Him. I don't want to get crucified. You have to find out. When you become the Spirit you will know what I am. I don't want to say anything about myself.”
Public Program, Toronto, Canada—October 5, 1993
The Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521)
"Several fragments of the text of the Messianic Apocalypse survive, but the one that has attracted the most attention is the largest and best preserved, that from column 2, since it appears to look forward to a Messiah who will heal the wounded, revive the dead and bring good news to the poor... Although such phrases are more or less Old Testament quotations (from Isa. 61.1 and Ps. 146.7-8), their association with the coming of the Messiah makes them appear close to Gospel passages such as Lk. 4.18-21 and Mt. 11.4-5. The apparent link is strengthened by the fact that, unlike the biblical passages to which they allude, both 4Q521 and the Gospel passages refer to raising the dead...
This leaves the problem of how God can be said to be about to preach the good news to the poor. Whatever weight is placed on the particular use of דשכ at Isa. 61.1, nowhere in the Old Testament is this verb used with God as its subject, but always of human proclaimers of (mostly good) news. Added to the fact that Isa. 61.1, which appears to be in view here, speaks of one anointed by God's spirit to perform various actions on God's behalf, the difficulty appears almost insurmountable. There thus appears to be an exegetical deadlock. Every other consideration points to God being the subject of the verbs in Line 12, and yet the third of these verbs, preaching the good news, stubbornly resists having God as its subject.
At this point one must step back and consider some broader questions about the genre and purpose of this text. It appears that 4Q521 is hymnic in type. In Puech's view, the different themes evoke the genre of an exhortation on the blessings and punishments that God will bring about in the days of his Messiah. In language that is half-prophetic and half-apocalyptic the author invites the just to persevere in the law and in the orthodox practice of the cult...
In particular, he may not have been greatly concerned to distinguish between what God was going to bring about directly and what God was going to effect through the person of his Messiah. Or he may have considered that the action of a Messiah sent by God was equivalent of God acting himself (on the shaliach principle). In Isa. 61.1-2 the prophetic figure (perhaps reinterpreted as the Messiah by the author of 4Q521) is anointed with God's spirit to act as God's agent; on the shaliach principle the acts [the Messiah] performs while carrying out this mission may also be seen as God's acts: [the Messiah] proclaims the good news on God's behalf, so that [the Messiah's] words may be regarded as God's words just as the prophets of old certified their proclamations with "Thus says Yahweh.” Or again, the text may describe what God is going to do quite apart from the Messiah.
Where does this leave the raising of the dead and other miraculous deeds? In the end, one can only say that the text does not make it clear whether these are to be performed through the Messiah or not. This is not a distinction the author was concerned to make: in common with several other authors of intertestamental texts his interest lay not with the person of the Messiah but with what God was going to do in the Messianic age. The Messiah will come and the great age of salvation will dawn (for the pious); that is the author's message; demarcating a precise division of labour is not his concern.”
Eric Eve, The Jewish context of Jesus' Miracles
Sheffield Academic Press (August 2002), pp. 189, 194-6
The Messiah "will bear the signs of that same Jesus who arrived in the past.”
"Almost clandestinely, the Roman Catholic Church has in recent weeks taken another step toward reducing Christian animosity toward Judaism - animosity stemming from the theological dispute between the two religions. In a 210-page document published in book form in Rome, the Church states that there is no contradiction between the Jews' anticipation of the Messiah's arrival and the Christians' belief that the Messiah has already arrived, because Christians believe that the Messiah will return at the End of Days. It is significant that the Vatican's new document does not unequivocally or explicitly state that the Messiah destined to return will be Jesus Christ but instead says that the Messiah "will bear the signs of that same Jesus who arrived in the past.” The document even adds that the Jews' anticipation of the Messiah's arrival can significantly encourage Christians' belief in the Messiah's return. The new document was written by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, established by Pope John Paul II in 1997. The commission was headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and its other members were 20 Bible experts, each of whom received papal authorization to serve on the committee.”
Eliahu Salpeter, Waiting for the Messiah - together
www.haaretz.com (Retrieved 23 January 2002)
"Conforming to many Jewish apocalypses that anticipate a period of turmoil and stress, Revelation envisions an "hour of trial" (3:10) that will be a "great ordeal" (7:14). The cast of the eye is forward and the anticipated time is short (1:1, 3; 3:11; 22:10, 20). Belief in God's firm purpose is so strong that final vindication has already been assured in heaven. This is seen most vividly when the blast of the seventh trumpet introduces the heavenly chorus proclaiming the victory of God and the Messiah, along with the twenty-four elders singing of God's power and victory over those who oppose God's elect, the prophets, the saints, and all the faithful (11:15—19). Also reflecting a true apocalyptic perspective are the many assurances that God's ways are "just and true" (15:3; 16:7; 19:2) and that God will take vengeance on those who afflict the saints (16:5—6).
Revelation stands squarely within the Jewish apocalyptic tradition, which looks to the end of history for the final vindication of God's cause. Because of its focus on the "last things," Revelation is thoroughly eschatological. It reports the events that will constitute a crisis for the believing community: the deteriorating conditions accompanied by disasters both natural and unnatural; the continuing struggle between the forces of good and evil; and the final set of events that brings closure to the crisis. John sketches a distinctive scenario for the future: a final battle led by Christ and his forces against the "beast and the kings of the earth" (19:19).”
Carl R. Holladay, A Critical Introduction to the New Testament: Interpreting the Message and Meaning of Jesus Christ
Abingdon Press (May 1, 2005) p. 780
“A major theme in the Hebrew Bible is God's promise to give the People of Israel their land, and thus the geographic region variously known as Canaan, Israel, and Palestine became dubbed "the Promised Land.” But does this promise apply to our present time? This may be the biggest theological question in modern-day Judaism.
The particular facts of Jewish history, that the Jewish people were dispossessed from their land in 586 B.C.E. by the Babylonians?and then allowed to regain it several generations later (beginning the so-called Second Temple Period, 538 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.), only solidified the belief among Jews that while God may temporarily take the land away from them, he will surely keep his promise, and give it back.
For this reason, after the Romans crushed the Jewish Revolt?and destroyed the Temple in 70 C.E., it was only natural for the Jews of the time to assume that God would once again intercede on their behalf and give them control of their land once more. They waited and waited and nothing happened, until a group of fanatical Jews rebelled against the mighty Roman Empire in 132 C.E.
Initial success in the early stages of the Bar Kochba Revolt led the greatest rabbi of that generation, Rabbi Akiva, to decree that the rebellion leader Simon Bar Kosiba (Bar Kochba's real name) was the messiah, specifically — the Jewish leader who was prophesied to regain the Jews' control of their land.
But God did not intercede on the Jews' side, and the might of the Roman Empire came down on the Jewish population, completely crushing the resistance by 135 C.E.?The disaster for the Jews was dreadful: thousands were killed, and most of those who did survive scattered far and wide. The leadership of the Jewish people immigrated to Babylonia and began to rebuild what the revolt had shattered, and the Land of Israel was nearly completely depopulated of Jews.
The messianic prophecy
In Babylon, these rabbis, the Amoraim of the Talmud, reinterpreted Jewish history. Yes, the Land of Israel was promised to the Jews, and yes, God will one day, in his own time, return the Jews to their land and give them control of it, but this will only happen in the future when the messiah arrives. And as a safeguard against future calamities like those brought about by Bar Kokhba, the rabbis came up with the doctrine of the three oaths, which appears in the Babylonian Talmud (Ketubot 110b-111a).
Based on an extremely creative interpretation of the erotic love poem that is the Song of Songs, the rabbis decided that when Jews went into exile, three oaths were made between the peoples of the Earth and God: The Jews promised not to "storm the wall" (interpreted as, not immigrate to the Land of Israel) and not to "rebel against the nations.” The third oath was made by the nations (non-Jews), promising God they would not "oppress Israel too much.”
The doctrine of the three oaths became dogma among Jews everywhere during the Middle Ages. Their interpretation was another matter.
Everyone agreed that Jews must wait patiently "for God" before returning to their land and rebuilding the kingdom of God, but what exactly we were waiting for was in dispute.
On one side was Rabbi Nachmanides (1194-1270) who said we were waiting for a complete break in history: there would be no question that the Messianic Age had come, since all sorts of miracles would take place.
Maimonides (1135-1204) on the other hand predicted that no miracles would take place and that the Messianic Age would be brought about by the actions of men.
The question remained theoretical and was only infrequently discussed, since no-one seriously thought about bringing about the Messianic Age themselves. Despite Maimonides' opinion, Jews put their faith in God and waited for what they felt certain would happen at the time appointed by God.
A major change in Jewish theology took place in the 16th century, when Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572) came up with his own version of Jewish mysticism, known as Kabbalah. He believed that Jews could bring about the advent of the Messiah, not by taking action in the real world but by performing spiritual actions, such as praying, which would accrue in some way, and when enough of these actions were performed, the Messiah would come. Luria even prophesied that the Jews of the time were almost ready.
