RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: MESSIAH: DEREK ERETZ: GREAT IS PEACE: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
Shalom , Peace and Happy Holidays:
Today we continue with a bit more of Jewish Ethics (Great is Peace - Derek Eretz 10:11 ) apropos to the Holiday Season.
''Jose the Galilean said: The name of the Messiah is also "Peace" (Shalom), as it is written [Is.4:5]: "The Prince of Peace."
The concept of a Messiah is not Hebraic, nor are Heaven and bodily resurrection. These are Jewish rabbinic concepts discussed in Talmud Sanhedrin.
During the Messianic Age (Is. 2:4), humans will no longer have a yetzer ha ra (ego). War, hate, persecution, and poverty will no longer exist. Everyone, humans and animals, will live in total peace and well-being.
In Sanhedrin 98a, the prophet Elijah's ghost visits Rabbi Joshua. "When will the Messiah come?" asks Joshua. "Ask him," the prophet replies. "The Messiah is in Rome among the poor.''
Joshua travels to Rome and meets the Messiah. Joshua asks, "When you will be coming?" and is told "Today."
Joshua returns to Elijah and says the Messiah did not speak the truth, because he promised to come today, but did not. Elijah replies, "This is what he said to you: 'Today, if you will hear his voice,'" a reference to Psalm 95:7. The coming of the Messiah is conditional, and the condition remains unfulfilled.
If we as individuals and as a society love, work for, and pursue peace, we can attain it. If we do not love and pursue peace, we will not have peace. If we are not doing our best, and not listening to God's voice of love and peace, we are not spiritually deserving of the Messianic Age.
The Talmud Shabbat 118b, offers a test. It says that if all Jews could put aside our differences and observe one Shabbat, the Messianic Age would come. In reality, if all Jews agreed to do so, without fighting about what time to light candles or whether one needs to wear a head covering, we would already be in the Messianic Age. If the Messiah's name is "Prince of Peace," let us now learn to love peace and each other.
Rabbi Arthur Segal is an international lecturer, author, and teacher. Visit him at www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org . Follow him on FaceBook at 'Arthur L Segal', on Twitter at RabbiASegal, or his blog at http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com . Email at RabbiASegal@aol.com
