MAPPING MESSIANIC JEWISH PHENOMENA

Throughout this series, the whole point was to take apart any narrow approach to the subject matter, of messiah yes or no, this type of messiah, versus a broad complex approach, seeing all sorts of messianisms, aspects of messianism in so many places and people in Jewish history. This approach is applied to the case of Professor Gershom Scholem as well. How can we simplify the question of his own ideological messianism? How was it mixed into his research - was his research af

Unlike many intellectuals, Gershom Scholem had no problem talking about messianism. He didn’t try to sweep it under the rug, or overlook it when presenting narratives of Jewish history. He also was open about his ideas for the Zionist state before and after independence in 1948. And he was open about how the historical research worked into his ideas of contemporary politics. However, when it comes to messianism, he was open but arguably inconsistent or self-contradictory. Ben

Ben-Gurion came from the socialist environment and all that idealism, but turned to Zionism. He was revisionistic like the socialists in their mindset, wanting to change the world, harbouring ideals, but was realistic and careful and pragmatic.   On a philosophical level, he understood the problem, if idealism replaces practical objectives. An ideal should remain as an ideal, something theoretical.  This approach is close to the post-communist thinkers, who were at first zeal

Where to go from here? We mentioned the 1840 messianic movement, the precursors of Zionism who merged traditional messianic ideas with contemporary nationalism, Herzl himself was observed as inspired by it, and the Rav Kook embodied traditional messianism, modern nationalism, and the beginnings of the new state and society on his soul. The last 2 individuals to be observed are the statesman Ben-Gurion and the scholar Gershom Scholem . Ben Gurion was enormously influential of

We looked at a few levels and aspects of the Rav Kook. In his eulogy for Herzl, we saw a homily of messianic scriptures and sources, like the precursors of Zionism, in regards to the new Jewish state on the way. Then we reviewed some milestones in his lifetime, observing that he is one who is always on the move, active, and caught between different forces which considers to be complimentary and paradoxical not opposite. Then we mentioned a few principles of his worldview, of

Understanding the fundamentals of this man really is like a building and a spiral - there are multiple levels, and then you can go through them again and sense more and more depth each time. Previously there were some milestones of his life. Now for his intellectual milestones… He was an intellectual. He was a thinker. For the duration of his life he was studying and thinking and writing. To understand this man, like we mentioned above, he went through a lot and was always mo

Ha’Ra’aya, the Rav ... He mixes and fleshes out Zionistic messianism, or messianic Zionism. It is hard to decide which sides of that coin or heavier.  What is interesting about the Rav is that he has a broad thought out worldview, drawing of course from different sources and traditions. When we encounter something that he says or does, it can be understood within the context of his relatively extensive worldview.  His worldview is definitely messianic, among other things. He

So that we remain on the same page... We are discussing messianism, the messianic idea, anything messianic. We are a bit confused by all these different uses of the same term. We want to get to the bottom of it, so we embarked on a journey to see where and how it evolved.  We did this by observing milestone developmental stations - biblical roots, early Christian outbreak prototype case, and the synthesis thereafter by rabbinic literature sorting traditions and normalizing th

Herzl and his Zionism were technically not messianism, but as we saw, as a secular Zionism, there were still some suspicious messianic bits throughout his life and career. And when he died, it continued - with our next favorite messianic Zionist pioneer: Rabbi Abraham Issac the Cohen Kook , aka the Rav Kook , or ha’Ra’aya .  Herzl’s sudden death at only 44 years of age, in 1903, shocked the Jewish world, particularly among the Zionists. They mourned for him bitterly. Kook was

He wasn’t a religious man. Herzl didn’t even circumcise his son. He was assimilated in so many ways. But he produced a national Zionism - one that cannot be considered messianic, but still, there were some who saw in him a special charisma, and called it messianic. Including Herzl himself, of himself. Subtle Impulse Ben Gurion himself, without getting ahead of ourselves, wrote in his memoirs, exactly that messianic impression - and he was a child of 10 then, in a little town

Moses Hess was clearly different from Alkalai and Kalisher. Kalisher did actually study philosophy and science in Germany and used that knowledge to engage in debate with the enlightened and others. But Hess himself was an assimilated Jew in Germany, a real man of philosophy and the sciences.  He did study Judaism from his religious grandfather who raised him in fact. Yet he was also a socialist and innovated the ideas of socialism next to Marx and Engles, but drew back away

Along comes Kalisher. Alkalai was thinking and interpreting messianism, traditionally and religiously, with some early nationalistic elements. He also was in touch with the Montefiore and Rothschild families, as well as Karl Netter, Adolph Cremieux, and the ‘All Israel Friends’ alliance - these were already working practically in the land. Finally, he was in touch with the 2 additional highest level early precursors of Zionism - Kalisher and Hess. Kalisher was also a rabbi an