His doctrine was taken up by many Jews around the world, eventually leading, in the 17th century, to disaster. Shabbetai Tzvi (1626-1676), an apparently mentally ill Jew from Izmir, Turkey, declared that he was the long-awaited messiah and actually convinced a great deal of the Jewish world. However, when he converted to Islam under pain of death in 1666, nearly everyone realized that he wasn"t the Messiah, and the movement fizzled out.
Following this painful saga, Orthodox Judaism became weary of declaring the imminent coming of the Messianic Age, and took to not thinking about it.
'Barely Jewish'
But then came Zionism in the late 19th century.
Zionism was a secular movement and religious Jews steered away from it, for the most part. Or, if anything, they opposed it vehemently, since it contravened the doctrine of the three oaths. But the movement was gaining momentum and a small minority of religious Jews could not help but get caught up in the excitement.
This small segment of Orthodox Jews is what became to be known as Orthodox Judaism (as opposed to secular, conservative, reform, and ultra-Orthodox Judaism).
The movement's leader in Palestine, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), was certain that the Messianic Age was upon us. Had the gentiles not given Jews permission to return to their land with the Balfour Declaration (1926)? Were Jews not once again toiling the land and speaking Hebrew, as it was in the age of the prophets? He even went as far as to suggest that Theodor Herzl was the messiah ben Joseph, the precursor to the real messiah, according to Jewish eschatology. But the mainstream Orthodox Jews wouldn't have it and rather, took the notion as an affront.
These secular Zionists were barely Jewish and could not, they reasoned, be part of God's divine plan. What the Zionists were doing was worse than heresy and their actions would delay the coming of the Messiah by flouting the three oaths.
Extremist Orthodox leadership even colluded with Arab nations in hopes of thwarting the Zionists, until 1936, when the Arab Revolt?broke out and pushed them begrudgingly back to the side of the Zionists.
The Holocaust (1939-1945), which many religious Jews interpreted as divine punishment for the Zionists' scorn for the three oaths, killed most of the Orthodox Jews who opposed Zionism. What remained of Orthodox Jewry after the war was located mainly in three places: the United States and British Mandate Palestine, and the Arab world.
When the mandate ended and the State of Israel was founded in 1948, the Jews of the Arab world immigrated to the nascent nation and what was three centers became just two.
How the reestablishment of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel that year was interpreted created a major fault line that runs through these two Jewish communities to this very day.
In Israel, those who believe that the founding of the State of Israel is the harbinger of the messianic age are called the National Orthodox (or, sometimes, the "national religious"). They argue that God gave us the land. A representative of this way of thinking is the Habayit Hayehudi party, led by the American-Israeli politician Naftali Bennett.
The ultra-Orthodox community believes that the State of Israel is not a part of the Messianic Age, but don't generally oppose it. There is a small subsection of extremist ultra-Orthodox that does actively oppose the State of Israel, for instance the Neturei Karta sect.
In the United States, the small minority of Jews who are Orthodox are also split along similar lines. The Modern Orthodox, like the Israeli National Orthodox, believe that the founding of the State of Israel is the beginning of the messianic Age.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that the State of Israel is either not theologically significant, or on the margins, that it is causing the messianic age to tarry. One such strongly anti-Zionist camp is called Satmar.
It is this small segment of the Jewish people, the Modern Orthodox (about 3 percent of U.S. Jews) and the National Orthodox (about 10 percent of Israeli Jews) who believe that it is God's will that the Land of Israel be Jewish now.
These two small groups are not uniform themselves when it comes to the questions of how close the messianic age is to fulfilment, or to what extent are Jews supposed to actively bring it about. Only the most extremist of them believe that the time is now and that the task of bringing this about is theirs.
But while these are extremely few, they are extremely potent politically: they are those at the forefront of the settlement movement, and the opposition to a peace settlement with the Palestinians.”
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/.premium-1.779154
Retrieved 2017-06-03
Waiting for the Messiah?
“A key component of current Religious Zionist thought is that the current State of Israel is the beginning of the Messianic redemption. Traditional rabbinic opinions about the days of the Messiah vary, with Maimonides positing that daily life in the Messianic era will look pretty much the same.* Part of the reason for this diversity is that Judaism has not traditionally been Messiah-focused, since the Messiah had no current, real world halachic implications. Jews were instructed to believe in the Messiah, and act as if he (or she?) could come any day, but to focus on building their lives in the here and now, and shape their futures on the assumption that the state of the world would remain as is. Without that assumption, the entire corpus of Diaspora-based halacha could not develop, and no Diaspora Jew could ever open a store. The rabbis also shied away from giving predicted due dates for the Messiah; current Religious Zionism, in contrast, goes beyond giving the Messiah a predicted due date, for if the current state of Israel is the beginning of the redemption, then in fact, the Messianic era has, in a sense, already begun.”
SHAYNA ABRAMSON
HTTP://BLOGS.TIMESOFISRAEL.COM/WAITING-FOR-THE-MESSIAH/
DECEMBER 15, 2016, 1:13 AM
Shayna Abramson, a part-Brazilian native Manhattanite, studied History and Jewish Studies at Johns Hopkins University before moving to Jerusalem. She has also spent some time studying Torah at the Drisha Institute in Manhattan, and has a passion for soccer and poetry.
The Moshiah (Messiah) and HaTechiyah (The Resurrection)
May 5, 2016
Yahoo forum post # 17629
We wish to sound the Shofar blast of HaTechiyah (The Resurrection), which Message Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi had declared for 40 years of Her life. We would draw attention to the timing of Her Life's Sojourn here on Earth, (1923-2011), the Promulgation of Her Message of HaTechiyah, (1970-2011) and the timing of the Birth of Israel (1948) with the attendant aliyah[1] (return of the Jewish diaspora) having occurred at the similar period of time. Of utmost importance, is the fact that we hold fully and faithfully documented records of mystical evidence, surprisingly given by children, to confirm that Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi is the "Moshiah of HaTechiyah" that the Jewish people have been waiting for. In fact, the core message of the Moshiah is all about HaTechiyah and how to achieve it at this apocalyptic or "Revealing Time".
1./ Pre-1948 - Exile and the Promise of Return and Spiritual Transformation
The Jewish people had experienced an Assyrian, a Babylonian, and a Roman exile (BCE=Before Common Era, CE=Common Era):
a./ Assyrian exile - There was the Assyrian exile (733 BCE-722 BCE) whereby they faced expulsion from the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) which ended with the destruction of that kingdom.
b./ Babylonian exile - In (597 BCE) a portion of the population of the Kingdom of Judah went into Babylonian exile and it ended 70 years later with the Jews being allowed to return to Jerusalem to build the Second Temple.
c./ Roman exile - A siege of Jerusalem ensued in (63 BCE) with the dynastic Hasmonean kingdom becoming a protectorate of Rome (and in 6 CE becoming the Roman province called "Judea".). The Jews had commenced revolt against the Roman Empire in (66 CE), k/a the First Jewish-Roman War and by (70 CE) this had culminated in the destruction of the Second Temple and most of Jerusalem. This event marked the beginning of the Roman exile, also called the Edom exile, in which the Jewish leaders and the elite were exiled, killed or sold into slavery.[2]
"...There is a shorthand way to designate the periods of Jewish history in terms of the major cycles of exile and redemption. We speak of the First Temple, the first exile, the Second Temple, the second exile, and the Third Temple or Messianic Age.”[3]
Exile and partial or no return had been the experience of the Jewish people prior to 1948. The Jewish people had been aware, though, that through the prophet Ezekiel, Yahweh had made a promise, both, of aliyah to their prior land, and of the commencement of HaTechiyah and that this was to happen at the corresponding period of time:
(v.24) "For I shall take you from among the nations and gather you back from all the countries, and bring you home to your own country.” (Ezekiel 36:24).... Verse 24 is clearly a promise of geographical relocation from whichever nation and country the Jewish people were residing to the geographical location of their home country - the Land of Israel.
(v.25) "I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your filth and of all your foul idols.” (36:25)....The cleansing power of the invisible spirit would rise up within them right up to the fontanelle bone area ("fountain") and pour over them, cleansing them.
(v.26) "I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead.” (36:26).... The arisen invisible spirit within the person would transform the person's hard-heartedness to soft-heartedness.
(v.27) "I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws, and respect and practise my judgements.” (36:27)
The invisible spirit that was "with" the children of men (see Proverbs 8:30-31) and which would "arise within them" at HaTechiyah time, would result in the arising of the spiritual qualities needed to keep Yahweh's laws.
(v.28) "You will live in the country which I gave your ancestors. You will be my people and I shall be your God.” (36:28).... The Jewish people would live in the country of their ancestors, and the invisible spirit that had arisen within them that came from Yahweh, would finally and truly become their God within themselves.
