The Messiah in Judaism (Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ, romanized: māšīaḥ) is a savior and liberator figure in Jewish eschatology who is believed to be the future redeemer of the Jews.
[10] In a generalized sense, messiah has "the connotation of a savior or redeemer who would appear at the end of days and usher in the kingdom of God, the restoration of Israel, or whatever dispensation was considered to be the ideal state of the world.
[24][13] According to James C. VanderKam, there are no Jewish texts before the 2nd century BCE that mention a messianic leader, though some terms point in this direction.
[25] According to Werblowsky, the brutal regime of the Hellenistic Seleucid emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175–163 BCE) led to renewed messianic expectations reflected in the Book of Daniel.
[note 1] The Book of Daniel (mid-2nd c. BCE) was quoted and referenced by both Jews and Christians in the 1st century CE as predicting the imminent end-time.
"[31] Without this belief, Christianity, in which the resurrection of Jesus plays a central role, may have disappeared, like the movements following other charismatic Jewish figures of the 1st century.
[34][38] VanderKam further notes that a variety of titles are being used for the Messiah(s) in the Dead Sea Scrolls:[39] Messianic allusions to some figures include to Menahem ben Hezekiah who traditionally was born on the same day that the Second Temple was destroyed.
[44][note 3] Jewish eschatology holds that the coming of the Messiah will be associated with a specific series of events that have not yet occurred, including the return of Jews to their homeland and the rebuilding of the Temple, a Messianic Age of peace[45] and understanding during which "the knowledge of God" fills the earth.
The Talmud extensively discusses the coming of the Messiah (Sanhedrin 98a–99a, et al.) and describes a period of freedom and peace, which will be the time of ultimate goodness for the Jews.
One such reference is found in the Midrash HaGadol (on Genesis 36:39) where Abba bar Kahana says: "What is meant by, 'In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as an ensign for the peoples, of him shall the nations inquire, and his rest shall be glorious' (Isaiah 11:10)?
It means that when the banner of the anointed king shall be lifted-up, all the masts of ships belonging to the nations of the world shall be broken, while all the lines (halyard, downhaul and sheets) are cut loose, while all ships are broken asunder, and none of them remain excepting the banner of the son of David, as it says: 'who shall stand as an ensign for the peoples'.
[note 7] Maimonides, citing a reference in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 91b), says: "There is no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah, excepting only the subjugation of kingdoms.
"[49] Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, many Spanish rabbis such as Abraham ben Eliezer Halevi believed that the year 1524 would be the beginning of the Messianic Age and that the Messiah himself would appear in 1530–1531.
[50] Orthodox Judaism maintains the 13 Principles of Faith as formulated by Maimonides in his introduction to Chapter Helek of the Mishna Torah.
[note 8]Hasidic Jews tend to have a particularly strong and passionate belief in the immediacy of the Messiah's coming, and in the ability of their actions to hasten his arrival.
Many Jews (see the Bartenura's explanation on Megillat Rut, and the Halakhic responsa of The Ch'sam Sofer on Choshen Mishpat [vol.
[56] Some Chabad Hasidim, called mashichists, "have not yet accepted the Rebbe's passing"[57] and even after his death regard him as the (living) 'King Messiah' and 'Moses of the generation', awaiting his second coming.
The "Chabad-Messianic question",[58] regarding a dead Messiah, got oppositional addresses from a halachic perspective by many prominent Orthodox authorities, including leaders from the Ashkenazi non-Hasidic Lithuanian (Litvak) institutions, Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Israel, and got vehement opposition, notably that of the Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim (RSA) in New York and that of the Rabbinical Council of America.
Emet Ve-Emunah, the Conservative movement's statement of principles, states the following: Since no one can say for certain what will happen "in the days to come" each of us is free to fashion personal speculative visions ...
Some believe that there may be some sort of Messianic Age (the World to Come) in the sense of a utopia, which all Jews are obligated to work towards (thus the tradition of Tikkun olam).
[note 10] Elaborating on this theme are early and late Jewish scholars, including Nahmanides,[68] Isaac Abarbanel,[69] Abraham ibn Ezra,[70] Bahya ibn Paquda,[71] the Vilna Gaon,[72] Menachem Mendel Schneerson,[73] the Moshe Chaim Luzzatto,[74] Aryeh Kaplan,[75] and Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis.