Ilustration Credit: Chaim File
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
There’s an idea that we are waiting for מָשִׁיחַ (mashiah), a person who will eventually come and save us, and bring about a more perfect world. When will mashiah come?
In this story in the Talmud (Bavli Sanhedrin 98a), R. Yehoshua ben Levi tries to find out!
The story goes that R. Yehoshua ben Levi bumps into אֵלִיָּהוּ הַנָּבִיא (Eliyahu HaNavi, Eliyahu the Prophet). One of the questions R. Yehoshua asks Eliyahu is, “When will mashiah come?”
Shockingly, Eliyahu responds, “Go ask him yourself!”
Eliyahu tells R. Yehoshua that mashiah is with a group of sick people outside the gates of the city. Mashiah, and the people with him, are suffering from a sickness that’s similar to the skin disease צָרַעַת (tzara’at)!
R. Yehoshua asks mashiah, “When will you come?”
Mashiah responds, "Today!"
Later, when R. Yehoshua crosses paths with Eliyahu again, he says, “Mashiah lied to me! He said he would come today!” Eliyahu explains that mashiah was actually referring to the word “today” in this pasuk:
כִּ֘י ה֤וּא אֱלֹהֵ֗ינוּ וַאֲנַ֤חְנוּ עַ֣ם מַ֭רְעִיתוֹ וְצֹ֣אן יָד֑וֹ
הַ֝יּ֗וֹם אִֽם־בְּקֹל֥וֹ תִשְׁמָֽעוּ׃
For this is our God,
and we are the people being cared for—the flock tended by God’s hand.
Today, if you listen to God’s voice.
Mashiah wasn’t lying. Mashiah could come today, but is waiting for us to listen to God’s voice.
- What do you think the pasuk means when it says “listen to God’s voice”?
- What’s the role of tzara’at in this story? What could it mean that mashiah and the people with him have this kind of sickness?
- Why do Hazal want to teach us that it’s possible for mashiah to arrive any day?
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