Filed under: History, Mashiach ben Yosef, MESSIAH | Tags: Abraham Abulafia, Abu 'Isa, David Reubeni, Eve Frank, False Messiah, herald of the Messiah, History, MESSIAH, Messiah from Yemen, Messiah Serene, Moses Botarel, Moses of Crete, Roman occupation, Solomo Molkho, Theudas
We believe Moshiach (The Messiah) can come in any generation if we deserve. The Vilna Goan teaches that Moshiach ben Yosef will come before Mashiach ben David. Just as Shaul ruled over our people before David, so too Moshiach ben Yosef can come before Moshiach ben David. Our sages say that during this time period life will not change significantly. The only difference will be is that after his coming we will reside in the Holy Land and will be able to keep all the commandments without the yoke of the nations upon us. Moshiach ben David will come later at the appropriate time. Mashiach ben Yosef is only explicitly mentioned once in all of the “Gemara”in Succah page 52 a and b. So this seems to be a secret. There is says “in the future. when they will be engaged in mourning and the Evil Inclination will have no power over them the Torah nevertheless says, men separately and women separately, how much more so now when they are engaged in rejoicing and the Evil Inclination has sway over them.
What is the cause of the mourning R. Dosa and the Rabbis differ on the point. One explained, The cause is the slaying of Messiah the son of Joseph, The Prophet confirm this. “And they shall look upon me because they have thrust him through, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only son”. Also on this page is written “Our Rabbis taught, The Holy One, blessed be He, will say to the Messiah, the son of David May he reveal himself speedily in our days!, Ask of me anything, and I will give it to thee’, as it is said, I will tell of the decree etc. this day have I begotten you, ask of me and I will give the nations for thy inheritance. But when he will see that the Messiah the son of Joseph is slain, he will say to Him, ‘Lord of the Universe, I ask of Thee only the gift of life’.’As to life’, He would answer him, ‘Your father David has already prophesied this concerning you’, as it is said, He asked life of thee, thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever”. And the final statement on the Mashiach ben Yosef states And the Lord showed me four craftsmen. Who are these ‘four craftsmen’? — R. Hana b. Bizna citing R. Simeon Hasida replied: The Messiah the son of David, the Messiah the son of Joseph, Elijah and the Righteous Priest. There is a tradition that it is possible that that the Messiah the son of Joseph is not a particular person, but period of time, as seen in the book of the student’s of the Vilna Gaon, Kol HaTur. There are those who say this is what The prophet Yechezkel refers to in “The Vision of the Dry Bones and the Rebels of the Tribe of Efrayim” (Yechezkel 37;1-14). In the vision of the dry bones, the prophet Yechezkel refers to the redemption of “in it’s time” in which national redemption precedes spiritual repentance. Here the prophet Yechezkel is talking here about the national redemption and our return to Israel from the cemetery which symbolizes the exile, and not about the resurrection of the dead at the time of Mashiach. The “dead” people thus referred to here is the irreligious state of Israel, where the national body has come together, but the spirituality has yet to arrive. As a result of this the sages fixed the order of the blessings in the Amidah prayer (from the ninth blessing on wards), according to the order that the redemption will happen in, they begin with a national revival. The flowering of the land of Israel and the in gathering of exiles, and only after this focus on the spiritual elements. The transition to a Torah judicial system. As found in the blessing ‘return our judges’ and then finally the building of the Holy Temple and Mashiach ben David.
