The Messiah Reimagined

This reflection is part of the ongoing Forest Hills Haftorah Series. The rest of the content can be found here: https://www.sefaria.org/groups/FHJC-Haftorah-Series .

Ani maamin - I believe.

Thus begins one the most recognizable and beloved of Jewish songs, with words which so powerfully cut right through to the heart:

I believe - with complete trust - in the coming of The Messiah. And even though he may tarry, nevertheless, I await every day his coming.

These words were composed centuries ago, and the identity of the poet who strung together these words has long-since been lost. But over the years, the poet's words have been set, time and time again, to such captivating melodies, ranging from the hauntingly beautiful to the triumphant and joyous.

Here are some well-known examples:

This first version has such a moving history. As the story goes, it was composed in a cattle-car on the way to Treblinka. The composer was a Hassid, who announced to the train that he would give half of his share of the world to come to whomever would bring this niggun to his rebbe. Two Jews volunteered, learned it, and jumped out of the speeding train on a mission. One of them died in the fall. It is thanks to the other one that we have this music today.

Here is another take on the same melody. This is Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson, the last rebbe of the Lubavither Hassidim, singing with his followers. Notice how after the rebbe's composed and confident beginning, it so suddenly picks up in momentum and energy, rising like a tidal wave.

Next is a beautiful version by Mordecai Shapiro, a contemporary singer-song writer.

Here's Carlebach at his best:

And finally, you'll notice this next one has such a different feeling right from the get-go. While all of the others were utterly soul-stirring and pining, this one is celebratory and triumphant! For this performance is taking place in a synagogue of Messianic Jews, who believe that the waiting about which they are singing has long since been realized!

You will likely hear this version in non messianic-Jewish settings as well.

There is good reason that these words have so effectively captured our hearts. Pay attention to the words in our liturgy; be it a weekday, the sabbath, or a festival - and you will notice that our early poet-sages included this hope in many of our traditional prayers as far back as 2,000 years ago.

I'll give you two examples. After the blessings which follow a meal, many add the following:

And also, towards the end of our weekday Amidah-prayers:

(We once spoke at length about this last prayer, in our Branch of David limmud, where we entertained the idea that the Branch of David promises were fulfilled in the 6th-century Judean leader Zerubabbel. Here is the link: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/244292?lang=bi )

Such verses have helped to shape our mainstream Jewish convictions regarding a future messianic figure. The "Messiah' will be the next rightful "anointed;" i.e., Our long-awaited, rightfully anointed Judean King, ushering in an era of complete redemption for the scattered Judean people world-wide.

The roots for this idea go all the way back to a divine promise made to King David, a millenium before the common era!

The Judeans had good reason to accept this promise as fact; For the Judean-Davidic dynasty was one of the most remarkably stable royal dynasties of the ancient near east. As the throne was continuously being passed on from father to son for twenty generations in the south (!!!!!), word would drift downward from their brethren in the north of the internal conflict, the usurpations, the various coups and horrible blood-shed between some of the up-start and ambitious families in the north, whose thirst for power was as insatiable as anything.

Between 930 and 722, there were no less than 9 different families who had their turn claiming royal status in the north!

Here is a kingship chart to compare. Notice all of the horizontal dotted arrows on the left, the Israelite side, signifying a transfer of power from one family to another; oftentimes such transfer being accompanied by unspeakable acts of horror, as the previous family would be completely eradicated:

And as the southerners would hear of the instabilities and insecurities of the north, they would also hear assuring words of encouragement from their own oracles:

Jeremiah's time-period was the 6th century, after 400-years-worth of Davidic kings had already reigned. The Judean people's own lived experience, their observations of the north, as well as such prophetic words of assurance would result in a people without any doubt that the very heavens would have to come to an end before a Davidite would cease sitting on the Judean throne.

below: David playing the harp, from the Koberger Bible, 1483!

And then the Babylonians would come along, and the Judeans would experience the most rude and jolting awakening possible; the fall of that which they had believed, for centuries, was destined to be eternal.

For the last Davidic King to sit on the throne of Judah was Zedekiah, the 20th king in an unbroken chain going back to King David himself.

And the end to what had been the source of the Judean's pride and glory could not have been more tragic.

Here is the account in our book of Kings:

Zedekiah would die in Babylonian captivity around fifteen years later. And the whole Judean world-view was upended, the Judean people being confronted with some of the most challenging of questions:

How can this be? Has our god been lying to us this whole time? Did he change his mind? Have we been abandoned?

The whole concept of "The Messiah," as we tend to use this term, arose as a way to speak to such questions and affirm Nathan's original promise to King David all those years ago. There might not be a Davidic king reigning at the moment; but the blood-line will remain intact, and the future "anointed one" will restore the pride and glory of the Judean kingship to its proper place.

Ezekiel, the prophet-priest trying to bring the Judeans consoloation the midst of the Babylonian exile, said thusly:

The Judeans heard this message loud and clear, and many of them would stubbornly cling to it, looking forward to the day when the Davidic line would be restored, with other prophets affirming this message (most notably Zechariah).

However, amongst our ancient prophets responding to the catastrophes and tragedies of the 6th century, another perspective would emerge; that of the Herald, whose words make up the last section of the book of Isaiah.

For this, we shall now turn to this week's Haftorah.

What's happening here is that the Herald imagines Nathan's original promises of the eternal nature of the Davidic line and Davidic grandeur being transferred from the Davidic family and onto the people of Israel and Judea as a whole!

The Herald develops this elsewhere as well. The entirety of chapter 60 is YHWH speaking directly to the collective people of Israel and Judah, telling them what life will be like when she is recognized as YHWH's anointed by all of the peoples of the earth. The poetry and imagery of the whole chapter is captivating. Here is one small excerpt:

The Herald's messianic age is therefore not one in which a Davidic king rises from the ashes to sit on the throne and lead us back home; but one in which there is no king over Israel save for YHWH, the Lord Almighty! With the Davidic covenant being reframed and reapplied in a way in which the Israelite and Judean collective is raised up and exalted, with every individual having royal status.

For any Israelites and Judeans living in the 21st century who find the prospect of returning to a monarchy difficult to grasp for any number of legitimate reasons, the Herald provides an alternative paradigm for which to pray and yearn, one no less divinely-sanctioned by our greatest of historical figures.

As an anonymous psalmist once so elegantly put it:

Going back to Ani Maamin; Believing in this Herald-messianic manifestation of redemption does not preclude one's being able to sing about the coming of the Messiah with just as much fervor and longing as anyone; But it is YHWH of Hosts himself, the Lord Almighty, that such a one woud have in mind when praying for the Messiah's arrival, rather than a flesh-and-blood descendant of King David.

As Zecharia once famously said: