Who will be Messiah? | Balak 5784
It is very challenging for contemporary Jews to talk about Messiah (Mashiach) in a serious way. It is basically the only major area of Jewish thought where it is perfectly acceptable to have a third-grade education, if that. Nowadays, I think even well-educated Jews know more about mayim achronim than Mashiach.
I’ve asked Jews who I consider properly educated basic questions about Mashiach, and usually, all I get in response is a shrug emoji.
Is believing in Mashiach one of the 613 mitzvos? Is belief in Mashiach written about in the Torah? Will people go OTD (off the derech) in the times of Mashiach? How old will Mashiach be?
It is not entirely surprising that most Jews have such a shallow grasp of the concept of Mashiach. As Rav Lopiansky once wrote in an article entitled, “Sometimes Mashiach is Not the Solution”:
When we describe Mashiach as solving our health issues, shidduch crisis, legal issues, and so on, we are looking for a solution to a personal issue. Our yearning has nothing to do with Mashiach; it has to do with our blood pressure, our bank account, the IRS, or our child waiting for a shidduch.
Mashiach is not a stand-in concept for sorting out your personal issues. But the truth is that the religious idea of Messiah is indeed hard to consider in this modern world.
As Professor David Shatz explains in his thought-provoking article, “The Muted Messiah: The Aversion to Messianic Forms of Zionism in Modern Orthodox Thought”:
In short, Messianic consciousness as we have defined it does not gain much traction in Modern Orthodoxy. Consideration of Maimonides gives some support to carrying a Messianic consciousness, but this almost certainly runs contrary to Maimonides’s intention. Whereas Maimonides’s naturalistic Zionism was used in a Messianic fashion years ago, the current Modern Orthodox tide in America and among Israelis associated heavily with Modern Orthodoxy is decidedly not Messianic.
And as uncomfortable as belief in the coming of Messiah may be for some, it finds its roots in our parsha. Rambam writes that we learn about the very unfolding of Messiah from the prophecies of Bilam found in our parsha ...
Strangely enough, Bilam—the non-Jewish prophet hired by Balak, the King of Moav—is perhaps the most central source in the Torah for the idea of Messiah. His prophecies serve as the foundation for our conception of the Messianic Age.
Why would such an essential part of Jewish faith be transmitted by someone so wicked and despicable as Bilam? And why would a revelation about Messiah come in the context of someone who is trying to curse the Jewish People?
To understand all this, let’s explore some of the key moments of Messianic fervor in the history of the Jewish People.
Read the rest on Substack, and listen to the full shiur above!