To further understand this idea that Mashiach ben Yosef does not necessarily refer to a person from specifically the tribe of “Efrayim” becouse we see that as time passed “Efrayim” changed from being only a name to also being a adjective “Efrati”, which describes anyone who has the character traits which are identified with the tribe of Efrayim. In the blessings of both Ya’acov and Moshe, the tribe of Efrayim are noted for their bravery as its written “his bow lived in strength”, “the firstborn of his herd, grandeur is his, and his horns are like the horns of a wild ox, he will push his people together until the ends of the earth”,their leadership “and on the crown of the head of him who was separated from his brothers”, the fruitfulness of their land “Yosef is a fruitful bough…the blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches below”, “May his land be blessed from Hashem for the precious things of heaven…and for the precious things of the land and its fullness…”), the fruitfulness of their offspring “Yosef is a fruitful bow…the blessings of the breasts and of the womb”,““and they are the ten thousands of Efrayim, and they are the thousands of Menashe”. Yehoshua bin Nun, the first national leader was from the tribe of Efrayim. After the war against Sisra, the prophetess Devora praises the tribe of Efrayim as one of the tribes who volunteered to help their brothers to fight. They are glorified with the praise “they came from Efrayim, rooted in Amalek”. She spoke thus as they displayed the same military bravery as Amalek. Concerning these “Efrati” traits we the sages say in a midrash concerning “Efratim” there Rav Pinchas says, all of the crown with which Ya’acov crowned Efrayim when he passed away from the world, he said to them, Efrayim the head of the tribe, the head of the settlement, the greatest and most praiseworthy of my sons will be called by your name, “son of Tocho son of Tzuf Efrati” and “Yeravam son of Nevat Efrati” and”David the son of an Efrati man” and “Machlon and Kilyon, Efratim”. In Devri Yamim is says “and Calev took Efrat and she gave birth to Chur. Here “Efrat” refers to Moses sister Myriam. Miriam here is called by the name “Efrat” Because she was of the greatest people of her generation. Every prince and great person who rises up in the Jewish people is called “efrati”. Like wise ” and David was the son of an Efrati man’ (Shemuel 1 17,12 He was from the tribe of Yehuda! Thus “Efrati” is a describing one of the highest character.
It speaks of Mashiach ben Yosef in Pasikta Raboti thus “that in the future the forefathers of the world will stand up in Nissan and say to him, Efrayim, our righteous mashiach, even though we are your forefathers, you are greater than us, because you suffered the sins of our children, and hard judgements were passed on you, which were not passed over the early people or the later people, and you were laughed at and mocked by the nations of the world for the sake of the jewish people, and you sat in gloom and darkness and your eyes did not see light,[2] and your skin dried on to your bones and your body was dry like a tree, and your eyes became darkened from fasting, and your strength was as dry as clay, all of this because of the sins of our children…he said to them, forefathers of the world, all that I did was only for your sakes and for the sake of your children, and for your honor and for the honor of your children, that they should be able to enjoy from the goodness that Hashem has lavished on the jewish people. The forefathers of the world said to him, Efrayim our righteous mashiach, be at ease, because you have eased our minds and the mind of your creator. Rav Shimon ben Paz says, at that time Hashem raised him up as mashiach to the heights of the heavens, and He spread His radiant glory over him before all of the nations of the world, before the wicked Persians, and He said to him, Efrayim our righteous mashiach, judge these people and do to them whatever you desire, for if it was not for the abundant mercy that was on you I would already have exiled you from the world in one moment, as it says ‘Efrayim is my dear child, a darling child, for whenever I speak of him I still remember him, therefore my inner organs are moved for him, I will surely have mercy on him, says Hashem”
The Targum Yonatan says about Mashiach ben Yosef ” “from the shadow of Yehoshua your servant…for he was the one who divided the land of Israel, and his descendant Mashiach ben Yosef will be the one who will lead the Jewish people to defeat Gog and his helpers at the end of days.”
