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Maimonides and Messiah

Tags:  Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein

What do Maimonides and the Messiah have in common?

When Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein, the district rabbi of the Hungarian city of Tapioszele, openly declared his faith in Yeshua of Nazareth as the promised Messiah, a storm of persecution broke out. His adult son, Emmanuel Lichtenstein, wrote a concerned letter asking his father several pointed questions about his decision. Among the objections that Emmanuel posed to his beloved father was the obvious question of the historical Jewish rejection of Yeshua. If Yeshua was really the Messiah, how was it possible that all the great luminaries of traditional Judaism had not only missed that fact, but had actually campaigned against the possibility? The following is an excerpt from Rabbi Lichtenstein's reply to his son, as translated to English by David Baron's wife and published in the pamphlet The Two Letters, or What I Really Wish.

Rabbi Lichtenstein's Response:
Far be it from me, my son, lightly to defy the voice of the people. Generally I bow my head humbly before these lights in Israel, these unwearied watchers on the walls of Zion, who strengthen the godly in faith, who enlighten the reason, perfect the hearts, purify the morals, and who ever keep before their eyes the faithfulness of the covenant pure and unadulterated truth.
But was it the voice of God when the people rejected [Yeshua of Nazareth,] one of the greatest reformers in the realm of Judaism, who did not seek to destroy Judaism, but rather to supply fresh supports to the ancient revered temple of religion, that so it might the better resist the storms of time? Was it the voice of God when the people rejected Moses ben Maimon, whose code of religion has been undisputed for centuries, whose authority is uncontroverted, unassailable, and whose thirteen articles of faith have already assumed the character of dogma among all Israel? Was it the voice of God, when the people persecuted and banished Maimonides; pronounced him a heretic and deceiver; branded him as a false teacher, burnt his writings on the scaffold; and even dishonoured his quiet grave by throwing mud and stones upon it? And yet they were great spiritual heroes, exalted lights in Israel, such as Rabbi Abraham ben David, Rabbi Salomo of Montpellier, who excited the people to distrust and fury.

Was it the voice of God when the people rejected that noblest and best of men, the most profound and keenest-minded Talmudist of all times, the great man with far-reaching eagle glance and unusual elasticity of mind - was it indeed God's voice that the people should reject Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschutz, from whose world-famed school thousands of young men had gone forth as eminent Rabbis, and who yet shines in Israel as a star of the greatest magnitude? Was it truly the voice of God when Eibeschutz was expelled from the Community of Israel, deposed from his office of Rabbi, suspected of being secretly a Christian, denounced as a seducer of the people, cried down, and pointed at?

And yet they were renowned and famous men, lights in Israel, such as Rabbi Jecheskiel Landau, and Rabbi Jacob Emden, who kindled this devouring fire of hatred and discord, and zealously kept it in fuel.

And finally, was it the voice of God when the people persecuted that wise man of Dessau, Moses Mendelssohn, with fanatical passion, casting the gloom of the ban over his life - this man, who had been the untiring, magnanimous steward, the faithful self-sacrificing son of his people, he whose work was most enduring and successful for the liberation and renewal of Israel, whom to-day, after the lapse of a century, every party in Israel claims as its own? And yet they were upright, discerning, chosen men, lights in Israel, who artificially created a reaction against his works, and especially against his incomparable translation of the five books of Moses.

I should lose myself in infinity were I to mention all the pious, good men who devoted their life and powers to the sanctification of the Divine Name, and the salvation of Israel, whose existence, however, was embittered by the gross ingratitude of Israel, who only remembered them with repentance and lamentation, later, often too late, long, long after their bones had mouldered into dust: yet I will not reproach my people with this; the disinclination to everything that is new and unheard-of is a poisonous plant, a noisome growth from the blood-soaked soil of all religions. I will rather advance in praise of the Jew that his practical, sober sense has sooner or later done justice to its great, excellent, misunderstood, and persecuted benefactors, and has woven a sweet-scented crown of flowers for their fame-crowned heads in place of the crown of thorns; and I am also firmly convinced that Jesus will yet appear to the Jews as a glorious shining star, as the genius of mankind, the anchor of salvation from the storms of time, as the sun of pure faith, renewing and renewed in heavenly glory.

"I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." (Zech. xii. 10.) "They will bitterly bemoan the Messiah, the son of Joseph, who was slain," explains a Talmud teacher in unequivocal words. (Sukkah 52.) Walls which seem like a partition of brass between Jews and Christians, between classes and races, between employees and employers, between masters and servants, between God and man, will fall before Him.

About the Author: D. Thomas Lancaster is Director of Education at First Fruits of Zion, and regular contributor to Messiah Journal. He is the author of the Torah Club programs, and the books Grafted In, Restoration and King of the Jews