How would Yahweh bring about all his promises? All these promises of Yahweh would have to happen through a human agency that was also Divine in origin.... a Moshiah that would not only initiate HaTechiyah, but would explain it in great detail, so that people could partake in it.
The Moshiah, Shri Mataji, explains how the spirit that arises within (36:27) becomes one's God within (36:28):
Once the Spirit starts shining fully in one's attention one actually becomes enlightened in the sense that one can see for oneself that one becomes one's own guide, one becomes one's own master. Then you don't need any guide, but you are the master of yourself. In the past this process was limited to one or two very few persons but now a phenomena [i.e., the Opening of the Primordial Kingdom of God] to allow en-masse realisation [i.e., HaTechiyah] was discovered about twenty years ago.[4]
Not only would HaTechiyah be for the Jewish people, but Yahweh states through the prophet Joel, that it would be for all of humanity:
(v.1) 'After this I shall pour out my spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old people shall dream dreams, and your young people see visions. (v.2) Even on the slaves, men and women, shall I pour out my spirit in those days.' (Joel 3:1-2)
2./ 1948: The formation of Israel, and the discomfort of religious Jews who cannot see any Messiah and the declaration of HaTechiyah
The Midrash Rabbah[5] on Song of Songs 8:14 provided compelling spiritual reason why the Jewish people would be unwise to return to the Land of their ancestors before the fullness of Time - a "fullness" that according to the promise of Yahweh (Ezekiel 36:24-28) would involve, by definition, the outpouring of the Shekhinah and HaTechiyah.
Midrash Rabbah on Song of Songs 8:14
The redemption of the Jewish people is compared to the grain harvest, the grape harvest, the spice harvest, and to a woman giving birth. The common thread of all these metaphors is that they cannot be done too early. If grain is cut too early, it will not be good even as animal feed. If grapes are cut too early, they will not even be good to make vinegar. If spice is picked too early, it will not have a smell; it must be allowed to dry out on the tree. And if a woman gives birth prematurely, the baby will not live. So too, if the Jewish people hurries the end, they will not be successful, but at the proper time, may it be soon, they will be successful.[6]
It is clear then that the Return, the Aliyah, was not only to be a Physical Return, but also a Spiritual Return. The Moshiah, Shri Mataji, stresses the knowledge of reality that is "the knowledge of the roots of all our civilisation and evolution:
"This knowledge is of very ancient times and mostly comes from India. Of course, every religion has talked about our second birth and also about the tree of life. As the knowledge of science comes from the West, but is accepted by the East, why should a knowledge of reality be denied?.... Why not at least heed it seriously, when it is the knowledge of the roots of all our civilisation and evolution?”[7]
The Jewish people experienced the consciousness of exile, both physically and spiritually and longed to return to their Land.... There would be attempted premature returns, but the most dire warnings were given not to return to the Land, before the Time was ripe:
“G-d made the Jewish people swear by the heavens and the earth not to leave exile before the time. For just as the heavens and earth keep to the order of nature decreed by G-d, never changing, in the same way the Jewish people must keep the order of exile decreed by G-od.”[8]
Neither did the Jewish people wish for other nations to encourage them to return to their ancestral Land, before time either. The correct timing of Aliyah was of the utmost importance:
"The Jewish people cries out to the nations, 'Do not awaken an early ingathering of Israel! Even if all the Jews are ready to go to Jerusalem, and all the nations agree, still, G-od forbid that I should go there!'"[9]
The Proclamation of the State of Israel
Finally, in 1948 the State of Israel was proclaimed:
On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words "We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel," prompting applause and tears from the crowd gathered at the museum. Ben-Gurion became Israel's first premier.
In the distance, the rumble of guns could be heard from fighting that broke out between Jews and Arabs immediately following the British army withdrawal earlier that day. Egypt launched an air assault against Israel that evening. Despite a blackout in Tel Aviv--and the expected Arab invasion--Jews joyously celebrated the birth of their new nation, especially after word was received that the United States had recognized the Jewish state. At midnight, the State of Israel officially came into being upon termination of the British mandate in Palestine.[10]
Thus, in the same day of tears of joy and applause at the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine and the withdrawal of the British army, despite Mohammed's prophecy, fighting broke out between the Jews and Arabs.
Israel: Fulfillment of Mohammed's Prophecy
"Peace will come from a perceptual shift in which Muslims see the State of Israel as a blessing expressing Allah's will and Christians see it as the Divine fulfillment of the biblical promise of the Land of Israel to the Jewish people.
The Indigenous People of the Land of Israel
The Koran, Islam's holiest book, confirms what every Jew and Christian who honors the Bible knows: The Land of Israel was divinely deeded to the Children of Israel. The Jews are the indigenous people of the Land of Israel who have continuously lived there for more than three millennia despite the conquests of numerous imperialist empires. Jews are from Judea. Arabs are from Arabia.
Fulfillment of Mohammed's Prophecy
The ingathering of the Jewish people into its historic homeland in the midst of the Islamic world is the fulfillment of Mohammed's prophecy in the Koran (Sura 17:104): "And we said to the Children of Israel, 'scatter and live all over the world...and when the end of the world is near we will gather you again into the Promised Land.”
The Koran Honors a Jewish State
The Koran (Sura 5:20-21) supports the Arab world's need to change their viewpoint to recognize the sovereign right of the Jews over the Land of Israel as the will of Allah: "Remember when Moses said to his people: 'O my people, call in remembrance the favor of God unto you, when he produced prophets among you, made you kings, and gave to you what He had not given to any other among the people. O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has assigned unto you, and then turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin.”
Golden Seed and Lush Green Tree
A paradigm shift can transform the perception of Israel as a blemish to seeing it as a tiny golden seed from which a lush green Islamic tree has germinated and spread its roots and branches across North Africa and the Middle East.”[11]
The Discomfort of Religious Jews who cannot see any Moshiah and HaTechiyah
"This lack of redemption, either Jewish or universal, is a point Jews have always emphasized ... God has not yet fulfilled his own purposes in history. May God's kingdom come speedily, even in our day!"[12]
"The ultimate consequent of the election of Israel is the final redemption itself (ge'ulah). However, it is not the automatic result of what transpires now in the present. It is not the mere project of either election or revelation. It should not be seen as the fulfillment of hegemony of the covenant (torat yisra'el) inasmuch as the Torah in toto is concerned with more than Israel, but also with the elementary norms that the creator has enabled all humans to discover with intelligence and good will in their own social nature. And it is also concerned with God's absolute decrees (gezerot), which seems to have no historical meaning at all and, hence, no covenantal intent. Furthermore, it should not be seen as the fulfillment of the hegemony of the Torah qua universal moral law inasmuch as the Torah is mostly concerned with the irreducible singularity of Israel's historical significance. Accordingly, the final redemption should not be taken as a projection from either of these two modes of the Torah. All that can be known about the final redemption, then, is that the estrangement between God and Israel and God and the world will ultimately be overcome. And God's redemption of Israel will be central to this cosmic redemption.
Only when the election of Israel or the revelation of the Torah is seen as a means to another evident end--be that end the hegemony of the covenantal Torah or the hegemony of the universal Torah--only then is the redeemed future seen as a simple projection from the present into the future rather than as a divine trajectory from the future into the present. In the modern age, such projections have frequently declared themselves here and now to be some humanly achieved 'beginning of redemption' (atehalta de-ge'ulah) in one form or another. However, as a new divine trajectory into history and nature the final redemption can only be hoped for; it cannot be predicted, let alone achieved by humans. We can only have faith that it will come; we cannot have any knowledge of what it will be.[13]
Although the religious Jews could not see any Moshiah or HaTechiyah at the time, the new Israeli chief rabbinate in the prayer for the new State of Israel in 1948, mentioned 'the beginning of the dawn of our redemption' in the first sentence:
"... the prayer for the state of Israel, composed by the new Israeli chief rabbinate after the establishment of the state in 1948, in its very first sentence designates the state to be 'the beginning of the dawn of our redemption [ge'ulatenu].' And even before 1948, the hoped-for Jewish state, even if it had to be largely secular in its structure, was seen to be 'the start of redemption' (atehalta de-ge'ulah)"[14]
"For some early Zionists, the advent of a modern Jewish state in 1948 was a sign of the coming of the messianic age.”[15]
Post 1958 - the Advent and Message of the Moshiah, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi and the opening of the Primordial Sahasrara (Primordial Kingdom of God) would spontaneously occur on May 5, 1970 with Her declaration of HaTechiyah to follow.