Describing awareness concerning Mashiach the “Kol HaTor” says ” In the natural process of Mashiach ben Yosef, this will be in the aspect of and Yosef recognized his brothers and they did not recognize him. It is the work of the other side, who hides the character traits of Mashiach ben Yosef so that he is not recognized in, the footsteps of mashiach, and in our many sins they are also ridiculed” Remember, Yoseph in Egypt looked like a non-Jew. He wore Egyptian clothes, talked like a Egyptian. He spoke Egyptian and acted before his brothers as if he did not understand the Holy tongue. His wife Asnat. the daughter of the Egyptian high priest probably did not seem much like a follower of the Hebrew faith to Yoseph’s brothers. Yoseph even had a non-Jewish name — Tzafenat Pa’aneach. Yet, the mission impossible of Mashiach ben Yoseph was accomplished. Although appearing to have been killed on the outside, Yoseph’s Hebrew identity, as in the mystery of “Mashiach ben Yoseph will die” he only went underground, inconito. As in reality “Od Yoseph Chai ” (Mashiach ben Yoseph lives on) and resurfaced intact. Yoseph earned the title “Tzadik Yesod Olam” (The righteous one life of the worlds). Yoseph was also able to integrate secular wisdom into his spiritual consciousness the Seven types of worldly Wisdoms. The Vina Goan also taught that “Many of the torah scholars did not know and did not understand that they are caught up in the sin of the spies. Our teacher the Vilna Gaon, the holy one of Israel, urged his pupils to make aliyah to the land of Israel and to work in the in gathering of the exiles. And he frequently hurried his pupils to bring about the reveled end, to bring the end of the redemption nearer by settling the land of Israel. Almost every day our teacher spoke to us with trembling and excitement that ‘the remnant will be in Zion and in Yerushalayim’, and not to be late for the appointed time. Who can describe our teacher’s great worry when he spoke to us about these things with a holy spirit and with tears in his eyes.”
Succot 5776 was the last in a string of four “blood moons”, This will be after the “smittah” (7th) year of 5775, there are some who say Next year is the Yovel Year. In Gemora Megilla it says the Messiah will come to Redeem Yisrael after a “Smitah” year, some say after a “Smittah” year that precedes the “yovel” (50th year)
1990 in the scale of cosmic time was equivalent to 12 in the afternoon on Friday preceding the Holy Shabot. the time of redemption. As the world was made to exist for no more than 6000 years and its now 5775 the time of this world as we know it is quickly running out.
In Talmud tractate Sanhedrin on page 97a it is written that “The world will exist for 6000 years, and then will be desolation for 1000 years”. We are now in the Biblical year 5775, that’s only 225 years before 6000. It is written in the midrash there shell be many resurrections of the Dead. The sadeekem in Arerz Yisrael will resurrect first. The first of these resurrections shall occur 40 years after the “exiles have been gathered”. The sages say all of these resurrections shall occur over a period of between 210-214 years. It is know that the Messiah will be revealed before these resurrections and this must be well before 6000 so His revelation can not be that far away. For another perspective know :
According to the Zohar in the last 210-‐214 years before the Biblical year 6000 God will resurrect those who merit to live during Techiyas HaMeisim the period of time know as, “The Resurrection of the Dead.” also called “Olam Haba, the World to Come.
According to the Zohar this period follows the Messianic Era. It will begin in the year 2026 CE, according to Rebi Yitzchak, and in 2030 CE, according to Rebi Yehudah. According to both opinions this will be after 40 years of ingathering of exiles. This makes the beginning
of period called “Kibbutz Goliot” (ingathering of exiles),
Once this world comes to a end the Sitra Achra and the ס”ם will cease so they desire to make the most out of the final years and extend the time as much as possible till their destruction. The way the ס”ם will try to accomplish this is by consolidating his power. He does this by causing Yisrael to sin. The ס”ם is the only angel that can grow. If Yisreal fulfills mitzvot, refrain from sin and does “Teshuvah” his power is diminished and he and his influence shrinks, while the Shechina and Yisreal prosper grow in their power of influence in the world. The ס”ם Knowing his time was getting close to its end saw drastic action was required so he came up with a drastic plan that he believe might cause all the jews to abandon the Torah, something so horrifying that He thought after this no Jew would want to have anything to Do with Torah and by this he would destroy their faith in God. So the ס”ם made the Holocaust, problem is it did not work. Jews still clung to the Torah even after the Holocaust. Then he came up with another plan to get Jews to abandon the Torah. He set up a secular Isreal, Here Jews can be Jewish and their the essence of being jewish has nothing to do with Torah, The main thing in being Jewish in the secular Jewish state, the treasures of Jewish heritage are Lotcas, matza ball and krepach. These are what makes people Jewish and there they can be good Jews with out any Torah claiming that Judaism is based on their cultural heritage. Well this plan did not work either, Jews still occupy in Torah and Mitzvot thank God. Running out of time and options the ס”ם started thinking about end times strategies and using these to his benefit.
