Golden Trumpets

It was the year 1840, which was the year 5,600 of the Jewish calendar, considered by thousands around the world to be the year of redemption, because of a line in the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 99A, and another line, in the Zohar, 1 (va’Yera) 117a, “And after six hundred years of the sixth thousand there will be opened the gates of wisdom above and the fountains of wisdom below… (and a response) and so the community of Israel will be raised from the dust, for the Holy One will remember her.”

This was interpreted by some as great events, the beginning of the end, such as the emancipation of the Jews in Europe, the wars of Napoleon, persecution in the Russian empire, and more. 

When Russia conquered much of Eastern Europe, where so many Jews were, they made laws prohibiting religious practice and took Jewish boys to their military, to harm and break the Jewish community…

Such acts of persecution, led a number of rabbis, to do a deed, and decide to loosen an ancient halachic prohibition, against political activism, that they would handle their own fate, to a degree, even to the point of operating against the system of the governing power, and even go to the Land of Israel and build it up.

A famous important Talmudic midrash, Ketubot 111A, commenting on the verse from the Song of Songs of Solomon (2:7 / 3:5),  “I have besworn you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the hinds of the field, if you would stir up or wake my love, until it pleases…” 

The interpretation attributed to Rabbi Yosei son of Rabbi cHanina, “Why these three oaths? One, that the Jews should not ascend as a wall; and one, that the Holy One beswore the Jews that they should not rebel against the nations of the world; and one that the Holy One beswore the nations that they should not subjugate the Jews too much.” 

In other words - no immigrating en masse to Israel / Jerusalem, and no rebelling against the authorities where you are among the nations.

Three Obstacles

In those days, at the beginning of the 19th century, various interpretations permitted these three traditional prohibitions. For example, the third oath is on the nations, in the case of Russia, they violated their part, by excessive subjugation, so the Jews are permitted to ascend as a wall. 

Another interpretation, by the Gaon of Vilna himself, whose greatest disciples ascended to Israel, and maybe it was he who sent them there. He even collected funds for himself to go, and set out, but at some point turned back home and gave the money back to his donors.

Some think that he did this to show the people that it is okay to go, and he was like a Moses who did not enter the Land of Promise, Israel… 

The Gaon of Vilna also said that the ascending as a wall means only the building of the Temple itself, and so there is no problem to go to Israel and build a life and society. His significance to Jewish law was enormous.

This interpretative permission was unprecedented for going to Israel and for the messianic-minded who wished to do so. Thousands went, and mostly settled in Jerusalem, Tiberias, and Tsfat (Safed). 

Another relevant idea or principle at play was the “itaruta deltata”, which means - awakening, or arousal, from below. It is taken from the Zohar (va’Era 196), and is taken to mean a spiritualistic activism of sorts.

Practically and mystically, in Lurianic Kabbalah, from this world below, one does deeds and prayers that cause redemption, not simple deterministic passivity. 

And so groups began doing tikkun together, coming to Israel, and initiatives were set in place to build the Jewish settlement in Israel. It was then that Moses Montifiori got involved and donated towards the economic development of Israel, famously starting new neighborhoods outside of the city walls in Jerusalem. It was then that the Hurva synagogue in the Jewish quarter was built up, which was stalled by the Ottoman authorities until the new ruler in the region Muhammad Ali permitted it and a number of other reforms.

Catastrophe in the Process

Tragically, there was a plague in 1813. In Tsfat alone 500 pupils died. Even this was perceived as evidence for the redemption. Years later there were more plagues. And in 1837 a big earthquake in a matter of moments destroyed the Jewish communities in Tiberias and in Tsfat - thousands were killed and dozens of synagogues were gone. All of these worked into the ideas of apocalyptic catastrophic events preceding the redemption, particularly in the north - in the Galilee, according to traditional sources, is the location of these (which would include Tiberias and Tsfat of course).

Well, the year 1840 came and went, but no messianic redemption. Evidence and memory of the messianic preparations and expectations were erased. But the community continued in a similar set up, managing contact with Jews in the Diaspora, and trying to build. 

The whole ordeal did not go unnoticed by Jews around the world, including the voices who are coined Harbingers of Zionism, or precursors. These were influential thinkers and writers, who spread the idea very ideologically and deliberately. They would combine traditional messianic concepts with modern nationalistic concepts. 

They were active before Theodore Herzl himself, who we can say began the organization, and they are the missing link between Zionistic traditional religious messianism and modern Zionism as a modern nation-state movement.

The most famous ones, coming right up, were Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalisher, and Moses Hess (son of a rabbi).