Mashiach-Mongering is a Dangerous Distraction

Bombing Iran isn’t the ultimate redemption—we need unity and sincere reconnection to God, to ourselves, and to our Land.

Hiding in the shelter from Iranian missiles, the kids asked how to spell “Healthy Jew.”

Dear Healthy Jew,

For nearly 2,000 years, every dramatic world event—whether beneficial or harmful for Jews—has sparked speculation about Mashiach’s (the Messiah) imminent arrival.

In the wake of Israel’s spectacular successes in Iran, and big-brother America joining the fray, the Mashiach-mongering has reached new heights.

We’re hearing once again that we're on the edge of the End of Times. In a matter of weeks, we'll see prophecies fulfilled: turning "swords into plowshares" as we’ll all peacefully farm forever, and our rabbis upgraded to prophets in a land "filled with knowledge of God."

Apparently the strategy goes something like this:

When the Ayatollahs fall, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas will be totally strangled. Then the Saudis will surely make peace, and those annoying Palestinians will disappear (or also join the peace). After that, nobody’s left to stop us from replacing the Dome of the Rock with our Temple. It’s just one little hill, come on.

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This all might happen. It also might not.

But either way, talking about it now is a bad idea.

Why? Because Mashiach isn’t a magical End of Times triggered by Netanyahu and Trump bombing Iran into oblivion.

And as the Rambam warned in his Epistle to Yemen, written in response to a 12th century Mashiach craze, really bad things happen whenever we demand Mashiach’s arrival and he doesn’t show. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the world isn’t so happy that we tried showing that we’re boss.

In truth, Mashiach arrives when the Jewish people are ready and willing for his arrival.

Practically, that means two fundamental changes must occur:

• First, we must stop internal fighting—especially over whose version of religious observance is perfect. At its core, Mashiach means a wise, good king, and such a king presides over a unified nation, not fragmented communities who despise each other.¹

• We must return to God and Torah, plain and simple. Judaism can’t be a side gig or a rote collection of meaningless rituals. Perfection isn't required, only genuine effort and meaningful growth.

As the Rambam states clearly in Hilchos Teshuva (ch. 7):

The Jewish people will be redeemed only through repentance. The Torah has already promised that, in the end, they will return in repentance at the end of their exile—and then they will be redeemed immediately.

Or in my words:

Mashiach is waiting for our own meaningful changes, not grand conspiracies that conveniently allow us to avoid responsibility.

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Let me clarify further:

I fully understand that, over the past century, some of Judaism’s greatest sages have strongly debated whether the State of Israel signals the approach of Mashiach or nothing of the sort.

I’m grateful to be a student of rabbis across both sides of this question.

Although genuine social differences exist between our various communities—often greater than necessary, in my opinion—it's not very difficult to learn from everyone.

• None of the rabbis I respect propose forcing Mashiach’s arrival through violence, nor do they dismiss the importance of cherishing Israel and living here.

• We all agree that we’ve been trying to "bring Mashiach" for millennia, and the way forward is by becoming Jews worthy of Mashiach’s leadership.

• Some emphasize Torah study as the central path forward; others focus on gathering Jews in our homeland and protecting them. Both are right, of course. There have always been many Healthy Jewish ways of serving God.

I’ll leave it to bigger minds to map out each community’s role in rebuilding our nation. As individuals, we only need to find and settle in our place within the broad spectrum of Jewish life.

But just because I’ve found my place in the picture doesn’t mean that yours is wrong or less worthy.

That would be missing the point, just like the Mashiach-mongerers do.

Mashiach won’t come as long as we insist his arrival depends on "them" changing first—whether Ayatollahs or other Jews.

He'll come when you and I are sincerely prepared to join a unified nation of Healthy Jews.

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When the kids were home from school last week, bringing Mashiach often looked like this:

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Be well,

Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Naiman

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1. For Mashiach as king, see beginning of Hilchos Melachim ch. 11. For king as unifying nation, see Sefer Hamitzvos Aseh 173.