Concerning this in the midrash Yalkut Shimoni on Isiah 60 we find :
“Rabbi Yitzhak said: The year that Melech HaMoshiach will be revealed, all the kings of the nations of the world will provoke each other. The king of Persia (now called “Iran”) will threaten the king of Arabia (now called “Saudi” Arabia) and because of this the king of Arabia will go to the king of Edom (USA-the west) for advice.
Afterwards the king of Persia will destroy [most of] the world. The remaining nations will be hysterical and frantic and fall on their faces and will be seized as if by “birth pains”.
And the people of Israel will be frantic and hysterical and they will say, where will we come and go? Where will be come and go? This being the ס”ם’s final attempt to make the Jews loose faith.
But with this comes a problem How could the ס”ם possibly build up Iran so it could be strong enough to contend with Edom, which is all the western powers, specifically the USA ? Only one way by by bringing Obama into power and having him pass a insane treaty with Iran allowing them to get Nuclear weapons. He found one more problem to contend with being the Merit of Edom by the kindness in recent years America has shown to its Jews. With this merit Iran still could not rise to power and cause America serious harm. The ס”ם found a solution, destroy America’s merit by Having their supreme court legislate abominable immorality, the promotion of the homosexual lifestyle. Through all this the can turn the whole world to caos to help the Jews loose faith and give up Torah and Mitzvot and by this the ס”ם becomes stronger and can hold out a little longer. In addition to this the ס”ם also has caused to arise from the depth of darkness an New phenomena to the world Isis and all the other terrorist groups which are much more destructive and cruel than anything that came out of Islam before. Yismoyal had the blessing from Avraham that he should “Live before him”. Well we are approaching the end of time and the ס”ם wanted to take this blessing away from Yismoyal’s descendents, so he brought out of their own religion which were corrupt enought in their original form to start with the New phenomena to the world Isis and all the other terrorist groups which are much more destructive and cruel than anything that came out of Islam before.
Those who have been true to God, He will say to them: Do not fear my children, do not fear. All that I have done I did only for you. Why are you afraid? The time for your Redemption has come!
.It says in The prophets show us that the miracles of the Moshiach will be greater than those of Moshe.
There is a discussion about the name of Mashiach in Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Brachot (2:4)
“R Yehoushua ben Levi said concerning the Messiah ‘Tzemach’ is his name. R Yudan the son of R Aibo said ‘Menachem’ is his name.
Chanina the son of R Abahu said, they do not disagree as the gematria of this name is equal to that name. Thus Tzemach = Menachem.
“A man went and sold his cow and his vessels and he made himself into a seller of baby clothes. He would enter a city to sell his baby clothes . He entered a city and all the women bought except the mother of Menachem did not buy.
He heard the voice of the woman saying ‘Mother of Menachem, mother of Menachem, come and buy for your son.’
for I desire that the enemies of the Jews should be strangled, for on the day Menachem was born the Bet HaMikdash was destroyed.’
He said to her, ‘I trust that in his steps it was destroyed and in his steps it will be rebuilt.
She said to him, ‘I have no money.’
He said to her, ‘What does it matter to me?
Come and buy clothes for Menachem. If you have no money this day, I will return and take payment. After some days, he returned to that city. He said to her, ‘What is happening with the nursing babe?’ She said to him,’From the time I last saw you a wind on a whirlwind came and grabbed him from my hands.
THIS SEEMS TO INDICATE THAT PEOPLE WILL NEED TO SUPPORT THE MESSIANIC IDEA WITH THEIR MONEY or the opportunity for messianic revelation may pass to a later time.
After the failed Bar Kokba war, there was an end to Messianic movements for several centuries. However, the hope of a coming messiah nonetheless continued.