Israeli PM Netanyahu stated on October 5, 1998, that the materialization of prophecy had occurred:
"I can tell you that for the first time in the history of the Jewish people since the Second Temple period, in the next decade and a half the majority of the Jewish people will live in the Jewish land. If this is not the materialization of prophecy, then nothing is.”[16]
On January 29, 2010, PM Netanyahu declared that the prophecies of Ezekiel 37 had been fulfilled:
"He (PM Netanyahu, Auschwitz, Poland) also declared to the people of Europe and the world that the prophecies of Ezekiel 37 have been fulfilled. It was an extraordinary moment. Rarely has any world leader given a major address on an international stage declaring End Times prophecies from the Bible have come true. But that is exactly what Netanyahu did.”[17]
By 2010, The Moshiah, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, had completed the Message of HaTechiyah within the prophesied Timeline, having travelled from country to country across the world and passing away from this Life in the year, 2011.
3./ post-1948: The advent and message of Shri Mataji, opening of the Primordial Sahasrara May 5, 1970 and Her declaration of HaTechiyah.
How to prepare the Jewish person for One such as Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, who was as divine as a Divine Mother could be and still remain as human as an ideal human being. She had no fancy airs about herself. She was the kind of Mother who would be the first to say that if one considered Her as a Wisdom Teacher, that would suffice so long as they followed Her Wisdom to the point of having their Self-realization (a.k.a. HaTechiyah/Baptism of the Holy Ghost/Kundalini-awakening, whichever terminology is preferred).
Meanwhile, her devotees urged Shri Mataji to declare who She really was; they knew She was no ordinary human being. One day Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi did just that. She finally told the astounding, but long-awaited truth, predicted by all the scriptures.... the truth about Her being the Moshiah (i.e., the Incarnation of the Adi Shakti, Chochma, Holy Ghost, Ruh of Allah) who would initiate HaTechiyah on the earth.... Nobody else but the true Divine Mother could even think to say such Words as the following, no matter how clever they might be, which in itself is a kind of proof of who She was.... Here are the Words, that even in themselves, are beyond human knowledge, human power or human understanding:
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923-2011) was Christian by birth, Hindu by
marriage, and Paraclete by duty.
The Paraclete Shri Mataji at the Dawn (May 5, 1970) that commences the
Resurrection and fulfills the Savior's 2000-year-old promise of life eternal
in the Kingdom of God. However, thousands of Her disciples—led by
leaders having no faith or conviction—have refused to declare the Good
News (Besorat HaGeulah Judaism/ Al-Naba Islam) of the Resurrection
(HaTechiyah [Torah]/ Al-Qiyamah [Quran]). May 5, 2020 will mark five
decades of an unprecedented, collective rejection by Her disciples (Sahaja
Yogis) that has no parallel in history.
"But today is the day I declare that I am the One who has to save the humanity. I declare I am the One who is Adishakti, who is the Mother of all the mothers, who is the Primordial Mother, the Shakti, the desire of God, who has incarnated on this Earth to give its meaning to itself; to this creation, to human beings and I am sure through My Love and patience and My powers I am going to achieve it. I was the One who was born again and again, but now in my complete form and complete powers I have come on this Earth not only for salvation of human beings, not only for their emancipation, but for granting them the Kingdom of Heaven, the Joy, the Bliss that your Father wants to bestow upon you.”
marriage, and Paraclete by duty.
The Paraclete Shri Mataji at the Dawn (May 5, 1970) that commences the
Resurrection and fulfills the Savior's 2000-year-old promise of life eternal
in the Kingdom of God. However, thousands of Her disciples—led by
leaders having no faith or conviction—have refused to declare the Good
News (Besorat HaGeulah Judaism/ Al-Naba Islam) of the Resurrection
(HaTechiyah [Torah]/ Al-Qiyamah [Quran]). May 5, 2020 will mark five
decades of an unprecedented, collective rejection by Her disciples (Sahaja
Yogis) that has no parallel in history.
Incarnation of Mother Chochmah, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
2 December 1979, London, UK.
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi had declared who She was in the United Kingdom. Four years later, in 1983, She again made this declaration as far away as Australia, using somewhat different wording, but having the same meaning - and She used the "Resurrection" word this time, so that people would know She was, for example, talking about "HaTechiyah":
"I am the Holy Ghost. I am the Adi Shakti. I am the One who has come on this Earth for the first time in this form to do this tremendous task. The more you'll understand this the better it would be. I knew I'll have to say that openly one day ... that I am the Holy Ghost and I have come for this special time, that this is the Resurrection Time.”
The Moshiah, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Sydney, Australia—21 March 1983
Shri Mataji had announced far and wide that it was HaTechiyah time, the Time of Resurrection. As the Moshiah, Shri Mataji had come to initiate HaTechiyah. It had greatly been on Her mind, how to save the humanity from destruction and this was to occur through the indwelling power of "the Mother Kundalini" ("the Mother Chochmah" - lit., "Mother Wisdom").
According to Shri Mataji, within human beings in the sacrum bone (called "sacred" for a very good reason) lies a dormant power of pure desire that is the projection of the Primordial Mother - the Mother Chochmah - while in the heart resides the Spirit which is the projection of God Almighty ("Parameshwara").
"Mother Kundalini" the name given to the Primordial Mother Chochma comes from the Sanskrit word "kundal" meaning "coil" since She resides in the sacrum in three-and-a-half coils.
When the Mother Chochmah is awakened within the person, She rises up through all the psycho-somatic centres including that of the heart, where the Spirit (whose projections vary according to the individual 'projectors', but whose universal nature derives from the one projector God Almighty) resides, and in Her rising the Mother Chochmah connects the heart of the individual to the seat of God Almighty at the apex of the head, thus enlightening the person's attention. This is how the spontaneous happening of HaTechiyah happens.
Shri Mataji explains:
"Within human beings [i.e., within the sacrum bone] lies the dormant power of pure desire (Kundalini) which is the projection of the Primordial Mother or Holy Ghost...In every human heart resides the Spirit (Atma) which is the projection of God Almighty (Parameshwara)....The nature of the Kundalini is that it is the power of pure desire. She is an individual mother of every individual and she is the one that is dormant and waiting for a proper time to give every individual his or her second birth. She is like a tape which has a record of all the good deeds (Punyas), all the wrong doings, all the desires and aspirations of the individual.
She is like a primule in a dormant seed. Once she is awakened and is connected to the all-pervading power, the spiritual growth of the fourth dimension (Turiya) starts.
The nature of the Spirit is that it is a universal being within every individual. As there is one God Almighty His projection on every human heart is the same, but the projection of the Spirit varies because of the different types of projectors.
When this Spirit, which is the source of joy and truth is connected through the Kundalini, the human attention becomes enlightened. Thus one knows the absolute truth on one's central nervous system and becomes a joyous collective being.
The spirit is projected in the heart but the seat of God Almighty is above the fontanel bone area, above the apex of the head.
After this living force of Kundalini is connected to the all-pervading Divine power within a human being, it starts developing the spirituality of a person. One touches the spirituality within oneself and grows into another dimension, the fourth one. Thus a saintly and wise personality develops.[18]"
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, the Incarnation of the Adi Shakti (lit., 'Primordial Power') had the seven spiritual centers (Sanskrit, "chakras")[19] awakened in Herself, and these had also to be awakened in human beings in an en-masse scale, to enable them to have HaTechiyah.
Shri Mataji explains:
"The Adi Shakti has all the seven Chakras (spiritual centers) awakened within Her and She has to work with them. It is the first time that such an Incarnation has come. It is like making the first room and then a second one and then third one until the seventh room is done and the whole house is completed. When the house is completed you will be given the keys and you can open the house, which is your own Self. This is how I have achieved en masse self-realisation. This could not have happened earlier, but it is now possible because of the combination of all of the chakras and the subsequent opening of the Sahasrara.
The Moshiah, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Madrid, Spain—24 May, 1986.
In the early days Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi had, as previously stated, wondered how She could save humanity from destruction. One day, on 5 May, 1970 when She had pondered all these issues and had been meditating all night on Her own near the seashore, a momentous spiritual experience spontaneously occurred, which Shri Mataji calls "The Opening of the Primordial Sahasrara" (a.k.a. "The Opening of the Primordial Kingdom of God").
According to Shri Mataji this primordial Opening of the Kingdom of God (Sanskrit, "Sahasrara") enabled en-masse Self-realization to occur through that.... After the tremendous outpouring of the Shekhinah ("Chaitanya" in Sanskrit... a.k.a. "the Spiritual Vibrations of the Holy Ghost") occurred, Shri Mataji states that She now desired that She should "get the cups to fill [up with] the Nectar". After all, this was the prophesied Time - the Age of Aquarius, whose symbol was "the Holy Water Bearer".
Shri Mataji describes this Great Day:
.jpg)
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923-2011)
was Christian by birth, Hindu by
marriage, and Paraclete by duty.
