Because we find ourselves surrounded by believers in Messianic fundamentalism, we should, as Jews, examine – or re-examine – our own attitudes toward Messianic faith. For we, too, have within our own community crypto-Messianic movements, believers in ‘Moshiach Now’ slogans, even including those who maintain that a Jewish Messiah has already made his appearance in our lifetime, in Brooklyn of all places.The great 13th Century sage, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (the Nachmanides) argued that it is impossible to claim, that the Messiah has already come. The Messiah was supposed to make the world a better place and our time a better time — a time of Sabbath and a time when swords are beaten into plowshares. Yet we look around this world of ours, a world of bloodshed, of famine, of terror and fear, and we know that we will not live in the Messianic age for a long time to come. Where is it written that the Messiah would bring not peace but war, not love but hate? If anyone will show us the path to that world of peace, it will not be the statesmen or the warriors but the poets and the singers of songs.
Theodore Bikel is a part-time folk singer, theater, film and television actor, radio host and a full time national treasure. www.bikel.com