Moses of Crete appeared in the 5th century C.E., and won the Jews there to his movement. He called himself Moses, and promised to lead the people, like the ancient Moses on dry land through the midst of the sea back to the land of Israel. His followers, convinced of his claim, left all their possessions and waited for the promised day; upon which they followed Moses to a promontory overlooking the sea and at his command cast themselves off – where many drowned or were destroyed on the rocks below.
Theudas died in the year 46. He was a Jewish rebel of the 1st century. His name which comes from Greek means “gift of God”. Around between 44 and 46 AD, Theudas led his followers in a short-lived revolt.
Theudas, persuaded many people to join with him, and follow him to the Jordan river. He told them he was a prophet, and that he would, by his own command, divide the river, and they would easy pass over it. Many were decieved by his words. Fadus, the Roman procurator of Judea did not permit them to make any advantage of his wild attempt, but sent a troop of horsemen out against them. After falling upon them unexpectedly, they slew many of them, and took many of them alive. They also took Theudas alive, cut off his head, and carried it to Jerusalem. (Jewish Antiquities)
The Persian Jewish sect of Abu ‘Isa or the “herald of the Messiah” sect existed from 684-705. Its leader and self proclaimed Messiah, Abu ‘Isa (father of Jesus), was a working man “a plain tailor”. His devotes said “He could neither read nor write, yet he wrote books without any assistance” (the same was said of Muhammad). Abu ‘Isa’s adherents stressed that, in spite of his illiteracy, Abu ‘Isa wrote books, and they claimed thiswas proof of his divine inspiration. None of Abu ‘Isa’s writtings exist any longer, if they ever did.
Abu ‘Isa said that the coming of the Messiah was to be preceded by five messengers, and he himself was the last messenger and the Messiah himself. Abu ‘Isa claimed he was entrusted with the mission of delivering the Jews from the rule of the Gentiles, and of making them politically independent.
He and many followers among the Jews of Persia, and raised a revolt against the calif. Abu ‘Isa sent an army against him. The decisive battle was fought at Rai (the ancient Rhagæ), and resulted in the death of Abu ‘Isa and in the complete defeat of his adherents. One of Abu ‘Isa’s disciples narrates that when the battle resulted so disastrously Abu ‘Isa hid in a cave, and that his ultimate fate was never known.
Another account of the battle ascribes a miraculous victory to Abu ‘Isa. It is said that he surrounded his camp with a rope and assured his men that they would be safe from the enemy’s swords so long as they did not leave the enclosed space. The hostile army fled from the rope, and Abu ‘Isa’s followers pursued and completely destroyed the enemy. The prophet himself then wandered into the desert, to announce to the Jews the word of the Lord and his prophetic mission.
Abu ‘Isa became the founder of this first Jewish sect in the geonic period, the members of which were called, after him, ‘Isawites, “‘Iswanites,” or “‘Isuyites.” Their practices differed from rabbinic Judaism in dogma and ritual but little is know of them. It is known they abstained from wine and animal food, According to Harkavy, Abu ‘Isa, in imposing these restrictions, was influenced less by the custom of the Rechabites (comp. Jer. xxxv. 2-10) than by the Pharisaic view (B. B. 60b) that meat and wine ought not to be indulged in by the Jews so long as they live in exile (“galut”). Divorce was not allowed even in case of adultery—a prohibition which was also observed by the Sadducees. According to Maḳrizi, Abu ‘Isa had seen Jesus and Mohammed in heaven and were recognized by the sect as prophets, each of whom had been sent as a missionary to his nation. Al-Ḳirḳisani, the Karaite, held that Abu ‘Isa took this attitude merely for diplomatic reasons. (this too is similar to what Muhammad did) According to the passage in Psalms :
“Seven times a day do I praise thee,” Abu ‘Isa instituted seven daily prayers in place of the three rabbinical ones. In accordance with the rabbinical opinion, he declared the “Shemoneh ‘Esray,” the “Shema’,” and the two benedictions before and one after the “Shema'” to be obligatory by divine order. The ‘Isawites used the Rabbinite calendar, which at that time was a very essential point; for upon the strength of this the Rabbinites did not hesitate to associate and even intermarry with the followers of Abu ‘Isa.