The Paraclete Shri Mataji at the dawn (May 5,
1970) that commences the Resurrection and
fulfills the Savior's 2000-year-old promise of
life eternal in the Kingdom of God. However,
thousands of Her disciples—led by leaders
having no faith or conviction—have refused
to declare the Good News (This Gospel of the
Kingdom shall be preached in the entire world
for a witness unto all nations. Matthew 24:1)
and Al-Naba, (The Great Announcement of
Al-Qiyamah [The Resurrection] surah 78:1-5)
to humanity since. And May 5, 2020 will mark
five decades of an unprecedented collective
rejection of the Good News by Her disciples
(Sahaja Yogis), a blasphemy that Jesus clearly
warned 2000-years ago: "And whoever speaks
a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,
but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will
not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age
to come.” (Matthew 12:32).”
"As soon as the Sahasrara was opened the whole atmosphere was filled with tremendous Chaitanya (Spiritual Vibrations). And there was tremendous Light in the sky. And the whole thing came on the Earth—as if a torrential rain or a waterfall—with such tremendous force, as if I was unaware and got stupefied.
was Christian by birth, Hindu by
marriage, and Paraclete by duty.
The Paraclete Shri Mataji at the dawn (May 5,
1970) that commences the Resurrection and
fulfills the Savior's 2000-year-old promise of
life eternal in the Kingdom of God. However,
thousands of Her disciples—led by leaders
having no faith or conviction—have refused
to declare the Good News (This Gospel of the
Kingdom shall be preached in the entire world
for a witness unto all nations. Matthew 24:1)
and Al-Naba, (The Great Announcement of
Al-Qiyamah [The Resurrection] surah 78:1-5)
to humanity since. And May 5, 2020 will mark
five decades of an unprecedented collective
rejection of the Good News by Her disciples
(Sahaja Yogis), a blasphemy that Jesus clearly
warned 2000-years ago: "And whoever speaks
a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,
but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will
not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age
to come.” (Matthew 12:32).”
The happening was so tremendous and so unexpected that I was stunned and totally silent at the grandeur. I saw the Primordial Kundalini rising like a big furnace, and the furnace was very silent but a burning appearance it had, as if you heat up metal, and it had many colors. In the same way, the Kundalini showed up as a furnace, like a tunnel, as you see these plants you have here for coal burning that create electricity.
And it stretched like a telescope and came out one after another, Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! Just like that!
And the Deities came and sat on their seats, golden seats, and then they lifted the whole of the head like a big dome and opened it, and then this torrential rain completely drenched Me. I started seeing all that and got lost in the Joy. It was like an artist seeing his own creation, and I felt the Joy of great fulfillment.
After coming out of this beautiful experience I looked around and saw human beings so blind and I became absolutely silent, and desired that I should get the cups to fill the Nectar.”
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Opening of the Primordial Sahasrara
Sahasrara Puja, Paris, France—May 5, 1982.
On 5 May, 1970, the Day of the outpouring of the Shekhinah and therefore the commencement of HaTechiyah, both, Shri Mataji's desire to 'get the Cups filled up with Nectar' and the promise of "I" to "pour out my spirit on all humanity", were fulfilled.... "After this I shall pour out my spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old people shall dream dreams, and your young people see visions. Even on the slaves, men and women, shall I pour out my spirit in those days". (Joel 3:1-2)
The Opening of the Sahasrara (a.k.a. the Opening of the Kingdom of God within) which thereafter enabled 'the source of joy and truth to be connected through the Kundalini and therefore the human attention to become enlightened', was what the personality - the "I" was describing through the prophet Jeremiah, here:
Behold days are coming ... when I will seal a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah.... I will place My Teaching within them and I will write it on their heart.... They will no longer teach one another saying, Know the Lord! for everyone will know Me, from the smallest to the greatest" (Jeremiah 31:30-33).
This Knowing or Gnosis, described by the "I", of "everyone will know Me", who is that "Me" that is speaking? It can only be the Indwelling Spirit, "the Mother Chochma", speaking for and on behalf of God Almighty, as She is the One that has the job of rising and thus helping to make the connection between the Spirit and the seat of God Almighty, thus enlightening the individual's attention. God Almighty's teaching is also the Mother Chochmah's teaching. Therefore She can also say: "I will place My Teaching within them and I will write it on their heart". Though this is the Promise of God Almighty, the Mother Kundalini had to work it out. She had been beside God Almighty from the beginning:
I Was There
When God set the heavens in place---I was there.
When God fixed the sea's horizon---I was there.
When God made firm the sky and set the fountains that feed the sea;
When God bound the ocean with shore,
and the sand with sea---I was there.[20]
—Proverbs 8:27-29.
Violet
Notes:
[1] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/aliyah
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_diaspora
[3] Settings of Silver: An Introduction to Judaism, Stephen M. Wylen (Paulist Press) pp.166-7.
[4] Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, First Small English Book, Chapter 2, 'Vishwa Nirmala Dharma'
[5] "Midrash is an interpretive act, seeking the answers to religious questions (both practical and theological) by plumbing the meaning of the words of the Torah. (In the Bible, the root d-r-sh is used to mean inquiring into any matter, including occasionally to seek out God's word.) Midrash responds to contemporary problems and crafts new stories, making connections between new Jewish realities and the unchanging biblical text.” http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/midrash-101/
[6] http://www.truetorahjews.org/qanda/source1
[7] Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, First Small English Book, Chapter 1, 'Sahaja Yoga'
[8] Netzach Yisroel, Chapter 24) The Maharal of Prague (1520-1609)
[9] (Ahavas Yonasan) Rabbi Yonasan Eybeschutz (1690-1764)
[10] "State of Israel Proclaimed', A & E Publishers, 2010, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/state-of-israel-proclaimed
[11] Mel Alexenberg
[12] David Novak, The Election of Israel: The Idea of the Chosen People, Cambridge University Press (May 26 1995) p. 255
[13] Ibid., pp. 252-255
[14] (Walls 2010, 127)
[15] (Schoolman, 2008, 84)
[16] (Israeli PM Netanyahu, Jerusalem, Israel, October 5, 1998)
[17] (J.C. Rosenberg, January 29, 2010)
[18] Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, First Small English Book, Chapter 2, 'Vishwa Nirmala Dharma'
[19] http://www.google.com.au/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=XdUrV6i-CaTu8wfI8L-wBA#q=chakras
[20] The Divine Feminine in Biblical Wisdom Literature, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, 'I Was There', p.5
The Moshiah and Techiyah - a documentary in future?
May 6, 2016
Yahoo forum post # 17635
Dear Violet and all,
This is indeed an original, penetrating and as kosher a divine intervention and fulfillment for the Jewish people as it can get (so far). It is beyond any reproach .................. the culmination of their two millenia wait.
Just want to let all know that a few days ago I was approached by a documentary film director to come for an interview regarding http://www.adishakti.org. So what we have presented so far is beginning to attract interest. And I believe The Moshiah and Techiyah is one of the compelling reason for those interested.
However I deferred the interview to a future date of at least a year or so. The reason is that we have to give a better presentation of www.adishakti.org. By that I mean the redesign and homepage headings/articles like The Moshiah and Techiyah that you are preparing.
And regarding the redesign - it is going to take at least another month or so because progress has been slow from the other end. It concerns a subject that I have long suspected Indians do not excel - art, creativity and aestheticism. You can see a lack of that from an aspect of the religious lives that impact them most - their idols and places of worship compared with the beauty of Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. So the same goes for websites and I have to practically do all the art, creativity and aestheticism.
After the redesign is completed we will have to edit/update/redesign the entire site of about 4000-5000 pages. That is indeed a lot of work that will easily take more than a year. We just want to make sure we will be able to give the documentary producer a significantly better www.adishakti.org That is why it is imperative we give our best. The Moshiah and Techiyah is part and parcel of this. Thanks.
regards,
jagbir
* Violet, I will read again and give editing advice, if necessary, after this busy weekend.
The Torch Magazine, The Journal and Magazine of the International Association of Torch Clubs For 88 Years
A Peer-Reviewed Quality Controlled Publication
ISSN Print 0040-9440, ISSN Online 2330-9261
Spring 2015 Volume 88, Issue 3
Messianism and Zionism: Two radically different approaches toward creating a Jewish State in Palestine
Rabbi Jonathan Brown
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to partition Palestine into two enclaves, one that would be assigned to the Jewish Palestinians and a second that would be assigned to the Arab Palestinians. Over the twenty-five years that Great Britain governed Palestine (1922-1947) as the Mandatory authority, British, Anglo-British and League of Nations commissions had studied the matter and made their recommendations regarding the partition of the land. But it was the UN vote that provided the international recognition and legitimacy to the Jewish state that was about to emerge.
Arab 'irregulars' began their attacks almost immediately after the votes at Lake Success had been counted, and when, on May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion announced the 'birth' of the State of Israel, Arab armies attacked from all sides. The State of Israel emerged at a heavy cost in lives, often those of new immigrants just off the boats. That a Jewish state was able to survive on this bitterly disputed territory despite the armed resistance of its Arab neighbors is nothing short of amazing, and indicates the very great challenges Israel faced at its birth, and is still facing today.
