According to Rebbe Yehoshua's opinion in the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Bo, 210), "Moshiach" (Hebrew for Messiah) will come during the month of Nissan (Rebbe Eliezer disagrees, and says that Moshiach will come in Tishrei). Perhaps that's why everyone's longing for redemption reawakens during the month of Nissan, when G-d redeemed the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt.

 

Everybody seems to be writing about Moshiach these days and everyone seems to be talking about him. Tamar Yonah (Israel's Oprah, but a lot more talented) asked for my opinion during one of my recent appearances on her weekend Israel National Radio show broadcast. My answer was a cold sponge on the enthusiam of the Messianic double-guessers: The Gemara curses those who second-guess the coming of the Messiah and says תפח רוחם, or "May they drop dead!" (tractate Sanhedrin, 97B). The Rambam actually codified this curse into religious law (Hilchot Melachim 12:2); in his classic "Thirteen Principles of Faith" (see Rambam's commentary on the Mishna, tractate Sanhedrin, 10:1, principle number 12), and writes that we must believe in the coming of the Messiah with complete faith, and although he may tarry, we must await his arrival whenever he comes. According to both the Lithuanian tradition (disciples of the Vilna Gaon) and the Chassidic tradition (disciples of of the Baal Shem Tov), we must patiently wait for Moshiach with simple and pure faith. Torah, prayer, and good deeds are what the soul needs, not Messianic speculation.

 

Throughout Jewish history, whenever a false messiah or an expected "moshiach" arrival date became a disappointment, many people lost their faith.

 

I once heard a very sharp joke that the big tobacco companies finance the messianic movements, because whenever a messianic movement is proved wrong - either when the messianic candidate fails to save the world or when the speculated due date expires - then many of the movement's members, former Sabbath observers, begin smoking on the Sabbath, and tobacco sales increase.

 

My esteemed teacher, the Melitzer Rebbe shlit"a, told me the following story: In 1860, rumors spread like wildfire that the Messiah will be coming that very year (1860 in the Jewish calendar is 5620, and 620 is the numerical equivalent of כתר, "keter", which means "crown", an allusion to Moshiach and the kingdom of David). In the prayer house of the great Chassidic master Rebbe Yechezkel of Shinova, the son of the renown Rebbe Chaim of Tsanz, the chassidim were all whispering Moshiach conjectures during a prayer service. Rebbe Yechezkel banged on the podium with his fist - bringing the services to an abrupt halt - and roared, "I promise you - Moshiach will not come this year!"

 

Maybe speculation about the coming of the Messiah would make interesting betting in Las Vegas, but it adds nothing to a person's love of G-d, fear of G-d, Torah scholarship, soul development, and/or spiritual awareness. So why speculate? Why give yourself a broken heart by being disappointed when your expected Moshiach due date becomes just another day?

 

Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches us that the only way to safely make it through these times is with simple and innocent faith. I strongly suggest that we all follow his advice.

 

Again, my apologies for the damp sponge, but one must extinguish a fire when it burns in the wrong place. A candle-light of simple faith is always better than the fire of messianic conjecture; the latter - unfortunately, destroys everything in its path.

 

 

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