Jacob ben Ephraim al-Shami answered Al-Ḳirḳisani, who objected to the friendly attitude of the Rabbinites toward the ‘Isawites. Altogether, therefore, Shahrastani’s judgment that the customs of the ‘Isawites differed greatly in many essential points from the laws of the Torah does not seem to be well founded.
Abu ‘Isa and his disciple Yudghan greatly influenced the founder of the Karaites, Anan, who lived about seventy years later; for instance, Anan took from Abu ‘Isa the rule of abstinence from meat and wine.
At the time of Al-Ḳirḳisani (about 930) the sect survived in Damascus only, and numbered not more than twenty persons.
Another failed Messiah was Named Serene . His name is a Latin form of שריני , according to a responsum of Naṭronai Gaon (“Sha’are Ẓedeḳ,” p. 24a, b). Serene represented himself as the Messiah, establishing certain religious observances opposed to the rabbinical law, abolishing prayer, neglecting the laws of “ṭerefah,” not guarding the wine against “nesek,” working on the second holy day, and abolishing both the ketubah and certain incest laws established by the scribes.
The date of Serene’s appearance is given by Isidor Pacensis (“Chronicon,” in Florez’s “España Sagrada,” viii. 298) as 103 of the Hegira (c. 720 C.E.), which was during the reign of Yazid II. This same historian states that in Spain many Jews abandoned all their property and prepared to join the supposed Messiah. The latter, indeed, owing to his promise to put the Jews in possession of the Holy Land. He was finally captured and taken before Yazid II., who put some questions to him concerning his Messianic qualities which he was unable to answer. He declared that he had never had any serious design against the calif, and that he desired only to mock the Jews, whereupon he was handed to the latter for punishment. His adherents, having repented of their credulity, on the advice of Naṭronai Gaon were received again into their communities.
In the 12th century was a women who claimed to be the Messiah of the Jews, her name is no longer known. (or is much about her, this is all I could find). She was known to have sexual relationships with many of her followers. (Max Dimont “the indestructable Jews)
Yaakov Frank’s daughter Eve Frank (1754–1816/1817), In 1770 declared herself to be the incarnation of the Shekinah, the female aspect of God, as well as the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary and thus became the object of a devotional subcult herself in Częstochowa, with some followers keeping small statues of her in their homes. She finnaly claimed to be the messiah upon her father’s death.
The great Jewish teacher from Andalusia, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon of Córdoba (1135-1204), tells the story of an anonymous Messiah from Yemen, who was preaching repentance. Those who gave their worldly possessions to the poor would gain a treasure in heaven. Not everybody was impressed by his humane teachings, and in 1172 the Muslim authorities had him arrested. His interrogators wanted a sign that he was indeed the Messiah, He was brought in chains before the king of Yemen. He was asked by the king to proform a Miracle to prove he was the Messiah. The man told them to chop off his head and he would come to life again after he was beheaded. The authorities allowed the experiment, but unfortunately, the Yemenite Messiah was unable to live up to his claim.
Abraham Abulafia (ca. 1240–1291) was a self-proclaimed Messiah and founder of a school of ecstatic Kabbalah. He was native of Spain and he set out towards the Middle East at the age of twenty in search of the fabled Sambation river so to return of the ten lost tribes of Israel. When this project failed, he continued his travels in Greece and Italy. He taught and had many followers in southern Italy and Sicily. Rabbi Abulafia believed the end of days were approaching and he saw himself as chosen by God to reveal the Divine truth. His messianic claims were a result of his revelations and experiences. In Rabbi Abulafia’s writings, he he teachs that any Hebrew can become a messiah insofar as they can bring about a spiritual liberation of their own souls.
The night of Rosh Hashanah, in the year 5040 (1280) Rabbi Abraham Abulafia found the perfect time to pay a visit on the Pope. Pope Martin to received word of Rabbi Abraham Abulafia coming. The Pope gave orders to the Vatican staff that they should arrest Rabbi Abulafia immediately and send him to a place outside the city where firewood was already prepared for quick execution. Though Abulafia was notified in advanced of the Pope’s intentions, he remained determined nonetheless to keep his appointment.