The seriousness of the external threats to the existence of a Jewish State is clear enough. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the internal struggle among Jews, especially between Orthodox and secular Jews, that began toward the end of the 19th century, when only a small contingent of Jews maintained a Jewish way of life in Palestine, while the vast majority of the world's Jews lived in exile. (1) The State of Israel that we know would never have come into being without the resolution of a profound debate between two opposing views of how and by whom that State should be established.
One party argued vehemently that the only way for a Third Jewish Commonwealth to come into being would be with the advent of the Messiah. The other side argued equally vehemently that with Jews suffering so much prejudice and being so often massacred, it was necessary to create a safe haven for them by going to Palestine and working the land. They represent the Zionism that the world is now aware of.
It is not possible to discuss Messianism and Zionism, embedded as they are in the history of the Jewish people, without a brief summary of that history. That history is unique not only because of its length—more than 3000 years—but also because it is intimately connected with the relationship of the Jewish people with God.
The destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans left the Jews in Palestine and elsewhere without a central sanctuary in which to make sacrifices. Jews could not so much as visit Jerusalem except for one day each year, to sit in ashes and mourn the loss of their Temple. There were no political leaders, and the priestly class (cohanim), who had seen to the rituals connected with the ancient Temple and protected the sanctity of the holy sites, no longer possessed either status or influence.
In these desperate conditions a new set of leaders emerged: the rabbis (teachers) who, in addition to establishing the canon of the Jewish Scriptures, re-imagined the structure of Jewish life and began to develop the notion of a Messiah, who would come from the lineage of King David. His first task, and the proof that he was the Messiah, would be to overthrow the Roman rulers of Palestine. Then he would see to the rebuilding of the ancient Temple, and, according to many of the "true believers," would soon bring history to its ultimate conclusion. That last reality, referred to as the End Time, would include a Last Judgment and a resurrection of the dead.
Depending on the circumstances of the Jews in the various lands to which they scattered, this hope waxed and waned as Jews learned to live under a variety of more or less oppressive kings and other rulers—often threatened, jailed, killed, or burnt at the stake for being Jewish. They prayed constantly for the Temple to be restored and for Jerusalem to become a place to which they could make a pilgrimage, especially for the observance of the Passover.
A millennium passed while Jews suffered under both Christian and Muslim rule. The Crusades were a disaster for the Jewish communities of the Rhineland. Where was the Messiah who would lead them back to Palestine? In 1665, in Smyrna, Turkey, a mystic named Shabbetai Tsvi was announced as the long awaited King and Messiah of the Jews. The evidence? He was born on a date that the rabbis had determined the Messiah would be born! Shabbetai Tsvi invited all the Jews to join him in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and thousands responded as he made his way toward Palestine, but when brought before the Sultan of Turkey and given the choice of converting to Islam or being killed, he chose to convert.
Most of those who had sold all their world goods and disrupted their lives to follow him went home exhausted and profoundly disappointed. But not everyone. Many of Shabbetai Tsvi's supporters remained loyal to him, and for a long time maintained a separate existence in the Muslim world. (A remnant exists to this day, and they worship at their own mosque in Turkey, but they are not considered Jews.)
Throughout this long and troubled period in Jewish history, some believed that if every male Jew could become sufficient learned in the Oral law, (2) or that if (according to the teaching of the mystic Isaac Luria) the Jews restored to the Deity the sparks of divinity had been embedded in the world since creation, the completion of either project would "facilitate" (some used the word "force") the coming of the Messiah. Pious Jews accepted the rabbinic view that the reason the Messiah had not come was that the Jews had not proven themselves worthy.
Beginning in the late 18th century and increasingly thereafter, circumstances for Jews changed dramatically in Western Europe as they emerged from their ghettos. The French Revolution of 1789, with its call for liberty, equality and fraternity, offered the possibility that Jews might actually become citizens of the nation in which they lived. Napoleon and his armies broke down the ghetto walls of Italy and Germany (neither one of them yet a sovereign nation), making the possibility of citizenship more likely. Those Jews who were leaving the ghetto behind them and making their way into the non-Jewish world on the way to becoming citizens felt no need for a Messiah. For others, the hope persisted, as did the dream of return.
The first rabbi to encourage Jews to make aliyah (3) before the Messiah came was a Serbian Orthodox rabbi, Yehudah Alkalai, who in 1838 wrote:
The spirit of our time has freed all of the inhabitants of the earth to live where they wish, and granted them freedom to travel from country to country. It calls upon us to say to the prisoners—the Children of Israel—go free! The spirit of the times summons every people to reclaim its sovereignty and raise up its language; so too does it demand of us that we re-establish Zion, the center of our live, and raise up our holy language and revive it. (4)
Toward the end of the 19th century, as anti-Semitic excesses and pogroms drove millions of Jews out of Russia, the Ukraine, and Poland, a new and more activist generation of Jews began to emerge in Europe. They directed their energy into practical steps to restore the Jewish homeland. They learned, for instance, to farm—a new reality for the Jewish community of Palestine, residing as almost all of them did only in the holy cities of Tiberias, Safed, Hebron, and Jerusalem, where almost all of the men were perpetual students of the Talmud, supported by charity from abroad. These young people formed societies called Hovevey Tsiyyon (lovers of Zion), and anticipated financial support from rich European Jews who would purchase the land.
These proto-Zionists, it is important to note, were secular Jews who had no particular use for rabbis or for religion. They simply wanted to create their own destiny in the Promised Land.
By contrast, Orthodox rabbis had nothing but contempt for those who, as they saw it, were trying to hasten the coming of the Messiah by activities other than studying the Talmud. Nor did most Reform rabbis in America and Germany in the 19th century want any part of a movement likely to call into question their loyalty to their new homeland. Some Reform Jewish leaders in America insisted that America was their Zion and that Washington was their Jerusalem. There was no need to ponder when there would be a Third Temple in Jerusalem; all references to "rebuilding the Temple" were expunged from the prayer book.
When Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, called for the first International Zionist Congress in Munich in 1897, the Orthodox rabbinate and the Reform Jewish community in Germany rose up in unified opposition:
The National Association of German Rabbis considers the efforts of the so-called Zionists to establish a Jewish National State in the Land of Israel conflicts with the Messianic goal of Judaism as these are expressed in the Scriptures and other Jewish sources.
The Congress was held instead in Basle, Switzerland.
A journalist from a very prominent, very assimilated Viennese family, Herzl had been assigned to represent a Viennese paper at the 1894 trial in Paris of Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer in the French army, had been falsely accused of passing French military secrets to the Germans, publicly humiliated, dismissed from the army, and sent into exile. Even when it became clear that Dreyfus had been framed, the verdict still went against him. When Herzl heard the crowds outside shouting "a bas les juifs," he realized that if a French mob could shout "down with the Jews" a hundred years after the Revolution, then "liberty, equality and fraternity" was a false promise. Jews had to have a place where they could call home. Herzl visited with Kings and Czars, hopeful that one of the leaders he approached would be interested in sustaining a Jewish homeland. None responded.
The situation was far worse in Eastern Europe. Mobs encouraged by the government attacked and murdered Jews with impunity, which confirmed Herzl's decision to act soon and decisively. He called the First Congress into session in July, 1897, and spelled out his goals for secular Zionist efforts. When the two hundred delegates had gone home, Herzl wrote in his diary: "At Basle I founded the Jewish State. If I said this aloud today, I would be greeted with universal laughter. In five years time, perhaps in fifty years, everyone will perceive it.” And exactly fifty years later at the UN meeting in Lake Success, he was proven to be a prophet.
Zionist Congresses were held every year until the Great War. Increasingly well-articulated and sometimes extremely opposing views were expressed about what should be happening (or not happening) on the ground in Palestine. Orthodox Jewry, most of whom still lived in Europe and European Russia, considered a deliberate return to Palestine as a rebellion against a Divine decree. In 1899, the head of one important segment of the Orthodox world offered this critique:
Only the advent of the Messiah could justify as well as enable a return of the scattered exiles to Palestine, and that therefore a political Zionist awakening, quite apart from its secular character, was a direct denial of Messianism for two reasons. First, that secular Zionism was inherently arrogant in seeking to bring redemption through human effort, and second, because secular Zionism stopped short of the perfection of the original messianic vision, meaning that there was no expectation that the quality of life or the character of either individual Jews or all of the Jewish people together would radically be transformed by their efforts.
Over time, however, Orthodox rabbis began to realize that with or without their approval, and despite their denial of the right of Jews to "hasten the End Time," there might indeed be a Jewish entity of some sort established in Palestine. A few Orthodox rabbis who shared that vision created a religious Zionist party within the Orthodox movement, searching for a theological basis for supporting human efforts "hastening the End Time.”
Turkey's defeat in World War I brought an end to the Ottoman Empire, of which Palestine was a small but crucial part. British forces "liberated" Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine, setting the stage for the British Mandate for Palestine. During the war, grateful for a discovery by a fervid Zionist named Chaim Weizmann that had helped their war effort, the British government had agreed to stand behind the concept of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. A document—the Balfour Declaration—was prepared by the British Foreign Minister, Arthur Lord Balfour, and promulgated on Nov. 2, 1917:
His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious right of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any country.
This is exactly the sort of response that Herzl had hoped to obtain twenty years earlier.
A new departure in the fierce debate about whether human efforts could have an effect on the advent of Messiah was provided by the first chief Rabbi of Palestine, Abraham Isaac Kook, who viewed the secular Zionists as serving the messianic promise:
It is not we who are forcing the end; the end is forcing us. And even if many God-fearing Jews had not heard the Divine voice charging them with the historical imperative of ending the exile, and even if many Zionists including some of the most devoted pioneers, have not seen fit to acknowledge the divine origin of the call on a deeper level both groups are moving in unison toward the fulfillment of the messianic purpose; it is Divine Providence that grips them, guiding them inexorably toward the final redemption of the people Israel.
However, Rabbi Kook's son, Rabbi Zvi Yehudah Cook, narrowed the focus of the radical branch of the Orthodox community's definition in the most contentious way possible. He put forth the notion that the Messianic aspect of Zionism should be focused on one single commandment: to obtain and settle all the land promised, not by the League of Nations and not by the United Nations or any other authority, but by the TaNakH. (5)
In Chapter 15 of Genesis, God promises to Abraham all the land from Wadi El Arish, the "River of Egypt," to the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, which includes Jordan, Syria and Iraq. No Jewish kingdom ever controlled even a significant portion of those lands, but by insisting on this "promise" as a necessary component of Zionism, this strand of Orthodox Zionist thought and its commitment to "keep every square inch" of the lands promised by God has hobbled every effort to come to terms with the reality of a Arab presence on that land.
Nineteen years after the establishment of the State of Israel, in June 1967, the Arab nations, led by Egypt and including (eventually) all of Israel's neighbors, threatened to destroy Israel and drive all of its Jewish inhabitants into the sea. Outnumbered in every category—planes, tanks, ships and fighting men—Israel understood that there was no alternative to winning, so the Israelis struck first, destroying the air forces of Egypt and Syria on the ground, moving forward on all fronts, and liberating the Old City of Jerusalem, whose Jewish inhabitants had all been evicted in 1948, during Israel's War of Independence. Barbed wire and mines soon lay between the Old City wall and West Jerusalem, which remained part of Israel.
Here's how one Israeli journalist and author describes what happened during what became known as the Six Day War:
In six days Israel turned a threat to its existence into unimagined victory. [...] The victory enabled Israelis to celebrate in a way they had never celebrated before. With the world's Jewish population diminished by 6,000,000 Jews, a third of all the Jews on the planet, because of the Holocaust, a defeat in the 6-Day War might well have become the end of its ability to endure and to hope for redemption. And Israel had not merely survived; it had turned annihilation into a kind of redemption, awakening from its worst nightmare into its most extravagant dream. (Halevi xxi)
That summer Israel was obsessed by messianic dreams of wholeness. There were those who believed that peace had finally come, and with it, the end of Jewish exile from humanity. Perhaps only Jews could conceive of a normal national life in Messianic terms. (Halevi xxii).
Nearly half a century has passed since the Temple Mount as well as the entire Old City of Jerusalem came under Israeli control, but while Jews were able to pray at the Western Wall, the actual Temple Mount, on which the Dome of the Rock and the El Aksa mosque stands, is still being managed by an Arab Council called the wakf, and Jews are allowed to walk over the Temple Mount but forbidden to pray there.
Israel still faces challenges internal and external to its very existence as a nation. The internal debates about whether Israel is the fulfillment of the Messianic dream, as claimed by some, or simply an arrogant act of human "hubris" as claimed by most Orthodox Jews, rages on unabated. Many secular Israelis to this day want nothing to do with the Orthodox and are content in their secular lives, living in a state which is not exactly a theocracy and not exactly a democracy either, although it has elements of both.
Judaism teaches that it is forbidden for Jews to lose hope. Israel's national anthem is a song called "Ha-tik-vah" (the hope), and it expresses the eternal hope for a restoration of a Jewish homeland: "So long as there resides in the innermost heart of a Jew the hope for return, there will be a time when they will return to their land and live as a free people.”
Notes
(1) The Jews had been exiled before. The kingdom that David established ended in 586 BCE, and the Jewish population exiled either to Babylonia or Egypt. But the exiles were enabled to return and rebuilt the Temple in 539 BCE under the aegis of King Cyrus. The second exile, in 70 CE, had no such redeeming history. By then, thousands of Jews lived in Rome, and an equal number lived in and around Alexandria in Egypt.
(2) Study of the Oral Law meant delving deeply into the Talmud, the source for all the legislative and ritual requirements of being Jewish, as well as a practical guide to every aspect of life, religious and secular. The Talmud was created in two separate locations—Palestine and Babylonia. The Babylonian Talmud is the more important.
(3) The word means to "go up," and since Palestine was the spiritual high point of the world, and Jerusalem the spiritual high point of Palestine, "making aliyah" meant moving permanently to the Promised Land.
(4) The revival of a language that had not been spoken for two thousand years was almost as miraculous as the establishment of the Jewish state. As late as the 1930s, as thousands of German Jews fleeing Hitler descended on Palestine, it was not clear whether the language of the Jewish state would be Hebrew or German.
(5) An acronym referring to Hebrew Scriptures: the T stands for Torah, the five books of Moses; the N for Nevi'im, the Prophets; the Kh for Ketuvim, the Writings.
Works Cited and Consulted
Some time after November 2010, when I delivered this paper, with a slightly different title, at my Torch Club, I donated many of my sources to a local library, which has precluded providing exact references for some of my quotations. The following works, however, would be enlightening for any readers interested in further reading about the history of Zionism, the state of Israel, or the Jewish understanding of the Messiah.
Bar Zohai, Michael. Ben-Gurion: A Biography. NY: Delacorte, 1978.
Halevi, Yossi Klein. Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation. NY: Harper, 2013.
Hertzberg, Arthur. The Zionist State: A Historical Analysis and Reader. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1989.
Herzl, Theodor. The Jewish State. NY: Dover, 1989.
Laqueur, Walter. A History of Zionism. NY: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1972.
Litvinoff, Barnet. To the House of Their Fathers: A History of Zionism. NY and Washington: Praeger, 1965.
Schneer, Jonathan. Balfour Declaration: The Origins of Arab-Israel Conflict. NY: Random House, 2010.
Telushkin, Rebbe Joseph. The Life and Teachings of Menachem Schneerson. NY: Harper Collins, 2014.
About the Author
Rabbi Brown, who is currently serving on the editorial board of The Torch, joined the Winchester Torch Club in 2005 and has presented papers on his uncle, Dr. Nelson Glueck, Biblical archaeologist and President of the Reform Jewish Seminary in Cincinnati, and on the impact on Leon Czolgosz, who assassinated President McKinley, of Emma Goldman, who "inspired him" to shoot the president. Both papers were published in The Torch.
An ordained Reform rabbi, Rabbi Brown has served congregations in many parts of the country and done interfaith work in all of his postings, including Long Beach, California, where he was involved in the effort to provide support for AIDS sufferers and raise funds for the several AIDS hospices there. He is also a published author.
Rabbi Brown retired from the pulpit rabbinate in July 2010, and has since then been serving as the Spiritual Director of an Assisted Living and Memory Care facility in Pikesville MD.
Rabbi Brown is married and the father of four adult children.
The original version of this paper, which has been updated, was delivered under a slightly different title to the Winchester Torch Club on November 3, 2010.
2015 by the International Association of Torch Clubs
"Matthew 'dares to hope for the day when many of Israel's sons and daughters will embrace Israel's Messiah"
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923-2011): Christian by birth, Hindu by marriage and Paraclete by duty.
"It forms part of the three passages in chapter 7 dealing with the coming of the Messiah, which belong to the debates that Jesus held with different groups in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles (Jews in 7:16-24, 28-30, 33-36; and crowds in 7:11-13, 14-15, 25-27, 31-32).22 The Jews and the crowds defend the following positions: (a) when the Messiah comes his origin will be unknown (7:26-27); (b) he will not be able to perform more signs than Jesus (7:31), and (c) he certainly does not come from Galilee but from the lineage of David and from Bethlehem, the hometown of David (7:41-42). Note that the title Prophet is used alongside the title Messiah in this last passage, and it is said of both that they cannot come from Galilee. (d) To these three clear references to Jewish beliefs on the Messiah, a fourth direct conviction is told by the Jews in 12:34. When Jesus announces how he would die (12:32-33), the crowds rose up against him, saying: "We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” (12:34). Here the title Son of Man is used directly alongside Messiah.” (Menken 2013, 165)
"It forms part of the three passages in chapter 7 dealing with the coming of the Messiah, which belong to the debates that Jesus held with different groups in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles (Jews in 7:16-24, 28-30, 33-36; and crowds in 7:11-13, 14-15, 25-27, 31-32).22 The Jews and the crowds defend the following positions: (a) when the Messiah comes his origin will be unknown (7:26-27); (b) he will not be able to perform more signs than Jesus (7:31), and (c) he certainly does not come from Galilee but from the lineage of David and from Bethlehem, the hometown of David (7:41-42). Note that the title Prophet is used alongside the title Messiah in this last passage, and it is said of both that they cannot come from Galilee. (d) To these three clear references to Jewish beliefs on the Messiah, a fourth direct conviction is told by the Jews in 12:34. When Jesus announces how he would die (12:32-33), the crowds rose up against him, saying: "We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” (12:34). Here the title Son of Man is used directly alongside Messiah.” (Menken 2013, 165)
[Moderator]: “Any other questions?”