At that moment, the pope made this announcement, Pope Martin passed away Rabbi Abulafia’s life was saved. Needless to say, the good rabbi saw this development as divine intervention and as irrefutable proof of the authenticity of his mission–notwithstanding the fact that he was imprisoned for a month by Franciscan monks.
David Reubeni, a mysterious adventurer who claimed to be the brother of the monarch of an independent Jewish kingdom in Arabia.
Masquerading as a descendent of the of Islamic prophet, he wandered through Ethiopia, Egypt and Israel. It was while sojourning in Alexandria in 5284 (1523) that he Rosh Hashanah in a small synagogue awaiting the next available ship to Italy.
It would take more than two months to find a galley sailing to Venice, and more than a year before he would enter the Papal palace on a white steed. Pope Clement greeted David with full diplomatic honours when the Hebrew emissary proposed a diplomatic alliance between his kingdom, Rome and Portugal, such that a Jewish army would expel the Turks from the Holy Land. Clement even provided David with letters of reference to several European rulers. With these documents in hand, he came close to finalizing a pact with the Portuguese king for the transporting of armaments to Reubeni’s fictitious regiments.
David Reubeni’s teachings inspired a young Marrano named Diego Pires to return openly to Judaism, he took the name Solomon Molkho.
Convincing himself that he was the Messiah, Solomon journeyed to Turkey, Israel and Italy, and of course he eventually arrived in Rome for the obligatory confrontation with the Pope. The pontiff extended to him hospitality and protection.
When it became impossible to resist the Inquisition’s persistent calls for Molkho’s death, it is stated that Pope Clement saved his life by substituting a condemned criminal to be executed in his stead. Eventually however, Solomon became unable to fend off his accusers. He was arrested by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and perished as a martyr proudly proclaiming his Judaism to the end.
David Reubeni, who was imprisoned along with his disciple, managed somehow to escape death, and lived out the rest of his days in a Spanish prison under Imperial protection.
A Jewish chronicler reports that even after Molkho’s demise there remained many Jews who were convinced that the aspiring messiah had miraculously cheated death, and that eight days after the auto-da-fé he had been seen at his home.
Moses Botarel was a Spanish scholar who lived in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He learned Kabbala from Jacob Sefardi (the Spaniard). He made amulets , and declared that he was able to combine the names of God for working miracles. He stated that by means of fasting, ablution, and invocation of the names of God and of the angels one can attain prophetic dreams. He stated that the prophet Elijah had appeared to him and appointed him as Messiah.
After this he addressed a letter sent to many great rabbis of his time, asserting that he was able to solve all perplexities, and asking them to send all doubtful questions to him. In this letter (printed by Dukes in Orient, Lit. 1850, p. 825) Botarel refers to himself as a well-known and prominent rabbi, a saint, and the most pious of the pious. Many believed in his miracles, including the philosopher Hasdai Crescas.
Rav Botarel composed a commentary on the Sefer Yezirah. In his commentary, he quotes earlier cabalistic works, including some ascribed to the old authorities, such as the amora Rav Ashi. Rav Botarel’s commentary on the Sefer Yeẓirah was printed at Mantua in 1562, with the text and with other commentaries; it was republished at Zolkiev, 1745; Grodno, 1806; and Wilna, 1820.
Rav Botarel told the king of Spain he could prove he was the Messiah. He told the king to cast him into a flaming furnice and he would walk out from it unharmed. The king did comply with his request but there is no record of what happened after that.
It is said by the sages that the tribe of Efriam ben Yosef wanted left Egypt early, before the time of Redmption. Concerning them the Yalkut Shimoni says many were killed. According to the Pesikta of Rav Kahana 180,00 soldiers from Efrayim were killed, according to Targum Yonatan on Divrei Ha’Yamim 200,000 were killed, and according to Shemot Raba the number is 300,000! We see from this , things are better in their correct time.
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