[Audience]: “Pardon me for asking this question, but, earlier you talked about the Resurrection and you mentioned about the scriptures, where like in the Hindus scriptures they talk about the Kalki Avatar who will come for the Resurrection, and for the Christians, I know they talk about the return of Christ and all the religions talk about this Resurrection and the belief in the coming of the Messiah. So I just want to know since you say you are going to give the Resurrection to us, what is your station?”
Shri Mataji: “In Russia?”
[Audience]: “And are you the promised Messiah? Shri Mataji, are you?”
Shri Mataji: “I see now I am not going to tell you anything about myself, to be very frank. Because see Christ said He was the Son of God, and they crucified Him. I don't want to get crucified. You have to find out. When you become the Spirit you will know what I am. I don't want to say anything about myself.”
The Messiah Shri Mataji
Public Program, Toronto, Canada—October 5, 1993
"Jesus then goes on the offensive against the scribes and Pharisees, pronouncing seven woes against them (Matt. 23:1-36). The final woe identifiers them with all those in Israel's history who have murdered and opposed the prophets. From Abel to Zechariah, all the blood of the righteous will come on them as they typologically fulfill this pattern in the murder of Jesus (23:29-36). They are the wicked tenants who think to kill the son and take his inheritance (21:38). They are seed of the serpent, a brood of vipers (23:33). Their house (the temple?) is desolate, and they will not see Jesus again until they bless him as he comes in the name of the Lord (23:37-39). Somehow, through the judgments Jesus announces against them, salvation will apparently come even for the people of Israel. As Olmstead puts it, Matthew "dares to hope for the day when many of Israel's sons and daughters will embrace Israel's Messiah (23:39), and in that hope engages in a continued mission in her.” Hamilton 2010, 377
The fulfillment of eschatological instruction promised by Jesus
“The original meaning of the word ‘apocalypse’, derived from the Greek apokalypsis, is in fact not the cataclysmic end of the world, but an ‘unveiling’, or ‘revelation’, a means whereby one gains insight into the present.” (Kovacs, 2013, 2)
An apocalypse (Greek: apokalypsis meaning “an uncovering”) is in religious contexts knowledge or revelation, a disclosure of something hidden, “a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities.” (Ehrman 2014, 59)
“An apocalypse (Ancient Greek: apokalypsis ... literally meaning "an uncovering") is a disclosure or revelation of great knowledge. In religious and occult concepts, an apocalypse usually discloses something very important that was hidden or provides what Bart Ehrman has termed, "A vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities". Historically, the term has a heavy religious connotation as commonly seen in the prophetic revelations of eschatology obtained through dreams or spiritual visions.” Wikipedia 2021-01-09
An apocalypse (Greek: apokalypsis meaning “an uncovering”) is in religious contexts knowledge or revelation, a disclosure of something hidden, “a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities.” (Ehrman 2014, 59)
“An apocalypse (Ancient Greek: apokalypsis ... literally meaning "an uncovering") is a disclosure or revelation of great knowledge. In religious and occult concepts, an apocalypse usually discloses something very important that was hidden or provides what Bart Ehrman has termed, "A vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities". Historically, the term has a heavy religious connotation as commonly seen in the prophetic revelations of eschatology obtained through dreams or spiritual visions.” Wikipedia 2021-01-09
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923-2011) was Christian by birth, Hindu by marriage, and Paraclete by duty.
Total number of recorded talks 3058: Public Programs 1178, Pujas 651, and other (private conversations) 1249
“The Paraclete will come (15:26; 16:7, 8, 13) as Jesus has come into the world (5:43; 16:28; 18:37)... The Paraclete will take the things of Christ (the things that are mine, ek tou emou) and declare them (16:14-15). Bishop Fison describes the humility of the Spirit, 'The true Holy Spirit of God does not advertise Herself: She effaces Herself and advertises Jesus.' ...
It is by the outgoing activity of the Spirit that the divine life communicates itself in and to the creation. The Spirit is God-in-relations. The Paraclete is the divine self-expression which will be and abide with you, and be in you (14:16-17). The Spirit's work is described in terms of utterance: teach you, didasko (14:26), remind you, hypomimnesko (14:26), testify, martyro (15:26), prove wrong, elencho (16:8), guide into truth, hodego (16:13), speak, laleo (16:13, twice), declare, anangello (16:13, 14, 15). The johannine terms describe verbal actions which intend a response in others who will receive (lambano), see (theoreo), or know (ginosko) the Spirit. Such speech-terms link the Spirit with the divine Word. The Spirit's initiatives imply God's personal engagement with humanity. The Spirit comes to be with others; the teaching Spirit implies a community of learners; forgetful persons need a prompter to remind them; one testifies expecting heed to be paid; one speaks and declares in order to be heard. The articulate Spirit is the correlative of the listening, Spirit-informed community.
The final Paraclete passage closes with a threefold repetition of the verb she will declare (anangello), 16:13-15. The Spirit will declare the things that are to come (v.13), and she will declare what is Christ's (vv. 14, 15). The things of Christ are a message that must be heralded...
The intention of the Spirit of truth is the restoration of an alienated, deceived humanity... The teaching role of the Paraclete tends to be remembered as a major emphasis of the Farewell Discourses, yet only 14:26 says She will teach you all things. (Teaching is, however, implied when 16:13-15 says that the Spirit will guide you into all truth, and will speak and declare.) Franz Mussner remarks that the word used in 14:26, didaskein, "means literally 'teach, instruct,' but in John it nearly always means to reveal.” (Stevick 2011, 292-7)
The Holy Spirit as feminine: Early Christian testimonies and their interpretation,
Johannes van Oort, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Department of Church History and Church Polity, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Total number of recorded talks 3058: Public Programs 1178, Pujas 651, and other (private conversations) 1249
“The Paraclete will come (15:26; 16:7, 8, 13) as Jesus has come into the world (5:43; 16:28; 18:37)... The Paraclete will take the things of Christ (the things that are mine, ek tou emou) and declare them (16:14-15). Bishop Fison describes the humility of the Spirit, 'The true Holy Spirit of God does not advertise Herself: She effaces Herself and advertises Jesus.' ...
It is by the outgoing activity of the Spirit that the divine life communicates itself in and to the creation. The Spirit is God-in-relations. The Paraclete is the divine self-expression which will be and abide with you, and be in you (14:16-17). The Spirit's work is described in terms of utterance: teach you, didasko (14:26), remind you, hypomimnesko (14:26), testify, martyro (15:26), prove wrong, elencho (16:8), guide into truth, hodego (16:13), speak, laleo (16:13, twice), declare, anangello (16:13, 14, 15). The johannine terms describe verbal actions which intend a response in others who will receive (lambano), see (theoreo), or know (ginosko) the Spirit. Such speech-terms link the Spirit with the divine Word. The Spirit's initiatives imply God's personal engagement with humanity. The Spirit comes to be with others; the teaching Spirit implies a community of learners; forgetful persons need a prompter to remind them; one testifies expecting heed to be paid; one speaks and declares in order to be heard. The articulate Spirit is the correlative of the listening, Spirit-informed community.
The final Paraclete passage closes with a threefold repetition of the verb she will declare (anangello), 16:13-15. The Spirit will declare the things that are to come (v.13), and she will declare what is Christ's (vv. 14, 15). The things of Christ are a message that must be heralded...
The intention of the Spirit of truth is the restoration of an alienated, deceived humanity... The teaching role of the Paraclete tends to be remembered as a major emphasis of the Farewell Discourses, yet only 14:26 says She will teach you all things. (Teaching is, however, implied when 16:13-15 says that the Spirit will guide you into all truth, and will speak and declare.) Franz Mussner remarks that the word used in 14:26, didaskein, "means literally 'teach, instruct,' but in John it nearly always means to reveal.” (Stevick 2011, 292-7)
The Holy Spirit as feminine: Early Christian testimonies and their interpretation,
Johannes van Oort, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Department of Church History and Church Polity, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
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